Random Musings...

Time for some random musings, as I'm sure everyone is anxious for... - Teenagers are moody, obstinate and vague. Most every teenager I know is this way: Cameron, Amber, most of the youth at church... - Haley acts like a teenager, and she's five. - I pulled something in my back that's not supposed to be pulled. I was scrubbing old glue off our bathroom floor (we pulled up the linoleum) on Friday and could hardly move until Tuesday. Kelsee says it happened because I was so unfeeling and demanding when she went through all her back troubles. She was joking. I think. - The doctor prescribed a muscle relaxer (Flexeril) and prescription strength Ibuprofen. Now, let me just say that I can take one Ibuprofen and stem an awful headache; a small amount of medicine reacts powerfully on me. Anyway, I took one of each on Monday night before bed, and then one more of each on Tuesday morning. Apparently Flexeril relaxes ALL the muscles, including the tongue and lips. On my way to work, I feel asleep behind the wheel while waiting the 10 seconds it took for a bus to cross train tracks. The guy behind me tested his horn. It worked. By mid-morning, my speech sounded like this: "Hmm per mphr mmorph rubur flurwd!" That phrase can be interpreted as: "I've fallen and I can't get up!" In addition, I learned that the brain is a muscle and that eyelids in the relaxed state are closed. Both refused to work by lunch. So now I can not only empathize with Kelsee, but I can empathize with anyone who's ever been in a coma. - We are destined never to finish a house project. I thought it was just me and Kelsee, but apparently not. Cameron has lost his painting momentum, too. My goal is to finish all the painting of his room and have him sleeping in there by the end of his spring break (the first weekend in April). Of course my initial goal was several weeks ago, and every weekend since then. If there was really such a thing as a parallel universe, ours would include us actually completing a project. - Speaking of parallel universes, Haley has me playing barbies with her now. It's OK. I'm secure in my manhood. I will keep telling myself that. - Speaking of manhood, I like the newer Hollywood version of "Pride & Prejudice" better than the BBC miniseries version, though I'm glad I watched the latter. Filled in a few holes. Dare I say that the former might be one of my top ten movies, which includes, in no particular order: From Russia, With Love Casino Royale (2006) LOTR trilogy (consider it an epic miniseries) A Few Good Men Glory National Treasure Pride & Prejudice (2005) Dead Poets Society Cool Runnings Miracle The Mummy (1999) OK, that's 11, but who's counting? And only one "chick flick". I'm still good.

Wow. All I Can Say is Wow.

Just saw this video on youtube. For anyone who remembers "We Are the World", you MUST watch this. Wow.

Trip down memory lane

The house remodeling/renovation is really overwhelming me this week so I was looking at old pictures to make myself feel better. We really have come a long way. Maybe that knowledge will re-energize me. The main level bathroom before, during and just after renovation in late 2005/early 2006 (I couldn't resist adding pictures of Haley - she was so little then!):

While I love grey and black and white - this tile was actually PLASTIC. We were just going to replace it with white tile and replace the flooring but once we got the tile off you can see that we had much more than mere cosmetic problems.

We ended up having to replace walls and the ceiling, we tore out an incredibly overbuilt linen closet and added that space to our room, added beadboard and moldings to the walls, retiled the shower enclosure up to the ceiling, added a new pedestal sink, tiled the floor, tore out the mirrored medicene cabinet and light fixtures, added new outlets, added an exhaust fan, replaced the faucets (and all other hardware) and painted. The only things that ended up being saved were the tub, toilet and window trim. What a huge project!!

My camera is at my MIL's but I'll take more "after" pictures when it returns. These "after"s don't really show anything.

Some of our favorite people -

February was a wonderful month! My adorable sister got married to a great guy, my amazing Grandpa and Grandma Hobbs came to visit for two whole weeks and we took a trip with Jason's mom to visit his sweet Grandma for a long weekend. Jason already posted a picture or two of Haley at the wedding so I'll post some of Haley with her adorable great-grandparents.

Grandpa and Grandma Hobbs with Haley

Grandma Hensley with Haley

Now if only we could see Grandma Purdy. We have to work on that next.

Haley loves that she has so many grandparents. She'll tell you that she's the lucky one. I completely agree!

The great (never-ending) home remodel

Will someone please remind me not to buy a fixer-upper again? When I start talking about how cute and charming it is, stage an intervention.

We are making progress. It's slow progress. The basement is almost finished, thanks to the professionals that actually know what they are doing. We should be painting tomorrow. On the finished side we will have a bedroom (for Cameron) and a playroom (couch, toys, TV) for the kiddos (I'm sure Cam will love the name of that room). The other side will remain unfinished with a large storage area and a laundry room.

When we bought the house, it was sold with a partially finished basement. That was kind of a joke. Paneling (even on the ceiling), one yucky light fixture and nasty old carpet was the "finish". To make it more liveable while we worked on other parts of the house we pulled up the old carpet and replaced it with new Berber. Eventually we painted the walls and added a fun new track light fixture. Then the basement flooded. Up came the carpet and out went the furniture (two stories up).

Here are some pictures early in the life of the basement:

Here it is with the demolition complete:

And here it is with the bedroom framed and drywall up with the first mudding completed.

I can't wait to post the "after" pictures!

A townhome?

