family news – Page 24 – Out Of Their Minds Design

Start of June, 2011

Sleepy one, June 3rd. See this image larger.

One would be forgiven for thinking that I somehow did not pass my face-making expertise on to my son based on this image. Forgiven but mistaken. Ian’s full range is quite impressive and will be displayed during the Florida pictures when we finally get to July. See this image larger.

Kids see themselves on the iPad video screen on June 4th. See this image larger.

I can’t remember if this is the only time Nina’s ever sacked out during a meal. She sure did on this one though. See this image larger.

Some catch-up on artwork. This was made as an activity at Nanny-On-Demand, the time Melissa rescued me from a horrible deadline issue. See this image larger.

Ian made this during “JAMS” at our church, and asked me to write out the dedication before he signed it. See this image larger.

The kids practice “cheers!” See this image larger.

June 5th – by now most of you have seen and/or own a print of a few of these. Those of you who have not, brace yourself for cute. See this image larger.

Sweet pea in the front yard… See this image larger.

What a hat, huh? See this image larger.

We had frolic we had fun, sidewalk-chalk and a wag-on. See this image larger.

Nina ponders a last-minute leap before the inevitable wagon-chase to downtown Rockford. See this image larger.

Perhaps a quick safety lesson… *pull it more like this, Mommy.* See this image larger.

I’ve been told that this picture is so good that it should win an award. I think it sort of looks like the one that comes in a new frame as a place-holder. 🙂 See this image larger.

Air Nina in 3… 2… See this image larger.

Hey, HEY… traveling! See this image larger.

It is ok to photograph potentially sad children, you just have to write a funny caption. Um… I got nothin’. See this image larger.

He just got done throwing seed-helicopters in the air from a neighboring tree, if you’re wondering. See this image larger.

She can’t possibly do more harm than the deer. See this image larger.

Anybody else look at this picture and think of Flamenco dancing? Rat-tatta-tatta-tat-TAT-tatta-TAT… TAT-TAT! See this image larger.

End of May

Here comes the end of May. Like I said last entry, we’re going to try to catch up as quickly as possible, so here’s a whole mess of pictures, and a video or two.

May 29th, I tried my funky camera filter on Ian and his lunch. See this image larger.

I think with this particular camera (iPad2) that the filter idea is a bad one. Ian’s alligator helped him eat his lunch. See this image larger.

She’s starting to get a little too big for the jumperoo! (Plus our friends that loaned this to us have another little one coming, so this will be returning from whence it came!) See this image larger.

*I blow this kiss to you, my fans… (SMACK!)* See this image larger.

Ian gets in some exercise. See this image larger.

*FAME! I’M GUNNA LIVE FOREVER…* See this image larger.

Little cutie! See this image larger.

*Pics again, Dad, seriously?* See this image larger.

Ian is ready for his close up. See this image larger.

*DUR?* See this image larger.

Princess kisses! See this image larger.

Hello Kitty, time for a bedtime story! See this image larger.

Wish her eyes had been open for this one, I love the way the crown appears to be on her head! See this image larger.

If this were a video game, Nina would be saying “‘nade out!” See this image larger.

Video
Click here to see Nina boogie down until the music stops… and then she starts it right back up again. on May 29th.

Video
Click here to see Nina’s fine motor dexterity in action on May 29th. Note that when she stands up in the chair, she mocks my usual message “Get. Down.”

Video
Click here to see a struggle that Daddy just can’t ignore on May 29th.

Video
Click here to see Ian and Nina chilling out on May 30th.

Video
Click here to see Ian having some fun with Mommy in the summer sun on May 30th!

Video
Click here to see Nina and Ian gang up on Mommy, on May 31st, complete with victory smooch! Listen for Nina to start the William Tell Overture as soon as she’s on board.

And that’s May! On to June!

Back from Florida

We’re safely home… and I have arrived with no less than 1,300 pictures of the fun we had! Now I just need to go through them all!

While I do that I’ll try to get us quickly up-to-date. Expect entries often, sometimes multiples in a day! Sorry about the delays, but I really wanted to give the aforementioned contest a shot.

Missing in Action

Sorry I haven’t written much lately, I took some time out to try to win a contest… No typo there, I simply wanted to try. I have still taken a lot of pictures during the time i was working on it, and will begin making blog updates again as soon as we get back from Florida.

It won’t make much sense without playing the game that the contest is about, but here is my contest entry:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8Ke8mhZNus

Security Concerns

How upset would you be if you had to log in with a user name and password to thosechapmans.com before you could see anything?

We’re officially on Google’s radar, and I have no idea how. We got our first spam today. I’m not too worried about the spam so much as the random visitors having complete access to the site.

Let me know your thoughts!

