Graham has a nurse that comes out to check up on him every 3 months or so. This is part of being discharged from the NICU, that way they can catch any potential issues before they become major issues. I think I am going to ask that we don't have to see her anymore. She comes out here with a chart and if Graham hasn't accomplished the tasks on her chart, she puts a big "F" next to that skill and says "Fail". First of all, Graham was 6 weeks early - you can't expect him to do things that a 9 month old would be doing when he's really only 7 1/2 months old (since preemies develop on track with when they would have been born instead of their actual birth date). Secondly, my son didn't FAIL to do anything. He just hasn't learned how to do it yet, but he will, in his own good time. You can't expect him to pick up a blanket to grab a toy underneath it when he hasn't learned how to use his pincer (finger/thumb) grip yet, for cryin' out loud!
That being said: Graham started crawling on Sunday! He looks so tiny and cute, crawling all around the house, chasing Gabriel and driving him insane! And the week before, he started being able to finger feed himself! That means that we can have cheerios now! yes! Another store-bought food that Graham is NOT allergic to! Its incredible! And, to top all this off, yesterday Troy went into the family room and turned around to me in the kitchen and asked "where is Graham?" I gave him a look like "that's not funny" and said "I just set him down, he's right there" when I came in the room, he was STANDING while holding onto one of the toys. It was too cute, and also too weird. He is way too tiny to be standing up!! Take THAT NICU nurse!
He had his 9 month check up today and here are the numbers: weight 17 lbs, height 26.75". That puts him in the 5th percentile so he's a tiny little guy, but he's healthy and proportional. It is a far cry from Gabriel, who at this age was pushing 26 pounds. We had already turned Gabriel's car seat to forward facing by now because he had outgrown it, and his legs were kicking the back of his seat. The rule is supposed to be 20 pounds AND 1 year of age before they can be forward-facing; we're wondering if Graham will even be 20 pounds by the time he's 1, or if he will have to wait. Maybe we can just put a bunch of clothes on him to pad the scales...
It is time for me to say good night, but not before I tell the latest, most hilarious stories of my kids:
Every night before he goes to bed, Gabriel cleans up his toys. He has the option of having a good attitude and doing it nicely with mommy's and daddy's help, or he can have a bad attitude and do it all by himself. Last night as he was cleaning up, he looks at me and says "mommy - these are Graham's toys. Gabriel didn't play with them. Not fair. Gabriel not pick up" I agreed- "You're right... Graham got those toys out, I will clean those up." How smart is he??
Today, we were playing nicely in the family room, Gabriel had his new train set out, and Graham was entertained by something silly, when he noticed the trains. Gabriel kept trying to keep his brother away from his train set and I heard what I am sure will be the theme to the rest of my life "that's mine! No Graham! Mommy! Graham touches my trains!" I intervened with "Gabriel, why dont' you move your trains into the playroom so Graham can't get them?" "OK" A few minutes later, I notice that Gabriel's relocation has not escaped his brother's attention. Off Graham goes into the playroom. I watch over the back of the couch to see what will happen. "Graham! No! That's mine! Here, you can play with a boat." I am so proud, Gabriel solved it all on his own! No screaming or anything! Ah. Life is good.
PS - dinner tonight was bbq chicken sandwiches from the crockpot, and I made the buns myself! Look out, Betty Crocker!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Is it over yet??
Wow. Let me just take a deep cleansing breath. As I bid farewell to 2008 and am bracing myself for 2009 - a year in which I will be the mother of a 1 year old AND a 3 year old and take our first BIG family vacation with just us and the boys - I am put in mind of our Sunday School lesson from this past week. We were asked three questions:
1. What are some of the blessings of 2008?
2. What was an unexpected blessing of 2008?
3. What is something from 2008 that you need to put behind you in order to prepare for 2009?
Here were my answers:
1. Too many to list, but I can try. My health, my children, Troy, Graham's birth, hospitals, nurses and doctors (we saw a lot of them this year), health insurance, family and friends, sales, our church family, playgroup, gas prices dropping, working from home...
