Little Man Sings the ABCs: Password is orion

The password is orion.

Little Man Sings the ABCs from Erin Gladden on Vimeo.

Spring/Summer Update

Yikes- I realize that it has been a WHILE since I posted pics on the blog. Where has the time gone? Well, here is just a sampling of the last several months...

Steven has such a gift with a camera! We are lucky to have a photographer in the family. I have been wanting family portraits, and Steven worked hard to capture these for us... very affordable, quality photography I might add.

Alexander loves to go outside... anytime... all the time. Here he is "lawnin'" with Dad.

Our journey with Alexander's EoE continues to challenge our family. Alexander has been doing okay, but his battle with food is an almost daily struggle. We go to feeding therapy weekly and have been waiting, waiting, waiting to get into a top-notch Pediatric Feeding Disorders Program at the Marcus Autism Center in Atlanta. We are hopeful that our insurance will approve the program as "medically necessary" for Alexander so we can help our little guy continue to grow and thrive.

We had a laid-back, fun-filled 4th of July. Steven introduced Alexander to "fireworks" with these poppy thingees. Oh boy!

Between Uncle John heckling the Tea-Party float and the people beside us squirting the float participants with water guns, the PTC 4th of July parade was quite entertaining. A good time was had by all!

Coloring time with cousin Liam during a recent visit.

Alexander still talks about his ride with Grandpa on the tractor at the farm in Ohio.

We made the trip to Ohio/Indiana to celebrate my aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary. We enjoyed time with extended family, and Alexander had fun hanging out with his cousins.

My Aunt Pat and Uncle Wilmer were totally surprised by the anniversary party their children planned. It was a fancy affair with great food, a slide show, and even a replica wedding cake.

We also made a trip to Auburn to celebrate CG's 60th birthday with a roast/toast party in June. Of course Steven did lots of Comedy Central "research" before writing his hilarious roast for CG. Good times!

Play date at the pool... thanks Ami!

Finding the fishies in Grandma and Grandpa's pond--- Alexander loves feeding the fish.

It's summer!

We celebrated Alexander's 2nd birthday with a music class birthday party in May. AO seemed to be a little overwhelmed with everyone he knew in the world in the same room at the same time making music together.

Happy Easter!

At the Georgia Aquarium this spring

Fun with Grandpa

Our good friends Bobby and Emily had a beautiful wedding in Tallahassee, FL. We were thankful for the excuse to hang out with our favorite people and the "date weekend"-- both sets of Grandparents helped out with the babysitting for us.

Our big project this spring was re-seeding the backyard with grass. It involved a long weekend of rotatilling and raking- thankfully my parents were able to help out.

There's nothing like sitting back and watching my boys clean!

Holly Happy Days

I figured I at least needed to get the holiday pictures posted before Valentine's Day- so here are just a few. We are having some technical difficulties involving hard drives that have kept me from being able to access all our latest photos. Hopefully more pictures, including some from our family vacation to Disney, will be coming soon. It was a busy holiday season, but we still made time to relax with family and friends.

Playing with Christmas toys

Cousins toasting 2011 (no worries- sparkling apple juice is yummy!)

At the Auburn basketball game

War Eagle fans

What a money shot! Yes, that is mommy's bra that Alexander found and tried on as a necklace-hahaha!

The Gladdens on a geocaching adventure

Oh what fun it is to ride...

We had an amazing start to the holidays at an Indigo Girls concert at the Tabernacle in Atlanta. I have seen the Indigo Girls live too many times to count, but this concert topped them all. It was a fabulous venue that felt like a small party with friends. Shawn Mullins also played at the concert, and I have been listening to his albums since. Check out his new song "Light You Up."

Some IG fans might say the girls sold out by making their recently released Christmas album- I, on the other hand, can't imagine what could make me happier than the Indigo Girls singing Christmas music!

Alexander's health issues took us on a roller coaster ride through the holidays, beginning with a brief admission to the hospital for dehydration just before Thanksgiving. Despite his health challenges, it is hard to get too down being around such a cutie pie- Alexander amazes us with his wide-eyed outlook and sweetness. He is a lovable little guy, and I thank my lucky stars for him daily. Alexander is getting more verbal all the time, and he says the cutest things- "I like it," "hold you," "I'll try it," and "I love you too" are some of my favorites. He is happiest when he is around his cousins or his play group buddies.

We currently have Alexander's feeding tube and ear tube surgery scheduled for February 14th. The decision to get a g-tube for Alexander has been, by far, the hardest decision we have ever had to make. Since Alexander's diagnosis of Eosinophilic Esophagitis in September, we have tried to educate ourselves on EoE and have seen many doctors to discuss possible treatments. EoE is a fairly new diagnosis in the medical community, and we are having to make many decisions without long-term data to guide us. Like so many things in life, the decisions we make for Alexander regarding his treatment are not black and white. There are not instructions to follow or easy roads to take. Bill Cosby wrote: "In spite of the six thousand manuals on child raising in the bookstores, child raising is still a dark continent and no one really knows anything. You just need a lot of love and luck - and, of course, courage." Our hearts have been full of love for our little guy since the day he was born. As we continue on this journey we become more and more courageous. We are hoping for a little luck as we head into a difficult month for our sweet Alexander.