Getting Back to Normal

Things are getting back to normal around here. The week after Henry's birthday we discovered that both Henry and Owen had ear infections. Henry I suspected based on him putting his hand to his ear, but Owen was just in for his 3-year check up. There had been no sign of it. Although later in the week, he had a couple of falls at school - a combination of being a boy and being off-balance I suppose. One day I picked him up to find out he had fallen out of a tree and hit his nose on the trunk. The next day he had an injury from a "sword fight" (using shovels as swords) with another boy - he took a shovel to the mouth and had a fat lip. At his check up, we found out that he continues to be a big boy - he's 85th percentile for height and 80th percentile for weight. The doctor said he looks like a four year old. Owen & Henry also got to open their birthday gifts from Grandma Phyllis & Grandpa Tom that week (Hurricane Ike prevented them from coming to visit). So they enjoyed extending their birthday celebrations just a little longer. Last weekend we were around here, still getting house repairs done. We finished up with the inside stuff the week after Henry's birthday. We had the remaining portion of tree taken down, and the huge stump removed from the fallen tree. Then last week we had a guy come out with a stump grinder. So now we are replacing the wrought iron fence and the last thing will be the gutters. Last week we went to the Thursday night concert at Discovery Green park downtown. It was Disco Night and we all enjoyed it. Nat & Owen had some great dance moves for us! The weather was beautiful and it was very nice to be out (and feeling normal). Over the weekend we had a lot going on. Saturday morning Ike ran the Komen race. Natalie had ballet & tap, and Owen got a haircut. Natalie had a birthday party to go to at Pump It Up, and then we had a babysitter Sat night. Ike & I went to the Houston Ballet and enjoyed ourselves. Sunday we worked outside and cleaned up the remaining hurricane debris left behind by the fabulous (ha ha) FEMA contractor that was in our neighborhood the end of last week. They trashed our front parking area with their bobcat in the process of picking up the tree debris piles. So there is work to do out there now too. Yesterday Henry had his one-year check up and Natalie & I got our flu shots. Owen will have to go back b/c he had a fever over the weekend. Henry was a champ with his four shots and TB test. He's following in Owen's footsteps: 75th percentile for height and 35th percentile for weight (about Owen's proportions at this age). He's not walking yet, but he's pushing his walker around and getting pretty confident. He'll stand on his own, but then he gets down and crawls where he wants to go. He's a climber - he tries to climb everything! He's even trying to climb out of his crib now - something Natalie and Owen never did. Yesterday afternoon I took them to Owen's soccer and I paid for Natalie to join in. She had fun, although there was quite a bit of dancing in addition to the soccer playing. Last night, Ike took Owen to gymnastics to make up for the Saturday class he missed. He really likes it, and Ike said he did a lot of neat stuff last night. He was on the bars, climbed the rock wall, and even did some tumbling on the high balance beam! Now we are getting ready for our vacation weekend. We leave Thursday for Savannah - we need it!! Grandma Phyllis & Grandpa Tom are coming down to see us and we'll get to celebrate Grandpa's 60th birthday.