It's Offical...We Need Therapy

Well, not all of us do, just Nathan. His speech just isn't coming along. He says the d, b, and m sound with a combination of different a sounds (like ma, da, ba...you get it). He doesn't babble or jabber like most kids do. He is over 18 months now and still sounds like a monkey with all of his "ooo, ooo". He will make that sound when he needs something to eat or play with, wants to do something, needs help, and everything in between. He will point or lean along with it so it is a game of charades everyday to figure out what he wants. If any of you know me, I HATE charades. I am getting better at figuring out what his different "ooo"s mean and what he needs. I had a friend suggest I put in a referral and we had someone from the state come and evaluate him. She observed him and asked a million questions for her developmental assessment. She said his test came back normal, but since expressive and receptive language are lumped together in the same catagory in the test it didn't show the huge gap between them. So she still had the speech and language pathologist come to give her evaluation. She agreed that he is doing great with his receptive language skills as well as social skills, but that expressive is lacking a bit. We are going to take him in to have his hearing tested, even though he seems to be hearing and comprehending just about everything we say, just to be sure we don't overlook anything obvious. Then, on Thursday we will have a lady come and make up an Individual Family Plan. We'll see if we can get someone to come to our house to do speech therapy or if we need to take him somewhere to have it done and see how often he needs it. This will be great for him to be able to communicate without getting frustrated (he is starting to throw tantrums). He may just surprise us and start speaking out of the blue, but as for now, this is the best route we can think of. I see him as being so smart because he is so receptive and can understand so much of what I say, the problem is, no one else sees it since he walks around sounding like a monkey. I promise, he is smarter than he sounds!

Negative Never Sounded Good

The kids results from their Celiac test all came back negative. I was surprised, but very pleased. It's not usually good to be negative, but we'll take it this time! As far as Kate's stomache aches, I'm hoping it was just something else that cleared up. This makes it so much easier with little ones that don't understand dietary restrictions well.

What Are the Odds...

Sat. night the family went out to Walmart to get groceries. As I was loading Nathan into his carseat there was a flock of birds flying over us and a little to the side. Nathan was pointing at them and I was talking to him about them when they changed direction and flew right over our heads. I had the fleeting thought, "Wow, that's a lot a birds, the chances are pretty good we get pooped on...no, you're just paranoid." As soon as I thought it, sure enough, something wet and warm hit me in the face, just below my lip. I was really grossed out, but didn't want to make a scene. I told Nathaniel to look at my face and realized bird poop is pretty much clear, so he couldn't see what I was getting at. I asked him to get me a wipe before I threw up. Moral of the story...Never think of the negative side of what could happen. It will.

Now That's Love!

Tonight as Nathaniel was leaving the house to go to his guitar class (from Parks and Rec) he was kissing the girls goodbye and Eliza said, "Make sure you kiss and hug Mommy." Nathaniel came over to me and the girls were staring at us. He said, "This is a little awkward." He gave me a kiss and a quick hug and Eliza says, "Now that's love!" At least she knows it when she sees it!

Potty Humor

I must not be grown up yet because I still think things like this are funny...
Yesterday Eliza was going potty while I was giving Kate a quick rinse with the shower. She happened to be going #2 (for lack of a better term) and all of a sudden she stops talking, sniffs the air and says, "Something smells really yucky in here. It smells poopy!" She is really grossed out. I start laughing because obviously she has got to be kidding, right? She has to know what that smell is. She said, "Mom, Kate must have pooped in the shower." I told her that wasn't the case and that it was actually from the toilet that the smell was coming from. She was flabergasted! She wouldn't believe me. How could she have made that smell?! I told her that just because you go potty in the right place doesn't mean it doesn't smell. She didn't say anything else...it was taking her a minute to soak it all in.
Later that night as I was putting the kids to bed I was prepping them for the mornings events. We took them into the lab to have their blood drawn to see if they have celiacs like their Mommy. I have been dreading the procedure, but feel it is a good idea to have it done to be sure they don't (or possibly do) have it. Anyway, I was telling Kate about what they would have to do and then asked her if she was going to be brave. She smiled and said she was. She hopped off to bed and I went into our room where Eliza was. She loves to fall asleep in our bed and then we move her later. When I told Eliza what they would have to do she started to look nervous. I told her it was going to hurt a little and asked if she was going to be brave. She told me no without hesitation. I told her I would give her a treat if she would be brave and that changed her answer. Then she said, "Mom, am I going to have to pee in a cup?" (Eliza went to the OB/GYN with me and I made her turn around in the bathroom for that part of the visit and she thought it was the funniest thing that they wanted my pee in a cup.) The girl cracks me up! I laughed and reassured her that they did not need that from her.
Just a side note: the kids all did fantastic today getting their blood work done and only Nathan cried for a few seconds. Treats are such an amazing thing! We'll see what the results are in a few days.

