4 Year Old Appointment

Today we had Joshua's 4 year old appointment with the pediatrician. He is a healthy growing boy! He weighed in at 35 lbs. (40 %) and is 3 feet 3 1/4 inches (24%). The numbers may have changed, but the percentiles he falls in for both height and weight are the same as last year. His growth remains steady, which is good, but it looks like the kid is just going to be short. The unfortunate thing is a booster seat in the car is not going to be an option in the near future for him as a child needs to be 4 and 40 lbs. and the poor kid doesn't meet the weight requirement. I'm just praying Joshua will be able to be in a booster seat by the time Matthew needs his current car seat!

Dirty!

This was the weekend to put the lawn in at our house. I'm so thankful because it's just plain dirty around our house due to the lack of grass. If you are outside when it is windy your eyes will hurt from all the dirt that blows in them. I can't wait less dirt to be tracked into the house! However, putting in a yard yourself is no easy task! Thanks to the help of my dad, my brother and Cory's brother the front yard was raked, fertilized and seeded yesterday. Today Cory is working solo to complete the seeding in the backyard. Joshua was outside all day yesterday "helping" and playing while the guys worked. By the end of the day he was a disgusting, filthy little boy covered from head to toe in dirt! If you double click on the picture you won't even get the full effect like those of us who saw him in person, but you'll be amazed at how our clean-loving boy got so dirty! The poor kid even tripped on the driveway and scratched up his left eyebrow and above so they too were filled with dirt which hopefully doesn't lead to infection. Needless to say we are looking forward to a yard to play in this summer!

Annoyed

So I'm annoyed by all the local toy stores that don't carry black and white toys for infants! For heaven sakes, infants can only see images of stark contrast such as black and white. I had a few things from Joshua's infant days, but wanted a few more for Matthew. I did see one item at Creative Learning Toys that goes on the back of the seat in the car - it had 4 clear pockets in which to put image cards. Great idea since we are on the go quite a bit and there isn't much for Matthew to look at riding backwards in the car, but this toy was $14! It got me to thinking, why not just make some things for him to look at with black and white images. So I pulled some images from the internet yesterday and today Joshua and I cut and glued the images on poster board. Now he has some large posters in the car to look at and the smaller ones are for when he is on his playmat or doing tummy time. He loves them and I didn't spend anything on them!

1 Month

Matthew's one month appointment with the pediatrician was Wednesday. His stats are below, as are Joshua's from his 1 month appointment. Surprisingly Matthew is 2 in. taller than Joshua was at 1 month old! Matthew is doing well!

Matthew's stats: 10 lbs. (56%), 22.75 in. (89%), and head circumference was 37.9 cm (43%)

Joshua stats at 1 month: 11 lb., 20.75, and head circumference was 38.7 cm

While talking with the pediatrician (keep in mind she is also a friend of mine) I mentioned that at 1 month Joshua would sleep one 4-6 hours period between feedings at night so I asked what I could do to help Matthew sleep for longer periods during feedings at night since he is only going 2 1/2-3 1/2 hours. The pediatrician basically told me Joshua had spoiled us and that most babies go 2 hours between feedings at 1 month of age. So, I guess I will be happy with 3 hours on average! Funny how that night Matthew went 3 1/2 hours between feedings all night and Thursday night he went 5 hours!!! Maybe Matthew got the message that mommy needs more uninterrupted sleep! The other thing I had the pediatrician check was the symmetry of Matthew's head. I had noticed that Matthew had a strong liking of turning his head to the right and rarely chose to turn his head left from the day we came home from the hospital so I had already mentioned this to the pediatrician at the 2 week appointment. At two weeks there was already bit of a flat area on the right side of his head causing asymmetry. I have been really working on getting Matthew to turn his head left and sometimes forcing it (for example propping his body more on his left side so he can't turn his head right) as well as doing stretches for those neck muscles. The pediatrician checked his head again on Wednesday and said that his head was already looking more symmetrical and she told me we were probably on the right path to as far as avoiding a helmet in the future.

