Logan can color... and can color very well.

It takes me so long to update this thing since I've been going back school. It's been going very well but I am soooo busy now.

Anyway, let's talk about Logan.

We have been working hard on getting him potty trained and have made some success. He has moved on to pull-ups but still has regular accidents. I know he wants to stay dry but it is hard for him to know when it's time to go. Going #2 is now a piece of cake for him, and that makes a big difference for us. He has a had a few days where at the end of the day, he is just a little damp. Not bad.

Logan finally has started to enjoy coloring. See the picture below.

This picture he colored a couple days ago in two sittings. I have to pinch myself over this because it wasn't that long ago, like 6 weeks ago, that he wouldn't even pick up a crayon, and he certainly didn't enjoy coloring. After I had him evaluated by an OT, she gave me some suggestions. One of these was to buy those clear markers and color sheets where the color would just come out as he colored. That did the trick. He now has a lot of pride in the pictures he colors. The other day Logan drew a picture on the MagnaDoodle. He said, "Look. I drew a truck." When we looked, there were two circles with a line connecting the two. It was pretty cool to see things come together for him.

Logan's eyes are doing great. I am soooo happy with where they are right now. Most of the time, they are perfect and I haven't really noticed any misalignment unless I'm looking for it. I still have to schedule another visit soon and of course we'll keep up with eyes for the years to come.

Now, let's talk about Gage.

Gage is doing as good as ever. He is about 25 pounds now and as happy as can be. We did have his ears checked today and he's on antibiotics for an infection, but this is nothing new. Dan and I cracked up with him last night when Dan asked him to say sorry to Logan and he responded with a pathetic little face and a little "sorry". When I say pathetic, you'd know what I mean if you saw it. I'll try to tape it tonight. It is sooooo funny. What extra funny about it is how he puts on the face to go with the phrase even though there's nothing wrong.

Christmas!

With Christmas around the corner, we are getting more and more excited about it, especially now that Logan understands what it's all about. He talks about Santa and the North Pole often and has even started asking what he should get Santa for Christmas. I am expecting gifts for the boys to be books, trains, cars... the typical I guess. We'll hopefully get our tree up today or tomorrow and go Christmas light driving tonight... even though there's a snow storm outside right now.

I'll try and update again soon with some nice videos and more pictures.

The kids are baptized

Hello all. The boys are finally baptized. I'm so glad it's over, and what's even better is that we really like the church. Here's baptism day for Logan... Crawling on our rock outside the house.



Since Logan's surgery, he has come a little ways. I do still feel he's now over-corrected but not nearly as bad.

Dan's been up north every weekend working on the cabin. Here's a picture from a few weeks ago. There's been a lot more accomplished since then like backfilling and chinking.


Here's some more pics I like from August...



Finally, a new family picture... from baptism day.

Logan's eye surgery

Logan had his eye surgery three days ago. It went OK as he is now a little over-corrected. This is a real bummer because now we're pretty certain he will need at least one more surgery. We'll go back in 3 months for a follow-up. Disappointing.

Logan's eyes look rough, like raw hamburger on the whites of his eyes. I guess the pain is minimal and requires to pain medication. They itch a little bit but not bad as he isn't itching them at all.

Logan did a great job at surgery and tolerated the anesthesia nicely. That makes it a lot easier to deal with as parents. The surgery was about 1 1/2 hours long and we left the hospital a few hours later. By the time we made it back to the hotel, he was ready to play. A few minutes after that, it seemed, he was hungry. So we went to Baker's Square right next to our hotel where he ate like a pig. That was nice to see. He had a hard time adjusting to the change as he could not quite grab the things he was trying to. His hand would reach out for his milk or spoon only to find air. He remained pretty patient I'd say. It was hard for us to watch... broke out hearts... watching our son in pain and not able to function as he did. We really questioned our decision to go ahead. "Maybe we should have waited."

The next day, Logan started to adjust a bit more. He was his normal self in spirit even though he had little sleep that night and at nap time. Now today, he has adjusted even more and seems to be playing almost normally. Really, he has started using two hand to kind of gather up the toys as he still misses some times.

Logan still talks very fondly of the hotel. He REALLY enjoyed staying somewhere new. We'll have to do it again sometime. Also, Logan has enjoyed the 1 on 1 contact he has been getting. He's really soaking it up and we're enjoying the spoiling.

If I ever get the time, I'll try and post some picture of Logan's eyes. I haven't taken any yet but they haven't changed in the last 3 days.

Wow.... A lot to say.

I can't believe it's taken me so long to update the blog. I guess you can say grad school is taking up all my free time, which by the way is going really well. Having a blast and learning a lot.

So let's talk about the boys.

Logan is a potty training fool. He always has to go and sometimes he goes and sometimes he doesn't. I think he does this so he can wash his hands 20 times a day. For the longest time, we'd put Logan on the potty but he wouldn't do anything. Then he started saying he had to go so we'd put him on again just to have him again do nothing. Once he could go potty by himself - take his own diaper off and get on the potty without any help, he began to take off. He can go a day with just one or two new diaper changes. Sometimes, he doesn't do as well. And poops.... They are coming along nicely.

Logan started preschool this past week. I guess he gets on a school bus each morning and after his 3 hours at school, he gets a ride back to day care. For his first day on the bus, I specifically tried to make it back to day care to film his first day but the bus came 15 minutes early so I missed it. :( I was pretty bummed. He loves school and loves the school bus. It's pretty amazing the America feels a need to give extra help to those who need it. We're one of the only nations to invest in special education. I really feel that Logan has come a long way. He is very verbal and pretty easy to understand. He's just becoming a big boy.

