What Cullen can do at 2!

I spent the morning trying to look back at old posts and compare what Ellie could do at 2 vs. what Cullen can do.  Shocker…I didn’t even keep a record of her milestones. I am bummed, but dedicated to keeping track of Cullen’s so at least one of my kids has a semi-complete record of their childhood!!

At 2 Cullen can:

-count to 12: it’s funny b/c he skips 11 usually, but somehow he always manages to make it to 12. 

-count down from 3 and then say blast off!

-“reads” his favorite books, “Pete the cat” several times a day.  He will actually turn the page and paraphrase what that page says (only b/c we have read them to him 1,345,698,000 times)

-knows opposites (I’ll usually say a word and he will tell me the opposite.  Happy and sad make him laugh and I think it is because of the facial expressions we make)

-will not eat food with his hands

-can sing his ABC’s  to the letter H by himself and then he will copy you the rest of the way

-identify all of his shapes

-knows all of his colors (and as unusual as it is he sometimes confuses red and blue.  Ellie did this exact same thing forever)

-can swing on the bar at gym and almost flip backward holding onto the bar by tucking his feet through the bar.

-can swim under the water in the pool and will actually jump off of the side and swim underwater to us if we stand back far enough.

-can jump up and down with both feet repeatedly

-carries on FULL conversations.  His receptive language skills are amazing for his age I think, but more impressive to me are his conversational skills. (at home and usually only around us.  He tries to act shy in public and when we have people at our house)

-plays independently just like Ellie did when she was younger.

-can color in his coloring book (not inside the lines!)

-easily does front rolls and seat drops at gym

-can kick a soccer ball

-can name every single type of transportation vehicle

-will name his friends when asked who they are

-can take his clothes off and put his crocs on all by himself

-washes his hands and will scrub his body with a washcloth in the tub

-can brush his own teeth (although we still help him)

-has crazy upper body strength

-doesn’t like ice cream, but LOVES popsicles

-favorite candy is M and M’s (he calls them mena mena’s and Ellie also loved them when she was young)

-naps once a day usually from 11-1 unless we are on the go (if at home he actually asks to go to bed)

-asks to go to bed in the evenings too! 

-H.A.T.E.S to shop.  As soon as I step inside of a clothing store he starts screaming “outside…I want to go outside”  It’s awful and embarrassing

-wears a size 4 diaper (although I think we may be out of diapers pretty soon), size 6-7 shoe, 18-24 month pants and 2T shirts

-Loves to play with cars/trucks and LOVES dinosaurs!

Cullen you are so lucky to have Ellie as a big sister!!  She has taught you so much and she loves being a role model to you.  You amaze all of us every single day.  From your witty personality to your athletic skills you are pure joy!  We love you little bud bud!

Right before our eyes

Our precious little miracle girl is growing up right before our very eyes.

It’s bittersweet, but if I’m being honest more bitter than sweet.

I love my babies.  More than anything in this entire world I truly love my children.  I have loved every single stage from being pregnant to being a mommy.  They are my entire world. 

Some may think that is too much.  But walk a day in our shoes and then judge us.  We know first hand how miraculous, short and unexpected life is and we don’t take any of our time with our kiddos for granted. 

So, on Tuesday night when Ellie told us she was going to sleep upstairs in her own room we were shocked.  TOTALLY taken by surprise. 

We have been planning a new big girl room for her and she has had a major hand in the redecorating process.  I gave her several magazines and together we created an Ellie dream room.  One that fits her needs and personality.  I half expected her to want to sleep there when it was all done, but definitely not before.

With a heavy heart we bathed, brushed teeth, got water and without any hesitation she wished us a good night and that was it.  B went up and tucked her in and then I went up on my own.  There she was in her own bed with her leapster and all of her stuffed “friends”.  Happy as she could be. 

I came back down and B said, “Well that is sad”…and I totally broke down crying!  I knew that day would come and I knew I would be sad, but I didn’t realize how sad until that moment.

Thank goodness thirty minutes later she decided WE needed to be snuggled!!  Our baby was back in our bed and my heart was at peace! 

I’ve got to work on transitioning my heart to be excited about our babies growing up.  This job of being a parent is tough stuff!

Here is our Ellie’s little girl room…and here are pics from the idea board we put together. 

Anyway, this was the inspiration for the room.  We have built-ins set to be put in around her daybed and the rest of the furniture will come after I see how much space we will have left.  I am leaning toward a desk area for my little artist.

Source: http://www.alamodemaven.com/2011/10/beautiful-big-girl-room.html

sources:

yellow rug- http://www.rosenberryrooms.com/400-insignia-rug-in-yellow.html

prints-

http://www.etsy.com/listing/51634723/40-off-sale-summer-candy-5x5-photograph

http://www.etsy.com/shop/bomobob?

aqua rug and kaleidoscope quilt-http://www.landofnod.com

rugby stripe duvet-

http://www.potterybarnkids.com

daybed-

http://www.potterybarnteen.com

Ellie-belle,

I am so excited for your new big girl room to come together!!  You have done a fantastic job choosing pieces that you just love and that fit your personality.  I have had so much fun with you on this project.  The other day at gymnastics you were chatting up another mom telling her all about how you were redecorating your room and it was going to have a carousel in it!  The girls at the counter were giggling because you sounded so grown up talking about it.  We love you sweet baby girl and we can’t wait for you to create beautiful memories in your new space!

