The long week

Last week was a tough week at our house. Adam's Grandma Ellen passed away. She was an amazing woman and she is going to be missed by everyone who knew her. I'm so happy and honored to have gotten to know her over the last 5 1/2 years. She was kind, generous, classy and talented. The last quilt she made was Nolan's baseball quilt, and that's something we'll cherish forever! Adam and I are extremely proud that our boys will carry on the Bleck family name, too.

Adam's back gave out on him last Wednesday, and thankfully super Dave came to the rescue again! Dave took Adam to urgent care and pick up his prescriptions. In addition to the pills, Adam has made a few visits to the chiropractor. He's been laying pretty low and trying not to do any lifting, which is difficult when you have a 20 month old and a 2 month old at home! He's at Greg and Ellen's right now, soaking his sore back in the hot tub.

I feel very fortunate that my dad and Adam's parent's were able to help Adam out this weekend with the boys so I could enjoy a night away with my mom and sisters in St. Cloud. We literally shopped til we dropped! I didn't quite get all our Christmas shopping done, but it's a good start. It felt so good to sneak away for a night and not have any one to think about except me - and to sleep through the night! It sounds selfish, but I really needed it:)

Last week Kale made another big step in the sleeping through the night category. His typical routine in the evening is to go to bed around 6:15 or 6:30. I do an early dream feed around 7, and then another one at 10:30. As long as he hasn't leaked through his jammies he'll sleep until 3:30 or 4. Last Wednesday he slept from 6:30 to 6:30, straight through! I woke up and didn't know what hit me, as it was the first time I had really slept through the night since before he was born! Nolan was also feeling extra kind that same morning, as he didn't wake up until close to 7. Kale also had his 8 week check up last Wednesday, at 8 1/2 weeks old. We had noticed he seemed to be getting bigger, but we weren't expecting that it would be as much as it was! He weighs 11 lbs 15 oz (50%) and is 24.25 inches long
(90%!). He has a wee little head right now, only checking in at 25% (I think it's around 16 or 16 1/2 inches). Kale is an inch and a half longer than Nolan was at this age, and is a little over a pound heavier. I'm afraid to think how big he might be when he gets to Nolan's age! We had our pediatrician check the flat spot on his head, and she said she isn't super concerned yet, but it's something we need to keep an eye on. We also told her about how Kale is really congested sounding after he eats, and how he does this weird thing where he seems to stop breathing for a second or so, and then takes a deep breath and continues on. He happened to do it at his appointment, and it's reflux! We should have picked up on the signs, since Nolan had the same thing. He's been real spitty lately, too. He has a prescription for Zantac. So far we haven't really seen results, but our dr. asked we give it a week and if it's not working to call back and we can try something else. Kale had his first day at daycare on Friday, because we didn't want to take both boys to the funeral. Jane had to get a license variance for Kale because she has too many kids under the age of 2 until March. There's another baby who goes to daycare Tuesday-Thursday, so Jane has room for Kale on Monday's and Friday's if we need it. Come December Kale is going to go to daycare every Friday, to break in both he and Nolan. The first report was good, so we're hoping that will continue.

Nolan is certainly becoming more of a toddler. A report from daycare last week went like this - "he sure is stubborn, but a joy to have in the house". Not sure if that's good or bad! It's become par for the course that Nolan will get a few timeouts during the week, primarily for not listening. On the up side his speech and vocabulary is improving every day. It will sure make our job as parent's a lot easier when he can actually tell us what's wrong, instead of us trying to figure it out with him.

Hard to believe but Thanksgiving is literally right around the corner. We have plans to head up to Gina and Eric's on Thursday morning, but we need to wait and see what the weather is going to do. If it's anything like the skating rink on the roads this past weekend we'll be staying home!