The last weekend in January, we drove up to the Dallas area to see my sister's family, Tim's sister's family and to attend a wedding. We were all over North Dallas.
We saw Jamie, Zach, Nathan and Zoe for a little bit on Friday. The kids had a good time playing with each other.
Saturday was a busy busy day! Ben's birthday was February 4 so Jessica and Rick planned his party so we could all come. He had a Space themed party complete with a moon rock search and jet packs! The kids had fun with their foam rocket launchers and running around trying to find the most moon rocks. Auggie had a great time playing with his cousins. At one point he was in Ben's room with everyone just sitting there on Ben's bed watching them play. He had the biggest smile on his face!
Showing off their awesome jet packs!
Being silly
The Birthday Boy!
Ben with his Birthday cake!
After Ben's birthday party, Tim and I headed to the east side of Dallas to one of Tim's high school friends' wedding. We had a great night out.
This adorable little girl is Paxton! She is such a smart 2.5 year old. I met her mommy, Kristy, through the mom's group I joined here in College Station. Kristy and 8 friends (including me!) are running the "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" 5K March 23 to raise awareness and money for research of Neutropenia. In 2011, Paxton was diagnosed with neutropenia. Neutropenia (noo-troe-PEE-nee-uh) is an abnormally low count of neutrophils, a type of white blood cell that helps fight off infections, particularly those caused by bacteria and fungi. This diagnosis came after a long bout of unexplainable fevers, typical viruses and a few bacterial infections. Although they have a diagnosis of what caused Paxton to be sick, there are still a lot of "unknowns" they have to deal with. Paxton can't be around large crowds or sick people because she is at a very high risk of getting sick and not having enough white blood cells to fight it off. So this is where the 5K comes in... We're raising money to help theElla Jewell Foundation(a nonprofit dedicated to neutropenia research) and theLong Race 4 Tate! The original goal was $500 but they met that goal quickly (I just signed up for it today;). So now they're aiming for $1,000! If you would like to donate to their cause, please click the picture above or following link: http://longrace4tate.com/paxtonsprincessposse/.
Mommy and Auggie
Tim spent 18 days in January out in Uvalde (south Texas) guiding so Auggie
and I got to spend almost a full week in La Porte. We had a great time but it
was really nice once Tim was home!
My mom and I had planned on taking auggie and Drake to the
Houston Children's museum the Friday we were there but Drake ended up having a
swollen ear drum so he wasn't able to go. He always misses out on the fun
stuff! Poor guy! I know if he would've gone, my mom and I would've been split
up the whole time because there is SO much to do! Auggie had a blast and we
didn't even see half the museum.
They had a cool exhibit full of vintage pedal
cars in the main hallway. They had some from the 1940s to the 1970s. There were
a few that were fire truck themed and it looked like Auggie liked those the
best. Too bad they don't make toys like they used to!
We eventually made our way into one of the exhibits- "How Does It Work?" There were all sorts of science themed activities- magnets with washers, periscopes and telescopes, building arcs with giant blocks, rolling golf balls on a mini put-put course and curved arc. And those are just a few they had upstairs! Auggie liked them all and had a hard time going on to each activity.
looking in the periscope
playing with the magnet
I feel like these are all I get of him smiling! :)
He's supposed to roll the ball.. but he enjoyed throwing them
Rolling golf balls on the arc
Attempting to build the arch
We went outside after the how it works exhibit to visit the "Eco Station". They had little chicks for kids to see and learn
about a life cycle. They even had information on Purple Martins for their
weekly native animal section. In the spring/summer time, that part would be fun
because they had a little pond and plants growing. It was just green and brown
because of the winter.
Signing Chicken
There was also a water exhibit in the courtyard- "Flow Works". I didn't
think it would be open so I figured going outside would be ok... Don't know
what I was thinking! It was January and the water exhibit was STILL running!
BRRRR! Luckily it was a nice day and Auggie didn't get too wet. This one would
also be fun during the summer time! Hopefully Groupon will have another sale on
their tickets this spring/summer.
It was a little difficult getting auggie to go back inside
but once we got to the toddler section upstairs, he changed his attitude. We
spent most of our time in the "Tot Spot" the first time we went and he liked it this time around, too. Any room full of
toys definitely gets Auggie's attention.
Auggie enjoyed being buried in the blocks
weeee
We would've stayed longer but nap time was looming over our heads. I know Auggie could've stayed the whole day if he chose to. Hopefully next time we'll be able to go with Drake!
