Pa John is here!

Big day today... all of the Greenmans had a bath this morning.  I know.  That's big.  Really big.  Why all the scrub-a-dubbing?  We had some family photos taken.  I can't wait to see the results!  Here is a shot of Charlie after his bath:

Pa John arrived this afternoon and spent the better part of the day canoodling with Charlie.  They had lots of catching up to do!

Walker, once again in the beloved sand box after a long nap:

And a snapshot of Charlie receiving his nightly dose of sleeping juice:

We've got a busy week ahead of us.  Charlie will be seeing his chiropractor again as well as a cranio-sacral therapist.  We also have another appointment with Early Childhood Intervention.  A team of therapists were here last week to do a comprehensive "intake" of Charlie's current developmental status.  They have three categories that they score: physical, adaptive and cognitive.  Not surprisingly, Charlie was assessed at one month old physically.  This status was based on his inability to do certain things that a two month old "should" be able to do like hold his head up, etc.  Adaptively, he is right on target at two months.  Cognitively, they place Charlie at five months!  They said that this placement was due to his ability to communicate facially and through his wide variety of vocal sounds.  All of this assessing doesn't mean a lot right now, its more of a jumping off point.  So, onward and upward!

Lazy Day

Lazy day at the Greenman house.  Walker spent some time lulling around on the floor playing with his toy car.  I snapped a few sweet shots - again, the naked bottom is for our morning potty routine.  I'm sure he'll wear pants again someday.  Someday.

Walker was doing some impressive dive rolls.  I tried to catch one on film, but was unsuccessful.  I think you can see a little piece of his foot in the lower right hand corner of the photo below.  He's a quick one!

 Jack headed off to see some of his graduate students in the Dallas Theater Center's production of Henry IV.  While he was gone, this little guy slept and I did some baking!  Pa John is arriving in Dallas tomorrow and I wanted to have some proper scones and cookies on hand. 

Pediatricians and Paint Strokes

Walker spent the morning engulfed in artistic pursuits.  I prepped three canvasses by spray painting them yellow.  He did the rest.  Walker is now coordinated enough to pour his own paints.  Big boy!

Here are the final products:

And of course, here is the dreamy Mr. Charlie Baird enjoying 

a snooze before his chiropractic appointment this afternoon.

 

Charlie Update:

Its been a big week for Charlie.  We had two chiropractic appointments, a meeting with our ECI therapist, a spinal ultrasound and our two-month check up with Charlie's pediatrician.  Overall, he is doing very well and learning all sorts of new things.  He is beginning to suck on his thumb and is easily gripping hold of fabric (or mommy's hair) with BOTH hands, which is very promising.  Charlie is still packing on the pounds - he is now 12 pounds 5 ounces and almost 24 inches long.  His head circumference is small due to the craniofuse, but still growing.  Again, great news.  Because of his larger size and increased coordination, Charlie is having a much easier time taking his daily medications.  We've gone almost two weeks without a major gagging, choking scene!  

The new information this week was gleaned from Charlie's spinal ultrasound, which revealed that Charlie has a tethered spinal cord.  The spinal cord normally hangs loose in the canal, free to move up and down with growth and bending and stretching. A tethered cord is held taut at the end. In children, this condition can cause the spinal cord to stretch as they grow and can lead to progressive spinal cord damage if left untreated.  We're not sure what this means for Charlie.  We'll have to see yet another specialist who will take some more pictures and we''ll decide what needs to be done.  He may require a kind of micro surgery where they snip the attached portion of the spinal cord so that it can float free in the spinal column.  Again, we'll know more later.  

Our pediatrician has suggested that, given this new finding with the tethered spinal cord, we follow up with our Geneticist to see if Charlie's many odd organ and structural abnormalities aren't part of some larger syndrome.  Our chromosome labs all came back negative, but it seems unlikely that these issues are unrelated.  It seems like every time we pick up one of Charlie's rocks, we find more worms!  We're taking every day and every doctor appointment in stride.  Charlie's bright light continues to shine through, reminding us all to seize the day and love each other unabashedly. 

Sweatshirt Weather

The Greenman family spent the whole morning sitting, eating and playing on the back patio today.  The weather was cool and the skies were clear and a good time was had by all.  Here are a few shots of Grandpa John and Charlie making googly eyes at each other. 

Of course, I had to snap a few of Charlie Fighting Bear:

I enjoy some coffee and banana bread while the guys play in the yard.

The sand box continues to be a favorite spot in the back yard!

Click the arrow to see the video:

Guess who's TWO months old?

Happy two months to baby Charlie!  The weather is glorious and we're sporting a new shirt.  What more could we ask for?  And a new milestone has been hit this week: Charlie has begun to smile!  We're so thrilled to see his beautiful grin.  We hope you like it too!

Here's a quick video of the little guy trying to tell us something...

And now more random photos!

And just for a little perspective - here is a shot of Walker at two months old.

Look like someone you know?

Grandpa John is Here!

Grandpa John arrived yesterday from Virginia for a four day stay!  Tonight he is off to SMU to see Jack in "Our Town".  Here are some great shots of Charlie meeting his Grandfather:

This afternoon, Charlie was in need of some shut eye, but refusing to do it in his crib.  So, we went kangaroo style.  As you can see, it worked!

Walker is still very much enjoying his sand box.  I think his favorite part is at the end when we have to turn the hose on him.  We can't track sand into the house now, can we?

I've been doing some baking... banana bread with blueberries and my famous 10 cup cookies - a recipe I got out of the Hell's Canyon Journal in Richland, OR. 

Today, our Friday playgroup met to celebrate the 3rd birthday of James Charles.  Anyone who has spent time with us in Dallas knows that sweet James Charles is always on the go... and today he did not disappoint.  He ran Walker ragged!  Here is the crew enjoying yet another round of cupcakes!

Takisha and I with our babies!

The birthday boy feeding Walker a grape:

Grandpa John joined us - and thank goodness, because Mama need the extra hands.