A Sign of Our Times

(From September 2012)

Chris and I have only ever had cell phones, no land line. For the first five years of our marriage, before we had kids, we both worked and at least one of us was in school.  The rest of the time, we were out, living up the DINKS lifestyle, and didn’t see the need for a telephone we’d never be home to answer.  And we’ve still just never seen the need for one (we’ve just accepted that our kids will totally be the ones that have their own (cheap!) cell phones in elementary school).

The other day, Averie and I were playing house – “cooking” in her kitchen, playing with her baby doll, etc.

We’ve been looking for opportunities to increase her spontaneous speech (anything that is not an immediate imitation of our prompts) so I pointed out the toy phone and said “Brring, ring, brrring, ring!” and told her to pick it up and say “hello.”

Averie looked at me like I had three heads.

And it hit me.  Averie doesn’t know what a wall telephone sounds like!  The only phones ringing around our house sound like songs on the radio or tinkly little melodies.

Next time, I’ll try singing some Adele and see if she gets it.

Averie is 3!

Well, I think my posts are going to be going backwards now because I can't find my other camera anywhere to upload the pictures and these are the ones I've got on the DSLR.

SO!

Averie had her birthday on the 3rd of this month.  I can't believe she is already 3.  I have never been one of those moms who gets weepy over how fast it's going but holy cow, I was like, "How she can be THREE already?!"  I think it's because we have Declan now and I can remember when she was that small, too.  Seems so long ago.

We had a small party with my family and some of our good friends.  Averie's best little friend ever made it and they were so happy to see each other!  If you've ever tried to take a picture of two 3-year-olds looking at the camera and/or smiling at the same time, you'll understand why this is the best picture we got.

Per usual, being our first child and the first grandchild on my side of the family comes with its perks.  She was very spoiled this year (who am I kidding?  Declan is the second and he's just as spoiled :P).  We've WAY cut down her TV time but I still couldn't turn down the deal I found on a DVD box set of her favorite show ever -- Word World.  I wish I had the "WOW!!!!" on video :).

There were more blocks, books and baby dolls than I thought possible for one little girl to own but she loves them all.  She always gets one big influx of toys at the end of the year between her birthday and Christmas (oy, Christmas is going to be like a Toys 'R Us explosion in here!) and I love how she delights over all the new things.

She had worked on her blowing skills and this year, we got to have cake not covered in a light spray of toddler spit.  Yum!

Balloons were the highlight of the evening.  She chased this one all over the house and I was glad that they had long strings so they weren't lost for days to the vaulted ceilings :).

Declan was there too.

Averie had had enough of the camera by the end of the night.  I was smart enough to put it away after this.

The following week, she had her party with Chris' side of the family because she has two cousins with birthdays very close to hers.  She got lots of dress-up stuff from Grandma and we got this awesomeness on camera. 

 

Mickey (and Minnie, too) is her other favorite show in the world so this was a big hit, as well as some Minnie Mouse puzzles.  She's into jigsaw puzzles now and is doing a great job with them.  I remember working on the huge thousands-of-pieces puzzles with my mom and I can't wait to do the same with her one day :).

Chris and I spent the previous night and then the afternoon of the party baking and decorating Mickey and Minnie cakes.  Holy moly, I had no idea what we were getting into signing up for that task but I think we did pretty well for a couple amateurs (Mickey not pictured; just visualize Minnie without the bow).

We love you, Averie.  You are a fantastic big sister and my favorite little girl (disclaimer: 50/50 possibility of amendment to "one of my favorite little girls" in a couple years!).  Thank you for all the laughter and joy you've brought to our lives.   

Behind the Scenes

Recently, I’ve found myself feeling envious that the lives of my friends seemed so much more carefree and positive than my own.  Was I doing something wrong?  I knew we were working our hardest, so what more could we do? 

Then I saw this meme floating around Facebook and it really struck me.  

It just helped me realize that everybody has bloopers just like my family and I do; they just may not choose to put it out there.  Which is, of course, their prerogative!  We all want to put our best foot forward, but just in case I’ve ever come across as everything is sunshine and light 24/7, behind the scenes, our crew is often trying to figure out which way is up and who is doing what, when, and just trying to keep the show moving!

Averie often has a snack before her real meal because it’s something she can get to and eat by herself so I can tend to other things first (the only silver lining here is thanks to her voracious appetite, she still has plenty of room for the healthy stuff).  

If we don’t have any errands to run (seldom as those days may be), you will likely find me in PJ’s at 3 PM.  My taste in fashion never adjusted to being a mom, and delicate and pretty clothes just don’t agree with parenting the Guinness World Record holder for the most spit-up ever produced in a day.  If I’m feeling fancy, I’ll bring out the yoga pants ;-). 

We eat dinner about the time some kids (not ours, LOL) are going to bed because Chris doesn’t get home ‘til then, due to both his new shift and the insane amount of overtime he is working.

Speaking of, Declan is still going to bed at midnight.  UGH.  Somehow he knows when we try to get to bed sooner, because those are the days he’ll decide to be up ‘til 1 or 2, so we’ve just accepted our fate.  He at least sleeps straight through ‘til 11 or so, which is great for him; not so great for those who don’t get to sleep so late (coughtheparentscough)! 

