Mack - 22 Months

Another month is behind us as Mack approaches his 2nd Birthday! At 22 months old it amazes me how much Mack absorbs and learns daily. He talks non stop repeating words and phrases. If he doesn't know what something is he points to it and asks "this"? He knows the colors, orange (his favorite), red, green, purple, yellow, black and white. Does pretty well with his shapes. Knows all his body parts. Knows and recognizes the animals: bear, lion, horse, cat, dog, moose, alligator, bird, pig, giraffe, fish, cow, duck, monkey, tiger, etc (there's probably a few I'm missing). He loves cars, tractors, music and reading! He's got quite the little personality and is very animated when he's telling you a story; his particular favorite is "David and Goliath". He loves to help switch the laundry and fold it while telling me what each article of clothing is and who it belongs to. Mack's new thing to help with is unloading the dishwasher. He's quite meticulous when it comes to cleaning but it also shows in his playing when he lines up his cars just perfectly or stacks books or blocks. They have to be exactly on top of each other.

Mack adores his little brother, Parker and can't wait till he can play with him. We can't wait either! He loves to hug and kiss him. It's really cute when Parker is crying, Mack says, "It's okay Parker, don't cry."

Mack is at the age where he's testing everything and we're trying to find the balance between being patient with a toddler and when to discipline. Pray for us.

Just a few pics of our big boy!

Parker - 1 Month

Parker has survived his first month in the Crump household!  We are still learning how to manage two little ones and we're working very hard to keep Mack from feeling jealous.  It takes a little more patience and time but Mack seems to really love having a baby around, especially when he gets to be the big helper.  Parker doesn't know it yet but he has a friend who can't wait to play with him!

Baby's First Month

What a difference a month makes! Parker has now lost much of that puffy newborn look and can hold his head up solo for a minute or two. He's also beginning to discover his own body, especially his hands, which will endlessly fascinate him; you might catch him staring at them for minutes at a time.  As a general rule, a baby's development starts at the top -- his head -- and works downward. So as time goes on he'll learn how to control his head and neck, followed by his arms, torso, then legs.

Parker is now a bit over 9 pounds, light brown hair and big blue eyes just like his brother.  At this point his eyesight is also getting sharper. By the fourth week, most infants can see about 18 inches in front of them -- not exactly eagle-eyed yet, but getting there. For the most part Parker has a pretty consistent schedule of sleeping 3-4 hours, waking for about an hour to two hours for feeding, diaper change and cuddling.  Night times have been decent with normally 2 feedings but we're looking forward to at least a 6 hour stretch in the next few weeks.  Not too much to report at this stage but we'll keep the updates coming and don't forget to check out photobucket for the latest pictures.

1 month old today

Mack - 21 months

Mack's little personality is really starting to come out as he's communicating more and more... We understand most of what he says but there's always those moments when he gets going in his own little language.  It's so cute but can be quite frustrating for Mack when mommy and daddy aren't understanding. Of course he'll keep repeating it over and over and over until we make some sense of what he's trying to say.

Mack still loves to be my little helper whether it's cleaning (which he likes to initiate a lot), folding laundry or helping with the baby.  He adores his little brother and has finally realized he's the baby that was in mommy's tummy.  He likes to hold him and hug him and has associated that when he's crying, he needs milk, lol! He gets on a laughing kick when Parker has the hiccups, and lets us know we need to "clean" him if he toots.  He's already a good big brother, we just pray that these boys would be the best of friends growing up.

We are still working on the potty training... at home Mack does great if he doesn't have a pull-up on but when he does he oftentimes will go in his diaper.  He does fairly well at telling us when we are out and about but if he is in someone else's care (ie: church nursery) he won't tell them or he will but after he's already gone.  We didn't want to push him, especially with our newest addition so we've really let him go at his own pace.  Considering he's not even 2 years old yet we weren't too concerned, he's initiated and made incredible progress for his age as it is.  I don't think it'll be much longer before we can do away with pull-ups altogether, although night-time will be the next thing to tackle.

Mack still LOVES anything to do with music and frequently asks us to sing or play music so he can sing, dance and "play" his guitar (which usually consist of whatever he has in his hands at the time).  We're thinking of doing a guitar themed 2nd birthday for him and actually getting him a guitar he can play.

A few of Mack's favorite things are his cars, again anything to do with music, playing outside and going for walks.

