The Weeks Are Flying By!

"Look, Mommy! I have a beard!"

The past few weeks have been pretty busy for us. But who am I kidding? All of our weeks tend to fly by.

We spent the Friday before Valentine's Day at a Duck's Unlimited banquet. It's nice to see so many people turn out for a great organization like DU. The food is usually great and the things they auction off are pretty neat. Auggie found a camo backpack that he really liked. Tim bought 5 raffle tickets so he put all 5 tickets in for 1 of the 5 backpacks... He won the first 2 drawn! The smile on his face when he walked up to me after winning them was priceless. He asked if one could be his school backpack.

All decked out in camo.

We spent last weekend daydreaming about living in Nacogdoches (where Tim and I both went to college). I showed Auggie all around campus while Tim was in a meeting with some of the current players and alumni from the SFA Rugby team. Campus was full of prospective students and their parents since it was Showcase Saturday. Auggie liked running around the pine trees, up the stairs of the Austin and Rusk buildings, chasing the squirrels and picking up pine cones. We watched a rugby game, walked around Tucker Woods, ate some Nac BBQ and Italian food and then headed home. It was a beautiful day for a short trip.

Family selfie at Tucker Woods

Axe Em Jacks!

Tim and Auggie outside the Forestry Building

Always have to get that pine tree shot in the Piney Woods!

At Aussie's spot on the LaNana Creek

Auggie wanted to hang up his pine cone. He was a litttttle excited.

School continues to go well. Last week they went to both Lowe's and Home Depot. Each kiddo got to build a race car and a spinning container. Auggie was very proud of his creations.

At Lowe's last week for a class field trip.

And what school year is complete without the annual giving of Valentine's? I wouldn't be a typical mom if I didn't go too far with his Valentine's either.  Well, this year, it was just messing around on the computer and camera but Auggie was happy about the theme and couldn't wait to give his cards out. They were Cut the Rope theme- an app he is very obsessed with. He had his very own Om Nom (the green guy) and those little poppers you flip inside out and let pop in the air. He thought they were great.

Auggie's valentines turned out great. He was very excited about them

Thankfully his teachers didn't go all out about Valentine's Day. They read 2 books, Not a Box and Pete's A Pizza. The kids got so animated with the books. It was fun to watch. After the first book, the kids got to decorate their own "Not A Box." Auggie's was a car.

Pretending to drive his Not A Box

Playing outside during his Valentine's Day party

And big news in the Siegmund household... We officially have a soccer player! Auggie started practice last week. It'll be a big difference not being able to go out of town every weekend since he'll have soccer games on Saturday mornings. So far we've learned he dribbles well but doesn't pass to his teammates. I'd say for the first practice, he did very well!

Before his first soccer practice

 And I'll leave you with a photo that gets Auggie giggling every time he sees it! He likes to scroll through the filters on SnapChat (an image sharing app). They have all sorts of things for videos and regular photos. He thinks they're all hysterical.

Auggie's Animal Adventures

Auggie is well into his last semester in HeadStart. He's usually so eager to get to school, see his friends and teachers, run around and learn at school. It's amazing how many questions he asks and he's always wondering what's going on the next day.

HeadStart has been a great setting for him. He's 1 of 17 kids in his class and from the times I've visited his room, he enjoys all of it! They've gone on a few field trips since the beginning of the school year including one of the local airports, Blue Baker- a local bakery and restaurant, the Children's Museum, a fire station and the Farm Patch to see their awesome pumpkin patch.

Two weeks ago the class had a special visit from the Reptile Lady (I'm not too sure what she calls herself but just go with me). She brought in several species of snakes and a few types of lizards. Needless to say, Auggie though it was all amazing! I'll let the pictures do the talking on this one....

Our little snake charmer

It's not fun until you have a snake on your head!

Ms. Pace and Auggie

The snake was trying to get a bit more comfortable

Auggie though it was funny when the snake pulled his BAHAs down

Auggie is all about animals and weather and vehicles and well, everything he can learn about. He's been a bit fan of the PBS TV show, The Wild Kratts, for a couple years now. It was created by Chris and Martin Kratt, two brothers who are biologists. They had a TV show when I was younger called Zaboomafoo. I remember watching it so I was excited about their newer show and even more excited that Auggie was interested in it. In the last year, he's gotten even more into the show. He dressed up at Chris Kratt in his Creature Power suit for his Halloween themed birthday party.

Well, the Kratt brothers have also started a tour of the show called Wild Kratts Live! We missed out on it last year when they came to College Station but thankfully Melanie (Tim's sister) told us about their show being in Austin. We were able to get seats near Melanie, Corey, Cohen, Libby & Micah. I think the kids had a great time. It took Auggie a little bit to get into the show but he definitely enjoyed it. Tim and I even enjoyed the show. It was great hearing all the kids interact with the Kratt brothers. And like Tim said while we were there, he would have never thought almost 800 kids would know what a Caracal was! The kids had to guess and there were SO many kids who had the correct answer.

Kelsey, Auggie, Tim, Micah, Cohen, Libby, Corey & Melanie

During intermission

Hopefully this will be the first of many updates. Hope y'all enjoyed the pictures.

-Kelsey

Fall is {Almost} Here!

-->

And by almost, I mean, barely. We're almost at the end of October and we've only had a few nice Fall weather days. Here's to hoping it cools off soon!

Auggie and I visited the Aggieland Habitat for Humanity Pumpkin Patch yesterday evening while Tim was at work. Auggie's been excited about going. He's supposed to go to another pumpkin patch on a school field trip but I have a feeling it's going to be rained out. 

 

Pictures started out like this...

...but ended up like this!

