Weekend

Yesterday afternoon we decided to go to the zoo and visit the splashpark there. Here's a pretty unflattering picture of me looking like a whale. :) But Nate looks cute.



Well, it was just in the 70s yesterday, so the water was too cold!

So we left the splashpark and saw the animals. It was also free carousel day at the zoo, and Nate really enjoyed picking out which animal he wanted to ride on and riding around and around to see daddy.

Ever since we picked up a Thomas book at the library on Friday, Nate has been going on and on about a train named Spencer. So Blake told him we'd go to Target and get Spencer after church today. Well, Target didn't have Spencer. So then we had to go to Walmart. Guess what, Walmart didn't have Spencer either. So we picked out a few he didn't have and let him choose. Then he saw that there were pictures of trains on the backs of the boxes, and that's all he cared about. I wish we could just buy the box, really. Finally Blake made the decision for him and said, "Do you want Fearless Freddie?" Nate said, "Okay," in a tone that said, "I don't care, as long as I get my box." So, Nate does like Fearless Freddie, but he's mostly been playing with his new box today. Oh, and we've realized that he's replaced saying "yes" with "okay" today in every instance. Do you want some lunch? Okay. Do you like your chicken? Okay. It's been cracking me up all day.

Nate also did A LOT of walking today. He wore himself out. He's still stuck in a little rut of wanting to walk between me and Blake sitting in the floor, but he branched out a little today. I put his little recliner by the front door so he could pull up and push off of that, and he walked down the hall to me sitting in the kitchen floor. He also got pretty good at turning while walking. :) Progress.

Getting ready for Georgia

We have TWO WEEKS until Georgia arrives! I can't believe it! I think this is the fastest pregnancy on record. For about a month now, I've been in a panic (I believe they call it nesting) to get everything ready for her, and just this week we have gotten to the point where my anxiety is settling and I can start getting just really excited. We now have all the baby gear out and cleaned up, all the shopping done, the nursery ready, her clothes washed ... all that's left is installing car seats! I can't wait to see this little girl.

Nate has been very interested in all the preparations. When we brought out the baby gear, he needed to sit in all of it. Just three years ago, all of this baby stuff was out for him!

Then:


Now! (And I assure you, this was all his idea, none of mine!)

Then:

Now:

For a day or two, he kept crawling in this infant seat just to sit and rock. Once, he flipped himself all the way backwards, which Dakota and I thought was hilarious, but Nate was not amused!

I hate to brag, but Georgia's nursery is gorgeous! I think it's just perfect!

This is her coming home outfit that my mom bought:

Oh, and Blake just painted out bedroom and did a great job!

Yesterday, Dakota was here with us for the day, and Memaw and GrandBob came for a visit. Nate had such a blast--he played all day and couldn't even bother to take a nap. He got to play outside with his sand and water table, then swam in the baby pool with the sprinkler going. He also did a lot of walking--plenty of people to take turns sitting in the floor to let him walk in between. Janie and Bob helped out with some of the last little jobs to do around here, like put together the new stroller. Dakota used the stroller box in very creative ways, such as disappearing in it so Memaw and Nate could sing Pop Goes the Weasel, then she would pop out. Nate thought this was HYSTERICAL! They played this game endlessly. :)

So, we're having a good week, and I appreciate Nate's happy mood sooooo much more after the last couple of weeks' craziness. I think we're just going to hang out and take it easy for the next couple of weeks until the next round of craziness starts!

Some fun little tidbits about Nate

Nate's favorite color is blue.

Nate's favorite song is "It Happens" by Sugarland, and he calls it the "Blue Song." I don't know why, because it doesn't have the word "blue" in it. The only thing I can reason is that he calls it that because blue is his favorite color and this is his favorite song ... so Blue Song. Makes sense, right?

Nate's favorite toy is an empty box that one of his trains came in. Yesterday, he took this empty box everywhere we went. Today, he found another empty train box and carried BOTH of them wherever we went. We went to aquatic therapy, and while I was signing us in, a girl behind the counter laughed, "Look, that little boy is holding a box with no train in it." And I said, "Take a look at the other hand."

