We're still here!

I feel just awful having left my blog for so long! But I'm afraid this is probably going to be an indefinite leave of absence... My clinical rotations begin tomorrow, and my first assignment has me commuting an hour & a half away. I'm not thrilled about the drive in the least. But I am excited to get started with learning "on the job!"

I have so much I want to write about, but no time to do it! And pictures?? Oh, how I wish I had time to pick up my camera! Hopefully, I'll have a break in all the action sometime soon...

Don't give up on me!

Milo, An Update of Sorts

My baby boy.

Oh this boy.

He is my dream come true & so much more.

He drives me so crazy one minute, then turns around & melts my heart.

I mean...

Seriously.

Those eyes!

It was the first thing I fell in love with when I saw his referral pictures. 

I've thought for a long time about doing some type of update on Milo's limb difference.

I've gone back and forth with it because,

well,

there's not much to update.

I've already posted about Milo's school experiences so far.

There really isn't anything that I can honestly think of that this boy cannot do.

He may do it differently than others, but he can do it!

We had a little incident last week with some kids at Xandra's bus stop.

But all in all, it really wasn't a big deal at all.

Milo doesn't usually wait with us at her bus stop (another example of Matt's & my policy of "divide & conquer").

But Matt had an early morning appointment, so Milo got to wave his sister off.

A couple boys walked up & stared at Milo - blatantly (& if I'm honest, a little rudely; but they are little boys so... I'll let that go).

Then they began saying he was "weird"& "looked weird."

I corrected them - "He's not weird, he's different. We're all different. If you have a question about him, please ask me. But please don't call him weird."

They didn't really ask any questions we haven't heard before:

"What happened to his arm?"

"Is he from China?"

"Are you his mom?"

As I always do in these situations, I second-guessed all of my responses, my tone, how long I waited before I "stuck up" for my son, how Milo "heard" my answers & will answer these questions himself later on.... 

Does it ever get easier??

Matt & I recently discussed (again!) getting Milo a prosthetic.
Matt has been thinking about it a lot, and thinks it might be good for him.
Not so much for me.
I really don't think he needs it.
He does everything - & I mean everything - including a lot of things I don't want him to do!
I can see both sides of this issue, pros & cons for each case.
But, for now, I'm in the camp of "let him be."
Because he's doing so well, and because he's still growing (lordy! is he growing!!), I think we could just save the couple/few hundred dollars it would cost to refit him every time he outgrows it.
We'll reevaluate again in a few months (& probably will forever more).

We're restarting speech therapy, as of today.
Matt took him (no more home visits-boo!!)...
& apparently, he did really well!
I'm really happy about it.
After last school year, when we took the summer off, I was pretty discouraged.
We hadn't been making any progress, except for what he was picking up at his school
(which is one of the huge reasons we wanted to keep him there!).
So, now he'll be getting good practice at both places.
Love it when things work out like that!!

So that's my non-update on Milo.
Not too interesting... but that's where we are.
Love that boy!!

PS
Anyone know of a way to keep a kid in their crib? Milo's driving me nutty with all the climbing out! He even managed to scare the bejesus out of Xandra this morning - he got up way too early, climbed out of bed, snuck into Xandra's room...
& let's just say, I woke up to insanely loud screams at 6 am.
Not fun.

Click over to my friend's blog

& check out some other great pictures!!

Class Assignments

Last week's photography class assignment was silhouettes, backlighting, & sun flares.

I really thought Xandra would once again be my go-to girl...

But she just wasn't feeling it.

So, I managed to catch the one I figured I'd have the most trouble with... Milo!

And I got him a couple times! 

Awesome!!

50mm, ISO 100, f16, SS100
Oh man! I love those pouty lips!!

That's not to say that Xandra didn't get her fair share of pictures taken...

And this week's assignment...

The dreaded self-portrait.

Look all you want to at this...

It will probably not happen again for a very, very, very long time!

And moving on!

My girly is really maturing right before my eyes.

Ugh!

So bittersweet!!

Finally, this wasn't really an assignment for the class

But I couldn't help but take some more pictures around my town again.

This the reflection of a church in a puddle in the parking lot

And the front of the church
So beautiful!

I completed my first week back to school. 

{big ole sigh!}

I have (ultrasound) scan lab 3 days a week for now (getting ready to head out to clinicals next month)

I have had more ultrasound gel on my body than I ever wanted

While I enjoy scanning & discovering the human body in new ways

I HATE that gel!!

The kiddos are both doing great in their schools.

Xandra has leaped from barely being able to remember her "sight" words assigned last year,

to writing full sentences that we can actually read & understand!! 

I'm so proud!!

And Milo's teachers are amazed with him on a daily basis.

The first day back, his teacher (who was also Xandra's preschool teacher) confessed that she had pulled her co-teacher over to re-think their curriculum for the year - 

They wanted to tweak things based on Milo's abilities.

Well, that same day, they were showing the kids how to string beads.

Milo didn't need or want any help at all.

He was all over that project & completed it with no problems!

That's when Miss A threw up her hands & told the other teacher "Never mind! No tweaking necessary!!"

That's my boy!

My only complaint about Milo right now is the way he works with markers.

He put the lid of the marker under his short arm & tries to aim the marker into it to close it.

Unfortunately, his shirts pay the price daily. 

Not one day has he come home without a large, dark marker stain on his shirt sleeve & side.

Yesterday, it had even bled through the shirt onto his skin. 

But if that's the worst thing I have to complain about...

I'll take it!! 

I sincerely hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday weekend!! 

My plan is to do as little as possible - except for that pesky homework...

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