Goodbye, Pappa Love

Trey lost his beloved great-grandfather Pappa tonight, following a series of complications after open heart surgery. Pappa was such a sweet, special man, and we are sorry Trey won't get to know him more as he grows. Before Trey was born, Pappa called him "Bo," which is why we often call our little boy "Trey-Bo." He is also one of the reasons Trey loves to bounce - from very early on, Pappa would bounce Trey in his lap singing "Old Dan Tucker." Pappa had said he never expected to live long enough to meet his great-grandchild, and we are so glad he had a chance to get to know Trey. They were so, so sweet together, and Trey loved his Pappa as much as the rest of us did. There is so much more we could write, but it's enough to say that we will all miss him dearly.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Baby Trey! Trey enjoyed three days of Christmas this year - the first at his Riddle grandparents' house, the second at home (and the airport, after we were delayed for 4 hours because the pilot did not show up to work!), and the third at his Edwards grandparents' in Roanoke. Santa was good to Trey, and he now has all kinds of new toys to discover and play with.

Trey was a trooper on Christmas Day. Despite being exhausted from our trip on Christmas Eve and skipping his nap on Christmas, he spent the entire day smiling at all the family, playing with his "cousin" Lady June, and crawling all around the house exploring all the Christmas goodies. When the day was over, he completely crashed and is currently on hour 14 of sleep!

We hope you all are enjoying your holiday celebrations with friends and loved ones. We'll post pictures of ours soon!

ENT Specialist

We took Trey to see an ENT specialist this morning. Our visit started with some various hearing tests. The first test showed that Trey had some excess fluid in his ears, which prevents the ear drum from moving correctly. Because of this, the hearing technician explained that Trey is roaming around with the equivalent of foam earplugs in his ears. He did not expect Trey to do very well on his subsequent hearing tests, but he passed with flying colors!

For the first one, Mommy held Trey in a room and held a toy in front of him to keep his eyes focused straight ahead. The technician would play beeps or call Trey softly by name through speakers in the walls to see if Trey would turn towards the sounds. He did great on this test. The second one was akin to the newborn hearing screen given to babies - just some signals sent through the ear canal and a device to measure the sounds the ear sends back (I'm not very good at explaining it). He passed that test as well, even though he wasn't expected to. So, all in all, his ears are in good shape.

Alas, there is still the problem of recurring ear infections. The doctor gave us some nose drops to give to Trey each night, and then he wants to see us again in six weeks. If he keeps having ear infections, he'll go ahead and recommend tubes.

A fun part of our visit was watching Trey play in the waiting room. The doctor's office had lots of fun toys, including "big boy" toys to push around - a lawn mower, a Tonka truck, a fire engine, a vacuum cleaner, etc. There were other big boys (2-3 years old) playing with all of the toys, and Trey wanted to play, too! He tried his best despite not being able to walk the toys around. Still, he had so much fun that one of the "big boys" decided to crawl around pushing a toy like Trey did!

Visit with Santa!

Trey went to see Santa today at the Galleria. Yes, despite finishing all of our Christmas shopping weeks ago, we foolishly decided to brave the Galleria on today of all days. Although there was only about a 30 minute wait for Santa around 5:00 or so, we spent nearly that long just getting out of the parking garage when we were finished! Oh well, it was worth the trip for this result:

Trey was generally happy to see Santa, and wasn't scared of him at all. He did try to pull on his beard, but Santa said he is pretty used to that.

Merry Christmas everyone! Trey will celebrate Christmas with his Riddle family on the 23rd. Mommy and Daddy have put in a special request that Santa visit Trey early this year on the 24th, because Trey will be in Virginia with his Edwards family on Christmas morning. We'll keep you posted on Trey's first Christmas!

Christmas Show

This evening was the Holiday Program at Trey's school. It was precious. Since this was our first time to attend, I had very little idea what it was about. Turns out it's essentially the Kindergarten program, with the other classes making performances at various points throughout the show.

This year, the Kindergarten students put on a performance of Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. After each part of the story, one of the younger classes would come out in costume and "perform" to a song that had something to do with that part of the story. Trey's class played, appropriately enough, babies. There wasn't a lot of performing to it - the teachers essentially just held them and walked them across the stage - but the production as a whole was unbelievably cute. Unfortunately, the camera I brought was somehow out of battery, but we did get Trey's segment on video, which we'll post eventually.

