Easter

Easter was this past Sunday, and I have not yet put a post up about it, which should make me feel guilty, but I just cannot work up the energy to. Better late than never, I guess =)

Ken and Rhonda were in Dallas until Sunday morning, so we held off and did the family Easter dinner in the evening instead, which worked just fine for us. In the morning, Michael, the kids, and I all just hung out until nap time.

During nap the "Easter bunny" came and left a trail of eggs leading to the kids' Easter baskets.

Emerald's basket was red with a yellow sunflower on it, and Gabriel's was green with a froggie on it. They are the baskets mom sent for them last year, but they are made out of felt and really sturdy, so I reused them this year instead of buying new baskets.

They each got a new outfit complete with shoes, a new sippie cup, play-dough, coloring book, crayons, and a bubble wand. I figured they would get enough candy everywhere else, so there was none of that.

Even Benjamin got something--

A brand new Carter's sleeper with blue bunnies all over, plus a blue bunny hat, and blue bunny booties! I think it's going to be his coming home from the hospital outfit =)

We still had a few hours before dinner, so we got out the new toys--Michael blew bubbles for the kids, and Emerald and I made things out of play-dough. We made a little Emerald girl and a pink turtle--

We dressed the kids in their new Easter outfits so that we could go over to Glo and Pawpaw's. Gabriel got a brown polo shirt with matching tan plaid shorts, and flip-flops that are really soft and have monkey faces. He looks really handsome in brown, but he looks a little morose when I took the picture.

Emerald got a black plaid summer dress with pink accents and butterfly pockets. Her shoes the same soft flip-flops as Gabriel's, but pink leopard print with kitty faces. She loved her "princess dress".

Mike and I took them over to Glo and Pawpaw's after that to do some Easter egg hunting--there were quarters in some of the eggs, which means that Emerald now has enough money to buy a new Barbie in her savings. She has been so good--I have been paying her to help out around the house, picking up her toys and making it to the potty in time, stuff like that.

Some of the other eggs had jelly beans in them, and this turned out to work perfectly for us. Gabriel's hearing test is scheduled for June 8th, but he needs to be conditioned a bit before then. Luckily we all ready know how it is going to go down because Emerald had to go through it. Basically, Michael or I will sit in a booth with Gabriel and they will play a sound to the left, the right, or the center. The first couple of times, they will show a fun little light where the sound is coming from to get him used to turning his head toward the sound; then they will cut the sound out to see if he is still turning toward the sound.

The reason the jellybean eggs are perfect for this? I got this idea from ECI--I take one egg with jellybeans in it and one that is empty and I shake both. If he turns his head toward the one that is making the sound, I give him a jellybean. It teaches him to turn his head toward sound when he hears it, and rewards him for it. From these little at home tests, I am pretty sure the kid can hear at least a little.

We want Gabriel to be ready for this test because if he is unable to complete the booth hearing test, we will have to bring him back another day to run a sleep-deprived study, and I most certainly DON'T want to go through that hell of keeping him up all night again.

Before the Peacocks left town for the holidays, Beth brought big bags of eggs over for them, which was a real blessing--I was getting sick again and didn't have the energy to stuff eggs for the kids and I was worried about it. Only problem now is that Mom and Dad keep stealing Ande's mints from the kids, lol.

When we were done with the Easter egg hunt, we headed over to Steve and Melisa's for dinner--we had pot roast with the potatoes and carrots, plus rolls and green bean casserole, and this frozen banana treat that Grannymom made. It was kind of a Easter/birthday celebration because we haven't seen Steve and Melisa and the girls since probably Ken's birthday in January.

I remember back in January, I looked up and realized we hadn't seen Gabriel in a while. When he doesn't show up, everyone starts getting a little panicked--where the heck is this kid?! Rhonda and Ken are out in the yard calling for him, and I am about to break down and lose it...turns out the little monkey fart was hiding in the pantry and not answering us =/

Michael got his strawberry cheesecake for dessert, and both Michael and Gabriel got belated birthday presents--Michael got new work clothes and some money; Gabriel got a Jedi bear from build-a-bear that Macy made for him. We named it Kenobi because it is going to help Gabriel get used to the idea of having a little baby brother in the house (Kenobi went by Ben in the 4th movie? Anyways...)

