Earlier Mornings

Auggie didn't start truly sleeping through the night until he was 6 months old. Now I feel like I should relish the amount he sleeps: 9 pm to 9 am. Lately, he's even been pushing it to 10 am!  And anyone who knows just a little bit about me, knows how much I love my sleep!

But 10 is really pushing it, so this week we have started waking up between 8 and 8:30 am. Since he's been a little earlier, he's been going down for his naps earlier and even bed time has been a little bit earlier. I'm hoping we can get this schedule to stick so I can also get on a better sleeping schedule.

Auggie had his last speech therapy appointment on Monday under our old insurance. Darlene, the speech therapist, re-evaluated Auggie so she could complete a report and send it on to Auggie's craniofacial team and pediatrician. She recommended continuing speech therapy at least once a week and then another re-evaluation in 6 months. That seems pretty typical during an evaluation. She evaluated Auggie to be at 24 months for Language Comprehension, 25 months for Language Expression and 26 months for Nonverbal Thinking. She noted that there were no significant weaknesses in any of those categories! YAY! Darlene is very happy with the progress of lip closure when talking and the amount of words he is saying.

Tim and I are both hoping our work with him at home and through the speech therapy, it will keep the phrase "Auggie needs surgery soon" out of his annual appointment with his craniofacial team. We have a little more than 2 months until that appointment- 2 more months to improve! I'm also hoping Auggie will let (at least) one of his doctors into his mouth so they can see for sure if he has a submucous cleft palate as they suspected when he was born. The submucous cleft is the reason why we're sending him to therapy and taking so much action with his speech. Maybe they'll tell us in November that it'll just need to be watched and maybe we won't have to do anything until he's older. Maybe?

We've started his auditory appointments back up through ECI. We're very happy to have our regular therapist back, Melinda. We enjoyed our 2 replacements over the summer but it's nice to have her back! Auggie has grown up and learned so much since she's been gone.

We've also been taking advantage of the nice weather we've been having. Hurricane Isaac is providing us an awesome breeze today. It'd be very hot out in the sun without it! We've gone to the park a few times this week and even attempted to feed the ducks at Brother's Pond Park. They weren't too interested but Auggie enjoyed watching the turtles and small fish eat the crackers. I'm sure I would've let him, Auggie would've been right in the water with them!

Being silly during lunch

Got a few cute snapshots of Auggie in the backyard on Monday

Peeking out from the playground Wednesday morning

He's gotten so big! He can get up to the slide (and down) without any help!

Back by Popular Demand ;)

I'm still slacking on keeping Auggie's blog updated.. Sorry to everyone who reads! I'm thinking about going back to writing twice a week so I can get everything in. I'll get back on track, I promise!

Speech has been going very well for Auggie. We're down to one time a week since the therapist doesn't have any openings that work with Auggie's schedule. But Tim and I are working with him every day so it hopefully won't be a problem. Auggie's been picking up words left and right. But when I say "picking up," most of the time his words are mimics.. not exactly straight forward. He's still trying, though! Here are a few videos of him talking....

Auggie learned how to say and sign"orange." It's one of his favorite colors to say now.


Auggie going through one of his favorite books with Mommy


Auggie also learned how to say Grampa's favorite phrase! ;)


Signing is also going well. He's learning his colors- "blue," "yellow," "orange," "green," and "red." And he can point them out, too! Well, most of the time anyway! I taught him how to sign "police car" the other day because there have been quite a few around lately. He's also really using his hands to communicate and we think he's making up his own signs. 

It finally cooled down this week and by "cooled down," I mean, it's finally in the low 90's. It was hard keeping Auggie inside during the day so I finally made a little toy to keep him busy and cool when we went outside. I found this before Pinterest made its debut and couldn't wait to try it out. You take a container, fill it with water and put a few water safe toys in and then freeze it. Once it is frozen, you take it outside and have the kids play with it. I eventually got out a real hammer to see what Auggie would do with it but he wasn't too interested in the hammer. He had more fun throwing the big block of ice around on the driveway!

(Click on photo to enlarge)
First Row: Auggie playing with stickers; Auggie wearing his sunglasses
Second Row: Eating bread at Cotton Patch; Eating Gogurt
Third Row: First time in a car cart; Chilling with Aunt Kayla at Cotton Patch
Fourth Row: Milk before naptime; He loved the big red truck at the NWTF Banquet

We went to the National Wild Turkey Federation Banquet Tuesday night. Tim's a committee member so he was up there working. Auggie and I couldn't stay long because Auggie wanted to be held by Tim the whole time... Either that or getting into the games he was too young to participate in. Auggie also all about the red Toyota Tundra and glittery fishing boat on display. We left after dinner but missed all the live auction excitement. Kayla and Darren were home with their parents, Darrell and Sheila, so we visited with them for a while. Auggie was perfect while we sat at dinner with them at Cotton Patch. He actually ate a little more than half of a roll! I was super happy for him! I'm sure he was being so good because he was the center of attention. He's going to be such a ham when he gets a little older!

Well, I'll have a bit more of what Auggie's been up to next week! Enjoy your last weekend in August!

Oh, it's a WHALE of a tale!