Saturday we went couch shopping, and Nate was obsessed with a certain blue couch. He just loved it and wanted to sit on it the whole time. I'm just glad he didn't get too attached, because a blue couch really doesn't go with our decor.

Nate is so good at giving updates of his day. You can really tell what makes an impression on him. Saturday night, he was telling me about his day: "See Mindy, got to eat chicken, see Granna and Pops and Wucas, sit on da bwue couch, more milk." That last part was in reference to his barely contained panic that the waiter at dinner wouldn't bring him more milk.

Today Nate did AWESOME at aquatic therapy. For the first time, it really clicked how to keep himself upright in water, kick his legs, and paddle his arms. He was wearing a floatie device, and he was swimming! He did great!

Nate is a backseat driver. Most of the time he's fussing at me to "go", which would usually involve running a red light or pulling out in front of traffic. I know he has comprehended my explanation of how stoplights work, because today I heard him say, "Here comes a red light, Mama. We have to stop." But in general, I've never met a younger person with road rage.

We went to a sibling class at the hospital tonight, where Nate got to learn how to hold a baby (doll), that a newborn as an umbilical cord that will fall off to make a belly button, and lots of other useful information. Unfortunately, we had to leave this class just before touring a hospital room and seeing a real live baby, because Nate threw a fit about having to leave the fish tank. Sigh.

At Texas Roadhouse tonight, Nate saw a large mural of a Native American Indian and pronounced, "That's my dad!" :)

Feeling better!

Well, I think we figured out what was wrong with Nate. Last night my mom suggested I look up the side effects of the medicine he was taking. He had been getting prednisone, a steroid, for his lungs since his first night in the hospital. Well guess what--prednisone makes some people crazy! One of the side effects is increase in appetite. Yeah, Nate has been eating like 4 waffles for breakfast every morning, asking for snacks every five minutes, and last night as soon as he finished a big dinner, he asked for a snack. Poor guy, he gained half a pound in just a week. But other side effects include stomach aches, irritability, MANIC BEHAVIOR ... ! Oh my gosh, I had no idea. I talked to his doctor about it this morning at Nate's follow-up appointment, and he said that the increase in appetite is very common, and the behavior changes are certainly side effects but are less common. I said I never want Nate on prednisone ever again, now that we know how it affects him. He--and I!--have been miserable for a week and a half! In fact, I bet that was most of the problem when he was in the hospital too. I just wish someone had explained to me the possible side effects, because I'm sure there is some alternative to this medicine. We could have avoided all of this misery.

Anyway, Nate finished the medicine yesterday, and he is feeling better today. He still had his moments (in the truck, at a red light, screaming at the top of his lungs for me to GOOOOOO! If I didn't understand some of the reasons he acted like this, I would pull over and spank him, it's so rude and annoying.) but in general he's been pretty happy and acting like himself.

After hippotherapy, I had to run a couple errands. I had to go to Staples to pick up my bound thesis (yay!), and Nate screamed through the store, and even though I wanted to take him straight home, I still had to go to the post office and mail it. We pulled up, and I saw a long line. Yikes, this could be really, really bad. I decided to take the bribery route and tell him we would go for ice cream if he would be a happy, patient boy in the post office. And he was! Yay for bribery. I took him to McDonalds for ice cream, and he was so happy until the ice cream was gone. :) Then I carried him screaming out to the truck, but that tantrum was pretty easy to get under control. Sigh, it's been an exhausting week.

