What's up yours?

A conversation/interaction between James and I 5 minutes ago.

James is the blue and I am the purple.

"Can I see your down things?" (prying at my mouth)
(I stick out my bottom lip)
"No, not your lip."
(I show my teeth)
"Not your teeth." (prying more at my mouth)
(I open my mouth wide like at the dentist)
"WOooW! Those are big!" (looking around in my mouth and then up in my mouth) "Mommy what's up your head?"
"What's up my head?"

"Yeah, in your hair." (tapping on my head)
"My brain."
"Oh, I saw one of those in Spongebob."
"You did??" (Spongebob is not my favorite thing for him to watch)

"Yeah, it was pink, pink, pink!"

Thanksgiving

I love Baer's expression in this one.

We were invited to go to some friends of ours for Thanksgiving but we had plans to have some of our other friends over for Thanksgiving. They ended up going out of town so we had a ton of food for our family of four. Spencer got up with the kids in the morning and I slept in a little. When I got up he and Baer laid down for a nap while I started on dinner. 6 hrs later we had our Thanksgiving dinner and all said what we were thankful for.

Jackie: Such a wonderful family and a wonderful husband who understands me, helps me, and supports me in all that I do (summed up).

Spencer: That we have a house of our own, that we are so blessed to have the opportunity to be here & for him to be able to go to school, a wife who does so much around the house even though he knows it isn't easy (that's really what he said), James who is so smart, and Baer who is so much fun (summed up).

James: "I'm glad that you go to school too." (to Spencer)

Spencer: Why? So you can stay home and be with/play with Mommy every day?

James: Yeah...

Baer: I don't mean to put words in his mouth, but I think he's thankful for yogurt, milk, and a fun family. :)

I had Spencer come help me put the turkey on the serving platter and it was so moist that it was falling off the bone. When we tried to get it onto the platter, the whole rearend came off, so that's how we served it. No carving needed, the meat came right off!

Yes, I did end up going shopping this morning but after I looked through all the ads and decided which was most important to me I decided on just getting up when I woke up. I was pretty sure what I wanted would still be there later.

I have a goal to start running regularly again so this is what I got:

(bear with my cheesiness)

Then I realized that my toenails totally matched my outfit!!

I was SO meant to have this new running outfit! :)

(No comments on the finger-toes)

The End, Thanks for peeking!

The Answer

Click on the link below to see the answer for my last post. If you haven't seen/guessed what it is...go do it before you look at the answer...no cheating!

Click here to see the answer.

Any Guesses?

So...what do you think James got into this time?

(Black on lower lip)

Hint: It's not something you naturally put on your lips

Turn up your volume and pause the music...it's pretty quiet.

I found this video on Spencer's camera when I was uploading the picture on the post below and thought it was pretty cute. Enjoy!

Baer Updates...as promised.

While I was gone in the summer, Spencer gave Baer a bath in the sink and sent me this picture on my phone. I just think he looks so cute sitting and relaxing. He looks like his daddy does in the hot tub.

*Warning: This post is long/journal-like. Read if you want, don't if you don't. Also...grammer will probably be pretty bad, I didn't get much sleep last night.

Okay, where to start...

Well most of you may know parts or all of this but I'm just going to start from the beginning.

When Baer was just brand new we noticed some significant crossing in his eyes. We didn't freak out because James had crossed eyes when he was a baby but his went away after his eyes grew stronger and was able to focus on things better. Baer got older and his eyes didn't uncross so we took him in to see an eye doctor. His doctor confirmed that he does have strabismus (crossing/lazy eye) and nystagmus (shaking/rotating). I'm not sure I spelled those right though :). His doctor told us he'd have to have surgery. We decided to hold off until we had his foot appointment to see if he needed surgery to take off his 6th toe so they could do it at the same time. The foot doctor told us that we needed to wait at least another year because his bones are pretty much cartilage when they are so little and they couldn't tell which toe was the more normal toe. We went into the eye doctor again and she said "I can't explain it" his eyes are changing. Baer's eyes have changed every time we have gone in and are continuing to heal. He may or may not have to have the surgery but at least he doesn't have to right now. He had an MRI to make sure the shaking wasn't from something wrong in his brain and it turned out normal. He had an appointment with CCVI (Children's Center for the Visually Impaired) recently to see if he needed eye therapy and he doesn't qualify so that's good. It means that he can see.

