One

Little man is one month old...already.

I just have to let that sink in for a moment.

Wow!

Anywho...what's going on, little buddy?

First and foremost, you are in a decent night time routine.  (insert Hallelujah Chorus here).  You usually go to bed around 10:30.  You wake up once around 2, and again around 5:30.  This is a pleasant change from your youngest sister who felt like she needed to wake up about every half hour to hour.  Mommy appreciates this!

You weigh a little over 8 lbs according to our most recent weight check.  Like your sisters, you seem to have a very efficient metabolism.  At four weeks, you were only 4 oz over your birth weight.  While I appreciate the fact that you are light as a feather when I carry you in your carseat, I really want you to be our big strapping boy.

I will say, though, that you seem to be on the upswing as far as weight gain.  As I have recently begun an intense course of study at the prestigious Google School of Medicine, I was able to recognize your tongue tie and get it taken care of.  That was not a particularly pleasant experience for either of us.  You will not remember it, but I certainly will.  shudder After your frenotomy, you seem to become a lot less frustrated while eating.  I'll take that as a good sign.

Now that your tongue has a full range of motion, you smile all.the.time.  You've always been a pretty social baby, but now you are so much more expressive.  You love to show off a big toothless grin when  someone holds you and talks to you.  You have occasionally even cooed and gurgled in response.  You even giggled a little bit today.  It makes this mama pretty happy.

Just like everyone predicted, you are my little cuddle bug.  You love to nestle your head right against my shoulder.  Usually, your little face is pointing at my face.  You will snuggle and stare at me.  I hope you don't grow out of this too quickly!

You are still in that newborn stage where you need to be held most of the time.  You will tolerate short stretches of time in the bouncy chair or on your play gym.  But, for the most part, you prefer to be in someone's arms.  Thankfully, you love to be in the sling.  You try and try to stay awake, but you always fall asleep since you are snuggled up next to my heart.

You are adored by your biggest sister especially.  She always wants to kiss you and talk to you.  She even sings you sweet lullabies when you cry.

This picture makes me giggle.  You look a little frightened at Sister's attention. If she doesn't smother you with sisterly care, you will definitely grow up and appreciate her affection.  

We are so thankful that you are our little man!

So, A Lot Can Happen...

...in almost three months.

As you can see, I am terrible about keeping New Year's resolutions!  We haven't exactly been bumps on stumps for the past few months, but for some reason, I've had major blogger block.  I'm working through it.  Seems like it might require intensive therapy, but the sleep deprived nights I'm having may inspire more productive late night internet usage.  I guess we'll see.

I digress...

In much more interesting and important news, as of Wednesday, our family is now a party of five. Little Mr. Jackson Josiah decided to arrive in dramatic fashion on April 10th.  (Clearly, with his flair for drama, he will fit right into to our little zoo!)  It was a crazy whirlwind of events to get him here to say the least.

We started the process with a power outage at around 10:30 on Tuesday night.  Apparently, there was a pretty bad accident where a car completely took out a power pole.  Because I have a bit of 'princess and the pea' syndrome, I couldn't sleep without my a/c, noise maker, security alarm, etc.  Thankfully, the power came back on about 3 sleepless hours later.  It didn't really matter, though, because just about an hour later, my water broke!  After calling Auntie Linda to come stay with the girls, we headed in to the hospital.

Everything was pretty routine for a while.  There was some concern when we got there that little man was breech.  But, a quick ultra sound confirmed that he was actually in position, but just very high up.  So, we labored as usual.  My goal was just to get to the point where I could have my 'spinal miracle' as John called it.  Soon enough, though, it all started to get a little crazy.  My contractions refused to become regular, so protocol is to administer pitocin.  But, little man refused to tolerate the pitocin, and his heart rate would dip dangerously low and recover very slowly.  The nurse would turn off the pit to make Jackson happy, but then my contractions would taper off.  Big time labor catch-22! Then, when it was finally time to push, little man hated that even more.  Hearing his heart rate dip and seemingly stop on the monitor made my blood pressure and heart rate skyrocket.  It was nerve wracking to say the least.  Both my labor nurse and doctor commented on how many gray hairs this little guy was giving them.  After a few more minutes of little man giving everyone heart palpitations with his antics, my doctor determined that the best course of action was to go ahead with a c section.

Oy!

