Monsters and Moments - Life in the Sellers House

Oh, my......!

2012-01-25T18:45:00.000-08:00

Sam, on the verge of turning 3, never ceases to crack us up with the things he says.

A couple weeks ago, he and Gavin were engaged in the nightly Battle. (Click here if you missed the post about this new activity in our house).

Gavin hit him in the fave with the Nerf weapon (no worries, softly and painlessly).

It was kind of his lower cheek.

Upon impact, Sam grasped his face and yelled:

OH, my NUTS!!!!!!!!!!!

This phrase is used all too frequently by the little monsters. But usually it's used in context appropriately.

It was a moment that you didn't want to encourage, but couldn't help but laugh.

Monsters. Moments.

Exceeding Expectations

2012-01-20T08:14:00.000-08:00

Just got back from my weekly volunteer session, administering spelling tests in Gavin's classroom. The teacher has been working on district assessments, and was so excited to show me Gavin's results on his reading.

Little background - starting in Kindergarten, they are put into reading levels based on the alphabet - starting with letter A, and they progress up throughout the year(s). By the end of 2nd grade, they are expected to be reading at level M. Right before break, Gavin was bringing home level L books, so we knew he was on track for the end of the year.

This morning she showed me that he tested at Level N, so she is going to start him on Level O books! This is not only testing fluid reading skills, but comprehension, structure of the information, etc. Gavin has been a fair reader, but for a long time he was just reading words on a page. Comprehension was lagging. Now that this seems to have caught up, this means great things for him, because comprehension is critical to all areas of academics.

Plus that means that he has already EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS for the year in reading! Trimester assessments are based on a 1-4 scale, 3 being "at grade level", 4 - "exceeding", 2 - "progressing", and 1 - not sure but you're at risk if you get a 1.

She also said that he had done really well one his double digit addition and subtraction assessments and that he has "been working so hard at math".

And you know what I am most proud of? Not just the accomplishments, but the genuine excitement and pride that I see on his teacher's face when she tells me these things. Gavin has this quality that just endears him to every teacher he's had. Knowing that they really care about him and are rooting for him and every bit as proud of his successes as I am - well that says a lot about both his character and the quality of teachers that we are lucky to have had so far.

Gavin has come a long way - Kindergarten we had a lot of 2's, 1st grade he was pretty avg with lots of 3's and some 2's in comprehension areas, and it looks like this year we will be seeing some 4's on the report card.

A tip for parents (whether you are dealing with a kid with potential issues in school or not) - one of the things I think has been critical in helping Gavin's success in school, has been making a connection with the teacher right away at the beginning of the school year. Gavin doesn't have any defining issues, but I did go into Kindergarten with serious concerns - not knowing the full effect of prematurity on his ability to learn, concerns over how young he was for his grade. I made those known right away to his teacher so she could keep an eye out and report back to me any red flags. I think teachers are more willing/able to spend that extra time to reach out to a parent 1:1 if they know they have a parent receptive to hearing the concerns that they see, and parents that are willing to work together with the teacher to find a solution. I think there are too many times that parents don't want to think it's their kid with the problem and want to just blame the teacher. Letting them know you want to hear what's going on in the classroom and drive towards a solution is key. I've just continued to do that with each new teacher, but with each year I have a little more information about specifically what areas may be of concern and what to continue to watch out for.

Sharing Gavin's story helps I'm sure. We all like an underdog story, right? But it also makes him a little more personal to them, not just 1 in 25 kids. I think the fact that he is just such a sweet kid and tries really, really hard also helps. When you see someone working hard, having to struggle a little bit, and sticking with it til they get it - well, you can't help but want to do everything you can to help them succeed.

Super proud of you, Gav. Thanks for making it look like I might know something about this parenting thing once in a while. (spoiler alert: I don't!)

The Battle

2012-01-19T17:28:00.000-08:00

Life with boys

The boys have been getting along really well lately. Don't get me wrong, they still have their moments, but for the most part really well. Like, I'm a little scared they are going to gang up on us well.

The latest primetime event in the living room is "The Battle". Gavin was given this Nerf thing for his birthday - I'm not sure what it is - a battle axe or something. It's soft. It sat untouched for months until recently.

I think that Chad and Zach taking Sam to a wrestling show while we were skiing may have had something to do with this.....but maybe not.

At any rate, every evening, the boys put on baseball hats - a new cap we bought in Breck for Gavin, Gavin's old Etnies hat for Sam - and The Battle begins.

Sam holds the battle axe and Gavin just tries to defend himself. They bounce off the couch, throw in some breakdance moves on the floor. And pretty much Sam tries to beat the crap out of Gavin.

He'll cut a *****

The best part is? They are actually getting along. They have so much fun, and while it is loud, there is no screaming or crying. They even pick up the living room in preparation for The Battle. They get some aggression out, get some exercise, and spend time playing together.

30/30

2012-01-16T08:48:00.000-08:00

I should have taken a picture - so proud!

When it comes to pretty much any concept in school, Gavin is a little slow when a new one is introduced.

Case in point - spelling. The first few weeks of spelling were brutal; he had a hard time memorizing and learning how to spell the ones that he had missed on the pre-test. But after just a few weeks, he was getting 100% on his end of week test, even though he may have missed up to 50% of them on the pre-test. His brain started building those connections.

School isn't just about learning stuff. It's about learning how to learn.

Math seems to be even stronger in this way. Helping him with homework on new math concepts is frustrating. For one, he wants to rush through the work and not listen to the explanation. He doesn't fully grasp the concept, so he rushes to the wrong answers. They have these new fangled methods of teaching math that I can't get through my old school "black and white" way of thinking. Usually our math homework sessions end in him crying and me declaring "we're hiring a tutor!". I wish I was kidding.

This weekend I did the routine backpack clean out.

Math paper. Double digit subtraction (second graders do that??)

30/30 - with a big note from his teach - "Awesome!!"

So proud of that kid. It doesn't always come easy for him (or us), but as we continue on this school journey together, as I start to understand the way his mind works and how he learns, I hope it will only get easier.

A Love Letter

2012-01-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

God help me when Gavin discovers this blog. Let's just keep it between us all right??

This should go without saying, but DO NOT repeat most of these stories I share on here with him. It creeps him out that everyone knows all these things, and this story, is particularly embarassing to him.

Before winter break, I was doing the nightly clean out of Gavin's backpack. I found a large piece of contruction paper, with a drawing of a snowman.

Along the side of the paper:

Dear Gavin,

Merry Christmas.

Love you!

You are like a warm, cool snowman.

Sabrina M.

Just who is Sabrina M? I don't know! Even though I am in the classroom every week, I can not for the life of me place her. I'm not there tomorrow due to a work conflict but you know I will be checking this chick out next week.

I asked Gavin if this girl liked him or if he played with her or if he had a girlfriend. He rolled his eyes at me and said he didn't know why she gave him that.

I believe him. He's going to be one of those oblivious boys. He's also super cute, with eyelashes that make strangers swoon, funny and quirky, nice and kind to others, and sweet.

All traits that I am so proud he possesses......except when it comes to girls. Girls are awful. I know. I was (am?) one. Although I like to think I have outgrown the awful. Mostly.

I hope he remains oblivious to their advances for a long, long time. And after that, I just hope he doesn't get his heart crushed. He I couldn't take it.

This isn't the first time either. As early as Kindergarten he had girls telling him they loved him.

Watch your backs, ladies!

Festival of Trees 2011

2012-01-08T19:10:00.000-08:00

This is the third year that I have served on the Children's Area committee for Blank Children's Hospital Festival of Trees. This event runs the week of Thanksgiving, just celebrated it's 28th year, and proceeds from the event fund the Child Life program for kids at the hospital. It's my small way of giving back for everything the hospital has done for our family. The boys look forward to going every year, starting about July when they are hauled on errands with me to pick up various donated items that get stored in the garage until the event kicks off.

This Man

2012-01-05T11:49:00.000-08:00

We love you and miss you "Farmer Joe". Some days I watch the boys playing and it hits me in the gut, just how much of a kick you would get out of watching them grow up. Sometimes when I let my mind wander off into hairbrained ideas territory, I can just picture your face if I was telling you what was going through my head at the moment - the way you would just sort of shrug your shoulders, and the corners of your mouth would turn down a little. A small sign of disagreement, or that you had no idea what I was talking about, but knowing how much you loved me and supported me no matter what.

What a Difference a Day Makes!

2011-12-31T13:08:00.000-08:00

Gavin and I made it back home safely around 2 am this morning. I will post all the details of our trip in the next couple days, but first, here are two videos - the first one was taken on the 28th at Breckenridge and the second was taken on the 30th at Keystone. If you're not the skiing type, you can see improvement by watching his hands and also how smooth and steady he is in the second video. The first day and a half he was sort of wrenching his hands around when he was trying to turn side to side, by the last day he was really bending his knees and using his legs.

Yesterday he was skiing from the top of the mountain all the way to the bottom without stopping. He only fell once - skidding on some ice, and he got himself back up before I could reach him. I was flying after him just to keep up - he really did an amazing job!

Click on the YouTube logo to get a bigger screen view, in the second video, he is in red and will be coming down the middle of the screen from the top of the hill.

Pneumonia

2011-12-21T12:11:00.000-08:00

Poor Sam has pneumonia. He had it right about this time last year too. We've been fighting cough/colds on and off around the house for a month or so now, and it finally caught up to him. Sunday afternoon he was lethargic, Monday morning he was warm. Monday afternoon Dr appt confirmed my suspected pneumonia - caught early.

Monday night was awful. I'm not sure if the antibiotic hurt his stomach, or he was jsut exhausted, but he woke up often and wouldn't let me comfort him - just screamed at me to go away. Tuesday he actually played very well in the morning, but more of the waking up and screaming at nap time. He is fortunately drinking well - and I am able to hide his antibiotics and probiotics in OJ so far undetected (he could detect the antibiotic in milk). I thought we would avoid the antibiotic induced liquid diapers, but no luck. Ugh.

Today he seems to be feeling better and went down for a nap easily and is sleeping well. His cough seems more "productive" so hoping he is getting the junk up and out. He is still coughing so hard he throws up. So that's awesome. He's not eating a whole lot - got half a piece of toast in him today and about half a cup of cooked pasta yesterday. Oh yes, and Fiber One bars, he loves those, and that's really not helping the stomach issues!

I leave you with a random cell phone pic from a while back...

Toddler Meltdowns

2011-12-08T06:51:00.000-08:00

I thought this was a great article on how to handle toddler meltdowns. Sam is at that fun age right now, and I have found he definitely has a pattern - freak out, throws himself on the floor repeatedly, then runs off to a darkish spot in the house, flops down, cries a while, asks for his blankies and milk, then lets me pick him up to comfort him.

Any intervention before the blankie request just prolongs the whole cycle! Are toddlers really any different than adults? When I am outrageously mad, I certainly don't want to "talk about it". I want to be left alone and when I'm ready to come out and play, I'll let you know. There's just more loud crying and whining with toddlers (well, maybe!).

Just kidding. I don't cry or whine......that often.

Anyway, I promise to get back to blogging about the kids and posting pics soon. Life has been hectic, here are some upcoming blog topics (for my own reminder).

