Hey, Look! A Kid!

Some Christmas and some recent ones.

2012-01-19T20:50:00.000-08:00

New lens!

2011-12-14T19:10:00.000-08:00

I've had to give up on the 365 project for now, but NEVER FEAR READERS DEAR! I got a new lens and I have been taking a TON of pictures of our lovely boy. Here they are. (and also a video from his winter recital. :D )

11/27

2011-11-27T20:52:00.001-08:00

His newest fascination is looking at himself in the mirror and he fell asleep like this, looking at the mirror in this book.

11/11-11/26

2011-11-26T19:31:00.000-08:00

Daddy likes to take him to the park near our house. :) I've been trying to get my camera to cooperate, but let's just be thankful for decent iphone cameras.

11/4-11/10

2011-11-10T21:00:00.001-08:00

Apologies all around. These are all from our cell phones. I need a new lens for my camera. Mine is finally done-zo.

10/29-11/3

2011-11-03T20:25:00.000-07:00

School pictures!

2011-10-28T20:45:00.000-07:00

These are in order from 10/21-10/28

Cake and Pizza Places

2011-10-20T21:26:00.001-07:00

Cake on 10/19/11 (HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO RHYS!)

Waiting for Pizza with Daddy at Aurelios. 10/20/11

Monday and Tuesday

2011-10-18T21:21:00.000-07:00

I love that unabashed joy in that last one. :)

Saturday and Sunday

2011-10-16T20:24:00.000-07:00

Playing catch up again

2011-10-14T20:02:00.001-07:00

I've started taking more hours at work, so the updates might be a little more infrequent than every day, but I'm still taking pictures and I'm posting here as often as possible. These photos are in chronological order from 10/9-10/14

Beautiful Weather = More Park Days!

2011-10-08T19:30:00.000-07:00

Catching up

2011-10-07T21:54:00.000-07:00

In order from top to bottom:

10/3- playing on A-ma and Paw-Paw's swingset

10/4- "reading" before bed

10/5- snuggled up with his "ABCs Blankie" from A-ma

10/6- Pumpkin patch!

10/7- Curled up with his favorite books. :)

Delays

2011-10-05T20:39:00.001-07:00

Not that I've seen anyone notice I'm updating this regularly again, but I wanted to let everyone know that I haven't forgotten about the 365 thing, I just need to get photos from various cell phones from the last few days. Big update tomorrow following our trip to the pumpkin farm. :)

Gameday at Lynn and John's

2011-10-02T20:42:00.000-07:00

Park day

2011-10-01T19:43:00.000-07:00

Dupage Childrens Museum

2011-09-30T21:42:00.000-07:00

hanging out with his buddy Nathan.

magazines from Nana

2011-09-29T20:32:00.000-07:00

These were his choice reading materials for tonight. :)

zzzzzzzz

2011-09-28T18:53:00.000-07:00

I think adjusting to the new schedule is screwing with his sleep. Mine too. This picture is making me want to go join him. He looks nice and warm.

First Day of School

2011-09-27T13:24:00.001-07:00

McDonalds stop

2011-09-26T12:54:00.000-07:00

day 2

2011-09-25T20:54:00.001-07:00

After a night of almost no sleep he finally crashed while playing with his toys on the landing. :)

365 revisited.

2011-09-24T21:24:00.001-07:00

This time it will be from birthday to birthday and it will hopefully be posted mainly on here.

Fox vs. Dexter: REMATCH!

2011-05-27T21:27:00.000-07:00

The first photo is from this.

Easter 2011

2011-04-25T20:42:00.000-07:00

My little man is growing up.

2010-08-26T21:33:00.000-07:00

April 2009

March 2010

August 2010

Been gone so long

2010-07-29T08:23:00.000-07:00

Firstly, I should definitely apologize for taking so long to get back on track with this thing. It's been over a month! D: I've decided to just post a slideshow of the pictures from the past month, and I'll put the link to the album at the bottom of this post. These pictures aren't in order, because I'm pressed for time lately.

In other news, Dex has been making all kinds of progress with Early Intervention. He's got a few words now and he is more attentive and communicative in ways other than speech. I cannot say enough good things about the Early Intervention program.

