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Since I know how hard it is to get good ones at this age, I thought I'd start the one year pics early. He'll be one on the 11th! Still not walking, but busy busy with the fast crawling.
Click this one to see the Simon I know. a very silly simon who loves to find the tv remote and mix things up so much I don't know how to get things back where they were.
Puts everything in his mouth...even this bark.
Detective zoe finds meals without grocery shopping.
Unfortunately the car died and we had to shell out for a new (to us) one. The Toyota Sienna is a nice van! We had been suffering through life with (gasp!) manual windows, manual door locks and no AC! Can you believe it?? Its true. It was just a car and we didn't care really. We'd rather spend our money on other things than a car we spend so little time in.
But it died and we decided to spend a little more on something we hope will last a little longer. The new one has power everything and working ac. so fancy!
It will take us a smidge to recover from the big purchase, so lets see what's in the cupboard.
Cheese pizza, with no extra toppings
pasta with jar of spaghetti sauce
13 bean soup without the meat
secretly delicious spinach pie (with frozen spinach instead of fresh)
brown rice and lentil casserole
Apples and a lone pear and a mango in the fruit bowl and one loaf of bread.
that should get us to payday.
The girls have been laying their eggs in a homemade nest on the floor of the coop. I put a golf ball in the nest box to try and redirect them, but its not working.
wind.
Iris and daisy.
First the car breaks down beyond repair and now our renters have given notice. The financial hits keep coming! Hopefully this will be enough.
If you know anyone who would like to rent a great home on a large corner lot, close to the Esplanade shopping center in a great neighborhood in Hillsboro, send them my way.
Xander looks so dashing in his red stripes...
My little tough girl in the yard. she and I are having a major stand off and she still thinks she is boss. She likes to come at me with her feet or puff out her chest. If she wasn't laying some nice eggs every day I'd say she had some big cajones.
This is the evil eye she gives. A Miss Hanagan "kill Kill KILL!!!!"
Dressed to impress...
The twins.
Simon gives kisses quite regularly now, unsolicited too!
getting so close. The big first birthday is tomorrow. I have a store bought cake mix and absolutely no plans.
Simon swoops in on Xander's lunch. You snooze, you lose buddy! I think xander was more interested in setting up the batman table for lunch than the actual eating of the lunch anyway. two bites and he was off to play.
Moments later Jason says "what the heck?? he got into my preferences and changed my homepage to 'M'...just the letter m."
Its got a huge hard pit in the shape of an overgrown pumpkin seed. It makes slicing it awkward. You don't eat the skin, I assume? and it's too slimy to peel and hold.
We've been doing it like this now...
We packed up our pizza dough and cake and went to my parents house for Simon's birthday party. A very casual get together, just the way we like it. I can't believe how cost effective a party can be with 6 homemade pizzas, a box cake and two Target toy gifts! wow!
The cousins came and it was a room full of boys, per usual:)
My nephew Ivan
his older brothers my twin nephs Eli and Oscar
My box cake creation.
My J-doog assembled all the pizzas. this tiny one was all that was left. We know how to clean up!
The parentals and a little simon crawling action. He tried to take a step today. Its just a matter of time.
Isaac and cousin Ivan in play. I'm sure sound effects were involved.
My sister and her husband Aaron (newlyweds!) and Holly in the background (cool mama to my nephs)
Don't we look like a wild and crazy bunch?
Chomping on one of his gifts.
Isaac is going to be seven...SEVEN! I can hardly believe it.
He's had certain difficulties I've not mentioned on this blog before, but we thought it was related to encopresis...you can google it if you want. But things have gotten worse and he has lost all bladder control. I took him to the doctor again about it and we are scheduled for an MRI on Tuesday. It could be something spinal:( My mind will not ease up until we have some answers. worry worry worry...
My little simon started walking today and the flippin' canon point and shoot with the video is broken. Smile at the Macbook, baby. Nope he just wants to kick at it and bang the buttons.
woohooo! We went to the St. Patty's day parade this morning, which had the lowest turnout I've seen. We had an entire street corner to ourselves and ended up with a stroller basket full of candy. The kids had the best time ever.
Then we went over to Best Buy to get a new point and shoot camera to replace our ancient one that broke. Wow! Its a great little camera. Still kinda fuzzy at 100% crop, but its just my p&s and I'm happy with what it can do at this tiny size.
A few test shots and some video of Simon starting his first few steps. He's doing short runs of 3-5 steps! hmm, my video is off youtube suddenly.
Isaac caught this one while testing out the new camera. haha!
One of my 2007 goals was to get the garage organized enough to pull the car in. At last, we acquired a little utility trailer off my favorite site Craigslist.org and now have the means to haul stuff to the dump and thrift store.
Look at this work jason did today!
Before...
After...
Maybe that shed idea jason keeps bringing up isn't such a bad idea.
"It was worth it a little bit."
They have jumped across this stream to get to the other side of the pond before, only it was a lot narrower. The insisted on trying:)
Jason took the afternoon off to go to Safari Sams indoor jungle gym with us. We go once a month with the homeschoolers and it was so much fun to be able to share the care of simon with Jason so we could both have a chance to play up in the jungle.
On the way home we stopped at the local wetland/observatory, which we love! We are so lucky to have so many cool things close to home.
And...AND...AND!!!! I signed us up for a four day unschooling conference. I am beyond excited to hang out with so many other unschooling families. It will be just the boost we need.
