Moving along...

Things have been moving along nicely.

We all went ice fishing yesterday. I wish it'd warm up though. Anyway, it was the first time we went as a family and neither of the boys fell into a hole. The first time we went, it only took about 1 minute, didn't even get a line down, and Gage's foot went in the hole. The next time, we went 2 weeks later and Logan fell and his arm went in - again before we even got a line in the hole. This time, we protected those holes full time. We stayed for about 1 hour and caught a bunch of little perch. Gage enjoyed it but Logan couldn't care less. Logan wanted to just play outside and avoid the ice house all together. Gage hung out by the door the whole time to see what was going on, or he sat on the bench between and Dan and me to hold the pole or reel the little fish in.

Logan is still our little clean freak and really enjoys how nice he can make things look. Every day, he makes his and Gage's beds, and he does a great job. When he cleans up toys, he wants to do it the best he can so he not only picks them up and puts them where they belong, but he also makes sure the containers they go in are neat and straight. We have a hard time getting Gage to clean and when he does, he goes real slow.

Potty training for Gage is no where. He just doesn't want to try. I am going to have to go to the sticker chart pretty quick. We went to pull-ups this summer and seemed to be making good headway, then it just stopped. Now he cries because he doesn't want pull-ups. I need to sit down and really think this one through.

Last night, the boys were going to bed, and they should have been pretty tired, but instead of falling fast asleep, they sang Bingo together. B-I-N-G-O. Gage wasn't quite saying it right and Logan was arguing and trying to sing over him. But Gage has that super loud voice so all we could hear was, "B-A-N-G-O". Dan and I stood outside their door cracking up. It was so very cute. Eventually, they were truly singing together. Very funny. Logan is improving on his musical abilities and now seems to be able to hold a tune. And Dan really thinks Logan has good rhythm.

We had a litter of puppies back in December and now have just one left. We had two go to Texas, one to Maryland, one to North Dakota, and 2 to Central and Southern Minnesota. Our last one is soo adorable and so smart. Even though we wouldn't mind keeping him, I just can't help but think we have our hands full already. So we may have to post another ad to get rid of him. Dan already has him pointing to a grouse wing and whoaing on command - a very smart puppy.

Life in Hibbing has continued to go well. There's a lot of layoffs in mining right now but I think I'll be alright. As for Dan, he spent 4 weeks working as an iron worker, and it went well. He's laid off right now but that's alright. The four weeks he worked were long 6 day weeks so he was ready for a break. But he's ready to go back now.

More stories to share....

Yes... a lot can happen in 2 months.  We went to a water park this last weekend in Brainerd and stayed overnight with my brother and his family.  It was sooooo much fun since the kids loved it more than I ever expected.  I can't believe how fearless they both are.  Gage didn't like it at first but before long, he was walking himself all over the area and going down kiddie water slides without prompting.  Pretty neat.  Logan on the other hand was an accident waiting to happen.  Logan is not able to stand up from a kneeling or sitting position without using his hands.  So, if he falls in the water, he tries to use his hands to help him get up, but doing that means he has to get his face in the water, which doesn't work for him.  So he would just struggle to stay above water - of course he was wearing a life jacket - the whole time with the biggest smile on his face.  I know that if I had him at the parks more often, he would learn not to use his hands which would be great therapy.  Anyway, it was hard to leave the next day.

Now onto priceless stories...

Story #1

Let's start with Logan and potty training.  He's been doing pretty well, so well that we moved to underwear.  After about a week dry in pull-ups, we thought we were ready.  He did well for about 4 days, then we had four days straight of accidents.  But I was determined that Logan really was trying so I wasn't giving up on him.  Well, we had been doing OT twice a week, and it was getting so hard trying to drive to St. Cloud each time, dragging my overactive Gage along, trying to make it home in time to cook dinner and get myself off to Taekwondo so I could come home and do school for a few hours.  Mondays and Wednesdays were no fun.  So, this one Wednesday, I decided I was going to tell OT that I just couldn't do it anymore.  I needed to cut visits down to once a week.  After OT, I talked to the OT person in the waiting area about it, the whole time trying to chase down Logan and Gage.  Logan planted himself down by the desks in the middle of the hall, laid right there in the middle of the floor.  I left him be since he was still and I could keep in eye on him while visiting with OT.  I don't even remember what Gage was doing.  In the end, the OT folks convinced me to try it one more time and gave me some tips.  So I went to gather up Logan and there he was, still laying on the floor, drenched in pee.  So I asked this mom I've gotten to know over there to watch Gage so I could change Logan, and I just happened to have his school backpack with that contained a change of pants and a pull-up.  I finally made it out of there carrying Gage tightly in one arm with him struggling to get down, and Logan in the other carried like a suitcase by his coat zipper.  They just wouldn't listen.  The next week, I enlisted the stroller to help me. Finally, I felt human again.  That's been working better.

Story #2:  Gage and the K-NEX.

I headed to Taekwondo one night and left Dan playing with Gage and Logan on the living room floor with KNEX.  KNEX's are like legos... you put them together to make shapes and other things... but they have many different shapes including long pieces shaped like straws.  Kinda cool.  When I came home, Dan had this face of disgust, like he had been through something terrible.  He said they were playing with the KNEX.  Logan was really into it and Gage was kinda into it, grabbing pieces here and there and walking around with them.  So Dan grabbed a piece to put it into another piece and he thought to himself, "Boy.  That one went in easy."  He picked up a few more, then saw some brown chunks on another piece and gave it a smell.  Sure enough, there were poop on the pieces.  He grabbed Gage and checked his diaper and of course, he had poop in there.  But not just poop, he was putting KNEX pieces down the back of his diaper.  He had like 4 of the straw-shaped ones down there.  By the time I came home, all the KNEXs were in the sink and Dan was looking for other poop spots around the house.  He didn't think it was funny but I cracked up laughing.

Story #3

Logan has now been wearing glasses on a regular basis.  (I have to get some pics posted.)  He's doing OK but he often asks for them off and we don't argue.  We let him take them off but whenever he asks for something, he has to put them back on first.  We spent about $300 on them so we are kinda protective of them, of course.  It's not like there's insurance on them.  The first time we're out in public with them, we go to Wal-Mart.  About 30 minutes into shopping, Dan looks at him and says, "Where are your glass?"  Logan just took them off and threw them on the floor.  We traced back our steps and found  a nice couple who were searching for the owners of these glasses they found in the toy section.  This same thing has happened a few times, including at the arcade this past weekend at the water park..  That's why we say, "Logan.  You can take your glasses off anytime but you have to give them to us when you do."  Logan still calls them sun glasses since that's all he's ever seen us wearing.

Story #4

Gage's words are finally starting to explode.  He isn't quite making sentences but he's close.  Every morning I drop him off at day care, he says, "Hug?" and he gives me a big kiss by grabbing my head and pulling it close, then gives me the sweetest hug.  I am reminded every single second how much he loves me. :)   He slept with me at the hotel last weekend and when he woke up, the first thing he saw was my face.  He got a smile on it and said, "Mama?"  Priceless.

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.

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.