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Baby Blogger
DEPH
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5/11/2010 11:37:12 AM
We still don't have a new camera yet, hence the lack of new material up in here. I have Mimi's camera as a loaner, just in case Erick starts walking for real, but I haven't really gotten a feel for using it yet and I also can't seem to upload from it on the laptop. So many challenges. We need to get a new camera soon though because school's almost out and then it will be time for lots of fun outings to keep Victor from tearing the house down! :) He only has 8 more days of school and I'm not sure which of us will cry more about him not being able to go anymore. Erick included (he REALLY likes having some time alone with the toys).
I had a really nice Mother's Day, especially considering that James left town again the day before. He's in Plano for Nationals. He'll be home in 3 more days. Just ask Victor. He could tell you! The boys and I got to go hang out with Mimi & PopPaw and Gaga & Brownie for the day and everyone had a lot of fun. (Thank you M&P!). And Victor is actually doing really, really well this week with Daddy being gone. He misses him a lot but the picture schedule seems to really, really help him. He can actually see when Daddy comes back and how many more bedtimes there are until then. Better yet, he gets to see things on his schedule that he has to look forward to in the meantime (wagon rides, swinging, park, Home Depot, bowling, etc.). We'll definitely need to keep doing this during June so that he doesn't feel completely directionless without school.
And Erick? He's wild. Still not officially walking but he'll stand unassisted for a while and he'll take a few tentative steps before he panics and sits down. He seems more interested in climbing than anything. I don't remember Victor ever being this much of a climber at this age so I really haven't been prepared for it. He's very resourceful about it too, using toys or drawers to try to gain access to all kinds of things he shouldn't. Always with a big smile on his face too, the stinker!
He's really perfected clapping and waving lately and likes to practice those skills a lot. And he's starting to talk a little bit. He says "OK" a lot, to signal that he's ready for something to start or end (such as "OK, get me out of this chair now" or "OK, let's eat!"....he gets this from me because I'm constantly saying OK to myself). Today when I gave him a bath, he very emphatically said "buh-buh!" and reached up toward the bubble bath. He was so excited when I understood and acquiesced and he laughed gleefully and said "mama!". It was our first real conversation!
Oh yeah, and I almost forgot about Victor's swim lessons! He started those last week at Nautilus. It's a special needs class and he gets lots of individual attention but also lots of time to just experiment without a lot of fuss (but always with a parent in the water with him). He LOVED it and he slept soooooo well that night. This week I'm going to take him solo since Daddy's gone (Erick will hang out here with a grandparent) and I think he'll really enjoy the time without his brother diverting attention from him. Next week though, we're all 4 going because we can apparently take Erick in with us too. Victor will love seeing his brother in a pool for the first time but I'll also be very careful to give Victor his big boy space since this is his thing. Maybe James and I can switch boys halfway through! | |
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5/22/2010 8:02:58 PM
James here:
Victor has a favorite bedtime story entitled "Thesaurus Rex." Tonight he read the entire story by himself. It was awesome! 1) He wanted to do it 2) He kept his concentration on the task of reading the entire story 3) He can only read about half the words so the rest he knows by memory 4) Because he has everything memorized, the process of reading this story is allowing him to memorize what each word looks like.
Earlier tonight he took a guess at what Erick's shirt said: "Ice Cream". What it really said was "Austin Steam..." It was impressive that he saw the "eam" and thought of "cream". This reading process thing seems to be clicking with him at the moment because of his good memory. He'll probably be able to read sentences before he can comprehend their meaning, but one thing does generally lead to another. Way to go, Victor! | |
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7/9/2010 9:01:23 PM
My apologies (yes, I know that the apologies are getting old) for the long hiatus once again. A lot of things have been keeping us busy but we've also been plagued by internet outages every night for several weeks. You know, right when I finally have some time to blog. It's been quite maddening. Things have been generally good around here though, medical issues notwithstanding.
So we have a new pediatrician. We loved Dr. L but when our insurance coverage changed at the first of the year, she became out-of-network. We tried to make it work for a while but as much as these boys seem to get sick, it became ridiculous. Sad as it was to part ways, we are liking the new doctor quite a lot. And trust me, we've gotten to know her and her entire staff!
She worked Erick in early for his 15 month appointment a few weeks ago (3 days before we we were leaving on mini-vacation) at which point we discovered that Erick had yet another scorching double ear infection. That made the sixth infection since his 12 month appointment so we finally opted for the antibiotic shots since he's had every possible oral antibiotic now. He had to do those shots for 3 days in a row (so yeah, we know the nurses well now!) but man, did they ever do the trick! You could tell he was feeling way better than he had been for a while and luckily it was just in time for our trip to Branson.
He's had fluid behind his ears for the entire past 3 months though (including just a few days ago at the ENT's office) so he's finally getting ear tubes next Friday. We're relieved. We're very much at the point of being concerned about hearing damage (and possible speech delays if we let this continue) as well as antibiotic immunity. The doc that will do it is the same guy that clipped his tongue tie. And he's an Illini!
Meanwhile Victor has gotten to know the medical staff there in relation to another lingering sinus infection (maybe he'll meet the ENT soon too). He's doing better with a stronger antibiotic. Apparently Amoxicillin doesn't even touch his sinus infections now. He also threw a brief bladder infection scare in for fun. After those tests came back negative, we've all determined that he must just be having one of those pesky growth spurts where the bladder has not expanded to keep up with the rest of his growing body. And he's definitely had a spurt. After hovering right around 36 pounds for more than a year, he's suddenly 40 pounds! Still long and lean but a bit more bulked up than before.