Dad's helper

With this new house have come many projects. Due to the overwhelming amount of crap we have collected over the years and the new tractor we decided it would be best to build a shed for storage. Cory's dad designed a shed plan for us and then back in April (just 5 days before Matthew's arrival) Cory and his dad began work on building the shed. Of course Joshua had to be a part of every step just like daddy and grandpa! Cory even bought Joshua his own real hammer so he could help pound the nails. Below are pictures from that day in April when construction began. We are finally nearing completion of the shed. Sunday afternoon Cory and Joshua painted it, yes Joshua even had his own paint roller for the project. I so love the fact that Cory is willing to let Joshua help with whatever project he is doing. The project may go a little slower or end up being messier because Joshua is involved, but I'm thankful that Cory allows and encourages Joshua's help. It's so sweet to see them working together! Hopefully by next weekend the garage door will be on the shed, we can call it complete and clean the garage out.

Matthew's first bath!

Matthew's belly button just wasn't healing up quite right after the umbilical cord fell off when he was just less than two weeks old. When he had his two week appointment with the pediatrician she looked at his belly button and discovered he had an umbilical granuloma, simply put it's a piece of tissue that remains in the belly button after the umbilical cord falls off that is red in color and may ooze a bit. This tissue can't heal on it's own so the pediatrician rubbed silver nitrate in Matthew's belly button to help get rid of the tissue. Unfortunately the little guy must have brushed a couple of his fingers across his belly button after the silver nitrate was applied and his fingers and one fingernail had brown blotches on them (thankfully the pediatrician warned me that whatever touches the silver nitrate will turn brown but will come off over time and lots of washing). Due to the umbilical granuloma Matthew had to continue with sponge baths until the belly button completely healed and the extra tissue was gone. Today it finally looked like his belly button had completely healed and he was able to take a bath in the bathtub! Of course, Matthew couldn't take a bath all by himself, Joshua had to join in the fun too! Matthew enjoyed the warm water, but was getting tired and hungry so he didn't last very long before he needed to dry off. Joshua did a great job of not splashing and carefully helping wash Matthew. I'm sure this will be the first of many baths together for these brothers!

Oobleck!

Some much needed one on one time was in order for Joshua on Friday when it was dreary and gray for quite a bit of the day. I thought Oobleck would be a fun activity for us to make and play with together, although I did wonder if this would backfire on me as Joshua can be leery of sensory activities and dislikes being messy. I did warn him ahead of time that this would be something he would have to stick his hands in to play with and it could be a bit messy, but would wash right off. He agreed with a bit of hesitation. So we found a tray, poured some cornstarch on it and slowly added some water until we got the right mixture (actual recipes call for 1 1/2 to 2 cups of cornstarch and 1 cup of water, but I think it's more of a science experiment and more fun if you just add and mix ingredients). Joshua actually had a blast playing with the oobleck and did so for over a half hour! We did leave a little bucket of water off to the side of him so he could rinse his hands frequently to avoid being too messy. Glad we tried this activity, it was quick and easy although one should beware of white powder left behind everywhere the oobleck is! Oh and after Joshua got tired of playing we just left the tray sit and the mixture dried out, but we simply added water when he wanted to play again later in the day.

Adjusting

Can you tell we are still adjusting to having another member of the family by the time that passes between blog postings or the multiple posts that happen at one time?!?! My free time has definitely been minimized over the last three weeks! Matthew is overall an easy-going little guy. At three and a half weeks old he is having more awake periods, but is now having a tough time putting himself to sleep after being awake so we are working on this. He does well at night, waking every 2 1/2 to 4 hours to eat, but then going right back to sleep in his crib! People have actually asked me if Matthew is sleeping through the night - yeah right, I only wish our not even 4 week old was doing that!
Joshua has had his share of fits and conniptions as he has been adjusting to a life that is not all about him for the first time in 4 years. He was talking back and being disrespectful as well as hitting on occasion. His emotions can still go from one extreme to another in seconds, but this is getting better daily. This week especially we have seen his behavior improve. He is also showing us more independence daily which is a huge improvement for him as well!

I'm personally struggling with juggling two kids, from getting them and myself ready in the mornings (especially preschool mornings when we leave the house early) to giving them both quality one on one time. I feel like right now I am constantly telling Joshua that I can't do what he wants because I have to deal with Matthew and his needs. Mother's guilt is already setting in, yikes! Sleep deprivation is not exactly helping with anything either! I rely daily on God and pray for patience and understanding many times throughout the day! I must say one of the biggest blessings during this time of adjustment has been my friends from my MOPS group at church who have provided meals a few times a week for 3 weeks - they are awesome!
Below are a few random pictures we've taken in the last three weeks, enjoy!

