Railroad Park

Birmingham has recently been blessed with two things.  One was a weekend of warm weather right in the middle of winter (which is ironic seeing as now it is iced over outside).  The other was the recent opening of Railroad Park in downtown.  We went for the first time this past weekend to have a picnic and enjoy the nice day and I was TOTALLY impressed.  It is right in between Southside and downtown Birmingham and I really think it is going to do great things for the rehabilitation of that area.  Perron is obssessed with choo-choo's so he thought it was awesome because an active train line runs right on the edge of the park.  I honestly felt like I was in a much bigger city, with a vibrant urban center when we were down there.  They are doing a lot of development next to the park, including building a new baseball stadium for our minor league baseball team right next to the park.  We are so excited to see what happens to the area as it continues to grow.  For now though, it is still a huge asset to the community and we will definitely be going back quite a bit in the spring.

While we were there Perron got to go on his first picnic and enjoy big open spaces to run around in.  He was so precious.  We took some pictures and I am finally going to get some photos posted up here.  I bet y'all were starting to forget what he looked like.  Don't worry...he is just as precious as ever.  Enjoy!

Poor McKenzie

So for those of you that don't know us in real life (which let's be honest, might be like one person reading this blog), we have a precious fur baby that was our first child.  Stephen's "Aunt" ML gave her to us after Stephen and I  had only been six dating six months.  That was seven years ago and she has been a huge part of our family since that time.  Last year she had to have TPLO surgery on both of her back legs.  Basically she blew out both of her knees and had to have her  knees rebuilt.  They go in and cut the leg bone and create a less severe angle to the bone and then put a plate and a bunch of screws in and re-attach the ligament.  If you are dying for a more scientific and accurate description you can check it out here.  It is a very difficult and expensive surgery and the recovery is tremendous.  The rehab process is 12 weeks and it is very demanding on Stephen because she basically has to be almost completely immobile for 6 weeks and then can only be walked on a leash for another six weeks after that.

After she had her first knee done, she blew out her second knee literally within five minutes of coming off of her 12 weeks of rehab.  It was only a partial tear at the time so we did another 12 weeks of rehab, hoping we could strengthen the area around it without surgery.  Unfortunately that did not work as planned and she ended up having to have another knee surgery and 12 more weeks of rehab.

Fast-forward to Friday a week ago.  I noticed on Friday morning that she was limping and would occasionally not put one of her paw pads down.  We didn't think too much of it because we thought she might have hurt her paw pad running around.   On Saturday she was not acting any better and we could not find something wrong with her paw pad, so Stephen took her in to the vet.  The vet thought she might have sprained her ankle or have an infection in her ankle joint.  She sent us home with some anti-inflammatories and said to bring her back if she wasn't getting better.  Well, she didn't get better and at times is was getting worse so Stephen took her back in last Friday.  The vet observed some new tenderness in the knee but couldn't determine what it was and wanted us to see our specialist.

We took her in on Monday and got the bad news.  Apparently the ligament that holds her knee cap in place had stretched and her knee cap was sliding in and out.  That meant more surgery.  Boo for all of us!  She had the surgery on Tuesday and got to come home yesterday.  She is pitiful, but hopefully will be feeling better in the next couple of weeks.

Here is the kicker(s).  Kicker number one.  MY POOR WALLET.  I am not going to tell you what we have had to spend on her legs over the past 13 months, but sufficed to say it would have paid my car off.  Kicker number two.  The rehab from this surgery is still twelve weeks.  To make matters worse, because the bone wasn't cut she feels much better much faster so keeping her calm will be a challenge.  Kicker number three.  We have a very active 18 month old in the house who doesn't understand why he can't "pet", pull, poke, jump on the dog.

It is going to be a long 12 weeks.....