Auggie ran around the patch attempting to pick up all the large pumpkins. He wasn't very successful but he had a blast trying! When the running around had lost some of its allure, Auggie happily sat for pictures!

Auggie's been watching Curious George: A Halloween Boo Fest on Netflix a couple times a week since he realized it was there. The picture above is his rendition of No Noggin, a headless scarecrow that George tries to find a head for. 

Then we found the hay pile. Just like the leaves on the ground, Auggie instantly started throwing around the hay. He thought it was so funny how the wind kept carrying it off before he came back down him.

 

Auggie thought he was super funny and sneaky

And then he threw the hay at me

And then we have the collage below. Man, I cannot believe how big Auggie has gotten! In searching for the 2014 photo, I realized I never edited or posted them. I was very bad with keeping up to date with my photos last year.

We've been going to the same pumpkin patch for 5 years now. It's just a little tradition but it is so much fun seeing Auggie run through the patch being amazed at all the pumpkins. I don't think it'll ever get old!

We're Back!... With Some News...

So I figured I might as well get back into updating Auggie's blog. He's FOUR! I still can't believe how big and smart he is. He's ever so observant and constantly talks. As long as he's not eating (which is still a struggle) or drinking, he's asking questions, commenting about something around him or asking us to play with him.

Drake and Auggie December 2014

"I cut it Mommy"

 Auggie's been enjoying school and day care. We don't hear much about specific kids in his class but he's getting better at telling us what happened throughout the day. For instance, for a while he and his friend were not best friends any more. He was pretty upset about it but then one day, they were best friends again. I wish I could be a fly on the wall while he plays with his friends.

He's still tired on some days when he comes home. I'd be tired, too! He's always moving around and I'm sure since he's with a bunch of his kids his age, he moves even faster. Some days he'll tell me fell asleep on the bus. Thursday he was happy to tell me he didn't fall asleep.

Bowling with Daddy at a birthday party

Happy about bowling

 So onto the news I said I had to get you to click over. (Click Bait, anyone??)

In December, Tim and I finally went to see the geneticist. Well, it was more like the genetic counselor (G.C.). She asked if we needed counseling about Treacher-Collins Syndrome... meaning, she was wondering if we needed to know more information about TCS. HAH! I think we're good. We're well connected through our Facebook groups and we have an excellent support system. I think Tim and I are over Auggie having TCS... and that's been a long time since we've gotten over it! We went through our medical histories again and updated the G.C. on the new additions to the families. Then we had our blood drawn. Well, it took the nurse a few sticks for Tim but we were on our way home after that.

On January 2, I was surprised with a phone call from the G.C.

Our results were in.

It had only taken a couple weeks versus the 4-6 weeks we were told. Tim and I were both negative.... BOTH NEGATIVE!

Meaning Auggie's case of TCS was a random mutation. A RANDOM event.

Of course, I called Tim and told him the news. He was on his way out of town so we talked long enough for me to say "We're negative! We'll talk when you get home. Have fun!"

And cue all the worries, insecurities, "why me's?," how does this happen, what next's, more kids or just leave it with one.... and on and on. at least that was what was going on inside my head. I thought I'd have felt different after hearing the negative results... like felt happy or relieved but I didn't. and I mean, I still don't but I feel better than I did after those first few weeks of thinking about the test results. I keep telling myself under 5% (the odds of having another random mutation of any sort) is better than a 50/50 chance (the odds of passing on TCS if you're a carrier) but it's not really helping.

So yea, that's our big news. I know some people already know- thanks to those that I've vented to... I still have mixed feelings over it hence the reason why I'm waiting almost 2 months after we got the results. I don't want to go into too much detail since this is a public site and all.. but if you have any questions or anything, feel free to contact me. I'm up for discussing things even if I do talk myself into circles every time I talk about this subject.

I'll leave you with some happy pictures of our super happy Little Bear. And, remember, if you want to see any pictures larger, just click them.

Hanging out at rugby practice

Playing with his new toy from Great Grandma and Great Grandpa

Super excited about the race car at Mommy's work

Fell down at Chick-Fil-A (and sporting a new haircut)

Running with Daddy after his rugby game

Showing off his Number 4

Wanted to write it in the pebbles

"Look Mommy! I drew a broken heart!"

Home is Where the Lumberjacks Are!

Every October we make a trip up to Nacogdoches for the SFA Rugby Alumni game. It's nice to go back and see the campus and see what all has changed- if anything. And of course see a ton of our friends!

We had a fun weekend with our friends but the game was short-lived. Sports Clubs ended up canceling the game because of the lightning in the area. We were walking around while the game was going and I noticed everyone's hair was standing on end- literally. I figured it was time for us to go then. I was taking Auggie back to the hotel when Tim called to tell me to pick him back up. 

I love doing comparison pictures. The first year we took Auggie to Nac, I knew this spot would be perfect for future comparison pictures... Well, then the drought swept in and took out a bunch of the pine tree they planted didn't make it. There were only one or two trees in that area that made it but it still made for great pictures. The pictures below are our comparison pictures! Auggie wasn't cooperative when we went in 2012 so this year was the year to get it. Luckily we were able to squeeze in some pictures Saturday morning before the clouds and rain came in. 

Auggie at Stephen F. Austin State University
2011

Auggie at Stephen F. Austin State University
2013

SFA is celebrating their 90th year!

Auggie loved the pine cones

I miss this!

Being silly at the Rusk Building

Tim, Auggie & Matt

hanging out with Dad before the alumni meeting

He wasn't too happy about pictures

Our friends Jenna & Fredy came down from Dallas with their little girl, Lily. She is getting SO big! She and Auggie had a great time running around the Student Center.

Miss Lily!