He's getting a whole lot of exercise these days. He's much more active and we really think the swimming is a big part of why. He's got a lot more interest in sports now and he seems to actually need physical activity more than before to help him sleep and focus, etc. It's a good change to see in him. We're considering switching to two nights of swimming per week but I'm a bit hesitant since he'll have so much going on once school starts. We'll have to therapy one early evening and he'll have a few weeks of twice a week soccer camp. But we can always scale swimming back. I think James is right that we should probably capitalize on how much he's getting out of it and how much he loves it. It's doing so much for his confidence in general.
Victor really would swim every single day if we'd let him. Luckily when we were in Branson, we could happily oblige! The resort pool was by far everybody's favorite part of the trip. It was a very nice, sprawling pool and it really wasn't even all that crowded. The boys both got to spend lots and lots of time splashing and playing there. We also worked in some other things: a scenic train ride, a Ride the Ducks ride, a paddlewheeler cruise, some general sightseeing and a cave tour (Victor's least favorite part - to the point that he screamed pathetically for most of the tour).
The boys were pretty pumped up about the train ride for the first hour and then it became tedious. It was totally worth enduring to see their excitement when we first got on though. They loved the dome car (let's hear it for neurotic Mommy who buys tickets months in advance so that we can get awesome seats!). We were happy to see them enjoy the train so much because we'll be back to ride it again in December when it magically becomes the Polar Express. And Mimi will be going along for the ride with us! (Mimi likes The Polar Express as much as we do.)
The boys were positively angelic during our travels, as they always are. They truly are like their parents - happy to be out on the open road. It's only when the traffic is icky that we all get cranky. And sleeping at the hotel went pretty darned well, really. So I think we can pronounce our first family vacation a smashing success. We can feel confident about doing it again soon! But not too soon.
There is a montage of pictures from our trip in the works but the aforementioned internet outages have set me back a bit in finishing that up. Hopefully I can get that on here soon. Connection looks great tonight but alas, I am feeling very ready to veg out on the couch with James to watch Tivo'd episodes of Damages while sipping a daquiri. Simple pleasures.
I hope that anyone out there who has managed to read this is having a wonderful summer. So basically, that's you, Ruth & Lori. :) I miss you both. | |
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5/28/2010 2:29:16 PM
If it seems like Erick's always sick it's because Erick is, in fact, always sick. It's kind of consumed a lot of time and effort lately. Today he is beginning his fourth antibiotic in less than two months. His ears did actually improve from two weeks ago but they're not as clear as they should be and he's still got a lot of fluid behind there. So this course of drugs is mostly preventative since he has a wicked cold right now. And who else has this yucky cold? Victor, of course. Oh, and James. And me. Nothing quite like the family-shared summer cold!
The timing has, on one hand, been good since Victor has been on his first week of summer vacation this week (he starts summer school July 6). It's downright rotten timing on the other hand though because we are supposed to be going to Peoria for a Humphrey reunion of sorts tomorrow morning. It's not happening, sadly. We're hopeful that maybe by Sunday we could drive up and see everyone. More than anything, we don't want to expose the boys' cousins or their beloved GiGi to our hideous germs.
But in spite of the illness around here, things have been generally good otherwise. Victor continues to LOVE his swim lessons (they are on what he today started calling "Swimsday night"). This past Wednesday, Erick got in the pool with the rest of us for the first time and he was giddy and kind of a natural. I think that will continue to be a fun family night this summer even if it does make for a long and exhausting bedtime process. We sure all sleep well on Swimsday nights though!
I've got some pictures to add of the boys and some of their recent outdoor fun but that will have to wait because Victor is begging to go outside right now while Erick is napping. I suppose I'll oblige, especially since he's sad about not going to therapy today or going to see his cousins tomorrow. I think he'll probably be doing quite a bit better by Sunday. I just hope that Erick will follow suit. Oh yeah, and contributing to Erick's constant whining is the fact that he just cut his eye teeth/canines. I think he's got 16 teeth in now! So. much. slobbering.
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7/11/2010 10:51:56 PM
As promised, here is the vacation montage:
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6/2/2010 8:20:13 PM
Yesterday Erick had his last Music Together class. Probably ever. :( We're taking the summer off from MT & trying out Kindermusik this summer because the drive to St. Louis is getting really old, especially with Victor home all day for a good part of the summer. Here is Erick leaving class in a blaze of glory:
He seriously wanted very little to do with me while we were there. He just paraded around literally throwing himself at every other female in the room (especially a very cute group of 3 sisters ranging in age from 3-7). I know he'll miss it but he'll probably love Kindermusik just as much and it's 5 minutes away.
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6/2/2010 8:26:30 PM
So we did make it to Peoria! We just went for one night instead of two but we did make it. And I'm happy to report that staying in the hotel went WAY better this time than it had at Christmas. Granted, Erick did wake up at 3:00 but he at least went right back down after nursing. I think he was just so tired at bedtime that he didn't fill up enough then. Both boys had a lot of fun, even if Victor did continue to cough non-stop to the point of vomiting Sunday night (he's really gotten good at vomiting into the toilet though!). Turns out that he has another sinus infection so he's back on 20 days of Amoxicillin. Worked last time so hopefully it will work again.
So anyway, the trip was short but action-packed. Erick rested up a bit on the way there:
Then, when we hit town, we met the rest of the family at the park for a picnic and some playing:
Then we were off to the zoo. The only animal I managed to capture on camera was a llama who does not seem to wear red pajamas:
 (Victor didn't seem to believe that this was a llama.)
We were all happy to get into the air conditioning at the snack bar. Erick got to snuggle with his GiGi a bit while we chilled out:
 (Check out the chompers on this kid.)
