And this is why Texas is wonderful....

As my family members hunkered down in Washington for a blustery, cold January day I thought it would be a great day to go to the park!  Why? Because I live in Texas and it feels like Summer!  We had our little bit of winter a couple weeks ago (a "little bit" of Winter is about all I can handle) and I'm glad we have moved on to Spring. 

Steve and I had grand plans of packing up the whole brood and taking them to the park, but the kids are still "tag team" napping at this point so I took the twins during Andrew's nap and then Steve and Andrew worked on their golf skills while the babes slept.

 

Claire and Isaac had a blast on the swings! They just smiled and smiled as their hair fluffed in the breeze. I'm so happy that Isaac can now enjoy all these outside sounds that he couldn't before his Cochlear Implant.  He's only had it turned on for a little over a month, but I've already noticed him smiling at sounds and turning when he hears something.  The other day when I said "HI" Isaac waved to me!  

 

Taking a little ride on a friendly dinosaur.

 

 

  The twins weren't too thrilled about stepping in the bark, but Isaac sure enjoyed sitting in it and picking up every little piece and turning it around in his chubby little fingers. Claire spent a lot of time pointing and crying.  She really didn't like being down by herself surrounded by all that bark.  You'd think it was hot lava by how she was carrying on, but we found a stick and she discovered that it was fun to drag that stick in the bark and dig holes. 

 Andrew is still the best one-handed golfer I've ever seen!  He had so much fun playing in the sun.  I was inside, but could hear his little voice say "go, go!" over and over.  He is doing so well since his surgery in July.  No seizures and we will begin weaning his medication later this month. 

June 8: Andrew turned 2!!!

I can't believe my baby boy is 2!  He has changed so much over the past two years, but he is still my little baby boy.

2010                      2011

                                          

Andrew's birthday extravaganza was split up into 3 days.  

June 7th:  

We took Andrew out to Red Brick Pizza for dinner.  We chose that restaurant for two reasons: 

Reason 1--Andrew LOVES pizza.  Reason 2--Each booth has it's own TV and remote and Andrew LOVES remotes.  He had fun eating and playing with all the buttons.

June 8th: 

Andrew spent the day doing all kinds of fun things all while wearing his awesome 2 shirt that I stayed up the night before sponge painting (I need to learn NOT to wait until the night before to do birthday stuff)  We went to the E3 children's museum and Andrew had fun playing with all the kids and the toys.  We came home for lunch and dad was there so Andrew got to enjoy his present: his new red trike!  This new toy will not only but fun, but great therapy for his arms and legs.  He will put his left hand on the handle, but doesn't hold on yet.  I'm thinking of ways to strap that hand on so he won't let go. 

We had back to back house showings that night so we spent some time at the dog park with Rocco and shared a root beer float. Because of the last minute showings I didn't get to make the glorious golf cake I was envisioning.   Instead I slathered on some rainbow chip frosting and plunked down a 2 candle and called it a day.  Andrew didn't seem to mind the lack of decor.  He really enjoyed his cake this year, much more than last year for sure!

June 9th: 

PRESENTS!!! Andrew opened up the rest of his presents the day after his birthday.  He got a bell and horn for his new bike, a Leap Frog light up bongo (super annoying, but we needed something to keep him entertained during his upcoming hospital stay) and a little car.

The Children's Hospital--Denver, CO

We were all set to go to Denver for Andrew's annual checkup at Stroke Clinic, but a couple weeks before our appointment we noticed Andrew was having some strange arm movements.  His arm would stiffen for about a second and then go back to normal.  At first these episodes only happened once or twice a day every few days, but each day they became more frequent and occurred every day.  We called the neurologist and he thought it would be a good idea to get an EEG since this type of arm stiffening was different from what we had seen in the past and was getting worse every day. So our quick trip to Denver turned into an overnight stay in the EMU. During our stay we were able to capture 8-10 episodes and they turned out to be seizures.  Not the greatest news, but it's a better diagnosis than the Movement Disorder we have been trying to get under control for almost a year.  We have a new medication to try (poor baby is now on 3 anti-seizure meds) and hopefully will be able to get things under control and wean Andrew off some of his other medications.  

 Andrew had fun in the lobby walking around. 

 He also had a blast walking around his room even though we had to follow closely behind him to make sure he didn't pull out any wires.

Even with all that he has to go through, Andrew has always had a smile on his face! 

 

 Driving his car around his crib!  We bought some new toys for our stay in the hospital and just kept rotating them in and out to keep him entertained.

Even with all the new toys, Andrew still was on the lookout for things to play with.  He ripped that clock right off the wall and had fun beeping the buttons.  It's kind of a blurry picture, but I just had to get a shot of his diaper booty hanging out the back of his gown!

Springtime Fun

It was so nice last week that we decided to head to the park. Even though the trees were still bare and the grass was brown and crunchy it really felt like Spring! We spent our time lounging in the shade, eating grapes and trying out the swings. Once again Andrew wasn't super thrilled with the swings, but I did get a few giggles with when I would swing with him on my lap.



After the park we planted the flowers we picked up earlier. I have been stalking the garden section at Lowes and Home Depot for about a month now and finally there were flowers! I whipped into a parking space and made my way to my little lovelies. I wasn't even inside yet and I could smell the flowers. Ahhh I LOVE SPRING!

It was a good thing we got out that day and enjoyed all the beautiful sunshine because 4 days later.... it looked like this:

Back in Action!

Andrew was sick over the weekend and spent most of the time fevered and cuddling with Mom and Dad on the couch, but today my Andy Pandy is back and ready for action.



Look at that big boy standing up! He is SO ready to walk... We will be hopefully getting him fit for an AFO brace soon which will give him better stability when walking



Glad to have you back bud!

Valentine Loveliness

Here's what Valentine's Day looked like at our house:



I never used to decorate for Valentine's Day, but this year I got all crafty and whipped up some felt heart garlands and a heart applique pillow.



I busted out of my comfort zone and had a Play Date with a bunch of moms from church. We decorated cookies and ate lots of food.



We kept things pretty low key. Dinner was take-out teriyaki which we ate on the couch while watching Big Bang Theory. Steve brought me some gorgeous flowers. I saw this exact combination at Safeway a few days earlier and thought about dropping some serious hints, but I forgot. Steve must have been on the same wave-length as me and I almost started crying when I saw my lovely bouquet.

The Ill-fated trip to the park....

I decided to take Andrew to the park last week.
It was a super sunny day, and we were getting cabin fever.
Andrew was all smiles when he got in the swing, even giggling a bit, but after a few swings things went from "This is fun, I love it!" to "Get me the heck out of here woman!"
We spent a whopping 5 minutes at the park that day.

All ready to head out to the park.
Andrew loves to push his stroller around the house.

Time to go home.
*Sorry Bub. Mama really did have the best intentions*