Honestly, folks, that was my absolute worst fear.  I was terrified to have to have surgery.  I am so thankful for John whose first thought and action was to pray for us.  I know that people like to say that God doesn't give you anything you can't endure.  But, especially after this scenario, I must say I disagree.  While I did make it through this, it was because God carried me through it.  I am confident that I would be a mess without His loving hands upon me throughout.

The craziest part was that the drama did not stop once we arrived in the OR.  Little man kept up his heart rate shenanigans, so my doctor had to begin the procedure before even John could get in to be with me.  Then, when she tried to get him, he actually squirmed away from her.  On the second try, he flipped breech!  Little man was born feet first at 4:04 pm on April 10th.  He came into the world screaming his sweet little head off.

Music to my ears.

Weighing in a 7 lbs, 15 oz and 20 inches, let me present Jackson Josiah.

Drama!

(We wouldn't have it any other way, though!)

We've been home from the hospital for three days now.  The adjustment is not easy, but it's so worth it.  We adore this little guy, drama and all!

Running

Sometimes I can hear a song a thousand times before the meaning really hits me.  And, then when it hits me, it's that awesome moment of clarity, a powerful a-ha moment.  I've mentioned before that I'm not the greatest singer in the world...though after watching the latest American Idol auditions, I'm certainly not the worst either!  But, I do love to sing.  And, I find that a lot of worship music really speaks to me in a way that often just hearing a message does not.  On Sunday we sang Forever Reign.
(Oh) I'm running to Your arms
I'm running to Your arms
The riches of Your love
Will always be enough
Nothing compares to Your embrace
Light of the world forever reign.
And, I started to visualize what it would be like to actually run to Jesus' arms.  You know, to literally run to the arms of my Savior.  It's hard to imagine what kind of joy you would feel.  Suddenly, I was thinking about my sweet babies.  I love that feeling of coming in the door after being away and hearing little feet running and little voices shouting my name joyfully.  I can barely put my things down before I have two little torpedoes barreling toward me.  John doesn't even make it through the door anymore.  Cora has learned to recognize the sound of his truck pulling into the driveway.  As soon as he turns the truck off, she and Carys shoot out the door rain or shine to greet him.  It's not that their day was terrible or that they had spent the day anxious for his return.  It's more so that at that moment, they recognized something was missing.  Something special.  Something safe.  Something that provides and protects.  Something loving and kind.  And, at that moment, all they know is the need to be in those arms.  Nothing is going to keep them from those arms at that moment.  I remember one time when Cora was around 2 years old.  John had to be away for some training; we hadn't seen him in a couple of weeks.  When he came through the door, she could not get to him quickly enough.  She buried her head in his neck and just hugged him as tight as her tiny little arms could manage.  When I tried to hug the both of them, she quite literally just pushed me away.  She was not about to let anyone or anything interfere with her being in his arms.  You see, while she was there, she felt secure and complete.

It's not that John and I don't get a charge out of that kind of devotion, too.  One of my friends told me once that having children is like having your heart walking around on the outside of your body. Isn't that the truth!  Honestly, I had no idea the kind of aching love that you feel for those little selfish, egocentric, helpless and needy, yet in every way amazing creatures.   Having my children scramble to see me after I've been away is pure joy.  It is almost unfathomable to think that God in heaven feels the same way - except, in that case, it is not He who has been away.  He is constantly there; I am the one who thinks I need to do it on my own.  The really fantastic part is that when I recognize that I can't, I don't have to wait for Him to pull in the driveway or come through the door before I run to Him; He is always close.  He is always there with mercy, grace, security and love.  He is constant.  And, even more than that, He feels joy when I draw near.  Imagine that!  The Creator of this universe feels joy because of me!  It begs the question of why I feel I must ever be away?  Well, I'm human, and I'm stubborn, but I hope that one day I will recognize that the security of that embrace is more than anything this world has to offer.  Until then, I guess I'm going to keep on running.

Art

This past weekend was a little touch and go for me.  Apparently, I am highly allergic to the world around me (at least in its current season).  For those of you who are unfamiliar, in this part of the world, it is cedar season.  If you've never heard of cedar fever, please take my word and count your blessings.  It's not necessarily a painful affliction, but it is the type of illness that makes you want to punch yourself in the face just to get some relief from the itching and burning.  It looks like claritin will be my new best friend until late February.  sigh

Cora was being super sweet and took it upon herself to draw me a get well picture.  This was her masterpiece.

