Summer Activities

The past 6 weeks we have been playing and trying to enjoy this random weather we have been getting. Here are a few highlights that I caught pictures of:

My cousin graduated high school so we celebrated with our family for her! Brode jumped on the trampoline the majority of the time.

Playing soccer wth the big kids.

 They have a couple pigs and goats at their house that Brode needed to check out. It didn't take long for him to grab that house and spray them in the face.

 Brode and Ally playing in the sand.

Brode loves his great-grandma. He runs and jumps in her arms and says "I love you". We wished we would have had the video camera.

 When the sun went down they started a large campfire, Brode made a new friend and explained to him "that is unbelievable!"

 On the hot days we got out the sprinkler!

 Lunch on the back deck. (e was very crabby this moment as he had just cut the bottom of his foot open)

 A bird's next Libby pulled out of the tree.

 And the same nest 3 days later pulled out again.

 Park day!

 Brode and I went strawberry picking for his first time. He loved to watch the tractors and scream "I FOUND A GREAT ONE!" We also switched buckets many times because he wanted the full one. Luckily we only had one spill accicdent very early and didn't lose any!

 He ate a few (dozen).

 Friday night we went to my cousins baseball game. Brode helped the team clean up afterwards.

 Finally, we went to a pool party with my friends. Brode swam, jumped, and floated around. Rough life I know.

Long time gone

I have failed miserably at posts lately. I dont really have a good reason as to why because we have been up to nothing at all. Since graduation we went to Florida, and then hung out for 6 weeks playing and going to Wiggles and Giggles classes. Brode has been going to day care a few days a week to keep up on socialization and activities.

He has been doing funny things that I do want to keep recording as memories. His vocabulary is still expanding, good and bad. I can't even count how many times his teachers at day care have admired his manners and praise about him to me. On the other hand in the car I get "mom, you are going the wrong way. I have told you many many times to turn back". It is entertaining but he sure has some attitude. He gets extremely frustrated when you can't understand him because it is so rare that he can't pronounce a word well.

He has three words that are never correct out of his mouth and I hope they never change.
1. Moosgit - music
2. Sundybody - somebody/anybody - "sundybody left the cart in the parking lot!"
3. Forlefting - forgetting/left - "you are forlefting Tigger upstairs!"

Sorry for no pictures! Check back tomorrow!

Milwaukee Monday

We had another Milwaukee Monday yesterday! We haven't been down to Children's Hospital for six months. It was nice to have such a long break and a healthy little boy for a while!

We had a long day of appointments: 9:00 CT scan, 11:00 meeting with craniofacial, and a 2:00 re-check with the eye doctor. First, Brode wanted nothing to do with the CT scan. The entire process lasts 5 minutes if he sits on the table still an quiet but he chose to wiggle so we had to go with sedation again and we were there for an hour and a half. Once we were finished we got our starving child some breakfast before his appointment.

Our meeing with Dr. Denny went wonderfully! Brode jabbered away to the nurse who gave him a big stuffed Eeyore, stickers and a sucker then the doctors came in. We looked at his CT results that were perfect and talked about the future! All of the bone grafts held tremendously and there are no soft spot concerns. The symmetry also held and if his bone all grows proportionally for the rest of his life it will keep same shape and there will be no further concerns! Dr. Denny will see Brode once a year to monitor that shape and make sure nothing alarming is taking place that we need to address.

As for the eye doctor, we had a bit of a different meeting. We ended up getting the appoinment mved up to 12:30 so we didn't need to spend all afternoon there and luckily it was right as the doctor was returning from lunch we got right in, bypassing all of the tech's measurements. The doctor examined his tracking and started doing measurements of his vision (what we have been waiting for Brode to be old enough to do). Brode did great identifying and matching letters with both eyes and with his left eye, but when forced to only look out of his right eye he wasn't able to identify or match any of the letters. In order to strengthen this right eye we're going to patch his left fa few hours a day for two months, then readdress the problem and see if w can move on to the tracking issue!

