what we did in June...

Ryan turned 2, Kyle played ball and we all rode a train to St. Louis. Oh, and there was soccer camp and lego camp for Kyle, summer preschool for Grant, Vacation Bible School for both and lots of trips to the pool. The railing in the hall way has been permanently covered with towels and swimsuits since Memorial Day and even when I wash them, I just put them right back in the same place. So more details on the events of June, starting with a big birthday for the big guy. We celebrated on the actual day with just us as we usually do. We went to lunch at McDonalds and Jason met us at Summit Waves at 5. There was also a trip to Aunt Ashile’s mixed in there and I had at one point planned on making a cake in the afternoon. That plan quickly turned into picking up an ice cream cake at Here’s Your Scoop, which was great and Ryan loved the baseball cake and blowing out his candles which happened about 5 times (“I do it again”). There were of course presents with wrapping paper decorated by his brothers, including a monkey like last year. His “family” party followed by a good 2 weeks. I think I claimed to be celebrating his “rebirthday” on the 23^rd, but I probably just didn’t have my stuff together until then. It was a fun party, we took him to the party store and Kyle picked out all of the toddler themed plates and let him choose. Dinosaurs it was and it turned out to be really easy to decorate the cake with our existing vast collection of small plastic dinosaurs. Love it when things work out for the best like that. I had been thinking about trying to replicate this cookie monster cookie cake that my friend Julie did one year and I think we all know how that would have turned out.

The birthday celebrations were interspersed with many ball games for Kyle. I loved watching him play, but have to admit I hated lugging Grant and Ryan to the park. Soccer was fine because the games were shorter and there wasn’t much trouble to be found in the open field, but baseball games drag on and on and there are bleachers and concrete. I was lucky to have Andy when it got hot, but then I felt bad that he missed the games. What worked the best was dropping Kyle off early to warm up, then going to the park and not coming until there was about 45 minutes left in the game. It was a good compromise, but I did miss Kyle’s best hit of the season. I love how determined he looks in the running pic. He plays that way all of the time, he is never “off”. I have another pic that I must have taken in July that I love as well. It shows him running in after he made 2 force outs in the field and it is the closest thing to pure joy I have ever captured on film (or memory card I guess).

We did miss one game for a great St. Louis adventure, but it was well worth it. It started early on a Tuesday, catching the train out of LS. I was pretty nervous leading up to the trip, but we had a really good time. Ryan got pretty antsy, especially once he realized people were getting off when the train stopped (“I go outside!”). Kyle and I went to a Cardinals game that night while the rest of the crew enjoyed the hotel pool and Union Station. I think he had a good time, he never said he wanted to leave, but he really didn’t say much at all. We went super early for batting practice and I couldn’t get him to stand by the field (the picture is as close as he would get), such a rule follower, he wanted to set in our seats, 2 hours before the game. I was able to get him up to eat and we did one lap around the stadium. The next day we rode the metro link (and experience in itself with 4 kids and 2 strollers) to Forest Park and did the zoo and Science Center. The zoo was less then we expected, but we didn’t lose any kids and we successfully caught the bus to the Science Center where Kyle got to build a robot while the younger kids visited the Discovery Room. It was another hard sale to get Kyle to do the robot, because I said it was a contest, which it was and he was immediately afraid of not doing well, even saying “I wish Dad was here to do it because he would do good”. After I reminded him that I to was an engineer, he reluctantly agreed. I will post pics of that as well and of the City Museum, which we did on the last day and oh what a last day it was. It is hard to describe the City Museum except to say it is the complete opposite of a museum, there were tons of things to play and crawl on, including a big area on the roof. I am not particularly afraid of heights, but I have to admit I mad a conscious effort to look strait ahead while I was following the boys up the giant cage on top of the slide that was on top of the roof. K and G had absolutely no fear of anything and really had the time of their lives. It was worth the severely bruised tailbone I obtained sliding down a slide after them and the bruised elbow I took while helping Ryan out of a tunnel. Really, it has been a month and a half and my tailbone is still tender. Again, the pics I will post will probably do it more justice then my words. All for now, will try to post our July event summary before winter sets in (actually I need to do it soon, since my blogging fiscal year ends with the start of school, oh my, not that I have printed the book from last fiscal year).

Happy Times

To say it has been awhile is an understatement at best, I really just can’t even begin to describe how busy I have been and that would be boring, so I won’t. But as the pictures show, there have been some happy times interspersed with the stress and chronic lack of sleep. With May comes both my birthday and Mother’s Day. The picture of Grant on the rug is him with the present he picked out for me. He was just so excited, Jason said he saw it at Target and just had to have it for me and I really do like it, which is good, because he could not wait to give it to me and then could not stop asking questions like “do you like your new rug, Mom” and ‘what is your favorite thing about the new rug” and my favorite, “what do you like better, the rug from me or the clothes from Kyle”. He also made the card in the picture, the one with the caterpillar with a hat, because really, nothing says Happy Mother’s Day like a caterpillar with a hat on. I would be lying to say that I wasn’t disappointed that my children’s father put no more effort into the festivities then the shopping trip. I of course realize how lucky I was to be able to spend the day with my kids, I just ended the day feeling a little empty that to Jason, it was just another day, not even a “hey, your doing a good job as a mom” which is all I really wanted from him. But life goes on and I had an amazing birthday, as shown in the rest of the pictures, complete with strawberry cake a new point an shoot camera and an awesome dinner at the fanciest (and most expensive) restaurant I have ever been to while all three of the boys slept over at Grandma’s. It was a much needed break in what has already been described as a crazy break.

