The West Side Story

Tucker,

Even though you actually turned 15 months in January and I am writing this a few weeks late, all my notes came from the correct time period. Sometimes life gets busy and I forget to type it all up!

The past three months have been a growing experience for you! Your pediatrician has been concerned about your speech since you have had some much fluid sitting in your ears. You have started saying a few words though. Mostly animal sounds but it still is adorable. You moo and bark and can point out cows and dogs when you see them. There are other animals sounds you make like hissing like a snake, and attempting to quack and crow like a rooster. When you went to the doctor for your 15 month appointment, you were 2ft 7in and 24lbs so you are growing good and healthy!

Every morning you wake up around 7:30 (or sometimes earlier if I have to be up earlier) and frankly, I wish you slept until 9 like Trenton! But I do love our sweet cuddles in the morning. You are my little cuddle bug! Always full of silly smiles, hugs and kisses.

You did start to crawl right before Christmas! Now you are a running machine. Though of course you don't run fast at all. Before walking though, your crawling was everywhere! And you are so silly. You would crawl in zigzags across the floor, and my favorite was when you would do donuts. All the sudden you would crawl in circles numerous times like a car doing donuts. Then there is the elephant crawl. Swinging your arms really high and swinging your head really low. Such a silly boy!

I love how you love to brush your teeth and read books, but sometimes it comes at very inconvenient times. Especially if, God forbid, I don't put toothpaste on your toothbrush....the world ends. And books must always be read to you. I hope you continue to always love books, but let's try and limit the readings for Mommy. Sometimes I need to work, or sometimes I REALLY would prefer to sleep. :)

Now that you are older, we are starting to notice that you are even more ornery than your brother. Plus you just LOVE to mess with him! We will find you following him around and babbling at him (saying something apparently very mean), then Trenton will yell at you to leave him alone or go away. Then he will push you and you start crying. Sigh.....such a battle sometimes!

Every time there is music on, you will start dancing. Especially to the Cars theme song. I'm convinced you even know the words. When the song comes on you babble in the same way every time. And of course say "Kachow" :)

You and Daddy love to head butt each other, and then of course you carry it over to other people. It hurts sometimes! Speaking of Daddy, every night I tell you and Trenton to give loves and kisses to Daddy, so you wobble on over willingly yelling "Dada! Dada!" with arms open wide for some hugs and kisses. It is the sweetest thing. Daddy really enjoys how cuddly you are with him too.

Trenton is your best friend but sometimes you get in trouble together. He even got you hooked on candy over Halloween! One time he snuck you a piece of candy in the stroller and the next thing I know, every time you see candy in the stores, you are crying out for some. :(

Roosevelt is still your other best friend. You and that dog are so cute together. You love to give each other kisses and hugs, and you always lay next to him, on top of him, anywhere you can in order to get your puppy loves. I'm really glad you and Trenton will have a puppy to grow up with.

At the beginning of January Aunt Brittany, Uncle Montez, and cousin Kennedy came out to visit. It was your first time meeting all of them! Kennedy is only a couple months younger than you so we all couldn't way to get all three of you kiddos together for the first time. You had a lot of fun having another baby to play with!

Christmas! You had your second Christmas, though last year wasn't really much. You loved opening your presents and playing with all your new toys. Since we live at Boys Town, you got two Christmases since we celebrate early with the guys. I am wondering if you are going to grow up thinking every celebrates Christmas twice...!

One thing that makes me so angry because you are so ornery, is when you are in trouble, you will look up at us and smack your lips together over and over again with a big smile on your face, just to try and get out of trouble. You barely turned one and are already learning how to weasel your way out of trouble with your cuteness! I've always said we had our work cut out with you.....

Right now you love playing with cars and occasionally stuffed animals, but I am curious to see if and when you venture out and choose a "hobby" for yourself, or if you and Trenton will continue to grow up liking the same things. You are a smart little boy and I love watching you learn new things every day.

I love you my sweet boy. Continue to love your family and be your own person :)

Happy Halloween!!