EDIT – 2nd spam showed up this evening. I think it might be time to add security, folks. :-\

May 28th, Fun and the Return to Java Gym

May 28th, like the title says. How did Nina get in this chair? Wait for a couple entries and you will see her awesome “climb” video! See this image larger.

Paging Dr. Nina! See this image larger.

Peek-a-boo!!! See this image larger.

Hi kids! Where are you? See this image larger.

Oh they’re going on a trip in their favorite rocket ship! See this image larger.

Awwww! Rest up, ladies! Fun night ahead! See this image larger.

Ian smiling… get camera! See this image larger.

He’s still smiling! Click click! See this image larger.

I know why he’s smiling, it is our evening destination! See this image larger.

Yup! Our triumphant return to Java Gym! See this image larger.

Cute! On the way to Java Gym, we were trying to figure out how we would trade off taking care of Nina back at the ground-level table while the other parent chased Ian around the structure. See this image larger.

But little girl refused to be coddled safely at a table. No… little girl got fierce! Little girl got brave! *GRRRR!!!* (Truth is, she’s practicing this face… expect to see it in a few more pics shortly!) See this image larger.

One foot-wide mesh filled with ankle-eating holes? We TRIED to stop her! Look at her go! See this image larger.

Did this foam MOUNTAIN slow our girl down? Heck no! See this image larger.

Still goin’! See this image larger.

Somehow I ended up adopting 5 more kids that day. While parents are allowed up in the fun structure, very few do… thus I became popular very fast. We played cops and bad guys and ran all over. It was fun! See this image larger.

A well-deserved nap on the way home… (You can see Nina in the reflection of the mirror if you look carefully.) See this image larger.

Video
Click here to see if Nina had any fun while at Java Gym. You tell me! (The boy in the blue shirt, in both videos, is not Ian! It is one of the kids that started hanging out with us… I think Nina might say “Ian!” when he says “Boo!”)

Video
Click here to see Nina tackle a foam mountain!

Presently: Nina Update

Mommy updated Nina’s Care Page with some news I had yet to write out in the blog… for those of you not subscribed to it, here is what she wrote, because I couldn’t have said it better myself!

June 24, 2011–Open Heart Surgery Postponed!
Nina went back to the cardiologist today for another echo and the results were fabulous! The cardiologist said her heart is functioning very well and he sees no reason to schedule the surgery now. He is going to review Nina’s echo images with the whole cardiology team, including the pediatric heart surgeon, to make sure no one else sees something that would change the opinion, but as of now it appears we will be able to wait another whole year (or more maybe!) before we schedule Nina’s open heart surgery! Daran and I are thrilled, to say the least!

I asked specifically if any of the holes had closed and the cardiologist mentioned that they didn’t see any holes between the lower chambers (2 holes closed!), but that there were still two holes between the upper chambers (making up her ASD–atrial septal defect). Two holes down and two to go!

One other win from today. I mentioned in the last post that the cardiologist wanted to sedate Nina for this echo because toddlers (18 month olds) generally do not hold still enough to get good images. I said okay initially, but then really second-guessed that decision since Nina has been so healthy and doing so well lately. I called the cardiology office a week or so ago to see if our physician would be open to “trying” the echo without sedation and he said okay (although reluctantly I’m sure).

The echo today was done in the cardiology office without sedation and Nina did brilliantly! The tech allowed me (mom) to lay on the table next to Nina, to hold her/comfort her, and Nina held really still for about the first 20-30 minutes… just laying there, holding onto my fingers tightly with both of her hands… and then she fell asleep for the remainder of the procedure. The tech mentioned toward the end that she was going to take a few extra pictures/angles because Nina was doing so well. And our cardiologist admitted that I “proved him wrong” in regards to needing sedation! (Have I mentioned lately that we love our cardiologist!) I’m so glad I pushed back on the sedation and I’m so proud of Nina for once again being such a little trooper!

Thanks to everyone for the continued prayers and support, and thanks to God for holding our family close and keeping Nina safe. I believe that He created us with the ability to heal ourselves (to a certain extent) and having two of Nina’s holes close gives me encouragement that the other two “might” close as well. I know I’ll continue praying for that!
For I am the Lord, who heals you. Exodus 15:26

Dialogue and Milestones

Time for our dialogue update. You’ll see this runs the gambit from a bit ago to more recently… I will continue the main timeline from where we left off last entry, as usual.

Here we go!

April 24th, 2011
Nina – “Button.”

April 25th, 2011
Nina – “Blankie!!”

April 26th, 2011
Ian – “See that? There’s bubbles on my hands, and I washed them off!”

May 22nd, 2011
Mommy – “Just tell the bee to go away.”
Ian – “I can’t talk to bees.”

