We are getting close to getting caught up. I still have some of the visit from KK that I need to post, but these should satisfy any cravings you have for pictures of the boys.
Griffith has really taken to the new playset. He climbs the ladder all by himself and slides down the slide -- although he is a little hesitant about it. He tends to hang on to the sides and try to slow his progress. He has decided that going down on his belly is safer. As soon as he gets to the bottom he wipes the wood chips off of his feet and then stands up and claps for himself. He also likes the tunnel. Specifically he likes crawling in it and waiting for us to yell, "Griffith, where are you ??? Do you see Griffith ?? Where is he?" He giggles and then either sticks his hand out or sticks his head out just far enough for you to be able to see the top of his curly little head. This went on for about a half hour last night.
Allan, on the other hand, does not like the playset. Not one little bit. The entire thing seems dangerous to him and he can not understand why we would imperil him in that manner. He doesn't want to swing and God Forbid that we put him on the slide. He seems content enough to let Griffith do it. I don't know whether he thinks that Griff is safe or if he is just waiting for him to hurt himself. I think once Allan is a little more stable with his walking, etc., he'll be right in the middle of things. Like with everything else, you don't get anywhere pushing Allan. He simply refuses to cooperate. It is like pushing string.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
...half-way down....
Griffith loves the slide, but doesn't want to go too fast. He starts off facing forward and then turns himself on to his tummy so that he can slow his progress.
The playset
Two stories with a tunnel, climbing wall, two swings a trapeze bar, clubhouse, slide and sandbox.
The finished project
I realized that I hadn't posted any pictures of the completed playset. I say "completed" but we now have a pirate's wheel, a telescope, a periscope, a teeter-totter and a sandbox cover (not included with the original set) to install. Or, more correctly, Jay does.
Allan's ringlets
I swear we don't do anything to create them. They just curl up like Shirley Temple's.
Fun with Gladware
I don't know why we ever buy toys. Griffith was absolutely happy walking around the house playing with the Gladware. He particularly liked peering through the bottom of the rectangular container.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Mother's Day Weekend 2008
We are closing in on getting the whole update completed (except for the 200 pictures I have taken).
This weekend was pretty restful. Friday night we had a party for a friend who was finishing graduate school. We went to a bbq while Jesana took care of the boys. At home and in bed by 10:30. Saturday we got up to a beautiful day and went to the arts fair downtown. The weather was perfect. We didn't buy anything but we think we are going to get a local artist to do a portrait of the boys. We have several of his works and think it would be fun to have something personalized. Griff and I shared a Polish sausage with onions and peppers (he didn't care for his father's Philly cheese steak.)
Then we came home and Aunt KK came with all sorts of Cubs stuff and a BUBBLE MOWER. (Pictures later.) Griff put in an heroic effort, but Dad had to take him in about 3 for a nap. Big Al passed out on me about 2:30. Kelly headed out and we all napped like Rip Van Winkle. Allan and I got up about 4:30. We made Griff and Dad get up a little after 5. Griffith was absolutely miserable and cried for an hour afterward. We got both of them to sleep after a perfectly blissful evening out on the deck where they played and played and played.
We slept in until about 8 on Mother's Day and Jay and the boys made breakfast. The weather was positively foul so we stayed in and played. Jay went to the grocery so I didn't have to and, for my part, I put the boys down for a nap after lunch. They were such little angels. Allan would not let his brother so to sleep so I had to snuggle him first. Griff went shortly thereafter. I headed out for a 90 minute massage and was completely annoyed to find out upon my return that Allan had only just awakened and that Griff was still asleep. Brats. But I was able to fit in a bubble bath where I read and had a glass of red wine. Then we watched 3 episodes of Ugly Betty before the boys' bedtime (they acted so surprised that the TV still worked!) We were all in bed by 10 last night. Couldn't have been more pleasant.
