Catching up after the storm

We're finally starting to calm down around here. Whew, it's been a busy recovery after the storm!

While we were still evacuated we found out that Mike has mono. He's slowly getting better - but it just takes time. He's weak, but has good days and bad days. Fortunately none of the rest of us got it!

We were able to come home on the evening of Wed the 17th. Mark and I brought Uncle Jimmy back with us, and Mike went and brought Precious back home. Fortunately we had only lost fence parts, and the house was basically ok.

Uncle Jimmy was excellent at keeping Mark entertained- they sure did hit it off! While they were busy I hurriedly put together the guest room. Uncle Jimmy stayed with us until this past Friday the 26th, when he was able to go home. His grandson came and picked him up to take him home to Galveston. Thank goodness the worst damage his house had was a screen door that needs replacing. We miss our houseguest though! Mark crawls over to the chair he sat in and keeps looking for him.

On a very sad note, we had to put our cat Precious down. She was 15.5 years old, and such a wonderful cat. She loved all of us, and was especially good with Mark (see the previous post about them). She had started to lose weight (last month she was 8 lbs, she'd been 9 in 2006). And we knew it was time to take her to the vet. Unfortunately, before we could do that the hurricane struck and we had to evacuate. We took her with us, and she had a safe place to be (at my sister's house, there were other cats there too, but she had her own space). Unfortunately that sped up what was ailing her. We were hoping she'd pick up when we got home Wed night. Thursday she seemed a tad better, but not really. I called Fri am (19th) and the vet was able to work us in that afternoon. When he weighed her, she was 4.5 lbs. He said she was in very bad shape, and that we could give her meds, but that it would be delaying the inevitable. Now, one reason we chose and use this vet is because he does what he can to save animals, doesn't like to put them down. So when he said that was probably the best option for Precious, we knew what we had to do. Fortunately she never really did suffer or hurt too bad. She lived a long and peaceful life, and we miss her dearly. Mike met Mark and I at the vet, and we got to spend a nice hour as a family for one last time. Mark doesn't totally understand, but more than once I've caught him crawling toward Precious's area looking for and calling out for his "gaht" and "geeehteeeee". It breaks my heart, but we all know that we did the right thing.

We had both sets of grandparents come visit us for a couple hours. Mike's parents came that weekend (Sat the 20th). They JUST got their electicity back this past Sat night (the 27th). We invited them down for a visit and to do laundry! They had a great time with Mark and watching college football with us. While they all stayed entertained I cleaned up the office/computer room. I had a lot to do, but it looks a lot better. Mark enjoyed visiting with his Grammy and Grandpa.

My parents came down on Monday the 22nd, which happened to be my 38th birthday. They brought a BBQ dinner and a cake! It was fun, and a nice celebration (not to mention yummy). We have a tradition where we make a lamb cake for family birthday parties. Mom made a lamb cake for me (which I appreciated a ton, I'd been planning on making my birthday cake so it was so sweet that she did it). Mark had a blast with Mamacita and Pappasito.


Mark turned 9 months on Thursday. His unofficial stats (his 9 month appointment isn't until a few days before his 10 month birthday!) are 18.8 lbs and 28 inches. He didn't gain a ton of weight this past month, but spent more time growing taller. There is a marked difference in how tall he is this month vs last month. He's outgrown many of his six month clothes. Right now the 9 month and 9 to 12 month clothes fit him best. He's so cute with the 4 top and 2 bottom teeth sticking out prominantly. And he's drooling and teething pretty hard- I have a feeling (and can see) a few more are going to be popping out soon. He's cruising while holding on to tables, chairs, sofas, anything he can. And a couple times he's even stood on his own (before realizing what he's doing and dropping to the ground).




Saturday (the 27th) we went to cousin Ryan's birthday party. It was a construction theme, and Mark had a fantastic time. He loved being with all the big kids and did his best to get right in there with them.



Anyway, that's what's been going on around here! We're ready to get back to a semi normal life. Slowly but surely it's happening.

We are still here

We're still here, and thank goodness for generators. We were very fortunate enough to be in a place that has them. The main room's a/c isnt working that well, but both bedrooms are, so my great uncle is doing fine, as are Mike, Mark and I.

A cold front came through last night (little guy did not sleep well at all). So we have one of the balcony doors open and it's making it quite nice here in the main living room. Cable went out, but we still have internet.

It looks like for our nighborhood it's mostly fences down and some roof damage. We're allowed to return back starting Monday, but they say expect no power for about two weeks. Mike may go down there tomorrow to check it out.

My great uncle's house appears to be ok, there is a ton of water in his street but he is high enough on a hill that the house itself is ok. We're not 100% sure, but that is the report we are getting from his friends. His lady friend has 4 feet of water in her condo, so it's not so lucky for her.

Mark has been enjoying his cousins. He is called "Baby Mark" when they are all around. He has had fun watching them, sometimes trying to catch up with them.

