Boys in the Northwoods

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

No Helmet!

Early this morning (9am Ha!), I took Callum in for his Physical Therapy evaluation. And as you can see from the title, no helmet will be required! Hooray! The PT did immediately see and identify the problem - a flat spot on the right side of his head. She doesn't think it's bad enough to warrant a helmet though, and hopefully we'll be able to work everything out through PT, massage and stretches at home. After talking, we decided this likely started from his crib's position in relation to my bed. Since he likes to face me, he continued to lie on the right side of his head, creating a flat spot. Once that side was flatter than the other, it became easier for him to just stay there, making it worse. He has some tightness in his neck, but it doesn't appear to be true torticollis since he likes to tuck his chin down onto his right shoulder. So we got a sheet of instructions on massage and stretches and we're to encourage him to face the left more often. He'll be going to PT weekly for a few weeks and then re-evaluate.
In some me news, I've decided to join a couch-to-5K team run by out local outdoor clothing/supply store, Solstice Outdoors. It costs $20 for the 8 week program, but you get a t-shirt and if you complete the program and 5K race, you get $20 store credit! Awesome, no? So this will be my real intro to running and I'll have a group and program to keep me going. And I'll do my first race! Which means I can hopefully train enough to do the 10K at Whistlestop. Hooray me! :)

Monday, July 11, 2011

Summer Monday

We've been going going going today. First we had to do some laundry, then ran off to storytime at the library. After that, we made a pit stop home to grab a lunch and ran off to get a National Forest parking sticker and headed to an inland lake. Stayed there for three hours (beautiful!) and now we're meal planning and about to go shopping. Phew!! Here's the meal plan!

Dinners for July 11-17

Monday, July 11 – Burgers and salad, leftover lemon pasta

Tuesday, July 12 – Summer veggie and pesto tart

Wednesday, July 13 – Moroccan chicken kabobs (So yummy!)

Thursday, July 14 – bike ride night….cereal?

Friday, July 15 – Tuna melts on the grill, salad

Saturday, July 16 – Quesadillas, salad

Sunday, July 17 – homemade pizza, and of course, salad (our garden has lettuce!)

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Wait until they're teenagers

Twice in the past week, I've been told by two separate people, "just wait until they're teenagers." Whenever I lament about the terrible twos, inevitably, someone pipes up that the threes are much worse. This time, it was the teens. And that got me thinking. I get all huffy when Everett's begging for another bedtime hug and kiss and Callum just cannot be in his chair/swing/tummy/back without human contact, but these days are not going to last forever. Right now, many of our "problems" are solved with a long snuggle and talk about what the day's plans are for tomorrow or just a picking up and letting breastmilk breath and drool drip all over my cheek. How great is that? Currently, if my boys are tired, they don't stalk off to their rooms and slam their doors, yelling at me to leave them alone; they climb (or cry for me to pick them up) into my lap, bury their heads in my neck and sigh. They plead for me to read them stories, change their diapers/clothes, get them food, play with them, and just snuggle. Every night I go to bed with one guy in my bed and every morning I wake up with a baby boy on either side of me and that guy squished over on the other side of the bed (we should have bought a king...). I breathe a sigh of relief as I see Everett playing independently more and more, but I also have to take a step back and mourn a little for his younger days. Days when he only said a few words and not these hilarious sentences he spews out now. Days when I had to carry him everywhere and he didn't yet ride his bike and run. Days when I would carefully change his adorable little outfits and not cringe a little at his self-picked and applied ensembles. And it gets worse. Because I can look at Callum in all his chubby baby glory and know that he will all too soon be 2 years old and dressing himself while asking "why" about everything. And after that will come even more independence and limit pushing, talking back and questioning, moodiness and wanting their space. But right now, there's a two and a half year old climbing all over me talking about buying new shorts at wal-mart, asking me to read a story, and trying to convince me he needs more orange juice (all at the same time!) and there's a baby putting himself to sleep in his pack n' play across the room. And I love it.