Ellery decided to camp out in the baby's room. You can't see it in the picture but she took my Ipad in the tent with her. My kind of camping!Monday, September 13, 2010
Modern day camping
Ellery decided to camp out in the baby's room. You can't see it in the picture but she took my Ipad in the tent with her. My kind of camping!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Thursday thoughts
1. Ellery is really enjoying Pre-K. She loves having a folder that she brings to and from school each day. I love her enthusiasm!
2. I have visions of Price walking out of the little preschool we go to and it brings tears to my eyes. I wish we were making decisions on preschools for him.
3. Instead, we are having to decide if he will be orally sedated or put completely under for his lumbar puncture next Friday.
4. I know what it feels like to get an epidural and the thought of my sweet boy having to undergo this procedure makes my stomach ache.
5. Yes, we are doing another test. We saw another neurologist (this time at Memorial Hermann) and it's something he thinks is worthwhile. I am not so sure about it.
6. Price has been frustrated lately. I am assuming it's because he can't communicate with us. He fists his little hands and shakes them. I remember Ellery doing this too though, so maybe it's just a 2 year old thing.
7. Price has started doing this funny smile when we tell him to smile. I will have to capture it on camera. He loves to make us laugh.
8. This is the first pregnancy that I can't wear my rings and my feet are swollen. Hello water retention.
9. I think it's hilarious when the ladies at the nail salon comment on my belly. They almost always say that I am having a girl which makes me laugh. It's because I am not carrying a cute little basketball. It's more like I'm carrying EVERYWHERE.
10. So I guess it's their nice way of saying I have gained weight on every inch of my body, which sadly is true.
11. I can't believe this little one will be here in about 4 weeks. I am excited, nervous, and excited!
2. I have visions of Price walking out of the little preschool we go to and it brings tears to my eyes. I wish we were making decisions on preschools for him.
3. Instead, we are having to decide if he will be orally sedated or put completely under for his lumbar puncture next Friday.
4. I know what it feels like to get an epidural and the thought of my sweet boy having to undergo this procedure makes my stomach ache.
5. Yes, we are doing another test. We saw another neurologist (this time at Memorial Hermann) and it's something he thinks is worthwhile. I am not so sure about it.
6. Price has been frustrated lately. I am assuming it's because he can't communicate with us. He fists his little hands and shakes them. I remember Ellery doing this too though, so maybe it's just a 2 year old thing.
7. Price has started doing this funny smile when we tell him to smile. I will have to capture it on camera. He loves to make us laugh.
8. This is the first pregnancy that I can't wear my rings and my feet are swollen. Hello water retention.
9. I think it's hilarious when the ladies at the nail salon comment on my belly. They almost always say that I am having a girl which makes me laugh. It's because I am not carrying a cute little basketball. It's more like I'm carrying EVERYWHERE.
10. So I guess it's their nice way of saying I have gained weight on every inch of my body, which sadly is true.
11. I can't believe this little one will be here in about 4 weeks. I am excited, nervous, and excited!
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Off to Pre-K
2nd day of school - dad took her to school and took some pictures
and 1st day of school - she picked out the outfit and the pose!
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Someone elses star
I wrote about Price being my star a few posts back.
Well, it turns out someone else thinks he is a star....Miss Rosie.
We started afternoon ABA therapy with Price in addition to his morning speech, PT, and OT. No one recommended it to us and actually one of our therapists discouraged it, saying Price did not need it and it was too intense. I decided on my own, however, that I wanted to give it a try. We had him evaluated and came up with a schedule for him...basically every afternoon for 2 hours. It is intense, but I hear some kids do up to 35 hours a week of ABA. It's a very organized therapy session. Goals are set for Price and organized in a 3 inch binder. These goals include gross motor, fine motor, joint attention, nonverbal imitation, requests, self help, and verbal imitation to name a few. Basically each of his three therapists (Miss Rosie, Miss Erin, and Miss Tranika) follow a very specific program that works on all of these goals. I can at anytime check his binder to see how he is progressing or what they worked on that specific day. Did I mention how much I love the organization?
Well, Price has been doing ABA for 2 weeks now. It breaks my heart at times because I can hear him upstairs crying. The mommy in me wants to go sweep him up in my arms and rescue him, but I know that wouldn't be the best for him. He needs this. So I will just shut myself in my room and pray for him (or...watch a movie with E).
We had our first meeting with the therapists to discuss his progress thus far and I wasn't expecting much. After all, it had only been 2 weeks. To my surprise, he has already mastered many of the small goals they had set for him. These are little, little goals, but the fact that he is already progressing is wonderful. He is sitting unassisted for more than 35 minutes without tiring, has learned to use a spoon pretty well, and mastered the nonverbal imitation goal they set for him. I am encouraged.
The best part was last week when Miss Rosie was here. She had been out the previous week and so she was seeing Price for the first time in almost 2 weeks. She brought him downstairs to me at the end of the session and just raved about how well he is doing. She loves our boy and told me how smart he is. And then she said something that really made me smile. She said he was her star. I just smiled....yes, he's a star alright.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Game day
Nathan took Ellery to the football game today. She was so excited. So excited that she had her new cheerleader outfit on when she first came downstairs this morning at 7am! This girl loves spending time with her dad!
