Christmas 2009

It was nice. My mom, her husband, and my brother came into town to spend the holiday with us. Jackson was really sleepy Christmas morning so we only opened some of his presents before he fell asleep and then saved the rest for later on when he was feeling more awake. His big present was a twin sized futon (that he is lying on in these pics) so he can be off the floor but still lie flat. He also got a new ipod (his was very old and wouldn't hold a charge) that has video capabilities. He got a computer game and some clothes, a little toy dinosaur (that I can switch-adapt when I find my soldering kit), and a lot of books. You can see he could barely keep his eyes open in this last picture. That's when we decided to save the rest of his presents for later.

Zoe was so funny. She got the first thing out of her stocking ( a big flower) and she was happy as could be with it, then wandered off to play not realizing there was a lot more. She got a rocking Rody horse, a Tinkerbell chair, a play tent, some clothes, an aquadoodle, and a big bead maze toy. She was completely overstimulated and also happened to be getting her molars in so she did have a few melt-downs, but overall she enjoyed all the attention.

The bead maze: It was to be Jackson's present 5 years ago. It was ordered before he got sick and it came while he was in the hospital. He was pretty much unconcious during Christmas that year and it quickly became apparent that he was not going to be playing with it. We just put it away in the basement still in its original packaging where it remained until this year. I'm glad that we finally have a use for it but it is a bit bittersweet as I am sure you can imagine.

Anyway, I thought I'd show off this cute picture of Jackson (for Christmas cards) since he was sleeping for the pics on Christmas day.

Also, I apologize for the way the pics are arranged on the page...blogger changed something a while back and I am finding it really hard to get things right with the layout anymore. :(

Boo, Blogger, boo!!! :(

Jackson's School Picture

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know it is nearly impossible to get a good school picture of Jackson.  The first one this year came out pretty bad so we did retakes.  The retakes came out pretty decent.  His teacher wrote to me that you could see her in the background of the picture because she was behind his chair trying to hold his head steady and get him to laugh.  The photographer had told her that he couldn't see her but he was mistaken.  She called the company and they told her that they could airbrush her out of it if we called them. 

I didn't even notice her back there until I read her note.   Lee and I both think it was really sweet of her to go the extra mile to try to get a good picture so I think we are going to keep the ones where you can sort of see her.

I don't even know if I posted his pics from last year.  Both the initial pics and the retakes were not good at all.

It's been a while...

I know...I just didn't feel like blogging. I still don't actually, but I think it is time for an update.

Zoe is doing very well.  She is signing like crazy and starting to talk a lot too.  I'll try to list all the words she says/signs:

• milk- she both says and signs this (although it sounds kind of like "no" when she says it).  We have a sign for milk (meaning mama's milk) and cup (meaning milk in a cup).
• mum and da- she says but not signs these
• banana- signs
• water- she signs this very cutely.  It is supposed to be a "W" tapped on the chin but she does it by sticking her index finger in her mouth.
• no- she says this but also does a very funny hand negative hand waving, so not a sign exactly but you definitely get her meaning. She will tell on herself when she is doing something she knows she shouldn't be doing...she will say "no, no, no" while she goes ahead and does it.  She also says no to the dog when she thinks he is bad.  And when I want to change her diaper she will tell me no and sometimes even run away and/or hide!
• good night- she says this.  It actually comes out more like "nigh" and she uses it for both good night and good-bye (which she refuses to say).
• hi- she says this relentlessly and waves too.  She will say it to anyone at anytime and also to no one in particular.  And you better say hi back!

• cat- she says this and can also tell you what a cat says (mostly "meow" but sometimes "hi").
• dog-she says this and can tell you what a dog says (mostly panting).
• more- signs
• cookie- signs it, but kind of funny...I still understand her though.
• animals sounds- she can tell you what a monkey says, what a chicken says, what a cow says.
• eat- she says and signs it
• eggs- she says it
• car- says and signs
• ball- says it mostly but is starting to sign it
• book- signs it
• knock knock-she will say this, mostly when she is knocking on something

That's all I can think of for now, but I might come back to add some later if I think of more.

