Fundraise

I usually wouldn't post things like this, but because ice cream is involved here I am!

Dylan's school is doing a Scentsy fundraiser. 10% of sales will go towards his school( mothers day out program)

You can go online to Angelasands.scentsy.us and place your order for the Shepards kids fundraiser. Or if you would like free shipping, you can send me your order and I will place it for you in person. So here is the ice cream catch. The class with the most orders will win an ice cream party. Dylan is a skinny guy so he could REALLY use the ice cream!

Please let me know if you place an order online so that I can make sure his class receives the credit! Comment me if you would like to place the order with me! Thanks everyone!

Waited a long time

I've waited a long time for Dylan to refer to me as something other than "Daddy" or "bubba" We obviously have some more work to do, but I love his little voice saying Mama. It's at the very end of the video.

He was enjoying nutella for breakfast, naked. Isn't that how you do it?

Handy Helper

I suppose you can call it helping. Dylan loves to help. One of his new favorite phases is, " I do, I do." Brushing his teeth, vacuuming, taking something to the trash, tools, building things. He is a helper. He hands Graham toys all the time, tries to feed him, and holds his bottle for him. His helping really does slow down things though, but of course, we try to let him help as long as it is safe for him to do so. I hope that he keeps up his helping, and that he can actually be helpful as he gets older. I won't hold my breath though!

Adam and I bought Dylan a trampoline a couple of weeks ago. It is a "My first Trampoline" so it's relatively small. We set it up, upstairs on the landing for a week or two until the weather was going to be stable enough that we thought we could move it outside. We did that last weekend. We carried it down the stairs, and out the door. Then Dylan really got to help.

He saw that Adam had his tools, so he went inside and came back out with his tool set. It was so cute. He loves pliers, so he went to work " helping" put his "bounce" together.

Together, they put it together, then we spent the rest of the afternoon outside, playing on it. I'm so glad that Spring has sprung and we can spend the day outside!

Joke is on us!

Lets set the scene shall we? Carson and Dylan, eating Popsicles on the trampoline. Decide they want to water the plants,{read as dirt} in the pots. I fill up the water can, 100 times. I finally tell Becca to just show Carson how to use the water hose. The first go around, Carson filled it up, then Dylan ran off with it. So then Carson just started spraying the yard. I wish that I had thought to get the video camera out. The giggles that were coming for those two boys were amazing. They were having such a great time, that even though Dylan was soaking, we just couldn't bring ourselves to stop them. Until, Carson beamed Dylan in the face and Dylan was not to pleased about it. Of course, because of his lack of body fat, Dylan was also turning purple.:)We can't wait to get these guys together in the summer, they are going to have a great time swimming and playing in the water.

When I told Adam about the water play, his response was, " Well at least they watered our grass!" I don't know about anyone else, but we are still on a strict twice a month water schedule!:)

McCoughersons

That's right folks, we are changing out name! There is so much little boy coughing and sneezing going on on this house right now. ( Though we seem to be on the mend)

Dylan had had a cough for a few weeks, like once or twice an hour, but Monday night it got more frequent. He had a little play date with Carson's Mimi and Poppy, who graciously took both of our boys, along with their own grandchildren for the evening, so that we could go over to Courtney's for a Bachelor Finale watching party. When we picked him up, I had noticed that he was coughing more than usual. I figured it was just because he was running around like a mad man. Tuesday he woke up with a terrible cough. Very croupy sounding. By mid day he couldn't stop coughing. I mean, he could breath, but the poor guy sounded terrible. Now, I'm not one to run the the doctor with a cough and snot nose, but with Graham in the house, I wanted to make sure it wasn't something more serious. I dropped of Graham with Becca, and to the Dr, Dylan and I went. He checked out fine. Once we got home, his cough had all but gone away, and he was back to his normal bouncing off the wall self. Apparently all he needed was for me to pay $35 for someone to tell me he was ok!:)

Graham has picked up a cough but luckily his is not getting any worse, and all the snot noses are getting better. But of course they always get worse before getting better right?