One cute thing about Nate--He used to be so very proper when saying "Yes." It was such a firm, polite little yes. Then out of nowhere he started saying "yeah." Which was still cute cause of the way he said it. Lately, he has replaced that with "uh-huh." And the last couple of days, it's gotten even less formal, as he answers with a very pronounced nod of the head. It doesn't look at all natural, and he pretty much has to move his whole body for this head nod, but it's hilarious. :)

How Nate's doing now

Well, it's been a rough week! Ever since Nate was in the hospital, he's just been ... out of sync. You know he has these sensory issues, and it's like he's completely regressed to how he was before we started working on them, times 10. He screams and fits and cries all day long, over everything. Over waffles and cartoons and songs on the radio and books ... just everything. This morning he woke up screaming, then threw a fit when I went to get him and wanted Blake to take him downstairs. Then he wailed when Blake couldn't get the waffles to him quickly enough, and when he did get waffles, he screamed for more before he even ate those. I took him in the other room to cool off, and he said, "Not happy! Not happy!" Aww, I know. We went to his hippotherapy place this morning just for a PT eval, which was supposed to be all in the clinic, but I asked for an "emergency" horse ride since it makes Nate feel so good. And he did feel good on the horse, but he was still not himself the rest of the day.

When we got home, I called his old OT, Carol, and she gave us some tips. She suggested we start brushing him every two hours again and do all the sensory stuff we've done with him over time, and he should be back to normal soon. She also referred us to a craniosacral therapist, and we went to see her. It was wierd, but it did calm Nate down. Anyway, I hope we made some progress today. Poor guy, everything seems to be changing for him, and he's so upset. Hopefully we'll make good progress and he'll be himself again before Georgia gets here ... then we'll probably have to start all over again!

Anyway, it's exhausting dealing with the tantrums all day long every day for over a week now. I just want him happy again. :(

Nate's hospital stay

Well, all day Tuesday Nate was feeling bad, but it was much like his last illness. Around 5 pm, I noticed he had a fever, so I gave him some motrin. Then I noticed he was breathing heavy. Flash back to when he was a preemie and all the signs they told me to look for labored breathing--flaring nostrils, belly extending dramatically with each breath, etc. At first I thought I was just being paranoid, so I kept an eye on him for awhile, but by 6:30, I was pretty sure this wasn't normal. I called his pediatrician, who told me to give him more motrin (I hadn't given him a high enough dose earlier) and a warm bath and a suppository in case he was constipated? Still scratching my head about that one, but I did it. I called him back an hour later and said Nate was still breathing heavy. He asked if I was comfortable watching him overnight and bringing him in the next day, and I said no. So he told me to go to Kosair Children's Hospital's ER.

Blake was at work, but no problem, I could handle this alone. Uh, yeah, not really. Picture an 8 months pregnant lady carrying a 36 pound kid on her hip all over this hospital trying to find the ER. The minute we walked in, Nate started screaming, and he didn't stop for a long time. They were really quick about getting him to a room and getting him hooked up on a monitor, which showed his oxygen saturation really was low. They like it to be above 94, and he was around 91. We've been through all of this a few times, albeit 2.5 years ago, so I knew the deal. Poor Nate was miserable--tired, sick, really irritated with all this stuff they put on him. He had to have a chest x-ray, for which I couldn't be in the room. Luckily it was quick. That revealed that he didn't have pneumonia, thank goodness. Then they gave him an hour-long breathing treatment. (Blake had gotten there by then.) After that, he still needed oxygen (nasal cannula) and was still hanging around 91 oxygen saturation, so they admitted us to a room around 1 am.

