Nate and Eva

I keep thinking I should wait to post because what is another post without pictures, but I kept having problems with our photo software and Ben assured me it was something I was doing . . . until our hard drive started to have problems! Of course, being a genius computer science major, Ben caught the problem just in time and backed everything up, and had a new hard drive installed in no time, but now we have to load all of our music, pictures, and everything else back onto the computer.

So, I give up and will eventually post pictures, and in the meantime here are ALL of the adorable things our adorable kids are doing to entertain us!

Nate blows us away every day with all of the new things he is learning. It is amazing to see him so happy and active. Today I heard little noises from behind the sofa and when I looked over it I realized Nathan was "reading" a book out loud. My heart just about stopped - seeing Nathan do such simple kids things is just such a huge deal to me!

Nate loves to go 'side to play in the sunshine and with the hose and balls. The balls frequently roll into the future flower beds, which are lined with rocks, and Nate says, "stuck!" about every five seconds. I take about ten balls outside to keep him busy so I don't have to run after the ball the whole time, but he tends to prefer his "Cars" and "Backyardigans" balls - he is very particular.

Last month Nate had his annual speech evaluation, but since we moved the new therapist came anyway to do a brief assessment and said that his scores show significant improvement in such a short amount of time. Of course, we already know that because Nate is saying Diego, poop, and chips - all of the important words, of course.

Another relief is that we found out yesterday that Nate has a pretty strong UTI, but we really caught it just on instinct - he really didn't have obvious symptoms. Of course, there is a little concern that his body is adapting, but I think right now it is outweighed by the fact that for the first time he has a more serious infection and he is still eating and playing, he isn't in the hospital, he isn't throwing up and losing weight, and his kidney fuction is really minimally higher than his baseline. Even with this infection we haven't had to use his GJ feeding tube to give him overnight feeds in over a month. Nate has a new pediatrician because of the move, and we went to meet him on Monday, only to discover that his name didn't just sound familiar - he has treated Nate many times at PCMC. Just two days later we noticed Nate's subtle symptoms, and we knew he would listen to us when we said something was wrong because so few doctors can see the whole picture with Nate. The specialists all have their niche, and with the exception of a pediatrician here and there, a different doctor treats him each time he is hospitalized because there are just so many doctors in and out of PCMC.

EVA is still our little performer. This morning she threw a fit for about fifteen minutes because immediately after breakfast she wanted a sippy cup with milk. Eva was told that if she decided to calm down she could have grapes and water. Eva did stop crying for about a minute to ask for candy, but when she was shown the water and grapes again, there were a few more minutes of Eva throwing herself around the kitchen. Ben and I are holding strong using our fabulous training from dealing with tantruming teenage girls, and we know it will be a few times before she learns that the screaming won't get her what she wants, but her voice is really shrill! It is definitely easier to hold out when it is other people's kids!

We like it better when our sweet Eva sings us songs and dances! In contrast with Nate, who loves TV just a little too much, Eva could care less. The only show she watches is "Baby Signing Times," and let me tell you, it is real entertainment to watch her dance around and sing "Baby time, shoe, shoe, shoe!"

Eva is our little helper, too. Whenever she sees us sweeping she goes into the pantry to get the dustpan and holds it for us to fill and then takes it carefully to the trash can to throw it away. If I ask Nate to clean something up, Eva runs past him to do it herself and gives me a big smile! Eva is also Nate's biggest fan - every time she sees him she says, "Hi, Nate!" and whenever she leaves a room she says, "Bye, Nate!" Eva also sweetly gives Nate kisses on the forehead. We think it is adorable, but sadly, Nate isn't thrilled. This morning Eva gave Nate a nice kiss and then Nate started whining and pointing at his head where she kissed him just like he does when he has an 'ouchie!'

Our cute kids are just going a million miles a minute, and I could write so much more, but Ben wants to get on the computer so he is telling me I can post later with pictures :) You can thank Ben for stopping me now, because if you thought this was long, just know I could go on a lot longer!