Snooky Great

Another ENT Visit

2012-02-15T17:00:00.000-08:00

So, we ended up heading to LA today to meet the ENT who initially did Mia's surgery on her blocked nostril. We are feeling strongly that we need to do this at a major hospital with pediatric anesthesiologists...especially since we got several voices of concern about the local doctor that looked at Mia. She was happy to see Mia and said that in order to do the surgery she would need a very basic CT of her head done and that hopefully, since she is a little bigger, the result is a little better. Her thoughts for managing it afterwards were to watch and see how she does and if needed, do some nose dilations, similar to anal dilations...except they'd be done under general anesthesia, if need be. So, quite a bit to process, but ultimately, we want what's best for Mia. She didn't notice any fluid build up in Mia's ear, but she also said that fluid comes and goes. We feel strongly about not putting an ear tube in Mia's ear at the moment and waiting and seeing how she does after her nose surgery. Lots for us to process in the next few weeks, so please be praying for discernment as we sort things out.

This past weekend we got to take a special trip down to LA to visit the Long Beach Aquarium and...Disneyland! The kids had a blast, we met up with Brad's Aunt and Uncle and Cousins at Disneyland on Monday and just had such a great time. I need to load the pictures on the computer, but Calvin loved Mickey Mouse, we stood in line to take a picture and he was completely enamored the the big guy. Mia really enjoyed It's A Small World and Toon Town...they both also really liked the seals and sea lions at the Aquarium. It was nice to get away and do something fun. :) I will post some pictures here when I get a chance.

Horse and Water, Yes Please

2012-02-08T19:36:00.000-08:00

Mia started back to MARE on Tuesday. It was a super cold, rainy, windy day...so they had a barn activity instead of riding horses. She had a blast, she got to groom Lady and feed her also, they had her doing really good activities with her hands and speech. She was really excited to be back.

Today she started with aquatic therapy. It's once a week and it's with her regular Occupational Therapist, whom she loves...so it's perfect. Brad got to take her because it was after work hours, this was really nice because he doesn't always get to see her therapy sessions. She loved being in the water and did not want to get out...they had her working on blowing bubbles in the water, clapping her hands under water, and some other activities. She's had a great two days of activities.

We started her new appetite medicine on Monday and yesterday she was so completely drugged that we decided to cut the dose in half and slowly work our way up. She's holding steady at 27 1/2 pounds, so we'll see how she does here...if the medicine makes a difference.

Calvin has started the tantrum phase of life...everything Mia has he wants and when he can't have it he will run around crying and then throw himself on the floor in his ultimate display of upset. I sure hope this stage passes quickly. :)

ENT visit

2012-02-06T14:56:00.000-08:00

We met with a local ENT today who has a large amount of pediatric patients in his practice. He told us he does 1-2 surgeries a year for choanal atresia (Mia's blocked nostril), so we decided to get an opinion from him regarding a second surgery. He noticed that her right ear was opaque when he looked in and then he did a test to see the pressure in here and it's really low because she has quite a bit of fluid build up behind her eardrum from her blocked nostril. He said her hearing is at about 30% in that ear because of it. His recommendation is to do the surgery, but also to put in an ear tube in that ear to drain the fluid and to keep it drained for about 9 months. He would do the surgery at a local hospital and in talking with him, his knowledge of the procedure and what to aligns up with all the other doctors at major hospitals that we've talked to...so, pray for wisdom as we sort through whether or not to do this in Bakersfield. If we did do it here, it could be done in the next couple of weeks sometime, so it looks like it is a surgery we are closely approaching in the near future.

What A Big Boy!

2012-02-05T07:45:00.000-08:00

This week I tried Calvin at the big table in a booster chair...he loves it. So far he's doing great eating off of a plate...I'm hoping he doesn't realize he can throw his plate on the floor. So far, so good.

And of course anything that sissy does, brother wants to be a part of...so if sissy is reading books on the potty, the brother is right there too.

Orange County

2012-01-30T19:26:00.001-08:00

Today we made a trip to Children's Hospital Orange County, otherwise known as CHOC. We met with their GI doctor who heads up a very good feeding clinic. Mia has been doing well eating recently, but she's still not gaining weight...she's at almost 28 pounds which is where she was in August when I stopped the pediasure and cream. So, we just were hoping for some new insight and suggestions. We felt like it was worthwhile to have a fresh pair of eyes look at her and her history.

First off, he told us that we've done an amazing job getting her to where she is now...we know that is completely because of God and we are grateful that He has healed her to where she is now.

Second, he told us that for her height, she is on the skinny end of the scale, but not malnourished in any way and that yes, she is skinny, and could stand to gain a few more pounds, but she's actually within the realm of ok. That was encouraging for us to here.

Then he told us how sometimes the anti seizure medicine you are on, like keppra, can decrease appetite. Obviously the benefits of the medicine far outweigh the potential side effect of a decreased appetite, but that was interesting to know and realize might potentially be contributing to her lack of appetite.

He indicated that her bowel issues and slower emptying stomach might also be contributing along with a possibility that neurologically, she doesn't recognize the need to eat, etc.

His thought was to put her on some medicine to increase her appetite, try it out for 4-6 weeks and see if it makes any difference. There are two possibilities for this and so we'll be trying one out here over the next couple of weeks and if that doesn't work we'll try the other one.

He did feel like we should try to find a feeding therapist locally...ha. That it could be beneficial for her to see one just to rule out anything major that we might be missing, so we are going to look into that and see what we can find for her.

Needless to say, it was a long trip, but an encouraging trip. And we do praise God for how far our little one has come, she is our miracle.

Calvin

2012-01-28T15:23:00.000-08:00

Calvin has grown up so much in the past month, he will often tell me "I do, I do" when I ask him if he wants to do a particular activity that he enjoys, like puzzles or coloring or going outside. Here's what we did today.

Damage Control

2012-01-25T10:08:00.001-08:00

That's sometimes what I feel like my job description should be. I'm always calculating in my head whether or not what I'm allowing the kids to destroy is worth more or less time and energy than what I'm currently doing. Like this morning, I have a time that we need to leave the house so we can make it to school...we have a routine and for the most part it goes fairly smoothly. I also have goals, if I can get a load of laundry in before we leave the house, then it's almost done by the time I get back and I'm just that much further ahead. So, while I'm running around trying to do the things I would like to get done I'm constantly assessing what the kids are doing and whether or not it's helping or hurting my objectives...like Calvin taking the swiffer, I think, great...that will keep him preoccupied without much damage for a little while. But then I look up and Mia is taking off her gloves that we just put on so she can read a book...that's not going to help. Then I look over and Calvin is now taking off his socks that I just put on...oh no, that's not going to help either. Of course these are minor...thankfully we haven't had anything major, like me walking in on Mia with every single one of the books off the bookshelf and on the floor. Ok, you're probably thinking, that's not major, but for me...an overly anal neat freak, well, that is major.

I've also learned that tasks take longer when you have toddlers. And that's ok too because they always want to help and it's a learning experience for them. So, laundry that I could normally fold quickly, I might have to refold a couple of times while they are "helping" me. But they are such sweet helpers, that I do really enjoy those times...for the most part.

Just some quirky thoughts I was thinking about this morning. Not much else is new so that's good news for us.

Piano Lessons

2012-01-19T17:11:00.001-08:00

So, we've decided to try Mia on some piano lessons because she loves music and is such a learner...she had her first one today and it went great. I think it will be really good for her on multiple levels...right now she's just learning about the different keys and she's using both hands to make them work, which is perfect. We'll see how it goes.

Calvin is quite a hands on guy these days. He can manipulate legos pretty well, we have some of the bigger ones and he can put them together and take them apart. Today, I realized that he can also buckle the safety restraints on the booster chairs for him and Mia. And it is a favorite pastime...go figure, he buckles, I unbuckle...he then excitedly buckles again. We could do this for hours. :) I'm just glad he doesn't know how to unbuckle yet.

Spring???

2012-01-15T15:37:00.000-08:00

We've been having this amazing weather and it's only January...it makes me think that spring has arrived, but I know it's going to cool down here real soon and that this is just a little pocket of goodness. So, we've been making the most of it and trying to do more outside activities. We took the kids to the park and yesterday we were outside blowing bubbles. Calvin thought that was great fun.

Mia also had a second round of rollerskating yesterday and did great with it. This time just Mia and Daddy went, we'll take Calvin when he gets a bit bigger. And of course we are enjoying the extra long weekend, as Monday is a holiday...yay!!