Welcome Baby Lillie!

Trey is excited to have a new girlfriend! Lillie Kate Morgan was born this morning here in Houston. Trey will have to choose his girlfriend between Lillie and big sister Lindsey (15 months), but for now, he is excited to welcome his new friend!

Pictures posted!

I have updated some of our posts with pictures.... finally. Hope you enjoy. :)

Welcome Baby Piper!

Trey has a new friend! Piper Lee Jordan was born yesterday here in Houston. Although Trey has not met her yet (we want to make sure his cold is cleared up first), she is almost certainly a future girlfriend. Trey is excited to have a new friend in town!

Chasing Doggies

This past weekend, we took a day trip to San Antonio to have an extended family Christmas at our Aunt Patricia and Uncle Johnny's house. It was a wonderful occasion visiting with family and enjoying fabulous food surrounded by gorgeous Christmas decorations (Aunt Pud really knows how to entertain!). But perhaps the highlight of the day was Trey's reaction to the Ramseys' two girls, Annie and Katie - little white dogs that were just bigger than Trey. Trey was so excited to see them and chased them all around the house! The cute doggies were actually somewhat frightened by Trey's aggressive behavior and ran away whenever they saw him heading their way, but our fast little crawler did a pretty good job keeping up with the pups.

Uncle Johnny let Trey pet Katie, even though Trey didn't really understand that dogs are for petting and not for grabbing like other toys. Still, Trey's first experience around dogs was a true delight. Here is a video of just a sample of Trey's activity with the dogs (the best we could get).

Trey will have more interactions with dogs over Christmas when he meets his "cousins," Lady June (Aunt Dabney & Uncle P's new puppy) and Henry (Uncle Bob's dog). We're not so sure these dogs will react as mildly as Katie and Annie did, so it could get interesting. Stay tuned...

Let it snow!

Trey saw snow for the first time today! No, we are not on vacation in the mountains or even visiting family in Virginia... We are home in Houston! Trey left school this evening to see swarms and swarms of REAL snowflakes in the air. He didn't know enough to be as excited as Mommy and Daddy were, but he did survey the situation as usual. Trey got to break in his new winter hat, courtesy of his Sugar, which she gave to him with the intention of him wearing it in Virginia for Christmas. We memorialized the occasion with a few pictures.

Another ear infection

Trey woke up yesterday with a bad cough that sounded productive. He didn't have a fever, so I didn't worry much, but we knew something was up. He coughed all night and just wasn't his normal, rambunctious self this morning, so I made him a doctor's appointment. Sure enough, he has yet another ear infection. This makes #4 for him - one at 4 months, one at 6, one at 9, and now one at 10. So the doctor told us we should try and see a pediatric ear, nose, and throat specialist. He said they may not do anything now, but at least we can go ahead and establish a relationship with one since we're bound to need one eventually.

But the doctor says our little boy is doing great otherwise! He is really impressed with how comfortable he is around strangers and how cooperative he was in the exam room. He said he is interacting at an advanced level and seems to have excellent communication skills. If only he could see our little baby crawl, he would be very impressed by his gross motor skills as well.

When we got home, Trey and I rocked and he rested his sweet head on my shoulder for a long while. It was one of those touching moments that reminds you why you became a mother. As sad as I was for my little baby who didn't feel well, and as frustrating as it was to miss time from work today, nothing feels so special as cuddling with your little baby who depends on you for everything. And the older and more active he gets, the harder those moments are to come by.

Bouncing Baby

Trey has always loved to bounce. First, he tried his hand bouncing in the bouncer. Then, he moved on to the exersaucer. Next, he made a habit of bouncing in people's laps. And when Mommy and Daddy finally hung the Johnny Jump Up, Trey bounced up and down nonstop.

Now that he has outgrown the Johnny Jump Up, our little one has a new way of bouncing. His new favorite trick is to sit on his knees and bounce up and down to music - either our singing (Mommy's or Mama C's, that is) or songs coming from one of his toys. In particular, he likes the fun songs from his Laugh & Learn Learning Puppy toy. "Ears Hang Low" is his favorite, and he's also partial to "Old Dan Tucker," which his Pappa taught him. It's so much fun. We caught it on video the other day; Daddy will post it when he gets the chance.