Overall, we are very thankful and lucky to be where we are right now. We're glad Mark is doing ok with his first hurricane!

Evacuation

Mark is getting to participate in his first hurricane evacuation. We're not mandatory yet, but we are voluntary. Mark and Mommy actually left on Wed because we went to go pick up great uncle (that's great-great-uncle to Mark!) Jimmy who lives in Galveston. This was the first time that Mark met Uncle Jimmy (he's 92) and the two of them are so cute together! Mark just gave him the biggest smile when he met him, and the returning smile was just as big. They are having a great time together.

We went to stay near the rest of the cousins, and two of them are over playing right now. I'm sure the others will be later too. We're in a very nice suite, so there is tons of room for everyone if the electricity goes out! We are supposed to have a back up generator here, so hopefully we'll be all ok!

I am sure we'll be taking lots of pictures and adding them. For now, I'm off to get him up - he's a bit off schedule because of teething plus being in a different environment. This is the first time he's been away from home without Mommy AND Daddy since we left Indiana. He seems to sleep better when both Mommy and Daddy are around. Daddy is probably going to join us tonight -so hopefully he'll sleep better.

And I'm eager to see how many more teeth popped up.

teeth, teeth, and more teeth

Our poor little guy has been miserable off and on for the past week and a half. He has his good and bad moments, and what extremes. When he's happy he's his usual sunny self, but when the teeth hurt- poor baby! It hurts Mommy to hear him crying in pain when nothing works.

He's had his bottom two teeth for a while now (he usually hides them in pictures, but you can see here), and cutting the top ones for a bit of time. Well, two top teeth broke through yesterday (one of the front ones, one is missing, and then the one next to the gap). He's got 4 more that are going to pop ANY second now. (the second top front one, the one on the other side of the top one that is out, and the one on either side of his two bottom ones).

Teething tablets (and now a teething necklace) are helping, but we've had to do the q-tip orajel a few times too. Frozen mango, frozen washcloths, and lots of snuggle time with Mommy.

Oh, and he learned how to click his teeth. To me it sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard. But to him- it's funny! A new and unusual sound and feeling.

Our baby is getting to be so big!

Playgroup

We are in a fantastic playgroup. It started on www.meetup.com. After we'd been home about a month and were settling in I was looking for a playgroup for kids his age in the area. I found several, but most were geared toward older or more mobile kids. So, I started an Itty Bitty playgroup.

We have 24 mommies and little ones in our playgroup now, and have so much fun! Yesterday we went to a special playdate, it was a Fisher Price party. One of the girls in our group, Sarah, was picked by www.HouseParty.com to host it. The kids got to test out four new Fisher Price toys, and they had a blast. I don't think you need a referral to sign up for House Party, but if anyone wants an invite let me know and I'll send you one.

The four toys we got introduced to were the Laugh & Learn Fun With Friends Musical Table, Laugh & Learn Smart Bounce and Spin Pony, Go Baby Go, Crawl and Cruise Musical Jungle, and the Amazing Animals Spinnin Around Musical Zoo.


Mark had a great time playing with all of the toys. And he loved playing with his friends from playgroup. What a great way for Fisher Price to introduce the toys (and the lucky hosts got to keep all the toys.) They even provided a goodie bag and Mark got a Brilliant Basics Poppity Pop Dump Truck.


Here are some pictures of Mark with his playgroup recently:

First Concert

Mark went to his first major concert last night at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion.

It was going to be a Mommies/Girls Night out, but Mr. Mark tagged along with one of the extra tickets we had. He LOVES spending time with Anita too, and we all had a great time.

One thing we learned- he likes the Counting Crows better than Maroon 5.

When we first got there we got earplugs for Mark and put them in his ears. We then went to eat at the VIP club. We figured we'd let him get used to the ear plugs during dinner. We sat outside on the patio and listened to the first act, Agustana, while eating dinner.

We went and found our seats while the Counting Crows were on. Mark had a blast, bouncing around, smiling and clapping. He loved the music and the lights, and especially people watching.

At the end of the break between Counting Crows and Maroon 5 Mark and I took off in search of a changing station. Fun. They just don't have a lot of them around there, but we found one.

Then, we went back to our seats for the Maroon 5 portion. Mark liked the lights and people watching during that part of the concert. We could tell it was getting too loud, so we went back to the VIP club (air conditioning section this time) and watched the rest of the concert on the big screen tvs in there.

When they were starting to wrap up we went ahead and left. Mark slept the whole way home. He took a bottle, played with Daddy for about half an hour, and then went to bed for the night.

He woke up happy this morning- I think he had a great time.

It's too bad my camera didn't have a phone- it would have been cute to show him at his first concert. But his ticket is going in the baby book (oh, and he didn't need a ticket, we just had an extra one so we let him give it to the ticket taker, etc).

Picture time!

My sister Holly took some pictures for us today. Here are just a few, we just had to share ;)