What's Going On

So, long time no talk.  I can't believe I have turned in to such a slacker about this blog.  It has really gotten to the point that something has to give and the blog has been the thing to go.  However, this has caused me a tremendous amount of guilt, so I am going to try to get back on the bandwagon.  I love reading other people's blogs and I love having all the memories that I am able to capture in my own...so it is time to get more diligent about it.

So, what have we been up to all these many months.  Basically everything and nothing all at the same time.  I guess that is how life is.  Work has been going well for Stephen and I.  He is gearing up for busy season, but things shouldn't get too bad.  I continue to get to enjoy my Friday's off with Perron and try to make the most of them.  I am truly blessed to work for such a flexible company.

I have really gotten into sewing as a new hobby.  I have always been fascinated with the concept of sewing, but never really tried doing anything about it.  The thought of making things that you can actually use in your house or wear is really appealing to me.  I took my first lesson before Christmas and I am back at my second class right now.  If all goes well, I will be able to make Perron's Easter outfit this year.  so far so good.  I will be really proud if it turns out alright.  I am absolutely OBSESSED with fabrics and have really been buying entirely too much of it right now.  As Stephen would say, my raw inventory is way up and my finished inventory is...basically non-existent.  Hopefully that will all change soon.  I have three very good girlfriends that are all pregnant with their second child right now, so I will have plenty of people to be making for.  In fact, one of our friends just found out she is having a little girl, so I will be in a frenzy of onesie dress making soon.  I am really happy and hope I can stick with it.  I have a terrible habit of getting really interested in something and thing dropping it like a hot potato.

Stephen and I are in the middle of a dilemma over what to do about our house.  We LOVE our neighborhood and the area of town we live in, so we were hopeful that we could add on.  We had plans drawn up for a lovely addition and were one step away from breaking ground before the ca bosh  got put on our plans.  The appraisal that we had done came in well below what we needed it to be to feel comfortable moving forward, so we had to put our plans on hold.  Right now we are waiting until spring.  At that time we are going to meet with a real estate agent and have them show us properties that are in our price range and have all the things we want. We will also get the realtor to take a look at our plans and let us know what she thinks the house is worth currently and what it would be worth if we moved forward with the addition.  After those steps are taken, hopefully we will have some clarity on how we should proceed.  I don't want to move, but we definitely need more space one way or another.

Other than that, nothing much else to report.  I promise to be better about blogging and will do a fun picture post soon so everyone can see how big Perron has gotten!

18 Months

Dearest Perron,

Where has the time gone?  How could 18 months of our life fly past so quickly.  It seems like just yesterday you were a tiny newborn in my arms and now you are a vibrant, rambunctious toddler running through  my house.  I have meant to capture you at every month like i did for your first year, but life has gotten in the way.  Working and raising a baby and trying to still be a decent wife, friend and human being takes a lot of time!  So I am going to take this half way mark to your second year as an opportunity to  reflect on where all you have been these past six months.

You started walking right around fourteen months and by fifteen months you were completely mobile and ON THE GO.  You have yet to slow down.  You took your first real steps on the night of the Alabama vs Duke football game.  Isn't that the way it should be in the south...major milestones marked by college football events.  :)  We were over at our good friends the Taylor's house and Ethan must have inspired you because you just started to take steps.  We were so proud of you and surprised that you got on the move at such a young age.

You can now climb proficiently pretty much anywhere you want to go.  You have a Little Tykes slide and you love to climb up the ladder, stand on the top and raise your hands in the air.  Quite the little daredevil.  You can also climb up and down the step to your playroom and to our room very easily.  You still need to hold on with one hand, but you can easily maneuver up and down.

Speaking of your playroom, you loving being in there and playing with all your toys.  You are such a good independent player.  You can entertain yourself for quite a while looking at books and playing with your toys.  You developed a fascination with all things Elmo about three months ago.  You LOVE him, which we find ironic since you have never watched even a second of Sesame Street.  The love affair all began with your Elmo bathtub spout cover and just grew from there.  You love Elmo books, pictures, toys, basically anything Elmo.  Santa brought you a Hokey Pokey Elmo and Grammy and Grampy got you an Elmo camera for Christmas and they are two of your favorite toys.  Daddy and I have all of the songs and sayings memorized.