Monday, August 30, 2010
Words
I have met so many moms at therapy and most of them are as nice as can be. Some of them have children who are just there for speech therapy or physical therapy, and then there are moms like me whose little ones are in speech, occupational, and physical therapy...all three. I have shed tears with a few of the moms and for the most part enjoyed getting to know families who are walking through similar circumstances.
All that to say, it has mostly been a positive experience even though I would much rather be doing other things with our time. Today though, one of the moms caught me completely off guard. I am sure she was just trying to make conversation and didn't really THINK about what was coming out of her mouth, but I have replayed the conversation in my head a hundred times and wish I would have said something.
She was asking me about my pregnancy...how much further, did we plan it, etc. etc. The truth is that this pregnancy was not planned. It was an unexpected blessing. So this mom said to me, "Well aren't you glad you got pregnant? I mean, Price is special needs. He might be special needs his entire life. Don't you owe it to Ellery to give her a normal little brother or sister?"
I was stunned, shocked, completely taken off guard. I think my mouth was wide open as I just stared at her. I didn't really respond. I think I just went back to reading the magazine that was in my hand.
I have never really thought of Price as special needs, but really he is. He has special needs. And yes, he may have them his entire life. It is a possibility although I am believing the Lord to heal him completely and have the faith that He will do it. And Ellery deserving a "normal" sibling? What is normal may I ask? And no, as a matter of fact, Price IS the perfect little brother for Ellery because that was the Lord's design for our family.
I was shocked and slightly disgusted more than anything but tonight when I was telling Nathan about the conversation, my emotions got the best of me. As the four of us were playing/talking in the EMPTY baby room tonight, however, the Lord gave me a sweet glimpse of my family. We had gotten out an old tunnel of Ellery's and I watched as Ellery and Price interacted together. No, it was not in the typical way that a 2 year old and a 4 year old would play, but it was in their own unique and perfect-to-me way.
All that to say, it has mostly been a positive experience even though I would much rather be doing other things with our time. Today though, one of the moms caught me completely off guard. I am sure she was just trying to make conversation and didn't really THINK about what was coming out of her mouth, but I have replayed the conversation in my head a hundred times and wish I would have said something.
She was asking me about my pregnancy...how much further, did we plan it, etc. etc. The truth is that this pregnancy was not planned. It was an unexpected blessing. So this mom said to me, "Well aren't you glad you got pregnant? I mean, Price is special needs. He might be special needs his entire life. Don't you owe it to Ellery to give her a normal little brother or sister?"
I was stunned, shocked, completely taken off guard. I think my mouth was wide open as I just stared at her. I didn't really respond. I think I just went back to reading the magazine that was in my hand.
I have never really thought of Price as special needs, but really he is. He has special needs. And yes, he may have them his entire life. It is a possibility although I am believing the Lord to heal him completely and have the faith that He will do it. And Ellery deserving a "normal" sibling? What is normal may I ask? And no, as a matter of fact, Price IS the perfect little brother for Ellery because that was the Lord's design for our family.
I was shocked and slightly disgusted more than anything but tonight when I was telling Nathan about the conversation, my emotions got the best of me. As the four of us were playing/talking in the EMPTY baby room tonight, however, the Lord gave me a sweet glimpse of my family. We had gotten out an old tunnel of Ellery's and I watched as Ellery and Price interacted together. No, it was not in the typical way that a 2 year old and a 4 year old would play, but it was in their own unique and perfect-to-me way.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Birthdays
Saturday morning I woke up to a few missed calls and texts from my mom and sister. Paige had been at the hospital since 2:30am and baby Piper would be making her appearance by noon the doctor suspected. I got really excited and did a little screaming while I quickly packed us all up. Ellery was super excited too and at first thought that OUR baby was coming.
We made our way to the hospital and got there about 2 hours after baby Piper was born. She is a beauty. The darkest black hair I have ever seen and peaceful and sweet as ever. The Lord has really had His hand on Paige's pregnancy and this little girl! We are so thankful.
Piper was born one day before Price's birthday! We woke up this morning singing to him and loving on our 2 year old! I was determined that it would be a sweet, sweet day and that there would be no tears or reminding myself of what a typical 2 year old should be doing. It was a day of celebrating Price for who he is and where he is at. I was planning a family party for him tonight but that had to be postponed. Since Nathan's parents had made a trip to Houston for the party, we met them on the road on our way back to Houston and their way back to Dallas. We did some celebrating at DQ and we decided to let Price have some vanilla soft serve. We haven't purposefully cheated on his gluten/casein free diet ever but for some reason, it just felt like the right thing to do. And he was in heaven!
snoozing...check out the shiner!
this tastes so familiar to me...oh wait, I think my mom ate this a lot while I was in her tummy
(and I did...craved ice cream with this little guy)
My only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear how much I love you
So please don't take my sunshine away.
I sang this to Price moments after he was born and still sing it to him today (that is when he will let me rock him). Happy 2nd birthday Price! You are a JOY and our sunshine!
