All about Bobby

I don't think this will become a regular occurence, two posts in one day, but I do want to share more news than my first post contained.  Bobby will be 22 months old this month, yes that's right, he will be two before we know it.  He is doing well and continuing to progress developmentally.  He is bright and very perceptive.  He figures things out pretty quick and astounds us daily.  He continues to receive PT, OT, and Speech for his feeding issues.  We're still on Stage 2 foods, but we're still working on getting him used to textured foods.  He wants what we have to eat and gets frustrated when we won't give him any.  We're starting to let him taste foods if he wants and will grind up foods that are safe for us to try.  We don't want to push him too hard, since that could cause a setback. 

Bobby is now pulling himself up to his knees and that resulted in us having to lower his crib to the lowest setting.  That was a wake-up call for us, since we have a convertible crib, the next step will be taking the side off and turning it into a daybed.  WOW!!!  He is growing up before our eyes and we wonder where the time has gone!  For me especially, the last year has gone by in a blur.  I can literally watch him grow up over last summer in pictures because I can't remember much since I was going through my chemo treatments.  I'll get to me later, right now this is about Bobby.  He looks just like me when I was his age.  I sent my Aunt Melissa a picture of him pulling up in his crib and asked her who he looked like and she said, "a mini-Charlotte!"  Yup, he is my mini-me.  Rob says the only thing Bobby got from him was the XY chromosome, but truth be told, that little boy acts just like his father.  They are just alike and I am going to have my hands full when Bobby gets older.  I see me and my mother-in-law having some indepth discussions in the coming years.  Bobby's daily routine is pretty disciplined and if there is a change in the schedule, he can get really thrown off.  He likes to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny or Special Agent Oso on DisneyJr. while he eats, as that is the only way we could get him to eat in the beginning when we were weaning him off the NG tube and now it's hard to get him to eat any other way.  We're working on breaking him of that habit, but it'll take some time.  Right now it's all about getting him to eat his nutritional meals and maintain his caloric intake.  He's gaining weight and growing well, but after spending 10 months on an NG tube and tracking his meals and calories, we still track it to keep an eye on things.  He watches a Baby Einstein DVD at least once a day and we work with the words and colors as he sees them.  We use the DVD interactively and he really enjoys the music.  There's one part of the DVD where it plays a Beethoven melody and Bobby gets really excited and starts dancing to the music.  He does love music, that's for sure.

Both Rob and I like to make up songs and sing them to Bobby.  I compose my songs to a melody and have quite a few that are just for Bobby, whereas Rob sings whatever pops into his head at the moment and sounds rather hilarious, but sweet.  That little boy loves his Daddy and his Daddy loves him just as much.  They are too cute together and my heart melts whenever I watch the two of them together.  One of the songs I sing to Bobby I actually composed while I was pregnant with him.  It's not a work of art by any means, but it's cute and rhymes and Bobby just stops to watch and listen to me whenever I sing it.  It goes a little something like this:

"Little Bobby, Little Bobby
Momma's little boy.
Little Bobby, Little Bobby
sweet angel joy.
You're God's gift from above
a blessing to us
Mommy and Daddy are so
filled with love."

I came up with that after we learned of his VSD and it was my way of calming myself when I would start to stress out over the fact that my unborn child had a heart defect and may have to have open-heart surgery when he was born.  Those early days still haunt my memories, but I truly believe that all we've been through as a family helped prepare us for the journey we would take through my diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.  Again, this is Bobby's blog, not mine.  We'll get to me later.

I didn't mean to write a book and I promise to do better at maintaining this blog than I did with the two CaringBridge sites.  Besides, this new blog allows me the chance to post photos and videos of Bobby, so it'll be better for our followers in the fact that you'll be able to watch him grow up too!

Talk more later,
Charlotte

Under Construction

So this is my first foray into the blogging world.  I don't really count the CaringBridge websites for Bobby or myself as blogging.  That was mainly updating or journalizing our medical experiences for the sake of posterity.  This blog, however, will include information other than just medical stuff and will be used for all family members.  In a way, I am consolidating mine and Bobby's CaringBridge websites into one, while still giving Rob the ability to share in the limelight.

I know the blog isn't as nice and shiny as it could be, but give me time.  I'll have this blog so dressed up, you may not recognize it the next time you visit!  We do hope you will follow us on our Melton3 journey into 2011 as we look forward to celebrating Bobby's 2nd year as a toddler and my 1st year as a breast cancer survivor.

God Bless and we'll talk to you later.

~Charlotte