Well, we're trying to at least! Auggie's speech and auditory therapy sessions started back up on Monday. Speech went well! Ms. Darlene was impressed by how much better she's understanding Auggie. She hasn't seen him since the week before Christmas so she was very surprised to understand him better. He showed off his version of "There he is!" verbally and she liked what she heard. YAY! She was happy with how he's attempting to say three word phrases. We just really need to focus on getting him to enunciate!
Auggie's auditory session wasn't too great. We've all been dealing with a cold so we've all been tired, stuffy and not feeling too great in general. Auggie was having a difficult morning so he wasn't too happy when Ms. Melinda walked in the house. He ended up pulling the Play Doh out of her bag while we were talking so that helped his mood. He had fun with it but I am so happy we don't own Play Doh yet! It's only been in the house twice and I've found little bits of it around! He likes using the rolling pin to flatten out the Play Doh but he doesn't like using cookie cutters on it. I love seeing him concentrate on it. Aside from his attitude, he signed a little bit and played with both of us.
We found out at Melinda's last appointment (before the holiday) that Auggie may not qualify for the Head Start Program in College Station. WHAT?!?! I couldn't believe it! I'm very glad that he's up to speed and where he needs to be but WHAT?? How can a child with a profound hearing loss not qualify for a program to help children with disabilities? Melinda said he probably would qualify under speech. If he doesn't, they may be able to find a loophole. Well, I hope there's a loophole. We've been planning on him going to Head Start since we heard about it. I know being around other little kids will really help him out and he'll enjoy it! I just wish we didn't have to wait until May to figure out if he'll qualify or not. Our case worker didn't seem too interested in answering my questions at our last meeting so I figured I'd just wait and bombard her when I see her again (whenever that is!).
Auggie has been showing his Terrible 2 side lately and I'm hoping once we get on a better schedule, he'll be better. I'll even take just a little bit better. Tim has been out of town a lot and I'm sure that wears on all 3 of us. Auggie will ask for Daddy all day long but once Daddy's home, Auggie will play with him for 10 minutes and then want to be all over me again. I have a feeling there's a Father-Son weekend coming up once Tim gets back from his 2 week work trip. We spent the weekend at my parents' house and we had a few melt downs (me included). It'll get better. But anyway.. enough with the tantrum talk!
Auggie and I went to the park after his speech appointment on Monday. He enjoyed being outside even if it wasn't for long. Its been cool here and on top of our colds, I didn't want to get any sicker. He really surprised when he counted to 20 (!!) all by himself! He was walking around the playground's border and counting his steps. He took more than 20 steps but he didn't skip a number! There was a mom there that heard him and she laughed and said "he sure doesn't sound like a 26 month old!" Go Auggie!
Auggie has also started interacting with the shows he watches on TV. His newest obsession is Shaun the Sheep. It's a cute claymation-type cartoon about sheep, a farm dog and their owner. Shaun sometimes dances at the end of the episodes and the following video is a little bit of Auggie dancing. Under the video is a better version of the dance Auggie copies.
Mr. Excited!
He ate 2 blue Dum Dums in a row. He was very happy about that and then he
saw his tongue!
Auggie sat down next to PawPaw. When he saw me pull out my camera, he
pulled PawPaw's arm closer around him. SO SWEET!
Auggie still didn't like Santa!
Paparazzi!
I found Auggie laying down like this
towards the end of the party
It's Christmas already! I can't believe it. Well, I can never really believe how fast time flies with Auggie running around.
Auggie got his big Christmas present last weekend- a train table! He loves it! Now he just needs some trains and track to go with it. I have a feeling Santa might take care of that! Auggie will come up to Tim or me and pull us into his room so he has someone to play in front of. The keywords there are "in front of" since he really doesn't want us to actually interact with him while he's at the table. It's cute but it'll be nice when he'll play by himself with his toys in his room. I say that and I know once he plays by himself, I'm going to say "oh, where did the time go??"
Where has the time gone? Auggie's beginning to sing along with us when we sing to the radio or when Tim busts out with a random song doing dishes. It started with the ABC's and he's now singing along to The Lumineers or some Black Eyed Peas. He's even started mimicking Tim's whistling! His squeals are pretty high up there so he lets out a short squeal to match Tim's whistle. It's cute!
We're continuing to work on his signs. Auggie's added "alligator," "silly" and "kangaroo" to his vocabulary and he's using "music," "dance," "mommy" and "daddy" a lot more. (Remember, if you'd like to see what the signs look like, please click the link included on each word.)
Auggie's also using "where" often! I think it's his version of "what's that?" Haha. Every toddler I've known has gone through that phase and I'm sure Auggie will go through it, too. He'll hide his cars or trains and come up to us with his index finger pointed and waving and say "wheerree?" Then one of us will say "where's what?" and he'll giggle and run to go find them.
