Rambo's Rampages...

He just got this walker today and he took off. I thought that maybe he would hate it, but that doesn't appear to be the case. I'm both excited and dreadful at the same time. Can you imagine this boy walking???? It's going to be insane around here.  While he's out conquering the world I'm going to be looking for yet another place to store this space stealer. 

So, this little man has just decided that he is going to take off. In the past two weeks, his list of skills has probably doubled. It's like he finally said, 'Okay, okay, I'll give you what you've been looking for,' knowing the whole time he could always do it he just wouldn't. Now he is: waving hello and goodbye putting things INTO a container instead of just throwing them everywhere understanding his relationship to the ipad (cause and effect). Now that he knows he can make it do stuff himself there will be no stopping him. actually playing pat a cake and working on 'The Wheels on the Bus'. I'm so proud :) On a weird note, I just looked at wheelchairs for him. It feels strange. I never thought I'd be buying a wheelchair for any of my kids. I mean, really, what has this kid done that I thought I would be doing? It's not because we don't think he will walk, because we all do. It's mainly for transport if he goes to schoo...

We are officially into our second week of school and we are all still alive. Woot! Summer has been quiet (thankfully) as far as sicknesses or doctors appointments for Theodore. That I did purposefully. I actually can't remember the last time I drove to Baltimore. I seriously never thought I'd be able to say that.  Tomorrow we see the primary care doc who will give us a 'yay' or 'nay' on Theodore going to school this year. I honestly don't know what I will do if he says no. We'll cross that bridge when/if we get there, I suppose. And in December he has a meeting with the school system to make sure he qualifies and yada yada yada. You should see the literature I have been sent regarding this. I have some serious reading to do.  Next week he has a cardiology appointment including an echo so we'll see if there are any big developments there. The hope is that there aren't, of course, but one never knows.  He has still had random swelling of hi...

I said last time I have been one thing and one thing only this past month: L A Z Y Well, maybe that's not entirely true. I've been lazy towards anything that hasn't been purely required or purely fun. For example, all of the kids school books have been researched, ordered, and received. And that is NEVER fun. At least not for me. Talk about panic attacks. And other than maintaining everyday life that's probably the only thing purely required that I have done.  Our purely fun list has been much longer; a few projects that I had sitting around have been worked on with much progress, we've had many beach or pool days with the kids, I started running in the mornings again, sleep overs - sleep overs- sleep overs. And the kids- they are swimming under water!!! This is a huge deal. Our poor kids have not been able to be around water much in the last few years, obviously, so they've had a slight fear of it. Which only crushed their father who is at...

The Destructor has come. I'm not sure the pictures do justice to the amount of mess this really is. But he sits in front of his toy shelf and pulls out all those toys 50 times a day.  This is the destruction before construction phase I mentioned a few posts ago. And if I were smart I would probably just leave the toys out. Keep them scattered across the room. I don't care. I love it.  (Probably only a few of you caught the reference I just made.) But I'm not smart. Or I do care. Or both. I insist on cleaning up behind him all the time.  I can't walk across the room without picking stuff up, or putting the toys back in the basket, or lining up the books again. One day it will click for him. One day he'll do it on his own. I'm just not sure when. I'm still waiting for my older three to learn that lesson. I have a feeling I will go to my grave cleaning a path the whole way. 

It's always awesome when I call in nursing hours to the company a week in advance, then call two days before to confirm, and get confirmation only to not have the nurse show up the day of. Oy vey. But one of Theodore's nurses is coming to the rescue. Thank you, Christine. I seriously heart you. Unfortunately, we still ended up missing his important ultrasound appointment which now has to be rescheduled which means that he is quite possibly going to be getting unnecessary shots for another week.  Aaaaaaanyway, here are some shots of what Theodore has been up to the past few weeks.

  We're going to start taking him on the road soon. I think he's ready. (Note: You may need to turn up the sound quite a bit if you actually want to hear the playing over the equipment.)

The long ago mentioned almost forgotten videos of little man are now up. Of course, this was when he started rolling back in November and now he's almost crawling. We're only a little behind. I couldn't upload one of the videos on here for some reason so you can check that one here on you tube. The other is all ready for you right over here. Enjoy!

Um... no, definitely not. Not this year. The Colts are 0 - shameful, and the Ravens are doing well. Barf. So instead, let's get ready for some pictures!! We celebrated Rambo's first birthday last night with family. We tried to keep it small but when you have two decent sized families, 'small' usually means 20 or so people. But that also means more delicious food!  The night began with..... It began with the making of this cake anyway. The eating came later. Spice cake with sprinkles. It has nothing to do with baby or boy or Rambo or camo, but at least it was made. I am not a baker and have never claimed to be. It was me, a cake mix, a Chinese lady who has never baked a cake, and sprinkles. Lots and lots of sprinkles to cover up the horrible icing job. All I can say is- it was edible. Of course, the night really began with the man of the hour: Then lots and lots of food which we didn't get a picture of. But let me tell you, it was good. Chicke...

