Bye Bye 2010!

Do you remember when it was 1999 and everyone thought the world was going to end...Y2K... and here it is 2010, soon to be 2011. I'm looking forward to the day when Christ returns and sometimes I wonder how close we really are, everything is changing so quickly these days. Maybe it just seems that way because we get so much more information instantaneously.

I don't know where 2010 went, ok, actually I do, 2010 was the year of the baby. Most of it was spent being pregnant! I'm so grateful for a healthy baby, thank you all for praying! The last 4 months of 2010 have been a blur trying to sort out two children who want their mommy ALOT. I'm learning to appreciate being needed so much. Of course if a grandparent is around I immediately am needed much less by a certain 3 year old who will remain nameless... :)

For Mia, 2010 has been a year of change. She became much more independent after she started walking. She started a new school and stopped needing to go to the doctor quite so much. We've loved watching her personality develop and have had to start thinking about being much more consistant with discipline as she "tests" the boundaries quite often these days.

For 2010, Calvin has pretty much eaten, slept, and dirtied his diapers. We've really enjoyed the laughs and smiles we now get regularly, and just today he started rolling from his back to his tummy. Of course he then gets stuck on his tummy. He's never really liked tummy time.

Praise God for a wonderful year! Praise Him for all the growth we've seen in Mia. Praise Him for being our constant in this ever changing world. We serve an awesome God, I'm looking forward to 2011 and all that He has planned!

Just Another Day In LA

It has been so nice not having to go to LA for the past couple of months, can you believe we haven't been there since October?! We needed to see Mia's ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat) doctor and so we also scheduled an appointment for her to see the Opthamologist in LA today. I try to consolidate appointments as much as possible, but it doesn't always work out that way. Mia has become a great traveler, but now Calvin doesn't like the trip. It actually brings me back to the first year with Mia when she didn't like the trip either. Thankfully they both slept most of the way home.

Mia's ENT visit was just a routine check up and we talked about when she would have her next surgery to reopen her right nostril again. He said he'd like to wait until she's 4 or 5 and so he says we can think about doing it that summer before her 5th birthday. I'm happy with that because now is not the time for us to be in the hospital.

After that we went over to CHLA to see the Opthamologist. This is the first time that they've actually tested Mia's vision. They gave her a sheet of paper with different shapes and asked her to point to the one that was on the screen. We'd been practicing with the shapes at home, so she was super familiar with them and thought it was a great game. So, she sees 20/80 right now. And they said that since it is her first vision test, they can't be certain of the accuracy. They don't know if she puttered out at the end (she was less enthusiastic as the test went on...) or if she just couldn't see the different objects. Anyway, they said that they'd know more after she has it done a couple more times. We didn't change her prescription or anything, it was just a baseline for the next time around. We talked about Mia's lazy left eye and asked about surgery. She said that she'd rather wait until Mia is 4 or 5 because if they overcorrect, Mia can then correct that herself and the surgery is much more successful. She said it's harder for Mia to correct an overcorrection at this age because eyes haven't matured enough yet. That's fine with us, we plan on getting a 3rd opinion here and seeing what that doctor says.

You can be praying for wisdom on our part and the right direction from the right doctor regarding this.

We have a few trip to LA scheduled for January, hopefully Calvin will enjoy the ride better in a few more weeks!!

Merry Christmas!

Before I get into the fun stuff, I just wanted to remind you that Jesus is the reason for the season. Really. I think this is appropriate today.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you this day is born in the City of Bethlehem, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men'". (Luke 2:8-14)

We had a great time at grandma's house for Christmas eve with lots of cousins, and a great time at nana and papa's house on Christmas day! Here are some fun pictures!

some good looking family members

Lisa shows Mia an ornament from Mia's stocking.

Can we all agree that huge packages are great gifts?

Mia loves her stay at home "ball pit"!

Calvin and Mia

4 Months Already?!

It is hard to believe we have a 4 month old. Calvin is growing up so quick. Today he weighed in at 13 pounds 10 ounces. He's gained an inch in length this month also. I knew he was getting bigger because his sleeves were getting shorter! :). Having Calvin has made me realize how normal Mia was as a baby. It's been 4 months and Calvin is getting stronger and more aware, but he pretty much still just eats, sleeps, and messes his diaper. I was always worried because Mia slept so much in the NICU those first 10 weeks, but now I am realizing she was just being a baby. It's been very eye opening to me. I've realized that my babies need sleep. Some kids can survive on less, but mine need their rest. After Calvin is up for an hour or so he becomes rather grumpy because he needs that sleep. Mia was exactly the same way, lots of sleep. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree because I sure enjoy my sleep too!

Calvin got another shot today, we've chosen to slow down the shot process and give them one at a time. We wanted to do this for several reasons, mostly because if there were a reaction, how would you know which shot caused it? Anyway, he was a trooper! So, I was going to take pictures this morning, but he was cranky, so I will post some this evening after I take some.

Thanks for all your prayers for our babies! We are so grateful!

All Is Calm...

