Sweet Pea meets her brothers

We brought Sweet Pea home from the hospital 48 hours after she was born and she was greeted first by Peanut. Peanut was torn between his curiosity, his desire to take her binky and wanting to lick her? Did I say lick her? Yes, my boy vacillated between intense scrutiny of his little sister and attempting to lick her. It was adorable in all ways!




Little Man arrived home from preschool a few hours later and ran through the door in complete excitement to see his baby sister. His smile stretched from ear to ear and he literally could not get enough of her. He held her over and over, kissing her head and cheeks and rubbing his cheek against hers. His first question in the morning is about Sweet Pea and his last kiss at night belongs to her. He is just over the moon about his baby sister in a way that warms my heart.

Introducing Sweet Pea

Born 10/26/10 at 1:53 pm

7 pounds 14 ounces

21 inches long

Absolute Perfection!

From "Boys" to "Kids"

Papa Bear and I were in Baby Girl's room last night admiring all of our hard work and talking about the changes to come. Holding up her tiny tiny diapers and looking at the pink tiny infant clothing we were in awe and overwhelmed at what is to come for our little family. Everything from changing our currently terminology as we refer to Peanut as the "baby" or we talk about what we are doing with the "boys" instead of "kids" to changing our routines and schedules as needed to adjust to our newest bundle of love. The plan is to be induced on Tuesday - so one way or another she is coming out in 5 days or less and lots of plans and last minute details are getting worked out. I am a planner so this sits well with me but at the same time I am not motivated to do that things that NEED to get done like pre-making meals and washing laundry and want to focus on making scrapbooking frames and picking out her coming home from the hospital outfit. So this weekend will be filled with a little bit of both as we both celebrate her pending arrival and spend time as a family of 4 for the last time. I hope to get alone time with each boy this weekend to spoil them and pile on the love so that they know how special they are to me. Here we go, from my "boys" to "kids" in less than 5 days. I can't wait!!

Here are some pictures of her nursery - sorry her name on the wall is blurred out. We aren't sharing her name (unless you ask Little Man, who seems to share it freely with anyone that asks) until she is born!

Goodbye Occupational Therapy!!

We got some great news today through Peanut's Occupational Therapist - we don't need her anymore! That's right, no more sit-ups and forced massages because Peanut is not only at an age appropriate level for gross and fine motor but he is actually a few months ahead of where he should be. He will be 19 months in just over a week and he tested out today at the level of a 21 month old!

In July we were told that he was about 5 months behind his peers with low muscle tone due to his motor planning disorder. His speech was a much bigger delay and more concerning but with a motor planning disorder the gross and fine motor delay can go hand in hand with the speech delay. Learning how to plan his muscle movements would be an important part of overcoming his challenges. As with speech, fine motor uses small muscles so these were very important to work on to help him plan how to use those small muscles and gross motor found him with sensory and balance issues. At the first occupational therapy session I was very discouraged to learn of the concerns and we were given so many exercises to do daily that he just hated doing. We were told that he probably would be able to play sports but would never be the star of the team and would need extra help off the field to be able to get the skills that came easily for his friends. I was picturing all of the bad ABC Family specials with the little boy who got picked last at gym and wanted to cry. But instead of feeling bad for what might be, we got on it and decided to picture Rudy - the underdog that could surprise us all! We set some long term goals and marched forward with Peanut leading the way. Our long term goal for him through therapy was to get him to a point by 24 months where he could navigate an age appropriate playground without assistance. Yesterday he achieved that at 19 months. He climbed up the stairs, he climbed the chain web ladder (easily), slid down the slides and navigated himself into safe positions without being cued. His big brother cheered for him and caught him at the bottom of the slide just to be safe. And best of all, I got to sit on a bench and watch my two boys play wonderfully together at the playground without fear for Peanut. It was the best hour of my entire day.

So goodbye occupational therapy for now! We have a follow up in 4 months but have no fear our Rudy, I mean Peanut, will be beating the odds and climbing the walls!!! Go Peanut!

Sneaky Smart Peanut

My mom loves to tell the story of how she was working with me on how to spell my name going over it and over it to the tune of B-I-N-G-O when my younger brother walks up and say I can spell her name and my name and proceeds to rattle them off and walk away.