Nate slept pretty well, considering, and I got a couple hours sleep between all the nurse visits. Blake brought us a bag of toys and clothes and toiletries to last us through the day. We knew Nate would have to spend at least one more night because they have to go through a whole night without oxygen before going home. Blake went to work, and Nate and I struggled through the day. It was really awful. Nate was not feeling well, and this illness has exhausted him. He was annoyed with the cannula, with the monitor on his toe, with the ID band around the ankle, with all the nurses and doctors constantly prodding him. There were a few times when he was completely out of his head, just screaming and thrashing and bossing people around. He'd yell for me to turn on the TV, then scream for me to turn it off. Then he would scream something I didn't understand for 20 minutes, until I finally figured out he was saying "toy train." Give him the toy train, and he wants a different one. (Blake brought almost all of his trains to the hospital, yet Nate wanted James and Molly, the only two he hadn't brought, of course.) He was just inconsolable. Every nurse and doctor who came in the room would be greeted with Nate screaming, "Go that way" and pointing at the door. In other words, get out of my room. Blake came to the hospital in the evening, and he got to witness one of the worst tantrums of the day. I've never seen Nate like this. His heartrate was through the roof, a nurse had to do a finger prick for blood, he was trying to rip off his nasal cannula, a respiratory therapist came to give him a breathing treatment that he screamed all the way through. He was begging us to take him home. He even said to Blake "Go to work! Carry me!" Followed by "PWEASE!!!!" Poor guy. I felt completely helpless. Finally I told the nurse they were going to have to give him some Versed or Benadryl or SOMETHING to calm him down. The doctor (who didn't see how he was acting) wouldn't give it to him. So I started searching my brain for some sensory activities that might help calm him down. I got the biggest book I could find from the library down the hall and let Nate run his fingers through the pages while Blake told him a story. That helped. I asked the nurse if there was an OT on staff who could help, and a lady from their Childlife Services brought a big tub of little beads for Nate to run his hands through, much like his box of beans at home. Blake went home and got the beans and some videos Nate had requested (demanded). He had a few more fits, but this one was by far the worst.

Anyway, in the midst of the chaos, Nate wanted the cannula out of his nose, so we put it on top of his nose to see how he'd do (it was taped on his face). After about 20 minutes, he had done fine with his oxygen levels and he was still trying to rip it off, so we took a chance and took it off. That was probably around 6:30, and fortunately he didn't need it anymore after that. He slept well that night and had no desaturations.

Yesterday morning, we woke up around 6:30 am, and I told the nurse that since Nate went all night without the O2, we were ready to go home as soon as possible. Of course the doctors had to round before that could happen. Then we had to wait on the pediatrician to visit. We were so ready to go, and the pediatrician didn't come by until 12:30. He checked Nate out and told me everything I needed to do with Nate over the next week or so. Nate knew once the pediatrician left that we could leave. So as soon as he walked out the door, Nate was ready. Except now we had to wait on discharge orders. For at least 45 minutes, ugh! More screaming. Poor guy was saying "Go HOME!!!!!" I distracted him with Thomas for a little while, then he decided he wanted to walk between me and the bed for awhile. Finally we were able to go home around 2 pm.

Nate is still very weak and tired ... and cranky. We are to give him breathing treatments every 4 hours for another day, and some oral steroids for his lungs for the next week. But he's on the mend and is acting more like himself more often. Yesterday evening he was playing in the floor and popped up and yelled, "I WUV MY MOM!" Oh, good, he doesn't hate me after all this! :)

Frustrating appointment today

I mentioned in my post last night that Nate is sick and his 3 year check up was this morning. Poor Nate (and poor Mama) could barely sleep last night for sneezing and coughing, and I'm guessing his throat hurts too. The doctor checked him out this morning and didn't see any infections and thinks its a cold. So there's nothing I can do for him, basically. He's pretty miserable today, and I just hope this doesn't last as long as his recent illness!

Nate is 36 inches tall (about 20th percentile) and 36.5 pounds (about 80th percentile). His doctor really frustrated me. He asked if Nate could give a urine sample. Um, no. I usually can't even get him to pee in the potty. He then asked how many words Nate can say. I said he can pretty much say anything, and he's putting sentences together--at least 500 words. A few minutes later while he was examining Nate, he said, "So you really think he has at least 500 words?" Yes. He says, "So, this whiny, baby stuff he's doing now....?" I said, "He's sick. He's whiny." I could have smacked him.

