Mother's Day Weekend

I know - I need to catch up on a lot.

My Mother's Day weekend was great! Friday night I spent the night in, relaxing, getting things done for finals this week. Saturday Brode went to his usual swimming and play time with Grandma Beth. After he got home and had lunch he took a 4 hour nap! When he finally woke up we headed over to my grandma's to visit and give her a little something for Mother's Day! Brode always takes a while to open up but he love playing will all the toys she has over there and running around! Afterward we had dinner then my mom and I headed to the high school show choir's big "Finale" performance so I could get up on stage and do our alumni song! As if it wasn't a long enough day yet I came home to take off my wild Waldo shirt (a Vintage Show Choir tradition) and get Matt then we headed to a friend's 21st birthday party down the street and got to see a lot of friends!

Sunday morning we woke up bright and early and got things ready for the day. Our whole family was headed up to my grandparents cottage for the day so we had to get a few things packed, get Brode a bath, and run some errands. We got there around 11:30 so Brode could eat lunch and take a nap. The afternoon involved some cleaning from the re-modeling and relaxing outside. Before we knew it it was bedtime for Brode so we got him in jammies and headed home. After putting him to bed Matt and I were watching our usual Sunday shows when I realized I hadn't opened my backpack all weekend and had finals this week - Great!

Here are a few pictures from the day at the cottage:

Mother's Day continued today at Brode's day care. They had a breakfast celebrating Mother's Day so we were able to stay and eat with the kids. It was very entertaining to watch all the kids in his class together. Brode behaved better than I thought he would, he sang me a song, and gave me a flower. It was a great start to a long day of work and studying!

Studying - that's about all this week is. I have to squeeze in all the study time I can. I usually use a few hours when Brode is at day care or after he goes to bed, but this week I have to use it all. This means Brode is often sitting close to me. Today after work he sat at the counter and was my little "study buddy".... he looks all cute and innocent coloring by himself - WRONG! He kicks the counter wood, loud and hard, he colors on my paper, he asks me "color? color? color?", he steals my pens, he pushes everything off the counter, and his nose has to be wiped every 3 seconds - not ideal studying conditions for finals! Oh well he was entertaining for most of the time.

Now just a few random Brode stories for all those girls out there across the state who wish they could experience all Brode's little growing up moments -

Brode is all ready for summer with his new chair:

Brode's vocabulary is quickly expanding and he loves to identify and point everything out. Having the last name "Rivet" we have quite a few frogs in the house. Brode knows "frog" pretty well, but we are working on "ribbit" and "libby" at the same time so somehow he continues to yell "Libbit, Libbit" when he sees a frog. It is almost too cute to correct. One of those I have to get on video before it is gone!

Lastly, the "embarrassing" and personal one. I don't know where it came from, but it has me optimistic! The last 3 or 4 days Brode has been playing quietly by himself in another room or on the floor, comes walking over to my feet, bats his eye lashes, points at his little behind and says "poop". I look at him - "come again, what?". "Poop, mama". He raises his hands up in the air and insists we go right upstairs and get changed. Sometimes it backfires and his diaper is empty, but he is uncomfortable in his dirty diapers. Maybe when that times rolls around months down the line potty-training won't be extremely difficult. (yeah right) We're always quick to praise and thank him for speaking up, but it is hard not to smile and laugh because he is so darn cute.

The Past Week

I don't know where this week has gone but it was a quick one! I thought these last two weeks of school would drag out, but I can barely keep up!

We haven't had much going on, just a few random updates.

First, Tuesday's storm. For those of you here you know exactly what I'm talking about, for the rest of you let me explain. We got home around 4 and the only prediction was rain, a little thunder but pretty much green on the radar. 6:30 rolls around and it is looking pretty dark a bit north of us. Matt is giving Brode a bath as I am watching out the window "Matt, I think the storm just split in different directions and one is coming right for us now?" He gets Brode in pajamas and I take care of the brushing the teeth, etc as I keep one eye out the window. By now my dad and Matt are on the deck taking pictures and I'm peeking out the window thinking "those clouds aren't starting to spin, they aren't starting to spin, you are seeing things" about the same second the tornado sirens start going off. Somehow in the second we discovered it was coming towards us and it was spinning was the same moment the weather channel changed it from a storm to a tornado warning, put some red on the map, and sounded the sirens. Great warning. We live in the middle of nowhere so they are very faint and we would never hear them if we are sleeping. For this reason we also have a weather radio that sends off an alarm when a watch or warning changes. This starts ringing, the sirens are going, you can hear the winds whipping and where is everyone - on the deck. It took a while for the rain to come but it was going completely sideways. We watched the neighbors falg pole go all the way around as the wind shifted in many directions. Luckily it passed over us quickly, a tornado did touch down a few miles away, but nothing too serious. The storm moved east and we finally got Brode in bed. Here are a few pictures:

