Summer 2016

I. Suck. At. Blogging.

Has it really been nearly 6 months?! Oops. So much for that new laptop making things easier. There is so much to catch up on! First, we're just ten days from Elodie's second birthday, and just 9 days from my first day back to work! I was rehired to my school district back in May, and I will be working Monday-Thursday each week in two different schools as a school psychologist. I am excited to go back, although as my two years of "leave" with Elodie comes to an end, it's definitely starting to feel bittersweet. My mom is coming out to help me with the transition, so Elodie won't start daycare until the 22nd. We found a great in-home daycare that is really close to Brian's school. We're hoping she loves it!

Noah will be going into first grade this year. He loved Kindergarten, but being a first grader means he gets to play on the "big playground" so he is pretty excited about that! His reading has really taken off, and I'm thrilled that he's so excited about being a reader. He is still our very talkative, very outgoing little guy and I love him to death.

Elodie is a typical almost two-year-old nightmare toddler. She has big opinions, but also huge amounts of love for the special people in her life. Over the past six months, she has made amazing developmental leaps. She went from calling shoes "lows" to speaking in 3-5 word sentences. She asks questions like, "Why Noah sad?" and makes comments like, "I don't want diaper!" (As she runs away giggling.) She is a feisty little thing who is almost always either making me laugh or pulling all my hair out. In terms of her hydro, we haven't had any complications. (Knock on wood!) She had an MRI shunt series back in May which looked fine, so we'll follow up again in November or so. And as for her g-tube, we haven't used it since February. We are talking about pulling it, but want to see how she'll do with daycare germs and puking bugs. Her most recent swallow study showed progress, but she still needs her fluids thickened to "nectar" consistency. My worry is that a puking toddler won't want to drink thickened pedialyte when sick. Hopefully she won't get sick at all, but if she does I want to see how she'll do before we remove our trusty back-up device.

This summer we went to Minnesota as usual. We spent a week at my parents' cabin over the 4th of July, and then a week with my in-laws. We finally got to meet our nephew Lincoln who was born back in September, so that was pretty special. It was a great trip! I even got to meet another August 2014 mom that I've been talking to for years on BabyCenter. It really is cool how the internet can bring people together!

And last but not least, back on June 13th, we said goodbye to our furbaby Gilbert. After two years of managing his diabetes, and a year of being almost totally blind, we felt it was his time. Hopefully he's found a sunny spot up there!

Our annual visit to the Rhubarb Festival.

We've done lots of evening walks at our local state park.

Our annual family photo at the lake!

My little beach baby

At the lake!

With the in-laws!

Minnesota never disappoints!

I hope anyone still following me is doing well! I miss this space and community, but most of us are rarely here anymore. I used to be upset by people who fell off the face of the internet, but I totally get it now! Life is crazy with kids! And I wouldn't change it for the world.

Gilbert
August 16, 2003 - June 13, 2016