For some reason, I didn't get pictures of our dinner festivities that night. May have had something to do with a very pathetic and feverish Victor trying to occupy my lap (though he managed to suck down quite a bit of pizza, a detail soon regretted). The next morning we headed out to the Wildlife Prairie State Park. It was raining quite steadily by the time we got out there and I managed to capture only one shot:
 We were sad to leave such a beautiful park without getting to explore.
So then we were back to GiGi's apartment for some cousin mayhem:
And then we sadly all went our separate ways again because it was time for everyone to head back. Naturally the sun came out then. So on a whim we headed back to the wildlife park to check things out a little on our way out of town. It was quiet and deserted and wonderful. The only bad thing was that the train and all of the concessions were closed because of the heavy rains earlier. We took a nice hike and saw foxes and a cougar and wolves and a some bobcats. And the highlight was seeing a very serene brown bear from a mere 5 feet away! But did I have the camera on the hike? Heck no.
We did get the camera out of the car to get a few shots of Victor back at the visitor's center though:
 (That's an otter he's kissing.)
And then we scored the obligatory cutout photos. Victor didn't want to stand on the platform to be the elk so it's not terribly realistic since Erick should really be the fawn:
But cute boys are cute boys whatever the animal cutout, right? We'll definitely go back to that park again on another visit to see G/GiGi. It is really cool and James enjoyed the blast from his childhood past. We had a great visit with family even if it was abbreviated. Great memories for all of us, especially the pack of little cousins. They're all pretty special people, I must say. I think Victor would be happy to do it every weekend and not just because he loves staying in the hotel! | |
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6/4/2010 4:34:40 AM
James here:
Uh-oh! Erick has lots of teeth that he will use for biting but not for chewing! Erick bit Victor on the cheek and on the ear last night on two separate incidents. It's really quite sad because Erick did some real damage and could do worse. We have to do what we can to get him to stop. Poor big brother cried and cried, and I don't blame him.
In other Erick news from last night, we have an official first word candidate - "Uh, oh." Erick dropped his sippy cup on the floor (purposefully), and while looking at me said "Uh-owwh". When I repeated it, he practiced saying it about 40 times - really focusing on shaping his lips to imitate Daddy, Mommy, and eventually Victor. I claim this as a first word on the basis that he clearly knew when to use it and was clearly working on saying it exactly as he's heard it.
The other possible first word was "O.K." and I have heard him say it, but never to a person and without much meaning or context. Mommy has some unsubstantiated reports, but Mommy is not a "trained observer" (Bigfoot parlance). | |
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6/14/2010 9:04:43 PM
Bedtime has crept later and later here lately (it's basically 9:00 now) and that leaves the adults of the house pretty useless once we finally have our "free time". The boys have been having lots of fun though and -knock on wood- they are staying fairly healthy now. I guess I should reserve judgment on that until after Erick's ear recheck on Friday though. At any rate, the boys are enjoying their summer and so we are too.
I guess you can go ahead and say that Erick is walking. He'll walk pretty much across a room. He just only chooses to do it a few times per day. What he'll do 24/7 is climb onto things. He's a lot more interested in moving vertically than horizontally, it would seem. He's also saying a lot and although a large percentage of it is unintelligible, we really admire his gusto when he speaks. And bless his heart, he points nonstop. I don't think he has any idea how much we love the pointing after waiting so long to see Victor do it.
And about Victor......he's suddenly really interested in everything and is acting like such a typical little boy. He still loves swimming but is also showing some interest in sports for the first time. He's very intrigued by his buddies Jack & Bernie's t-ball games and he is finally hitting some tennis balls with Daddy. We missed his chance for rookie baseball this summer but he's definitely going to do rookie soccer in the fall and rookie basketball in the winter. I see his excitement about running and playing and I just want to hug his gym teacher! And his OT. And his PT. It's great to see though.
Victor's also continuing to build on his reading skills. I just can't help but get giddy thinking about how much he'll be able to improve all of these skills in Kindergarten soon. His speaking has been impressive lately too. We really feel like his focus on reading has helped with the precision of his speech production. And even more importantly, it's helped him understand how to speak in sentences and link thoughts together. We are really having some great conversations with him! He's so much fun to hang out with these days too. We are so lucky to have such a sweet, fun-loving little boy. We're really getting excited about taking our first family mini-vacation next weekend. He's going to have a blast.
I've got some major photo housekeeping to take care of here too. We've taken a lot of pics lately. The weekend before last we went to our first wedding and reception with both boys in tow (congrats Hannah & Joe!). It was a success but most of the credit for that goes to Mimi & PopPaw for having the magic touch with the boys during the ceremony. Here are some pics from that night:
 (Getting ready to leave the house with the stylin' duo.)
 (Peaceful together during the drive there.)
 (Riding in the beloved "Mimi's White Car - Top Down!" from the ceremony to the reception.)
 (Sneaking finger licks of champagne.)
 (Mimi & PopPaw. I love this shot but wish the light weren't funky!)
 (Taking in the festivities.)
 (Hula hooping on the dance floor!)
The next day was our 12th wedding anniversary. We postponed our big night out due to Erick's rashiness so we took a scenic drive over to Calhoun that day. We are the car trip-lovin' family, after all. We got ice cream as we started out. You'll see what I mean:
 (Victor working diligently to eat every bit of ice cream.)
 (Exhibit A. Stunning.)
 (Erick was unfazed by his ever-worsening rash.)
Oh yeah, and Erick climbed around on his box the next morning:
 (Eventually he let me open it.)