Auggie picked up another sign over the past week or so. He's been signing "whale." He gets so excited when he signs it that it takes me and Tim a little bit to figure out what he's signing. Can you guess why he signs it so much? That's right... Finding Nemo! He's learned how to say "Nemo" so now he comes up to one of us with the DVD, signs fish and says "Nemo." I am so happy with his communication skills!

Monday, Jessica invited us down to Brenham to visit Blue Bell and to go swimming at the pool down the road. We had a great day! Laci, Ben and Auggie had fun chasing each other around. The tour around Blue Bell was very cool. I was surprised it was only $5 for adults and $3 for kids 6-14. If you love their ice cream, it's definitely something to go see. You even get a free scoop of ice cream at the end of the tour! We went to the Blue Bell Aquatic Center afterward. Auggie wanted to run around like he has in the past when we're at the pool but he had fun. He slept all the way home and then some when we got home. The aquatic center had lots of things to keep the kids entertained- slides, basketball goal, playground outside of the pool and an obstacle course over the water. We had lunch with Jessica, Ben and Laci and then we went our separate ways... That cranky period of time when it should be nap time but they're not sleeping was coming very fast! Auggie was asleep by the time we left Brenham city limits, so I had a very quiet drive home.

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First Row: Mommy, Auggie and Blue Bell the cow; Laci, Ben & Auggie
Second Row: The kids wouldn't stand still!; Ben and Laci with their ice cream
Third Row: Laci, Ben and Auggie with an old ice cream truck; Auggie wanted to ride Blue Bell
Fourth Row: (cultivated) Blue Bells planted in their flower beds; Ben, Laci and Auggie

Over the weekend, we drove up to Krum to celebrate Zoe's first birthday! I can't believe she's already one. She had a great birthday (aside from plumbing issues Jamie and Zach had to deal with). It looked like she wasn't too sure what to think about all the people and being the center of attention but she dealt with it all great! She liked her new toys and loved standing up and sitting in her Cracker Barrel rocking chair from her Gramma & Grampa and her aunts and uncles on the Rigby side.

We went to another birthday party the last weekend in July. It was for our friend's son, Cinco. He had his party at PowerSports- a gymnastics place in town. The kids had a blast playing on the balance beams, inflatable obstacle course, trampoline runway, foam pit and bouncy floors. Auggie liked crawling up the inflatable slide a lot! I didn't think he'd actually be able to get all the way up but he made it... and I had to make an incredible drive to catch him when he tried sliding down the ladder part.  Tim and I thought about having Auggie's 2nd birthday party there but figured a park would be better.

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First Row: Kids playing; Auggie and Daddy at PowerSports
Second Row: Zoe's first smash cake; Auggie hitting the piñata
Third Row: Auggie taking a break; Sliding down the slide at PowerSports
Fourth Row: Zoe and Jamie checking out a present; Zoe posing

"I Know... I Know"

I know, I have been slacking in the update department but... "I know" is also Auggie new phrase! Well, it's really the only consistent and clear 2-word phrase he has. I'm pretty sure it started from me saying it to Drake when he asked questions last week. He sounds so cute when he says it.



We've been pretty busy here lately. I knew June was going to fly by because we went out of town every weekend... but July went by just as quickly. We've had a lot of unexpected trips. I can't believe it's already August!

To recap our July:

We celebrated the July 4 holiday in Giddings and Round Top. Auggie enjoyed the parade in Round Top. What was there not to like- candy, horses, cows, cars and tractors! Auggie loved all of it.

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First Row: Playing with one of Tim's old toys; Signing "horse" at the parade
Second Row: Petting a bunny; Waving to the people in the parade
Third Row: Riding the hobby horses with Daddy; Tossing rocks
Fourth Row: Riding the hobby horses with Mommy; The family

The next week, Auggie & I were sick. Nothing serious, just a summer cold, I'm sure. Tim let me sleep it off. I was very thankful for that. I felt better just in time for us to celebrate our 3rd anniversary. Tim surprised me with a trip to Fredericksburg while Jessica and Ben watched Auggie. We had a great and very relaxing day!

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First Row: Auggie and Ben playing trains; part of Pedernales Falls
Second Row: Our sleeping arrangements; Auggie wearing large sunglasses
Third Row: Tunnel Cave for a bat emergence; Tim & I
Fourth Row: Being goofy with MawMaw; Auggie playing with a popgun

Shannon's (one of my best friends) birthday was on the 24th so I surprised her the weekend before her birthday. Little did she know, she also got surprised by her boyfriend, Cole... He asked her marry him during her birthday celebration at the beach. (She said yes, by the way!)

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First Row: Sydelle, Shannon and Me; Cole & Shannon about to be surprised
Second Row: Auggie in the front seat of the car; Playing at the pool
Third Row: New sippy cup!; Auggie LOVES stickers
Fourth Row: a pool side snack; Pretty flowers taken by Tim

In between going out of town, Auggie and I spent a few days at the pool. He enjoys going down the slide on his stomach even though the lifeguards try to keep him from doing it. Auggie has also found another thing he can't get enough of- STICKERS! His speech therapists have gotten him hooked on them. He likes to put them on his hands and then put them on me or Tim. It's pretty entertaining and luckily, for me, it'll keep him still. I've gotten through Wal Mart with him absorbed in a sheet of Thomas the Train stickers. Whatever works, right??

Things will be slowing down some more so I'll get back into the routine of updating more.