BIG Boy Beckett eating BIG Boy Food!

I posted on Facebook that Ben and I should have gone out on a date to our dinner table. Why you ask? Because the kids were both still sleeping. Pumpkin arts and crafts clearly must have worn them out today. However, it wasn't two minutes after Ben got home and I posted that B-man started screeching from his room.

So we decided to dine as a family, like normal, but TONIGHT...

BECKETT ATE PEAS AND BANANAS BIG BOY STYLE!

That's right. I try every once in a while with table foods, but no luck. Either the gagger triggers for the texture, or he doesn't want to pick it up. But TONIGHT. He did. First he ate peas. Whole. He is getting the hang of the pincher grip, and he fed himself. And chewed. And chewed. And made funny face. And chewed. Swallow. SUCCESS!

And so then we tried cutting up some banana. Same deal. He liked these better because they stuck to his finger so he could make sure they got into his mouth. We're still shoveling a bit but hey, it counts. It's an EAT. An EAT like a BIG boy eats!

It had already been a great day, but this just topped it off! So proud of you Beckett Boy! I wonder how long you'll still take baby purees...

Another display of his big-boy-ish-ness is that he is PULLING UP TO STANDING on everything! Yesterday was the day. Everything. Of course with that has come bumps and his he earned his first real one today. (As seen on the ol' forehead above.) Poor guy. He knows how to pull up, but not get back down. He still isn't "crawling on hands and knees," but PT came today and said she thinks he is getting closer. He actually had some progress, and tolerated some support under his chest while practicing the crawling. Before he used to fuss and cry, and work against you. He is doing some left and right arm motions, so we still have hope!

He's so funny. He will even pull up, let go with one hand, look at you and SMILE. He knows he is BIG stuff these days.

Special Pumpkin

Ellie and I went grocery shopping tonight. On the way home we had a deep conversation.

Mama: Ellie, thanks for helping mama shop for groceries tonight. 
Ellie: Yep.
Mama: I love you.
Ellie: I love cookies.

This may or may not have also been the grocery store visit where Ellie asked to get a pumpkin to carve. I agreed. She picked one on the bottom of the pile of course, I think because it had a

long stem. I start trying to pull out the chosen pumpkin, whereupon the pile starts to come apart and I immediately have to bust out my defensive stance and shuffle so that all of the bowling pumpkins don't go crashing on the floor. I also may or may not have said "this might be my worse nightmare" as people walked by. I rearranged the pumpkins. Seriously ... who piles them like that anyways! I got out the chosen pumpkin, and Ellie says "Oh, mom, not that one ... not the dirty one." I tell her this is the one she chose, we must go on. She then asked if we could get one for Beckett. I said no. So we put the pumpkin on the belt to pay and sure enough, this pumpkin looks like the leaning tower of Pisa!

What a special pumpkin Ellie got this year!

Ellie is FOUR!

Interview with Ellie aka the NEWEST 4-year-old!
(Well as of September 3)

1. What is your favorite color? Pink and Red and Purple

2. What is your favorite toy? A cup for Tea Parties

3. What is your favorite fruit? Strawberries

4. What is your favorite TV show? Baby Signing Time (Might have been influenced by what she is currently watching)

5. What is your favorite movie? Tangled

6. What is your favorite thing to wear? Clothes, my Sesame Street Shirt

7. What is your favorite animal? A lion

8. What is your favorite song? ABC’s

9. What is your favorite book? Hey Wake Up because I can read this one.

10. Who is your best friend? Jonathan aka Jon-Jon

11. What is your favorite snack? Graham Crackers

12. What is your favorite drink? Milk

13. What is your favorite breakfast? Oatmeal made by daddy

14. What is your favorite lunch? Peanut Butter Sandwich

15. What is your favorite dinner? Spaghetti

16. What is your favorite game? The Ladybug Game

17. What is your favorite thing to play outside? My sandbox

18. What is your favorite holiday? My Birthday

19. What do you sleep with at night? Piggy

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A Cowgirl. (Well, I guess we live in the right state for this one! LOL!)