Gavin/Mommy weekend
Sam's Italian
Gavin 1st trimester report
Boy Scouts
Potty Training
Picture posts (halloween, festival, random)

Gavin's Gotcha Day & World Prematurity Day

2011-11-17T07:46:00.000-08:00

Friends, this week is always hard for me. I'm not sure how it happens that the happiest and saddest moments of one's life get all wrapped up in one single week.

Perhaps, though, it's fitting, as they all serve to remind me to be thankful.

Today is the day that Gavin came home from the hospital after 82 days. Today is the day that we stopped depending on monitors and tests and measurements to tell us how he was doing and we just got to be his parents.

Today is a day that also brought us full circle, as Gavin came home one day shy of the first anniversary of losing Ella. Which also happens to be Chad's birthday.

A marriage, a birthday, a loss, and a homecoming, all wrapped up in this one short week. So if you find me on the verge of tears at any given moment, now you know why. It sort of makes my soul raw to process it all.

While I can appreciate that this is also World Prematurity Day to help raise awareness of this issue, I think it's important to note that for many people, prematurity day is every day.

We are so, so lucky. Gavin ended up on the best part of the bell curve - that tail end to the right, the statistically optimistic.

I can honestly say I've moved on (mostly) from the tragedy of the NICU.

It took a year to get over the fear that he would just stop breathing all of a sudden. It took another couple years to get over the fear that an illness could take him out in an instant.

As he started walking, talking, socializing, I got over the fear that his brain bleeds had caused any serious development issues.

It took until 2nd grade to realize that he would be able to keep up with his counterparts at school, that he would have the same potential as any other kid.

Some fears are still there. Knowing that he is doing so well, I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. I can't believe that we have left prematurity quite this unscathed, when I see so many others still struggling. I keep waiting to discover the big scar that prematurity left on him. I realize, by now, that this fear is mostly unfounded at this point.

Prematurity is not just one day out of the year for us. I live out every day with fear and gratitude from the path we have walked, etched in my heart.

And it's not just one day for the mothers that never get to raise their children, the ones that didn't survive prematurity. It's not one day for the parents taking their kids to endless therapy sessions and doctors appointments. And it's certainly not one day for the parents sitting next to an isolette, today, wondering what the future will possibly hold.

It's not one day for this mother, who will always wonder what would have been different. If I had known more about pre-term labor and the warning signs. If I hadn't trusted the stupid ER docs that sent me home that night. That hadn't wanted to be that annoying patient, that hadn't asked too many questions, that hadn't insisted that I see an OB.

You see, prematurity awareness isn't about not smoking, or not drinking, and not doing drugs, eating right, or taking vitamins. We know all that. We need to find a way to educate pregnant women to recognize when things are going wrong, so that they can advocate for themselves if they do. So often, it seems, this information is withheld unless the person is at risk. Maybe we don't want to scare them, or give them more to worry about than necessary. Whatever the reason, there just isn't adequate information out there, and the greatest tragedy is that in many cases, prematurity could be prevented, or at least mitigated a bit.

Is it possible to wish for things to be different, and wish for things to be the same, all at the same time? That's where I always find myself this week. It's hard to understand, and hard to know just how to feel.

But here is what I do know:

If we didn't have this picture

I wouldn't have the appreciation and gratitude nearly so much for the boy in this picture

EIGHT: How I Met Your Father

2011-11-15T05:53:00.000-08:00

There are likely countless journal entries in those diaries in my garage from my 15 yr old self gushing about Chad Sellers.

The first time I saw him, I was sitting outside school in the fall of 1994. He pulled up in a huge white beater of a car, hid his keys on top of the driver side front tire, smiled at me and told me not to steal his car.

The next time I saw him was on the cross country course. I was running my first meet and he happened to be standing right where I stopped to take a walk break (so embarrassing). He cheered me on and told me to keep going. I still managed to run 2 miles in 15:05. Sure wish I could do that now.

Then in 1995, my sophomore year, he walked into my English class, as I was taking 11th grade English. He sat one desk to my left and one desk back (behind Megan Anderson) and made witty comments all through class.

The next month was spent plotting how to get him to ask me to Homecoming. Another girlfriend was in his geometry class so she was my spy, finding out if he had a girlfriend, a date, you know important intel.

Our first date was October 9th, 1995. Chad and Zach picked me up from my friend Ingrid's house and we went to the football game.

And that, kids, is the story of How I Met Your Father. And "Uncle" Zach is still around too.

A lot happened between then and 2003. We dated through high school, then went our separate ways when Chad went to college. We maintained a friendship over the years, through college, relationships, break ups. Eventually Chad came back to Des Moines.

On February 19th, 2003 we went on our first grown up date.

On April 11th, 2003 we were engaged.

And on November 15th, 2003 we were married.

It certainly doesn't feel like it's been eight years, it does make me feel ancient to think it's been that long!

Eight years of marriage has not always been easy. We have our moments like anyone else. But it has always, always been worth it.

Love you, Chad. Thanks for letting me sink my claws into you.

Sam's Baby Brother Named....Eisley??

2011-11-14T08:17:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we were at my mom's for lunch with my brother, SIL and niece Eisley. I was talking to the boys about how fun it would be when Eisley had a little brother.

They started in with their typical "I want another brother" spiel, until Gavin decided that he wanted another sister. I was pretty quickly able to convince Gavin that mommy could not, in fact, actually handle another child, and that he didn't want another pesky sibling getting into his stuff or otherwise abusing him.

Side note - Sam has been putting it to Gavin lately. Gavin has been an amazing big brother and takes a lot from Sam on most days, but Sam has been crossing.the.line lately. Looking forward to Sam getting a bit older so that he can start getting into his own activities!

At any rate, Sam made up his mind that was IS having a baby brother. Not even that he's going to have a baby brother, but that he already has a baby brother. And his baby brother's name is.....is....(he stopped and thought about this a good long time)....his baby brother's name is Eisley!

Ha ha ha ha ha ha. He is trouble, but he's darn cute and funny. See?

Penn State

2011-11-10T11:34:00.000-08:00

I've never cared about football at all, so the name Joe Paterno has never entered my consciousness until the last couple days.

As a ~~parent~~ human being, I am sickened, and appalled, at how many people failed to make sure that what they saw was reported to police. If you can't advocate for a child, then who will you stand up and fight for? That kid is somebody's child, nephew, grandkid, and he/she is a person that can't fight for themselves that will have to live with the abuse for the rest of their lives. How can anyone turn their cheek?

Why are students rioting at Paterno's firing? I don't know his history as a coach, apparently he was legendary. Guess what people, you got played. He may have been an effective, even amazing coach, but he's turned out to be a world class loser as a human being. And yes, his actions should overshadow anything great he may have done as a coach.

This whole situation brings up a point that we all need to be sensitive too. We might as well learn something from this right? How many times have we turned the other cheek, or not said something when we saw someone being mistreated? Hopefully none of us would find ourselves in the position of reporting child abuse (and if we are, you need to not just see and report, you need to intervene immediately). I think we have all found ourselves in much less serious situations - someone speaking poorly to a cashier, a parent dragging their child by the arm a little too roughly, a man verbally abusing a woman in public.

Do you say something? Or do you walk away? Where is the line? How badly does the injustice have to be before you will intervene? How many times do we say "it's not my problem" before we become desensitized to the actions of people around us?

What would it mean to the victims of these scenarios if just one person would step up and do the right thing?

Fall 2011 Soccer Team

2011-11-08T07:19:00.000-08:00

No, I Will NOT Shake Your Hand, thank you

2011-11-07T07:18:00.000-08:00

Ice Cream is Apparently, Hilarious

2011-11-06T07:17:00.000-08:00

Awkward Cell Phone Pic

2011-11-05T07:16:00.000-07:00

Random Cell Phone Pic

2011-11-04T07:15:00.000-07:00

I Want....

2011-11-03T11:20:00.000-07:00

to read a grown up book all the way through

to see Brothers & Sisters return to TV

to do better at loving unconditionally

to make the transition to being a vegan

to get a degree in nutrition sciences

to recover from this running injury and kill the next half-marathon I run

to have an all-day spa pampering complete with champagne and fuzzy slippers with my bestie Becky

to have this upcoming IVF cycle for said bestie work so that she can experience all the wonderful things that I have experienced in motherhood

to stop underestimating people

to raise my boys to be amazing stewards of their gifts and talents

to believe that one day I will be reunited with my grandfather and Ella

to visit India

to hit the ski slopes at least twice with Gavin this season

to live each day with gratitude

Thanks to my fabulous bloggy/preemie mom friend Mel for this terrific blog idea

What do you want?

The Haps

2011-11-01T07:26:00.000-07:00

Here's what's been going on around our house lately:

Gavin finished up outdoor soccer Saturday, and promptly started indoor soccer Sunday.

Sam is potty trained completely at school. He refuses to use the potty most of the time at home. He wants to stay my baby (I think). He is not a fan of me calling him a big boy.

Gavin joined cub scouts, which pretty much means more homework for him (and me!) as we work to earn badges and catch up on the badges the others earned before he started. Last night we memorized the cub scout promise and I had to awkwardly explain what doing his duty to God meant, even though we don't go to church.

Sam is sad that his best friend Kelsey moved into the 3 yr old room at school. "I want to be with Kelsey!"

Gavin is turning into a little rock star at school. We are almost a third of the way through the school year and he has not pulled any sticks in class. When I go on Fridays, I am so impressed with how he behaves in the classroom (especially when I got a couple super naughty, talk-all-the-way-through-the-spelling-test boys last week - I had to remind them after every.word to stop talking!) Kids these days.....no respect! He seems to have gotten the hang of learning the spelling words, while he still misses quite a few on the pretest, he is now getting 100% on the final test.

Sam is soaking up all the work that Gavin and I are doing. Last night while working on spelling with Gavin, he informed me Soap begins with S!

Wonderful moments like this:

Last night after dinner, Chad went down to his office and I hung with the boys. Gavin was watching a show on TV and Sam as playing a game on my phone. Sam was on my lap and Gavin was snuggled up against me. I sat there in the dim light, just breathing in the smell of baby shampoo on their hair.

And then I made the mistake of trying to capture this moment on film.

Sam promptly tried to snatch the camera from my hand so that HE could take the picture and the spell was broken. The evening quickly degraded into the 90% of the time status quo, which kind of looks like this:

In case you are not familiar with my boys, Sam (the little brother) is protrayed by the cat on top in this picture.

Birthday Pics

2011-10-23T06:37:00.000-07:00

Here are some birthday pics from Gavin's party at Chuck E Cheese. He had such a blast, and it was great getting to know the kids he invited. I'm proud to say he associates with a good group of kids. I snapped pictures of him with all his friends as well! but didn't want to post them without parent's permission

LOVE (love, love, love)

2011-10-21T13:54:00.000-07:00

What?

Last night. I loved last night.

Backing up a bit - the last two days Sam had been dry and peed in the potty at day care all day. I don't know what changed, except for I bought him Cars Pull Ups. Super proud of him!

Came home yesterday and we told Gavin about Sam's accomplishment. He lights up and says "Good Job Sammy!" and gives him high fives. But in a totally loving, proud, genuine big brother kind of way. Not the condescending, patronizing kind of way. Where does he get that tone anyway???

Gavin had soccer practice so Chad stayed home with Sam while I took Gavin. We got home, boys got bathed and I started on dinner, while my MIL and her mother came by to see the kids. The boys are getting along great - other than Sam did not want Gav to take a bath with him, but otherwise, great.

