Happy Valentine's Day from the Park Boys

The boys were both VERY excited about Valentine's Day! They have been talking about it for the last two weeks and they wanted to do LOTS of crafting!

Since they both LOVE dinosaurs I picked out this super cute kit from Paper Source

It was great to see Hunter write his name on each dino and as I put on the name of each friend he took so much pride in decorating each one just for them! There was glue everywhere but it was worth it.  

Gibson also enjoyed adding all of the individual hearts. The dinos are attached to a bag full of Valentine goodies! There is a pencil, heart eraser, Hershey kisses, lollipop, bubbles, and a mini rice crispy treat. 

I was a crazy person on Sunday morning... Emma was sick and Matt wasn't feeling well either so I wanted him to sleep in... I thought that the boys wouldn't make a lot of noise if they were painting... of course the instant they started Lincoln woke up and needed to eat. There I was sitting on craft paper, nursing, and surrounded by two crazy boys with paint! It was high stress trying to make sure that paint didn't get everywhere and helping to clean off brushes and pass different paint colors. In the end it all turned out okay and all kids had a blast and thank goodness the paint was washable!

For their teachers, the boys made little ring bowls out of play-doh and we heated it, slowly, in the oven to harden. We put them in little Valentine boxes that we found at the dollar store.  

I tried to get Emma to do a Valentine but she is "over it"... she did however help with some of the crafting when it came to the boys.

Gibson at 17 Months

Last week Gibson turned 17 months and well I figure it is time for an update.

Gibson LOVES bath time and does not seem to mind when Hunter dumps water all over his head.

His eyes just steal my heart every time I look at them! In the past month he isn't eating as much and we feel like he has been loosing some much needed weight. I would say that he probably eats what an "average" child his age does but he needs many more calories... thank goodness for pediasure. He drinks 3-4 of those a day and that really helps him get extra calories!

Gibson is a really good friend... he is super outgoing and doesn't show any fear of strangers. He will run up and give kisses and hugs to anyone.

 

Gibson just started to follow one step commands... for example he will follow the direction to throw something away or pick ______ up. This was a HUGE accomplishment and we were so excited when he started doing it.

 

He will also now say a few words on his own without mimicking. YAYA!

 

In medical news Gibson completed his final evaluation and was accepted into the Early Intervention program in Alexandria. In true Gibson style he made it through the 3 hour evaluation with a constant smile on his face... the speech and occupational therapists even commented on his sunny disposition. Home boy is just always happy!

 

This month Gibson also received his Sure Step Orthotics! It is sooo amazing what these little things can do! He walks so much straighter and more confident when he has them on.

 

We are still in a holding pattern with Gibson's genetic testing. We received a third letter, just last night, letting us know that the insurance would not pay for the test that Children's Hospital is recommending. It is an extremely expensive test which would map all of his chromosomes to show if there is a deletion of genes on any of the chromosomes. Children's has now gone back three times with insurance to provide additional justification and to push them to pay for the test. In yesterday's letter it says that this was the final review for this calendar year that they would do on the test and that it was denied and not viewed as being essential... now I will need to get back on the phone with Children's to determine what our next steps will be. There are a few specific syndromes that they can test for individually and we might just need to do that for now.

 

So that is a full and long overdue Gibson update!

Picnic at Green Springs Park

When I woke the girls up at 11 a.m. (they went to bed at 5 apparently) I decided that we should all head over to a local park for a picnic. We picked up some yummy food and smoothies at Tropical Smoothie and headed to the park.

This was the view from our picnic spot.

Here are a few photos from the day 

Gibson was not interested in eating at all. He just wanted to walk around and explore

After eating the girls went off the explore on their own and I took the boys on a little walk around the pond. 

You can tell in the below photo that Gibson was a bit warn out after our fun at the park! The boys took a three hour nap this afternoon!!! AMAZING! 

Gibson Growls

So a few months ago my bestie Virginia, of House of Maps Photography, came over and took some photos of Gibson in this little bear hoodie that I had ordered from etsy.

Here are the photos... Apparently Gibson is a cuddly bear!

Such a cutie!!!

Gibson's Rocker Room

I'm so excited to FINALLY share Gibson's Rocker bedroom. Full disclosure he isn't even in this room anymore as he now is in a shared space with his big brother, Hunter.

 

In the above picture I feel like he is saying, "Welcome to my room..."

I tried to make sure that the rock star theme wasn't too in your face but there were cure little musical nods everywhere in the room!



We spent A LOT of time in this chair in the first 4 weeks!

Just look at this little guy enjoying his round crib... I had the custom gray sheet made and I made the bedskirt.

The framed record is actually the song that Matt and I danced to at our wedding!

These little hooks were previously all different colors and spray-painted red and black so that they would better fit in our space. My only complaint is that they always hung a bit wonky... and as I type this now I realized that I could have put a little command post sticky on the back to keep them straight... too late!

Behind the door there were three frames that showed patents for a guitar and a picture that Hunter colored for his little brother.

I'm sad that our little guy isn't in this space anymore but it did serve us well while he was in there!