Today was a busy day. We went to therapy this morning and Gage did really well. Last week, he was not allowed to sit and play with Derek, at the front desk, and type on his computer because he acted SO bad for his therapist. Today was a totally different story. He was good for the whole session and was sitting in Derek's lap when I came to pick him up. His PT said he was good the whole time and even had something to show me. She put him against the wall, and he walked to Derek, taking 15 steps by himself in between!! That's a new record for him! I am so encouraged by his progress!!

We came home for a nap, then had to go for a well-child visit at his pediatrician's office...What I wouldn't have given for a bubble to sit in! It's nice and clean and all, but just knowing the germs flying around that place made my nose itch and my throat tickle. He weighed in at 32lbs 12oz (90th %ile) fully dressed) and 34" long (25th %ile), which I think was off because he was screaming for that part and she did it really quick. We got to see a NP student and then the NP (who I love!). They agreed that he was doing really well. Then he got 2 shots- Hib and the regular flu shot. We were checking out and I asked about H1N1. I had been told that they probably wouldn't get it, which the girl at the desk said, but that if they did, it would go to high-risk kids first, which Gage is. I told her that, and she went to check on something. A shipment had JUST come in, so we went back to the room to get that, too. Now I'm the only unvacinnated member of my family.

I came home to a box on the front porch. It turned out to be flowers from my awesome hubby! They're currently in a vase, drinking some water and trying to spruce back up, per the directions, so maybe I'll take a pic tomorrow. I needed that, though.

And here is Gage's new sleeping style. EVERY night, no matter what I do.

Actually, he usually just gets under his pillows, which you can see that I moved to the end of the bed to try to keep him from getting under them. No problem, he just got under the covers instead. Last night I set them up against the headboard after he was asleep. Sometime in the night he pulled one down and this morning he was sideways in the bed and the pillow covered him so all you could see is legs poking out the bottom.

I took some pics of him in the leaves the other day. I need to play with them some...and I'm not the best at picture editing, but here's one.

Halloween

We had a great time trick-or-treating! Gage did great, but was so confused. He couldn't figure out why we kept going up to the front door of all of these houses and then having to turn around and leave. He wanted to go in! We went with some good friends, but I don't have permission to post their kids' pics to my oh-so-public blog, so....sorry! We had a flying monkey, Optimus Prime, and Snow White with us, though.

Halloween Sneak Peak

Just can't keep up

We've been a busy family. The visit with Dusty, Rachel and Nate was a lot of fun but too short. Dad and Alice came last week and we enjoyed them too, but again, too short. They helped me get Evie's room all put together and I love it! We didn't stick to "the plan" but wow, I'm happy with how it turned out. I will upload 1 of the pics to blogger for you people who are reading from a place that blocks Photobucket, but it's just too easy to copy and paste the code, and takes too long to upload it all, so if you want to see the rest, you'll have to check from another computer or something ;).










And here is her already-full closet!! VERY little of this is brand new stuff. The grandparents have bought a few things, but most of it is hand-me-downs or consignment finds!





And the dresser drawers are full, too!!
Anyway, while Dad and Alice were here, they kept Gage while I went to my OB to have the 1 hour glucose tolerance test, which I failed. I had to go back Tuesday to do the 3 hour (got stuck FOUR times!!) and I passed it, so that's good. I'll be watching my sugar intake a little more closely, I guess. I'm on 2 week appointments now, so I'll go back again next week. The drive to Little Rock for such short appointments gets old, but I love my doctor and my hospital, so I don't mind.

Friday and Saturday was the yearly ladies trip. We stayed at a lodge in Branson (that I found :) ) and shopped and ate and laughed. It was a great trip. I let Tony take the camera with him to his parents (he didn't even use it!) so I have no pics to post.

