My Husband ROCKS!

Marrying a computer geek can certainly come in handy. I screwed up royally today. I took a bunch of really great pictures at the zoo. Pictures of Brian and baby monkeys. Pictures of Brian and a wallaby. Pictures, pictures, pictures. And then I deleted them. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Luckily, my husband knew how to recover them. Because he is awesome!

Eight years ago today I married my high school sweet heart, the love of my life, my best friend. He drives me insane at least once a day. But I LOVE him. And I love his computer skills today especially!!

Happy anniversary, Shawn.

And, of course, here are my awesome pictures that he recovered!!!

Brian greeting one of our two new orangutans.

Watching one of the baby bonobos with his mommy. This bonobo is 3 months old and unnamed. The zoo keepers thought it was a girl, and named her Clara, but it turns out it's a boy! Apparently they are leaning toward "Zeke."

You can't see the baby that great in this shot, but doesn't it look like they are having a conversation???
"Hello, Brian, this is my new baby."
"Hello, baby monkey."

And of course the baby wallaby. Not such a baby anymore, but what a treat to see it up close and personal. Don't you love that it's on a leash?!

See!!! I just had to have them back. And thanks to Shawn's skills, I do! Yay, Shawn!

23 Month Pictures

Here are Brian's 23 month pictures. Enjoy!

Horse Park

Since we spent Brian's 1st birthday with horses I decided, we should carry on the tradition and spend his 2nd birthday with horses as well. So, Shawn took the day off work and we headed to the Kentucky Horse Park. It was fun to see all of the different breeds, especially the really big horses! Here are a few pictures of our trip.

This chair was actually part of a horse event. The horses had to clear the
table that matched chairs this big!

My boys.

Now that is some amazing form on the vault!

Not much for smiling for pictures these days. We're two now, remember?

Farm boys.

2 Year old Birthday Party

Brian's 2nd Birthday party was a lot of fun! We had it in the evening this time, and the weather was pretty nice. Brian had a blast playing with his friends and cousins, opening presents and eating yummy cake and pizza!

Medical Update

We visited two doctors last week, and I am just now getting a chance to post about them! First up was Brian's 2 year well check up last Wednesday. No shots!! Nothing huge to report, so I'll post his stats.

Length-35 3/4 inches (85th percentile)
Weight-32 lbs (85th percentile)
Head-75-80th percentile

So he is still big and still proportionate. Dr. Price thought he looked good and from my reports is developing on track :)

On Friday, we visited the ENT. Brian's tubes are still in place, but the right one is starting to work it's way out. This isn't a huge, big deal, but will need to be monitored. Dr. Arjmand was going to wait until December to check again, but I though it would be better to check BEFORE the next hearing test, which is scheduled for November. So, we will see the ENT again in September. IF the tube has come out, and IF there is fluid again, we will have to schedule a surgery before the hearing test and have a new one put in. If the left tube is on it's way out at that time, they may go ahead and remove it and put a new one in. However, if it's not, they won't because he explained that taking it out could cause some damage to the ear drum, which we certainly do not need!

I will post the 23 month pictures as soon as I get them all uploaded to Snapfish. It takes awhile!!

Two

Dear Brian,

You are 2 today. I can’t believe it! You have grown up so much in this past year. You are not a baby anymore. But you are still my baby. You are so tall and strong. You can run and climb. You can almost jump. You sing and dance. You count and talk. A lot. Sometimes too much. And it’s wonderful!

When you were first diagnosed with hearing loss, we were not sure if we would ever hear your sweet little voice. And we are so lucky that we do. We are so very blessed. You can even say “shh!” Ha ha audiologists!!

Brian, you have made our lives so much more full than we could have ever imagined. We love everything about you. You have so much determination and energy. Sometimes too much! And that too is wonderful. You will grow into an active and strong willed boy. We wouldn’t have it any other way.

You are sweet. You give the best hugs, kisses and cuddles. You are kind. You share. You are comfortable in any situation. You know little fear and very few strangers. You don’t “get” social norms and you don’t care. You are hysterically funny. And you know it. I love that you “get” funny.