While talking to the pediatrician on the phone, he asked why Isaac wasn't in school...shouldn't he be in first grade now? I kinda stumbled over my words before settling on "oh we homeschool..." Then I went through a battle of thoughts over what I should be doing and am I missing something with the kid's learning. Then I relax and remind myself about how wonderful things are and how much we are learning and why we are choosing this path in the first place.
So yes...we need this conference. Four nights in a hotel, lots of fun and activities. Yippeee!
For some reason, it always works out that Zoë's work schedule falls on at least one holiday throughout the year. Last year it was Christmas, so we opened presents on Christmas Eve and I think she even had to work Thanksgiving. That's one of the down sides of only working part time.
So I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise that she had to work this weekend, Easter weekend, next to Christmas, one of the more fun holidays for the kids. I didn't think we would do much this year, since the egg hunt is more fun as a family (and outside), but Zoë had other plans (for me).
Usually we just do the plastic egg/separate halves/insert candy/join halves/hide egg thing, but with close to four dozen eggs in the fridge, Zoë wasn't having that. Some boiling time and food coloration later, there were 32 eggs ready to be hidden. That's going to make a lot of egg salad sandwiches. Taker's anyone?
The kids had a ball finding the eggs, which we both hid this morning before Zoë left for work, then raced to open their Thriftway-special Easter baskets. Amazing how such a cheap holiday gift can bring such joy--and fights over the better foam dart gun and Lik-a-Stik candy powder all over the floor and...well, you get the picture.
It will be real treat when Simon can do more than just play in the fake grass.
Does this classify as Simon finally walking?
I caught him starting to walk from the slide down the hall and grabbed the camera. It's nice having the little point-and-shoot that we can just grab and go!
Please excuse the voice, that is my "talk to Simon" voice and I did not realize it was so high-pitched.
-Jason
We finally have Isaac's MRI at 6:30 in the morning tomorrow. He has had issues with bowel control since age 3 and then bladder control since age 5. Its amazing how easy it is to explain away things and adapt, as if its a normal part of our lives. Until it suddenly slaps me in the face with the realization that my little guy is almost SEVEN and has no bowel or bladder control.
They will be looking at his spine for a tumor or tethered cord (causing stretching) or something else I didn't quite catch when the doctors were rattling off big words.
Photos I find when Xander takes the camera outside...
I spy...
Such a trooper and very calm about everything, per his usual self:)
guess I should say, the pediatrician will get a report on Thursday and we are to take the CD of the scans to the neuro-surgeon on the 9th. You bet I will be calling the ped on Thursday to see if we can find out anything.
Does one know they are crazy as they get a little crazier but they dive in anyway?
We are already veered off normalcy (for this particular half-century) with the unschooling...and here are my latest thoughts...
I am a big finances nut. I love crunching the numbers and paying the bills, organizing all my accounts in Quicken. After we married I loved analyzing every income and expense and trimming the fat of unnecessary spending. Working off every penny of non-mortgage debt was like a game!
Lately with the mental adjustment to unschooling and realizing we *can* do this long term, I've been thinking how much freedom we have to create the life we want for ourselves. Which led me to thinking about the folks who said they couldn't homeschool because they need to work or there is no way their families could live on one income (or less!).
That may be true with their current financial status, but I am starting to realize we really can adjust our lives to fit our needs.
Now for the crazy part...
The kids and I get to romp around freely every day because Jason works 40+ hours a week. He is an awesome hubby and father and very involved, so ends up with very little time or sleep. Its not fair that he doesn't get to experience the same freedom that comes with a wide open schedule.
I want him to be free with us!
With that goal in mind, it was off to the computer to crunch some numbers (imagine the sheer joy! lol). and I have come up with...da da dum: The Three Year Plan
The Three Year Plan Involves:
What do you think? Jason thinks it sounds a bit crazy and maybe it is. But I want to do it! Lets do it!
Because the pediatrician is spending spring break with his kids and apparently made no arrangements for someone to give us a call regardless. I'm sure glad we canceled the detailed 2 hour MRI for a shotty 30 minute job, so we could move it up a week...a week the doctor wasn't even going to be in. Wow do I feel like an idiot.
There ya go. I just thought I'd share the news that there is no news.
We are going to join the homeschoolers at the hillsboro park day today. we've never made this outing before for some reason and its going to be extra special because I've reconnected with an old high school friend and she's coming too! Wooohooo! My megan. I'm so excited to see her and her two littles.
It makes me happy. haha! Simon piggies.
I called them back and demanded to get the results.
Tethered cord.
6-8 hour spinal surgery.
3-4 day hospital stay.
Never regain bowel and bladder sensation again.
gone forever.
Should have intervened the first time he started having accidents after being potty trained.
3 years ago.
Thank God he can still walk and feel his legs.
He's mentioned a weak foot and tingling a couple times.
Our next appointment isn't until the 9th.
No joke! my one year old is turning out to be quite a child prodigy. Who would think a baby this age would even consider such a skill as pet grooming?? One barrier for me has always been the cost of good grooming shears. Not for simon. He got creative.
Gathering supplies...
Approach with caution and get down to work!
Making the client feel nice and relaxed...
What will he dabble in next? Whatever it is, we fully support him. Your father and I are so tickled and amazed, Son! Keep at it.
It's the modern day version of "you'll shoot your eye out!" It comes with an extra side of xeroxed "research" articles from my mama. Keep 'em coming! I do enjoy reading the different points of view.
This page contains all entries posted to RoyalMom in March 2008. They are listed from oldest to newest.
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