Our Medical Mystery

We are in pre-op at Rady Children's Hospital for Brooke to get a larynscopy and bronchoscopy. We are hoping to finally find out what is causing her croupy cough that continues to get worse. She is a brave little lady!


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Brothers

Dylan adores Carson. He smiles and laughs at everything that he does. I just love watching him look at Carson. Yesterday I was getting ready to put Dylan down for a nap and he kept looking at Carson with a huge grin on his face.

I said to Dylan, "You love Carson so much. Is your big brother your hero?".

Carson replied, "I am not a hero......but I will always protect him. That is one thing I know!"

I love watching sibling relationships form and build!

Carson's 5th Birthday

 5 years old and trying out a seat belt booster seat for the first time. He digs the cup holder. We headed to Legoland and the water park for a day of fun.

 The kids always beg for face paint at amusement parks. We figured Carson's birthday was a great time to give in.

 Brooke was doing model shots and Carson and I were taking pictures. It cracks me up because I don't know where she got this, but my sisters and I do this after we have had a bit to drink.

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Carson, Happy Birthday to you!!

Dylan is 6 months old!

This happy guy melts my heart - all day, every day! I am so thankful that God gave us Dylan : )

Carson's Superhero Birthday Celebration

Guess who decided to sample the frosting....yep, Brooke!

Carson is such a big, handsome boy now : )

Grams & Pop gave Carson a very special gift this year. He got a week of fun at their house including Jedi Engineering Lego camp. It was really fun to read all the cards showing all the cool activities he was going to do.

Happy Boy!

What fun we had celebrating Carson's 5th birthday superhero-style! We invited all of our family and most of them were traveling that weekend so we ended up with just our immediate family and grandparents. It ended up being really fun in a small group and the best part was that everyone dressed up! Carson was thrilled that the grown-ups joined in the fun and even his baby brother was in a superhero costume. We all had lots of fun with it!

Update

WOW...it has been a long time since I have been consistent with this blog. It is always on my mind, but somehow these three small children are taking up all of my time. There is not much in the way of downtime these days! BUT I love having this great documentation of our daily lives, so I am going to try to make it more of a priority. I wanted to start by giving an update on each of the kiddos. Carson: He is really growing up! He recently turned 5 and is headed to Kindergarten next month. I have seen great changes in him over the last six months. I am really proud of the little boy that he is (90% of the time, not the 10% of the time that he is fighting with his sister). Carson enjoys writing now and is very proud of his drawings. We bought some leveled readers and he is starting to read some Level 1 Lego City books. Listening to my son read a page from a book is one of my proudest mama moments! I get so excited when he gets through a page without my help and he beams with pride. I'm really enjoying this stage with Carson. He continues to be inquisitive and has a silly sense of humor. Legos are still his favorite toy. Carson loves all things Star Wars and all superheroes. We are working on his little temper when his sister drives him crazy, which she is very good at. Brooke: Oh Brooke...where do I begin? Well...she is 3! Brookie Pants is a bit of a bossy pants lately and wanting to assert her independence. In some ways this is great as she is such a great helper with Dylan. She adores her baby brother and really is great at helping feed, bathe, diaper, and play with him. I love to see her sweet and nurturing side when she takes care of her brother. Brooke is also a mini-mama to her baby dolls. Dolls and Barbies are her favorite things to play with these days. She continues to love dancing and singing too. Brooke still dances around the house and makes songs up to sing to us. She is quite the drama queen! I am trying to make special time with her as I think sometimes she acts up and has tantrums in fulfilling her middle child role. We like to get our nails together, go swimming, and eat out. Brooke often asks to go to out to dinner to a restaurant and her favorite food is still "fancy cheese". My favorite thing to do with her is snuggle with her at bedtime and tell her what are plan is for the following day. Another thing I love about Brooke is that whenever I am frustrated with her she calls out to me "Mama, I love you!". We often call her a "piece of work". She is such a character! Dylan: Dylan is the sweetest baby. He honestly is so happy all the time. Just thinking about his little face makes me smile. He is six months old now and has hit many milestones lately. Just in the last few weeks he has started sitting up, grabbing toys, using his pincer grip to pick up puffs, and tonight I discovered his first tooth popping through. Dylan is a big eater and eats way more baby food than the other kids did at this age. He seems like chunky monkey baby to me, but it is just because the other two were so small. Dylan is 50th percentile for height and 10-25th percentile for weight. He has reflux like the others, but he doesn't seem to be bothered by it. I will be so thrilled when the spit up phase is over! I feel like I constantly smell like baby barf. It amazes me how much I love this baby boy. I know this probably sounds silly, but I feel like it makes my heart hurt how much I love him. He is such a joy and adores his mama. That moment when I go to him in his crib after he wakes up and he looks up at me with such love is the highlight of my day. I love hearing his laugh too! Dylan is finally happy in the car and in the stroller too. He has turned out to be quite the easy-going guy. Thank goodness! We have enough craziness as family of five. Well that sums up the kids. Me...well, I am exhausted and feeling like I can never get anything accomplished! I am so happy to be the mom of these 3 great kids, but life is certainly busy. Dave is busy at work as always, but he makes family time a priority. The house gets much louder when Dave gets home as he transforms into "tickle monster" and squeals and laughter can be heard as he chases the kids around the kitchen as I try to make dinner. Our home is happy chaos!

