The Geer Family
 
...Ed that is.  He woke up at about 5am Monday morning to a loud pop in his knee while rolling over.  As soon as he said my name, I could tell he was in some serious pain!  He has messed up this knee twice since high school so when it initially happened he just knew he had torn something.  Thank goodness he already had some crutches (or crunches as TJ calls them) at the house because there was no way I could have gotten him up and to the car by myself.  Since the boys were asleep, we got Ed up and to the side of the bed and I got TJ ready for school without telling him.  He may be the most worried child I have ever met when it comes to somebody being sick or hurt.  Since I was up so early and knew I wasn't going in to work, I rushed TJ around and got him out of the house quick.  I took him to McDonalds on the way to school, which he was SUPER excited about.  He couldn't believe that we had enough time because we are usually always on his tail in the mornings.  He moves at turtle speed when it's time to go to school.

I rushed back home, packed bottles & food for Deuce and got him up.  I didn't even change his clothes because I knew I needed to get Ed to the Urgent Care asap.  His leg was literally locked in place.  He couldn't bend it or straighten it.  He couldn't touch his toe to the ground and he couldn't lift his leg up.  We spent about 3 1/2 hours at the Urgent Care where they kept asking Ed the same history questions over and over again.  While we were waiting, we all decided to get Flu shots since we had so much time on our hands. (Deuce didn't flinch or cry during his.  And then he smiled when it was over!  Whew!)  Finally a PA came in and looked at Ed's leg and said "Hmmmmm, I'll be right back."  After abour 45 minutes I had to go track him down and ask him if he forgot about us.  They hadn't given Ed any pain medicine or anything!  He told us they had made an appointment with an orthopedist for that afternoon.  So we left Urgent Care, got Chick-fil-A for lunch and went home for a brief 1 hour nap.  Then we got up and went to see Dr. Paul at Guilford Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine.

Dr. Paul is a UNC Alum and took to Ed very quickly when we said we both went to Chapel Hill High and that the first time Ed messed his knee up was playing ball in high school.  We really like him right away.  after talking with him for awhile, he set Ed up for an MRI on Tuesday.  So Tuesday I had to stay home again to take Ed to his appointment (it's his right knee so he can't drive).  We went and had the MRI and got the results back yesterday.  And............it's a torn lateral meniscus.  Sooooo, surgery is scheduled for Monday.  As the days have passed, the pain has eased and the range of motion has returned so he can walk on it (with a slight limp but still he can move at least).  Dr. Paul asked him if wanted surgery on Friday or Monday and he chose Monday.  I mean come on, if he had surgery on Friday, he would be in no shape to go to the football game Saturday! 

So Ed will have arthroscopic surgery on his right knee Monday at 12:30.  I'll keep everyone updated!  Here are some pictures of Daddy & Deuce throughout his different appointments.
 
For anybody out there that has a Droid phone...download the Google Sky Map application!  I highly recommend it, especially to those of you with kids.  It's takes your GPS location and displays the stars, planets, sun, moon, etc based off of where you are standing at that moment.  It's incredibly accurate!  It brings to life the fact that the Earth is a sphere and there are stars and planets "beneath" us.  TJ & I had a great time looking at the stars last night!  While we were looking up at the moon, the sun was "below the ground" (or on the other side of the Earth) at that moment!
 
...I allowed Deuce to have his first sleepover.  With Nana and Auntie, of course.  My mom and sister came to visit on Saturday and watched Chris while we did some much needed house cleaning!  (I think I did like 8 or 9 loads of laundry Saturday and still have more to go...wow!)  My sister had eaten some bad food the night before so she was sick as soon as she got to Greensboro.  Nana and Deuce read books and napped in the sunshine while Auntie took a nap.  Since my sister was feeling so bad, and we were trying to work inside the house, I told them to just go on back to my mom's house and I would come pick him up later.  BUT later turned in to 11:30pm after the Carolina game so I decided to let him stay down there!  Because I am efficiently learning to plan ahead, I had packed plenty of bottles, food & clothes to get him through the night so off they went.  Nana said he slept great and she didn't have to get out of bed until morning!  Thank goodness for camera phones now days because they sent me a picture of him almost every hour.  It was nice to get a good nights sleep but I sure did miss him.  (I don't think Ed wanted him to go but he was nice and obliged).  Here are some shots from Auntie's phone of the sleepover!
 
Wow...6 months has come and gone so fast.  I just can't believe it.  We took Deuce to see Dr. Davis for his 6 month well visit on Monday.  He is a tall, skinny fella with a little head.  He weighed 14lbs12oz (10th percentile...yikes!) was 26.5 inches long (55th percentile) and his head circumference is 42.5cm (18th percentile). 

Sooooo, it turns out that I have to start supplementing with formula because my milk production has drastically slowed down since I returned to work.  Even with the pumping every 2 hours, I am not producing enough for him (hence, the low weight).  Dr. Davis assured us he is not malnourished or anything (he also has rice cereal twice a day, fruits and vegetables with every bottle AND juice) but it made me feel bad.  Dr. Davis told me that I had done a great job exculsively breastfeeding for the first 6 months and that the first 4 months are the most important months for nursing when it comes to brain development, etc.

I was only pumping enough to feed him 4oz bottles but at 6 months he should be drinking 6-8oz per bottle.  So I will continue to pump so he has some breastmilk in his bottles and then top off the rest of it with formula.  I have not nursed him since Sunday (5 days).  I was a little worried that not nursing him before bed would hinder his newfound sleeping habits but it hasn't.  He holds his own bottles now when we prop him up on the couch or in his seat and he's good to go.  So we can all eat dinner at the same time.  Then his belly is full and he likes to play with his daddy for awhile or have his bath.  Then when it's time to hit the sack, he goes down with ease and talks to himself for about 5 minutes before he zonks out. 