Your adorable little smile just melts my heart

You decided you really like to eat snow! Playing in it not so much

One of your new favorite things to do

Sometimes its fun to just lay on the floor and eat apples

The best place to fall asleep is leaned up against a vibrating fish tank :)

Peanut Butter. Another best friend

Your puppy!!

Cheese!

Dear Jesus....Amen!!

Brother Love

Your first matching outfit! All the way down to the shoes :)

I love catching the both of you holding hands in the car :)

Wagon walks are you favorite!

All the cousins :)

Your first day of school! You started going to daycare once a week for a couple hours. It's a nice break for Daddy and I, and it also gets you used to being around other people and kids. You love your backpack too!

My sweet boys :)

Daddy and his boys working on cars :)

Happy birthday Daddy!

Merry Christmas 2015!

I cannot tell you how many times we re-did this shot....

Santa Claus! And no one cried!

Our annual brother Christmas Tree photo. I'm pretty sure I took approximately 50 photos trying to get one good photo of both of you smiling and looking at the camera. This was the best I could get :)

Trenton,

I cannot believe I have a three year old!! You have grown so much in the past year and it is amazing to go back and look at photos and videos of you just one year ago.

VOCABULARY:
-Lunch = "munch"
-When you went Trick or Treating, you would go to houses and say, "Tucker-treat!"
-Boogers are spiders and you are always digging for spiders; sometimes eating them as well. Even the guys will call them spiders now
-You love Frozen, but you call them Elsa and Juana :) instead of Anna. Olaf is your favorite. Sometimes you will walk around singing "Let it Go!" and "In Summer...!" You really only know those words from each of the songs
-One thing we have been working on is saying "yes sir" and yes ma'am." Daddy and I have been pretty intentional your entire life to address you as sir so you would learn to use it to show respect to others. Right now you say "yes sir" to everyone even when they are "ma'am" :) It doesn't happen very often, but it just brightens my day when I hear you say "yes sir" without being prompted. Even more happiness comes when you say "yes ma'am" to me unprompted. My hope is that you will grow up to show respect to everyone, whether you think they deserve it or not. There is a huge piece missing from kids in today's society and that is because they have no respect for authority and for those older than them. I pray you will not be the norm, and you will stand out above the rest.
-When you really like the taste of something you say, "it is be-licious!!"
-Sometimes you make me laugh when you are really excited about something and exclaim, "I'm so excited, Mommy!"

STORIES:
-Gross things toddler boys do (and I'm sorry if you get embarrassed reading this one day!): One day you grabbed your penis while I was changing your diaper. You licked your hand, then said, "mmmmm! Yum!! Tastes like burgers! Want some Mommy???" You were just so excited. You are so gross, kid.....
-you are a nail biter. It drives me crazy!! I'm always catching you biting your nails, but I don't know how to make you stop
-Since working at Boys Town, we go grocery shopping, A LOT. Twice a month I buy at least one overflowing cartful of groceries, then other trips in between. Needless to say, we go to the store often. With that you have started to love going grocery shopping. You are always wanting to go to Wal-Mart (I think because they have Hot Wheels more than anything else)
-Since Daddy and I work so much, even though we work from home, we are still very busy. Unfortunately that means you get a lot of down time too. You and Tucker love to play with the guys, but sometimes they aren't able, or willing, to play with you. So that means you must play by yourself, or watch TV. Lately, and probably because you are always sick, you watch a lot of TV and YouTube on the ipad (which you call "Ipack"). You're new favorite shows are "Space Racers" and you have recently started watching Spiderman. The go-to movies are still "Mater's Tall Tales" and "Cars" though
-You started preschool this month! You only get to go on Fridays for 2 1/2 hours, and you have only gone once so far, but you have LOVED it! You are looking forward to going back again on Friday and playing with your new friends.

FAMILY:
-Aunt Brittany, Uncle Montez, and cousin Kennedy came to visit over New Years! It was supposed to be a surprise for Daddy but that didn't work out as planned. But that's okay because it was still a great weekend. You absolutely LOVE your cousin Kennedy. You couldn't get enough of her. You were always playing with her and trying to get her to walk with you, even though she was still too little to walk. It was so wonderful to see all three of you playing together. I really wish we lived closer so you could grow up together.