So, I hope everyone had a fantastic Easter!

~Andie~

Saturday! Fun Day =)

I can feel little Benjamin kicking!!

Okay, so I am actually very lucky in that I have been able to SEE all my babies move much sooner than I can feel them move. The reason is this is because my uterus doesn't move out of my pelvis in a timely manner. On the one hand, very uncomfortable--causes back pain and lots of aches. But on the other hand, the baby gets a little too big to be confined in my narrow hips and so I can see them randomly bulging out. It's weird--very alien-esque.

Anyways, the last couple of weeks, I have started getting the gentle flutters and flips signifying that there is a little baby in there and he is growing and active. Yay! =)

Thursday after our little Easter, the kids took a good nap and Cassie came over for speech therapy with Gabriel. He was cranky and unwieldy, but she says he is making good progress, which is always a happy thing to hear.

Emerald has been taking it hard that Cassie is no longer coming to see HER, as Cassie used to be Emerald's speech therapist, but Emerald got a new bubble toy that made her very happy and kept her fairly occupied.

Friday was mostly uneventful--the kids took an extra long nap and we went to the store and did a bit of shopping. Not much to say there, really.

Which finally brings us to today--I have been reading through the old posts on the blog and realizing that some practices we just fell out of when really, they were fun and good for all of us, especially when it comes to keeping tempers in check.

There were two big ones that I have noticed.

The first was taking walks around the neighborhood.

Obviously we probably stopped doing it because we were taking four long walks a week--to and from daycare; or because of the weather; or largely due to the fact that with Emerald and Gabriel weighing in at an impressive 70 pounds combined, I am currently unable to wrangle them, their belongings, and a big double stroller around anywhere.

Then I remembered something:

Emerald is nearly 4 years old. She is more than capable of walking on her own. Taking on the burden of pushing her 42 lbs is borderline absurd. So, this morning I got out the umbrella stroller and set Gabriel up in it, dressed Emerald, and we went out a'tottering about the block.

At first, Gabriel was very hesitant. He was sleepy and hungry and cranky and didn't know how long we would be gone, so he didn't want to go at all. Seeing as I was pushing myself to go in the first place, his reluctance was frustrating and tempting to give in to.

Emerald was all about going out, though, so that helped bolster my enthusiasm. We ended up walking around for about 30 minutes, which was perfect. Before lunch is actually quite beautiful right now. After lunch is when it gets unbearably hot, so we are more confined to inside or the backyard where we have the water hose (and I feel safe with the children playing, as it is enclosed).

I let her tell me stories about the birds in the trees or where she thought the people in the cars passing us by were going; Gabriel babbled back, just like he used to--even though he originally did not want to come, he was having fun despite himself. It was hard pacing ourselves because Emerald got a nasty cut on the top of one of her feet, and I think the shoe was rubbing it the wrong way, but she had a great time when I let her push the stroller. Little girl is stronger than she looks if she is able to push all 29 pounds of Gabriel.

The second thing that I realized is that my backyard has kind of lost it "sanctuary" vibe. It used to be a wonderful place for me and the children to hang out because of the thick green grass, the swing and slide, the water hose and any pools we had back there at the time, and getting to color with chalk on the side walk.

Unfortunately, it has kind of gone to seed lately. There are large persistent weeds that just look awful; some trash that keeps getting blown in by the wind; and the wonderful green grass has died and left in it's place awful, scratchy, brushy grass that hurts to walk on and is horrible to look at. It is making me so very sad because I do not want that special retreat to go away for us when it really works wonders for our collective tempers.

The second is going to take some work, but I think we can get it back to the way it used to be. Maybe praying hard would be the first step, because without rain, my grass is going to continue to be a hideous carpeting marring the essential beauty of my backyard. I could water it, but with it as dry as it is, I wouldn't be surprised to hear about a water restriction going on currently if not soon.

