new milestones

Buggy had *2* therapy appointments today and she astounded us at both of them. She has started to make verbal approximations when she is "talking" to us. Today she made several more and is even understood by her Speech therapist. We have some new goals for using her speech board and articulating better. She played some great pretend and used some new signs and approximations during the session.

After that, we went to Cache Kids and she had OT. She was coloring in circles (has only done horizontal lines up to this point) and even identified and colored pictures when directed. Two months ago she was tested in identifying pictures and she could not do it at all. We were working with her as if she had a visual processing problem. Today she identified eight pics correctly and then identified body parts on a hand-drawn person. Once she was "helped" by cuing to visually scan rather than just point to the first pic she saw, she identified them all correctly. she has *never* done this. I know this may not seem like a big deal for most kids and, for most kids this happens without us even knowing when, but for Buggy, this is huge. This has repercussions with her communication as well as vision. I had no idea we would see any improvement on this front, let alone improvement this quickly.

She is "finding her footing" and walking more and more. She has such motivation to be moving in the same manner as her siblings and friends around her. I finally have a new neuro appt along with a chest CT and a FEES evaluation. It turns out that one of the resident neuros is now an attending. We met her on her first rotation through neuro and she was one of Buggy's dr's on her first foray in PCMC. When she had to stay again for a month the next spring, this neuro got to see her again. She's really nice and I'll be interested to hear what she has to say.

I'm finding it harder and harder to keep up with Buggy and the rest of the kids. I'm getting wicked tired about the time that the kids and Buggy have caught their second wind of the day (right after nap time, of course). I also notice that if I do too much, I am sooo sore for the rest of the day and I can't even get up off the couch. People are still raising their eyebrows when i tell them I am 5 months pregnant..."Are you sure there's only one in there?" and other such comments are common. Aah well, I will never be one of those cute little mamas that only ever gain 15 pounds and it's all inside of the ribs. So far, this baby has been much more demure in her movements.

Rapunzel is playing princess every chance she gets. She loves to dress up and wear her jewelry. Frodo is continuing to impress outsiders with his vast amount of trivia that he loves to share. He's also learning new jokes and riddles thanks to omi's book collection and he is loving the Magic Tree house books. They are all excited for the new baby and they hug and kiss my belly in anticipation.

When I think about my young growing family and my beautiful kids I often get overwhelmed and worry about their/our future. Then i remember Sister Beck's amazing talk in Women's Conference this last year and I find strength. I know that we are where we are supposed to be. It gives me hope and purpose.

why it's been so long...

hehe, you think I'm actually going to explain my absence? I've got no excuses except for my old standby. Once again, my body reminds me that I was *not* made for multitasking. If I'm gestating, that's about all I can do. After a short visit to the ER (silly protocols about 20-weekers), life has been much more predictable. I have to take it easy, but my body *is* doing its correct job.

I'm loving the new job and its flexibility.

I'm looking forward to having my sister and her friend move in and help me.

I've picked up some old knitting.

We spent almost six days traveling with family for the first time in years.

We're still healthy (this is actually the most incredible, especially after reading this post here.

And if you don't ever check my sidebar, I really encourage you to click on top pick of my shared files (it's labeled funny things from my friends). It's a post from someone on one of my g-tube groups that explained some things for me. It's a nice story about parents of children with special needs and how we relate to "other" parents.

Anyway...those are my bullet points. Maybe I'll fill it in, or maybe I'll post sooner enxt time. I even have some pics from Christmas that I might make HeaterBoy put up.

ps. We're having another girl...

hehe, what's a tag?

So, I only read a handful of blogs. But I still managed to get tagged anyway. :-) I know it's because some of my friends (thanks KM!) also only read a handful of blogs and don't have a huge group of people to tag. ;-)

So here goes:

Five things I Was Doing Ten Years Ago
1. sending a cute boy on a mission
2. Writing to HeaterBoy
3. spending my first year at Weber State (2nd year in college)
4. learning about myself and my relationship with my family of origin (does that ever end?)
5. getting ready to perform at a Christmas concert

Five things on my Life To Do List
1. make my own clothes from the raw materials I have grown
2. learn how to run a small hobby farm
3. empower women and mothers (or rather, help them to see that they already are :-) )
4. learn how to dance
5. learn how to weave


Five things I'd do if I was a Millionaire
1. STM was right, this won't go as far as I'd like, but...I'll buy a house...Modest and fits our needs, with cash
2. try to save the rest until somebody needs it. J and I can never find a shortage of good causes to donate to or support. (this will be my sub-list as I only did two things...)
A. LLL
B. Local business owners struggling to make ends meet
C. sustainable mom and pop operations
D. ICAN
E. Primary Children's Medical Center
F. any number of birth/family advocates


Five Things I'd Never Do Again
1. Ignore my gut-feelings (this one copied from KM, but totally applies for me as well)
2. Yell at my husband
3. stick my foot in my mouth by saying something totally inappropriate and rude (if only my foot didn't want to reside in that general vicinity, it would be easier).
4. allow (or rather, forcefully put)foreign chemicals into my body without first questioning the risks and benefits of said chemical.
5. question somebody's wisdom and education in having more than three or four kids. Or most childbearing decisions...

