Pumpkins and Cubbie

Yesterday we decorated our pumpkins. The kids had a blast, of course Mia's pumpkin has ABC's on it...that just makes sense.





Today Mia got a special treat, Cubbie Bear came home with her for the week! Everyone is so excited that Cubbie Bear gets to spend the week with us...here's our first picture, but there's definitely more to come!

Where did October go?

It seems like we just got to October and now it's almost over. We've had a super busy week, it seems like every time I write it's about how busy we are.

Calvin was better, but now he's sick again...this time with a cold of some sort, not totally surprised since it is that time of the year. Praying he will recover quickly and not pass it on to all of us. It hasn't stopped him from being a non-stop climber. Is it above the ground, can I reach it, I must climb it...I think this is his thought process. What can I say, he's all boy.

Mia's toe is almost healed, we've started wearing her orthotics for a bit each day, just to help her get used to them. And aside from school and therapy, she's the same, which is always great news for us.

We were and still are hoping to do some festive things this weekend for the holiday, but will have to see how Calvin is doing. We will try to get some pictures posted of the cuties.

Mia got her orthotics for her shoes on Friday. These will help with her foot positioning because she tends to walk on the inside of her feet, they will have some arch support that straightens her feet out. We have to go back in a few weeks for them to build in the arch support, right now they just want to get her used to walking with the orthotics in her shoes. Well, on Saturday she pulled a metal basket of washcloths off the kitchen counter and it landed on her big right toe, which then swelled up and the toenail has some blood under it. Needless to say, she is uncomfortable in her shoes now, so we have her in some water shoes that give her some more room and it will be a bit before we are back in our regular shoes. That's how it goes, doesn't it?

Calvin is finally better! Ends up he had Roseola, which is a common childhood virus...it's a fever for 3-4 days and then a rash for 3-5 days. He can now say Mama very nicely and it warms my heart. :)

Mia continues to thrive at Cubbies, she asks to go there all the time...but I think it's great that she is enjoying it so much. Her table leader is very wonderful, he does a great job with her.

Time Flies...

We had a super busy weekend, we attended a birthday party on Saturday down at the fire station. It was a neat time for the kids, Mia liked all of it except for the ride in the fire truck. She did not like it when they sounded the horns. She did like spraying the water hose though. On our way home from the fire station she kept telling us, "I did not like the fire truck." :)

Calvin came down with a fever on Saturday and he hasn't been feeling well since. He is still on the mend, we took him to urgent care on Sunday just to make sure he didn't have an ear infection, he tends to tug his ears sometimes...anyway, his ears were fine, so they think it's just a virus and it's just going to take time. Yesterday he seemed a little bit better, but last night he could not get comfortable and ended up being up most of the night, which meant that we were up most of the night with the little guy.

Sunday Mia went to Cubbies, she loves it. She will now ask to do her Cubby book and she gets excited about wearing her vest. She got a patch last week and then another one yesterday, so this Mama gets to sew those on...I now know why I'm not a seamstress.

Yesterday was another MARE day for Mia. Usually while she is riding I am pushing Calvin in the stroller or chasing after him as he roams around, so I don't get to pay much attention to what Mia is doing on Sally. But, yesterday, every now and then I would hear Mia getting upset and fussing a bit on Sally and I soon learned it was because they were making Sally trot for about 25 yards and Mia did not like that. She looked pretty cute trotting though.

Today Mia gets some orthotics for her shoes to help with her arch support, hopefully those will fit well and help correct some of her foot placement issues. Is it the weekend yet? I'm sure ready for it to be the weekend.

LA

Today we were in LA for a couple doctor appointments. The first was with a doctor from the NICU clinic who follows kids development. She was super pleased that Mia is receiving so many services. She said that looking at her development, cognitively is where she is doing best. She was very pleased with Mia's progress this past year. The best news was that she doesn't feel like she needs to follow Mia anymore, so it's another doctor off the list! Praise God!

