Landon is potty trained!

Landon has been ready to be potty trained for a long time.  We decided to wait to potty train him till a few months after Ellie arrived.  We didn't want to put to many new things on his plate.  The first couple of days were really rough.  We were really thinking that he was going to be so easy to train.  The first 2 days he had a lot of accidents then day 3 arrived and I could tell he was starting to get it.  He had very few accidents.  He easily used the regular toilet he wasn't afraid at all.  I think it helped that he always saw Caiden using it.  It took a couple weeks for him to catch on to pooping on the toilet. Ugh, we had a lot of poop accidents. But he is doing great now.  He actually takes him self to the bathroom and pulls his own pants and undies up and down.  Landon always says to me, "Mom I a big boy! I had no accident!" So cute! It is so nice for us to have both boys potty trained.  Its actually pretty easy to take them to the bathroom when we are out because they can go at the same time! lol!  We are so proud of you Laylo!  You are such a big boy now!

Big boy undies!  

Caiden Started Preschool!

My biggest baby has started preschool.  It does give me a little heartache to have him away 3 days a week for 3 hours.  Hugh and I debated for awhile if we wanted to put him in preschool for 1 or 2 years.  Well, Caiden decided he wanted to go now because a lot of his friends are going. So we signed him up! He is attending Cedar Park Christian School.  I was a little nervous about the first day.  You see, Caiden is with me all the time, I have never had to trust people I don't know to care for him and I wasn't sure how he would do.  Well, I can happily report he has been doing amazing and is loving preschool!  When we pulled into his school for the first day he said, "Mom! I don't have a backpack!"  I said, "Caiden your teacher said you didn't need one." He said, "But I really want one!" He noticed that other kids were walking into the class with backpacks.  So, of course, I did go out and get him one.  The funny thing is he hasn't wanted to bring it to school once.  I asked him, why? He said, " I am afraid one of the other kids is going to take it!" LOL! Apparently he really likes his backpack! Silly boy! He has been in school for over a month  now and has made lots of new friends.  He tells me that his favorite part of school is snack (the kid loves food) and recess.  His teacher's name is Ms. Lee and the assistant teacher they is Mrs. Teresa.  After a few weeks in school I arrived to pick him up and his teacher came up to me and said we had a little incident today.  I was immediately surprised because this is not like Caiden.  Come to find out a boy in his class pinched Caiden on both cheeks during Chapel.  The teacher said that Caiden was pretty upset but they were able to calm him down.   While Caiden is in school Ellie naps and Landon and I get to spend sometime together.  Landon loves to help me bake and cook so I try to plan something for us to cook together while Caiden is at school.  I am so happy that Caiden is loving school and learning a lot but I sure miss him while he is there!

Caiden- We are so proud of you little buddy! You are doing so good in school!  Your teacher told me that you get along with everyone in the class (your so much like your daddy).  I cant believe you are in school already.  I love that you get so excited to see me when I come and pick you up.  I also, love that you have to have a hug and kiss before I drop you off.   I get excited to pick you up knowing that you get excited to tell me about your day.  We love you so much little buddy and cant wait to see you learn and grow this following school year!

 He had to do a funny face!

 Picture with mom on the first day.

 Checking everything out on the first day.

New backpack!

Ellie 4 months!

 The blog post is a little late Ellie is already almost 6 months old but I want to document her 4 month stats.  Ellie had her 4 month appt (she was actually 4 1/2 months) her stats were: weight 16.4 lbs (76%), height 26.5 inches (97%) very tall lady, head 42.7 cm (88%).  It is crazy how are kids are so tall!  Ellie is currently wearing 6 month clothing but I can already tell that she will be in 9 month soon.  Ellie's clogged tear duct finally came unclogged right after turning 4 months old.  I was so excited it finally came unclogged. It was so goopey all the time and kept getting infected.  Ellie is such a great and happy baby!  I will admit the first 3 months were really difficult.  Now, she is such a happy baby and is always smiling.  At 4 1/2 months Ellie rolled from her back to her stomach for the first time. Its funny because she hasn't figured out to roll from her tummy to her back yet which is easier. So she rolls to her tummy and gets mad because she cant roll back.  She still sleeps really well at night with only one feeding.  Naps are beginning to get better I finally have her on a schedule that seems to be working for her.  The big news during her 4th month is we put her in her own room! Which also means the boys started sharing a room.  I am happy to report that the transition went way better then I could have expected.  The boys are sleeping great sharing a room and Ellie is loving her own room.  The only problem is Caiden is a early riser and tends to wake up Landon.  They start playing in their room and get a little noisy and wake up Ellie.  This little lady brings us all so much joy!

 I love this pic! Look at all that chubbiness! 

The boys are always wanting to hold and kiss Ellie.  Here she looks like she is saying "Get off of me!"

We started using the Jumperoo. She loves it!

