Allister loves mr potato head!

A little update.

Allister is doing great! Kids are so adaptable.
He had a rough first night, but since then has slept through as normal. Just the odd whimper at night, I'm assuming he's a little uncomfortable. Understandable with that huge contraption on his right leg!

Allister is learning to get around again, and I'm getting great biceps. He is a chunker and "up" has become a favorite phrase. He can now pull up on his one leg and get up on the couch. He's crawling around again, but it doesn't look that easy!

Our neighbors and Harrison are being very sweet while Allister is restricted. They are playing so sweetly with him. We have been trying to get out and do things more immobile! We went to the Library story time for the first time in a while, and it was a lot of fun. We have many many little boys in our neighborhood. There are 6 boys under 4 between just us and the 2 houses behind us. And there are many more!

Harrison is getting on great at Moms Day Out. His teachers, and everyone, have commented on his good manners! He says please and thank you, and excuse me without prompting. In fact the other day I was passing the front desk and Ms Patti said "I was just bragging about your son and his wonderful manners!" it makes me so happy to see I have a polite and friendly little boy :)

There was a little incident at MDO last week, and Harrison got bitten. His friend Carson, who is also a boys boy, and Harrison, were fighting over a toy car. I guess Carson won! His mom was so apologetic, and Harrison and Carson play and get along great normally. I just hope it was a one off!

I still have photos to post of England, I'll catch up soon!

Another ER visit :(

Poor little Allister has broken his tibia. That's the bigger of the two bones in the front of his lower leg, for those who do not remember their biology class.
While I was cooking dinner last night, and daddy had just got home, the boys were playing in the living room. Jumping around and being boys as usual! Next thing I know Allister is on the floor, crying. A very hurt cry. A different cry. My first instinct was he's broken something. It's funny, when your instincts say you need to go to the hospital they are normally right! I'm not sure if Harrison fell on Jim, or if he jumped or fell from the couch. He tries to copy everything his big brother does, and Harrison has a tendency to play rough!
So Daddy Matt and Harrison eat their dinner, while Allister and I venture off to Children's A&E on a monday night. It was PACKED! So many sick kids, if we didn't catch a cold I'll be very surprised!

I saw this rainbow on the way, and there was a beautiful red sky behind me! Its the first rainbow I've seen in many many years!

So we end up at the Children's Urgent care down town hopping to be seen quicker than in the ER. Its in the same building and actually the same waiting area as the plastic surgery clinic where Allister had his surgery a year ago. It was very deja vu!

We wait an hour to be seen, then head off for X-rays. Yup a broken bone :( here is his X-ray. Allister laid as quiet as a mouse and didn't move a muscle through all the X-ray's. He was such an angel! I think he was so tired by that point you could have done anything! The fracture is near the top and starts on the right and goes up and to the left. It's kind of hard to see.

Trouble is we have to then be transferred to ER because they don't cast at urgent care! Crazy but true. So off we head and wait another hour to be seen. Thankfully the casting wait and casting itself was pretty quick, and Allister fell asleep during the casting itself! So funny! By the time we got out of there and home it was midnight. And needless to say we didn't have a great night sleep. Allister slept all morning though, and after a few rounds or ibuprofen is almost back to his happy self this afternoon.

We have a follow up appointment with an orthopedist surgeon next week, and the cast will be on 4-6 weeks. Fun fun fun! I feel so bad for the little guy. Although aft trying to stand a few time, he's getting used to the cast and is sitting happily playing!

Allister spent almost the whole morning like this!

Allister's 18 month well check.

Tuesday Allister had his 18 month well check at his pediatrician.

Here are his stats.

Height. 34 1/4 inches 91st percentile
Weight 28lb 2oz 76 percentile
Head 19 inches 62nd percentile

He's doing great! He's tall, but not quiet as tall as Harrison. But things can change quickly :)

He's talking up a storm! He will copy pretty much anything you say! He knows all of his super heroes, important stuff! Spiderman and Batman are his favorites. He can run, jump a little and climb a lot!

He figured out how to climb out of his crib this week. That's been fun! If he's super tired he will thankfully lay down and sleep, but we've had a lot of frustration this week with a tired boy who just won't lay down. I've tried laying next to him and that has helped a little. I'm so not ready to have him in a big boy bed, but I guess we don't have a choice! I'm sure it's. It safe to have a toddler scaling his crib, he could slip and hurt himself.

