Our move to Pittsburg has created some challenges and adjustments. The one that seems to be the worst and most long-lived annoying challenge is my Directv. For the record, we have been "loyal customers" since 2002 and had NO problems with them in Denver. We decide to move and no problem they will transfer service for free We move, I'm all crazy from moving pregnant and with a 2 year old. The guy installs it and leaves. Looks good, except when I go to see my local channels. Nothing. There must be a mistake. I call Directv and ask to get my local channels switched from Denver to KS. WELL...there's when it all fell apart. No local channels available for our area. We get local TV from Joplin, MO (which is, for the record, only like 30 mins away - closer than Channel 9 was to my house in Denver). We can't get Kansas City stations either. The only thing they can do is get me access to NY network feed. Fine...begrudgingly I agree (did I mention I'm in a 2 year comittment that will cost me $250 to cancel). After many calls and waiting, I now receive NBC, PBS and ABC from the NY feed. NO CBS - long story, but only on rabbit ears. So pretty much it's annoying to see local NY commercials and think for a minute you could go to some furniture store and get some great deals until you remember, it's NY.
Within weeks of living here, the crane collapse occurs in NY and I think about the irony of it all when we live in a town with no cranes to be found anywhere. Because, of course, they have to do the nightly story about crane safety and how to keep "us" safe. Crane Safety. Check. Something I don't have to worry about in my life.
This week was the kicker. I record 2 shows that I enjoy at naptime. The View (hot topics mostly) and Oprah. I was online and saw on YAHOO that a plane had landed in the Hudson. I thought to myself, looks like I won't see Oprah. Because of course, the local news had cut away to cover the people on the plane waiting to be rescued. Which may have been okay to watch if I didn't already know how it ended. Oh well, I think. They replay Oprah, no big deal. I go to watch the View the next morning and Oh, they break away for the pending NTSB report on said plane in the Hudson. Crap, they go back just as Hot Topics is over and I don't care. Finally, it's time for Oprah again. Well, wouldn't you know, it's time to give out medals of honor to the Coast Guard people who saved everyone. Really. Really.
Now don't get me wrong, I still think that was an amazing event and what a great pilot to land that plane. And, had I known about it at the time I would have probably watched the coverage on MSNBC live and then checked out Oprah later. But, NOOO, it's just like someone twisting the knife in when things like this happen with our TV.
Dish Network, here I come. Until then, I'll be renting the last two seasons of Criminal Minds, The Mentalist, The Unit and Numbers. Wish me luck on trying to catch up with all those shows that will be cancelled by the time I get CBS again. Sigh.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Things that make me laugh out loud!
Jamey, this one's for you!
Okay, picture it. You're driving down a rural two lane highway in SE Kansas in the dark of winter...got it. Coming up ahead of you seems to be a small motorcycle that cars are having to slow down and swerve around. It occurs to you that it's awfully cold to be riding a scooter at night in January - say about 10 degrees according to your car temperature gauge and dangerous no less. As you pass them going a conservative 40 ish miles an hour, you tell your husband, this reminds me of Dumb and Dumber. Two men on a scooter driving into the mountains of CO frozen. "This hog gets 35 miles to the gallon. Traded her straight up for the van." And then you see it, there are actually TWO people on the scooter. Really?!?!?
Craig and I laughed for a good couple of miles about that one. "Lloyd, just when I think you couldn't be any dumber, you go and do something like this. And TOTALLY redeem yourself." Ah, Jim Carey the golden years!
Okay, picture it. You're driving down a rural two lane highway in SE Kansas in the dark of winter...got it. Coming up ahead of you seems to be a small motorcycle that cars are having to slow down and swerve around. It occurs to you that it's awfully cold to be riding a scooter at night in January - say about 10 degrees according to your car temperature gauge and dangerous no less. As you pass them going a conservative 40 ish miles an hour, you tell your husband, this reminds me of Dumb and Dumber. Two men on a scooter driving into the mountains of CO frozen. "This hog gets 35 miles to the gallon. Traded her straight up for the van." And then you see it, there are actually TWO people on the scooter. Really?!?!?
Craig and I laughed for a good couple of miles about that one. "Lloyd, just when I think you couldn't be any dumber, you go and do something like this. And TOTALLY redeem yourself." Ah, Jim Carey the golden years!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Zach on wheels
Zach did get the little driving car for Christmas. Some friends had one their boys used and sold it to us for a great price. Thanks Grammy and Granddad! After some adjustments to the front alignment...Zach really has the hang of it now. Here's his first try through the gate of our fence.
Second try was much better. We learned to tell him to look straight ahead instead of down at the wheels.
Second try was much better. We learned to tell him to look straight ahead instead of down at the wheels.