I guess this is the price I pay for taking my child to all the Toddler zones. Mother's Day out on Tuesday's and Thursdays, Metroplex Gymnastics on Wednesdsay's and Bounce Town on Fridays. They are breeding grounds for germs, but you know what? I'm glad that I've found places to take him. If I kept him in the house all day he would drive me to insanity. He has also become so much more of a little boy and independent going to these places.

Last week, We were bouncing in a bounce house, and a dad asked me, " How old is he?" " he turned 2 in December" " Oh really? He bounces so well in here, I gotta get mine on a training schedule, he doesn't know what to do in places like this!" For some reason it made me feel great that he said that! Like I was doing something right by my kiddo, he might not talk to much, but he sure as hell knows how to bounce!:)

Boys will be boys

You might remember me mentioning my friend Becca moved into our neighborhood over the summer. Her boy, Carson and Dylan are the best of friends. They see each other almost everyday during the week and they play so well together. We always joke about their sizes. Dylan is tiny, and Carson is kind of a giant!:) So they make a perfect team.

Tuesday morning Becca dropped her boys off at my house so she could take a morning substitute job. Carson and Dylan were both fresh from a good night's sleep so they were wild. They left me alone so I didn't really care much. That's what is so great about them. They will come and check on their babies, but they can play by themselves for a while.

They are just so funny. Carson will mimic things that Dylan says, even though he can speak just fine, if Carson falls down, Dylan will. They will giggle and Laugh at each other. It's adorable. But one conversation from the other morning is what spurred this post. When Becca dropped them off, she told me that Carson had saved a muffin for Dylan. Dylan was sleep sleeping so Carson just played with some blocks until he woke up. I went to get Dylan and as we were coming down the stairs this is what Carson said:

C- " Dylan, we're playing at Lindsay's House"

D- "Yeah!"

C- " Dylan do you want a muffin?"

Me- " Carson, What?"

C- "Dylan do you want a muffin?"
D- "YEAH!"

Carson then hands Dylan one of the last two muffins.
C-" Muffins are my favorite snack"

Seriously, how adorable is that? What two year old do you know would share like that? Only a best buddy.

I'm pretty sure the second generation of brothers are going to be best buddies too.:)

Love You Forever

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,

as long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.

By Robert Munsch

He's a big boy now

No no, I wish this post was about Dylan being potty trained, but it isnt. I haven't crossed that bridge yet. He shows lots of interest in the potty, loves to flush, and even for several weeks, would say "doodoo" then go lay down and let me change him. That was short lived. Now it's back to pinning him down or chasing him around for a diaper change. But when I say he is a big boy, I am referring to school. The first several times, ok months, he would cry and cling to me when I left him. The day before Christmas break he finally did it. I said " do you want to go in a play?" " Otay" And he walked right in. I was amazed and sad at the same time. We were about to go on a 2 week break. He would probably regress in that time. So the first day back, I asked him if he wanted to go to school and play. He said," Otay" and walked right in. Now when we pull in the parking lot and he sees the play ground he yells " YEY" I love that he loves going to school now. His teachers adore him, and say they don't even have to pry his monkey out of his hands after nap time anymore, he will walk over and hand it to them. He must know that means I'll be there soon. So even though it took a semester, he finally is "Otay" with me leaving him now:) He will even wave "die" and blow me a kiss. I love picking him up too becuase he gets so excited. even though he only says "daddy" I think he loves his mommy too!