Then this past week, we did some stuff that is now all a blur. What I do remember is Thursday because man alive, was that ever a long day. We went to Victor's therapy in St. Louis and then I basically forced the boys to go have fun with me at the Butterfly House. Here's what transpired:
 (Yes, I did have a nightmare about Victor and his cockroach friends that night.)
 (Really. Could this be more disturbing?)
 (Not really into the photo op.)
 (Aha! Save!)
 (Victor literally sprinted out of the Butterfly House to go over to the neighboring playscape.)
 (The butterfly sculpture waterer interfered with our outdoor photo op.)
 (Erick nervously smiling on the Grafton Ferry coming home. Victor loves riding ferries.)
 (And then on dry land again, attempting to hat up!)
 (The ferry ride was nearly 20 minutes due to some major sandbar dodging action. I became nervous and this is what I was left to stare at!)
We have more wackiness in store for this week so there ought to be more pics forthcoming. Hopefully I won't take a whole week to update.
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6/16/2010 7:46:17 AM
[James here]
Examples of Victor answering questions:
Example #1
Daddy: Why do you want to get in there [referring to locked storage room door]?
Victor: Mommy's in there.
Example #2
Daddy: Where's Mommy [legitimately didn't now]?
Victor: In the living room.
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6/26/2010 6:20:50 AM
[James here]
Victor has been steadily improving at swimming. We go once per week to a special needs swimming class with Ms. Betsy. Ms. Betsy is very good with Victor and has had him practice kicking and moving his arms with various floatation devices. The week before last Victor and I spent a marathon session going back an forth in the pool with me holding him. Each time we made a turn Victor pulled himself out of the pool. By the end of that session he could get out all by himself!
But something even more exciting happened this past Wednesday night. Ms. Betsy gave Victor a kickboard to use which he normally will hold onto, but requires someone else to stabilize and locomote. But after a couple of laps with only a couple fingers on the board I let go completely. Victor was able to balance it by himself and kick his way across the pool! Yay! His face was pretty serious with concentration, but after a while he started to really understand how excited we were and give a little proud smile. It was "very, very, very" cool as Victor would say. | |
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7/28/2010 7:08:50 AM
[James here]
Obligatory defamation of Facebook and what it's done to MonkeyDeux! But on to more fun things. When I came home from my trip to Austin, the next morning Erick treated me to a display of his two words: "Kitty" and "Victor". Of course, his versions are "Key" and "Dicdor", but they happened to be very close to one another, and he pointed to each in succession as he identified them. He'll point to mommy or daddy and act like he wants to label us, but then gives you a look like, "Remind me again of your name?"
[Dawn Rebuttal]
There are four factors contributing to my failure to update here in a timely manner. Facebook is but one of them. They are specifically as follows:
1. I can't add and update pictures during the day because of network issues while James is logged in for work. I'm often too tired to bother at night.
2. Erick keeps me extremely busy now that he's into everything all the time. And when he's napping, Victor's running laps around the house and terrorizing the cat. A lot of parental intervention needed.
3. The boys have been sick constantly all summer. I'm tired of talking about it and sadly, it's about all I have to report most of the time. I do feel badly that a lot of Erick milestones are going unreported but by the time I can think of recording them, we're on to the next illness and I'm preoccupied.
4. Yes, facebook. I spend more time there communicating with friends than I do elsewhere because it's so easy to do it all in one place.
I'll do a lot better once Victor goes back to school for full days and I at least have some naptime during which to do adult things. And I really do strive to do that. Right now? Not happening. If you'll excuse me now, I have a feverish and crying Erick to hold. More soon. | |
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8/3/2010 7:08:45 AM
Victor is five. Can you believe that? And while I've never really written letters to my children on this blog (mainly because I didn't want to rip off my dear friend Ruth), I think it is probably the best way to mark such an important occasion as this. And so, I offer this missive to my sweet, sweet Victor on his 5th birthday.........
My Dearest Victor Doodle,
You're five now. That's kind of a big deal and you seem to understand that. You understand so much about the world now, in spite of not necessarily having all of the interests and language skills of a typical 5-year-old. I'll admit that I've wished so many times for you to just wake up and be "typical" (that's the magic word for "not autistic") but I wish for it a lot less these days. I've seen those typical kids and you're really just way cooler. I'm not just saying that. You're completely amazing. I think that because I've had to work so hard at getting at your thoughts and feelings, I really know you more than I know anyone (and obviously more than anyone else knows you). And to know you is to love you so it stands to reason that I love you more than anything in the whole wide world. Don't tell your brother.
You're going to kindergarten in just a few short weeks and you are so ready. Your daddy & I are incredibly proud of how hard you've worked in pre-K and in private therapy to get to this point. We used to wonder if we'd need to hold you back a year before you went to kindergarten, just because you're so young for your grade. You barely even make the cutoff, after all. Now that the time has come, no one had any question that you were ready. You are such an old pro at being a good student. You've known all of the stuff that kids are supposed to know when they go into kindergarten for like the past 2 years or so. It was all of the social and language stuff you had to work on. And boy have you worked on it! You, my little stinker, are ready to go to big school and I know you'll love it.
You are doing so many cool things that we love getting to see you do. You are doing a lot of reading and it, of course, makes me so happy to see how much you love your books. You take such good care of them and I so appreciate how you try to show your brother how we should treat books, even if you get a bit too worked up about it at times. Books are something to be passionate about and I respect and love that about you. Naturally, you also seem to love numbers. You are Daddy's boy too, after all. You are happiest when you are following him around being his minion and pretending to do all of the things he does.
