Two days left

Back to work in 2 days...


Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, MI is celebrating their 15th anniversary with a photo contest. They are having people post their photo's and tell what they like best about Meijer Gardens.  The prize is  a one-year membership and tickets to a Meijer Gardens' concert of choice!  I have loaded a picture of Gabriel onto their website.  Hopefully we can win a membership! Admission is $12 an adult so don't get to go very often.  If you have a moment please go to this website and vote for my little man!

Even though Gabriel is cutting teeth he is still in an amazing mood for the most part.  His little sister is another story.  She wants things her way and she wants them her way NOW.  :P

Pictures of Gabriel today... (I couldn't get any of Isabella where she wasn't screaming.)

yes, it's 4:30am

It is 4:30am and Isabella is up so I thought I would update the blog.

Gabriel has been extra fussy lately.  He seems ready to cry all of the time.  He will be fine one second and in tears the next.  Last night he crawled into my lap and actually let me put a finger in his mouth to check for teeth.  Granted that he only let me check for a few seconds before breaking into tears again.  My poor baby has three teeth starting to poke through, AT THE SAME TIME.  No wonder he hasn't been himself lately. 

Isabella is working on a sleep schedule.  She wants food around midnight and 4am each evening.  Some nights she is up more but for the most part those are the night feedings right now.  She is awake more and more each day so hopefully the night sleeping will get better soon.

We weighed Gabriel and Isabella yesterday for fun.  Gabriel is 21lbs and my chunkers Isabella is up to 10lbs.  If you don't remember Gabriel was only 12lbs when he went in for heart surgery at 6 months.  I  decided to look up what Gabriel looked like at this age.  I managed to find a picture of what Gabriel looked like at the exact same age Isabella is right now.  The picture even happens to be of him without his feeding tube so it is easier to compare.  Do you think they look alike?

Wow, look at all of that hair!

Gabriel

Isabella

Good fun with Good friends

My friend Michelle and her daughter Adri met up with Gabriel, Isabella and myself at Meijer Gardens today to see the butterflies.  Here are pictures from today.









Aunt Brett let Isabella borrow her socks :) Thank you Aunt Brett!!!! Aunt Brett had these Big Sister socks 23 years ago when she was Isabella's size.

I decided to play with the camera tonight... Gabriel is asleep so Isabella had to be my model tonight ;)

crazy

One week from today I will be back to work.  Things are going to get rough around the house again.  I am back to work March 31st and April 1st.  Spring break starts April 2nd so we will get our feet wet for two days before having another week off.

Isabella is not sleeping through the night yet.  She is up 2+ times a night.  Sometimes I can feed her and she falls back to sleep while others she is up for a few hours.  Soon we will get there.  Isabella is sleeping in the bassinet in our room right now.  She will be sharing a room with her big brother once she sleeps through the night.  I don't want two up instead of just one right now. 

Isabella is a pretty strong little girl.  She loves to hold her head up during tummy time so that she can see what is going on.  She is rolling from her belly to her back when she is tired of tummy time. I have not been able to get the tummy time mat out because I worry about Gabriel hurting her.  Gabriel wont dare let me leave him in the living room while I work with her in another room.  So for now tummy time is on the couch with mom hovering.

Gabriel is doing very good.  Today during therapy we worked on his eating.  That is the only skill I am very worried about with him.  His main diet consists of Pedia Sure and Milk (from the bottle because he has not mastered the sippy cup or straw).  He will just about any flavor of yogurt and pudding but only when HE wants to eat it.  He is very picky on the texture of foods.  I am hoping to get him off the bottle and off the Pedia Sure before he is two years old. 

My little man being funny in his bath tonight


Who other than my little man can sleep like this?


My little girl is growning so fast!

BUCKETHEAD TIME

Who doesn't need a little buckethead in their lives? Buckethead wants everyone to smile and have a wonderful day!!!







sleeping angel


Have to love those little toes!!!!

Play time with daddy!

smiles

Gabriel has been working on kisses!


Gabriel has a new love for bath time (his favorite time of the day), he found BUBBLES!!!




Note- Due to issues with ignorant people using photo's from others blogs to make fun of children with special needs I am going to have to make our blog private. It upsets me greatly to see this happen to others I know, I can't imagine it happening to my own family. I will keep our blog up for the next week while I compile email addresses. If you would like to continue to follow our blog please email me at erinelisepurdy@gmail.com with your email address. It is so sad that I have to do this because of a few ignorant people! If only they could meet these children they are making fun of. Then they would understand that what they are doing is wrong on so many levels. Thank you for checking out our blog and following along with our daily life.

Love

Things are going well on our home front.

Gabriel had another eye appointment yesterday. His eyes have stabilized and we will be scheduling surgery. Gabriel's eye doctor typically does her surgery at St. Mary's hospital but because Gabriel has had heart surgery and all she would rather operate on Gabriel at Devos Children's Hospital. We will be getting a phone call early next week with the date and time of surgery. I am hoping it is over spring break or not until this summer so that I don't have to take a day off work. I don't really have any days I can take off work due to being out so much the past two years. Everything will work out.

We went to Lansing for Gabe's post surgery appointment. I know that people say you are forgetful during pregnancy but I seem to be much more forgetful now with everything going on in our house. Gabe's appointment wasn't until next week. We got very lucky. The doctor saw us and was able to get everything done so that we do not have to come in next week. Stitches are out and sling is still on. He is to wear his sling for the next six weeks. Gabe's recheck in when I am on spring break. He will start therapy at that time.

We got Gabriel an appointment at the dentist for next week. His next tooth is coming in very oddly. We are hoping to see if there is anything we can do to help his teeth come in more naturally.

We went to JCPenny portrait studio today to get pictures of the little ones. Here are a few.

Big Brother Gabriel

Gabriel helping

Isabella yawning... this picture thing takes too long

Kisses from Gabriel

Nap time!!!!

My angles


NOW TO MY PICTURE TAKING SKILLS ;)
This is really how Isabella feels about her brothers attention

Big brother Gabriel using Isabella's head to pose for the camera

Exhausted!

Look at that sharp tooth... RUN!!!

Too tute!


Gabe's amazing picture taking skills :)
The girls

Trying to walk just like her brother

Get that camera out of my face!!!!