Back in the swing of things...

2012-01-12T18:10:00.001-08:00

School started this week, yay! It makes Mia very happy because she loves school and has a great time there. This also makes Calvin happy because he gets more Mommy time.

We've been making some contact with different surgeons for Mia's redo on her blocked nostril. We have some good leads and Brad was so smart in telling me to contact these places before we drive all the way there! We've spoken with a doctor in San Diego and another in San Francisco, right now the one in San Francisco is very promising, we are just going to look at a few more options before we make our final decision.

Calvin is slowly learning his letters (his sister makes sure he gets plenty of practice...). We have an S hanging near the changing table in his room and every time he sees it, he says, "ssssssss". I love it, I love watching him grow and develop and Mia does too, she especially loves hearing him try to say words. I love to watch her interact with him, she'll say, "Calvin, can you say blue...blue..." and then she'll get really excited when he says, "boo". It's fun. The simple things in life.

Rollerskating!

2012-01-07T19:00:00.001-08:00

We took Mia and Calvin rollerskating today. There is a class at Skateland for kids under 7. Mia loved it. Of course she really wasn't skating yet because the back wheels were locked, but she had a blast. And it was really good for her to work on her balance and it requires a huge amount of strength, so I think we will be going back. Calvin had fun too, but we agreed that he might be a little too small, maybe when he is 2 it will be a better fit for him...besides, their smallest skates were way too big on him. Anyway, here are a couple photos.

Some San Diego Pics

2012-01-05T10:37:00.001-08:00

Some pictures from our time in San Diego...the zoo, the Birch Aquarium, those were just a couple of outings we did.

Hello 2012!

2012-01-02T15:03:00.000-08:00

I am so excited for 2012 since I have been sick since Thanksgiving of 2011...that's a long time to not be feeling well. I finally started feeling better today, Praise God!

We spent Christmas in San Diego with my family and had a great time (in spite of the sicknesses). We got to take in a few sights, but mostly, we just enjoyed relaxing around the house we were staying with family. It was a little bit strange not to open any gifts on Christmas Day, but I loved it. It was nice to focus on what was important and what Christmas is really all about...if you ever have the chance, I encourage you to try it.

So, what did we do? We saw the science museum in Balboa Park, that was a lot of fun for the kids because it was hands on and on the second floor there was a special play area for kids 5 and under, Calvin loved it. They had pipes that sucked up balls and shot them everywhere...he was in ball heaven. Mia saw her first IMAX movie with Daddy, they watched a movie about animals in Africa that are rescued and set free, and she did pretty good with the theater experience.

A few days later we went to the Birch Aquarium, and Mia really loved that. They had some hands on water tables for the adults...um, I mean kids...yeah, Daddy really liked that too. We saw quite a few fish and were there just in time for the feeding of the fish, so that was neat also.

And of course, our favorite...although that was the day that Daddy, myself, and Calvin were all sick, yet it was still our favorite...the San Diego Zoo. That place is amazing! We could have stayed there a week and not seen all of it. Needless to say, Mia and Calvin really enjoyed all the animals.

After all of that, we are back home and settling in to a routine again, I'm thankful that there is one more week before we really get back to the school routine. I'll try to post some pictures here in the next day or so.

Sick

2011-12-22T16:39:00.000-08:00

I've been sick and as a result, the blog has come last. I'm just hoping to be better by Christmas!

Mia had an IEP today and she's now going to qualify for Occupational Therapy at school, twice a month for 30 minutes at a time. This is great because any extra help is awesome for her. They did some testing on her over the last couple of months and she was above average in several different areas (because she's really smart), but she lacked fine motor skills with her hands, like cutting, buttoning, zipping, holding a pencil properly (she's just slightly off with that skill), stringing beads. This is awesome that she'll be getting some extra attention at school. The only slight hiccup, and we are praying it won't be one at all, is that the OT only comes on Tuesday and she can only do MARE on Tuesday. We want her to be able to do both, so the only way it will work is if she is able to switch to an 8am MARE spot and then be at school by 9:30 for speech and OT. So, we are praying that it will work out.

We have a special treat for Christmas week, we are going to be off to San Diego for Christmas with my side of the family (Lisa's). We are looking forward to the time away and just relaxing and recovering, maybe doing a few fun activities...like the zoo! We'll update you when we get back, but don't be surprised if there is nothing on here until the new year.

Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas!!!!

Family Photos

2011-12-14T10:23:00.000-08:00

We had some family photos taken over Thanksgiving with Lisa's side of the family. They turned out great, here are a few of them...

And all was CALM!

2011-12-04T18:55:00.001-08:00

We've had a busy week at our house, Calvin had his 15 month check up...he's doing great. The doctor said he is long and skinny, no surprise there. His speech is blossoming and he's way ahead of the game there, between signing and talking he can tell us what he wants quite well, "cheese...ball...shoes...socks...mama...", those are some of his favorites. One of the strangest things is that he will sign "milk" but he also does this clicking sound at the same time and I have no clue where he picked that up from.

Last night we got to see a local tradition for the first time, we went to CALM (California Living Museum) to see their holiday lights. They are our local zoo with animals native to California, and over Christmas they decorate throughout the zoo in lights and it is so much fun. The kids had a blast. You get to travel all along the trails and see these amazing light displays. They also have a train that takes you on a ride and a carousal. These pictures really don't do it justice, but here they are.

Thankful

2011-11-27T15:42:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family this year. It was nice to just enjoy the quality time with everyone. On Thanksgiving we did an outing to the park with Grampapa. The kids had fun feeding the ducks and playing outside, it was a beautiful day. Calvin was like a kid in a candy store at the park because there were so many fun things to climb.

All this month we've been working on our Thankfulness Tree. I got the branches at MOPS and we decided that each day we'd write something we were thankful for on the tree. It was a fun family activity, and I think something we'll do in the coming years. Since Mia came up with almost all of the items, a large percentage were family related or animal related. Take a look.

Restoration

2011-11-22T18:07:00.000-08:00

For the past few months we've been studying the book of Nehemiah at church. It's a book about restoration. So, every Sunday on the projection screen it says Nehemiah and under it, Restoration. I kept seeing Mia's name in the word Nehemiah and of course, restoration under it. I kept thinking, this is the theme of her life. She has such a neat story of restoration, how God has healed her in amazing ways that even the doctors we see can't explain. Many of you who read this blog know her story, in fact, so many of you have prayed for her and we are forever grateful. Some of you we have never met and you have faithfully prayed for our daughter, that is so humbling and amazing. Sometimes, I start to take for granted what God has done in her life, how far she has come and then something like this happens and it makes me reflect, to remember what God has done and I'm encouraged all over again at the power of our God. The doctors told us that she would "eat, breathe, smile, and laugh"...that she would never crawl, walk, talk, or understand what she sees...that she would have no higher cognitive function at all. We have a thriving 4 year old! She's a miracle. Praise God that He has chosen to heal her and use her as a testimony for Him. She still has some hurdles to overcome, but we've come a long way in these past 3 1/2 years...and we could only have come this far by the grace of God. What a work of restoration. Thank you Lord.

Awana Grand Prix

2011-11-22T17:55:00.000-08:00

So, last Saturday (where has the time gone! I meant to blog about this sooner...) was the Awana Grand Prix. It's a fun event where kids get a block of wood that they need to cut, sand, paint and decorate into a car for the race. This is was our first year attempting the Awana Grand Prix and sadly, we waited until the last minute...but we got it done. So, we went with the generic shape they suggested (next year we will be much more creative seeing all the other cars that day.) Brad cut it out and Mia helped sand a bit, I painted the base coat and then Mia painted the top coat and added stickers...of what you ask, can you guess? Yup, Animals and ABC's and Numbers. To be expected. Anyway, she had a lot of fun making her car, but unfortunately, she didn't get to see it race. When she and Daddy went, the first race they did she got really upset with all of the loud cheering. So Daddy tried to explain that it was ok and prepare her for the next round, but again, she had a difficult time so he decided to not torture her and leave. Maybe next year. :)

When we got to Cubbies on Sunday, guess what?! Mia even won a prize. They gave her first in design. I guess those stickers paid off!

And of course Calvin, isn't this the cutest face ever! This kid is a climber. Anything and everything. The neat thing is that his signing has really taken off, along with his speech, but he now clearly communicates that he wants "More" of something and he'll even use "Please" which of course just seals the deal.

