5 things your toddler might do while you check your email...

1- Bounce a cantaloupe like a ball

2- Sprinkle an entire box of facial tissues all over the house

3- Stir the toilet water with a spatula

4- Crunch on sidewalk chalk for a “snack”

5- Use his chicken tender as a paint brush and blueberry yogurt as paint. Was it lunch time or art time? Who cares, right?

August 8th

Please pray for overall health for Andrew and I during the next two months. If we stay healthy it will be much easier for us to take good care of Oliver.

August 9th (2 weeks until surgery)

Please pray for the pediatric neurosurgeon, Dr. Ann-Christine Duhaime. Here is an article about her that I posted on the blog when we decided she was who we wanted. We are praying her small hands and brilliant mind will lead Oliver down the path of healing.

August 10th

Please pray for Oliver to remain healthy. If he is sick, has a fever or has an asthma flare up it could prevent him from being able to have surgery as scheduled. That would be a huge letdown as we've spent  months planning, praying and paying for this trip.

August 11th

Please pray for us to be wise stewards of our financial resources during this time. If you remember a few months ago I posted about a program called CAP-C which would help significantly with Oliver's medical costs. We will be reapplying with that program from Boston in hopes Oliver might be eligible for some services once we return home. 

August 12th

Please pray for everything to go smoothly with our insurance. Since we are out of state there are always little surprises. Also, that the insurance company would approve everything that the doctors think is necessary. On the phone with the insurance company is the last way we want to spend our time in Boston :) if you know what I mean. 

You continue to amaze us with your love and care. Thank you!

Mission Impossible

I took Oliver shopping the other day. In other words, I am a fool. Really I am. Who does that with a two and a half year old? Wait till I tell you where I took him. Pottery Barn (gasp!) among other places. Read on for our tale of folly...

 First Stop-Home Depot

Mission: Return small ceramic pot. Purchase 3 cans of spray paint and chair leg pads. Simple enough, right?

Due to rain, all I could find were some very wet buggies (that is southern for “shopping cart”). So, I carried Oliver in the store as I waited in line to return the ceramic pot. Mistake #1. He is 40 lbs and ridiculously strong. Once he decides he doesn't want to be held it is an all out UFC cage match (Ultimate Fighting Championship, just in case you didn't know). As I juggled the ceramic pot, Oliver, and my purse, I realized I was an idiot. Of course, a buggy was nowhere to be found as this fight scene unfolded. The guy in front of me happened to be returning loads of stuff. Huge metal air vents or something absurd like that. Go figure. I looked sweetly at the man (sort of like Bambi), hoping he’d say “wow, little lady, looks like you have your hands full. Why don’t you go in front of me with your ONE item? Oh, and you know, I'll get you a dry buggy too.” I would then well up with tears and tell him what an honorable man he was. Alas, he was not the gentleman I had hoped. Shoot, how disappointing. As I was lost in thought about the stranger in front of me, Oliver hung upside down off the side of my hip. His head was basically on the floor. He decided it was really fun to go up and down, up and down, like he was starring in an ab infomercial. He cackled each time he pulled himself up. Can you visualize this? I think my back is still contorted. Do I look like playground equipment? Don't answer that. Anyway, by the time it was our turn, I almost broke the ding dang pot when I flung it on the counter. Once I got my $4.95 for the pot, I stopped to consider if it was enough to buy a back brace. Turns out it is not.

Second Stop-Pottery Barn: (What in tarnation was I thinking?)

Mission: Drool and covet things I do not need. Keep Oliver happy with lots of snacks. Try to keep said snacks off the Pottery Barn floor and merchandise.

I started my time at PB by lovingly touching a beautiful mercury glass candle holder. I thought of all the places I could prominently display it. It was really pretty but, I decided the price tag “Your Left Kidney” was probably too much for a decorative element that I did not need. Thankfully, after fondling the candle holder I still had time; this is only because I came prepared. I had an arsenal of snacks in my purse. I had crackers and fruit snacks coming out the ying-yang. Apparently, my little angel was very hungry that day. He scarfed down one cup of Goldfish in three minutes flat. Without a beverage to wash it down. How is that even possible? Then he scarfed down two bags of gummy fruit snacks (yes I do feed my child processed food, and highly recommend you stuff your purse with similar snacks). So all in all I got about 7 minutes in PB. Not much time when I spent my first 2 minutes on one candle holder. I'll have better time management next time. Ha, ha, ha, ha...next time. I am just kidding. I will never do that again.