Y'all, I was so excited.  For most 4 1/2 year olds, this picture would be no big deal.  But, for my little girl, this was nothing short of a masterpiece.  One of the manifestations of Cora's sensory processing disorder is a motor skill delay.  So, the fact that she actually drew me a picture (of a rainbow - see the colors! :D ) is really exciting for me.  I love the fact that she drew straight, strong lines.  John helped her with writing my name, but everything else was all Cora.  Go girl!  I'm looking forward to more art soon!

{Way Back Weekend} It's A...

When we first told Cora that she was going to be a big sister for the second time, her response was something to the effect of "Ya, you have baby Carys in your tummy."  We had to clear that little misconception up pretty quickly.  Still, she insisted that her new sibling was definitely a girl.  In fact, she named the baby "Jewel."  She was completely adamant about it.  In fact, when we asked her what if baby is a boy, she did reply with an enthusiastic "That would be great!  But, it's a girl!" People, she had me believing....

Then, we went to the anatomy scan.  Yup, we're pretty certain that this little baby is in fact a....BOY!  What a shock!  Even John was a little bit taken aback.  I think Cora had us both believing that we only make girls.  We're pretty excited, though, about meeting this little man.

I will admit that I had a bit of a panic attack thinking about having a boy.  My formative parenting years have been filled with girls.  But, it recently occurred to me that this must be the same type feeling that John went through when we found out Cora was a girl.  And, John is an amazing dad.  That gives me great hope that I can rise up to the challenge of being a great mom to a boy.  Thankfully, God gives me my children as babies so that I can grow into my role as a parent.  I'm sure when little mr. Jackson (middle name tbd) gets here, these worries are going to seem so silly and unnecessary.  Can't wait to find out!

{Way Back Weekend} A Birthday Treat

Cora's 4th birthday very neatly corresponded with the release of Brave.  So, it seemed that Cora was meant to have her first theater experience for her birthday.  To make it even more special, we invited one of Cora's oldest friends, Eliana, to join us.  And, if you're going to a movie for your birthday, you must have some popcorn.  Am I right, or am I right?!

Cora and I really enjoyed the movie.  In fact, Merida and Cora share a lot of similarities.  I was thankful when she received the dvd from Mema and P-pa for Christmas.

After the movie, we had a ladies' lunch with Ms. Susy and Eliana.  Unfortunately, we waited a little too long to try to get a couple of pictures of the girls.  This was the best we could manage.

Such happy campers!  From this picture, you would think that we just fed them spinach and made them clean their rooms rather than wining and dining them all morning.  It was a fun day even if the picture speaks otherwise!

Two Year Well Check

Today was Carys' two year well check.  I learned my lesson to not schedule well checks before Christmas when Cora was 6 months old.  Vaccinations + holiday mayhem = a difficult holiday all around.  And, yet, I was still dreading having the appointment.  I think I may still be a little gun-shy after Cora's memorable 4 year appointment.   Blessedly Cora was invited to some friends' house this morning, leaving me to take Carys by herself.  (Thanks, Rose Marie, Ruth, Erin and Vivi!)  It turns out that Carys was actually current on all her immunizations (sans the flu shot which we do not do).  So, that was an unexpected bonus.  Pretty much everything checked out as normal even her weight.  (Whew!)  She is up to 21.5 lbs and 31 inches, still clinging to the 3rd percentile.  However, her BMI puts her in the 15th percentile.  I'm not sure how that works, but I'm happy that Dr. Mitchell was happy with her weight.  Bebecita did manage to gain 3 lbs since her last well check.

I did have one small concern that I mentioned to Dr. Mitchell.  Sometimes, I'm fairly certain that my background in early childhood education and child development may put unnecessary thoughts in my mind. Nevertheless, I would rather take care of a problem now than wait and have a problem progress.  Anyhow, I have mentioned before in ye olde blog about Carys' speech or sometimes lack thereof.  Though she is a little chatterbox now, her articulation is a bit of a concern for me.  I can probably understand about 80% of what she says, but I am with her all.the.time.  I don't think most others can understand her nearly as well.  My concern is that she's not hearing properly.  I know she can hear.  She responds to her name and to questions.  She can follow complex commands, but  she seems to have some atypical patterns of speech (at least from what I can tell).  For example, she often substitutes several different initial sounds in words with the /d/ sound.  (e.g. 'deemas twee' for Christmas tree; 'Denny' for Penny).  I worry that perhaps there is some sort of issue inside her ears that makes her hear differently.  Dr. Mitchell was not overly concerned, but suggested that we visit a pediatric audiologist simply to make sure that everything is hunky-dory in those sweet little ears.  Most likely everything will check out just fine, but I'll be thankful for the peace of mind.  Then, the best news of all will be that she is in the clear until her next well check.  Praise be to God for our healthy girl!

