Ears and Speech

This morning, Aubrey had an appointment with the ENT. We saw her for the first time in July and then she wanted to see Aubrey every 4 months for maintenance, so we saw her in November. They did a hearing test at that time that showed mild loss and she has super small ears and lots of wax, so they wanted to see her in 3 months. So there we were this morning, getting her ears cleaned out and checked. They look PERFECT! Not as much wax as last time, NO fluid and they just look great. She was shocked at how good they looked. I did ask about the speech delays though. They had not originally planned a hearing test, but decided to do one anyway. She did much better this time.

Aubrey's test still shows mild hearing loss, but it is a wait and see game. She is still very young, so the test is not 100% accurate and they will keep a close eye on her and let the speech teacher take it from hear. They were kind enough to print her results for me to take with and give to ourECI teacher for reference.

Things went so well because Miss Ella was on a "Starwars" playdate with Andrew:) (Can you tell that these people only have "boy" toys and my little girls don't know about all this "cool" stuff)

I was on the ball and actually scheduled a speech session for this afternoon! Aubrey was able to show off her new skills. It never occurred to us that we should give Aubrey a fork, but we did the other day and we were totally blown away! Pizza for lunch, bite size of course.

I think I can get it...

This is kind of tough, Mom...

GOT IT...And in the mouth!!!

For her second skill, Aubrey showed off her ability to not only drink from a straw cup, but she grabbed the cup herself from the table, drank, and then gently put it back!

She has such GREAT table manners!

Since Aubrey has met her goals, self feeding and drinking from a straw, we talked about new goals and I spend a lot of time talking about language. Aubrey doesn't say anything yet. She has "B" and "D" sounds and is starting on some "M" and "N" and the "A". She says "dadadada", but doesn't use it for Daddy. Since we see her twice a month, we decided that for now, we would focus one session on eating. This will keep her on task and make sure she is progressing. The other session will be more language focused, but may still happen at meals (yet to be decided).

I mentioned that while she has quite a few signs that she CAN use, she doesn't use the consistently or very often. She does a lot of screaming and yelling these days. Melissa suggested that we use some picture cards (hand made) of her favorite foods and toys and such that we could use to help her communicate until she is using more signs consistently or using actual words. That would ease some of her frustrations. I am looking forward to seeing how this works. And maybe it is time to see speech more often these days...sigh...

I am so grateful that they come to the house at least and it isn't one more appointment to drive to or entertain Ella at. Sometimes, they even come before Ella wakes up and that is so nice:)

Disney Hats

I have had a lot of questions and comments about the hats the girls were wearing in the video montage and the pictures that I posted last week.

To answer everyone:

1. Yes, I made the hats for the girls.

2. Yes, I will make some for your kids too!

I actually have made 12 now! I did them as Christmas gifts for some family that went to Disney and some friends whom we have gone with. We are "Disney People"! My husband grew up near Disney World and me and the girls have fallen in love with the place. (can you blame us!)

I have been thinking long and hard since Christmas about selling them on Etsy and have finally opened up a shop to do so. It can be found here:

www.theumbrellagirlshop.etsy.com

I am working on other things that I will be adding to my shop this week. So if you are interested in a hat for your little guy or girl, or know someone who would, visit my shop and let me know. I would be thrilled to make one for them.

Have a Magical Day!

Rachel--The Umbrella Girl

Aubrey's update

Today the nutritionist was here for her monthly check.

Aubrey weighed 16lbs 3oz (a 1 lbs GAIN--this mostly due to the fact hat in December she had only gained an ounce or so and only 4 ounces last month because she had been sick)

She grew 1/2 inch and her head grew. (getting smart:)

She is the picture of health! Our once concern is that she is not into dairy/calcium. So when I stop nursing her she will not have any calcium in her diet. We have tried milk in her straw cup and she actually spits it out. We offer her cheese and she rejects it. She will eat milk and cheese if they are IN a dish like soup though. The only dairy she likes is yogurt. So we are going to start offering her yogurt everyday and then try to offer her some milk that has been warmed up a bit. She loves smoothies, so we will offer those but really milk them down over time so that she is mostly getting just milk.

More trial and error, but a really good report for Miss Aubrey. She also assured me that Aubrey would not be going to Kindergarten in her rear facing infant seat and thinks she should get to turn around by her second birthday!