Mummy and me time

Allister and I went to the mall Today and he enjoyed his lunch at panera!

Allister is 18 months.

This little cutie turned one and a half this month!! He is at the funnest age ever! Seriously, it's adorable. I remember Harrison being this age and you just want to eat them up there so sweet :)

Allister is saying sentences now, and all sorts of words! He says things Harrison never said. That's having a 3 year old brother for you!

Batman, superman, bad guy, and green lantern are a regular part of his vocabulary. Along with teem umizoomi, bubble guppies and "Die!! Die!!". Yup, I know. But what's a mum to do! I have no idea how he learned that.

He is getting his canines so this will be the last of the baby teeth apart from his 2 year molars. Yay! He got his left top and bottom this last weekend and the others are working their way in.

He's running around after Harrison all day long. He idolizes his big brother it's so so sweet. "hanon hanon" are some of his favorite words. I love to see their friendship blossom as Allister becomes more able to relate to his older brother.

I took these cute photos today, as soon as you get the camera out Allister says cheeeeese and puts on his best smile!

Sentences.

During the last week Harrison has started to say more and more 2 word sentences. Its a big breakthrough for him, with such a large vocabulary it opens up all sorts of communication breakthroughs, and I just now now its clicked in his little brain there's no stopping him.

for the longest time Harrison would come up and say "More", but it was hard to figure out more what.

He has now said sentences such as....

More Grapes, More milk etc.

red Car, Blue train etc.

Watch Thomas, Watch Wall-E Etc.

Bye Bye Dada

He is also rambling longer sentences but I have no idea how to translate those just yet :)

Hugs.

Over the last month or two Harrison has got very cuddly! Its such a nice phase. He will say "hug" run up to you and give you a big bear hug, with his head resting on your shoulder.

Needless to say Matt and I are loving it.

He will also snuggle up to you on the couch, or sit on your lap quietly and watch tv or just hang out. This makes things allot easier when your almost 7 months pregnant!

Lost in translation....

Harrison is leaps and bounds ahead in his vocabulary. It makes my life so much easier now he can communicate his needs! The trouble is you need a special Harrison dictionary to translate all the words that don't yet sound quit right!

Here are some of the popular ones.

Grape- Bup

Step - Bup

Helicopter- hebopter

Plane- Main

Train- Main

Bunny- Nunny

Snack- Ack

Shoe- Ooosh

Wall-E - Ol-eeee

Watch- Otch

Sometimes its tricky to figure it out!

The good the bad and the ugly~ A pregnancy update.

The Good.

I have a wonderful baby boy bouncing around inside me! And boy do I feel him, I think its an octopus! So far this pregnancy has been a lot easier than with Harrison, losing some extra weight before I got pregnant I am sure has helped. Even though I am huge, at 30 weeks my heartburn is barely there, my hips don't hurt and I'm as comfortable as someone with a 20lb bowling strapped to her tummy can be.

The Bad.

I am currently measuring 6 weeks bigger than I should be. For those who are not informed on all things pregnancy, your fundal height is the measurement from your pubic bone to the top of your uterus. After week 20 you have this measured at every doctors appointment, in a normal pregnancy this measurement is the same in centimeters as it is in weeks. So at my 28 week appointment I should have measured 28cm. I measured 34cm. Being within 2cm is considered normal- being 6cm larger is not! I had 10 weeks of growth in 4 weeks, no wonder I feel/am huge! My doctor thinks I have excess amniotic fluid, which in most situations has no cause, it just happens. It can cause some complications, pre-term delivery, umbilical cord problems, breach or unusual presentation of the baby-thus a higher risk of C section. All of these things are not good, but the main thing is the baby is fine and it shouldn't cause him any problems. In very rare cases it can mean there is a problem with the babies kidneys or swallowing mechanism somewhere, but because I have already had 2 level 2 ultrasounds this is very unlikely.

We have an Ultrasound scheduled soon to check everything is going ok, and if I still have too much amniotic fluid, as apparently it can correct itself. We have a lot of questions for the doctor so I am anxious to see her!

I have also been tested for Gestational Diabetes. My results came back boarder line, but negative, which is great. I have to avoid sweets and sugary foods and eat more often with more protein. I am sure feeling a lot better since I started doing this! With a boarder line test however it does mean I may still get GD later this pregnancy.

The Ugly.

