Fixed

I temporarily fixed the blog.  Not sure what happened.  I think I’m going to toss the St. Patty’s day theme and go with spring.  I don’t like the picture of the kids at the top and I don’t like any of the St. Patrick’s day themed backgrounds.  Maybe I’m just frustrated with technology at the moment…I’m struggling to get familiar with Windows 7.

Is my blog messed up?

Anyone else see my blog messed up? My background appears to be fine, but all my columns are shoved to the left (at least on Christopher's computer). We are upgrading to Windows 7 and we seem to be having some technical difficulties.

Crying over spilled milk

We are still working on drinking out of cups.  They both still play in the cups and Cooper particularly likes to put food in his drink and then drink it all together (gross).  Charlotte is clumsy and doesn’t seem to understand that when she shakes the cup or tilts the cup, the liquid spills.  Here she is crying over spilled milk.

At least she is also a good little helper and loves to help clean up!

Charlotte loves all the tools and likes to ‘fix’ things.

Cooper is very nurturing to all the baby dolls and stuffed animals.

Giving Elmo loves.

Attacking the dog with blankets.  Scout loves to be under blankets and then wrestle to get out from under them.  She also likes to play tug of war with them.  The kids have realized this is fun….although I don’t think Scout likes to be attacked by TWO of them!

Charlotte is learning to climb better, and now she climbs onto the sofa table and then jumps onto the couch.  This means lots of bruises and fat lips for her.  I like how she looks like a little baby Tarzan here.  I also like that Cooper is in the background getting into something on the counter that he shouldn’t.

Favorite new blog

Seriously this going to turn into one of my favorite new blogs.  And it might just get Chris interested in wood working again!  (I’m sure my father-in-law will also very much enjoy this blog.)

Here’s what drew me in:

See these book cases?  Beautiful, right?  The price however is a bit much for bookcases, especially when IKEA is down the street.  Just one of them costs $400 from Land of Nod.  (Photo from Land of Nod.)

What if you could build one of these bookcases with easy to follow plans for only $50?  Sounds like a great deal right?  Well you see, Knock Off Wood provides you with those plans!!  What a great blog!!

Food Choices

Our two children LOVE yogurt.  They would eat it at every meal if we let them.  If they don’t eat well for dinner we often offer some yogurt with baby oatmeal mixed in to help fill them up a bit and get some nutrients in their bellies.  I came across a new product, Horizon’s Little Blends.  It’s yogurt with a serving of fruit and a serving of veggies.  Great for your picky eaters!

Look how chunky Charlotte is getting again.  She looks like a mini body builder here.

Cooper is sick today.  He’s running a fever and has a terrible cough.  Hopefully he feels better soon (and the rest of us don’t get too sick)!  I guess the new activities outside the house are exposing them to all sorts of germs.  Good immune system building.

(I am changing up the blog a bit, but seem to be running into some errors.  I’ll see if I can get some of my features back without screwing things up too much.)

 

She calls me momma!

Charlotte finally calls me momma!!!  It is the best sound since hearing them laugh the first time.  She is so cute with it too.  She will say ‘Momma!’ and I’ll turn around and she’ll smile and then say ‘hi’.  It is so, so cute.

Chris takes the kids to My Gym every Thursday afternoon for open play time.  Charlotte has found a little friend, Annabella (I know, ironic that’s her name).  Apparently she looks for her every time they go, and then spends time playing ball with her.  This is really great progress for her because with  her behavioral delays we were concerned that she wasn’t seeking out other children (not even really Cooper) to interact or play with them.  Cooper apparently seeks out all the attractive moms and flirts with them by smiling at them and hugging them.  If Chris was single, Cooper could easily find him a date.

Charlotte’s therapy has been finalized.  She will have behavioral and occupational therapy on Monday for 2 hours.  Then she’ll have speech on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for an hour.  Then she gets another hour of occupational/behavioral therapy on Wednesdays, half of which is with either Chris or I.  She’s already made so much progress with therapy so we are looking forward to how much this additional therapy will help her.

Charlotte is now also leaving with her therapist all by herself, rather than Chris and Cooper spending 5-15 min with her.  Instead the therapist has her say goodbye and then heads off to the therapy room.  Chris said it was heartbreaking to have her reaching for him and crying, but the therapist said she only cried a bit for 30 sec and then whined a tiny bit for a few minutes.