PT ended late last month so I no longer drive to St. Cloud twice a week. After I stopped coming into therapy with him and instead waited in the waiting room, he just took off and blossomed. It was amazing to see. The St. Cloud PT people are amazing there. We'll go back in 6 months for a re-eval just to continue tracking his progress.

Logan will have eye surgery the week after next. I am a little nervous about how he'll do not that he's bigger. He was about a year old the first time and so his recovery was pretty easy. His inner eyes looked like raw hamburger but he didn't seem to care. This time, we'll have a little boy who will communicate how he feels and require us to communicate back in a way he can understand. We'll spend one night in the cities.

Gage is approaching 18 months of age and he's as busy as ever. He has started to beat up on Logan - - pulling his hair, hitting him, taking toys away from him.... Logan just takes it for the most part. I try and get Gage to stop it but he just keeps on going. It is hard to know what kind of temperament Gage is going to have. I guess time will tell.

Gage still has 6 teeth - 4 on top and 2 on the bottom. This seems to be enough for him though as he's a pretty big eater. He's catching up in size as well. I would expect at his 18 month appointment, he'll show some good growth and catch up to the 50 percentile. We'll have to see though.

Gage still sucks his fingers but he seems to listen to Daddy and Lola when they tell him to get them out. He listens to me, too, but only for a few seconds.

Dan has been spending a lot of time up north finishing his hunting shack in time for deer season. That's where he's at today and has been all weekend. I would expect that the end result of his cabin will be exactly what he's looking for. At least that's what I hope.

I will attempt to update again soon and this time try to include pictures.

I've been tagged....

I've been tagged by Jessica to post 8 random facts about myself.

I have to post these rules before I give you the facts:

1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write in their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.

So, here's my 8 random factoids:

1. My husband and I both grew up in the same town but never knew each other. I was 5 grades ahead of Dan but only 3 years older. We met through our sisters who had been friends for years. The funny thing is that I was friends with Dan's middle sister for a couple years in late elementary school so I am sure I met Dan but never really "met" him. Funny. Anyway, his oldest sister and my sister set us up even though we were complete opposites. Look where that landed us.

2. I spent 5 years in college for Music Education but after 4 years of teaching, I left the profession for something with less pressure. I play a mean saxophone although I haven't picked it up for a few years.

3. I would love to build and live in a log home some day. All I need is a little land, complete privacy, and no sounds of traffic.

4. I love Taekwondo and consider it my favorite hobby - I just got my purple belt. If I had more time, I would pick up wood carving and quilting as hobbies as well.

5. I am about to launch my own web design business as I keep running across web page jobs. I have come up with a name but I need to sit on it for a while before I go for it. With grad school starting in a little over a week, I don't know how I plan to have time.

6. I enjoy watching TV evenings and some of my regular shows are American Idol, Hell's Kitchen, Lost, Desperate Housewives, and Intervention. I cannot sit and focus on just TV so I usually sit with my laptop, too.

7. I love my job because it feels like I get to put together puzzles all day long. It's challenging and rewarding. Speaking of puzzles, I am the queen of Sudoku. I picked it up while on bedrest and I am proud to say I have completed about 2000 puzzles, the latest of which are very complex (they have no numbers in any spaces and instead list sums of 2 or more squares - hard to explain).

8. I have an interview up in Virginia for the position of Director of Technology for the Mesabi Range Community and Technical College in a couple days. We would like to get back up north someday. We'll have to see how it goes.

Unfortunately, I do not know ANYONE who has a blog except the person who tagged me. Boy, I really do come from a small town.

Lots to say

Boy. A lot has happened since I last posted anything of length. We just got Ava home from the vet yesterday after nearly a week long stay for Parvo. We are sooooo thankful she made it through OK. She's really skinny but pretty darn happy.

Logan went to the UofM for an eye appointment last week and it was decided he was ready for another surgery. So we are scheduled for September 19th. Poor kid has no idea what he's going to be going through. The first surgery, he was just a bit over a year, they loosened the muscles of each inner eye. This time, they will tighten the muscles of both outer eyes. I have to assume this won't be the last one.

Gage is growing up really fast. He feeds himself and can express exactly what he wants with grunts and screams and a strong pointing gesture. His new thing is throwing anything and everything, which is usually a matchbox car that pegs Logan in the head (which just happened as I typed this). Gage is also into puting things into containers - or just containers in general. This he learned from Logan. Gage can now climb on the couch but refuses to be patient enough to master going down stairs. He would really prefer to walk down them, and of course when he tries to do this, he'd take a nice tumble down if I weren't there to catch him.

Logan still exhibits frustration over everything and now that Gage is taking things away from him, there's a lot more frustration to go around. Between the two boys, there is always some dilemma. They are starting to learn to play together but it is evident it will take time.

I bought Logan a skateboard from Target yesterday. It's just a little thing but Dan and I caught Logan using one of his toys like skateboard so we thought we'd give it a try. Since I brought it home, I've seen Logan on it a handful of times. He uses his foot to push just like you would expect. I guess it's just natural to him. In my eyes, it's good therapy.

A few weeks ago, I found out about a job up north and decided to apply for it. I have an interview next week. If by chance I get offered it, there would be some biiiiiiiiig decisions to make. I don't want to think about it yet.

I got a much needed haircut yesterday. I chopped it all off and boy, does it look better. I look at my old pictures and wonder what I was thinking. Hopefully, I can take care of it. My cut can be described as a Meg Ryan look.

Pictures at last!