You are so much like Daddy, actually. You are really so many of the best things in Daddy, the things that I love most about him. Much like Daddy, you don't really pull any punches and don't have hidden agendas. And you are funny and sweet and love to do imitations like Daddy. You have Daddy's temper too. You don't have a short fuse (unlike your brother!) but when you get mad, you really blow up. But then you move on because you don't really like to be mad. Like Mommy, you wear your heart on your sleeve and you get really nervous when people hover over you.
It's funny how many of your autistic traits are not very weird to your daddy & I. There is just absolutely no mistaking that you're ours. You love order. As any civilized human should. You've gotten a lot more accepting of change though and you have been so resilient through a lot of big moments during the past year or so. Especially the arrival of your brother. You are such a good big brother. Sure, we still have to ask you on a daily basis not to choke him and you lose your mind if he messes up one of your toys. (Also, you've been known to take toys away from him just to hear him scream. Man alive, can that boy scream, eh?). But that's part of being a brother. The torture, I mean.
You love your brother so much though and I'm pretty sure he knows it too because your name is his first and favorite word. You love to help take care of him and you are always so concerned about how he is and what he needs. You've been amazingly patient about Erick's impact on both our schedule and Mommy's energy bandwidth. What's more important than sharing toys is sharing Mommy and you have been so generous and kind with your brother in that regard. That is saying a lot because you are known at times to be kind of a Mommy's boy yourself, especially during the middle of the night when you want to snuggle.
You are such a snuggler. You are such an affectionate boy in general. Not everyone would realize it because you still struggle so much at times to greet and say goodbye to people without prompting. But when you're at ease with people, you are extremely generous and affectionate. No one knows that more than your brother. You always have a smile for him and cannot let him go to bed without a big kiss and hug goodnight.
I'd love to talk about how incredibly smart you are and the things you do and say on a daily basis that amaze us but I'm pretty sure I'd start to sound like an obnoxious mom (you know the type...."blah blah blah, my kid is amazing and brilliant, blah blah blah" when we all know that you're the most amazing and brilliant, V). I will say that your powers of memory stun me at times. Granted, being male, those powers are ever selective. You can forget ever hearing that which you don't want to remember, especially when it pertains to eating.
Oh Victor, I could go on and on about your endearing qualities. Just know that I have never felt a deeper pride or joy in my life than I have in being your mommy. You are what I was waiting for and you are worth every bit of that wait. And while it's hard not to shed a few tears about how quickly my baby is growing up, I am mostly so excited to see you starting kindergarten and making new friends who will see the wonderful things in you that I already have the great fortune to know. Thank you for finding your way to me. Happy 5th. Now let's go to the water park!
Hugs and kisses,
Mommy
p.s Thank you for still liking Llama Llama, Red Pajama. | |
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8/8/2010 12:18:31 AM
Victor's birthday party was a smashing success (as far as the kids were concerned anyway........we weren't entirely impressed with the level of service from the bowling alley but the kids were blissfully unaware). There are many, many, many pictures for me to sort through but I'll try to get some of them on very soon. Victor loves all of his presents though and he's even sharing some of them with his brother, probably because he can't even keep track of all of them at this point. He's five and he's been celebrated. Now on to getting ready for kindergarten to start in just 11 days! | |
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8/8/2010 2:17:01 PM
As it turns out, I have a few other pictures to attend to before the big birthday photo update. I had forgotten how many pictures we've taken lately.
A week ago, we took a little cruise down I-255 with the Dohrn clan for some bouncy housing. Here's the proof:
 (Bernie in the air!)
 (Jack & Bern getting down on Erick's level.)
 (Not too traumatized by his first bouncy housing.)
 (The old pro post-slide.)
 (Tired, bored boys waiting for food.)
And these are a bit random but just a few days ago, I found Erick just hanging out enjoying the sunroom all alone:
He had company before long though:
Next up, birthday pics. Sadly, there are no pics from the water park. I didn't feel brave enough to attempt keeping the camera dry all day. I sure wish we had a picture of Victor coming off the slide in Treehouse Harbor though. Biggest smile ever. Hopefully this montage will make up for the lack of water park pictures:
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8/10/2010 3:50:57 PM As usual, it's feast or famine with our family and photography. So I guess that makes this the occasional feast:
 (The rare moments when Erick will wear a hat must be captured!)
 (Playing the sad clown on the day after the party.)
 (I was a little freaked out to walk in and see this.)
 (Another episode of "The Many Faces of Victor: Hat Edition".) | |
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8/24/2010 2:13:59 PM
Have I ever got pictures to share! Can't get to them right now though, sadly. Maybe one of these nights I'll have enough energy to get them edited and posted once James logs off for the day.
The big moment that we unfortunately don't have pictures of though (OK, we have like 2!) is Victor's first day of kindergarten last week. Dawn the Rule Follower did as we were asked and dropped Victor off at the designated curb dropoff point so we don't have all of those quaint pictures of Victor walking into his classroom and sitting down at his desk, etc. Most of the rest of the school parked and walked in and took their pictures but not Dawn the Rule Follower. :( On the bright side, there really weren't tears shed with our arrangement whereas there probably would have been with the full-on family march down the hall. And he's in good hands at dropoff - his favorite teacher's aide, Mrs. Holder, comes out to the car and takes his hand to walk him right in there. He can barely be bothered to cast a "Bye Mommy!" over his shoulder. I'll take that over leg clinging any day though.
