Family

Here are some pictures from our time with Uncle Jared and Aunt Goose. Mia and Calvin loved all the extra attention they got. Calvin especially loved that Aunt Goose's birthday cake had peaches, he's a big fan of peaches too! We were sad to see them go, come back soon!!!





Time spent at Nana and Grampapa's is just plain fun. There's something for everyone!

We took Calvin in for another immunization today and also to retest his iron. His iron is just fine now, which is great news. They'll probably recheck it in another month just to make sure it stays at a normal level.

We've been spending time with Jared and Laura (aka Uncle Jared and Aunt Goose), so I will post some pictures when I get a chance. Mia and Calvin warmed up super quick to them and they've been having a great time playing with them.

Go Mia!

We have a huge praise to share, Mia weighed in at 27 pounds today! That is the highest she has ever been, we are so excited. Praise God!!!

Happy 11 Months Calvin!

Our sweet baby boy is 11 months today. What an 11 months it has been! He now will stand for a few moments without holding on to anything, walking is just around the corner. He also has no fear, he would represent the brand well, as he climbs on any and everything he can and then is so upset when I take him off and tell him no. Calvin weighed in at 20 pounds 4 ounces this morning, only one more month and he'll graduate to his big boy car seat and that will make sissy very happy. He won't be right next to her then and the more distance, the better.

Calvin's favorite activities are noisy. Screeching, intermixed with sweet babbling, banging toys, drumming...my least favorite is when he takes these plastic balls that separate in half and rubs then on the tile floor to produce a noise similar to nails on a chalkboard...ah, the joys of a boy.

Calvin also loves to eat, praise God! He probably eats what is normal for any child, but I'm so used to the bird like amounts that Mia eats, that it surprises me when so much food fits in his tummy. But he is a great eater and will eat almost anything I put on his tray. I know he doesn't like something if I see him taking it and dropping it off the side of his chair onto the floor...because if he likes it, he eats it no problem.

Calvin also loves to be naked. He has never liked clothes from day 1, I can't wait until he can talk and tell me what he doesn't like about them. We have a neighbor kid that runs around naked outside all the time and I wonder why his parents let him do that, I can now see myself as that parent in a few years, God has quite the sense of humor, huh!



Usually I find Mia and Calvin like this...




I love it when I find them like this...

Happenings

I can't believe it's been almost a week since my last post. Time has gotten away from me! We've been super busy and enjoyed a day up at Pokey Pastures (Jarrett and Dorothy's place in Palmdale). Their kids are raising some sheep and pigs for the fair and so we got to see them. Mia really enjoyed the pigs, she thought they were great.

Mia finished up a couple of weeks of vision therapy and now we are starting a home treatment program. This way I can work with her at home and then we just check in once a month for updates and more suggestions. One of the things they have her doing is looking at images through 3D glasses where the whole image is seen with both eyes, but if you aren't using both eyes then you can only see part of it. That's been fairly effective and we've notice her eyes being more aligned when she's doing this.

This evening when I tucked Mia into bed, she climbed on and flopped onto all her stuffed animals (she's not very good at maneuvering herself into where she should be in bed)...anyway, she then said, "You do not sleep on your animals." I thought that was very cute. And then after we read her two books it was time to say prayers and she wanted to say them tonight. That's a first for me. She said, "Dear God, thank you for mommy, daddy, Mia"...and then alot of unintelligible stuff. I thought it was so cute that she prayed for herself. She's developing quite a personality these days.

Calvin is just trying to keep up, everything that sissy does, well, he wants to do too. He's been free standing for a few moments lately, it's just a matter of time before he starts walking. He'll push whatever he can and walk behind it, like chairs and garbage cans...and of course, he'll try to eat anything, like the cat food tonight. That's our little guy.

A Weekend Away

It doesn't happen often, but we decided to get away on Saturday and Sunday. We went over to Atascadero and Morro Bay. We went to the zoo in Atascadero, very cute and perfect for our little people. And then we went to the beach looking for tidepools. We had a great time, but realized why we probably don't do more of this, it's a lot of work going on vacation with little kids! My favorite part was the zoo, we got their in the morning on Sunday and the animals were being very active, so we got to see monkeys swinging, a fox, sheep, llamas, an emu, and even a tiger. The tiger was so neat. He was resting in the back, but as soon as we got their he moved right up front for the kids to get a good look at.

Mia loved the water at the ocean, even if it was frigid cold, she wanted to keep getting wet. Calvin loved the sand, he started digging in it right away, as if he'd already been to the beach and knew exactly what to do.

This morning I took Mia to LA for our final opthamology opinion. The best part was that Nana stayed home with Calvin, so it was just Mia and I. It was so nice not to be distracted by him at her appointment and he got plenty of playing time with Nana at home, it worked out great. This eye doctor said that he would not do any surgery on her eyes right now, either. He mentioned how sometimes with craniosynostosis, the eye orbits aren't quite right and that causes the eyes to turn out when looking upward. This is the second time we've heard that idea. We just feel very good about waiting on surgery right now.

Ups and Downs

Mia has been struggling with some eating issues recently. She's started to throw up at meals again and we're not sure why. We saw her GI doctor today and we're going to lower her miralax dose while upping some natural laxative foods. It's something I've wanted to try for awhile anyway, so I'm ready to see what happens this month. We are also going to be doing more cream in her pediasure and hoping this will help boost her calories. He's concerned because she isn't gaining weight. It's just so hard with her, sometimes she'll be doing well and sometimes she won't. And he told me she should be getting close to 1400 calories a day. We are lucky if we get to 1000-1200 calories a day. It just seems like such a huge hurdle right now. So, please pray for us. When I get overwhelmed like this, I just look over our blog for the past 3, almost 4 years and it's so evident to me how God has carried us through every day and it helps me to regain focus on who's in control and to put my trust in His plan for Mia. But, we can still use all the extra prayers too!

Happy Fourth of July!

We've been recovering from illness here. Calvin had an ear infection and cough that he's getting over. He's feeling much better after a few days of antibiotics. Mia had a low grade fever Saturday and threw up, but she seems to be more like herself today. Today we are just relaxing and will probably see Nana and Grampapa later. We don't do fireworks ourselves and Mia hasn't been too thrilled with them herself anyway, so we'll see what the kids think tonight. Here are some pictures of the munchkins.