18 Months Old!

Mason turns 18 months old today! He went to his new doctor, Dr. Don Schaffer, today for the first time for his well child check up and he did great. He weighs 26 pounds 6 ounces (50th percentile) and he is 34.75 inches tall (> 95th percentile). Doc said that he looks great - "tall and slender." He also got two shots today, and he was such a trooper - didn't even cry when he got the first one but was rather upset when the nurse stuck him a second time. Anyway, he got a healthy diagnosis today - not too skinny, not overweight!

The attached slide show is just a few random shots of Mason from the past 6 months.

Happy Birth Day to the Howell Quints

As many of you know, our good friends, Stephen and Ellen have been expecting quintuplets. Ellen has been on bed rest in Arizonia for the past few months and Stephen has been commuting from Houston to see her as often as possible. Well, her water broke yesterday, and the babies were delivered. Stephen last reported that everyone is doing very well. The babies were 30 weeks, 5 days, and are currently in the NICU. Your continuous prayers for this family are greatly appreciated.

A - Sidney Alun - Girl - 2lbs 10oz
B - Ivy Elizabeth - Girl - 2lbs 8oz
C - Mitchell Thomas - Boy - 2lbs 15oz
D - Luke Harrison - Boy - 2lbs 15oz
E - Briellen Jeanette - Girl 2lbs 6oz

For more information check out www.howellquints.com or Ellen's blog at http://howellquints.blogspot.com/

Ultrasound Pictures

While I was in Tulsa I saw Dr. Jay Williamson of Tulsa Women's Healthcare, and I absolutely loved him. His partners were great, too. Dr. Nilson broke my water, and Dr. Sterling actually delivered Mason because Dr. Williamson was in Breckinridge for the holidays at the time. One of the things I loved about their clinic was that they did an ultrasound every visit. I've missed that during the latter part of my current pregnancy, but I had my first ultrasound since leaving Tulsa yesterday. Dr. Hurtado (my new ob/gyn) wanted to go ahead and have an ultrasound done because I have been measuring ahead of schedule, and she stated that second babies have a tendency to be larger than the first (especially boys). Remember, Mason was 8 lbs. 13 oz.!

12 weeks - the top photo indicates his boy parts - this was the visit we discovered we were having another boy!

16 weeks - that's his spine

20 weeks - he's looking right at us

29 weeks - these were done at the Diagnostic Clinic in Longview; he kept his hands and feet in front of his face the entire time so we couldn't get a get picture of his face. Top: profile with his arm in his face; middle: feet; bottom: face with hands an a leg blocking his face (if you click on the pics you can enlarge them)

36 weeks - profile with his hands in his face

As of right now my due date is still set for July 19th. After taking numerous measurements yesterday, the radiologist advised that the baby currently weighs about 6 pounds, which is average. I didn't get to see my doctor yesterday, but my next appointment is July 1st so we'll just continue to wait and see.

Home Sweet Home

Our new house

We're finally in our new home, and we're beginning to feel a little bit settled. For those of you in Tulsa, believe it or not, but we just moved in on June 3rd! The movers unpacked everything, but it has just been scattered about until we can find a place for it. It's amazing how much stuff you can accumulate over a short period of time - we have a ton of stuff that has currently been relegated to the garage because there is no room for it in the house! Then we have our garage sale/Goodwill piles going on despite the fact that we gave a TON of stuff to Goodwill before we left.

Mason has adjusted very well to his new room, and his new bed. He is back on schedule - sleeping in his own room. Thank God. I was really worried about that - although he was sleeping in his own bed while we were staying with relatives, he was still in the same room as me, and he grew accustomed to having me right there whenever he woke up in the middle of the night and first thing in the mornings. I grew quite accustomed to hearing "Momma, MOMma, MOMMA!" on a pretty regular basis. He's doing great though. He's even managed to squeeze in some R&R at the pool with his friend Eli!

Helping Daddy put his new crib together!

Let me check it out from this angle!

Thoroughly enjoying his yogurt! (Yes, that is the kitchen wallpaper in the background - removing it is at the top of our to do list after the baby gets here).

Chilling out with Eli in the Froggy Pool
Just relaxing

Dixie LOVES her new backyard, which is much larger than her old yard. The first day we brought her to the house we kept having to force her inside because we thought she was going to have a heart attack from running and playing so much. But remember, she hasn't even had a fenced yard for the past couple of months. Anytime we took her out, she had to be on leash because, lets face it as pregnant as I am, I couldn't very well chase her down when she decided to wander, and she does have a habit of exploring. Good for Dixie, her old vet, Dr. Angie Trimble (she practicing under her married name, Dr. Semple now), has moved to the Cypress area, and of course, Dixie has made a point to go see her. We boarded Dixie at her clinic while we were getting moved into the house and Dixie LOVED it!