Dylan Milestone
I can't believe it's taken me this long to put this in the blog, but Dylan has learned to reach and grab for things. The first time he really made contact was with a musical toy on his little bouncy seat. It shocked Zach and me while we were in the kitchen cooking the other day. We both heard the music and realized Dylan had found the toy and was able to pull it to make the music start. He gets very proud of himself when he does this and doesn't let go for quite awhile!
This is the culmination of staring at his hands intensely for about 3-4 weeks. They seemed to be the most exciting things in the world to him - just fascinating. Maybe I should have done something in the field of human development because I find watching the way baby's brain work and develop fascinating. Ah, another milestone.
This is the culmination of staring at his hands intensely for about 3-4 weeks. They seemed to be the most exciting things in the world to him - just fascinating. Maybe I should have done something in the field of human development because I find watching the way baby's brain work and develop fascinating. Ah, another milestone.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Whew, it's over and he did great!
I think I worried way more than I needed to about this dentist thing. Zach did great. They gave him some meds before they took him back so he was way laid back about it all. I thought they should provide the mothers with something similar so we don't get all worried. Anyway, he was more excited about the stickers he got and his new little Superman action figure than anything else. And yes, Sparkle Pants, Zach didn't want to drink anything either. What's with that? When he was coming out of the anesthesia, they wanted him to drink so they could take out the IV. He was so mad about the IV, he wouldn't drink. Of course, they gave him Sprite which he doesn't drink. Once he realized it was take a drink and then you get the IV out, he at least took a sip of water. Coming out of anesthesia is no fun, no matter how old you are.
The procedure was at 6:00am and he was running around like a crazy man by noon. All is well again and he has two giant silver teeth that he's proud of..thank goodness they are molars. No diamond encrusted grils for him. :) Although, I keep emphasizing the not fun part about going to the hospital to encourage the teeth brushing. We don't want any more silver in the mouth!
The procedure was at 6:00am and he was running around like a crazy man by noon. All is well again and he has two giant silver teeth that he's proud of..thank goodness they are molars. No diamond encrusted grils for him. :) Although, I keep emphasizing the not fun part about going to the hospital to encourage the teeth brushing. We don't want any more silver in the mouth!
Sunday, January 11, 2009
The Dentist
Tomorrow we have a dentist appointment for Zach. Unfortunately, he has two teeth that have defective enamel. I guess it's a thing from birth and probably happened in the womb. Since he's so young and not very cooperative with the dentist, they are going to have to do it under general anesthesia at the outpatient hospital. I'm a nervous wreck. I'm sure it will be fine, but it's no fun to have your little one be put under. He gets to take his little stuffed dog with him and they will have him all drugged before the IV. Whew, I was worried about the IV thing. God knows, I hated it when I was in labor. Zach seems a-okay with it since he's going to get a Superman action figure when it's over.
Wish us luck. I'll update tomorrow when it's over! :)
Wish us luck. I'll update tomorrow when it's over! :)
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Our non-existent Black Cat
If I had a black cat right now, it would be in a lot of trouble. I would completely think it was sleeping on Dylan's pillow when I wasn't looking. All of his hair is falling out as he rubs his head when he sleeps. We just have transitioned him to a sleep positioner which is like white fleece and I just noticed a ton of black little baby hairs on it. Seriously looks like a cat is sleeping on it. :)
People still think he has a lot of hair, but it's nothing compared to when he was first born. He had sideburns, I swear.
People still think he has a lot of hair, but it's nothing compared to when he was first born. He had sideburns, I swear.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Another Dylan Update
It's been awhile since I've updated on Dylan's status. He's still doing fabulous. We had two home visits with early intervention services to see if we qualified for any type of support for Dylan. The first visit was with Rochelle who specializes in specifically the social/emotional side of cases like ours. She makes sure that mom and baby are getting what they need. It seems that she sees all kinds of cases around social/emotional concerns. She was great. We talked for awhile just about his birth, how it was for Craig and I, for Zach and family in general. She was really great about understanding how hard a difficult delivery can be for everyone, not just baby and parents. She watched Dylan for awhile and gave me some tips on calming him and helping him cope with just normal baby excitement. She really didn't see anything to be concerned about. He's making great eye contact, smiling, tracking people and engaging in general. He's giving me cues about what he needs - verbally and physically. So all checked out with that side of things.
Next we had Becky come. She does a more thorough exam to see what we could qualify for - speech therapy, physical therapy, hearing, etc. She did a full work up on nutritional things, physical things and "played" with him to see what he was able to do at this point. Again, I couldn't be happier that we don't qualify for a darn thing at this time. Thank God, I didn't really want to "qualify" but at least we are on everyone's radar. It's comforting to know that I have resources to contact should I have a concern. Especially with Rochelle, she seems like someone (other than my mom and Amanda) to call when I'm just being worried about something to reassure me or help me get answers to my concerns.