Resolved

I'm usually not one to make New Year's resolutions.  It's not that I necessarily have something against them; it's just that I feel like I shouldn't have to wait until the beginning of the year to make a change in my life. Furthermore, it's like I have some sort of psychological block specifically against New Year's resolutions.  I just can't seem to keep them up. However, this year, I do have one specific idea that I'm going to work hard to maintain.  This blog is basically my online baby book for the girls - really, it's more like my love letter to my children.  So, my goal is to stay current with this blog.  And, to stay current, I have to get caught up.  In other words, you may see a lot of flashbacks interspersed with our current happenings.  Look for our "Way Back Weekend" posts to find out what we've been up to for the past six months.  Now it's out on the interwebz...hopefully this small measure of accountability will keep me current.  After all, this mama's love still grows!

Road Trip!

This year was our year to spend Christmas with John's family.  We decided to take the big journey up to Virginia to see John's brother and his family.  As we refuse to do plane trips due to a certain fateful red-eye from Alaska to Texas, this meant ROAD TRIP!

Folks, I have never been more thankful for John's technological (dare I say it) genius!  Witness a sample of the arrangements from within the car.

That is just a small sample of the wiring John finagled.  Here is what he wrote about it, "For the trip, I installed a new head unit, mainly to connect all of our smart devices (was really tired of the fm modulated junk), hard wired an inverter to the battery, decorated the luggage rack with led Christmas lights, installed radios to communicate with my small caravan, bought BT headphones for the kids to listen and play with their iPad/DVD player, installed sat radio, while using my phone as a wifi and using navigon on my iPad for navigation.  But, probably the highlight of the tech trip was pushing Carys' movies from my iPod located up front to the DVD player in the back so we don't have to get out of the car or stretch over the backseat to change movies." So, umm, ya, he did....that.  Between that and the large box full of a variety of snacks, the actual driving was pretty easy - especially considering that this 3000+ mile round trip involved a 2 year old and a 4 year old. The main limitation was that we had to stop for lunch pretty much exclusively at restaurants that had attached playgrounds.  I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to eat McDonald's ever.again.

Once we arrived in Virginia, Josh and Amy had a house full.  6 adults and 5 kids, 5 and under.  It was like contained chaos, but the kids had a blast.  The neat thing is that for a short time every year, all of the cousins thus far will stair-step as far as age.  Dawson is 5; Cora is 4; Audrey is 3; Carys is 2; and Ryan is 1.  

This is the best picture we could get of the 5 of them.  Like herding cats, folks!

It was so much fun listening to the kids playing together.  Surprisingly, we had very few problems, especially considering that the kids only get to see each other once or twice a year.  The main difficulty was getting the kids to go.to.sleep!  The three bigs had a slumber party every night, and it was pretty hard to rein in the giggles coming from their room.  Though, if that is the worst we have to deal with, we are pretty lucky!

Our drive home was quite an adventure.  We were blasted with the very southern tip of the huge winter storm that graced the Northeast.  It took us 12 and a half hours to get from northern Virginia to our hotel in Knoxville, TN.  I am pretty sure that a very valid way to increase this completely Southern girl's total trust in God is to spend 12 and a half hours in the car driving through 500 miles icy snow and sleet.  Thankfully, we arrived safely. The next two days were much less eventful weather-wise, thankfully!   Nevertheless, we were so happy to have arrived back at our house on Friday night.  I'm fairly certain my bed has never felt so comfortable!

All in all, it was a lovely trip.  We are so thankful to have had the opportunity to spend it with family.

Two!

Honestly, I can't believe that I am typing this post.  Has it really been two years since you made your surprise appearance in San Antonio?  It has been an amazing couple of years, baby ninja.

So, Carysita, what's new?

