Happy on his Little Bottom

This is a little hard to write, but I wanted to because I think it's important. In reading others’ blogs, the more honest folks are with their struggles, the more it encourages me. It’s cathartic for me to write and I hope it will encourage others. (Gosh, sounds like I’m about to confess major sin or something…well, not really.)

Some of you know that our little Max is almost 11 months old and not crawling, pulling up, getting to a sitting position alone, etc. This “developmental delay” (hate those terms) has been really hard on me. For whatever reason, he’s just not as interested in those gross motor skills. He has a very content personality and, for the most part, he’s pretty happy playing on his little bottom. So, I’ve been worrying. I tend to carry guilt (did I not give enough tummy time?) and it’s so easy to fall into the comparing trap – I know moms can relate. BUT I want the Lord to be glorified. A lot of it boils down to my pride – ugh – that’s the hard part to say. I want to see what the Lord does through this; maybe help me trust Him more and not rely on my super-mommy pride. What else Lord?

Anyway, a couple weeks ago I looked into Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) services in our area. We’ve had a couple visits with really sweet ladies, and after yesterday's assessment, they determined that he does qualify for services (babies must be 2 months behind developmentally in any of 5 areas: cognitive, physical, emotional, etc.). In a couple weeks we’ll have another appointment to determine how often they’ll come and our goals, etc. It seems like it’ll be great.

It’s just hard admitting the need for help. But I thank God for it AND for our incredibly sweet Max. He’s the happiest, sweetest baby. I can’t wait to see more of his amiable personality as he grows. My dad says he’s “positive Max.” Lord, what a blessing.

I know I’ll look back on this and smile (and roll my eyes at my silliness) and hopefully have learned something. I know that God is on His throne and is so sovereign. He’s so good to help us through things (even minor things), gently teaching us the way to be, bringing good to us and glorifying Himself all along! Father, thank you for caring for your children so much! Such a good God…

"Sharing Marshmallows"

This is what Jake wants for a treat sometimes, as in, "Mom, may I please have some sharing marshmallows?" They are the mini-marshmallows and he picks them up with different fingers, i.e., thumb and fore finger, thumb and middle finger, etc. Each finger gets to take a turn. Then he always comes running to tell me, "Mom! They're sharing, taking turns giving me marshmallows! Say, good job fingers!"

Good job Jake fingers!

A Day in Our Life - Part 1

I thought I might like to record what a day is like for us while the boys are still young. I know I would enjoy hearing what other moms do all day (any takers, my blogging friends?). So this is what a GOOD day looks like.

7:00 – my alarm goes off and I try to have some time with the Lord. Andy has already left for work. I sit up in bed to read and try not to fall back to sleep.

7:30 – Jake walks in my room toting his blankie and doggie. He crawls in bed and we snuggle under the covers for a little while. I hear Max start to stir.

8:00 – I go to the kitchen and make Jake’s breakfast. Lately it’s been instant oatmeal, yogurt and apple juice. I turn on “tartoons” – Sesame Street, which he can see from his place at the table. I make Max’s bottle and go get him out of bed. He always greets me with the sweetest smile. We head to the recliner with the bottle. In order for him to sit still to drink, I find one of Jake’s toys (think plastic dinosaur or Hot Wheels car) for him to handle and play with while I hold the bottle. The toy must be interesting and new each time or he chunks it and won’t eat…too busy for this baby bottle stuff.

8:30 – Max sits on the floor to play while I eat cereal and clean up Jake’s dishes. He’s back in the living room watching PBS. I go put my contacts in and get somewhat dressed, but no shower. That MIGHT come later. Somewhere in there both kids get dressed.

9:00 – We do different things. Sometimes we go to the gym (there’s a little child care room) and I do the treadmill or elliptical machine for 35 minutes. Other days (like today) I check email and get a start on laundry.

10:00 – Max is very ready for a nap. After a clean diaper, we turn off his light, give him a pacifier and blankie, turn on his mobile and I sway standing for a minute to help him wind down. He is happy to be laid down and goes right to sleep. Now it’s “Mommy and Jake Playtime.” Not sure if it’s his personality, or the first-child-mommy-does-everything-with-me syndrome, but Jake CRAVES for me to sit with him and play. Sometimes we’ll play with dinosaurs, trains, or whatever. Today it was beautiful so we went in the backyard with baseballs, a toy golf set, and a soccer ball.

