We bought a new pool for the backyard because Robin put a hole in the bottom of the other one. This one is a bit bigger and hard plastic which should not be easy for Robin to put a hole in. The first day we had it they played with it in the living room, but today we took it outside and filled it up with water.
Today we took the boys to their very first Orioles baseball game. Ben was extremely excited about this, but I was not sure it would work out very well with trying to get the boys to sit on our laps for a whole game during nap time. I will say that they did much better than I had feared, but we did still leave early. We made it to the 8th inning which was not bad at all. There was lots of walking around, switching laps, and so on during the game but they boys did have a great time. Here are some pictures...
On the way to drop the dogs off at Laura's house before game
Ryder enjoyed sneaking sips of soda
Sharing a seat
Too cute!
Ryder eating his popcorn
Zak with Isabelle
Zak with Laura
Zak showing off his free O's hat
Ryder with his O's hat
Tomorrow Tim & Peg will be getting into town for their visit. They are going to be staying at our house and then heading back home to NH on Friday. We are going to try and take a trip to Cascade Lake with Dani, AJ, and Ginnie so everyone will get to see Tim & Peg while here along with getting to spend the day outside in the water. It is a place in Caroll county that looks pretty neat. I am not too sure what other plans we have, but I am sure I will have pictures throughout the week.Yesterday after nap time we took the boys to Rich & Laura's to go swimming. We have only been swimming 1 other time this summer so far. The boys are definitely water babies!
Ryder wearing Nana's glasses
Zak wearing Nana's glasses
The boys with Isabelle
climbing into the pool alone
Zak going up the ladder
Big boys
This morning the boys had an appointment with the pediatrician to do a developmental screening. He found Ryder to be right around the 18 month mark which is similar to what the EI evaluation found. The pediatrician is glad we are doing therapy because the main concern is the large discrepancy between his expressive language and his cognitive skills which can be a pre-cursor to learning disabilities. Zak is the one that truly surprised us with how well he did. The pediatrician found him to be around a 30 month level! We have been so concentrated on figuring our Ryder's therapy and all that we have not even noticed the amazing things Zak is able to do. We will definitely start doing activities with him that are more at his level as well. We got some new weights and lengths on the boys also...
Zak: 23lb 12oz, 33.25inches
Ryder: 22lb 8oz, 32.75 inches
Tomorrow Ben is going to play golf with Rich and AJ so he is very excited. Depending on what time they are done the boys and I might meet at Rich & Laura's to go swimming again. The other big thing this week is the Orioles game on Sunday. Ben is excited to take the boys to their first O's game even though I am not so sure how long they will last at the game.
A little update on Mum Mum...we have been a little worried about what medications she is getting so today I called and got the full list. There is really 1 medication I am not too happy about her getting, but we will see what happens. Today she had a rough day and refused to do her afternoon PT session and became pretty upset which caused them to medicate her with a strong anti-anxiety drug. They have told us that if she continues to refuse PT then she will need to be moved out of the rehab center and into a nursing home. With all of this going on my mom & Piper are probably going to be making another trip to MD soon.
This morning Ryder had his evaluation done by the Harford County Infants & Toddlers program. We have been trying to get it set up since we moved in and it has finally been done. The special ed teacher came and did the evaluation so that we can get his therapy schedule set up and started. This is what she found today during the evaluation....
Chronological Age: 22.5 months
Gross Motor: 19 months
Social Emotional: 18 months
Adaptive: 17 months
Fine Motor: 16 months
Communication: 15 months
He has shown improvement on many of the areas since his last evaluation in November, but communication has pretty much stayed the same still. The speech therapist will come to do a more in-depth evaluation and decide how often she will see him, but it will probably be once a week or every other week. The OT will also come to do her own evaluation, but since he has been improving she will probably only come once a month. PT will continue to just monitor him, but if a concern comes up they will start to see him more often. We are going to work on some stretching since his ankles are pretty tight causing issues with his walking, running, and doing stairs. The special ed teach will come every other week to work with him as well. We are also going to look into doing some sort of toddler group therapy sessions with him at some point.
