A Few for the Win Column!

 Look what my boy did!  His OT presented me with this work sample and I asked, "Did you dictate this to him?  Cover his paper with your hand?"  She said she opened the handwriting pad with the alphabet as a model and he copied it on his own, with little coaching.  I just couldn't believe it.  My son?  Writing in the lines?  On task for an extended period of time?  Wow!  I'm such a teacher nerd, when I said  I'd be sharing this on the blog, the OT remarked that she hated to have marked up the paper.  "No! That makes it better!" I assured her.  Trusty are the marks of a red pen in the hand of a teacher.  I AM SO PROUD.  I just made a "kids' brag folder" in my Dropbox account.  I've got some masterpieces to begin saving. :)

Secondly, we had a major personal victory yesterday.  We've been working on toileting independence for 2 1/2 years with Jay.  It's been a major struggle and to be frank, a tremendous source of stress and even shame for me.  It took me a long time to understand that this would happen later developmentally for Jay, but it would happen.  I'm in the kitchen and I hear the sound of a male child going to the bathroom.  What's significant is that he is going without being told.  I ran in the bathroom, whooped and hollered, got Rachel in on the celebration and called Dad to share.  As I was leaving a voicemail, I almost doubted myself.  Wait... he was throwing bits of paper in the toilet as it flushed.. maybe he was playing... nope, saw him standing, heard the sounds, saw the hiney; he did it!

World, my son is consistently in underwear (Pull-ups, we are never getting back together, like EVER), is night trained, his tummy troubles are much better (not solved completely) and he chose to go the bathroom without Mom's nagging.   JOIN ME IN REJOICING! 

The Lord makes everything beautiful in his time, and this, all joking aside, is beautiful.

My son is beginning to make decisions for himself, because he can. 

Birth Day Memories, Transcribed

Jeremiah's 5th birthday is Wednesday, and I realized that while his sisters' birth days were recorded here, his was not.  Before blogging, my firstborn got the expected treatment: his story was written in ink, in cursive, on fine paper in a leather journal. This excerpt was written when J was 3 months old. It's exuberant and totally, charmingly naive.  5 years later, the sentiment's still the same. 
Happy Birthday, Baby Boy.

Your delivery...

My due date of May 26th came and went. I was not worried about the date passing, but all the waiting drove your Dad crazy. The house was clean and organized; your nursery was ready; we were ready for the main event.

We made the decision to go into the hospital on a Wednesday night, May 28th to be induced to labor. My doctor, Dr. Dodder, was on duty the next day and I wanted her to deliver you.

We brought lots of snacks, movies, and all our creature comforts to the hospital. (I packed according to "The Book".  We rolled into Northside Hospital prepared for a fun lock-in. Movies? Bless my idiotic heart.) Now that we were at the hospital, your dad was more relaxed.  While he slept that first night, I tossed and turned. The sleeping medicine I took gave me strange dreams, so I didn't feel rested! The pitocin medicine began at 6 a.m. I was 1 cm dilated, which was a start because nothing was happening before we came to the hospital. Sometime around lunch my water broke. Natalie, Nana, Papa and Grandma arrived near lunchtime, too. They were excited and very talkative! I was beginning to feel my contractions more strongly at this time, so I was glad your Dad took them to lunch. My peaceful moment was short lived, because the contractions kept increasing in strength.  Dad had only been gone 20 minutes, but I was ready for him to return! (I called him and subtly hinted he needed to get back.)

About this time, I was ready for a little pain relief.  I received some medicine and felt well enough to get out of bed and rock for about an hour.  Then... the contractions felt more intense and closer together.  A friend from work stopped by, Wagner, and I chatted with him in between contractions. (Totally insane, though it kept me distracted.) I had been worried that I would lose my cool during delivery and lash out in anger, but I didn't. It simply would have required too much energy. The room was quiet and dark. Finally, I was able to receive an epidural, probably around 3 p.m. The doctor was great-- Dr. Wheeler.  He did everything quickly and efficiently. I asked him if anyone named their baby "Wheeler". Seriously, I would understand why!

