The Return of Rainbows

Sounds like a good title to something. :) Children's book???

Rainbows was the therapy we used for Caden when we came home from the hospital. Sarah was awesome! He graduated a few months ago. Can't remember exactly when. Anyway, I called her the other day for consult. His speech is behind. Quite a bit.

The social worker came out yesterday. We just had to give her our insurance info and stuff like that. She has very little authority to say whether or not they will take his case or not, but she did say that from what she saw, he will most likely get speech therapy.

He just doesn't talk. He barely puts two words together and he still uses baby words sometimes. We really didn't think too much of it until we were hanging out with some friends of ours and their little girl was using complete sentences! Complete! And constantly. They're the same age... a week apart. I know that everyone says that once they start talking, you'll wish they weren't, but I really can't wait. I know that he's very smart, and anyone that's ever met him can see that. He just needs to learn how to communicate better.

The two speech therapists come out to the house next Monday to do the full evaluation, so we'll see. I really like Rainbow's. They did amazing things for him when we came home from the hospital, before he could hold his head up on his own. In the year she was coming out, he made soooo much progress. I can't wait to see what they have to say next week!

I'll keep you posted.

I have been taking more pictures too, I just need to get them on here. :)

So things have been going well. Caden's going through a growth spurt. He's getting so tall, and it seems like he's getting skinnier, but that's hard to say. I was thinking the other day that (knock on wood) Caden hasn't been to the doctor yet this year. WOW ok, so it's only a little over two months, but that's huge!!!! :)

Cameron had his surgery on the 23rd. He went to his checkup yesterday. It went well. Well...

Paul had to take Cameron (and Caden) to his 2 month checkup yesterday for his shots and such. That was in the morning. Then, right after lunch Cameron had his checkup from surgery. Paul called me after the appointment to let me know how things had gone. While they were waiting (20 minutes) for the Dr. to come in, Caden pooped. He doesn't like poopy in his diaper any longer than it has to be. (We need to start potty training for real) So, Caden's now fussy and poopy. Then, Cameron decided to blow his diaper out as well. :) Then the Dr. came in and had to feel around Cameron's groin for the hernias. He got breastmilk poopy (gross) all over his fingers. lol Paul said it stunk so bad in there between the two poopy diapers. He had left the diapers in the car, because he was expecting it to be a short follow up visit.

When they got back to the car, he put them one by one in the trunk to change their diapers. LOL I wish I could have seen that! :)

And now, some pictures for your viewing pleasure:

The two boys getting ready for the big game! :)

He's flexing for the camera. See his bruise from the IV? He's doing great though.

Caden LOVES to get out that hair gel and play with it. He rubs it on his face like lotion. LOL He did daddy's hair, and it actually looked decent when he was done! :)


Helping Mommy clean. I spray, he wipes.

Such a big helper... lol

Spiderman in his PJs.

Me and Caden on our day (a.k.a. Saturday)

Cameron sleeping on the couch. He's getting so big!

A few pics

Happy Big Brother!!!

What a happy boy!

In Papa's shoes... literally! lol

No News is Good News

We haven't had a whole lot going on. Well, at least Caden hasn't! He doesn't have to go back to the cardiologist until May. He's doing really well. He has sooooo much energy, and he just loves his baby brother soooo much! It's very sweet. He lays next to him and kisses him and pets his head, saying "baby, baby". Very sweet. He likes to hold the bottle, get diapers for us, and he even likes to undo Cameron's onesie and rip off his diaper. He's a good little helper. :)

A new friend...

Little "Turnip" was born this week, and has Truncus. His first surgery is planned for early next week. If you would please stop by, and let them know that you thinking about them. Thank you! Click here.

Updates

Nothing much to report here. Pretty boring lately. Caden's doing really well. He had a little cough, but no fever or anything else, so we're just waiting for him to get over whatever it was that got him. He's learning new words every day, and he is getting more and more opinionated. He's going through a phase where he takes your hand and takes you all over the house, showing you different things, and how they work. He got our old TV from our bedroom, because Paul's parents gave us their older, bigger one. He loves to sit on his chair (from his great grandma :)) and watch the Wiggles. Over and over and over and over... lol. It crazy. He gets his fruit snacks and his water and sits in there watching. He only comes out when he wants more snacks or more water. It's pretty cute. :)

There are twin baby boys at daycare. They are really cute, and about 2 months old. He likes to rub (pet-really) their little heads and say "baby" :) It's cute that he's so gentle with them. I think he's excited. He knows what a baby is, and he also knows that there is one in my belly. He plays peek-a-boo with Cameron. :) He pretends that he's hiding him, and then he lifts up my shirt and yells "Baby!" He does it over and over. When he puts my shirt back down he turns his palms up and says "Baby go?" He doesn't know what a brother is, or who Cameron is, but he definitely knows something is happening. I hope he takes the transition well. I think we are going to continue taking him to daycare while I'm on leave. I'm only taking 6 weeks, so it shouldn't be that bad. He also only goes 3 days a week, so it shouldn't be too much of a strain on us financially. Cross your fingers!

