Wednesday, July 30, 2014

our drummer boy

I just watched Judah's "Judah's First Year" video from his time in the NICU and his progress at home. It was the first time in a long while I had watched it, and, after crying like the blubbery hormonal mother I am, was humbled at how gracious our God has been to our son these 3.5 years he has been in our family! He went from a tiny one pound squishy micro-preemie, to a growing infant who had a lot of catching up to do, to the boy he is now that doesn't even show a hint of "preemie" in him, either by physical attributes, health, or development.

Judah is now a spunky, bright, energetic little guy who loves people, has a sweet and sensitive demeanor, and just a hint of mischief! One moment he turns to me at dinner and says "thank you for making dinner mommy" (oh melt my heart!), and the next moment he's flinging potatoes with his spoon. Love that kid so (drives me crazy too!).

One thing we noticed maybe about a year ago, is his growing musical inclinations. Well, inclination might be a grand understatement. It is in his blood. I am not calling him a prodigy child by any means, but this kid has rhythm. It's in his soul, he has to be tapping, beating, beat-boxing with his mouth, wiggling and dancing, or drumming on whatever he has in front of him (drums, table, floor, himself, other people), at all times. It is physically difficult for him to stop and sit still for more than a few moments!

I may be investing in ear plugs before long...

Here's a fun little video I took about a month ago that cracks me up. Most of the time, he either sings worship songs he hears on the radio, or makes up his own words and "ewok language" to sing along while drumming (like the last part of the video)... but this time he made up a legit song about monkeys. ;)


If you need interpretation: "We go to zoo, we see monkeys, and ooooh hah hah hah, and a diggabow!"


Thankful to Jesus that I'm this boys mother! :D


Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Slow but steady mini-milestones: Update on Brielle

Update on our sweet girl. We are now in full swing with all sorts of therapy every week, and though it seems progress is slow, Brielle continues to gain strength and endurance and we are celebrating "little" milestones along the way. All her therapists think she is smart, engaged, and responsive and they anticipate her to do very well and make big strides to improve.

Brielle is now 19 months and just as charming and delightful as always, getting a little more vocal and a LOT more personality!

We have seen two significant mini-milestones in the last month and we are thrilled to see her attempting new things and trying to be more independent and mobile.


Milestone #1:
She has been pulling into sitting independently (when she feels like it, maybe a few times a day). She surprised me a few weeks ago when she tried to do this by herself (we had been working on this in therapy but never tried without me initiating it for her). Seemingly small but a BIG deal for this little girl! In this video, this is the first day she did it, and she even performed for the camera! Impressive :)



Milestone #2:
I would define as "scootching", or what most people might define as dragging herself across the floor, haha! Not full-fledged crawling, and certainly not consistent, but still progress!
Now, this only happens when she is reallllyyy motivated by something. And what motivates her are usually two things: FOOD, or things she shouldn't have (brother's toys, paper, specks of whatever she finds on the floor, etc.). But mostly food. This girl LOVES her food, and can easily pack away more than her 3.5 year old brother eats on any given day... two hollow legs? Possibly two hollow arms as well? ;)



I have noticed her trying to pull her knees under more, so perhaps it won't be too long until she is using her legs more than arms to crawl in the near future.


Honorary mini-milestone: First itty bitty piggy tail! I've waited 19 months for this cute baldy to have enough hair! :D



We are stillllll waitingggggg for our developmental pediatrician and geneticist appointments. Doctors and paperwork can be as slow as molasses here in Texas sometimes. We hope these visits will happen before too much longer though.

Concerning her seizures, though we can never know for sure, we suspect that they may be connected to very low-grade fevers when she's teething. She was cutting a molar the weekend she went to the ER. Her fever must have been so low it didn't even appear she had one. Two weeks after, she cut the other molar and had several shorter and less-severe seizures over a 48 hour period. At that point a lightbulb went on as I made the connection. That gives us hope that perhaps at least it's not random and we may be able to expect it and possibly prevent it in the future. Keep praying for closure and answers there. We have a follow-up appointment with the neurologist in Lubbock on August 8th (our 6th wedding anniversary!).

Then, the following week, we head to North Carolina to see Jonathan's family and our new little nephew! Very much looking forward to that visit and time together, plus, this will be our first big airliner flight as a family!

Thank you for your continued prayers, they are certainly effective and appreciated!