For a long time this has been her signature smile. She always sticks her tongue out! Ha!

Elliotte Grace Veal

Has it seriously been a year since I have blogged?!  There has been a lot of changes here in the Veal house.  The biggest and most important change is we added a new family member on April 24, 2012, Miss Elliotte Grace Veal.  The boys have grown and learned so much this last year, both boys had birthdays, Landon moved into a big boy bed, we remodeled our main bathroom, painted the boys rooms, bought a minivan, Landon got glasses, the boys took a few Gymnastic classes, Hughey got a job at Boeing, Caiden is starting preschool in the Fall and we are in the process of buying our first home! I will go more into everything in another post.  This one is about Ellie!

Elliotte (we call her Ellie) was born April 24th, 2012 weighing 8.4 lbs and 20.5 inches long.  I was 5 days over due when she finally decided to make her entrance she came very quickly!  The total labor was 4 hours and 45 minutes.  I had been in labor at home for about a hour and the contractions were already 2 minutes apart.  When we arrived at the hospital I was already dilated to a 6-7 and was BEGGING for a epidural.  I was informed I had to have a full bag of fluids before I could get my epidural.  I was progressing so fast I was afraid I wasn't going to get.  When I finally got it I was dilated to about a 9. Yikes!  After the epidural she arrived 45 minutes later, after about 28 minutes of pushing.  Since I tested positive for Group Strep B, we had to stay in the hospital for 48 hours.  The labor was so fast I didn't get the meds that I needed so they needed to observe baby to make sure she didn't get sick.  Thankfully she was a healthy little girl and there were no complications!  While I was in the hospital my mom cared for the boys.  When they came to visit me I cried when they left.  I had never been away from them overnight.  It was difficult but we all survived and I am grateful for my family for caring for them.

Ellie is currently 15 weeks old and has grown a ton! We had her 2 month appt (technically she was 10 weeks old I couldn't get her in sooner).  Her stats were weight 12.10lbs (83%), height 23.75 inches (87%) and her head 40.5 cm, (83%).  She is growing and healthy.  She is currently wearing 3 month clothing but I think she is going to be moving into 6 month soon, she is a tall lady!  Poor girl has already had 2 colds.  I guess that's what happens when you have two older brothers.  One cold was so bad she had to be on antibiotics because her cough wouldn't go away.  We are also thinking so has Reflux, just like Caiden did, and is currently taking meds for that. Its hard to tell though because sometimes she screams when we feed her and sometimes she is totally fine.  Its seeming to get better the older she is getting.  She has been smiling for a while now.  She smiled at me for the first time at about 4 weeks old and is more and more smiley everyday! People ask me if I notice a difference between her and the boys yet.  I have noticed that she is grabbing at toys already. This is definitely earlier then the boys.  I heard that girls motor skills develop faster then boys.

Ellie has become a little to used to being in the Ergo and being rocked to sleep we are currently trying to sleep train her.  She is an amazing sleeper at night.  Currently she is sleeping from about 7-8 at night to about 5-6am.  Cant complain about that!  She doesn't nap very well right now (ok she is a awful napper) but we are working on that.  She literally naps a total of a hour to a hour in a half the entire day.  I have tried everything and she doesnt want to nap more then 30 minutes or less at a time.  The boys were never like this so I have no idea what to do.  I have tried to let her cry and she has cried for about 2 hours before and still won't sleep.

Ellie Grace- You have no idea how much we wanted you!  We were so thrilled when we found out we were having a little girl.  Your daddy and I had prayed we would have a little girl. God graciously answered those prays and we are so thrilled!  Your brothers told me all along that they wanted a girl baby.  They love you so much and are constantly kissing and hugging you.  Hence, why you have already had 2 colds!  You are such a wonderful addition to our family and we love you so much sweet girl!  I am so excited for this next year to see you grow, play and interact with your brothers.  You little lady have wonderful brothers who will always look out and protect you.  Caiden tells me all the time he is going to protect baby sister...so sweet! We love you!

Giving Ellie a present!

First bath at home.

Ellie at 15 weeks.

Landon Admitted to the Hospital.

