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).

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. :~)

I think we're ready for Christmas...

All the shopping is done and the presents have all been somewhat unwrapped over the last week or so, between Curious Logan and Cruiser Gage. Tomorrow we head up north to hit our families, then it's home for Christmas Eve and Day with just us 4. Looking forward to it. :)

My hand has begun to mend nicely. I cannot yet make a fist but my pinkie is starting to bend. I think I'm about where I was when the injury first happened. I am hoping in 2 weeks, I will be where I was before surgery. I think in a week or so, I'll be cleared to start PT - just for a pinkie. LOL.

Today, Leslie, a friend from work, came over to help me bathe Cyrus, since I can't get my stitches wet. Cyrus may be moving in with Leslie and her family since I am not able to give Cyrus the love and attention he so very much deserves. We are heading to their house today for dinner to try it out. I think he'll be a good fit over there.

Logan will start PT twice a week now. We'll add Friday mornings into our routine in St. Cloud as we continue to work on his legs and feet. The hopes are that since he's still so young, therapy now will make a huge difference in his future. This past Tuesday, Dan was able to attend Logan's PT for the first time. It was amazing!! Logan was a total show off for daddy. He rode the tricycle like a champ and jumped on the tramp like there was no tomorrow. It was really neat to see. He was so wound up though that it was hard to keep him on task.

The potty training at home has slowed to a crawl. He asks to go sometimes but when we put him on, he does nothing. Oh well. Maybe in a month or so, he'll show some genuine interest. Gage still isn't crawling although he continues to be quite mobile. At this time, he is on the living room floor rolling around next to Cyrus. Cyrus keep looking at me as if to be sure he's not doing anything wrong.

We've almost all beat our colds now. All of us except Dan are ridding ourselves of running noses and coughs. Dan has yet to catch the bug.

Logan's favorite phrases...

I hear this all day... "Mo wata peaz"... "Where Lola?"... "What's that?"... "Where daddy go?"... "Hi, Gage"... "Turn TV on"... "A ca-ca. Vrooom"... "All gone"... "Hungy, Hungy, Hungy"...

Of course, all these phrases have different pitches and tones attached to them.

At this moment, Logan's digging in his toy box, playing with his toys and destroying the house. Gage is laying at his feet waiting for dropped toys like a baby bird waiting for a worm from mom. When he gets one, he squeals in delight. Gage consistently army-crawls his way to Logan just to hang out. I hope they continue to get along as well as they do right now. When they have each other to entertain, I get entertained, too, and much less effort is required to maintain the household.

Last night, Logan went on the big potty for Daddy while I was at Tae Kwon Do. Still no poop but pee here and there works for me.

Right now, Logan saw Gage by one of his toys, the air popper, so Logan went over there and sat down next to him and the toy, turned it on, bent over and looked at Gage's face and laughed hoping to get Gage to laugh too. Very cute. Now he's patting him on the belly and giving him hugs and kisses. I have to constantly remind Logan to be gentle. "Careful" and "Watch out for Gage". Logan eventually starts to wrestle, at which time I have to get up and break things up. No harm is meant but he's only 2 1/2. :)

Both boys bathed in the tub together again but when Logan started throwing toys across the tub, separation was required. Logan had a short bath. Gage could have stayed in there all day but of course the water gets chilly.

Today, Logan had his PT appt. in St. Cloud. It went real well, although we still can't get him to jump. The funny thing is that last night, Logan was jumping all over the house to entertain Gage but his jumps were from his knees - hopped around like a Frog - knees banging on the linoleum. (Logan just got a time out for throwing toys in the house.) That takes coordination, too, yet he still can't jump.

Dan's getting his hair cut right now and picking up more diapers. It feels like we've been buying diapers all our lives. Tomorrow night is Tae Kwon Do and Thursday is reffing for me. Marla's coming to visit Friday and Saturday. Friday, Logan has an eye appointment in St. Cloud... Maybe we'll get the tree up this weekend.