Next, glasses update. We're doing horrible. Brode will not put them on AT all. Every once and a while you get ten minutes but it is extremely rare. Very frustrating.

Also, in one of my recent posts I mentioned Brode does not say Grandpa. We have all been practicing every day listing off his friends at day care and sneaking it in there, but he stays silent. Finally tonight my dad is pointing to our family picture and says "who is this?" Brode quickly replies with... "mama". "Brode, who is this?" "Grampa!" out of nowhere. Now that it came out once he said it another 20 times. That first time and it is his favorite word! Here is us trying to catch it on video in case he rebels against us again.

Can you guess who's name is next? Correct, Grams is also a word that has never been in Brode's vocabulary.

This weekend is going to be a busy one for us. We've got some fun play time scheduled, my high school show choir's final performance of the year on Saturday, a big birthday party afterwards, and then we're heading to the cottage for Mother's Day!

This Mother's Day should be fun with Brode. He made me a great art project in day care and sang me the song they've been practicing. He is so much more fun so it makes the day so much more enjoyable. Tuesday day care is having a Mother's Day breakfast on Tuesday morning as well and I just can't imagine Brode being one of the only motherless children so I'll be joining him that morning for some fun!

Next week is finals so hopefully I'll find some time to get some good studying in and end the semester strong!

Busy Days

We had some busy days this weekend! Not bad busy, fun busy! We each seemed to take our turn with Brode and by nightfall he was worn out!

Friday we had a Tornado Watch all day that continued until 8:00. Matt was working in Manitowoc and since he is driving he clearly had not seen any of the news and decided he wanted to go out to dinner. He couldn't understand why I wanted to stick to dinner then rent a movie instead of going to one because of the storms - it all started to make sense when he figured out there were tornado watches. Brode stayed home with Gramps and Grams and got to stay up late to watch the storm. It was getting a little hairy and they didn't want to have to wake him up if it got really bad. He went to bed late and I thought it would throw off his whole day - no way, he was up at 6:45 (early for him on a weekend).

Saturday Brode went to swimming with Grandma Beth at the YMCA, then with Gramps to a friends to get some tools (boy stuff.... you know). He came home and played outside, ate lunch, and napped for 3 hours! I used this 3 hours to scrapbook and do some card making. It was also National Scrapbooking Day - I'd say I celebrated correctly. After Brode woke up we played outside for an hour in the beautiful weather. I tried to teach Brode how to pick weeds, but he just likes to throw the rocks in the bucket instead. Matt was playing in a hockey tournament this weekend and after a morning loss he was scheduled to play again at 3:50. My dad, Brode and I headed over to the Family Ice Center and watched him play. Brode LOVED it. He loves hockey and always watches it. At this particular arena you are able to sit right against the glass so Brode's nose was up to it in the majority of the time and he yelled and couldn't stop talking. After Daddy's game we stopped at my grandma's for a quick second then headed home for more outside time and dinner. By 8:00 (late bedtime again) Brode was tired, tired, tired.

Sunday was just as busy (although we weren't in the car quite as much). We spent the morning playing. We played inside for a while until it was finally warm out and then we ran around outside, picked weeds, and jumped on bubble wrap. Brode ran in circles yelling "fast fast fast" for a while and tired himself out for nap. After a lot of fresh air we went in for lunch and a nap. While Brode napped I patched a bunch of tiny holes in the wall, picked weeds, mowed the lawn and showered - and Brode was STILL sleeping. After another 3 hour nap Brode woke up and went to Home Depot with Gramps and Grams and stopped to see if my Grandma (his Great Grandma) was home while I went to the scrapbook store and ran a few other errands. After running around Matt, Brode and I all went over to his Aunt and Uncles for a cookout to celebrate his grandpa's birthday! Brode loved playing with bubbles and it was perfect to sit outside and enjoy the weather!

