Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Picture Time
This day brought tears to my eyes, it was first time Prestyn interacted with his baby brother for longer then two seconds.
Degan and his impersonation of E.T.
Prestyn taking a break from playing with Connor and Tyler to watch a movie, this break did not last long!
The smile that never leaves Cruzie's face!
Degan setting up his own personal tree!! He was so excited!
The first time Cruz was in his jumper, he was more interested in eating his bib! After a week he is now jumping!
Cruz's First Turkey Day! He even got a taste of mashed potatoes!
When I was taking a shower Prestyn managed to climb into the jumper, what a little rascal! He can get in and out of it!Taking the bad with the good
This year has definitely had it's ups and downs. Never in our wildest dreams would we have imagined having to learn our baby boy had autism, on the other hand we welcomed a baby that cannot be any happier. I honestly think Cruz was put into our life for a reason, with all the stress, frustration and tears we have endured dealing with Prestyn's condition, Cruz will smile and laugh and remind us that everything will be ok. All of our boys know how to make us smile when we need it most!
Then:
Prestyn in the back, prior to his diet change, his poor tummy:(
Now:
I cannot find a belly picture of Prestyn, however just in this picture you can see a huge difference in the belly.
Last week we got to spend an evening in Prestyn's class for a small Christmas party. It was low key and mostly a way for parents and teachers to share stories and watch their children interact with one another. Prestyn insisted that they have a "circle time" and wanted to sing his favorite songs, it was great to see all the children so enthusiastic about singing! That night it was great reassurance that we are not alone, there are parents who are going through the same thing as us. There are children who are not as fortunate as Prestyn to be diagnosed as high-functioning, children who may not ever be able to fully communicate with their mommy and daddy and then there are those children who will.
Something that I have to share because it really touched my heart; there was a young single mom there who's son was just diagnosed, I cannot even begin to imagine what she is going through, she looked scared, she looked unsure. I just wanted to hug her and tell her everything will be ok. The night before the party I made some Christmas crayons and got some coloring books to give to the students in Prestyn's class. When I handed her the little package she got this huge smile on her face and was so thankful. I think it was just what she needed that night, like we once used to feel, she now knows she is not alone.
In other Prestyn related news.....
Prestyn's pediatrician ordered some medical testing to be done on Prestyn. Although there is not definite reasons as to what causes Autism there are certain things that may or may not be linked to it . The first two tests were done through a blood draw. Dr. Zipp would like to start ruling certain things out. First, celiac disease then Fragile X. The Celiacs test was because of the terrible reaction Prestyn has when he has anything with Gluten. Well we got the results back and that was negative. We are still waiting on the Fragile X. Dr. Zipp is confident that will also be negative. What now? Well with no celiac disease, it just further supports the research that certain doctors have preformed that say children with Autism cannot digest the gluten and it messes with their digestive system which in turns sends signals to their brain, which is english for Innate Immune Abnormalities. We notice when Prestyn does have gluten, his stomach looks so bloated and his behavior is not quite the same, more meltdowns and less cooperative. Hopefully in the next year we will see a gastrointestinal doctor and also get some genetic testing because there have been some studies saying that it is caused by chromosomes and genes in the parents. I am not sure I fully believe or trust these studies. Although we may NEVER know what caused Prestyn's Autism it will be nice to know what didn't cause it. It is so frustrating that there are all these contradicting studies, but we can never loose hope and just keep taking everything as serious as possible.
Thank you to my readers who continue and read my blog, I am not writing about Prestyn and our journey to gain attention, rather I am writing about it in the hopes that one day a parent who is going through the same thing will find hope. It is also great therapy for me to share with you all the happiness and struggles we are going through, so I do not keep it bottled up inside!
Something that I have to share because it really touched my heart; there was a young single mom there who's son was just diagnosed, I cannot even begin to imagine what she is going through, she looked scared, she looked unsure. I just wanted to hug her and tell her everything will be ok. The night before the party I made some Christmas crayons and got some coloring books to give to the students in Prestyn's class. When I handed her the little package she got this huge smile on her face and was so thankful. I think it was just what she needed that night, like we once used to feel, she now knows she is not alone.
In other Prestyn related news.....
Prestyn's pediatrician ordered some medical testing to be done on Prestyn. Although there is not definite reasons as to what causes Autism there are certain things that may or may not be linked to it . The first two tests were done through a blood draw. Dr. Zipp would like to start ruling certain things out. First, celiac disease then Fragile X. The Celiacs test was because of the terrible reaction Prestyn has when he has anything with Gluten. Well we got the results back and that was negative. We are still waiting on the Fragile X. Dr. Zipp is confident that will also be negative. What now? Well with no celiac disease, it just further supports the research that certain doctors have preformed that say children with Autism cannot digest the gluten and it messes with their digestive system which in turns sends signals to their brain, which is english for Innate Immune Abnormalities. We notice when Prestyn does have gluten, his stomach looks so bloated and his behavior is not quite the same, more meltdowns and less cooperative. Hopefully in the next year we will see a gastrointestinal doctor and also get some genetic testing because there have been some studies saying that it is caused by chromosomes and genes in the parents. I am not sure I fully believe or trust these studies. Although we may NEVER know what caused Prestyn's Autism it will be nice to know what didn't cause it. It is so frustrating that there are all these contradicting studies, but we can never loose hope and just keep taking everything as serious as possible.
Thank you to my readers who continue and read my blog, I am not writing about Prestyn and our journey to gain attention, rather I am writing about it in the hopes that one day a parent who is going through the same thing will find hope. It is also great therapy for me to share with you all the happiness and struggles we are going through, so I do not keep it bottled up inside!