Wednesday, Gage and I went to UCA again to the PT lab. He didn't make any big milestones while we were there, but he did well and the students seemed to enjoy him. He was good most of the time, except when his PT wanted him to do something that looked like work...stinker. He's still doing well. We didn't take the walker in to church last night, and just held his hand to walk. He would rather have his walker, but it's gotten too easy. We'll probably keep using it for longer walks, but he's gotten good enough at the hand holding thing to ditch it most of the time. He just decided while at his Nana and Pops' house that he knew how to stand up in the middle of the floor by himself! His PT tries to get him to do it in therapy with her help and, in her words, "you would think I was twisting his leg off at the hip". Well, he can do it. He just chooses not to. I have yet to see him get all the way up himself, but Tony claims he did it several times last weekend.


Finally, I took some 2 year pics of Gage with the tiger last week. I didn't think to keep taking one a year after his 1st birthday, DUH!

I don't have anything very specific to blog about- I just haven't updated in a while. I wanted to leave that ACH voting thing up for a while (you can still vote! ACH is currently in 1st!).

Tony got to go to the Cowboy's game Monday night and had a good time. He said their seats were really high up, but they could see everything thanks to the 60 yard long big screen. I was glad he got to go and got to be there for the 1st Cowboys win in the new stadium.

My mom came over while he was gone and we moved the queen sized bed into Gage's room. He looks so tiny in that big thing! He's done well in it, though. He did meet me in the living room at 1:30am the other night, but I've put pool noodles under his sheets, so maybe that will discourage him from getting out of bed anymore.

Dusty, Rachel, and Nate are headed this way today. Dusty is going to meet some folks in the Natural Resources office in Conway, and Rachel is going to visit UCA's OT department. We would LOVE it if they could move over here, but we're not holding our breath yet. Nate's just coming along for the ride.

Gage is doing great in PT. He is taking up to 7 steps in a row now! He's been singing a lot lately- usually Signing Time songs, and occasionally his version of the ABCs, which goes about A-F now. He still thinks counting to 10 is fun...guess we ought to introduce him to 11-20 soon.

He has started doing one thing that I do not like. He is definitely a mama's boy. He is fine being with people he knows well by himself, but if he is with someone new or someone he doesn't know well, he is okay for a while and then realizes that I'm not there and starts crying. I thought we had dodged this phase, but apparently not. He did this in Bible class Wednesday night- which is really weird, because he loves Bible class. I think it's just because his regular teacher wasn't there and that I handed him over to her before we were actually in the classroom.

Since blogs without pictures are boring, here are a few recent ones.

Vote For ACH!!

Go to this link: http://xbox.childrensmiraclenetwork.org
Register (for free)
Go to Arkansas, and vote for Arkansas Children's Hospital in the Game Room Giveaway from the Children's Miracle Network!

This is from the info page on ACH:

Arkansas Children’s Hospital is the only pediatric hospital in Arkansas and one of the largest in the United States. The non-profit health care facility boasts an internationally renowned reputation for medical breakthroughs and intensive treatments, unique surgical procedures and forward thinking medical research—all dedicated to fulfilling their mission of enhancing, sustaining and restoring children’s health and development.

This is the hospital where Gage was taken when he was only a few hours old, and where he has now spent a total of 5 weeks and had 6 surgeries. They are FABULOUS. They serve many teens as well, and a hospital gets boring after a while. They could really use this game room!!! Vote up to 10 times a day!

A Wicked Fun Weekend

Thursday morning, Gage and I got in the car and headed East to Nashville, TN. I dropped him off with his great Uncle Mitch and Uncle Steve, and the Ford girls + some headed to eat and then to the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. We got there just in time. It was AWESOME!!! I am a big Wizard of Oz fan and didn't know very much about Wicked, but it's about the witches of Oz- their back story. I will never watch The Wizard of Oz the same way again.

Gage and I spent the night with the Mitchells and then headed down to Pulaski, to Dad and Alice's house. He had a birthday present when we got there- a purple and gray wagon (GO BEARS!) that will soon be rigged to be pulled by Dad and Alice's new family member, Chance, a husky. For the weekend it was pulled by one of us or the lawn mower :).

Dusty, Rachel, and Tater got there Saturday and we all went shopping in Decatur/Huntsville, although not together. The girls and Gage were on a mission to decorate Evie's room. We were wildly successful. The guys...well, they did guy stuff- guns and Gander Mountain...stuff like that. We met up to eat ribs at Dreamland.

