More Stuff for Mia

So, yesterday Mia's pediatric surgeon called me and wanted to talk to me about her MRI from last year.  I had requested she get an MRI done on her lower back to see if she had a tethered spinal cord because I had been hearing so much how it goes hand in hand with an imperforate anus.  I didn't remember her being checked at birth and I had read that it can cause bowel control issues because of potential nerve damage.  Well, after her scan last year he had told me that everything looked great, but in reality it wasn't.  He looked at her scan again after seeing us on Tuesday and it ends up that she does have a tethered spinal cord.  So now we are in the process of scheduling appointments with neurosurgeons to get their opinion on what should be done next and how soon it needs to be done.  It's been a tough couple of days for us, so just be praying for her and a resolution.  We continue to trust God and are grateful that we have Him to lean on during this time. 

LA

It's been awhile since I've had to make the drive to LA for a doctor appointment...I wasn't missing it.  We went yesterday to see Mia's pediatric surgeon.  Calvin also had an appointment with him because he has a herniated bellybutton.  He said that he wouldn't address Calvin's bellybutton until he was 4 or 5 unless it was giving him problems earlier, it's a minor herniated bellybutton.  So that was great news and who knows, maybe it will correct itself by that time, although it hasn't changed in over a year so I'm highly skeptical of that happening, but you never know!  Mia's appointment was fairly quick also since we now only routinely see him once a year.  He's very supportive of us going to Cincinatti for the Bowel Management Program (we leave in September).  He thinks that since Mia is still developmentally delayed in different areas that we should be patient and give her more time to figure out the Potty Training thing.  Otherwise everything looked great and we were off to go home.

I remember when I used to do that drive once a week, sometimes even more...I'm so glad it's down to once a month or less.  Praise God for progress!

2 year check up

Calvin had his 2 year check up today.  He's doing great.  He's really tall and skinny, but they said since he's following his growth curve there is no need to be worried about his weight.  Great!  He also had his iron checked and is slightly low, so we will be starting him on a multi-vitamin with iron.  I wasn't surprised since he doesn't like to eat any type of meat these days, hardly eats any green veggies and doesn't really like beans.  He's very particular about his food.  In another month we'll take him in to get checked again and then we'll go from there.  He did cry over his one shot :(, but was much happier when he got a lollipop at the end.  Praise God for a great check up!

Mia had her first day of speech therapy with the school district and it went really well.  Her speech therapist is very new, this is her first year, but she's young and enthusiastic and I think that she and Mia will work really well together.  It was nice to be at her old school again and to see some faces from last year, that was fun.  

Birthday Cakes Oh My!

Today we are celebrating Calvin's 2nd birthday.  We are just having family over, so very low key.  He's been requesting a frog cake for sometime now.  About a month.  I found this adorable cake on Pinterest that looked doable and I thought I would give it a try.  This was my first time working with fondant, I just didn't want to dye frosting green because I knew it would be a chore to get a nice froggy color.  I found this fondant on Amazon, where it's pre-made and pre-colored...perfect.  It took a little bit of rolling to figure it out, but after I got the hang of it, it was fairly easy to use.  The eyes are cupcakes with oreos, the feet are peanut M&M's...super easy.  Here's the cake and here's the kids waiting for the party to start. 

A Schedule

I've been rearranging Mia's therapies this past week for the new school year.  It brings me back to my college days when you would register for classes and hope you got the ones that worked best for you.  You'd try to minimize time between classes while starting late enough that you didn't have to rush in the morning and if you were really lucky you'd get a free day.  Well, I feel like we hit the jackpot this year with our schedule.  There are no huge breaks between therapies where I won't know what to do with us for a short period of time and we get Fridays off!  So on Mondays she will have Speech therapy, Occupational therapy and Physical Therapy.  That will be our heaviest day with 3 therapies, but 2 are back to back at the same location, so that is really nice.  On Tuesdays we will do Vision therapy and MARE.  Wednesdays will be Speech therapy followed by another Speech therapy (She will be getting 2 sessions through our private insurance and 2 sessions at the school she was at last year paid for by the district.)  And then Thursdays we will only have Speech therapy.  Aye...it's still a lot, but it's all in the morning and it's all at reasonable times, I'm grateful.  Praise God for such a great schedule!  At the moment we are holding off on private preschool, which is ok because we'll be gone for a great part of September and we've got a full load on our schedule.  I'm hoping that on some of our free Fridays (maybe that's what I should start calling them...) we will be able to have some play dates with other kids.  Mia seems to do better in a smaller setting anyway and so I'm hoping that will work out.  Now if this weather would just cool down...

Happy Birthday Calvin!

Dearest Sonshine,

Mommy and Daddy can hardly believe you are two already!  Where did this year go?  You've grown quite a bit this year, especially upward!  You are now almost 36 inches tall, which puts you over 5 inches taller than last year.  Your weight hasn't changed much, so you are a long string bean.

This has been the year where you learned to run, jump and climb on everything you can.  You are fearless, if it is climbable, well, you will try.  And oh my, the bumps and falls, but they haven't slowed you down one bit.  You are a very active little boy.