After dinner, Gavin turned on music to dance. Somehow they both managed to dance in the living room without fighting (usually Gavin gets very upset that Sam is infringing his dance space). Then they start running/racing around the living room, wrestling with each other. And totally getting along - having fun together!

I just sat back and watched. Sam just wants to be so much like his brother, copying everything he does. His naughtiness must come from mostly wanting Gavin's attention. I'm hoping he learned that being nice to him is the way to get it! Gavin would run into the kitchen, get a drink of water, Sam would do the same. Gavin would say something in passing to me, Sam would do the same.

Taking a cue from my friend Melissa, I just sat back and soaked it all in, enjoying the moment.

Then Sam put on a show for us. This kid is a huge fan of being the center of attention (as opposed to Gavin who burst into tears the first two times I showed up at his preschool for a performance, and only survived the third time because I cowered behind another parent and did not make eye contact).

Sam sang, loud and proud, the ABC song and the Wheels on the Bus. Complete with hand gestures. And a super huge grin on his face.

It was a riot.

The night was perfection.

Civil Disobedience

2011-10-11T12:16:00.000-07:00

thy name is Sam

This boy rarely throws a fit or cries or screams. He does bite and hit for fun and attention, but that's another issue.

He is the king of civil disobedience though. If he doesn't want to do something he just.won't.do.it

How do you make a horse go that doesn't want to move? No really....if you have the answer, I'm taking notes!

This morning I got a text from Chad that Sam was refusing to change his diaper and get dressed (9:30 am). I told him to bribe him with fruit snacks.

At 10:18 I got a text "I'm done with Sam. Come get him". Fortunately a meeting I was in ended early and I was able to get over there right away. Sam was just laying on the couch with his blankets.

I was able to convince him to go pretty quickly

but

If you see my kid on the playground today.....in his pajamas.....with a mouth full of gobstoppers.....well, let's just say civil disobedience won out today.

Soccer Stud

2011-10-09T05:37:00.000-07:00

Haircut

2011-10-07T05:20:00.000-07:00

We've been trying to get Samson to cut his hair for some time, considering it's always in his eyes.

This cool kid, finally agreed (he's been refusing for a LONG time, staying true to his name, I suppose). But he demanded a mohawk.

There you have it folks, my big kid with a mohawk. I picked him up from school yesterday and literally couldn't find him on the playground. There are a lot of blond short haired boys in his class (perhaps the downside of a Lutheran program is lack of diversity?) and I was staring right at him and did not even recognize him until he came running at me.

He was holding pretty tight to those suckers, but sweet boy did offer me the orange one. "I saved this sucker for YOU, Mommy!"

And in other sweet, sharing news, last night after the soccer game, Gavin got a bag of chips and a rice krispie treat that the parents brought for treats. He gave his brother the rice krispie treat and Sam was SO happy that Gavin shared with him. As much as they like to fight sometimes (read: Sam picks on Gavin who retaliates), Sam just lights up when his brother does something really nice for him like that.

I suspect it's because Gavin doesn't actually LIKE rice krispie treats, but let's just overlook that fact for now, k?

Meatball

2011-10-04T12:37:00.000-07:00

Funny story. And family, don't repeat these things to the kids. I think they find it weird that the universe knows all about the funny things they say at home.

Last week, the cat (Meatball, a rescue from the shelter we got when Gavin was about 2 1/2, already named) went outside when Grandma Betsy left for the evening. No big deal, he enjoys his time outside and stays close to the house, meowing at the door when he's ready to come in.

Before the boys settled down to bed I asked them to check the front door to see if he was ready to come in. He wasn't there so they checked the back door.

Gavin: "Mommy, I hear a weird sound"

I brushed it off as nothing and told them to come inside and that Meatball would show up when he was ready. Gavin started crying and said "No, Mom, I think it's Meatball....he's making a weird sound."

I stepped outside, and sure enough I heard a low growl coming from under the deck. Even though I'd never heard him make such a sound, I was pretty sure it was our cat. Imagining a rabid raccoon or some other sort of infected animal, I quickly got the kids inside and called Chad up to handle the situation.

He went outside and saw what he thought was a cat take off, spooked, for our hill and the "naughty tree" - a tree covered in thorns that in hindsight we probably should have had removed when we built the house. Oh well. As it was pitch black out, he came in to get a flashlight.

Once out there with the flashlight he realized Meatball was still under the deck. After about 5 minutes, he ventured out and came inside. I told the boys to give him some space as Chad checked him over to make sure he hadn't gotten into a brawl with the other cat (animal?). He was fine and flopped down on the carpet.

Gavin went rushing over to him, and with all the drama of your favorite daytime soap exclaimed:

Meatball! Are you ok? Do you recognize us? Do you know who I am Meatball?

As if Meatball had just woken up from a 2 year coma or something. It was HILARIOUS!

What's not hilarious, on the other hand, is that it looks like my desire to get rid of the cat will not materialize any time soon. Gavin was a crying, concerned mess until Chad brought him in. He flipping LOVES that cat. (sigh)

Nephro Appt - Results

2011-10-03T05:38:00.000-07:00

GREAT news last Friday - all the tests that were run at the nephrology appointment were normal. No signs of kidney issues (which could cause high bp) and no indication of LVH (left ventricle hardening maybe?) at any rate, they were looking for thickening of the artery which would be the negative consequence of high blood pressure.

My calculus teacher in high school (Mr. Zimmerman - Central Academy - shout out!) always quoted "ours is not to do or die, ours is to ask the question why?". We always were challenged to understand why the proofs worked - it wasn't good enough to simply memorize them.

Because a curious, and data driven sort of person, I am really highly irritated that I may not know why Gavin's bp was high for a few weeks. Perhaps it was white coat hypertension, and he had lingering anxiety that something was wrong the next couple times the nurse checked it. Perhaps his diet was funky those weeks. Maybe he was a little dehydrated. Who knows? It's making me nuts.

Prior to this, he only had it checked once a year, then 5 times in 3 weeks. 3 of those times it was high, and 2 it was normal. Normal being subjective - the doctors thought it was normal, the school nurse thinks it's still on the high side. He may just be an outlier on the high side though.

At any rate, I'm considering getting a monitor and checking it several times a week for a while to get my own baseline. I'm not a hypochondriac, and believe me, I'm not trying to find problems where they don't exist. I just want to understand what his normal is. What if the high numbers are his normal and the low numbers were the anomaly? At this point we know nothing is wrong, and that's great, beyond great. The whole thing just has me puzzled, and I'm sort of innately driven to figure out the why.

Nephrology Appt

2011-09-28T05:07:00.000-07:00

Well, we get to the nephrologist yesterday and Gavin's blood pressure was totally normal! Not that we are complaining, believe me. But he said that due to his risk factors, we might as well get everything checked out. That way we know (for now anyway) that everything is good. He also suggested a low sodium diet - which I will start tracking Gavin's food, but I believe he is not getting more than 2500 mg of sodium a day. I track what I eat and I rarely go over that (especially considering that Livestrong only has around 1600 mg for the recommended amount). One of the things that is out is Gatorade and sports drinks, which he was bummed about, but I think we will know if he can have these things on occasion once we start tracking his food and seeing how much he is really getting.

He's also not supposed to have any caffeine. So we will have to check labels, because there are some soda's like Sunkist Orange that you would think are ok that actually contain caffeine.

Before we left the office, he peed in a cup, and we were on our merry way to tour the hospital. First up was an echocardiagram, kind of an ultrasound of the heart. We had to go from the west side of the hospital over to the ER where the outpatient registration was. Once we checked in we had to go to "the farthest part of the hospital we could send you" according to the registrar to get the echo done. We got over there, and got in fairly quickly. He took his shirt off and they put the leads on him to measure his heart rate. I wasn't prepared for seeing those little sticky pads on his body and the wires coming from him - the size of the leads would have covered most of his abdomen when he was a baby. It was surreal how it sort of transported me back to the NICU.

Gavin tried to stay still and not talk as she did the echo. Unfortunately, I have no idea what I am looking for, and the tech didn't give any indication.

Then we went all the way back to where we originally started, the path lab in the same wing as the doctors office. Gavin was very nervous about the blood draw and even squealing with they tied on the rubber band. Clearly this boy is no longer desensitized from all his poking the first couple years of his life! He started crying when they used the alcohol wipe and I had to remind him that wasn't even the needle yet. (Gavin is a bit of a showboater, so I'm not sure how much this actually hurt vs he wanted the attention of it hurting). He squeezed my hand and we had to remind him the importance of keeping still. As the needle went in, he got in the poor lab tech's face and screamed "OWWWWWWWWWWWW" at the top of his lungs at her. He whimpered until it was done, and then he was just fine.

We then embarked on our mad rush to get Sam, get home, get snacks, and get dressed and to his soccer game. Where he did an amazing job and had several great assists and some good goals. It is so fun watching him evolve in this sport. I snapped some action shots which you will likely be seeing on here some time in, oh, November or so.

Quotable

2011-09-23T11:43:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Amanda for posting this quote on Facebook this morning!

You did then what you knew how to do, and when you knew better, you did better
~ Maya Angelou

This applies so well to parenting. Your kid doesn't come with an instruction manual, although there are so many parenting books written, you couldn't possibly figure out which one to follow. My mom said it best in my post about kindergarten - you make the best decisions you can at the time, with the information that you have, when done with love, that's the best that you can do.

It's also a great reminder that every day, every experience, presents an opportunity to learn more, to overcome another challenge, and to use that experience to better inform your decisions in the future.

So while we should never lament the decisions we've made, we should also be vigilant to always do better when we have the chance.

In other news, Gavin's blood pressure was down a lot today. Lower than any recorded measurement in 4 years. I am really glad it's down, but it's a little frustrating that this measurement is down at the 11th hour. It makes me want to hook him up to a machine 24/7! I know I just need to be patient and wait for the Dr. visit....but it's kind of like when their fever is 104 at home and fine by the time you get to the Dr's office - even though you had valid reason for concern, you feel a little silly when they stop acting sick the minute you get the office.

Sam's a Big Brother

2011-09-19T04:57:00.000-07:00

No! Before you get all worked up, we are NOT having another baby. Unless Sam knows something we don't. Ha! No, he doesn't. I repeat, we are NOT having a baby.

However

This weekend Sam informed me, "I'm going to be a big brother!"

I said, "Really - YOU are going to be a big brother?"

Sam, "Yes, I AM!!!"

When I told Chad he said "just wait until he tells everyone at day care"

So in case Sam shares this tidbit of information with you, it is all fiction. He later told me that his friend Calvin at school was a big brother, so I think he just decided that he was going to be one too.

He's still pretty flippin' cute, even if he is spreading lies

4th of July Pool pics

2011-09-17T16:14:00.000-07:00

Nephrologist

2011-09-16T10:26:00.000-07:00

From Wikipedia:
A nephrologist is a physician who has been trained in the diagnosis and management of kidney disease, by regulating blood pressure, regulating electrolytes, balancing fluids in the body, and administering dialysis. Nephrologists treat many different kidney disorders including acid-base disorders, electrolyte disorders, nephrolithiasis (kidney stones), hypertension (high blood pressure), acute kidney disease and end-stage renal disease. Nephrology is a subspecialty of internal medicine. In the United States, after medical school nephrologists complete a three year residency in internal medicine followed by a two year (or longer) fellowship in nephrology.

