The Walker

When we first came home with the walker, Alex didn't want to have much to do with it. Actually, he pretty much hated it and would scream if I encouraged him to use it. So I put it away, thinking that he was at least exercising his leg by pulling up on the couches and toy boxes, standing at their new play kitchen, and walking while I held his hands.

And then, a couple of days ago he stood - without holding onto anything - for a few seconds before he had to grab the couch. Then a few hours later, Josh and I witnessed him try to walk, unassisted! He took 2 steps and then fell. Have I mentioned before how much I feel like I am going through the baby stages again? Anyway I thought it might be time to try the walker again. After a little bit of protest, I finally got him to try it. He walked from the living room to the playroom and realized how much freedom it gives him - and he's been using it since! The only problem we have is that it tends to topple when he tries to pull himself up to use it, so I have to help him with that; but what a difference it has made! I am so proud of the progress he has made; he hasn't let this get him down one bit. Eight days until cast removal!

His speech has really benefited from this, since he hasn't had much else to do and has had to communicate what he wants. He has about 30-40 words he says well now, he can identify some letters of the alphabet, and he can count to three! Here is a video of Alex using his walker (the pink basket is so he can take toys around with him.)

Christmas!!

We had a great Christmas! It's been so nice that I haven't even been on the computer since Tuesday! Christmas Eve Day we went to the in-laws first thing in the morning and made breakfast and opened presents. We stayed there all day, watching movies and playing with new toys, had dinner, and then headed home. We put the kids to bed and then prepared to set out Santa stuff. Unfortunately, we could not get Aurora to stay in her room and go to sleep, so we had to put a baby gate up so that she couldn't see what we were doing. Once she fell asleep we took it down. We've had a constant issue for the past year or so of her not staying her room. Most nights we find her sleeping on the couch when we get up the morning. Not even a threat of Santa not leaving any presents kept her in her room Christmas Eve!

Anyway from Santa the kids got a toy kitchen and all of the food and accessories, and some other stuff (CARS, Pixos, etc). The kitchen was a HUGE hit; the kids played with it for an hour before they wanted to open more presents. It has also really helped give Alex incentive to stand and put weight on his legs. They played with their Santa gifts and we made breakfast. After nap time my family came over and we opened the rest of the presents and then had dinner. Aurora got everything she wanted (and I did too!) and Alex seemed happy with everything.

Since Christmas we've just been hanging out at home having family time and playing with our new toys. Overall we had a great holiday!

Christmas Eve before bedtime

Putting out cookies, milk, and carrots

Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grandpa

Santa came!

The kitchen

The kids playing with the kichen

Alex and Grandpa

Festive Weekend

We had a festive holiday weekend at the house. Saturday morning Aurora and I headed out to finish up the Christmas shopping. While we were shopping we had to run by Grandma's house and Aurora asked if she could stay with Grandma for a bit instead of finishing shopping with me. I'm glad she did because shopping was not much fun! Every place was packed and I spent most of my time standing in lines to pay for things. I still can't decide if the deals I got were worth the trouble!

Anyway, Saturday afternoon my best friend Megan and her boyfriend came over for dinner and to exchange Christmas presents. We had a blast! Among other things, Aurora got matching ladybug rain boots and an umbrella which she has been asking for forever and absolutely loves. She wore them all over the house on Sunday and kept asking me if she can wear them outside next time it rains. Alex also loved his presents, mainly a big truck with cars and construction stuff in it. We had lasagna for dinner, made sugar cookies, and then played cards after the kids went to bed. I think we'll have to make this a regular monthly event! (The getting together, not the presents LOL!)

Sunday we just played around the house and watched a few Christmas specials, worked with Alex on his "walking" (he HATES the walker so I hold his hands while he takes steps) and then after dinner we drove around and looked at Christmas lights. It was a nice weekend - but we can't wait until Christmas!

Alex Ortho Update

We had Alex's second follow up with the orthopedic surgeon today. The good news - they cut the cast off of his "good" leg. The bad news - that's ALL they cut off (nothing from the abdomen) and the rest has to remain on for 3 more weeks! UG! I don't know if we can do this for 3 more weeks...but I just keep telling myself, "this too shall pass". His leg is healing really well, they just want to make sure it is completely healed before they take the cast off or it may re-break. Better to be safe than sorry.

