Pages

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Christmas in Lumberton




The weekend before Christmas we packed up and headed to Lumberton to celebrate with my family. Although the visit started out a little rough, it ended up being a great one. When we got into town on Friday night, we met up with everyone for dinner at one of our favorite Mexican spots. I think it was the first time in a while that all of us...my parents, brother and his gf, sister and her husband, Matt and I, and the kids...all had dinner together. It was great! After dinner we headed back to my parents to have a pretend Christmas eve by playing the Wii and drinking hot chocolate. Chase and Shelley, my sis and her husband, stopped by their house on the way to pick up her dog so he could hang with us that night. After being there for only a short while, the dog escaped out the front door and ended up getting hit and killed right in front of Shelley and my parents while they were looking for him. It was tragic. Shelley took that dog everywhere with her. It was her baby. So the night was cut short as they went home immediately. And that put a damper on the evening for the rest of us so we didn't play many games.

However, the next morning was pretend Christmas morning and it turned out great. Shelley and Chase came back over early to enjoy breakfast and gifts. Brody hasn't quite grasped the concept of Christmas yet so everyone was waiting for him to get up since he decided to sleep in. The day then lead us to both sets of grandparents houses for lunch and dinner. We had a great weekend celebrating with everyone.


This was waiting for Brody boy.

Carson was up bright and early, excited about Christmas.

Brody finally decides to make his way into the living room.

And makes a b-line for the 4-wheeler.

He's already a pro.

Once he started finding his gifts he was ready.

And definitely got the hang of things quickly.


Uncle C brought his big 4-wheeler out to Nonnie's just so Brody could take his first ride. He LOVED it!


Macy, Logan and Brody. Quite a crew.


I just thought he looked cute here.

At Nana's, Brody mastered his ping pong skills. Look at his face!

Sorry there's not many pics of Carson. He pretty much slept the whole time and wasn't interested in opening gifts.


Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Where do I begin??

It's been over a month since my last post. And things have been quite interesting around here. This might be one long post..or maybe I'll break it up into a couple of posts. I haven't quite decided yet. So we'll see how it goes.

Carson:

I love this picture. It looks like Carson is saying "Brody, I have your car. HA HA HA! Aren't you going to try to get it away from me?"


Carson turned 5 months earlier this month. He is getting more precious everyday. He has big brown eyes that just melt pretty much everyone's heart. And he sure knows who to give the eyes to, to get what he wants :) I really don't feel like there's anything significant since month 4. We are starting solid food this week. We could have done it already but I wanted to wait until after Christmas to eliminate more work to do while we were traveling. As the picture above demonstrates, Carson is somewhat of a bully to Brody. We knew that would eventually happen, but we thought it would be when they are older. He loves getting Brody's toys, but his favorite..pulling Brody's hair. It makes me laugh every time. Brody looks at me like "Mom, this mean kid is beating me up!"








Brody:

Brody with his good buddy Caleb V. I don't think we'd make it through Hope Group without Caleb! We love this family lots, despite all the t.u. paraphernalia you see in this photo.


I can't believe my Brody boy will be 2 next month. Craziness! I think in my last post I mentioned that he went to TX Children's once but had to go a second time. Our second visit was the week before Christmas. We saw a doctor in the physical medicine and rehab department so I guess she was really able to tell a lot about his muscles and joints. As she examined him, she noticed that he had low muscle tone, a weak pelvic area, his knees hyperextend and he rolls onto his ankles. She said all of these are related but she isn't sure what came first. It's like the chicken and the egg. One thing happened and it is causing the others but there's not a clear answer as to what the source is. So she prescribed braces for his legs.

I have to admit that when I first heard this, I was picturing bulky metal things like Forrest Gump wore. But they've come a long way since then...and they won't be like that at all. According to the description we were given and the website, I assume they'll look like this.  They won't have flowers and butterflies of course. Brody would never forgive us for that. Our big man is getting cars and trucks. So in the next couple of weeks Brody will be getting his new leg accessories. Its going to be a huge adjustment for us. Its going to take him a while to get used to them..I don't even know how he'll walk in them. But obviously that's what they're meant for.

After 4 months, we'll go back in for her to re-evaluate and see how much progress he's made. There's a chance he could wear them up to a year. We're hoping that by combining this with physical therapy he'll be out of them sooner than expected. But if not, that's ok...we'll make the best of it!


