Journey: n. An experience or process that leaves you changed; trail of experience. From here to there.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Blog Makeover
Thought I'd revamp the blog a little since the family pic in the header & the pics of the kids on the sidebar were getting outdated. I had fun playing with digital scrapbook stuff in photoshop for both the header and background. I've rearranged some stuff too. The short blurbs on the kids w/pics that used to be on the sidebar are now in something called page tabs that are across the screen under the header. There's one for each kid, as well as some tabs for links & quotes(I'm still working on the pages). Just a more streamlined look I guess. If you scroll all the way to the bottom of the "home" page, you'll find the blog archive list that also used to be on the side, as well as a new feature that Blogger has to get email updates when there are new posts.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Big News--Backyard
Can't believe I forgot to put this in my updates, but we finally got some sprinklers & sod put in our backyard right in time for Collin's birthday in early August. We had a couple spots where nothing would grow after construction last year(like where they had put their main trash pile--we had opted to dump the last of construction trash to off-set the cost of having a heater vent in Brent's room that the architect forgot to put into the plans.)
It's so funny, because for a couple weeks Brent didn't know what to do on the grass barefoot & would run off.
Before:
Rota-tiled & evened out:
After:
It's so funny, because for a couple weeks Brent didn't know what to do on the grass barefoot & would run off.
Before:
Rota-tiled & evened out:
After:
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| Did get that last piece of sod put in, but never took an updated pic |
Brent videos
Video descriptions correspond to the video directly below it. Click on the boxes to play the videos.
Learning to crawl: 7.5 months--our Valentine's day present
First word(da-da): 8 months
2nd word(ma-ma): 2 days after learning da-da. I put him in his playpen & he kept saying ma-ma to get out!
9 months: surprised to see him climb in the dishwasher. 1st kid of ours who's done that.
10 months: his little dance. This is one of our favorite things about him. He & Drew have dance time during the day. They are the only 2 who managed to be born with natural rhythm. Something I clearly don't have.
10.5 months: walking
1 yr: signing "fan". in his mind, all lights on the ceiling must have fans. Oh, and his sign for fan literally looks like he's pointing & shaking his finger like he's trying to scold or say "no"
1 yr: learned to use a flyswatter
13 months: favorite new game. Turn your volume down about halfway. I didn't realize he screams so loud. By the way, those are happy screams.
Learning to crawl: 7.5 months--our Valentine's day present
First word(da-da): 8 months
2nd word(ma-ma): 2 days after learning da-da. I put him in his playpen & he kept saying ma-ma to get out!
9 months: surprised to see him climb in the dishwasher. 1st kid of ours who's done that.
10 months: his little dance. This is one of our favorite things about him. He & Drew have dance time during the day. They are the only 2 who managed to be born with natural rhythm. Something I clearly don't have.
10.5 months: walking
1 yr: signing "fan". in his mind, all lights on the ceiling must have fans. Oh, and his sign for fan literally looks like he's pointing & shaking his finger like he's trying to scold or say "no"
1 yr: learned to use a flyswatter
13 months: favorite new game. Turn your volume down about halfway. I didn't realize he screams so loud. By the way, those are happy screams.
Pics Galore--Brent day 1 thru 14 months old
Adding in all pics & videos from these past almost 15 months that I've shared on Facebook with my family--my main way of communicating with them & keeping up with everyone, much easier than over 10 phone calls per month/week.--but forgot to add them here.
I'll do Brent's first, as he's changed the most..lol
I'll do Brent's first, as he's changed the most..lol
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| 5 days old on the 4th of July |
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| One of Drew's size 4 diapers on Brent's torso--1.5 weeks old |
1 month
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2 months  |
3 months
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| 4 months |
First Halloween--4 months
6 months--Christmas
7.5 months--learned to crawl within a week of this!
8 months
8.5 months-found him asleep in the highchair after finishing a biter biscuit
10 months--walking!
11 months--can't tell you how much we've used this cradle swing for naps since we first got this when he was around 3 months old!
11 months--1st ER trip. thankfully, nothing was broken, his finger got smashed in the door & was compressed down to the width of between the 2 red marks & the skin wasn't springing back into place right away. I now know how baby xrays are done though.
11 months
12 months--running & climbing
12.5 months--with his bday present, Corduroy bear. It's so cute to watch him cuddle with it.
13.5 months--1st haircut. Mullet is gone, and he's starting to look more like a toddler.