I love this little dude so much and love being his momma!!!
 
This past Saturday we ventured up to Charlottesville for the Carolina / UVA football game.  It was a beautiful fall day: perfect for football!  Charlottesville is such a beautiful place.  My dad and I had gone up there once before when I was at State to watch the Wolfpack play UVA.  Ed really wanted to visit their stadium so we decided to make the trip this year.  Carolina had not won in Charlottesville since 1981: the year that my cousin Rod was the starting quarterback.  We live right off of Highway 29 in Greensboro and it runs straight in to Charlottesville.  It only took us about 2 hours and 40 minutes to get there.  There was no traffic and some beautiful country scenery along the way.  My dad lives at the VA coast (Hampton Roads area) so he joined us at the game.  He hadn't seen Deuce since the beginning of August so he was excited to meet up with us!  We got home around 1am but had a great day and, of course, enjoyed the lopsided victory!
 
...and he slept through the night.  And I mean, slept through the night!!!!!  On Thursday, October 14th, Chris slept from 8pm until 7am, when I had to wake him to feed him before I left for work.  Yes, I have been blogging about how he's been pretty much sleeping through the night for a few weeks now, but this time he didn't make a peep.  I didn't have to soothe him back to sleep.  I didn't have to give him his paci.  I didn't even have to get out of my bed.  It was amazing!!!  And he's slept through the night every night since...

And then on Friday night, October 15th, he decided that he would be able to sit up on his own, without any help from me!  All of this stuff is so exciting, but it also means that he's getting bigger and bigger and reminds me that I will soon be chasing after him.  These baby stages go by too fast...ahhhhhhh!
 
Sunday I took Chris to a Harvest Festival at Peacehaven Farm in Whitsett.  The farm manager is my cousin Elkie's husband, Ben, and the festival was open to the community.  Peacehaven is a farm currently under development and its mission is to become a community for people with mental and physical disablities.  Eventually the farm will have individual homes where residents can live and contribute to multiple aspects of farming from gardening & planting to raising livestock.  The farm website is: www.peacehavenfarm.org

The festival was great!  The food served was fresh from the farm including the BBQ and it was tasty!  Some of the individuals with disabilities were serving the food and it was neat to see them in action.  There were goats and chickens that the kdis could pet, a bonfire where marshmallows were being roasted for S'mores, face painting for the kids and a live 3 piece band complete with bails of hay as the seats.  We had a great time and Chris enjoyed being passed around between all of the girls!
 
Saturday was Deuce's first UNC game in Kenan Stadium.  He woke up ready and excited to watch some football!
We spent most of the morning getting ready.  I cooked eggs, sausage and cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  It was yummy!  The boys went to the barber shop while the little guy stayed with me and had a bath to get ready for the game!  He wore his new shirt from his cousins Koji, Amber and Amir and he looked great!  I carried him from the car to the stadium in my Moby wrap.  If you are a mommy and don't have one...you need to get one.  It's awesome and he loves the ride. (There is a photo below...obviously that's not me and Chris but you get the idea).  There are so many different ways to wrap him, and next time I will try the forward facing one since he appears to be so observant!  This is like our 4th year with these season tickets and we sit surrounded by some really great fans.  Most of them didn't know I was pregnant last season so they were all excited to see us arrive with the baby!  Deuce was awesome throughout the game and really paid close attention (until he took a 30 mintue siesta during the 4th quarter & the fireworks).  He is already a true football fan!
 
Not too much has been going on with us lately, hence the lack of new posts.  The little guy rolls over almost every time you put him on his back now and he is almost able to sit up on his own now.  He sits in the butterfly position and kind of leans forward to prop himself up for a few seconds before he topples over.  It's pretty cute.  He is just as happy as ever.  We are still working on his sleeping habits.  They're not horrible but they're not awesome either.  He goes down at about 9pm and lets me put him in his crib while he's still awake with no issues.  Supposedly this teaches them that they can fall asleep on their own in their bed.  We have the same bedtime routine, including the things I say to him and kisses I give him, and he smiles at me every time I put him down.  It's so sweet.  He wakes up at least once during the night and sometimes twice.  Last night he woke up at 12:30 and 3:30.  Both times I was able to console him right back to sleep but then he woke AGAIN at 4:30 and I had to feed him at that point.  Then I put him back in his crib and when it's time for me to leave to go to work around 7, I have to wake him up!  I am not miserable getting up during the night but at about 10pm I have to go to sleep because my eyelids just won't stay open!

Based on a suggestion from Leigh Anne, I made "Taco Lasagna" last night.  She thought TJ might like it and I must say it was pretty tasty.  He cleared his plate really fast and said he loved it!  I added some black beans, lots of fresh shredded cheese, lettuce & sour cream and we had corn too.  I will definately be making this one again.  Especially since it's a good variation to messy tacos!
On a side note: a friend of mine from Elon lost her dad after a long battle with colon cancer this week and one of Laura's best friends from college also lost her mother to lung cancer this week (a non smoker...).  They were both young parents with young grandchildren.  Please say a prayer for them as cancer has affected every one of us in some way...Thanks!

Pam's blog is listed here: http://www.jordanadventures.blogspot.com/
Layne's mother's website is here: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/gailredmond