So besides all of the walking drama, Brody is his usual funny self. He has started adding a few phrases to his vocabulary. Our favorite is "I don't know." He uses it when you ask him where something is and he sounds so concerned when he says it. And of course he raises his shoulders and hands in the "I don't know" gesture. Other phrases he uses are "There it is", usually in response to the first question; "There's ____" (insert someone's name), "Where'd it go?" and there's a couple more that I can't remember. So after typing this out it seems he is always looking for something haha. I'm not gonna lie, a couple of weeks ago I was concerned about his speech. I didn't think he was where he should be. But after talking to a few people and counting up how many words he uses I let it go. He has more than the 25 the dr. said was normal. And, we've noticed that he associates sounds with objects, which they said is fine. So instead of saying car...he says "vrrooom." Instead of cow, he says "moo" when he sees one. But he knows its a car and a cow if you ask him. He just chooses to say the sound instead of the word. He does this for a few objects but then randomly will bust out with new words all the time that I didn't know he knew. So maybe its just the way he thinks about things and he'll be a really creative person.

He wanted to get in the jumparoo...before we put the seat in.



He has a new love of playing in containers.







Friday, November 20, 2009

Brody Walking Update

This past Wednesday, we went to TX Children's Hospital in Houston to see a pediatric orthopaedic specialist. A few weeks ago, Brody's physical therapist recommended that we get his hips x-rayed and checked out by a specialist to make sure there was nothing going on that couldn't be fixed with therapy or to see if there's a certain type of therapy we should be doing. He was making great progress, but she was concerned with how spread out his legs were when he walked. So, we set up the appt at TX Children's and were soo glad to get in as early as we did. Usually its a couple of months at least and we were able to get in within 3 weeks.

So, Wednesday morning, at 7:40 am, we had an appt. Let me tell you, this place is legit. We checked in and were in a room before our appt time. Within a few minutes, they already had us down at x-ray before we even saw the dr. A short time after that, we saw a nurse practioner (who was an AGGIE!) who got all the scoop on Brody and did a preliminary exam before we saw the doc. Not long after, Dr. Rosenfeld came and checked him over. He pulled the x-rays up on the computer and spent a long time with us just watching him walk, examining his legs, hips, joints, etc and asking us a lot of questions. So..the end result...Brody has nothing wrong with him structurally. His bones, joints, legs, hips, muscles, etc all look fine. He said that he is a little "knot kneed" and that makes him tend to roll in on his ankles a little bit. He said most kids his age are slightly like this, but Brody's is just exaggerated, but is not a major concern. He said he just walked late and walks funny and in his opinion, he will probably just slowly get better as he gets more practice walking. He did say that he wants to double check and make sure there is nothing neurological going on that caused him to walk so late and is making him walk funny. There's a slight chance that his brain isn't sending the right signals to his legs which could be causing the weird way he walks. It can take like 6 months to get into a neurologist. So instead, we're going to see a physical medicine dr in December who can do all the same tests and is just as capable of determining if there are any neurological problems causing his delayed and abnormal walking. The dr didn't seem to think that this was the case, but he also wanted to be very thorough and to make sure that we don't overlook anything. And we really appreciated that. We believe that he is completely fine and will be walking normal in no time. But we are very glad that he wants to check all possibilities.

So, great news from the doctor! Thanks to everyone who has been praying these last few months. He has seriously made tons of progress. Please continue to pray that he gets even better at it and that the neurological tests in December come back completely normal.

I'll leave you with a sweet pic of my boys. Brody wanted to "go nigh-nigh" with Carson. (This lasted all of about 2 minutes.)


Monday, November 16, 2009

Some kids, a kitchen and a huge whale

Carson turned 4 months today. I can't believe how fast the time has flown by. It is so true that they grow up quick. At his checkup today, he weighed about 17 lbs and was 26.5 inches long. If you look at him, you'd think he has to be the biggest 4 month old ever, but surprisingly, he is in about the 75 percentile in weight and 90th in height. He is getting more fun every day. I may have already mentioned this, but he rolls in both directions and we can't seem to keep him in one spot for long. As soon as we lay him on his back, he immediately rolls onto his tummy. Then those legs start moving and I always think he's about to take off crawling. I know that's still a few months away but he's definitely starting to practice! He has found his feet and loves them. He's constantly tugging at his toes and trying to pull his foot up to his mouth.


Our chubby boy in his swing...with some crazy hair!