While many micro-preemies get released from the NICU with a list of specialists, we were part of the lucky few that didn't. No pulmonologist, cardiologist, no issues that couldn't be addressed by our pediatrician.

Until now. In two months and 1 day we will celebrate 7 years outside the NICU. Oddly enough, 7 years ago today Gavin was recovering from a blood borne staph infection, fighting to get off the vent, and being administered doses of a medication that could have impacted his kidneys (but that was completely necessary to help his heart and avoid surgery).

Gavin's blood pressure checks have continued to run high at school. We have officially been referred to nephrology. It's hitting me really hard. I don't know why. We've been extremely lucky with Gavin's health and avoiding many long term issues that accompany being born 3 months too early.

I guess maybe I'd thought we were safe. That there was nothing else that could touch us. I'd let my guard down, started seeing him as a normal kid, didn't really worry about lifelong issues anymore. I feel blindsided. And I'm mad at myself for not being on top of the blood pressure readings, and not knowing that they were high in the past, and not knowing that preemies were at risk for high blood pressure. Preemie mom guilt is a nasty beast to shoulder. And it's hitting me pretty hard today. I'm not usually much of a crier - but it's rainy and gloomy out and I catch myself tearing up frequently.

I know it's probably nothing. And I know if it's something - even a big something, we'll get through it like we've gotten through everything.

But for today I'll wallow. And take the afternoon off for some shopping therapy. That always seems to help.

4th of July Race Pics

2011-09-15T16:11:00.000-07:00

There's my big kid, not too far behind a much bigger kid. Go Gavin!

Such determination!

Little brother needs a pep talk before his big race

And he's off! Gavin stayed an appropriate distance behind him, cheering him on

Sam's showing off his perfect Pose running form.

Mommy also ran the 5k that morning. But the pictures weren't pretty!

When Should Preemies Start Kindergarten?

2011-09-12T12:36:00.000-07:00

As Gavin gets older, I find there are less and less resources to answer my preemie related questions. I love, love, LOVE the online board that I joined when Sam was born, and they have been so helpful in answering my questions and saving my sanity. However, Gavin is one of the older kids of the group - at least of those of us active on the board.

I received a comment on his birthday post about the decision to send him to school, rather than waiting. I thought it might be helpful to post my response on here as well, in case any other mom struggling with this decision is trying to find parents who have been in the same position. This is just what worked for us and the decision that we made based on the research that we did. Everyone needs to evaluate what will work best for them, of course.

To aid in my decision, I read a lot about pro's/cons of sending kids to kindergarten. It was not preemie specific, more about kids that are on the brink of that cut off date.

Everything that I read said that any disadvantage that they may have being young for their grade is pretty much eradicated by 2nd grade. Gavin did not attend the school district preschool (being our first kid in school and not having friends with kids that age, we didn't know how important this was). He had preschool type time at his day care, but probably not as rigorous as real preschool.

At any rate, I can see that the gap has closed big time between kindergarten and now. The neighbor girl was reading before she even started kindergarten and was way ahead and bored in school the last two years. I just talked to her mom last week, and she's not as far ahead as she used to be, and it's frustrating her (the child). Like the spelling list they sent home, she didn't know them all right away and had to study.

I also found it interesting that when I went to administer spelling tests last week, there was a boy in my "red list" group. The red list was easier than the green list (Gavin made the green list). This boy was in his class in kindergarten, and he was in the advanced group at that time - and this year he has the easy spelling list. So things are starting to even out, it appears.

Gavin's super smart, his issues were more non-academic that interfered with his abilities to perform (I believe). The first half of the year in Kindergarten he literally could not sit still during carpet time. Last year, he was having problems following through on directions and with reading comprehension - which doesn't just hurt language arts scores, but also math, science and everything else if you are not properly comprehending the instructions.

Would these have been any better had we waited a year to send him? I'm not sure they would be. I think he needed to be in that structured setting to be able to work on these skills, so I'm not sure holding him back a year would have really helped much. The key for me is taking the time to get to know the teacher, and to make sure they understand the history. I expressed my concerns up front with the teachers, told them some of the issues we saw at home, or from the prior year at school and regularly emailed/checked in with the teacher to see how things were going and what suggestions they had for us to work on things at home. That way they see you as the partner and (I think) work a little harder with your kid. I also volunteered in his classroom which kept me in touch with what they were working on as well as gave me perspective as to how the other kids were performing on assessments.

So in hindsight, I do believe we made the right decision, although I've questioned it every time he struggles (and likely will continue to!). In the research that I did, there is cause to hold them back if you think they are not socially/emotionally ready - they need to be able to use the bathroom, follow directions, communicate, get along with other kids, etc.

The other reason I've heard anecdotally - I get this from parents of boys more often than I thought I would - is that they wouldn't send their boys that are young for their grade because they will be smaller and not as good at sports. While it seems superficial on the surface, I do think this could have confidence and social ramifications (and could certainly be more relevant in preemies that have still not caught up in terms of growth, but would have to weigh whether they ever will be).

Gavin was tall for his age by the time he started school, so I was never worried about his size. I never figured he would be a football player, so I wasn't worried about that either. All the local sports clubs (soccer, baseball, etc) go by age, not grade, so he is playing on teams with kids a grade younger. By the time he gets to high school and competing at a grade level rather than age level, I don't think that 1 yr will make a difference. He'll either be competitive or not at that point.

That's my two cents. If you happened upon this post because you are struggling with the decision yourself, best of luck!

Gavin's 7 Year Check Up

2011-09-08T06:11:00.000-07:00

Gavin's stats came in at 50 inches and 59 lbs. I'm skeptical of the weight as he is usually 55 lbs at home. And if our scale at home is 4 lbs off, in the wrong direction, I'm not a happy camper!

At any rate, he grew 2 1/2 inches in the last year, and added 7 pounds. Last year he was 77% for height and 79% for weight. Now he is 81% for both! At this point he's estimated to grow another 2 ft, so he'll be almost as tall as his dad.

We had one measurement that was concerning - his blood pressure. I don't remember the bottom number as it wasn't concerning, but the top number measured 124 and then 120 the next two times they took it. For his age/height the top of the range is about 114. And being at the top of the range in and of itself is concerning, exceeding it is not so good. We are hoping it is just "white coat hypertension". The school nurse will be checking it weekly for us to get his trendline, and we're hoping it is down when she checks it today.

It's likely just nervousness at being at the Dr. He asked me on our way there if they were going to burn his hands. This kid remembers everything. When he was 2-3 yrs old, he had warts on his hands, and our ped dry iced them. To no avail. After several visits we weren't putting him through that again. I don't remember how we ended up at a dermatologist, but he ended up getting immunotherapy done there. It worked WONDERS and the only side effect was some itchy spots where they put the treatment to trigger the immune response.

sidebar: if you/your kids suffer from warts do not put them through the painful and scary process of having them burned off! See a dermatologist for immunotherapy.

At any rate, the blood pressure is probably nothing, but I always like to know what the worst possible scenario is. In kids like Gavin who do not have primary, or "lifestyle" risk factors - stress, smoking, overweight, bad nutrition, etc - it's more likely a kidney or heart issue.

As soon as I hear kidney, I am taken back to the medical interventions in the NICU. While all absolutely necessary to save his life, it's a harsh reminder that one simply can't be born 3 months early, go through months of medical intervention and come out unscathed. Everything has a side effect, has a flip side. So even if his blood pressure turns out to be unconcerning, this experience is just a sad reminder for me. Just when I so boldy declared we were over prematurity right?

Most early-ish preemies are born with a PDA, which is basically a valve that is open due to the way the blood is oxygenated in the womb, and normally closes within 72 hours of birth. Being born more than 8 weeks early increases the risk that it will not close on it's own, leading to major issues. They attempt to close it will a medicine called indomethacin, or "Indocin" which helps in the valve closing. Oddly enough, I was also on this drug from 17 weeks to 26 weeks pregnant to reduce amniotic fluid. A side effect of the drug is that it can decrease bloodflow to the brain, gut, and kidneys. So they were watching Gavin's urine output closely while he was on the drug. At our hospital, they routinely administer 3 doses of Indocin to try to close the valve, if that does not work, then surgery is the next option.

Gavin's urine output slowed significantly after 2 doses of the medication - indicating harm to the kidneys, they did not give the final dose. We were fortunate that his valve closed with just two doses. But today, I get to wonder what the price was. Don't get me wrong, I would never elect surgery on a sub-2 lb baby (which he'd dropped down to at that point)over medication. I just wonder if not only did his treatment have an impact, but was there any impact in utero while I was on the medication?

Again, all required interventions to keep him alive and get him home. I wouldn't change it. I just hate that it keeps rearing it's head.

My Quirky Boys

2011-09-06T05:05:00.000-07:00

I'm remiss in posting. My apologies. I have pics from the 4th of July that still need posted. Eek!

Since I don't have much time, I thought I would throw you a little nugget from this weekend. These boys are crazy, and loud, and frustrating at times, but in between all that are some moments that just make me so very glad.

We hit up the mall yesterday to get them some clothes. Gavin is in size 8 and has no winter clothes. Sam also needs some - their hand me down sizes are unfortunately not lining up - Gavin skipped size 3 winter clothes. We have size 3 summer clothes, but that was the time period where he went from 30% in height to 75% in height and we went up a couple sizes in a year! So we only have size 2 and 4 winter clothes, and 2 is too small and 4 is too big. Argh.

Also, Gavin only wants to wear jeans. He's too skinny for size 8 but needs the length. None of the brands at Younkers have adjustors, so we will have to go on a quest to get jeans for him. Some FB friends gave great suggestions (what did I do without Facebook??).

I digress.

As we were walking out of Younkers, I glanced back at Gavin. There was music playing and he was dancing as he walked. Doing his funky robot moves, totally in his own world, dancing to his own drummer. He's so awesome!

Later as we were walking to the play area, Sam was holding my hand. Every three or four steps he would do a twirl. This continued most of the length of the mall. Also awesome!

There's something about seeing a kid that just.has.to.dance that makes me so happy......especially when they are mine!

Gavin Gatsby: 7 Year Old

2011-08-29T05:35:00.000-07:00

A post alternately titled: Preemie No More

Gavin turned seven on Saturday! And I'm not even going to go into the walk down memory lane of his prematurity. It's here if you want to relive it. It's just not for this post.

As I thought of all the things I could write on his birthday, there was one glaring theme that's stood out to me over the past year: He's not my little preemie any more.

I'm not sure I will ever be able to say that we CONQUERED prematurity. There are scars, few physical, mostly emotional. Lingering quirks that I will always wonder: did being born too early cause this?

But I've found that over the last year, I haven't qualified Gavin as a preemie in talking to people any more. When we went to the walk in clinic for an illness, I almost forgot to mention it in his medical history. We're moving past it.

This year has been an amazing year for Gavin. First grade brought SUCH growth! We ended Kindergarten still slightly behind - or "progressing towards goal" as they put it. He entered first grade not behind! Over the summer he had somehow caught up to his peers. It was neat to show up at school weekly for my time helping the students needing a little extra help, and NOT have to bring him out in the hall with me.

He struggled with following directions. The teacher would take him aside and talk through the instructions, he would repeat them back, and then he just wouldn't execute them - missing some crucial step, and then not realizing it. She was quite puzzled by it. This led to an ADHD evaluation, which I strongly felt he did not have, but thought this might get us on track to some sort of solution. When meds and a psychologist were recommended, I politely declined. I know my kid. This wasn't the issue, and his teacher wholeheartedly agreed. I asked her if his behavior would be concerning if he were in Kindergarten, and she said not likely. I beat myself up for sending him to school and not holding him back a year to start Kindergarten when his due date would have placed him there.

