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).

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. :~)

Daddy's on the outside...

Daddy's sitting on the outside of the couch this evening, and what fun he's having. About every minute or so, he has to get up and either separate the boys, take Gage back into the living room, or take away something from one of the boys. Talk about exercise. He is sitting closer.

Today, I took Logan to the eye doctor to have another look at his eyes. I agree this time with what has been said all along. We will continue to play the waiting game with his strabismus. Our next appointment is June 6th at which time we'll hope he can communicate a bit more with us. I think the long term plan is to make sure he continues to use both eyes, even if independently, and if one becomes stronger than the other, to patch the strong eye. If as he grows a little older, we find the crossing is too striking, then we'll opt for surgery. I'm relieved that I finally feel good about things. I certainly don't want to put Logan through surgery again. Of course, another option is to bring him to a pediatric opthalmologist. That time may come but not right now.

Reffing was fun last night. I certainly have a lot more learning to do. I feel like I'm one of those blind refs that don't see a thing. Last night, I never called one penalty and my reffing partner called about 5. I must not see a thing. I did make one nice off-sides call. :) Like that's real hard. None the less, my next game is not until January.

I think Gage is days away from crawling. He spends a lot of time on his knees until he wants to go somewhere. Also, he's quite vocal, but VERY happy. Logan was so easy, but Gage is even easier. What a delightful little boy. It's easy to forget he's even here, except he's so cute you just can't stop looking at him.

My hand appointment went poorly. It seems it's done no healing so now I have a choice to make. I'll see an ortho on Tuesday at which time I'll ask some questions. My Dr. said that the chances of it healing are pretty unlikely. So it comes down to if I want to continue dealing with the pain or not. When I think about going through the rest of my like with this pain, it doesn't sound good. Here's the thing. i can go nearly the whole day without noticing it. It doesn't hurt hardly ever until... I pick up squirmy kids, work out, put my weight on it... Things I don't do that often. So, I think I'll make sure it won't do any healing before deciding on surgery.

We're trying to decide when to put the tree up. I'm in the mood to do it tonight but I think we'll wait until sometime this weekend. I wonder what Logan will think.

We are starting to plan my Dad's 60th Birthday/retirement party for the last Sat. of January. What a celebration that will be!