Well Peanut seems to be paying more attention to the things Little Man brings home from pre-school than we were aware. While Little Man was at pre-school this morning Peanut and I had a mini-concert. We played songs, sang and did finger plays and then a song came on that Little Man learned the sign language for at school and has been practicing at the table during meals. Peanut heard the song and did EVERY sign that goes with the song at exactly the right time. I am sure that my mouth dropped open and then I picked him up and kissed him and told him that he was sneaky scary smart.

He likes to pull the whole "I don't speak english" card when I tell him not to do something he wants to continue doing and when we try to make him use his voice to get something he wants he might respond with a "bup" and tries to just take it. But I am on to him now! He is sneaky smart - he loves to show me each and every day that he has no idea he has been given a developmental delay diagnosis. Those are just words that adults use but Peanut is using his own words and actions to show us all the truth!

Things that make me happy

There are a million things that I could list about my boys that make me happy, but there are a few that just make my day on a daily basis. The things that keep me going when everything else seems to be going wrong. It is the little things, someone else might now even notice, but as their mom I can't help but notice.

1. Peanut's wobbly, jiggly cheeks when he runs - I mean these things jiggle like jello as he stomps and plays. We play this little game I call "run, run" where he walks backwards until I say "run run to mama" and then he takes off at top Peanut speed (which isn't very fast) into my arms. I play this game so that I get to see his cheeks jiggle as he runs to me and it never fails to make me overcome with joy.

2. Little Man's spontaneous proclamations of love. It doesn't matter what he is doing or what he is playing I get at least 10 spontaneous declarations. They typically come when I am exasperated or exhausted and he just seems to know that it makes me feel better to hear his cute declarations.

3. Peanut's feet. I mean these things are just the chubbiest, cutest, sweetest little feet in the world. He holds them up for me to tickle or to pretend to eat and it makes me happier than gold.

4. Little Man's wiggly eyebrows. This kid is expressive both verbally and non-verbally but the best is when he gets his eyebrows in on the action. He will wiggle them to make a point or to be cute. He totally knows what he is doing and it just makes me laugh even when he is trying to manipulate me with them

So those are the things in no particular order that make me so happy on a daily basis that I can't even imagine my life without them. Peanut feet and wiggly eyebrows make my day. Some people might think that I am strange but then again, those people have probably never seen Peanut's cheeks jiggle as he runs on his adorably fat feet while Little Man wiggles his eyebrows in an attempt to get another M&M!

Peanut's adorable vocabulary

Some of you may or may not know that Peanut has been undergoing speech and occupational therapy for the past 2 months. In July he was diagnosed with severe speech delay and a possible motor planning disorder. This was a very scary diagnosis for us and I haven't been able to blog about it. I remember hearing the speech pathologists tell me that while he was 15 months old, he was only at a speech developmental age of a 6 month old. I remember their words and their faces and what I remember most clearly is thinking, "No, you are wrong. My Peanut is perfect and happy and the most wonderful little boy so you have to be wrong". Well they might have been right at the time, but Peanut is a superstar and he is turning it all around and just for the record, he is more than perfect no matter what developmental issue he may have.

In the beginning of August he couldn't say any words and had hand signs for 3 and 2 months later he can say 9 words and has signs for at least 15 other words. I suspect he can say even more than he lets on but is impossibly stubborn and likes to do things in his own way. Over the past week one of his favorite words has been Mama and I just can't hear it enough! He also loves to say hi and peeks around the corner or out from a blanket to say hi at any and every opportunity. The speech therapist comes weekly and we work on prompting, articulating and just generally helping him figure out how to make the sounds that he wants to make. Some days he loves it and other days he hands the therapist her shoes and waves bye - but we just keep working at it with him. The most successful reward to getting him to talk is food - big shock there!

There are other challenges to overcome. He despises all of the occupational therapy that he has to do and making sit-ups fun for an 18 month old is difficult. He is near-sighted and may need glasses at an early age. We won't know the extent of his diagnosis for a while until he is older and can communicate a little better but I have come to the conclusion that as far as I am concerned, his diagnosis is easy : Peanut is a happy, loving and perfect little boy who enjoys torturing/playing with his big brother, running as fast as he can at all times and climbing to dangerous heights whenever my back is turned. He has the most beautiful little voice when he chooses to use it and the most wonderful way of getting us all to do his bidding no matter how he communicates. In my book, Peanut is everything I could ever want him to be.