This weekend was pretty restful. Friday night we had a party for a friend who was finishing graduate school. We went to a bbq while Jesana took care of the boys. At home and in bed by 10:30. Saturday we got up to a beautiful day and went to the arts fair downtown. The weather was perfect. We didn't buy anything but we think we are going to get a local artist to do a portrait of the boys. We have several of his works and think it would be fun to have something personalized. Griff and I shared a Polish sausage with onions and peppers (he didn't care for his father's Philly cheese steak.)
Then we came home and Aunt KK came with all sorts of Cubs stuff and a BUBBLE MOWER. (Pictures later.) Griff put in an heroic effort, but Dad had to take him in about 3 for a nap. Big Al passed out on me about 2:30. Kelly headed out and we all napped like Rip Van Winkle. Allan and I got up about 4:30. We made Griff and Dad get up a little after 5. Griffith was absolutely miserable and cried for an hour afterward. We got both of them to sleep after a perfectly blissful evening out on the deck where they played and played and played.
We slept in until about 8 on Mother's Day and Jay and the boys made breakfast. The weather was positively foul so we stayed in and played. Jay went to the grocery so I didn't have to and, for my part, I put the boys down for a nap after lunch. They were such little angels. Allan would not let his brother so to sleep so I had to snuggle him first. Griff went shortly thereafter. I headed out for a 90 minute massage and was completely annoyed to find out upon my return that Allan had only just awakened and that Griff was still asleep. Brats. But I was able to fit in a bubble bath where I read and had a glass of red wine. Then we watched 3 episodes of Ugly Betty before the boys' bedtime (they acted so surprised that the TV still worked!) We were all in bed by 10 last night. Couldn't have been more pleasant.
The Allan update
We had a busy week with Allan. He had to have an EUA (examination under anaesthesia) on his eyes. As you may recall, we never really fully identified whatever-the-hell it was that was growing in Allan's eye back in November of 2006. He had it removed as well as the cataract that was there. In addition, they took off the calcium (?) deposits that were banding across his eye. He had a contact prescribed which we dutifully put in on a daily basis. In addition, we put drops in his eye because he has glaucoma (high pressure in the eye because of the scarring -- the fluid in his eye doesn't circulate like yours and mine does.) Because he can not be reasoned with, it is exceedingly hard to get a pressure reading on Allan (you know how they numb your eye and put that pokey thing on it when you get an eye exam? Well, try doing that to a toddler. The last time we tried it the doctor commented, my, he has strong eyelids. Tell me about it.) Anyway, to make sure that Allan's pressures are under control, that scarring isn't developing behind his eye, that the band keratopothy isn't recurring and to try to get an accurate prescription for his contact, we have to have an EUA. Which isn't exactly what any one wants to do with any one with Allan's history.
Honest to God, if I have to go through another pre-op anaesthesia consult about how "we may very well kill Allan doing this" I swear to you, I will go manacas.
Anyway, Big Al was a rock star. He didn't fuss or fight, he charmed all of the nurses and docs (naturally) and came through the procedure like a little trouper. The anaethesiologist was pretty funny -- he came to see us post-op and said, "They couldn't quit talking about what great hair he has!" Yes, thank you very much, tell his father to quit fussing about getting it cut.
At the end of the day, the pressures in Allan's eyes are fine. No scarring is developing. No sign of recurrence of band keratophothy, and we have a FAR, FAR different prescription for his contact.
As a side note, let me say that this last bit was sort of a justification. The doc doing the procedure was the one who has hassled me about patching Allan's good eye to strengthen his poor eye. Since Big Al has been making such improvements with his motor development, Jay and I elected not to patch him. For one thing, he doesn't like it and you try to keep him from tearing off a patch. For another, no one can give us much to suggest that he is ever going to have "real" vision in the left eye. Frankly, he is lucky to have light and shadow and every bit helps, but it isn't like he is going to be eligible to be an astronaut if we patch and a ditch digger if we don't. Now, we find out that however many months later, Allan's prescription really wasn't close to what it needs to be (we always knew it was a guess). I am entirely vindicated in my position: can you imagine blinding the kid in his one good eye and then not even getting his bad eye to the point at which its sight is maximized?????
We are now waiting to go back to get a new (200 dollar!) contact. And glasses to protect his good eye.