2. Well, our biggest surprise this year was Graham's birth - not Graham himself, we knew he was coming in August of '07, but just the circumstances around his birth. It really seemed like nothing was going right, and I was getting so frustrated. Then one day, as I was scrubbing up to go into the NICU to see my baby, one of the nurses said "I am so sorry that he is here" and it just stopped me for a second. I know her thought was that she was sorry that we were experiencing all that we were, and that she wished that we were able to go home with a happy, healthy little guy, but I just looked at her and said "I'm not, the doctors are here, and he needs help. I'm glad he's able to get it." A realization that I made recently was that even 100 years ago, neither Gabriel nor I would have survived his birth - he was turned around and his cord was around his neck; and had it not been for the wonderful health care professionals in our country, Graham would not have survived long after his birth. I am thankful to be an American, to live in a place where of course they would take him to the NICU and be able to care for him until I could take him home. Where they would make accomodations for me to stay in the hospital until my baby could come home with me, and where the nurses cared so much for us that they genuinely were sad that they had to care for us because of our situation.
3. Is a bit personal, and I don't think I'll share it on here, but it is great food for thought. What have you been holding onto that you should let go of so that you can start your New Year on the right foot? Jealousy? Anger? Frustration? Past hurts? Control issues? I think I can say yes to all of those myself. In a very poignant moment, our Sunday School teacher had us write all these things down and nail them onto a huge cross in the middle of our Sunday School room. I don't have to worry about carrying all that nonsense around and being burdened by it any more. He did what I will never be able to do - get rid of those sins and make me a perfect child of God.
1. What are some of the blessings of 2008?
2. What was an unexpected blessing of 2008?
3. What is something from 2008 that you need to put behind you in order to prepare for 2009?
Here were my answers:
1. Too many to list, but I can try. My health, my children, Troy, Graham's birth, hospitals, nurses and doctors (we saw a lot of them this year), health insurance, family and friends, sales, our church family, playgroup, gas prices dropping, working from home...
2. Well, our biggest surprise this year was Graham's birth - not Graham himself, we knew he was coming in August of '07, but just the circumstances around his birth. It really seemed like nothing was going right, and I was getting so frustrated. Then one day, as I was scrubbing up to go into the NICU to see my baby, one of the nurses said "I am so sorry that he is here" and it just stopped me for a second. I know her thought was that she was sorry that we were experiencing all that we were, and that she wished that we were able to go home with a happy, healthy little guy, but I just looked at her and said "I'm not, the doctors are here, and he needs help. I'm glad he's able to get it." A realization that I made recently was that even 100 years ago, neither Gabriel nor I would have survived his birth - he was turned around and his cord was around his neck; and had it not been for the wonderful health care professionals in our country, Graham would not have survived long after his birth. I am thankful to be an American, to live in a place where of course they would take him to the NICU and be able to care for him until I could take him home. Where they would make accomodations for me to stay in the hospital until my baby could come home with me, and where the nurses cared so much for us that they genuinely were sad that they had to care for us because of our situation.
3. Is a bit personal, and I don't think I'll share it on here, but it is great food for thought. What have you been holding onto that you should let go of so that you can start your New Year on the right foot? Jealousy? Anger? Frustration? Past hurts? Control issues? I think I can say yes to all of those myself. In a very poignant moment, our Sunday School teacher had us write all these things down and nail them onto a huge cross in the middle of our Sunday School room. I don't have to worry about carrying all that nonsense around and being burdened by it any more. He did what I will never be able to do - get rid of those sins and make me a perfect child of God.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Random Chatter
I can't believe that it is December 20th already. Where has the year gone?? I am enjoying a few minutes to myself before I go and join Troy in an Xbox game of Gears of War 2 and kick some alien butt, and I am trying to think what all happened in the last 12 months. It is all just a blur! Graham was born, and then Gabriel turned 2 and then it seems like here we are in December! Ha ha, 'mom mind' - I can't think of anything but the kids! Okay, here is a genuine effort to talk about something else:
...
...
...