You consistently live up to your 'baby ninja' moniker.  You are quick, and you are quiet.  You refuse to let your diminutive size affect your abilities.  So far, we have found you in the bathroom sink (you stacked up two stools to get there), on top of your dresser (you used the drawers as a ladder), on the picture window sill, and on the kitchen counter.  You have now learned to climb up on to mommy and daddy's big bed, so we pretty much have to keep most of the house closed off.  Baby ninja strikes again!
 
You are a little chatterbox.  Your language has exploded over the past month or two.  You have a very large vocabulary, though often Sister and I are the ones who understand you best.  My favorite words that you say are:
peezpah (pizza)
ahrigh (alright)
deemas twee (Christmas tree)
tickiepoo (ticklepoo - a bedtime ritual)

Speaking of speaking, you are a little jokester.  You love to tell knock-knock jokes - well, more accurately, you love to tell one specific knock-knock joke.  And, you can tell that interrupting cow joke with the best of them. You are definitely an enthusiastic comedian.

You also love to sing.  You  can sing the ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle, Old MacDonald, and Jingle Bells, though they are mostly only recognizable by the tune.  You love to sing along with the radio, too.  Your favorite song right now is 'I'm Alive' by Peter Furler.  It's a fun little duet when you and Sister sing it together.

You recently graduated to a toddler bed when we removed the front rail of your crib.  More on that to come.

You are obsessed with shoes.  You love to walk around in anyone's shoes.  In fact, you recently got your feelings hurt when you found out that it is not okay to walk around in other kids' shoes at the playground at Chick-Fila.

You love to watch lah-eee (Wall-e).  On our recent road trip (more on that to come), you watched Wall-e probably three times a day while we were in the car.

You call most animals by their sound.  Our preferred supermarket has large pictures of farms and cows up on the wall.  Virtually every time we pass by the pictures, you yell out "The moo! The moo!"  Your other favorites are "the neigh" and "the woof."

You are a very enthusiastic eater.  You like to try new things.  Surprisingly, you don't mind spicy.  Recently, you convinced daddy to share his sandwich with spicy mustard and pepper jack cheese.  It must be because of the Mexican food I ate right before I went into labor!  Some of your other favorites include cheese, yogurt, steak, fruit, cucumbers, and rice, not to mention kid staples such as chicken nuggets, goldfish, macaroni, and cheese pizzas.

You are our sweet and sassy little girl.  Your eyes shine with a little bit of mischief which makes it hard on mommy and daddy when you are being a bit naughty.  But, you always brighten our lives with your fun personality.  We love you so very much sweet bebecita!

Parenting Fail #24785

If you have been reading this blog for really any length of time, you probably know about Carys' constant companion, Perdita.  

 Perdita made the Christmas photos....

 Perdita made the bluebonnet photos...

And, of course, Perdita goes to the emergency room with us.  

Folks, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that 'Dita' as Carys calls her, gets pretty nasty.  In the past, I refused to be responsible for washing the poor thing.  I did not want to have to deal with the drama.  But, yesterday, I decided to bite the bullet and wash her.  (She's been washed before, by the way, just not by me!)  Now that we have a front-loader washer, Carys loves to put things in there.  (She may or may not have attempted to climb in herself...)  So, I gathered all of the girls' laundry, put it in the washer, and then asked Carys to put Dita in.  She was having no part of that.  But, being the stellar parent that I am and having decided that today was the day to give the poor pup a bath, I grabbed her (Dita, not Carys), threw her in, and shut the door.  

 You can imagine how well that went over.  

I blame pregnancy hormones.

Carys spent the next long minutes sobbing while hugging the washer window.  And, this heartless mama did nothing while Dita spun round and round.  

Actually, I did do something.  I attempted to bribe distract her with her other favorite things.  apples, protein bars, cheese, sister's toys, the phone...

I finally got her interested in The Lion King.  

She seemed to handle the time okay with the movie on to distract her.  But, rest assured, she was not about to forgive me so easily.  After I pulled Dita out of the dryer all fluffy and warm and after Carys gave her the once over, chewed on her ears a little and gave her kisses, she punished me by promptly sticking Dita's face in Penny's water bowl.  Touche, mon petite pickle.  I shall now fully relinquish the dog washing responsibilities to John.

Of the Many Phrases That Involve the Number 3

Three Musketeers?

Third time's the charm?

Three day weekend?

Three Stooges?

None of those seemed to fit...