10:30 – Snack time. He’s usually pining for fruit snacks, gumballs, marshmallows or candy, but I always say the same thing (yet he still tries). “It’s too early for sugary food.” (As if eating it later is better…) So he’ll eat popcorn, apple slices, yogurt, mandarin oranges or something. We might play a little more, or I try to get some house things done – laundry, emptying the dishwasher, general picking up.

12:00 – As I hear Max start to stir, I get Jake situated with lunch and cartoons (again, throw the book at me) and make Max’s bottle. We’ll do the same toy/bottle in the recliner routine and then go eat some food-food. He’ll eat baby food but is getting so that he really wants food he can pick up himself. I might eat a bite here – pb&j, canned soup, leftovers or whatever.

Since this turned out to be such a long entry I’ll write more later…

CRAZY Snow!!!

We live a little farther north than all of our friends so we got hit with TONS of snow -- in March! It seemed like 3 or 4 inches. I can't remember the last time we had THAT much. The really crazy part was that the day before AND after the snow we really didn't need jackets! Texas weather is so weird. And maybe I get a little too excited about these things. :)

This is when we saw the first snowflakes -- BIG, wet ones!

Around 10ish when we were finally going to get Jake to bed (REALLY bad, I know; blame the Wii and Super Mario Galaxy. Like Deanna said in her blog, throw the book at me.) I noticed how much snow had fallen. We had to go play!

It made everything so beautiful...and quiet. You know how it muffles sound? I'm surprised there weren't more people out playing!
The next morning before Max woke up I got Jake up and we went to play again - I knew it would all melt quickly. Notice the olives and candy corn. :) We soon got wimpy and cold and came back inside. God is so good to bless us with fun like that. Thank you Lord for loving us and blessing us with fun!

Sleepy...

"Tamping"

After work Friday, my wonderful hubby set up the tent in the backyard and camped with Jaker. They were astronauts in a space shuttle getting "bad duys." I was mission control, supplying them with snacks, drinks and the blankie-doggie. I enjoyed putting Max down and having a quiet house to myself!

I am SO grateful for the way Andy loves on our boys. Thank you sweet, amazing Daddy!

Breathing Treatments

Poor baby. It's hard seeing him in such a contraption. After my last post I got word from his doctor that what he has is actually RSV!

He's recovering well though; it just seems like a bad cold.

He hates this machine but is getting used to the routine. We're on day 4 of 7 days of treatments and the wheezing is MUCH better. If I can keep him distracted with toys he's okay. Smiling here:

Take it off Mommy!!!

"Poor Little Dy!"

That's what Jake kept saying today at Max's pediatrician visit.

For weeks Max has had congestion and it seems like I can never tell when one cold ends and the next begins. But a few days ago he started wheezing and coughing a lot. I finally decided to take him to the doctor when he had eye drainage and a fever...turns out that he has an ear infection and bronchiolitis. (which I guess is really just an infection that travelled to his lungs) So he's on antibiotics and breathing treatments with a nebulizer (sp?) for a week -- completely new to me.

The real reason for this entry is to blog my older son's sweet concern for his brother. Max needed a treatment at the office and it turned out to be a 15-minute-long, screaming, wrestling match. We were both red-faced and sweating by the end. Max was immediately pushing away the mask (you know how he does, Mom) and hated to be forced into it. Jake didn't like the loud noise the machine made and was really worried about the "smoke" coming from Max's mask. (big fear of fire and smoke lately -- which is good I guess) He was panicky -- "no, no, no Mommy, don't put that on him - he doesn't like it." In an attempt to distract/comfort Max, we sang the ABC song and Jesus Loves Me over and over. Jake had the most concerned face and kept telling Max, "it's otay" and "sh-sh-sh" like I do. Sweet, protective big brother. It was neat to see that in him...

Shopping with Mommy by Max

I had fun with anything she could occupy me with.

I also ate lots of cheerios and grinned at all the friendly faces.

I crashed on the ride home.

Excited to finally get outside!

Last weekend we went to Houston to visit family. I checked the weather before I packed but still didn't pack cool enough clothes! We're used to still needing jackets up here and it was HOT on Sunday when we went to the park there. Lots of fun though...

Jake and Elysa

Emily and Max

the siblings

sweet Grandpa

we're always making them hug! HA!