Here are a couple cute shots of when she was hanging with Jackson playing peek-a-boo.

Jackson is doing relatively well.  Since it is getting colder, he is having a rougher time in general.  He is enjoying his school and gets very tired on school days.  He is happy about finally getting his room painted and then decorated in his space theme.  We got it primed last weekend and will hopefully finish painting this coming weekend.  He has been growing quite a bit in the last few months and needs a lot of new clothes.  He is a size 7-8 now!

Unfortunately our school district has a new inclusion plan and there is a very real possibility that Jackson's school will be closed in the next few years.  Yep, the school that we moved to this house for.  The parents at the school are obviously angry and upset and it seems like they are fairly organized and definitely ready to fight in any way they can.  I am not sure if there is anything that can be done about it but if there is, hopefully together we will all find a way. 

Our Thanksgiving

It was a nice quiet day, just the 4 of us.  We had dinner early.  Jackson did not feel like tasting anything (he wanted to try quite a few different things last year), which is absolutely fine with us.  Zoe is pretty much only willing to feed herself (rather than us feed her) so what she wanted to eat was limited.  She did have a grand old time playing with her spoon though.  It was wonderful to have Lee around all day!

No Black Friday shopping for us.  Well, I may see if there are any online deals to be had, but I am certainly not up for going out to fight the crowds. 

Zoe has been sleeping pretty well through the night recently.  She usually gets up between 4 and 5 for milk but then gets up a little too early (before 6) for good.  Today she went back down and then slept until 6:40 so that was a wonderful thing!

We are painting Jackson's room this weekend, and then we need to think about organizing it.  We have the coolest wall stickers to put up.  He decided that he wanted a space theme this time.  It will be really neat when we get it all done.

Finally a new Jackson video!

Come and see what Jackson did today!  I am so proud of him!
http://www.jacksonpresleydiamond.com/videos.htm

Happiest baby in the world!

Yep, I am talking about Zoe (AKA Miss Crankypants)!  She had her happiest day ever today.  She also started reflux meds today.  Coincidence?  I don't think so! 

It is seriously like a totally different baby.  She played so nicely today, without her normal crying at the drop of a hat.  In fact, she didn't really cry at all or make her usual angry noises.  I would not have thought the meds would have made such a dramatic difference, especially this quickly.  I just hope it keeps up.

Update on Zoe

Zoe had her well-child visit at the new pediatrician last week.  She is 20 lbs (I thought she would be more) and 30 inches.  She is doing well for the most part.  The doctor thinks she may have some reflux so he rx'ed her some meds.  Unfortunately we are going on COBRA this month and it hasn't kicked in yet so we can't get the meds until it does.  (Lee's mortgage company got bought out so we have to COBRA for one month and starting new policy next month.) 

The bad part was that Zoe tested high for lead (14.5) and we went back today for a retest.  The retest was a lot better(10.6) but still higher than normal.  Now we have to go back in 4 weeks and test again.  We do live in an older home (our old house was also old) so that is a possibility.  The paint here is not peeling, in fact the previous owner had the place coated with a heavy coat of paint recently so I doubt it is that.  The paint in the old house was peely, but she did not get around much back then so I'm not sure if I think it could be that.  Both houses had the plumbing replaced fairly recently so it is probably not that.  One thing the lab person said is that newspapers are printed with lead ink and she is always grabbing for our newspapers.  I really doubted this and as I suspected, it is just another medical "professional" who does not know what she is talking about (see article). It could be one of her toys or really anything.  Hopefully, in 4 weeks the levels will be better still and we can stop worrying.


In other news...she is really walking good now!  She loves to tell people "hi" and wave to them when we are out and about.  It's very funny, she is one friendly kid!  She is very interested in body parts, especially on the face.  The only one she can say is "eye" so everything is an eye.  She will point to your nose and say eye, point to your mouth and say eye, and yes she will also point to eyes and say eye.  Bellybuttons are eyes, flowers are eyes, everything that is remotely like an eye is "eye".  She will turn through the pages of her books and point out all the eyes. 