He's doing just great. To give you some idea, he actually gets out of bed voluntarily in the mornings because he's anxious to get ready and go. He really likes the new school and he's happy as a clam with his teacher and aides (and luckily a few familiar friends from Early Childhood). His classroom has a teacher and 3 aides for 6 kids so we feel quite comfortable about his safety during the day. I still feel like I'm going to throw up every time the phone rings during the day, especially around lunch time (PB&Js offered in the cafeteria EVERY SINGLE DAY....ugh) but he's adjusted and happy and all reports from the staff are nothing but stellar. The boy is a kindergartener. Too cool. | |
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8/31/2010 8:26:41 PM
Hey, I added some pictures! They're even good. :) Things have just been so busy with the beginning of school. Victor's still loving it but he's very tired when he's home. He gets off the bus and he wants to go down in the basement to "hang out with Daddy" and watch a DVD. Definitely has to unwind a bit before he's ready to play with Erick. And while Erick is sad to see his brother leave the house without him, he's really enjoying his freedom. He just started Little Gym last week and he is loving it.
Before I forget that I got these ready, here are a few catch-up pictures from a few weeks ago. We went to the MO Botanical Garden with Jack & Bernie (and Heather & Chris) for an extra special Heather-orchestrated dinosaur event. The big boys all got to ride Metrolink to the gardens (Erick and Daddy met us there) and they seemed to buy that it was a Dinosaur Train. Then at the gardens, we went to the Jurassic Dark exhibit in the Climatron. I don't have pics of that part because Victor literally fell on his face right before we went in and so I was consoling him the whole way through. Here are the few pics I have though:
 (Big boys at the entrance to the waaaaaaaaaay cool Children's Garden)
 (Erick attempting to climb the cargo net like a big boy.)
 (Erick, clutching the parrot that he screamed about having to leave behind, and quite concerned about why Jack has transformed into a dinosaur.)
 ("That.")
Good times.
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9/1/2010 1:43:49 PM
More pictures. I didn't want to put the whole shebang in one post because I was afraid the page wouldn't load for GiGi. So here are more pictures. I told you there was a backlog!
First, there are these pictures from the last day the J'ville pool was open. Victor was soooooooo happy and surprised when his best buds Bernie & Jack showed up. For a while, we were just about the only people there though:
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9/1/2010 1:45:21 PM
But there are even more! These are from just a few days ago when we went to Grafton with -you guessed it- Jack & Bernie and Heather & Chris to pick apples at Eckerts and then on to hang out and eat at the Loading Dock. Everybody was partying like it was Friday night (which it was):
Ahhhhh. Finally caught up. More soon, I'm sure. | |
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3/13/2010 11:36:39 AM
Time flies when you're obsessed with whether or not your house is incurring water damage. What a fun week it's been! Ugh. Hopefully we've got a handle on the situation. In the meantime, while we sort this all out the playroom is uninhabitable. That makes another weekend with yucky weather a bit hard to endure. And we're missing the St. Patty's Parade in STL yet again this year because it's just wet and chilly out there. No thanks. We've got corned beef and cabbage in process though, not that anyone but James and myself will eat it!
The boys are good though. Erick is still thinking about walking and doing a lot of recreational cruising. I've decided to wait until he's walking to start Little Gym. I'm financially procrastinating about starting it anyway with his birthday and Easter taking up budget this coming month. We're not doing a big birthday shindig or anything but I want him to have a few cool gifts since almost everything he has is gently used (and sometimes "violently used") by Victor. I'd like to get a modest swing set out back since he's such a huge swinging fan but that might be pushing it, given all of the other pressing home projects. We're definitely ready for spring around here though.
Victor finally had a good day at therapy yesterday. He certainly hasn't been having bad days but as of late, it's been kind of a water treading situation. I'm still not entirely convinced that he's out of his rut but he was certainly more motivated and receptive yesterday than he has been. He's just so easily bored by therapy after 2 1/2 years of it. The Friday schedule is actually working quite well for Victor but having to drag Erick along is wearing on me. The timing of Victor's school pickup (at which point we head straight for St. Louis) completely sabotages Erick's very much established 11:00 nap and then we never quite make up for it. Also, I have to squat in the lobby of the office building V's clinic is at, feeding Erick is his stroller. It's not a lot of fun for either of us. I like to hope it will be easier when he's not so stroller-dependent but every week I find myself wishing I could just leave Erick at home so that he can get a good nap in peace and quiet. Not generally feasible with Daddy's conference calls and tennis practices though. Luckily E's pretty resilient about it all and he always enjoys the attention from all of the therapists.
Happy nearly St. Patrick's Day to whoever may be out there reading these riveting updates. And happy daylight savings! We're actually quite excited about it because we'll be able to take the boys on walks/wagon rides/bike rides after dinner. You know, if it ever stops raining. | |
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3/17/2010 4:51:57 PM
Happy St. Patrick's Day! Here's our little Irishman once he was home from school today:
(Can't believe he actually happily wore that green tie all day!)
Had to go greet his brother at the window:
He'd been waiting there patiently for a while:
That's our new routine for bus dropoff........Erick (if he's not napping inside) hangs out by the front window where I can talk to him and he can see me while I wait for the bus. He jumps up and down and screeches when Victor's bus pulls up. We'll have to enjoy this system now while the weather is perfect for it!
Here are some random shots of Erick from the past several days:
And here is a video montage from the other night while I was gone at autism support group:
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3/25/2010 3:36:57 PM
It was six years ago today at 2:17 p.m. that Ronan Woods Humphrey was born. So much has happened since then, a whole lot of it wonderful. He is so missed each and every day though.
Happy birthday, sweet Ro. | |
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3/26/2010 2:14:10 PM
And today is James Thomas Humphrey's birthday. We met him at 5:38 p.m. six years ago today. Hard to believe it's been that long since we got to see those sweet little cheeks of his.