Here's my haul from Saturday:

The stock photo of the bedding set. I got the 4 piece set- comforter, sheet, bed skirt, and bumper. I have found it listed for $130 all over the internet. I bought it for $25!!!

The butterflies- there are 2 big ones and 10 small ones:
The flowers. 5 big flowers, 1 hanger, 2 ceramic tiles.

All of the Ford family, minus Richard, Kathy, Tony, and Parker came over Monday for food, games, and just enjoying being together. As always, it was fun, but too short. We played a game called Corn Hole- so fun, but not as easy as it looks. I understand Reid is making these boards to sell if anyone wants a set.
Some pics from Monday. Thanks to Erin for posting some of these on FB so I could save them! I didn't take nearly enough!

Gage and Grumpy:

Aunt Cherry and Uncle Gary

Cousin Whitney and Paul- to be married next May

Cousin Erin and Steve 3- to be married Sept 2010

Cousin Reid and Erin

Whitney and Reid playing Corn Hole

My form

MMmmm Cup cakes!

Chance "protecting" Gage

Gage, Paul, and Boudain

Me, Gage, and Lola

Dusty getting ready for potato cannon carnage- I think the styrofoam airplane was shot down

Alice and Chance

Gage and Cousin Brock reading a book

He WALKS!

Gage took 3 steps by himself today in PT!!! I am so proud! I did miss it, though, and he wouldn't do it again. Reesha was walking with him in the hallway- he was holding the wall and walking. I was looking through the door and he saw me. He started waving and yelling "hi" so I decided to get back so he would work. Then I hear Reesha yell "AHH! MOM WASN'T EVEN LOOKING!!!" and I ran to see what was up. Apparently he let go of the wall and she thought he would just stand for a second, then he took 3 steps toward her!

Happy Birthday Gage!!!

Two years ago today, Tony and I were blessed with the best gift we've ever gotten! Gage is 2 today and has surpassed my expectations in so many ways. I love being his mom. He makes me proud to call him my son. He's easy going and happy and outgoing and lovable just a joy to be around.

In his 2 years, he has seen more doctors than most people see in a lifetime, and had 6 surgeries that he has come through with flying colors. In fact, he had to go see a doctor this morning...on his BIRTHDAY! It was a good report, though, and the doc and nurses sang Happy Birthday to him and gave him presents, so it wasn't so bad.

These are from this morning at ACH.

Checking out all the pretty things in the lobby of ACH:


Playing in the waiting room in Radiology:

It's a GIRL!!!

r

We found out yesterday that we will be welcoming Evelyn (Evie) Ruth in January! We are very excited! Everything on the ultrasound looked good and she is measuring right on track! We tried to get Gage to say Evie, but he wouldn't say anything but Baby. I think he's going to be a good big brother.

On Gage- he just got a new set of braces. His old ones were 3 sizes too small and not doing much for him anymore. These are taller and give him more support. We skipped a whole shoe size and only have 2 brown pair of shoes that fit now, so he needs some new tennis shoes. The goal is to get him walking without the walker ASAP. He's still doing great with therapy and is using his walker well now. We swiveled the front wheels this week and he is able to keep the walker pretty much going where he wants it to instead of walking in circles like he did before. He has turned his walker over 3 times in the last 3 days- once backwards on the road in front of our house. He was headed up hill and leaned back too far. He ended up with road rash and a goose egg on the back of his head.After that I raised the back of it a notch to try to keep him from doing that.

Last night after church, he was walking in the grass outside. The first fall happened when he tried to get back on the sidewalk and his front wheels caught and he went over forward. Then he was walking in the thick grass and just pushed too hard and went over forward again. Thankfully, he was fine both times and he got right back up to try again after a little cuddling. I'm really so happy with how he has been progressing since surgery.


Edited to add pics of the new braces:

Compared to the old ones that were shorter, and 3 sizes too small!!