But, in case you haven't heard, we have a little announcement.  Looks like we'll be keeping up with three little ones come Spring.  This picture is a couple of weeks old.  I am a little over 12 weeks along, allegedly due in April.  I say allegedly because all of my little ones decide to come before their  doctor estimated due dates.   We'll see if this little one decides to continue the trend.  But, I'm definitely thinking to not travel anywhere starting in March.  No more surprise out of town births for this mamacita!

Wordless Wednesday

The Stats

Cora's four year well check was a couple of months ago.  I had heard tales of the horrors of this particular visit from friends with older children.  Folks, I can promise you it lived up to my expectations and then some!  Oy, what a nightmare!

The physical exam was the easy part.  She was excited about wearing the 'dress' (hospital gown), and she actually commented to Dr. Mitchell about how much she loved her dress.  She easily met almost all of her physical and developmental milestones.  She now weighs in at 32 pounds (24th percentile) and 40 inches (55th percentile).  I didn't believe people when they would tell me how tall she is.  But, it looks like she finally is catching up in the height department, at least.

This visit turned out to be incredibly informative as well.  I have had some suspicions for a while that there may be more going on inside Cora's head than in most normal/average kids.  I had noticed some gaps in her development, but I worried that since my background is early childhood education perhaps I was over thinking everything. I know development is continuum not a series of points in time, but I couldn't shake the nagging thought that there was something different going on with her. I noticed from very early on that Cora was extremely sensitive to excessive attention (even positive) and sounds.  The behavior manifests itself in extreme fear or in strange meltdowns.  For example, going into a public restroom has always been upsetting for her.  For a while, I had chalked it up to stubborn-ness in relation to potty training.  But, upon further thought and investigation, I realized that she was extremely fearful of the loud flush toilets and hand-dryers.  I also noticed a strange gap in her fine motor skills.  Most kids at her age are drawing simple pictures.  Cora has yet to draw a picture.  I thought this was due to the fact that she was more of an active girl who really wasn't as interested in slowing down enough to draw or color.  However, I soon noticed that even though she had no problem writing her name with my hand over her hand, she seemed to go limp and get confused if I asked her to write her name on her own.  The more I thought about it, the more I realized that she has had a difficult time with most fine motor tasks.  She took longer than most to become proficient at eating with utensils; she never showed interest in dressing and undressing herself and took a long time to become independent at it; opening and closing some doors is still a bit of a challenge for her.  When she was a baby, she was an awesome eater.  She ate every baby food with only one exception.  Yet, suddenly, she became a picky eater.  She would no longer eat the very same foods she would eat in puree form.  There are a few other things that I noticed as well.  When I discussed this with her pediatrician, she confirmed what I had been thinking.  Cora has a mild form of sensory processing disorder.  At some point she may require a bit of occupational therapy to help with her motor skill issues, but at this point, I am doing as much research as I can in order to try to help at home.

It has been an interesting adjustment for us having this diagnosis.  Sensory processing disorder is a relatively new disorder although John and I both exhibit a few of the markers as well.  To be honest, I struggle with it sometimes because I don't know where to draw the line between knowing that I need to push her beyond her stubborn-ness or knowing that this is part of the spd and to take a different approach, proceeding with caution.  The bottom line is that Cora needs to learn to cope in the real world especially with her noise sensitivities, but I also don't want teachers and other adults she comes into contact with left bewildered when she has a meltdown and no one knows why.  But, like I mentioned before, sometimes it is hard to know whether this is Cora being stubborn or Cora having spd. Parenting is hard, no?!

The bright light in all of this is the notion that God has clearly directed me to homeschool.  I have been pretty wishy-washy on the thought of it.  I'm pretty sure that every parent who decides to embark on the adventure of homeschooling faces doubts.  Everyone has reassured me that I will be fine especially considering my background.  But, let me emphasize this, the thought of whipping a class of 22 kindergarteners/English language learners into shape is easy compared to the thought of being solely responsible for the entire educational outcome of my children.  Nevertheless, I am slowly warming up to the possibilities that home-schooling has to offer to my family.

To make this long story even longer, the rest of the appointment was very memorable.  One of the manifestations of Cora's spd is an extreme dislike of things being put on her.  She gets upset if you try to put a mask or a necklace or headphones, etc. on her without her initiation.  So, as you can imagine, the vision and hearing tests were a bit challenging.  She passed both tests, thankfully, but I'm pretty sure the entire medical office building could hear her distress.  We capped it off by getting the remainder of her vaccinations.  You can guess how well that went over.  It's a small price to pay for good health!  Believe me, you won't catch me complaining that she has no more immunizations for a while.  Whew!

