I cannot believe another year has passed and the first decade of the 21st century is ending! At the turn of the century, Robert and I had been married a year and half and had no kids, but by the end of the first decade we had three precious babies given to us from God.
2009 did not start out so well for us, but definitely ended on the upside.
January and February brought on sickness in the Dickerson household. Bailey and Braden both had the flu, and by February I had it! Braden was constantly sick and we couldn't get rid of his ear infections with any antibiotics. By the beginning of March, the pediatrician recommended that we go see an ENT to discuss putting tubes in his ears. Braden was also having difficulties eating and showed no interest in anything other than a bottle or an occasional Cheerio. We were getting closer and closer to his first birthday and he was still taking five or six bottles a day. I knew that we needed to get him on table food and a sippy cup, but didn't know how this was going to be possible. In addition, he was showing no signs of walking and was not saying hardly any words and I was convinced that this had to do with all the fluid that was constantly in his ears.
We saw the ENT the day before his birthday and he said that Braden was a definite candidate for tubes. They did a hearing test and said that Braden's hearing was very limited and everything to him sounded muffled like he was underwater. He also noticed that Braden was tongue tied and this can cause major problems in eating for a baby. Finally, a discovery to why Braden has had so many eating problems. It was very difficult to get him to stop nursing, at four months when I had to return to work, and now with the texture issue he was having, everything made sense!! Luckily, we had already celebrated his birthday the weekend before because his surgery was scheduled the day after his first birthday.
They were going to fix his tongue and put tubes in his ears on a Thursday morning. We had to get up extremely early and we couldn't give him anything to eat or drink. I was very worried because the first thing Braden would get when he woke up was a bottle. The ENT was about 45 minutes away and he did pretty well on the trip, but he started getting upset when we were waiting in the waiting room. Luckily, the procedure was quick and within twenty minutes of them taking him back we were able to see him. When he come to he was VERY upset and nothing would console him at first. We were finally able to give him some juice, so we had a bottle ready for him. That seemed to work; however, when the bottle was empty we were back to screaming again!! By the time we got him to the car, though, he settled down and slept the entire way home. By the weekend he was back to his regular self and in the next couple of days we were eating all kids of food. It was amazing how much his tongue was causing him so many issues!! It was a completely different kid.
In April, we celebrated our first Easter with Braden and went over to my mom's for the kids to have an Easter egg hunt. Also, Bailey had her dance recital with Girls of Grace
The next month we celebrated Bailey's 6th birthday party with friends from church and rented our first bounce house. Bailey had been asking for a princess party, so I tried to pull through with a castle cake and a castle bounce house. The weather was nice that day and everyone had a great time.
The school year was coming to an end and Bailey had her field day on Memorial day, a make-up day from bad weather. Since I had to teach at my own school that day, Robert took Brianna and Braden up to the elementary school to participate in the fun.
A week later, Bailey was graduating from Kindergarten. She really enjoyed her first full year of public school and she had a wonderful teacher, Mrs. Norris!
The summer brought on normal activities, such as VBS, swim lessons for the girls, and a trip to Georgia to see Robert's family. Also, Braden finally started walking while we were in Georgia at his mom's. I had just given Robert a digital video recorder so we were able to capture it on film.
As the summer concluded, it was time to get the kids ready for back to school. We did all the necessary shopping as well as getting Braden's hair cut for the first time. He had these precious little curls, but they were getting too long and I could put them in a pony if I wanted to. After cutting his hair, my sweet little baby turned into a toddler with his new handsome hair cut. The week before school started I found out I was able to get Brianna in the pre-K program at the elementary school and her teacher was Mrs. Norris!! She decided to move from Kinder to pre-K, so it was exciting for Brianna that she was going to have Bailey's old teacher.
January and February brought on sickness in the Dickerson household. Bailey and Braden both had the flu, and by February I had it! Braden was constantly sick and we couldn't get rid of his ear infections with any antibiotics. By the beginning of March, the pediatrician recommended that we go see an ENT to discuss putting tubes in his ears. Braden was also having difficulties eating and showed no interest in anything other than a bottle or an occasional Cheerio. We were getting closer and closer to his first birthday and he was still taking five or six bottles a day. I knew that we needed to get him on table food and a sippy cup, but didn't know how this was going to be possible. In addition, he was showing no signs of walking and was not saying hardly any words and I was convinced that this had to do with all the fluid that was constantly in his ears.
We saw the ENT the day before his birthday and he said that Braden was a definite candidate for tubes. They did a hearing test and said that Braden's hearing was very limited and everything to him sounded muffled like he was underwater. He also noticed that Braden was tongue tied and this can cause major problems in eating for a baby. Finally, a discovery to why Braden has had so many eating problems. It was very difficult to get him to stop nursing, at four months when I had to return to work, and now with the texture issue he was having, everything made sense!! Luckily, we had already celebrated his birthday the weekend before because his surgery was scheduled the day after his first birthday.