However, just having the cast off of the one leg has done him a world of good. They gave us a toddler sized walker to use to encourage him to stand and put some weight on his legs. We had a little session with a physical therapist to learn how to use it and how to encourage Alex to use his legs. She suggested we also stand him up against the couch - I did this when we got home and he loved it! He put weight on his good leg and leaned against the couch and played with some toys for a good 10 minutes or so. He can also move on his tummy a lot better now that he can get his good knee under him. And the two best parts - his pajama pants fit now!! And he can fit in a car seat!! Yay!! The only thing it has made harder is that he is lopsided now when he "sits" so it's a little challenging to get him settled.

Anyway we now have some new stuff to work with, which makes these 3 weeks seem a lot more doable. And we have a light at the end of the tunnel - January 7th is cast removal day! Here are some pictures:

Leaning up against the couch

Full picture of the remaining cast

The walker

Pajama pants!!!!

Disney Princesses

Believe it or not, I had no idea that Sleeping Beauty's name was Aurora when we gave our daughter her name. In fact, Josh picked her name. He lived in Greece for several years and is a big astronomy fan (Aurora Borealis, and Aurora is the Greek godess of light) and thought it would be a great name for a little girl. I agreed.

Then when Aurora was around 4 months old we took an airplane ride to visit family, and there was a little girl in the row in front of us. She asked Aurora's name and when I told her, she said, "Oh wow, just like Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty!" What?? When we arrived at our destination I looked it up and sure enough, that was her name! So then I was pretty excited for her, thinking how special she was going to feel when she was two or three and into princess stuff and was named after a princess!

Little did I know that my "princess" was going to be a certified tomboy, only interested in cars and transformers and all the little boy stuff! She did not want to have anything to do with pink and girly toys!

Until Now.

Every year my mom does an Advent calendar for the kids, and this year Aurora has gotten each of the little Disney princess figurines each day from her calendar. She has played with them all day every day for the past week. She has also asked to watch the movies (we only have Cinderella, Aladdin, and Little Mermaid - but Sleeping Beauty is under the Christmas tree) and has asked to get the other movies. She's totally into it, and I'm so happy! I finally have a little glimmer of a girly girl, even if she's pitting the princesses against the tranformers and putting them in her cars!

On a side note, Alex has his follow up with the ortho tomorrow, where he hopefully gets part of his cast removed! I'll update tomorrow!

Christmas Program

Aurora had her Christmas program for school on Friday night. She would not tell me what songs she was going to sing...she said it was a surprise and she really did keep it a secret! Her class sang "Silver Bells" and "All I Want For Christmas" (the Mariah Carey version). She did a great job! She sang every word and did all the hand motions and everything. At the end all of the classes came out and sang "Jingle Bells" and "Feliz Navidad". She was absolutely adorable, if I do say so myself!

Also, while she was getting ready for the program, she said her tummy was bothering her. I said, "Are you nervous? Do you have butterflies in your tummy?" She rolled her eyes at me and said, "No Mom, I do not have ANY animals in my tummy!!" LOL!

Candy Making!

Every year for as long as I can remember, the women in my family have gotten together two weeks before Christmas to spend a marathon day making Christmas candies and cookies. We make them for our families and also to give away and take to work, etc. The past couple of years it has been my mom, my best friend Megan (the sister I never had), and myself. This year Aurora joined us for the first time! It was a very special occasion! Of course, Alex was there too, as the Official Taste Tester. We made:

Fudge
Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls
Peanut Clusters
No Bake Chocolate Cookies
Toffee
Russian Tea Cakes
Sugar Cookies

Aurora had a blast and Alex enjoyed tasting everything. It was a very yummy, productive (and exhausting) day! Here are some pictures.

Stirring up the fudge (stovetop was not on yet)

Pouring the fudge into pans

Checking out all of the candy

Alex's pink "lipstick" from the frosting he was testing

Sampling more of the goods

Making cookies

Isn't she beautiful?!?

Cookie decorating

Christmases Past

I was going through some old photos and thought I would post some pictures from Christmases past! I can't believe how much they have both grown...no longer babies anymore!

2004

2005

2006

2007

Good Friends and Good Food!

We had our good friends Chris and Emily over last night to make eggrolls and exchange Christmas presents. Making eggrolls is kind of a tradition for us, we've been having people over and making them for 9 years now! It's such an interactive meal - whoever is over gets to chop veggies, cook the meat, help wrap and fry them up - we always have tons of fun doing it. Josh and I have been friends with Chris since high school, and he met Emily a few years ago. They were married this May, with Aurora as a flower girl. Anyway we had a blast with them and it was a good start to the holiday season!