All that to say, we are so thankful for our healthy (not so) little girl.  God created her exactly this way, and even though I do not always understand her thoughts and quirks, so to speak, I know that  she has a great purpose in the Kingdom.  Our prayer is that God will give us the wisdom we need to train her up to be the woman He purposed her to be.

For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
Psalm 139:13-14

Let's Take a Little Journey Back in Time

So, Cora turned 4 this summer.  Yes, folks, Cora is now the same age as the preschoolers I taught when she was just an tiny newborn. I think somewhere in the back of my mind, I just didn't think she would ever get 'this old.'  And, while we have yet to begin having friend parties for our girls, Cora managed to squeeze 4 (yes, 4) celebrations out of friends and family.  Because her birthday happened to fall on a Sunday, Cora's precious Bible group teacher brought birthday cupcakes for snack.  Then, that afternoon, we had a small celebration with Auntie Linda and Mr. Rick.  We decided that as far as presents for our girls we would stick to the little adage
Something you want;
Something you need;
Something to wear;
Something to read.
I love that this helps us focus our shopping.  It is so easy for me to go overboard, and this helps to keep from overwhelming the girls, too.  It's the grandparents' job to spoil them, anyway!  So, Cora got to open her 3 (two of the presents were combined) and eat some more cupcakes.

Can you guess which flavor the birthday girl chose?!

It was funny because even though she had several presents, we had to coax her to open the rest of them.  She really just wanted to play with her two new lovies.  Funny girl!

The next week, the girls went off to Yiayia and Dado's house where the celebrated some more.  I know there were cupcakes and presents involved.  I'm pretty sure the celebratory week also involved the zoo, train, parks, and splash pads.  Not too shabby for the birthday girl!

We capped off our celebratory weeks at Mema and P-pa's house.  We got to celebrate Hannah and Cora's birthdays with more cupcakes and presents. One of the other highlights was the water gun battle.  Clearly, P-pa quickly became the main target.  Once Cora figured out how to operate hers, she was pretty brave on the attack.  Carys couldn't quite figure hers out, but she sure had fun running around with one.  Cousin Miriam was the best, though, because she would run right up to you with absolutely no fear.  P-pa took on a lot of water at point blank range!

I think we can call this birthday season a success!

Cora's Kidisms - Mom's No Ariel Edition

It's the end of an era folks.

John has figured out that Cora does, in fact, have learned pitch.  We knew Cora loved to sing, and she seemed pretty good at it.  For those of you who don't know, John is also an awesome singer.  To put it plainly, the man has a fantastic set of pipes.  Me, I love to sing...if desire were ability, I would ah-mazing.  Sadly, it does not translate!  As John puts it, I sound 'pleasant.' I'm okay with that assessment.  Pleasant is a positive word, no?   The other night, Cora and I were singing a song we heard on Dinosaur Train that morning.  In my defense, I only heard part of it one time that morning.  Nevertheless, I slogged through trying to sing it.  Imagine my surprise when my little maestro stopped me with a "No, no, Mama.  Like this!" as she proceeded to sing the song correctly for me.  Well, bless my heart, I tried my best, but I finally had to tell her that I was a lost cause!  Children's choir starts in 2 weeks.  I'm thinking it couldn't come soon enough!

Carys' Kidisms - Edition the First

I've mentioned before that Carys is not much of a talker - at least not in English.  Mind you, she gets her point across for sure.  Being that she is also an observer, a lot of the things she says in Carys-ese sound much like things that Cora says.  The other night after their bath, I got ready to comb their hair.  Bless Cora's heart!  She got her mama's fine, curly and tangle prone hair.  We do not get through a hair fixing session without at least one "OW!"  So this night, as I combed through Carysita's easy, untangled little mop, she turned her self and looked up at me with a big smile and exclaimed, "OW!"  She's a little mess, I tell you!