Just kidding! I can think of something, I swear... give me a minute...
OKAY! here it is: So, my TV broke down in August (so sad! as it was a 57" and you just don't run out and replace those!) so we have been without TV since then. It was in a repair shop, and after they told me that I was stupid, and then cussed Troy out on the phone AFTER having out TV in their shop for 3 months and not doing anything to it or ordering parts, we had it returned. Then it was picked up by someone else, who was able to fix it 2 weeks later. Just as they turned it on to check it before returning it to us, a picture tube blew. FYI there are 4 of these in the TV, and it was going to cost $400 to repair this one that broke. Then he told me, "um... Mrs. Coleman? I'm sorry to tell you but the other three are about to go, too..." Cha-ching! $1600 just for those tubes, on top of the $600 for the labor they already put into the thing... so $2200 to get our old TV back? No way. Troy and I said, almost unanimously, "keep it". We moved the old TV into the family room, hooked it up to the satellite and hello! We have channels! We had only been able to watch movies on this one before, but now that it is on the satellite, we can change channels! It is wonderful. We are supposed to be getting the house ready for my parents to arrive tomorrow afternoon for a visit, and here we are staring at this thing like we had never seen a 'moving picture' before. Troy and I just started laughing. I was thinking "ug! Look. Picture. Move. Big magic. Good." Gabriel wanted to go outside to play, which we did, but not before I said "No. Inside. Good. Outside. Bad!" Ha ha! So, the house is a mess, the kids are asleep (perfect time to pick up the house) and what are we doing? vegging out infront of the magic box in the family room. Too funny.
I did break that up with reading some today though - it has started to get a little more calm around the house now that Graham is able to play with Gabriel more and more. I had started reading The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan a few years ago, and am happy to say that in the past few months, I have finished the 3rd and started the 4th book! Yes! Only 9 more to go! (Can you believe there are 13 books in this series? And sadly, the author died shortly before completing the last book!) So, I have been caught up in the adventures of Rand, Perrin, Mat, Egwene, Elayne, Nynaeve, Lan, Moiraine, Aviendha, Gaul, Faile and the others. If you are into the fantasy novels, you should definitely check these out. But be careful. They're addictive! Troy wanted to name Graham (before we had picked out his real name) 'Rand', I agreed and for awhile, he was going to be Rand Allan Coleman. He was also pushing for the name Joiya for a girl, but now that I know that she is one of the 'bad guys' I don't think that will ever happen.
I am trying to get together our Christmas newsletter - can you believe that Christmas is only 4 days away and I still have some newsletters to send out? Talk about being behind the ball! I had to go out today to ship off a Christmas gift, too! It was funny, I also bought a book of stamps, and the girl asked me "do you want nutcrackers or Madonna and Child?" My first thought was "why on earth would I want Madonna on my Christmas stamps? That's just weird!"
Well, I think I have relaxed sufficiently for now, and so off I go to defend earth as Dom, a Gear who is looking for his wife Maria, which the Locust (aliens) have abducted along with hundreds of others. But there is something more sinister behind these simple abductions... and I am about to uncover their evil plot...
...
...
...
Just kidding! I can think of something, I swear... give me a minute...
OKAY! here it is: So, my TV broke down in August (so sad! as it was a 57" and you just don't run out and replace those!) so we have been without TV since then. It was in a repair shop, and after they told me that I was stupid, and then cussed Troy out on the phone AFTER having out TV in their shop for 3 months and not doing anything to it or ordering parts, we had it returned. Then it was picked up by someone else, who was able to fix it 2 weeks later. Just as they turned it on to check it before returning it to us, a picture tube blew. FYI there are 4 of these in the TV, and it was going to cost $400 to repair this one that broke. Then he told me, "um... Mrs. Coleman? I'm sorry to tell you but the other three are about to go, too..." Cha-ching! $1600 just for those tubes, on top of the $600 for the labor they already put into the thing... so $2200 to get our old TV back? No way. Troy and I said, almost unanimously, "keep it". We moved the old TV into the family room, hooked it up to the satellite and hello! We have channels! We had only been able to watch movies on this one before, but now that it is on the satellite, we can change channels! It is wonderful. We are supposed to be getting the house ready for my parents to arrive tomorrow afternoon for a visit, and here we are staring at this thing like we had never seen a 'moving picture' before. Troy and I just started laughing. I was thinking "ug! Look. Picture. Move. Big magic. Good." Gabriel wanted to go outside to play, which we did, but not before I said "No. Inside. Good. Outside. Bad!" Ha ha! So, the house is a mess, the kids are asleep (perfect time to pick up the house) and what are we doing? vegging out infront of the magic box in the family room. Too funny.
