Update on the En-Bumped Child

He seems to be feeling fine. We went and saw Santa last night and got a very cute picture. Our appointment with the neurosurgeon is on Tuesday morning. Dave woke me up this morning at 4:30 so I could look at the bump because he swears that the bump is going down, but he has been saying that since Wednesday and I don't see much of a difference.

We're going for an eating evaluation this morning and then to a birthday party. He'll be excited because there are going to be other little boys there. Hope everyone has a great day!

Pictures of the big bump

Here are some pictures of Gabe's big bump. It's really weird looking and feels spongy. These pictures really don't do it justice.

Gabie Can Sing! - Part 2

On the way to speech tonight I heard Gabe sing "Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way!" It was so cute! Of course, I ooh and aah over every sound he makes so maybe this isn't such a big deal to you, but to me it is pure joy!

Gabie Unplugged

It has been 24 hours since Gabie has had his plug. There has been no crying and he slept in this morning. Yeah!

Gabie Can Sing!

We were in the car on our way home from my Grandma's house this morning and Maddie was talking about pretending our van was a yellow bus. We then started to sing "Wheels On The Bus". Gabe joined right in and sang "Beep, Beep, Beep" for the horn and "All through the town" at the end. He did all the hand movements and then at the end would say, "Yeah!" and clap his hands.

Yeah Gabie can sing!

Happy Thanksgiving!

My grandma (dad's mom) passed away this past June. About a week after she died my parents received a package full of old family pictures that my grandma had sent to a distant cousin of hers that is into genealogy. He has a website with my entire family line. While looking at it I realized that I am a descendant of William Bradford. He is my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather (I think that is enough greats).
William Bradford came over on the "Mayflower" and was the second person to sign the compact of government before they landed. John Carver was the first to be elected as governor and when he died in 1621 William Bradford was elected in his place. He and his assistants negotiated with the Wampanoag and other Native groups and according to Wikipedia, "Bradford is credited as the first to proclaim what popular American culture now views as the first Thanksgiving."I think this will make a pretty cool history project for Maddie and Gabe when they get bigger.

On a side note (also from Wikipedia):

Other noteable descendants of William Bradford (besides myself, of course):

The Baldwin Brothers (Alec, Daniel, William and Stephen): American Actors
Julia Child: American entrepreneur and chef of French and French-influenced cuisine
Frank Nelson Doubleday: American publisher
Clint Eastwood: American film actor, producer and director
Christopher Reeve: American film actor, political activist

Godspeed, Sweet Dreams

Since I first became pregnant with Maddie, before I knew she was a girl (because I was totally sure she was a boy, whether I told anyone so or not), I would sing "Godspeed (Sweet Dreams)" by The Dixie Chicks to her. The doctor told me the baby can hear everything you hear, so I figured she could hear me and it would soothe her. When I found out she was a girl I changed the song to "Godspeed little girl, sweet dreams little girl" instead of "Godspeed little man, sweet dreams little man".

This song has become very important to me because me singing this song was all that would calm Gabe down during his recovery from his brain surgery. It was very embarrassing. At first, I would sing it to him when it was just us in his little area and no one else was around. I sang it over and over and over again. It was basically all I could do so that he knew I was there. Then doctors would come in and do tests and he would just scream. It finally got to a point where I was holding Gabe down singing this song as loud as I could while the doctors messed around with his lumbar drain or poked him with another needle. I knew the other nurses and parents of other kids were looking at me, but I didn't care. As long as I sang to him he would calm down pretty quickly afterwards.