They were going to fix his tongue and put tubes in his ears on a Thursday morning. We had to get up extremely early and we couldn't give him anything to eat or drink. I was very worried because the first thing Braden would get when he woke up was a bottle. The ENT was about 45 minutes away and he did pretty well on the trip, but he started getting upset when we were waiting in the waiting room. Luckily, the procedure was quick and within twenty minutes of them taking him back we were able to see him. When he come to he was VERY upset and nothing would console him at first. We were finally able to give him some juice, so we had a bottle ready for him. That seemed to work; however, when the bottle was empty we were back to screaming again!! By the time we got him to the car, though, he settled down and slept the entire way home. By the weekend he was back to his regular self and in the next couple of days we were eating all kids of food. It was amazing how much his tongue was causing him so many issues!! It was a completely different kid.
In April, we celebrated our first Easter with Braden and went over to my mom's for the kids to have an Easter egg hunt. Also, Bailey had her dance recital with Girls of Grace
The next month we celebrated Bailey's 6th birthday party with friends from church and rented our first bounce house. Bailey had been asking for a princess party, so I tried to pull through with a castle cake and a castle bounce house. The weather was nice that day and everyone had a great time.
The school year was coming to an end and Bailey had her field day on Memorial day, a make-up day from bad weather. Since I had to teach at my own school that day, Robert took Brianna and Braden up to the elementary school to participate in the fun.
A week later, Bailey was graduating from Kindergarten. She really enjoyed her first full year of public school and she had a wonderful teacher, Mrs. Norris!
The summer brought on normal activities, such as VBS, swim lessons for the girls, and a trip to Georgia to see Robert's family. Also, Braden finally started walking while we were in Georgia at his mom's. I had just given Robert a digital video recorder so we were able to capture it on film.
As the summer concluded, it was time to get the kids ready for back to school. We did all the necessary shopping as well as getting Braden's hair cut for the first time. He had these precious little curls, but they were getting too long and I could put them in a pony if I wanted to. After cutting his hair, my sweet little baby turned into a toddler with his new handsome hair cut. The week before school started I found out I was able to get Brianna in the pre-K program at the elementary school and her teacher was Mrs. Norris!! She decided to move from Kinder to pre-K, so it was exciting for Brianna that she was going to have Bailey's old teacher.
Pre-K was only half a day, so it was a nice transition from daycare to public school for Brianna. It also helped having a teacher that she was familiar with. Her year started off to a rough start because she broke her wrist at a friend's house and was in a cast until Halloween. It took her a little while to use her right arm again, but by the end of the year she had all but forgotten her experience.
Since Braden's first year of life was so rough, I really wanted to get him out of daycare and into a home where he wasn't around other children to get exposed to germs. Luckily, I have a wonderful friend, Nicole Jones, that offered to keep him for me as well as the girls when they were done with school. She was a wonderful person and it has been such a blessing to be able to have her watch the kids.
Also, Robert and I decided to put our house on the market and move to a neighborhood with a pool and a place where the kids would have more friends to play with. We put our house on the market in August and exactly a week later we had an offer! We couldn't believe it!! We still hadn't completely decided where we were going to move to since we thought it would take awhile for our house to sell, so we had to get busy looking. We considered building a home, but were limited in our choices and wanted to have a little bit of a yard for the kids to play in. We were lucky and found a used home for sale that had a lot of upgrades and was in excellent condition. Also, the back yard for the community we moved into was a nice size lot. We made an offer and they accepted. The whole process almost seemed too easy!! However, moving is no fun and I don't want to that again for long time. Moving was bittersweet because the house we sold was where we brought home two of our babies home to, but it was time to move.
We made the official move in October and things were crazy for us the last two months of the year. Trying to unpack the house, decorate it the way I want, plus survive the holidays was exhausting, but we did it! Robert was even able to paint the girls room, Bailey's is pink and Brianna's is purple, so they have their own girly rooms to enjoy. We are going to wait on Braden's when he is older and can pick the theme of his room. I know if Robert had his way, then it would be all camo.
We enjoyed taking our "superheroes" around the neighborhood for Halloween and then celebrated Thanksgiving at Uncle Robert's house. We also went camping to Broken Bow the weekend after Thanksgiving and this was Braden's first camping trip.
In December, Brianna celebrated her 5th birthday at Texas Skatium with friends and family and was a rock star like Hannah Montana. Robert's family also came to visit for the holidays.
All in all 2009 was a great year. My baby boy had a rough start, but by the end everything was pretty normal. I am excited for 2010 and what the year will bring for us.
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