By the end of first grade, though, he was continuing to make progress. The only area that was "progressing towards goal" was comprehension. There was huge growth from his EOY Kindergarten scores to his EOY First Grade scores. He was catching up!

What else did Gavin accomplish this last year?

He remained a strong and valuable player on his soccer team, and played indoor soccer for the first time. We are looking forward to playing with a new team this season.

He played flag football, and did not enjoy it. This secretly makes mama happy

Another season of baseball this spring - he seems to enjoy it, although it's not an overly dynamic game at this age.

He ran track for the first time. He made consistent improvement on his 400m race time, and qualified to Regionals in the long jump and 400m. He ran on the track that Chad ran in college and shaved another 4.5 seconds off his 400m time. We were SO proud of him! He's also done some fun runs over the summer, getting some longer distances under his belt.

We took a very special road trip to Colorado in January, just the two of us, and met up with my uncles for a ski trip. It was freezing so we only skied two days, but he did an amazing job on the mountain! He was very careful and responsible, with the right amount of fear and bravado. He was getting down blue trails without any problem by the end of the second day. We had such a blast, and he was a terrific road trip partner.

He recently took a "man trip" with Chad and Zach to eastern Iowa where they canoed and hiked.

Last Friday I was in his classroom to help administer spelling tests. I asked the teacher if she wanted me to mark them when they were done. It wasn't a totally selfless act, as I wanted to see how Gavin did in relation to all the other kids.

In Kindergarten, when he was struggling, I always had this thought in my head that I could handle if he struggled, as long as he wasn't the worst one. Isn't that weird?

I graded the tests. He missed a few, as did most kids. It turns out, he was perfectly average. Do we aspire to be better than average? Absolutely, and as parents it's our job to push him to be the best version of himself is possible.

But when I think back to the days leading up to his birth, and those early days in the NICU - faced with such a huge range of outcomes, perfectly average seemed possibly out of reach.

We're closing the chapter on prematurity.

Gavin, you are the light of my soul. Everyone that knows you well - pretty much every teacher and caregiver you've had - always has the same thing to say about you: "Gavin has the BIGGEST heart." We are so proud of you, how good you are to others, how hard you work, how focused and determined you are (when you want to be).

You have had such an amazing year! Happy Birthday.

Gavin's Birthday

2011-08-24T07:34:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts, I've been crazy busy at work.

Gavin's bday party is Sunday 8/28 at 4 pm at chuck e cheese. Family, you are more than welcome to stop by, just realize he will be excited and running around with his friends so you all may not be as cool to him as you usually are :)

We are tentatively doing lunch with my side of the fam Saturday, it's a bit up in the air if we decide to do a race Saturday morning. Can you tell I am a bit out of sorts and unorganized??

We have ordered Gavin a desktop for his gift this year. In terms of other gift ideas....he's getting to the hard to shop for at this age. Gift cards would be good (iTunes, clothing stores, Target), size 8 clothing (especially pants and shorts), and then he's still into cars and that kind of stuff that he's always liked.

Another thing he seems to have found a bit of a fascination with is jewelry - little bracelets and necklaces - the "man" ones that are just a simple string with a little circle pendant on them. He got one woven bracelet with a round pendant with some character on it at kum n go but it wouldn't stay tied. Then he found a neckalce that was basically just a black string with a purplish circle on it that he wore for a while. Yeah, he's pretty much stylish and awesome enough to rock man jewelry!

Day of Hope

2011-08-19T07:25:00.000-07:00

August 19th is about honouring and remembering the lives of babies and children that could not stay with us. By doing this we are speaking out about the death of babies whether it is through pregnancy, infant or even child loss.

First Day of Second Grade

2011-08-15T12:42:00.000-07:00

There will be no pictures to document the first day of school this year. Gavin is officially a big kid that doesn't need mom or dad to walk him to the bus! I'm excited for this independence and confidence for him, but a little sad for me. My baby is growing up.

Friday I took the day off and we went to meet the teacher and drop off his school supplies. For some reason I always get choked up walking into school on the first and last days of the school year. School was a very exciting and positive experience for me. I loved it. I can still remember all the excitement I felt on the first day of school. It's fun to experience that with your child, at the same time it's hard watching them grow up.

Each year gets a little tougher. Expectations grow, and tolerance for misbehavior diminishes. The pressure to succeed and ability to fail mounts. Cliques form, mean kids get meaner. Crushes form, hearts break. There are so many great things about growing up, but there are so many negatives to experience as well! This is the first year I just wanted to grab him and say "stay little....just a while longer". I know it won't get any easier.

This year the desks are no longer grouped facing other. They are lined up in neat rows facing the front of the classroom. The reading books are thicker. There are less play things in the classroom. Gavin picked out his desk and neatly arranged his school supplies inside. He checked out the room and got very excited to see the bin full of Goosebumps books. We found the coatroom, stopped in to say hi to his 1st grade teacher, and then left.

In the car he said "I wish it was Monday!". So glad he's a kid that's excited about starting school.

So this morning the first day of school came and went without any fanfare. I took Sam to day care at normal time, and called home to make sure he had left to walk to the bus on time. He left a few minutes early, Chad said, because he saw another kid down there waiting that he knew.

I can only imagine him walking/trotting down the sidewalk with his cool new backpack (Skullcandy - I'm assuming a name like that implies awesomeness). Self-assured, not at all scared, excited for new friends and new experiences. All things we've raised him to be.

It's still awfully hard to let go though.

Samversations

2011-08-12T06:21:00.000-07:00

Conversations with a two year old are just hilarious....

Sam: Mommy, what do you call me?
Monkey
And...?
Punkie-Pie
And......?
Monkey-moo
And....?
Sam
And...?
Sammy
And....?
Samson
And?.....And?......Aaaaaand?
(At this point I'm out of nicknames)Babycakes! You called me babycakes last night!

He's right....I guess I do call him babycakes, I totally forgot!



And the night before that, we were talking about who everyone's mommy was

Sam: Who's your mommy?
Grandma Janet
Who's Daddy's mommy?
Grandma Betsy
Who's Gavin's mommy?
Me!
No, you're MY mommy!
Yes, I'm your mommy too. I'm mommy to both of you
No mommy, I want ALL of you



His other frequent expression these days is "Moooooommmmmmy! What did you do that for?" (very accusing tone)



"Sam, I love you!"
to which he replied "Thanks!"
it's obviously a guy thing!



Last week, I dropped him off at home after his playdate at his new pre school. He didn't want me to leave, it was so cute. To stall me he said:

"mommy, mommy come here! I'm going to tell you a question!"
What is it?
"ummmm....ummmm....what's your name?"
I answer and get up to leave

"hey mommy, MOMMY! I've got to tell you nother question?"
What now Sam?
"ummmm....ummmm....did you feed Meatball?"
Answer, start to leave

"MOMMMMMYYYY!!!! I'm going to tell you nother question!"
Ok Sam, last one
"ummmm.....ummmmmmmmmm......ummmmmmmm"

This went on for a while. I indulged it because it was so stinking cute!

Remember When Sam was a Bug Eyed Baby?

2011-08-10T14:11:00.000-07:00

Minnesota Trip: Day 3

2011-08-08T13:43:00.000-07:00

Day 3 of our trip was all about the regional track meet! We didn't have to be there too early so we were able to get up and have a leisurely breakfast. Where Gavin was very disciplined and limited himself to just 1 bite of sausage! We packed up and headed to the track at Hamline University - where Chad went to school.

We checked in at the track and I was happy to hear that the field events were running on time - Gav was scheduled to long jump at 12:15 and run the 400m at 1:30.

Hanging out in the Johnston tent:

Then unfortunately, the field events started getting behind, and Gav had to literally jump right before he had to check in for his running event. but we still got some good pics of his jumps.

Then he was shuttled off for his big run, and mama was super nervous because it was kind of a rush and I didn't know how he would handle it. He did FANTASTIC! He beat his personal record by almost 5 seconds and came in 11th over all. I started out with intentions of getting more running shots, but as he came closer I was jumping up and down cheering him on, not snapping shots.

Then the rest of the day turned into a bit of a cluster as we tried to figure out what was going on with the long jump. Turned out they had completely shut it down for the 400m and all the kids hadn't jumped yet. We had to wait around and see if Gavin made it into the final round for long jump. Around this time, Sam had reached the end of his rope, so he started melting down. We had to hang out about an hour longer to find out that Gavin did not make the final round, so it was time to leave.

Sam of course fell asleep during the stroller ride back to the car, and we managed to change his diaper and get him into his car seat without waking him up. We stopped at Subway on the way out of town and made the drive home.

Overall, it was a great trip, the only bad part being that I had to be up at 4 am the next morning to catch a flight to Chicago!

Minnesota Trip: Day 2

2011-08-06T13:43:00.000-07:00

Day 2 in Minnesota was: MALL OF AMERICA!!

Or, in Sam's words "Baby rides!!" That's what he called the kiddie rides at Nick Universe.

We got up and had breakfast - the Embassy Suites has a hot breakfast (free!) every day with made to order omelets...yum!. We tried to shovel healthy food in the kids mouths in between bites of sausage. Actually, Gavin did pretty well, not fighting our guidance to eat somewhat healthy leading up to his race the next day.

We hit up Nordstrom Rack first, as it happened to be right there when we walked in, and was the only store I really wanted to shop at. I picked up some great new work out clothes, Gavin got a shirt and jammie pants, and Sam got the Skechers Sandals he had been talking about for a while. My 2 yr old having shoe cravings...where does he get that??

Then it was Nick Universe time. The boys rode one ride together, and then we realized we had to divide and conquer. Chad took Gavin and I took Sam.

Sam, or "The One That Has.NO.FEAR". He'll ride anything! He absolutely loves it.

We met up for lunch and ate at a noodle place - chicken noodle soup for the kids and salads for the parents.

Back at Nick Universe for more rides. We stayed together for the afternoon and the kids had fun jumping in Sponge Bob's house (a giant inflatable pineapple bounce house) and shooting ghosts on the ghost blaster ride. Before we left, we agreed to the log ride, and Sam was tall enough to go with a chaperone, so I took the kids while Chad snuck off to eat an ice cream cone - gotcha!!

Sam LOVED the log ride, and we managed to get out of there without getting soaked.

Back at the hotel, I hit the treadmill at the gym, showered up and we went down to the manager's reception. Free cocktails and munchies! We had leftover Thai food for dinner, and I made hot "steak and cheese" sandwiches for the kids. Using the leftover steamed beef, and cheese and bread that I brought from home, a few seconds in the microwave = a pretty fancy dinner made in a microwave, if I do say so myself!

Sam's New Day Care

2011-08-04T06:04:00.000-07:00

Next week, Sam will be back in a day care center. We just couldn't find a new nanny that met all our requirements. And it is probably time that he gets into a more structured environment anyway.

This morning we had a 2 hour play date scheduled there so he could get a feel for it before he starts full time on Monday. This morning he was out of sorts and telling me he didn't want to go, and then telling me he wanted me to stay the whole time (I was prepared to do so, but hoping I wouldn't have to).

