2008 Strzinek Summer Series #3

This is way overdue, but I had to make sure and include a post about Tate’s first ever Vacation Bible School. It’s actually not called Vacation Bible School at RHCC, but you get the point. So his first ever Summer Spectacular was pretty spectacular. All three of us were impressed along with the 4,000+ who attended throughout the three nights.




This year’s theme was Jonah and after the classes, there was a musical of the story covered over the three nights. I wasn’t sure how Tate would do at that portion since it was well into the evening, but he liked watching the big chorus acts, bounced and clapped to the music, and LOVED when the huge fish came down and swallowed Jonah. He watched that fish the entire way down from the balcony, across the stage, and out of the auditorium. Ever since then, I can get a big laugh out of him when I say “Jonah, Jonah, Jonah” in my Jaws voice. My favorite part of the musical was the Nineveh song to the tune of Thriller.

Wade & I helped out in the 4s class and got to have fun with another big fish. I can’t take any credit for this impressive craftsmanship. Several people spent several days and nights putting it together (big props to the B's, O's, and O's). The kids loved it, and we all had a fun time!

I know that we have some time before Tate comes home with a memory verse or craft of his own, but I still loved watching him enjoy himself. And I loved thinking about all of the Summer Spectaculars in the years to come and all of the wonderful things he’ll learn.

Want To Be Friends?

After hearing a ton of conversations and all of the buzz about Facebook, I gave in. It's a funny thing to me...asking people if they want to be friends. Then there's the whole inferiority complex about whether or not you have enough friends. But hey, they've sucked me in. Now I've got to figure out what a wall is and why someone would want to be poked.

So if you're on Facebook, let's be friends!

A Fun Fourth

We had a fun and relaxing Fourth of July. We tried to go as low key as possible considering we had just come home the night before from a week-long family vacation (more on that to come).

Our 4th actually started on the 3rd as we were driving home from the airport and saw the City of Roanoke fireworks. I was pretty pumped to get to check fireworks off the list early and with no traffic. We just pulled off the side of the road, hopped out of the car, and watched. For his first time to see fireworks, Tate seemed interested but not necessarily as mesmerized as I thought he might. It was still a fun first.

On the 4th, we headed to a neighborhood parade full of firetrucks, candy, and lots of waving at the "ca" (Tate's new word for car). We wrapped up the day with swimming and ordering pizza. What more could you ask for?

Happy Birthday America!

Good Times for Some...Not For Others

I had some good times in Little Rock last weekend visiting my friend Paige. It was just about a year ago that we had a fun girls weekend in Memphis. Although we covered a lot that weekend, the Civil Rights Museum made the biggest impact by far. So this weekend, she took me to the museum for the Little Rock Central High School, which was made famous by the Little Rock Nine.

Again I was very moved by the strength and bravery of those that paved the way for so many. And again, I was surprised by the bigotry and hatred of so many.



The reason for my trip was to see Paige in a performance of Romeo and Juliet at the Arkansas Shakespeare Festival. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any pictures of her in the Lady Capulet costume. She did a wonderful job and even had an impressive crying scene. :) I don't remember much of the play from my high school English class but am thinking I should've paid more attention to it. I really enjoyed it.

And I can't make a trip to Little Rock without a visit to Damgoode Pies. The stuffy pizza with sauce on top is just as good as the restaurant name says. Yum!

I love spending time in Little Rock, and I love spending time with my friends. It was a nice, quick getaway. And as you can see here, Tate and Wade had some good times back home while I was gone.
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The not so good time was with poor little Tate a few days ago. It looks as though he has inherited my genes when it comes to having bad reactions to mosquito bites. He woke up with an eye almost completely swollen shut. Poor guy!

The good news is that it's all better now and maybe it will motivate him to never get in a fist fight.

2008 Strzinek Summer Series #2

Tate has had a thing for firetrucks for awhile. We think he knows how to say it, but he definitely knows how to make the firetruck siren sound. Depending on his level of motivation, it will be a full fledged siren or one that sounds kind of like the batteries are going out. Either way, he loves them.

