15 months

Yeah, yeah, I know it is the end of January and I am posting a Christmas picture. Well if you read my previous post then you will understand!

CoCo turned 15 months on the 19th and she is doing so good! We can see how much she is really understanding now. She still isn't verbalizing anything other that vowels and "duh" but she has started pointing at things (not on command but if she wants something) and she will walk over to us and raise her hands at us when she wants to be picked up. These are HUGE steps for her! She had an appt last week and she was 28" and 19lbs. She has started picking up in the weight category but still lagging in the height. Our dr knows that we understand her deficits but he always shows us exactly where she is even if it is hard to hear. It is hard for us to remember that although she is progressing in our eyes, time is still passing and she is still getting older. She is not progressing as fast as she ages, therefore she is further behind in all areas. She was referred to Magnolia Speech School for a hearing evaluation and another speech evaluation just for us to look at our options. This will take place Feb 25. I do not believe that anything is wrong with her hearing and the ENT doesnt either but we want to cover every base.

Now back to her size, we are starting her growth hormone testing on Wednesday, Feb3. She still isnt on the growth chart but catching up a little in the weight category. We are having all the bloodwork done at our Peds office and then sent to the Endocrinologist for interpretation and planning. We have found out the hard way to make sure that we have at least 1 dr knowing what every other dr is doing. This is so hard because all of our drs are associated with their own private practice and then 2 drs are at UMC. There is no system that they can just type in her name and all of her info come up, so I now have all bloodtests at one place where they will fax me all results and I get them to the right dr.

I know I always say this, but she is really such a fighter. She is just so happy and sweet, we can't help but be so thankful at how far she has come!

January's Over....

and it has been CRAZY here! I have wanted to sit and post so many things but I have barely had time to sit down! The good thing about January being over is that there are only 75 days left in tax season :)
January is always so stressful for me and this year we decided to make it a little more tense. We started out the year the same way we ended-- Bear doing lots of studying, which means lots of time home alone with the kids. He took his test Jan 12 (we wont know the results until sometime around the 20th of Feb), this was also right after I had spent a whole week at work with NO WATER! Can you imagine what it is like when 150 men cant flush the toilet for a week?! TERRIBLE is an understatement....
Tax season is up and running, dont expect to see me without at least one of my kids until after April 16th!
We never go a month without sickness in this house, but Kinson has been doing so good lately so I was not surprised when he woke up from a nap on MLK Day with 103 fever. Motrin and 2 hours later it was gone. Went to bed that night, 102 degrees, motrin, woke up, it was gone. This was the same cycle for the next 5 days. This was our first time to experience a fever virus-- it was so frustrating because I kept expecting something more to happen and just when I thought we were done with it , it came back!
Cohen had her 15month check up-- lots to say about that in another post....
Then to end the month, I thought it would be great timing to have surgery that would help fix a breathing problem that I have had since I was pregnant 3 years ago! I had turbinate reduction surgery Thursday and so far so good. A few things that I wasnt expecting but overall pretty smooth recovery.
During all of this, I always seem to forget that my little boy has a birthday approaching. So then I am scrambling to put something together. This year I decided that we were having a party away from home (where my son will not hoard himself in his room to "protect" his toys like last year) and where it required me to do minimal! Pump It Up it is! So far I only had to order a cake and party favors. I also brought handwritten invites back in style (I was late in trying to order printed ones :))
This is just a few excuses for me to give my diligent readers as to why I have been so tardy (aka LAZY) in keeping up with my blog!!! I cant promise that over the next few months I will have a lot of spare time on my hands (well of course if Congress can't get their act together and pass a bill addressing Therapy caps then I might have too much time on my hands...again that is for another post/rant!)

New Years Resolutions....

I always have about a gazillion resolutions each year and they last about....oh, maybe til the end of January and if I am real good maybe even til March! This year one of my resolutions needs to be to at least try and keep them the first half of the year! I am hoping this year that if I post them publicly (and by that I mean to the 6 people who follow this blog ;) ) I might be geared to keep them. So here it goes:

1. I am going to diligently try to stop buying things because I get a great deal on them. This is going to be so hard for me because I literally get a high from getting a great bargain anywhere!
2. Which leads me into my next resolution....I am going to start making a grocery list. This to is difficult for me. If you have ever been to Walmart with me then you know how I am. I have a certain way I walk through the store to ensure meat is the last thing I get and produce and bread is safely on top saving it from damage. I walk up and down every aisle, every time I go. And don't even get me started on how I unload groceries when it is time to checkout....boxes first, then can goods, frozen items, etc. I know there are a few checkout people who have stared at Bear and wonders why he cant help his one-handed wife unload groceries out of the buggy, but he has learned to just stand at the end and put the bags in the buggy.
3. Start and enjoy working out with my husband again. Those who didn't know us before we were married, don't know that this was the center of our relationship before we started dating up until we had kids. We met at the gym, rode to the gym together, and worked out together. With our crazy schedule lately, it has been tough to find time for anything. But Bear is sooo disciplined when it comes to this. I will be joining him now bright and early in the am as I try and catch up with him!
4. Try and keep a clean car. If you have ever been in my car, most people have not because I always say I cant drive because there is no room (I drive a freaking Yukon!!!), or if you have parked in the vicinity of my car and just looked at my dash board then there is no explanation need to this resolution. My car is getting a fresh new start (cleaning and detail) this Wednesday, so I should have no excuses.

I know these sound a little easy to some of you, but baby steps, baby steps, PEOPLE!!

Answered Prayers....

Cohen's therapy started!!! I have kept saying how frustrated we have been with the First STeps process, but after 4 months and LOTS of phone calls, Cohen started 1 hour a week Special Instruction, which is kind of a "play skills" therapy and they reinforce her socialization skills, and 1 hour a week Speech Therapy. Over the Christmas vacation, Cohen exploded with sounds. She is still just making vowel sounds but they are definitely more frequent and louder. Although we would like her to get to a more age appropriate verbal skill level, one of the main focuses of ST will be to strengthen her oral motor skills and tongue control. We have been diligently working on our "homework" of beeping/locating her nose and clapping our hands. We are getting closer everyday to reaching our goals!!
So what else is Miss Coco doing? She is now 14 months old and LOVES to get into everything!

• she is finally fitting into 9 month clothes pretty well, except for dresses she is still in 3-6 month
• she LOVES her sleep, she sleeps 7-7 and takes a great nap, sometimes 2!
• she stated walking right after Thanksgiving, still a little wobbly but manages to go everywhere
• she loves to eat and eats anything
• her favorite activity is pulling things out and putting things back
• she is starting to stand her ground against Kinson and the kids in her class-- she likes to push them down
• we have 100 single mismatched socks because Cohen takes her socks off and hides them everywhere-- she took a pair off in my office and we still have yet to find them
• she HATES socks or footed PJ's-- she acts paralyzed!