weather now not so wonderful

Happy 33rd Birthday, Damon!!!

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Less than one week ago it was sunny and beautiful, now the days are cloudy, dreary, and cold! Damon and I are going to the Bengals game on Sunday and the forecast says a high temperature of 32 degrees!! WHAT?? Why didn't I go to the game two Sundays ago and let my Dad go with Damon to this Sunday's game?? I already told Damon that I wouldn't let him drop me off at the gate, so I am going to have to walk probably a mile with the "boot" on my foot. I'm not complaining as it is my choice, but it's going to be a long walk.

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I met with the cardiologist and the pulmonary doctor (a pulmonologist?) on Monday. The cardiologist did an EKG and said that it was normal and he saw no cause for concern. In Ukraine we were told that Wesley had a heart murmur, but no US doctor could hear anything, so we weren't too concerned. The pulmonologist didn't see anything abnormal in his x-rays or hear anything abnormal, but they want to do a scope sometime under anaesthesia. Obviously they don't want to put him under just for that, so it will likely be when he has his "man surgery" in January.

On Tuesday a new g-tube was put in. The doctors will go down one more size, then we will get the "button." The button only sticks up from the skin a small amount and doesn't have to have a huge tube sticking out of his stomach all the time.

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Wesley got his first professional haircut (and maybe his last) on Thursday afternoon. I have been trimming his hair since we got him in August (he had a mullet!), but I figured it was time to let someone who knew how to cut hair trim it up. I took him to a place called "Cookie Cutters" that specializes in children's haircuts. There were three women working and only one little girl getting her haircut, but for some reason (unknown to me), it took at least 20 minutes for Wesley to start getting his haircut. (The subsequent haircut took about 7 minutes total) The place had a huge slide which of course he wanted to go down at least 30 times. I swore my back was going to give out before he got his hair cut because I had to life him each time to a height around my shoulders. I just realized that is why my neck has been hurting today - I assumed that I slept on it funny last night!! Ok, so back to my story...the little girl in front of us is finished up and we are called to a small car to sit. I buckle him in and the hairstylist starts to put a cape on him. Wesley throws a fit!!! He starts screaming and crying and hitting his head (which he does sometimes when he gets upset, maybe its an orphanage thing?). He calmed down once I got his hands out and she started cutting his hair.

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Like I said it was over in no time and we go to the counter to pay. She asked if I had a Dorothy Lane Market card (a fancy grocery store in the same shopping center), and I said that I do. Apparently having a grocery card saved me $1.50 off the cut, but can you guess how much I still had to pay? Let me remind you that she didn't even wash or dry or use clippers on his hair and it took seven minutes...the total was $12.45!!! My haircuts cost $15.00 and that includes a wash and style!! I realize that is crazy-cheap for me so it might not be a good comparison, but isn't that an outrageous price for a 21 month-old's haircut?? She was being paid $2.00 per minute which equates to $119.57 per hour!! I know attorneys who hardly make more an hour than that!!

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When I told Damon how much it cost, he said "you're never taking him back there again, he can go to Mike's Barbershop and get his hair cut for less than $3.00." Now many of you don't know what Mike's Barbershop is, but in the town where we grew up, this used to be the barbershop to go to. If it tells you anything about the barbers in the shop, one of the men who used to cut hair there was at least 80 years old and on oxygen!! I have to laugh even thinking about Wesley going there, but it would be a lot cheaper...or I could just go back to cutting it. We'll decide when he needs it cut again, but I will not take him to get his hair cut at Mike's!!!

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As you can see though, the haircut turned out pretty well

The Christmas presents are out in every store now!! Wes doesn't "get" Christmas yet, so we just show him the toys and let him play with them in the store. You can see that he is quite taken with the talking Elmo. I have a Tickle Me Elmo from back in the day, but the weird giggling just scares him. I just cannot bring myself to spend $50 on a red animal-thing that tells my son he loves him and then blows kisses. Just a little too strange for me...

We did purchase a sock monkey for him though!! I think sock monkeys are so stinkin' cute, so I had to get him one. That and when I showed it to him at Target he slobbered all over it as he gave him a kiss.

Here are just a few cute pictures of Wes from our everyday lives.

He was singing and dancing while standing in Damon's shoes.

When he sits in his car seat, Wes pulls his pants up to his knees every time. Haven't figured out why yet...

dinner at Steak N Shake

not exactly Mr. Sunshine in the mornings as I got him up earlier than he wanted to get up to go to a doctor's appointment