Here are a few pictures of our outdoor weekend:

I had to check them for bees and bugs first because he likes to get really close to smell!

Two more weeks of school and the semester is over! (for two days, then I start interim, but I'm still going to enjoy the end!)

Vocabulary

Brode has a good vocabulary if you ask this biased mother. He gets a lot of it from day care and we try and use similar words so he can learn their meaning easier. Brode has this weird way of learning the harder words first and catches on pretty quick when you say something directly to him or multiple times in a different context.

We joked when he started talking that mama, dada, and gramps/papa were competing to see who's name he would say first. Gramps practiced every day on the way to day care so we were all convinced he would be first. Nope, and guess what, to this day Brode has no name for Gramps. We try. We practice the G's and P's and he just refuses. Brode does well going through a list:
"Brode say hockey" - "Ockey"
"Brode say Libby" - "Lib"
"Brode say music" - "moo-gic"
"Brode say football" - "foo-ball"
"Brode say gramps" - silence (sometimes even a snicker)

He has an attitude that is for sure.

He picks things up easily and you know that whole "he hears you no matter where you are" thing. Brode is becoming a mini me. He is like one of my girl friends that I hang out with too much and we start saying the same expressions. What can I say, he is my best little bud:



Oh yeah and for all you girls in LaCrosse that miss waking up to "OPEN! OPEN! OPEN!" a little reminder at the end to fix your withdrawls.

I have my doubts

I'm having mixed feelings. Doctors are people just like you and me, they make mistakes. Are we always sure they know the exact answers and are confident? we have had our fair share of ups and downs. I trust every word our surgeons tell us - I am extremely reassured with everything they tell us and know it is best for Brode. We have been to just about every pediatrician in the Fox Valley sometimes for easy things such as his barking seal cough or split lip that don't take a genius to figure out. Other times we all sit there up in the air about why Brode keeps getting sick with pneumonia or if he truely does have asthma, but at least then we know he at minimum needs medicine to get better. These glasses - I don't know. I hate doubting because what if I change my mind about something and thenin 3 years we find out he is almost blind beacuse we didn't help. His glasses are blurry. I cannot look through them or believe how bad his eyes must be. He was doing so well with them, but lately not so much. He has started looking over the top of them. It's funny to watch, but also confusing. Does he really need them? Is he looking over the top because it is clearer? Is it just because his depth perception is still trying to adjust to them? I'm just not convinced he can see better through them. We're going back to the ophthamologist in a few weeks and I will be bringing my list of questions with me (even though I already asked a million) to try and get answers.

On a completely different note: we went to LaCrosse again this weekend! Brode and I made the 3 hour drive to see all of our friends there! He had so much fun playing with all the girls. They spoiled him with all of their attention and each got their time with him. As usual he showed off and laughed a lot! I think they enjoyed his entertainment and I always love to see all of them and catch up so we'll have to make another trip when we get some free time! I extremely surprisingly didn't take any pictures but everyone else did so I'll get some copies to post (and scrapbook of course)!

Slow and Steady.... Gets The Picture

Our first few glasses days were a struggle, but now that Brode is adjusted it seems easier than I was stressing about. At home Brode refused to put them on, pulling them off and throwing them every second we tried. I picked him up from day care Tuesday and both his teachers were so excited to tell me, "Brode kept his glasses on for 2 and 1/2 hours this afternoon!" We went home and he once again refused. This morning we tried multiple times and he yet again wanted nothing to do with them. My dad packed them up in his neon yellow case, took Brode to day care, took his coat off and handed him his glasses. Sure enough Brode put them on by himself and went over to the reading corner and grabbed a book. He clearly only liked them at day care to show off or something strange. Well today I picked him up and he still had them on and he wore them all the way until bed time! He even cried when they had to take them off for nap! I'm so excited and glad that he is starting to realize he can see a lot better with them on. He asks for them when you take them off and it didn't take long to learn the word "glasses".

Here are the pictures everyone has been waiting for after a million attempts:

What do you think?