Chef Dylan

Remember when I said Dylan could be a shoe salesman? Well I still think he could. He constantly brings us our shoes to put on, even if we are in Pj's. He insists. I think he might have found another calling as well. Being a Chef. One morning Adam was making breakfast and Dylan was basically climbing up his leg. Adam got out my step stool, and let Dylan help. I'll be honest, at first it made me incredibly nervous having him next to the stove, because he doesn't really get the " hot" concept. I guess I was wrong though, because he won't touch the stove. HE is like his Momma and loves to stir. He's dumped the salt on the floor a few times. But he loves to cook. He's made, Eggs, chicken tikka masala( He loves Indian food), pancakes, cupcakes, shrimp, and that's all I can think of right now, but I know there is more. Here is the kicker. The kid will EAT whatever he makes. Even the veggies. It's a genius plan we have. Oh, we're having Shrimp for dinner? " Hey Dylan do you want to help cook?" " YEEESSSS, I do" ( Have I mentioned yes is his new word. It's adorable.)

He also tried to say "cook" last night. It sounds more like he has something caught in his throat, but hey, he is trying and it at least has the C sound!:)

Well said.

Dylan is delayed in speech. I won't lie, exaggerate, or make up things that he says. Maybe I'm a little harsh on him, but when other parents say their kids are saying words, then I hear the word, it just doesn't sound like it. I don't count words until other people can understand what he is saying. I'm not embarrassed, or concerned. We have been seeing a speech therapist once a week for several months now, maybe 10. I am getting him the help he needs. All of his words begin with D. Duice(Juice), Dhoes ( shoes),docks( socks) Doooouun ( Down) Doo( Dog) Daddy. Dye Dye. You get the picture. We have been working with him on using more consonants, because well, not all words start with D. He has made some great progress, and my favorite new word of his is Bubba. I figured brother was too hard to say, so I call Graham is little Bubba. So here you have it. My child saying a word that doesn't start with D. Turn up the volume. It's adorable!

Peek -A- boo

Peek

A

Boo!

I see you!

2 Months/ 2 years

This past Friday, the boys and I made a trip to the doctors office. Dylan for his two year check up and Graham for his two month check up. They didn't really want to go, and almost made us miss it. Both of them decided they wanted to sleep in, which meant mommy was sleeping too. My eyes popped open at about 8:30. Their appointment was at 9:10. I got them both up, fed, and dressed and out the door got to the doctor with even a little time to spare.

First up were weight checks. I made Dylan go first, because I knew that if Graham started crying, there was no way on Earth Dylan was going to do it.

Dylan:

23 lbs.

That's right people. He has finally made it to the growth curve. Even if it is like in the 1%ile:)

33.5 Inches

They asked me all the questions that they do, like, Does he drink out of a cup, Walk backwards, say six words, how he was eating, sleeping. He passed all of those with flying colors. Now since he started Mother's Day out, we have been to see Dr. Daniel a few times for infections. Dylan is never very happy about seeing him. But on Friday, he was so good. He let him listen to his heart, check his eyes, he still really dislikes his ears being messed with though. Interestingly enough, he had an ear infection again. The doc seemed to think it was the same cold as the one he had before thanksgiving, and the antibiotic just killed it enough for him to feel better, but then came back, so we are now on a 20 day antibiotic regime. Good thing he likes that stuff! We also got him the Flu mist. I thought that he had to get a shot or something, luckily for him he didn't. Graham on the other hand.

Graham was up next. I stripped him down and took him to the scale. I was really excited to see what he weighed. I knew he was going to be more than Dylan.

Graham:

11 pounds 11 ounces- 41 %ile - (The highest dylan ever got was 25th!)

23 inches- 43th %ile

They didn't tell me what his hear was, but they said it was in the 25 %ile, which is funny, I thought he had a big noggin!

Next up was his check up. I missed most of it because I was having to entertain Dylan, but for the most part it was good. He does have a heart murmur. I have an innocent one, and Dylan had a soft one that went away when he was four months old. Though apparently this one is not soft, so we have been referred to a pediatric cardiologist. But never fear, according to our pedi, " He doesn't have heart disease, he wouldn't be thriving if he did." I never even thought that he would have, our pedi just always jumps to this weird sayings. Like when Dylan was delayed in speech he told me. " I don't think he is autistic, so I don't want you to think that is what I'm saying." Hello, I NEVER would have jumped there. He is an odd man sometimes! Anyway, so I will make an appointment and we will go have his heart checked. I remember going to have mine checked, I must have been 3 or 4. My mom and grandma, Mere, went with me. They told me if I was good, I could get black patent leather shoes from Payless. See, I've always been a shoe girl.