Another Day, Another Doctor

2011-11-14T18:45:00.001-08:00

Today we were in Mission Viejo meeting with another ear, nose, throat doctor regarding Mia's blocked nostril. It was super informative, but he is not the doctor to do the surgery on Mia. He won't do it because he is now at a small community hospital and he thinks it should be done at a major university or children's hospital. He did give us a recommendation of another doctor down in San Diego, so we will be looking into that for more info. He also gave us an idea procedurally how he would have done it, so that is helpful in talking to other doctors to ensure the highest rate of success so that it doesn't rescar and we don't need to do this again.

We had another major success tonight with potty training. Mia asked to sit on the potty, her diaper was clean (usually it isn't clean) and she did go a little bit on the potty. We continue to see tiny progress in that area and we remain hopeful that God will give her the ability to control her bowels and eventually be potty trained. But, Praise God for this tiny bit of progress! And Praise God for an answer to prayer of wisdom for our doctor visit, I feel like we got a huge dose of that today!

Thankful for Weight Gain!

2011-11-13T15:29:00.001-08:00

Mia got weighed in today and she's back up to 27 1/2 pounds. We still haven't started the new medicine, but she's been eating very well since we took her off the pediasure. However, I noticed her bottom getting really sore again and I'm inclined to believe it is lactose related, pediasure's first ingredient is sugar, where as milk is, well, milk. So, we've switched her to rice milk again and we'll see if that doesn't make a difference. She has been asking for alot of cheese also, so we'll just have to monitor it and see. Milk is definitely not the only dairy she gets, but that was the only major change since a week ago, so my gut tells me to try her on the rice milk again and see if that makes a difference. But, Praise God for great news about her weight!!!!

Tomorrow we have a doctor appointment in LA, a fourth opinion with a surgeon about her nose. Pray for wisdom and discernment on our part with finding the right doctor to do the operation on her.

Sick

2011-11-11T08:41:00.001-08:00

We've been recovering from illness this week. It seems like everyone in the house has the same cold, but I think we are all almost better now. I sure hope so, it is no fun having a bunch of sickies in the house.

On Wednesday we saw Mia's GI doctor. He's happy with her weight gain, but I shared my concerns that I'd rather have her eating "real" foods, instead of pediasure and cream. So, we are trying her on a new medicine to increase her appetite and we are taking her off the pediasure and cream all together, temporarily, at least. We haven't actually started the medicine, but I did take her off the pediasure and cream and she has started to eat significantly better...better for her, I just don't know if it's enough for her to keep growing...we will see, you can keep us in your prayers as we sort through all of this.

Disneyland!

2011-11-06T19:11:00.000-08:00

We went to Disneyland with Mia yesterday. We probably should have stayed home since she wasn't feeling great on Friday, but we thought that she would do ok and be able to rest on the ride down and back. We are a part of a group in town, Mended Little Hearts, and it's for kids who have heart issues...we meet with them regularly and they recently did a fundraiser and decided to use some of the money to take the kids to Disneyland. So, we went down as a group. I knew it was a bad sign when we were waiting to get our tickets and Mia said, "And now I am all done, I'm ready to go home." We kept telling her that we were going to have a lot of fun, but she didn't believe us, so she begrudgingly went into the park with us. Now, this is only her second time at Disneyland and I don't think she even remembers the first time, it was before Brother, so that was awhile ago. (By the way, we left Calvin at home with Grandma and that was a great decision...thank you Grandma!) So, once in the park she wasn't really impressed with anything until we landed in Toon Town...then she didn't want to leave. She loved all the things she could play on and especially the piano. Here are a few photos from the day.

My Little Helper?

2011-11-04T19:15:00.001-07:00

I put away all the wipes, nice and organized, under the changing table. This spot was full of wipes. Calvin was helping me and wanted to play with the box, so I left him and went to do some other stuff.

I came back to find my little helper doing this...filling up his box.

So, now here is where all my wipes ended up...my little helper. :)

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T13:30:00.001-07:00

The kids had a lot of fun last night at our church's carnival. Here is our little cowgirl and dragon. Even Cubbie went to the festivities and had a great time.

Pumpkins and Cubbie

2011-10-30T19:03:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-10-28T09:07:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-10-23T18:56:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-10-19T06:25:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-14T21:45:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-12T18:52:00.001-07:00

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!

2011-10-12T13:03:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-08T18:46:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-04T16:10:00.001-07:00

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

2011-10-03T19:42:00.001-07:00

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!

MRI Results

2011-09-28T18:45:00.000-07:00

So we finally got Mia's MRI results today. The only significant thing that was noticed is that she has less muscle tone around the left side of her rectum than the right side, the word that her doctor used was atrophied. That seems reasonable since she has more left sided weakness because of the stroke. He said that he didn't know if that would ultimately affect whether or not she could control her bowels...again, only time will tell. There wasn't anything else significant noted, so that's the positive news. Pray for us as we try to sort out the best way to start potty training.

Cubbies

2011-09-25T19:41:00.000-07:00

Mia started the Cubbies Awana program at our church this year. She loves it. It's been so neat to listen to her memorize scripture. She has got a very good memory, I'm always so impressed with how quickly she can pick something up. Tonight she got her vest and her book and she was so excited about all of it. I can't wait to see how much more excited she'll be when she gets her first patch for her vest. Who knew that being 3 could be so much fun?!

And of course I'm trying to squeeze in as much cuddling time with Calvin that I can because I know it won't be too long before he doesn't want to cuddle anymore. Just this last week we stopped giving him an evening bottle...he's not a baby anymore.

The Fair

2011-09-22T07:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we took the kids to the fair. They had a blast. Of course we hit up all the animals first and I was slightly disappointed when I realized that alot of the animals weren't actually there yet because the owners were still getting them to the fair, but then realized that it wasn't too hard to walk in there and there was just enough animals to make the kids happy, so I guess it was a good thing. We got to see a calf right after it was born, so sweet...walking around on it's wobbly newborn legs. And they had a petting zoo with so many animals in it, even a deer, several llamas, a wallaby, and a pig. Along with many goats and sheep...Mia was in animal heaven and Calvin too. Brad kept trying to show Mia the other animals, like the pig, but she kept saying, "look at the goat daddy"...she really could have cared less about the exotic animals. :) We had a great time!

Growing Up

2011-09-16T15:44:00.000-07:00

My babies are growing up. I look at Mia and can't believe she is almost 4! She is loving school and has adjusted so well to her new class. Today she got her chicken pox immunization...we just kept putting it off and finally decided it was time, she was such a big girl about it. We have a book about Curious George going to the doctor and getting a shot, so we talked about that and she did great, no tears at all.

Calvin is also growing up. For the past couple of days he hasn't wanted to nurse at all. I really thought that I would be happy when this day came, but I can honestly say I am sad. I wasn't ready for it to end so abruptly. I keep thinking that maybe this will pass, but when I offer him a chance to nurse, he completely refuses it....so I guess it's time to wean.

On a different note, yesterday, or the day before, (the days tend to run together ;)), Calvin said Mama for the first time. It doesn't matter that he was crying in his crib and it was more of a "mamamamamamamamama", it was totally endearing still.

Back In The Saddle Again...

2011-09-13T16:02:00.001-07:00

Today was Mia's first day back at MARE since we took a break for the summer. She loved it. She and Sally were happily riding in no time. Everyone was so pleased at how well she is talking and how much improvement overall she's making. They were also shocked to see Calvin walking. We got to check out a few horses in the barn while she was riding and Calvin was quite in awe of the large creatures. A fun day for us!

LA

2011-09-12T18:50:00.001-07:00

Everything went really well today in LA. Mia did really well with the anesthesia and they were able to get an IV in on their second try. Our GI doctor could not find any tiny fistula, which is great news because that means we don't have to correct that. It will be a little while before we get back the results from the MRI, but we are hopeful that it will be positive.

Many of the staff remembered Mia and couldn't believe how big she's gotten. It was nice to reconnect with them and for them to see how well Mia is doing. It's been almost two years since we've been at the main hospital with her, November of 2009 was our last operation and major hospital stay for her. Hopefully everything will look normal on the MRI and we won't have to do anything else until next summer (the proposed time for unblocking her nostril again).

Praise God for a great day! Thank you for praying!

Tomorrow

2011-09-11T11:22:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow we are going down to UCLA to have her GI surgeon make sure there isn't a tiny fistula where it shouldn't be. She'll need to be put under for this and they are also going to do an MRI of her back and spine to make sure everything is ok there. Please be praying for us, pray that there are no complications with the anesthesia. Pray that they are able to easily get an IV put in. We'll keep you updated on what we find out.

