MoD Family Day

The Tucson March of Dimes held a family day at the Tucson Children's Museum. It was the first time we had been to the museum. It was super-crowded since it was a free day for the community and there was a Carnivale across the street at Armory Park.

Pump It Up

Since today was a day off (for one of us); I took Evan to a place up in Tucson called Pump It Up which is an indoor playplace with inflatables. We took my good friend Sunny and her daughter Anya with us. There were 2 big rooms full of inflatable slides and obstacle courses. Evan stuck to the biggest slide (most of the time asking us to carry him to the top).

After playing at Pump It Up, we took a side trip to Himmel Park down near campus to play outside. For those of you who are familiar with Himmel Park in Tucson, there is a huge slide there (very tall, very fast)...called the "Giganto Slide of Death". Right before we left the park, Evan decided to climb up the slide all by himself (I was behind him making sure he didn't fall). At the top, we had to come down of course. He went down the slide all by himself (with Sunny catching him at the bottom). I had to come down too...let me just say...when you have a lot of mass, you come down that slide mighty fast.

We finished off the day with lunch at Chuck E Cheese. Evan had a blast watching the animatronic characters. He even got to see Chuck E in person (without freaking out).

Evan had so much fun riding down with Anya.


Poor Anya was such a trooper, she suffered some serious brush burn on the slide bringing Evan down one of the times.


This was some other mom that helped bring Evan down the slide. He decided to climb the whole way up the slide by himself, but got scared to come down.


Note Evan's hair as he rides with Sunny. That slide was fast!


We were so proud to see him eat an entire piece of sausage pizza!

March of Dimes Video

A great video explaining what the March of Dimes is all about. Evan is getting closer to his goal of $500 for this year's March for Babies. Team Warrior 06 will be walking again this year (we're considered a "veteran team" now).

Snowy Morning

We had one of those rare weather occurances this morning...snow! As you can see, it was not a lot; but enough to have us on a "late start" day at work.

Representing His Home Team!

To show he's not afraid to "represent" in Arizona....Evan had a different Steeler shirt to wear every day of the week. I forgot to take a picture Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, but here are the pics from Thursday and Friday.

Thursday's Shirt


Friday's Shirt

Dentist Check-Up

Evan had his 6-month check-up with the dentist today. He got the all-good from the dentist despite screaming his head off during the exam. All his expected teeth have come in and we're waiting on the back set of molars.

Seeing a New Doc at UMC

Evan's primary care doctor wanted us to see a pediatric endocrinologist (which means another trip to Tucson since we don't have that type of doctor in Sierra Vista). His doctor's appointment was at his old stomping grounds...University Medical Center. We saw both a pediatric resident and Dr. Wheeler. Luckily, no shots or other crazy tests. We have to get an x-ray done of Evan's hand. An odd thing, but that will help to determine his bone age (to see if he's having a growth problem). When we see the doctor again in three months, he'll take more precise measurements and start tracking Evan's growth more closely. At least Evan is getting taller (but he's still way small for his age).

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Weight: 21.8 lbs.
Height: 32 in.

Choo-choo!

Evan is getting the hang of riding his train. To get traction, he has to sit back a bit on the seat.

EEG Results

Forgot to give a follow-up on the results of Evan's recent medical tests. We've only heard results back on the EEG, and they came back normal (which we figured). We're still waiting on thre MRI results.

On a different note...we're proud to announce Evan used his potty chair for the first time tonight. Since lately he's fond of running around the house semi-naked or fully naked, it's easy for him to sit on the potty. We moved the chair by the t.v. where he was watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (gasp...something other than Pooh)...and I told him to make sure he sits on the potty if he had to pee. He jumped up on the potty and did his business (twice)! So proud!!

Christmas Dinner

We had Christmas dinner at Mike and Cindy's house...Evan had a great time climbing in and out of their little dog door.



Getting a beer for Dad:


Hanging out with Dad:

Christmas!

Waking up:


Opening his shopping cart:


Filling up his cart:


Playing with the truck with Dad:


Using the cart:


Opening his Pooh table:


Opening up his Leapster:


Helping to get Max and Sadie's stockings:


After getting a ball from his stocking, Max went outside and didn't want to come back in. It was raining, but Max didn't care:


Opening up his artboard/easel:


Opening his train:


Eating breakfast and playing with his Leapster:


Giving ther pups their morning treats:

Ready for Christmas!

Everything is ready!


Ready for Christmas day!

EEG Day

This morning was Evan's EEG at Tucson Medical Center at 8am. According to the pre-op directions, we were supposed to keep Evan up until midnight and then get him up at 4am. The point was to make him sleep-deprived so the sedative would work better. Evan ended up faling asleep around 9:30pm Sunday night and there was no keeping him awake. We got him up at 4am, but he was still zonked out. He was awake by the time we headed to Tucson, so we figured that was good enough.