Graham was none to happy about getting 3 shots to the leg. He was a trooper and only cried a little bit, and by the time we made it to the car, he was already asleep. Though when he woke up I could tell his little legs hurt, because when I touched them he made the cutest sad face. Does that make me a bad mom? Saying his sad face is cute?

Monkey Time

My little monkey turned two. I still can't believe it. So how do you celebrate turning two? With a slightly Curious George themed party. Duh. As I think I have mentioned on here before, Dylan loves "monkey." It has become his lovey. He takes it to school with him, gets very upset if you take it away from him, sleeps with him, cuddles him, well you get the point. He loves the thing. While he also loves Mickey, I decided to go with a curious George theme. Well mainly red, yellow with a splash of blue.

I spent way to much money on a cake, but hey, until Dylan can tell me " Mommy, I want a racecar cake" I get to pick what they look like. I like to think of the cake as the center piece of the party. I'm pretty sure this one was, as well as last year.

I limited my crafty this year as well, seeing that I had a little less time to spend. I made a balloon wreath for the door, that will now be a staple for all birthdays in the family. It took me about 2 hours, and about 500 balloons to make, but I was pretty happy with the way it came out.

For favors I did Curious George books for the kiddos, and red and yellow M&M wand things for the adults. We also didn't make all the food this year. I ordered a chicken nugget tray from Chick Fil A, and we made ham and cheese sliders, had some chips and dip and veggies. Even though we purchased stuff this year, my sister and I were still technically "late" to his party. Luckily everyone else was too.

I would say the biggest hit was the balloons. I ordered 2.5 dozen, and since they got to the party late, most of them just ended up on the ceiling in the formal dining room. The kids loved playing with them though. Dylan would take them from the short ceiling and let them go up into the entry way that is two stories, then say " Uh Oh" It's his favorite. Though he hasn't learned that if you do it on purpose, its not an uh oh!

Dylan was spoiled by all the gifts as well. He got some great toys, books clothes, and lots of cars! I need to think about rearranging the playroom and adding more storage so that they all fit. Because we haven't even gotten to Christmas yet!

My picture taking was pretty poor this year. I didn't get any pictures of Dylan with Grandparents, or just me, or my sister or Adam's sister. It was pretty gloomy outside as well, so the lighting stunk. So I used my on board flash, so the quality of the pictures isn't that great either. But I think there were some cute ones.

I will do an official Two year post once we get his stats at the Doctor on Friday!

Two.

one million, fiftey one thousand two hundred minutes. seventeen thousand five hundred and twenty hours. seven hundred thirty days. one hundred and four weeks. two years.

Busy Bodies

This past Sunday was a very busy one for us. Luckily, everyone was healthy again in this house. We really probably booked ourselves for too much, seeing as it was the first day of the time change. First off, we started with the newest addition to our family getting Baptised. When Dylan was baptized, he cried ,screamed really, through the whole thing. Granted it was at like 7 PM because it was an Easter service. We knew we needed to make sure that Graham was younger, and that the service wasn't late at night. Sunday it was. Unfortunately, I had already booked us for our family pictures in the afternoon. I even had to turn down a birthday party because I knew I needed Dylan to take a good nap in order to be in a good mood for pictures.

The service went well, Graham was pretty good, anytime he got upset we just fed him, because of course, we had to wake him up to get him there. The only problem was me. I really have a hard time packing a diaper bag for two kids. I get to church and realize that I didn't bring a burp cloth. Luckily, Graham's Godmother, Becca came to the rescue. She didn't have a burp cloth either, but she had a blanket. The next was diaper changes. Graham is a pooper. Like his big brother. So we get to church and before it even starts, he stinks. We go change him. We come back, not ten minuets later, he pooped again. Problem- I had already used the diaper I had! Becca to the rescue again. Thank goodness for another new mom!

