Poop Happens

Winter is hard on Scooter. He doesn't like to go outside and he doesn't like to go down the deck stairs, unfortunately when you are home alone with the boys, taking him outside through the basement isn't an option as you can't leave the boys alone upstairs.

So sometimes Scooter has to relieve himself on the deck for Dave and I to clean off later.

With the snow melt Thor has noticed this and that it hasn't been cleaned off for a while.

The other night standing up against the deck doors he started yelling, "Scooter pooped on the Deck. There is Scooter Poop on the deck!!" So I tried to put it in perspective for him. "Thor can you say, 'Poop Happens'?"

"Yes, Mommy! It happened right there!"

Some times not only does Poop Happen, but it happens right outside your door!

It's been awhile!

Rather than try and catch up with the last 4 months of stuff that has happened I am just moving forward with new data. Stay tuned. I will do a better job.

Underwear and Horses

Another big milestone passed as Thor got the sign off to wear underwear to preschool after keeping his pull up dry for 2 weeks. He also managed to keep his underwear dry at preschool for a week so I called Liz at Furry Kritter farm and asked if we could come out.



Liz obliged and the week before Thanksgiving Thor and I drove out to Earlham for the afternoon for a ride on Buck the horse. Thor hasn't stopped talking about it since. He saw and fed the baby goats, we rode Buck, and fed eggs to the pot belly pig.

It was cold as all get out and extremely windy but completely worth it. Another big boy milestone under our belts and one less boy in diapers at out house.

Babies helping Babies

Ingathering is over and we have a final count on the Layettes that were donated in Wolfie and Tyr's names. We were able to donate a total of 79 layette kits and also had some $$ donations to go with that to help with shipping.

Thank you to everyone who helped.

And for those of you wondering...

UMCOR has a charity that sends help to those who need in times of crisis around the world. One of the divisions is the layette division. They have a very specific list of items that they need in each "kit" to send out to help mothers care for their small babies.

To welcome Wolfie and Tyr and to make sure that the first lesson in life they learn is about helping others, our families in both Cedar Falls and Griswold held showers requesting the specific items needed for the kits. All our family friends were invited and gave very generously to this extremely worthy cause. The ladies at the church very generously gave of their time to assemble the kits and prepare them for shipping. Each kit contains:

6 cloth diapers
2 sleepers
2 onesies
2 washcloths
1 jacket or sweater
all wrapped in 2 flannel receiving blankets
and held together with 2 diaper pins

We want to make sure that our boys know they are loved and will always be cared for and that life is not as much about what you have, as the people you help and the lives you touch. I think this is a great way to start them off.

Happy Halloween (or It's the Great Pumpkin Thor Aksel)

We survived Halloween. I think I have set an expectation with Thor that will be difficult to keep up in the future. However, we certainly got our money's worth out of the costumes. (Thanks you Nana and Aunt Julie for the assist)

Halloween started with a visit to Bedstemore's/Aunt Lauren's on October 17. They had a layette shower for the babies and Thor decided to wear his Halloween costume. He was the "real" Woody from Toy Story. I found a similar plaid shirt and Nana made him a vest and found new boots since he outgrew his boots right before Halloween. Aunt Julie found the hat and holster and sent it from Raleigh and I made him the little star to make it complete. Anyhow, Thor liked showing off his costume for the Cedar Falls folks and all of Bedstemore's friends.

The next Friday, the 22nd we got dressed up again and went to Night Eyes Trick or Treating at the zoo. Thor loves animals and although we didn't see many he saw the lions and the tigers and was pretty happy about that. He also got to ride a little toy tractor at the end. The little boys came too and were dressed up as cows. They are game for anything although Wolfie kept licking his costume.

Wolfie licks most things.

Sunday the 24th brought TRUNK or treating at the park, where our car one first place for decorations. COOL! We got a gift card to Toys R US!

So by Monday Thor was making demands of I want to get dressed up and see Bedstemore and Nana and baby tigers and get Candy and presents. He would strip down and try and dress himself. Did a pretty decent job too.

Thursday the 28th my office decorated the entire building and invited everyone who works there children to come trick or treat. Thor got many complements on being the real Woody. He liked that. One section had large cut outs of Disney characters and all the gang from Toy Story. Thor tried to get on the Bulls-eye cut out. I had a very hard time convincing him that he couldn't ride it. A week later I was in a meeting and they were talking about the little boy that tried to ride Bulls-eye. I had to explain that he really loves horses thinking they all knew he was my sone. Nope. They just thought he was that cute and funny.

Friday, the 29th, big party with lots of cake and cookies and punch and games at Miss Pam's. Again with the costumes. The little boys were invited and we all had a lot of fun. Thank you Miss Pam for the great party and inviting us to share.

Saturday, the 30th, we met friends Barb and Jess at the big Pumpkin Patch in Adel. They had a betting zoo of farm animals, jumpy houses, marshmallow roasting pit (Thor really liked), tractor rides, a pumpkin cannon, and the best part of all...horses you could ride. All dressed up in their Halloween costumes, my little Sheriff Woody rode a little gray and black horse named Mr. Twinkles and a very large Brown one named Buck. Never has there been a happier little boy. Jess and I got many pictures and only later did I kick myself for not recording it and his constant, "Look Mommy, I riding a Horse!!" The little boys enjoyed staying warm by the fire and getting their pictures made with the pumpkins.

Saturday was beggars night. Dave loaded up all three boys and took them around the neighborhood. Thor cleaned up. He kept asking Dave to take him more places and eventually Dave brought the little boys home and he and Thor set out on their own. What to do with all the candy?!!

And finally Sunday was upon us. And there was nothing left to do.

Learning to Help Others

Aunt Lauren had a Layette shower for the little boys in Cedar Falls today. Good time! Many of Bedstemore's friends showed up and we got lots of good stuff to complete our Layettes for UMCOR. (update on numbers later) Thor got to wear his Halloween costume and the little boys got plenty of play time with Wolf mastering the skill of clapping so that he could engage in some high stakes Pat-i-cake. Tyr proved to everyone why e is called Chunk a lunk by being to big and crazy for Bedstemore to hang on to.

Everyone had great fun and lots of babies will be helped!

Can You Hear Me Now Part 5

Quick note. We got the results of the cat scan for Wolfie. It is not something structurally wrong. It is genetic. We will go to Iowa City for genetic testing to determine who it came from, what it is, and what we need to be on the look out for. There is a six month backlog so it will be spring before we go. In the meantime we will continue with the speech and physical therapies and go back for another sedated BAER test in December.