Recently, Madison has been asking me to sing her this lullaby before she goes to bed at night or when she wakes up in the middle of the night. Tonight I put her to bed and kissed her goodnight and then walked out of the room so she could drift peacefully to sleep. Fifteen minutes later she was anything but peaceful. I went in her room and she was in her bed playing with a doll. I told her it was bedtime and she asked me to sing her our lullaby. I laid down next to her and she cuddled up to me and closed her eyes, and I sang her our lullaby. When I was done I told her goodnight and gave her a kiss and started to walk out. She begged me to sleep with her, but I told her I wasn't ready for bed yet. She said, "I'm going to sing our lullaby to myself now and then I'm going to go to sleep." I said that was fine and walked out, but I stood outside her door and listened. This is what I heard:

Dragon tales and the "water is wide"
Pirates sail and lost boys fly
Fish bite moonbeams every night
And I love you

Godspeed, little girl
Sweet dreams, little girl
Oh my love will fly to you each night on angels wings
Godspeed
Sweet Dreams

The Rocket Racer's all tuckered out
Superman's in pajamas on the couch
Goodnight moon, we'll find the mouse
And I love you

Godspeed, little girl
Sweet dreams, little girl
Oh my love will fly to you each night on angels wings
Godspeed
Sweet Dreams

God bless Mommy and matchbox cars
God bless Dad and thanks for the stars
God hears "Amen," wherever we are
And I love you.

Godspeed, little girl
Sweet dreams, little girl
Oh my love will fly to you each night on angels wings
Godspeed
Sweet Dreams

Godspeed
Sweet Dreams

She knew every word. I think it was the best thing I've ever heard in my entire life!

The Perfect Kiss

Madison has this way of kissing...it is so cute! She puckers up her lips in the cutest way - she kind of looks like she's making fish lips. I'll say, "Give me a kiss" and she puckers her little lips up and comes right at me. So cute! Here are some more pictures of the kids:

What's that Smound?

Madison keeps asking me, "What's that smell, Mommy?" She asked it when I was cooking dinner, she asked it again when I was baking a cake and she asked it again when Gabe was poopy.

We were in her room during quiet time and I was setting up her tiny TV with VCR to play "Bedknobs and Broomsticks". I was rewinding the video tapes and since she's used to DVDs not having a sound she asked, "What's that smound, Mommy?" I guess she mixed up smell and sound.

Bailey the Butthole!

So, Bailey's collar battery is dead and she figured it out sometime last week. I tried to get her a new one this morning, but the place that I buy them has moved. She has been straying out of the yard, but not very far. I usually catch her at the border of our yard while she is heading into someone else's. So, at 3:00 today I went into the laundry room, where I put her while Gabe's OT was here, and she was gone and the door leading from the laundry room to the garage was open. I looked for her and screamed her name until my throat hurt and then I called Aunt P and she came to my rescue to help look for her some more. Unfortunately, Aunt P couldn't find her either, so I called the vet. The vet told me to call Animal Control, and lo and behold that is where she was.

Apparently, our next door neighbors trapped her in their garage and called animal control. Hello, if you know your neighbors have a black lab and then you capture one in your garage wouldn't you ask your neighbors if it's theirs? Especially since these neighbors captured your escaped rabbit while you were on vacation and this exact same thing happened with your dog a week before (except that your neighbors returned the dog instead of calling animal control). I would just like to know what the hell they were thinking.

I feel like putting a flaming sack of dog poo on their front porch, ringing the door bell and running!

Smoothies, Yum!

So, Gabe has been doing much better on the eating front. We started making smoothies to go with breakfast and lunch and he LOVES them! Here's our recipe:

one banana, peeled
handful of frozen blueberries
handful of frozen strawberries
handful of baby spinach leaves
one bottle of blueberry yogurt smoothie
some milk

It's not very precise, but easy enough, and oh so good!

The OT we talked to on Thursday told me to substitute his favorites (chicken nuggets, waffles, etc.) out for similar items. We substituted the eggo waffles for meijer brand waffles and he did fine (I don't think he realized they were different) and we substituted the chicken nuggets with Morning Star Farms veggie chicken nuggets (again, no difference, really) and he did fine with those also. The OT is coming over tomorrow to talk about it more, so I'll know what the next step is then.