Of course, when planning all these events I didn't really think about the time change when I was agreeing to do all of these things. Dylan was not in a good mood by the end of church, mainly because to him, it was already 1 pm. Nap time is usually between noon and 1. Now, I'm going to say, on days that he doesn't get a nap, he usually doesn't act like a pill, but those days he doesn't wake up at 7:20. So he just wasn't in a picture taking mood after the service.

He fell asleep in the car, ALWAYS bad. So when we got home and he had time for a two and half hour nap, well he probably only got 45- 60 minuet nap. Needless to say, I'm not sure you all will be seeing a smiling Dylan, or Graham for that matter, in our Christmas card photo this year.

Trunk or Treat

I'm a little behind, but please, cut me some slack, it was a rough week last week. I'm taking you all the way back to October. Can you believe we are already a week into November? I can't.

This was the first Halloween for Dylan. Alright, not the first, but the first he got to participate in. He couldn't walk last year, and I think taking kids Trick or treating that can't walk is like teenagers not in costumes coming to my door. He went as a giraffe. Now you see I'm pretty frugal ( or cheap whatever) and I didn't want to buy him a costume that he would wear once, but luckily Becca had a costume that was too little for her guy, so we got to use it. As It turned out, he got to wear it twice too, once to school for the pumpkin patch, and once to trunk or treat.

We actually didn't even go trick or treating. We went trunk or treating.
Now many are probably thinking, what is Trunk or treating. Well it was a thing that Becca's parents church put on. Cars lined up, with their trunks decorated in variouss themes and handed out candy. It was really a great idea. Dylan was a little shy at first, probably because he can't say trick or treat, but he quickly got the hang of it and would lift his basket for people to put candy in. He was even being environmentally friendly and picking candy and empty wrappers off the ground and putting them in his basket!

Overall, I would say he was successful in his first Halloween. He doesn't even seem to be afraid of the "scary decor" that comes with the holiday. The one bad thing about it though, is that he can't really eat many of the different types of candy, you know, snickers and things. So what does that mean? Mom has too!:)

The Great Outdoors

Remember when I said that Dylan could live outside? I wasn't kidding. He will wake up and point to his feet and say "shoes" He will bring Adam and I our shoes from the closet, in hopes that we put them on to go out. He has become quiet the soccer player, and ball thrower because of the great outdoors. Though, Daddy has taught him some things I wish he wouldn't, like throwing and kicking the ball against the garage, and the wall ( as well as inside the house). I guess the wall isn't too bad, but there are windows.

I can't wait to get him into soccer, though we will have to work on him not picking the ball up with his hands.

Big Brother

One of the many things that I was concerned with , with bringing a new baby into the house was how Dylan would react. I was worried he would think we didn't love him anymore, and I was worried there was no way that I could love Graham as much as I love Dylan. He is my little monkey, my first born, and my wild child. Boy was I incorrect.

Yes, Dylan is a wanting a little more attention. His new favorite thing is to carry around his shoes, saying " Dooes" ( Sounds a little like Jews), and pointing at the front door, the child could live outside if we let him. He is also a little more hitty, if you will. If he doesn't get what he wants, he starts flapping his hands around hitting whatever comes his way. Including, his new baby brother's head. Now of course this is unacceptable, so he goes to timeout. I'll be honest though, when you have one child attached to a boob, and one that is being bad, it's a little hard to get up and put him in timeout. Off subject, but I never thought timeout would work for my kid. You mean, tell him to sit in one spot and "think" about what he did? I will tell you though, it works, he will sit there, and stay, and if I keep getting onto him, saying " We do not hit" he gets this big tears in his eyes. I think I hurt his feelings. I'm just surprised he will stay in one place.