I've finally gotten around to posting some pictures. The boys are napping but will be waking up soon. Forgive me but some are old.

We'll start with the 4th of July. Below is myself and the boys. We went to Brainerd for the fireworks. Very impressive. Logan thought they were too loud and said, "Turn them off." We found that to be pretty funny but then again, maybe they were seriously too loud for him. Maybe we'll bring ear plugs with next time. Gage on the other hand truly enjoyed them. Last year, he slept through them.


This past weekend was the Little Falls Dam Festival. The Clydesdales were AMAZING.

Above is Logan watching the parade.

We were up north a few weeks ago for grad parties. Our niece Jessi played with the boys and Ava in the picture below.

Gage and I posing for the camera.

We ventured to the Zoo here in town last month. They've done a lot of recent improvements which have really made a difference. It's a pretty nice zoo. The pic below was taken there while visiting.

Of course, Logan's favorite thing is the "4-wee-wee" as seen below.

Below, Gage is playing in our new fenced in yard. I suppose this was taken over a month ago.

For Mother's Day, we went to a water park in Brainerd. It was fun. Sarah, Emma, and Jace joined us in the fun.

It's been a while...

Yep. It's been a while since my last post. I have been way too busy with soooo much, and the weather has been pretty darn nice.

I've been busy preparing to go back to school for a masters in technology management. It will be all online and I'm planning on starting Aug. 1. Also, I've been working on a website for a business in town - - which has taken more time than I ever thought possible.

Today, Gage fell and nailed his cheek and eyebrow on the bottom hinge on a closet door. He cried pretty hard and ended up with a nice bruise on his cheek and a small gash on his eye lid. I wasn't sure how deep it was but it was wide open. I brought him to ER to be sure and after the dr.'s close exam, he decided that nothing needed to be done. He said he would have liked to glue it shut but the edges were so bad since his injury was from blunt force.

Logan has been growing up. He has more good days than bad days now. Verbally, the kid just doesn't stop talking. Sentances left and right. He got new orthodics a couple weeks ago that are spiderman in decoration. It took him a while to adjust but he's not complaining about them much anymore.

Gage is walking pretty well but still has to have his fingers in his mouth. That is going to be a hard habit to break.

Lately, Logan hasn't been eating real well but Gage is a pig. It's like Logan doesn't eat so he can get attention. Hard to explain. After sitting there for 45 minutes, he'll start eating everything up.

Well, better get to bed. No time to proof read this.

Logan is 3

Yes. Logan turned 3 last week, but we were so busy preparing for his party and getting our fence up that I have had no time to write.

We had his party this past Saturday. Considering it was opening fishing, it was surprising that nearly all our families made it. The weather was beautiful and the food was great. We completed the fence the night before which made the day that much better.

For Logan's birthday, he got a turtle sand box that has since become a pool, a wiggly sprinkler to jump through, beach toys, remote controlled airplanes, jumpy ball, swim pool playground thingy, some clothes, and much more. Thanks to everyone for their gifts.

The next day, Mother's Day, we went to The Lodge in Brainerd for a few hours. It's a hotel water park. I think Gage enjoyed it more than Logan but we'll definitely have to do it again soon. We were able to go with Sarah, Jace, and Emma, which made it a lot more fun that it would have been otherwise.

Speaking of Emma, Logan LOVES Emma sooooo much. They spent all weekend holding hands and playing together. She's such a good cousin.

Today, after work, I was able to fully enjoy the fenced in yard. I set up the sprinkler, filled the turtle with water, and let them have fun. Ava ran wild as well. It was fun and relaxing. Soooo nice. Gage really liked the sprinkler. He'd fuss a little as he would find himself in sprinkles and not able to get out as soon as he'd prefer. But eventually, he would get a bit more brave and venture in further and further. Logan would run pretty wide by it but he was getting a little closer near the end. Once I filled up the turtle with water, the sprikler was history.

Logan goes on streaks of good and bad behavior. He has been on his best since this weekend and it has truly been a pleasure to be his mom. His conversational abilities are growing so fast. He still gets really whiny here and there but he's getting better I'd like to think.

Gage is a full-time walker now. He falls often but get's right back up. He now has 4 teeth - the middle bottom two and the two top "fangs". Funny. Logan's top fangs came in first too. Weird.

Appetite-wise, Gage is a total pig and Logan has slowed. It is difficult to get him to eat, whereas with Gage, it's hard to satisfy his appetite. A growth spurt must be around the corner.

Logan has his 3 year appointment with the local ped. Friday. Should be fun, I hope.

It's been a while...

Things have been going well ever since Dan bought a tie out for the dog. Now I can keep Logan and Ava separated while maintaining my sanity. The two together are just way too much.

Gage is walking about 95% of the time now and is improving every day. I think he probably has about 3 teeth now. 2 on the bottom and 1 on top. And the best news, everyone is sleeping through the night. Gage, Ava... everyone. I haven't gotten up with Gage in several weeks now so I think it's official.

We went and got Gage a haircut yesterday. He is like a whole new boy. It's weird how haircuts do that. We used the sucker trick again and he did real well. The color of his hair is much lighter now, unfortauntely, as I was hoping he would have Daddy's hair. None-the-less, he looks so much older. I was watching him in the mirror sucking on his sucker for quite a while, thinking about how cute he was. Then I glanced at my own reflection. It hit me how dark complected Gage really is. I am fair skinned but I already have a bit of a tan, but after looking at Gage, I appeared as white as a ghost.

