18 Months (& 24 Weeks)

Brayden is an 18 month old! How is that even possible!?

He is an absolute blessing! His laugh is so heartfelt. His love is so genuine and constant. His curiosity and determination are so defining and encouraging. His words are so carefully planned and practiced. His little heart is so big, while his little body is so small. It is so hard to imagine our life before he joined us!

Sweet boy, you are treasured, loved, and blessed beyond measure! You are a perfect creation by God!

Most children at age 18 months are well beyond wearing "baby" clothes or have completely outgrown "baby" toys. For Brayden, this is not the case. Mentally, he is on (above) "par" but size wise he is small, very small. At this point, we don't know if Brayden is just a late bloomer that will fully catch up or if there is something "wrong". Either way, Brayden is exactly how God made him and that is perfect. He has never let his size hold him back - the child can climb anything! He can wrestle Landen as if they were the same size. If he is meant to have a small stature, then that's how it is and he will be perfectly equipped for whatever the Lord has in store for him.

He had his 18 month appointment on Friday. Brayden has grown 1/2 inch and gained 2 ounces since his last well child checkup. For this reason, our pediatrician wants us to see a specialist - to make sure there isn't something going on that we are missing.

Side Note: We've always known he was small for his age, but it really didn't seem like that big of a deal until we realized he was being held back from kids his age & maturity because he was "too small" or because it wasn't "safe" for him to be in a room with kids that were "so much bigger" than him. It was at this point that it really hit me how people are categorized, and as a mom it made me feel horrible. At 17 months old, he was still in the newborn class. Sure, he had precious teachers who had some great one-on-one time with him (because the babies were sleeping a good bit during the day), but he wasn't getting to play with kids his age - or kids at all, really. It wasn't until registration for this new year, that we realized he was being placed in the infant class AGAIN. Don't get me wrong, we have a great daycare that does a LOT of wonderful things! It's because he's the same SIZE as the babies - he was just being overlooked. This hurt. I mean, he didn't know any different and he was content, but he also wasn't being challenged intellectually. He wasn't getting to play outside, he didn't have interaction with kids, the toys were way to young for him, everyone in his class drank out of bottles and were fed by the teachers (if they were at that point) - how had I missed this!? This child that was "too small" is the same kid that can: flat take-out my 3 year old (who happens to be a FULL FOOT taller than him), climb the shelves in our closet, throw a ball right.into.your.hands, sit at the table (in an adult chair) for meals, speak 70+ words (that I've been able to write down), sit and "read" books to himself, etc. He needs to be challenged, to play, to explore, to grow (in whatever way that may be).

Currently, we are waiting for the appointment to be set up for us to see the specialist. In the meantime, the pediatrician (actually the nurse) called to let us know the initial/preliminary blood work came back normal! :)

Pregnancy: 24 weeks

So this week marks one of the biggest milestones of pregnancy for me. This is because it is, what is generally considered, the age of viability. I mean, I know that this baby is NO WHERE NEAR being ready to join the air breathing world, BUT I also find a certain level of peace in knowing that IF something were to happen, there is a chance he could possibly survive outside the womb. <= Don't worry, I plan to keep him in there for at least another 13 weeks (hopefully more), as I'm counting on this being the longest pregnancy I've had yet... anyway... this post is intended to be mostly a Brayden post, so I'll save the rest of my pregnancy stuff for a later date :)