I have at least five other blog posts besides this one, ready to go, dating back to early September, just waiting for me to transfer pictures over from the camera, and I can’t seem to get my act together! 

But maybe now that I’ve put this out there, it will motivate me to do it today.  Or this week.  Maybe (add “world’s worst (best?) procrastinator” to the list).  Really though, I have some milestones that have passed and some coming up that need to be written down, so I’m really gonna do it.

Eventually ;-).

Happy Anniversary!

Is it possible that it’s already been eight years?  That we've gone from this:

We were so young!

To this?

This year, we gave ourselves something that cannot be bought in stores, but was still the most we have spent (which is saying something since we have celebrated previous years with vacations and jewelry)!  This year, our gift to each other was an extra, extra-large payment to our debt.  Reaching our goal of debt-free sooner will be the best gift of all.   

Before I met Chris, I always thought that the whirlwind relationships and marriages so common in Utah were a little naive.  How could one get to know another well enough in that time to commit for time and eternity?  Well, the Lord has a funny way of showing you that He is always the one in charge since that is exactly how Chris’ and my relationship played out.  We dated for such a short time before Chris proposed, but when you know, you know!

Even though we have had our ups and downs (and believe me, there have been plenty of downs!), I have never doubted my decision to choose Chris.  He shows me everyday how he values our children and me by working tirelessly both in- and outside the home.  He is a hopeless romantic and handyman rolled into one.  My spider-killing, toenail-painting, car-repairing, button-sewing hero.

How did I get so lucky?  Of course, Chris will argue that he got the better half.  And if that’s all we can find to argue about over the next 8, 18 and 80 years, I suppose we’ll both have to count ourselves lucky. 

Averie's Diagnosis

So if you don’t know about Averie’s speech delay yet, you must be new here ;-), but we finally have an official diagnosis: speech apraxia.

Apraxia is actually thought to be a neurological disorder because it is, basically, a problem with the brain communicating to the mouth how it should move to form words.  Kids with apraxia generally have much better receptive speech than expressive (that’s Averie), have severe expressive delays (yep, she’s in the 4^th percentile) and will often substitute their own “words” for real words because they can’t make the sounds correctly (also her).

We’ve had mixed feelings about the services we are receiving through early intervention lately and at our EI speech therapist’s urging, we enrolled Averie in private speech therapy.  

Oh my.  The price tag on that is…high, and because Averie’s delay is not caused by “injury, illness or autism spectrum disorder”, it is not covered by our (otherwise awesome) insurance.  But Averie has only been with Paige (her private therapist) for a month and we are already seeing HUGE progress so I know it is worth every penny.

I am so grateful that Chris is able to get so many extra hours right now and that we’re still able to live with my parents because otherwise, I don’t know if we could manage it and who knows how long it could take before Averie would talk, if ever, if we weren’t able to get help for her during this formative time.

So she’ll be in the private therapy for the foreseeable future and she will have an assessment done by the local school district a little closer to her 3^rd birthday.  If she still qualifies (which she should – progress with apraxia tends to be quite slow), she may either get additional speech therapy through the school district or be eligible to attend preschool and still get the speech therapy there.  We’re kind of hoping for the preschool – we socialize her as much as we can, but I think it would really be great for her.

Right now, the things Averie can reliably say:

Wow

Uh-oh

Oh, no (sounds like Oh, doh)

Nom nom! (when she wants to eat what you have, this one makes me laugh)

Done

No.  I think this is one of those ones that we are supposed to dread but we were elated when she said it, and it’s hard not to laugh at the sly voice she says it when she’s being naughty!

Dah for Daddy and Deh for Declan 

Bye (sometimes; inconsistency is another problem with apraxia)

But the biggest one of all:

Mom!  She really, really means it this time.  Months and months ago, when she started saying “mama” we thought that was it, but it seems that was more the apraxia babble.  But now she actually says it for me, to me.  I love it.

Averie can make all but three alphabet letter sounds independently (J, Q and X) but struggles to combine them into any words, so even though she can say “pah” and “tee” separately, she can’t say “potty”, which we are trying to enforce now for potty training later.

What she lacks in verbal words, she makes up for in signs: milk, more, all done, please, thank you, I’m sorry, open, eat, drink, and down.   

We have a long road ahead but I know we will get there.

Declan -- 4 Month Stats

It's 11:15 PM but I better get this up before I forget since I'm already late!

Weight: 14 lbs, 11 oz (25th %tile)

Length: 27 inches (95th %tile)

Head: 44.4 cm (95th %tile)

PHOTOS!

We've always done mall studios for Averie's milestone pictures but we've seen a lot of our friends going to a place called FotoFly recently and we decided to check it out.  Our photographer was so energetic, took a TON of shots (which I loved, because sometimes that half-second difference between clicks can be the difference between a sour face or a smile on a little one!).  

These are only about half of all the ones we loved and ordered prints of, so I'll just say that I don't think we'll be going back to the mall anytime soon! 

Declan -- 4 Months!

