Tree Decorating Time!

Just some pics from us getting the tree all decorated for Christmas. No, we didn't just do this today, but I just remembered I never posted these. Enjoy!

The kids just love putting candy canes on the tree!

Having fun with the tree skirt:)

Karson's 1st Christmas!!!

2nd Annual Wireless Communications Holiday Party

Whew! Such a long title and a long night as well, but definitely a lot of fun:) It was great to get out of the house without the kiddos for a night on the town. The party was at Pomegranate on Main (VERY good food!!!). Everyone enjoyed the appetizers, dinner, drinks, and desserts. Keith and Krish even had awards presented to the MVP, Most Improved, and Top Sales Person, along with Christmas gifts for all of their employees. (Unfortunately, my pics didn't turn out too well during their presentations).

Business partner, Krish

Jay (Krish's brother), Krish, Keith, Todd (good friend), and Vijay

Krish's parents

A toast for an awesome 2nd year!!!

Karson is 9 months!

That's right...9 months old!!! The time has just FLOWN by! At his check-up today he weighed 2o lbs. 13 oz. (50th percentile) and was 29 1/2 in. long (85th percentile). He only gained a tiny bit since his 6 month visit but grew 2 inches! The Dr. said to start him on table foods to get him some more calories and since it doesn't seem like he is very interested in baby food. I gave him some grilled cheese with peaches and pears yesterday and he just gobbled it right up:) He definitely wants more people food. He also has had peas, bananas, and a little bit of pasta with sauce and he liked them all!

Karson still doesn't have any teeth, but continues to chew on ANYTHING he can get into his mouth! He chews on his fingers a lot nowadays and really loves the strings from my zip-up sweatshirt.
Here's Karson's first taste of solid food (last month). We started with Gerber puffs which we had to put in his mouth for him. He quickly learned how to pick them up and put in his mouth all by himself:) Here's some pics of him figuring that one out...

Grabbing...

Holding in hand...

In his mouth:)We are trying to practice crawling, but every time we put him on his tummy his rolls right over! I've managed a few times to keep him on his tummy and prop him up on his hands and knees and he'll bounce back and forth a little bit. It's a work in progress! This next pic is what he's started doing lately...big reaches and a little bit of a turn to grab his toys. He even got into the crawl position all by himself this morning for Daddy:)

Just this past week Karson has started to stand up. He definitely has to lean or hold onto something but can stay standing up for quite some time! Having cool toys to play with always helps:)
He can use the walker only to stand so far, so we put it up against the ottoman to help hold his balance. Kassidy loves helping him stand and 'catches' him when he falls.
Yesterday he even showed off and stood up leaning against the ottoman:)

Big brother is always trying to help with Karson...it's so cute:) Kaleb asked if he could give Karson some puffs and I said Yes, but just a few...he dumped out the whole container on Karson's tray!
Overall, Karson is a very easy-going, happy little guy. He fits into our family so nicely and just LOVES his big brother and sister:) He smiles anytime you even look at him! He has started to say Da and Ba and waves his arms up and down when he gets excited. He also will kick his legs in and out real fast when he's excited, and mad!

Karson is down to just 2 naps/day...10-12 and 2:30-4:30. As soon as you lay him in his crib he grabs his paci and his little dog blanket and chews on them both. At night he goes to bed around 8 and usually sleeps until 7 or 8 in the morning.

Oh almost forgot! He started waving!!! He puts his arm straight out and turns his hand side to side. TOO CUTE:) I'll try to get a pic or video of that once he starts doing it more frequently.

Bye for now:)

Don't forget to check out Kassidy's cheerleading post below!

Upward Cheerleading

This is Kassidy's first year in Upward Basketball Cheerleading. Her first game was Saturday and she did great! She remembered all the cheers and even was taught some new chants during the game. Kassidy even had her own cheering section there to watch! Mommy and Daddy, Kaleb, Karson, Aunt Kelly, Sara, Lindsey, Sarah, Krish, and Amber. We all were so proud of her! I put a few videos below so you can enjoy the cheers yourself:) Sorry about the delay in the beginning of the first video...so hard to get little ones in the right position.