We are sort of settling into a routine these days. I'm so grateful for the help and support I get from the grandparents, it has made our lives so much easier and we are thankful! It gives Calvin a chance to not have to go everywhere as the grandparents shuttle Mia back and forth between various therapies and school. Calvin says thank you too!

Today we went to the Christmas party at MARE. They had some fun activities for the kids to do, decorating cookies, coloring horses, face painting...and of course Santa. When we got there we parked right next to Santa and he ducked down in his car, oops, I mean sleigh...because he didn't want Mia to see him, I don't think she would have any clue who he was if she had seen him, we just don't talk about Santa much in our house. This is the first year she has really enjoyed all the Christmas decorations. Anyway, we had a great time at MARE and now we have a break for a few weeks because they follow the school schedule and don't do sessions during Christmas.

Yesterday, Mia was playing with several different magnetic alphabet sets that we have and she noticed that she has 3 of each letter. So, she was asking for 3 A's, 3 B's, 3 C's, etc. and I would hunt over the house to find them and bring them to her. When we got to the G, she already had 1 and she looked at me and held up 2 fingers and then signed the word "more". 2 more! How awesome is that, the girl can count! I thought that was great that she is beginning to have a better understanding of numbers. Way to make your math teacher mommy proud!

We just continue to be amazed at God's goodness in her life and how He continues to grow her beyond what was expected of her. We are forever grateful for that.

Here are some more photos of the kiddos...

Decorating cookies at MARE.

Snug as a bug in a rug in my winter snowsuit!

Decorating a horse!

Daddy's #1 Fan

Hold me close Daddy, I love you!
(Hey, there's Uncle Tim and Aunt Rachel in the background!)

MARE and More

Mia continues to ride her horse Sally at MARE and loves it. They have it set up where she has to put different colored rings on different colored poles. Anything that is a game is fun for her. They also have her speaking more, which is great too. I've noticed that she is trying to be more verbal at home also. She asks me for "Bu-Ne" crackers all the time, she's even signing longer sentences, she can now put 5 signs together at a time. Today at MARE they had the horses step over poles and the first time it was quite a shock for Mia because they said she had quite the surprised look on her face.

At physical therapy Mia now can step over something herself, this is huge because it requires quite a bit of strength to lift your leg over something while maintaining your balance. It's great to see her getting stronger.

Something I find amusing is when I ask her what color plate she wants for dinner or which hair clips in her hair, she now has to have one of her animals pick it out. In fact, they do everything for her. At therapy yesterday she wasn't too interested in doing the activity until her "red bird" asked her to do it. She does love her animals.

Calvin is getting bigger and stronger every day. He attempts to communicate more, but it sounds more like a screechy bird.

To Nap or Not To Nap

So Mia hasn't been napping well these past couple of days...I'm not sure if we are slowly getting ready to depart the nap stage...at least the 3 hour nap no longer exists...right now she'll nap for an hour, if I'm lucky two. I really really really loved the 3 hour nap, I'm kind of hoping it will come back, but we'll see. We are going to keep the nap as long as we can though.

Today I learned that Mia's teacher is being replaced because she is not "highly qualified". It made me angry and sad because she's been really great and I know that she's working on becoming "highly qualified". It made me think back to my teaching days and how just because a person has a credential, doesn't mean they're a great teacher. You have to have the heart to be a teacher...she has the heart and she's a great teacher. I pray that our new teacher will be great too, we'll see.

December...

I can't believe it's December! We put our Christmas tree up a few days ago because I realized if we didn't do it now, we wouldn't be able to enjoy it for the maximum amount of time. :) We still haven't finished decorating it, but at least it's up! I've also put out a few other Christmas items, but I'm choosing to do less this year just because I don't have the motivation to do more. Mia's favorite is the nativity set and she is now tall enough to reach it on the table in our entryway, so we have to remind her it isn't for playing with. Mostly she'll just go over there and get on her tiptoes and stare at it, every so often she'll try to move the pieces around.

Calvin is now a 13 pounder! He was sick a few weeks ago and hadn't gained any weight for awhile, so I'm happy to say he's back to gaining. It's hard enough having 1 kid who won't gain weight, so I'm hoping he continues to be a good eater and keeps growing well. The pediatrician commented that he was "long and skinny", so I guess that's what we produce...long, skinny kids. :)

Mia has started reading her books to us at night instead of us reading to her. It's so cute. She doesn't say the words completely, but she gets the rhythm of the story right. One of her favorite ones to read is, "Mr Brown Can Moo Can You" by Dr Seuss, we have to get it on video because it is so cute. She'll say, "Mia" because she wants to read it herself and then she'll read each of the pages. I just love it! Keep praying for more sounds, my desire is for her to be able to communicate better. We are grateful that she keeps making progress.

MARE

So, Mia had her first horse therapy session yesterday and she LOVED it. She ended up staying on her horse Sally the entire time and she was so sad when we had to leave. They did several different exercises with putting rings on polls, they were making her use her left hand, which was great. They also made her say the commands to get the horse going and to have the horse stop, they said she was trying real hard to talk with them. Here are a few pictures.

Calvin has started blowing bubbles. It is so cute, I think he is rather amused by the way it feels on his lips. :)