We discovered a new tooth this past weekend. I don't make it a habit to put my fingers in her mouth to avoid possible germ spreading and to prevent the girls from doing it, so sometimes her teeth come as a surprise. Her first tooth is on the bottom right in the front. Her second tooth is on the upper right, in the BACK. You got it, she has a molar coming in! Can you believe it! No wonder she was out of sorts last week. What a funny adventure teeth have become. Can't wait to see where the next one pops through:)

Aubrey has this new face that she makes every time I get the camera out now.

What a silly girl...just like her sisters!

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Cookie Making

Some of these pictures I took and some Kate (5) took. She's doing a pretty good job these days. It was just Kate and Ella this time. But they did so much of the cookie making. Mostly I just did the rolling and taking out, which is nice, because then I can take more photos:)

Things got a little "silly" at the end.

SNOW...Again

So it snowed in Texas...again. Last Thursday morning we awoke to a couple inches on the ground. Kate, Ella, Aubrey and me had a quick breakfast and then bundled up for a trip out to play.

Let's just say, Aubrey was less than excited to bundle up and even less excited to be in the snow.

Kate was super excited. The snowflakes were GIANT.

Ella did a lot of TASTING!

I was having troubles taking pictures and holding Aubrey (who was not thrilled) so I put her in the stroller...still not happy...but content to watch.

There were snow angels.

And then we went around front...to see if the snow was different up there:) Aubrey had to sit by the front door (a little happier, because the snow wasn't landing on her face) so that I could help with a snow man. My kids didn't know how to roll the snow to make a snow ball...Southerners!

Woody came home and there were snowball fights. He also built a little slide for the kids.

Friday, was a snow day for the kids and no work for Woody, so they played. They worked all morning on a SNOW FORT (we have a 75 acre field across the street). It was awesome! And they played all day.

Saturday brought warm temperatures and the melting of the snow. The fort and the slide are just about the only things still up in the neighborhood and they don't look like much any more, but the kids are so proud that there is still a little bit of the masterpiece left:)

Happy Valentine's Day

I know that I am long overdue for a post:) We have been VERY busy this week and have much to say...but I just don't have it in me to get through all the pictures and stuff tonight to share it all. I promise to do a full update tomorrow. We've had a foot of snow and a new tooth, and much more:)

But I love all my girls, and my dear husband,

but I especiallylove kissing baby fingers...

and baby toes!!!

Pulminologist

So we had her synagis appointment yesterday and she finally tipped the scale and was over 7 kilograms (somewhere over 15lbs) so they had to use two shots instead of just one. She was NOT happy. But she looks great and sounded even better, so we just have a chest x-ray today to be sure that her lungs are totally clear and then we can start weaning some of her nebulizers, as long as she remains healthy too.

"Keep doing what you are doing." What we are doing is isolating her from most everything. It is giving me cabin fever, but we are doing our best. I sanitize her stroller frequently and when we do go somewhere, she can only ride in that or her car seat, to avoid germs and not letting anyone touch her. We can't wait for the spring to come...

Her last approved shot was yesterday. They feel like she needs at least two more, so THEY will begin calling the insurance to get that approved for March and April. We are hoping that they will do that for us, otherwise, Aubrey might not be allowed out of her crib til the spring:)

Her therapy teacher was here Monday and after about 10 minutes, we started working on her crawling. She spent the next 20 minutes screaming at the top of her lungs! So the teacher finally left. She did say that she felt like Aubrey COULD do the crawling, but is choosing not to, especially since she is better at the scooting now. We might just lay off of it for awhile and work on other things during therapy and we would just work on the crawling thing ourselves. We will see how she does on Friday with her other teacher.

New nephew Jacob is doing wonderful at home. Got some pictures this weekend. Pretty cute if I do say so myself:) Me and Aubrey can't wait to get our hands on him in two weeks!

A peak at the weekend...

I am still sorting through our fun photos from the weekend and will have all the "Girls Weekend" stuff tomorrow, but wanted to share just a peak from the weekend. We had such a lovely time with Grandma and can't wait to do it again.

Beautiful Blogger Award

Kelli, over at Three Girls and Tim, nominated me for the Beautiful Blogger Award.

The Rules:

1. Thank the person who nominated me for this award.
2. Copy the award & place it on my blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated me for this award.
4. Share 7 interesting things about myself.
5. Nominate 7 bloggers.

7 Interesting Things About Me


1. I don't like doing dishes (I married a great man who doesn't mind them at all), but love to vacuum.

2. I love to sew. I'm not as good as my mom, who made my wedding dress, but I'm getting there. Sewing 4 silky fairy costumes this fall is good practice!

3. My two favorite baby milestones are when your baby hugs you for the first time and when they say I love you for the first time. It hard work is always worth it, but when they show that appreciation, it is just so sweet.