We got there and he held a death grip on my hand for a while. Eventually I was able to get him to play without holding my hand. Then I backed up and watched him from afar against the wall. When they said it was time to pick up for snack time, he came back to me. There was one little girl that had her eye on him and she came over to us and started dancing around like a maniac - a move that Sam is very familiar with. He just laughed and laughed watching her. When he tried to grab my hand, I suggested he hold her hand instead, which he did.

He quickly ran for the bathroom when they called them to wash hands, and sat at the table next to his new girl friend. I watched as they doled out snacks and juice and he didn't even look for me. I tip toed over and asked if I could leave.

"Bye Mommy!"

When I picked him up, he told me his favorite part was going outside and building sand castles. I felt good about all the staff in the room, and they all have teaching certificates or MBA's. Hoping for an easy drop off Monday!

Shame! Shame! "Freakonomics"

2011-07-28T13:05:00.000-07:00

Sam has taken to running around yelling "Shame! Shame!" at Gavin whenever he doesn't like what Gavin is doing.

Well.

I've been off my soap box for a while. Apologies to those that just want to see cute pics of the boys, but this one's been brewing in my mind for a while, and I just needed to get it off my chest.

For those of you not familiar with the book Freakonomics, the whole point of the book is examining correlation vs causation. So basically just because two variables move in the same direction together, does not necessarily mean that one causes the other. It's actually a really fascinating book.

UNTIL

I got to this section, taken directly from the text, and can be found here

A child who had low birth weight tends to do poorly in school. It may be that being born prematurely is simply hurtful to a child's overall well-being.

So that would be the usual assumption, that being a preemie causes injury to the brain via over/under oxygenation, brain bleeds, and sensory experiences that they are not yet able to process. That would be my assumption.

It may also be that low birthweight is a strong forecaster of poor parenting, since a mother who smokes or drinks or otherwise mistreats her baby in utero isn't likely to turn things around just because the baby is born. A low-birthweight child, in turn, is more likely to be a poor child - and, therefore, more likely to attend Head Start, the federal preschool program. But, according to the ECLS data, Head Start does nothing for a child's future test scores. Despite a deep reservoir of appreciation for Head Start, we must acknowledge that it has repeatedly been proven ineffectual in the long term. Here's a likely reason: instead of spending the day with his own undereducated, over-worked mother, the typical Head Start child spends the day with someone else's undereducated, overworked mother.

What did you read in that paragraph? I read that low brith weight/prematurity is caused by the mother, and mothers of preemies tend to be under-educated, over-worked, and low income.

Really Mr. Levitt?? Your entire book is based on peeling back the layers and differentiating causation from correlation. Had you done your research you would have found a large percentage of premature births are not a result of mothers engaging in high risk activities.

According to this article, about 40% of U.S. women that deliver prematurely have contributing risk factors - and that 40% includes ALL risk factors, not just those that mean you abuse your body or don't seek out proper prenatal care.

There is NO way low birth weight should be absolutely attributed to poor parenting. Just ask my huge network of preemie moms that would give anything. ANYTHING. to have a healthy, full term baby. Or watch those shows where the teen gives birth in the bathroom at prom having no prenatal care and the baby turns out fine. Much to the dismay of those of us on the other end of the spectrum, women that could give a s*** about their pregnancy have healthy full term babies.

Low birth weight is NOT caused only by poor parenting, and the authors should be ashamed for making such a statement in a book that is dedicated to finding true cause and effect relationships. Is poor parenting a risk factor for premature/low birth weight babies? Definitely.

But there is an overwhelming amount of the preemie population that was born to loving, awesome parents that did everything they could, and continue to do everything they can for the well being of their kids.

For this book to perpetuate that preemies are born only of a mother's inability or lack of desire to properly care for herself while pregnant - well, I'm at a loss of words to respond to that, so I will say it in Sam's words "Shame! Shame!"

That is all.

Samversation

2011-07-25T05:59:00.000-07:00

Verbatim (in the car):

Me: Sam, when we get home, I really want you to lay down and take a nap, otherwise you are going to be grumpy for your play date this afternoon.

Sam: I will not! I will not be grumpy. I will talk - I will talk to my new friend.

Minnesota trip: Day 1

2011-07-22T16:58:00.000-07:00

I hope you enjoyed seeing all the pictures I downloaded from my phone. There were a lot, so make sure when you get to the bottom of the page, you hit "older entries" to see all of them!

I have such short windows of time to get anything done lately (it seems) that I will post this in spurts, 1) to save me the time of a lengthy post and 2) so you have something to look forward to (ha!).

So, a couple weeks ago we headed up to MN for the regionals track meet. We drove up Friday afternoon and checked into the Embassy Suites in St. Paul. After we got settled, we drove to the University of St. Thomas for a little work out. It was gorgeous running along Summit, and there was a great track at the college that Gavin ran some intervals on.

There was also a soccer team practicing in the field, and they were so nice. As Sam and I were doing a lap, the ball was kicked on to the lane and one of the guys let Sam kick it back on to the field. As Gavin was on the last stretch of an interval, the guys would cheer him along, yelling "finish strong!" and clapping.

On the way back to the car, we had a blast racing Gavin to the next light pole....until Sam decided to have a meltdown. We waited while Gav and Chad went to get the car and by the time they got back, Gavin was whining about having to stretch. Life with boys! I'm not sure what area of the country they have this saying "if you don't like the weather, just wait ten minutes"....actually I'm not sure that's a saying anywhere - it just sounds familiar! At any rate, that seems to be life with the boys lately, they go from great to non-great in a flash.

As we drove back to the hotel and pondered dinner, we passed a Thai place that Chad remembered as being awesome. I went in and ordered take out and had an interesting discussion with the owner when I asked for "just a side of beef". All the dishes had meat options: tofu, beef, chicken, pork, salmon, catfish, etc. Sam, oddly enough, insisted on catfish! Gavin just wanted beef and an egg roll. The owner insisted I need an entree and I asked if he couldn't just cook some beef? No, they can't do that! Well, if I order an entree, can you just put the beef on top or on the side?

He scampered off to the kitchen and told me they could steam some beef, and I agreed. It didn't turn out great (but I was able to turn it into an awesome meal for the next day - stay tuned!). But the rest of the food was fantastic - except the coconut soup. Fortunately we had a fridge in our room so we were able to save the leftovers for the next night.

And that sums up Friday, July 8th, 2011 - or day 1 of our MN trip!

Cell Phone Photo Purge

2011-07-15T17:30:00.000-07:00

Keep scrolling for a whole bunch of photo's from my phone from 4th of July and our trip to Minnesota. One of these days I will get the pictures off my camera and give you an update on the track meet!

Before the Urbandale 4th of July kids mile. I love the look on the face of the kid next to him.

2011-07-15T17:27:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure who's holding the other sparkler....these things really made me nervous!

2011-07-15T17:26:00.001-07:00

2011-07-15T17:26:00.000-07:00

Not DuPont safety approved!

2011-07-15T17:24:00.001-07:00

Gavin's been practicing riding his bike in the cul-de-sac

2011-07-15T17:24:00.000-07:00

I'm tired of pictures....and of waiting in line for the rides!

2011-07-15T17:23:00.000-07:00

2011-07-15T17:21:00.000-07:00

He was not a fan of the fuzzy costumes

2011-07-15T17:20:00.001-07:00

2011-07-15T17:20:00.000-07:00

Frog Hopper aka the Wonder Pets FlyBoat at Nick Studios

2011-07-15T17:19:00.000-07:00

I told them to give me their best "I Miss You Trisha" face and this is what I got

2011-07-15T17:18:00.000-07:00

Sam listening to some tunes during the MN track meet

4th of July Races

2011-07-05T06:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had an early morning of racing! Gav and I left the house around 6:30 to stop at my mom's and pick up Dan & Jan. We hit the Urbandale course at Walker Johnson Park around 7:15 for my race that started at 7:30. It was a nice cool morning for it, and I was happy with my time - 26:23. I started at the back of the pack though, and my watch clocked my distance at 3.18 miles (a 5K is 3.1) so I figure my actual starting to finish line was somewhere around 25:30 - which was well under my goal time of 26 minutes!

Then Chad and Sam got there to cheer on Gavin (Sam has not been an early morning riser lately, so they got a pass on seeing me run!). I forgot to start my watch so I don't know Gavin's time - but it doesn't really matter. He gave it his all, and that's what counts! He came through the finish line in good form, giving it one last kick, sweating and out of breath. He ran the whole mile and didn't have to stop and walk. He came in 19th over all for the boys, but that included kids in middle school. We were so proud of him!

Then Sam ran the Tot Trot, which was just the cutest thing ever. Gavin was such a proud big brother and wanted to be the one helping him at the starting line. Both boys enjoyed nice cold popsicles as a reward for their effort!

I have more pictures that I need to download (shocking right?) but here are some that my mom snapped.

Pre-Race Pep Talk by Grandpa Dan

Awesome form coming to the finish line (and I think I need to go after an Adidas sponsorship!)

Sam's race - with Gavin close behind and me cheering him on

"I didn't want to hug the bear" - Sam who is not a fan of fuzzy things

A Family Affair

2011-07-01T06:44:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to make running a family affair. It's something I started doing a little over a year ago, and while I am not yet speedy, I'm comfortable enough to start running some 5k's. This Monday Gavin and I are both registered for the Uniquely Urbandale runs - I'm doing the 5k and Gavin is running the kids mile. Then Sam can do the "Tot Trot" after that!

It's so great to get out and do something active as a family that we can all participate in.

Regional meet in MN is coming up the following weekend. Last night coach told Gavin that he was on a "no pop, no candy" diet. Sam's going to have to follow it too, for moral support, even though he doesn't know it! How the heck am I going to bribe them to behave now??

Since they didn't actually run last night, just worked on the long jump, Gavin wanted to come home and run on the treadmill. He's only done in a couple times, but last night he really seemed to get the hang of it. I think it will be good for him, he needs to build his endurance up, and not sprint everywhere. Our treadmill at home seems to be calibrated a little fast - I can't run at nearly the pace on it as I do outside or at the treadmill at the gym. So it seemed to take him forever to do a mile - he got up to about 5 mph at times, but needed to take some walk breaks for side stitches. At any rate, the goal right now is to build the time those legs can run without taking a break, rather than how fast he can run a mile, so I think this will be great if he can do it consistently. I'm headed to Target to get him a little iPod as a motivator!

He Was JUMPING!

2011-06-28T08:17:00.000-07:00

We spent a totally miserable day at the Ankeny track on Saturday! We woke up to rainy and 60-ish weather, but the meet was still on, so Gavin and I headed out there. Chad and Sam came later to watch his events.

The 400m race was rough - it was fairly windy and Gavin placed 7th and ran 10 seconds slower than he had the previous weekend. The winner ran 4 seconds slower than the previous weekend and some other parents I knew had kids running 10 seconds slower, so I guess that's what the conditions dictated!

The long jump was the highlight of the day though. The week before they had really started working hard on the long jump - one day using a ramp to get the feeling of "hang time" and another day putting orange foam cones down for the kids to jump over. Gavin was so cute - he told me they were jumping over "orange knives".

The exercises totally worked.....the week before, Gavin had fallen back twice on his jumps. This weekend, his first jump looked good, but it was hard to tell from where we were standing. He looked at us and threw his arms in the air with a big smile, so he was happy. He jumped 3 more times and they all looked good. When he was done, he had no idea how far he had gone.

