Thank God for Mr. Mom

I'm sure you all know that my dear husband is my very own Mr. Mom. He is blessed with an awesome schedule of 24 on/48 off so he gets to stay home with our beautiful babies 3-4 times a week. He loves being there for the kids and especially loves not working 2-3 jobs. I love it because I don't have to worry about my babies having anything less than all the love and attention they need and deserve (although Lauren goes to Ms. Candi twice a week and we love her too)!

While Daddy loves these babies and cares for them immensely, I frequently come home to a disaster zone of toys galore with the kids in less than perfect condition. See photographic evidence...

Yes, those are lopsided pigtails peeking out of the Elmo panties perched atop her head. Not to mention the rest of this glorious outfit...

I'll take ragamuffin children anyday over the alternative of the blessing of having them home with their #1 fan, dear old dad. Thanks babe for being an awesome stay-at-home daddy. Love your #1 fan. :)

Lauren Faith 16 Months

1st Grader

Nathan started first grade today at his new school, Whitestone Elementary. He looks as handsome as ever and is so excited for this awesome new school year. Mommy dropped him off this morning but he gets to ride the bus home today. He is beyond thrilled about that! Mommy... not so much. Here's to a great school year!!! Go Wildcats!

I know, I know - this is way overdue!

Look at how big this little stinkpot is getting!

I have vowed to restart this blog. I have so many cute things to share so I hope you'll pick back up reading where you left off! :-)

Lauren Update

We had a fully body scan done on Lauren and it showed no prior fractures or problems with her bones! Thank God! She is healthy and the doctor no longer suspects OI. She's getting used to her cast and is doing great. Kids are so resiliant. Thank you to everyone for your prayers!

Prayer Request

My poor baby girl has a fractured radius and ulnus near her wrist. She has what's called a buckle fracture and we have no idea when or where she sustained it. On Saturday morning she was acting funny and not using her right arm or leg to crawl much. She was super needy and wanted to be held and nursed all day. Of course I obliged and loved on her all day. Sunday was more of the same, but a little better. She was using her leg and pulling up but crawling on her forearm only, not bearing any weight on her hand. I decided to call the nurse Monday and get her opinion. The nurse was not worried because she had excellent range of motion, no pain on touching and pressing the area, and was grasping and pulling up fine. I decided to give it a few days and see if she improved. Her mood was improving greatly and she was playing and crawling fine except she was still on the forearm. Doug took her in to the doctor on Wednesday for the croup and she demonstrated her crawling for the doc. Doctor wasn't too concerned but ordered an x-ray for our peace of mind. Sure enough, it is fractured.

We saw the pediatric orthopedist yesterday and they casted it. Because Lauren is under a year, they have to rule out problems that could be causing her bones to be brittle since there was no real fall/injury that caused the fracture so to speak. The number 1 suspect is a genetic disorder called osteogenesis imperfecta. This disorder can show up spontaneously without prior evidence in other family members and it basically creates problems with collagen production, which can lead to brittle bones. They have ordered a full body scan for Lauren to see if there are any other fractures that she has sustained that we were unaware of. If so, they will order a skin biopsy to test for this disorder. There are varying types of "OI" and the doctor did say that she felt that if Lauren has this that she has a mild form of it. One of the symptoms is a blue/grayish tint to the whites of the eyes and the doctor did note that slightly in Lauren.

I'm trying not to freak out but I'm VERY worried about my baby girl. Please keep her in your hearts and pray for her that she does not have a history of fractures that have gone undetected. I will keep the blog updated as soon as I hear anything back from her doctor.

Love to all!

Just some pics of the stinkers!

Back away from the candy cane and no one will get hurt...

Baby girl has been a teething monster for the last few days! Anything and everything goes straight to the mouth, including my face! I think she'll be cutting those top teeth pretty soon. She's still cute though - even when she's kind of a bear!

Wiggly Tooth

Well - we've leaped over another milestone in the Wheeler house. Nathan had a dentist appointment last week and we found out he had his first loose tooth. He wiggled and wiggled all week and started begging Doug to pull it out on Monday. We tried on Tuesday...

And again on Wednesday...

But it just wasn't quite ready. We couldn't get the floss underneath the tooth. He kept wiggling and we tried again tonight. Success! We got the floss on tight and Daddy play punched him in the belly while I started singing and with one little yank, the tooth was free.

Big smile right after the tooth came out...

Now we get to see how much the tooth fairy leaves for teeth these days. I remember a quarter or two. With inflation, I'm sure the rate's gone up. However, we are in a recession so I guess we shall see!

I still can't believe how brave this kid is. I used to let my teeth hang on by a thread until they just fell out on their own. He is his father's son!

Piggie Tail

Hey everyone! I just wanted to post some cute pictures of Lauren's first piggie tail and some of her latest and greatest expressions. She's almost 8 months old now and nearly crawling. She does this lunging thing to get where she wants to go. I'm guessing by Christmas we won't be able to keep up with her!

Poking brother in the eye

Happy girl

My favorite crinkle nose smile

Crinkle nose again

Evil child grin!

This is what happened when we took the piggie out. I think she looks like Cindy Lou Who with brown hair! :)

Photo Shoot with Robin

Robin posted the first couple of shots for us on her blog. The picture of me is TERRIBLE, but I cropped myself out and left beautiful Lauren in for your viewing pleasure. I think her eyes look like milk chocolate. Nathan was "thinking of something funny" in his pic. :-)

Happy Halloween!

Just pics :-)

Lauren turned 6 months old on Oct. 8! I can't believe how fast this last half year has flown by. She has turned out to be such a sweet angel baby and the greatest addition to our family since Gator! Her 6 month checkup was yesterday and she checked out beautifully. She weighed 16.3 pounds, putting her in the 47th percentile. Her height was 27.5 inches, putting her in the 90th percentile. And I can't remember her head circumference except that it was in the 97th percentile! Thanks Grammaw and Uncle Mashew!

She loves taking baths with her big brother!

She's scooching - not crawling yet, but she can scooch to where she wants to be. She was all the way on the pink mat and scooched herself under the ottoman.

She's trying food now. She loves banana but not baby food banana. She wants to do it herself. And yes, that is a big blob of banana by her eye.

She has 2 teeth...

Her smile would melt your heart...

She loves her johnny jump! I love the below smile. She kind of scrunches up only the right side of her nose. Cutie pie!

She's working on sitting unassisted. She's almost there!

She get's more beautiful every day...

And her favorite pastime is sucking on her big toe!