This week, Dylan started reaching for things and actually making contact. I love watching him do new things. The last two weeks he's been all about studying his hands intensely to see if he can move them and see what he can do with them. Ah HA, they made it to his mouth and I believe we will have a finger/thumb sucker on our hands. If only he can figure out how not to gag himself with said fingers. Not much I can do to help that process other than tell him, "that's what happens" after he starts gagging on his fingers. It's a little sad but somewhat amusing because you think he'd figure it out.
All in all, he's doing fabulously. There are absolutely no current concerns other than to continue watching his progress. I did look into the APGAR score thing again b/c it seems when I mention it to people who know, they are alarmed by his numbers. He was a 1 at 1 min after birth, 1 at 5 mins and I believe, a 6 at 15 mins. I looked it up online and realized why everyone is shocked when I tell them. The "perfect" newborn gets the score of 10. 2 points for each of the five components. Typically they look for a 7 or higher at one minute after birth to know the baby doesn't need any intervention. I think Zach was like a 8. He was a little blue right off but was fine after a bit.
Here's what I found on Wikipedia. He scored a 0 in all categories except for Pulse Rate which was his 1 b/c it never dropped below 60. For him to only be a 6 at 15 mins was a little scary. We are SO lucky that we were where we needed to be. I can't stand to think about if we'd been at another hospital with no NICU. I wanted to be at a hospital with a NICU and thank God I listened to my instincts and stuck with my decision.
I'm going to post a new video of him so you can see how great he's doing. It's just remarkable.
Next we had Becky come. She does a more thorough exam to see what we could qualify for - speech therapy, physical therapy, hearing, etc. She did a full work up on nutritional things, physical things and "played" with him to see what he was able to do at this point. Again, I couldn't be happier that we don't qualify for a darn thing at this time. Thank God, I didn't really want to "qualify" but at least we are on everyone's radar. It's comforting to know that I have resources to contact should I have a concern. Especially with Rochelle, she seems like someone (other than my mom and Amanda) to call when I'm just being worried about something to reassure me or help me get answers to my concerns.
This week, Dylan started reaching for things and actually making contact. I love watching him do new things. The last two weeks he's been all about studying his hands intensely to see if he can move them and see what he can do with them. Ah HA, they made it to his mouth and I believe we will have a finger/thumb sucker on our hands. If only he can figure out how not to gag himself with said fingers. Not much I can do to help that process other than tell him, "that's what happens" after he starts gagging on his fingers. It's a little sad but somewhat amusing because you think he'd figure it out.
All in all, he's doing fabulously. There are absolutely no current concerns other than to continue watching his progress. I did look into the APGAR score thing again b/c it seems when I mention it to people who know, they are alarmed by his numbers. He was a 1 at 1 min after birth, 1 at 5 mins and I believe, a 6 at 15 mins. I looked it up online and realized why everyone is shocked when I tell them. The "perfect" newborn gets the score of 10. 2 points for each of the five components. Typically they look for a 7 or higher at one minute after birth to know the baby doesn't need any intervention. I think Zach was like a 8. He was a little blue right off but was fine after a bit.
| Score of 0 | Score of 1 | Score of 2 | Component of Acronym | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skin color | blue all over | blue at extremities body pink (acrocyanosis) | no cyanosis body and extremities pink | Appearance |
| Pulse rate | absent | <100 | >100 | Pulse |
| Reflex irritability | no response to stimulation | grimace/feeble cry when stimulated | sneeze/cough/pulls away when stimulated | Grimace |
| Muscle tone | none | some flexion | active movement | Activity |
| Breathing | absent | weak or irregular | strong | Respiration |
Here's what I found on Wikipedia. He scored a 0 in all categories except for Pulse Rate which was his 1 b/c it never dropped below 60. For him to only be a 6 at 15 mins was a little scary. We are SO lucky that we were where we needed to be. I can't stand to think about if we'd been at another hospital with no NICU. I wanted to be at a hospital with a NICU and thank God I listened to my instincts and stuck with my decision.
I'm going to post a new video of him so you can see how great he's doing. It's just remarkable.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Christmas
We had a fabulous first Christmas in Kansas. We were able to see both sets of grandparents and both aunts and uncles, etc. Zach had a blast and truly enjoyed his first Christmas understanding Santa Claus. I still love how excited he gets that Santa actually eats the cookies and milk...of course he does. He needs all that energy to keep going through the night. This year we actually made cookies for Santa - unlike last year when I forgot and we had to give him the iced animal cookies I had on hand. Sorry Santa. This year we upgraded to cut and bake, maybe next year will actually make some from scratch - no promises, Santa.