Anyways, so that is basically what we have been doing with our day. The kids are napping now, hopefully I will be able to do something lovely with our afternoon!

~Andie~

Our Own Little Easter

Emerald had a stomach bug yesterday and was unable to go to daycare and do an Easter egg hunt with her friends. Poor thing was heartbroken--she wanted me to dress her and she kept telling me she felt better as she was getting sick. So, I sent the eggs I had all ready stuffed for her class to school and had them send home a filled basket, and we had our own little Easter today!

I was actually really proud of Emerald, because she slept through the night in her own room, in her own bed. She has been sleeping on a pallet next to my bed because if she wakes up, she likes having the validation of us being there to comfort her. But as I wrote a few posts ago, I cleaned up her room so that it is tranquil, set up some comforting night-lights like the moon and the star projector, and put on her very brand new pink bed sheets, which she was very excited about.

Both kids woke up in a fantastic mood, well-rested and ready for the day. I, on the other hand, seem to have gotten my cold back, so my very dearest wish in the world was to crawl back into bed and sleep all day. But since Michael had work and the kids are not QUITE old enough to watch themselves, I dragged my sorry keister out of bed, and decided the best course of action was to put the kids to work to take the pressure off of me.

I know--mom of the year, right?

Anyways, Emerald enjoys helping me make breakfast, so I had her put an equal amount of grapes and tangerine sections on her plate and on Gabriel's plate. She also helped me make a toaster scramble with sausage, egg, and cheese for each of the kids, and ladle a little salsa on to their plates.

Gabriel is not so great with the food helping yet, so he handed me clean dishes from the dishwasher to put away, and I let him wipe down the appliances with a washcloth. He always really enjoys helping out.

During breakfast, I got very ill and had trouble moving the day forward, but eventually I knew I had to, so I turned on some peppy music for us to clean to and set the kids to picking up toys.

Gabriel usually takes a little prompting to get him going--watching Emerald seems to help, and after you hand him a few toys and make him drop them in the basket, he gets the idea and starts searching out toys to pick up himself. Of course, both of them have problems because they are so young. Gabriel will find a toy that is entertaining and forget what he is doing; Emerald started crying and reassuring her doll, Cooper, that if he was good, he could come out of "time-out" later. I can only assume she was referring to being put in the basket with the rest of the toys.

While we were cleaning, the song "Two-Step" by Dave Matthews Band came on. Gabriel really got into it and started dancing his one shoe shuffle and jumping up and down. Emerald caught onto the excitement, so for a while, we all just swung around the living room and shook our booties to the music. When the Britney Spears song came on, Gabriel got awkward and didn't want to dance any more, so we went back to cleaning, lol.

After we were done cleaning, I sent the kids to play in the bedroom while I hid Easter eggs in the living room so that we could have a little hunt in here. I used the eggs they had gotten from school, as well as some candy I had purchased and a few whole tangerines that were colorful and fun.

Because he did this yesterday with the same basket, Gabriel got right into it and ran out there wanting to find candy. Emerald took a little longer warming up to the idea, but eventually she was running amok as well.

Surprisingly, they actually found pretty close to the same number of things--Gabriel found 9 and Emerald found 12, but they ended up splitting it evenly after mama helped herself to some lemon heads she found in one of the school eggs.

After that, we moved into games to distract them from the candy that I was not yet ready to let them have. One of them got a little bottle of bubbles, so I blew bubbles for them for the longest time. The kids had a blast--the cats actually came out and chased bubbles with the kids and we tried to see who could "catch" the most bubbles. It was also good because Gabriel would sign more and please to get more bubbles, which is good--he is coming along great with his signs.

Then came the egg games--we threw eggs to see who could throw them the furthest; we had rolling egg races; and we played color sorting games. Gabriel particularly enjoyed being the one that ran and brought the thrown/rolled eggs back. Finally, we pretended we were eggs (I say we, when really it was just the kids and I was the judge, of sorts) by flipping and rolling and generally acting like the plastic eggs had moments before, sans the being tossed.