I went and saw the preschool Logan will be attending next fall and was very impressed. Because of his grade III brain bleeds upon birth, Logan has automatically qualified for Early-Childhood Special Education services. He's been getting weekly home visits for about 2 years. Now that he will be turning 3, he will no longer get the home services and instead will have to go to the elementary school. He will be picked up by the short school bus at daycare at 8:00 AM each morning and will be back to day care at 11:20 or so. This happens Tuesday-Friday each week all school year long. There are approximately 1 adult for every 2 kids and the classroom is madeup of 3 to 4 year-olds with varrying disabilities. There was one boy in particular who totally reminded me of Logan... the way he walked and played and talked... neat. I think it will be a good thing for him.

Logan's been working on counting and singing these days, not because we are guiding him to do so, but because he is into that right now. View the video below to listen.



Dan has been outside this morning digging post holes for our fence. Exciting but it will be a long process to get this up and going. I wish I could get out and help him but the boys make it kind of hard. Once they take their afternoon naps, I'll be able to assist with the harder parts, I hope.

I took pictures of the boys this morning and will attach them below. For some reason, Gage was VERY photogenic today. Maybe it's the new haircut. Logan was in a serious mood but believe me, that has since changed.

Gage is a walking man.

Yep. It's true. Gage is walking more and more everyday and is almost past the whole crawling stage. Here's video to show:

Breath...

Dan came home last night around 9:30. I have to admit I was a little crabby - but not bad. I told Dan about my "wonderful" evening with the 3 little rascals. It took me about 2 minutes to feel like a million bucks. Dan shared with me how his trap shooting went and how much fun he had. Just him being happy made me feel tons better. Anyway, the fix for now is to lock the puppy up if necessary. I'll then work on controlling her whinyness.

After work today, the boys and Ava went on a short walk. Then we came home and I threw dinner in the oven and read to Logan for a while. The whole time, Ava was pretty good.

Well, I'm off to TKD.

I'm going nuts!

OK. I spend all my energy just trying to contain Logan. And then add Gage... And then add a puppy. Then make it nice outside... I would so love to spend time outside but Logan runs away (walking in the woods, Logan will even take off and run anywhere he can). And Ava can't stand the leash. And Gage isn't walking yet so instead, he eats everything he touches, including grass and dirt. It's a disaster. Logan is hyper already and now with Ava, he's out of control. I let the puppy outside once every 45 minutes all evening and she still peed on the kitchen floor. Since we got home from Logan's PT, all I've been doing is hollering at either Logan or the puppy, except when Logan's in a time out, which he's in right now for pulling on Ava's ear. Now, I just holler at Ava. She chews on everything... And every day I get home from work, I'm greeted with chewed up magazines in the bathroom, or toilet paper, or anything else she manages to drag from the counter.

I don't think I can do this much longer. The puppy has to go outside, or she has to grow up pretty darn quick... or we need a fence now. I didn't bargain on being a puppy sitter as this puppy is Dan's birthday present. Dan has been clay shooting all evening as he's in a league, so now I'm beinging to think I need to have a talk with him.

On better notes, Gage is nearly a full-time walker around our house. He teeters everywhere he goes and falls often, but then he tries to stand up right away.

I have to take care of business around here. Logan NEEDS to go to bed.

Here's a video - my first on a blog. This will introduce our new family member. She's a sweety.

We need a fence.

I can't do it anymore. We need a fence. So begins the journey. I picked up a building permit today and this evening, Dan met with our neighbor to get the ball rolling. Hopefully, it will be up by Logan's birthday. It would be soooo nice to just go out side and relax, rather than chase after Logan every second. He is unable to stay around me and ventures off frequently, and he doesn't listen when I ask him to come back. It's definitely something we have to work on. And now that there's a puppy in the picture, it is that much more difficult to enjoy the weather. I definitely can't chase a puppy, a one year old, and a rammy 3 year-old. We need a fence. Can't wait for it.

I'll try and attach more pictures soon, especially of Ava, our new puppy.

Pictures, finally.

The boys, thankfully, have been healthy lately, and Gage has even started sleeping through the night. I would say he makes it all the way through about 1/2 the time. Also, we have teeth!! Two on the bottom. I think they came in about 5 days ago or so. I guess we can stop saving for those dentures we thought we might have to buy.

Gage is almost walking. His max is five steps without falling. He does, however, prefer to walk places and spends most of his time on his feet. He has also started imitating lots of things. He tries to put his hat on by himself, holds the toy phone up to his ear... things like that. He isn't all that vocal which I think is because he has two fingers in his mouth all the time.

Logan, Gage, and I went to see Iain and his family yesterday. Iain and Logan were NICU roommates. Both were 13 in. long at birth, both weighed 1 lb, 11 oz., and both his mom and me are named Heather. Logan was born at 25 weeks and 5 days and Iain was born at exactly 25 weeks. They spent a considerably more amount of time in the NICU than us due to lung and feeding issues, but today, Iain is doing great! It is obvious his 2 older brothers are keeping him on his toes.

Later today, we are going to visit Jacob and Madison. Logan loves Jacob but we haven't visited them in quite a while. It is supposed to be nice today so hopefully we can spend some time outside. Dan is in Iowa picking out his new puppy. Another German Wirehair for hunting.

Well, I will attach some pictures below. :)

Gage (1 day old) and Daddy

Gage (1 day old) and Daddy



Gage's first birthday


Notice the two fingers in the mouth - with frosting as a bonus!


Daddy reading to the boys (nightly ritual)


Rusty

Will the illnesses ever go away?