Anyways, off again. Summer is always so busy. Here's the link to the photobucket album:
http://s49.photobucket.com/albums/f286/MoralThroat/while%20we%20were%20gone/

Busy Bees

2010-06-16T21:37:00.002-07:00

He fell on his puzzle and those little pegs they have in the pieces now broke the skin. :( Poor bunny.

Lots to do lately, little time to do it in.

2010-06-13T17:57:00.001-07:00

Here's some pictures! 5/26/2010 through 6/13/2010

Developmental Therapy: Volume 1

2010-05-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

Today was Dexter's very first session of developmental therapy. I had been nervous about it. I bet he picked up on that and that's why he decided to wake up at 6am. This put his nap time right when she got here at 10. He did well and lasted about 45 minutes before going into meltdown mode. To be fair, meltdown mode was called into action by the removal of markers. Dex is in love with coloring/drawing lately.

His therapist's name is Shannon and she is great. Not only does she have kids, she has kids who have been in the program before. When she told me that I felt so much better. It's always nice for the therapists to be parents themselves. (No one understands kids and their idiosyncrasies like parents). She brought a guitar. It was so funny to see how Dex reacted to it the first time she strummed it. He also liked dancing and clapping along to the songs she was singing.

The best part: She gives us a note with a run down of how Dex is doing, and what we should be doing at home in between sessions. This is invaluable to me, because lately things go in one ear and right out the other. All of the therapy Dex needs is a little overwhelming at times. It's good to have instructions and progress reports all there in black and white.

I have a lot of faith in this. A few of the folks on the parenting forum I frequent have kids in Early Intervention. They've done nothing but rave about how well their kids are doing in the program. It's also nice that his therapist seems to genuinely enjoy being around him. I can't wait to see where he goes from here. :D

2010-05-25T19:32:00.000-07:00

5/17-5/25/2010

Tomorrow is Dexter's official first day of therapy. :D

Back to 365

2010-05-17T10:23:00.001-07:00

Somehow, this is the only picture I took on 5/11/2010. :(

4/27/2010-5/16/2010

Assessments part 2

2010-05-13T09:17:00.001-07:00

Today the occupational therapist came by to take a look at Dexter. She was a lot more helpful than the other two in regards to placing where Dex is at in all this. The way she described it to me was kids tend to develop and learn things in a linear way. One thing leads to another, leads to another, and etc. Dexter has managed to skip some steps. Some of his fine motor skills are advanced, some are right on target, and some are a little behind. She said the goal of his therapy is to find out how he got from A to C without hitting B.

They're recommending occupational therapy in addition to the developmental and speech. This means that 3 days a week Dex will have therapy. This is going to be fun...

A 365 post should be coming soon.

Assessments

2010-04-27T10:45:00.001-07:00

Dexter has been slow to talk. In fact, as of now the only word he has is "More" and it's a signed word. He doesn't use it as regularly as I'd like. I've had concerns since he was around 12 months so we finally got the ball rolling on Early Intervention when he was around 15-16 months. I don't know if any of you are familiar with Early Intervention, but it's a government program to offer therapy for kids a little behind on stuff. They're also around to help out with developmentally different kids, kids with spectrum disorders (autism/aspergers) and any other kids needing a little help either physically or developmentally.

We had a developmental therapist and a physical therapist come by last Thursday to assess Dexter and see where he's at. It was a bit of a whirlwind and Dex decided not to sleep the night before. He wasn't necessarily being difficult, but he was all over the place so I didn't get to absorb much of what they said. I do know that he qualifies for speech therapy once a week, developmental therapy once a week, and he's going to be assessed by an occupational therapist on May 13. They said he doesn't know where his body is in relation to his surroundings (I'm paraphrasing here, and I believe this is proprioception). They said that's why he pats his belly and bounces his back off of things like the couch and wall when he sits up against something. They didn't stay long and they didn't give any kind of definite answers or diagnoses. To be fair, only a developmental pediatrician can diagnose most things like autism. I'm going to have a list of questions ready for the occupational therapist, and for the speech and developmental therapists whenever they get around to calling me.