She won't be still outside long enough for me to get a good pic.

Our Internet is up and running so I hope to be blogging a little more often (at least until the baby gets here). I apologize to anyone that I haven't gotten back to via email for a while - I've only had intermittent Internet access.

Dyer Family Update

I apologize to everyone for taking so long to blog - especially you, Doug! I kept waiting until I got pictures to post, but that hasn't happened yet so I figured I'd go ahead and provide everyone with an update - a lot has happened over the past couple of months so bear with me.

Mason, Dixie, and I have been staying with relatives in East Texas while Drew has been staying with our good friend Stephen in Houston. We did finally find a house in the Spring area, and we're currently scheduled to close on June 2nd. Yeah!!! Hopefully, that will give us enough time to get somewhat settled before the new baby arrives; I'm now 32 weeks along and the baby is due July 19th. For those of you wondering, I have been commuting to Houston for doctor's visits. I found a great ob/gyn, Dr. Sandra Hurtado, thanks to referrals from friends - I really like her a lot so far.

Other events that have happened since we've been here:

• Travis (Drew's brother) and his fiance, Courtney, got married in a beautiful ceremony.
• The entire family (with the exception of Travis and Courtney) came down with a HORRIFIC stomach bug just days after the wedding (it actually hit Drew when we went back to Oklahoma to get the remainder of our belongings that the movers couldn't get). I managed to make it back to Texas (for about an hour and half before it hit me), then Mason got it, and it eventually resulted in his first trip to the emergency room - watching them hold my child down to put an IV in his arm was a total nightmare. When he still wasn't well a couple of days later we got him in to see a pediatrician, and she put him back on reflux medication, and that solved his problems.
• Mason is currently working on cutting his 6th tooth since we got here - so he now has almost 10 teeth! This has made for some very enjoyable evenings!
• Mason has gotten to spend tons of time with his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, and he has really enjoyed it. It's been nice for me to have someone who can watch him for a few so that I can get some rest, too. I've also gotten the opportunity to catch up with some old friends that I haven't been able to see for quite a while.

Anyway, I apologize to anyone that we didn't caught up with, and as much as I have enjoyed spending time with family we are very ready to get settled into our own place.

On The Move

Just wanted to let everyone know that the movers are coming this week to box up all our worldly possessions. As we still haven't found a house in Houston, Mason and I will temporarily be staying with Drew's parents in East Texas while all of our belongings go into storage. Just a heads up that I probably won't be able to blog very often. Just keep us in your thoughts as we go this VERY chaotic time in our lives.

Too Skinny? My child?

Face full of BBQ sauce and potato salad - taken at the BBQ in Houston

Mason LOVED the BBQ

Well today I took Mason in for his 15 month checkup (it was a little early, but it was the only time they could fit us in). He got his MMR and Hep vaccines, and he has been doing very well since then. He measured 32 inches in length (80th percentile), his head measured 47.5 centimeters (75th percentile), but to my surprise his weight was only 22lbs. 6 ounces (20th percentile). He has actually lost weight since his last doctor's visit. Drew's response when I called to tell him - "But what about his fat belly!" I know I'm probably overly cautious about what I let him eat, but I just don't want to start any bad habits this early on and I don't want his weight to be the issue it was for Drew and I growing up. I swear I'm starving the child by any means! Just yesterday he had a Nutri Grain cereal bar, 5 strawberries, yogurt, and milk for breakfast. Ten minutes after he got out of his seat he was still acting hungry so I fixed him a frozen waffle, and he ate every bit of that too. Dr. Narrin advised me to just give him more food at meal times, and let him eat until he doesn't want anymore. She said that they can be very fickle at this age - hardly eating at one meal and then eating as much as a grown man at another meal - which describes him to a tee these days. Some days he'll hardly touch his food, and others he is totally ravenous and will eat everything and then some.

I really feel like it is because he isn't on formula anymore. He would suck down an 8 ounce bottle of formula in no time, but since we switched him over from soy formula to whole milk he doesn't always finish it. He's also getting the milk in a cup rather than a bottle (he hasn't had a bottle since we got back from Houston), and that seems to be making a difference. He would NEVER drink all of his formula if I put it in a cup, and he definitely nurses his milk now. I'm just so happy that he's been able to make the switch without any major complications.

I'll guess I just start offering him more at each meal, and we'll see how it goes. She wants me to bring him back in before we leave town for a weight check.