I did break that up with reading some today though - it has started to get a little more calm around the house now that Graham is able to play with Gabriel more and more. I had started reading The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan a few years ago, and am happy to say that in the past few months, I have finished the 3rd and started the 4th book! Yes! Only 9 more to go! (Can you believe there are 13 books in this series? And sadly, the author died shortly before completing the last book!) So, I have been caught up in the adventures of Rand, Perrin, Mat, Egwene, Elayne, Nynaeve, Lan, Moiraine, Aviendha, Gaul, Faile and the others. If you are into the fantasy novels, you should definitely check these out. But be careful. They're addictive! Troy wanted to name Graham (before we had picked out his real name) 'Rand', I agreed and for awhile, he was going to be Rand Allan Coleman. He was also pushing for the name Joiya for a girl, but now that I know that she is one of the 'bad guys' I don't think that will ever happen.
I am trying to get together our Christmas newsletter - can you believe that Christmas is only 4 days away and I still have some newsletters to send out? Talk about being behind the ball! I had to go out today to ship off a Christmas gift, too! It was funny, I also bought a book of stamps, and the girl asked me "do you want nutcrackers or Madonna and Child?" My first thought was "why on earth would I want Madonna on my Christmas stamps? That's just weird!"
Well, I think I have relaxed sufficiently for now, and so off I go to defend earth as Dom, a Gear who is looking for his wife Maria, which the Locust (aliens) have abducted along with hundreds of others. But there is something more sinister behind these simple abductions... and I am about to uncover their evil plot...
Thanksgiving Revisited
It was great! we had so much fun! There were horses and llamas to feed carrots to, a lake with ducks, it snowed on Thanksgiving day just as we were sitting down for lunch - you couldn't have asked for a more perfect vacation! The boys were great on the trip there and back - I never had to go sit in the back seat even! They were perfectly content to play back there by themselves, in fact, we didn't even turn the DVD player on until we were about an hour away from Tucson on the way home! It was amazing, and has completely given me hope that our family vacation to San Diego in the spring will go smoothly! We are planning on being out there for a few days and hitting the zoo, the beach and Sea World. Although - I can't decide between Sea World and the Aquarium. Tough call, but I have some time to think about it, I guess.
HOLD THE PHONE!!
He did it! Gabriel finally said "mommy"! I have been waiting 2 years (and change) to hear that word, and it finally happened! And it was a legitimate "mommy", not our rendition of the word, where Troy and I have to act as interpreters or anything, it was there! For those of you not up on this little quirk in our lives, Gabriel has never said the 'm' sound. It was always a 'b'. The cow says 'boo', and can he have 'bore' 'bilk' please? 'Bo?' Ok. It was cute, and endearing and all that, but I was tired of it! I wanted to hear my son call me mommy more than anything in the world. It happened as we were rushing to Target for yet another thing we forgot before heading to the White Mountains for Thanksgiving. I had Graham in the cart, and Gabriel and Troy were walking a ways behind me when I hear "mommy! Wait!" I kept going, because I didn't hear "bobby! wait!" which is what I am used to. Then it registered - that was Gabriel's voice! No way! So, being the naturally trusting and caring mother that I am, I ignored him to see if he would do it again! And he did. I will be honest - I started crying right there in Target. People were looking at me like I was insane (probably the same look on your face as you're reading this?) but it doesn't matter. My son said my name, and it was awesome!
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