If any of you have any questions that you think I should add to my list, leave a comment with them. I'm a little overwhelmed with most of this and don't remember a lot of what they did say, so I apologize if I can't answer anyone's questions to their satisfaction. Hopefully I can have more answers the more we delve into the program.
In better news, they said he is off the charts advanced as far as gross motor skills go. Also, once I started making a point of offering him choices, he would reach for the choice he wanted. I don't think anything is seriously wrong with Dexter, I'm just exhausting all free options available to me. I want to make sure I'm not becoming an enabler for bad behaviors regarding communication and fine motor skills. I'm sure they say this to all the obviously erratic and worried mothers, but the speech therapist said I have GREAT instincts. She even asked if I have a background in child education. :D

To counteract all this wordiness, here's a great picture I took recently of everyone's favorite little blondie:

I've been letting this go too long.

2010-04-27T10:16:00.000-07:00

Easter

2010-04-14T12:29:00.001-07:00

Fox got a super cool car. He had so much fun driving it around. I can't wait to take a billion pictures of Fox having fun in his awesome car.

Finally feeling better

2010-04-13T06:13:00.000-07:00

4/3-4/12/2010

Forgot one!

2010-04-13T06:11:00.000-07:00

This one is from 3/29

2 weeks of a stomach bug. :(

2010-04-03T15:31:00.001-07:00

3/23/2010-4/2/2010

Babas and Rocking chairs.

2010-03-23T14:10:00.000-07:00

Curls and such

2010-03-16T22:18:00.000-07:00

3/13-3/16/2010

why I oughta...

2010-03-12T20:50:00.001-08:00

A whole week's worth.

2010-03-11T20:54:00.000-08:00

Car ride with Krista: 3/6/2010

My kid has a serious mullet: 3/7/2010

Babes in baskets: 3/8/2010

Park Time!: 3/9/2010

Ouchies (Don't worry, he's fine!): 3/10/2010

Dad is HILARIOUS!: 3/11/2010

Sorry about the lack of updates! I've been trying to get over being sick. :(

Daddy and A-ma and Old Man

2010-03-05T19:17:00.000-08:00

You can really see the similarities between them in this shot.

This was right after he ate half a can of green beans.

Diaper telephone

2010-03-04T06:50:00.000-08:00

3/2 and 3/3

Car rides and cheesy grins

2010-03-01T19:05:00.000-08:00

2/28/2010 and 3/1/2010

Mystery scratches and capes.

2010-02-27T18:55:00.000-08:00

the past few days

2010-02-26T17:33:00.000-08:00

2/24/2010, 2/25/2010, and 2/26/2010 respectively.

Gats in Party Hats

2010-02-23T19:48:00.000-08:00

Darth Vader is from 2/22/2010 and the crochet hat is from 2/23/2010

the weekend

2010-02-22T02:32:00.000-08:00

My kid is getting a mullet.

Watching TV

2010-02-19T18:02:00.000-08:00

Pure joy

2010-02-18T21:13:00.000-08:00

Tuesday and Wednesday

2010-02-17T18:50:00.000-08:00

Contemplating pancakes

2010-02-15T20:55:00.000-08:00

Valentine Weekend

2010-02-14T17:21:00.001-08:00

2/13/2010 and 2/14/2010

Happy Heart Day, Everyone!

Not ready to wake up yet

2010-02-12T17:49:00.001-08:00

Jambalaya and a new crib!

2010-02-11T17:47:00.001-08:00

2/9/2010, 2/10/2010, and 2/11/2010 respectively. Maybe I can actually get caught up on this to post the pictures on the actual days. :D

Superbowl and Reading

2010-02-09T07:00:00.000-08:00

Picture in picture

2010-02-06T19:57:00.001-08:00

so it only took me a month to come to the conclusion that it's silly to not post the 365 project on here too. I guess I figured I'd want to put non-365 pictures on here, but who says I can't do 2 posts in one day, right? Chalk it up to the lack of sleep lately. This one is for 2/6/2010. The rest are on the photobucket account, and there will be more to come.

Grams and Gramps

2010-02-04T18:56:00.000-08:00

Dex and I stole away to Jacksonville and had a great week with my Grandparents. Dex got a cold while we were there, so he was pretty cranky most of the time. I think they still enjoyed having us anyways. Now I just need to convince Steve to steal away to his Grandparents' house for an overnight visit. :) Then Dex can get his fill of Great Grandparents. :)

Don't forget to let me know what you think of the 365 project pictures here!

Outtakes from the 365 project: Volume 1

2010-01-15T20:06:00.000-08:00

Check out the rest here.

365 days of Dexter!