We were pretty excited a few days ago as Gage was finally seeming like he was on the mend after nearly an entire winter of ear infections and colds... then BAM! He's sick again. I have not brought him to the Dr. yet nor do I intend to at this point, but I am hoping he comes around. Since getting his immunizations last week, he has been pretty irritable and working on kicking a cold. He was doing well the last couple days, and even spelt though the night two nights ago... Yes! But now, he looks a little off, has a runny nose, cough, and is quite crabby. Poor guy. I have tomorrow and Monday off from work and I hope the extra sleep he'll get will help us out.

On a more positive note, Gage is approaching the next big milestone: walking. Yesterday, he was walking about 4 steps with confidence and control. Now that he's feeling under the weather, he's slowed a bit. I'm still hoping for some walking this weekend. We'll see.

For Easter, we are staying home and doing it as a family. We'll color some Easter eggs and hide them. Should be fun. I'll definitely record it, and once I get recording, I'll start dumping some videos to Youtube and linking them to this site. That will be nice to share. Daycare colored eggs today and Logan brought the 4 of them home. He got a hold of one and took a bite right out of it, shell and all. He had just watched me peal one for him a few minutes before.

Dan has spent the last 2 hours searching for another puppy... a female German Wirehaired Pointer to go with Rusty. Dan really wants a companion for him and wants to do some breeding. Dan's been looking constantly for quite sometime now... 2 weeks probably. They're just so hard to find.

Logan and Gage are all over the house right now. Logan's running around scaring Gage and Gage is chasing him around. Logan's laughing the whole time. And laughing hard, especially after he scares Gage. Gage is totally into it too as he continues to chase Logan everywhere. Logan will say, "I scare me". Logan's not quite the perfect big brother like he used to be. He pushes Gage over often, especially as he's trying to walk. He takes every toy away that Gage plays with. He won't share his toys with him... The list goes on. But I guess that's typical. There is no doubt though that Logan loves his brother.

Well, Logan just came up to me whiny and saying, "I poopied" and "You're all done." I guess he wants me off this thing.

Nothing new but...

It seems Logan may have my ears, I hope. And I'm talking musically. Last night, he sang Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and although he messed up the words here and there, his relative pitch was spot on. Very exciting to me. Now if he can get Daddy's rhythm, we should be set to go.

Gage has been exceptionally crabby this weekend. Today has been the worst. His nap was by no means peaceful, and after 1.5 hours, I went down to a crying baby and spent about 5 minutes trying to calm him. Eventually, he went back to sleep but I laid with him for the next two hours with him waking here and there. Poor little boy. He doesn't have a fever so I am thinking this is all teeth stuff combined with his cold (coughing, runny nose, sneezing). I hope he snaps this cold soon.

Right now, he's playing at my feet contently while his brother and dad are at Wal-Mart getting more diapers. Before that, Logan and Dan went on a short 4-wheeler ride around the yard. Logan didn't want to get off, I guess.

I went through the toys in the toy box earlier today and took out all the baby toys (rattles, mini-blankets) as I try to make more room for Birthday gifts. I've also spent the last week or so shopping on eBay for flap books and 2-piece puzzles for Logan. I think I won about 5 items and will get them soon I hope. Logan is attached to flap books we've discovered as every time we arrive in St. Cloud for PT, he picks up the exact same book in the waiting room: Frosty the Snowman with little flaps that have pictures hidden underneath.

My friend Denise called me up yesterday to share her new purchase with me. She bought a 2004 BMW Z4. Nice car. Now if only she would just give me her Harley.

Also, with Dan's birthday around the corner, we are looking for another German Wirehaired Pointer as a companion for Rusty.

Hopefully, I'll get some more pictures on here soon.

Gage is 1!

Yep. He's one already. And to celebrate, Gage took his first steps... 4 of them. Pretty exciting. Today, he had his well-baby check-up and thankfully, his ears were clear. Still, he has been waking up constantly through the night and there seems like there's no end in sight. Finally, Gage's teeth are visibly on the way. His lower gums are twice their size with two lower teeth bulging their way - nearly through. I think it should be real soon that we get to see what he looks like with teeth, not to mention a little development in his eating habits.

As for eating, Gage has been doing real well with solids and I even introduced a spoon to him. He certainly isn't ready for it yet as he wouldn't even grab it but I do think he got the idea. Yesterday, he chowed down quite a bit of meatloaf, stuffing, a baby jar of veggies, and a tub and a half of applesauce-strawberries. He ate about the same tonight. What's interesting about this all though is that he has been protesting the bottle at day care. Two days ago, he had 0 ounces. Yesterday, he had 2 ounces. The 2 ounces has been pretty standard for him. We aren't too concerned as he is still having wet diapers. He did weigh about 20 lbs even so that's a little concerning. It seems he either plateaued or even lost a little weight. Across the board with weight, height, and head circumference, he was about 10% on the baby scale. Another peanut on our hands... I will be interested to see how this bottle thing works out. I think he may not need it much past next week, but we will see. I myself am no longer pumping. I hope it's not too soon. And since he isn't into the bottle, I'll probably throw out the 5 gallons I have stored downstairs in the freezer. He seems to prefer whole milk. All that hard work...

Logan is doing well with PT. I was offered an evaluation to fill out on Logan which focused on sensory issues. His melt-downs, his on-the-go behavior and always having something in his mouth, and the constant figiting encouraged us to check him on this. After the evaluation was scored, it was decided that he should have a formal evaluation done. We'll do this in St. Cloud sometime soon, I think.

Logan's jumping and running skills are improving. I find him sometimes building little platforms to jump off of. The other day, he put his magnadoodle down first, then a little laptop, and proceeded to carefully step up... then bend his knees... and jump. Otherwise, I can catch him perching on the wetwipe container. This evening, I was laying on my belly and he took advantage of the opportunity to step up on my back and jump off. Fun to see.