Ready Set Go

Carson started a Kindergarten prep summer program on Monday. He can only attend for two weeks, but we were looking forward to having some extra assurance that he is ready to start K in the fall. I love how excited Carson is for new experiences and this was no different. When I picked him up the first day he told me he has a new friend name Conner and he even has a transformers shirt! His teacher, Mrs. Bjorstad told me he did great and, "Wow, what a nice, nice boy he is!" It made me feel so good to hear that. I always tell my kids that being kind is the most important thing (too bad he doesn't always practice his kindness at home!) She also said he is definitely ready for kindergarten. Phew!!

My baby boy is growing up and I am so proud of him!





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Life Technoligies

Dave works A LOT! Anybody that knows him knows that Dave is a hard worker and very dedicated to his career and his company. This is clear by how attached he is to his iphone and how much he talks about the great things his company is making happen. Although it is hard as a mom of three young kids to have a husband that works long hours and travels for work, I am so proud of how driven and dedicated he is. I really admire his drive. Of course the upside for us is that he has provided a wonderful life for his family and I so greatly appreciate that. I am also proud that Dave works for such an exciting company. Life Technologies is at the forefront of innovation in DNA gene sequencing. The products they help develop have been responsible for learning more about diseases and helping to find cures. It certainly helps push you to work hard when you feel passionately about what your company is accomplishing. I think it is very cool when I see articles about Life Technologies like this one from San Diego magazine, and exhibits they sponsor at the Children's Museum and the Science Center. I am very proud of my husband and all the good work he helps to accomplish!

Silly Dilly

I feel like life is so busy with 3 kids, that I haven't been able to spend enough time documenting little Dylan. He is 4 months old now, and such a sweet little guy. Dylan is a happy baby, as long as he isn't in the car seat. He smiles at anyone that so much as glances in his direction. He is quite the little charmer. I have him facing forward in the baby bjorn carrier now and it is funny to see how people react when I am talking to them. They often sound distracted and make comments about how much Dylan smiles and how cute he is. It is funny to me since I can't see Dylan's face when I am wearing the carrier.

Dylan loves his mama and loves his milk. The stubborn little thing is refusing to take a bottle now. This is not good for me! He is also having some sleep issues. He rolls around a lot and then has a hard time falling asleep on his tummy. I am not swaddling him anymore either which makes sleeping challenging. I have to keep the little guy safe. So he is waking up 4-6 every night! I am hoping this is just a phase and that he outgrows it very soon! Dylan recently discovered his feet and hands, and he thinks his hands are the best toys around. He is a drooly little dude and often has his fists in his mouth. His latest party trick is trying to put his foot through the rings at the top of his playmat. Carson and Brooke think it is so funny to watch him do this. Both kids are sweet to their baby brother and like to help out.

Dylan has lost most of his newborn hair except for some long strands and the bottom of the back of his head. He is sporting the lovely baby baldness. The new hair that is coming in on the top of his head appears to be blonde. I'm guessing he will be blonde with blue eyes....we will see. So far we have a red head with green eyes and a blonde with blue eyes. Dave and I joked before Dylan was born that perhaps this one would be a brunette with brown eyes so that we could represent all the hair/eye colors. Dylan has some meat on his thighs and is definitely the chunkiest of the Szekeres babies. So far we have only made skinny babies, so Dylan seems like a chunky monkey to me. I'm curious to see what his stats are at his 4 month appointment next week.

I am SO happy that we had a third baby! It is a lot of work, and I could use several more hours in the day, but it is definitely worth it. I feel like this time around I can really enjoy Dylan as a baby and appreciate that this will be my last time. It only helps that he is such a happy and smiley baby. With all of his sleeping issues lately, he has been spending several naps in my arms. As much as I could use the time to accomplish things around the house and to get organized, I am enjoying the moments of having a sweet baby nestled against me. I know this will pass and I will really miss the baby stage. I adore Silly Dilly and I just want to love him and squeeze him forever!

Brooke's Birthday Dinner

Fun in the Snow