The New Challenge

As if you could just flip a switch, we have been fighting a new battle since Sunday night...the bed time battle.  It used to not matter if we put Colin to bed at 7 or 8pm, he would crawl right down to his pillow when we put him in bed, say good night and that would be it.  

Well, that has seemed to change since Sunday.  He has been getting out of bed when we put him in, opening his door (which was SO great the first time he did it, but now we could kick ourselves for being excited), and heading back to us in the family room.  We aren't giving in, and we have literally put him back in bed 50+ times over the past 2 nights.  It's torture.  

Tonight, Chris refused to give in and held the door so he couldn't get out.  THIS is what we finally got, but not where we wanted him to be.

Even better, Kailey screams bloody murder until she finally gives in (which is 30+ minutes) for the past 2  nights as well.

This is a battle we did not want to be fighting...

Happy 1st Birthday Kailey Part II

Today is Kailey's actual first birthday and I am so excited because originally I was supposed to have tutoring after school until 5:30, but it was cut short after only 30 minutes.  We decided to all celebrate her day by walking up to our local pizza place (which is also a BYOB...part of the fun!).  The weather is BEAUTIFUL right now so it was a nice night to get out and walk through the neighborhood.  

Kailey was all decked out in her 1st birthday gear and had some of her very own pizza.

Aunt Kimmy came from work to join us and we had a lot of fun!

Colin was giving his sister some birthday love...

 

But then....we got our cue to leave from the kids that they had had enough...

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So, we got home and gave Kailey her birthday gift...

She was very curious about what was in the bag, and made sure to read her whole card...

We are not so sure how she feels about her cabbage patch doll yet...

...since all she did was push her away onto the floor.

...and at more attempts to get a picture with her new doll, she just tried to run away.

How do you love the new boots?!  I am so in love!

Happy Birthday to our sweetness....we love you so much Kailey!

We hope you have had a fun filled special weekend and birthday!

Happy 1st Birthday Kailey!

Happy birthday to our BEAUTIFUL little girl Kailey!  It is amazing how quickly time flies by when you are having fun!  

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Kailey  has brought so much to our lives and we are ever so grateful that she is here with us.  She is so independent and loves to figure things out and explore on her own.  It is so much fun to watch her discover new things as she is curious about everything.  

One thing we learned really quickly with Kailey is that she will eat anything and everything.  There isn't anything she won't try however, if she really doesn't want or like something, she will let you know!  

Kailey is just starting to stand herself up and looks like she is going to be walking very soon.  She is climbing up on some of the furniture and doesn't seem to be afraid of anything!  On most days, she can occupy herself by playing with many different toys, although doesn't seem to have a preference yet.  

She has the sweetest little laugh and at times, it makes me teary eyed just because it is so cute and makes me so happy.  

She absolutely adores her brother, even though he isn't always the nicest to her (everyone's learning though).  She likes to be near him and most especially loves when he gives her kisses and hugs.  As time has gone by, they seem to be playing better and better with each other and I look forward to seeing that relationship flourish.  

She has had a really tough time with teething, but both of my kids have.  She really struggles on the rough days and has a really hard time because then doesn't snuggle very well.  She was never our snuggler until recently it has been becoming better.

One year ago when she was entering our world, I cried happy tears when the doctor told us it was a girl.  I had this feeling deep down but the announcement from the doctor was that much better.  Kailey's birth experience was much more peaceful than Colin's, and we really appreciated that.  

Yesterday we celebrated one happy year with our beautiful little girl.  We are so thankful to our family and friends who truly made the day a special one.  

Kailey...we love you with all of our hearts.  Thank you for bringing so much love and happiness into our lives with the sass of a little girl.  Thank you for a fantastic year.  We love you!

Spread the Word

Today is national activation day to "Spread the Word to End the Word".  Many people are standing up today to say that it is NOT ok to use the word retarded in any way.  I have a child with a developmental disability and by using the word retarded, you are putting him down in a derogatory way.

I ask that YOU make a stand today.  Stand up and say that it is NOT ok to use the word retard or retarded.  Stand up and say that YOU will not use that word.  Stand up and tell your friends, your neighbors, coworkers and family that it is NOT ok to use this word...

I thank you.

Please take a minute to watch this beautiful video... For more information, please visit http://www.r-word.org/.

Strike One

Today was a big day for us (or so I thought) when it came to getting answers for Colin.  Chris and Colin headed over to see Dr. Uma regarding this chronic cough and congestion that Colin has been fighting for almost a month now.  I was becoming more and more concerned because I felt as though the cough sounded like a wheeze in the mornings, however, Dr. Uma said it's all upper respiratory and probably related to post nasal drip and mucus.  Colin generally takes an allergy medicine to control this, but she gave a prescription medication that is a bit stronger.  Only problem is, we are running out of food to put the medication in since Colin ISN'T EATING!