She has learned to say "no" and she says it with a negative hand wave to help get her point across. Hilarious!! (Note:  I would have put a video here but blogger changed recently and I can't figure it out right now...grrr!!!  How annoying!!!)

Halloween 2009

Jackson was a super-cute cowboy and Zoe was a butterfly. We did not go trick or treating but we did hang out in the front yard for a while to give out candy and rake the leaves. Zoe was not digging the costume much and was having a cranky day anyway. But I did get some cute pics before she totally lost it.

Jackson's leg and sad news.

We went back to Shriners today to get his knee re-x-rayed.  It looks better and he also says it feels better.  He is not going to have to wear his knee immobilizer anymore unless he is doing weight-bearing activities. Yay!!

The sad news is that once again we will be without respite soon.  Our respite worker is taking a full time position with the agency that we get respite from.  It is good for her since she hasn't been getting the hours she used to get.  But bad for us since they don't currently have anyone to work with Jackson.  We have 2 more weeks and then she is done.

Look at her go!!

She is really begining to get around good!!

A Jackson and a Zoe

First Jackson:

We found out he LOVES knock knock jokes! It is hilarious! Granny was visiting this weekend and she was reading some to him off her computer while she was here. He was very amused! And also very amusing.

Then Zoe:

She is killing me with how many times she is getting up each night. Like 3,4,5 times a night every night. She doesn't want any part of Lee when he goes to take care of her so even if I do rouse him and send him down, he ends up just getting me up again soon after. I am hoping it is because she is just about to do a TON of new things and hopefully soon she will be back to her normal 1-2 times per night. Or even better, sleeping through!

She is taking steps on her own and every day going a little bit farther and getting a little braver. She is saying all sorts of new words and we can even understand some of them. Since it is football season now, when we shout "TOUCHDOWN" she will raise her hands above her head. She is very interested in reading books but has no patience to sit through a whole book. She points to things and wants to be told what they are.

I am amazed! + Bears fans pics

Zoe just started riding on this toy properly a couple days ago. It used to be Jackson's when he was little. Today she was climbing on and off by herself like she had been doing it forever as well as riding backwards and forwards. I can't believe how fast she learned to do that.

I don't think Jackson ever got to riding forwards (it's way harder than pushing backwards). I would give him a big forward push across the room and he would ride it backwards to me so I could push him again. Zoe is definitely more of a DIY girl.

And here are my cuties in their fan gear. (You can tell Jackson was not feeling too good this morning by his coloring. He is feeling better now.)

The shoes

Zoe hardly ever wore shoes during the summer and when she did it was usually the soft leather type shoes. It was pretty chilly today so we put her new shoes on for the first time today. She was not sure what to make of them.

Jackson Update

Jackson had been having some pretty severe pain in his right leg. I noticed it while we were doing range-of-motion stretching, which he normally loves doing. He started jerking his leg away. When we would try to sleep him on his right side he would cry out until we would turn him. And his PT at school reported that he had been crying when she attempted to put him up on the stander.

We made an appointment with our family doctor last week Friday (he was on vacation so we saw another doctor in the practice). He though that maybe his knee was possibly swollen and possibly warmer to the touch than the left one. He said we should make an appointment with his orthopedist to get an x-ray asap. (Why he did not order one, I don't know. I am accustomed to doctors passing him off to other doctors though.)

So we managed to get him into Shriners for this Friday. They took x-rays of his whole legs, as well as the normal hip and spine x-rays. At first the doctor just noticed a spot that looked slightly darker on the front view of his knee that did not match his left knee, but couldn't tell what it was. Then on the side view, he saw that he had a small fracture on his knee.

When you don't bear weight you lose bone and it becomes easier to get fractures. We don't know exactly when or how he got the fracture but the doctor says it could be as simple as getting his foot hung up on something as he was being lifted.

He does not have a cast but he does have a knee immobilizer that he has to wear all the time. We go back in 3-4 weeks to have it re-x-rayed.