14.5 months--this is how Brent naps during the days since my surgery, since I'm unable to put him in his swing or crib. he usually climbs in himself, unless he's tantruming, then Ivy helps me get him in.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Post-surgery recovery
Had the surgery last Wednesday morning. Went well, but there were some unexpected complications. Lost a lot of blood. That made my blood pressure drop really low. They kept me overnight at the hospital to monitor that. My normal blood pressure is like 105-ish/60, which I'm told is on the low end of normal--funny to think I've got low blood pressure with all the issues we deal with from the kids. Also, was super light-headed & dizzy. No doubt, from the anesthesia & low blood pressure. The anesthesia hit me really hard. I was in the recovery room at least a couple hours. I remember going in & out of sleep, and hearing things, being asked questions. Took almost that whole 2 hours to be fully alert. I had to beg the nurses to let me walk in the halls(per doctor's orders!) a couple times, 10 pm and then like 2 & 3 in the morning because sitting in a bed with no activity of moving around made it very difficult to sleep. I think I only slept 4 hours(2 hours at a time) Wednesday night in the hospital. They were checking blood pressure, etc. every 2 hours too.
So thankful to be off the antibiotics--they made me very dizzy. I also had to switch pain meds from Vicodin to Advil, also due to extreme dizzyness. I was having to pull out my over-the-counter meds for vertigo(which I get every time I get over a cold) to help minimize some of that.
Most of the pain has subsided, a week post-op now. I can't lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk. It's breaking my heart not to be able to pick up Brent when he cries or just wants to cuddle. I feel so bad for Tom & Ivy picking up so much of the slack on that. There's not much else I can do though. Thankfully, Brent has already been climbing for a couple months now, and I am allowed to push him in a stroller(walking and light weights(3 lbs) are all I've been officially cleared for. Tom has also thoughtfully pulled out our futon mattress for Brent to sleep on at night since I can't get him in or out of his crib. We usually have used it for when the kids are transitioning from a crib to a bigger kids' bed, since the futon mattress is pretty flat.
We've got some full blown tantrums from Brent. Collin's taking advantage of the situation and being as aggressive & disagreeable as much as possible--though, his teacher says he's much better this year than last year for behaviors at school. It bugs me that he's got a big smile on his face when he hurts others(mostly Brent, Drew, and me). I feel like there is just a brick wall that we can't get thru to get him to understand. It's bad to say or even think of feel this about your own kid, but man there are so many days I feel like giving up.
Other than that, doing a LOT of walking, since I can't take the car to & from school--I can't lift Brent in his carseat. Ivy can, but then, I'd be stuck once school starts in the morning. If I don't do any walking on Saturday, I'll have walked 11.25 miles this week. We've had a nasty heatwave this week--in the 90's with humidity. I feel bad for the kids, but this is out of my hands. I did try to get the surgery scheduled for early August just for this reason, so it'd only be dealing with it only a few weeks into the school year. But, that's not how things always turn out.
So thankful to be off the antibiotics--they made me very dizzy. I also had to switch pain meds from Vicodin to Advil, also due to extreme dizzyness. I was having to pull out my over-the-counter meds for vertigo(which I get every time I get over a cold) to help minimize some of that.
Most of the pain has subsided, a week post-op now. I can't lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk. It's breaking my heart not to be able to pick up Brent when he cries or just wants to cuddle. I feel so bad for Tom & Ivy picking up so much of the slack on that. There's not much else I can do though. Thankfully, Brent has already been climbing for a couple months now, and I am allowed to push him in a stroller(walking and light weights(3 lbs) are all I've been officially cleared for. Tom has also thoughtfully pulled out our futon mattress for Brent to sleep on at night since I can't get him in or out of his crib. We usually have used it for when the kids are transitioning from a crib to a bigger kids' bed, since the futon mattress is pretty flat.
We've got some full blown tantrums from Brent. Collin's taking advantage of the situation and being as aggressive & disagreeable as much as possible--though, his teacher says he's much better this year than last year for behaviors at school. It bugs me that he's got a big smile on his face when he hurts others(mostly Brent, Drew, and me). I feel like there is just a brick wall that we can't get thru to get him to understand. It's bad to say or even think of feel this about your own kid, but man there are so many days I feel like giving up.