First Bottle

Matthew was given his first bottle Tuesday night and the little piglet took to it without any problem - he sucked down 3 1/2 oz in ten minutes. I figured he would! Now if I can just keep up trying to pump once a day and build up a storage supply of breast milk I will be able to have a bit of freedom from feeding and perhaps even be able leave Matthew for a few hours without worrying about feeding him.

Joshua helped feed Matthew.

Daddy feeding Matthew his first bottle.

Mother's Day

It was a busy and exhausting Mother's Day this year, but very fun. The day started with Joshua wishing me a happy Mother's Day while I was feeding Matthew. Joshua excitedly raced to bring me a card and my Mother's Day present which he had made at school. He made a really neat stepping stone that will reside in our landscaping in the front of the house once we get around to doing it. Oh and my dear husband actually surprised me with a card and gift certificates to the mall and Olive Garden so Erin and I could have a girl's night out (Shawn surprised Erin with the same things as he and Cory planned their gifts together)! I was shocked and very thrilled to say the least!
Then it was on to my uncle and aunt's house for brunch. We had a wonderful time catching up with family and celebrating my Grandma. Joshua was very eager to give great grandma the stepping stone he had made for her. Matthew was spoiled by all the attention and love he got as he met some family members for the first time. Joshua was spoiled too with a surprise birthday gift from uncle Steve and aunt Cher!
Late afternoon we headed to Cory's parent's house for birthday and Mother's Day celebrations. The grand kids gave Grandma stepping stones for Mother's Day and they got to create them with her!
Still amazing to me is that I am a mother! I am the woman who thought that kids might be a good idea for others, but probably not Cory and I - some of you may remember the toast we gave at Shawn and Erin's wedding where we said something about having a boat and they could have the kids. Guess my mind was changed (along with Cory's) 5 years ago when we tried to get pregnant. With the diagnosis of my mom's cancer the reality set in an that in life the only thing you really truly have is family so we finally decided to have our own little family. Now as a mother of two I really appreciate even more all that my mother did for me and all that she was as a mother - I'm sure she is looking down just smirking at that thought. I love you mom and miss you!

2 Week Stats

Matthew had his 2 week appointment this past Monday (yes, I'm just getting around to writing about it now because my spare time is almost non-existent with 2 kids right now). I curiously dug out the stats from Joshua from 4 years ago just to compare and see how the two size up to one another. This is probably something only I find interesting, so read no further if you could care less.

Matthew at 2 weeks weighed 8 lbs. 2 oz. (31%) and was 21in. (62%) with his head circumference measuring 36.2 cm (31%).

Joshua at 2 weeks weighed 8 lbs. 7 oz. (and Joshua was smaller than Matthew at birth) and was 19.75 in. (both boys were born at 19.5 in.) with a head circumference measuring 36.6 cm.

So far it seems like Joshua was more like me as an infant - short and pudgy while Matthew seems to be more like Cory - long and lean. I'm interested to see if my theory holds true when we go to Matthew's one month appointment.

Matthew's new trick!

I'm not sure what it is with our kids, but we were surprised when Joshua rolled over from his tummy to his back at 16 days and today during tummy time Matthew rolled over from his tummy to his back at only 15 days old! The little stinker did this several times and can roll to either side. Of course this makes getting tummy time in more of a challenge as every time I put him on his belly and prop him on his arms he immediately rolls the upper half of his body to one side or the other and his legs follow shortly after! Apparently we have some strong little boys on our hands! Check out Matthew in action below!

Happy 4th Birthday Joshua!

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Saturday Joshua turned 4 years old! He woke up early because he was so excited about his big day, however this made for a very crabby little boy by the afternoon. We forced him to take a nap before his party which had its pros and cons - he was more rested, but he was a bear to try to wake up once everyone was here. After a good 3o-45 minutes he adjusted to being awake and the party began! He had a great time playing with his cousins, opening all his presents and celebrating with his awesome monster truck cake! It was a Lego birthday this year since Joshua is very interested in building and can spend hours creating with Legos; he got a variety on new sets to add to his growing Lego collection. He also got a child-sized John Deere wheelbarrow, work gloves and Lightning McQueen boots so he can work in the yard this spring/summer with daddy.