Baby names

I guess I'm jumping the gun a little. I *hope* baby Fincher cooperates and we can find out if we have a boy or a girl Wed. Aug 19- that's just 5 days from now. Anyway, if this is a girl, we don't need name help. She will be Evelyn Ruth, Evie or Eve for short. If this is a boy, though, we're in trouble. We can't agree on ANYTHING. We like names that aren't too common, but aren't made up. A Fincher boy's name needs to be masculine (i.e. not a unisex name). I would love to incorporate a family name in there somewhere, but the men in our family tend to have either terrible or boring names, or they've already been used. Just FYI- Durley, Clyde, and Pearl are all male names in my family. So, anyway, here is a fun blog I found. http://nameberry.com/blog/. I'm going to put it on the right for future reference.

Therapy woes

I have one of the most easy-going kid around. Really, he never went through that stranger anxiety phase and he yells "HEY" at everyone we pass in the grocery store. I really do love it. He's a fun, friendly kid. He doesn't get left with someone often, but when he does, he's so eager to say "BYE" and go play that it almost hurts my feelings :).

The one notable exception came about when he had his surgery, about a month and 1/2 ago. Medical people now scare him and he cries and says "done". It was so bad in the hospital that Tony had to start taking his vitals because he would scream if the techs or nurses tried to, which in turn made his heart rate and blood pressure crazy high. When we all went to my OB appointment last month, Tony and Gage went into the exam room while the nurse took my blood pressure in her little area. As soon as they walked in I heard Gage lose it. He saw the table with the paper on it and knew it was time to cry. My sweet doctor tried to make friends with him, but he wasn't having it.

Then, last week his PT let us know that she would be out for 2 weeks unexpectedly. We're flexible and while I would prefer that she see Gage, I'm totally cool with him seeing another therapist. We went in the first day and he cried. The next day we went again, and he started crying before we even got inside. I even had to walk to the back with him- I have NEVER had to do that. He was acting like he couldn't walk and kept saying/signing "done". Today he threw an all-out fit. Screaming, refusing to walk...I think if he hadn't been strapped into his walker he would have thrown himself on the floor to kick and scream. I decided to let the therapist handle it and I left. When he was done his eyes still looked funny. She said he could make him smile and he was fine as long as he was doing what he wanted to do, but fussed every time she tried to get him to do something he wasn't particularly crazy about.

Now, it's not that he doesn't know these "replacement" therapists. He sees them every time he is with his regular therapist and he is usually very sweet to them. They don't do anything painful to him. He's just mad that his regular buddy isn't there to play with him. I guess in the grand scheme of things, this isn't so bad, but it really makes me mad that he acts so terrible for them!! It's so unlike him in general. Terribles 2s, here we come, I guess.

Gageisms

I don't have anything exciting to write, so I'll just record these Gageisms:

"One...Two...Fwee...Four...Fie...Sebin...Eight...........six...nie....tiiii....YAY!!!!" Usually he skips 6 altogether, but since he's been watching me count on my fingers, he knows it goes in there somewhere.

"oh, oh"(uh oh)
Under your mouth is your "chim".
When you go to bed, you need a "naket" and a "piwwow."
Nothing is a single syllable- "no-ah"(no), "mow-er"(more), Tow-eez (toys)

C...c... d...e....f..ggggg. (the abc's)

"See me"= pick me up
"I hab it" (I have it- usually meaning something he shouldn't have like the phone or remote
"sic okay"(It's okay- usually when he gets hurt)
Bew-wie- (belly). He is obsessed with bellies.
"Ewww, gwoss"- heard whenever he gets something on his hands. He did it yesterday as he let Katie lick him.
"sign time"- Baby Signing Time. He LOVES Signing Time and sings along with the host now.

This morning I hear "I get up" from his bed.
He says "cheese" when he gets a camera or something that he thinks looks like one.
He now calls Katie "Cowie". I don't know why. He used to say Katie very clearly.

Pregnancy Ticker

I used to check these often when I was pregnant with Gage. I think I have felt movement already- starting about a week ago.

New blog

I just moved my Nuzzle Baby sling site to www.nuzzlebaby.blogspot.com. I'd like to have a "real" website with a cart and all, but I'll have to do a little more business before that will make sense.