We waited.......and waited.......and waited for the results to get called. We got excited when they called the Primary girls results, thinking we would be next. We weren't. Chad and Sam left. We waited some more.

When they finally called the results, Gavin placed 2nd! With a personal record of 8'2". He was super excited, and he broke the record for Johnston Track club for his age group.

Still no pictures, the weather was prohibitive.

Sam's Race

2011-06-22T06:18:00.000-07:00

Not to be outdone by his big brother, Sam also ran the track this weekend.

During the meet, there is a break around noon. They have a fun run for the little kids, and Coach McCool (yes that's really the coach's name!) kept talking to Sam about his chance to run on the track. By 12:30 he was hot and grumpy and needing a nap, but I walked him out there anyway. At first he was a bit hesitant - you know when you feel that resistance on your hand and they dig their heels in? But when I pointed out the other little kids he decided he wanted to do it.

It was only about a 50m run. They lined up all the two and unders, and Sam quickly shook off a little girl that wanted to hold his hand. Ready, Set, GO! And they were off. He didn't stay in his lane, and he wanted to keep running past the line of parents at the finish line. But he was very proud of his ribbon and was happy to tell people he got "first place" (it was actually 2nd) and how fast he was.

Unfortunately, I have no pictures or video of any of the track meet. I need to start having my own photographer with me! Between wrangling Sam, spikes, water bottles, and then the insane frenzy I get myself into during the race, who has time for pictures? I'll try to do a better job in MN, if not actually snapping pics during the race, maybe I can at least document the fact that we were there.

Update - Regional Meet

2011-06-20T20:54:00.000-07:00

Got word that they are taking the top 8 to regionals, not 6. So now Gavin gets to compete in the long jump as well at Regionals!

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

2011-06-20T06:18:00.000-07:00

It was a great weekend! Gavin competed in the USATF Junior Olympics State Track meet in Johnston this weekend.

He got off to a rough start in the long jump - we couldn't really see from where we were, but when he came back he said he scratched twice. He ended up coming in 7th place with a distance of 6'5".

That same day (Saturday) he ran the 100m. Out of 3 heats and 21 kids, he came in 13th place, but ran a personal record (PR) of 19.64 seconds. The top 8 made it to finals the next day.

Sunday we went back to run the 400m. Usually all the events are the same day, so it was nice to come back with fresh legs. Except, not having done the track meet circuit before, and not wanting to be late for our event, I got us there 2 hours before his race started. Which led to two fairly grumpy boys. When Chad got him going to warm up for the race, it was complaint city.

It was time to race and he was in lane 6. I had looked at the previous years results to see what time the top 6 had come in at (top 6 go to regionals) and 6th place had a time of 1:31 ish. Gav's fastest time had been 1:39 ish so I didn't know what to think.

By the time he hit the starting lines for the 200m, I thought his time was looking good (39 sec), but he tends to start off too fast, so I was hoping he could hang on. As he came down the home stretch I cheered him along and I could see him dig in to push through the end.

He set a PR of 1:32.31 and came in 6th, making it to the regional meet in MN! So we are going to be making a long weekend of it. He likely won't make it past the first round, but I think the whole team aspect, and the camraderie will be a fun experience. We've got a couple weeks to focus on nothing but the 400m run, so I'm hoping that the weather holds out for some good practices.

Any time Gavin accomplishes anything like this, I can't help but get taken back to that place. That place of sitting by his isolette in the NICU begging him to gain weight. Begging him to breathe. Begging him to eat. Hearing the words "brain hemorrhages" and not knowing what that would mean in terms of impairment. Having no idea what our "normal" was going to be, but just so happy that he was alive. That place. The place I hate remembering, but that I never want to forget, because I want to appreciate forever how far we have come.

The journey out of the NICU was a marathon riddled with hurdles. The road ahead is wide open.

Life with Boys

2011-06-14T09:05:00.000-07:00

My living room is now a race track

My hallway is a long jump course

My bed (that I haven't slept in for two years) is a wrestling cage

Our house is full of noise, and life, and energy - and I love it!

Boys And Football

2011-06-10T17:18:00.000-07:00

Ice Cream

2011-06-08T16:16:00.000-07:00

Brothers

2011-06-08T06:25:00.000-07:00

The title of this blog is truly indicative of my life - the boys are sometimes total monsters, but then there are the moments that just make me so proud to be their mom.

There is really nothing that compares to seeing the bond that they are building between them. Now that Sam is getting bigger - don't be fooled, there are days when they could easily beat the crap out of each other. Especially now that summer is upon us, and there is more together time.

Last Saturday, Gavin ran at a track meet at Hoover High. While he is very fast within the Johnston Track Club for his age group - let me tell you, these other kids are fast. One of the events that he ran was the 400m (one loop around the track). His best time at practice was 1:48. I timed his race and he came in at 1:39. I was so proud of his 9 second improvement!

But

He came in 5th place, last in his heat. He was totally bummed, to say the least. As he sat on the grass and took off his spikes, giving off an aura of defeat, Sam approached him.

"You did a good job, Bubby. Good race Bubby! Hug?"

And gave him the sweetest little hug a toddler could give.

Eggs

2011-06-06T17:15:00.000-07:00

Bridie Sellers' Food Revolution

2011-06-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

IT'S HAPPENED

I've always been a fairly healthy eater, but in the last couple years, I've been educating myself more and more on the matter. When Gavin was a toddler, I considered boxed mac & cheese healthy if I added some peas and corn to it. Now I rarely will serve the kids anything from a box (it happens.....maybe once every three months) and choose to make my own from scratch versions of the processed foods they like.

Sam has always been a good eater and accepting of my crazy creations. Gavin, not so much. A year or so ago, I began fighting the battle with him, tired of making him separate meals all the time. And besides that, he needs to learn to make healthy food choices. Isn't that one of the best gifts I can give him as a parent?

A couple weeks ago I made him take two bites of my salad.

Then last week I asked him what he wanted for dinner. I was making Tuscan Bread Salad, and I figured there was no way I was getting him to eat a salad for dinner. He said "peanut butter sandwich....wait - what are you eating for dinner?" When I told him he said "I want salad for dinner too".

After I picked my jaw up off the ground I said "really....you like salad?"

"I liked the salad you made me eat the other night."

So he ate salad for dinner. He didn't like the cannellini beans very much, "but I'll eat them anyway."

Saturday night he ASKED for salad for dinner again. I was making pasta with zucchini and mushrooms. I offered him just plain pasta with sauce. He asked for salad. So he ate his salad, and later I was feeding Sam some of the pasta. Gavin decided he was still hungry and came and ate some of the pasta as well.

You know...pasta with zucchini, portabello mushrooms, onions, and sundried tomatoes. No big deal. Ate it without complaint or commentary.

Last night I was making pork chops and veggies. He asked if we were having salad. Not tonight. "Any time you're going to make salad, tell me ok?"

Umm.....I know this is a family blog and all but can I just say "Hell to the YEAH!"

And he ate all the green beans and carrots on his plate without complaint.

So it's happened. The food revolution. In my house. My boy is eating healthy, nutritious meals. Without a fight.

My heart is so glad.

The Future's So Bright....

2011-06-04T16:15:00.000-07:00

Goof

2011-06-03T16:11:00.000-07:00

Next Stop, Second Grade

2011-06-01T16:00:00.000-07:00

I am so darn proud of Gavin! Friday, May 27th, was his last day of school. I met him for lunch for the school cook out and ate lunch with him, and said good-bye to all the kids (I've been helping in the classroom almost every Friday all year). Before we even left the building, he pulled out his report card.

It was awesome! At this age, they are on a 1-4 scale, 4 being ahead of expectations, 3 meeting expectations, 2 progressing towards goal, and 1 meaning needs quite a bit of help. At the end of Kindergarten we still had quite a few 2's, but given th progress he made throughout the year, it wasn't concerning. At the end of 1st grade, he had very few 2's, and a fair amount of 4's! I was particularly happy to see progress made in the non scholastic areas, such as being responsible for his work, getting his work done, etc. Thos types of general skills that are necessary for being successful in that kind of structured school setting. He's always been smart, no issue there, but being focused, knowing what he needs to do, etc, have been lagging. He scored a 2 the first two trimesters and ended with a 3!

The areas that we will work on this summer are comprehension. Hearing or reading information, being able to pick out the relevant facts. This obviously is a literacy skill, but his trouble in this area affects his score on things like problem solving and also his science units. While he is great with memorized math facts, pulling out the relevant pieces of a story problem in order to create a solve the equation requires that comprehension piece.

All in all, it was a great year. I really enjoyed his teacher, Mrs. Rolfes. She takes a pretty stern approach, but was always very open to discussing Gavin's issues or progress with me, and I think her disciplined approach to teaching was something that Gavin really needed this year. While I am thrilled with his scores, I'm even more impressed with the progress that he's made.

Way to go Gavin! I can't believe how far you've come. I know it doesn't always come easy for you, but you have worked really hard this year, and it's paying off.

Contemplative

2011-05-30T15:58:00.000-07:00

Samsonism's

2011-05-28T15:55:00.000-07:00

I kid you not, Sam had this conversation with me the other day. The kid can put together a logical thought and articulate it well!

Mommy, I need a TV in my room.

I need a little TV!

I can buy it.

I can get money out of my piggy bank!

Single Tear

2011-05-27T17:30:00.000-07:00

Flying Kites

2011-05-27T15:55:00.000-07:00

He was Running!

2011-05-24T11:19:00.000-07:00

I know....I need to post some pictures! Life has been incredibly hectic lately. Work has picked up for me, which is a good thing, and Gavin's schedule is packed.

Someone at work gasped when I talked about all the things Gavin is involved in. "he's only SIX?? kids need time to be kids! they are so overscheduled these days!"

Lest you think I am some sort of lunatic stage mom (or whatever the term would be for boys in sports!) - yes, I agree this may be too much for some kids. Gavin thrives on the activity though. He does much better when we have structured activities, and he loves being involved in all of them. The minute he tells me he doesn't want to participate in some sport, that's totally his call.

I digress. Our weeks look like this:
Monday - track practice
Tuesday - soccer practice
Wednesday - track practice
Thursday - baseball practice
Saturday - soccer game, baseball game, and possibly a track meet

He has been doing SO well at track! The progress he has made having regular practices is just amazing. Last week they had a brutal practice. He is the youngest kid on the team. He has buddied up with a boy that is a year or so older than him, so that is nice. The coach had them running the bleachers for 20 minutes. Then they ran 200m dashes (halfway around the track) - they probably ran about a mile of those. Then they had the choice of long jump or high jump, but Gavin had new spikes and wanted to run. So he and his buddy ran 400m's. They ran four of them! Another mile! His first run, he ran a time of 1:48 - which is kicking it pretty hard for a little guy. I was running the track and was about 100m behind them when they took off so I sped up to catch up with him to encourage him around. At one point I looked at my watch and he was running a 5 min/mile pace.

General Updates

2011-05-17T07:06:00.000-07:00

TANTRUMS

Oh boy......Sam is seriously in the middle of the terrible two's. He is so asserting his independence. He's usually the most easy going cooperative guy. BUT. When he makes up his mind to not do something (change his pants) he is the most defiant child ever. And then when we do it anyway (should have seen Chad and I trying to get pull ups on this flailing, kicking, screaming child last night) he then cries for a minimum of half an hour.