So I was in a blogging funk for awhile there and didn’t get Declan’s 3-month post up.  A few tidbits that he did while he was 3 months:

Sleeping 10 hour stretches at night

Grew into his 3 month clothes (just as he was supposed to be growing out of them! :P)

Laughing! 

Rolled over from belly to back with no assistance

OK, now onto the 4 months!  

I’m still late even on that one, still kind of in the funk, but I can’t get even further behind than I am now!  

Declan now rolls from back to belly and his head control is SO much better, but I think sitting independently will still be a ways off because he is still a bit bobbly-headed when upright.

He is already babbling some.  Maybe this is the normal age, but Averie didn’t do it consistently until closer to 8 months, which now we realize may have been an early sign of her speech delay, but since she was our first and I don’t really keep up on the milestone charts, it seemed fine to us.  Anyway!

He is still a great sleeper.  What a relief, because I am absolutely worn out by the end of the day.  He falls asleep for his naps by himself now!  No tears, rocking, bottle!  Averie didn’t fall asleep by herself until she was past 6 months but with a noisy toddler in the house, we needed to figure out something for Declan sooner because Averie was always waking him up when he would finally drift off out here.  And I'm not comfortable with CIO (cry it out) this early so I was glad it didn't come to that.

This is the time we started rice cereal and other solids for Averie, but she had reflux which Declan does not, so I think we will wait a bit longer.  

Declan also got his first tooth!  I swear we didn’t even know it was coming yet – he’s been chewing on his hands and drooling like a faucet for weeks, but he wasn’t any fussier than usual, and then, that little tooth was just there!

He is in size 1 diapers and 0 to 3 month clothes.  His 0-3 month pants are too short, but the 6 month ones won’t stay up so I will just have to get over my hang-up about too-short pants!

Due to a scheduling delay at the pediatrician’s office, he won’t have his 4-month well-baby-visit for another week, so I will have to have a separate post for his stats.

OK, some more visual interest now! 

Sleepy

The cutest frown in the world

Obviously didn't last long

A little drunk

Grandpa pants!

Hmmmm...

Peace

Super baby

:)

4th of July

For the 4th, we headed down to Orem to visit and hang out with our old neighbors/still good friends.  It's been a scorcher of a week so we were pretty excited to hang out in the pool and cool off.  Unfortunately, the camera battery was dead so all I have of the evening are a couple mediocre phone pictures.

Averie hasn't been in a pool since our vacation last year and to say she was not a fan then would be an understatement.  This year though, she LOVED the pool!  She was jumping in off the edge, getting her face in the water and paddling and kicking like a natural!  We weren't planning to enroll Averie in swim lessons until next year, but after watching her yesterday, we're going to start her in them as soon as we can after her 3rd birthday (the parent-child classes for kids under 3 sound like they would be a little boring for her).  

Declan lounged in his pool float the whole time and drifted off to sleep despite all the splashing near him. 

Averie and Ethan became best buds while we lived in Orem, and it is so fun to see how they just pick right up where they left off when they get together again.  Ethan had a speech delay as well but is talking some now and pronounces Averie's name "wee-wee".  It. Is. Adorable (and hilarious :D).  I snapped this picture of them last night and I just can't get over his cute expression.

We did the responsible thing and skipped out on fireworks because of the recent fires in the area (plus, while I do generally enjoy seeing them, I didn't feel like figuratively setting hundreds of dollars on fire ;-)).  Plus, two kids in the pool = two exhausted parents at the end of the day!  Thanks, Allen and Morgan for an awesome celebration!

Kids on the Move, Round 2

A couple months ago, before Declan was born, we finally had KOTM out to the house to evaluate Averie again for her speech delay.  As with the first evaluation in July last year, she was on track for social development and motor skills, her receptive speech was at the advanced level (95th percentile), and her expressive speech was practically nil -- 4th percentile, which means she only speaks as much as or more than 4% of her kids her age.

Chris and I have been wondering in particular about the possibility of speech apraxia as the cause of her delay.  Apraxia is a neurological disorder where there is a disconnect between the brain and the muscles that move the mouth to form a word.  One of the hallmarks of it is advanced receptive speech, and severely delayed expressive speech, which fits Averie to a T.  We still haven't reached an official diagnosis, so it may be apraxia, a general articulation disorder or something else entirely.

We've been meeting with a developmental therapist twice a month since April, and we've just started meeting with a speech-language pathologist and we'll see her twice a month as well. 

Averie is doing well with imitating sounds and even though the sound/word she produced can be wildly different from what she is trying to say (another common sign of apraxia), at least she is trying.  That's more than we could say a couple months ago!  Maybe dropping the binky habit will help, too. 

At the very least, she'll continue in the KOTM program until she turns 3 years old, then she will be re-evaluated by the local school district.  If she still qualifies for services, she'll be eligible to attend their special preschool where she'll continue to receive therapy. 

Some days are quite discouraging, and I wonder if it will be months, or even years, before she can say "I love you, Mommy!" or tell me about all the places her imagination takes her.  Somebody smack me if, one day, I complain about her talking my ear off because I need to be reminded to not take those words for granted.