Haley was building with her Legos yesterday. A friend of mine saw it and told her what a great castle it was. Haley quickly corrected her and said that it was not a castle, it was a house. Two houses actually. Collected to each other. LOL!

Humor

Haley told me the other day while we were reading a book that one of the people in the book was quite a character. As is she. And these folks:

About a boy

We're excited to announce the arrival of a new child in our home - A boy named Cameron. He weighed almost 10 pounds and was born (almost) 15 year ago. Our nephew has moved in with us. He arrived Saturday. We're all adjusting. And the builders are building. We're hoping he'll be in his new room within a week. I didn't even cry when he started school this morning. It's the homework help that I'm pretty sure will make me cry. Stay tuned for adventures in Cameron-ing.

Haley-ism

Haley, our five-year-old astronomer, continues to impress. Today, Kelsee was going to read Haley the book "The Reasons for the Seasons", a children's book that talks about seasons (duh). After finishing the first page, which briefly explains the Sun's role in our seasons, Haley says, "By my calculations, the Earth is cold while the Sun is hot." Very astute, my little wise one. ------ On another note, Coach Tyndall, MSU's basketball coach, was just named OVC Coach of the Year. What an honor in only his second season! I feel like he has already reinstilled a pride in our basketball program that has been missing for a long time. This year's team was a pleasure to watch. We can't wait to see what next year brings! Thanks, Coach! Keep up the good work.

On a serious note

I just realized that we never really updated after meeting with the neuropsychologist. *sigh* I might have a different update next week after Haley sees her Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrician for a follow-up but for now, this is what we know. Haley's medical condition has caused some developmental delays and concerns all along. She has non-progressive brain damage. We've felt very much on top of things and have been blessed to have great medical and therapeutic care for her. She's doing great. She's smart and funny and loving and compliant. Sometimes. In some ways. In some things. She also has a lot of difficulties - anxiety, poor attention skills, very poor coping skills, explosive outbursts, etc. Lately we've had trouble knowing how to help her. We knew she had Sensory Processing Disorder and we expected she would have balance and coordination issues due to her brain malformation but that didn't seem to cover the things we've been worried about. Turns out, she has Nonverbal Learning Disorder. She's very young for an "official" diagnosis (most children are diagnosed many years older than she is currently) but she fits the profile and even has most of the secondary attributes. NLD (also called NVLD) fits closely with pervasive developmental disorders. It has life-long implications. It is similar to Asperger Syndrome. NLD generally includes problems with the following skills: •motoric - lack of coordination, balance problems, and difficulties with graphomotor skills •visual-spatial-organizational - lack of image, poor visual recall, faulty spatial perceptions, problems with spatial relations and difficulties with executive function (neuropsychological functions including, but not limited to, decision making, planning, initiative, assigning priority, sequencing, motor control, emotional regulation, inhibition, problem solving, planning, impulse control, establishing goals, monitoring results of action and self-correcting) •social - lack of ability to comprehend nonverbal communication, difficulties adjusting to transitions and novel situations, and deficits in social judgment and social interaction •sensory - sensitivity in any of the sensory modes: visual, auditory, tactile, taste or olfactory NLD also has some typical assets - excellent rote memory skills, superior verbal abilities/vocabulary, high overall intelligence (but a large discrepancy between verbal IQ and performance IQ) and strong auditory abilities. What does this mean for Haley? Truthfully, we have no idea! But we expect that she'll continue to delight us and exasperate us. We're excited to see what the future brings for her and for us. Stay tuned!

Curious Georgia

If you don't want to read even more about our obsession, errr, child, then please skip this blog... So, Haley has been curious pretty much since the day she was born. She's always asking questions about stuff - sometimes crazy stuff. She has an astounding memory and remembers seemingly everything she hears. I've been calling her Curious Georgia for years. The other day we asked her what she learned in Primary class (children's church program). She said "everything". Not feeling like that was a good enough answer I asked if she learned about Jesus or Heavenly Father. "Sure" she replies. Feeling a bit frustrated by the poor communication, I decided to tease Haley a bit. I asked her if she learned about Super Novas, the differences between communism and socialism, etc. In response to every question we asked, our sassy lassie said "Yep!" and giggled. Then Jason asked if she learned about the hidden agenda of Karl Marx. Or possibly the hidden agenda of Groucho Marx. I piped in with a question about Richard Marx and soon the adults were laughing pretty hard. Haley just gave us her typical disgusted look. Tired of teasing her, we went on to discuss something else. A few minutes later Haley said, "Uh, by the way guys, what do all of those words mean anyway?" She was serious. Curious Georgia. Jason and I just might not be smart enough to raise this funny kid.

Just Like Robert Redford

So, let me set the stage. We're at the MSU game on Saturday. Haley's thirsty, so she and I head down to the concession stand. Zach (almost three) decides to tag along. No problem going down. However, heading back up the stairs with two drinks, a two year old, and a five year old with balance issues could be a problem. Haley has to hold on, so I carry the drinks, while Haley holds the railing and Zach's hand. Zach, who is much more steady on the stairs than Haley, is practically pulling Haley up the stairs. Haley, looking a little anxious, says, "Wow, Zachy. You are a natural at climbing the stairs." -------- The other day, Kory (or Uncle Stinky as Haley calls him) was coming over. He always wants to play around with the keyboard (musical, not computer). When Haley learns he's coming over, she says, "We need to hide the kapiano." Hularious (another Haley-ism).