So it was quite a fun day when he got to sit inside a real firetruck. Too bad the plastic string on the fireman hat accidentally popped him in the face. It went a little downhill from there.

But, it was a fun glimpse into the days of boyhood fun to come.

2008 Strzinek Summer Series #1

The summer has been off to a fast and furious start. And a hot one. I don't remember it getting this hot this early in a long time. Or maybe carrying around an 18-month-old makes the heat seem hotter.

Since we are busier than I prefer, I haven’t kept up with blogging away the fun times we’ve been having. So here is the first of many more to come in the 2008 Strzinek Summer Series. Sounds pretty impressive, doesn’t it?

Several weeks ago we had the Strzinek/Bunt Family Fun Day. A full day together with our friends, Jody, Janell, Alex & Addison. The A-Team was born four months after Tate, so we have been learning the ropes of parenthood at the same time together.

We started the day at the zoo, followed by lunch and nap time at the house, while the guys got an early Father’s Day treat and trip to the movies. Later, once everyone was up, we headed to the backyard for lots of fun. At least the kids seemed to have fun. We were swatting flies, dodging to stay in the shade, and trying to keep the kids on the ground with the 20 mph winds.

Alex had so much fun, though, he decided to just take a water break using the pail. Much easier. Tate thought it was funny.

Addison is one smart cookie. You stay much cooler if you’re in the water.

Is this not the cutest shot of Alex? Janell, I’ll definitely send this one to you.

And my little guy was not very hospitable when he threw a complete Tantrum (with a capital T) when Addison got to swing. He hasn’t quite learned how to share his toys yet, but he loves having his friends over to play.

Then it was pizza for dinner outside followed by strawberry shortcake for dessert. I’m cracking up because this picture makes it look much more peaceful than it was. It was hot, the wind was crazy, and flies were swarming the food.

The kids didn’t seem too phased by it because hey, it’s not everyday that you get to eat fruit with whipped cream. Or in Tate’s case whipped cream with a little fruit mixed in.

And after sweat, pizza, and whipped cream, it’s time for a big ‘ol bubble bath. Look how modest they all are.

We had so much fun and can’t wait to do it again, but next time, the girls get to go the movies!

Coming soon in the series: Cousin Time, A Real Fire Truck, and Summer Spectacular.

The LONG version of Tate’s treatment update

There have been some interesting steps we’ve taken this past month regarding Tate’s physical therapy treatment but before I go into those, I figured I should explain what we know so far. (Be forewarned, this is a really long post, but I need to get it all documented before I forget.)

It is still confusing and causes questions on my part, but what we understand Tate to have is hypotonia. It isn’t a medical diagnosis, but a description of symptoms. It’s also called low muscle tone and/or floppy baby syndrome. You can read more about it here.

From about his sixth month on, we noticed that he wouldn’t bear weight on his legs. Then by his ninth month, it was something we (and the pediatrician) had more valid concerns regarding and were sent off for a physical therapy evaluation. When I took Tate for his first session, I never would’ve thought that eight months later, I would still be taking him there twice a week. Lots of people ask how a child does physical therapy. Basically, it’s age-appropriate "play" using targeted muscles. But the biggest part is that I can learn what to do with him at home.

Over the months, the therapy has evolved as he has learned more and achieved milestones. We’ve gone from sitting up, transitioning to sitting, bearing weight on all 4's, army crawl, all 4's crawl, bearing weight on legs, standing, to the latest of cruising. Tate has shown a very distinct pattern in that he has a delay with a skill, but once he builds enough strength and gets his confidence at it, he’s off and running…so to speak.

His physical therapist has been incredibly helpful to him…and me. There have been several sessions that Tate has had a blast, and I’ve been the one in tears. In fact the entire team at Our Children’s House is absolutely wonderful. They celebrate each new skill with all of us. It’s so refreshing being around people that understand the excitement as he masters a new skill. And it’s also wonderful to have people not mind when your child is screaming (loudly) in their face because he just doesn’t want to try to crawl or stand.

