Teeth!

Yup, you guessed it, Calvin's bottom teeth started poking through today. His gums have been slightly enlarged on the bottom for awhile now and he's been drooling up a storm. Well, this morning I checked him and there were no teeth, but this afternoon when I checked him they had just started to poke through. That's amazing that some time between this morning and this afternoon he cut his first teeth!

(Christine, I forget what you told me about the age of kids getting their first teeth and how it correlates to something else???)

Happenings...

On Wednesday Mia and Calvin went to the pediatrician. Calvin got another shot, but is recovering well from it. The pediatrician told us his head looks "perfect"...that's nice because Mia had so many head issues, it's reassuring to know that Calvin's head is fine. Mia has had a chronic nighttime cough for awhile now, so the pediatrician wants her to try some breathing treatments. We've been doing the Vicks VapoRub, but sometimes it doesn't help at all, so we're going to give these a try and see if it makes a difference.

Yesterday we went to LA. Mia had an echo of her heart done, it looks fantastic! This is great news, we always love to hear great news. We also saw her neurologist and he diagnosed Mia as having Cerebral Palsy, he said that she should still get services with the regional center (they said we didn't qualify when she turned 3), so hopefully this will help us to requalify and be able to get some help from them.

Hopefully we don't have to make anymore LA Trips for another month or so, Calvin does well in the car when he is sleeping...he's not always sleeping in the car :)

Letters

Mia's Uncle Paul has taught her a new game that she can't get enough of. We have these cards that spell three letter words, like pig, cat, cow, boy, etc. Well, not etc, but you know. Anyway, when you put them in the correct order it has a picture of the word. The other day, her Uncle was over playing with her and he decided to mix up the words and say what it was, like igp, or gip...she thought that was so funny. Eventually they'd get to the right word, but there were so many giggles, it was too cute.

Thinking about that, and how one of our prayer requests when she turned 3 was for more speech this year, I'm pleased to say she has been attempting to speak more. She will now try to say whatever we are saying and she'll repeat the correct amount of syllables, but she can't say it correctly. So, as I was praying the other night, it hit me that we should pray for the sounds she can't say correctly, not just for more speech. So, I'm going to list a bunch of letters and if you are thinking about it, I'd love for you to pray for one of those sounds for her. There are quite a few and I thought that if you just pick one or two (or however many you choose), that it would be neat to see her learn these sounds, if that's God's desire for her.

Here is the list.

C, G, J, K, L, Q, R, V, W, X, Z

The other sounds she does a fairly good job with them, some of the vowels, she can only say the short sound, not the long sound, but those letters above are the ones that we have a very difficult time with.

I'm so grateful for how many of you pray for her and I'd love for her to be able to express herself better. Thank you for praying!!!

Happy 5 Months Calvin!

Today Calvin is 5 months! He keeps getting bigger, he weighed in at 14 pounds 8 ounces today. He has just found an interest in rattles and enjoys making them shake these days. His big sister thinks he should be able to play with her toys, but he's not quite there yet.

His Nana has commented how Calvin looks just like a Kewpie Doll, well, you do the comparison, what do you think?

ER and More

We ended up taking Calvin to the ER early Wednesday morning, I was nursing him and he started spitting up blood. To make a long story short, we finally figured out that it came from me, I had a tiny cut, and so he must have gotten the blood from me. We're so grateful that it didn't turn out to be anything more serious. And he is doing just fine now. On a side note, they took his blood and did a routine panel on him and his platelets came back low. They said we should recheck him in a few weeks just to be certain there isn't anything more serious happening. So, next week when we go to the pediatrician, we'll discuss it with them and decide what to do. You can be praying that there is nothing serious going on there.

Yesterday when I picked up Mia from school her teacher told me that she was the only one who got "treasure" that day. I asked what treasure is and they told me that there are 10 stations throughout the day and if a child gets a sticker at every station for good behavior, then they get to pick a prize out of the treasure chest. She's brought home these stickers before and only once has she had less then 10 (she's a learner, what can I say).

Yesterday or today, I can't remember anymore because the days start to flow together, Calvin was able to roll from his tummy to his back. He's already been able to roll from his back to his tummy...he does none of this consistently yet, but I love seeing him continue to develop and grow.

Vicks Vapo Rub

I had read awhile ago that if you put Vicks Vapo Rub on a child's feet at night, that it can help soothe their cough. I thought it was a major hoax, really, put it on their feet? Well, a friend sent an email out about this again and so many people responded saying that it works that I decided to give it a try with Mia last night. She's had this cough for awhile and I will often here her coughing in the middle of the night, sometimes for quite a while. Anyway, I thought, if this works, then that will just help her to get a better night's sleep.

It worked! I'm shocked even writing this. She coughed a few times while falling asleep, but after she was asleep, I didn't hear a peep out of her until right before she woke up. And she was so well rested, it was nice. We'll try it again tonight and see if it works again, who would've thought?!

At A Loss

So, Mia weighed in today at 23 1/2 pounds. I was so surprised because she's been eating so well lately, I was sure she'd at least be the same at a minimum, not a 1/2 pound lighter. The only thing I can think of is that we've stopped adding cream to her milk, we did it because we noticed that her stools were better without the cream. So, now what? I don't want to go back to adding cream because it has helped her to have less bowel movements, but I want her to gain weight. I'm at a loss. I don't know where to go from here. I guess it's time to make an appointment to see a nutritionist who can help me with a specific diet plan for her.

Happy For Horses!

Mia was back to riding horses today. She had a great time and really enjoys the riding sessions. I'm happy that she's adjusted so well so quickly. Calvin enjoyed his time too as he fell asleep all bundled up while Grandma Cheri and I walked back and forth across the yard to get our exercise. I guess it was a worthwhile trip for everyone!

Therapy is going great for Mia also and her physical therapist has commented on how much improvement in Mia's strength that she has noticed. We continue to be encouraged at how well Mia continues to do! Praise God!

Back In The Swing Of Things

So, we've been back to a regular week and have adjusted to being home without Daddy...sadly, of course, because we love having Daddy around, but someone's gotta work, right?

Mia started with her new teacher this week and I'm pleased to say that everything is going great. Her new teacher also signs, which was a huge relief for me. She'd been doing her student teaching at that school prior, so she already knew the kids to some degree. That was nice that she wasn't starting off completely new and the kids had seen her face before. Overall, it's been an easy transition. Mia loves going to school and happily leaves me each day.

Next week we start riding horses again, I'm super excited for Mia to keep doing that. Ironically, I had a dream last night about both she and I riding horses and she was on her own horse by herself for awhile, she was galloping along and doing great...maybe she'll want to pursue this as a hobby later on???