They usually end up sitting pretty strange on his head and need to be re-adjusted so the pictures look a little goofy, but I still think he looks adorable. Our little professor.
We do have some questions about how he actually sees with them on that we have yet to clear up. I previously had no idea he couldn't see because he loved books, he could see small ants on the pavement, and he could identify familiar objects in the newspaper. Today he went over to his books, grabbed one and exclaimed "OH!! FISH!!" in his little high-pitched voice like he had never seen them before. It's reassuring to know that this can only help him excel in many areas!

Big News: Big Day, Big Eyes, Big Bed

Finally - every piece of anxiety, frustration, and curiosity has come to rest and our recent events have come to rest for a bit.

First: We got our surgery date! After five long weeks of waiting I called back again and because I was so impatient she let me schedule. We were given some options and picked what works best for our familes and our schedules! It was one of those "oh my gosh she called back, oh my gosh she is going to let me schedule, oh my gosh I'm about to hear the dates" kind of thing, and then it was all over. I ran around the work office telling everyone I encountered that has been asking, sat down at my desk and felt that - "well now what do I do now that I know? I was frustrated for that?" feeling. All in all we're glad to have a date and we're able to plan much more and know what to expect. Our date - JULY 28TH - falls at a great time and still gives us a lot of summer, works around holidays, family trips, etc. We do need to go down on a Monday prior to surgery to get an updated CT scan and meet with Dr. Denny. At that appointment we will look at all of his healing, plate placement, and skull symmetry to determine the plan of action for surgery and how much work will be done.

Second - Even BIGGER news. Brode got glasses!

When we began the process with his Cranio condition Dr. Denny asked if we have ever seen a wandering eye on Brode. It is something they have seen with other patients and often work with ophthamologists during surgery to correct it (as long as they are "in there"). We answered no but kept an eye out for it. Last summer his pediatrician had a concern that his right eye didn't track right and sent us to an ophthamologist here. This specialist had no concern but wanted to see him back in a year. 2 months ago I noticed his right eye looking strange when he looked far in either direction, getting it in the corners of his eyes. Then at his 18 month check up a few weeks ago his pediatrician again was concerned he could not track that right eye out to the side. We went back to the ophthamologist and her very first instinct was correct - "He looks severely far-sighted to me and that eye is trying to correct it" - sure enough. There are not any tracking problems (Dr. Denny's "wandering eye" concern), the eye just pulls in an attempt to correct itself and see clearly.

I wish someone would have been there with me and had a camera to capture the moment. I'm sure my face couldn't have been any more shocked. That is not at all the thought I had when I went into that room, it was not what I was expecting, and I ended up very upset. I wasn't upset with Brode's head surgery I just said we need to do it and get it over with, but this I just couldn't adjust to. I had glasses for all of one year (I don't think I wore them often) and my astigmatism isn't anything bad enough for glasses now so it just isn't something I'm used to. Everyone seems to have glasses, it is an extremely common thing, this isn't some freak phenomenon but I just couldn't answer the Why Brode? question. I had all the confusion of not knowing how we would keep them on, why this is happening to Brode and adding another thing to his list, and how we were going to keep from smashing them in the multiple sports we know he will play.

We picked out some cute little glasses, I battled my thoughts, wrote a large check, and here we are. We'll have to see how he adjusts (and how I adjust)! They are optomistic he will begin to like them when he realizes he can see better and if he wears them he will be out of them by the beginning of middle school!
(Pictures soon!)

(Yeah that was a whole other issue - my baby, in middle school? Come on doc can we just talk about him making it to the 2 year old room at day care, don't say those things!)

Lastly - this post is getting long so I'll keep it quick. We got Brode's big toddler bed today! You may remember me asking for any tips/advice. We've decided to get him a toddler bed for a bit. He isn't quite ready, but we want to be ready for the day we hear the "CLA-CLUNK" on the floor because Brode figured out how to get his leg over. I wasn't sure what kind I wanted but then I found fun bedding at IKEA with multi-color outlines of cars, buses, and trucks on it (pictures when it all gets set up) and decided it would look great in THIS:

(this obviously is just the ad picture because that is not Brode's room, his bed is taken apart in pieces, and that is not Brode - but you get the idea)

So Brode got a fun car bed to match his fun bedding and fun egg chair. His room will be perfect for a wild little boy!

Spring Weekend

This week has been a mess! We have had OK weather, then it snowed 3 inches, and today we were back to 65. It was beautiful out so we spent the whole day outside!

