(Sam makes the BEST faces!)It's a new year, 2011, and I've not started on the best note, blog-wise. T5 continues to have an abundance of 'stuff' going on. In no particular order, here's a 'hodge podge' (Ron loves when i use that phrase) of UPDATES and whatnot...
Our Christmas Holiday was wonderful, spent together at home with our family, Ron's mom and my dad. Every year I feel like there's entirely too many presents for the kids, but by about now, mid to late January, I feel like it's all fine and the kids now have just more stuff to play with. We've been making purposeful use of The Playroom lately, keeping the t.v. off and letting the boys either duke it out or play nice together in there. Thom, especially, lately comes up to me and says "Mommy - Playroom?" Sure Thom!New Year's Eve was spent nice and quiet at home with our friend Natalie. We all managed to stay awake til at least midnight, but not much later. I happen to think that all the shows on the main networks are crap for New Year's eve. I think we might have enjoyed a movie up until watching the ball drop, because, well, that's just what you do on New Year's Eve! Maybe in a few years, when the boys are older, i'll come up with a wacky tradition to ring in the new year. Anyone out there got one they'd love to share?
Sam and Thom have grown quite close in the past few months; Thom's vocabulary and social skills are improving almost hourly, it's so crazy. He talks more and more and is proving to be quite a little comic. I love watching his creative, independent side emerge. Of course, with that 'flowering' comes a belligerence that every parent knows all too well. I get a lot more "no"s than I used to, along with more 'flopping to the ground like screaming jelly' when he doesn't want to do something (usually coming home from daycare). The flip side to all this, of course, is that Thom is a complete and total lovey. He says "hi" or "bye" (in the correct context) to everyone he passes and often showers his caregivers and peers with hugs and kisses. Quite often i find him trying to console Henry if he's crying by bringing him a rattle and leaning in for "huggies... huggies." Just awesome.
Samson seems to enjoy school and often comes home with a "Super Kid" reward for being good during the day (following directions, participating, etc.). Despite that, Sam's tried telling us, with a lot of huffing and scowling, that 'school is dumb, i hate school.' Perplexed at where this was coming from, i think i finally narrowed it down: Sam doesn't like *GETTING READY* for school. He only really says this in the morning, when he's cozy in his pjs and watching one of his favorite PBS shows. I explained to him the other day, on his level, that even Mommy doesn't really like getting ready for work, but once she's there, it's cool (yo). He seemed to like that. I think Sam is doing quite well with his reading, sounding out words and learning "sight" words, such as 'the' and 'little' and 'there.' By the end of the year, he should be reading simple books to me. I find it all very exciting. We read together often and it thrills me when he proactively sounds out words that are new to him.
Henry, our sweet little lovey, continues to be quite well. His cardiologist has extended visits to 8 weeks apart, and recently took away one of his two daily doses of furosemide! This is the medicine that many heart patients are on, used to reduce fluid retention. I'm quite sure that Hank got The Bug that Ron, Sam and I got (but not
Thom!) a couple times in the span of about 14 days. Because of Henry's nissen, which prohibits him from vomiting or refluxing, we weren't sure if the increased wretching was The Bug or not. In the end, i think it was; he just wasn't himself. But just like with the rest of us, it lasted about 2 days and he was pretty much back on track. During that time, we decreased his feeds and he slept a lot. ~ ~ Henry is going to be ONE YEAR OLD in one week. It's just amazing to think where we've been and where we're at now with him. Those first weeks of his 
life are not a blur to me, even though it seems like it happened longer than a year ago. He's gotten bigger and stronger and he's not a little BABY anymore. We love him to pieces! The only plan we've got with Henry, health-wise, is his cleft palate surgery sometime in the next couple of months. Along with that, hopefully in the same surgery, will be his second refined lip surgery. All of this will conclude facial reconstruction until he's about 10, when Dr. Girotto will remove some hip bone to close up the gaps in his jaws from the cleft. But that seems like EONS from now. The cleft surgery will once again happen in Rochester, where i am beyond thrilled with Dr. Girotto.
Ron and i are quite enjoying being new members of our Unitarian Universalist church; I actually really look forward to Sundays nowadays. Even Sam gets into picking out a cool outfit. The group of folks are just so nice, there's lots of families with kids and it's been a lot of fun getting to know everyone. In a couple weeks, we are having a Lasagna Fest, where everyone signs up to bring a component of making lasagnas. We're all gonna meet at 3pm to start making them, eat some of 5, (freeze the rest for future use, to help out members in times of need (new baby, family death)) and have game night. The kids are also going to decorate cupcakes for Valentine's Day. I think it sounds awesome and really fun! Also, i've joined a group of women from the congregation, in forming a smaller ministry to meet on our own time, to discuss a variety of themes, such as Gratitude, Acceptance, Creativity and the like. We'll be meeting twice a month. I think it's just another step in making new friends and I'm really excited!
Otherwise, A Day in Our Life goes something like this: Ron and/or I go to work (never together, we tag-team for Henry's care), Sam goes to school and Thom goes to daycare. Sam's home by 3, Thom by 6, and somewhere, somehow, in between all that running around, we 
manage to get dishes and clothes clean. I'm always REALLY EXCITED when we are able to put an "x" in one of the boxes of the many, many things listed on the ongoing To Do list. Today was one of those days: "Get the snowblower up and running." Ron took it in to get fixed, and now she's good to go; Sam is enthralled with watching Ron run it. Next to get crossed off (tomorrow?): "Seal windows in living room with plastic." There's some serious draft air blowin in. Ugh. ~ ~ It's also fun and nice when Ron and i get out for Date Night. We aim for once a week, but manage once a month. Ahhhhh...Here's to a year full of wonder, learning, laughter and good health! And more awesome pictures!
