Adjusting to another cast

It is amazing to me how quickly kids learn to adapt to new things. When Cohen got the splint back on after re-fracturing his leg he attempted to stand up on it almost immediately. He had been able to stand on his cast so I think he forgot the splint wasn’t the same way. Cohen then got on this cast:

In comparison to his other cast it is shorter (the other one went above his knee) and it is also flat at the bottom instead of angled (the other one made him walk on his tip toes more). We thought he would walk right away since he was already trying with the splint. However the change in the angle of the bottom took a couple days for him to get used to. With the old one he was able to balance himself more with the tips of his toes. This one tends to be a little more slippery since he can only grip the floor with his big toe and otherwise has to deal with the slipperiness of the bottom of the cast (he won’t keep the sock on to help grip). But once he was willing to try it out it didn’t take long and he figured it out.

Life was pretty much back to normal for him. He has to have this cast on for 3 weeks. Our visit with the doctor gave us some good information. We felt a little less horrible for him re-fracturing his leg again since the doctor said it is way more common than you think and he is actually surprised it doesn’t happen more often. He also reminded us that since he broke the tibia bone it isn’t a weight bearing break and is the reason he is able to walk on his cast. Which is also why the healing time in the cast isn’t as long especially since it is a spiral fracture versus a clean break. We also asked about the recovery afterwards since Cohen was walking with his leg turned out after he got the other cast off. He said this is perfectly normal and very common. They tend to walk this way afterwards to put less pressure on the ankle which feels better to them. The child should eventually correct their way of walking when they feel ready. Not fun to have Cohen deal with all of this again but he’s a trooper and we think he’s pretty darn cute in his bright green little cast!

Cohen 2 year update

My baby is 2 years old. Only he isn’t my baby anymore. So hard to believe both of those facts. Not even considering Brynna to be my baby, Cohen definitely is acting much more like a toddler than a baby these days. It was amazing watching the change in him especially since bringing Brynna home. He walks around with a big boy attitude and we love having a front row seat to watch it all. He is talking more and more which is a welcome change. He still doesn’t talk a ton on his own but when asked to say things he’ll try more now than ever. His favorite words to use are hi, bye, please, all done, more, and thank you. His little thank you is so adorable and I love hearing him know when to say it without us prompting him.

Besides his language expanding, Cohen’s also growing in height and weight. I was shocked to compare his stats to Sevea’s. Cohen clocks in at 28 lbs 7 oz (including the weight of his cast) putting him at 56%. So this wasn’t a real shock since he’s been hanging out in this range for some time. The shocker was his height. He measured 33.75 inches which put him at 32%. At the same age Sevea was 3.25 inches shorter and she was only 1 inch taller at age 3. CRAZY! Of course he still isn’t the tallest kid but it surprised me how much he has grown these last 6 months.

Cohen’s loves as of late include cars…this is still his go to toy and phones…no not play phones, mom or dad’s phones-he loves to play all the games on them switching every 30 seconds or so to a new one and his latest obsession is calling my voicemail, he loves to talk to the operator over and over again. He still really enjoys toys with buttons and loves pushing them to see what sound they will make. Oh and I can’t forget tv. We most definitely let him watch way more tv than we ever did with Sevea but tis our life with more than one child. At least we keep it to the educational shows?!?!

Cohen continues to be a picky eater so at times I wonder how he keeps gaining weight. He eats breakfast like a champ each day (he must know breakfast is the most important meal or maybe it is that breakfast is usually a carb like cereal, pancakes, etc. and he is not one to turn down those foods). His other meals are very much hit or miss. He will not eat any meat besides chicken nuggets or fish sticks and will only eat one vegetable…onions in the form of onion rings. Onion rings have to be his #1 favorite food and maybe it is because they are deep fried goodness he only gets when we go out to eat. He’s hit or miss with eating fruit. He still will not eat banana again unless in something like oatmeal or banana bread. He likes strawberries and grapes the most but even those are not a guarantee. His 2nd favorite food would probably have to be yogurt.

Each month of his 2nd year of life went so quickly. I just know this next year will fly by and we’ll be looking back at all he’s learned at age 3. Makes me sad thinking about it but also is a huge reminder to love and cherish all of those days…how can you not with such a fun loveable kid to share them with!

Kisses and hugs galore

The transition of bringing home a new baby is not just one for mom and dad. Of course Cohen and Sevea had to adjust to having a new baby in the family. Sevea we had no doubt she would be good with the baby. We wondered how she would react if it was a boy but turns out we didn’t have to find out. She did so well when we added Cohen to the family that we didn’t think too much of how she would deal with the new baby. We never experienced any jealously and she was patient and made it easy on us to care for two kids. This time is overall the same experience however she is older now and wants to help in ANY way she can. She told us before the baby was born that she would wake up in the middle of the night and help feed the baby. If only she was able to do that! Some funny moments with Sevea included the first time I fed Brynna at home Sevea just had to help anyway she could. She held my boob as I fed Brynna and said that she was helping pump the milk for her. (Modesty went out the window for sure!) She also randomly handed me my water bottle and told me to drink up because the water goes right to my boobs to make milk for the baby. She then proceeded to take a drink herself and said the water went to her boobs to make milk. (Oh the learning opportunities that have came up all from having a baby.) Sevea loves to hold the baby and makes sure to give her a big hug and kiss every night before bed. She thinks Brynna is the best and looks forward to when Brynna is able to play with her.

