The Run Around

A few things have been keeping me on my toes and my mind engaged. I think I mentioned that for my 'big' Christmas present, my parents bought me a new camera. I have always wanted to take up photography as a hobby. Now, I finally have the time and the means and the desire to learn. With Christmas a couple months behind us, I decided it was time for me to finally learn how to use this new, technical camera. I searched all the county websites looking for a class that would suit my needs. I came up empty handed. As much as I really don't like asking other people for help, I bit the bullet and called up - or rather, Facebooked - my good friend Gina. She was more than willing to help me get started and teach me what she knows. Dylan and I went to her house yesterday for my first lesson. I learned the basics of shutter speed, depth of field, aperture and ISO. So much to take in all at once, but I think my brain welcomed the opportunity to pour some new information into it. It has been a l-o-n-g time since I've had to concentrate on something like this.

I realize that I have a long road ahead of me, but I am so excited to be doing something for myself. It helps that I absolutely adore Gina and this will give us an excuse to go hang out more often. Can't wait for the weather to warm up!

I decided to read up on some notes and then mess around while my child is napping today. Pre-nap I felt like baking some cookies to waste time. So, they became my first subject. Did I make you all drool?

Next up, Dylan's shoes. This child has really been keeping me on my toes the past month or so. I believe that he has enough energy to fuel about 10 people. I really wish that he would share some of it with me. We have been having some sleep issues with him. Mainly, he just won't sleep...not at night and not during the day. The worst part, or maybe the best part - depends on who you ask - is that he is still a pretty happy kid. You would think that I'd be okay with this, but honestly? I do not have the same stamina I did in college. I NEED 8-9 hours of sleep each night and I am most definitely not getting that these past few weeks. I used to compensate by taking a nap when Dylan did, but he has pretty much cut those out of his routine, which means no sleep for me. So, if I'm not responding to emails or phone calls, it's because I'm really trying not to pass my bad mood around.

Anyway, these shoes take Dylan where ever his little heart desires. At least I'm getting my money's worth...right?

Some Things Never Change

I used to love playing with Play-Doh when I was a kid. For some reason, I just love the smell and feel of it between my fingers. The first couple times I tried letting Dylan play with it, he just cried. He just wasn't as fond of it as I am. The other day, I decided to try again. Lo and behold, he thought it was the greatest thing ever. We were having so much fun, we decided to invite our friends Renee and David over to join in the fun. The boys sat at the table making all sorts of things for about an hour. It was so much fun to be nostalgic and share something from our childhood with the boys.

Completing the Story

I figure it is time to give a couple updates.

Mike and I had an awesome adult's only weekend. We took every opportunity to sleep in as late as we wanted, eat out, go running outside together, shop without a diaper bag, watch movies and basically just enjoy spending some alone time together. It was great.

Dylan's surgery went very well. If I hadn't been there to see the nurses take him away and then see him coming out of the anesthesia, I would not believe that he actually had surgery. Within an hour of being home, the child was right back to his happy, crazy self. The first three days post-op were a little rough. He wasn't in any pain, but he couldn't breathe because of all the congestion. He also had this thick, yellow gunk constantly flowing from his nose. It was disgusting! Luckily, he woke up with no gunk yesterday and I have not wiped his nose in two days! First time in months that I haven't had to use a tissue to wipe snot off the child's face. Hooray!

Here's a pic of my little man catching up on his Little Einsteins after surgery.

Happy Birthday!

Just wanted to take a minute to say Happy Birthday to Mike. He gets to enjoy one more year of being a young 'un. Next year marks the big 3-0!

We are so lucky to have you at the head of our family. In honor of today, here are 10 reasons I love my husband. (This is by no means a conclusive list)

1. Always makes sure to kiss/hug each of us before he leaves for work.
2. He does what I ask him to, even if he has no interest in doing so.
3. The way he plays with Dylan...they are so fun to watch interact.
4. He takes care of the dog because he knows I don't like to do it.
5. His sarcastic sense of humor is still making me laugh after 10 years.
6. He takes full responsibility for providing for the temporal needs of our family.
7. Our little family is the most important thing to him.
8. He loves his family and treats his parents and siblings with respect (the sarcasm is love...I promise).
9. He tries to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, even though his initial impression is usually right.
10. He likes to shop. You'll never get him to admit it, but the man will spend an hour in the dressing room at Macy's trying on 3 shirts!

Mike never really 'wants' anything for his birthday and I'm tired of attempting to surprise him with a cool gift that ends up either getting returned or just sitting on his dresser. So, my gift to him this year is an Adults Only weekend. My parents graciously agreed to watch Dylan for the weekend so that Mike and I can do whatever we feel like doing. While Mike is excited about his gift, I think it may actually benefit me more.

Because I've been asked...

...Here are my Dylan updates.

Speech Therapy: A social worker and speech therapist from the county came to our house for an evaluation last Wednesday. We were really only worried about his speech, but they do a comprehensive evaluation anyway. Dylan tested within the normal range in every area except expressive language (mostly his articulation and sentence structure). They decided that his delay is significant enough (meaning it is affecting his daily life and he is forming bad habits early on) for us to pursue speech therapy for him. We will be working with a coordinator from Wake County to set up a plan/goals for Dylan and a therapist will be coming to our house once a week to work with him.

Surgery: Dylan's constantly runny nose (for the past year) encouraged me to seek out a specialist's opinion. The social worker also recommended we take him to an ENT because all the head/nasal congestion could be affecting his speech. So, I took him to the ENT this morning and the Dr took one look in his mouth and said that his adenoids need to come out. Apparently they are about triple the size they should be. We have his surgery scheduled for next Thursday morning. I had my adenoids and tonsils removed when I was 7 years old, so I know it's a fairly simple surgery. But still...this is my baby and I'm a tad nervous.

Hopefully by doing these two things, we will be able to get Dylan caught up to his peers in a short amount of time. He is a smart kid, but he's having trouble getting stuff out and it has created a lot of frustration in our house. Especially between Dylan and I because it sometimes takes me a couple weeks to figure out what word he is trying to say.