Nolan's 2 Year Well Visit

Nolan had his 2 year well visit completed today with Dr. Hulsen.  Since Nolan is now two years old, he only needs to have well visits completed once a year.  Nolan was weighed, measured, and vaccinated.  Nolan weighed in at 28 pounds, which places him in 45th percentile for weight and measured 35 3/4 inches tall, which places him in the 80th percentile for height.  I was concerned with Nolan's weight only being in the 45th percentile, but the pediatrician was not worried at all.  She said it is most likely Nolan's build, tall and lean.  As long as Nolan is eating his fruits and veggies, which he is, Dr. Hulsen sees no need for concern!

Nolan is a talking machine! From the time he wakes up until....well he even talks in his sleep sometimes.  I believe he has up to 6 or 7 words in one sentence now.  I recorded him in the car the other day while we were waiting.  He is such a character!  Also, the "why" questions began about a week ago.  Everything is "why mama or why dada?"

Along with talking, Nolan wants to go on the potty so bad!!  He is always running into the bathroom, ripping off his diaper, and yelling "I go pee", but he has already peed in his diaper.  At least we are getting somewhere.  He likes to wear his big boy undies over his diaper.

 Nolan wanted to know where the toilet paper went.  Bill replied, "It went with Nemo"  Now Nolan looks in the toilet for Nemo when he flushes the toilet.

 Coloring in his diaper/underwear

Nolan loves playing with trucks, blocks, and puzzles.  He really enjoys being read to.  The other night I showed him the blog book I printed from 2011.  Nolan really likes looking at pictures of himself when he was a baby.

With the house being in total chaos, Nolan has found a lot of his things that were in storage.  He found his "jacket" and he likes to wear it around the house.  He also found my typodont teeth from school and calls them "dinosaur teeth."  Nolan's imagination has come to life this past month.  He makes his toys interact with each other.  Bill and I lay in bed at night and listen to him make his bear and dinosaur talk to each other.  Occasionally, the snake makes it into the mix too.

Carter's 4 Month Well Visit

Carter had his 4 month well visit completed today by Dr. Hulsen.  Carter was weighed, measured, and received his vaccines.  Carter weighed in at 16.14 pounds, which places him in the 80th percentile for his weight and measured 25 3/4 inches long, which places him in the 80th percentile for his height.  My little chunky monkey is an eater!  The pediatrician said we can try oatmeal now to help keep him full through the night.  Since Nolan didn't have the greatest experience with cereal, I'm going to hold off for a little bit longer.  Carter doesn't seem to mind only nursing either.

Carter is such a sweet baby boy!  He has developed such a great personality already.  He sure knows how to put on the charm.  My little man is doing better at taking bottles for other people, but still prefers nursing.  Carter has had two of his baby teeth erupt has well.  I've not been bitten yet, but I anxiously await the chomp when he nurses.

Letters O and P have popped through the gums!

I cannot stop laughing at this picture!  Way too many captions could be made underneath this photo.

While I was taking pictures of Carter, Nolan came running out of the bathtub and sat down next to Carter.  These pictures are absolutely precious!

 This picture melts my heart! I love my boys! 

Taking a Break from Packing

I'm not sure how many of you know, but we have sold our house and we are moving....about ten minutes into town.  Our new house will have an Edwardsville address instead of Glen Carbon.  The house we found is perfect for our family and even has some room if we decide to add a few more Purcells to the mix later on.  We close in a couple of weeks, so we have been scrambling to pack and organize all of our stuff.  Nolan and Carter are finding old toys they didn't even know they had and have been playing with them.  It's almost like Christmas all over again!

Bill and I do not like to keep things lying around, so we have thrown away quite a bit and we are donating a lot more to Goodwill.  Nolan has been helping pack as well.  He likes to help me label the boxes.

 Ambidextrous? 

Lately our house has been a total disaster, so Nolan has been a crazy man running around all the boxes.  The other night, Bill and the boys were taking a break from packing and I decided to snap a few pictures.  Of course, Bill has to bust out the wrestling moves on Nolan.  I cannot wait until Nolan is big enough to take Bill down!!

Carter busted out his plank!!  Ever since Carter has been strong enough to hold his head up, when he is lifted into the air he will hold his body stiff as a board.  I couldn't take the picture fast enough to catch Carter perfectly straight, but these pictures are close enough.  Nolan wanted to do the plank too, but was too ticklish to stay straight.  Daddy was able to work out his arm muscles as well.

The Stye

As I posted before, Nolan has been battling several styes off and on for the past month on his left eyelids (both top and bottom).  At first the styes appeared as bumps and then went away.  The last two styes became so big he could not even open his eye.  Poor baby!

I took a picture to prove how big it was!

Both Nolan's pediatrician and everything I researched online said, "to let the stye pop on its own" and to "apply warm compresses to help the stye come to a head."  We did both at home.  Well, I was tired of Nolan having a droopy eyelid and people looking at me like I beat my child when I took him somewhere, so I decided to pop the stye at home.

Nolan had been taking antibiotics for about 5 days, so I felt good about the chances of a secondary infection not happening.  I felt barbaric in the way I held Nolan down on the ground and scraped the head of the pimple off, but as soon as I did it Nolan must have felt some relief.  There was a lot of blood and pus, but after Nolan calmed down he felt fine.  Bill even brought Nolan some powdered donuts home to make him happy!!