So back to the new parts of his treatment. After a lot of discussion and various concerns, we decided to have an evaluation with a pediatric neurologist last month. For many kids, the hypotonia is a symptom of a more serious disorder (muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, etc.). We figured better safe than sorry. The neurologist’s thoughts were that it’s not on the scale of a serious disorder, he does have gross motor skill delays, he is showing great progress with physical therapy, but there's not much more to do right now. We go back in November for another follow-up. At that time, he’ll determine if we need to go forward with an MRI and other tests. We’re hoping that won’t have to happen!

The other biggie this month was…if I’m being honest…the one I probably had the hardest time with. About two weeks ago, Tate got custom-made leg braces. Wade calls him his Star Wars Storm Trooper boots. We were hoping he would only need ankle support, but these help with more of the support he needs for his legs, feet, ankles and to help him not lock his knees.

It was more the idea of leg braces that I had a hard time with. Going through all of this with him has brought so many different emotions that I didn’t think I’d have to face until later into his childhood. Those feelings of not wanting your kid to be different, not wanting them to struggle more than other kids, wondering why there's so much pressure on boys to be big and strong, not wanting to see him so frustrated, and mostly not wanting him to miss out on what he “should” be doing at his age. It does make it easier knowing that he doesn't have any of these feelings himself (just me) and that we want to do anything and everything to help him. The great news is that he doesn’t seem phased by the braces at all (serious answered prayer!), and we've already seen improvements.

And the most recent thing is that we’re about to go through an evaluation with ECI to make sure he’s doing OK nutritionally and to see if the low muscle tone is connected to any speech delays. Right now he seems to be borderline in those areas, but I’m sure we’ll know more in the weeks to come.

So here’s my disclaimer (I always give disclaimers to things…my PR background, I guess). I know this is nothing compared to what many families have to go through. Nothing about Tate’s treatment has shown anything close to a chronic or life-threatening illness. For that, I’m extremely thankful. And at the same time, the last 10 months have still been a roller coaster of emotions.

Of course I wish we didn’t have to go through any of this, but it has forced me to slow down and pay attention to so many little things that I’m not sure I would’ve otherwise. I get a lot more focused one-on-one time with Tate during his sessions and at home when we’re working on different skills. And I get to celebrate when all of his hard work pays off and he learns something new. As I’ve said before, I had NO idea that seeing your child stand could be so heart-warming. Who knows what I’m going to do when he starts walking on his own?

I’ve realized even more lately that his headstrong and stubborn personality actually serve him very well while going through physical therapy. I am already proud beyond words of all that he’s accomplished, when I know he would’ve preferred doing something very different with our T/Th mornings. This is a road I never thought we would be going down, but I’ve learned a lot about myself along the way while getting to focus even more time and energy on this little boy who melts my heart everyday. For that, I’m extremely thankful.

Florida Florida Florida

I was a 24-year-old just learning about politics without the context of a grade or classroom, and I remember watching the 2000 election coverage until 3:00 a.m. That was also my introduction to Tim Russert and his famous "Florida. Florida. Florida." on the tiny white board. Since then, he has been my preferred political journalist by far. He always seemed fair, objective, and very gifted at what he did. He also was very skilled at helping the non-political expert, like myself, feel like they somewhat understood what was going on in the crazy world of Washington D.C.

His surprising death left me very sad yesterday for his family and for all of those that have enjoyed watching his coverage.

I am also reminded of my passion for awareness about heart disease. Even after working for the American Heart Association for over 5 years, it sadly takes situations like this to remind me how fragile our bodies are.