Here's a few pictures for the month, some you may have seen already :)

Helping his grammy with the yard work

cleaning

Holding and kissing his little brother for the first time.

At the Brownsville Children's Museum

Parker Hays Crump

Our newest addition, Parker Hays Crump has arrived!  We went in for a scheduled c-section at 4:00 am on September 10th (also my 30th Birthday).  Everything went so much smoother this time around with it being scheduled rather than the traumatic experience we had with an emergency c-section with Mack.  My anesthesiologist was so much more thorough which started the whole process on a much smoother note.  In the OR everyone was relaxed, joking and listening to disco music, haha.  Instead of an epidural I actually got a spinal block which was much less painful and the numbing was immediate from my chest down.  Parker was born at 8:03 am, weighing 8 lbs 11 oz and measuring 20 inches long (almost a pound bigger than Mack who weighed 7 lbs 14 oz).  Because of the spinal block I had to be flat on my back for 12 hours.  Once I was able to get up, I could already tell that the healing and recovering this time would be a lot easier.  A scheduled c-section makes a big difference!

Parker is healthy and doing good! At his 2 week check-up he's weighing in at 9 lbs 1 oz and 20 1/2 inches long.  He's been eating and sleeping well with only 2 night feedings.  Mack seems to really love having a baby brother and wants to help a lot.

Well, not too much to tell at this point but I'm going to try my hardest to stay on top of updates and pictures like I did with Mack.  I'll be posting pictures in photobucket for those of you who don't have facebook and see the current pictures all the time.

Here's just a couple pictures for comparison, Mack and Parker looked a lot alike when they were first born but now they are looking very different.

Parker Hays Crump born 9/10/11

Mack Hays Crump born 11/23/09

Parker

Mack

Parker

Mack

Well hopefully I get the next update out before too long :)

9 Months Pregnant

Time escapes me again as I've gotten behind on blogging.  At 37 weeks our baby is considered full-term.  After having had an emergency c-section with Mack we have decided to do a repeat c-section scheduled for September 13th - just 12 days away! On average the baby should weigh around 6 1/3 pounds at this point and be a bit over 19 inches long however at an earlier appointment an ultrasound was showing Parker to be 2 weeks ahead of schedule growth wise.  


Braxton Hicks are quite frequent at this point and I've even been having some contractions but not long enough to merit a hospital visit.  Sleep is, well... uncomfortable and short-lived however being a stay-at-home mom does allow me to at least try to nap when Mack does which I've taken full advantage of lately.  I've got all the baby clothes washed, rooms rearranged and organized and bags packed so we are officially ready!  Micah's parents will be watching Mack while we're in the hospital and Micah has almost 2 weeks off to help me, especially since I'm having a c-section the recovery is a bit more intense and with a toddler I'll be needing it.  


Well as I promised here are the pictures I have taken through this pregnancy:

January 13th we found out I was pregnant - 4 weeks (I already look like I'm showing, compliments of pregnancy weight from Mack)

17 weeks  - 4 months

21 weeks - 5 months

28 weeks - 7 months

37 weeks - 9 months and ready to pop!

The next blog will be of Parker's arrival!

Mack - 18 to 20 months

Ahhh, where does time go! My baby is already 21 months old and #2 is just two weeks away...


Again I fail to get out the monthly update so here's a few months combined:


18 months
The big deal this month was moving Mack into his big boy bed in his new room.  With having another boy it makes it easy in that we could keep the nursery as is and focus on giving Mack a new room so he can be excited about something and not feel like it's all about the new baby.  The first 2 nights were easy...until he realized he can now get out of his bed - sigh!  It's been quite the ordeal but he's still young so we've been working on it.


Here are just a few pictures from the last few months:

19 Months
Vocabulary is growing, becoming more independent, still loves anything musical and has to have music time everyday.




20 Months
So from early on Mack would get horrible diaper rashes that no remedy seemed to cure, we've literally tried everything from more frequent diapers changes, to everything the Dr will prescribe to natural remedies and nada!  So one morning after changing Mack's first diaper of the day, I decided to let him run around without a diaper to "air out".  I had actually read an article called potty training in 3 days or less where you actually let the child go naked for 3 days to work on potty training.  I had tried it a couple times but Mack just kept peeing on the floor... but this day, in attempt to help the diaper rash, Mack self initiated going to the potty and had it down like a pro.  So at 20 months Mack is on his way to being completely potty trained (we're still working on away from home or when he's with other people for example in the church nursery).


Until next time...