Well, I will leave y'all with some photos and a couple videos
lights!
Twas the Night Before Christmas
What are these things??
Auggie's Christmas ornaments (2010, 2011 and 2012)
hanging out at the park
Just swinging
(Sorry, I still haven't figure out how to make the videos bigger):
Auggie's two and I know our napping days are numbered. We spent 2.5 hours at the park this morning and he still fell asleep at 1:30 pm! He's been fighting them for a few weeks now and most days he doesn't nap but I'm still trying. I didn't lay him down today until I could see it in his mannerisms that he was really tired.
We've had a few instances of wet bedsheets because he gets bored and takes off his diaper. I've tried backwards diapers (he pees out the top of them), onesies (he pulls the diaper through his leg hole or unsnaps them), non-footie pajamas (he unbuttons them) and even footie pajamas (he screams because he wants the feet part off). I'm half tempted to go out and buy some Duct Tape! We've even had a few instances of poopy sheets and crib, too! Yuck!! That really hits you hard especially since Auggie sleeps with his door closed! If only we had "Smell-o-vision" video capabilities!
I have a lot to post about to catch our blog up to date. I'm sure I'll get to all of it... eventually. But first of all, Auggie and Zane celebrated their 2nd birthdays together at PowerSports on November 17. The boys are 9 days apart and I'll know they'll be quite a pair when they get older. They're already up to no good when they're together! We've made great friends in College Station and I'm so glad Auggie has someone so close in age to hang out with. I'm sure I've said that before but all the boys (Cinco, Archer, Auggie and Zane) will be so much fun if we're all still around in the next few years!
PowerSports was a great choice for a birthday party. Most of the kids were exhausted by the end and slept well on their way home. We had our family squeeze into our house afterward for hot dogs and snacks and of course, present opening. Auggie's favorite present was from Mrs. Julie- a Thomas the Train set! He loves laying down and rolling his trains along the track. It was one of the first presents he opened and I'm pretty sure it was the last one! He was too involved in that to open any others. I'll have to keep that in mind around Christmas time because I'm sure he'll be getting some more trains.
(Click on photo to enlarge)
First Row: The Siegmunds & Allmons; Auggie blowing out his candles
Second Row: Auggie clapping; MawMaw, PawPaw & Auggie
Third Row: Great Grandma Rigby, Grampa, Gramma & Auggie; Auggie was VERY excited about his Thomas train set
Fourth Row: Daddy & Auggie at PowerSports; A quick run by the camera!
Our Thanksgivings went great! We went down to La Porte the sunday before Thanksgiving to celebrate with my family. It was nice having everyone there. Auggie and Tim managed to avoid all the sickness but sadly, I introduced it to the Siegmund side (sorry, y'all!). It was all short lived (thank goodness) and we were able to celebrate with the Siegmund side on Thanksgiving. I know Auggie always has a great time with his cousins on both sides. He's usually just a few running steps behind them all.
It is finally beginning to feel like December as of Monday! We had 75-80 degree temperatures most of November. It feels so nice to have long sleeves and a jacket on even if I am constantly cold.
Despite the hot weather, we've been trying to get into the holiday spirit! We went to Christmas at the Creek with the Allmons and Adams's the last Friday in November. Auggie got to pet a camel, goat and sheep at the live Nativity scene. He liked seeing all the lights, too. We missed out on seeing Santa because of the line but we did get to see him at the mall a few days later. Auggie wasn't too happy about sitting on Santa's lap so I sat with him. He gave him a fist bump and a high five after the picture though. Auggie even got Daddy to ride the train with him around the mall afterward. (and I thought I was bad about letting Auggie get his way;) We'll be going to Santa's Wonderland just south of town soon. I know Auggie will love seeing all the lights there. According to their website there's over 2.5 million! I'm excited about it.
(Click on photo to enlarge)
First Row: Seeing Santa Claus; Auggie's 24 month pictures
Second Row: Auggie Auggie waving bye to Rudolph; Auggie pointing out Rudolph's nose
Third Row: Auggie's 24 month photos... he would not put those trains down!
Fourth Row: Auggie was intrigued by the flash; The family at Christmas at the Creek
We'll have lots to update about soon.. Auggie's getting a surprise on Saturday that I know he'll absolutely love. I'll leave you with a few videos of our Little Bear! I'll work on the video sizes before I have another post with them. I don't know why they're so small! :(
Auggie has been signing "fire truck" "airplane" "helicopter" "police car" and now learned how to sign "ambulance"!
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