An Ibex

2011-09-08T16:24:00.000-07:00

So, I got the kids these ABC's that cling onto the walls and each of the letters has an animal with it too. They love them, well, Mia definitely loves them. As we were putting them up I realized that I had no clue what the animal with the letter I was...it looked like a goat to me and I was rather frustrated that they would pick such an obscure animal for that letter, not to mention confuse kids. Well, Brad came home and said it was an Impala and then we were discussing it with the grandparents and the name Ibex came up as an option also...well, we googled it and it looks more like an Ibex than an Impala, so that's what we are going with...anyway...this morning Mia and I were looking at the letters and she was asking what the I animal was, of which I responded...it's an "Ibex" and then I spelled it for her, and she looked at me and said "It's an Ibex, his name is Goat." Made my day!

Happy Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-04T20:33:00.000-07:00

From our family to yours!

One new thing that has happened this weekend is that Calvin signed "more" for the first time...never mind that it was when I was feeding him birthday cake. He was very motivated to keep signing to get more. :)

Busy

2011-08-31T16:51:00.001-07:00

It seems like time keeps getting away from me with two little kids. I find myself having to be extremely purposeful with my time, otherwise I look over the day and wonder, where did the time go?

I know where it went today, the doctor's office. :) Calvin had his one year check up and he's doing fabulous. He has a slight cold (along with his Mama and Daddy) and so we waited on the shots this round. Mia also had a physical today because in a week and a half (Monday the 12th), we are planning on having her sedated for an MRI of her back and spine and her GI surgeon is also going to check whether there is still a tiny fistula (connection) between her intestines and vagina. Mia is doing great also.

She's adjusting very well to school and I'm just so thankful that she is in an AM preschool class. Her teacher is fabulous and just has such a heart for teaching. Even though Mia is the brightest in her class (her teacher's comment, not mine), she said that she would individualize Mia's instruction so that she would be challenged too. So grateful! It's so encouraging to know that there are great teachers, love it! Thank you God!

Change

2011-08-25T08:29:00.000-07:00

Normally I don't like too much change, but I couldn't be more excited this time. Mia's preschool had an early AM class of 3 year olds that wasn't very full and so they decided to make it a 3/4 combo class and move some of the 4 year olds from the afternoon class. Well, they already knew how concerned I was with Mia, so they offered the AM class to her...needless to say, I was thrilled! I know we would have worked out afternoon preschool and she would have adjusted, but this just fits her needs so much better. Thank you Lord!

First Day Of School

2011-08-22T18:38:00.000-07:00

Today was Mia's first day of school at her new school. It's going to be quite a transition for us because her class goes from 11:45-3:15...right in the middle of naptime. It sounds like she had a really good day at school, but she only got an hour nap after and so she's been real cranky this evening. Anyway, I was talking to her teacher and some administrators and I think we are going to start her off only a couple days a week and as she adjusts we can add more days to her schedule. So, just be praying for wisdom as we sort out what is best for her.

The Birthday Party

2011-08-22T18:10:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was Calvin's first birthday and we had a little party for him.

A cake fit for a 1 year old boy!

The presents were under the birthday tree.

This frost is good!

It's not a box!

Is this how you do it?

Happy First Birthday Calvin!

2011-08-21T07:52:00.000-07:00

Dearest Sonshine,

We can't believe it's been a year! And what a year it has been! You came into this world weighing 7 pounds 14 ounces, measuring 20 3/4 inches long...you are now 21 pounds and you measure 31 inches long, sissy better watch out because you are catching up!

You arrived at 2:55pm via c-section, but you didn't want to come out. You really liked being in Mama's tummy. Our doctor told us that every time she tried to get you out, you scooted further back in Mama's tummy. But out you finally came and what a sweet moment to hear that first cry and then to see you for the first time. It was then that we knew you were a Calvin.

Calvin David Sturm, you got your first name thanks to Cousin Bob (he suggested it at the family reunion) and your middle name is after your Grampapa. Oh do you like your Grampapa, he and you share a very special relationship. In fact, when Nana and Grampapa babysit, he's the one who gets to help you fall asleep at night.

You've accomplished so much this year! You've gone from just laying there, to rolling, to crawling, to standing...and now to walking. All in a year, you could say you've been busy! And you've gone from crying, to screeching (very zard like), to babbling the sweetest sounds...like dadadadada and uh oh. You now say "uh oh" when you drop your sippy cup on the floor.

It's been such a joy to watch you develop and grow. We noticed early on that you had your own interests that were so much different than your sissy's interests. You've always liked balls and wheels and just seeing how things work. Yesterday we put you in the bathtub (empty) to keep you out of trouble for a moment and you were happy to play with the drain stop, making it go up and down...you are a very curious boy.

We just feel so blessed. Thank you Lord for entrusting us with this sweet boy!

We love you Calvin!!
Mama and Daddy, Sissy and CincyCat

The Fair

2011-08-20T11:25:00.001-07:00

We had alot of fun looking at the animals at the Palmdale fair. The best part was being able to get up close and personal with "Little Guy", Sam's sheep that she was showing at the fair. Mia loved petting all the animals, Calvin was really shy and scared of them. Oh and Calvin is now facing forward in his car seat...he really likes it!

Where Did The Summer Go?

2011-08-16T08:39:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that school starts on Monday! We've been so busy this last week trying to get everything ready (not to mention we have a birthday to celebrate on Sunday!). The kids are doing great, I'm excited for Mia to be starting school again, I think it will be really good for her. We decided to go on one last excursion before the school year starts, so we will be heading out to Palmdale today to see Jarrett and family. Their kids are bringing their animals to the fair this weekend, so we'll get to go to their fair and it should be fun. Of course Daddy doesn't get to go...that makes us sad, but he's really busy now getting all his teachers ready for back to school on Monday anyway. We'll post some pictures when we get back from our adventure.

I'll Take The Heat Over Traffic

2011-08-12T08:24:00.000-07:00

We had to go to LA yesterday and I hate driving in the traffic. I will take the heat from Bakersfield over the traffic from LA any day! It was a long day, but we got great news. Mia had an echo done of her heart and it looks the same as it always has, which is great. Her cardiologist told us we only have to see him once a year, unless something concerns us sooner. He was very happy with everything. We then saw Mia's neurologist and he is also very pleased with how well she is doing. We asked him about an MRI of her brain and he doesn't think we need to do one. Even though she'd be under anesthesia for other procedures, he doesn't think it is necessary to prolong the anesthesia to do an MRI of the brain, especially since it would take several hours to do that. So, we will wait on that. She's been seizure free for two years now, Praise God! We talked about weaning her off of her seizure meds, but he thinks that we should just let her wean naturally by her growing and the dosage being less for her body weight. I completely agreed with that and so that's where we are at. Praise God for great news!

Bye Bye

2011-08-10T18:52:00.000-07:00

Calvin waved bye bye for the first time yesterday. I was waving my hand and then he copied me. It was very sweet. He also has been babbling a lot. He says, "dadadadada" all the time. It makes sense because Daddy is everyone's favorite. Daddy says that it makes up for Mia's first babbling of "mamamama" all the time. :)

The Dentist

2011-08-08T19:00:00.001-07:00

Both Mia and Calvin had check ups at the dentist today. This was Calvin's first time to the dentist. He cried. But his teeth look great and it looks like his molars are almost in. Mia also cried. But her teeth are doing great also, it's a great visit when you don't have cavities! Mia's front tooth is loose though, her dentist thinks it happened when she fell this summer and hit her mouth real hard. He said there is really nothing we can do about it and she might lose it early. It's just good for us to be aware of it.

Calvin has been walking so much, today is the first day he's really gotten it. He'll now stand up and walk to get somewhere. Of course he still crawls quite a bit too, but he's definitely getting better at walking.

2011-08-07T15:17:00.000-07:00

I was shocked to weigh Mia today and find out she's 27 1/2 pounds! The cream is working. I'm super excited that we are so close to my 28 pound goal and then I can start to cut back on the pediasure and cream and have her work on real foods first.

I looked at my calendar and couldn't believe it said August 7th. Where did the summer go? In two short weeks Mia will be back in school and everything will be different. I know that the schedule will sort itself out, but I can feel myself getting anxious trying to think how. The hardest part is that Mia's school will be from 11:30-3:00 and we don't have any flexibility in that. Right now that's right in the middle of naptime for both of them...just pray for me and for them, pray that it all works out.