Caiden had caught a cold which instantly made me so nervous because I knew that Landon would catch it.  Well, he did!  I started to nebulize Landon the first day he showed signs of getting sick, even before he was wheezing hoping it would help...it didn't.  On day 3 of his cold the treatments weren't really helping he was only lasting about 2 hours or less between treatments.  He should be lasting about 4-6 hours.  So Hugh and I knew we needed to bring him in to get a stronger treatment and to get a steroid.  Unfortunately, the Dr. office was closed already so we had to bring him to Childrens Hospital.  We arrived about 7:00 pm.  My mom came over and watched Caiden for us while we took Landon.  Then when we found out we were staying overnight Steve and Emily stepped in and took the monitor (they live downstairs) so my mom could go home and sleep.  Landon's wheezing was scored a 8 out of 10.  So they brough him back and had to do a hour long treatment on him.  Luckily, Landon was so tired he fell asleep on me and stayed asleep through the whole treatment.  They also gave him a steroid.  After the treatment the Dr.'s informed us we needed to stay for a hour to see how he does.  After the hour they noticed that Landons oxygen saturation was a little low.  Nothing dangerous, but it was staying about 91%. They were worried that if we took him home that it would go to low when he sleeps because naturally it does go down when we sleep.  So they informed us that we need to admit Landon to the hospital.  After much discussion, Hugh and I decided I would stay with Landon and he would go home to sleep and care for Caiden.  By this time it was 2:00 am.  We were exhausted and so was poor Landon.  The Dr.'s informed us they didn't want to give Landon any oxygen yet they wanted to watch him while he slept to see what happens.  Landon woke up about 8:00 am and the nurses came into check his vitals.  They informed me that the lowest his oxygen got was 89% which isn't bad.  They told me if it had went under 88% is when they would have given him oxygen.  They told me he would probably be going home today but we had to wait for the Dr's to make their rounds first.  They Dr's didn't even come to see Landon till after 1:00 pm.  What was more frustrating is my phone had died so I couldn't call Hughey to let him know what was going on.  Luckily the hospital had chargers you could borrow. Yahoo!  The bad part was it was on the 5th floor and Landon was quarantined (he had a virus) to his room. So, I had to leave him with a nurse so I could go get food (I was starving) and to get the charger.   I felt terrible leaving him with someone he didn't know especially in this situation where he was sick and not in a familiar place.  I rushed and when I came back he wasn't screaming anymore. He was sitting on the nurses lap reading a book.  After needing one more small treatment we were discharged at 4:30 pm.  Then we had to wait another half hour for his prescription.  I have never seen Landon so happy when we told him it was time to go home!  He had been asking about daddy and Caiden all day!

We are so blessed to have so much family around us to help out when we are in situations like this.  My mom came to our house while Caiden was napping so Hughey could come help me with Landon in the hospital. Then she got him up and brought him to her house.  After we left the hospital we picked Caiden up at my parents had dinner there and finally went home.  Landon was so exhausted he passed out instantly when we got home. Thanks to Nana, Steve and Emily for helping out!

Landon was such a trooper during this whole thing!  He would cry when the nurses came in and cling to me but would quickly stop to show them the backhoes outside lol! Sadly, I think he is getting used to Dr's now since we see them everytime he has a cold.  I wanted to add, we had the best room at the hospital ever!  When we woke up in the morning and looked out the window it was a construction site.  Landon stood up in his crib and yelled HOE (his word for backhoe). He was so excited! We got to watch Diggers, backhoes, dump trucks and cranes all day long.  It really kept him occupied!

I didn't have a camera with me and my phone was dead most of the time.  But here are a few pics I was able to take before we left the hospital.  They are phone pics so they aren't the best of quality.

Looking out the windows watching the construction.

In the hospital crib wearing my badge.  He didn't have to stay in there.  We spent a lot of time running around the room and hiding in cupboards! HA!

This being our 3rd ER visit in under a year I came prepared with a bag of books, cars and snacks!

Sesame Street Live...Elmo's Healthy Heros!

On May 22nd, we took the boys to see Sesame Street Live at the Comcast Arena in Everett, all thanks to Grandma Sonia of course!  Grandma bought us 4 tickets and they were great seats.  We were on the ground level 2nd row! Hugh and I were so excited to bring the boys to see the show.  Both of our boys LOVE Sesame Street.  The day of the show we told Caiden we were going to Sesame Street, he was extremely excited.  I am thinking that Caiden was assuming we would be watching Sesame Street on a TV or something because the look on his face when the large character's came out was complete AWW and shock! It was priceless!  Caiden sat through the whole show and if a Character he loved like Ernie went off stage he would look at me and say, "Where did Ernie go?"  Landon on the other hand was a little freaked out for the first 15-20 minutes he clung to daddy and wouldn't look at the stage.  I think he assumed if he didn't look at them then they wouldn't come near him! HA!  Once he realized they weren't going to touch him or come to close he loosened up and sat in his own seat and enjoyed the show.  The show was a little long for him and he started to get a little antsy towards the end.  I would say the highlight for Caiden was when Elmo and Abby came off stage and gave him a high 5!  He was thrilled!  At one point during the show one of the female grouches came to give him a high 5 but he refused! LOL! Up to this day if you ask Caiden, "who did you get to give a high 5 to?" He will say, "not the grouch!" Hugh and I even enjoyed the show.  It brings us such joy to see our kids having fun! We are definitely going again next year! Thanks Grandma Sonia for the thoughtful gift!  The boys (and their parents) had a great time!