First Day in New Zealand

Well, I made it to New Zealand in one piece. Here on my own for three weeks for a work related trip. Well, not totally on my own, but the boys are back home either holding down the fort or burning it down..LOL.

Have not had a chance to take any pictures yet--we have been busy today with work related stuff. I just got off around 5pm. Had to hitch a ride with some of the crew as the main bus left a few hours before. But, I had work to do, so no big deal. Got back to my room (ok, small apartment is more like it) changed, then went to the store and got some food. We have a little kitchen in our rooms (I know, I am really roughing it on this one..) so I got some food thatI can make for dinner, and some sandwich stuff. The weather here is rainy and chilly for right now. They are just coming out of their winter here in NZ (being south of the equator and all)..so it is not exactly brilliant outside. Anyway, just wanted to post real quick before I eat. I am posting all my NZ stuff on Michael's page because he wanted me to. Michael, I love you buddy and I miss you! I can't wait to get back home to you guys!!

Busy Day!

We had to get up a little earlier to make Michael's appointment this morning. Fine for us. Not so fine for Mike as I had to leave him with Nicholas. Michael decided to pick out his clothes for today last night and sleep in them. (I suppose it does save some time..right??) Nick was already up when we left and I changed him and gave him his morning milk sippy. Mike got up when we left and gave Nick some crackers.

Michael was measured at 51" and 63lbs. He has crawled back to the 5th%ile on the charts!YAY! While we were there we renewed his prescription and took two viles of blood. He was a champ the whole time, and even told me that it did not hurt. (Although I could see his face contort somewhat when they were looking for a vein) He did not even want me to hold his hand. Truth be told, he could have done most of this all on his own-all I seemed to do was drive him there. He has done this so many times that he is a pro and takes it with a grain of salt. No change in the doseage for now. That might change when they get the bloodwork back with his hormone levels.

We got back just as Tracy was walking up to the door to start with Nick. Michael wanted to go out to lunch with just mommy, so after we dropped off his meds we were off again for a mommy/son lunch. We walked around Target for a bit and picked up some training pants for Nick and Michael got a Star Wars Lego set. Nick is now working with Stephanie for his last session of the day; then it is dinner,bath,bed and we start all over again tomorrow.

Another Growth Checkup

Michael had another growth check with Dr M. yesterday. He is now 49.6" tall and 62 lbs!! Dr M. did say that his growth velocity has slowed down a bit since last year; which he said he did expect that to happen sometime; so he increased his doseage to 1.05 from .08mg. He is very conservative about the doses, and Michael has been on a very low dose for about three years now and has been doing very well. He also said we might think of looking into ADHD for him as well. Michael has a very hard time focusing. We can tell him to do his chores or read, and one minute later he is taking a bath-he forgets that we told him to do something else. We will see as the year progresses, but we do notice that Michael has a harder time controlling himself than other kids his age.

As for Michael himself, well,he has become very interested in being in a band. He told me today that him and his buddies have started a band :) Oh the teenage years are going to be a blast...LOL!

My Rocker!

SLEDDING!!

Michael took this picture of the lake by our house.


We got Guitar Hero for Christmas, and ever since then, Michael has turned into quite the rock-n-roller. He is getting into bands like Guns 'N Roses, Aerosmith,and Black Sabbath. This is his last day of winter break. We have had fun during his vacation-staying up late, watching movies at home, baking cookies, and playing in the snow. We went to see the movie "Bolt" last weekend and I enjoyed every second of time with him. He is getting to be so grown up. I know that might be crazy to say since he is only 9 right now, but his tenth birthday is right around the corner and he is looking forward to getting his very own dependent I.D. card! He and Mike do a lot of the "manly" chores around the house, and even the not so manly ones. I need to make another appointment with his Dr and get a refill on his meds. I have measured him against the wall, and he comes to 49". Above are some pictures from his winter break.

Halloween, and etc.

I know it has been a while since I updated this blog, not because I don't want to, just because we have been busy with work,school,therapies,etc. These photos were taken on Halloween night. Michael was a Ninja. The boys had the day off of school, so we had been running errands and working on Nick's costume ALL day. Honestly, I was glad to get the night over with. I heated up some ravioli for dinner, and we went out trick-or-treating first with the neighbors and their kids. After about an hour doing that,Michael and I dropped Nick off at home(he was getting out of sorts) and then just Michael and I went out. It was great just walking with him down the street, chatting about things, enjoying the nice weather. Just him and I. No yelling, no homework, no pesky little brothers, no rush. It was nice. Since then, the weather has turned much colder and wetter, and we are back to reality. Now we are being forced to change schools-after we fought to get Michael accepted into his current school, now we are being told that both boys will have to attend the school closer to us because too many kids from our neighborhood are going where they are at now. UGH! I love the school they are at now!! That is the reason we chose that school! Tuesday night we watched the election, and needless to say were quite happy with the results! Michael was so excited that Obama won! He was really into this election, and they even had a pretend election at school(although, he will tell you it was real..LOL!) He was watching as every state reported their ballots, and for a while, it looked like Florida was going for "the other guy", Michael flat out yelled "Mommy! We got to call Nana and tell her to change her vote!!" LOL! It was funny. Typical Michael.

Snapshot(s) Sunday

Look at those leg muscles!



Some photos of our last soccer game of the season.

Ramblings.....

We had another soccer game today at noon. It was rainy and the temps hovered around 60 degrees, fall has definitely appeared. They won 4-2 I think. Did not get any pictures as it was a crappy day out, and we watched the game from the Jeep. We brought Michael and one of his friends home from the game and they played video games for a couple of hours. Michael is now at their house, spending the night. Anyway, at his new school, Michael comes across a lot more handicapped kids than he ever did at his old school. Last week we had a chance to really discuss the fact that he is around so many of them now. Michael told me that he did not like the handicapped kids because they could not use their legs to walk, or run, etc. I don't think he meant that he did not like them, I got the impression from what he said that he felt bad for them. I told him that he could find some other things that he possibly had in common with them, other than playing sports. I told him that "I bet they like video games just like you do. Or the same tv shows". He was trying to wrap his mind around the idea that some kids cannot use their legs. He has seen Dwarfs walking around, and he knows that if he did not have his medicine that he would be a dwarf also. Technically I guess you could say that he still is one, but his form is just treatable nowadays. He told me "Maybe if they used their legs more they could learn how to walk?". "Maybe" I said. "But there are also conditions where they will never be able to use their legs" I continued. Then, I told him that people would consider Nick to be handicapped. "He is not handicapped!" he retorted. "He can walk and run". I then told him that some handicaps you can't see, and others you can. Then went on to say "I don't think Nick is handicapped either, just others might consider him to be." I think being in the mix with all different kids is going to be good for him. I have also recieved reports from him that there is a kid that bullies him. The first I heard of this, I told him to tell a teacher about what happens. The next day he told me the kid had pushed him down again, and he went and told his teacher. If it happens again this week, then I am going to the school to report it to the principle.