Other than that, doing a LOT of walking, since I can't take the car to & from school--I can't lift Brent in his carseat. Ivy can, but then, I'd be stuck once school starts in the morning. If I don't do any walking on Saturday, I'll have walked 11.25 miles this week. We've had a nasty heatwave this week--in the 90's with humidity. I feel bad for the kids, but this is out of my hands. I did try to get the surgery scheduled for early August just for this reason, so it'd only be dealing with it only a few weeks into the school year. But, that's not how things always turn out.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Brief update-continued
Drew has had speech class once a week at the same school as Ivy & Collin. That will change this fall, thanks to the school disctrict's reorganization. He is starting to learn to recognize letters & Tom frequently does magnet letters on the fridge to help him to learn rhyming words. He took a swimming class this summer too, just one session. From my experience, kids either love or hate being in beginner swim class (with no parents), there is no in between. Since I didn't know which way he'd go, I just signed him up for one. Apparently he really likes it. He's terrible, but he enjoys himself and that's all that matters. He's starting to get a little bored at home, even with Brent. I may look into a 2 or 3 days per week preschool for him once school starts back up.
Collin has made language progress this year, learning to comment about things he sees. He did a mommy & me swim class this summer--I signed him up after he was jealous of Drew having class, but not him. He's used to doing pretty much everything with Drew. The class is only meant for 6 month olds to 4 years old, but we inherently don't trust Collin in the typical swim class--for the second half of each class, they go to the deep water. I'm afraid of Collin not listening & letting go of the wall. We may try to work something out with the instructors next year to just have him do the 1st half and I take him out the second half. He is now 46" tall and 49.5 lbs--he was really giving me quite the workout in the Mommy & Me class.
Collin's got an excellent memory, but sometimes doesn't know when to stop telling you something. Example, the kids(minus Brent, of course) are currently in ice skating lessons. Last week, Tom took them. Ivy fell 30+ times, Drew quite a few, and Collin only once--while Tom was holding his hands during the free-skate/practice. So, all week, Collin has told me "Drew slipped down 2 times," multiple times per day. He is wanting more independence which is good, but I'm having a hard time letting go because I worry about him a lot. Still lagging in other areas. Case in point, yesterday Brent woke me up at 6:30 a.m., went back to sleep, and I didn't get back to bed till 7:30. Well, sometime between 7:30 & 9:30, Collin got a movie out for himself and put it in the portable dvd player. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but Tom had just started watching a Netflix dvd the night before. We spent all morning, and a good part of the afternoon trying to find it. I was thankful it didn't end up in the trash or any of the bathrooms. But it was soo frustrating when I'd ask Collin where he put the movie, he couldn't answer me. If I asked him if it was in any number of spots, he'd just answer "yes."
Tom & I. Well, we are FINALLY able to start having regular date nights again, and Brent is starting to be babysat with the other kids instead of being taken with us. Thanks to many friends & family's suggestions we found a website called http://www.thedatingdivas.com/ that has TONS of ideas--which was one of our biggest struggles. Tom seems to be enjoying it. So far, we've made a couple's journal, origami night, dollar store night, a walk on the beach at night(for our 11th anniversary, July 8th--by the way, even though it was a hot day, it was totally freezing!! We had a head-on wind), and writing candy bar love notes(first time I'd done that).
I will be going in at the end of the month for outpatient surgery. The short of it is that my body functions are not what they were after the other 3 kids, and it's been destroying my quality of life. I've been meeting with a urologist and doing testing off & on the past couple months. We both agree that this surgery is the best solution. A 30 year old should not be dealing with an 80 year old's problems. Hard part will be that I won't be able to lift Brent for 6 weeks! This is the kid who wants up & down ALL day long. I had tried to schedule for the beginning of this month, and then thought Ivy could help me out for the 1st 3 weeks before school starts. But no, the hospital didn't have any openings until the end of the month, 2 days after school starts. So, half the day I will be on my own until school is out.
Collin has made language progress this year, learning to comment about things he sees. He did a mommy & me swim class this summer--I signed him up after he was jealous of Drew having class, but not him. He's used to doing pretty much everything with Drew. The class is only meant for 6 month olds to 4 years old, but we inherently don't trust Collin in the typical swim class--for the second half of each class, they go to the deep water. I'm afraid of Collin not listening & letting go of the wall. We may try to work something out with the instructors next year to just have him do the 1st half and I take him out the second half. He is now 46" tall and 49.5 lbs--he was really giving me quite the workout in the Mommy & Me class.