The doctor asked if Nate had been to an eye doctor at all, and I said I needed to make him an appointment with an optometrist before school starts. He said he would prefer him to see an opthamologist. Okay, I've been researching this for a few months. On the one hand, an opthamologist is good for kids with spina bifida to see because the kids sometimes have related eye issues (but there's no reason to suspect Nate has those issues). On the other hand, two occupational therapists have told me that when Nate is looking at a picture, he looks at the top and not the bottom. They think it may be one of his "sensory" issues, and who knows, it could have something to do with his delay in walking. Like the ground looks really far away or something. At our last session with our genius OT, she suggested a specific behavioral optometrist, so I had decided to make an appointment with him. I explained all this to the doctor. He says, "I don't know much about sensory issues. How can I say this politically correctly ... that's kind of a fringe diagnosis, not really accepted by the medical community yet." Great, another person who doesn't believe in Sensory Processing Disorder. It doesn't really matter if this guy believes its a real thing or not, I KNOW it is. So I dropped the issue, but I'll do as I had originally planned and take Nate to the behavioral optometrist. This guy has met Nate a handful of times, and his therapists and I understand his issues better, M.D. or not.

I told the doctor I had some concerns about Nate's mouth. For at least a couple of months now, Nate has been drooling excessively (his shirt is constantly wet), he's needed his pacifier 24/7, he's been chewing on his pacifier (something he's never done before), and when he doesn't have the paci in his mouth he's chewing on his fingers. It's like he's teething, except he already has all of his teeth. A couple of his therapists have hypothesized that this is a sensory thing, that he's going through this "oral" stage that all babies go through, just really late. That explains everything except for the drooling. So I report this to the doc, and he says, "Eh, I'll look in his mouth, but he's doing this because the new baby is coming." Huh? First of all, Nate doesn't understand this baby thing enough to regress just yet. I can see if after Georgia gets here, he needs his paci more. That makes sense. But why is Nate drooling like a faucet because he has a baby sister coming? That does not make sense.

Moving on, I brought up the "milk bump" on Nate's face. That's what the doctor called it last time I asked about it, and he told me he would remove it today. It's been there since January, and it should have gone away by now. The procedure was as simple as popping a pimple, but Nate was already feeling bad, and he pretty much freaked out. He lost his paci in the floor, freaked out even more. It wasn't fun.

When Nate was about a year old, we joined this Duke University Neural Tube Defects study. They ask you questions and get a blood sample. The goal is to eventually figure out the cause of SB. Anyway, we did all that was required of us a couple years ago, except we did not get a blood sample from Nate. He was just too little and chubby and we'd had bad experiences with getting blood, so I told them we'd do it later. Recently they contacted me and asked if we could send in the kit they gave us. Well, I have misplaced the kit. So I just mentioned today to the doctor that we are part of this study, and I'd like to bring Nate back to get a blood sample for it. He said we could just do a finger prick today and go ahead and get the sample. Okay.

So the nurse comes in and does the finger prick, and Nate is now really screaming. She goes to put the bandaid on, and I asked if it was a latex free bandaid. She said yes, then asked if Nate is allergic to latex. I said he is on precaution for latex because he has spina bifida and they are all on precaution. She says, "Cause I'm wearing latex gloves." Then she goes to pop off one of her gloves. I said, "STOP. Do not take off that glove, because then the powder will be in the air, and he can inhale that." That's actually more dangerous than him just touching latex. She said, "Next time when the nurse who brings you into the room asks if he has any allergies, tell them about the latex." I said, "I DID!!!" Oh, they didn't mark it on his chart. All the while, Nate is screaming.

Then she says she's going to go run the labs and walks out of the room. Okay, she obviously doesn't understand why she took the blood, so I hauled my screaming child out the door because we weren't waiting any longer. The nurse is kind of scratching her head and asked what this blood was for. I told her, and she said this blood wouldn't last long enough for that purpose. SO WE JUST DID THAT FOR NOTHING. She was still talking to me, and I just walked out the door. Nate was practically inconsolable.

Ugh. So I'm not going to take either of the kids to that doctor anymore. He just gets on my nerves. This is the second time he's ticked me off. I'll try one of the other doctors in the practice, and if that doesn't work out, there are plenty of pediatricians to choose from in Louisville.

Nate came home and took an early nap. He's laying on the couch, coughing and sneezing and being generally pitiful right now. I just hate it when he's sick.