In the meantime, we are going to enjoy our last two weeks of summer. :)

Stepping

2011-08-03T18:45:00.000-07:00

Calvin has been taking steps for a few days now. He doesn't get far before he plops down, but he's definitely walking!

Today we saw Mia's GI doctor and he's happy that she's now 27 pounds. We discussed quite a few of our concerns. Mia is gaining weight because she's pretty much drinking her meals these days and he agreed that it is ok until we catch her up to her original growth curve (1 more pound), but then he'd like to see us do less liquids and more regular foods. She has some gagging problems where she'll end up losing her meal if she gets the food in the wrong spot in her mouth, so he's going to see about us seeing a feeding therapist down at another Children's Hospital in Orange County. He really likes their program and he's going to talk to them to see if it's worthwhile for us to go down there for a visit. Maybe they have some more insight on what's happening in her mouth and why she struggles so much with chewing her food and swallowing.

And then lastly, we discussed doing an MRI of Mia's back and spinal cord. I've joined an online group of other parents with kids who were born without an anal opening and in talking with them I've learned that it's not uncommon to have spinal issues along with not having an anal opening. She never had an MRI of her back done, so I think it might be in her best interest just to make sure nothing else is going on. We are also going to talk to our neurologist and see about getting an MRI of her brain also done at the same time because that's something he's always been interested in seeing, but hasn't had any justification to put her under to have it done. So, some potential things on the horizon for us.

Just so grateful that Mia is gaining weight and Calvin is right on target with his development. Thank you for continuing to pray!!! Praise God for all He has done!!!

Family

2011-07-30T16:18:00.001-07:00

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!

2011-07-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-07-25T08:19:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-07-21T16:41:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-17T21:05:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-11T15:38:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-06T14:20:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-07-04T11:27:00.000-07:00

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.

Haircuts and More!

2011-06-30T18:45:00.002-07:00

Yesterday Calvin got his first haircut! Mia got a haircut too! I've been wanting to cut her hair for awhile now and so we had Brad's hairdresser come over to the house and cut both of the kids hair. Neither of them really liked it. But they look even cuter now!

Today we went to LA for our 4th opinion on Mia's eyes. This doctor came recommended by a friend and also by our optometrist. He told us he is very conservative when it comes to surgery and in cases like Mia, he prefers to wait until after they are 5 to do anything, if at all. So, in the meantime, he suggested a stronger pair of glasses to help bring the eyes together and also to try some more patching. Hopefully between all of this and the vision therapy we are going to start, maybe we won't need to do surgery for awhile or even at all. We have one more opinion to see, but it's looking more and more like we will be holding off and not rushing into surgery. Praise God for wisdom!

MARE Finale

2011-06-26T06:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Mia had her end of the year recital at MARE. This is the last time she'll be riding until September. They take a break in the summer because it's so hot. The theme of the recital was "The Circus" and so it was really neat to see the horse painted in fun, different ways. Our favorite was Charlie Tuck, painted like a giraffe!

This is a rider from the advanced vaulting class, pretty neat stuff!

Mia and Daddy, waiting to ride.

Balloons!

What a cute giraffe!

Mia and Sally! One of the MARE staffers who doesn't normally see Mia ride commented how nice Sally is with Mia, apparently Sally can be a bit difficult at times, but Sally and Mia get along great. They must have a special bond.

Happy 10 Months Calvin!

2011-06-21T15:37:00.000-07:00

This month included many new firsts for Calvin. The major milestone is that he can now pull to stand. He also learned how to put his pacifier back in his mouth, which can sometimes be very helpful when I hear him stirring to wake up and then sucking on his pacifier and going back to sleep. Of course, when the pacifier falls out of the crib, we are not so lucky then. Calvin also got several new teeth this month. He now has four top and four bottom teeth and I'm thinking he's working on a molar in the back as of right now.

Calvin weighed in at 19 1/2 pounds this month, he's also 29 1/2 inches. We're so pleased with how well he is growing. He loves to eat and still enjoys a midnight feeding, I know he can definitely go the entire night without feeding, but he's my baby and it only takes about 15 minutes from start to finish, so I haven't cut him off yet. I'm usually still half asleep by the time I am back in bed.

The other major milestone for Calvin is that he is now down to just two naps and that has been awesome. It's so nice to finally have him on a schedule.

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-18T20:27:00.000-07:00

We love our Daddy, he's the best! The last two nights he's taken us to the new spray park, really close to our house. It's been fun. Thank you for being the bestest Daddy ever and getting all wet so we can have fun!

We love you Daddy!
Mia and Calvin

Vision Therapy

2011-06-18T16:17:00.000-07:00

So, we met with our local optometrist yesterday and she gave us quite a bit of insight on what to ask potential surgeons for Mia. She feels like we don't need to rush this and so while we are sorting out answers, we are going to start some vision therapy for Mia. We'll begin when school ends for the summer and do a couple of intense weeks of therapy that we can hopefully transition to less and do more of it from home. We also have another recommendation from her of who to see, so we are going to try to schedule an appointment with this doctor also. I'm feeling better about not rushing into this and waiting for the best timing for Mia.

Calvin has started to stand, he loves to pull himself up on the little musical table that we have. He'll be walking before we know it.

LA

2011-06-14T18:23:00.000-07:00

Today we were to LA for an appointment with Mia's GI surgeon. He's happy with how her bottom is looking and we will continue stretching for another couple months with the next two larger sizes. So far she's been tolerating that so well and we are very thankful for that. It was a quick visit and then we were back in the car home. Some day our trips to LA will be for fun. I thought we were done for awhile, but I schedule another appointment with a different opthalmologist at UCLA and that will be at the end of the month. We are just trying to gather as much information as we can to make the best possible decision about her eyes.

Friends

2011-06-13T20:28:00.001-07:00

Today we had a special visit from friends from Chicago. Crystal, Gwendolyn, and Elliot came over to play with us for awhile. It took Mia a little bit to warm up to Gwendolyn, who is also 3, but then they were two peas in a pod, having so much fun together. In fact, she cried after they left because her friend was gone. It's neat to see her enjoy playing with other kids her age. Elliot is one month behind Calvin, so that was a lot of fun for them too. It's interesting how God connects our lives to others, I'm not sure I would have developed the friendship I have with Crystal if Mia hadn't gone through all she has. Crystal and her family have been huge prayer warriors for Mia and we are so grateful. I love how the family of believers works that way...I don't think I will ever stop being in awe of that. The other neat thing is that Crystal is an optometrist and I was able to sit down and chat with her quite a bit about Mia's potential eye surgery and she gave me quite a bit of food for thought. I don't feel such a pressure that this has to be taken care of immediately. Earlier this week I talked with another mom who's son has eye issues also and she referred me to a different doctor at UCLA, so we are going to try to get an appointment with him for another opinion. Please continue to pray for wisdom and discernment for us on what is best for Mia.

Thank you Crystal, Gwendolyn, and Elliot for a fun afternoon!!!

Dr Seuss

2011-06-09T08:26:00.000-07:00

Mia can't get enough of Dr Seuss. She loves all of his books and lately has been interested in words that rhyme. She thinks that's neat. One of her favorite Dr Seuss books is Fox in Socks. It starts off "This book is dangerous, go slowly." And that is true! It's a tongue twister. But she loves it. I love hearing her try to read the book. Daddy got it on video this morning, so we'll have to get it on the blog for you to see. Mia's speech therapist is so impressed with how well she is doing. She's come a long way since last fall. We know it is because of God and want to give Him all the praise and glory.

Mia's been holding her weight at 26 pounds, which is really good for her. We keep drinking the pediasure and that does seem to be helping.

Calvin has started to get up on his knees, he can even crawl up stairs (we don't have stairs, but he did this at Mia's physical therapy today). And the cutest thing he does is a very nice downward dog (Rachel S, you would be so impressed!). If only I had the camera ready at the exact time to get a picture of it. I will try.

Accidents Happen...