21. If I could change my name, it would be what? I want to keep Ellie.

22. If I could go anywhere in the world, I would go to? Church

23. Three words that describe me are: Playful, My name is Ellie, and Pink and Purple

24. When I was little, I used to: Be a baby in the hospital in the whole world.

25. My favorite season of the year is: Summer

26. One food I don’t like is: Onions

27. One thing I can do now that I’m four is: Be silly at the park.

28. If I had one wish it would be: To be a mommy.

29. What do you love to learn about? Crafts

30. What makes you happy? Parties and Gymnastics

31.  What makes you sad? That the house got broken into. (I can’t believe she remembers this!)

32. What do you think about before you fall asleep? I keep my eyes open for a little bit, and then I fall asleep. I brush my teeth, and floss my teeth, and then I go to bed.

33. How old are you now? FOUR

34. What was the best part of your birthday? Cupcakes and Icing

35. What was your favorite gift? A card

36. Anything else you would like to say about being four-years-old? Above the house, you will be special inside the house. 

And there you have it... 

Happy Birthday to my Sweet Ellie Jo! 4 years old and full of joy! What a miracle! Thanking God for her today! So blessed for God's healing in her tiny start to life. 

Ellie has taught us a perspective on life that has changed us forever. 

We love our princess soooo much!

Beckett is ONE!

Dear Beckett,
This mama is a bunch few days late on writing you your Birthday Letter! You were ONE on September 23! Beautiful problem. You have been on the GO-GO-GO! And I haven't had enough time to sit and write. Oh, Beckett, I don't even know where to begin. You were supposed to be my miracle boy, and you still are. Every day you amaze me more and more with how you learn to adapt to this world. We are SO proud of you, B-Man!

• STATS: You started out at 2 lbs. 2.6 oz. And now, buddy, you are 17 lbs. 9.5 oz. (well, depending which doctor office scale! ;) This is in the 4th percentile. On the GROWTH CHART! :) Height: 29 inches (28th%) Head Circumference: 48 cm (94th %...we still have the large noggin' going on!) Even though you gave us a lot of stressors about your eating. You are a big boy. You are a big boy in our world. SO BIG! And you just LOVED your birthday cake! You put it in your mouth all by yourself and you ate it with some funny looks!