After that we met with a potential ear, nose, throat surgeon for Mia's upcoming surgery (not scheduled yet). Her right nostril is blocked and we need to eventually do the surgery for that. He said that he likes to place a tube in their nose after surgery for 6-10 weeks to help ensure that when healing the nostril doesn't reblock itself, like it did last time. We plan on talking to a few more surgeons before we decide who we want to do the surgery with, you can be praying for wisdom in that area.

It was a long day, but it was nice to hit two appointments in one trip. So glad to be home, though.

The Pumpkin Patch

Tonight we went to our favorite Pumpkin Patch, Banducci's. The kids had a blast. Calvin really liked all the pumpkins. My favorite picture is Calvin trying so hard to pick up this huge pumpkin.

Today Calvin signed "milk" and "cheese" for the first time, he also said, "eeeezzz", for "cheese" and he said, "ia", for Mia (at least that's what I'm guessing he said it for.) He's growing up so quick!

Happy 4th Birthday Mia!

Dearest SweetPea,

We can't believe it's been 4 years already! The day you were born is such a vivid memory, we will never forget the sweet sound of your voice when you first cried. And the moment we first saw you, such a treasured memory.

This has been quite an awesome year for you! You now weigh 28 pounds, which is 4 more pounds than last year...that is a huge feat for you! And you are now 27 1/2 inches, which is 2 1/2 inches taller than last year...you keep on growing!

You've also developed quite the personality this past year and you know what you want when you want it. Just today Brother had just gotten in the bath tub and you told Mama, "He is done, take him out, put me in." We love hearing your voice...last year our major prayer was that your speech would improve and God has clearly answered that. Your speech has grown by leaps and bounds, we are so grateful. There are a few sounds that you still struggle with, but we are convinced that God will give you those in time too.

This past year you started a new therapy program, called hippotherapy. You love it, each week we get to go ride Sally. She's a wonderful horse and she and you get along so well together. It's been helping to give you more strength and now you can climb stairs with help, that's another huge accomplishment, thank you Lord!

One of the sweetest things has been hearing you learn Bible verses this year at Cubbies (Awanas). It is another one of your favorite activities! We love watching you learn about God and what He has done for you.

Last year, our other big prayer was that you would learn to control your bowels and that hasn't happened yet. We still remain hopeful that God will allow you to do this, but in the meantime we are sorting out how to help you be able to potty train. That is our big prayer for this year, that you would learn to potty on the toilet and we still want to pray that God would help you to control your bowels.

We love you so much SweetPea! You are such a blessing to us, we thank God for you!!!

Love,
Always and Forever,
Mama, Daddy, Calvin and CindyCat

A Birthday Fit For A Fox

Mia's birthday is on the 12th, but we celebrated today. Since she's in love with Fox in Socks, we decided to have a Fox in Socks party...everyone participated and wore red and received socks upon entry. It was great. Here are some pics of the fun time.

Annual IEP

I had Mia's annual IEP review meeting today. It went great, she's doing fabulous. She's made so much progress, it's neat to be reminded of that. Her speech has improved by leaps and bounds. She now only struggles with the C, K, L, and R sounds...that is a miracle! Praise God! She still has hurdles to overcome in different areas, but her speech is going to be just fine. Her teacher wants the school OT to evaluate her and hopefully have her receive services at school, so that will happen in the next month or so and of course we set new goals for her...many of which are gross motor skills. Another area Mia struggles with is interaction with her peers, so they'll continue to encourage her to play with others...she tends to sit on the sideline and watch the others play rather than interacting with them herself.

I'm just so encouraged with how well she is doing! Thank you God!!!

Fall

We are loving this cooler weather. We've especially been enjoying taking the kids out for wagon rides in the evening...they love it. This weekend we took them to a park and they couldn't get enough of that either. We also went to a birthday party with a bounce house...they both thought that was great fun also. It's neat to do fun things as a family and for the kids to enjoy being and playing together. Yay for fall!