As far as his hips go, they look about the same as last time. When the legs are pulled straight it looks like his joint is uncovered, but since he generally keeps his legs in a froggy position this protects the hips and keeps them where they belong so we are just going to wait and watch.

His spinal curve has progressed from about 16 degrees to about 25 degrees but again, it is something that we will wait and see.

Zoe is ONE!!

I can not believe she is one already!!! Where did the time go?

We celebrated on the Sunday before her birthday. In the morning we went for a short hike at the North Park Village Nature Center. It was a beautiful day. Then home for a nap.

In the afternoon we had a little party, just the 4 of us. We had balloons, presents, and cake. She had great fun with the balloons and loved opening the presents.

Pinkest birthday ever!

Zoe's birthday is coming up and I thought I would share the gifts we are getting her. They are just so CUTE!!

First is her swing since she liked swinging in the park so much. She can use it indoors as well as outdoors.

Then I wanted to get her a doll because all she has is Jackson's old doll which is a boy doll. I love this one with the pink hair.

And last, baby needed a new pair of shoes. These look like they will be nice for fall and winter. And they will match both red clothing and pink so they are perfect!

I did not set out to get all pink presents, but it does make me chuckle!

Enjoying our new neighborhood and town!

Last weekend our neighbors all got together and showed a movie outside on a gigantic screen across the street. It was so cool! Jackson and Lee and I went. They showed Chicken Run. I put Zoe to bed and brought the monitor out and luckily it could still receive the signal across the street. Jackson is not much of a movie guy so he fell asleep pretty quickly but woke up in the middle.

Then on Labor day we went to check out a local wheelchair accessible playground and brought along a picnic lunch. Jackson doesn't eat but he loves going on picnics for some reason. He has a song called "picnic" on his ipod and we sing it when we go on picnics so that might be why. Anyway, it was fun. They had a full support swing that Jackson was able to use. Next time we will bring his head support collar and he will be able to swing higher. As it was we still had to hold his head up, but he still enjoyed it. Zoe also took her fist swing ride and she loved it!

I took some pics with my phone, but unfortunately as you can see it takes horrible quality pictures.

Yesterday was our block party, which was completely AMAZING! Lee had a traffic safety school class he had to go to so he missed a good portion of it. But Zoe and Jackson and I spent most of the day outside. Jackson had his music pillow and was very comfortable in the shade on our front lawn. Zoe was loving all the attention she was getting from the older girls in the neighborhood and was actually very well behaved through the whole thing. I can't say the same for Dizzy though. He got a little upset with all the activity and was banished to his crate.

Our next door neighbors are the main organizers so most of it took place right in front of our house. There was a huge bounce house a couple houses down. The police came and "arrested" any kids that wanted to be arrested and put in the back of the squad car. The fire department came and gave the kids are very good soaking which they all thoroughly enjoyed. People had homemade goodies going around and a big popcorn machine. I just sat with Jackson and so many people came up to meet us and hang out and talk. Several neighbors also expressed interest in learning to take care of Jackson in case I ever need someone to watch him. It was really a fun day.

Later after Lee got home we went out to eat dinner with everyone, also right in front of our house. Not too many vegetarian options but next year we will definitely be more involved and I am sure we can make a few dishes and make sure there are some boca burgers and veggie dogs to grill.

I am just so happy to live in such a special neighborhood. It is so different than any place we have lived before, but I am loving it!

Jackson's "new" and improved wheelchair

We got Jackson's chair back Thursday, only to send it off again. Jackson needs his headrest to sit well behind the plane of his body (not sure why, odd shaped head maybe?). The way they had it did not allow it to go any further back and it was maybe only even with his back cushion. So they took it and built up a spacer so it could move back farther.

We got it back again on Friday, only to find that again something was not right. We got a special headrest for Jackson called the HAWC. We got this because he had been able to bring his head forward and then get stuck under his old headrest...not good, especially while I am driving him somewhere by myself and not being able to pull over for a while. We were expecting to also have the swing away mount for the HAWC so we could get him into the chair without removing the headrest and/or the laterals every time but they did not order it. So we have to wait for it and in the meantime getting him in and out is a real PITA!