Joshua, you are an amazing little boy full of life and spirit. You impress us with your vocabulary daily and say some of the funniest things - we can't believe you were once the little boy who struggled to communicate. Your strong will, determination and type A personality can be both a blessing and a curse some days. We are so thankful you have been a part of our lives this last 4 years and are blessed by your presence in our family! We are excited to watch you grow more in every area of your life and can't wait to see what God has in store for you!

Matthew's first few days . . .

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From 3 to 4!

Wednesday afternoon Matthew and I were able to come home from the hospital so we could begin the adventure of life as a family of 4! Joshua LOVES his baby brother and has to be nearby him, holding him and watching everything we do with Matthew! Joshua is doing very well thus far, but there is a lot of adjusting that still needs to take place and the behavior issues that will arise with this are definitely coming, no doubt. As for now we will be happy with the fact that Joshua is excited and enjoying the novelty of the situation! In fact, yesterday afternoon Joshua was drawing (a new favorite activity) on his Doodle Pro and never even said a word, just drew the picture above! If you can't tell, it's a picture of our family!! From left to right is Joshua, Matthew (on top of Joshua's head), daddy and mommy (notice Cory has no hair and I have lots)! Amazing how far his drawings have come, but even more amazing is how unprompted by anyone Joshua drew a picture of our now family of four!

Brothers!!

Matthew Jon Hager

After a fairly short labor and a delivery that lasted all of a few minutes we welcomed Matthew Jon Hager into the world on Monday, April 20, 2009 at 3:02pm! Only 1 day overdue! He was 7 lb. 14.2 ounces and 19.5 in. (exact length as Joshua and only a few ounces heavier than Joshua). These photos were taken during his first bath an hour after his birth. We hope to have more photos of our sweet, adorable and content little guy on the blog later today.

As for the labor and delivery - contractions started at 7am at 10 min apart. I had a lot of back pain and abdomen pain that accompanied all this. I called Cory and work at 7:30am and put him on notice that this may be the real deal, I didn't want to assume as we didn't experience things this way last time as Joshua was induced. By 8am they were consistent contractions that lasted 30-45 seconds and were 5 minutes apart. I called my OB's office to see if my doctor wanted me to go to the hospital. The nurse called back about 40 minutes later telling me to go to the hospital. I prepared Joshua and his things for a day with Uncle Shawn and Owen as well as prepared the rest of my things for the hospital. Joshua was off with Uncle Shawn by 10:30am as excited as could be! Cory was home by 10:15am, packed his things and put everything in the car. We were at the hospital by 11am which was good because the contractions were getting stronger and were now 3-4 minutes apart. I was put in a labor and delivery room and quickly situated. I was hooked up to a variety of machines (fetal heart monitor, etc), cervix checked and looked to be at 5 cm. and the doctor on call broke my water. Soon after the much anticipated anesthesiologist came in to put my epidural in. Life was good once this was in place and contractions weren't felt again! About an hour after all this my cervix was at 8cm. When the nurse checked again around 2:40pm I was complete and she got the room ready for delivery. She had me do a practice push at 2:55pm and the doctor was called to come for delivery. The nurse then had me push twice during one contraction and on then twice again on the second contraction - the top of baby's head could be seen. On the third contraction I was about to push when I got sick and started to vomit. Apparently as I was vomiting little Matthew flew out and the nurse caught him on the bed! She calmly asked Cory to hit the call button for an extra pair of hands to help her since she was the only one in the room! A couple other nurses and a resident came in to help with the umbilical cord and the delivery of the placenta. The doctor on call came in just a few minutes later. It was quite the enjoyable experience, especially compared to the last time! Immediately after he was born I got to snuggle skin to skin with Matthew for about 45 minutes and feed him (he kid was a champion at eating from that very first moment, again very different than last time around)! We are doing well and hope to be home Wednesday late morning or early afternoon adjusting from a family of 3 to a family of 4!

Blessed Easter!