Logan's other new found skill is singing. He can often be heard singing to the radio. When Gladys Knight's song, Midnight Train to Georgia comes on, he's right with it. On the way to St. Cloud this morning, a morning radio show had a caller on singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and seeing that Logan knows that song well, he sang along. Of course his many musical toys around the house can give him something to sing to, too.

Today I picked up an application for a building permit so we can finally build a deck for our house. That will be sooooo nice.

Spring is in the air...

The snow is almost completely gone and the roads are clearing off. Yesterday, I even got the motorcycle out for a short ride. What nice weather.

Yesterday, we celebrated Gage's first birthday. The grandparents and Jess and Megan were in attendance for the event. Gage didn't go hog wild into his cake but did dip his magical two fingers into the frosting and then proceed to suck on them. Cute.

This past Thursday, Logan had his eye appointment at the U of M with Dr. Christianson. There is no doubt he is the right Dr. for Logan. He was great with him and had tons of direct experience to draw from. In the end, he pretty much said everything the past two ophthalmologists said, but just in a different way. Since Logan's eyes and his strabismus has not become consistent, we will continue to play the waiting game. Once his eyes make up their mind, then we can make decisions about his care. At the beginning of his 2.5 hour appointment, Logan's eyes were measuring 40 diopters misaligned. By the end of his appointment, he was straight. The Dr. spent time testing for his vision correction, looking into his eyes for any irregularities, and looking at his strabismus. In the end, the Dr. was VERY pleased with Logan and gave us many reasons why we should be happy with Logan rather than concerned. First, his prescription is completely normal and average for children his age. Secondly, his eyes have no damage from his prematurity. Fourth, Logan's brain is able to read what his eyes see perfectly well. And finally, his first surgery has given him quite optimal results. So, Logan has beaten the odds. We were told that Logan eyes should stabilize in the next couple years. The discussion made me ask about the chances that his would never stabilize. He said that can happen but based on Logan's intellect, we should expect his brain to stabilize his eyes. We go back in 4 months.

Last week, Logan did really well at PT. Julie was busy with paperwork so we had a new girl work with Logan. She had him riding the tricycle unassisted 4 times around the gym. His feet were strapped in but he was pedaling on his own and steering everywhere he wanted to go. He even peddled backwards when needed. He got pretty good at it and found himself going into the adjoining rooms with ease. I had a blast watching him. Friday, Dan brought him there and this time, he did not do nearly as well. Just wasn't in the mood to do it I guess.

Gage was back at the Dr. this past week for another ear infection. He's finishing up Zythromax and seems to be doing well. I have to bring him in for his well-baby check either this week or next. We'll have his ears looked at then. At his last appointment, his weight was much lower... not quite 22 pounds. We'll see what is next week.

Gage still has no teeth but is starting to stand unassisted on a regular basis.

I had a TKD tournament last weekend in Alexandria. I got a 3rd in board breaking, a 2nd in pattern, and 1st in sparring. In each of my divisions, there were about 6 of us. The sparring was just among women but the breaking and pattern included men. I was pretty happy with myself, and I had a lot of fun. In a few weeks, I should be testing for my next belt (blue).

Not to compare....

I was going through Logan's old website to gather information for his eye appointment next week. Did you know that 11 month-old Gage now weighs what Logan weighed at 17 months - 22.8 lbs. It's not that Gage is big, it's just that Logan was so small.

Amazing.

In going through the timing of some of his milestones, I was surprised at how well he was doing then... really on track.

Beautiful weather...

As I type this, Logan is down stairs in bed falling asleep, and to help him, he's going through his entire repertoire of songs... Jingle Bells, Happy Birthday, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, ABC's, Old McDonald... Very cute. And his mumbling has turned into talking so it's fun to hear. "Happy Birthday to me... Happy Birthday to Mommy... Happy Birthday to not Tistian, not CaCa, not Lola... Happy Birthday to Daddy." Very very cute.

After all that snow, the weather turned to record temperatures. With 58 degrees, Logan and I made it out to build a snowman without snow pants and no coats. I don't think he quite knew what I was doing but he saw the end result and that sure got him excited. I got him to hold some snow in his mittenless hand after some coaxing. "It's cold," he said. But he held it for a little while. Since our snowman day, Logan has decided he's the snowball fight champ. He gets me every time.

Logan's vocabulary continues to grow. He is starting to tell us how his days are and what he did. If I ask what he did at Lola's, he'll answer, "Play toys." And he does elaborate, and with some guidance, we can really find out what he's been up to while we've been working. He'll often ask me questions about what I'm doing, where we're going, where everyone is, etc. It's fun to be getting to the point of having a conversation with him.

I broke out the 3T clothing tonight and it's in the drier right now. He's growing out of 2T slowly, but surely. Maybe if I give him more room in his clothes, he'll fill them up faster. ;)

Lola has now been helping Logan with the potty and she's had some success, but nothing more than we have. But now we're doing it on two fronts so progress will be more swift, I hope.