Ortho Followup

This afternoon we had the first follow up with Alex's orthopedic surgeon. She said the break is healing really well and they added some more tape and padding to his cast. He has to remain in the full spica cast for another two weeks. At that point they will cut off the half leg and lower the torso part. This will improve his mobility but still keep the leg straight. Then it will be another two weeks before the whole thing can be removed. So unfortunately he won't be walking around Christmas. Good thing I didn't get him any walking or ride on toys! He also has a nasty rash on his bottom under the cast part. The technician today said that we should be using like size 3 diapers in the hole of the cast, shoving it as far up as we can. The hospital told us to use newborn diapers, so we weren't getting enough coverage in there. We're supposed to use a little diaper cream and the bigger diapers. The ortho also said he could move however he wanted in the cast.

Mentally and physically Alex is doing as well as can be expected. He stays upbeat most of the time, only getting frustrated occasionally and when I don't respond to him right away. He is still waking 2-3 times a night though; I'm guessing because he doesn't have enough room in the crib to roll or move. He can move around on his tummy pretty well and he can roll from his tummy to his back and back again, often watching TV on his side with his other leg up in the air (as in the picture below)! So now we're counting down two more weeks to some more freedom!

Thanksgiving #2

Yesterday we had Thanksgiving with my parents and decorated for Christmas. We had a great time. Alex was a little grumpy towards the end but not too bad. The kids get their own little Christmas tree so that they can play with it and pull off ornaments or whatever and not mess with the big tree. Conveniently this works for the cats too! Aurora is all into the mistletoe this year; I hang it in the doorway to the bedrooms and every time we pass through it she insists on her kiss! Anyway we had good food and it was nice for all of us to get together; I actually don't see my parents much even though they only live 10 minutes away.

Moving Forward

Alex is getting pretty good at moving around now. He can now pull himself forward. It's tough to watch him have to make so much effort, but he seems to be happier when he can move around on his own. Hopefully this will also help his hair, which has been rubbing off a little on the back from laying against a pillow so much. He spends a lot of time now on his tummy playing. It reminds me of tummy time! I feel like I am going through all the baby stages again! Here's a video - disregard the music in the background, we often groove to 80's music in the evenings!

Santa

I took Aurora to the mall today for a little one on one time with Mom and to see Santa. I figured Santa wouldn't want a 50 pound cast laden, screaming two year old who doesn't even know who he is on his lap so I spared bringing Alex. Aurora and I did some shopping, had lunch, and picked out this year's ornaments. They each get a new ornament every year. This year she decided on the Little Einstein's Rocket ornament for both of them. We talked about what a big helper she has been with Alex. Then she got to ride the Christmas train and talk to Santa. She told him she wanted barbies, a tent, and Pixos. Here's the picture:


And here is Aurora's letter to Santa:

Dear Santa:

This is Aurora. I've been a good girl this year. I've been taking good care of Alex and being good to him. I have been handing him toys and staying in my room at night. I've been trying to listen to Momma and Daddy. Here is what I want for Christmas:

Barbies
Pixos
Dinosaurs
Refrigerator
Tent
CARS Banshee
Pretend Food

I will leave you cookies and milk and carrots for your reindeer. Thank you. AURORA

Thanksgiving #1

Happy Thanksgiving! We had a pretty good Thanksgiving. We went to Josh's parents house and they had friends in from out of town. Alex got very frustrated at times with his inability to do certain things and with all of the people around, but overall he did the best he could. We had good food and yummy desserts. Stay tuned for Thanksgiving #2 with my parents on Tuesday (they work on the actual Thanksgiving)!

Amazing!!

Well, the ortho said that kids figure out how to move in their cast, and I didn't believe her. Boy, has Alex proved me wrong!! This boy is amazing! I put him on his tummy this evening and he immediately figured out how to scoot backwards! He went forward a little bit too but it was much harder; I imagine when he gets his muscles built up he will be able to do it! He was SO proud of himself and even started screaming when I eventually picked him up to put his pajamas on.

Thank goodness he is starting to figure this out, because he was getting very frustrated with laying around, especially dropping toys all the time and not being able to play with everything he wants. Overall he's been quite the trooper though. We had some problems with sleeping; he was waking every 1-2 hours. I called the ortho and she said it was probably muscle spasms and called in a prescription of Valium. He has slept much better since!

Anyway we are doing pretty well, considering the circumstances. Josh is taking some vacation from work and I am fortunate to be able to work from home for now. I really hope Alex is able to get out of the cast by Christmas!

Video of Alex's scooting (with Big Sister helping, of course!):