Trio

On The Fritz

Our Internet has been on the fritz and I despise blogging from my phone so that is why it has been awhile since I've posted. I got the Internet working again yesterday but was too tired to post. I went to blog today and the blasted Internet is not working again. I guess I'll be buying a new router tomorrow. So here I am, blogging from my phone.

Anna finally had her OT evaluation through the school. The OT apologized that it took almost 6 months to get this done, she said she dropped the ball, not the school. Anyway, she scored Anna between 30-36 months. Her actual age is 42 months so I say not too bad!! She will be starting OT soon and will also get 6 weeks of it in the summer. She is still getting speech therapy as well but we will break from that for the summer.

Gabe is still the baby everyone dreams of. He is 9 weeks old now and 9 lbs 6 oz. He eats like a pig and is consistently sleeping 6 hours at night. I was not surprised to discover that he too has reflux and milk allergy- just like the girls did. Today was day one of my dairy free diet in an effort to help him out. He occasionally gets a touch of formula and we are using Alimentum. Dr. Goff started him on Zantac also. If it doesn't work we will switch to Prevacid. I do not drink cow's milk anyway but I will really miss cheese, yogurt, and most of all chocolate. I am losing weight from breastfeeding and cutting out chocolate will help me lose more so I will try to look at it from that perspective.

Now for the REALLY important news. Carly prayed a prayer of salvation and asked Jesus to come into her heart. I couldn't be more proud! She didn't want to tell us because she is afraid of being baptized, mostly it's the fear of being up in front of so many people. I reassured her that God wants her to do it when she is ready and not a moment before. I told her to take her time and we will continue to talk about it. I never expected her to make this decision at such a young age but I could not be happier. I've always said she has wisdom beyond her years- this is no different.

Ok. That is all the phone blogging I can handle for now...

Alvin, Simon, or Theodore?

I have checked our ancestry and have not been able to locate any chipmunks in the family tree. I am pretty sure that when we are not looking Gabe is taking lessons from the chipmunks on how to stash food in one's cheeks. It is so awesome to have a chunky baby. I love not worrying about his intake and not counting every calorie he takes in. If his current eating habits are any indication of the future then I suppose I better start a second job now because this kid can eat!

3 Little Monkeys

What Hope Looks Like

My girls. They are hope. 2 years ago I could not ever have imagined a night like tonight. Tonight is nothing special but at the same time it is everything special. Look at Anna. She is eating dinner. She is eating it by mouth. She is smiling about it and enjoying it and even asking for ice cream after her hamburger. She is in a leotard because she has just finished with ballet and tap for this week. Then look at Carly. She too is smiling and doesn't have a care in the world (except whether or not she is going to get ice cream). So what makes tonight so special you ask? It is special because we are finally just ordinary people going about our ordinary day. My child who was having seizures and not talking and not eating and never sleeping and having trouble walking is now eating and not seizing and even in dance. My child who was afraid of her own shadow is now looking at life in a whole new light. And then after this extraordinarily ordinary day we will go home and both girls will climb into their own beds in their own room and sleep all night long. There was a time when I couldn't see past the cerebral palsy, failure to thrive, epilepsy, g button, sleepless nights, anxiety disorder... Now when I look at these kids all I see is hope for the future because I know we can overcome anything. My prayer is that if you are now where I was then that you can look at us and know that things will eventually work themselves out and you too will one day look up and realize that you have forgotten the all the diagnoses and just become people again. This is what hope looks like...

A Slice of Heaven

Seriously, could this baby of mine be any sweeter? You should check out Pumpkin Pie Photography. Amanda is awesome! There will be more pictures to come in the following weeks.

Miracle or Mono?

I should SO be going to bed but it is so quiet in my house and I hate to waste the quiet time by doing such meaningless things as sleeping. I got to take a 2 1/2 hour nap this morning courtesy of my husband so I feel extra rejuvenated today! I have to be at the OBs office for my last appointment and to get my work release at 6:45 in the morning so staying up is probably not one of the smartest things I've done lately. After I get my release from the doctor I have to go get a release from the employee health nurse. Yes, you read right- the nurse comes after the doctor. Whatever. I'm a nurse but that is just plain stupid. The doctor says I can work but now I need a nurse's approval? I can't believe I already go back to work on Thursday. I can't believe I have been off for 6 months. I can't believe Gabe is almost 6 weeks old. Hell, I can't believe I have 3 kids. But I love my life and I love having 3 kids and now that I am getting used to it, I can't believe I ever thought 2 was enough. It has been a crazy week and I really think I need to be the star of a reality show because people just couldn't possibly write a script that would include all of the crazy crap that goes on around here...not the least of which was having my house and property surrounded by the local and state police for 12 hours the other night because some fugitive was loose in the woods on our property. Good thing my husband has just enough redneck in him- he sat out with the police on our 4 wheeler with his pistol- just in case. It was not scary but rather pretty funny. The news said that the police had him in a "contained area." I never imagined my acreage to be said contained area. As if that wasn't enough excitement for that night, Carly had to break out in some horrid rash which appears to be related to the fact that she likely has mono. The blood results aren't back yet but all signs point to mono. The pediatrician's office says that as long as she is afebrile and not sharing saliva that she can go to school. Umm, hate to upset their rules but don't you think that very line of thinking might just be how my kid caught it? Anna has slept through the night for the last 7 nights. FINALLY. Amazing is all I can really say about that. At first I considered it nothing short of miraculous. Now I am wondering if she has mono too and that is the cause of this miracle. Who cares, she slept right? Gabe had a photo shoot today with Pumpkin Pie Photography. We were so blessed to get this opportunity. Amanda, the amazing photographer, was having a mentoring session for another photographer and used Gabe as one of her babies. You should really check her work out. As if the session wasn't enough, I got to relax in her gorgeous home for 3 hours while she took care of Gabe. Heaven I tell you, heaven! I could go on forever but I really must try to get a little sleep before little man thinks it is time to eat again. Goodnight...