"He's Wild"

Everytime someone asks me how Brode is I find myself saying the same thing over and over, "He is 2, he is wild"

When I say this, I mean it. I have to admit I think he could be much worse. He is very well behaved a majority of the time, just on the go playing sports to cars to coloring to tools to cooking all within 5 minutes.

My friends are always bugging me for videos as well as asking me how I keep up after school or work. Here is a snapshot into our nights after a long day... anything but relaxing, but completely entertaining.

(I apologize, I always forget you can't rotate videos so I filmed to fit then realized all the viewers will have to hurt their necks to watch the first one.)

Just a normal kitchen activity:

Currently Brode's favorite song. I don't have any idea how or why, but he recognizes it on the radio and requests in when we're dancing around the house.

EAA AirVenture

Grandpa and Brode had men's day out today at EAA Airventure. Brode loved getting pulled out of day care early and spending the afternoon looking at planes and helicopters, eating ice cream, drinking lemonade, and watching the air show!

Here are some pictures Grandpa took of the day:

(When he got home he told me all about this guy with the 'merica that fell out of the plane - very concerned)

and here are some pictures Brode took of the day:

"Grandpa, now raise your hand up really really high!"

I'm glad he loved it, he was talking at high speed when they got home. We're going to attempt going back on Saturday so we can all see him in his glory! 

Of course he came home with a plane to add to his collection and he played planes ALL night.

2nd Cranioversary

Happy 2nd Cranioversary Brode!

(THEN)

Ok, so I don't know if this is actually considered a happy thing, but looking back on the path we've come I believe it is! He is doing tremendous today proving that everything we all went through was for the better.

It has been two years since Brode's first craniosynostosis FOA (front orbital alignment)... basically reconstruction.

Brode is ahead of his age group developmentally, he has a very high emotional awareness, and his coordination levels are through the roof for a two-year-old.

We do have a bit on continuing care for his eyes as a result of the surgery, but he is doing incredibly well with the eye patch to strengthen his vision.

(NOW)

The part that makes this able to celebrate is that we're done, we aren't expected at Children's Hospital for this issue until June 2012! Yay!

Tonight when the humidity finally died down we tried headed to the driving range! My dad, me, Brode, and our neighor Blake (that Brode loves, admires, and plays with all the time) all packed up our clubs to get some practice (or entertainment from Brode). Brode did pretty well once he knew the rules of staying off the range, no running on the green, etc. He got some great shots in as well!

Teeing it up...

Lining up the shot...

Adjusting his grip...

A few of his shots... my favorite is the first video he wathes the ball and walks away saying "That works". He was watching everything we were doing and Grandpa said that often.

We did attempt the putting as well, but Brode always wanted to hit it at the farthest flag away!

 I caught the people around us laughing several times. I'm not sure if it was the fact that my two year old has nice, left-handed clubs that are the perfect size for him in a carrying bag, his expressions like "Great shot, grandpa you're doing great!", or the three of us standing behind him saying "spread your feet apart, keep them on the ground, don't take such a big backswing, etc". We couldn't help it, he just has a natural instinct to pick it all up and really listens.

Wedding Weekend

Last week and weekend was extremely busy for us in terms of weddings! We had a wedding both Friday and Saturday night. Both weddings were for 1st cousins of mine, one being Brode's godfather. Brode was asked to srve as the ring bearer for Friday's wedding so after the bachelorette party on Wednesday we had rehearsal Thursday, then a a full day of activities Friday. Unfortunetly this post isn't going to get exciting with adorble pictures of him walking down the aisle because he refused to put the tux on. Church was beyond a disaster. Horrible. Luckily Matt was able to get him in presentable clothes as the ceremony started so he could join us in front to watch. The ceremony was perfect. Extremely well done, emotional and exciting all in one.

After a bit of a rest we checked into the hotel between the ceremony and reception and Brode finally put his tux on. We did get a couple pictures of him dancing in it so we may be able to hunt those down later. The reception was fun and there were many moments to laugh about the next morning.

Saturday we drove home so Brode could nap (4 hours worth!) before we headed to the next wedding. This wedding Brode actually opened up a bit more and did some dancing and enjoyed himself. Between watching Brode try and break dance through a slow song and my 85 year old grandma dancing to Party Rock Anthem it was an entertaining night.

Sunday was safe to assume we weren't doing anything after running around for so many days in a row. We caught up on some things around the house and relaxed. I jumped back into internship and work right away Monday morning with 51 hours of work ahead of me this week. It's been crazy!

Once again, sorry for no pictures but I gaurantee some later this week!

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.