I love to watch you read. And golf. I love the way you say “water” as if you are British. I love the way you say “monkey” and especially the way you say “me monkey” (my monkey). You really love those silly animals! I love that everything is a ball. Even olives and cherry tomatoes that you find in my salads. No big deal. I don’t like those anyway.

I have been so lucky to get to spend the almost every moment with you this past year.
I can’t wait to continue our adventures this next year. Our first trip to the beach is coming soon! More zoo trips, back to school in the fall, snow…

Happy Birthday, baby boy! I love you.

Mom

Date Night

Too

Cute

And wishing that the next date will come along soon!

\

Cape Trip Day 5

We started out our day at Tom and Anne’s where we said goodbye to all the cousins. Brian did not golf. I didn’t let him bring his clubs in. He was not happy. But I did not want him to be sweaty for the trip back. I’m a mean mama.

After, we met the Aydt gang at Panera, had lunch and said our goodbyes.

The trip back was not as peaceful as the trip to get there. Brian only napped for about an hour and he was a grump butt. We had to stop a lot and I eventually had to ride in the backseat with him to keep him calm. The Curious George books mentioned in Day 4 were a HUGE help. Thanks, Beth!

Beth also got Brian a Curious George stuffed animal. I NEVER thought Brian would have a lovey. He never cared for stuffed animals. However, the “monkey” is now his lovey. And a small monkey that mom bought him at Cheesecake Factory a few weeks back. It’s name is “baby monkey.”
Since we have been home it’s been on adventure after the next. Getting a 2 year old back into a routine is a CHALLENGE. Yesterday he lost his shoe in the waterfall at the Conservatory. One of the workers graciously climbed in after it.

Brian and Max watching the shoe retrieval. When it fell in Brian said, "Mom! Shoe!"

And lunch Tuesday was a real treat. Just ask Jennie. He was literally CLIMBING over the booths. And he managed to make quite an explosion with his applesauce container.

Cape Trip Day 4

The last day of our trip to Cape was busy! We spent the morning at the farm. Brian had a blast…golfing…what else is there, really? We visited some cousins and got to see the old house where my grandmother and her 4 siblings grew up! Wow, and I am complaining about my 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom (9 room) house!!!

Notice the excellent lighting in the next two photos. I was super
excited about the haze in the background.

After Brian’s nap (I napped too), mom and I set to work getting dinner ready. We had a feast and mom made a Birthday cake for Brian and Andrew. Andrew just turned 7 in late May and Brian will be 2 next week!! Brian got trains from Aunt Sarah, Uncle Mike, Matt and Andrew and he was pretty darn excited! After dinner mom took Brian back over to Tom and Anne’s and I ran to Barnes and Noble to help Aunt Beth p
ick out some “monkey” (Curious George) books for Brian’s Birthday.


When we were finished shopping and I arrived at Tom and Anne’s, Brian was golfing. I know it’s a huge shock!

Cape Trip Day 3

Our day started with (at least) a 4 mile hike. Cousin Anne told us that there was a trail through the woods that was flat. A welcome suggestion since most of Cape is very hilly! So we took off. Unfortunately, there was some sort of miscommunication. We went right where we should have gone left. Most of the trail was not through the woods. And it was not a loop as we had thought. SO with no sunscreen and a 4 mile walk back, we called Anne to rescue us!
When we got back we spent some down time with Archie. Brian enjoyed reading some of his favorite books with her and, of course, watching golf on the television.


Then this afternoon we went to Cairo to see Mom’s friend Debbie from high school and Granddad’s friend Mildred. We ate at the local Barb-b-que joint that was just around the corner from Mom’s house growing up. She was thrilled to eat there! I had a grilled cheese :) Anyway, it was good to see both ladies. We went for a drive though town…what a sad, dilapidated place, and took some pictures down by the rivers (Mississippi and Ohio meet in Cairo).


Tonight we cooked and had some more of Mom and Dad’s friends join us for dinner. Then we headed over to cousin Anne’s for dessert. Most of the family is in, so we had a good time visiting. Brian had a BLAST playing golf in the yard with some of the cousins (one of them is well over 6 feet tall). Brian thought it was great that he could dunk the golf ball in the basketball goal with Jeremy’s help! We brought him back to Archie’s a sweaty mess and he had some fun with Andrew before bath time. He fell asleep in under 5 minutes.



