HOLY COW! CLAYTON IS 6 MONTHS OLD!

              Well as hard as it maybe 6 months ago I welcomed the most handsome little boy into this world! Clayton Randall came in weighing 9lbs even and was 21 inches long, and today he has more than doubled his birth weight and at last measurement he was a whopping 27in long! I am positive he has grown by leaps and bounds and cant wait for his doctor appointment tomorrow morning to know how much he has grown and record it in his baby book! I am still in shock that he is 6 months old and the milestones that he has been hitting lately are amazing and  I am one proud mama of him thriving so well, but it makes me sad that he is already doing some things that I was sure I had a couple more months before he hit those milestones! Everyone keeps telling me he is just trying to get to that point so he can keep up with his big brother Ayden! So as most of y'all are wondering  here is what Clayton has been up to lately!

• Can crawl forwards and backwards can go anywhere in the house now 
• puts anything and everything in his mouth
• can pull up in his crib by either standing on his knees or all the way up on his feet! 
• takes 2 naps a day one in the morning for about 30 minutes or so and then a long one in the afternoon for about 3-4 hours
• sleeps all night long for about 12 hours from about 8:30-8:30
• starting to babble all the time 
• says "dada" 
• loves playing with his feet
• has 2 teeth 
• can go from a crawling position and sit up unsupported by his self 
• has tried all veggies and loved all of them 
• started the fruit trial and loves his pears, and bananas next to try is apples and peaches
• loves to laugh
• fascinated with Barney just like his big brother good for the boys not so good for mommy :(
• loves bath time and rolling over and fighting me to get his diaper on him 
• loves being naked :)
• big time mama's boy  
• Wears 12 month clothes 
• wears size 3 diapers but it wont be long til he is in size 4's probably in the next couple of weeks we will be upping his size!

 I am so excited to see what the next few months will bring a part of me thinks that he will be walking soon which in all  honesty I am not ready for I am not ready for both of my children to be mobile Ayden is a handful by himself and to add Clayton to the mix I am going to be one BUSY mama! and its also just sad to think that my baby could be toddling around soon! I will be getting on tomorrow and update with the stats from the doctor so look back! and I will also post some pics! but now the bed is calling my name so I am going to crash! 

Elizabeth

CLAYTON HAS 2 TEETH!

          Well my baby boy is growing up! He officially has TWO teeth! They made their grand appearance on April 8th! I cannot believe how fast he is growing up! It feels like just yesterday that I was laying on the OR table and hearing his cry for the first time a cry that I longed for during my hard pregnancy! Now he is going to be 6 months old on the 27th! I was joking with Brent the other day saying how SLOW last year seemed to go while I was pregnant with Clayton and that this year is SPEEDING by and since it is FLYING by we should so totally try for another! HAHAHA his face was PRICELESS! (I by no means am wanting to have another child right now!!) of course we are wanting more kids but right now I am perfectly content with the 2 amazing boys I have right now. But to see his face and him knowing I am perfectly content with the boys we have right now was just hilarious I so wish I had a camera to share that face with y'all! I am also saddened that Clayton is CRAWLING most of the time it is backwards but he is definitely getting to the point of figuring out how to crawl frontwards and also going from crawling to the sitting up position I really don't remember Ayden doing anything this fast like his little brother is. I just know that Clayton is just trying to catch up and do the things that his big brother is doing!! I am so proud of him but just not ready to have 2 MOBILE children!!!!  Ayden is like 5 kids mobile cause he is into anything and EVERYTHING the boy has no fear!

        Ayden brought me a present today while we were playing in the backyard and that was a dead possum head! I FREAKED OUT! and of course we came right in washed his hands and didn't go back outside today Brent had to go on a body hunt today when he got home from work and didn't find a thing so I am guessing Boomer had possum stew a few nights ago! Ayden is getting so big he LOVES singing songs with Barney on TV and it is sooooo cute! especially the mad song he loves to say breathe and of course his favorite word NO and then march around the room with his hands on his hips like he is mad! It is soooo funny! I cannot wait til the fall when I can enroll him into school for Mothers Day Out he needs it so bad I know that he is just getting bored at home and that's why he is acting out sooo much. I try to do activities with him but he just gets frustrated with me and shuts down and gets mad when I try and do activities with him. Some exciting things that Ayden is showing signs of is POTTY TRAINING!!!!  He isn't quite there yet but he will be soon I CANNOT WAIT he definitely knows when he is wet or dirty and loves taking his diaper off and bringing it to me and letting me know what kind of present is in there! I don't know about any of y'all who have kids and if they do this but he is FASCINATED with POOP! yes it is incredibly gross and unsanitary and just plain disgusting but the kid thinks it makes great paint. I have had many run ins with cleaning his walls, dresser, jungle gym, and TV, and giving him a nice afternoon bath after nap since he thinks its the COOLEST thing ever! I know when he gets older It will be a great way to break the ice with any girlfriends that come over to the house! haha! "you think he is cute now did you know he liked playing with his poop as a toddler" lol 