On the other hand, Baer will be 16 months on Monday. He is not crawling, walking, feeding himself, or talking. We were a little concerned but though it might have been because of his vision (which we now know is not true). His pediatrician recommended that we make an appointment with Johnson County Infant/Toddler Service and have them see if he qualified for assistance. When they tested Baer, he was testing anywhere from 3 months to 9 months so he deffinetly qualified. Baer started having an occupational therapist come to our home and she is comming every week now. It sounds like they think he WILL be able to get caught up but that he just needs more attention/help than your average baby at this point in time. I HAVE noticed some progression since he has started the therapy. Johson County Infant/Toddler Service also recommends that Baer sees an early childhood development teacher and a developmental pediatrician. The teacher came for the first time on Monday but pretty much did the same things the OT was doing. We have an appointment for Baer to see the Dev.Ped. but the earliest they could make an appointment for him was in 6 months. I need to call and get him on the waiting list for cancellations.

SO...countless appointments and working with Baer he is finally starting to show some improvement.

HALLOWEEN!!

Our plan for Halloween this year was to go to Whole Foods, trick or treat to the different sections of the store then to come home. Spencer then was going keep Baer and hand out treats while I took James trick or treating. This is what we have done every year we have been in Kansas.

I told Spencer I wanted some pictures before we left so he started taking some pictures of me with the boys since he wasn't wearing his costume. Our friend and neighbor Erika and her daughter Lauren came over for a minute so I had Spencer get a couple with just the kids. Erika offered to take one with Spencer in there too, and I said yes but you'll have to ask Spencer. He knew it was important to me so he reluctantly agreed.

Here is the family picture...it turned out GREAT! Thanks, E!

Erika also go a really cute picture of Baer while we were getting ready for the picture.


Here is the picture of the kids.

Just some cute James moments:

James asked me what Daddy was going to be for Halloween this year. Spencer has been really busy with studying since this is his hardest trimester so he wasn't going to dress up. He was wearing a plaid shirt (see picture) so I told James he was going to be a lumberjack. He was content with that.

When someone asked James what HE was going to be for Halloween he'd say... "A GHOST PIRATE with my Mommy!" and then he'd put his arm around my shoulders (I was crouched down).

James: "Mommy, can I have a piece of candy?"
Mom: "No James...you didn't eat your food"
James: "Yeah, I didn't eat my food all gone so I don't deserve some candy."

Yesterday the neighbors had a garage sale and our friends next door had some fun boy toys. James was very interested so I told him he could get his "money ball" (it's a soccor ball bank) and he could pick something out to buy with his own money. He picked out an 8 or so inch Mustang car, a tool belt with tools and a button that made it talk to you, and a stacking rings (but stars instead of rings that light up and make music) for Baer. He paid $2.25 for all.

Mom: "James do you want __(?)__"
James: "Yes, Mom. I certainly do."

Trick or treating was a pleasure this year with James. Last year I told him to say trick or treat at all the houses but he was too shy half the time and I had to say it for him. This year he got it. He knew after I told him one time that we go to the houses with porch lights on, knock and then stand back so they could open the screen, and when they did to say "trick or treat!". He would see a house with a ton of lights on and say "Can we go to THAT Halloween?" I would say "sure" and then he'd say "OKAY, that would be SO nice". He was very polite and would say "thank you" and when his bucket was getting heavy he would ask "Mommy, can you please take a turn?". He loved seeing all the Halloween decorations and would ask "Mommy, why is that pumpkin mad?" or he would say "That's not a scary pumpkin, it's a nice one". He would also say things like "that's not scary, it's just pretend". James also sang/chanted a song from Dora : "Halloween, Halloween, Trick or Treat, Our costumes can't be beat!!" while we were going to the next place. By the time we went around the block and back to our home his "scary jackolantern" was FULL.

Mom: "You are frustruating me today, James"
James: "Yeah, but that's not nice."
Mom: "Then why are you doing it?"
James: "Because it's my favorite job to do."

Comming up next:
Updates on Baer