The Zoe and Silas Show

The "kid" birthday party ended up being so close to Halloween that we decided to make it a costume party. Silas & Zoe were monkeys, thanks to my friend Wendy who found the costumes for us at the biannual MA twin mom sale. They didn't know what to think of the costumes. Well, let's be honest. Zoe HATED it. Even after she got to play with toys, she was not impressed. I'll be writing more about the birthday party, but in the meantime, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As many of you know, Silas has had some gross motor delays and he has been followed by an awesome early intervention team. We decided to have him seen by a neurologist at Children's Hospital at the beginning of August due to tightness in his lower extremities and toe standing, combined with these ongoing motor delays. The neurologist, Omar Khawja, recommended Silas have an MRI in order to rule out white matter damage or a tethered spinal cord. We had the MRI done in September. The radiologist's initial report found that "the degree of myelination in the brain is mildly delayed". Omar said that these findings were consistent with Silas' increased muscle tone and he recommended continuing with physical therapy as the appropriate course of treatment. We saw Omar last week for follow-up. He said that upon reading the MRI himself, he didn't agree with the radiologist's interpretation of a delayed myelination finding. He said the part of the brain the radiologis

Zoe has made some sanity-saving progress on figuring out the push toys recently. She figured out how to back up and how to steer a little better. You best not get in her way, she is so darn cute and determined! She does laps from the living room all the way to the kitchen and back. If she is complaining about something in the least, we can just stand her in front of the push toy and off she goes! The round trip on this video took about 3 minutes, so it's a fun use of time for her. Please note: the video is ~ 4 minutes long, so it's for diehard fans only :)

Silas & Zoe have a lot of love in their lives. This year all that love translates into two birthday parties! When we started planning their 1st birthday party in September, the guest list was getting so long that we decided to split things up. We had a "family" party last weekend (aka, the Dutra family since all my peeps are in the midwest); the "kid" party will be on 10/30 (which will be all of our friends and S&Z's friends). On the day of the family party, S&Z were good helpers as usual. Here they were helping Daddy with the beer cooler! After a good morning nap and lunch, it was time to put on their party clothes! Unfortunately they both had a fever on the day of the party. They had their 12-month immunizations the day before, and for the first time ever they had a bit of a reaction. They patiently waited for the guests to arrive. Once the party got started their second cousin, Johnny, helped keep them busy. We had an awesome spread of food, And a

They managed to get a piece of tupperware down from the washing machine, and then spent about 30 minutes playing with it. Notice the bump on Silas' forehead. He pulled a spice grinder off of the kitchen counter and clocked himself in the forehead a little while before the video was shot. "He's too tall and not developed enough for his own good", according to Derek. Our little man is all sorts of trouble these days :)

We are very lucky to have gotten a couple of push toys passed along to us in the last month or so. My friend, Andee, gave us one that her daughter Maya had loved. S&Z have been trying to figure out how it works since they got it! As of this week, Zoe is able to walk with it Silas is still getting the hang of standing steadily, so he prefers to push it on his knees. Wendy, a fellow MOT friend of mine, gave us a "lawn mower" push toy. Silas & Zoe fight over this all the time, because it makes lots of fun sounds when you drive it. We also had a funny interaction between Zoe and Oliver this morning with these toys before the birthday party! S&Z (Silas in particular) will use anything as a "push toy" these days. A dining room chair, Or a laundry hamper! These guys are very close to walking! Stay tuned...

It is with a very heavy heart that I write this post. Serena was put to sleep tonight at 7pm. She was 14 years old. She was the best cat anyone could have ever asked for. She has given me so much love and helped me get through so many tough times, since I was 21 years old. I will miss her terribly. As will Salvador, Derek, And Silas and Zoe. I love you, Serena. Thank you for loving me too.

Derek and I got married two years ago today! Last year we spent our anniversary in the NICU with Zoe (S&Z had been born 6 days prior). That was a really rough time for us. Rachel was so nice to bring us over a lovely home-cooked dinner and a bottle of wine to commemorate our one year anniversary, and the nurses on the unit made us a beautiful sign with pictures. This year it's been hard to make plans when we're busy dealing with our crazy daily lives and throwing two birthday parties this month. I did just make last minute arrangements for Julia to come over to babysit on the 24th so we can go out to brunch at least! I was so surprised when I came home from work today and there was a gorgeous bouquet of flowers waiting for me! I LOVE YOU, DEREK! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!!!