Birthday Boys

Happy Birthday John Ross and Judd! We celebrated the boys' birthdays with a Cowboys & Indians birthday party. Both boys looked the part in their cowboy hats, western shirts, jeans and cowboy boots. Most of the Missouri clan was able to join us in addition to some of our Iowa friends. We had such a fun time playing in the backyard at the Wild West Show (our bounce house) and chasing the Big Chief (Daddy) around the teepee. We even had some pony races on stick horses.

Judd had an eventful 1st year. As of October 7th, he has 8 teeth, is cruising everywhere and busy being a chatter box. His favorite words are "Daisy" (our dog), "Dada", "dog", "ball" and "no". He has learned that squealing gets an immediate reaction out of Mom and Dad since it usually means he is holding his ground with John Ross. He eats anything that you put in front of him, but is no doubt a fruit fanatic. His favorite treats are Dum Dum suckers. I swear he can sniff them out and will do anything in his power to put one in his mouth - wrapper and all. He's most definitely a Mama's boy, BUT won't miss an opportunity to give his Daddy a big grin and hug. After all, Daddy is the one who put his ride-on roadster together that he has driven around the house for miles.

John Ross had a life-changing year. Doctors were able to correctly diagnose his hypoglycemia and our lives have been different ever since. His health is stable, he is feeling great and making huge strides with his speech (which had been delayed). He continues to love music and got a new and bigger guitar for his 3rd birthday. His latest song of choice that he sings and strums to is Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours". He is still a swimming fool. He spent most of the summer in swim trunks, so we are continuing that experience through the fall. He is taking swimming lessons at a local YMCA and doing well. The first class was an absolute disaster... he was the kid that got kicked out for not following directions. Thankfully he is not the afraid and timid child, but unfortunately the polar opposite. He had his own agenda with no fear of the water. His participation has improved immensely.

We are so thankful to have such wonderful little boys. They keep us busy and life is crazy, but we wouldn't have it any other way. The two become closer each day and it's so fun to watch the hugs and kisses and John Ross rubbing his brother's back when he thinks no one is looking. Can't wait to see what next year will bring!

I'm a Big Boy Now!

John Ross and the potty chair have become friends... finally! Kyle and I decided that this past weekend was THE weekend to get John Ross potty trained. We had a rare weekend at home and with Kyle home on Monday, we had 3 days to achieve our mission. Almost two dozen pairs of underwear and a HUGE bag of Skittles later, I can proudly say - Mission Accomplished!

By the third day, it just clicked for him and he's been doing great ever since. He had one accident on Monday. We were nervous about staying on a roll once he went back to daycare today. He's continuing to use the potty at daycare and we're so proud of him.

I promised him about a month ago that he could have a brand new tractor once he started using the potty and he hasn't let me forget. Looks like we'll be hitting Tractor Supply this week!

We Have a Crawler!

Judd is finally crawling! To give the kid some credit, he has been mobile for awhile. He had his own style of scooting on his bottom to where he needed to go. Eventually he turned into a tripod using an inward-pointed leg as his "rudder". As of Wednesday, he has all four limbs parallel and moving in the same direction. It's very exciting, but I didn't realize how much baby proofing we need to do. John Ross is old enough, we've let a few things go and his toys have tiny parts that offer a new challenge.

Judd is also moving on to table food. He wasn't a big fan of the thick-textured baby foods, so we started giving him table food a few weeks ago and he is quite enthusiastic about that. Today he ate everything from meat to several types of fruits and was super excited about peas of all things.

He just cut his 8th tooth and sat through his 2nd haircut. He's growing so fast... it's a little heartbreaking for Mommy!

Pink Eye Almost Leads to Pink Slip

So, yesterday morning John Ross was diagnosed with Pink Eye and was not allowed to attend daycare for 24 hours. I took him to the office with me to do a few things and grab my laptop, so that I could work from home. He behaved so well! He stayed in my cubicle and played with a truck and some ears of corn I have sitting on my shelf. I was getting ready to walk over to a co-worker's cubicle when John Ross bolted down the long row of cubicles. He ran to the end of the row and took a hard right and the chase was on. Before I could grab him, he ran right into the office of our Vice President of North America Sales - giggling the whole way. He ran into the office and jumped into a cushioned corner chair. I kept repeating to myself, "Alejandro (the VP), please do not be there." He was.

I was mortified and the VP was quite surprised. He had a slight grin and puzzled look as if he was thinking, "who is this child and where did he come from?" I apologized and grabbed John Ross. Alejandro then commented how cute he was and got up out of his chair to find out what his name was and how old he was. Either he was charmed or wanted to blackball him from ever getting a job at Pioneer. I continued to apologize as I carried my child under my arm and out the door. He told me not to apologize and that he enjoyed young visitors.

I was so thankful that he had a good sense of humor about the fact that I have no control of my child. I was also thankful that I showed up this morning and there was no pink slip on my desk.

Seis De Mayo

Judd is celebrating Cinco de Mayo with seis dientes! Judd has 6 teeth total now. His upper "fangs" came in first and over the weekend, the middle two popped through. He'll be eating corn on the cob soon enough!

Judd's favorite thing to do is sit up and play with toys - especially if they're John Ross'! He's at such a cute stage with babbling and discovering everything he can get his hands on, which includes kitchen utensils, paper, Mommy's hair, etc. The child is never bored! He's riding in his big boy carseat and it's so cute to watch him look out the window now that he's high enough to do so.

Recently, he and John Ross have really bonded. They are now taking baths together, which leads to lots of giggles and splashing. John Ross is getting to be more helpful in making sure Judd has toys to play with and helps him push the buttons. We keep a step stool next to the crib, because John Ross likes to talk to Judd before he goes to bed. They are definitely fun to watch.

We'll be taking a plane ride to St. Louis in a couple of weeks. It will be Judd's first flight. Let's keep our fingers crossed that at least one of the boys sleep in the plane!

Bye, bye seizures!

Some time ago, I wrote that I would not mention John Ross' epilepsy on this blog ever again. It turns out that won't be a problem. After a week of testing and a weekend hospital stay, John Ross has been diagnosed with hyperinsulinemia (his body produces too much insulin). It is severe enough that it was causing his seizures. We still don't know why, but we're thankful to know what we're treating for once. Most importantly we know how to prevent his blood sugar level from getting too low, which will stop seizure activity. With a change in diet and a new medicine, we believe we will get his hypoglycemia under control. Thank you to everyone who continues to pray for our brave boy.

John Ross Breaks a Record

I was just informed that John Ross broke his own pancake-eating record this morning. He is a huge fan of the mini Eggo pancakes - in fact "pancake" was one of his first two syllable words he said. He must have been hungry, because he ate 11 this morning. Kyle said he just kept asking for more. That's the big newsflash from the Malter household!