Mr. Safety

Cooper either really loves buckles or he is obsessed with safety.  At the play gym he makes us buckle his belt before he allows us to push him the swing.  When he gets in the stroller we have to buckle him in right away.  When we put him in his carseat we have to buckle him in before we give him his snack and drink.

This series is expanded from the helmet picture on the photo blog.  I love how it shows that he has to put the helmet on in order to ride the scooter.  We are 75% sure we are getting him a toddler scooter (and helmet!) for his birthday (which we also think we’ll have to get Charlotte one for Cooper’s birthday).  (These are unedited…you can see where I was trying to get my settings right with some of them being blown out and some of them looking okay.)

And here are some of the other photos from the park with the beach.  We asked him, ‘Where’s the boat?’

This was Charlotte’s answer:

Again with the safety (or maybe just the buckles). 

This was a few minutes before he decided to go in the water by himself.  I’m pretty sure he thought it was just a big puddle.

Charlotte and daddy going on walk

Pointing out momma and Cooper

Dog Pile Mommy

Cooper thinks it’s cute to pinch cheeks.  This is what happens when I get home…dog pile mommy!

Eating apples with daddy

Charlotte calls me mama now!! I LOVE it!

Progress

I feel like I’ve been neglecting this blog because I’ve been having so much fun with the photoblog.  At least you are still getting updates about us though!  So here’s a progress report:

Charlotte’s therapy

Charlotte will be getting 5 hours of total therapy a week for speech, behavior, occupational, and physical.  Approximately 30 min a week will be therapy between a parent and Charlotte to help teach us how to help  more at home.   We are noticing how many more sounds she is making and how much she is really attempting to say more words.  Her speech therapist today also noted that she is finally mimicking different sounds as well.  Yay for progress!!!

Potty Training

Charlotte is showing zero interest in potty training.  Cooper seems to be training himself.  He rarely wants to wear a diaper, lets us know when he has to go to the bathroom, and prefers to poop in the toilet.  We don’t always get to the bathroom in time, so we still have accidents, but the kid is obsessed with sitting on the potty.  We’re not pushing it with either of them and it seems to be happening naturally.

Our upcoming move

I had a phone conference with my potential new boss and his supervisor.  The call went well and they seemed to really like me (and my answers to their questions).  I enjoyed talking to them and I think they would be great to work with. 

The one thing that came up that could become a big issue and prevent us from moving is the expected work hours.  They point blank asked me how comfortable I was working 11-12 hour days, five days a week.  I point blank told them I wasn’t capable of working more than 40-45 hours a week and if there wasn’t any room to find efficiency in the job, then I wasn’t the right candidate.  I told them we would probably both be frustrated by the situation.

The good news is that they are now considering reorganizing the group and breaking the position into two roles to accommodate my request.  This is a big deal.  I think the VP of Worldwide Engineering really is serious about making these types of positions work for younger people and particularly for women.  (I’ll be the first woman supervisor to take an international assignment.  They don’t even have a maternity leave policy, so I’ve asked them to write one up…basically I would get 12 weeks leave, with half or 2/3 of it paid at 100% salary depending on the amount of time on disability.)

The other issue that has come up is the cost of Charlotte’s therapy.  It costs about $100/hr for therapy there and if she needs 5 hours, that’s $2000/month.  If we have to travel outside of the country, or send someone out to get special training, the cost goes higher.  I’ve requested that the company help offset this cost through the educational reimbursement policy, since we currently get the services for free through the state.  It doesn’t make sense to take the assignment and have to a good portion of our financial bonus to pay for Charlotte’s services, when we can just stay here and get them for free.  The company seems open to the request and is willing to work with me.

The next step is more waiting.  Waiting to hear back on all the issues and the changes the other business unit needs to make.  Then schedule my site visit, which I’ll probably have less than a week notice of when I’ll be going.  That will be so crazy since it’s a 23 hour flight, plus a 12 hour time difference.  I have to go a couple days early just so I can adjust a bit to the local time.  Lunchtime for them is way past bedtime for me!  I expect to go on the trip around the end of the month.