Speaking of Christmas, we had a great holiday.  You loved Christmas even though you did not truly understand the concept.  What you did understand was that you were getting tons of presents and attention and you TOTALLY loved that.  We got to stay in Birmingham and spend christmas with mommy's side of the family.  It was really nice, especially since Aunt Diana and Uncle Trae got to come up to celebrate with us.  You got showered with gifts.  You got a bit riding pony and a wagon from santa.  You love bouncing on your pony.  You will squeal and bounce up and down and then stop and pet its mane and give it a hug.  You are such a sweet boy!

You can imitate several phrases now.  When we tell you to ride 'em cowboy or to ride the pony you do this uneven hopping thing like you are riding on a horse.  It is hysterical.  You can pretend to wash your hands when people ask you to.  You rub your belly in a circular motion whenever you like something or someone tells you something is yummy to your tummy.  You also will pretend like you are swimming in the bathtub, but there is a small catch.  Instead of laying in the water and swimming you stand up and paddle the air like you are swimming.  HILARIOUS!  We definitely have gotten some of these little tricks on the camera.

You are not really talking yet, but you are getting some help with that.  You started speech therapy last month and we really like your therapist Ms. Meredith.  We are hopeful that we can get you going soon.  Right now you can say da-da and ga-ga with much proficiency, but that is about it.  I am dying for the day when you will regularly call me mama.  You have started saying it a little bit here and there, so hopefully you will start soon.  The therapist says you should say anywhere from 18-20 words at this point, so we have a little catching up to do.  We know you will get there soon though!

You continue to be quite the busy boy.  You go to classes at the Zoo, Gymboree, Kindermusik, and story time.  Ms. Meaghan takes such good care of you and makes sure that you are happy and entertained during the day.  You are such a sweet boy and whenever we take you anywhere you are constantly waving at people and smiling your cute little smile.  You definitely are a charmer...watch out ladies.

You are still on the small size, but mommy pulled out the first pair of pants you ever wore and let's just say it was eye opening.  You wear size 12 to 18 month clothing.  We have just had to move your shirt size up because you were starting to look like you were wearing crop tops.  The pants are pretty big in the waist, but you need them for the length.  That is because you are in the 40th percentile for height and only the 8th percentile for weight.  Mommy took you to your 18 months appointment and you weighed 22 lbs and 2 ozs and were 32 inches tall.  You went from the 5th percentile in weight to the 8th and from the 20th percentile in height to the 40th percentile.

Your daddy and I are constantly saying we don't know how we produced something as precious and as beautiful as you are.  You truly are the light of our lives.  You have a beautiful, sweet spirit and an absolute joy to raise and be around.  We love you more than life itself!

Love

Mommy and Daddy

The Pumpkin Patch and Pumpkin Carving

Perron and I took a trip to the pumpkin patch with our friends Kelly and Ethan.  Daddy was at the Alabama/Ole Miss game with Uncle Phillip so he missed out on the fun.  Kelly and I learned some valuable lessons during our pumpkin patch excursion and I will share some of them with you.

1.  The term pumpkin patch is misleading because you would assume that meant you would be going home with a pumkin.  WRONG!  We didn't even look at a single pumpkin.  The thought of wrangling pumpkins in addition to two toddlers was so overwhelming that I decided I would just cop out and pick one up at Publix.

2.  Snack time will inevitably be the boys favorite part of the trip.

3.  Getting two 15 month old boys to both smile and look at the camera at the same time is a pipe dream.  Let me just give new moms a tip...it will not happen.  No matter how much you bribe, cajole, call out, they are not looking at the same time.  And if they do look they will not be smiling.