After the egg games, Emerald wanted to put on an Easter puppet show for us, which gave us all a chance to slow down a bit--using her stuffed white rabbit named Pawpaw, Cinderella ballerina barbie, and two small stuffed animals, Emerald reenacted "Little Bunny Foo-Foo" for me and Gabriel. I played the part of the good fairy, and Gabriel squealed with laughter every time Emerald used Pawpaw rabbit to pummel the "field mice".

I finally cracked and let the kids split a little bag of M&M's before we went outside to have story time and get some fresh air. They got to swing while I read "Anderson's Fairy Tales" aloud to them and to Benjamin, who I think rather enjoys listening to story time. He is able to hear my voice now, which means that Emerald and I sing and read stories to him.

By that time, it was time for Michael to come home and have lunch, so Easter day was over!! This afternoon, we will try and have more fun, but who knows what we will do. I am off to catch a nap with my wee ones!!

~Andie~

The Name

What few people know about me is that I am absolutely obsessed with onomastics--the study of proper names and their origins.

People think that they really like baby names and they like talking and thinking about it, but I take that to a whole new level. I am an administrator on a baby name forum, I have made endless lists so that I can track a name's popularity, see if it is going to move up or down in usage, if it is favored by people of certain socioeconomic status or education level or race or background, or if it is more popular in a certain area than it is in others. I have bought "The Baby Name Wizard" by Laura Wattenberg a total of 6 times so far because I keep reading and rereading it until the book falls apart in my hands.

Trust me--I really do truly love baby names.

Surprisingly enough, it actually stresses me out to name my own child. I love it--it's a wonderful first gift to give to your child--but I cannot look at it objectively, and I can't narrow it down to just one name I love.

That is why when I was pregnant with Gabriel, I let Michael take full control of naming the baby, even going so far as to have him shut me out of the naming process so I couldn't fret about it. It worked out beautifully, as everyone I know adores the name Gabriel Lynn. It was perfect!

This time, I let Michael take the lead again and I asked him what he would name the baby if he didn't have input from me.

Benjamin Reilly was instantly on his lips.

You see, Benjamin Reilly was a name that I had adored when I was pregnant with Emerald, the name we had agreed to had she been a boy. Michael formed a deep attachment to it the moment I voiced it. Emerald turned out to be a girl, so we couldn't use it on her; Gabriel needed to carry on the family middle name of Lynn, and he never could have been anything but a Gabe. But this time, it just felt right.

A little history behind the name:

Benjamin is a Hebrew name which means "son of the south" or (more likely) "son of my right hand". Most people will remember Benjamin as the youngest of Jacob's sons--one of only two given to him by his beloved wife Rachel (the other being the famous Joseph)--in the Bible. The name was not widely used until the Protestant Reformation, but now is number 20 on the Social Security Administration's Top 1000 Baby Names list of 2009.

Nationally, it has been fairly popular since it was an irresistible combination of Biblical and founding father.

But in Texas, it is only ranked at number 43, which means that only about 925 boys were born in 2009 with the first name Benjamin. Old Biblical classics like Benjamin have been taking a bit of a hit in the last few years, as the hottest baby naming trend is to pick a unique, uncommon moniker for your baby, which means fewer and fewer parents are choosing names from the Top 100 (more-so for girls, but it has affected the male children too).

Reilly is an Irish surname, one of the more traditional spellings of a name that has seen a rise in popularity in the last few years due to a Celtic fad. It means "son of Roghallach", but don't ask me what or who Roghallach could possibly be. It is one of the more masculine spellings (Riley being the other one).

What I did not know when I suggested Ben Reilly to Michael was the emotional attachment he all ready had to the name. Michael was very close to his late grandfather, John T., but we did not feel comfortable using the name John. We wanted to honor him in a special way, but we were having a very difficult time working out a solution. Ben Reilly provided that solution.

John T. started Michael's love affair with comics by giving him an antique Spider-Man book when Michael was little, and later taking him to buy comics. When Mike was growing up, the event going on in the Spider-Man universe at the time was The Clone Saga, with Spider-Man's clone, Benjamin Reilly...the Scarlet Spider.

