No More Shoes!

A few weeks ago we went to see the foot specialist and we were told that Brendan is officially DONE with his magic shoes!!!! He is still a bit pigeon-toed when he walks, but his feet are straight when he stands still and sits with his legs out front. The shoes did their job and corrected his bowed legs. As far as the remaining problem, the orthopedist explained that most children simply grow out of being pigeon-toed. We will still need to go in for a check-up once a year to make sure that he does not regress, but he firmly believes that the problem will correct itself by age 6. If it remains, or gets worse again, then we will have to consider surgical options. But he explained that the chance of this happening is one in a million. What a relief!

Our Play Group

This summer, Mandy and a few of her girlfriends had made plans to join a play group. The play group never became a reality. But she and her friends are trying to make their own, albeit disorganized, activities. They've been swimming a few times, at our friend Katie's pool, which has been great for Brendan. His first time he was rather frightened. After pulling out the kiddie pool in the backyard, and a few trips face-first down the slide, he is starting to get over his fear of water in the face. And the second trip to Katie's pool, was much less dramatic.

This week we decided at the spur of the moment to go to the Butterfly house in Faust Park with our friends Jessica and Josie. Both Josie and Brendan were a little temperamental but everyone survived the day. The Butterfly House was pretty cool, if you've never been. OK, maybe cool isn't the word as it's rediculously humid inside the butterfly house, but you get the point. Mandy was worried going into it that Brendan would have a hard time finding the butterflies. But there were so many that this was definitely not an issue. Even little Josie was able to spot them. They really are beautiful to watch.



It was very hard to catch the butterflies in mid-flight on camera, but I swear they are there. This is Josie and Brendan taking a moment to check them out.





Brendan is in a bit of a "I want to run off and do exactly what you ask me not to do"phase. So one of the few things we could do to keep him with us was to allow him to push Josie. Sometime you gotta do whatever works.






Mommy and Brendan at the end of our visit to the Butterfly House.





After the Butterfly House we decided to cool off from the humidity with some fun in the play room. There we played with some puppets and a little dress-up. Here is Brendan the bee.






Josie the butterfly.






After the Butterfly house we ate a picnic lunch and rode on the indoor carousel. This is the second time that Brendan has been to this carousel, but the first was much more of a fiasco. Once the carousel started the last time he screamed until it came to a stop. This time, he had a lot more fun. Before the ride started he was making his "horsee sound" and wanted to show Mommy the horse's nose, eyes, and ears. Once on his horse, he enjoyed petting it's mane and saying, "Nice, nice." Once the ride began, he seemed to enjoy it, with a few smiles here and there and no screaming this year.

Can't wait for more of our play group activities!



Josie and Jessica enjoy the Carousel.





Brendan on the Carousel. No screaming this time.

New Friends

In recent months, we have been blessed to share in new additions to both family and friends' lives. In April we welcomed Nico Marianne Brooks to the family, and Madison (Maddie) Gray Kahle to our friends Alicia and Paul. In May, came the arrival of Christopher Michael Klenke, to our friends Michelle and Chris. And in June, we were very excited to also welcome to the family baby Tyler Jaxson Duffe. Unfortunately I don't have many pics of these new wonderful babies, but I'm sure to have some in the coming months. For now, this is Brendan's 1st pic with baby Christopher. At their first meeting, Chris slept right through and Brendan was obsessed with pushing the buttons on his pumpkin seat.

Brendan's 1st Cardinals Game

In late June we took Brendan to his first Cardinal's game. We sat in Big Mac Land and were joined by Brendan's Uncle Shane and Aunt Lilly. Brendan loved climbing up and down the stairs. He also thoroughly enjoyed his first official ballpark frank. His patience (or should I say, Mom's patience) only lasted until the end of the 6th inning, but it was far longer than we had anticipated. Unfortunately, we were losing to the Diamondbacks at the point that we left the stadium. Shane and Lilly were able to stay for the remainder of the game and informed us the Cardinals came back to win the game in a very unconventional way: a walk-off win on an error. Whatever folks, it was still a win.

Walking to the stadium.

The view from Big Mac Land

Yum! Hot Dogs!

In our seats (Brendan is still enjoying his hot dog): Ryan, Mandy, Brendan, Lilly, and Shane

Brendan and Uncle Shane keep score.

Wicked

For Mother's Day, Mandy and her dad wrangled up some tickets to see Wicked at the Fox Theater as a gift to Mandy's mom. Miraculously, we were able to score a total of 8 tickets so we were able to also take 2 of her sisters, and their daughters to make it a family girls' night. Even more awesome was the private booth that we had! Yes, that's correct, private!!! It was an amazing show, and we all had a great time. Happy Mother's Day, Mom.

The whole crew in front of our entrance. From left: Mandy, Brandy, Karen, Christy, Lynn, Lilly, Kathy, Tara.

The Cole girls: Mandy, Christy, and Lilly (soon-to-be a Cole). The only one missing is Jess, poor thing had to work. We missed you, Jess.

Me and my Mommy.

Mom, and her sisters: Kathy, Karen and Mom (Christy)

Hard to tell in this picture, but the sign says "Private Box. Do Not Enter." Except that was OUR box, and of course, WE entered.