This year Joshua has really come to realize just what Easter is all about. Thanks to hearing the stories at home and at church as well as acting them out at school Joshua has really gotten to know the Easter story very well. We even got out the Resurrection Eggs the other day and he was able to recall most of the parts of the story from symbols he found in the eggs! It's so exciting! Knowing Joshua had a better concept of what we were really celebrating on Easter made the other Easter stuff fun and exciting, but not the focus.
Saturday night we treated Joshua and Owen to an early Easter dessert of bunny cake (created by the bakers at Arnie's). This was something I remember having as an Easter treat as a child, so I like to carry on that tradition with my own family. Sunday was a day of real celebration as we started the day with an Easter egg hunt around the house. Joshua would find an egg which contained a picture clue that led him to another egg (very similar to the hunt we did with him for Valentine's day this year). He loved racing around finding the eggs and reading the clues! His final clue sent him to the laundry room where he found his Easter basket! He adored his new bigger sized bunny bear and his new Lego set as well as the other little treats his basket contained. Then it was off to church and out to lunch with Papa and Uncle Phil. Then it was over to Grandpa and Grandma Hagers to celebrate where he received another bag of Easter goodies and had a ball playing with all the cousins. It was a busy, but very fun day. We feel blessed to celebrate our risen Saviour!

Owen and Joshua with the bunny cake!



Finding an egg!

Daddy helps with the clues.

Joshua found his Easter basket!

Classic Eater picture.

Playing with his new Lego set.

Dyeing Easter Eggs

Our poor deprived child (yea right!) has never dyed Easter eggs! Not really sure why we've never done it, but perhaps it's because I don't eat hard-boiled eggs and didn't even know how to make one (until today that is)! Today we had nothing going on and thanks to Erin mentioning she was doing this with Owen today it jogged my memory of having bought a few dye kits on clearance last year. We had all necessary items on hand so we got to work dyeing and decorating! Joshua liked drawing on the eggs with the "magic crayon" and then dunking them in the colors. He enjoyed seeing what his creations looked like coming out of the dye too. After all the eggs dried he added a few stickers to some and we put them in a dish for decoration. I'm sure we'll be doing this again next year as it was an easy and fun activity!

Dunking the egg in the dye.

Drawing with the "magic crayon".

Decorating with stickers.

Visiting the Dinosaurs at the Museum

Since seeing the billboard on the highway every time we went to preschool Joshua has been asking if we could see the dinosaurs. I have been wanting to take him, but have been waiting as I thought it would be something fun to do as a family. There are Dinosaur Discovery Nights offered a few nights a month from 5-8pm. For the week of spring break they have Dinosaur Discovery Nights Monday - Friday from 5-9 pm! It's quite the deal - for $10 a person you get museum admission (reg. $8 for an adult), admission to the dinosaur exhibit (reg. $2), unlimited carousel rides, admission to a planetarium show (reg. $3) and a pizza meal! It's quite the money saving way to go! We went last night with Shawn, Erin and Owen. The exhibits weren't very busy at all, however the line for dinner was a bit of a wait. The dinosaur exhibit was a huge hit with Joshua and Owen! The robotic dinosaurs were cool to watch and there were lots of activities to keep the boys busy like puppets, digging for dinosaur bones, coloring, cutting, tracing and rubbings of dinosaurs, dinosaur puzzles, plastic dinosaurs to play with and magnetic bones to make a dinosaur. We spent quite a bit of time in the dinosaur exhibit, but also got to see the animals and the streets of GR exhibits. The boys also enjoyed a couple of carousel rides! The only planetarium show available was at 9pm. Amazingly the boys were wanting to see the show at 9pm and even though we as adults were bored Joshua and Owen both loved it. We had a great night together! Check out the video below to see a bit of our fun.

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Happy Birthday Owen!

On Friday our nephew (Joshua's cousin) Owen turned 3 (I can't believe he is 3, but then again we have a soon to be 4 year old and I can't believe that either)! Owen had his big Lightning McQueen birthday bash with the whole family last night; talk about a full house there were 22 people there which included 9 kids under the age of 6! It was a fun time for all! The kids had a great time playing together, especially enjoying all of Owen's new toys. We also got to enjoy a cool cake that Erin made based on Owen's favorite seen from the movie "Cars". It was a fun evening and one I'm sure Owen will remember forever! Happy Birthday Owen!

Owen opens the workbench we gave him.

Owen opens his John Deere bike!

Joshua just had to try out Owen's cool new bike!