The Mitchell Family: April 2013

Monday, April 15, 2013

Quick update on the boys

I am just trying to keep track of the all the milestones, and all the important and not so important happenings with the boys and Luke!

Finn loves the outdoors and is an incredible builder. We were becoming a little concerned with his speaking abilities, until we talked to a Speech Therapist and did some research of our own online. They gave us a checklist of things a boy his age should be doing and saying, and he met every single one. He babbles, makes motions and changes his tone when speaking, (even though we aren't sure what he is trying to tell us!), he can say at least 100 words, put 2 words together, and looks directly at the person he is trying to "talk" to. He isn't saying clear, full sentences but the Specialist said to be patient with boys because they tend to talk later than girls. We were relieved to hear all of that, and we are both working with him daily to expand his vocabulary and communicate with us better! His Polands' Syndrome doesn't cause any issues, and we are preparing WAY ahead of time on how to address it when he has questions about why his chest looks different than his brothers', dad or his future friends. He is an analytical thinker who has a lot of passion and loves to rough house with his dad and brother. He is ALL boy, and is an extremely picky eater, which we are slowly working on as well. He is about 37lbs, absolutely solid, and at last measurement was almost 40 inches tall. :)

Dietrich is a master crawler, and can go from one place to another in speedy time. He loves when Finn pays attention to him and he is a major snuggler. He doesn't have a preference when it comes to mommy or daddy; he is happy when either one of us holds and cuddles him. He has two bottom teeth, and so far he loves Squash and is not a fan of Peaches. We are slowly working on introducing more and more food, even though I have a major fear of food allergies. His sleep schedule is a little screwed up lately, but I am working on getting it back to normal. He has taken out his 1/2 hour morning nap and his 1/2 hour evening nap, and is down to just one, three hour afternoon nap which usually begins around 1pm. He still doesn't cry much and smiles at EVERYTHING. He is currently going through another growth spurt and is up to 20lbs and about 28 1/2 inches. He is now using furniture to stand up and can take a couple tentative steps whilst holding on to something. He is very eager to catch up to his big brother! :)

Luke hurt his back working on our increasingly gorgeous backyard and sitting in tiny crawlspaces for 60 hours a week. He was laid up this weekend, but icyhot patches, massage from yours truly and lots of stretching allowed him to return to work this morning. He is working hard on making the backyard beautiful and functional for the boys and myself and it's coming along great! He is extremely helpful to me, and I value and appreciate him more than even he knows!:)

That's all for now! Ta-ta! :)

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Our Vacation to the Oregon Coast Aquarium and Visiting Family

(Note: This will sound a little rushed, as I still have unpacking, laundry, dinner and bedtimes to attend to. I apologize in advance for any punctuation or grammatical errors.)

Hello, everyone! When 2013 began, Luke and I talked about taking a much needed vacation to somewhere Finn would love and remember, and a place where Dietrich would be visually stimulated. When Luke and I were young, we both went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, OR. Since we were small, it was a huge and fascinating land that we both remembered fondly as adults. Upon arriving and entering the place, we were a little disappointed to see how small it actually is. However, Finn loved the Shark tunnels, the Otters, and the very playful Seals and Sea Lions.

We also saw my parents, my sisters, Luke's Grandma Ann, his Granny and his Aunt Patti and Uncle Rick. My eldest sister, Lydia, came down with a strep skin infection in her leg and was hospitalized the day we arrived in Klamath, on an overnight stop before heading to Roseburg and then Newport the next day. I was able to see her and make sure she was well. While in Newport, we stayed in a beautiful, accommodating and relaxing hotel with an indoor pool. Finn is a water baby and swam four times during our three day stay. I think he enjoyed the pool more than the Aquarium! I thought Dietrich would enjoy the pool because he loves splashing in the tub, but the combination of loud, echoing kids and a large body of water terrified him the first time. I will never forget how fast he crawled up Luke's body until he was hanging onto Luke's head and gripping his hair with a deathlike grip. The second time, he was a little more willing to explore the water and didn't look so terrified. He stayed up in the room with Luke while Finn and I went swimming the other two times though. They had fun bouncing on the beds, and crawling and exploring the room.

My sister, Kristina, lives in Portland and was able to drive down the day we went to the Aquarium and spent the whole day with us eating amazing food, seeing the fishes and swimming in the pool. Finn was attached to her hip and bawled his eyes out when she left, (she did, too. She told me later. LOL)

All in all, we drove a total of 18 hours and I can proudly say that, though we had a few bumps, the boys did amazing. I am proud of how they handled the car rides, the constant stopping and sleeping in unfamiliar places. Finn slept all the way through the night every night, (which, if you know Finn, is a feat when he is not in his own big boy car bed.) Dietrich slept like a champ in the play pen and in mommy's arms. They were awesome! Luke and I got to reconnect a little, without the distraction of daily life, work, and our other obligations. Anyhow, I am now going to quickly post some pictures from our trip, courtesy of Kristina and Aunt Patti. They are all of the boys' and nothing else, of course. Enjoy! :)