With school out and my super big work project wrapped up, I am feeling just a little better. Kyle is going to soccer camp this week and is in heaven, playing 3 hours a day. He can’t wait to do the full day next year. We have a busy June planned and a few things for July as well, so things are good in his neck of the woods. His school has a 1000 page reading challenge and he is going at it with a vengence, having already logged over 250 page (in the first week of summer). I think he thinks it more of an assignment and I don't know if he will stop cold turkey once he hits the 1000 page mark. I kind of doubt it, his reading skills really took off in the last quarter and he is easily reading chapter books, his favorite being the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" series. Grant is going with the flow as usual. He loves to give people hugs, not just us, but the photographer at Picture People, the hostess at Waldo pizza, some random woman that came to the house to drop off PTA receipts, etc. It's like he just gets a huggable vibe from some people and goes for it, really, really sweet. He also admires cars and has said a few times (again to random people) "that's a nice car you have there". Ryan (aka Ry Guy) is along for the ride as well. When someone has something he wants, he has stated saying “that’s Ry Guy’s”. Since we are closing in on his 2^nd birthday, this happens a lot. He really says all kinds of things that amaze us, today I took Grant and him to the zoo while Kyle was at camp and when Jason got home, he asked Ryan what we had done and he said “say monkeys, ooh ooh ahh ahh”, “monkeys eating”. When I asked if he remembered what the tigers were doing, he replied “sleeping”. Can’t believe he remembered 8 hours after the fact and could repeat it.

Cardiology Checkup

I am fully aware I have not blogged Easter and there are some very blogworthy photos/phrases (such as “Look, the Easter bunny laid a car egg”) but Ryan’s annual checkup with cardiology was today.  I took my camera, wanting a pic of him covered in EKG stickers, but he was pretty unamused with the whole process and it just didn’t seem like a Kodak moment.  We did survive, thanks to the tv’s in every exam room at CMH North.  He was as usual, captivated by Sponge Bob and held perfectly still for his echo, towards the end, he just looked at me and started saying “Mama, Mom, Momma” over and over as in what in the hell is she doing and why haven’t you picked me up yet.  He took his favorite bear-bear and held tightly the whole time.  When the echo tech tried to put a sticker on bear-bear, she found out what the look of death looks like when coming from an almost 2 year old.  After the echo, we talked to Dr. D, the cardiologist.  He was more talkative this year (last year, I just remember him saying, “he is fine, complete repair, perfect, don’t give him any special treatment”.  Today he still said he was fine, but did say he had some leakage from his aortic valve that has caused a slight enlargement of his left ventricle, but it is very mild and within the range of what a normal kids heart would look like.  Just something they will continue to watch.  He asked about speech, saying they do sometime see speech and language delays in TGA kids because of the decreased oxygenated blood flow to the brain in utereo.  Fortunately, Ryan is talking up a storm and although he was born with a small head (5% compared with 90-95% for his brothers), he caught up extremely quickly, yeah Ryan.  When we came home, he said “I unt grapes, I unt choclate milk”.  Lot’s of words for not even 2 year old.  I think that is all for the most part.  He did say he has some mild dilation of the aortic root, caused by the fact that it was originally headed to his pulmonary artery and is thinner.  This dilation means he shouldn’t be involved in weight lifting when he gets bigger.  He can do weight training, as long as he doesn’t hold his breath while he tries to lift as much weight as he can.  While this doesn’t bother me, I do worry that telling a teenager he can’t do something, will only make him want to do it more and I feel more pressure to do everything right parenting wise so that we have a good relationship at that time in his life and he will listen to us and his doctors.  At least I have probably 10-12 years before that worry is realized.  Another note related to bear-bear, he continues to have the binky only at night, now when he gets tired, he will say in this really low voice “unt bear-bear, blanket, binky”.  So cute.