That is why the name stuck out so well to him because it reminded him of his grandfather and the love he has for these characters and stories.

Now everyone is curious--what did Michael pick had the baby been a girl?

The girl name was much more of a process for us than the boy name, and I will share it here since I find it unlikely that we will have more children, and we were really proud of the girl name as well.

When I asked Michael what he would name the baby without input from me, he instantly said Benjamin Reilly; but he paused for a girl's name before telling me he had always loved the name Gwen.

Gwen's a fantastic name, so I jumped right on board and started researching it.

I don't know if anyone has noticed this, but we DO have a name theme going on--all the children have three-syllable first names. Emerald, Gabriel, Benjamin...so Gwen was too short. The elaborations on Gwen are not many--Guinevere, Gwynna, Gwyneth...and Gwendolyn. I love Gwendolyn. It is beautiful, and classic, and it started as a modification of the name Guendoloena, a fictional character in Welsh mythology and Arthurian legend.

Gwendolyn is a fairly uncommon name, and we had the option of calling her Gwen, Gwennie, Wendy, Wynn, Wynnie, or Dolly, which gave us lots of options. It means "Blessed White Ring" in Welsh.

I tried about a thousand middle names, but none of them seemed right--one night while I was gone in Tyler, I was reeling through family names aloud to see if any "felt" right, and the baby jumped when I said one--

Gwendolyn Fern.

Fern is Michael's great-grandmother on Rhonda's side, it's beautiful and timeless, and has the extra bonus of being a literary name (which is my style). If you don't remember, Fern is the little girl from "Charlotte's Web"--

Michael fell in love with the name the first time I said it, just like he did with Benjamin Reilly, and we knew we had our names. Gwendolyn is irresistibly adorable but mature; Benjamin is approachable but strong, masculine but sweet.

So! Those are our names!

~Andie~

It's a Boy!!

We had the 19 week diagnostic ultrasound today, and found out that Michael and I are having another little boy!!

Beth and David agreed to watch the other belly fruit (Emerald and Gabriel) while Michael took me to the diagnostic ultrasound with the specialist, so we were very fortunate to not have to take them with us. Believe it or not, toddlers do not do well in doctor's offices, especially if there is a wait.

And boy, was there a wait this time =/

When my nurse originally set up the appointment, she made it for Wednesday. Michael had to switch his days off every week from Wednesday to Tuesday earlier this year, however, because my primary and the children's pediatrician only see patients on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So, he wouldn't be able to help me get to the appointment if I left it on Wednesday and would miss getting to see the 3-D ultrasound and hearing the gender.

At the end of March, I called and talked to the nurse, explained my predicament, and rescheduled the appointment so that Mike would be able to make it.

Day of, we arrive early at the office with my paperwork all ready clearly filled out, and the obviously very new nurse at the desk tells me that my appointment change was never written down. We had a choice--we could either keep the standing appointment on Wednesday (which Michael would have to miss) or we could wait and be seen between patients that had appointments. With the latter option, we were told to expect about a two hour wait.

Needless to say, Michael was livid. Through no fault of our own, we had lost an appointment and were having to suffer for it.

I was more sad than anything else, and in pain. Earlier, I had taken a shower while the kids were watching a cartoon, and thinking I had heard something, I crawled out of the shower to check on them. Slipping on a towel that had been laid on the floor, I lost my footing and flailed desperately trying to avoid a fall. The ensuing struggle caused the shower curtain to come crashing down on top of me, but I managed to maintain my upright position. Since that incident, I had been very sore and having stabbing pains in my pelvis.

Needless to say, we decided to wait, but of course, it was worth it.

The entire appointment plus wait was a little over two hours. We got to see all the anatomy, plus get a neat 3-D visualization of the baby's face. He was trying very hard to get that thumb in his mouth and failing horribly. As it is, the baby is sitting resolutely in the breech position, with his little legs in my pelvis. The umbilical cord is healthy, as are the four valves of his beating heart; we saw the brain and kidneys, bladder, and several of the bones. Everything looks pretty good, but we do have to go back at 22 weeks to check again because of the high-risk pregnancy thing.

