Randomosity-

My taste buds have changed. Like, since having V. I thought maybe it was just a specific brand/restaurant that changed their recipe (because everyone is doing that to cut costs) but it was every brand/restaurant. I used to really love chocolate, and now I still like some brands but for the most part I don't care for it. Which is weird. Chocolate ice cream tastes chalky, or overpowering. I used to like vanilla ice cream, but now I love it. Like it's almost my favorite flavor (next to chocolate chip cookie dough, which is still the reigning champ). I still like butter pecan and mint chocolate chip, but actual chocolate ice cream is out. I used to like strawberry ice cream (part of neapolitan) in moderation, for just a hint of flavor. Now it's mostly vanilla, strawberry, and a hint of chocolate.

There are a few other things that I suddenly don't care for anymore, but nothing as drastic as my love affair with chocolate. My husband keeps telling me I should try mustard now, or celery, but since the smell of both still makes me nauseous I'll go ahead and assume my dislike for them still stands.

I'm trying to get projects around the house done, since I have some downtime. I tend to do this when we're on a break or something else goes down. Which is just as well, it feels good to get something accomplished. So far I've started working on organizing my kitchen, I visited the dollar store and stocked up on plastic totes/baskets and filed stuff away in there. It's a lot less chaotic.

I've almost finished refinishing a small dresser (Pictures included!). It was just white/dingy with gold corroded handles, new hardware is silver/white. Will post photos when it's done-done. I had to touch the paint up a lot, and it was my first attempt at using a stencil. It's not an art I have down yet! hahaha... As with everything in my life, it's a learning process. I have another stand I want to re-do to match, but again... the effort/time involved has put me off. Hopefully I'll get to it in the coming month though. It would be cute.

I really like the Moroccan patterns, so that's why I went with that particular stencil. I hope to one day finish a wall with it, as an accent wall. All the walls would be overpowering. I think it would be way too time consuming too, the walls here are super tall. I can't even reach them with a step stool (although I am only 5'3" to begin with). Maybe a tiny room, like the bathroom.... hmm. No rush deciding anything, since it would cost money I'm loathe to part with right now, so I'll just contemplate the possibilities. I've been day dreaming about a lot of remodeling lately. Like my living room... I picked a color scheme I liked 6 years ago, but now I want something brighter and more soothing. I really don't know what I was thinking back then. Maybe this is another part of getting older; 28 year old me really questions 22 year old me's choices in decorating (and clothing, and hair, and so on- I think the only thing we agree on is our husband).

I didn't update about the back doctor, did I? Ugh. He said the tingling/numbness is just a normal symptom of scoliosis. He recommended x-rays and physical therapy, saying it might help. We have a cap on therapy for the entire family for the year though, and I'd hate to use them up and then need them for speech therapy (or otherwise) for V or A. Plus our co-pay is outrageous. I was going to attend one session, but I was in the TWW and canceled my appointment. I haven't gone back for the repeat x-rays. He pulled up ones I've had done over the years (latest in 2009) and my lower curve has almost completely corrected itself (which is amazing!) but my upper curve progressed from 21 degrees to 29, which still isn't enough to worry anyone about anything... but enough to cause issues with the numbness/tingling I guess. It isn't bad progression, considering it was over 11 years, but they did want to do another x-ray since I've since been pregnant and that can worsen scoliosis. Even if it's progressed, it won't really be enough to need intervention though, it would just let us know where things stand. So... I might go get it done, or I might not. It would be good information to have, but seems unnecessary.

V still isn't talking, but we randomly hear him say stuff all the time. Like saying blue/green to his blue/green blocks. I mean, it's so random that we question if we heard it right. He counted to 8 a week ago, which would be awesome if he knew what that was about. Today we were at the video store and he was going 2, 3, 2, 3. He counts to 4 all the time, but doesn't really apply the concept of counting to the words. He pointed to the photo of the dog in his word book the other day, and said dog. But a few days earlier he pointed to the tractor and said dog too.

I'm working on books with him, flash cards, lots of repeating words over and over, trying to help sink stuff in. So far he can motion towards the water and cry for drink, and when he gets caught doing something he shouldn't he jumps, squeals, and runs for the hills... I can sometimes get him to grab a specific toy, or bring one of his books to me. I think we're headed towards speech therapy though, because we're still not making real progress towards communicating

He's obsessed with dinosaurs and cars right now. He roars at his dinosaurs/dragons, and if you ask him where is dinosaur is he'll go to it and say, "Rawr." The other day he decided everything now roars though, his cars, flowers, various animals, and so on... everything roars. It's amazing and I love it. He loves his cars/trucks. My legs are frequently used as a race track. It's little things like that which make my day.