First Day of Preschool

The boys' first day of school was pushed back because of the hurricane and flooding we had. They were both very excited about riding the bus and going to school!

The weather on their first day of school was not all that great. It was raining pretty hard, but I was still able to get a few pictures.

4 Years Old

Things have been crazy around here so I have not been able to get a minute to make any posts. I am going to try and make a few to catch up with what we have been doing.

The boys turned 4 on August 5 and I just can't believe it! They have grown up so fast. It seems like every time we look at them they just look so grown up all of a sudden. Today they had their 4 year pediatrician appointment. We talked about development, vaccines (Zak got 3), and current concerns.

Zak weighed 32 pounds (15%) and is 39 inches tall (20%). He did good with all of the development questions which I knew he would. We are increasing his Flovent inhaler to 2 puffs twice a day in hopes of preventing a lot of lung issues once school starts. He did great for his vaccines today, but tonight his arms are sore.

Ryder weighed 31 pounds (9%) and is 40 inches tall (41%). He did pretty good with the development stuff, but not as well as Zak which I figured would happen. We discussed some recent concerns about regression and behavior issues. Our pediatrician is also a developmental pediatrician so he knows most of Ryder's specialists and is very helpful since he understands everything that is going on (more so than the average pediatrician would). Ryder didn't get any vaccines since he is not supposed to because of his CVID. I will make another post discussing everything that is going on with Ryder recently.

Both boys will have to go back for a flu shot. We normally don't do them, but the Immunologist has asked us to get them for both boys so we will. The pediatrician only had the FluMist which neither of the boys can get so we need to wait for the shot to come in.

Family Reunion

Our road trip to KY for the family reunion went well overall. We left at 3:15am on Friday August 5 and got to KY around 1:15pm. I met with Colleen about an hour from the house so we could follow each other and stop together which was nice. On Friday we didn't do too much other than unpack, open gifts for the boys, and have dinner.

Colleen and her kids camped in a tent

My mom, Piper, myself and the boys stayed in a cabin

along with Shirley and Christine

Piper & the boys decided to have a sleepover in my bedroom

On Saturday we took all of the kids to the pool for a while. In the early afternoon Christine and Jamison went to the museum while everyone else napped. Then we took the kids all the play mini-golf which they all enjoyed. We did have an accident at the end where Piper hit Jamison with a golf club by accident (she swung way too hard and Jamison was way too close).

Ryder laying in the tent

Saturday evening we cooked dinner on the campfire. The kids had a blast just playing all evening. Some of the other family members had arrived so we had a big campfire and hung out for a while.

We also had a pinata for the boys' birthday which all of the kids enjoyed!

We were up late Saturday night because we didn't even go back to the cabin until after 10pm, but it was lots of fun. I enjoyed meeting people in person that I have been talking to online, people I never knew existed, and people I have not seen for a very long time! Sunday was the actual reunion so a few errands had to be run that morning. I stayed at the cabin with some of the kids while Colleen took Zak & Jamison.

Boys' birthday cake

We took lots of pictures at the reunion. I did miss the first generation picture because I didn't realize they had started. There were 5 generations at the reunion which was really neat.

Generation 2

Generation 3 (my mom)

Generation 4 (me)

Generation 5 (the boys)

After the reunion the kids went for a short hike looking for fire wood. Then we did another dinner on the campfire. Most people had left after the reunion and the campground was pretty deserted.
We left KY around 9am on Monday August 8 and got home just after 8pm. It was a very long drive home with more stops than on the way there because Colleen & I were having trouble staying awake. I definitely learned if I am making a long drive that I need to leave in the middle of the night!

Tons of Videos

The last 2 days the boys have both made huge improvements with their swimming skills so of course we took a bunch of videos. Zak went from swimming with his swim vest to swimming with nothing! Ryder went from not willing to jump into the pool or go underwater to jumping in without even arm floaties!

Zak swimming on his own for the first time (yesterday)

Ryder jumping in with floaties yesterday

Zak showing off his new swimming skills to Nanny & Poppy today

Zak got very brave and pretty much stayed without his vest the whole time so we had to be better about really watching him because he would just jump and start swimming then sometimes need help.

Zak put on his vest for a little after he got tired. Here he is practicing his diving.

Ryder decided to join in

Ryder also decided he wanted to jump in with no floaties

Right before we left the boys drove around on their "monster truck" which they always love to do!

This week is going to be busy. I need to get laundry done, clothes packed for our trip, run some errands for a few last minute things, and get everything else packed. Ryder has therapy on Wednesday and I will take them to the $1 movie on Tuesday. We pick Christine up on Thursday and then head out on the road around 3am Friday morning!

Bike Riding Videos

I wanted to first explain the new blog background I chose. The boys & I are taking a road trip the first weekend of August to Kentucky for a family reunion. I am excited to go and see my mom along with other family members. The boys have been talking about our "trip to tuckey" ever since they talked about it with Jamison on Friday. So I felt this background fit pretty well for now.

Today Zak asked to have his training wheels taken off his bike! I think it had a lot to do with the little boy who lives across the street from us. He is about 3 months older than the boys and has been riding his 2-wheeler bike for a while now and is always telling the boys he can ride. Honestly, today we got very upset with the kid because he was pretty much making fun of Ryder for not being able to even pedal a bike! So Ben took the training wheels off, I grabbed the camera and this is what we got....

(the sound is pretty loud so you might want to turn the volume down or off)

This video I did freak out at the end because I thought he was doing a little too well and was heading straight for the road. I think if I had kept my mouth shut he may not have fallen over.

He did better than I thought he would and every time he fell he got right back up and wanted to try again. He would laugh many times when he fell. We are very proud of him!

Of course we couldn't leave Ryder out of the fun! He practiced on his bike for a little while, but once he gets too frustrated we suggest it is time for the scooter. I didn't get the camera out quick enough because by this time he had pretty much had enough. Poor guy is trying so hard though!

Soccer & Playground

This morning we took the boys to the playground for a little bit. They started by playing some soccer and football then moved to the playground. Zak really is an athletic kid and picks up pretty much any sport fairly easily. The boys miss the cut off for soccer this year by only 5 days so they will have to wait until next year.

Of course I stood on the wrong side of the sun was shining right into the camera. The quality is horrible, but you get the point. He did it a few times before I got the camera out which always happens so I didn't get his best ones on video. When Ben is holding his butt he is only helping him swing a bit and not holding any of his weight.

Zak thought this thing was pretty fun however Ryder didn't like it. We have made huge progress in Ryder's vestibular issues, but he still has things to work on. He dislikes swings for the same reason he dislikes this spinning.

Day at the Zoo

This morning the boys & I left the house at 7:30am to meet up with Colleen, Joey & Jamison at the metro so we could go to the DC Zoo. The boys were very excited about riding the train, seeing the animals, and hanging out with Joey & Jamison. We got home around 6:30pm so it was a long, but very fun day!

This deer was not part of the exhibits at the zoo. It had wandered into the zoo and was just walking around with all the people. It didn't seem to mind people getting close to it. It did decide to run away after a little while though.

These two were so fun to watch. I took a ton of pictures of them! It was a baby and mother that were playing the whole time.

I loved watching the big daddy lion playing with the lion cubs!

The boys got to pet a few animals in the children's area which they thought was very cool.

All three of the boys thought it was funny how the Toucan was talking to them. This bird was following them around the exhibit just yelling at them. It was pretty funny to watch. Of course once I got the camera out it just stayed in one place.