Today, I had a Special Ed meeting with his EC teacher, OT, PT, elementary psychologist, and the Director of Special Ed. It was interesting and at the same time, a little disappointing, but just a little. All year, Logan has been working with this team of people to achieve some set goals, and he has not met very many. His progress has slowed significantly and we can't figure out why. We have theories like he has a hard time transitioning, likes to be a tease, is having a hard time grasping concepts... What we know for sure is Logan's attention span is insufficient to do what we need him to do. He has some days where he's just on and others that he can't do a thing. For example, about 6 months ago, he was stringing beads. They haven't been able to get him to do it again since. He still is having a difficult time matching colors to the same color, naming colors, categorizing shapes, etc. On the other hand, he is able to do some amazing things. For example, we have this puzzle set that has about 40 different pieces that make 20 separate puzzles - 2 pieces per puzzle. The puzzles are of animals and their homes. A dog in a dog house, a bat in a cave... I can spread them all out and he can find the matches. Amazing. We will continue on with his SPED services as always but I think I really need to work more with him too. This fall, he'll start preschool already. I get to see the classroom sometime soon. To think he'll be riding a school bus soon.

Gage... well. He's Gage. A funny delightful little boy who loves mommy. He's walking around furniture all the time and will walk all over if I hold his hands or give him the walker. At 11 months old, he still has no teeth, but maybe in a month or so we'll see a pearly white. He's been nursing or getting a bottle just 3 times a day now so we're getting there. The cool thing is he is no longer belly crawling and is instead a full-time normal crawler, except when he's walking.

Next week, Logan see the specialist about his eyes. I am VERY excited about this opportunity.

Let it snow again...

It snowed again... another 15 inches or so, I think. We shoveled and snow blowed 3 times in one day alone to keep as it fell. It's so deep out there that Logan can't really play in it. Can't even climb the snow bank, so Dan snow blowed a little path for him to walk in. I think the most fun was when the boys were in the sled together.


We broke out the little toy walker for Gage, the same one that Logan used over a year ago. As I expected, Gage just took off with it. It was soooo cute and all of a sudden, in just one second it seemed, he grew up. My big boy. He'll be walking in no time. Logan was so into the walker that the only time Gage could play with it was with me right there or while Logan was napping. I'll try and get video out of it sometime soon.

Dan bought Logan, and himself, a 4-wheeler today. We've been looking for one for several years and we finally sucked it up and got one. Logan was excited about it, but not as much as we expected. "4 we we" he says.

(http://www.yamaha-motor.com/outdoor/products/modelimage/498/1/1/0/image.aspx)


Tonight, I went to the boys hockey game with Leslie in St. Cloud. The boys won 10-1 and are going to State. It was great fun, and I was so impressed. Well coached team but they'll have some tough competition there.

The boys are a little sick once again. Gage is on antibiotics for an ear infection and Logan just has the runny nose and a cough. Hopefully, we can contain it and keep it from hanging around for too long.

Let it snow...

Well, the big February snow storm left us with 15 inches of new snow. Unbelievable. Lots of shoveling but also lots of fun for Logan. We did get out to enjoy it a little bit but with all that snow, there's not much for Logan to do. We pulled him around in a sled and Dan built a little snow fort with him. All this had such an impact on him that at day care today, all he could talk about was going to see Daddy to play in the snow.

We're supposed to get more snow throughout this week. Considering that we had really none to start with, a few inches will do us some good. By this next weekend, we'll be making our first snowman.

This past weekend, Daddy and I were wrestling in the living room. I looked over at Logan and he was staring at me all concerned. When I smiled at him, he smiled right back and came over and hugged me so tight and asked, "What Daddy do do?" It was cute to see how much he cared about me. Then we got Logan involved in the wrestling match. Also, Gage showed his concern by crawling on my face and grunting at Daddy. Very cute.

Gage recently started showing that he can crawl the right way. For the past months, he's been "GI Joe" crawling but lately, he's gotten his belly off the ground. I never thought I would have a child that would crawl-crawl. Nice to see.

I am soooo hoping Gage will start sleeping through the night soon. For a while now, he's been waking up about 2 times a night. I am getting soooo tired. I don't know what the trick is. I can't let him cry it out because he will keep on crying. When I get him in the middle of the night, he just eats real quick and back to sleep he goes. He was doing so well for a while. I don't know what's happened. Maybe he's teething. By the way, he still has no teeth and he's 11 months old.

Pictures!!

Logan in his new bed




The boys in the bath


Hanging out


Logan and Mommy

More news...

Some new things have happened around our house and it's been neat to see. First off, Dan and I went to Hennings Furniture in St. Cloud Friday night and bought Logan a new bed. After a lot of searching and thinking, we decided to go for quality and bought a solid birch bunk bed and a couple matresses. It was assembled in time for him to sleep in it Friday night but in the end, he slept in the crib instead. But for last night, Logan fell asleep in his new bed and slept straight through the night. His bedroom is all Thomas the Train which Logan affectionally says, as he points to his bed, "Choo Choo Tain".

Also, this morning, Logan went poopie in the potty for the first time, although it was one tiny little terd, and after putting his diaper back on, he finished the job. But it's a start.

I had a TKD tournament yesterday, but because of my hand, I wasn't able to participate in all events. I did do the board breaking and pattern which went well. Lots of fun. I am excited for the day Logan can participate.

When I get some time, I'm going to try and post some pictures here.

Sicknesses are finally getting better...

It's been a while since the boys have behaved "normal" but today is the best day in a while. Logan and Gage are both getting their appetites back even though they both rmain on antibiotics. Logan is still a little short wired but not bad, and Gage is pretty much his usual self. I am hoping after 3 rounds of antibiotics, we finally will have his ear infection taken care of.

Logan has shown us he likes to sing and dance. His favorite song right now is Jingle Bells which goes something like this: "Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way. hey." And this repeats. He also has been heard singing his ABC's as well as Happy Birthday to Me. Cute and funny.