Christmas Eve we spent at the Wards. My mom and dad went over for dinner and then left so we could rip into the presents! :) Zach was thrilled and Lilli just enjoyed the wrapping paper and boxes as every 10 month old should. We had a fabulous dinner and ham that Jason smoked. It was fabulous. I think next year he should consider taking a chance at becoming the Honey Baked Ham of Southeast Kansas. It was better than Honey Baked and I'm not just saying that so he'll make me more next year. Mom, Dad and I went to Christmas Eve services at 11pm as per our usual Smith family tradition. Craig "had" to stay home and "take an eye on Dylan and Zach" as Zach says. On our way home, Dad commented that it's hard every year to go and not think of going with our good friends the Arnetts. We miss you Paul! Dad even had a glass of wine in honor and I wanted to find some cashews because Paul always had cashews on Christmas Eve and Marty provided the Cheezits. Marty, I hope you had a good Christmas Eve and we were thinking of you. If Mom could have figured out texting we would have texted you a message!
We all got lots of great presents and were all spoiled as usual. We were able to have Ryan, Jen and the kids up from Tulsa to open presents and have dinner the day after Christmas. It was a treat since we've not been able to spend Christmas with them before now. My mom and dad were a huge help with the "big" fun, old-fashioned, family Christmas. I was a little stressed about preparing all the food and taking care of the little two and oh, dressing myself. The two of them stepped into my kitchen like pros and prepped everything for me. Whew. I still don't know how everyone does the meal prep and Christmas stuff. I'm sure that's why more alcohol is consumed around the holidays. Thanks to all those who've hosted me for holidays in the past, you obviously made it look easy. I think Ryan's kids had fun running around and playing hide and seek in our house. We still don't have the "right" toys for them but the treadmill entertained Sam. :)
Dylan enjoyed his first Christmas and I enjoyed dressing him in every Christmas outfit I had from when they were huge on Zach (only 3 weeks old for his 1st Christmas). Plus another sleeper I "had" to buy for Dylan. I just found myself thanking God for such a wonderful Christmas with everyone and especially our beautiful new baby. After the stress is over, I kind of miss Christmas and look forward to putting up the tree again next year. Probably because Craig does all the work of the decorating and I just get to hang the ornaments! :)
Christmas Eve we spent at the Wards. My mom and dad went over for dinner and then left so we could rip into the presents! :) Zach was thrilled and Lilli just enjoyed the wrapping paper and boxes as every 10 month old should. We had a fabulous dinner and ham that Jason smoked. It was fabulous. I think next year he should consider taking a chance at becoming the Honey Baked Ham of Southeast Kansas. It was better than Honey Baked and I'm not just saying that so he'll make me more next year. Mom, Dad and I went to Christmas Eve services at 11pm as per our usual Smith family tradition. Craig "had" to stay home and "take an eye on Dylan and Zach" as Zach says. On our way home, Dad commented that it's hard every year to go and not think of going with our good friends the Arnetts. We miss you Paul! Dad even had a glass of wine in honor and I wanted to find some cashews because Paul always had cashews on Christmas Eve and Marty provided the Cheezits. Marty, I hope you had a good Christmas Eve and we were thinking of you. If Mom could have figured out texting we would have texted you a message!
We all got lots of great presents and were all spoiled as usual. We were able to have Ryan, Jen and the kids up from Tulsa to open presents and have dinner the day after Christmas. It was a treat since we've not been able to spend Christmas with them before now. My mom and dad were a huge help with the "big" fun, old-fashioned, family Christmas. I was a little stressed about preparing all the food and taking care of the little two and oh, dressing myself. The two of them stepped into my kitchen like pros and prepped everything for me. Whew. I still don't know how everyone does the meal prep and Christmas stuff. I'm sure that's why more alcohol is consumed around the holidays. Thanks to all those who've hosted me for holidays in the past, you obviously made it look easy. I think Ryan's kids had fun running around and playing hide and seek in our house. We still don't have the "right" toys for them but the treadmill entertained Sam. :)
Dylan enjoyed his first Christmas and I enjoyed dressing him in every Christmas outfit I had from when they were huge on Zach (only 3 weeks old for his 1st Christmas). Plus another sleeper I "had" to buy for Dylan. I just found myself thanking God for such a wonderful Christmas with everyone and especially our beautiful new baby. After the stress is over, I kind of miss Christmas and look forward to putting up the tree again next year. Probably because Craig does all the work of the decorating and I just get to hang the ornaments! :)
Christmas Photos
Some of these are for my mom and the others are for Amanda. You have to see how the fabulous black velvet jacket and red corduroy shirt have been used yet again. Stay tuned to see Dylan in this get up in 3 years. :)
Christmas pics of the boys from Christmas Eve...didn't get a chance to edit out the red eye.
And here are the table settings that I told you about. :) Merry Christmas everyone! More info to come on the Christmas festivities.
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