We took it for a test drive today. I really like it a lot. Jackson was able to sit up relatively upright and remain comfortable. We took a pretty long walk and even though he was pretty upright, he did not drool at all which is pretty amazing.

For your amusement...

Zoe learned to clap yesterday. She is hilarious! If you say "YAAAAAAYYYYYYYY!" she starts clapping and saying yay too. (She also likes to play with my computer as you can see!)

I am very happy with Jackson's new school so far

The principal just called to give me an update on how things are going with finding a van to transport Jackson to and from school (He needs to have air conditioning on the bus and their buses do not have it). She has narrowed it down to 3 companies and is just waiting to hear back from them. He is probably going to be taking a taxi to school...the district deals with several companies that have divisions just to transport kids to and from school.

His IEP also states that he needs a nurse on the bus with him. She was hoping that I would be ok with a very trusted and experienced aide riding with him since she is having trouble finding an LPN. I told her I would be fine with that unless something happens that makes me become not ok with it. She said she completely understands that and hopes that I will come to her immediately if I have any concerns or problems with the aide, including just any personality problems.

She also invited me up to observe Jackson's class any time I wanted to. I would love to do this, I just need to figure out what to do with miss crankypants for a few hours. Any volunteers? :)

He had a good day

He had a good first day! Everything seemed to go pretty well. He really liked it when the teacher read them a book. In fact, he was laughing so much during the book that they were wondering if he has laughing seizures! I have wondered this before myself...when he starts laughing he really belly laughs for a while, but according to all his EEGs it's just laughing. He also did an art project today.

Jackson's first day at school

He was quite nervous I think, which I would probably be too, starting out on the first day at his new school. He was also kind of sleepy. He does not like his purple loaner chair (not because it's purple but because it is not as comfortable) so he was not feeling too smiley.


The bus driver was very nice, as was the aide on the bus, but I will be happier when he has a nurse to watch over him. They did not realize he needed a nurse on the bus and it might take a little while to find someone, so they are working on it.

Lee and I (and Miss Z) went up to school to get him settled in. They had a nice little flag ceremony since it was the first day. Jackson was still asleep but woke up soon after I got there. I spoke with the nurse to get the feeds and the meds all straight. Since he has gym first period, we decided that we were going to start his breakfast before he gets on the bus. Then he can be all done and ready for gym when he gets to school.




He was making a few smiles before we left, including a beautiful smile when one of the aides in the class introduced herself. I am so proud of him for this because it is something that we had been working on and talking about (smiling as a way of greeting people) but I had never actually seen him do it unprompted...yay Jackson!

Zoe's new food

Zoe has been a total food refuser lately (she is still big on mama's milk though). She does not want to eat baby food any more, but hates most table food. We went to the store today looking for foods she might possibly like. I made her some broccoli cheddar soup for dinner expecting her to reject it, but she ate a lot of it! We even switched to a real spoon so she could get more in faster. Yay!!

She has been working very hard at walking. She is cruising the furniture and using pushable items (boxes, baskets, wheelchairs, etc) to walk behind. She does not want to walk holding our hands...we call her our Lonesome Joan.

She is sleeping pretty decent most nights and just this week we went down to one nap a day because she had been not wanting to nap in the afternoon anyway.

Communicator trial

Yesterday Jackson got to try out a communication device that is activated by his eyes. It is a really cool system (I tried it too!), but the trial did not go so well. Jackson was really sleepy and wouldn't wake up. In fact, he completely fell asleep while the guy was here. But he said that we will most likely be able to get a longer trial with it when he goes on vacation unless someone else in the company needs it. I can't wait, I just know that Jackson can do well with this once he figures out what he can do with it.

Some good news!

I got a call today that soon we will be able to start back up with respite!! Yay!! We will only have 4 hours a week instead of 5, but since Jackson will be in school full days that will work out perfectly! We will have the same respite provider too, so that will be great since she is so good with him.