2010-01-08T12:26:00.000-08:00

When I first made this blog, I set out to post a picture daily. I kept that up for all of a month. Tops. To be fair, I've moved twice since starting this blog. I've raised an infant (as lazily as some may have claimed I've done it, it still eats up a lot of your time)

This time, I've made more of an effort to take at least one picture of Dexter every day. I'm putting them in a photobucket account, located HERE. I also have an album on my facebook, but this allows people who don't use Facebook to see the pictures.

And now, what you all came here for, some pictures:

He crawled into that basket all on his own.
I'm beginning to sense a pattern here....

Christmas!

2010-01-02T18:40:00.000-08:00

I'm completely copying my roommate and taking a picture of Dexter every day for 365 days. I'll post the results on here come New Years Day 2011. Happy New Year to you all and I hope you had as fun a holiday season as I had this year.

Impatience

2009-12-22T21:24:00.000-08:00

Sorry Nana! We couldn't wait until Christmas to open all the wonderful gifts you got for Dexter! Dex loves his pony, but Fox LOVES it too. He wouldn't leave it alone the entire time he was visiting. For all the readers out there who don't know about it, it moves it's head up and down and whinnies. Fox wanted us to press the buttons that made it do that and then he would nuzzle the horse while it bobbed it's head up and down, nuzzling him back. :D

Thank you for all the amazing gifts, Nana and Great-Grandpa!

Presents for him and some video presents for you readers out there:

2009-12-17T19:45:00.000-08:00

He loves that tractor, Carol.

There are lots more videos here.

Christmas card photo shoot: Take 1

2009-12-10T13:52:00.000-08:00

yeah, didn't work out too well. :D (I love how Dex and I have the same face in the second one)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2009-12-08T20:54:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Ryker!

2009-12-06T09:21:00.001-08:00

I have a bunch of really cute pictures of Dex but I'm not going to upload them because they were taken in our still in shambles, still messy house. We haven't been able to get our furniture so everything is kind of everywhere.

Forgetful Old Me.

2009-11-24T08:41:00.000-08:00

I was looking through some old entries and I realized that I didn't properly credit the folks who have made things for Dex.

The Owl in this entry is made by someone I met through swapmamas. Her Etsy shop is magnificent.

In the Halloween entry, Dexter's mini cricket bat was made by my uncle Clay, and although there's nothing posted on his Etsy shop, he posts things from time to time on his blog. They are more than worth what you'd pay for them. It's good stuff.

And if Dex ever likes wearing jewelry, I'm sure we will be buying a ton from my Aunt.

In 2 days he will be 14 months.

2009-11-22T15:40:00.000-08:00

It's hard to tell, but look at his arms and you can see just how much he's grown. When we moved in a little over a month ago, his 18 month sized sleeper pjs were too long, and now they're just a little roomy in the ankles. He has the appetite of a monster, and today he kept stealing Fox's food from his tray. I'm afraid we'll have to take out a second mortgage on the house when he's a teenager, just to feed him. I'll also apologize for the crappy quality of the second picture. As soon as he sees the camera he squints his eyes because of the flash. I have to sneak around him and pick through lots of pictures with his eyes closed.

Hello everyone, my name is Dexter.

2009-11-16T20:46:00.000-08:00

I thoroughly enjoy a good milk.

You have to find me if I'm being quiet.

I'm getting pretty good at climbing EVERYTHING.

TV is my favorite.

I'm adept at blowing bubbles.

and I love to chew things.

Crying from the both of us.

2009-11-09T20:16:00.000-08:00

I don't know if you folks out there in the internet have noticed, but I've been really slacking with this thing. Part of it was being without a computer for nigh on a week. Part of it is because we're trying to get everything settled at our new house. The biggest part of it is because Dex has decided to boycott sleep. I have racked my brain trying to figure out what could possibly be wrong. He has no molars to speak of yet, he's not sick (although he's been coughing a little more recently), he sleeps like a rock during the day.

Tonight I finally just gave up and stopped rocking him and just let him cry it out. It was the hardest thing so far (which I guess is a blessing in and of itself). I cried when he screamed, but I think I cried harder when he finally gave in and fell asleep. I am an alright parent and I do know what I'm doing I guess. :)

Here are some pictures to counteract the crappiness of tonight:

Not in pain, just sneezing. :)
Dex and his roommate and buddy: Lucy
TV is seriously this kid's best friend.
Look how long he's getting!

