What a busy few months we’ve had, I can’t believe how fast the second half of the year went by! After Kate’s birth the trio started their 2nd year of preschool, went to the Saline Fair, had my cousin Renee’s wedding in Chicago in which Johnathan was the ringbearer, Mady and John playing soccer together, went to a couple of apple orchards, had Katherine’s baptism, enjoyed Halloween, had my cousin Rachael’s wedding in which Annabel & Madelyn were the flowergirls and Johnathan was the ringbearer, went to NY for Thanksgiving (had yet another health issue at Thanksgiving, this year was ear infections for John and Anna, at least better than last year’s RSV hospitalization for Mady!), saw Santa a couple of times at different functions, had a few different Christmas parties including the trios party at school and their Sunday School party, played in the snow and built their 1st snowman, and John and Mady started attending Sunday School and were in their 1st church Christmas program.
Saline Fair
 Saline Fair 2011 |
1st Day of Preschool
 1st Day of Preschool |
Klues Wedding (Johnathan was Ringbearer)
 Klues Wedding |
Big House Big Heart
 Big House Big Heart |
Katherine’s Baptism
 Kate's Baptism |
Apple Orchards
 Apple Orchards 2011 |
Halloween
 Halloween |
Sparks Wedding Shower and Wedding (Annabel and Madelyn were Flowergirls and Johnathan was Ringbearer)
 Sparks Wedding |
Thanksgiving
 Thanksgiving 2011 |
Here’s some updates on what each of the kids have been doing:
Annabel – she has had an AMAZING year! To think that just a year a go she wasn’t even walking independently yet! Her speech continues to develop although not as fast as we’d like but on her schedule. She is now trying to say many 2 syllable words, even if it’s not quite the word, just the sounds. She still gets quite frustrated at times because she tries to communicate to us but we don’t always understand, which is actually frustrating for all of us. We are praying that this year is a big year for her speech! She is doing so much more independently this year – feeding herself yogurt with her spoon, holding her own cup, eating things cut mostly the same as we do for John and Mady, getting into and almost out of her highchair by herself, taking off her coat and all of her clothes at night, and overall is just a more pleasant, happy girl. She has been seeing a behavioral psychologist since October and things are going well, doing much better at participating in table activities and staying focused on tasks and more willing to allow hand over hand assistance. She also started Project Impact at school in November and her level of play as well as communication has improved with the approach we’ve learned from it. Annabel is a very bright girl, we just need to continue helping her figure out how to express her knowledge in a positive, appropriate way. Encouragement from doctors, therapists, and teachers remains that she can do a lot still if she allows herself too. There is a lot she learns if she’s shown repeatedly and I think life may just be that way for her, learning best by hands on. The last few months have been quite encouraging with many small victories so hopefully this can be a big year for her!
Madelyn – her imagination has soared this year! I just love watching her play with all of her toys and seeing what she’s going to come up with next. Mady doesn’t have a pretend friend, she actually has a pretend house in NY and tells us all about it, it’s pretty cute! She is counting to 20, working on writing and identifying her letters, and is telling us made-up stories as she “reads” her books. Her coloring has come a long way in the last few months. She finished OT in November and is on a break until April when she will have another evaluation. She still struggles a bit with coordination of her body such as for jumping jacks but has improved immensely from a year ago! She has recently became a great little helper, helping me clean off the table after meals, make up the beds, and just general help with her siblings. We have had some issues with her testing us on things in the past few months but we’ve started a new approach to handling it and the past week has gone much more smoothly so hopefully we’re headed in the right direction! I think she will always be one who will test us though!
Johnathan – he has come a long way with finally learning all of his colors, almost counting all the way to 20, working on writing and identifying letters, and coloring much better! His speech has vastly improved this year, now he doesn’t stop talking! He resumed speech in November after almost a year break and is doing so well! He is my 1st one to be fully potty trained, including at night (he started wearing undies to bed on December 28th and has been dry every night)! He is such a great brother, always helping with Kate, holding her, talking to her, and just truly loving her. I think he’s going to be her protector! Of the trio he is definitely our most laid-back, wanting to please us.
Katherine – what an amazing 4 months it’s been! She is such an easy baby and so good natured. She had her 1st bottle on September 16 given by Daddy and sucked it right down, has not hand any problem going back and forth between myself and the bottle. She started sleeping thru the night just before turning 2 months old and kept with it! She moved into her own room, out of the bassinet and into the crib at the end of October. She’s been smiling for a good month and a half and is now laughing, been babbling for a good month (it’s adorable watching her try to mimic sounds we make), sitting up with minimal support, rolling very well both ways and bringing both hands together to grab toys and shaking rattles, etc. She’s been drinking 7 1/2oz bottles at night for about 2 months and recently increased to 9 1/2ozs so with our pediatricians blessing we started her on solids with her 1st being oatmeal on December 31st and she opened right up, eating like it was 2nd nature to her and finishing it all! She has the best rolls all over her little body and we absolutely love it!! My in-laws got me a magic baby bullet for Xmas so I can’t wait to start using it to make her food! It is just amazing watching her develop in a typical fashion, the typical way is so fast!! She loves people watching and so far loves being held by anyone, unless she’s hungry, then she wants mommy! : ) I absolutely love being able to provide her with what she needs at this time in her life! Kate did have to go on steroids and albuterol just before Xmas as she had a lingering cough that just wouldn’t go away and came back rearing it’s ugly head, causing her to wheeze and have lower oxygen sats (92/93). I hated to put her on the meds but knew she needed to to finally clear this up and am glad we did. The doctor ended up doing her 4 month well child at the same time and she was 13lbs 10ozs (50%), 24 1/3 inches (50%), and 42.1cm (78%). She still has Daddy’s blue eyes, he’s very much hoping she keeps them like Mady did! This year will be a big one for Kate, many, many developments!
We are very excited for this year as I imagine all of the kids will be developing like crazy again! This year my parents and us are taking the kids to Disney and can’t wait for the experience for them! It is bound to be a great year!!
** I have more pictures to post but am having difficulties, will try to add tomorrow **
No comments:
Post a Comment