After I was given the medicine, my friend Lara from church visited us. I was feeling less anxious and up for a visit.  About 10 minutes in, the nurse came in and checked my progress. I was still feeling contractions and worried the medicine didn't take on both sides. (I was "still feeling contractions." Again.  Bless.  What I elegantly told the nurse: "I feel it in my butt." Sorry if a fella reads this. Um, that's baby bearing down.  When the doctor said, "You're complete," I had no idea what that meant.) Here's the best part of the labor: it went from 0 to 60! I was fully dilated (I had only been 2 cm about an hour before). We thought we would be delivering you late at night. My reaction to the news? "I feel like I've won the lottery!"  I couldn't believe I'd fast forwarded through the long, hard wait of labor. (I guess the 9 hours before the epidural didn't register as "hard labor" at the time.) It was showtime.

My doctor was called and we did a few "practice" pushes. Lara coached me through those, which was neat and unplanned. She knew your dad and I planned to welcome you alone, so she went out to the families and acted as a go-between with updates.

Your delivery was wonderful. I believe that getting off to such a good start went a long way in helping me adjust to motherhood. The pushing seemed natural, and you were delivered quickly.  The first thing I saw was all that dark hair!  Your labor and delivery went so well that I didn't cry as most do. I think I said "awesome" as you were delivered. I was able to hold you immediately and nurse you. Again, this was easy and natural. I ate dinner as you were washed and tended to. Your Nana came in and announced, "Bring me my grandson and take my picture!"

All babies are beautiful, but you are my baby. Long fingers, skinny legs, a sweet face, and lots of hair. Every day I see you, you become more precious and beautiful. Your face is my favorite thing to look at. You have filled out now: bright eyes, chubby cheeks, a bow mouth, a heart-shaped face finished off by your pointed chin. I know I don't understand how much you've changed and added to my life.

Someone asked me if I loved you instantly. I did-- but it didn't "hit" me. It just was. I was your mother and everything about you did, does, and will bring me joy. (More true now than I could have known then.) 

I love you, Jeremiah Christopher. Welcome to the world!

Love,
Mama

The End of The Beginning

Today is April 30th, the last day of Autism Awareness Month.  It's the end of my beginning.

It's allowed my to talk openly about my life-- all of it.  Because when I can't talk about one thing in my life, I can't talk about anything.  My boy is very much my life.

Fittingly, we had our placement meeting today and it went very well.  I went in with the attitude that the teachers and administrators were there to help me, not to keep the best from me or my child.  That was the best advice I got early on.  Be informed, be an advocate, but be part of the team.  I have more to share about the meeting, but I've got to let in all sink in first.  We will be at the school I'd anticipated, but I got a good feel for the teacher and the classroom.  I've excited, energized, and hopeful for the future.  I felt heard and understood in the meeting, and yup, I cried a bit, but that's just me.  As I told the team, the onus of Jeremiah's potential is on me (well, on God through me, but you know, we only had an hour).  I never thought I'd be sitting in a special education meeting for my child. Ever.  But here I am, and that's okay.  Whatever it takes.  Wherever the path leads me.

I know.  Jeremiah's future is going to be amazing.

I've been thinking about awareness and acceptance and what that means.  And how it allows us to love our neighbor.  Some in the autism community feel like a blue bracelet or light isn't going to help their child.  And on face value, it won't.  But prayers will.  And understanding will.  And friendship will. And monies raised in scholarships will.  And research will.  And humility and gratefulness will.

Sure, I'm aware of autism.  As one blogger said, if I were any more aware of it, I'd be dead.

This month and this series of blogs has been about me accepting it.  And in turn, I have accepted so much more.

I've accepted love. New direction. New dreams. Hope. Laughter.

I know what autism means to me, and the outlook is not what my doctor said, or the textbooks outline, or what the educational prognosis might say.  It's a hands-on, first hand account of God's power molding my son day by day.

Thank you for loving me as yourself.  Thanks for being my neighbor.

James 2:7-8 (NIV)  If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right.

This Says It All

Happy 3rd Birthday, Jeremiah!

The Graduate

Before kids, I didn't understand preschool.   Thought parents who put their two-year-olds in a preschool were, well, shriking their responsibilities.  Even insulted a preschool teacher's job to her face (passively, of course).  Oooh.  Bless my heart.  What can I say?  I was just plain ignorant.

