Whew!

There are not many things worse than getting a call at work from daycare. I came out of an exam room this morning to a message from a specialist who I'm consulting on a case and the daycare on hold. Since head bumps and Talia are frequent companions, I expected that she had run into a table again. No. Grayson was going down the slide and got his foot caught. He was very upset when he reached the bottom, non-weightbearing, and the lower part of his left leg was swollen. By the time I got there he was relaxing in his physical therapist's arms and calmly advised me, "Knee hurts. Shoe hurts." I didn't feel any instability in the tibia, but off to the emergency room we went. Poor little guy was radiographed from pelvis to toe, but thankfully no breaks were found. Chicken nuggets and a chocolate milkshake seem to have provided some therapeutic benefit and hopefully the Tylenol will have kicked in by the time he wakes up from his nap!

Talia's Big Birthday

Although I am a month late, here are some pictures from Talia's first birthday party. She was a bit perplexed at first but a good time was definitely had by all!

Sweet potato pound cake

What's this all about?

Cards are just very short stories.

I got a pony!

Birthday Girl

First bite of the birthday cake.

She had a great time, was surrounded by family and is refining her walking, talking and dancing skills.

Next week she leaves the infant room behind and joins the toddlers!

Craziness on the Road

Sorry that it has been over a month since the last post. As usual, things have been hopping around here. As unusual, we've taken our craziness on the road - twice.

We made a trip to Wizard World Chicago in early August. The Con wasn't quite as good as it has been in the past (DC, Marvel and Image didn't even have booths this year), but we got to spend some time with our friends Chad and Michelle. We also got some alone time and our first kid free night thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Bauer! The kids enjoyed being spoiled and seemed to enjoy meeting Lia (Jen and Jason's daughter) as well. After a stop at the Field Museum to see the Harry Potter exhibit, we were all ready to be home.







For Labor Day we traveled to Atwood Lake in Ohio for the Robison Family Reunion. Talia started walking on Friday morning. After that nothing seemed to go right in preparing for this trip. Grayson got sick and feverish so a free morning for packing turned into a trip to see Dr. Galanes. Tony's brake pads and tires needed replaced so we had to share my car on Thursday which blocked lunch hour packing attempts. By Friday morning both Tony and Talia had the creeping crud, so out noon departure time was delayed so that they could visit Dr. Galanes. It was a very efficient doctor visit, but then we had to fill their prescriptions and feed the little people. We ended up leaving about 2:30. Once we got to Ohio we had a great time. Grandma Robison seems quite pleased about her 90th birthday and has decided to go backwards from now on. It was great to see my aunts and uncles and all of the cousins that were able to make it. Talia really bonded with her second cousin Lilia - we'll have to try to get them together more often. Grayson enjoyed playing, running up and down a steep hill and running away from me to check out all of the cars parked by the cabins. He determined the pool to be a "nice pool" and discovered that it is possible to go 3 days without a PopTart.

Right now everyone is slowly recovering from the creeping crud. I caved and called Dr. Galanes' office this morning after coughing up yellow chunks so I'll be the last on in the house on antibiotics. Hopefully we'll rest up and be ready for Talia's birthday party this weekend!

Updates with pictures

Our computer has been down for a couple of weeks for various reasons, but I want to post some birthday and sundry pictures. First, Grayson's second birthday:

Birthday Cake


Boy seeing birthday cake:


Boy enjoying birthday cake:


It's also amazing what being 2 has allowed Grayson to do:



Talia is crawling like a pro

She is also studying geometry.

And considering taking up basketball.

Fair

The kids and I went to the 4-H Fair yesterday. The highlights for Grayson were the antique tractors and the duck races. Talia loved the noisy midway and stealing cotton candy from Grayson. I haven't been to a county fair since my own 4-H days. St. Joe County seemed a lot smaller than Kane County. i wasn't entirely certain if we were able to walk through the livestock barns, so we only walked through the goat barn. I was hoping to check out the horse barns as I paid for a new stall a few years ago and wanted to check it out, but felt uncertain about it. Overall it was less dusty than I remember from my fair kid days. The midway was louder, but a lot of the rides were similar. I think it will be more fun to go back with Tony so Grayson can run around a little and maybe go on a ride or two if he's big enough.





Also, it's time for a new camera.

Accomplishments

It's been a busy 2 weeks around here! Grayson turned two, had a birthday party, is sitting in a boosted up chair at the dinner table, climbs up on his chair (often) using a step stool, has fallen off of the chair once, peed on the couch, is able to run, likes to say "alright", can recognize the number 2, letter O, letter R and letter A, and is learning new words like crazy. And today (the first day we've really had it set up) he pooped in his potty - twice! I'm so proud. He also really likes to flush the toilet now.

Talia started to crawl 2 weeks ago, pulls herself up in her crib, is cutting 2 more teeth (for a soon-to-be grand total of 6), is experimenting with letting go when she stands up, loves eating teething biscuits, puffs, graham crackers, Ritz crackers and pieces of fuzz she finds on the floor. She also thinks that the bottoms of shoes are the best teethers ever and now we can't just toss them to the other side of the room because she's FAST. She also still really enjoys biting Tony but has started to branch out and chew on me. Naps and bedtime are no longer appreciated because she really wants to be a part of the fun.

Tony and I are tired.

Someday there will be pictures.

Until then, trust me, they're cute.

A Message from Grayson

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c '/; ,. 5bh /n20 661c b r j ni6 yyn9o9 n b nulo m,tyuyuhhhhhhhhybvxz gbbvjk[1

Grayson has figured out how to climb on a chair to access the keyboard. He can type with his hands and his heels. He wanted to share to above with everyone.