Right away this morning we had every toy from the garage out in the driveway and were playing! Brode protested a bit but we finally got him in for lunch and a nap after getting a bit sunburnt. When Brode woke up we took a trip with the neighbors to The Twist - a local ice cream shop here for a cool treat. Brode loved sharing my ice cream and had fun sitting outside seeing a lot of people.

When we got home we of course played outside even more running around in the lawn, playing more basketball, and throwing frisbees. We got inside just in time for dinner, a bath, and bed time. I'm sure Brode will sleep great after all that fresh air!
(He ran down the hill multiple times and this is how most pictures turned out: Goofy):

I just hope it stays this warm!

Friday Project

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons I'm done with classes at 1:00 so I block off two hours before I get Brode for homework, errands, etc. It's really my only quiet time to study and get things done. Friday are my homework filled days with 3 labs and composition class. I usually have a write-up for each of these labs so very uncharacteristically I always get them done on my Friday afternoon breaks. Everything is still fresh and they're easy to do so I like to just get them over with and not panic later the next week.

Well today, I completely threw my strategy out the window and did a project! It was an important/needed project so it wasn't a complete waste of time, but it was still fun. Brode hasn't been falling asleep quite as easy at day care so they asked for suggestions. I didn't really know what to tell them because Brode naps fine at home so we've never had to do anything. Our conclusion was that their time is a little earlier than he is used to so he isn't quite ready to lay down. Our two decisions were that Brode stay up and play quietly for a while after the other kids go to sleep, and to also get him a sleeping bag.

Toddler sleeping bags - hard to find. They're on every website but available online only. I was being picky that I didn't want some bright huge character on it, but I couldn't even find one option!

I decided I didn't want to waste the time searching anymore and got some fabric and made him his own nap mat! I'm so happy with how it turned out! Usually I have these visions but I'm not actually good at the "making" part and it's a disaster! I think Brode really likes it too!
The bottom cover around the batting is soft fleece and the Tigger and orange fabric is flannel so he isn't too hot when napping in the summer!

I had some troubles with getting the right amount of fabric so I had to switch the green and orange and had to improvise with velcro instead of a button to hold it shut.

It's so nice that it folds up small to fit in his little cubby, and it is easy to take home and wash! I hope it lasts a while!

Easter Weekend

We had a pretty busy weekend.

Friday wasn't so fun as it was pretty drizzly outside. We got a little bit of time outside, but nothing too fun.

Saturday morning Brode slept until almost 9:00 so we didn't make it to swimming class, but had fun dyeing Easter eggs anyways! Brode didn't help color, I didn't know how he would handle it, but he loved watching. I gave him an egg of his own and after he figured out eggshell isn't tasty we peeled it and he loved biting off the whole egg.

Brode and I ran some errands and played for a bit at home. Brode had some lunch then headed to Daddy's for a nap. When the boys were hanging out I got some time to go out to lunch with some girls that were in town for the holiday and do a bit of shopping. When Brode woke up from a nap Matt, Brode and I went to a birthday party for a friend that was turning two! Brode had fun making new friends.

The birthday boy's mom made a cute dirt cake in some sand toys for summer! It was so festive and delicious. Brode loved it as well!

After the party we went over to my friend Claire's house with some friends and had dinner. Brode loves showing off and playing with everyone. He had a fun time in the back yard in the dirt!

He was sure tired when we got home!

Easter morning I had to wake Brode up at 7:30 so that we could get breakfast, a bath, and dressed to be to church on time. We got some spare time so Brode got to find his Easter basket before we left. Libby (the golden retriever) found hers first and Brode was very interested in that, but we finally got him searching for his own.

His favorite thing within the basket was a "Bathketball" toy. It has suction cups to go in the bath tub, but Brode wanted to try it out right away. He also got a book, some giant paints, candy and sand toys!
Once we got him away from the hoop (even if the balls were in his death grip) we were able to get him dressed and off to church. I can't believe how big (and adorable) he looked!
After church Brode had lunch and a nap while we got everything ready. My moms family came over and we all socialized, hunted eggs, and had dinner. Brode got some down time to play with Daddy.

Easter was very fun. Brode was tired and quite ready for bed by the end of the day. He hasn't really caught on to why we made him look for a basket and pick eggs off the ground, but he had fun with family and friends anyway!