Life has a way of making you eat your words real quick.   Today was the last day of Jeremiah's preschool and his graduation.  Before kids, I'd probably mumble under my breath about how silly such events are, and how they undermine true achievement.

But now that I have my own, I'd be pretty hard-hearted to disparge an event that celebrates children.  Once I joined the ranks of parenthood, my eyes were opened to how extraordinary life really is.  How fragile and fleeting.  I personally know two families who are dealing with childhood cancer.  So getting dressed up and singing sweet songs and making a big deal of another year of life passed?  I'm for it.  Still shots, video, blog updates?   Yes, yes, and yes.

To Old Me:  I've read John Rosemond.  I agree with most of it.  I know the difference between self-esteem and self-confidence.  I know my child should not be the center of my existence: my god.  I know that intrinstic motivation can be diminshed by external rewards.  And I still agree with all of this.  But now, I have a weekend's worth of experience. My attitude's changed.

My child sang "Jesus Loves Me" without tearing off the stage, screaming.  So I am celebrating today.   He is sleeping under my roof tonight, healthy.  And I am grateful.

Deal with that, Old Cynical Me. You have just eaten your words.

Mom Monday

I love the expressions in these last two shots.  Guileless. Sarah is now 7 months.  She has been sitting up since 5 months and seems on the verge of crawling.  Her first upper tooth has cut the surface in the last two weeks.  She is really babbling now, and making the 'da' sound.  She inhales her jar food and can pick up puffed rice with her fists. 

Jay has his open house tomorrow.  I say that owning up to the fact that I used to think preschool for children under the age of five was absurd.  I was wrong. Mea culpa.  Well, it is a luxury, and certainly he'd be just fine without it, but I'm really glad for him and for me. I look forward to him making some buddies and having a little world of his own.   He can count to 14, and recognizes some letters and  sings parts of the alphabet song.  He can recognize red,  green, blue, orange, and pink.  His most frequent sentences are: "I get the car,"  "Want it," and  "More Toy Story."  I'm working on scaling back the cartoons. It's hard! 

He remembers a lot more than I would imagine.  We've been to the car dealership 3 times this year for maintanience and he knows that there is a cart that should have popcorn.  There was none made this visit and he inquired about it no less than 50 times.  We pumped the snack machine with money twice.  We also checked out the Z370 convertible. 

That's the news from our homefront.

JCY Year Two

Brotherly Love

Tackle = Hug

Being helpful

Giving Sarah her "papi"

He Speaks!

This blog is an electronic baby book for me, so I want to record Jay's progress with his communication.  He is taking off.  He can 'count' to ten.  We will say one number, and he'll say the next.  Sometimes he likes to go back to one number (6, 7, 8, 9, 8).  He recoginzes the number 5 on the microwave and will say 5.   Every time we get to 10, we all clap.  I saw a friend's blog that listed her child's list of words, which I will now list for you with my own.

Activities:

Bath (baf)

Eat

Play (pay)

Sleep

Adjectives:

Hot (one of his personal favorites, says when points to the lights)

Soft (our instructions to him as how to touch Sarah)

Stuck (has a suction cup toy that he sticks to the dishwasher)

Animals:

Bird

Cat

Dog (pants after he hears a dog bark)

Duck

Frog (fwog)

Turtle (tur-tle)

Body parts:

Eyes

Ears

Fingers

Feet/Foot

Hair

Mouth

Nose

Teeth

Commands/Requests:

Down

Hungry

More

No No

Please (pee bee)

Stop

This (dis-points and pinches finger to elicit our response as in "I want this")

Up

Complete thoughts/action words:

Car go bye bye

See it (? -- he said something like this today since it is new, can't exactly remember)

Say hi

What's this?

Food:

Apple

Bagel

Banana (Ba-ga)

Bread

Candy (Can-kee)

Cereal (Cer-gal)

Cheese

Chicken

Cracker (Crack-ie!)

Fruit (Fr-oot)

Milk

Tea

Objects:

Ball (football, baseball, goofball- I'll call him a goofball and he giggles :) )

Book

Bubbles (bu-bbles)

Buttons

Car

Clock

Hat

Magnets

Pants

Puzzle

Shirt

Shoes (sues)

Socks

Stars

Tent

People:

Baby

Daddy

Mama/Mommy (!!!)