Wordless Wednesday

(photo by Daddy)

Little Peanut

We were on pins and needles a bit about Carys' 18 month appointment.  Despite all the results from the bloodwork and testing being normal, I still can't shake a tiny bit of anxiety about Carys' inability to gain weight.  She looks proportional and is meeting her developmental milestones (excepting the growth ones, natch), but I can't help but be a bit anxious over her only gaining a couple of pounds this past year.  Sure enough, she hadn't gained, but about 3 ounces since our weight check in May.  This gain puts her at a whopping 18.75 pounds.  She's still on the charts for her age, but just barely.  She's just about 2 and a half feet tall - again just clinging to the bottom percentiles for height.  Strangely enough, though, I think the combo of her itty-bitty size, plus the fact that she just insists on keeping up with her uber-active sister makes her a double threat.  We call her baby ninja because she is quick and quiet.  One minute you think she's playing in her room, the next minute she's staring at you from places such as the top of the coffee table.

Caught!

Don't worry!  I removed her after I took the picture.  (Hey, I'm a bloggin' mama!)  Don't worry about the coffee table either.  It took it's revenge on Carys a few days ago when she thought she was an Olympic gymnast, but flubbed her dismount from the couch.   We thought Cora was going to be our drama mama, but now I'm pretty sure it's going to be Sissy.

Here we are waiting to get glued.  That giant cotton ball is full of numbing gel.  This was in the calm before the storm of trying to glue her head!  God bless those nurses and the doctor! Only 24 hours after getting her injury glued (thank goodness for that stuff!!), she had ripped the glue suture off.  Oy vey! Now, we're just trying to keep her from bumping into things to make sure she doesn't open up her old injury.  I think she might need a padded house!

So besides incredible feats of daring, Carys' other favorite activities are running and enjoying/terrorizing Penny.  Don't worry about Penny, she definitely benefits from the relationship.

Carys' affections are not limited to Penny.  Any dog Carys sees is subject to a raucus chorus of "Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!"  This is not limited to real dogs.  We hear this song often!  One of her favorite things to do is to give Penny treats.  Though she's not as verbal (at least in proper English) as some kids her age, she definitely thinks she's saying the right things.  She will put her little hand out (our sign for Penny to sit) and say something that inflected sounds like a command.  Then, she gives Penny her treat and says something that sounds a lot like "good girl!"  as she pats her on the back.  Fortunately, Penny is an infinitely patient doxie.  It took Carys a while to understand the word 'gentle.'  Now, if we could just keep her out of Penny's food and water...

So, in summary, she's still a little peanut, but she sure is a fun one!

What Has Been Up

Well, there went July, huh?!  You would think that my lack of posting would be due to lack of activity.  But strangely enough, we've actually had many fun adventures over the past couple of months.  I'm going to do my best to get this online scrap book up to date.

~~~~~~Wavy Going Back in Time Lines~~~~~~

So, back in May, we celebrated John's birthday.  We are kind of big kids at heart around here.  We love zoos and theme parks.  So, for John's birthday weekend, we decided to take Cora to Sea World for the first time.  For some reason, we thought it would not be crowded because school was still in session.  Yeah, that was definitely a bad assumption!  Thankfully, we left the bebecita with Yiayia and Dado.  I doubt that she would have handled the heat and the stroller all day.  Here are Cora and I at the entrance to the park.

We got there shortly before the Shamu show was to start.  So, we headed into the arena to see it.  Cora wasn't too sure about the whole situation, but by the time the show started, she was enjoying the spectacle.  It was funny to listen to her practically cackle when the orcas would do the tricks.  

 After the show she wanted to take a picture with the Shamu statue.  She insisted to stand right in front of Shamu, so this was the best picture we could get.  (Note the map rolled up in her hands.  She insisted on 'reading' and carrying that map all day.  Actually, we still have the map.  And, she will get it out to play with often.)

After the show, we walked by the roller coasters.  Cora really wanted to see them, but she also wanted to make sure that we knew that she was 'too big' (her words) to ride them, lol!  We even took her to the Sesame Street Bay of Play where they have kid sized rides.  Not interested in that either.  Believe me, you cannot convince her otherwise.  (I think she gets that stubborn streak from her father. ;-)

Instead of the rides, we took in the next show, Azul.  This is the show that combines the marine animals with Cirque du Soleil type acrobatics.  It was really enjoyable.  Cora liked seeing the beluga whales and selected a plush one as her souvenir.  

After lunch, we saw the penguins and some other animals.  Then we played on the playground before going to the sea lion show.  Here we are sweaty and tired waiting for the show to start.

 It was a really cute show, but I don't think any of us enjoyed it as much as the others.  By that time we were hot tired and ready to go. I am glad we did the season pass option.  Cora definitely wants to go back again. (Some others in the family want to, too!)