Later today, we had an appointment with the ENT doctor (who we love because he is so great at explaining things to us).  

We haven't seen him in a year and I was so desperate for an answer or solution to the feeding problems that I was riding on the fact he was going to tell us that Yes! the tonsils were going to come out and Colin would eat normal again!  

We explained the issues and how we felt that Colin was doing so great with the feeding until he had strep in December.  He agreed that Colin's tonsils are enlarged and then asked if he snores or sounds like he stops breathing (no).  He asked if he gags when eating (no).  He asked if he refuses to eat or gags/throws up when eating solids (well, no, but doesn't EAT solids).  He also had some other questions related to these.  

So, the answer is not the tonsils.  He does think that since his tonsils are large, they will ultimately come out but he doesn't like to do it this young without symptoms that indicate the removal.  

Obviously I do not want to do a surgery now if it is not indicated, but I was really hoping that this would be the solution.  My heart sunk when I learned this was not the answer I was looking for however, this doctor is so great at explaining that I was confident this wasn't the right answer either.

Next stop....gastroenterologist.  Great.

She Did it!

We are so proud of Kailey as she stood up for the first time in the center of the room all by herself!  I often wondered how I would feel when Kailey did things for the first time (when it happened more quickly) compared to Colin and I can tell you that as a Mommy, I am equally proud of both of my kids for their accomplishments.  I know that whether you have a child with special needs or not, all of your children do things at their own paces, on their own time frames, and when they are ready.  

...kailey is definitely ready to be on the move!

I looked over and checked on her because she was balancing on one knee as she held onto these books.

However, when I looked back, she started pushing herself up.  I LOVE the tongue hanging out here!

I can tell you that when she saw our reaction, she was SO PROUD of herself.  Look at that smile!

What a big girl!

 

And then down again to start it all over again...

And then the little stinker climbed up on her chair to get on the ottoman...

...and take a break!

PLEASE don't pay attention to my excited squeeky voice in this video.  I was really excited!

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Still Here...

I regret to admit that I am so behind on updating the blog and blog reading.  In fact, I have never been this before behind and it's killing me.  I hope to get myself updated this weekend as I really feel like I miss you all!

There has been a LOT going on here and it's been quite challenging to keep up with it all.  This post is mostly to devoted to things that are just popping into my head so it will probably be quite random.  

We are in the midst of transitioning Colin to preschool, which sounds so crazy to admit it.  We have had two meetings just to talk about the process and tour Colin's new school, one meeting for a developmental evaluation and then one coming up for a speech and physical evaluation.  After that we will meet with the CST team about creating his IEP for the school year.  We have unofficially discussed what our true wishes are and I feel like they have been pretty accommodating to the main issues we are trying to address.  I had a hard time with the evaluation because it brought to light SO MANY things that Colin is unable to do at this time.  However, those kinds of mopey days are short-lived as I know that we have so much to look forward to when Colin does start school.  

We are really sad that Colin's time at his current school will be coming to an end as we will be unable to transport him there for the afternoon.  In Colin's current class, he has a friend whose mom is a teacher at the school he will be going to and when we ran into her today, Colin just melted into her arms.  It was love at first site for me so hoping that just maybe our luck will be that Colin can be put into her class.  I can just see things happening there...

We are still having a lot of difficulties when it comes to Colin's eating and are becoming more and more concerned as the 6 things that Colin was eating are now dwindling into a list of 3.  I am hoping that as we exhaust all of our options, the ENT doctor will be able to potentially draw a connection to his tonsils.  If you look at the back of his throat, Colin's tonsils are currently touching each other.  I can't imagine that feels very good when eating.  However, Colin has started a new strange trend where he is asking for a pancake at bedtime.  We have been appeasing because we so desperately want him eating more, but I don't like that timing either.  He still pushes them away and we have to feed them to him, but we are just happy at times he is eating SOMETHING.

Last night was an awful night as Chris was traveling through the night with the basketball team to get home and I worked until 11:30 trying to get school work done.  I hadn't been asleep for more than an hour when Kailey woke up crying.  I tried ignoring it for a bit, but when i went into her room, she was laying in a PILE of chunky vomit.  With Chris being gone, I had to get her changed, bathed, bed stripped and soothed by myself (very difficult at 2am!).  She seemed pretty upset so I spent the rest of the night trying to get her comfortable and asleep.  Chris finally walked in the door at 5am-ish, I slept for about 20 minutes, and then my alarm went off to get up and get ready for the day.  Fun times...

Amazingly, she was fine all day so I'm not sure what that was about...

Otherwise, we are just trucking along here.  We are anxiously awaiting for a time when we can all just relax together which seems so far away right now.  We have a 1st birthday less than 2 weeks away!