Behavior Stuff

Recently we have really been working on behavior for the boys.  They are typical 5 year-olds who don't want to pick up their toys or always follow the rules.  I got a few really good ideas from Ryder's behavior therapist as well as other parents online.

Last weekend we started a new behavior/chore chart for the boys.  We came up with rewards they could earn and what behaviors we would be working on for the week.  Each evening before bed we would all sit down and decide who got what stars for the day.  Tonight after getting their stars we talked about what rewards they had earned.  Ryder got 23 stars so he will get a piece of candy tomorrow and Zak got 30 stars so he will get a $1store toy tomorrow.

Tonight I started the Ransom Toy Box with them as well.  Anytime we take a toy away from them it will go in this box.  If they want the toy back they have to pick a chore out of the envelope to do before getting a toy back.  The toys can be taken away for various reason that the boys have been told about such as not putting them away, not using the toy properly, or playing with it after bedtime.

3 Months Old

Tyler is now 3 months old!  He is growing up way too fast for me.  It is crazy to think that Zak & Ryder will be 5 in just 10 days.  I am trying to enjoy every second of their childhood since it goes by so fast.  Tyler is now 12lb 8oz (34%) and 25 inches long (71%).  He is wearing 6 month and 9 month clothing already.  I find it funny and baffling to see him in outfits that Zak & Ryder wore when they were 10-12 months old and Tyler is only 3 months old.  LOL!  As for development, Tyler is doing great!  I honestly can't remember what the average age for milestones are because the boys had such a different schedule due to being preemies.  So I got a book from a consignment sale that talks about the average age for various skills.  So far Tyler is doing great.  Some of the things he is doing include:

laughing out loud
smiling
following objects from side to side
push ups (he lifts his head and chest when laying on stomach)
roll over from tummy to back
making all kinds of vocalizations

He is working on head control now.  He will hold his head upright for a while, but then gets tired.  He is now eating 6oz every 4-5 hours during the day and has been sleeping about 10 hours overnight.  There are nights that he does get up around 2am to eat, but then goes back to sleep.

Comparison from 4 days old and 3 months old

Picture Time

I just wanted to post some pictures from the last week or so.  I am slacking on posting unless we have an appointment of something big to report so I am going to try and make random picture posts to keep everyone up to date with the 3 boys.

Tyler is almost too big for the baby tub

Tyler hanging out with Ryder

1st time in the Bumbo

Tyler laying with Ryder while he recovers from surgery

Hanging out with Zak

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July this year.  As always, we packed up and spent the day in Annapolis with family.  It was so hot this year so we spent some time inside for a while before heading out into the heat for the day.  Zak & Ryder love playing with Joey, Jamison, Hallie, and Nathan when ever they get the chance to.  The kids set up their lemonade stand and had fun with that.  We went to the parade at 6:30pm, had a cook out for dinner, and then watched the fireworks at 9:15pm.  Tyler did so good also.  He loved getting attention from everyone and only got fussy around his normal 8:30pm time because he was ready to go to sleep.  We didn't get home until after midnight, but luckily the boys slept until almost 8am the next day.

2 Months Old

I can't believe Tyler is already 2 months old.  Time sure if flying by so quickly.  He had his 2 month check-up with the pediatrician and is growing very well.  He is now 11 pounds (30%) and 24.25 inches long (90%).  His head circumference is now in the 48% which is good since his head used to be much smaller.  He is now starting to eat 6oz at each feeding although he is spitting up some of it.  He has been doing good at sleeping overnight which is nice.  He will sleep between 6-10 hours overnight usually, but he has had a few bad nights since he got vaccines at the appointment.  Tyler loves to smile and laugh now, it is really cute.  He also has more awake time which is always fun.  Unfortunately, he has started to only fall asleep if you rock him but that started after his vaccines so I am hoping he will outgrow it once he feels better.  Just like Zak & Ryder, Tyler seems to be having a reaction to the vaccines because he is very fussy, had a fever, and just not himself.

Zak was worried about Tyler getting shots at his appointment so he asked me if he could hold his hand to make him not scared.  He held on to his hand during both shots.  When Tyler started crying Zak asked me "Why is the mean nurse hurting my baby?".  It was so cute!

Genetics Appointment

Today Ryder has his yearly appointment with Dr.Hamosh who is his Geneticist.  I love going to see her because she really takes time to talk, ask questions, listen, and really look over Ryder.  She pretty much oversees everything going on with Ryder which is nice.  I like having 1 doctor to talk to who knows just about everything going on.  She looked over Ryder and didn't find anything new or concerning which is always good.  His head circumference is still small, but since it did grow an ok amount over the past year she said we don't need to worry about another MRI right now.  Her final statement this visit was... "Well, I haven't gotten any smarter over the last year so I still can't put a name to exactly what Ryder has going on.  I may never know 100% exactly what is going on, but for now he is doing great."  Like I said, I really like her and how honest she is.

While we were there she also looked over Tyler for me since he had a few things that concerned me.  Although, over the last few weeks we have noticed many of the concerning things were going away.  After she looked him over her response was... "I don't get the chance to say this often in my field, but Tyler looks perfect."  Again, I love how honest she is.  She did say his palate is very high, but there don't seem to be any holes in it (sometimes there can be a pinhole cleft with a high palate).  His tongue does sit back further in his mouth, but now it mainly happens when he sleeps.  She thinks it is just a muscle tone thing that will get better with age which we have seen improvement with already.  And with his tongue tie she agrees it seems to have gotten much better on its own which can happen.  He does still have a tongue tie, but not enough for any ENT to want to clip it right now.  Down the road there is the possibility that he might have some speech issues because his tongue won't be able to touch the roof of his mouth because of the combination of his tongue tie and high palate.

Ryder's Surgery

 Ryder had his adenoids and tonsils removed by a pediatric ENT at Hopkins yesterday morning.  We are hoping this will help decrease the number of sinus infections he gets along with help alleviate his sleep apnea. Ryder & I had to be at the hospital by 7:45am and his surgery was scheduled for 9:45am.  He loved wearing the gown and getting to play computer games while in the pre-op area.  I was able to go into the OR with him while he was put under anesthesia which was nice.  The surgery only took about 30-45 minutes and then I was brought back to recovery to see him.  He had a rough time at first with lots of pain, but once he got pain meds he started to feel better.  We stayed overnight just so he could be monitored for bleeding, dehydration (many kids will refuse to drink and require IV fluids) and because of his other medical things such as the sleep apnea and CVID.  The nice thing was that we got to stay in the brand new Children's Hospital that just opened about a month ago.  Ryder loved the playroom and all of the attention.  He did well during the day yesterday, but had trouble sleeping.  We were discharged this morning since he was doing a good job with drinking.  The difficult thing is trying to keep him hydrated since it hurts for him to drink.  He is supposed to only have very soft foods for the first week or so to try and prevent bleeding.  Also, he is supposed to avoid lots of physical activity for 2 weeks which is hard since we can hardly get him to sit still for 5 minutes right now.

In pre-op area 

Just waking up

 Feeling a little better and being silly

Eating his Popsicle in the playroom

Walking to the playroom

Playing a game before discharge this morning