No More Promises

I make no promises to ever update this blog again.  Maybe I should actually swear that I will NEVER update again.  Since I usually turn myself into a liar, that might actually cause some kind of amazing posting binge.

Here is a quick update.

I am now 23 weeks pregnant with a little girl we plan to name Mary Alice.  I didn't cry this time when the cerclage was placed. 

Bella is growing like a weed.  She is now 11 months old.  I hope one day she forgives me for the lack of information updated in her baby book!  It seems like life is crazy.  I feel so guilty for not getting more documented and more pictures taken.  Now we're having another one and I wonder where I'll find the time.  I might have to hire a sitter once a week just to update baby books and parent logs!

Jamie is doing better in school.  He's finally reading some.  We finished a speech evaluation today and his speech is actually fine.  Now we're finally going to go to an audiologist.  He starts physical therapy and occupational therapy next week.

Still Pregnant

Well, my hcg levels are still rising, but kind of slowly.  They were 37 thousand something on Monday.  They've scheduled an ultrasound for Thursday.  I'm sick from the progesterone.  I'm taking Zofran in an attempt to keep the severe nausea at bay, but it's not working as well as it should.  I just want to lay in bed on my stomach.  Too bad Bella has other plans.

What's wrong with Jamie?

"What's wrong with him?"  It's a question I get all the time.  The less bold among us ask my friends and even Jamie's playmates.  There are still plenty that ask me.  I usually spill something about Sensory Processing Disorder and how for a long time we thought he might be on the Autism Spectrum, but that he's not.  Curious people seem to be satisfied by my response, but I'm not.  I don't see what they see.  I want to grab these people by the shoulders and demand answers.  "Why, what did you see?"  I don't see it.  I see my little boy running around at the playground or in the fast food playland like all the other kids.  I see him doing all the things the other little boys are doing.  My own brother asked my friend if Jamie is "retarded".  The answer is a resounding, "NO!"  Here is an excerpt from the testing Jamie had at the end of last year...

Results of the DAS-II indicate that Jamie is functioning in the above average range of intelligence with a DAS General Conceptual Ability (GCA) score of 113.  The DAS-II is comprised of 3 clusters of skills.  Jamie's Verbal Cluster standard score of 113 was above average as was his Nonverbal Reasoning standard score of 112.  His Spatial score of 103 was average.  On the DAS-II Diagnostic subtests, Jamie's Working memory standard score of 109 was average and his Processing Speed standard score of 122 was well above average.

Jamie's Phonological Processing T-Score of 40 was in the below average range, however.  This score is equivalent to a standard score of 85.  Phonological Processing involves skills that underlie early reading decoding abilities.  It refers to the ability to take apart words into their individual sounds.  It involves rhyming, blending, deletion, and phoneme identification and segmentation.  With regard to reading decoding, Jamie's teacher reported that he relies heavily on his knowledge of sight words.  She said he does pretty well with letter sounds, but if he is not completely sure he knows a sight word, he makes a wild guess.  For example, he will look at the word "is" and say "truck wheels."  She indicated that he was slightly behind where she would like him to be.  I did not test his reading skills for this evaluation, as insurance does not cover it.  Jamie appears to be at risk for learning disability in basic reading skills.  His below average Phonological Processing is significantly lower than his above average intelligence.

But none of this explains what they are seeing.  Maybe the next time someone asks me I will ask them to have a seat and chat with me for a little while.

Here I Am Again

Here I am again on my completely neglected blog.  A little over a year ago this blog was really important to me.  I got up in the morning or even in the middle of the night.  I made sure I posted the little things in our lives so that I could preserve them for posterity.  What has taken away my ability to blog away the serious and the mundane?  I've posted no sweet stories of Bella and Jamie getting to know each other.  This process has been slow, yet so rewarding to me as a parent.  I've missed documenting Jamie's first day of school and the huge changes that are taking place with him, and in him this year.  I've posted no cute little kidisms, first smiles, first teeth, soccer losses or victories.  I could blame it on the hectic life of now having two children, but that's not it.  Most bloggers have a hectic life.  It seems to me that the more hectic ones life become the more interesting their blogs usually get.  Documenting my life, or more accurately, my children's life is no less important to me, yet I don't get it done.  Now all the little things I might have posted when they happened are lost in the recesses of my memory, some to be recalled at a later date and some lost forever.

Bella is now seven months old and quite the cutie.  Right now she and my son are in the next room.  I'd say they were watching TV together, but that's not what is going on.  Jamie's singing to her and, I can imagine, jumping up in her face and yelling to make her smile.  Bella starts to fuss and Jamie goes back to singing, "Goo, goo, ga, gaaaa.  Booo!  Goo, goo, ga, gaaaaa.  Boooo!!"  She fusses again and I hear the spitting match begin.  "Bella, look here.  Bella."  The sound of a raspberry spit, followed by another and another.  A few months ago I didn't think he would ever talk to her, much less play with her.

