Happy New Year 2016! I can't believe another year is over and a new one has begun. Here is a little tidbit into our lives so far this year... for the few people who read! hahaha! :)
For Nana's birthday this year, we rode the light rail to Downtown Phoenix to eat at a restaurant called The Counter. It is a place where you can customize your own burger and has the best fries in the world, hands down. It was POURING rain on this particular day and I am not a fan of public transportation. But overall, it was a neat experience. One Matt and I said we don't have to do for some time. Ha! But the memory stuck with Blake as he has repeatedly asked us, "Do you remember when we went on the train to The Counter?"
Blake learned to button his jammie shirt. Well, at least this one button and I had to snap a picture of this milestone. We don't have many button things to work on, so I was pretty shocked that his first (to my knowledge) button came in the form of a tiny button! I was quite proud of this little guy!
After I gave the boys haircuts and they were bathed and in their comfy robes, they got an Oreo treat for sitting (mostly) still. Kade is NOT a fan of haircuts to say the least and this was the first time I tried cutting their hair without Daddy home to help! 
For Christmas this year, Blake got a new bike! He absolutely LOVES it and has enjoyed riding it around the house very often. We have taken some trips to the mail box and one trip around the block and plan on doing more hopefully soon. Kade has taken over Blake's old bike and is attempting to work with the pedals, but he has a ways to go. But he needs to be just like his brother and I am so enjoying these two together these days. They are INSEPARABLE. They now share a room which has ironically stopped Kade's nighttime crying sessions all together and he no longer wakes up crying for us in the night either for milk or whatever. It is almost as if he just needed his brother with him. Very sweet and VERY welcomed. He still wakes up from time to time and we have had to move him back to his room to not wake Blake, but overall it is a dramatic difference. Praise God!
We started the formal evaluation process with the state to get Kade some speech therapy help this past Monday. As some of you may know, he is also very behind in his speech. He even has difficulty with initial sounds and most of his words are unintelligible. Although he passed the initial meeting with just the coordinator and just the 5 category evaluation of speech, motor skills, social, etc., we know there is more to it than a simple test like that. His score was skewed and I even explained that to the coordinator and she agreed since she saw it herself in person that he struggles. We are just waiting for a date to be scheduled with an occupational and speech therapist. Speech is divided into 3 categories. If you have followed our journey with Blake, you may remember this: receptive, expressive, and pragmatics. Blake struggled with receptive somewhat (understanding what we were saying), expressive a little, and a huge gap with pragmatics (which is social language and using it appropriately and knowing HOW and WHEN). Kade is our opposite child - his pragmatics and receptive are great, which show his score as not too bad. It shows he probably isn't in the same "category" as Blake, but his expressive is very behind. I am praising God that I am aware of so many developmental milestones, now. .
I wish I had known earlier on with Blake, and there were many nights I cried early on feeling like I failed him as a mom. I planned hours of tot school yet missed his issues entirely. It took a while to rest in God's sovereignty and that this was all apart of His plan. And also reading that showed that children who are SO mild and whose issues lie in the mild social/interest realms don't get "caught" early on. With that, a quick update on Blake. He is doing absolutely FANTASTIC. The difference that a year has made has been astronomical. Our family says he is not the same boy he was a year ago. He even got a glowing report from school that he is now playing WITH kids and not just NEXT to them. I cried some mommy tears for that one. All praise again goes to God who is giving Blake so much success very quickly.
We are still dealing with reading social context with him and it is discouraging to see so many uneducated adults make comments to him and about him in public that make me cry when I get home. I am learning to see people are just that - uneducated and that they themselves have social skill issues. Accusations that Blake is grumpy because he is frowning and declining the sticker at the cash register and he is responding with "I'm not grumpy" and they continue to tell him he is because he is frowning... *sigh*. He doesn't realize his response is portraying a grumpy one. We are working on that. And working on saying "No thank you" in a way that isn't being yelled. These are all things most people would read as just a grumpy, rude child. But for some kids who have issues with reading social context, it has nothing to do with that. And it is SO discouraging as a parent to try to protect them while teaching them at the same time the proper responses to give. Please pray for us in this. This is really our biggest issue and one that therapies don't touch at this point. But we work on it literally EVERY DAY. From having him repeat what he said in a different TONE to preparing him to SMILE when someone enters a room, and so much social unspoken language. But all things we will get through because God is faithful and has already grown this area in Blake dramatically. Most days these days I feel Blake will outgrow this one day - he just seems to be a year or so behind in development timeline. I seem to agree with his first physiologist that she believes its more PDD-NOS if it still existed. All the labels that I feel better capture my son have been removed and are all placed under Autism Spectrum Disorder. Which is so misunderstood and has such a negative connotation of. So no label for now! It won't change his prognosis in the slightest. And let me say... this boy is a JOY.
And lastly, onto our next littlest boy! He is growing a way and quickly! Here is a pic from 14-18 weeks and I feel like I just get bigger by the day. This pregnancy is showing me more and more how every one will be different. Sleeping at night has never been so uncomfortable and I feel my scale is jumping up far too quickly! HA! Despite working out 4-6 days a week. This little boy is worth every discomfort though and I am looking forward to the stage where I fit into maternity clothes better! The awkward stage in between is just no fun! I felt him move at 16 weeks 6 days confidently and have ever since. It is the GREATEST feeling and the best part of pregnancy in my opinion. June can't come soon enough...