4. Those who live in my house all love Disney...the mouse, the castle, the polka dots...you name it we love it! (I'll blog about our "Disney Day" this weekend later:)

5. I met my husband while roller blading.

6. I like peanut butter and I LOVE chocolate, but do not like them together!

7. I like to drink green olives in my beer with my sister!

And the Beautiful Blogger Award goes to:
1. Aimee from Aimee's Bowl of Cherries
2. Lindsay from Crawford House
3. Christy from Dreamer Boys
4. Courtney from The Adventures of Pudge and Zippy
5. Lianne from My Life with Gabriel
6.Adrienne from Our Unexpected Journey
7. Amber from Barn-icles

What is going on at our house...

The BIG news at our house this week is that we have a NEW COUSIN! My sister had her fourth yesterday and it was a boy!

Jacob Douglas Lamborne,

born on February 3rd, 2010 at 4:43pm.

7lbs. 10oz. and 19.5 inches long

He is welcomed by parents Sarah and Jeff Lamborne,

big sisters Livy and Carley and big brother Lucas.

Everyone is healthy and ready to come home tomorrow.

(I am so hoping for some cute pictures soon...hint hint grandma:)

Our little buddy Jace is doing wonderful. In case you didn't check his blog, his surgery went really well and he was already off of the ventilator yesterday already (it took Aubrey 5 or 6 DAYS to get off)! Today, he got to eat and play! He looks so wonderful, and I'm sure will be heading home soon. He does have some "stuff" in his lungs that he was coughing out today (yes, it does hurt to cough after you have open heart surgery--so he was grumpy). Please pray that this won't set his recovery back and that he will continue to move forward and be home soon.

Another little friend, Piper is having surgery on Friday to remove her gall stones. She reminds me a bit of Aubrey in so many ways. She is just an itty bitty thing at 8 months old, just 10lbs! Anyway, she could use some prayers tomorrow for her lunch time surgery. So as you sit down to thank the Lord for the food that he has placed before you at lunch, also thank him for the skilled doctors who will be taking care of Piper tomorrow. May the surgery and recovery be swift and take care of the problems that she has been facing.

Aubrey has had a funky week of not napping well and not going to bed well. We are trying to decide if she might possibly be getting another tooth or if she is just off schedule (we have been busy:) Daddy left today to go see his parents in Ohio, but is putting Grandma on the plane in the morning so she can come here. We have a fun filled weekend planned and will have lots of wonderful photos to share in the end, I'm sure.

The Sweetest Thing...

When you have multiple children, you always wonder, "when will they be friends...when will they actually play together." It has happened for me when the "baby" is about 18 months old. The baby can actually communicate enough to play with the older sibling and they actually enjoy each other.

Alice and Kate are the best of friends. They play together really well. Ella plays with them too, but it isn't quite the same yet. From day one, Ella has been in love with Aubrey and about a year ago, Aubrey took a very wonderful liking to Ella. They just love each other sooooooo much. You can see it and Aubrey's whole face lights up when she see's Ella. I don't even envoke that kind of love and smiles from her:( I was so glad that the two big ones would have each other and the two little ones would have each other, but I wondered...when would they be friends? Would it take a lot longer? Would Aubrey have to talk, walk, crawl or something before they would be able to really enjoy each other? WHEN would THEY get to be the FRIENDS that I knew they would be someday?

TODAY!!!

I was ironing my pants in the back room and Ella and Aubrey were in the playroom and I overheard Ella...

"Aubrey? Aubrey! Come on...let's play!"

It just melted my heart. I almost cried actually! They were friends....

Ella got them all set up with "here are my people and these are yours and don't touch my guys!...ok?:)"

It was the sweetest thing ever...when sisters become friends!

Prayers for Jace Today

We humble ask our family and friends who read this blog, to take some time today and pray for our buddy Jace. This morning he is having his tiny heart repaired. (he has the same defect that Aubrey had repaired last January--same one his sister LC had repaired last year too).

We ask that the Lord guide the hands of the surgical team, that they may carefully and swiftly repair his heart. And that Jace quickly recover so that he and his parents may return home soon to be a family.

May the Lord give his parents strength as they entrust him to the care of his doctors and begin the long wait for updates. May they continue to stay strong in the days ahead as Jace recovers from his surgery.

(Prayers for the Auntie who is taking care of big sister at home:)

Courtney and Justin have said that they will do updates on their blog today if they have internet and are able to do so. You can click on the picture of Jace in my sidebar and that will take you directly to their site.