Funny Shaped Head

So today we got up early, got in the car and went to the Doctor. Chance did good getting up and out so early. He ate his eggo waffle in the car on the way and when he got there he played in the waiting room with the other children waiting as well. We were a little worried (how could you not be) but we waited and finally they called our name to go into the examining room and wait some more. After taking his weight and temperature again then they took his blood pressure which was something they had never done before. All those things were normal. When the Doctor arrived he introduced himself too the three of us, then he felt the back of Chance's head. Chance just sat there for a minute then he started pulling the Doctor's hands away but that was ok because the Dr. then turned to us and said heis fine. That it was not fused skull plates simply because the bump is not where the plates meet. That sometimes babies have bumps that will even out as they grow and that this bump is nothing to worry about at all and it is just the way his head is shaped. Yeah!!!

This first picture is from a pillow party we had in the living room floor yesterday, Chance thought is was much fun.

Monkey Business

I got a recipe from my Mom for Monkey Bread not too long ago and this morning we made some. It is very sugary and I think I am going to work on a variation without so much sugar but for now it is sticky and very sweet. It is a great dish for kids to help with because you have to roll pieces of dough in Cinnamon and sugar before placing them in the pan, a great activity for little ones and I remember doing this job when I was little. I showed Chance how to roll the dough and put it in the pan but he would have none of it. He watched and then wanted to help but when he felt the dough squish between his fingers he said 'no' and handed it back to me. He loves to get dirty but doesn't like things that are too wet or squishy. So he ended up just watching this time.

15 month check up

Yesterday was Chance's 15 month Doctor's appointment. He turned 15 months old on the 21st. Chance played for a while in the waiting room with a little boy who was his same age, they played with the blocks and shared very well even though I haven't had much opportunity to teach Chance about sharing with other kids yet. He was much bigger than the other little boy and it turns out that Chance has had his biggest growth spurt between his 12 months appointment and his 15 month appointment. He is 34 inches tall and he weighs 27 pounds. I hate to argue with the scale but it seems highly unlikely that he only gained .13 of a pound in the last three months. I think it is a little off because he stood on the scale for the first time instead of laying on the baby one and he was moving around a little. Anyway that putts him in the 95 percentile for height and the 85 percentile for weight. He is a little chunky monkey. He was very good while the Doctor was examining him and he even showed her how he can stand up all by himself. He was fine with everything except when the Doctor laid him down to check his belly, he doesn't like to lay down unless it is nap time and he was sure it was not nap time. He got three shots and a finger prick again to check his Iron and Lead levels. His Iron is good and we will get the results from the Lead soon though it was OK last time. He got a Chicken Pox shots and an MMR and one other that I can't remember right now. He cried for his shots and once he caught on he tried to push the nurses hand away before she even got to his leg with the needle. It was so sad but it was over quickly and he recovered just as quickly. He was so good and (they know that he loves books) that the Doctor gave him a book and two stickers to take home. He ran a little fever for the rest of the day and so we spent the night watching cartoons and the old Batman movie on the couch and then Chance went to bed a little early. This morning he was happy and healthy an ready to go again.

There was a little bit of scary news during his visit to the Dr. too.

Chance has a bump on the back of his head it has been there forever and as far as I was concerned it was just the way his head is shaped. At this visit the Dr. asked me if it felt bigger to me which it doesn't it is getting bigger as his head is getting bigger but I don't think the bump itself is growing. She was concerned and said that instead of her ordering X-rays that are really hard to get in a little one anyway that we should make an appointment with the Neurosurgeon that they have on staff and ask him what he thinks. She said it could totally be nothing but that sometimes the plates in a baby's head will fuse too early. After I got home I looked this up on the trusty Internet and found that yes this happens more than you would think but if that is true then it would need to be corrected with surgery. I will keep you all posted on that. Our appointment to see the neurosurgeon is Friday at 9am. For now I am going say it is just the way his head is shaped until I find out differently for sure, still I can't help but worry a little.

Easter Parade

We all got dressed up and put Chance in his stroller to walk into the Quarter early this morning to be ready for the Easter Parade. It was a cool but sunny morning so it was perfect weather. We arrived just in time as the parade pulled around the corner. This is a very fancy but not very big parade. Nothing like Mardi Gras. It has been going on for years and by that I mean like over a hundred. In the French Quarter is St. Louis Cathedral people have been worshiping there since 1727 and the seat of government for the area was right next door for a while which was also where the Louisiana Purchase was signed. Lots of people still worship at the cathedral, it is a beautiful place. The parade was begun like most of the Mardi Gras parades because the higher class people wanted to give something back to the lower class people. And so it goes today a bunch of ladies in their Sunday best and Easter bonnets ride through the French Quarter on their way to the cathedral in carriages and convertables handing out stuffed animals and candy to the children on the streets. It was a lot of fun. I held Chance and he got lots of stuffed animals, he smiled at all the ladies as they passed by. They are going too fast for him to get comfortable grabbing the prizes himself so I take them and then hand them to him he then usually gave each one a hug. When we got home he ate some of the candy he was given which made a mess but was much fun. He also played with his stuffed animals on the couch for a while before taking a nap.

