My Blog List

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Problem Solving

Sullivan started pulling up last Thursday, and he's already a pro!


However...


He hasn't figured out how to get down.


Side note.. I am IN LOVE with my new blog header! Big kudos and thank you to my friend Jennifer!

Monday, May 28, 2012

99 Things

My friend Jennifer tagged me in this listy thing a few days ago. I decided to save it for a time when I needed something in a pinch to blog about... today fits.  The things in BOLD are the things I have done/accomplished/experienced:

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (sang)
4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
 (I feel like I have, but can't actually remember doing it..?)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

  20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

  29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

  31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

  33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

  39. Gone rock climbing 

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

  43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing (in a few more weeks!)
 
 49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

  50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

  52. Kissed in the rain

  53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
 
 56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

  70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican

  82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper
  85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House

  87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox

  89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Worked the same place for over ten years
94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

I need to travel  more.. and I'm not sure who to tag. I guess I will tag Sunni since she needs more posts on her blog! :p

Friday, May 25, 2012

Grandma

She said they were making pie...


Thursday, May 24, 2012

Nashville or Bust

Sullivan had back to back appointments in Nashville on Monday & Tuesday. It's actually cheaper to get a hotel than to drive back and forth so that's what we did. We had a really nice time and got to explore several different places in Nashville. Normally we just get in and get out so it was a refreshing change of pace to actually enjoy a bit of the city.

We had an appointment with Dr. Kelly first thing Monday morning. Sullivan liked that Daddy got to go with us! 


Dr. Kelly said that Sullivan's head was shaping up great and that unless we have a concern or there's a problem that he doesn't need to see Sullivan again until November. Yay!


After our appointment with Dr. Kelly we saw a rainbow. I'm taking it as a good omen.


That afternoon we met with a local photographer and had Sullivan's little hero photo session. It was a blast and I plan to blog about it more later. Dinner was at a local pasta house across from our hotel called Mirkos. They make all of their own pastas from scratch and we got to watch them through the window in the kitchen. It was really neat and VERY yummy. I think Sullivan ate about as much as we did.



We took a short walk, but didn't get very far before it started raining. Sullivan was kind of scared of this giant rooster...


Tuesday morning we met up with some of our cranio friends at Dragon Park. The park was really nice. There were so many things to look at and we didn't even scratch the surface. This was the crawling tunnel.


And you can kind of see part of the GIANT mosaic dragon sculpture in the background of this picture.


Sullivan had alot of fun playing with Henry & Cora; although, he was somewhat of a bully. He's usually the lowest man on the totem pole and I'm not sure he knew what to think of Cora being smaller than him (although she is 2 days older).




Henry is 1 year post op for metopic & saggital, Sullivan is 6 months post op for metopic & saggital, and Cora is almost 6 months post op for right coronal.


All the babies and mommies (sadly, this was the best pic out of about 8). It's amazing to me how connected you can be to people when you normally would have never met; I love these ladies! We're hoping to meet up again in a few weeks or so. Can't wait to see you all!


We all went to lunch at our usual spot, Pizza Perfect, and then we headed straight to Sullivan's EEG appointment at the hospital. This one went alot smoother than the last one although he still didn't like it.





We decided to get Sullivan some froyo as a treat and there just happened to be someone famous at the hospital that day. We always seem to miss the famous folks by 1 or 2 days. Jamie Lynn Spears wasn't exactly our dream star, but Sullivan really did enjoy the program.




The kids were helping he write a song verse by verse. Patients could even call from their rooms and help. It was a cute song.. I can only remember a few lines though:

Cookie Monster eating chocolate chips.
Caterpillar sitting on a purple flower.
Mom & Dad have super healing powers.

You can tell kids wrote it, but she sang it well. ;)



Froyo didn't make him happy for long. He had several very long days and we knew it was time to go. He slept the whole way home.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Happy Anniversary!

Heart pancakes for my sweetheart. Happy 3rd Anniversary, Matthew! I love you!



Saturday, May 19, 2012

Painting the Pig

Sullivan is now having therapy two days a week (PT, OT, & Speech). Getting him therapy one day a week was a breeze; getting it twice a week was not as easy. On Wed we drive to Paris and he works with Shainey, Jan, & Holly. It's almost an hour drive for us one way, but I can tell he's going to greatly benefit from seeing them. Shainey is all about strengthing his muscles and less about milestones on a chart. I like that. Thursdays are our Early Intervention days, or "Lori days" as we like to call them. Lori has been with us since Sullivan was 1 month old. She's like family at this point and Sullivan loves her. Here are a few blast from the past pictures of Lori & Sullivan....




This is my favorite picture of them. Ever.
Unfortunately, Sullivan has figured out how to throw a fit with Lori to get his way, and that has been happening more frequently. Normally she comes to our house, but I requested that we start working at her office so that we would be on her "turf" and hopefully he would behave better. This Thursday was the first of many there for us I'm sure because he did great! She started off with some crawling and pulling up exercises. He loves these pop up type toys so they were a big motivator for him.



Lori kept referring to this as the "day of fun" and in continuing that theme they painted a pig. The mud was chocolate pudding. Sullivan hates hand over hand and vice versa so he wasn't so sure at first.


But then he licked his fingers...


..and he warmed up to the idea.


He did great with the self feeding, too.


When he was done painting the pig, Sullivan decided to paint himself. 


We ended our "day of fun" with some drumming.



I think it's safe to say he had a great time!




Friday, May 18, 2012

1st Haircut

Yesterday was one of the busiest days we've had in awhile. I've been displeased for over a month or so with how long Sullivan's hair had been getting, especially around his ears, and going back and forth about whether to cut it or just wait it out and see if he looked ok once it was supper shaggy. Sullivan has pictures next Monday and I finally just decided to go for it. So I texted my friend Maria on Wed and asked if she could fit us in sometime this week. She said "how about tomorrow?" and I said "Awesome." Our morning went super smooth and I had both of us ready well ahead of time which worked out perfectly because I wanted to take a few before pictures of him anyway. I headed to the backyard, sat Sullivan on a rock, and almost immediately got this...


He is SUCH a ham. He loves leaves and picked this one up right away but of course he wanted to put it in his mouth, and I said no. So he had to think about what to do.... 



....... sigh.

In other news, yesterday marked Sullivan's 6 month cranioversary! I can't even believe it's been 6 whole months since his cranio surgery. In many ways it seems so much longer. I feel like we've been able to really live since his surgery. I've been able to breathe. His head isn't looking too shabby either; you can't even see his scar most of the time! I'll probably blog on that more another day.


Maria works out of her home so she can stay with her two girls. She also lives out in the middle of nowhere and I can never remember how long it takes me to drive to her house. I ended up getting there a little early. She was finishing up another client when we got there so Sullivan played with Bentleigh for a few minutes.


He had his cape on soon enough though! He thought sitting in the chair was so much fun! It didn't hurt having some free entertainment from the girls either.




I told Maria that I wanted to keep most of his hair up top so we could mohawk it. He liked watching her work in the mirror but eventually he just wanted to grab her comb so she gave him one to hold.




I think he looks great! It wasn't a huge change and that's what I wanted. I can safely say that he had a ball having his hair cut.



This was his first haircut other than when he had his head buzzed for surgery. My baby is getting so big and so handsome.