Well i feel that I am just rambling on so I am going to go but next time I blog I will be sure to post pics of the boys and give y'all Clayton's 6 month stats!! 
Elizabeth 

Ayden's ABR results

         Well first and foremost I want to be able to say after lots of prayers Ayden's hearing test or ABR came back COMPLETELY NORMAL! The first test was definitely not right! I am so glad that I trusted my motherly instincts and went ahead and let them do the sedated hearing test! I didn't want them to do it at first cause NO ONE ever wants to have to put their child asleep for something so minor if it could be prevented. I was hesitant but as a lot of you might know I suffer from hearing loss and recently it has gotten worse after I had Ayden I could tell my hearing got worse and same thing after Clayton it got worse. I started showing signs of hearing loss after I failed my 9th grade hearing test. I went to an audiologist at that point and I was diagnosed with "cookie bite" hearing loss which really means I cannot hear DEEP toned voices or things ESPECIALLY if I am in a restaurant or if there is a lot of noise around me it makes it VERY difficult to hear. So after finding out that hearing loss is a genetic thing of course I wanted to make sure that Ayden got the proper testing to make sure he hadn't gotten the gene from me and if he had we would start taking steps towards that direction like speech therapy and so fourth. I have still been advised by the audiologist that he should be seen every year to make sure that his hearing is still on track and ESPECIALLY if he hasn't started talking and getting away from his AYDENEESE :) and consult with a speech therapist. Which after a lot of thought and discussion between Brent and myself we have decided to hold off on speech therapy til Ayden is almost 3 and if he is still at the same point he is now on his speech we will go and seek professional help to get him on track with his speech for when he starts school. I am soooo incredibly thankful for all the thoughts and prayers that were given during this unknown time they were definitely felt and granted! OUR GOD IS SOOO GOOD!

       We are also in the midst of possibly making some pretty BIG decisions regarding our family here in the next couple of weeks or month. I am praying that god will show us what we need to do and with whatever happens and praying that he will show us the paths that we need to take. I would love for the prayers as well right now about this  I am not going to say what it is right now I will when I know more. Well it is late and I am extremely tired and have a lot of projects around the house to do tomorrow.
Til NEXT TIME :)
Elizabeth 

Clayton is 5 months and soooooo much more!

            Well its been a while since I have updated our blog and its not that I haven't wanted to do update its just I have been INCREDIBLY busy! My volleyball season is in full swing and I have gotten so much wonderful experience this volleyball season as a coach! I had to sit in and head coach our Houston tournament a couple of weeks ago and it was by far the most stressful and most rewarding experience I have had as a coach thus far and I am so forever thankful for that experience! We did a wonderful job that weekend we came in 1st place on Saturday in our pool and then on Sunday we won the silver bracket and came in 9th place over all! We were slated to come in 11th out of 54 teams! I was a very proud coach that tournament and I just wish our head coach Hayley could have been there with us as well it was such a FUN tournament! 

16 Elite Houston Cross Court Classic Silver Bracket Champs!

        We have also been busy helping my brother and future sister in law with renovations to there house in Nocona. They had a pipe bust in their kitchen when that real bad winter storm blew threw and caused havoc on the roads but it also caused major water damage to their house and we have been helping them gut their kitchen to get it ready for all new tile and cabinets I have to admit I am a little jealous of what how nice their kitchen is going to look once they get everything done!

       Now on to the kiddos update I am going to start off with Ayden first. 

            This past month we have finally caved on getting to the root problem of skin issues he has been having and looking at possible allergies he might have. We also have investigated into what the Doctor wanted us to look into regaurding his speech and hearing. Ayden had his first dermatology appointment the other day and it went well we have gotten some new ideas to help keep his eczema under control which has been VERY helpful!  We go back in two weeks for a quick check up! 