Annual Spring Trip to the Zoo

I don’t know if you can call two years in a row annual, but like last year, we did trek to the zoo with mom, Lilly my friend Julie and her 3 yet again this year during spring break.  Like last year it was an amazingly beautiful day weather wise and we had a great time.  I figured Kyle would be the bellyacher, but with his new found reading skills, he had a great time reading signs and telling us random animal facts.  The downside was that since he could read signs, we couldn’t’ use the “oh, there’s nothing down that trail, just bathrooms line when we were tired and didn’t feel like making one more loop to see another set of monkeys.  I even let him man the camera (the small digital, not my big expensive one that didn’t even make it out of the house with us because if I took it somewhere with all three kids I would end up losing one of the kids because I was so worried about keeping track of the camera) and he did a great job.  The picture of Ryan that Kyle took captures one of the last outings with his “me”.  We (we meaning Jason) finally got serious about ditching the binky during all but bed and nap time.  It won’t lie, it was a pretty hellacious week.  Ryan directed most of his frustration at me and I sent the lion’s share of that frustration straight at Jason, but we survived and now that is over I am glad to have one last visible parenting hurdle no longer hanging over my head.  An upside is that I think Ryan now looks forward to bedtime, he will come to me around 8 or 8:30 and say “Iwannarock”, then run in his room, reach between the slats of his crib to retrieve his long lost friend and then go sit in the rocking chair and wait for me.  Back to the zoo, Ryan is just the perfect age and loved it, so proud to identify all of the animals and other things we ran across (BIRD! BIRD! BIRD! WATER! TREE!).  If he didn’t recognize the contents of the exhibit, he would just say “ANIMAL!  ANIMAL!”  Grant spent most of his time saying everything was boring, which he says about anything he doesn’t like (these “peas” are so boring) which seems like anything that does not involve the TV.  I know it is just a phase and things will get easier soon.

My big boys...

…continue to amaze me. Grant who has for so long any type of writing instrument, all of the sudden can’t get enough markers and pencils and chalk and crayons and paint. The picture is probably one of his first that depicts people. It is not of our family, but of Ashlie’s. It has Anthony, Ashlie, Lilly, Dexter and a big mushroom. I wish I could remember what he said about the mushroom, but all of his pictures have some amazing story behind them. I could listen to him talk forever. I asked him the other day what he remembered about the trip to Bennett last year with Jason, Andy and Kyle. He said “Fisherman don’t whine” and “there was a trailer but we couldn’t see the wheels”. Kyle continues his artistic endeavors. He is very prolific. They will do a project in art and he will come home and do it 20 more times. One of his favorites was the three line people drawing. I don’t know if I blogged about it, but for Jason’s Christmas, we made his 10 favorite line people projects into a big collage on Snapfish. I think it is so cool and it’s hanging in our hallway. The pic is his other passion, Legos. I wish I could say I was more supportive of this, but I really can’t stand any toy with more the 10 pieces, so the 300+ piece Lego sets are really more then I can handle. We have developed a workable system involving bowels and bags and containers, but I still cringe every time he sets up shop at the dining room table. His other big passion of late is his reading. I would say he is fluent now and it is just very cool. He was so proud the first time he read and entire chapter and could understand it and so was I.

Several thing I have not done lately. I did not wash my sheets, put them on the bed and then the next morning, proceed to pull them of the bed and stuff them back into the washer. That would be a sign of serious short term memory problems. I also did not take a huge pile of checks to deposit for PTA to the bank with not a single endorsement. That bank already thinks I am a whacko and that would have probably pushed them over the edge. I would not put two referenence to laundry in single post, but if I did, it would be to relate that Kyle has never had to ask "is there a basket of clothes somewhere that I can get some pants out of". Their laundry is always put away immediatly and they would think it abnormal to have to dig it out of a basket stashed in my bedroom or office.

Rotten

The title kinds of says it all.  It was a rookie mistake leaving only a 4 foot counter and a plastic cover between him and the leftover birthday cake.  He is so apt at scaling the cupboards that we have had to move our knife block to the top of the fridge (something not needed during the toddlerhood of either of his brothers).  The other pics almost make me cry.  When I was staying in the hospital and sleeping in 45 minute stretches between pumping and feeding him and meds and x-rays and labs, I had exactly one dream, a dream of Ryan as a toddler in front of our house riding his tricycle.  When I told Jason about it, it said that one day I was going to see it happen and cry, and he was so right.  I didn’t really think it would happen before he turned two though.  He is quite adept at propelling both the plastic and big tricycle, using just his little legs and on one of our few nice days, he has already discovered how cool it is to glide down the driveway like a little kamakazi.  The other pic, I just thought made him look so big in his button down, eating his sandwich and drinking his milk all by himself.  It also reminds me of yet another story of Grant’s wardrobe woes.  I have similar shirt in a 4T (I must have really went through a dressing them alike stage when Grant was 1 and Kyle was 4).  Anyways, Jason picked the shirt for Grant to wear to church and was met with the usual barrage of whines and moans that accompany any “church” clothes.  It went on a little longer then usual and we asked him what was wrong and he said “I look like a forest boy chopping trees”.  OoohK.

Jason's Birthday

I’ve decided I want some more pics in my blog book, even when I don’t have much to say.  Jason’s birthday was celebrated with the usual fanfare of dinner out followed by homemade cake and presents.  The boys were obviously excited about the presents and I’m sure he can’t wait to sport his new Star Wars shirt.  I really need to get my act together for his big 40^th next year.  I still remember that I was traveling a lot around his 30^th and didn’t plan anything and still feel bad about it.