My belly! Its HUGE! When people ask me when i am due, or how long I have and I tell them 10 weeks I get a very strange "you have to be joking" look! I am about as big in the belly now as I was with Harrison when I delivered. It is not very comfortable, I just hope I don't have to grow another 10cm. My clothes are all getting too short over my tummy, if you look closely you will see.

In all seriousness, even though I am huge, and its getting difficult to do day to day things like put on shoes and chase around after Harrison, its truly a joy to be pregnant.

And I would rather have a big ol'belly than the swelling I had last time!

I just wish pregnancy was easier and plain sailing like it seems to be for some people. Having said that, Ive not met one lady yet who said pregnancy was easy, so maybe they don't really exist!

Please keep our baby boy in your thoughts and prayers.

I love Elmo.

Happy New Year!!!

Harrison in his new jammies hugging Elmo :0)
Sorry for the lack of blogs, lots of updates to come soon!

Christmas!

We had a much smaller Christmas gathering this year than last! There were 8 of us. Me, Daddy, Harrison, Greg, Grammy, Pooh-Bah, Uncle Tom and Aunt Barb.

I baked another Christmas cake, its very boozy :)

We all managed to fit round one table, last year we needed 3!

We had a very traditional English Christmas dinner, Roast Turkey, stuffing, roast potatoes (they were so yummy!) sprouts with roast chestnuts, sausages wrapped in bacon, and crackers!

Christmas isn't Christmas to me without a turkey dinner. We ate left overs for 3 days :O)

Ours wasn't as moist as the Franksgiving Turkey~that girl as special powers!

This year Harrison was able to open all his gifts without much help at all. We opened some gifts Christmas eve, some Christmas morning and some later that day. He was overwhelmed as it was! It was such a joy with him this Christmas, he was so much fun and loved all his gifts!

We had such a busy Christmas day I didn't take many photos! And I don't think I have one of me anywhere.........I should put someone in charge of the camera next year!

I do have some video though, I will share it soon.

Sowman!

We had a nice snow fall right before Christmas- Sadly I still didn't get to experience my first (in memory) white Christmas! It all melted apart from a tiny splodge of snowman bum!

Here is Harrison and Daddy building their first snowman, Harrison refused to wear his gloves so we had to rush back inside and couldn't spend long playing.

Doesn't he look cute?

Our neighbour Jena helped out.

We have since had plenty more snow, and now I'm bored of it and want to see grass again!

A visit with Santa.

We braved the cold and went to Columbus zoo to see the Christmas lights and Santa this year.

Harrison didn't get to visit with Santa last year, so this was his first time.

We have been reading Harrison lots of books about Christmas and many of them feature Santa, so he knows exactly who he is, if not what he does. I'm sure that will come next year though.

Harrison even recognizes Santa in shops, the other day we were in Kroger and a man who worked there had a Santa red shirt on with a hat and white beard. Harrison kept pointing and saying "Santa Santa Santa!" its so cute.

Trouble is now everyone with a beard is Santa :)

Harrison turns 1 1/2 years old!

On December 16th Harrison turned 1 1/2 years old! He is such a BIG boy now!

He is talking up a charm, saying pretty much any word you ask him to, even if it doesn't sound quite right! We are way beyond counting them that's for sure!

He can jump on the spot with both feet.

Run like crazy, and very fast too!

He can count to two -we sometimes manage 3!

He can recognize and say the the names of the earth, moon and stars thanks to Wall-E

He knows a couple of shapes and colors, star, circle, orange and green (sometimes!)

He recognizes all his family in photos and can say their names.

Here he is on his 18month birthday.

He is so tall I swear he will be taller than Matt, who at 6ft3" is plenty tall enough! At 18 months Harrison is a full 3 inches taller than Matt was.

I'm in trouble.

18 Month check.

Harrison had his 18 month well check at the doctors yesterday.

Hes such a big boy now! His net appointment is for when he is 2 years old!

His stats are:

Weight: 26lb15oz (75%)

Height 361/4 inches: (Greater than 97%)

Head: 48.2cm (70%)

So we are now off the charts for height!

This kid is going to be taller than me by the time he is 10!

He is doing really well and very vocal, but we are definitely going to have to set some ground rules with discipline. I didn't realize how hard it was to give in to tantrums or cuteness for an easier life! All Harrison has to do is say "Please" ("Peeeeeas") or "Thankyou" ("Daddooo") and I melt.