The sun is out after many, many hours of rain yesterday so I guess it's time for the party to begin. Thinking of the twins today and every day. But especially on their birthday weekend. :) | |
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3/29/2010 6:46:04 AM
[James here]
Erick was imitating me saying "Oww." yesterday. We were in the upstairs, boys bathroom waiting for Mommy and Victor to finish morning hygiene. Erick was pulling my hair and I was saying "Oww" in a high voice. After about 30 seconds he started saying it too. Just like Victor, if he finds it amusing, it will get his attention, and he'll try it. His version was pretty good because he was looking at my face and trying to imitate how my lips were moving. | |
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3/29/2010 8:34:46 AM
Victor is very sick. Eye infection and bronchitis. Fever, chills and sadness. So updates this week might be even more sluggish than usual. | |
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3/31/2010 5:09:30 PM
A little picture catch-up. These are from the Yo Gabba Gabba live show which was more than a week ago now. Victor's plague has made this time a complete blur. (He's still sick, by the way - achy, lethargic, constantly coughing). Anyway, let's reflect on a happier time, shall we?..........
Got some good short video clips too but that would involve much more freedom than I'm allowed right now. I'm trying to really enjoy the constant need for cuddles, even if it means I get very little done this week.
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3/31/2010 9:46:39 PM
Victor still has a fever (for the fifth day) and took his last dose of Zithromax tonight. The doctor will be getting a call tomorrow. I'm getting a flu vibe (he looks awful) but I'm worried about his lungs. And ears. | |
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4/2/2010 3:29:13 PM
Really thought Victor was well enough to go to therapy today. Thought it would even help him to get some semblance of routine back. Nope. He threw up all over his OT and his SLP. So obviously that session was cut short. No return of the fever yet (36 hours now, knock on wood) but still coughing fits off and on all night long. And puking, apparently.
We're going to go pick up his third antibiotic in a month when Erick wakes up (James has a tennis tournament today, of course). If he's not improving by Monday, he goes in for x-rays again and probably bloodwork. I'm hopeful about the Augmentin. At least it should keep us from going to the ER two weekends in a row, I should think. And my main worry was pneumonia or an ear infection and this should be a good prophylactic measure for either of those.
On the bright side, the drywall repairs and painting in the basement are all done so once the carpet gets stretched back tomorrow and I can give it a good vacuuming, the play room will be open for business again for the first time in more than a month. Fingers crossed that Victor feels better enough to enjoy it! | |
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4/4/2010 6:14:00 AM
[James here]
About a week ago, Victor did something he's never done before. I was upstairs in the bedroom getting dressed and saying "Oh. Daddy's tired. Daddy's very tired," because I had been at tennis practice. Out of nowhere Victor asked, "How come?" I was shocked and didn't say anything. So, he repeated, "How come?" with a slightly different inflection. I answered that it was because I had been playing tennis. That was the end of the conversation, but it was still very exciting to be asked an unprompted question by the boy! | |
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4/8/2010 3:53:16 PM
Victor's better but now Erick's sick. I think Erick has/had roseola because he had really bad congestion, cough and some vomiting and then a fever started. After 3 days of fever, it broke last night and then he got a rash that doesn't bother him at all (and it's already going away). All of this is to say that I THINK he's a lot better at this point and that he's "almost better". He should hopefully be able to fully enjoy his birthday on Saturday, even though he's still pretty snotty. His appetite today was the most robust I'd seen it in about 5 days so that gives me hope.
Erick's big gift for his birthday is a swingset that Daddy built in the backyard. It's been a work in progress for about a week but is now completely assembled with swings hung. We're waiting to unveil it on Saturday post-birthday cake. What I find truly amazing is that Victor hasn't noticed the swingset in the backyard. He hasn't been back there for a while but I would have thought he'd notice it out the window. Usually nothing gets past Victor in that regard. At this point, I hope he can be just as surprised and elated as Erick on Saturday. He knows that it's 2 more days away because he keeps asking when the Cozy Coupe will come down off the high shelf in the garage. That one did NOT get past him!
By the way, the boys did manage to have a nice Easter in spite of all of the maladies and home emergencies as of late. Here they are on Good Friday (prior to Victor throwing up all over his therapist):
Here they are on Easter morning here at home:
And just a few of Erick at Gaga's that afternoon:
(Victor was elusive at Gaga's. Too much prowling around to do while he's there!) | |
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4/12/2010 3:11:19 PM
Erick Owen is one! He had a very nice little shindig on Saturday here at home with Mimi, PopPaw, Gaga, Heather, Jack & Bernie (and Victor and Mommy & Daddy, of course). I don't think he was quite as giddy about the swing set as his brother was but he was a bit overwhelmed by it all by that point. He got a lot of fun loot! Just ask Victor - he's claimed most of it for himself. I'll admit that I played with the toys a bit earlier while Victor was at school and Erick went down for his nap.
Turns out that Erick's crankiness over his birthday weekend was for very good reason. Poor guy has a double ear infection! Not surprising given how long he's been congested and how many germs his brother has shared with him during the last 6 weeks. But still! This is his first ear infection and first time to ever have to take any medication besides Tylenol. He's actually been a very good sport about it today, especially considering that he got 4 shots after the ear revelation.
Once he's up from his current nap (I don't think he'd be sleeping now were it not for the shots), I'm going to take the boys on a maiden voyage in Erick's new wagon. Pollen be damned! (See how I feel about that later.) The new wagon has seats and seat belts which will be an improvement for the boys' current needs. We'll go back to the big workhorse wagon again later when Erick can hold his own with Victor in there.