Today marks one week home. At 4:30pm it will be exactly one week since discharge. And we're still home..... for the moment. That is breaking the record already since our last trip. If we can make it through the day that will really be something.  Rambo seems to be enjoying his life at home. In fact, he has really taken off. The desire to move and develop has suddenly hit him full force and he can not keep himself still.   Just a normal day in the life of Rambo: When he is up on my leg he constantly rocks himself like that. Is crawling in our near future?? I hope so.... kind of. The tangling of the tubes is not going to be my favorite but whatever.  Isn't he the most adorable little thing? Of course, his big head does make him resemble Giada De Laurentiis a little. I'm not hating, I'm just saying they both have heads that could, by some, be considered a little large for the rest of their body. In any case... he's a cutie. And at least he st...

* If you did not read the title of this post in the Carmen Sandiego tv show theme song tune please do so now. Word of advice: you need to add an extra syllable somewhere- you choose. If you do not know the tune of said show off hand then you're 'an ignorant scoundrel; I disapprove of your very existence.' Doc Holliday's words, not mine. Thank you. Enjoy the show. It's morning and I'm just getting settled in the PICU. I hear a small commotion in the corner by the door. I look up to see none other than Sylvester Stallone himself. Mr. Stallone is asking for the baby child Rambo and his wonderful dedicated mother. The nurses, all staring in wonder now, direct him my way. He starts walking toward me, I look up from my book and see him coming. Fidgeting with my hair and cursing myself for not putting on makeup today, I do my best to act comfortable and nonchalant (inside I'm DYING), yet also the appropriate amount of surprised and honored. Sylvester finally make...

This makes me happy :) He has been looking at those toys for 6 weeks. Just watching them dangle inches from his body with no desire to reach out and get one. And suddenly, one day, he just did it. He thought "I'm gonna get you, seahorse." And he did! He happily played with that toy for 15 minutes. I love that little boy. :) :)

Don't lie. I bet half of you are expecting pictures of cats or something else equally as soft and cuddly. Sorry to disappoint, but I'm going to inundate you with pictures of Rambo. I must say, he is pretty cuddly.  And of course, I have to add my other 3 cutest things: Now, seriously, who needs cats?? Thank you. That is all.

The past 2 days have been really good for Rambo. Yes, I've risked it again by saying this. I just can't seem to learn my lesson. But he's been so darn cute that I had to share. He's moving all around, grabbing things, kicking his legs. I laid him on his back and he rolled onto his side. Crazy man. He can't make any noise but if he could he totally would. All the nurses come over to say hi and flirt with him. He's pretty popular. And they all say the same thing. Well, the same 2 things: "Look at that hair!" and "If it's gonna happen to anybody it's gonna be him. Poor boy can't get a break." But it appears the past few days he has caught a break - finally. The only trouble he's had is the hiccups. He's been moved back to a crib and holding his temperature very well. Not too high and not too low. He's being fed and they have actually started compressing his feeds today. Which means instead of continually being fed,...

And not so favorite things. For instance, this entire past week or so. It's really weird that now Rambo is 'stable' and is not in as dire conditions as before, I'm more done now than ever. Last night, Ben and I had a chance to get out together for dinner and a concert. It was great. We went to dinner and stuffed ourselves, enjoyed the nice weather and were pulling into the parking garage of the arena when my phone rings. It's a surgeon from JHH telling me they were taking Theodore into surgery that night because his infection had caused an abscess and it needed to be removed. He called it "semi-elective". In that it wasn't emergent but it needed to be done sooner rather than later. Great, thank you. Now I can really enjoy myself. Check off another surgery. That makes 5. Plus 5 infections. That's almost a surgery or infection for every week of his life. That's just a glimpse at what's been going on. Dealing with people, being away from hom...

I have lost my mind. I thought this was coming but now I'm certain. It's gone. The past week has made me more than aware of that. Wandering around the parking garage that I use everyday with no idea where my car was or how in the world I was going to find it was the first clue. Waking up out of a dead sleep in the middle of the night telling Ben to put the napkins on the blanket and the sweater was the second clue. I was not only telling him to do that, but I was insistent that I KNEW what I was talking about even though he was laughing at me. Let me assure you that he did not pass up the opportunity to string me on for awhile. And finally, when Ben can make me laugh almost uncontrollably with this a stupid crazy cow puppet I know that my mind is now mush. Thankfully my cousin and aunt came today and helped bring me back to reality if only for a little while. They reminded me of when I was able to hold Rambo and how alert he was so I thought I would share the vide...