2011-06-06T15:34:00.000-07:00

So, Friday turned into a bit of an eventful day for us. Thankfully everyone is fine. I was trying some different seating out for lunch time and put Mia in Calvin's booster chair on a different chair. She ended up falling face forward while still strapped into the chair and hit her chin/mouth fairly hard on the floor. She was bleeding pretty bad, but after I checked her out and got the bleeding under control, she looked ok. She had bit through her lip fairly deep and so I took her in to our pediatrician, just to be safe and get her checked out. Thank goodness she didn't lose any teeth or...the options are endless for what worse could have happened. I'm just so grateful it turned out as well as it did. So, I wasn't going to write about this, but I feel like it is important to share so you can check your own seats at home, what happens when your child is leaning all the way forward, is it top heavy and does it fall forward? I wouldn't want anyone else to have this happen to them.

Change

2011-06-03T08:33:00.000-07:00

Wednesday I had a meeting at Mia's school to talk about her placement for next year. I was expecting to hear that she'd be in their 4 year old program at the same school next year. They told me that they'd like to switch schools for her because she is doing so well academically and they want to focus on her speech. So, they would like to put her in an intensive speech program at a different school. It will still be a class that focus on mild to moderate delays also, but they work on speech more intensely at the same time. I don't know why change is so hard, I'm sure it will be great, I just wasn't expecting this, it took be my surprise. It will be hard enough that the four year old program runs from 11:30 - 3:00, which is right during nap time, but I'm sure we'll adjust.

Here's a picture of the munchkins, representing Roma...they are wearing the Italian shirts.

June!

2011-06-01T08:26:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's June! This is Mia's last week of regular school and then next week she starts summer school. It's a four week program and then she'll have six weeks off until next year. We've been so pleased with her speech progress lately, it's awesome. She still struggles with some major sounds, but we see progress little by little and we are grateful! Praise God for that! One example is that she now can say the w sound, which she could do before, it's neat to hear her say "whale" and she says it so nicely.

We've been doing the miralax for a few weeks now and I'm noticing a tiny improvement. I'm not sure that I still have it at the correct dosage for her, but we can tweak it here or there. She's holding her weight at 26 pounds and we are encouraging her to eat as much as we think she can, but recognizing that her tummy might really be full and she might not be hungry. It's a fine balance to figure out. We also continue to stretch her and I must say it is easier with her older because we can talk about what I'm going to do and it hasn't been traumatic at all, so thank you for praying for that too!

We still are hoping to talk to some other people who have had eye surgery because of a lazy eye. So, if you know anyone who's done that, we'd love to be put into contact with them. I'm just so confused with everything I read online about it because there are so many differing views.

Calvin just got a couple more teeth on the bottom and he's been quite the mama's boy. We are working on transitioning him to more soft table foods, but he doesn't like to touch certain textures, so it's making it a bit difficult. I love seeing him take interest in different toys than Mia, he's definitely a boy...he loves to spin wheels around on cars and toys and he loves rolling balls and chasing them.

Florida

2011-05-25T08:30:00.000-07:00

This past week we had the opportunity to go and see Brad's grandparents in Florida. It was a very sweet trip for us and we enjoyed this special time we got with them. Grandpa Bob and Grandma Lois really enjoyed seeing the great grandkids, and us too, but Mia and Calvin were definitely the stars of the show. They both quickly adjusted to being there and had a great time.

Happy 9 Months Calvin!

2011-05-25T08:11:00.001-07:00

Where did those 9 months go? This month Calvin decided to start crawling. It took him about a week to get used to it...and now he's on the move. He also became quite a mama's boy this month. He's doing great though, he keeps gaining weight and getting bigger. We also decided to start him on some reflux medicine and we've noticed a bit of an improvement. He still spits up some, but some of his other symptoms I don't notice anymore. Here are some photos of the handsome little man.

And He Crawls

2011-05-14T18:25:00.001-07:00

Yes, Calvin tried a bit of crawling this morning. I'm not going to classify him as a full blown crawler yet, but we are moving out of the Flowerpot Stage, which makes me so sad...you know, the stage where you put them down and they stay put and play with the toys around them, the Flowerpot Stage. He's only crawled a few times today, but I'm sure in the next week he'll be quite an expert at it.

Mia got weighed again today and she's holding her own at 26 pounds. I've been reading some about gastroparesis (a slower emptying stomach) and one of their recommendations is to replace a meal with pediasure because it empty's quicker as a liquid. Since she's been drinking the pediasure she's been gaining weight, so we are going to stick to it for awhile. I'd love to see her catch back up to her growth curve, which is still below the growth curve. :)

Another LA Trip

2011-05-13T20:43:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we were back in LA for two different doctor visits. Daddy went with us, so that was really nice that I didn't have to drive. Our first appointment was for Calvin with the Neurosurgeon to evaluate his head shape. Great news, he is just fine. The doctor was very satisfied with his head and did not think that would we should be concerned in any way. Thank you God! After that appointment we had a third opinion on Mia's eyes by another ophthamologist. His recommendation is that we do eye surgery on her muscles to correct her lazy left eye. His ultimate concern is for her binocular vision (depth perception, etc), you get that when your eyes are working together appropriately, so if you have a lazy eye, then you can have issues with balance and depth perception. The good news is that her eyes work well together at close objects, so there is some binocular vision working, just not all of it. Anyway, he thinks we should do the surgery in the next 6 months, so we have tentatively scheduled a date for that in september, but we'd like to research and pray about it before we ultimately go ahead with it. So, if you know anyone who has had children who've had that surgery, we'd love to talk to them about their experience. And of course you can be praying for wisdom on our part also.

On a different note, today Calvin got himself into sitting for the first time. He's been up on four's for awhile now, and we think he's getting closer to crawling, but Mia's physical therapist told me they usually get into sitting before they crawl, so I was expecting that to happen one of these days. And today was the day.

More GI Stuff

2011-05-11T19:31:00.000-07:00

So, we saw Mia's GI doctor today and got the results from her stomach emptying test. She does empty slower than we do, she empties 1/3 less than what we do in a given time period. This explains why she doesn't eat as much since she probably feels full more often than we do. She also has some reflux, there were 3 episodes during the 90 minute test. This explains why she has episodes of throwing up, or at least why she did in the past. There are some surgical procedures to correct both of these issues, but at this point there isn't a need since she is gaining weight (praise God she is now 26 pounds!) and the vomiting only happens very rarely. But, if these were to become issues as she gets older, there are some options for her.

We then talked about Calvin because I have been concerned about him having reflux for awhile now. He agrees with me and thinks Calvin does have reflux based on some of the things I have mentioned, but still thinks he has some time to outgrow it. Although most babies have outgrown it by his age, he says to wait until he's about a year to reassess. There is some medicine we could try for it, but I opted to wait a little bit to see how he does on his own.

One thing about Calvin that I've noticed lately is that at night he always sleeps on his tummy. Ever since he could flip over, he's been doing it on his own. He's been a horrible napper in the day, napping at most for 30 minutes, unless I nap with him or hold him and so it hit me the other day to try putting him on his tummy for his nap. Apparently that's it. He'll now take an hour and half nap in his crib. I've read that babies with reflux sleep better on their tummies and so this makes alot of sense.

Just yesterday Calvin started getting up on all fours. He hasn't gotten into sitting himself yet, so I think we have a little time until he's crawling, but we are definitely getting closer and it will probably happen real soon.

Four Generations!

2011-05-08T18:51:00.000-07:00

When we were in North Dakota before Easter, we took another four generation picture of Mia, myself, my mom, and my grandma. We did this right after Mia was born, it's just neat that we got to do it again. So, here is the updated picture along with a few others from our trip.

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T10:52:00.001-07:00

From our home to yours, Happy Mother's Day!

GI Stuff

2011-05-04T09:38:00.000-07:00

So, we saw Mia's GI surgeon yesterday. Her anus has narrowed, so we are now going to start doing some dilations again to stretch her anus to the proper size. This wasn't a fun task when we did it before, so I'm not looking forward to doing it again. He also was concerned that she might be constipated, so we had an xray done for that. I just spoke with him on the phone this morning and she is constipated, so we are going to start her on some miralax and see if we can't get her to have more regular bowel movements with the help of the miralax. This is actually really good news, I know you don't want to hear that your child is constipated, but if this is what it takes to get her to have regular bowel movements, we are so hopeful. Please pray with us that this would be the answer and that things would start to improve.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

2011-05-02T18:40:00.000-07:00

When did it become May? I can't believe it's here already. Lots of different news to report from our home. This morning I weighed Mia and she's up to 25 1/2 pounds! Praise God! The only thing I can think that is doing this is the pediasure she's now drinking, so we are going to stick to that and hopefully she'll keep gaining weight.