Dylan's saving grace for being a naughty little monkey, is that he is super sweet with his brother. He will hug him and kiss him. Without me even saying to. He will just sit and watch him. He will rock him in his chair. He will pat his belly if he is crying, and he pet's his head. He will try to give him back a pacifier if it fell out. He just melts my heart. I knew he would be sweet, but I never guessed that he would be as good with him as he has. Now as our pediatrician told us, that will probably all change once Graham is mobile and stealing Dylan's toys!

So to say the least, Dylan is a great big brother, and we are surviving, and possibly even thriving as a family of four. Everyday we get a little more adventurous. This weekend, we went to dinner with Adam's parents. Saturday, we went over to Becca's parents house to watch the Rangers game. We stayed until after 10. Dylan was great. Graham screamed the entire way home. He was starving. The kid has Dylan and Adam's metabolism I think. He can eat until the cows come home. Though he still has frog legs! He does have him some cheeks though!

Where does it go?

While on a walk last night, we ran into a neighbor who has just had her 4 possibly 5th, i can't remember baby. She was carrying him in a sling, so of course I had to go say hi. You know what blew my mind? How TINY that little guy was, 6 lbs 10 oz at birth, so not tiny by any means. I just honestly can't remember Dylan being so small. Nor can I believe in two short weeks I will have another tiny little guy. I guess I should have known when I pulled out newborn diapers and Dylan's shoes were bigger than them.:) It's amazing how you forget everything about babies. I don't remember having to get up a lot with Dylan in the middle of the night, but I do remember moving him upstairs to his bed at 8 weeks. Adam says he remembers though, but not me!

It's such a cliche, but it's so true. They really do grow so fast. I'm loving this stage with Dylan, other than the terrible tantrums for no reason, but he is such a funny and sweet little boy, I can't wait to see him with his baby brother. He is like a little person now. He has likes and dislikes, and lets you know about them, as previously mentioned. I find myself, though sad he is getting so big so fast, wondering what he will be like when he is five, or even ten. Adam brought it up the other day. " I wonder if we will always have other kids at our house, or if he will always be at someone elses?" You know, when you were in elementary, were you always at someone elses house? No one was ever at ours, so I was always at someone elses, and Adam didn't have cable Tv , the horror, so he was always at someones house as well. I guess only time will tell.

First Week

Last week was Dylan's first week of "school." We decided that a Mother's Day Out program would be great for him to get some social interaction with other kiddos as well as give this pregnant Momma a "day out." He is going Tuesday's and Thursday for five hours. Do you know how quickly five hours goes when you don't have a toddler to tote around with you? Very quickly.

Tuesday morning we got up and got ready for school. He was in such a foul mood, I ALMOST felt bad taking him and leaving him. Remember, he had just come off some ear infections as well, so that was probably part of it. He flat out refused to carry his backpack or lunch box, so of course I did it. He would only carry Monkey. They recommended letting them bring something for nap time, to encourage them to take a nap. haha. I dropped him off, he went to play on the slide, and I managed to slip out the door without him seeing me. This is the trick to no crying. His teachers said he did great when I went to pick him up, other than the fact he didn't nap. Mind you, he takes about a three hour nap everyday, so he was pretty cranky when I picked him up. I marked day one as a success.

Thursday. He was in a great mood when he woke up, even walked ALL the way to his classroom from the car. Once he saw where he was though, all hell broke loose. The poor guy knew I was going to be leaving him, so he started crying. The teachers had to pry him off of me to let me leave. I know he only cried for like a minuet after I left, but it was still hard. The report at the end of the day was that he cried more than Tuesday, but I'm guessing it was more tantrum crying, like making him do things he doesn't want to do, than scared or missing me crying! So we will see how this week goes.

I do have to say though, I can tell already that this is going to be money very well spent. I loved my time off, which was spent grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry, getting a massage, and lunch with my husband, and I know he will learn to get along with other kiddos. His friend Carson is starting tomorrow, sadly though, they won't be in the same class. But hey, at least he'll "know" someone right?

I promise I had more pictures, but for some reason they are not on the card anymore. which is strange becuase I looked at them the other day? oh well