I finally got Carol (day care) to decide on a price for the two of them. It's not even double! We are very fortunate to have such a sweet "Grandma" for him to spend the days with. She knows how expensive Caden can be, and it's nice of her to consider that. I expected it to be at least double, with an infant and all. I'm not saying anything else about it, but I'm definitely sticking with her as long as possible. :)

Bowling

So we went bowling last night with some friends. It was really fun. Caden did pretty good. He liked to sit down and push the ball. He kept screaming "ball, ball, ball" and he didn't understand why he could only do it twice in a row. He looked so confused when someone else's turn would come. :) He's so funny. Paul was helping him, and it was really cute. :) I didn't bowl, partly because I really suck at it, but mostly because my center of gravity is already off balance, I don't need to be throwing a 10 pound ball around. :)

Birthday Fun!!!

Caden had a great day! We made the rounds all day long. He got a kitchen, a working candy bear claw thingy, a bulldozer, an ATM, a Mega Bloks wagon, Mega Bloks blocks and clothes, and a Mega Bloks train... and some food to go with the kitchen. He also got a toy car set that came with a toy drill and screwdriver set. The cars come apart into big pieces, and he knows exactly how to take them apart too! I think I covered most of it. He loves to clean and cook. He has his own cleaning set, so now he has his own cooking set too!

Paul was making breakfast yesterday, and got out the eggs. He started cracking them and put them into the skillet. You know how to cook eggs, I won't go into it so deeply. :) Caden ran over to his kitchen, and grabbed his whole eggs. He showed them off, I guess to let us know that he knew what they were. Then, he found the little plastic fried egg and put it in his skillet. His little burner makes a sizzling noise when you put the skillet on it. :) He got out his spatula and was cooking his own breakfast. It was the cutest thing!

We have pictures scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. We are doing a family Christmas pic, and then Caden's 2 year pics. I'm excited to get that done! He hasn't gotten his pictures taken in a while. The ones on my desk at work are so outdated. Not for long though. :)

Thank you to everyone for all of his gifts. Please, if you are going to do something for him for Christmas, consider putting money into his savings account instead of gifts. He really doesn't need any more toys. He would probably beg to differ, but he'll thank us in the long run!

Birthday and Potty

Caden's birthday is on Saturday. He will be the big 2!!! We're not having a big party or anything, but we are getting together with family memebers for lunch and dinner. Then we're going bowling on Sunday. I think he'll have fun. He's got enough presents coming, that's for sure! :)



This is the picture we sent in for his birthday announcement on the morning news. How sweet! Friday morning around 6:45 on KSN channel 3, for those of you in the viewing area. :)

I just thought this one was really cute. He was actually trying to see the TV behind me. I was playing The Wiggles for him. He's a freak about the Wiggles. 5 times a day... WOW.

He's been doing pretty good on the potty. Kind of tapered off a bit now, but he gets excited if you ask him to go. He was so excited when he went potty. His chair makes music when he tinkles. :)


This was less than 5 minutes later, when we made him go to bed. He was screaming "potty!" over and over again. Awww... he's a devoted potty goer. LOL

Cardiology Report

Sorry I forgot to update about the cardiologist appointment the other day. No news is good news, right? Yeah!



This is what she said:



No ASD anymore (YAY)



Minimal (if any) VSD leakage (YAY)



All chambers are enlarged, but they always have been



Every valve leaks, Tricuspid and Trucal valves are mild-moderate. Mitral valve is mild.



The highest pressures she was able to read this time were what was in the "normal" range last time-maybe indicates that things are even better than last time???



He actually did really well throughout most of it. He watched the Wiggles and was doing hand signs through it. Kinda funny, I'd never seen him do that. Towards the end, when they look at the top of the heart, he started crying. He doesn't like it when they do that part. She has to push the wand down and it pushes into his chin/jaw. He hates that part. He was such a good boy though, for the EEG and everything! I was very impressed! I realy didn't have to go, but I worked through lunch to kind of make up for the time off.



She left his meds the same, going to let him kind of grow out of his dose, and hopefully one day we'll be able to stop giving him meds all together! I was hoping she'd go down, but that may have been a little too much to ask. We have to go back in 6 months. I was hoping for 9 or 12, but then again, maybe too much to ask for.

Overall, he looks just the same as last time, if not a little bit better. :) I'm so proud of little man. Not that he could help it, but still. Good genes, I guess. :)