I know, I know, it's never ending. Brode's head has never bothered me once, I'm com fortable doing what is best for him. The eyes on the other hand just make me feel horrible. Starting with the glasses and now patching, I feel so bad for him. I imagine myself looking at little kids with a patched eye and wondering what is going on with them, and I don't want Brode to be that little boy. As we were driving home all I could think was I hope all the little kids at day care will leave Brode alone when he is wearing the patch, but also that I hope he is small enough that he won't remember and I would rather worry and hurt for him now and he will be better off when he is older. I know the two months will go fast, but I really hope the whole process works and we don't need to go back to the glasses.

Overall it was a good day, we got a lot of good news and Brode is completely still on a track of being a normal little boy like everyone else! Our doctor reassured us he is ahead of the game, he doesn't need to be held back and treated any safer, and if he breaks something we have his number - use it!

(Sorry for no pictures, the camera doesnt usually come with us to the hospital! Disney pictures and posts soon though!)

Graduation

May 14th was my college graduation day! Hurray!

Thats's not true. May 14th I sat through the 2 hour ceremony for th College of Letters and Science to get an empty diploma jacket. August 5th is my actual graduation day. They do not hold a ceremony for summer graduates so once I walked and once I complete my internship I will recive my actual degree.

But I still call it my Graduation Day!

The ceremony was bright and early, 9AM Saturday morning. We did the whole walking, announcing, moving the tassel, and singing the alma mater thing... then celebrated!

Graduation was strange because I do not have a large attachment to Oshkosh. I started at LaCrosse and have the majority of college friends there, but I did my studying at Oshkosh. I do however have attachment to the UWO Kinsesiology program and eveyone I have gone through it with! I had those classmates in every class, every day, every semester so we all get very familiar with each other. It will be strange not seeing them every day and hearing everyone's ineternship stories from all over the country.

The best thing about graduation, that I am most proud of are my honor cords. I was glad to have them around my neck and show I not only finished, but strongly. Many reputations come with Oshkosh: UW-Zero, anyone gets in, it's easy... I completed all of my coursework in biology, chemistry, anatomy, physiology, exercise physiology, bimechanics, motor learning, sports psychology, nutrition, clinicals, and many others that tested my limits so I am still proud of my grades no matter where they are from (my hardest struggle to overcome when transferring home).

(Half of this semesters Kines grads)

I am officially a University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh Kinesiology Graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology - Exercise & Fitness with  minor in Wellness Promotion!

Soccer Star

Brode has been going to soccer for three weeks now! Yes I realize he is only 2 and 1/2, but it is something fun to do!

We signed him up through our park&rec for the 2-3 year old class at the park down the street. There are 10 other kids in his class and they work on their passing, dribbling, shooting, and running!

(Brode listening to Coach on how to score on Daddy)

(Dribbling in a line behind the team!)

(Working on his passing with Daddy)

Matt and Grandma Beth have been bringing him as I was working on Saturday mornings, but this week I got some time off to go! He was hard to get moving but once he got there he was all over the place.

(Watching the other kids shoot on the goal)

It was very entertaining to watch all the kids count out loud stretching and running a warm-up lap around the trees! He loves it!

(Dribbling - the little kicks aren't his favorite)

(Cool down stretches)

We'll see how long this cool kid lasts in soccer, he isn't really a fan of the whole sharing the ball thing.

Easter 2011

We had a wonderful Easter! On a day that the 2 year old could potentilly have a million breakdowns for his basket, in church, too many people around, too much candy, and wanting more eggs.... we seemed to avert them all!

Friday night we started with dying eggs. Brode dyed eggs at day care last week and loved it, but they only got one egg so he had a tough time picking one color. When we went to dye eggs at home he didn't understand that we had a whole carton full that he could put in any color he wanted.

After he colored them all he put stickers all over and wouldn't you know, he picked all the sports ones off the sheet then said he was done so I finished up.

