Here’s a few pictures of the boys enjoying the nice weather, Thaddeus riding his bike and Xavier playing in his Bounce Bounce Baby Activity Zone.

Check out that smile!

Every so often Thaddeus’ school has their teachers pick out students to receive awards for certain areas and having a positive PYP (Primary Years Program) trait.  This time Thaddeus was selected in his class because:

Thaddeus is knowledgeable and curious about our world.

This morning they were giving all the selected students their award.

This was the first time we’ve really been able to attend anything because in the past it’s been too hard to bring Xavier with us because he was either still on the oxygen or two soon off of it and we didn’t want to take the chance.  So, this morning I dropped him off and headed to the gym to await his arrival.

So disappointed!

Instead of coming into the gym in the proper manner, he was crawling around, jumping around, and acting like a complete fool!  It’s very embarrassing to have your first-grader act in such a bad way when he’s in school, especially when there’s an assembly with other students and parents.  I had to, on several occasions this morning, give him that look of “you better settle your ass down and behave!”, which is something I shouldn’t have to do while he’s in school!  Plus you’d think that with all the times he gets in trouble in class and at home for doing the same thing, that he’d actually behave for something like this.

Ahhh well, it’s only going to get better.  Right?

Here’s a few pictures of him throughout the years, including the most recent from this month!

I don’t know where he gets this from, he’s a weird child!

Thaddeus at 9 months, Xavier at 10 months

Here are the milestones that have been met before each boy reached 11 months of age.

Slept through the night: Thaddeus was 2 months old, Xavier was 9 months old.

Held own bottle: Thaddeus was 5 months old, Xavier was 9 months old, but still refuses to do it!

Smiled: Thaddeus was less than a month old, Xavier 3 months old.

Laughed out loud: Thaddeus was 3 months old, Xavier was 5 months old.

Rolled over: Thaddeus was 3 months old when he rolled from stomach to back and 4 months old when he rolled from back to stomach, Xavier was 7 months old when he rolled from stomach to back and 8 months old when he rolled from back to stomach.

Crawled: Thaddeus was 8 months old, Xavier hasn’t crawled yet but he’s getting close!

Sat unsupported: Thaddeus was 6 months old, Xavier hasn’t done this yet.

Spoke first word: Thaddeus was 10 months old and said DaDa, Xavier hasn’t really done this yet….he’s still doing the bababababababa type stuff.

Clapped own hands: Thaddeus did this at 8 months old, Xavier still doesn’t do it.

Ate baby food: Thaddeus was 3 months old, Xavier was 9 months old.

Walking: Thaddeus was walking by 10 months.

All in all, Xavier is behind (not doing) a couple of things that Thaddeus was already doing by 11 months.  But he’s not really that far behind.  We know that all kids develop differently and at different times, so we aren’t worried because we know it will happen in Xavier’s own time.

One thing that Xavier has over Thaddeus is that he’s getting his 8th tooth in right now and Thaddeus was only getting his 5th tooth by 10 months!  Our joke in the house right now is that Xavier is going to get all of his teeth in before Thaddeus loses his first tooth because he’s too afraid to pull his loose tooth out!

As for size, at 9-months, Thaddeus was 28 1/2″ long and weighed 19lbs 6oz.  Xavier was 25″ long and weighed 12lbs 13oz.  So, Xavier is still a bit small but he’s growing!

Anyway, I’ve been trying to figure out how the Tooth Fairy is going to visit and switch out his tooth for money without waking him up.  I can’t even go into his room to turn his radio down or anything else when he’s sleeping because he’ll wake up.

Tooth Fairy Pillow

Earlier this morning while Xavier was napping, I decided to do some Googling and found this pattern/tutorial for a Tooth Fairy Pillow.  Now granted this pattern/tutorial was for a Ballerina Fairy, so I had to make it more boyish.

Easier said than done!

Since I decided to do this on a whim, I didn’t have all the proper materials.  Take for instance, the pillow I made is PINK!  I only had pink felt material.  Oh well! Plus I’m not all that creative for making something, unless it’s exactly as the tutorial goes, so I had to improvise.  We have some craft stuff lying around from other things we’ve worked on, so I decided to use some of those items.

For the eyes I used some “funny eyes” we had so when the pillow moves the eyes move too!  I used an extra thick strand of black ribbon and doubled it.  Not sure what I was using that for, but hey, it worked for this project!  The cheeks are little blue fuzz balls and the teeth are just some white fabric that I cut off the end of some old fabric I had on hand.

Hey, it all works!  And not too bad for a first time making of one.

Most of my weekends are full with working, yes, I’ve gone back to work during the weekend.  However, I don’t know how much longer that’ll be going on with summer coming.  I don’t plan on working during the weekends in the summer because that’s our family time to go out places and I’m not giving that up.

Family Update

Xavier

Xavier is doing good!  Actually, better than good!  He’s off the oxygen during the day and during most of his naps. He still needs it at night-time because he’s in a much deeper sleep, but it’s a start!  We can actually go places (grocery shopping, taking Thaddeus to school, etc.) without needing to bring the travel oxygen and his monitor.  Although I do bring them to the doctors appointments, at least the monitor, so the doctors can check his readings.  He’ll be going in for his 9-month check-up this week, although he’s almost 10-months but because he was in the hospital when he turned 9-months and he’s not need any shots we’re not worried about it.

Thaddeus

Thaddeus is bored with school and it’s keeping him in trouble!  The teachers just can’t seem to figure out how to keep him occupied when he gets done with his classwork before the rest of the class.  They (his teacher) thinks that just because he can go read a book, work on his activity book, or whatever else she allows them to do when they finish their work is going to keep him occupied enough to keep him out of trouble.  Guess she’s not that smart of a teacher to know if you put a child by himself to keep himself occupied he’s just going to do whatever he can to get attention and act out.  I’ve already mentioned to the counselor that maybe he shouldn’t be in the 1st grade since he’s finishing his work to fast and he’s obviously very smart.

Now, I know all parents talk about how their child/children are smart and sometimes this is an exaggeration, but that’s not the case here.  We received Thaddeus’ DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) reading assessment that shows how he was in September and how he was in January. For whatever reason they only have three levels; Benchmark level – on track, Strategic level – below, and Intensive level – well below.  They need to add one for above because if I read these results correctly than Thaddeus is NOT “on track” but above where 1st graders should be.  You be the judge.

Keep in mind that these numbers are just for reading and according to his report card by the end of the year exceptions are lower than what he was at during the last testing and lower than what he was at when they first tested him.

Oh yeah, I finally finished Thaddeus’ room.  The only thing I had left to do was to paint the trim and that is now done!  Almost done with Xavier’s room, just have to put his name on the wall and get him a dresser!

Me & Hubby

I’ve taken some time off school, it was just getting to be too much while Xavier was in the hospital.  I’ve been trying to get back into shape, started a 21 day challenge, but that didn’t go so well!  I’m into day 12 and I have absolutely no motivation!  Maybe we’ll try again next month.  I really thought this would work since I was participating with other bloggers and had to keep track for a challenge.  That didn’t work at all .

Hubby’s doing good, starting up his own business and should be going solo in the coming months.  He’s still got some work to get done, both on the site and for the business before he quits his job.

I think we may do some family pictures here within the next month, if not we’ll definitely be getting some pictures of the kids.

Still a lot of touch ups to do and more dinosaurs to be painted.