So that's fun.

In good Sam news, he is enjoying the summer nanny we hired, and I am also very happy with her! Sam is now counting to ten - unprompted of course. If you ask him to do it, he won't. He's also singing Wheels on the Bus and Rain, Rain, Go Away. We got a LOT of rain last week. His favorite food right now is vegetarian hot dogs. He has been working on his manners and I am very happy to say that the "give me" phase appears to be over, and he is now asking "Can I .......please?". The only negative there is that he always expects the answer to be yes since he's asking so politely. :)

Gavin continues to be super active and eats a massive amount of food. We are going through a TON of fruit lately - not complaining though! But I do end up making several trips to the store a week now to restock. His current favorite food is a three egg omelet with ham. And then he eats two pieces of toast and fruit. It's really no surprise given how active he is - we have sports events/practices at least 4 days a week, sometimes 5.

I can't believe that school is over at the end of next week! Yesterday his art folder came home. Either the kid is an artistic genius or the art teacher is amazing. Perhaps it's because I don't have a creative bone in my body, but there was some really cool stuff there! I'll take pictures and post them....you know, sometime before he graduates from high school.

He's really enjoying soccer. Baseball is fun when it involves rolling around and seeing how many grass stains he can get on his white pants. Hitting off the tee is boring though. He really enjoys track and field, we spent a very chilly morning at the Waukee stadium last weekend where he ran the 100m and did the long jump event. He got 4th place over all in his age group for the long jump. I just can't help but think back to the NICU, and all the uncertainty of his future, and be super proud of that kid. The best part is that he just is who he is, and has no idea how much he has overcome.

I'm horrible at remembering to give out school pictures. They had spring ones taken and they turned out so great! Please remind me to give you one.

Coming up,we are looking forward to my cousin Krista and her family coming to stay with us Memorial Day weekend! Bring on the crazy!

Hanging Around

2011-05-16T14:02:00.000-07:00

Samsonisms

2011-05-11T08:11:00.000-07:00

Since we are working on numbers with Sam, we frequently talk about how old we all are. Sam is also right now telling us he is a big boy, but also that he is Mommy's baby (and Daddy's baby too!)

Sam: I'm 2 and Bubby is 6
Yes
Sam: And Daddy is......
32
Sam: Daddy's 32. How old Mommy is?
31
Sam: Oh, Mommy's 31! Mommy's old!
(Laughing)
Sam: Mommy's an old girl! You're an old girl Mommy!
(Laughing harder....even if the truth stings a little)

Texas Roadhouse

2011-05-10T07:38:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, during the dreary rainy period where all sports events were canceled, I took Gavin out to dinner. He was very excited to eat his steak at Texas Roadhouse, as you can see.

Whew! Whirlwind Weekend

2011-05-09T12:01:00.000-07:00

Methinks we might have taken on too much....

This was Saturday:
8:45 soccer game
9:45 soccer game ends, hit the concession stand, head to Hoover High to register for track meet with the intention of just getting registered and then going to baseball. While there, they call the 100 m. I race back to the car, grab Gavin's track shoes and run back, get him changed into his track uniform (he looks SO cute in his purple track outfit!!) and he runs the 100 m
10:40 get to the car, change into baseball uniform, Gavin eats a pb sandwich and Sam eats a vegetarian hot dog
10:59 arrive at t-ball field literally just in time for the game to start
12:00 game over, hit the concession stand again (it's all about the treat tickets!), change back into the track uniform and head back to the track. Gavin eats Sun Chips and Sam falls asleep
12:15 back at the track, Chad stays with Sam and I go with Gav since I have already paid to get into the event once. We get there in time for the final call of the 200 m race. Gavin runs it

Gavin held up SO well running around to all his events! He and Chad then went and got their hair cut, had lunch, and bought some track spikes. Gavin is now sporting a super cool mohawk-ish look.

Sunday we went up to Ames for Eisley's 1st birthday party! The boys had fun playing with Kate's nephews, and Katie had a beautiful spread for a garden party.

We got home around 1 and Sam took a 3 1/2 hour nap while Gavin played at the neighbor's house and Chad worked in his office. It was nice peace and quiet for Mother's Day!!

Here's what's happening this week - Thursday at 5:30 Gavin has a baseball game for anyone that wants to come watch. Saturday we are skipping our soccer game and spending the day at the track meet at Waukee High School. Warning track fans, there is an admission fee ($5 at this last one). Then he has a baseball game Saturday afternoon at 3.

Game Face

2011-05-03T07:46:00.000-07:00

This is an action shot from last weekend's game taken on my phone. Kind of a silly face! While the other team got more balls in the net this game, I was really proud of how the kids played. Gavin has such focus on the field, it is so fun to watch him really get into it! Every week they start to play more as a team and have scored some great goals by being there for each other. It will be sad to see the team break up after this season (as they move to the next age group and girls have the option of an all girls team), we've had a good group of kids and a great coach. He's really focused on just making it fun for them and Gavin really likes him.

Take My Breath Away

2011-04-28T13:44:00.000-07:00

You know how sometimes things just happen at the right place and time and you know it's time to act?

I've seen on a couple fellow preemie/loss mom blogs this artist that writes children's names in the sand on the Australian beach as a memorial. Carly Marie Dudley started doing this in 2008 after her son was stillborn. Her site is beautiful, poignant, and her compassion is truly amazing.

Every once in a while she opens up a request page. I was reading a blog, reminded of her site and went and checked it yesterday. Lo and behold her request page was opening up last night! I knew it was karma.

I set a reminder on my phone and was online right at 8 pm last night to make my requests. Not only did I request Ella's name, but also requested for my good friend Becky who recently lost her daughter Olivia Ann at 18 weeks.

I hopped on the site today to see where we were on the wait list. I was totally unprepared to see her name in print. It felt like someone just sucked all the air out of the room. What a wonderful validation that she was here. I know I have a box of things from the hospital as validation....but I've never had the strength to go through them.

Here's a link to the site and the wait list (scroll down to see the names). I can't wait to show you the final image! And don't hesitate to donate to her cause if you feel so inclined, I'll be making one when we purchase the image.

Easter Photo's

2011-04-27T07:32:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of talented Uncle Chris. Isn't Eisley (my niece) a doll? The boys just love her! More to come from my camera....you know, in like 4 months. :)

Gavin Update

2011-04-25T14:02:00.000-07:00

Is eating A LOT. Not lying, last night he ate a 3 egg omelet with ham, then ate 1/4 of his dad's, then ate 2 pieces of toast.

Which may explain how he suddenly outgrew his size 7 pants - they are at the getting slightly awkward length at his ankles. We need to go shopping.

Which explains how he is now only a few inches from reaching my shoulders. What will I do when he catches me in height? Wear higher heels! Get slippers with platforms!

I had a wonderful encounter with his Kindergarten teacher last Friday while I was volunteering at the school. She started teaching 2nd grade this year and told me how she was so hoping to get him back in her class next year. How she is so excited when she gets to see him in the halls. How big his heart his, about as big as his eyes, and how sweet he is.

Always what a mama wants to hear - never mind being Harvard grad or the star player*, I hope he will always be kind and big hearted. Even if it means getting his heart stomped on by horrible girls, which will probably come with the territotry.
*although this would be a welcome bonus!

Gavin got a special treat on Saturday when he went to the Drake game with my mom, Dan and their friends from out of town. Apparently everywhere he went he was running! (Name that movie) And eating a lot, and came home starving.

We have a very busy week this week! On top of the 2 track & field practices, soccer practice, and baseball practice that are crammed into Mon - Wed, the schools are hosting the "Little Dragon Relays". Mon & Tues they are having clinics at the schools, which culminate in a track meet at the school on Wednesday. Please cross your fingers for some good weather! Most of our sports stuff was cancelled this last week or so due to rain and icky weather.

Photo's from Grandpa Rui visit

2011-04-22T16:48:00.000-07:00

Jamie Oliver Foundation

2011-04-18T07:49:00.000-07:00

I found my new charity! In case you didn't know already, I am passionate about food. Healthy, whole, organic, good for you food. I am horrified at what the USDA guidelines think is ok to feed our children.

Jamie Oliver had me at hello when his show "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" launched last year. I am apalled at what this country considers acceptable meals to feed our children. My biggest fear when I think about sending my Sam back to a day care center is not the quality of care, or germs, but the food he will be served. Canned, processed foods, day after day.

One of the lunch options at the elementary school last week was "MaxSnax Cheese Sticks". Since when are fried cheese sticks acceptable entree's???

Last week's Food Revolution episode demonstrated some of the icky stuff that the USDA approves to be included in hamburger meat. If your child eats school lunch, you really need to watch this show. It's making me want to go hang out in our school kitchen and see just what is going on there. At the last company I worked for I cut budgets and made processes more efficient for a living. Surely I can find a way to improve school meals?

While I am noodling on how I might be able to make an impact in my community, check out Jamie's web site. He's got some really great stuff going on, and if you were in the market for a new charity to donate to, I would highly recommend this one.

Minnesota Pics

2011-04-13T20:23:00.000-07:00

From our trip to MN in February

I'm a Big Kid Now!

2011-04-12T07:48:00.000-07:00

Sent via DROID on Verizon Wireless

Rare Peaceful Quiet Play

2011-04-11T13:03:00.000-07:00

"You're Not Gonna Stop Me Wind!"

2011-04-11T09:04:00.000-07:00

"I'm going to keep on walking, wind!" ~ Sam Sellers

Yesterday evening we went on a walk and it was still super windy. Sam got a little panicked....it would literally stop him in his tracks it was so strong. Since I was already carrying his scooter, I really didn't want to carry him too.

I have started using phrases and mantra's as I run when I am going up a hill, or just getting tired. I figured it might as well work for him as well. So we started shouting at the wind.

For two blocks, his cute little voice:

"You're not gonna stop me wind! I'm going to keep on walking, wind!"

Sam's Bday Pics

2011-04-10T12:58:00.000-07:00

I'm getting further and further behind on picture posts! Here are the pictures from Sam's birthday.

A Love Note

2011-04-08T07:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Gavin took some quiet time to himself and then popped up from the table and handed me this.....

Never mind that he's a few days early, it is proudly on display in my office. That's the four of us, and lots of balloons. Isn't he the best???

Sunday Snacking

2011-04-07T07:35:00.000-07:00

Sam decided that a sauce pan was the perfect receptacle for Chex Mix

These are a Few of My Favorite Things

2011-04-05T12:50:00.000-07:00

Ahem......it's coming.....

My Birthday!

Ok - here's the deal. I really do.not.want.anything for my birthday. I have lots of stuff. Plenty of stuff. And the stuff that I don't have, if I want it, I usually get it for myself. So there's no need for gifts. I won't be upset if I don't get a single thing. I do want you to remember it's my birthday and wish me well - that's it!

But, some people like to get gifts, and I usually never can answer the question what do you want for your birthday/christmas?

So here are some of my current favorite things. But still....more than happy to get nothing!

Burt's Bee's Rosemary Mint bar soap
Cookbook: Cooking at Home with Pedatha
Book: Runner's World Complete Book of Women's Running
Starbucks Espresso Doubleshot cans
Restaurant: Zuzap
Coffee-Mate Italian Sweet Cream Flavored creamer
Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Bars with Raisins and Walnuts
Lightweight ankle length socks for running
Large obnoxious sunglasses