LA

It's been awhile since I've had to drive to LA because Daddy has been taking Mia to her appointments for me.  So I ventured to LA today with all three kids and Grandma Cheri.  Thank you Grandma Cheri for coming with!  All three kids did great, Asher slept almost the entire way down and the entire way back, I'm so happy he likes to sleep in the car.  Mia and Calvin watched videos on the way down and napped on the way back.  It was a very enjoyable trip, aside from waiting at the doctor's office.  We saw the opthamologist today for a check up.  Mia's left eye turns out occasionally because of the surgery on her skull.  It is especially pronounced when she looks upward.  We've talked about a potential surgery to correct this, but haven't really seen a need to do so and we've been trying vision therapy to correct the outward turn.  After consulting with the doctor today, he really feels like surgery isn't necessary unless it were to socially impact her down the road.  He feels like her focus is good enough as she looks forward and downward, the most important and most often used directions.  So, with that, we might just cross off opthamology from our list of doctors...(they would still like to follow up with us, but really, if they aren't doing surgery, then we don't see a need to really see them...)  :)

We are just happy to be back home.  I forgot how long and tiring that drive can get. 

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".