It was one of “those”days…

Ellie has been sick lately.  Not your typical runny nose, sore throat kind of sick, but a crying, gagging, multiple times in the bathroom, tummy hurts kind of sick.

We brought this up in CF clinic last Friday and her complaints coupled with a weight loss got the attention of her pulmonologist.  We decided to start out with a few minor tests and go from there.

Until this past weekend happened.  Ellie’s appetite is a very small fraction of what it typically is.  I can tell she is so hungry, but then she just gets this fearful look on her face and tells me that she just can’t eat because her tummy is hurting her so bad. 

On Saturday, she started crying in a restaurant because she was so afraid to eat.  That was enough for me.  No small tests and waiting around for this mommy.  Our pedi was out of town until today, but she is worth the wait so we decided to just go in at her first open spot at 11am. 

I’m not going to lie.  I had that “mom” feeling about this.  I know my Ellie and she is not one to complain just for the sake of complaining.  She was in true pain and I was honestly scared to death.

The day started with weather like this ~ and didn’t get better from there!

We got in right away and our doctor was not thrilled with Ellie’s symptoms.  She decided not to waste any time and sent us straight to the hospital across the street(a very busy, main street in the Houston medical center) for x-rays. 

This little guy was OVER it from the beginning, so he got a little box of pringles to enhance his mood.

After we were registered and admitted we waited…and waited…and waited to be called back.  This little beauty was just as excited as she could be to take x-rays because, “They are SO fun!”

She did look at me while we were in the waiting room and said, “Mommy, why did we leave the doctor.  You said she was going to fix me and my tummy is still hurting ~ it’s not fixed!”

After the x-rays we had to dodge traffic back across the main street in pouring rain.  Oh, and my umbrella was in my car that was valet parked!  So, with one in a stroller and one with a death grip on my hand we bolted…and my white pants will never be the same again after the dirty streets of Houston were splashed all over them!

Here is my little guy in his soaking wet stroller!  He looks thrilled!!!

As soon as I heard the words “no known obstruction” I took a HUGE deep breath and relaxed for the first time in 24 hours. 

It seems that for MONTHS (yes, our pedi was shocked) our baby has not been clearing her intestines.  She has never been blocked up so much so that she stopped stooling, so how this happened is beyond me.  However, it is nothing that we can’t fix and that is a huge blessing to us!  She will be on miralax twice daily for a few months and we will watch her bowels closely.  I have to put this in here because it is just plain funny.  Our pedi is great and has a fantastic sense of humor!  She looked at me when she came back in the room and said, “Well, Ellie is just FOS”  it took me a quick second to figure out what she meant.  As soon as I did I just laughed hysterically!  Thank goodness she knows how to lighten the mood!

We were off and this was our first stop:

Momma needed a vanilla cone for 4 weight watchers points after all that drama!  Just because I thought I’d end the day on an exciting note I decided to give Cullen the BBQ sauce with his nuggets for the first time and he had a high time bathing in it the entire 45 minutes it took me to get to the grocery store!  Just an ordinary Tuesday in our world folks.

Ellie,

You were such a big girl today.  I am so proud of you and the way you are able to express yourself to adults.  You have grown to accept your medical issues with such grace and I am amazed by your strength daily.  Daddy and I love you sweet girl.

i-phone picture dump

It is just easier to capture moments quickly with the i-phone it seems…it’s just a shame the quality isn’t great.

Boy time at “homemade depot” as Ellie calls it!

First fishing trip Father’s Day morning 2012

Cullen is serious about his naps!  He is a very scheduled child (his own doing) and when he is tired he will find a way to sleep!

Napping with Uncle DaveWORN OUT            

We came home from a date night and found him snuggled up to her!

Cullen’s first trip to the movies Madagascar 3 and my little beauty enjoying her popcorn!

Dinner by the pool…and a little ice cream face

Out on the town:  We got stuck in a B.A.D. storm a few weeks ago.  We were in Target and all the power went out while we were rushing to check out.  It’s a blessing we got trapped b/c there were tornados all over our area, so we were safer inside vs. me trying to rush home.

*On the way home from the Target trip Ellie asked me if the store ran out of batteries since the lights went out.  I explained that it was the storm and that something had to have happened to the transformer that powered that store. 

Ellie: Oh yes, I know all about transformers

Me: you do?

Ellie: Yes mommy.  They can turn into people or animals or anything.

Me: Um…yes, Ellie toy transformers can you are exactly right.  However, that is something totally different.  Hilarious conversation

On our way out for some adult time

Homeschool

I’ve talked about it here and there, but I don’t really have a post dedicated to how Ellie handled homeschool last year and I want a record of how it went for our purpose (and her curiosity as she gets older).