At first, it looked like we would miss getting to see the gender--sonograms cannot see through hip bone, and he was snuggled down in there with his legs crossed for all he was worth. Wouldn't even uncross them when the nurse jiggled him a bit with the sonography wand. But she gave him a few moments and came back and tried again, in case he shifted a bit--apparently his little baby peep was so hard to see because it was stuck to one of his legs, but it is definitely there!

Next post is an announcement of the name, plus a little back story behind it!

~Andie!~

The Kids Room

Today, I once again tried to tackle the very daunting task of setting up the kids room. Forget painting it, forget decorating it...I just wanted to be able to walk through it!

You see, the kids have more toys than we have space. Way more. During the last few months, I have tried to find a suitable solution, but Emerald's room remained more storage space than anything else.

Not any more!

I set Emerald's bed up and ready for sleep--we still need to buy a new mattress for her, but until then, I put a thick plushy mattress cover on it. She adores her new pink sheets, though now she is telling me she wants to paint her room yellow...not so certain about that.

In the corner, we have a few toys for the kids to play with, and a table on which to play, but the rest of them have been moved out so that this is more of a "sleep" zone. Also, so they can't make an unmanageable mess as I bring out just one toy organizer a day.

There were a lot of broken toys, stashed food, and torn up books that made it into the trash; and a big box of stuffed animals that are going to goodwill soon, but we still had a guest bed full of stufties left. I am thinking about getting one of those stuffed animal hammocks that hang in the corner of rooms, but I really hate how those look.

With the toy organizers we recently got, we have had trouble with the kids just knocking over and emptying all over the room, so those actually got moved into the guest room. The way I am hoping to play it:

Each day, I will bring out one of the organizers, and they are allowed to take out the toys and play with them from those. Afterwards, they help me pick them back up and put them away, and I send the organizer back to the room. They still have the few toys and tons of books besides those, but I am hoping this will help contain the mess every day; plus, if they only see certain toys every other day, it will keep our supply interesting longer.

There are actually a total of three organizers--one is Gabriel's, one is Emerald's, and one is full of toys for the new baby when they get here. New baby is actually really lucky--I didn't save any clothes from when my other kids were infants, but I apparently saved all the toys, and we have tons of great, fun stuff for them.

So, wish me luck! The kids are going to sleep in their room tonight, with the moon night light and the star projector overhead, and maybe actually like being away from me =)

--Andie

Daddy

Michael is sick this week =(

We took him to the doctor earlier today, and he has strep throat and bronchitis. Which just so happens to be contagious, hurrah!

They wrote him a prescription for a steroid, but also for amoxicillin because fate hates me. I don't get to kiss my husband for a while, because we don't want to risk me getting strep throat, or having an allergic reaction to his spit or something =/

On the other hand, I am entering my fourth week of being under the weather, so the nurse called in a prescription for me as well--I will be on a z-pack which will clear up any cold or potential infections that may have resulted from aforementioned cold, as well as a cough syrup with codeine.

It's awesome because maybe I will be able to finally get some sleep, as this cough has been keeping me up into all hours of the night; but it is also will knock me right on my keister, which means I will be NO help to poor Michael at night.

Hopefully, we'll both get back to feeling like people again soon!!

Belly-Bumbler and Big Sissy

The last several posts have been very Gabriel oriented, so I have decided to do a post about the other two loves in our lives:

First, Peaches.

Peaches (also known as belly-bumbler, belly-friend, or fetus) is growing well. I had a doctor's appointment Tuesday, as I am now 18 weeks pregnant. The baby is doing well--I saw a healthy looking spinal cord, brain, and heart (or at least they are present, as sonograms are not horribly detailed); we heard the beating heart, saw some kicking movements. It was nice.

Because the baby was breech, sitting cross-legged in my hips, we were not able to gender quite yet. Sonograms cannot see through my pelvis bone, and with little legs crossed, there wasn't a clear genital view. Hopefully, next Tuesday at my diagnostic 3-D ultrasound, we will be able to get a more definitive answer.