         Now for the hearing test results...... I took Ayden to get his hearing tested a couple weeks ago just to see how he is hearing since the doctor is concerned with some of the things that he is doing and also because he isnt putting two words together and cant really understand him yet and to rule out hearing loss and possibly do speech therapy. Well the hearing test didnt go the way I thought it would go :/ for one they put us in this sound proof room and Ayden lost it I am pretty sure he had a panic attack I could understand why cause this room we were put in was sooo tiny and more box like than any thing. we had to get him to calm down before we could start the test this lasted for a few minutes but once we got him calmed down we were able to start. This is how the test worked basically sounds would come out of the speakers that were in all four corners and if he turned and looked at the speaker it counted that he could hear that sound. That lasted a whole 3 minutes  after his melt down of him cooaperating and then he decided he wanted to have nothing of it. So the test came back inconclusive but with what they had gotten it did show some hearing loss and that was concerning to them since I have had hearing problems since I was a child and my hearing loss has gotten worse here recently. So we are scheduled for a sedated hearing test this coming Tuesday to see how signifacant his hearing loss is or if he really does have hearing loss. I am praying that he doesn't have hearing loss but if he does we will manage cause I know he can hear.

        Clayton's 5 month update! 

             Well we have embarked on Clayton's 5 months of life and I have to say its been the most rewarding 5 months ever! I had to take Clayton to the Doctor the other day since he has had a cough for about a week and I was SHOCKED when we took him to the scale and weighed him! Clayton at 5 months weighs in at 19 lbs 10oz! I am not sure how long he is because it wasnt that kind of appointment but I was and still am SHOCKED on how big he is! To put it this way Clayton weighs a little less than 9lbs from what Ayden weighs! We have started table foods with Clayton and thankfully as of right now we have had no signs of food allergies! This is what we have tried right now

• Rice cereal 
• Oatmeal cereal 
• Sweet Potatoes 
• Squash

We will be starting Carrots tomorrow! So far he has liked EVERYTHING I have given him! Now on to the thing with Clayton that is really BLOWING my mind away.... He is CRAWLING......yes you read that right Clayton is crawling at 5 months old! He hasn't grasped the concept of crawling forward but he is crawling backwards! On all fours pushing up and going I keep telling him that I am NOT ready for him to be mobile having one child into everything right now as it is I was hoping I would at LEAST have a couple more months of Clayton being a NON mobile child but it looks like this is not going to be the case as much as I want it to be that way its just not! But I am still extremely proud of him!

      Well that is pretty much everything that has been going on I am so sorry this blog is so long and more like a book but I guess this is what happens when you dont update frequently! As I get off here are some pics of Brent and I and the boys :) Hope yall enjoy! :)

Brent and I in Houston

Confused on why Ayden had a panic attack at his hearing test cause that room was definitely not as small as this box!

My sweet baby munchkin @ 5 months

Elizabeth

Clayton is 4 months old!

    Well as hard as it may seem Clayton has hit the 4 month mark! I keep thinking where oh where is the time going didn't I have him yesterday? LOL! I also think the exact same thing about Ayden as well didn't he just get here! I guess the saying is true when time will fly when you are having fun! Having fun is exactly what happens every day in our house hold good or bad, happy or sad, there is never a dull moment in our house and something is always happening here and we are always on the go! We are more on the go when Brent and I are both home then when we are home alone with the two boys! Being out numbered in a public place= NO FUN what so ever! Well on Sunday Clayton turned 4 months and we introduced rice cereal to him and he LOVES it! Tomorrow we are going to start on oatmeal and see how he does so far sooooo good! We had a busy Monday with Doctor visits for both boys and we were very suprised at where both boys where at percentile wise for weight and height! Ayden came in at 28lbs and is 35in long and in the 75 percentile in weight and height! Clayton on the other hand came in at a whopping 18lbs 4oz and is 27in and is in the 97th percentile for weight and height! CRAZY I know I still find it hard to believe that! But the scale doesnt lie we are just going to have a linebacker on our hands! We keep telling Ayden to watch out cause Clayton will probably be able to kick his bootie when he gets a little bit bigger! Clayton this month has also hit a few milestones and is thriving nicely! While we were at the doctor's office we were talked to about how Ayden is talking but isnt quite talking the way he should be so we where referred to an audiologist and a speech therapist. I am not worried but we need to make sure that Ayden hasnt gotten my hearing genes cause I have a cookie bite hearing loss that they have said that I had since I was born, and as I have gotten older has gotten worse I need hearing aids but I just cant bring myself to get them. I also think that Ayden is a lazy talker as well I am optimistic that he is fine and just developing a little bit later than normal! 