Brody is still his humorous self. He likes to make his brother laugh by getting in his face and making faces at him. And guess what else...he is WALKING!!! A few weeks ago he just decided that he could do it and began walking around the house. For a while he would walk but would always have to have a destination. He couldn't stop walking once he started. But last week or so he finally figured that part out and can stop, turn circles and even walk backwards. We are still trying to figure out how to teach him to get up or down in the middle of the floor on his own. He has to crawl to the couch or a wall and pull up before he can take off. He has made tremendous progress, but he does have to go to TX Children's Hospital this week to see a pediatric orthopedist. Although he can walk, his legs are out wide when he does, which slows him down and causes him to lose his balance easily. So something just isn't quite right. So we're seeing a specialist to find out if he has a hip or knee problem that could be causing it. We are praying that it will be a simple problem that can be fixed with either something like braces or the right type of therapy. So please continue to pray!

Brody playing in the backyard.

Early in the month we had a play date with Leigh Ann and Cole in Houston. The boys played and it gave Leigh Ann and I time to just catch up and hang out. (Sometimes its hard to fit in "friend" time since we're also sister-in-laws!) We're planning to try to do this once a month and I'm so excited about that! I want our boys to grow up with close relationships with their cousins..plus it will be great for LA and I. We have some projects up our sleeve! I tried to get some pics of the boys, but they were too busy. Hopefully at the next play date I can get some good ones of the 3 together.


while Brody colored the driveway.

The first weekend of November we had a wedding in Austin. So Friday night while Matt and I shot the wedding, Brody and Carson got to spend the evening with Nina and Papa. They went to play at a super fun park (Zilker Park) where they got to ride the train and play on the playground. Then after, they had pizza at a fun restaurant that had TVs in the tables. How cool is that?! On Saturday morning, we loaded up and drove to San Antonio to spend the day at Sea World. I was so excited about this! I loved Sea World growing up and was excited to watch Brody take in all the dolphins, fish and of course, Shamu! We were a little disappointed to find out when we got there that bc it was so late in the season, they weren't doing the dolphin show, the water ski show and a few other things that we were looking forward to. But even still, it was a great day! Brody definitely enjoyed it and was pooped by the end of the day. We ended the day with a trip to Macaroni Grill then headed back home to Bryan.

Our little family in front of the entrance.


Brody watching Shamu




He really liked it!


Look at Caron's HUGE hat! Haha! It was so bright though..we had to buy him something.




They had a cool play area for kids 3 and under. I didn't know if Brody would be interested but he jumped right out there and loved it!

He thought this little boy was funny.

Trying to walk on the super soft floor. Not too easy.


He crashed after the play area.

Checking out the penguins with PaPa.

With Nina and PaPa on Sunday morning. (Wow, Brody SERIOUSLY needs a haircut!)

And lastly, we started our kitchen makeover last week. So far, we have brand new countertops. The plan is to sand and paint the cabinets, paint the kitchen and dining room walls, tile the backsplash, and possibly re-tile the floor. The countertops look awesome, but I'm not going to post any pictures yet. I'll wait and do a complete post on the entire makeover when its done. So you'll just have to keep waiting!

Hope everyone is enjoying November!

Monday, November 2, 2009

October {In Photos}

This is a long post with lots of photos...just warning you. Enjoy!

Matt and his boys while watching the TAMU vs Arkansas game.
(We try to block that game from memory.)

The next group of photos are from the day we went to the Florida vs LSU game. We get asked a lot why we are Florida fans. Most people just assume we jumped on the bandwagon bc they are so good, Tim Tebow, etc. So let me explain...My mom and her family are from Florida. My grandfather graduated from Florida. So I grew up a Gator. The same way that we will raise our children and grandchildren to love the Aggies since we are Alumni, I was raised to love the Gators. So we are real Gator fans :) My mom's uncle got us tickets to this year's LSU game since it was in Baton Rouge and only a 3 hour drive from my grandparent's house.


Aunt Nikki and Me

 Little Gator Fans
Logan, Macy and Brody playing

Nikki's kids in their Tebow Jersesies.. Macy, Madisyn and Logan



Me and my honey



Our group doing "The Chomp" before heading to the game.
And that's all the pics from that day. We knew LSU fans are CRAZY so I wasn't bringing my camera in case some drunken frat boy trampled my bag during the game.



You know Brody loves cars...and then his how he parks them. In a nice row. Sometimes they are even lined up by size.



Brody "helping" his brother. Apparently he thought Carson needed his paci.






Look at this cute smile. It makes my day.



They love each other. And yes, Carson has a mohawk.


All my boys this past Saturday, Oct 31 before the Ags BTHO Iowa State.

Sorry I don't have a pic from the Rockin Fall Fest. The one I have won't upload for some odd reason.

October was a fun month. Looking forward to some fall photos in November.