This year you learned your ABC's (you had no choice with a sister that loves them so...), to count to 12 (because of your fascination with clocks), all your animals and their adorable sounds, and finally your colors.  For awhile Mommy was worried that you wouldn't learn your colors because everything was yellow.  You did eventually figure it out.

You were an early speaker, which was great for us because you could communicate pretty well.  It seems these days your favorite phrase is "I don't."  Do you want some carrots?  I don't.  Do you want some oatmeal?  I don't.  Do you want some chicken?  I don't.  Do you want to help me clean up?  I don't.  Sometimes I just ask you if you want cookies to hear you say...I do.  :)

It seems like your favorite activities are building legos, puzzles, play doh or playing outside.  If I had to pick your favorite, it would probably be playing outside.  You especially love Nana and Papa's yard because there is so much space (and grass) to run and play.  One day we'll get grass too...

You are a very compassionate child, if sissy gets upset with something, you immediately are upset too.  Since sissy doesn't like loud noises, you now do not like loud noises either.  It is rather endearing to watch.

We love you Calvin!  We love watching you learn and grow, we are so blessed that you are our son.  We can't wait to see what God has in store for you this coming year.  We praise God for you!!!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy, Sissy too

Bye Bye Summer

I think summer is officially over.  I wish that the temperature would realize that.  I'm ready for fall coolness and hot cocoa, the simple things in life.  This past weekend we went to Palmdale to visit my brother and his family.  The fair has just started in Palmdale and their daughter Samantha is part of 4H.  She's been raising a sheep and a pig for the fair, so we went up to visit for that and also because their son Seth's birthday was this weekend.  It's almost becoming a tradition for us to visit on this weekend and participate in the festivities. 

The kids really enjoyed the animals at the fair, especially Mia.  Dorothy (my brother's wife) noticed how much more readily Mia was wanting to interact with the animals.  Calvin on the other hand was rather intimidated by many of them, so he kept further away.  It was lots of fun, although it was so hot!  I think this year we planned it best because we waited until Sunday morning to go to the fair and we went before the public showed up because Samantha was showing her pig that morning.  So, we got awesome parking and we got to see the animals in the morning before it was sweltering hot and without all the crowds of the people.  It was a win win! 

Summer Fun

We've been keeping busy since we came back from vacation.  Mostly trying to keep cool, it's been hot here!  We've also been trying to sort through therapy schedules and get everything lined up for the fall.  The kids have been enjoying playing in the backyard with sidewalk chalk and bubbles. 

Today the kids went to the dentist.  I don't know why there is a fear of the dentist, maybe it's strange people putting their fingers in your mouth.  There were lots of tears, but everyone was ok afterwards.  Thankfully Mia and Calvin had great check ups and we don't need to do any follow-up work. 

Saturday the kids went to a birthday party for a neighborhood friend.  That was lots of fun.  The kids really enjoyed being in the pool. 

It's finally happened...Mia is ready to drop her last nap.  :(  I'm super thankful that she's been a great napper and that it's lasted this long.  She's almost five and she was having a hard time falling asleep at night, so this past weekend we gave it a go at trying without naps and she's done great.  Her nap was usually only an hour or so, but I guess she doesn't need it anymore.  And now she falls asleep at night in 5 minutes, which is great.  So, we've been trying a quiet time in her room, reading books or playing games and there is a learning curve to this, apparently.  I think if we are consistent with working on this, then it should eventually work well, she just has a hard time playing by herself....however, a great skill to have. 

Here and there and everywhere...

It feels like we haven't been home in ages and that's probably because we haven't.  After our trip to Montana and North Dakota we had a week to recover before we left for Florida.  We were there for a week with Brad's side of the family at the biannual Sturm family reunion.  It was lots of fun, we spent as much time in the pool as possible.  Mia loved it.  She was doing pretty well swimming with floaters in her suit by the end of the week.  Calvin preferred just to sit on the steps.  The kids got to play with cousins and we got to spend time with family for a week, which was really nice. 

After we got back from Florida, we headed up to Sacramento for the weekend to see my brother and his family before they move to North Carolina.  He just got a new job there and they are quickly trying to transplant before school starts so the kids will be able to start fresh in their new schools.  Mia and Calvin love playing with their four cousins who are full of energy and even though our trip was short, it was really nice to see them before they leave. 

As for other news, we just found out that Mia was accepted into the Bowel Management Program at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.  It's a week long intensive program for kids who can't control their bowels, they work specifically with many kids who were born with an imperforate anus.  Their goal is to help a child be clean (without a bowel movement) for a 24 hour period through diet, laxatives, enemas and other various methods tailored specifically to each child's needs.  Every parent that I talk to who's taken their kid to this program has told me it is life-changing, so we are hopeful that with their guidance Mia will soon be able to potty train.  You can be praying for that and for us, we trust God's ultimate plan, but are encouraged to visit these doctors.  So, we will be going in September, it will be myself, Mia (of course), Calvin and Nana...we are so grateful Nana is going to come along and help!!!  Anyone know anyone in Cincinnati?  We are going to be there for awhile...10 or 11 days total. 

As for these next few weeks, we are going to try to settle into a routine here and figure out what things will look like not being in school.  One day at a time.