Speaking of holding his own, Erick is not really going to be a bruiser compared to Victor after all. He's just shy of what Victor's weight and height were at one year. They seem to be on the same basic long and lean growth path. I knew Erick had thinned out a lot once he started crawling and cruising so much but I was actually a little surprised that his weight is below average these days. Doesn't feel like it at the end of the day! But aside from the ear infection, he's in great shape across the board.
Erick at one year is fairly similar to Victor at one year in terms of his personality, although Erick is a bit more outgoing in general. He goes out of his way to engage anyone and everyone around him but he gets pretty bent out of shape if Mommy or Daddy is not always in grabbing distance. He likes to clap his hands and wave (backwards) and say "Ow!". It seems like he plays with toys a little more than Victor did but I may be reading too much into that. Much like Victor, he loves the Sesame Street characters and he ADORES Signing Time. And he is just now starting to enjoy sitting and listening to a story at naptime and bedtime. He seems to have some Seuss leanings. Can't complain about that.
We'll do a more proper "What's Up With Erick" list soon, I swear. I want to be sure that we remember all of this stuff. Life's such a blur and he's changed so much already. Erick is the most wonderful surprise we've ever had. As loved and adored as all three of his brothers are, they were so very, very planned. It's so special to have this little boy who just appeared on an ultrasound screen from out of nowhere! He surprised us then and he surprises us every day with his gusto and his expressiveness. Victor adores him 99% of the time, probably for many of these same reasons. He mostly loves Erick's laugh. Can't wait to see what kind of adventures this second year will bring. And for now, you'll excuse me if I still call him a baby. | |
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4/18/2010 9:45:14 AM
OK then. Erick gets a free pass for his recent moodiness. Not only has he been dealing with a double ear infection but he also does, as suspected, have 4 new teeth in there. At least. Strangely, 3 are on one side and 1 is on the other. Of course it's hard to tell for sure when he's trying to bite my fingers off.
We're in the midst of Mulch Weekend 2010 here so there is a lot of frantic outside activity. I just went out a little while ago to get the last of the vegetables and herbs in so that James will be able to mulch around them. I took both boys out with me to let them swing while I planted. Victor was such a fabulous big brother and swang his brother nonstop. So much so that he fell asleep in the swing at 10:00. And then I made the miraculous swing to crib transfer. That boy must be super duper tired!
Pictures from the big birthday coming soon. We're having computer issues preventing me from accessing the pictures from the laptop and I'm usually too lazy (and boy-tethered) to go downstairs long enough to do it from the desktop. Soon! | |
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4/23/2010 2:36:47 PM
Poor E. He spiked a fever yesterday morning and I thought it was probably a reaction to the MMR vaccine (Dr. L subscribed to that theory as well). But he's just been so fussy and seemingly uncomfortable so I took him to get the ears rechecked since we're heading into a weekend. And yep, they're still infected. First time he ever takes an antibiotic and he's resistant to it (in this case at least). So now he's got Zithromax. Meanwhile, Victor finished his 20 days of Augmentin and is naturally starting to cough again. I'm thinking that he should probably never leave the house again!
I was completely bummed because we were supposed to have a day of fun with Heather, Chris, Jack & Bern today. And today was already a reschedule of our outing we had planned for spring break when Victor was so sick. Victor has, however, thoroughly enjoyed his day off school (teacher's institute today) by playing in the playroom and generally being Daddy's shadow. He is on such a Daddy kick lately and I'm glad he got to really enjoy it today because James will be gone for 5 days starting on Sunday. Don't ask me how I'll survive that because I haven't figured it out yet. Lately Victor gets weepy when James leaves for tennis practice so I'm sure he'll be beside himself for a day or so, probably standing at the window watching for Daddy's car with a terribly forlorn look.
Tomorrow we have the memorial tree dedication at the park. It's a rain or shine event and it looks like there will be very little shining but a lot of raining. I'm inclined to go no matter what because this is our special family tradition for James Thomas & Ronan now but I'm a bit leery of taking Victor so near the playscape if it's too wet to play. I don't want him to think that I'm torturing him by dangling that carrot in front of him with no payoff. We shall see. I'm looking forward to the rain in general though. Just got everything planted for the spring and I'm eager to see things looking greener and happier. So far so good except for my poor cucumber plants. | |
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4/25/2010 11:57:34 AM
Yesterday we barely managed to make it through the Arbor Day celebration without getting poured on but we were able to be there for the dedication of Ro & JT's memorial trees. Here are the very few pics I got at the ceremony:
Right after I took those pics, the camera flatlined so I was unable to get a pic of the boys together with their brothers' trees (nor of Mimi & Gaga's faces, sadly). Those are the trees in the pics though. It was such a nice ceremony and I really look forward to continuing it every year as a family tradition. I like the idea of Arbor Day being linked to our own remembrance of our first boys. It's all about looking to the future but taking the time to honor the past through doing something for the community (and ourselves!). Those are good lessons for Victor & Erick. And us.
We've had a lot of rain. My cucumber plants are looking miraculously better and I planted some lilies from Gaga that I can't wait to see grow. They are starts from the same lilies that were used in my wedding bouquet. Pretty cool. The boys have stayed mostly inside as of late though:
And we're beginning our sad 6 days without Daddy. Victor doesn't seem like it quite gets it yet but I've got his picture schedule up in the kitchen to count down the days and nights until Daddy's return. So far he's just fixated on the picture of bowling pins (I promised him we'd go to the bowling alley in the next few days.........and frankly, I'm pleased that he even recognized my artist's rendition of pins) and asking exactly when we'll be doing that! | |
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