Manny, tools (Man-na for Handy Manny and his tools)

Nana

Natie (Na-nie)

People (says to look at a picture album)

Fire Trucks and Dollies

My Prisoner

Since Jay slept in yesterday to 8:53 (somehow sleeping times are vital to me), so did we.  I put him down for nap at the regular time, though.  He kept getting out of bed, shaking the door handle, and whining.  I gave myself til 3 p.m. to release him from his cell if he wasn't asleep.  When I went to check, I couldn't open the door more than a few inches.  He fell asleep, feet pointed towards freedom, fanny skyward, by the door. 

Made me laugh.

Mama and Her Firstborn

Meeting up with G-Gma and AJ

                                                                    

At Bass Pro Shop in Macon.  I love his coy smile and that mop of hair.

Jay and his baby girl

Manny!

                           

Mischief!

Magnets!

Trick or Treat?

Jay and Grandma

The three of us (plus my belly)

Firefighter

Jay and Daddy

At Elliott Farms

A little of both. We had grandparents in town, which is always nice. We enjoyed a big breakfast at Cracker Barrel (try the Apple Butter French Toast) and went to our church's Harvest Festival. Jay's still too little to play most games, but hey-- I got a funnel cake and a prerequisite Halloween ouftit photo of us.

The trick? Around 7 p.m. as I was lighting our jack-o-lantern, Jay opens his mouth and lets forth a mighty stream of yuckiness. Oh yes, projectile vomiting.

He seemed pretty unfazed by the proceedings, but was sick on the hour for most of the night, but at least was so exhausted that he went right back to sleep. I feel ill later that night and stayed in bed (when I wasn't running to the bathroom). I was glad that neither of us ran a fever. Alex got sick Monday. Of course, he was the most dramatic sickie of us all!

The crude is gone now, and hopefully Jay will work out this cough. Maybe we will all be able to attend church this weekend. I'll just keep my bubble in the car, just in case.

Red Raspberry Dollars

When Jay was done with breakfast yesterday, I set him down to play while I ate mine. I hear a smacking sound coming from the couch area, and assume he has either found a stray piece of food (sadly, this is not unusual), or is happily biting his fingers. I go to investigate a few minutes later. I find him with a box of red gummies, chewing and drooling and happy as a pig in slop. He has a lot of red drool on his pajamas. I had opened the box yesterday and left it on the couch.

Remember those days when you think you'll never give your child sweets or let them watch cartoons? Neither do I. :)

2 reasons...

So, I'm sitting in my p.j.s and bathrobe at 10:45 a.m. (classy). So, before I put on my big girl clothes and tackle the household grind, here's why I haven't posted for a while.

1. I lost my transfer cable to upload pictures to my computer. I need to buy another one.

2. I was holding on to my big news which is that I'm pregnant. (!) This isn't really news to anyone who reads this, but nevertheless. :) Due January 17th! No morning sickness, just horse pill aversion. The only time I am sick is when I try to take my Omega 3 gel-cap.

The month of May was mostly spent doing as little as humanly possible and thankfully I have snapped out of that. Of course, I am still in jammies.

I got my hair cut. It's sassy. Jeremiah is my little star, but can drive me crazy I have to admit. He really is aware now. He is both the sweetest child ever and the most spoiled. He certainly can pull a 'tude. He can SCREAM! He's cutting his year molars, so he likes to nibble at mama. Sometimes it's a kiss or a raspberry, but sometimes it's a bite. :(

I'll work on getting the pictures uploaded. That's most of the fun for me.

Random tip: Check out www.e-mealz.com. We've started using meal planning website, and it is working!

Woefully neglected...

This little blog has been neglected! I have finally recovered from the blowout that was Jaybird's 1st birthday. We had our picture made. We had a froggie cake. Out-of-town company. Enough presents to truly ruin the kid. A "This Is Your Life" Slideshow. It was a great day. I took a few snapshots, but the best were taken by the guests. Hint, hint. If you read this and you were a fellow birthday reveller, please send me an electronic copy of your best shots!