Recently the boys have developed some new skills. They are both getting pretty good at catching a ball that is thrown to them. Of course, this is pretty hard to get good pictures of. 
Here is a video of Ryder walking down a few stairs without holding onto the railing or our hands (Zak still likes to hold onto the railing)...A video of Zak showing how he can walk up the stairs without holding onto the railing or our hands (Ryder hasn't mastered this yet)....
Zak has also mastered being able to spray the outdoor hose (Ryder tries, but just can't yet)....
Yesterday Ben and I took the boys and Josephine to the Baltimore Aquarium. I have been wanting to take them for a while, but the no stroller rule had scared me away from doing it alone. So we decided to take advantage of Ben being home (still searching for a job) and take them together. We all had a great time and it wasn't all that bad not having a stroller. Near the end Zak did get out of hand and cranky, but as soon as we put him in the stroller (we checked a single stroller at the entrance) he was asleep. I took a TON of pictures so I can't put them all on the blog. For those of you with Face Book you can see most of them in one of my photo albums, but here are some of them....
After leaving the aquarium we went to Annapolis to visit Mum Mum at the rehab center since children are allowed. She loved seeing Josephine and the boys. We then had a cook-out with Colleen, Kay and all of the kids which was fun. We finally made it home around 9pm last night.A quick update about somethings...
Yesterday my throat was killing me and I was still having a fever (not in the 103 range though) so I decided to go to Patient First to see if I had strep throat. While I was there they did a urinalysis (check for dehydration), 2 throat swabs (check for strep throat), and blood work (check for mono and flu) and all of it came back normal and negative. That is a good thing, but I still had a sore throat for no apparent reason. The doctor said my throat looked horrible so he can't imagine that it wasn't strep (since other things also came back negative) so he sent me home on antibiotics as a precaution. He said the strep might grow on the 3 day test and not show up on the 15 minute test. My throat hurts so bad when I swallow that eating has not been easy, but I have been making sure to drink lots. Other than a sore throat and being tired I am fine today.
Mum Mum was transferred to the rehab center last night which is good. She will receive PT twice a day while there along with other therapies to try and get her strength and endurance back in the hopes that she will be able to walk and come home. The other great thing about her being in rehab is that children are allowed to visit and she is so excited to be able to see all of her grandchildren and great grandchildren. I am hoping to make it there soon so she can see the boys.
Tomorrow we are taking the boys to the Baltimore aquarium. Josephine is going with us also. I am so excited to take the boys because they love watching the fish at Bass Pro Shop so I know they will love this. We are also going to see the Dolphin Show.
It looks like Ben will be getting unemployment payments while he looks for a new job which is a huge relief for us. Not that the amount they pay will cover everything for us, but it is something!
As for the boys and being sick, they have not had any more fevers which is good. They have both been pretty cranky and not back to their normal selves yet. We have been watching for blisters because of the possible hand, foot & mouth disease and we did find some on Zak. His tongue has them along with his feet. So we are pretty sure that this is what they have.
The last week has been extremely busy. We had a family cook-out, Ryder was sick Monday, spent the day in Annapolis Tuesday, Zak was sick Wednesday, Friday we spent the day in Annapolis again, Sunday we spent in Annapolis with my mom until she flew out that afternoon, and Monday I was sick all day. The illness that the three of us had seemed to only last about 12-24 hours and consisted of high fevers and vomiting. My throat is really sore now also. Apparently, Piper was throwing up yesterday as well as having a fever, but she is fine today.
Mum Mum was supposed to be transferred to rehab yesterday, but that was cancelled because they wanted to run some more tests. I have not heard the results of any of them yet. It sounds like they were testing her kidneys and looking for a possible stroke.
Ben and I are trying to plan a trip to the Baltimore Aquarium sometime this week. He is still in the search for a job, but in the meantime we decided to use his time home to do a few things I wouldn't attempt alone with the boys. We are hoping he will hear back from somebody soon about a job, but it just isn't going well.
Ryder on big boy swing
Chelley & Piper jumping
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