We really wondered how our little momma’s boy would do. Right before Brynna was born Cohen went through an even more clingy stage. Dad (or anyone else for that matter) would not do if mom was around. So I worried more about how I would be able to care for both a baby and Cohen with only two hands. I wasn’t as worried about how he would deal with the new baby. He LOVED the baby at daycare always wanting to give him hugs and kisses. So how has Cohen adjusted to life with Brynna in our family? AMAZING! He loves to give Brynna hugs and kisses all the time. When he sees her he makes the cutest Awww sound and gets excited to see her and give her a hug and kiss. His kisses look more like he is going to eat her face off but cute none the less. And how is he adjusting to his momma being busy with his little sister? Great! I feel like I hit the jackpot with Cohen. Not only do I get to watch him love up his baby sister but I also get to see him love up his dad. It has been so great watching him interact with Troy more. Seeing him snuggle up with dad all on his own makes my heart melt.

Watching Sevea and Cohen interact with Brynna definitely makes us appreciate being blessed with 3 kids. We are excited to see how their relationships develop and change over the years. I just hope they always find their hearts full of love for one another.

Worst birthday present EVER

Another round of the splint and eventually another cast.

Cohen re-fractured his leg yesterday afternoon. We thought it would be a fun birthday treat to go to Huber Park here in Shakopee. Troy decided to take Cohen down a big slide. It wasn’t one he would want to do alone so Troy decided to have him sit between his legs to go down. He tends to put his legs out to help control how fast he goes down. He put his leg out and his leg stuck and twisted. End result he re-fractured his right tibia. After time in the ER and good pain medicine, we went home with a splint and instructions to get him into the Ortho guy for a cast. Not exactly the birthday treat we had planned for him. Luckily he has some great new toys to help make him happy!

Cohen’s Cars Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Cohen turning 2 with a Cars themed birthday. The little guy was happier than a “tornado in a trailer park” to have family and friends help him celebrate. After just having Brynna I was grateful for a calm party with just our family and our closest friends (who are family to us as well). The kids enjoyed playing outside while the adults enjoyed some conversation. We enjoyed some food, moved on to presents and ended the afternoon with some cake. All in all a perfect day.

The characters from the movie helped theme the menu at Flo’s V8 Cafe which consisted of Chick Hick’s Chicken Sandwiches, Mack’s Mac ‘n’ Cheese, Sally’s Fruit Salad, Mater’s Tater Chips, Doc’s Dipsticks, and Flo’s Franks. Sarge’s Surplus of Sweets had all the sugar a kid or adult could want. Your choices were white or black wall tires from Luigi’s Casa Della Tires, Lightning McQueen’s Sugar Cookies, Sheriff’s stoplight bars, cupcakes, and of course cake!

Cohen’s friends/family were very generous and spoiled him with many great gifts. Cohen requests to play with cars daily at daycare so his new race track and cars will surely get lots of use. He got a basketball hoop that will likely be used by the “big” kids (daddy’s) as well. His tonka truck and dump truck will get a lot of use as he loves to push them all around the house. And he got a very special gift from his Grandpa Steve. I only wish he was here to see him have fun playing with it. However the smile on his face playing with it reminds me he’s always with us.

The best way to end the party…cake! I made the one and only chocolate cake that I love. But this time I kicked it up an extra notch and the result was the best cake I’ve made yet. It was chocolate cake with a marshmallow cream cheese filling with oreo’s sealed with buttercream frosting. Yum-o! Give the recipes a try for yourself. Cake and buttercream frosting here, filling here (just crush oreo’s and sprinkle between the layers on top of the filling).

No pictures of Cohen eating cake this year. He took one bite of mom’s and was done. He must have filled up his tank with all the other sweets.

Happy Birthday Cohen! We love you!

Brynna 2 week update

What a whirlwind these last two weeks have been since we welcomed Brynna into our family. After leaving the hospital it has been an interesting time navigating our way through parenthood of three kids. I’d sum it all up with AMAZING! The first day or two it was definitely different but we’ve found our groove and things are going well. Brynna is making things easy on us…for the most part. She LOVES sleep. If she is crying during the day it usually means she wants to go to sleep. I feel like all she does is sleep. I have to wake her up to eat most of the time during the day. She falls asleep eating most of the time. Those times that she is awake then wants to sleep, it takes a good amount of work to get her to drift off to sleepy land….unless you’re mom. She loves to suck but isn’t a big fan of nuks so mom is always a guarantee to calm her down and get her to sleep. Who doesn’t love a sleeping baby?

At Brynna’s one week check up she had grown 1/4 of an inch up to 20.75 inches. She was discharged from the hospital weighing 7lbs even so when the scale read 7lbs .75oz we were a little concerned. However the doctor wasn’t too worried since she was peeing and pooping often. He figured she actually lost more weight after being discharged so she probably did gain more weight than it showed. I took her in today for a two week weight check and she was up to 7lbs 6.5oz. This is just shy of her birth weight of 7lbs 7oz so she definitely plumped up this last week.

I stare at Brynna often and can’t believe she is mine. I think the dark hair and so much of it throws me off each time :) Joking aside I feel so blessed to have her in my life. I remember wondering before Cohen was born how I could love another child as much as Sevea. I had a minor (okay huge) obsession with Cohen from birth and I wondered again how things would change when another child entered my life. It amazes me even more this time how your heart just grows to have plenty of love to go around. Instead of parenting three kids causing me some stress and frustration, these two weeks have been overflowing with love. I am sure plenty of stress and frustration will come my way but right now I’m soaking in every moment.