Halloween!

2009-11-04T01:33:00.000-08:00

Dex was Shaun from Shaun of the Dead this year (on account of Dex's striking similarities to the actor). His dad and i were zombies. I think I've sort of unofficially decided that next year I'm going to try and manage some sort of Young Ones costume. Maybe Vyvyan.

a nice little bunch to make amends for my recent slacking

2009-10-17T22:35:00.000-07:00

Bean and the Bean.

2009-10-05T11:28:00.000-07:00

Partying Hearty.

2009-09-28T21:43:00.000-07:00

So, long story short, I felt all kinds of warm fuzzies at the turnout to Dex's first birthday party. Thank you all for coming by! Dexter appreciates it! (he shows his appreciation by chewing/drooling on presents) I made a ton of treat bags that I didn't get to give to half the kids because they left early (it was like a g-d Hobbit birthday party with how much stuff I put in those bags!) and Dex fell and got a huge, red, spotty bruise on his forehead. BUT YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE??? HE'S DONE WITH THE HELMET! :D

Now onto what you all came here for, the pictures:

Dexter for President!

2009-09-21T23:09:00.000-07:00

i found my camera!!!

2009-09-16T20:06:00.000-07:00

buh. :(

2009-09-13T13:17:00.000-07:00

Pray for me if you pray. I can't find my camera. :( :(

Grauntie Julie

2009-09-08T10:48:00.000-07:00

Gramps

2009-09-05T18:11:00.000-07:00

War wounds from the new house:

2009-09-03T23:07:00.000-07:00

Looks like Ash Wednesday or something. :)

LOOK AT ALL THAT HAIR! :)

bike rides

2009-08-31T23:19:00.000-07:00

Climbing like a monkey

2009-08-29T10:21:00.001-07:00

photos compliments of Linda.

11 Months today!

2009-08-24T21:02:00.000-07:00

HEY GUESS WHAT???

2009-08-23T18:52:00.000-07:00

DEX TOOK 4 STEPS TODAY!

QTs

2009-08-10T21:31:00.001-07:00

Ok, I know this is Dex's blog, but I can't get over how cute Fox sounds when he says "Cheese!"

Here's one of Dex and Daddy from back in May:

and here's a new one of him with his DOC band on, giggling at me and trying to take the camera:

Dexter loves hooters.

2009-08-09T08:13:00.000-07:00

Visitors (Of the Lili and Fox variety)

2009-08-05T20:22:00.000-07:00

With and Without

2009-08-03T22:41:00.000-07:00

He has his daddy's eyes.

Just hangin with Cat.

2009-07-31T13:22:00.001-07:00

oh my what have we done...

2009-07-27T19:33:00.000-07:00

Right now we're experimenting with different ways to weigh the thing down. He's not 100% sturdy enough on his feet yet so he puts all his weight on the bar and the front of the wagon goes flying up.

He stood up unassisted for close to an entire minute earlier today. Pretty soon I will be posting blurry pictures of my son (My 10 Month Old!) walking. Help. :)

I know why the caged baby sings

2009-07-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

What's Up, DOC?

2009-07-23T16:32:00.000-07:00

Dexter got his DOC band on Wednesday. So far he is at odds with it, especially when we put it on him. I'm giving it two weeks and if his sleep gets really screwed up or if his skin starts reacting it's over and done with.

I know I've been lax in the pictures lately, so here are a bunch to tide you over because I lost my battery charger for my camera (AGAIN. UG.)

ALSO... There are lots of new folks checking this out. I'm going to reopen the option for anonymous comments. Leave some.

now on with the pictures:

*the last one is from October of last year. The one before it was taken today, in the same exact carseat. He's growing so fast.*

Happy Birthday, Fox!

2009-07-14T09:49:00.000-07:00

Even strangers notice it!

2009-07-11T07:14:00.000-07:00

I posted the "D:" picture of Dexter here. Someone responded "I'm not finding the proper expression of panic, but that baby totally looks like Simon Pegg."

Then, someone responded to that with this:

No way this is my kid.

2009-07-09T12:01:00.000-07:00

Uncle Jimmy

2009-07-05T14:28:00.001-07:00

Busy weekend

2009-06-29T19:47:00.001-07:00

Fun in Laundry Baskets, etc.

2009-06-24T08:01:00.000-07:00