The diagnostic ultrasound next week with my specialist obstetrician is to look for abnormalities--Down Syndrome, ill-formed spine, heart, brain, or organs; amniotic fluid levels (low could mean a urinary blockage; too much could mean that I have developed gestational diabetes early and it is affecting the fetus)...things of that nature.

Because people are curious--no, Michael and I are not checking to see if there is anything wrong with the baby so that we can terminate the pregnancy before it progresses any further. If the fetus is healthy and viable, of course we are going to keep it. The reason we would want to know if there was anything amiss is so that we can adjust accordingly. If the baby has down syndrome, I would like to have those extra months beforehand so that I can research and know what to expect and how to deal with an infant with a mental disability. It also gives me the opportunity to figure out what services are available to us to help us give our baby the best opportunities in life; what we qualify for, what we don't, and what Michael and I need to budget to accommodate those expenses. I would like to get in touch with the pediatrician and other specialists to figure out exactly what we can do for the baby to fix any physical problems, such as surgeries to repair a blocked urethra or a damaged/incomplete/nonworking organ.

Others say that they don't want to know, and more power to them...but for me, the more time I have to prepare, the better I can do by my child.

Now, my Emerald =)

Emerald is doing just great. She is popular at school, and gets along with all the kids and her teachers. Her speech therapy is going so great, and her talking is getting more and more clear. The best part is how developed her imaginative play is getting. She tells such great stories, and turns everything into an adventure.

With Gabriel, she is irreplaceable. I have had a bad cold for nearly three weeks and I break out into a coughing fit whenever I try and sing; so Emerald has stepped up and started soothingly singing "You Are My Sunshine" to him and stroking his hair whenever he is stressed. She has learned all the signs that he needs and tries to interest him in watching the DVD "Signing Time". Whenever Gabriel needs to sign to get something, she shows him a few times on herself, and does hand-over-hand if he needs more encouragement. Because of her, he has recently learned the new sign 'water' and is starting to sign more unprompted.

Emerald could not be more excited about having a new baby brother or sister. If you ask her, she wants another sister like Gabriel (lol) and her name should be Patti or Curly, her name suggestions so far. To show me how well she would take care of "her baby", she shows me how well she can take care of Cooper and Maddy, her dolls. She strolls them all over the house, gives them bottles and pacifiers, pushes them in the swing, and puts them down for naps.

Not everything is great--she is growing whiny and starting to get very selfish with toys and what we should watch; her and Gabriel fight frequently. But overall, she is a happy, healthy, wonderful little girl, and Michael and I are very very proud of her.

So that's what is going on with our other children. Gabriel isn't getting all the attention or isn't all we are focusing on--right now, he is needing more special attention, but we are providing every opportunity in our abilities to every one of our little blessings.

~Andie~

Sensory Things

With ECI--early childhood intervention--we had an occupational therapist come out to assess Gabriel and determine if some of his speech delays and behavior are affected by sensory input. This is mostly because of the Pica--which we found out yesterday is not anemia, as the CBC came back normal--which may be because he likes the feeling and texture of oratory exploration; the trichotillomania-suspicions (hair twirling/pulling); and the obvious disregard for external sounds.

Here's the deal...we all think he is hearing us. That doesn't seem to be the issue--that kid can hear me open a packet of fruit snacks from the other room. But he is remarkably good at ignoring us, even when we call his name. It's weird.

So, Kellie came out and we did a questionnaire, and figured out:

There is definitely a difference in the way that Gabriel is processing information, specifically auditory information, and that's why Gabriel is so busy moving from one thing to another a million miles a minute, bellowing at the top of his lungs the entire way. His sensory needs are not being met because of some discrepancy between the input and how his brain is interpreting it, and he is trying to make up the difference.

Now, what that all means? Gabriel is going to start having an Occupational Therapist on consultation over the next couple of months so that we can start figuring out with the specialist doctors exactly why there is that he isn't processing things the way he is supposed to. Once we have more definitive answers, we can have more focused therapy so that we can resolve his developmental delays and to help him learn to cope with the sensory information that is stressing his system.