November happenings and updates

My parents, sister, and 2 nephews flew down from Ohio for a visit over Thanksgiving. It was SO GREAT to see everyone:):):) The kids had such a fun time playing together! We did so much to keep busy like Pump It Up, decorating gingerbread houses, bowling, go carts, baking cookies, making s'mores, and even having a birthday party for my nephew Ryan. Get ready for LOADS of pics:)

Happy 4th Birthday Ryan:) He was so excited to get Mack to hold all of his Cars!

The famous M&M game...at least famous in Ohio:) (You just take 2 paper cups side by side, place 10 M&Ms in one cup, then use a straw to get them from one cup to the other. No using your hands. Sounds easy enough, right? A little harder than it sounds!)

Mama beating Papa My sister Kelly bowing down to me...the ultimate champion!!!!! No one has beaten me yet:)

My little model posing with everyone Aunt Kristi (Ryan and Austin's mom)

Pump it up (very hard to get the kids to hold still long enough to take a pic!)

Kassidy

Sara
Alex
Kaleb Alex with Austin
Karson sporting the UT hat (That's the University of Toledo if you don't know. Mommy, Daddy, Aunt Kelly, and Papa all went there!)

The finished masterpieces:)

Papa and Alex
Evan
Sara and her Granddaddy

Ryan

Kaleb and Kassidy

Mama (the 12 is for her 12 grandkids!)Miscellaneous pics from their visit Baking cookies!
Showing off their hand-designed hats

You thought this toybox was for toys??? Wrong!
Austin playing peek-a-boo...too cute:)

Out to eat after church

S'more time:) Yum! Yum! Thanks Aunt Kelly!

Bowling at Frankie's...PERFECT for little ones!!!

Strike!
Wouldn't be fun without Pop-a shot...can you guess who won? I'm not telling!
Alex showing off his strong football throw
This go cart looks normal, but apparently it had a speed limit set internally because she was lapped by every other go cart!



Such a great prize!
I can't tell who's having more fun here...Mama or the kids:)

Even Austin wanted to try to catch the butterflies
As you can see, it was a very good visit. We are so thankful they were able to come down to SC. Hopefully next year we'll have the whole Ohio clan here:):):)

My sister Kelly and I did all the cooking for Thanksgiving at my house, but of course I was having so much fun tasting everything and talking that I forgot to take any pics! The meal turned out great and we were all stuffed of course.
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Kaleb update:

We've been doing bolus feedings during the day now for about 3-4 weeks. It is going very smoothly without any kicking or screaming:) We do it while he's eating now and really concentrate on talking about how the FOOD he's eating is making his tummy nice and full. (It's amazing how smart this little guy is. Lately he's been barely eating at all. We think he's caught on to the fact that he doesn't have to eat because his feedings make him full) So, that's why we now do his feeding while he eats and try not to talk about his feeding at all.

His weight at his 4 yr check-up was 29lbs...wow!!! So close to breaking out of the 20's! That's a 3 lb weight gain since the G-tube (and he moved from .37 percentile to 2.62!). Our Dr. thought he'd be heavier by now, but we really had to work our way up to the amount of formula he now gets. Kaleb's height has really jumped lately, too. He went from 36.5 inches to 38 inches since July (4th percentile up to the 8th). We have really noticed this change because his 3T pants are now looking a little silly being so short! I have to find some 4T pants with adjustable waist now so he won't look like a big flood is coming:) This will be the first time since Kaleb was about 6 months that he will actually be able to fit into the size clothes that corresponds with his age. I never thought that would happen!

Here's Kaleb showing off his 'muscles' (and finally able to show you his new tube)

Close-up of his tube. The top just flips open and we connect a small tube (about 6 inches long) into it, then draw up the formula in a big syringe, hook the syringe to the end of the tube, and push it in. It only takes a few minutes and is very easy. And such little maintenance to keep it clean. Here it's a little red around the site but some special cream fixed that up.

Overall we are pleased with our decision to get the g-tube. It still really stinks that we had to do it, but we're glad we did. He is finally getting the nutrients he needs to gain weight and is getting noticeable stronger. We still have a long way to go with the whole food aversion issue but it's a work in progress!

Please continue to pray for Kaleb that his mouth becomes less sensitive to textures, he learns to eat more foods, his anxieties over eating will decrease, and that he stays HEALTHY during the winter.