We are going on our first family of three vacation next week and I can't wait. We get to attend a wedding of a special friend (one of my favorite things) and go to the beach. We also get to visit Aunt Nat and Uncle James. I am also excited at the prospect of no dishes or laundry for a few days.

Jay is really getting big. He can crawls up a few stairs and pulls up wonderfully. He is not walking yet, but I'm not too concerned. He likes to stick his legs out of the crib and kick the wall. This morning, he seemed like he was saying "tickle, tickle" when I first picked him up. He says "mama" and "daddy" but not when you look at him. So I haven't counted it yet. The kid looks like he is a candidate for a mullet, so I'd better get him trimmed soon.

I'll try to to better with more updates... beach pictures soon!

Just because...

my sweet boy is napping, I'm going to add some 9 month pictures. It's almost time to start thinking about his first birthday! The time does pass in the blink of an eye. I wouldn't trade a second... my life is so much richer and sweeter because of him.

Jay is cutting so many new teeth... he started on his top four about 2 1/2 weeks ago, and 2 more are also peeking out. He is swimming in drool.

We have reached new heights in the area of sleep... we are getting it! Since moving into our house, Jay is sleeping soundly. When he is not wetting himself and waking up (even with the premium diaper) he is down from 8 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. We didn't hear a peep two nights ago. And, I'm able to put him down for naps much easier. I've stopped swaddling him. I just lay him down, orient him by his crib mirror/toy, and leave. A few times I've had to abandon the nap and try again, but 80 percent of the time he puts himself down. Not having to struggle over sleep (as much) is tremendous.

The Boo is up after a catnap from his car ride, so I'll close with the pictures.

Can you see my toothies?

Stop playing around and get me my food, woman!

The fairest one of all!

Bubble bath

Ahh! No pictures, no pictures!

Grocery Store Excursion: An Accident Report

(Just bring your own cart cover and child size bandages...)

Jay is now 8 months and turn 9 months next week... he's growing so tall! I was unable to squeeze him on last time his cute red jumper for church.

Here's a day-in-the-life:
I had been putting off grocery shopping last week, but we were pretty low on essentials. Jay and I head out to Super Wal-mart for some deals. I've gotten in the habit of going to the closest Kroger, but Super Wal-mart has great prices on produce. I didn't buy baby food, but my bill was lower than it usually is. I probably saved $20. And luckily it wasn't the mob scene that
Wal-mart can sometimes be. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
So, I consult Rachael Ray's website for some new recipes (I'm trying out Chicken Thigh Pie and Orzo with Tomatoes and Feta) to make my list and load Jay into the car. Once we unload and Jay situated in cart with the anti-germ-shopping-cart-I'm-a-new-suburban-mom-cover and we wheel into our new favorite discount retailer, I realize I've forgotten my conscientious list. Back out to the car to get it, and then we are off. We cruise the aisles quickly and I don't have to back track aisles, which is a rarity. However, I notice halfway into our foraging that I have blood on my sweater. Jay has somehow cut himself on the cart. And spit up on the floor. His finger is still bleeding and I have no tissue or first aid items on me. (In the car, yes). I pull out a piece of paper to hastily wipe up the spit, and we keep going. Jay is unfazed by the proceedings. When we are back in the car, I put a band-aid on and wind it around the tip of his finger... I only have regular size bandages. Do you see where this is headed?

I know there is a good chance that he may start gnawing on this bandage, but it is still bleeding, and materialist that I am, would rather not have blood all over baby and new-to-me car.

About 2 miles from home, I here rough coughing and pull over in a bank parking lot. With a "Dear Jesus...", I'm able to pull out the band-aid. I was just on his tongue. I think it was too rough to attempt swallowing at this age. We get home, throw said seat cover and baby's outfit in the wash.

Daddy comes home and suggests dinner out to enjoy the unusually warm weather. I graciously comply. We have a great dinner of wings and brownie dessert and walk the outdoor mall like the ordinary, extraordinary family we are!

Who said home life was boring?

Updated house pictures

Jay is sitting up!

Lots of carpet, little baby

Our den & kitchen

Jay's playroom :)

The Red Wagon

Dudes