We also went to Jackson's new school to meet all his teachers and therapists and tell them all about him. I felt the meeting was a bit chaotic (mostly due to someone little and LOUD!) but hopefully he will have a great school year! He starts on Monday.

The bad news is that we had to get a loaner wheelchair for Jackson while his goes in for growth adjustments. Can you believe the one they brought is purple?! So he is going to be starting at his new school with a purple chair. :( It will be worth it though, he is getting all new cushions and a new harness and headrest. It was looking really small for him and we have been waiting since January for this to get done.

A funny video to brighten your day

Here is my silly daughter playing with Dizzy.

I am so excited!

I just made an appointment for Jackson to get a trial with an eye-gaze communication device! The rep is coming next Thursday morning. I really hope Jackson will do well with it and that if he does do well with it we will be able to get insurance to pay for at least some of it.

Loving this neighborhood!

Today we got a surprise at our front door as Lee was leaving for work! Neighbors had left a couple bags of (DELICIOUS) homemade scones for us!

Ha.

Apparently the owners of City Kids don't think a blog is an appropriate forum to discuss personal feelings so they called to say that Jackson is not welcome today for his last session. Nice!

Dumped!

Yesterday I got a call from Jackson's PT. Essentially he is being dumped from therapy at the clinic where he has been receiving PT and OT. Tuesday will be his last day there. Both of his therapists are pregnant and Jackson is quite labor intensive and heavy and I guess they don't want to deal with him any more.

He will be starting school (August 31) so we had asked them a while back to see if there was a time slot later in the day so that he will not have to miss school to come to therapy. I had also told them that I would consider an early morning time so then I could just drop him off at school after therapy. The PT said that since there was a waiting list for the afternoon times (ignoring that I would consider AM times) that they were not going to be able to see him anymore. I asked if he could finish out the summer and she said that since she was going to be taking vacation time and the OT was not going to be able to handle him alone that the answer was no.

I am pretty pissed off and hurt about this. First, it is very short notice and not at all professional, especially when Jackson has been coming there for years. Second, Jackson has had to deal with so many changes lately, it's really not fair to drop him all of a sudden like this. Third, with being on break from school AND losing his respite day AND being dropped from City Kids, that leaves him with NO activities for the rest of the summer and with the amount of attention Zoe has been demanding lately and with Lee and me trying to unpack and organize from our move it really sucks to be a kid who can do nothing for himself.

This was the best and pretty much only exercise that Jackson gets all week and he had such a good time there. They had a reasonably good grasp of his physical needs (not so much of his cognitive strengths) and they really were able to make it fun for him. He will get therapies at school, hopefully they will be a much better quality than what he was getting at his old school. He will have PE 5 days a week there at least.

Friendliest neighborhood EVER!

I think we have already met more neighbors here in 2 days than we have in our last neighborhood in 3 years. They have a neighborhood email listserve, they have a big block party coming up in Sept., they have neighborhood movie nights outdoors in the summer, and they have pancake brunches and spaghetti dinners. Crazy!

We are here

It was a real rough night. The movers did not leave until really late. They over-packed everything (like the chair!) and then took forever so it cost us way more than we had budgeted for the move.

The cats meowed all night and kept trying to get into Zoe's room. This was not good for having her sleep well and she woke up quite a bit. I also figured out today that she is teething again after she kept trying to bite everything, including getting a good one in on my face! She also bit up a foam football and swallowed some of the pieces and then barfed.

Jackson has been a trouper all throughout. If you ask him if he likes the new house he just smiles...what a sweetie!!

The living room looks semi-livable at this point. The kitchen is a total wreck, that is for tomorrow though.

We are packed...very very packed

We had put everything on the beds for each kid that we needed for tonight so the movers wouldn't pack it. I didn't even think to tell them not to pack the chair next to Zoe's crib that I nurse her and rock her in. I mean how in the world do you pack a chair, you just carry it out and put it on the truck, right? It just did not even occur to me. But yeah, it's packed.