In other news, Allan is making progress on his oral feeding. We still are relying on his peg to maintain his growth, but he drinks out of a cup better than Griffith does (Griff still refuses to drink any thing other than bathwater from a cup).
Speaking of the peg, Big Al didn't have as great a Derby as the rest of us. About 4:30 a.m. after Derby, he cried. I got up and found him in a pool of formula. At some point between 10:30 and 4:30, the balloon that anchors his peg had burst and the peg had slipped out. It wasn't until he got soaked in formula and cold that he cried, though. Okay, no big. We have re-installed the pegs many times. In fact, this one had been in place less than a week. I tried to stick it back in. No luck. Got Jay up. He tried. No luck. It had already begun the process of growing back together. No kidding. They grow back that fast. So I text Dr. Joe. Ain't no way I am heading to the university ER at that hour on a weekend. Last time we were there we were stuck between two people who had been stabbed. No.Thank.You. Dr. Joe texted and tried to call around 6 (God love him.) But we were all asleep. By the time we hooked up and arranged to meet at the hospital it was nearly 10 a.m. and Allan's peg hole had sealed completely. So Dr. Joe got what looks like an ice pick, only smaller. A resident held Allan's legs. I held his arms and talked in to his ear and two nurses assisted while they basically cut the hole open again and stuck another peg in.
Guess it ain't a party until someone goes to the hospital. Big Al recovered nicely from that indignity, though. And has been a rockstar since.
Honest to God, if I have to go through another pre-op anaesthesia consult about how "we may very well kill Allan doing this" I swear to you, I will go manacas.
Anyway, Big Al was a rock star. He didn't fuss or fight, he charmed all of the nurses and docs (naturally) and came through the procedure like a little trouper. The anaethesiologist was pretty funny -- he came to see us post-op and said, "They couldn't quit talking about what great hair he has!" Yes, thank you very much, tell his father to quit fussing about getting it cut.
At the end of the day, the pressures in Allan's eyes are fine. No scarring is developing. No sign of recurrence of band keratophothy, and we have a FAR, FAR different prescription for his contact.
As a side note, let me say that this last bit was sort of a justification. The doc doing the procedure was the one who has hassled me about patching Allan's good eye to strengthen his poor eye. Since Big Al has been making such improvements with his motor development, Jay and I elected not to patch him. For one thing, he doesn't like it and you try to keep him from tearing off a patch. For another, no one can give us much to suggest that he is ever going to have "real" vision in the left eye. Frankly, he is lucky to have light and shadow and every bit helps, but it isn't like he is going to be eligible to be an astronaut if we patch and a ditch digger if we don't. Now, we find out that however many months later, Allan's prescription really wasn't close to what it needs to be (we always knew it was a guess). I am entirely vindicated in my position: can you imagine blinding the kid in his one good eye and then not even getting his bad eye to the point at which its sight is maximized?????
We are now waiting to go back to get a new (200 dollar!) contact. And glasses to protect his good eye.
In other news, Allan is making progress on his oral feeding. We still are relying on his peg to maintain his growth, but he drinks out of a cup better than Griffith does (Griff still refuses to drink any thing other than bathwater from a cup).
Speaking of the peg, Big Al didn't have as great a Derby as the rest of us. About 4:30 a.m. after Derby, he cried. I got up and found him in a pool of formula. At some point between 10:30 and 4:30, the balloon that anchors his peg had burst and the peg had slipped out. It wasn't until he got soaked in formula and cold that he cried, though. Okay, no big. We have re-installed the pegs many times. In fact, this one had been in place less than a week. I tried to stick it back in. No luck. Got Jay up. He tried. No luck. It had already begun the process of growing back together. No kidding. They grow back that fast. So I text Dr. Joe. Ain't no way I am heading to the university ER at that hour on a weekend. Last time we were there we were stuck between two people who had been stabbed. No.Thank.You. Dr. Joe texted and tried to call around 6 (God love him.) But we were all asleep. By the time we hooked up and arranged to meet at the hospital it was nearly 10 a.m. and Allan's peg hole had sealed completely. So Dr. Joe got what looks like an ice pick, only smaller. A resident held Allan's legs. I held his arms and talked in to his ear and two nurses assisted while they basically cut the hole open again and stuck another peg in.
