4 Month Check-Up

Asher had his four month check-up today and he's doing great.  He's stretching out like a long string bean, he's now 27 inches and 15 pounds.  I'm always amazed at how quickly they grow those first few months, we've already gained about 6 inches since birth!  Anyway, he's right on track and doing great.  He does have a little heart murmur that we need to get checked out by an echo.  We will pray that it is minor and something that can heal on it's own or just be something that he has to live with.  I will be making an appointment to get that done soon.  At this point we aren't overly concerned because he is not showing and symptoms of distress and he is growing and healthy.  We'll let you know what we find out. 

Happy 4 Months Asher!

In the past month, Asher has changed so much!  He now rolls from front to back and from back to front.  He also just got his first bottom tooth.  Asher loves to suck on his two fingers and will sometimes sooth himself to sleep, that's really nice for this mama.  He is pretty consistent about his first morning nap and after that it's whatever goes for the rest of his naps.  Here are a few photos of the little man.

Sucking his two favorite fingers.

Grumpy Face

On his tummy...

What's this sign say?

Happy Boy!

Summer Is Here

It's heating up in Bakersfield as summer is beginning.  Next week starts our new summer schedule of therapy and I'm really excited to have two days free.  This morning I asked Mia to put on her shirt all by herself and she was able to do it.  I'm so proud of her, she's come a long way and today I spent some time reflecting about how far God has brought her this year.  .  Last fall she was unable to get her shoes on herself and she can now quickly do it when necessary.  She couldn't dress herself in any way and now she's putting on clothes almost completely by herself.  Her speech has made so much progress this year, we are almost completely caught up to sounds she should know at this age.  In fact, I really wondered if she would ever be able to produce the "g" sound...I was honestly skeptical, but she's gotten there.  God has blessed her with another sound and I continue to be in awe of his healing.  It's not that I ever question His ability to heal, I just wondered if He would choose to do it. 

So, I'm excited about having a bit more free time this summer, but I know that therapy is making a huge difference in Mia's life and so we continue to plug along.  I have no clue how that will look in the fall with school for her, but I've given myself permission to not worry or think about it for the next two months.  I will think about it in August.  And as always, God will work it out and sort it out and carry me along because I know that I could not and would not be able to do what I do without Him.  Eternally grateful to serve an awesome God, a God of miracles, a God who loves us so deeply, I can't even fathom.  I see this tiny glimpse of Him every time I look at Mia's life and it humbles me.  It helps me to keep things in perspective, Praise God for His healing work in our daughter's life!

Cute!

Yesterday we made a trip up to Palmdale to see my brother and his family.  Normally we take the 5 south over the grapevine and then head east through Neenach (how do you say that?) to get to their home.  Just to change things up a bit, we decided to drive home through Tehachapi.  As we are driving along, Calvin looks out his window and exclaims with pure joy, "Mama, Daddy...spinning wheels!"  I guess we've never seen windmills before...he couldn't get enough of them.  We explained what they were and he tried to say windmills, but he was just so enraptured with those "spinning wheels".

Kindergarten

It's official, Mia will be in Kindergarten in the fall.  We've decided on a mixed placement for her and we are super happy about it.  She'll be in a high functioning special education class for 2/3 of the day and mainstreamed for 1/3 of the day.  Her mainstreaming will happen at the beginning of the day, so when she is fresh and ready.  And if she does really well with that, then we can add more time to it if needed.  The goal is for her to be completely mainstreamed by 1st grade.  She's come so far and we are so excited that this is how her year will look, we think it is the right placement for her and the right school for her too.  We are so glad that our district is so willing to work with us. 

It's going to be a long day and I'm not exactly sure how we will fit in extra therapies and our other daily activities, but we'll just have to sort it out.  She'll be in school from 8:20-2:35...crazy. 

In the meantime, we are slowing down for the summer.  She'll be finishing some of her therapies here at the end of May and taking a break during the summer months.  I'm looking forward to not so many commitments and more time playing at home.  We might even get a couple days where we don't have to go anywhere...that would be awesome.

Mia will also be participating at our church's VBS program and I'm sure she will have a blast with that.  Yay for summer!