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.