Georgia update--32 weeks, 3 days

I had an OB appointment and ultrasound today and wanted to share the latest of Miss Georgia. The ultrasound was to look at her growth, and she now appears to be 4 pounds, 11 ounces. That's one more ounce than Nate weighed when he was born at 32w5d. The tech said she is just slightly above average. I'm really relieved she's a good weight since she'll be delivered at 37 weeks. I'm telling you, if I was allowed to go to 40 weeks, I think I'd have 9 pound babies. :)





Anyway, we got to see her cute little face, and she has the chubbiest cheeks! She opened her mouth a few times, and then she streeeeetched! It was adorable. The ultrasound tech was nice enough to switch the ultrasound machine over to 3D so we could get a better look. (You usually have to pay $100 to get a 3D ultrasound). This is a picture of a picture of her little face, but maybe you can see her chubby cheeks?

Only 4 weeks and 4 days left! I found out today that the c-section is scheduled for 8:30 am July 31.

I'm sorry to say that I think Nate is getting sick again. Yesterday his nose was running, he was sneezing, and he was very irritable. Today, all that got worse, and he started acting really tired (climbing on the couch to lay down), and his voice started sounding strange, kinda like when he recently had croup. Ugh, I really hope we don't have to go through this again! Fortunately, his 3 year check up is in the morning, so I'll get him looked over.

I mentioned a few months ago that we were accepted to participate in the Littlest Heroes Project. It's an organization that pairs awesome photographers with families like ours that have a little hero on our hands! And the photographers do free photo shoots and give free photos. We got paired up with Priscilla Baierlain here in Kentucky, and we've been talking over the last few months. We've had to reschedule twice due to weather, but yesterday we were finally able to do our photo shoot! Remember how I said Nate was cranky yesterday? Yeah, not the best time for a photo shoot. He'd go from happy to melting down in just a few minutes, and by the end of the shoot, he was just plain melting. We went to Waterfront Park down by the Ohio River in downtown Louisville. Nate wanted to do two things. First, he wanted to walk holding onto my and Blake's hands and have us swing him. Okay, well, that probably makes a cute photo, sure. Um, the first 75 times. Then I'm pretty sure she's got all the swinging Nate photos she can use. Second, he wanted to "walk by myself." Awesome! We love that he wants to walk by himself, and that he's now willing to do it outside of our living room! However, this entails me and Blake crouching on the ground about 10 feet away from each other for him to walk between us. I loved that she was able to get pictures of this. But after he walked to me, then Blake, then me, then Blake, then me, then Blake ... oh, about 150 times, yeah, she got enough pictures of that. It was difficult to get any good portraits of him or the whole family. He just wanted to do what he wanted to do. Good times. But I'm sure the photos will turn out great, because the photographer is awesome. I will share them when I see them!

(By the way, I'm playing around with how the blog looks, if you're wondering.)

Nate is 3 years old today

So, my baby is now a preschooler, I guess? I want to press a pause button on life.

Three years ago yesterday, I was in the hospital on bedrest, had been for a month. It was Saturday night, and Blake and I had just taken a tour of the NICU earlier that day in preparation for Nate being born. We hoped to make it a little more than a week longer to 34 weeks. I started feeling bad that night and thought I had eaten a bad hot dog. :) (Seriously, what kind of hospital feeds a pregnant woman a hot dog anyway?) But I was feeling bad ... oh, about every three minutes. After not being able to sleep, I called the nurse, and they decided to send me to Labor and Delivery for monitoring. I was on monitors all night, and they didn't show any contractions, but the nurse taking care of me KNEW I was laboring. Which was a big no-no after the in-utero surgery we'd had 9 weeks earlier. The next morning, my favorite doctor, Dr. Collins, came in to check me, and I was 3 cm dilated. That meant it was time for Nate to be born! He was 32 weeks and 5 days gestation. Blake was in the OR with me for the c-section, and I was soooo happy that Nate cried when he was born. He was 4lb, 10oz and 17.5 inches long, born around 1pm on Sunday, June 25, 2006. He was sent straight to the NICU, and all the grandparents came to the hospital and got to visit with him while I recovered. That evening I was finally well enough to get in a wheelchair to go see him. He was in his isolette fussing, and as soon as the nurse put him in my arms, he quieted down and was happy. He had tubes and wires all over him, but he was beautiful.