I L.O.V.E teaching.  I am thankful that my international business/law journey was derailed and I landed in education by total accident. 

I was like (most) other public school educators out there at the end of my career…FED up with the amount of testing and wasted time in needless meetings and observations.  Those things took away from the number one reason we were educators…which is TO TEACH. 

When the twins were born and Bennett was about to come home we knew he would have special needs and I really think it was then that we decided homeschool would work out best for us.  Then came the CF diagnosis for Ellie and myself and it just solidified our choice.

I am not going to lie.  There are days that I think sending Ellie off to public school would be easier, but I know in my heart that it would not be better (for our family). 

I know that when Ellie gets sick it’s a typical 10 days of treatment and either Cullen or myself will end up with it too.  Let’s say Ellie got sick 4 times out of the school year ~ that is an estimated 40 days (20 if she just missed 5 days for treatment, dr appt’s and recoup time which is still a ton of school to miss) she would miss from instruction.  If I can limit her exposure to all the illness that travels around (especially in a school setting) I am not only keeping her health a priority I am also keeping her education and instructional time a priority. 

2011-2012 was our first year to use a purchased curriculum.  Ellie was only a pre-k classification, but I decided to begin a kinder curriculum b/c I thought she had a good enough foundation from our previous year of studies. 

I chose the Saxon program for phonics and math and I was not disappointed at all.

I student taught with the Saxon program and I liked it back then.  I don’t think one should solely rely on a scripted curriculum, so I used my education background and supplemented with some other resources.  (although I do feel that saxon phonics is a great “complete” phonics program that really helped Ellie have a successful kinder year)

At the end of the year Ellie can:

- tell me how many syllables are in a given word

-isolate/id the initial sound/letter of a word and state the rime

-mastered rhyming words

-knows that a sentence is a group of words separated by spaces and with capitalization and punctuation (although she still doesn’t not use punctuation when she is creating her own “sentences”)

-knows every vowel(long and short) and consonant and their sounds

-can differentiate b/w upper and lower case letters and uses them appropriately (usually!!)

-can spell most words by relying on her knowledge of basic phonics

-can code unknown words to establish pronunciation

-can id a number of site words on the kinder list of words to know (although, I am still searching for a better list of words…)

-is reading!  I am going to test her this coming week to id her reading level, but a beginning reader is what I would classify her as.

I know I am missing a ton of what she can do, but this is the basic (and in my eyes some of the most important) skills she needed for me to consider our “kinder” year a successful one.

Math is another story and a whole other post on its own!

So, while she is supposed to just be entering kinder this August we are actually ahead.  (which makes me feel like we have a little buffer is we hit a bump in the road)

Choosing curriculum is STRESSFUL for me!!  If she is successful it’s all good, but if for some reason she is not the blame falls totally on me!  I have spent the last month studying curriculums, reading homeschool blogs and in August I will be attending the state homeschool conference. 

This is my rough outline for what we will be using:

phonics/spelling: Saxon (and I am also going to buy All about spelling and All about Reading)

Math: Saxon (the rest of last year’s lessons) and Math U See primer level (Ellie knows a lot of the skills at the beginning of the primer level of math u see and saxon.  I don’t feel like Saxon moves fast enough, but I don’t think MUS was complete enough on its own…so, a combo of both is what we are trying.  Fingers crossed it doesn’t make me crazy!!)

History/Geography: Road trip USA (THIS is an awesome blog for homeschoolers…it has been one of my go to sites for info)

Foreign Language: speekee tv (Ellie loves to speak spanish!)

PE: We are joining SATCH which is a Christian homeschool PE group…she will be playing volleyball once/week for 1.5 hours per session) in addition to gym and dance

Art and bible are still up in the air.  I think I will enroll her in the art studio by our house again in the fall…and I am still trying to narrow down a bible program we will use to start each day.

 

School last fall with little brother attending.  We love going to school in “comfy’s” when it is cold outside!

I love this picture that Ellie did during her free time.  This pic was for Bo our dog…she is such an animal lover!!

Sunday Fun-day with friends

We are very blessed to have met some wonderful new friends in our neighborhood. 

In our section (which is basically a big circle) they throw quarterly block parties.  These parties bring back such great memories from my childhood.  We did the same thing as kids and it is our hope that Cullen and Ellie will have the same memories of what our neighborhood(s) brought to their childhood. 

In addition to the large group gatherings, we have built friendships with some fantastic neighbors.

On Sunday, we had two families over for fun in the sun, only mother nature didn’t cooperate.  That didn’t stop us from enjoying a potluck BBQ, drinks and good times though.  The living room turned into a play room and the daddy’s braved the sprinkles with the littles for some swim time.

It warms my heart that we have such great friends that are so close.  All of them know about our unique medical situation and therefore, have never compromised our kiddos health if their babes are under the weather.  It is a huge blessing to have such understanding friends that are literally in our back yard!  This is just exactly what B and I prayed for in a community. 

Here are the boys being…well, boys with their babes.

 

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.”
C. S. Lewis