Tagged

My fellow blogging friend Lisa tagged me as a "True Authentic Mom" - Thank you Lisa!
I've been tagged for a couple of things once or twice before, but I've never actually done it, so I'm going to really try this time, because I really love being a mother, and I think that this will give me an opportunity to talk about why.
So I'm supposed to list 5 things that make me a true authentic mum, and then tag 5 people to do the same.

So...in no particular order...

1. Several times a day at random moments I am overcome by the urge to smother at least one of my children with kisses! I can't help myself! They are just too cute! One day they won't let me do it any more, and I will be so sad, but for now they think it's hilarious, and I get to kiss those adorable cheeks and tummies!

2. I find it almost impossible to not talk about my children, even when the person I'm talking to might not be interested...!

3. I worry. We always used to make fun of my mother for worrying about us too much, but now I understand :)

4. I always thought I would have maybe 3 or 4 children, but now that I have two sweet children, there is a big part of me that would LOVE to have 6 or 7 :) I just love motherhood. I love how my heart and my capacity to love seem to grow with each child. I love how I want to be a better person for the sake of my children. I love how challenging and rewarding it is, and how I am always having to learn and grow myself as I figure out how to be the kind of mother my children need. I love watching my children learn new things. I love how my heart just melts whenever they are sweet and kind to one another. I could go on and on and on....

5. I can sleep through wind, rain and thunder, but one little whimper from Avery or Brogan and my eyes are wide open.

Before I tag anyone else, I just thought I'd mention a couple of things I admire about Lisa as a mother, since she was the one who tagged me.
1. She has a talent for finding joy in everyday things, and takes the time to instill that talent in her children.
2. She encourages her children to figure out what it is that they love.
3. She absolutely adores her girls.
4. She makes her home a beautiful place, as well as a place where creativity and imagination can run rampant! (Just take a look at the girls' bedrooms!!) Every picture I see just makes me think that her home would be such a happy place to grow up!
5. She is organised. That is something I aspire to, not only for myself, but I also think that I would be doing a better job raising my children if I could just be a little more organised!!

Now! I tag:
Sarah
Helen
Alli
Katy
Stefani

I won't be even slightly offended if you don't want to do it - as I said, I normally don't do these things myself :)

Owen and Avery

Yesterday Avery and I had the wonderful opportunity of meeting Owen and his mom Michelle!
Michelle created and runs this wonderful website. I had visited her website and read a lot about Owen, and Michelle had read some of my blog too, but it wasn't until a few months ago that we realised that we lived in the same area! Then yesterday Avery had a morning appointment with her physiatrist in Christiansburg, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to get together and introduce our little ones to each other in person!

On the drive down to the doctor's office Avery and I were talking about Owen, and she got quite excited about meeting him! She had a bit of a headache before we left the house, and she was telling me that her shunt hurt (which is what she says sometimes when her head hurts, and I hate it because it always gets me nervous!!!), and I told her that we were going to meet another little boy with a shunt just like hers! She got quite excited about that, and wanted to know if his shunt was going to be gray like hers...!! (This morning I was asking Gabe if he told her it was gray, because I think it's actually white, and Gabe says that she probably thinks it's gray because it looks sort of gray in the picture she's seen.)

Avery thought Owen was super cute! A few minutes after we arrived, we left for just a moment to get some hot chocolate and a snack, and Avery couldn't wait to get back to "Baby Owen"!! She kept on talking about how cute he was :) And she was right - Owen is adorable! He just makes you fall in love with him the minute you see him :)

Although it might look like Owen's got his hand in Avery's mouth here, that's not the case! He's doing a happy dance :) I think he liked Avery too :)

Another thing they had in common besides their hydrocephalus was their fascination with the giant Christmas tree at the mall!

For me, it was just as wonderful to meet Michelle as it was to meet sweet Owen! While Avery and Owen have had different experiences with their hydrocephalus, and both have different additional diagnoses, there is something comforting being with someone who can completely understand and relate to the joys and challenges of raising a disabled child. Both these amazing children began fighting before birth with congenital hydrocephalus, and while they have experienced different setbacks and challenges since coming into this world, they have both come so far and acheived so much.
It was a joy to meet Michelle and Owen. It was exciting for me to meet Owen especially at this time when he's at the beginning of a period of developmental leaps and bounds, and I can't wait to see what he's doing next time we see him! He had surgery just over two weeks ago to reduce the size of his skull, and they started seeing vast improvements in his physical development even from the first day after the surgery! I'm excited about this, and I've only just met him, so I can only imagine how proud and excited his parents must be!!!
Please, if you haven't already visited FetalHydrocephalus.com, take a moment to stop by and read about Owen. He really is one amazing little boy!

Hiding

This morning I left the children in the playroom and went to the bathroom.
When I came out, the children were nowhere to be found...
I looked in every room upstairs, and then I heard whispering coming from the linen cupboard...

Rainy Day Picnic

Both our children seem to love the space in between the curtains in our bedroom...

I would say this is strange, but I do remember finding places like this quite magical when I was little....

The other morning Brogan was following Avery around the house and they both ended up here!
Apparently it was time for a picnic, and this was the perfect place for a picnic on a rainy morning.

I love moments like this when my children are perfectly content to sit, play and share together.

Jumping and Sliding

We've been having some lovely warm days here in Roanoke recently, so we've been taking advantage of it while we can!

I like how Brogan laughs when Avery falls down, and then how he falls down too. He really does love his sister and wants to be just like her. It's very cute :)

Brogan is just figuring out how to go down the slide by himself, and is quite proud of himself for it! He still sometimes gets himself stuck in positions that my body can't even get into...one foot at the top of the slide and one at the bottom...but he's getting better and better at doing it! Avery is of course a pro, and likes being able to show Brogan how to do things he can't do.

Singing

I've decided that maybe this will be a video week for our blog.

I've been trying for a long time to get a good video of Avery singing.
This is actually quite the task, since most of the time she will not sing on demand, and she certainly will not sing if there's a camera anywhere near! So I had to be sneaky to get even the little snippet you're about to watch!

First off, a few reasons why I love this video clip:

• That high pitched little voice she does is adorable, and is the voice she uses when she's having pretend conversations with her toys, or for any imaginary play. So cute!
• The way she stops as soon as she spots me in my hiding place with my camera...
• The way she looks behind her just in case there's any chance I was videoing somebody else!
• The way she continues to mouth the words but won't sing out loud anymore.
  
• Her hands.
• Her hat. She sometimes rediscovers an old toy or hat or something, and she wore this hat all day for 3 days.
  

A while ago I watched a really interesting show on PBS called The Music Instinct: Science and Song. One of the things I found most interesting was a small segment where they talked about a link between the corpus callosum and musical ability. They have found that in general, the most talented of musicians tend to have rather enlarged corpus callosums. This is particularly interesting to me because, as part of Avery's hydrocephalus, she has what's called hypogenesis of the corpus callosum. Meaning that it's only really partially formed. So it makes me wonder whether it goes to follow that she will not be the most talented musician. It also makes me wonder whether some kind of music therapy would be beneficial to stimulate that damaged part of her brain...an interesting thought....

Copy Cat

Anything you can do I can do better...



...or at least cuter!!

(no offense Gabe.....!)