Happy Easter

We are planning to head out to the Easter Parade today. We hope everyone has a lovelly Easter.

Streetcar Ride and Aquarium

Usually when we go to the Aquarium I drive

and park in a parking garage pretty close to the Aquarium since they don't actually have their own parking. The Aquarium is not really that far from our house it is only just on the other side of the French Quarter but when you walk all the way there and then walk all around to look at the fish and then have to walk all the way home it is a lot of walking. I just discovered however that there is a streetcar line that stops about five blocks from the house and will take us straight to the Aquarium. Also this streetcar is only $1.25 for Adults (parking in the garage is $5.00). This is perfect for us, so Scott, Chance and I took the streetcar to the Aquarium. It was very pretty, this line runs between the french quarter and the river making for perfect views. Chance loved it. He sat on the seat next to me and let the wind blow through his hair. He was smiling and looking all around. The Aquarium was pretty busy since kids are out of school for Easter and so we didn't spend much time there,
we ended up walking back home. It was a fun leisurely walk. Once we got home Chance just wanted to go out again but we stayed in for the rest of the day. Chance loves being outside. He took a couple more steps today and stood up a lot of times. He is also saying a lot more things now that we are really trying to pay attention to what he is saying he says 'Mama', 'Dada' and 'No' a lot then he also says 'Up' and 'dis' and lately he has become fascinated with stop lights when we have to stop at a red light in the car he points and babbles but today when we were walking with him in the backpack he pointed and babbled at the stop light and I said "it's red" and he said 'red' just like that. He has started copying what we say like that a lot more even though I am not sure that he knows exactly what the words are yet.

Betcha Can't Guess

Who took a step today?...Ok I bet you can. It was Chance! Chance stood up today and took a little step just one and then he stood there for another second to keep his balance and then sat down. Then in a minute he stood up and took another two steps toward the ottoman and then sat back down. Both Scott and I were sitting right there and saw both steps we clapped and praised him and he smiled and made happy sounds like he was proud of himself. We are proud of him he has taken his time to take his first step and now we are waiting for more steps tomorrow. He will be on his way in no time.

These pictures were taken the other day when we went to the Children's Museum for a playdate.

Tattoo Baby

Way back when Chance was born Dan got him a few gifts. These temperary baby tattoos were one of those gifts. Today we finally decided to put some on him. Since both Scott and I have tattoos Chance is no stranger to them. As a matter of fact I have a tattoo on my lower back and Chance is always pointing at it and sometimes lifting up my shirt in the back to find it. We gave Chance two little sparrows on his chest and a 'Mom' tattoo on his arm. He just sat there while we applied them and looked at us like "what are you doing?" but he didn't care too much. I thought they would come off after his bath but they are still there. I am sure they would have come off if I tried to scrub a little bit but since they do not irritate his skin we will leave them on as long as they will stay. We also colored eggs for Easter today and in this second picture if you look really hard you can see the red dye in his hair. After we finished the eggs we had fun playing with the cups of colored water. I will write more about that later but now I am going to go hang out with Scott on the couch.

Fun with a Box

We have been having fun as a family these last few days and today was no exception. Though mostly we just hung out today. We did go to City Park though. There is a playground that I had passed by a couple times but never stopped and so we went there today. Chance played for a little while and we walked around and looked at the water and the ducks. I want to go back sometime soon and maybe take some bread to feed the ducks. Also I will bring my camera to share the park with all of you. Near the end of the day Chance sometimes starts getting cranky so today we put him inside a Pampers box and Scott rigged a pulling system and off they went all over the house. Scott pulled Chance all the way to the front of the house and then all he way to the back again. Chance loved it.

We are Home in NOLA

We arrived back in New Orleans on Saturday. Scott touched down at the airport just three minutes before us so we were all able to meet up there and share a taxi home. Is was good to be home everything was pretty much the way we left it except for the house behind ours which was not there at all anymore. That house had been badly burned before we bought our house and they finally tore it down while we were gone. We are hoping to go into a deal with a few neighbors and buy the empty lot to give both of the neighbors a yard and to add on to ours. We will see how that goes. Right now we are going to work on putting a fence up since the old house was part of our fence. Yesterday Scott and I went to the Roller Derby while Chance stayed with a babysitter. He was really good and hardly cried at all when we left (or so I am told). Today we mostly hung out at the house. We had a picnic outside though. Scott and Chance and I sat out on the blanket eating and playing for over an hour. Chance also stood up many times today. While we were outside he stood up over and over. He knew that each time we would praise him and clap so he just kept standing up and waiting for us to clap. We started waiting longer each time to clap and he just kept standing longer waiting for us. He has pretty good balance and once today it looked like he was going to take a step but then thought better of it and sat down to crawl. We didn't do any St. Patrick's Day festivities But we all wore a little green. That first picture is so funny because he has his little front teeth sticking out. The second picture is his new smiley face for the camera and the third picture is Chance hanging out with his Aunt Kristy, wearing her hat.