May 22nd, 2011
Ian – “Look what I’ve arrived with, Daddy. (shows me his shoes) … and my lucky water cup. Now I’m going to get my shoes on Dad… k? But. The socks are in my shoes, because. Every day I wear shoes I have socks in my shoes.”

May 23rd, 2011
Ian – “Nina you can play with me but you can’t do anything bad. You gotta do everything good.”
(moments pass.)
ian – “Now you can’t play with me you did something bad. Serious don’t move that. I’m serious!”

June 1st, 2011
Ian – “if we did get these toys without magnets? (shakes his head sadly) Bad idea. Were goin to jail.” (Magnets are the “currency” by which he gets toys these days, don’t forget.)

June 1st, 2011
After a rough day, I met Ian and Melissa at the YMCA so that Ian could go to swim class. When he saw my car pull up, and me hopping out, he squealed “Daddy!” and gave me a much-needed hug like we hadn’t seen each other in a week.

June 6th, 2011
Nina – “Ariel” (Pointing at the Little Mermaid… her real name is Ariel.)

Nina – “Close dah duhr.” (Close the door?)

Nina – “Eye.” (Pointing at my eye.)

Daddy – “Who is that in the mirror?”
Nina – “I duuno hoo eed is.”

Nina – “Here ya go. Righ here.”

Nina – “Welcome!” (After somebody said “Thank you!”)

Nina – “Dissue.” (Pointing at tissue.)

Nina – “Wuhn duhr dree” (I made a habit out of counting out the steps on our staircase as we climbed up or down them while holding Nina… you have to hear the words in context, but she’s saying her version of “one, two, three”.)

June 10th, 2011
(This one is a bit much in the “poop talk” department, read at your own risk.)
Ian – “I didn’t want poop to come out of my belly but it did. That’s a big bad poop. Stick it away from my butt.” (The various ways the word “stick” can be used have caused a little confusion. “Stick that in the oven” explains why he’s using it here.)

June 11th, 2011
At the time we thought our system of gating off the kid’s play area was working perfectly. An ottoman, a gate, and then another ottoman on the other side. This allowed Ian and the cat to get over, but Nina was stuck. But this day, she walked over until she was about two feet from the ottoman, lifted her left leg until just the toes somehow had reached the top of the ottoman, (somewhat like a practicing ballerina) then proceeded to lift her whole body up on top of it.

June 12th, 2011
mommy – “Where’s your water cup?” (Not really expecting an answer.)
Nina – “Ovah deyr.” (She points behind her… sure enough, water cup in that general direction.)

June 12th, 2011
Ian made up his own prayer:
“God, keep me safe day and night day and night day and night. Can you? Can you do that God? Amen.”

June 15th, 2011
From Nina’s daycare sheet:
“Nina had a wonderful day. She really liked coloring with markers. Whenever she was done w/ that color she would hand it to me and I would give her a different color. When she was finished she did the sign for “all done.” When I was changing her diaper I pointed out elmo and she said “Elmo” after I did. I was surprised.”

June 16th, 2011
From Nina’s daycare sheet:
“Nina had a great morning in the young toddler room. She played w/ all sorts of toys. She especially likes our dramatic play. She sure loves to talk. She makes us laugh because when she talks she sometimes has such a serious face. She colored a Father’s Day card for art and got marker on her face. I tried to wash as much as possible.”

June 18th, 2011
Nina grabs coloring book, points through gate at drawer which contains crayons, and does sign language for “please.”

June 23rd, 2011
Nina points at a fish and makes the “Ffffffffffffffffffffffff” sound… as if practicing the f sound.

More May

The kids freshly returned from a walk in the wagon on May 24th. See this image larger.

Not sure if that license plate has been photoshopped. 😉 See this image larger.

Finding peace. See this image larger.

The Chapmans on the move! See this image larger.

Ian shows off super-hero strength! See this image larger.

Nina gets called for traveling… that’s a basketball/car joke. See this image larger.

Airbag unnecessary at this point. See this image larger.

Video
Click here to see Ian making a leap of faith at the Y on May 26th.

May 23rd, a Long Summer Day

May 23rd, Ian and Nina gather around the very popular iPad2 to watch a video or play a game. Both of them are as addicted as they are intrigued. They love that thing. See this image larger.

Nina getting some quality TV time in. See this image larger.

I also had a great video of Nina getting a sprinkling of cheerios on her high chair tray… and an empty bowl for breakfast. I’ll save the megabytes and downloads and just tell you what happened. She put all of the cheerios in the bowl first, and then ate them!

Video
Click here to see the kids watching a Curious George movie.

Video
Click here to see Nina decide that eating crayons is probably not the most healthy choice of foodstuff.