Guess it ain't a party until someone goes to the hospital. Big Al recovered nicely from that indignity, though. And has been a rockstar since.
Allan Jude !!!
Allan can be right smart of a pain. If he doesn't want to eat, then he swats at the cup. He is always the first one to stand up in the bath. His brother, for his part, encourages this bad behavior by laughing whenever we get after Allan. I didn't realize that when Allan misbehaves, I tend to call him by his full name, Allan Jude, until Griffith started laughing after I said it and then would say "JUUUUUDDDE !!!"
Me: "Allan Jude, ON YOUR BOTTOM !!!!"
Allan:
Griffith:"JUUUUUDDDDE!!!!"
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
My children are incorrigible.
Me: "Allan Jude, ON YOUR BOTTOM !!!!"
Allan:
Griffith:
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
My children are incorrigible.
Still playing catch up....
We are really far behind, I can hardly believe it.
Well, Derby came and went and we had a great time. It was not like the days of old. We had a houseful (and more) but, by my count, it was a little more than 50 "people" (adults) and about 30 kids under the age of 8. No joke.
I took off about noon the day before Derby to finish off preparations. Unfortunately Mother Nature had other plans. Right about the time I left work, the clouds rolled in and the wind kicked up. Undaunted I headed in to Meijer to pick up supplies. By the time I left the biggest drops of rain you can imagine were beginning to pelt down. Naturally I did not have an umbrella. And, naturally, I couldn't find the damned car in the parking lot. And when I did find the car, the bag on top of the cart (imagine the Jobs heading for California and you will have an idea of how much crap I had piled and how high) caught a gust of wind and blew off. Spilling the cherry tomatoes I had just bought for the veggie tray. Crap. Now I have a dilemma. Leave the damned things there or pick them up. What difference does it make. I'm going to wash them anyway, right? And it isn't like I am going back in the effing store to buy more. So there I am, in the parking lot, scraping up cherry tomatoes in the driving rain. These are the lengths I go to to insure a successful party, people. (And for all of you who at the tomatoes: 1) I ate them, too and 2) I washed them thoroughly;3) you get what you pay; 4) alcohol kills most things; and 5) the human immune system is an amazing thing.)
Derby Day did not dawn much better although every one kept saying the bad weather would blow on through by two. Jay spent the balance of the morning stringing a zip line in the back yard with fairy lights. Which were lovely. Of course, at 4, with 90 people arriving in 30 minutes we still did not have the three things that I had asked him to acquire: beer, burgers and buns. Four twenty, people. I am telling you that at 4:20 he showed up with the keg, burgers and buns. Then he headed upstairs for a shower.
Fortunately, the in-laws were here to help with the garden (although I thought I was going to have to wrest the drill from Phillip who was hell-bent on making sure that the hanging baskets were equi-distant from each other. Man, we are shoveling sh*t against the tide, just EYE-ball it.) True to form, though, our friends showed up with more food and alcohol than we needed and proceeded to make themselves at home. Which is what we wanted. We had hoped to have another TV out on the deck but the rain put us way behind on that project. Still, no one really seemed to care. The Inordinatly Large Playset was finished and was HUGE success (I realized earlier today that I don't have a photo of the completed project.) Suffice it to say that there was an assembly line of children climbing up, over and around. Vivian absconded with all of the cups from the keg and organized all of the other children in making terrariums (terrariae ??) There were still kids sliding down at about 10:30. (Honest to God, who do these kids belong to ?) The first people arrived about 4:30. The last left about 12:30. We need to do it again soon. But not TOO soon.
Grandma and Grampy seemed to have a good visit. Griff learned to say something that sounded like "Dampy" which I chose to believe was a combination of "damned" and "Grampy" -- can't imagine where he might have heard that ! The boys really seemed to take to having Grandma and Grampy around.