Cute Times 10

Around Christmas Scott's Mom sent Chance an outfit which I thought was very cute but always looked too big for him. The outfit was a pair of denim overalls and a shirt. Today I pulled this outfit out of the drawer and put it on Chance. I am sad I didn't do it sooner because it is the cutest outfit he owns and I didn't even know it. These overalls take his cuteness and multiply it by at least 10. It fits wonderfully and even expands so it will fit him for a while longer. It is definitely one of his staple outfits now and he will wear it often until he can't anymore. We did more than just dress Chance today we also went to a really nice little Bar-B-Que restaurant. We had never been before but we pass by it all the time. They had High Chairs and good food, that is all we need to bring us back again and again. As a matter of fact I am thinking about it now and wondering when we can get B-B-Q again already.

Standing up for real

Ok last time I said he was standing on his own pretty much but now he is standing on his own for real. Two days ago Chance was crawling across the kitchen floor when he jsut stopped and stood up. He stood there for about a minute and then just sat back down. That day he must have done that same thing about ten times. Then yesterday he did it again a bunch of times and so far this morning he has done it once. It is definately a big step toward walking. This kind of standing is different than accidently letting go of the table or couch while cruising because he is so deliberate with his actions and he is usually standing in the middle of the floor with nothing around him to hold onto. You can tell that he is really thinking about what he is doing and working to keep his balance. He doesn't fall over either he just sits back down and goes on about his business. Which is usually the business of play. Everytime he does this we all clap and praise him and let him know that he is doing a good job. It doesn't matter much that I can't upload a picture to this one because I haven't gotten a picture of him doing it yet. He just stands up whenever he thinks its a good time without any warning so I am never ready with the camera. It looks so strange to see him standing up by myself. It makes him look so little.

UPDATE: pictures, pictures, pictures. He stood up three times in a row.

Build-a-bear

I can't get a picture to upload with the dial up here at Mom's house but I thought a couple updates without pictures were better than none at all plus I will add the pictures after we get back home. We have still been just hanging out here in Florida for the last little bit. We are going back to New Orleans on Saturday which is the same day Scott is arriving Home. The other day Chance and Mom and I went to a new shopping center a little south from here where they have a Build-A-Bear Workshop. I still have some of a gift card left over from a Birthday present two birthdays ago and so we used that and built another bear. Chance enjoyed crawling around the store and watching but he wasn't all that interested in actually building the bear this time. After we got home however he hugged his bear and gave him some lovies.

UPDATE: pictures added Yeah!!

Standing...pretty much

He isn't even holding on, he is just touching my pant leg. He just isn't ready to let go. We got him to stand on his own holding his sippy cup but no pictures of that. This is the best I can get with a camera in one hand

Florida

Chance and I flew to Florida on Sunday. We flew non-stop into Miami then my Mom picked us up at the airport and we made the drive back. That was so much better than having a layover and then another flight plus it was less expensive. We picked up some chicken nuggets at McDonalds for the drive back to Fort Myers. Chance ate three whole chicken nuggets! I thought he would sleep in the car but he stayed awake the whole time so he only got about a fifteen minute cat nap all day on Sunday since there was also too much excitement to sleep on the plane. Monday we just hung out at the house all day not doing much but playing with the new toys that my Mom bought him when she found out we were coming to visit. We have a geocache out here and we did go check on that and place a couple TBs that I had been holding onto. On Monday Scott drove from New York City to Syrcuse, NY where he will be working until the 15th of March. I was worried that he would have to drive in the snow and ice but it was clear and in the mid fifties per Scott's report so he made it safely to his hotel. Also Yesterday we went out and put Chance's feet in the pool it's pretty cold to go in but Chance can't stand looking out the sliding glass doors all day and not being able to go out at least once, so we took him out. It looks like rain here today but if the rain holds off we are going to go to Barnes and Noble to visit old friends after my Mom comes home from work.

Nick Your a Star

Nick used to work with Scott at Waterman in Fort Myers. Then when BitCentral was looking for new people Scott recommended

Nick. So now Scott and Nick work together again. Nick is a great guy and became a good friend of ours while we were in Florida. He came up to visit / get trained by Scott on new editing stuff this past week. We had a good time jsut hanging out and I kept Chance out of the way when Scott and Nick had to work. Nick was really good with Chance and Chance really seemed to like Nick. Even though he hasn't gotten any of that stranger anxiety stuff they all talk about. This is a funny picture because Nick has his laptop and is listening to Scott while using Chance as an armrest which he doesn't mind at all as a matter of fact Chance thought it was fun (being used as an armrest)