PERSONALITY:
-You are so caring and loving and always thinking about others. You love to share. Your brother is your number one friend as well
-Then on the other hand you are extremely ornery! Whenever the guys have snacks or sodas out, you will run up and take them! One time while in the van, one of the guys had his drink in the front cupholders. Every single time you go out of your car seat then back in, you would run to the front, steal a drink, then hop in your car seat laughing.
-You are definitely a "threenager." The attitude has definitely emerged! You can be very bossy. Mostly to the guys, but we are working on how to talk nicely to people and ask for things instead of demanding.
-I am not the type to buy expensive name brand clothing, but since probably 95% of your wardrobe is from consignment, you have been lucky enough to have some nice name brand items like Nike and Levis, only because I bought them for $2 each. We did buy you and Tucker a pair of Nike shoes, only because they were on sale at the outlet. But now you love your Nike. You have a couple Nike jackets and shoes and a couple shirts as well. You are always asking to wear your Nike sweatshirt. When you see a kid on the street with the Nike symbol you must point it out as well :) I'm glad you know what you like, but at the same time, I hope you don't turn into the kid that "must" have all the name brand items. They aren't that important. Plus I am pretty certain I won't be buying you any expensive items unless I can find a really good deal on them. Money isn't everything, my child, and I hope we can raise you well enough to understand the value in relationships and be present in people's life, instead of things and possessions.
-You are our little candy addict! It doesn't help that the guys have their stashes of sweet snacks in the office, but you love your gummies and anything else you can get your hands on. I've caught you numerous times stealing my stash of candy! You have gotten tall and are able to reach where I keep stuff.
-Last week I even had to call Poison Control because I walked in and you were smashing on your vitamins. Luckily you were okay and we didn't need to do anything.
-Over New Year's Day, you exclaimed, "my belly hurts....I need candy!!!" My son, that is not a logical reason. Candy is not the answer, nor is it healthy for you!

SICKNESS:
-Since your last birthday, you have had 10 fever episodes. That is 44 days of you having a fever in one year. Luckily the steroid has helped, or else it would've been around 60 or more fever days. The temperatures have gotten lower, thank fully and your body has gotten used to fevers, so you are able to play and act more normal during a fever than your first year.

Starting on your first birthday, that year fevers were every 12 weeks, lasting 10 days. Starting your second birthday, fevers moved to every 6 weeks and lasting 6-8 days. Of course since it is your birthday, you just had to have a fever again. Luckily this year we are not spending it in the ER though! This fever has come 4 weeks later than the last one so I am afraid this year will be 4 week fevers :(

I have found a couple different Facebook groups related to periodic fever syndromes and autoimmune diseases and they have helped so much if guiding me to different research to figure out what is wrong with you. Your rheumatologist suspects some sort of period fever syndrome but your symptoms don't quite fit into any of the major categories. I am leaning more toward doing some genetic testing to see if you may actually have one of the other autoimmune diseases I've come across. Another option on the table is removing your tonsils and adenoids. This surgery is said to cure the fevers completely in about 90% of period fever syndrome cases. In some cases, other symptoms remained for some time, but the fevers stopped. I don't want to do surgery if we can avoid it, but I also don't want to continue giving you steroids every month for the next 10+ years.

One day we will find a cure for you, and maybe in one day YOU will be the one to find a cure for another rare disease. :)

YOUR BIRTHDAY!!!
-You had a fever most of the day on your birthday until I gave you the steroid, but we spent pretty much the entire day watching and rewatching Cars. From 9:30am until about 5pm that movie was playing. Then Daddy and I went out on a date for his birthday and you decided to watch Spiderman the rest of the evening with the babysitter :) You got a Buzz Lightyear for your birthday and you haven't put it down! It's one of your favorite toys now. I also made you some Lightning McQueen cookies and you couldn't wait to have them! It was my first time making cookies and I have to tell you, it was more difficult than I thought to decorate! Finally I became satisfied, though they weren't perfect, after my 4th attempt. But you loved them so really that is all that matters :)