Cowboys and Baseball

Blake and Derek had an activity day at school the other day. They dressed up as cowboys and played games.

Katelyn had to try out the cowboy look.

We had our first baseball game. I'm coaching and this is a step up from T-ball. I still feel like I'm figuring it out. However, Blake has done a great job of playing in his cast. It doesn't seem to slow him down at all. Amy and the kids came to watch but Brandon screamed the whole time. I'm not sure if they will come back soon or not.

Good News and Fears

Brandon and Katelyn are solidly on the charts - not like top 40. The growth charts. The charts that have defined so much of all of our lives for the past years. We went to see their endocrinologist last week and they are in the 6th percentile for height (weight isn't worth mentioning). I think it is remarkable how similar they are in size right now. They both weigh 23 pounds and are 34 inches long. The dr said when they turn 3 they start measuring height not length and the charts won't be as kind to them, but growth is growth and we love progress.

We also recently went to neonatal follow up clinic and they were tested by the Developmental Psychologist and Speech and Language. They are both doing really well. In speech and language they test their understanding as well as their verbal skills. Not surprisingly Katelyn is at a 3 year 5 month level for both of these. Brandon is at a 2 year 7 month level for verbal and he is only 2 year 9 months. His understanding was 3 months less but still not considered "delayed". We got a similarly encouraging report from the psychologist. She told us he wouldn't currently qualify for the services he received from Kids on the Move. So basically he isn't technically behind any more.

While this is the best news a parent could hope for, I have a mix of emotions about it. With Brandon's 3rd birthday comes changes in the services he receives. His early intervention days with Kids on the Move will come to a close and he will be tested in late June to qualify for services with the school district. Their methods for testing are a mystery and then their approach to helping the kids that qualify are fundamentally very different from what we are used to. However I feel very strongly that Brandon will benefit from these services and I desperately want him to qualify. With this good news I am more nervous that he has made too much progress to qualify. Let's all just pray that he will get what he needs to maintain the progress he's made and to continue to grow and develop as he should.

NICU Reunion

Today we spent a couple of hours at the park for a NICU reunion. It's always nice to see the nurses and other parents that we've gotten to know so well.

Brandon and his bag of goodies

Derek forgot his jacket so he wore my hoodie around. He kind of looked like a Jedi Knight.

They got to get in a life flight helicopter - it might even have been the same one Brandon rode on just after he was born.

They had a big inflatable slide. These shots where hard to get because they where moving pretty fast.

New cast and new beds

Derek and Blake made dioramas based on an animal of their choice for a school project. Blake has really been interested in birds lately so he choose a Northern Cardinal and Derek choose a Nautilus because he had seen a movie about deep sea life. Shortly after this photo was taken Blake handed Amy his cast. He said it was bugging him so he pulled on it and it came off. He now has a camouflage colored cast that goes past his elbow so it wont come off. He still managed to play and hit a ball at Baseball practice.

The school held a fundraiser at Wendy's. For a couple of hours one evening a percentage of the money spent would be donated to the school. We went and the kids had fun because they saw a lot of their friends from school.

We finally took down the cribs. Katelyn had become very efficient at climbing out but she still took a couple of spills so we had to do it. Tonight we said goodbye to the cribs and put up the toddler beds. In order to ease them in and get them excited we held a slumber party and let Derek and Blake sleep with them. I still expect to see the babies in our bed within a couple of hours.

Cell Phone Photos

Father and sons BBQ up the canyon

I get help when I mow the lawn.

Brandon trying out baseball equipment in the store.

Trampoline

It's Broken!

The other day Blake was playing in the backyard and he let out a scream. He and Derek where playing on the swing set and he took a huge fall. Blood was pouring out of his nose and mouth and he told us he thought he broke his arm. He landed pretty hard on some nasty rocks. After we cleaned him up and he settle down it was hard to tell how injured he was. Blake described it on the boys blog.

http://derekandblake.blogspot.com/

We even took some reenactment photos. If you haven't seen their blog I think it's very entertaining and they would LOVE to see comments.

It was still hurting Blake pretty badly the next day so we took him to have an x-ray. Sure enough he has a buckle fracture. Derek had a similar break about this time last year. (However, he had much more immediate swelling so it was obvious it was broken.) I actually think Blake was proud to have a broken arm. The doctor choose to wrap it up and wait for the swelling to go down before he put it in a cast. Blake came home from school that day with a bunch of signatures on his bandage (not a cast) including the school principal. today he got his glow in the dark cast.

Mother's Day Photos

We took a bunch of pictures on Mother's Day. Here are some of them.