We have a very poor substitute for tonight. Hopefully she will still sleep good tonight, she only got one nap in so maybe.

It's a challenge

to get all packed up for moving (which is happening Wednesday BTW!) when you have a little person who is deathly afraid of the sound of the packing tape!! We have movers coming tomorrow to help us pack so it will probably be a rough day for all of us.

Awesome big brother!

What I saw just now was too cool!

Zoe is seriously cranking out this evening. She was sitting near Jackson playing with some blocks while Jackson was playing with his Elmo toy. Then she started to cry (again!). Jackson reached over and hit the switch for his Tigger toy, which he knows she likes a lot. He totally distracted her from crying and she then proceeded to take the Tigger away from him and disconnected it from the switch so he couldn't play with it anymore. I really think he knew she would play with it and made it go on purpose to stop her from crying.

Of course now she is crying again, but that is another story.

A sweet moment

Losing our respite : (

We have had 5 hours of respite each week for probably close to a year now. Our respite worker is wonderful with Jackson and I think it is an even bigger treat for him to be able to spend time with her as it is for Lee and I to get a chance (albeit with Zoe) to spend some time together.

Illinois has been in this crazy battle over the state budget. Our new governor wanted to raise taxes because there is no way they can afford everything with the money they have but the republicans in the senate would not approve an increase so there was no budget at all for a long time. They finally did pass a budget this week without the tax increase but since it took so long, we now have no funding and will be losing all of our respite hours as of Aug 1.

It is possible that some or all of our hours will be restored, but as of right now we get nothing. Thanks a lot, republicans! : (

Jackson is a PUNK ROCKER!!

He is listening to a Ramones song (Blitzkreig Bop) and cracking up because he loves it so much!! Too cute!

What is Zoe up to?

Well, quite a bit lately!

She is now pulling to a stand by herself. She also is starting to notice music more (Jackson loved music since birth, Zoe not so much) and will dance a little bit...quite hilarious to see her shake her stuff! She will hold "conversations" with you by popping her lips together or making throat-clearing noises, she expects you will answer her in whichever language she has chosen. New just today, she started to stick out her tongue.

I left the kids in the "baby zone" for a few minutes and when I came back this is what I found.

She did not like the fireworks on the 4th much. We did not go to see fireworks this year since she is so sensitive, but even though fireworks are illegal here there are still people lighting them off everywhere and it can be quite loud. It was rough, poor baby. The dog did not like it much either.

In other news, we are moving to the new place at the end of the month! Anyone want to help pack? We are not going to be able to sell this place for anything near what we owe on it so we may be landlords in the near future. Not my preferred choice but you gotta do what you gotta do.

And this coming Friday Jackson is having an MRI and some labs done. We had to either collect an entire day's worth of urine (way too hard for someone who wears diapers!) or bring a stool sample. Poo it is!

Yesterday

we went on a tour of a facility that provides overnight respite for kids like Jackson. Unfortunately, due to the budget problems in Illinois they have lost their state funding so now it is out of pocket for parents. (We also sadly will be losing our once a week respite unless something happens in the state legislature soon). It was a nice place and I will fill out the paperwork so that we have a place to take care of Jackson in case we ever need it.

Zoe and Dizzy...again!

We got a dog with the idea that he would be a companion to Jackson. Well, Dizzy looked totally mellow and sweet when we got him but quickly proved to be too crazy. He would lick Jackson's face (before he learned not to) and it was too much for Jackson to handle. He is a very spirited dog...he's been to doggie "boot camp" twice because it didn't take the first time, and he wears an e-collar because he does not always do what he is told. I never had a dog growing up (although Lee did) so I often found myself wondering why we kept this nutty dog...especially when he was a very bad dog!

After Zoe was born I figured it out. We needed a spirited doggie for our spirited girl. Dizzy is definitely Zoe's dog and Zoe is Dizzy's girl! She is so rough on him, pulling his fur and ears, and he is very patient and gentle with her.

Here are some pics and video you so you see how perfect they are for each other.