March Birthdays

Well, our little guy turned 2!!! SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO hard to believe!!! He is just the sweetest little boy and talks up a storm, too:) He is using 5-6 word sentences, asks if you're ok if you cough, says thank you if you bring him something, even says bless you if you sneeze. It just cracks us up sometimes how talkative he is and you can understand pretty much everything he says. He has 13 teeth and 3 coming in, is 36 inches (90th percentile) and 25 lbs (20th percentile). You can tell he is getting long and lean...we had to move down a size in shorts to fit his tiny waist! He is doing all the age-appropriate things he should be doing like running, kicking, starting to jump, goes up and down stairs by himself (holding onto the wall or railing). He is starting to resist going down for a nap now, just too excited playing with big brother, but after a few books he is usually ok. He still has his curly hair which I just LOVE!!!

We both had to work on his birthday, but we made time to give him a special b-day treat for breakfast...cinnamon rolls:) He blew out one of the candles on the first try, too!!!

After work it was time to open gifts from all the family. He had a lot to open, but wasn't too into doing it himself.

A truck! This was the first present he opened and was so excited that all he wanted to do was play with it, not open any more.

We did finally convince him to open some more.

This a popular one for all the kids...unfortunately no volume switch.

Having fun standing on the boxes!

His new sports climber...perfect for outside! Holes for throwing football through and kicking soccer ball through on opposite side.

His new playhouse!!! I got a great deal on this from Craig's List. It's really big inside, plenty of room for multiple kids at one time. This is a hit with all the kids.

The big kids love to climb onto the roof...go figure!

Cupcake time:)

Success again!

My birthday is the day after Karson's. I'm sure it will be fun having close b-days as he gets older and we can do more together. Keith actually fit all 33 candles on my cake!!! Needless to say, it took multiple tries to blow them all out:)

Do you like the left over wrapping paper???

The next Sunday we had Karson's birthday party at our house. The party started with each kid painting a magnet. All the kids had fun with this, from Karson's age up to my nephew who is 10. It doubled as the party favor, too:)

Kaleb and cousin Sara

Kassidy

cousins Alex and Evan

Jarrett and Colton

Jaden

SierraMason

Karson and Evan

Kaleb and Jaden (such great friends!)

A new dump truck for outside...perfect!

Pool/bath toy

Our last Elmo cake...

Lindsey and Kassidy

Kim, Jaden's mom

Justin (Mason's dad) and Sarah

Aunt Kelly with the birthday boy

All the kiddos after the party...worn out from the heat and from playing kickball so hard!!!

A huge thank you to all of our friends and family for helping celebrate Karson's 2nd birthday:) It was a lot of fun seeing everyone and beating the big kids at kickball!!!

A HUGE praise!!!

Towards the end of March we headed to Virginia for a feeding clinic with Kaleb. We were scheduled to be there 2 weeks, but Kaleb did so well we got to leave early! I'm more than happy to report that Kaleb is doing awesome!!! He has not had any tube feedings (or his high calorie drink) in 4 weeks...and his weight has remained stable. This is a HUGE milestone for us and an answered prayer to say the least. As long as Kaleb keeps up his eating for 2 more months we can get the G-tube out...yea!!!

Here are a few pics of our free room just down the hill from the clinic. It was actually pretty nice with a full kitchen and a washer/dryer just down the hall. It definitely made our whole trip a lot easier than a hotel.

On the weekend Keith and Kassidy came for a visit. It was great to get out of the room/clinic and enjoy some family time:) We went to this cool place called Bounce 'n Play...we have got to get one in Greenville!!! There's so much to do...to name a few there is a coloring room where you can use marker on a mural on the wall or a cardboard house, a painting shower, a gated off baby/toddler area, treadmill and elliptical machine, tvs, sofas, inflatables, slides, coi pond, etc.

Then we headed to the downtown mall area. It was chilly outside this day, but I bet in the summer this place is jam packed!

Just across the street was a memorial to Robert E. Lee. I would love to go back sometime and just visit all the memorials/statues from the Civil War.

We are very glad to be home and ecstatic about our eating champ:) We would like to thank everyone for their continued support, love, and prayers for Kaleb. God has been very faithful to us and we pray he continues to be faithful and fill Kaleb with the desire to eat! It's been very fun watching Kaleb lately. He actually wants to eat and enjoys eating. There have even been a few times he has eaten more than his big sis, which has never happened before!

We always used to joke around saying that Kaleb would be an excellent food critic or the winner of Survivor because of his lack of eating. We may not be able to say that anymore:)

Prayer Request

Kaleb's 2 week course at a feeding clinic will begin soon. We are very hopeful that this will give us the tools we need to wean him from his feeding tube and eat a more age appropriate diet. I will be traveling with Kaleb while Keith stays home with Kassidy and Karson. It's going to be difficult being away from each other, being in a new place, having all the extra demands of the clinic on Kaleb every day, shuffling the kids between family and friends at home, etc. In the end we know it will all be worth it! I'll try to keep you all updated on Kaleb's progress via email. As always, we appreciate all your prayers, love, and support so much:)