18 Months

Wow, a 1 ½ year old! I can definitely tell that we’ve entered a new stage. This new stage has its own set of pros and cons (as they all do), but it definitely has been one of the more exhausting stages for us all. The biggest reason is this:



He’s a cruiser! I still can’t believe it when I see it. He had been taking a few little side steps at the window, but then two weeks ago during a physical therapy session, he side-stepped about five feet on a bench. Ever since then, he will grab on to anything and everything he can and cruise around. It’s pretty hilarious to watch. I am so proud of him and so happy for him. The first week or so he was doing this, he would just giggle every time. Too cute. I’ll share more in a separate post about a new stage of his physical therapy progress.

To go with this new found skill, he has already had a ton of bumps and bruises. This kid has no fear, is excited about getting around in a new way, is sometimes overconfident, and is stubborn. Combine all of that together and you get lots of falls and accidents. We’re all a little worn out. :) But, we’ll take it.

We’ve also had several chances this month to turn into a little cycling family. Tate seems to love going on our family bike rides, and I try to not to take it personally when he laughs at me as I ride by on my bike. Maybe it’s the helmet.

He’s already had several visits to the place we joined with the great kiddie pool. He LOVES having the freedom to crawl all around on his own in this pool, which only has six inches of water.

Right now, one of his favorite toys to play with is the Little People barn. The little animals are adorable, but Tate prefers to throw/hurl/fling them off the bench and mainly enjoys the animal sounds the barn makes.

And just to prove that he is a true Texan, he’s already figured out the one-handed “Yee-ha!” on his horse.

One of the best parts of this stage is hearing and watching Tate crack himself up. He loves to laugh, and we love to hear him laugh. The other night before bed, he was realizing how completely and totally hilarious I am. Come on, who else can say “ha” with so much humor?



We’ve also noticed a little more development in his speech. Nothing huge, but more sounds and babbling. He still talks a lot (still very loudly), but we’re able to recognize more and more of his Tateish: Momma, moo, go-go, choo-choo, turtle, and doggie. Most people probably wouldn’t know that was what he was saying, but we're hearing more and more of the differences.

With all of the fun of this past month, we of course had the not-so-fun moments. There was the hospital visit. Here’s a pretty sad and pitiful picture of him the day before he was admitted to the hospital. The towels ended up being utilized, unfortunately.

Tate learned a new high-pitched guttural scream that week (probably during the lovely catheter experience) and has seemed to recall it whenever his diaper is changed or he doesn’t get his way.

And his ability to decide within 2.5 seconds whether or not he likes a food before he takes a bite has even lessened to within 1.5 seconds. This is usually followed by another bout of throwing and screaming. For some reason, we don’t seem to pull out the camera for those Kodak moments.

No matter what, I love this boy. The discipline strategies will always be around for sure, but at the same time, I can’t change that he is a strong-willed, headstrong little guy. I’ve been reminding myself a lot lately to be thankful for his enthusiasm, determination, and excitement. I want to foster and bring out the best in this little person we have been entrusted to raise.

Saving Summer Carnival

I am a couple of days late (story of my life!), but I wanted to join the fun Saving Summer Carnival from Lynley’s blog. The infamous Texas summer heat arrived a little early this year, so I’ve already determined that the theme of summer 2008 will be a wet one.

Our backyard is slowly turning into a water park with both of these items. We just purchased this water table, and Tate seems to love it already and will hopefully enjoy countless hours splashing around on it.

We also just joined this local facility that has pretty impressive indoor and outdoor pools. My favorite part is that there is a great toddler section. I imagine we will spend many hot days there cooling off. I also hope to take advantage of the gym (childcare on site) they have since it’s already so miserable exercising outside.

And of course, I’m sure we’ll have many visits to Mimi & Grandpa’s house to swim. I think my Dad will be ready to teach Tate the four different strokes this year. Here’s a picture from last summer. If last summer and this year’s visit to the beach are any indication, this kid is going to be quite the fish.

Some other summer activities include continuing Tate’s physical therapy twice a week, Tate’s Gymboree class once a week, early morning visits to the zoo, and a weekly class I’m taking up at church.

The summer will be over before we know it. Hopefully it still won’t be this hot when it’s time to pick out pumpkins!

Head over here to read even more ideas. Happy summer and stay cool!