We had a trip to LA today that ended up being a very long day. The doctor was behind several hours so there was quite a bit of waiting before our appointment. Anyway, we saw Mia's craniofacial doctor and the good news is that he doesn't think Mia will need a cosmetic surgery for her head shape. We were leaning that direction anyway, so it was really nice to have him reaffirm what we felt about her head. It's good enough. And since he doesn't think she'll need that, we are officially done seeing him for Mia. Yay, 1 less doctor on our list...maybe...

So, he immediately checked out Calvin's head when we got there and there is a slight concern there. His sagital suture may be fused slightly early causing his head to be more elongated than it should be. His gut feeling is that there isn't a problem, but he wants us to have his neurosurgeon look at it and give us his opinion. There is a slight ridge running the length of his head, but it is so subtle and he believes that it would be more pronounced at this point if it were a problem, but just to be safe he wants us to see the neurosurgeon. So, you can pray that there wouldn't be an issue, we are scheduled to see him next week Thursday when we have to be in LA anyway for another appointment for Mia.

Tomorrow we go back to LA again for another appointment with Mia's GI surgeon. I will be so glad when we don't have to go so much. But, both of my little ones have become very good travelers and the trip is usually very smooth. :)

Madera

2011-04-28T18:44:00.001-07:00

We were back up to Madera today for Mia's GI emptying study. They had her drink some radioactive dye with some pediasure and then had her lay down for an hour and a half while they took video every minute of her stomach as her body empties the food she ate. She wasn't allowed to eat or drink in the morning, so I was rather surprised that she still wasn't interested in eating when she got there. But she did drink the 3 ounces of pediasure. We won't know the results until we hear from her doctor and we don't have an exact timeframe for that, but if we don't have any news midweek next week, then I will call and find out what's happening.

A few Easter Pictures

2011-04-26T15:07:00.001-07:00

Here are a few Easter pictures. Mia with her Grandma Cheri getting ready for an Easter Egg hunt and Mia with her Nana making "Bunnies on the Grass".

Happy 8 Months Calvin!

2011-04-21T15:18:00.000-07:00

Calvin is 8 months today! Wow, time flies. He's doing great, in fact, he entered the "flowerpot" stage today, where you can sit them down with toys in front and they just stay there and play. It's adorable. Calvin is now 17 1/2 pounds, and 28 1/2 inches. He has just started to really enjoy food, he now gets 3 regular meals just like the rest of us. He also has added a few more sounds, like ma and da, but the occasional buz"zard" like noise still shows up. Of which, Mia promptly says, "No Alvin Sreaming". And I have to tell her that we can't keep him from talking. Calvin also got two more teeth a few weeks ago, his top munchers, and I think a few more in the bottom are trying to come in too.

Here are some photos of the cutie and his sister. Today is the first day Mia actually said "yes" when I asked her if she wanted to hold her brother. That's a big step for her!

Home!

2011-04-20T17:21:00.000-07:00

We arrived safely home on Sunday evening from our vacation to North Dakota. Our plane got delayed in Minnesota, so we didn't end up getting home until about 10:30pm. We were tired, but so glad to be home safe. We had a great time seeing the relatives and it was especially sweet to see Mia and Calvin interact with their Great Grandma. It snowed while we were there and it was Mia's first time to see it, she loved it. She wanted to be out in the snow as much as possible. She would tell us "snow" very clearly, it's so awesome to hear her speech progress, we are so grateful for how well she is communicating.

Today at therapy, they even commented how much her speech has improved. Her physical therapist said, "I can actually understand some of what she says." It was confirmation of how well she is doing.

Yesterday we saw an opthomologist in town. He is very concerned about Mia's left lazy eye and he encouraged us to get another opinion regarding surgery. His feeling is that it should be done sooner rather than later. So, we have an appointment scheduled for May down at UCLA. We are also going to get a 4th opinion up in Madera and then we'll go from there. From what I've read though, it's not uncommon to have to do this procedure multiple times because the eye will want to go back to the position it was in. :(

Mia did lose some weight (probably when she was sick and not eating on vacation), so we are back down to 24 1/2 pounds, but we are working on getting her back to 25. We have a study in Madera next Thursday to see how her GI system empties, maybe that's why she doesn't have a desire to eat large amounts. Hopefully that will be fairly simple to determine. We'll let you know how it goes next week.

Calvin is doing great, tomorrow he is 8 months, so I'll give you an update on him then and post some pics of the kids.

An Update.

2011-04-11T05:16:00.000-07:00

So Friday Mia started a fever and threw up, we thought she had caught a bug somewhere. So for the next two days her fever kept coming back and between Mia and Calvin, I was up every hour with them. So on Sunday we walked down the hallway to the hospital, my grandma lives in senior housing attached to the hospital. One of the local doctors checked Mia out and decided she needed a round of antibiotics. He thinks it is sinus/ear related. Anyway, she's feeling better this morning, so I think were on the right track now.

There are benefits to living in a town of less than 3,000...when you go to the ER there isn't a waiting line so you don't have to get everyone else's germs and you get seen right away.

More Teeth

2011-04-08T09:40:00.001-07:00

Calvin's top two teeth started poking through today. I'm hoping that was the reason he was up so much last night. We've all been in the same room, Mia, Calvin, and myself, so every time he fusses, Mia stirs. I don't think she has gotten very good sleep these past 3 nights, so this morning she fell asleep in Grandma's arms in the rocking chair and now she is down for her nap early. We have some different thoughts for sleeping arrangements so I hope she gets better sleep here tonight. And I hope Calvin does too.

The local elementary school has a carnival this evening, so we are going to go tonight (assuming Mia is up to it) with her second cousins. We went to the store yesterday and Mia got the most perfect toy one could imagine for her. It's a train puzzle, about 10 feet long, that is the ABC's with a different animal in each car. Except for U and X, they put an umbrella for U with a cat under it and a fox for X. I thought they could've been a little more creative, but oh well, she loves it. And she can now say "bear" perfectly.

Flying

2011-04-07T08:04:00.000-07:00

So we made it safely to North Dakota. Mia and Calvin both did great on the trip. In fact, Mia probably had the most fun with Grandma Cheri's airplane activities. Believe it or not, but some play dough kept her entertained for hours and it wasn't very messy. The most difficult point was catching our connecting plane in Minneapolis, we had to go from G to B and we had just under an hour to do it. We were practically running, Calvin liked it as I had him in my wrap. And I did get some good exercise at that point. Anyway, we are happy to be here safe.

Mia warmed right up to Great Grandma and she's been playing with her magnets and having her read her books. She loves that Great Grandma doesn't mind if she plays with most of her stuff. She carries her letters and cards all around the house. Great Grandma commented that Mia is "so busy". Calvin just loves being able to roll around again.

Before we left I weighed Mia and she's now 25 pounds! So excited, thank you Lord for growing her bigger.

A Quick Trip

2011-04-04T15:11:00.000-07:00

We had a quick trip to LA today, we left at 8 and were back by 12:30. That is really quick. :) Calvin was a trooper and his new car time limit is 4 hours. I guess that means we could officially make a trip to San Diego if we wanted to. Anyway, we went to see Mia's ENT doctor and she's doing great. She's had a blocked tear duct for awhile and his thought is that because her nostril is blocked and not draining properly, that could be overflowing into the tear duct and causing it to be blocked. The plan is for her to have the surgery to unblock her nostril next summer, so we'll just keep monitoring her until then. I was super sad to learn that he is retiring...I knew it was on the horizon, I was just hoping it would be after her surgery. I asked if we should push it ahead to this summer for him to do it and he said that at this point he wouldn't do it, he says it's too much of a job for him and he'd prefer someone younger to do it. I like that he was realistic about his abilities and so we'll now be meeting some of the other ENT's from Children's and then deciding if we want to go with one of them or find someone else. We've got plenty of time to work on that though.

On Wednesday, I (Lisa) am taking the kids with Grandma Cheri and we are flying to North Dakota to see my grandma, their great-grandma. You can pray that we'd have a safe trip and everything would go smoothly. I'm so excited for her to meet Calvin and to see Mia again (it's been several years) and I'm just excited to see her myself. So, if we go really quiet on the blog for a little while, that's why. We'll try to update, but I don't know that I'll get a chance there.

Ba Ba Ba

2011-03-31T21:07:00.000-07:00

We have another talker in the house. He says, Ba Ba Ba Ba Ba Ba Ba...we aren't quite sure what it means, but we sure love how it sounds.

More Speech Please!