• FOOD: You eat about 4-5 oz. each feeding still about every 4 hours during the day. Depends how long you nap! GI doc doesn't want us replacing your nutrition meals (bottles) with baby food just yet. We still fortify mama's milk to 27 calorie with Neosure. We do feed you baby food so we don't miss out on a stage in your development. Your oral motor skills have developed so nicely! (Said the Speech Therapist who evaluated your eating just last week!) You like most baby food, but you love to grab the spoon, and want to feed yourself. It's a messy ordeal, but you're worth it. Best to not create any sensory aversions, so play away son! Next up: Learning how to drink from a straw (with a honey bear straw)..this will help his muscles for speech! You CRY and FUSS when you see mama preparing the bottle for you. LOVE this! I love that you want to eat now! (Be encouraged other preemie mamas, it can happen!) You also hold your own bottle, no problem! 
• FAVORITE FOODS: Sweet Potatoes and Bananas (Baby Food)
• TEETH: 2 on bottom, 4 poling through on top...which have taken forever! Three finally are showing white. One still working on it. *Had to add this: You laugh and giggle when we brush your teeth. You also have already bitten your sister, yes, in the bathtub, and you drew blood. She should have known putting her fingers in your mouth might have resulted in this. Daddy consoled Ellie, but secretly I was thinking "atta" boy...way to defend yourself. After all, she does mall love on you 293509235809 times a day!
• SLEEP: You sleep through the night. You are a pacifier boy. You prefer to be rocked to sleep (lately) with your bottle, and wrapped in Aunt Marie's quilt she made for you, then put down in your crib where you roll to your side, open your mouth for your paci with out even opening your eyes. You take two naps a day. You are such a happy boy when you wake up from your naps. I usually find you in your crib sitting up. You stood up in your crib once, but then we lowered your crib mattress. 
• CLOTHES: You wear 6-9 month clothes. 9 month fit better for length, but are still a tad big. You wear a size 2.5 diaper. Yeah, they don't make those. But we are doing some cloth diapering too.  Oh, and YES...we know we are behind on the dream calendar...we need to get on that!
• GROSS MOTOR SKILLS: You are army crawling like the best of them. You have improved on your left/right leg and arm movement, so I think creeping is almost here! We have been practicing a lot with PT and OT to get you on your hands and knees! He has learned to pull himself to standing on the couch when the cushion isn't on. We are doing OT every week, and PT three times a month to try and get over this "hump." You borderline cheat when you sit up by yourself. You use your head to get you started, which is cute, but not sure the PT/OT crew would like that. ;)
• FINE MOTOR SKILLS: You bang toys together, claw for table food, feed yourself puffs and yogurt melts, but we are still working on the pincher grasp. 
• ODD FAVORITES: You are infatuated with electrical cords, carpet fibers, toes, and the bottom rubber side of rugs. I am always having to watch what you have in your mouth these days. Just when I think I have everything babyproofed, you find something else. 
• SPEECH SKILLS: You are starting to babble more, but not enough...so you get to have Speech Therapy come once a month. You say ba, ba, ba, can roll your tongue like a spanish person, click your tongue, growl, scream. Yesterday, I thought you said da-da, but Ellie and I couldn't get you to do it again.
• TICKLE SPOTS: neck, legs, sides under arm pits. 
• EYES: Still sporting the eye patch for 45 minutes a day on the right eye. We go back to ophthalmology tomorrow actually!
• SISTER: You are becoming so tough. Your sister loves to hold you, mall you, roll you over, pull you away from things your not supposed to get into. I want you to know that I do tell her over and over that "she is not the mom, she is the sister." I think she means well. After all, her love language is physical touch. Ellie isn't going to preschool this year, so she is with us 25/7!
• FRIENDS: You like having your buddy, Davis, over at our house for another kiddo to look at, smile at, steal pacifiers from, go on walks with...it will be fun when he gets older. I bet you two will be lots of trouble! :) Mommy is watching Davis (who is 3 months) full-time to help his family out, and to help our family pay off those lovely medical bills hopefully by the end of this year. He is so different than both of my kiddos. He actually likes to eat, and it's just fun having a "termie" in the house! :) Fun to see his development at an actual/real age. :) However, you do sometimes get jealous when I'm holding Davis. You like to come to my feet and hang on to my pants. 
• SICKNESS: He battled through his first GI/Stomach bug. He took pedialyte like a champ, which I was so thankful! We all actually got it (when we were in Iowa), so that was no fun. He hasn't been "respiratory" sick yet...and we are SO PRAYING it stays this way. We just want him to grow bigger and stronger. He doesn't qualify for Synagis (to help boost his immunity to fight RSV) this year, so we I am a bit nervous. Yes, I know he is going to get sick sometime. But it's just hard to know how he will respond to a cold with his preemie lungs. We are going into RSV Lockdown again this lovely cold and flu season. (Mr. Davis boy gets to be his only friend for awhile!) Please pray for protection for our sweet boy. 

We celebrated Beckett's birthday FOUR TIMES this year! Absolutely! One with the Gramkow side, the Weber side, just Team Gramkow on his actual day, and our Fort Worth "family." We are SO thankful for the love and support through this past year. I KNOW we couldn't have made it through with out all of your prayers and encouragement.

Beckett is ONE!
Thank you Jesus for giving us this precious gift of celebrating ONE year with our boy! What a beautiful milestone. May we all continue to learn more about You through our continued journey...

*(Ok, I was fighting with the pictures and placement...I give up!)