Collin's got an excellent memory, but sometimes doesn't know when to stop telling you something. Example, the kids(minus Brent, of course) are currently in ice skating lessons. Last week, Tom took them. Ivy fell 30+ times, Drew quite a few, and Collin only once--while Tom was holding his hands during the free-skate/practice. So, all week, Collin has told me "Drew slipped down 2 times," multiple times per day. He is wanting more independence which is good, but I'm having a hard time letting go because I worry about him a lot. Still lagging in other areas. Case in point, yesterday Brent woke me up at 6:30 a.m., went back to sleep, and I didn't get back to bed till 7:30. Well, sometime between 7:30 & 9:30, Collin got a movie out for himself and put it in the portable dvd player. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but Tom had just started watching a Netflix dvd the night before. We spent all morning, and a good part of the afternoon trying to find it. I was thankful it didn't end up in the trash or any of the bathrooms. But it was soo frustrating when I'd ask Collin where he put the movie, he couldn't answer me. If I asked him if it was in any number of spots, he'd just answer "yes."
Tom & I. Well, we are FINALLY able to start having regular date nights again, and Brent is starting to be babysat with the other kids instead of being taken with us. Thanks to many friends & family's suggestions we found a website called http://www.thedatingdivas.com/ that has TONS of ideas--which was one of our biggest struggles. Tom seems to be enjoying it. So far, we've made a couple's journal, origami night, dollar store night, a walk on the beach at night(for our 11th anniversary, July 8th--by the way, even though it was a hot day, it was totally freezing!! We had a head-on wind), and writing candy bar love notes(first time I'd done that).
I will be going in at the end of the month for outpatient surgery. The short of it is that my body functions are not what they were after the other 3 kids, and it's been destroying my quality of life. I've been meeting with a urologist and doing testing off & on the past couple months. We both agree that this surgery is the best solution. A 30 year old should not be dealing with an 80 year old's problems. Hard part will be that I won't be able to lift Brent for 6 weeks! This is the kid who wants up & down ALL day long. I had tried to schedule for the beginning of this month, and then thought Ivy could help me out for the 1st 3 weeks before school starts. But no, the hospital didn't have any openings until the end of the month, 2 days after school starts. So, half the day I will be on my own until school is out.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Brief Update
It's been a whirlwind since I last posted. So many months, and gone in the blink of an eye.
Brent started crawling in time for Valentines Day(7.5 months old), and started walking at 10 months old(May). He didn't waste any time there. He also hasn't touched many baby toys since February either--why should he? The "big kid" stuff looks so much more fun! Brent is also climbing stuff. His latest obsession is to have us stack some really big foam blocks taller than he is & he comes charging them down. Last night, when the other kids were asleep this was going on for at least 10 minutes. Maybe the makings of a football player or wrestler? ;) His favorite word is "meh(more)," but he also says mama, dada, woo(imitating a vaccuum that's on) and nana(no-no, something he hears a lot!), and signs want, up & all done. He's just barely started taking a bottle & cup in the past few weeks--just in time to be weaned.
Let's see, Ivy did Girl Scouts from December thru June. She really enjoys being around other girls--obviously doesn't get much of that at home. She's also done swim lessons for 6 weeks this summer and can now swim short distances by herself. She's hit a whiny, lazy age and it bugs us, but honestly, I don't know if I could've made it thru this past year without her. She helps so much with Brent, almost from the get-go. She always has her nose in a book, and got the only "reading comprehension" award in her class at a special 2nd grade assembly I was invited to this spring.
Will finish posting about other things tomorrow, it's bedtime.
Brent started crawling in time for Valentines Day(7.5 months old), and started walking at 10 months old(May). He didn't waste any time there. He also hasn't touched many baby toys since February either--why should he? The "big kid" stuff looks so much more fun! Brent is also climbing stuff. His latest obsession is to have us stack some really big foam blocks taller than he is & he comes charging them down. Last night, when the other kids were asleep this was going on for at least 10 minutes. Maybe the makings of a football player or wrestler? ;) His favorite word is "meh(more)," but he also says mama, dada, woo(imitating a vaccuum that's on) and nana(no-no, something he hears a lot!), and signs want, up & all done. He's just barely started taking a bottle & cup in the past few weeks--just in time to be weaned.
Let's see, Ivy did Girl Scouts from December thru June. She really enjoys being around other girls--obviously doesn't get much of that at home. She's also done swim lessons for 6 weeks this summer and can now swim short distances by herself. She's hit a whiny, lazy age and it bugs us, but honestly, I don't know if I could've made it thru this past year without her. She helps so much with Brent, almost from the get-go. She always has her nose in a book, and got the only "reading comprehension" award in her class at a special 2nd grade assembly I was invited to this spring.
Will finish posting about other things tomorrow, it's bedtime.
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