Nate's birthdays have been emotional for me as I remember all we went through with his pregnancy and NICU stay, and also as I reflect on how far he has come during the year. This year has been incredible. Right around his second birthday, he got his first set of braces, and the very next day he pulled up and cruised for the first time.

Then in September, he started walking in his walker!

In January he started walking with holding one hand.

And in early June, he began taking independent steps. :)

Besides the walking, he has just grown up so much. This time last year, he was saying a lot of words, but wasn't really putting too much together and was still babbling a lot. Now he can carry on a conversation with you. He's in a big boy bed. And he's just generally acting like a big boy these days. Soon he'll be a big brother and will be heading off to preschool.

This week we have had to say goodbye to his Early Intervention therapists. :( Monday was his last day of his developmental playgroup with Miss Leslie. Since October, he has come a long way--when he started, he avoided playing with other kids his age, and now he initiates play with other kids! On Tuesday, we went to the mall play area for our last session with Miss Dee, his PT. Dee was the first person who really "got" Nate. I'll never forget her second visit here, when we were trying unsuccessfully to get Nate to walk in his walker, after observing him for awhile she said, "It's not his legs. He has sensory issues." I had no idea what that meant, but that was the beginning of all of us really understanding Nate and how to help him progress. She gave us a lycra swing to swing him in, and the very next week he was walking in his walker. She's an amazing PT, and we're really going to miss her! Then yesterday was our last session with Miss Karol, the genius OT. We only had her for a few months, but I learned so much from her. Nate still has hippotherapy and aquatic therapy, and I'm relieved to cut back from 5 therapies a week to only 2. Except now we're probably going to add one more PT session per week. I really don't want to, but it seems he needs it.

Blake has been working really long hours this week, so he came home from work early today to celebrate Nate's birthday. We went to Hometown Pizza (yum), and Nate got free pizza and a brownie! Then we came home and played outside, where Nate got really, really dirty. I gave him a bath, and he decided he wanted to come downstairs and walk with me and Daddy. So for the next hour, he walked all over the living room, giggling and yelling. One time he said, "I can't stop! I can't stop!" laughing the whole time. Then I threw a ball for him to walk after, and I asked him if he could bend over and get it. He said, "Um, no. I sorry." :)

Anyway, it's been a wonderful three years since Nate came into our lives, and I'm so proud of him. Happy birthday, Nate!

Update #3--Nate's birthday/Father's Day

Nate's 3rd birthday is actually this Thursday (June 25), but the celebration has begun. Since a lot of the family was in town for the shower, Nate got a lot of gifts! As soon as the shower was over, Nate got his gift from Granna and Pop--his "bwack twuck."

It has a real working radio, which he thinks is the coolest.

Cruising around the yard.

Nate's favorite song came on the radio.

Grandma and Papaw got him his new car seat, plus a Thomas play tent and some Thomas books. He's been in this tent most of his waking hours since. He also got lots of other gifts from other family members.

This morning, the celebration continued. We went to church, then the zoo. It rained pretty hard for part of the time we were there, and the rest of the time it was just wet enough to not be horribly hot.

Guess who was at the zoo! Dora and Boots! By this point, Nate was way overdue for a nap, and he cried and cried when we had to leave Dora ... all the way back to the parking lot and beyond.

But after a short nap on the way home, he was ready to play again. Uncle Lucas gave him a book.

Where's Nate?

Here's his cake! (Don't worry, the rest of us had leftover shower cake :)

So after the baby shower, birthday celebration, and Father's Day, all three of us got very spoiled with gifts this weekend! It's been such a busy few days, but wonderful fun.