Gage enjoys being verbal with his big brother because Logan will laugh at the sounds Gage makes. So he feels totally encouraged to keep on babbling and screaming. Still, Gage has to be where ever Logan is. Right now, the two of them are playing in the hall. Logan is playing a little bell type keyboard and singing Happy Birthday to Me and Gage is trying to get in on the action too.

Gage had his well baby check last week and it went OK. After breaking 20 lbs a couple weeks ago, he's now under 20 with his illnesses and all. I am confident he'll pick back up soon though. We did move Gage to a bigger car seat although it would have been easier to stay with the carrier a little longer. It's working out though.

Gage still isn't crawling at all but he gets around fine by army crawling. He is constantly pulling himself up on furniture but seems to get stuck in the standing position until he falls or someone picks him up.

I ref again tonight and am looking forward to it, although I am not looking forward to being chilled afterwards. Dan and I are both battling the starts of colds ourselves. I also got my Green Belt last week. It went well and was lots of fun.

Grandpa Goehring is having his retirement party this weekend as well as his 60th birthday. Amazing how fast time goes. I remember visiting him at work when I was a kid and having a bottle of soda with him in his office. :~)

illnesses...

We have a lot of illnesses going on around here. It was a couple weeks ago that Gage started waking up often in the night. So I brought him in, as he's been battling colds for about a month straight, along with Logan. The Dr. prescribed him amoxycillin for 10 days. By about day 5, Gage's condition worsened with more time awake in the night and total crabiness. Also, Logan started running a temp. We stayed home this past Wednesday and brought them both to the Dr. By this time, Logan's temp was normal but Gage was still pretty sick. It turned out that Gage had a double ear infection as well as some grunty breathing. He was changed from amoxycillin to Zythromax and prescribed a nebulizer. Gage and Logan are now doing way better although they really have some terrible coughs and running noses. It's funny to watch Gage sucking on his top lip in search for that salty booger taste. And Logan has mastered the sleeve wipe as apparent by the dried white stains on his dark blue sweatshirt sleeve.

These days, the boys are playing much better, rather than requiring lots of cuddling. And the two constantly play together, although Logan can often be heard saying, "No, Gage." As usual, Gage is constantly following his big brother everywhere.

Logan said an 8 word sentence this week: "I want to go to St. Cloud, Mommy." The kid loves to go for car rides. And pizza??? I have never seen a kid like pizza as much as Logan does. He saw me take a frozen pizza out and went crazy. All excited, he said, "mmmmmm. Pizza. I love pizza." Funny.

And then one day last week, Gage stayed home sick from day care and Logan went. After the was through, I went and picked Logan up and brought him home. When he came upstairs and saw Gage sitting there, he got all excited and said, "Gage!!! My buddy!!! Hi, Gage!!!" And ran over to him and gave him kisses and hugs. He truly missed him. Very very cute.

Progress...

Tomorrow is a big day. The boys are going to their first birthday party. Chad and Amy are hosting a party for their kids Jacob and Madison. Jacob is just a few months older than Logan. We're really excited about it.

It's official. Gage is sitting up now and can go in and out of sitting up if he pleases. Also, he started standing by putting his hands on something about 6 inches tall and getting to his knees and then to standing up. He can't quite straighten out his torso so his butt sticks up in the air. It's still pretty cool to see. And of course, he follows his big brother everywhere, and Logan totally eats it up. Daddy often chases Logan around the house and scares him by jumping out at him. Now Logan does that to Gage. And Gage laughs and laughs. Tonight, as Gage laid on his back, Logan was kneeling on Gage's belly. Of course, we disciplined Logan for that behavior even though Gage thought it was funny and laughed. Tough kid.

I had Gage in the Dr. office yesterday regarding a persistent cold. They prescribed him with antibiotics, although I may have passed on those but Gage has been ultra-crabby for past couple days, yet he's not running a fever. Strange. I'm really hoping he gives me a night of rest. Anyway, Gage weighed 20.3 pounds. Holy cow! I can't remember how old Logan was when he reached 20 pounds, and oh, how we celebrated. Well, now it becomes apparent we need to get Gage a new car seat. He's grown out of the infant carrier. How exciting.

Logan still has slowed on the potty things, but it doesn't help much that Dan nor I want to put him on the potty since every time he asks, we strip him down just to have him do nothing. So, Logan wanted some M&M's but I said he couldn't unless he went on the potty. He looked at me trying to comprehend what I had just said for just a moment, then said, "Go potty?". So we put him on the potty and pee he went. It has worked pretty well but still little progress.

PT in St. Cloud has continued to go well, although the 2 times a week is already getting to be a little much. Last week, I dealt with new snow and icy roads, and today, I had the ice (freezing rain). And of course, we're in St. Cloud by 7:30 AM each Friday. Tuesdays are after work so we don't deal with darkness. At PT, Logan has been progressing on the tricycle which is great in my opinion. I think that the tricycle will really build his muscles which is the whole point of PT. The thought is that if Logan can gain strength, he'll gain balance, and with better balance, he'll gain more coordination, and with more coordination, he'll fall less. The good thing is that Logan doesn't mind going and actually enjoys it. He works hard for his 30 minutes and when it's time to go, he's ready.

Gage has his 9 month appt. soon. I see the ortho about my wrist next week. And Logan will continue his twice a week PT.

Back to our movie. We're watching Superman.

Happy New Year!!

We were at Dan's aunt Val's for a Christmas celebration a few days ago and we just got some pictures from the event that I will post below. Logan was the only kid in his age group not deathly afraid of Santa. Also, I will post a picture from this summer that I ran across and it's awfully cute.