If that doesn't make a lot of sense, here is what Kellie was able to help us do for Emerald: Emerald was having obvious stress signs at daycare, such as tugging her hair, wringing her hands, scratching her arms and legs, and babbling incoherently. With subsequent observation, we found out that Emerald was experiencing anxiety over auditory over-stimulation...basically, a classroom full of screaming, moving, noisy toddlers scared her and she didn't know how to soothe herself. Kellie helped us by teaching us brushing and deep pressure techniques that made Emerald feel more focused and secure, so that now Emerald rarely if ever has anxiety or disciplinary issues while in class. We still have to cope with the occasional meltdown, and we have to be aware of triggers for her (noisy restaurants, big family get togethers, etc) so that we can remove her from those situations for short bursts so that she can calm herself before re-entering, but she has learned how to make herself feel less frightened of being out of control in these situations.

This is the kind of thing that we are looking for for Gabriel. He likes to eat chalk--maybe the texture provides a satisfying sensory response. Then we can find a more acceptable way to fulfill that texture need, such as the crunch of carrots or the grainy texture of a chew toy. It's just a way to figure out how to provide Gabriel with the stimulation that he needs, and ways to cope with it when he is feeling his senses are being assaulted.

I will keep you updated!

Gabriel's Well-Check

Okay, so Gabriel had his two-year well check-up today, and in case anyone was wondering, here is the breakdown of what went on.

As most of you know, we have had some concerns regarding Gabriel prior to the visit that we needed to discuss with the pediatrician. The main points were:

1. Pica, or eating things that he should not be eating--chalk, paper, cardboard, crayons, litter rocks, mud, dirt...you get the idea.

2. Poor sleep habits.

3. Speech very delayed--he doesn't say any words at all, and only does minimal hand signs.

4. Hearing, because that could cause speech delays.

and 5. Allergies, because of chronic sinus infections.

Dr. Stripling is a cautious doctor, which we appreciate, but he doesn't get overly worried over every little thing. During the visit, this is what we came up with:

*Gabriel has large and slightly reddened tonsils, which could mean that his adenoids are big too. This could cause problems and may need to be removed, which is a minor surgery.

*We got three referrals. One to a Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor to discuss the tonsils and to check his hearing. There are some indicators that he might not be hearing, and some that he is hearing fine--it is good to get checked. The ENT will check also Gabriel's sinuses and make sure that they are physically well-formed and not causing problems.

*The second referral is to an allergist. The allergist will make sure there is no partial hearing loss related to his bad allergies, and to run an allergy panel so that we can either eliminate the problem or start an antihistamine regimen to prevent such frequent illness.

*The third and final referral is to a developmental pediatrician. There is one here in Lubbock, but if she doesn't take our insurance, we may have to make a road-trip out to Dallas to see one out there. The developmental pediatrician will assess Gabriel's progress against 2 year olds, and try to decide if his delay is normal or should be a cause for concern; then to recommend how we can get him up to the level we would like him to be at.

During the visit, Dr. Stripling noticed Gabriel tugging his hair, which is something we have all seen him do--heck, I was relieved that he was self-soothing instead of ripping out my hair whenever he was stressed. Unfortunately, this too is a cause for concern, as it could be Trichotillomania, the compulsive pulling of hair. It could be a sign of anxiety or point toward a social/developmental disorder.

The pica (eating stuff he isn't supposed to) could point to a nutritional deficiency such as anemia or low iron. That was tested by a simple finger prick at the lab earlier. Once again, Pica could be a sign of a social/developmental disorder.

As for the poor sleeping, that's a non-issue. All behavioral, all modified by changing his habits at home.

So that is the long and short of it. Gabriel might need surgery; he might have anxiety, or need a dietary supplement, or need some allergy control; or he could have an underlying something more serious and sinister that will have long term ramifications for us. Right now, we are just making appointments with other experts and playing the wait-and-see game.

We'll keep you posted!