Well, Derby came and went and we had a great time. It was not like the days of old. We had a houseful (and more) but, by my count, it was a little more than 50 "people" (adults) and about 30 kids under the age of 8. No joke.
I took off about noon the day before Derby to finish off preparations. Unfortunately Mother Nature had other plans. Right about the time I left work, the clouds rolled in and the wind kicked up. Undaunted I headed in to Meijer to pick up supplies. By the time I left the biggest drops of rain you can imagine were beginning to pelt down. Naturally I did not have an umbrella. And, naturally, I couldn't find the damned car in the parking lot. And when I did find the car, the bag on top of the cart (imagine the Jobs heading for California and you will have an idea of how much crap I had piled and how high) caught a gust of wind and blew off. Spilling the cherry tomatoes I had just bought for the veggie tray. Crap. Now I have a dilemma. Leave the damned things there or pick them up. What difference does it make. I'm going to wash them anyway, right? And it isn't like I am going back in the effing store to buy more. So there I am, in the parking lot, scraping up cherry tomatoes in the driving rain. These are the lengths I go to to insure a successful party, people. (And for all of you who at the tomatoes: 1) I ate them, too and 2) I washed them thoroughly;3) you get what you pay; 4) alcohol kills most things; and 5) the human immune system is an amazing thing.)
Derby Day did not dawn much better although every one kept saying the bad weather would blow on through by two. Jay spent the balance of the morning stringing a zip line in the back yard with fairy lights. Which were lovely. Of course, at 4, with 90 people arriving in 30 minutes we still did not have the three things that I had asked him to acquire: beer, burgers and buns. Four twenty, people. I am telling you that at 4:20 he showed up with the keg, burgers and buns. Then he headed upstairs for a shower.
Fortunately, the in-laws were here to help with the garden (although I thought I was going to have to wrest the drill from Phillip who was hell-bent on making sure that the hanging baskets were equi-distant from each other. Man, we are shoveling sh*t against the tide, just EYE-ball it.) True to form, though, our friends showed up with more food and alcohol than we needed and proceeded to make themselves at home. Which is what we wanted. We had hoped to have another TV out on the deck but the rain put us way behind on that project. Still, no one really seemed to care. The Inordinatly Large Playset was finished and was HUGE success (I realized earlier today that I don't have a photo of the completed project.) Suffice it to say that there was an assembly line of children climbing up, over and around. Vivian absconded with all of the cups from the keg and organized all of the other children in making terrariums (terrariae ??) There were still kids sliding down at about 10:30. (Honest to God, who do these kids belong to ?) The first people arrived about 4:30. The last left about 12:30. We need to do it again soon. But not TOO soon.
Grandma and Grampy seemed to have a good visit. Griff learned to say something that sounded like "Dampy" which I chose to believe was a combination of "damned" and "Grampy" -- can't imagine where he might have heard that ! The boys really seemed to take to having Grandma and Grampy around.
I love cheesy poofs!
Griff loves Cheetos cheese puffs, but can't stand to have the orange cheese stuff on his fingers. He eats a puff and then wipes his hands on his (new, white) shirt.
Miss Flora and Big Al
Miss Flora stopped by to see Grandma and Grampy and get a snuggle from her boys.
Attack of the Griffith
So Jay has been playing this fun game where Griffith climbs up behind him in the chair and Jay crushes him. This is all very well and good except when Jay is trying to feed Allan.
Butting in to Dad
Literally. Griffith is trying to move his father out of the way so that he can climb down the rock wall. Which is a little advanced at the moment.
We have since put bungee cords up to prevent his escape. For the moment.
Playing catch up
What with the Derby party and the in-laws and the holiday weekend, I have been remiss in updating the blog. I am attempting to catch up, but there's a limit to what I can do. For one thing, I have to work (an annoying necessity). For another, there is a literal block on blogspot that makes it really inconvenient to add additional posts once you hit a certain number within 24 hours.
I am going to post as many photos as I can while still working, but there will be little text, probably. (No one is really interested in what I have to say anyway!)
I am going to post as many photos as I can while still working, but there will be little text, probably. (No one is really interested in what I have to say anyway!)
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