Third Stop-The Gap/Gap Kids

Mission: Look for khaki shorts for Oliver.

There were no shorts, but in the 2 minutes we were in the Gap, Oliver did not disappoint. He literally broke into a full on River Dance (in his stroller) that knocked over at least two stacks of clothing. Hey Gap!-- if you are reading this, hold the disco music on volume level 400! It makes my toddler think he is an Irish man in a sequined shirt, with tap shoes, a paralyzed upper body, and wildly flailing legs. I don't need that in my life right now, thank you very much!

Last stop---World Market (THANK GOD!)

Mission: Not sure...

Oliver was on the verge of a melt down, the snacks and drinks were gone. It was not a good way to start. I suppose I thought this would be “ok” for a few minutes. I thought wrong. As we were going through the drinking glass aisle, (yes I was on the drinking glass aisle with Mr. River Dance) a cute vase caught my eye. As I pondered the value of half of my left kidney, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the stroller, with Oliver in it…WALKING AWAY. Yes, I said “walking away.” Oliver had somehow hoisted the stroller up on his back, like a turtle's shell, and started to shuffle away. I have never seen anything like it. What kid does this sort of thing? Who hijacks their own stroller in broad daylight?

Harmonica

This is from our Boston trip. It makes us smile :)

This morning we are off to meet with our new pediatric neurologist from UNC. He comes down to Wilmington a few times a month so, it is definitely more convenient to do it this way. We hope he is great and we can figure out how to get Oliver down to zero seizures...he is still having 1-4 each day :(

Carrots

This is what happens when you leave a toddler with Costco-sized bag of carrots on the edge of the counter :)

Diaper Dilemma

Here is the dilemma- every morning we were waking up to a diaper explosion in Oliver's room. It wasn't pretty. If you haven't seen a Pampers diaper explode into a million tiny pellets you are missing out. The pellets are intended to absorb the pee but, when the volume is say, 2 gallons, it bursts and pellets go everywhere. Clearly, we were in serious need of another bedtime diaper. We've tried every overnight diaper on the market and had similar, explosive experiences (although nothing tops the pellets). I read at an online forum for moms that if you do this process most leaks are contained. There just aren't many products out there for such serious baby drinkers :)

Step 1- Put on a non-pellet disposable diaper (We like Kirkland Brand)

Step 2- Put on a Bamboozle, a special bamboo cloth diaper (it absorbs more than regular cloth diapers)

Step 3- Put on the waterproof diaper cover

Step 4- Put on the p.j.s (if they fit over the mound that is now Oliver's rear end)

Bless his heart-that is huge

Bedtime cuddles with Daddy

Pink Candy Volcano

Oliver seems to like everything with wheels.

This child has an enormous amount of energy. We have been trying for a while to get a new pair of shoes. The old ones smelled so bad I (and this is no exaggeration) almost threw up when I got a good whiff. So, after a few attempts with cheap shoes we headed to Stride Rite (get ready to drop some cash) for a pair. As soon as we walked in he began throwing down every shoe, on every display in the store. With great joy, and a tinkle (ok a friend pointed out I wrote tinkle instead of twinkle. I will leave it because that is way better than twinkle) in his eye he was ripping that little store apart. He has also began running so he used this new skill to explore the back room (great, just great). The back room at a shoe store is NOT a place for toddlers. Eventually, we were able to corral him and get his foot sized. He is a size 7 wide- I think that is usually the size of the foot of the average 3 year old. Anyway, to buy me a bit more time I gave him my purse to look through. This usually gets me about 3-5 minutes and maybe a torn coupon or receipt. Guess what, no Mr. Nice Guy at Stride Rite, he found the Altoids and threw them in the air like a volcano exploding little pink candies.

This is our life which is both wonderful and totally unpredictable. I could tell you more stories (but, I wouldn't want to bore you) this was the best one for this week.

There is dirty and then there is this...

Surely this is a phase?

Little Boy=Destruction & Getting Dirty

Perfect example- my daffodils!

What A Mess

Oliver was playing in his pasta tonight when he decided to style his hair into a mohawk. Funny stuff.