4.  You will be as exhausted as your children leaving the pumkin patch.  To give you an idea of how exhausted that is, Perron fell asleep before we even got out of the parking lot.  Needless to say I was asleep in bed at 9 pm that night.
5.  You will be so excited and happy that you are getting to create your first pumpkin patch memory with your baby and lifelong friends that you won't care about any of the above.

To make the season complete we attended a pumpkin carving party at our neighbors house.  This is again a misnomer because not much pumpkin carving was done on my part.  Most of my time was spent chasing a little boy who want to climb up the stairs, down the stairs, up the stairs down the stairs...or in the door, out the door, in the door, out the door.   You see where I am going with this.  I eventually caved and just pushed him around the yard because at least I knew where he was.  At least daddy was free to carve the pumpkin and he did a great job!

A Photo Collage

I have been such a slacker about posting recently so I thought I would continue the trend and sum up the end of our summer and beginning of our fall in a photo collage.  We have been busy busy busy and Perron has been loving every minute of it.  We have gone to birthday parties, gone swimming on the patio, played with friends, goofed around, watched football with our buddies, ate spaghetti and celebrated Daddy's birthday.  As you can see, we have had A LOT of fun!

14 Months

Dearest Perron,

Where has the time gone.  Mommy has turned into quite a slacker on the blog, but I promise to get better.  I have been having a really hard time with burn-out at work and it is spilling over into all areas of my life.  I feel like by the time I get you down for bed, I have nothing left to give.  That has meant that the blog has had to suffer.  I know this is just a phase though and I will be back in the swing of things soon.  Okay, enough boring stuff about mommy, we know the reason people come here.  Daddy and I CAN NOT believe that you are already fourteen months.  I said that the other day and it sounded so old.  You are definitely not our tiny little baby anymore, but rather our big, strong, independent boy.  You have been so busy recently, so it will be hard to think of what all you have been doing.

You are on the go constantly!  You can stand for extended periods of time unassisted and you can easily sit down from a standing position.  You are on the verge of walking full time.  We went to your friend Ethan's house last night and you were a walking machine.  I think he inspired you since he is ten days younger than you, but walking all over the place.  You have not wanted to walk today, but at Austin's birthday party you walked all the way through Gymboree just holding one of my hands.  Everyone was very impressed.  I think that we will have a full fledge walker by the end of this month.  We are so proud of you!

You are getting so good with all of your fine motor skills.  You can pick things up out of a bucket and put them back into the bucket.  You are also starting to be able to stack things if they are big enough.  You have a little farm truck that has two pins (pens?), a horse and a dog.  You love to pick the dog and horse up and then put them back in their pens.  You still love your music table and the learning farm that Grammy and Grandpa got you for your birthday.  You have finally gotten very interested in books and will pick them up and bring them over to us to read to you.  Your favorites are Big Little, Shake it Up Baby, and Good Morning Good Night.  You are obsessed with your blue car that MamaCrig and Grandaddy got for you.  You crawl over to it and pull yourself up and then turn around and ask to be put in in.  We go on car rides at least once a day.

You still are not talking much.  Well, let me correct myself.  You talk all the time, but you don't really say any words.  Your four main sounds are gaga, dada, giga, baba.  Those four sounds can mean up to forty words.  I do think you know what gone gone means, because every time you finish your milk I say gone gone and you repeat back something that sounds like gone gone.  You also can say dada fairly reliably, but it is still hit or miss.  We know it will all come in time.

Meaghan has been working with you on your baby sign language very hard.  You now know what more means and use it all the time....especially when it comes to eating.  You LOVE Meaghan and we are so lucky to have her as a part of our family.  She does such a good job taking care of you and you love her so much.  You are still loving to eat and will literally eat whatever we put in front of you.  I have only found one things that you do not like...hummus.  You take after your daddy.

You have been such a joy to watch blossom these past few months, as you have been all your life.  You are such a sweet precious spirit.  Your daddy and I hope you never loose that.

We love you to the moon!

Mommy and Daddy