Saturday Brode had his first 'soccer practice' that he is doing through the Park and Rec. Matt and Grandma Beth brought him so I'll have to save that for another post and get some pictures! After soccer Grandma and Daddy took Brode to McDonalds to play in the playplace and he got a magnadoodle and a bubble gun for Easter from his grandma!

Sunday morning our goal was to get up, feed Brode, get dressed and head to church right away and avoid the whole "I want to play with my toys fro my Easer basket meltdown". Didn't happen. As I was in the bathroom finishing getting ready I hear, "Mom! My duck! My duck is full! Look"

I ran down the stairs to see his little behind sticking out from behind the chair. He dragged his chick basket out with a huge smile on his face. Brode got a book, a movie, a spiderman car/guy, and some candy! Luckily he was dressed and ready to go so after a few minutes of play time he was alright with leaving them home for later.
He was great in church and wondered why all the other kids around us were crying and talking. Brode only hadhis one moment that he needed to yell above the rest of the church when he stood on my legs "I can't see Father Mike!" At least they all knew he was paying attention.

After church we came home for Brode to play and have a nap before our family came over. He did very well with an early nap and got a good 2 hours in before heading outside to play. While we waited for company Brode played bubble gun, chatted with his neighbor friend Blake, and ran around while we tried to get pictures.

Our family came over for an Easter egg hunt and dinner. Last year Brode didn't really understand the concept but he was really into it this year!

 

Grandpa had a few surprise eggs we didn't know about for the hunt.

Brode's winnings from the egg hunt!

Inside each of his small ones was candy from Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma. The large eggs were a gift from Grandpa and Grandma - water shoes, swimmies, and a singing and dancing Mickey - all for vacation!

We all had a large dinner and cupcake desert:

Yes, I made these, and yes they were a lot of work, but talk about a fun spring desert!

We're hoping after that beautiful holiday the spring weather can start to come around!

New Bike!

Brode picked out his very own new bike this weekend. When I say he picked it out, trust me, he picked it out. We tried to talk him into Toy Story with all of our might, but he insisted on Cars. We got up to the checkout and sure enough Toy Story was all gone and would need to be stored ordered but there were 4 Cars bikes left. Needless to say we walked out of the store with a racing red Cars bike and matching helmet on Friday night.

Brode has been starting this thing where he gets out of bed and leaves his room by himself on weekend mornings. Saturday morning we came down the stairs as Brode skidded around the corner in his socks "Grandpa! Can we put my bike together?" I wonder if the kid even slept that night.

After a big breakfast Grandpa and Brode gathered their tools and put together his racing red bike. He was a fan of the helmet too and wore it the whole time.

All finished and ready to try it outside!

Our Week

Our week hasn't been anything exciting. I went back to school after a nice Spring Break week off, I started working at the Y at night, and Brode was in day care.

Brode did have a bit of trouble with a cold and fever this week, and by Thursday he was too glassy-eyed and snot filled to go to day care. We got him into the doctor to have his ears, throat, and lungs checked to see why he had a 101 fever all week, but it was determined to be just a virus with a cold. He is slowly recovering but we're still flying through tissues.

Luckily, Brode picked Thursday to say home sick and watch the Brewers on their Opening Day!


Matt made progress with his foot. He got his stitches out and upgraded to a boot instead of a cast, but he is still on crutches and still anxious to play hockey. Brode has been a big help getting him water from the jug and carrying his foot up the stairs.




We don't have much of anything else planned! We're just hoping the snow keeps melting and we can get outside soon. I'm also hoping April goes fast so graduation, Florida, and summer are that much closer!

One last picture: Brode got a new sleeping bag for day care and he is in love with it. He insisted that he must nap in it and use it at bedtime, but he slides right out of the bed on it's slippery fabric so we made a nice bed on the floor for him. And yes, he is sleeping in this picture, he loves his hands behind his head.