Getting Crafty

I get so excited to find out what the gender of our baby is so that I can get things ready for him/her. I was lucky to find out we were having a boy right before our trip to Montana. Laurel and Mom really set me up with everything I'll need. Laurel gave me the cute blue and white polka dot fabric that I made into burp rags and crocheted around the edges. When I was at Walmart the other day I found that same flannel and, of course, had to buy enough to make a matching blanket. It would be criminal to have such a cute burp cloth without the matching blanket.
I am very excited about this one. My mom bought fabric at a yard sale a while ago and it is so cute. There were these colors plus pink, orange, and purple. There was enough for a quilt for my little guy plus one for Briella (Ben and Christina's little girl). I happened to be there when Mom and Laur were working on Christina's quilt and must have done a little too much ooing and ahhing so Laur designed this one for me. With Mom sewing, Laur cutting and me doing an occasional pinning (mostly sitting there eating and being thrilled it was all coming together so nicely and quickly) it was done by evening. What a great treasure for me to bring home. I finished it the next weekend and now just have to wait out the next 3 months before I get to wrap him in it. Details...
(I also scored on a blanket that Brianne bought material for and it was never made. I'll have you know it is now finished, just not on film or downloaded yet. It will be put to good use though. Thanks, Breezey!)

More on Montana...

We had a picnic at the park on Friday and Kate loved the tire swing. I can't stomach spinning well and puked on a carnival ride in my teens so I tried to warn Kate that that might happen to her. I figured I would warn her a few times and tell her the consequences, but I wanted her to make the choice without nagging her. Well, after 10 minutes I decided it was time to intervene. I didn't want to her get sick and ruin her night. I finally sent Nathaniel over to physically remove her. She had already asked Landon (her cousin) to stop her and was getting off when Nathaniel reached her. She said, "I'm going to frow up!" Sure enough, two seconds later she puked... a lot. Nathaniel had tried to get her to lean forward as to not get it all over herself, but no luck. She was covered. We took her jacket off and robbed Nathan of his pants (we figured it is more acceptable to be pantless at 17 months than at 3 years). I'm hoping she learned her lesson and doesn't try that again.

Here is my Mom with the kids outside the Billings Airport. I am sad we don't get to see more of her.

Here we are at the airport. When we checked in they told us the flight was a little over an hour delayed, but by the time we got seated they announced the flight hadn't left Phoenix yet. We were waiting there for over 3 hours. Mom offered to come back and get us but with 3 kids going through security takes FOREVER!!! Worse things have happened. At least it didn't happen on the way up and have us miss 3 hours of Montana and family!
I messed up and deleted a picture so the order here is off. These were supposed to be first.
Here is the view from my parents back porch. I love, love, love it there. My brother, Ben, was shooting and Dad was driving to see how close he got to the target. Kate and Liza loved the 4-wheeler. We don't get to do that much around here. Mom, Benny, Kate, and Christina on the porch swing. I tell you, that thing gets used. It was so chilly that night we went inside. I haven't been chilly in forever. I bought that dress of Kate's while we were there. She wanted to wear it everyday. I just went ahead and let her, it's vacation right? She kept it surprisingly clean for Kate. She is the messiest eater I have ever seen in a 3 year old.
It was such a great time and I don't know when we will be able to go back so this will have to hold me over for a while. Luckily the weather here is starting to get nice. It's below 100 some days so they say it is "cooling off". I don't miss the bitter cold and we get plenty of sunshine so we went at the perfect time. We already miss you guys up there!