Five Favorite Toys
1. computer
2. spinning wheel
3. paper trimmer
4. jewelry tweezers/pliers
5. itunes (does software count as a toy?)

Five Things I've Read Recently
1. Warprize
2. Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
3. instructions on lung drainage postures
4. the ensign
5. pediatric drug dosages

Five of My Favorite Smells

1. newborn babes (also copied from KM, but does any body not like this smell?)
2. my husband (no really, it made me marry him. and sans cologne or aftershave is best...(sniff) aah, it makes me want him home:-) )
3. rain
4. fresh oranges
5. the absence of rotavirus ;-)


And now, Tag, you're it!!
Five People I'm Tagging...are there five people who read my blog?
1. Nicole
2. Dirtius Wifius
3. Sarah in NYC
4. Tola
5. anybody else who reads my blog... ;-)

Hospitals on the Holiday

So we're out. Buggy ended up spending 6 days in the hospital this time and it looks like we are finally finding some solutions to her long term health. They're not easy or fun, but it might keep her out of the hospital for longer next time. I posted a few times on Carepage, but I didn't make it to post this page, sorry. We now have three holidays at Primary's. :-)

The stress was so much better this time because J didn't have to go anywhere this week and we still had our nanny to help him out. I didn't have to worry about the big kids or what the house would look like when I got home. We may also be able to re-evaluate how we do the hospital thing as J now has a computer that he can work on in the hospital, so especially when the new babe comes, we may have J stay with Buggy instead of me. Now that she's a little older, he's the one that she wants anyway. She kept asking for him while we were stuck i isolation. (BTW, rotavirus stinks)

Joining the World of the Employed...

So J left yesterday for his first training trip. He's in Texas until Friday night. I'm not sure how I'll cope being a single parent for a week, but I guess it's baptism by fire, right? So far, Buggy seems to be having the hardest time. She spent about 1/2 hour crying for Daddy this morning.

We'll be meeting with the sleep pulmonologist this Friday. I was really hoping that HeaterBoy could be there for that appointment, but I guess I'll have to do it alone. We have lots of questions for these docs and hopefully they will have some theories that will help us to get Buggy's lungs healthier. She is taking more and more steps independently. if the distance is small enough and she thinks she can make it, she will sure try. It makes for some funny falls, but she's getting better at those too. She is protecting her head better and getting faster at her motor patterns. We're getting ready for her new IFSP (service plan for Early Intervention) so we're going to be meeting with people we rarely see this month to get her all tested for that.

This morning the nurse came and she was surprised to see how well B is doing. She seems to do a lot of surprising. :-)

I've been chewing gum the past couple of weeks to keep from feeling like I'm two seconds away from vomiting. It's been working great...until two days ago. All of a sudden, my teeth started to get really sensitive while I was chewing, like I had a cavity. I got kind of freaked out, so I'm not chewing unless it gets really bad. It's also a good thing that we will have dental coverage soon. :-)

So that's our life this week. The kids had fun at Halloween, and so did HeaterBoy. Of course, I didn't take any photos. I have the cutest scrapbook pages and nothing to put in them. Such is life.

More News!

Okay, okay, enough with the news already. Our family seems to be in such upheaval, I'm amazed I make it out of bed every day. :-P No, but eally, somehow it doesn' feel as if we;re under a lot of stress, it feels as if so much stress has been removed.

drumroll...

HeaterBoy has a real-live, grown-up job! He tried for a job about six weeks ago and we just came to the conclusion that it's time for our family to be grown-ups. 9 years of school is great fun, but it's time for a new chapter. Well, that job came and went, we thought, and Boy started looking for other opportunities in his new chosen field that wold utilize his very expensive nine years of university education and we came up with some great career fits.

Before we could really start cranking out the resumes, the original company called back and they offered the high end of what we wanted our starting salary to be. Talk about relief. I mean, who really *likes* to look for a job.

So this new job has absolutely nothing to do with biochemistry, but everything to do with web programming, which is what HeaterBoy has been "messing around" with since we were married. All this time, I thought it was great he had found a "hobby" that was relatively cheap (fly-fishing anyone?)and he could justify all his time on the computer. Turns out he can actually make money doing what he's been playing around with for years. I'm so proud of him and I'm also excited that we might be able to buy a house sometime this decade.

It will be lots of traveling, so I'm not super excited about that, but we've budgeted for "compensations" and "coping strategies" so it'll work. The rest of the time, he gets to work from home! Doesn't that sound fun? Of course, I'll have to get used to "daddy's home, but he can't play with us, or help with the laundry, or make lunch, or do homeschool work, etc" but it's a switch I think I can make.

Here's to impending adulthood!

My weekend

So I spent last weekend with my sweet husband's cousin and his wife in Sacramento.I had an LLL conference and I was trying to save money, so I threw out to HeaterBoy "Do we know anyone in Sacramento?" He said his cousin lived there, and we emailed him. He and his wife were so gracious and kind that they made my stay such a wonderful experience. I was a little worried about how I would transport myself to and from the conference hotel. Brett's wife, Andrea, was able to drive me to and from on each of my conference days. It was wonderful.

The conference was amazing! I am so motivated and want to learn everything I can about positive communication and building relationships. I'd love to talk about with anyone who will listen...(hint, hint) :-)