Dave and I were talking about it last night and he mentioned that Gabe lost his left olfactory nerve during his brain surgery. I don't know why I forget about this. The whole surgery ordeal seems like it was just a bad dream and sometimes it's like it never even happened. This could be a huge factor in all of this eating business. What's the enjoyment of eating if you can barely taste anything? I guess I'll have to talk to the OT about it.

To eat, or not to eat: that is the question

So, Gabe has been giving me a hard time with his eating again. I say "me" because he eats fine for both sets of grandparents. I spoke with an OT at playgroup yesterday and she seemed to think it was pretty serious and that she needed to schedule a time to come out to the house to check everything out. She's coming on Tuesday. I had to list everything he eats for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Let's just say it wasn't much. It was a little embarrassing. It brought tears to my eyes, which was even more embarrassing.

The OT gave us a few worksheets about steps to eating, structured mealtimes and a straw drinking strategy. She said there are a lot of kids that are problem eaters and that there are even support groups out there for the parents. I totally understand how a parent could need a support group for this kind of thing. It is so frustrating!

My Favorite Exercise Music - in no particular order

1. White Trash Wedding - Dixie Chicks
2. Not Ready to Make Nice - Dixie Chicks
3. Hips Don't Lie - Shakira
4. Welcome To Paradise - Green Day
5. The Mixed Tape - Jack's Mannequin
6. It's All Been Done - Barenaked Ladies
7. My Humps - The Black Eyed Peas
8. Hollaback Girl - Gwen Stefani
9. Hands Down - Dashboard Confessional
10. Since U Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson

Remember: To Recall To The Mind With Effort

We had a great time last night at Dave's party! I was very chatty as I usually am when I've knocked a few back and when I do this I spend the next day trying to remember what really went down and hoping I didn't offend anyone.

What I remember:

1. Giving someone in our party the finger and making a raspberry with my tongue at them.
2. Trying to make an ooh shape with my lips, but not being able to because I was laughing so hard because my face hurt from smiling too much.
3. Talking to a bouncer about why the heck the guy who got kicked out didn't just go home instead of arguing about getting kicked out.
4. Doing a shot and swallowing something that was in it (an ice cube, maybe).
5. Telling my new friend, Becky, how much I love her.

Happy Birthday to my Honey!

Today is my husband's birthday! He is such a wonderful husband and father. We're so lucky to have him in our lives! We love him SO much! Happy Birthday Dave!

Here he is in his hospital crib. He was born on a U.S. Air Force Base in Italy.

Here he is around 2 or 3 years old - not sure where though.Here he is in his parents back yard this past year.

If I Were A Butterfly...

Madison came in today and wanted me to sing her the words to the song, "If I Were A Butterfly", but I didn't know the words so I looked it up on YouTube and this is what came up:

When she saw the video she started singing and doing all the movements. It was cute! Here she is:



Here are the lyrics:

If I Were a Butterfly

If I were a butterfly, I’d thank You
Lord for giving me wings.
And If I were a robin in a tree
I’d thank You Lord that I could sing.
And if I were a fish in the sea,
I’d wiggle my tail and I’d giggle with glee
But I just thank You Father
For making me me.

Chorus:

Because You gave me a heart and
You gave me a smile.
You gave me Jesus and You
Made me Your child.
And I just thank You Father
For making me me.

If I were an elephant, I’d thank You
Lord by raising my trunk.
And If I were a kangaroo,
I’d just hop right up to You.
And if I were an octopus,
I’d thank You Lord for my good looks.
But I just thank You Father for
Making me me.

[Chorus]

If I were a wiggly worm, I’d thank
You Lord that I could squirm.
And if I were a crocodile, I’d thank
You Lord for my big smile.
And if I were a fuzzy wuzzy bear, I’d
Thank You Lord for my fuzzy wuzzy hair.
But I just thank You Father for
Making me me.

[Chorus twice]