After popping the stye on the upper eyelid, another one formed on the lower eyelid a few days later.  This stye never became as big as the stye on the upper eyelid, but I did have to pop it as well.  He still has a little redness and God's band-aid (Bill's wording for a scab) on the lower lid, but he is slowly recovering.

Hopefully this stye business doesn't start to make a regular appearance with Nolan.  At least now I can see his big brown eyes again!!

On The Mend

Holy cow, the month of January has been total craziness at the Purcell household.  The boys have been really sick and on antibiotics for almost the whole month it feels like.  Last time I posted, Carter was diagnosed with Croup.

Since then, Carter has been diagnosed with a double ear infection and RSV.  Nolan has been diagnosed with RSV and a single ear infection.  Nolan has also been battling ugly styes on his left eye.  My poor boys!  Luckily, neither one has had the flu or strep. Everyone is finishing up their antibiotics and finally feeling/acting like themselves again.

I was starting to become worried when the boys began passing germs back and forth to each other, but we did the best we could at keeping them separate.  This weekend was the first weekend in the month of January, we actually enjoyed hanging out and relaxing around the house.  I snapped a few pictures over the past few weeks, so I will add them all in this one post.

Carter was supposed to have his 4 month check-up, but we had to reschedule due to his ear infection.  Nolan was supposed to have his 2 year check-up, but we had to reschedule due to his RSV.  In February, the boys will have their check-ups and we will know their weight and height.

 Nolan took to taking his naps in his closet for some reason....

 Sick baby trying to play with his cars

Both boys wanted their mama non-stop.  In this pic Nolan and Carter were starting to feel a little better.

 Most likely watching Toy Story or Madagascar

I've probably watched Toy Story 3 and Madagascar 1,2, and 3 a total of 15 times each these past few weeks.  Those are the only movies Nolan has wanted to watch.  Oh well, at least they contain some adult humor.  Bill and I now walk around the house quoting Madagascar! "I like 'em big, I like 'em round!!" lol

Nolan is still battling his stye, but all in all the boys are feeling great.  Smiling and laughing!!!

Thanks for the thoughts and prayers.  We greatly appreciate them!

A Croupy New Year

On our way home from the last Christmas get together, Carter wasn't acting like himself.  He had a painful whine and cry to his voice instead of a hungry cry.  I was worried, but I decided to steam up the bathroom when we went home to help him with his congestion. 

I woke up that night, December 30th, around 11:30pm to Carter wheezing when he was breathing, stridor.  He has been congested for about a week and I think because of all the traveling we did for the holiday parties it wore him down.  He started to bark when he coughed, so I called the pediatrican's extension number.  Nolan had Croup when he was about 6 months old and he had the same symptoms.  The nurse on call told me to take Carter to the E.R. because he is so young. The nurse said Croup isn't usually dangerous for older babies, but when younger babies have Croup their airway is so small to begin with it can become dangerous.  I made a mad dash to the E.R., while Bill stayed at home with sleeping Nolan.

Once at the E.R. and an eternity of waiting, the doctor diagnosed him with Croup and prescribed a breathing treatment and an oral dose of steroids to help with the inflamed airway.  Carter did not like the breathing treatment or the medicine at all!! Poor baby screamed his head off.  After the breathing treatment was finished and the medicine administered Carter ate and went right to sleep.  The nurse recommended a cool mist humidifier, we have a warm mist, to help with Croup.  I made a pit stop at Walgreens, thank goodness for 24 hour stores, to purchase a humidifier and headed home.  Carter slept great the whole night.  I went home with a much happier baby at 3:00 in the morning!

Since Croup is contagious and the steriods Carter is taking can decrease his immune system, we decided to stay at home by ourselves and bring in the New Year.  We ate a delicious meal of Express Meal by 54th Street and went to bed at 9:30pm.  Bill was the only one who stayed up to watch the ball drop at midnight!!

2012 was a great year with the birth of our baby boy, Carter, and our other baby boy, Nolan, turning 2!!  I know 2013 is going to have a lot in store for us and it will be an even better year!  Happy New Year everyone!!

Carter is 3 Months Old

Carter is now about 3 and a half months old.  I am a little behind on taking pictures, but we made it in the 3 month time frame.  I weighed and measured him this morning at home, since he doesn't have a well visit until he is 4 months.  Carter weighed in at 15 pounds and measured 24 and 1/2 inches in length.  My baby boy is growing like a weed. 

He eats non-stop, so I guess he is going through a growth spurt again.  He has been chewing on everything a lot lately too, so he is probably teething.  Carter is my little cuddle bug.  I'm so glad he is able to breastfeed because it is such an important way to bond with him!  I love when he is nursing and falls asleep peacefully in my arms.  Carter is my little angel.  He's the happiest little guy around; always smiling and cooing. 

Carter is busting through his milestones:
- rolling over from belly to back
- grasping and swatting at objects
- smiling and he even laughed out loud on Sunday!!
- holding his head up
- sitting up in the bumbo

Of course, I had to have a mini photo shoot at the house this morning for his 3 month pictures. He did great even though he is recovering from Croup.

My little model exhausted from his photo shoot!

Happy 3 Months Carter Lynn.  You truly are a blessing to our family.  You bring so much joy and entertainment to our lives.  We love you!