   Brent has started his new project at the Will Rogers Memorial Center in downtown Fort Worth and I have to say its nice for him to call me and tell me he is on his way home and not be here an hour later! The project is just kicking off and he should be on site here in the next week or so. 

     My volleyball season has been absolutely full of fun! Our team is absolutely amazing they make my job as a coach fun and definitely rewarding! We are playing in a tournament next weekend in Houston and we are super excited to see how we do! We also got on to the NTR website and found out we are ranked #42 in the region! YAY GIRLS! 

   Well its getting late and I am having to get up SUPER early to be at a tournament so I am going to close this blog with some milestones that clayton has hit! 

• we have started eating cereal
•  he is sleeping almost 13 hrs at night and takes about a 2hr nap during the day and a couple of cat naps in between! 
• he is in a size 3 diaper 
• he is wearing size 6-9 month clothes and some 12 months (yes you read that right!)
• he is giggling all the time 
• loves "talking"
• has started playing in his exasaucer
• can sit supported for a few minutes 
• rolling over from tummy to back and back to tummy 
• has found his feet 
• loves chewing on his hands

Elizabeth

Offically a mommy of a TWO year old!

We have enjoyed a wonderful weekend celebrating Ayden's 2nd birthday! We had a wonderful time partying yesterday with all of our family and friends! Ayden loves all his presents that were given to him and mommy is excited for all the wonderful new clothes that he has gotten! We are extremely excited to announce that Ayden is going to start school here soon! My dad has agreed to pay for him to go to a mother's day out program two days a week! I am going to be going by tomorrow to see if I can register him in it! All in all yesterday was a wonderful day! Ayden also loved his Elmo themed party! Brent also made his cake again this year and I have to say it was a HUGE hit! I also have to add he is pretty talented when it comes to decorating cakes just like his sister Leah! Here is Ayden's Elmo cake......

 
                               Ayden blowing out his candles

       Ayden thought that this morning the thing to do to ring in his actual birthday was a trip to the emergency room! Ayden has a very bad fascination with tobacco products we were rushed at 13 months by ambulance to Cook's down town for a nicotine overdose and at 13 months got his stomach pumped! Well today thankfully he didn't have to get his stomach pumped, and we didn't have to call an ambulance to come get him we were just observed for 3 hours since he didn't get a whole lot of nicotine in his system since it was chewing tobacco that he got into! and thankfully we got there when no one else was there so we didn't have to wait to be seen! Here is a picture of Ayden while being observed!

        While we were in the Emergency room we got a phone call from my dad and he informed us that my grandfather passed away this morning in his sleep. We are truly sadden by his passing but also knowing that he is with my grandmother the love of his life and has his mind back since Alzheimer's took it from him a few years ago! Tomorrow we are heading to the doctor for Ayden's two year checkup and also Clayton's 4 month check up I am soooo interested to see how much Clayton weighs and also how long he is all and all he is a BIG boy! The thing that is going to stink about tomorrow is that both boys are going to get shots i hate that but that's what keeps them healthy and safe! Here is a picture of Clayton at 4 months old he finally got a chance to try some cereal tonight he is growing up sooooo fast! 

                                         Clayton 4 months old!

I will post more tomorrow about Clayton's stats and some milestones that he is hitting right now! But right now I think its time to call it a night its been a very long and emotional day here in our house! 
Elizabeth 

Ayden's Birth Story

Well I can hardly believe it Ayden is going to be 2 on Sunday! I have been thinking about the week that I had him 2 years ago and cant believe that its has actually been two years since I had given birth to my first child! So with all the emotion that I have been feeling this week I thought it would be fun to share Ayden's birth story since I haven't really had a chance to write it down...... 