They used an oral sedative on him that tasted awful according to the nurse. Evan was not happy having the liquid force-fed to him (of course). It took about 15-20 minutes for the sedative to work. Evan became slightly combative as he started to go out (which is normal according to the nurse). After he was out, the EEG guy went to work on him, measuring his head for the placement of the electrodes. There were about 20 electrodes to fit on his small head. After marking the locations with a black sharpie (of all things), he used an abrasive lotion on the spots and then stuck the electrodes on. Evan stirred a little bit when he was putting the electrodes on, but stayed sleeping.

After doing all the long prep work, the test only ran about 20 minutes. Towards the end, they used a flashing light (sort of like a strobe light) which helped to wake him up and it tests something different with his brain...the technical term is "photic or stroboscopic stimulation". Luckily, the electrodes came off rather easy and we were out the door by about 10:30am.

We should get the results within a week (with the holiday and all).

Going to see "Tanta"!

Evan has a little understanding of Santa Claus (because he's on one of the episodes of "My Friends Tigger and Pooh"). Since Evan has yet to master his "ess's", Santa is "Tanta". We asked him if he wanted to go see Santa and he was very excited. We headed off to the mall in search of "Tanta"!

As expected, being a typical 2-year old...Evan talked a good game about Santa...but when it came time to sit on the big guy's lap, he was less than willing. Mom had to end up sitting with Santa and put Evan on her lap. As you can see, he was still not happy! Funny, it was the same Santa as last year!

MRI

This morning was Evan's MRI up at Tucson Medical Center. We're trying to figure out why Evan has been having passing-out epsiodes at daycare. We had to be there by 7am (ick) which meant leaving the house by 5:30am (ack). We pretty much grabbed Evan from bed and just put him in the car and he slept most of the trip. Even after we got to the hospital we left him in his pjs since we figured they'd put him in a hospital gown.

Evan was antsy since he had been to TMC before (for his reflux scope). After checking in we had to wait a good 45 until the anthesiologist came to get him, so we occupied him by looking through picture books. The procedure took about 40 minutes, he was knocked out for the whole thing. He did well coming out of the anesthesia, so we were out the door and back on the road for home around 9:30am.

We should hear results sometime next week, but no news is good news.

Amphibious Pooh

Two-year olds go through phases (a shock, I know)! Evan loved getting a bath until recently. I found a "Bath Time Pooh" at Target that has renenergized Evan's love of bath time. This Pooh is really cute (he has a red life jacket on) and comes with a little Piglet who sits in a boat.

Twinkle, Twinkle!

This video has a bit of wasted footage, but it's Evan's first attempt on video to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star".

Cheeeeese!

It was a rare occasion...Evan let us take his picture. He even said "cheeeeese"! I was able to trim his hair up a bit also...he was rockin' the crazy hair look (all the rave with 2-year olds).

Tucson Half Marathon

I survived my second half marathon this morning. I didn't post as good of a score I had hoped for since my left knee started hurting. It was odd since I never have trouble with my knees. It was probably due to not running much the past month and playing soccer the past 2 days.

They'll eventually post pictures to www.marathonfoto.com. My bib number was 3432.

Here are my stats from the run:

Overall: 1207 out of 1460
Women: 690 out of 889
F 35-39: 108 out of 130
Age/Grade: 40.86% Place: 1239
Finish: 2:45:40 Pace: 12:39
Tag Time: 2:45:40
Gun Time: 2:47:51
6.1 Mile:1:14:17 Pace: 11:58

At least the Steelers beat the Cowboys today; which made my run all the better!

Back From the 'Burgh

It's been hectic since returning from my quick trip to the 'Burgh Thanksgiving weekend. I had a blast at my 20-year reunion, despite the relatively small turnout from my class. We had a combined reunion with the class of 1987 and I knew a lot of the '87 grads, so it made it worth it.

I won't go into detail on the travel issues I had getting home...let's just say I was supposed to get into Tucson Sunday night around 9:45pm; I didn't make it home to Sierra Vista until Monday around 11:30am. The trouble wasn't weather related, but a computer glitch on the plane we were to take out to Pittsburgh to Phoenix. The highlight was that I was able to watch the Steelers kick butt against New England during the delay. Oh, the other highlight is that the Scottdale Pizzeria is back open and I was lucky to get a pizza (they only make a certain number every night).

Southmoreland Class of 1988




Virginia, Lori, Mindy and I tried to recreate the picture below from the '87 prom...