I am grateful that he is distracting her.  I want a few moments to myself.  It's been a long week and the coming week shows no signs of being better.  I ended August with a positive pregnancy test.  I stared at the test in disbelief.  I didn't even know how to react. A million things ran through my head.  I just got over all the illness that comes with giving birth.  I'm not ready for pancreatitis again.  I'm not ready for possible bed rest.  I'm room mom this year!  I've been waiting forever to do this.  Did I mention that Bella is only seven months old?!!  I come out of the bathroom with my test.  My husband smiles.  He's so happy and I don't know what I am.  We wanted a big family and thought it was impossible.  Now look at us.  Yet, I am not smiling. 

I wanted to see the baby right away, but couldn't get into the doctor for a couple of weeks.  I go to the ER.  All they see is a sac.  They don't see a fetal pole.  My hcg level is 7000.  I should be six weeks two days according to my last menstrual cycle.  Bella was a couple of weeks off by my menstrual cycle when I found out about her and her twin last year, though.  I went in to my OB on the 7TH for bloodwork.  My progesterone was 14 and my hcg level was 21,336.3.  My OB started me on progesterone.  I went back on the 9TH and my progesterone was 21 and my hcg level was 24,444.6.  I go back on Monday to have it done again.  I know what those numbers mean, but despite all my conflicting emotions, I want to have this baby so I try to pretend it could be okay.  I'll beg for an ultrasound soon so that we can quit dragging this out.  I should be seven weeks five days today.  Even if I was off by two weeks they should be able to see a heartbeat next week if this pregnancy is viable.

Clean Out the Cabinet Soup

I woke up with a horrid cold yesterday.  By 9:00am I had a fever of 103.  I knew I wanted some nice hot soup to break up the congestion.  I searched my cabinets for stuff to make a nice hot soup with.  I threw a variety of canned goods into my crock pot and it turned out fabulous.

• 2 cans of butter beans
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 1 can of tomato sauce
• 1 can of mixed vegetables
• 2 cans of white chicken meat (my husband bought it)
• 1 chopped onion
• 1/2 cup of hot salsa
• oregano
• red pepper
• black pepper
• chili powder
• garlic

Well, my guys won't eat soup with veggies in it so the soup is all mine.  I'm still feeling yuck this morning so I'm having soup for breakfast.  I have plenty to freeze, too.

Skittles

We were on our way home and Bella just would not stop crying.  Jamie was whining about the noise while eating the skittles we had shamefully bribed him with moments early at the store.  I asked him what he thought she was crying for.  He said, "Maybe she wants skittles."

First Night in the Crib

Bella slept in her own room for the first time last night.  I had never even taken her in the room, much less left her alone in there before now.  She slept really well.  She woke up around 4:30 this morning for a bottle.  After eating she went right back to sleep and I put her back in her crib.  It seems a little strange for her to be in there.  She looks so small in her crib! She's three months old, though, and it's definately time for the transition.  I put the Sleep Nest on craigslist and it will probably be gone today.  **sniff**

This Is Gabriel Making Sense of School by Hartley Steiner

This isn't a book for Jamie, exactly.  This is a super simple overview of sensory processing disorder.  I was referred by a friend to Beach Brights Blog where I entered to win this book.  The blog author was so passionate about this book that she ended up sending it to everyone who commented, including myself.  I can see where the enthusiasm lies.  The breakdown explaining the child's responses to the world around him are simple and so understandable.  The book is based on the authors own child.  She has her own blog at Hartley's Life With 3 Boys. 

Bella's Belly

My Bella must be the gassiest baby on the planet.  I have to give her gas drops with every feeding.  At least Jamie is amused by her constant "farting".  She spits up all the time.  I get her all dressed up and barely buttoned up when she spits up all over.  I must change her clothes at least a dozen times a day.  I talked to her pediatrician about it and he didn't seem too concerned.  She's gaining weight.

This weekend we learned one thing that really makes her feel better.  A nice warm rice sock.  My friend's little girl has "one of those tummies" and when her belly hurts she wants a warm rice sock.  My friend decided to warm Bella up one, too, to see if it would help her.  The moment that rice sock hits her belly and she has a binky i her mouth she goes right to sleep.  It's really precious.  Now Bella has a purple rice sock of her very own and I am so glad to have it!

Race Cans

I spent the weekend with my good friend and her children. Bless her for loving Jamie despite his quirks, mess, and the general chaos he can bring to a home. This weekend he convinced her son to "race" cans of sprite in the kitchen. One of them had a pretty harrowing crash and sprayed everywhere. So the solution to the problem was, apparently, to take a medicine dropper and shove it into the side of the can.