2011-03-30T10:25:00.001-07:00

Mia has just started to blossom with her speech, it is amazing! Her Great Grandma Ginny (who went to be with the Lord a few years ago) had sewn this neat pocket ABC chart for Laura, when she was a little kid. There is something that represents each pocket in the chart, so for A, there is an apple and for B, a boy. Mia loves this toy and will spend hours going through the alphabet. And whenever we are in the car, we have to go through the alphabet and she tells me what each letter is. I've seen so much improvement already, she went from saying "oy" to "boy". Her "mouse" is so good and so are so many other words she says. It is so neat to see her speech continuing to improve. We are able to understand her so much better and she will smile when she says something and I actually am able to repeat what she says. We still have a ways to go, but the progress is so encouraging. So, thank you for praying!!!! We are grateful!!! Praise God!!!!!

2011-03-25T12:36:00.000-07:00

So we've been very busy with family, which is great, but it doesn't leave much time for blogging. :) So a quick update, Mia is doing well, her speech continues to improve, almost daily, it's amazing. A miracle. She loves to go outside and is so distraught when we go back in. Today after speech therapy, Grandma promised her a walk in the neighborhood. She was so excited and I said that maybe Calvin and I would join them on the walk. Well, they started off ahead of us as I got Calvin ready for the walk, we then caught up to them at the end of the block. When Mia saw us she was so upset, there were quite a few words that came out of her mouth and I understood the gist of it as she said...blah blah blah, Mama, blah blah, Alvin, blah blah blah...and pointed "home" for us. She didn't want to share her walk with us, she wanted us to go home. She eventually was ok with it, but it made me smile, the girl knows what she wants.

Calvin is doing great too, he now can get quite a few places by rolling, but still prefers being held. If I walk into the room he gives me a huge smile and of course then fusses and gets upset if I walk away without getting him. He tried cantaloupe the other night and loved it. And today we had some success with mushed bananas.

Happy 7 Months Calvin! (1 day early...)

2011-03-20T15:29:00.001-07:00

I can't believe Calvin will be 7 months tomorrow. He's changed so much in the past month it's been neat to watch. He now rolls over consistently and can almost sit on his own. I can see him so desperately wanting to crawl when something is out of reach, I know that will happen fairly soon. He screeches less these days and babbles much more, that is a very nice change! He loves to be in his jumper or in his walker, I think he just really likes to be upright mostly. He's learning how to eat finger foods, absolutely hates any type of mushy food (I did try a few on him). One of his favorite things to eat is toasted bread. He's tried apple, carrot, banana, rice crackers, and bread...He likes to eat, so I don't think we'll have any problems with him later on.

So, this month we made some major changes with his sleeping routines. Our nights were getting worse and worse, he went from sleeping 5-6 hour stretches back to 1-2. It was almost worse than when he was a baby, if that's even possible. I kept thinking he would sort it out, but he didn't. After talking with our new pediatrician and reading many sleep books, we decided to change a few things. We started a bedtime routine where it didn't end in me nursing him to sleep. So now he gets a bottle and nursing time an hour before bed, then 20 minutes before bed we go into his room and calm things down, he gets a diaper change, a tiny massage, and a little bit of holding while we sing quietly to him and tell him it's night time. He's then put in his crib totally awake with a blue blankie and he'll fall right to sleep. He cried the first few nights we did it, but now he doesn't cry at all, just falls straight to sleep AND he sleeps so much better at night, we are back to our 5-6 hour stretches. We then did some changes for nap time, but he just can't seem to sleep past 30-45 minutes, so we are working on a nap routine now and also trying to get his naps on a consistent schedule. We are hoping that things will change in a few weeks here.

The little guy keeps getting bigger, the last time I checked he was 16 pounds 8 ounces, I'm sure he is heavier now. Anyway, here are a few pictures of our cutie pie.

Madera

2011-03-18T08:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we ventured to Children's Hospital Madera. We are becoming very familiar with all the Children's Hospitals in our region. The GI doctor who follows Mia has moved from UCLA up there to head their GI division. So, up to Madera we went. The first thing I LOVED about Children's Hospital Madera is that the parking is FREE! Every time we go to UCLA we pay them $11 and that can add up quickly. Even Children's Hospital LA doesn't charge us that much for parking...but that's another story for another day. It was like driving into Disneyland when we got there. The hospital kind of looks castleish and there are all of these bushes sculpted into animals and shapes. It was really neat. The second thing I really liked about Madera was there wasn't any traffic to deal with on the way there. It took the exact amount of time it said it was going to take to get there, that was nice. Overall, my first impressions were very nice.

So, we met with a dietician and she suggested some other studies for Mia to have done, one of them being an emptying study. Maybe she's not emptying food out of her tummy at the rate we all do and so that's why she doesn't always have a desire to eat much. And we are also going to look for some silent reflux at the same time of the next study. Hopefully we'll do these in the next couple of weeks, but we are waiting to hear back from them.

After that, we did Mia's anal study to see if she could feel pressure down below. Praise God for great news, she can!!! And the GI doctor said that the amount she feels, she should be able to potty train. She is slightly less sensitive than you and I are, but it's not enough that she won't be able to potty train. That was such great news. Now the question is to figure out why she only goes a little bit at a time so frequently. He had some concerns about her sphincter being very narrow and so he wanted to discuss it with her GI surgeon at UCLA. We need to schedule an appt to see him soon anyway, so we can discuss that with him also.

After that, we came home and got to spend some time with Tim, Rachel and Joy. The two cousins (Mia and Joy) had so much fun together. After dinner, they were chasing each other up and down the hallway screaming. It was neat to see them get along so well.

Encouraged

2011-03-13T15:29:00.000-07:00

I am always so humbled and encouraged when I hear of people who continue to pray for Mia. It's been almost 3 years now and people all over continue to lift her up in prayer. Today at church, one of our ushers told Brad how he has started a prayer journal that lists everyone he prays for and the first person on the list is Mia. He says that his prayer for her is complete healing. It made me teary to think of how faithful others are to pray for her. God has used her in an amazing way and I know that He will continue to do so, I believe that He can still heal her completely, nothing is impossible with God. I'm so glad we've been able to blog this journey because sometimes I wonder, did that really happen, and then I look back at Mia's journey and I am so amazed at how far she has come.

Forever grateful to all of you who pray and to a Father in heaven who hears those prayers and has graciously answered yes to many of them.

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling...

2011-03-09T20:05:00.000-08:00

We have a roller who is very proud of himself as he moves throughout the room. Of course he doesn't like getting stuck under the couch. This happened once and hopefully he's learned from it. He also has started to enjoy his walker as it gets him places too.

I found out that Mia gets teary every time they go out to play because they go down the same ramp that I pick her up at and when they are getting their jackets on she says, "mama, mama", and they have to tell her "not now, in a little bit.". Makes my mama heart a little sad.

I also found out that several boys really like Mia, one in particular who was also in her previous class at her other school. He gets so excited when we get to school and says, Mia! Apparently he tries to hold her hand at school, Daddy's a bit concerned. :)

We've switched to a new pediatrician and I'm very happy so far. We saw her regarding Mia's breathing treatments and she'd like to try a few different things first before doing more breathing treatments since it looks like her cough is allergy related, not asthma. We are holding off doing anything because we are seeing an allergist Monday and she would like to hear his opinion also.

Mia continues to speak more and more, thank you God. She can now say "out" very clearly. And I notice her saying the correct consonant at ends of words, like "hat or boot", which she used to leave off. We are working on beginning consonant sounds too, but she's improving which is so wonderful!

Getting Bigger

2011-03-04T14:39:00.000-08:00

Mia and Calvin both got weighed today. Mia is now just a few ounces shy of 25 pounds, which is a number we have never seen before! Praise God! I guess the boost in calories with a little bit of cream is what she needs right now. Calvin weighed in at 16 pounds 5 ounces. Calvin has started rolling. Of course he won't do it for the camera, but at other times he rolls all over the place. And he's pretty close to sitting on his own, but still not quite there.

Mia's speech has been getting so much better, thank you God! I hear her pronunciation getting closer with so many different words, we've still got a ways to go, but I know your prayers are working, so thank you for praying for her speech! Please keep praying!

I scheduled Mia for an appointment to see a local allergist, we have her on these breathing treatments per her pediatrician's request. Her pediatrician says it is an allergy problem, so it hit me that maybe she should see an allergist to see if that's the best treatment for her. So that will be happening in the next few weeks.