And for fun…here are some pictures that didn’t make the cut on the photoblog!

Cooper concentrating on making a mad face Cooper’s alternate sad face with an attempt not to smile

Charlotte’s alternate sad/pouting face

Just sit and think (Blue’s Clues) Cooper is loving his frozen veggies 

And this is what happens when you make him put them in the microwave

Eating sherbert

Request

I put a lot of personal stuff on the internet.  With Facebook, Twitter, various message boards I frequent, my two blogs, email, our Shutterfly site and few other places I’m probably forgetting.  I just ask that everyone who reads the blogs and has access to pictures and personal information to use this data in an appropriate manner.  Please do not deface my photos, take credit for something that isn’t yours, and especially use anything to promote racism, sexual content, or in any other offensive way.  If this happens again, I will delete all blogs, my Facebook page, our Shutterfly site, and I will severely limit access to pictures.

The Shutterfly site has been updated.  Holy heck of a lot of pictures!  Enjoy!

Sleeping in the buff

Last night we dressed Cooper in his Handy Manny separates pajamas.  He fell asleep on his own (which he does regularly now) and he also sleeps through the night (7 pm to 5 or 6 am)—yay!  Anyhow, the point is that he knows how to undress himself when he wears separates versus zip up jammies (we use a safety pin on the zipper otherwise he gets out of those too).

He went to sleep at 7 pm and I went to bed late at 11:30 pm.  I checked the video monitor, and what do I see?  Cooper laying there with no pants, no diaper, holding himself.  Apparently he didn’t fall right to sleep!

Now I had to debate whether to go get him or just let him keep sleeping.  I decided the pee would be a bit much if I didn’t put a diaper on him, so I went in to his room.  I was able to get a diaper on and his pj pants on without him waking up!  Of course there was pee all over the place!  At least he woke up a couple hours later and needed some attention, so Chris changed his bedding and I nursed him a bit.  He fell right back to sleep.  Crazy kid likes to sleep in the buff.

Charlotte had her occupation and physical evaluation.  It was almost 2 hours long and they had her do several types of play and exercise.  She does great at stacking blocks and picking several of them up in her hands.  She is very advanced with playing with a ball since she can even catch a ball.  She eats with utensils very well and properly holds a writing utensil.  This was a big deal since this usually isn’t something a child can do until age 3.

The areas she is behind is getting dressed/undressed (apparently she should be stripping naked like Cooper does all the time), tossing a ball underhand, pretend play (she wouldn’t pretend to stir beans in a bowl, there had to be toy beans for her to show them she could stir), running (she walks fast) and she is weak in her extremities, particularly her upper body.  She is also weaker on her left side than her right side.

The good news is that they don’t think she is far enough behind on any skill to need therapy.  They plan to give us exercises and games to play with her to get her closer to her age and prevent her from falling further behind.  An example is getting her to step on stairs starting with her left foot, doing wheelbarrows and having her walk on her hands, and practicing picking things up using tongs (to strengthen her grip).

The other great news is that they don’t think she is quite as far delayed behaviorally as the originally assessed a couple weeks ago.  They said after spending more time with her during this session, they think she was likely going through a rough patch due to learning more expressive language.  Instead of 6 hours of therapy, we probably will only do 2 or less.

She is also starting to make some significant progress in her speech.  She now says ‘dow’ for down unprompted when she wants down from her booster seat (putting 2 sounds together, plus skipping the whining/crying to get our attention).  She also says ‘daddeee’ when she is done with nap, rather than crying.  She has also started saying ‘daddeee’ at other times to get our attention rather than grunting/whining/tantrums.  She says ‘ohh’ for ‘more’ too (she is supposed to at least get one sound for the word she is attempting to say, so this is progress, especially since she used to not even be able to say ‘oh’).  It feels great to know that she is making progress and she isn’t delayed in every area.  

Hershey’s Chocolate

I was going through the pictures for January trying to clean the folders up so I can upload to shutterfly (not quite done yet) and I came across these.  We sometimes put a tiny bit of chocolate in their milk and I forgot the chocolate on the counter one day.  And since Cooper is so gosh darn tall….

(Notice all the speckles??  That’s all the noise from the old dslr camera!  Loving the new camera even more!)