Well at the beginning of the week I had my regular appointment with my OB Dr. Sachovich on Tuesday I had been experiencing some swelling since Christmas but it was nothing that he was worried about since my blood pressure was perfect..... well this Dr's appt. came and my blood pressure was pretty elevated so I was instructed to go to labor and delivery right then and there don't pass go don't go get food don't go get your bag go right now! I freaked out I wasn't ready to have a baby yet my bag wasn't packed I just wasn't ready to be a mom! The doctor told me that we will just monitor Ayden and he wanted to run some blood test and to see if my blood pressure would come back down he wouldn't induce unless he had to I was okay with that for the most part but my problem was I DIDN'T HAVE MY BAG PACKED! lol. Well Brent was thankfully with me at that appointment and he took me to the hospital so we could get checked out. When I got to the hospital my blood pressure was back to normal and they ran the blood test and it was normal as well so they let me go home! but I was on strict orders to stay in bed all day Wednesday and check back with Dr. Sachovich on Thursday Morning. Wednesday I did just that I stayed in bed and when Brent got home I had him pack my bag cause I had a strange feeling Thursday February 26th was going to be a long day! We then went to my moms and finished putting the glider together since that was the last thing that needed to be done in the nursery! Well that night I was having some back pains and really didn't sleep well at all and was hungry at all but I ate a really early dinner, so that morning we took the bags to the car and we went to the doctor I didn't eat breakfast cause for the first time my head wasn't pounding and all that was bothering me was my back and I just knew I was going to come back home....... Brent thankfully went with me to this appointment!  When we got into the room the nurse took my blood pressure and it was back to elevated I believe it was 185/105 and the doctor came in and checked me and I was 1 1/2 cm dilated and 50% effaced and wanted me to lay down for a few minutes but by this time my back was hurting so bad I couldn't lay down so he then said " well my dear its time to have your baby go to labor and delivery immediately and I will be up there shortly to break your water!" I then asked can I go eat breakfast first? and he said nope go straight to LDR so off we went I was ready this time since I had my bag packed! We get to the hospital and I get situated in the room IV put in and its about 10:30am we wait about an hour or so and Dr. Sachovich came in and broke my water..... it took a while for me to start feeling contractions it was about i would say 8:00pm that night when I had the contraction and they came in and checked me and I was about 5cm so I was able to get my epidural. 

         The epidural experience was HORRIBLE! The anesthesiologist was a complete jerk and was extremely rude to me and didn't care that I was having contractions and told me to suck it up! Didn't sit to well with Brent that he was speaking to me like that but thankfully I GOT MY EPIDURAL! It was around 9:30-10:00pm when they got it in and I was able to get some sleep cause I felt great but was starting to get hungry since I hadn't ate since 6pm the night before! 

     Sadly the feeling great part didn't last long at all around 11:30pm my left side was waking up and I could feel everything! I was about 7cm at this point and they gave me more meds through my IV and more epidural but NOTHING WORKED! I was in soooooo much pain! Then around 3:00AM I was told I was at 9 1/2 cm so we called my mom and dad and told them to get to the hospital it was almost time and the nurse called the on call doctor to come on in cause I was getting close!! So dad got there first around 4:00am and came in and was talking to me I have no clue what we talked about but finally the nurse and Doctor  came in an hour later and checked me and I was still at 9 1/2 cm! I was a very disappointed I am laying here starving and in soooo much pain on my left side I actually thought I was going to die! The doctor said why don't we try a couple of pushes to see if I could get over the 9 1/2 cm hump cause by this time I was already at 9 1/2 cm for an hour. So we pushed for about 30min or so and still no progress so they left me to labor a little bit more! Around 5:30 or so they came back in to check me and dang it I was still at 9 1/2 cm and MISERABLE cause my right side was now awake and I was feeling everything! They couldn't give me anything else I was maxed out! So they wanted me to push some more still no progress! So the doctor told me that they would be back in 30min and I should be ready to push! woo hoo get him out thats all I remember wanting and of course something to eat! Well 30 minutes later they came back in to check me and I was STILL at 9 1/2cm no progress! By this time I was over it I was so nauseated and in soooo much pain and just flat exausted! The dr said that I wasn't progressing and Ayden's heart rate had spiked a little bit so we had no other choice then to do a C-section which at that point was fine by me! It was around 6:30am when they wheeled me into the OR I had gotten more epidural and it FINALLY WAS WORKING! I was in and out of sleep I don't remember a whole lot from this point since I was sooooo drugged up and EXAUSTED! I remember hearing Ayden cry and Looking at Brent giving him a kiss..... Then I woke up in recovery and Brent handing me Ayden and bursting out into tears cause I thought he looked like my brother lol! We finally were parents and it was the BEST feeling in the world and everything seemed complete! Mine and Brent's dreams had come true! We had a beautiful baby boy who graced us with his presence on Feburary 27th at 7:05am and weighed 7lbs 10oz and was 21 1/2in long!

Ayden has been an amazing addition to our lives and I cannot thank god enough for blessing me with such an amazing child he has truely made my life full of joy and happiness and I couldn't ask for anything more! He also is just like his daddy which is also a plus! I will blog more about Ayden on his actual birthday and let yall know what he has been doing since! I love you soooo much Ayden James MacDonald you truly are the light of my life!

 Elizabeth