P.S. I will write up days 4 and 5 tomorrow if I have time! I still have to catch up on laundry :)

Cape Trip Day 2

Today was pretty relaxed. No long drives, so that was good! Mom and I tried to walk for awhile this morning, but it was very hot and humid, so we didn’t go very far.

Later in the morning we headed over to visit with cousin Anne. It was good to see her. She’s about the nicest person you would ever meet. She had toys out for Brian (her grand kids toys) and he was very happy! We also found a new “food” that he likes. Dannon brand drinkable yogurt. He had two and later we bought some at the store and we chugged down a third before dinner!After the visit, we headed back to Archie’s for nap time. Mom went to the store while Brian and I napped and got food for dinner the next two nights. I am going to cook :)

Once Brian was up from his nap, we headed to the Discovery Learning Center downtown. Brian had fun playing with his big cousin, Andrew. He was most excited about their train table (I guess he misses his), but he did have a good time grocery shopping and playing on the indoor playground equipment. (Note that Brian has all veggies and fruits in his cart…Andrew, not so much!)
The best part about the day was at dinner. Aunt Sarah, a pediatrician, told me how well she thinks Brian is doing! (We were talking about his hearing loss.) Her reassurance means THE WORLD to me on this subject! I don’t worry about it every single second like I used to, but I can pretty much guarantee that a day does not go by without me thinking about it. And to have someone whose opinion I value so highly, say such nice things about his progress was just amazing!

Sleep issues are a different story. Nana has still no emerged from the going to bed segment of our evening. This likely means that Brian is still fighting bedtime. (Nana has been nice enough to allow me to avoid the bedtime fight thus far.) Maybe she won’t be so nice about it tomorrow after the hour long fight she’s endured tonight!!

Cape Trip Day 1

Well we made it Cape Girardeau! We left home at 9:30a.m. and arrived about 6p.m. Translation: what should be a 6.5 hour drive, we did in 8.5. Not bad really considering this is the LONGEST drive Brian has ever been on. He did really well. We made sure to stop a lot and let him play. We found a park at one exit and stopped at a rest area once so he could play golf. We played lots of “Curious George” and “Thomas the Tank.” Overall, he did really, really well!

We did have an incident about 45 minutes outside of Cape. All of a sudden he yelled/grunted really loud and yelled, “Poop!” Then, “Diaper!” You don’t have to tell Mom twice. She pulled over right away. I got him out and started to change the poopy diaper. There was very little poop in there, which was a little suspicious, but I kept changing him anyway. (For those of you who have not seen me change him recently, I do so while he is in the standing position.) Anyway, I was about ready to put on the new diaper and SPLAT…out of his butt fell (and I do mean fell) mass amounts of poo. Mom described it as it being like an animal in the forest that just poos and moves on. So gross! Luckily (or unluckily, not sure how to look at this one) most of it landed in his short (which were around his ankles). This resulted in the shorts having to be pitched, but at least it didn’t get everywhere else! Poor little guy L He survived though and on we went.

We surprised Archie. She had no idea we were coming and was so excited to see Brian Thomas at her front door! Brian and Andrew are getting along really well. Brian loves his big cousin and the feeling is totally mutual!

Busy

I am really, really busy. Last week was the last week of preschool. This week I jumped right into the final week before Father's 25th Jubilee celebration. It's been chaos of mass proportions. Brian has been just about everywhere in the tristate area with me trying to gather all that we needed for the big party. And tomorrow, it will all be over.

But I wanted to take some time today to remember my sweet almost two year old as he is today. Because really, none of the pay off from all of the "busy" means anything without him. So naturally I stalked him with my camera.

Golf is his number one thing right now. He loves to golf and would do so around the clock if the clubs were allowed in the house. He even likes to watch golf on TV! (I'm sorry, I don't get this. It's BORING on TV, but he likes it, so what can I do?)

Here are some shots I captured of him tonight (pun intended). Many people have commented over the past month (since this golf thing started) that he is so determined and genuinely seems to love the sport. Is it a passing phase or the beginning of something big...who knows? But just in case he's the next phenom, it'll be nice to have pictures to prove that he started BEFORE the age of 2.