Then:
Prestyn in the back, prior to his diet change, his poor tummy:(Now:
I cannot find a belly picture of Prestyn, however just in this picture you can see a huge difference in the belly.Wednesday, December 8, 2010
P-R-E-S-T-Y-N
How do you spell Prestyn? "P-R-E-S-T-Y-N." Yay, we all say with such excitement!!!
Not a day goes by in our home that Prestyn will not say something or do something that has our jaws dropped to the floor. Last night I was sitting on the couch feeding Cruz. Prestyn walked up to us, pointed at the bottle and said bottle, and spelled it. I looked at Amos and said "did he just spell what I think he did?" Amos said yes he did!! I was in such amazement, that this little boy who could not even say the word bottle over 7 months ago was now spelling it! The same goes for his name, he can spell it over and over!
We always believed that Prestyn would learn to communicate, just did not know we would be hearing him use multiple words in a sentence. When he is saying something on his own, he will use 3-4 words. When he repeats after us, he uses about 7 words.
Do Amos and I take all the credit for this improvement? Nooo way. Ms. Maria and Ms. Melinda along with his speech therapist Sarah and his occupational therapist Angela have worked day in and day out with Prestyn and have helped him use his intelligence in a productive way.
Even before we got the diagnosis on Prestyn, we knew he was a smart little boy. He would sing you a song he just heard, try and repeat words from movies, look at a shape and attempt to tell you what it was. He could watch the same movie or listen to the same song over and over and never get tired of it. HE LOVED REPETITION, he still does, but it is getting a little bit easier to change things up on him without him having a complete meltdown.
Today, his teachers are in awe. They send home a report everyday on what they did for the day and how he did. Well, last week they introduced cards with dots on them. It was Prestyn's job to count the dots and find the corresponding number on another card. Well they reported that he did just that, with little help he was able to complete the activity! The principal even visited his classroom last week and got to work with Prestyn! Ms. Maria told me she feel in love with him and cannot wait to work with him again. His teachers have been transitioning Prestyn into another class. Prestyn is the only child in his class that is verbal, and they think that he needs to be around other children who talk and can be more social. This is going to be a slow process, with Prestyns social skills where they are, and his lack of adjusting to new environments, they are spending 5 minutes in the new class. Either Ms. Maria or Ms. Melinda stay with him to help with the adjustment. It is everyone's hope that when it comes to the full transition he will not regress. They are confident that a slow transition will keep that from happening!
We are still working on some behavioral issues and some social ones as well. It is very hard when we go out to the store or somewhere there are other people besides our family, because people see Degan and Prestyn and want to talk to them. Well if Prestyn has never seen you before or even if he has, and he just does not want to talk, he will throw himself on the floor and bang his head. It really freaks people out, and it gives me a tummy ache, I just ask them to leave him alone and continue on their way. It makes it worse if they stand there and try and console him or continue to try and talk to him. This one is a tough one for us to deal with, we cannot just keep him isolated to avoid situations like this, we are still trying to figure out ways to control these types of situations.
All in all we are very pleased with Prestyns improvement. He has come such a long way. Any one that tells you that Early Intervention does not work with children on the spectrum needs to look at Prestyn. I am very confident that had it not been for Dr. Zipps advice on getting Prestyn therapy early on we would be fighting a loosing battle. I am glad Amos and I were not the parents who stand in denial that something is developmentally wrong with our child. I am also glad for the support system that we have, because if it were not for them we would also not be where we are today!
Not a day goes by in our home that Prestyn will not say something or do something that has our jaws dropped to the floor. Last night I was sitting on the couch feeding Cruz. Prestyn walked up to us, pointed at the bottle and said bottle, and spelled it. I looked at Amos and said "did he just spell what I think he did?" Amos said yes he did!! I was in such amazement, that this little boy who could not even say the word bottle over 7 months ago was now spelling it! The same goes for his name, he can spell it over and over!
We always believed that Prestyn would learn to communicate, just did not know we would be hearing him use multiple words in a sentence. When he is saying something on his own, he will use 3-4 words. When he repeats after us, he uses about 7 words.
Do Amos and I take all the credit for this improvement? Nooo way. Ms. Maria and Ms. Melinda along with his speech therapist Sarah and his occupational therapist Angela have worked day in and day out with Prestyn and have helped him use his intelligence in a productive way.
Even before we got the diagnosis on Prestyn, we knew he was a smart little boy. He would sing you a song he just heard, try and repeat words from movies, look at a shape and attempt to tell you what it was. He could watch the same movie or listen to the same song over and over and never get tired of it. HE LOVED REPETITION, he still does, but it is getting a little bit easier to change things up on him without him having a complete meltdown.
Today, his teachers are in awe. They send home a report everyday on what they did for the day and how he did. Well, last week they introduced cards with dots on them. It was Prestyn's job to count the dots and find the corresponding number on another card. Well they reported that he did just that, with little help he was able to complete the activity! The principal even visited his classroom last week and got to work with Prestyn! Ms. Maria told me she feel in love with him and cannot wait to work with him again. His teachers have been transitioning Prestyn into another class. Prestyn is the only child in his class that is verbal, and they think that he needs to be around other children who talk and can be more social. This is going to be a slow process, with Prestyns social skills where they are, and his lack of adjusting to new environments, they are spending 5 minutes in the new class. Either Ms. Maria or Ms. Melinda stay with him to help with the adjustment. It is everyone's hope that when it comes to the full transition he will not regress. They are confident that a slow transition will keep that from happening!
We are still working on some behavioral issues and some social ones as well. It is very hard when we go out to the store or somewhere there are other people besides our family, because people see Degan and Prestyn and want to talk to them. Well if Prestyn has never seen you before or even if he has, and he just does not want to talk, he will throw himself on the floor and bang his head. It really freaks people out, and it gives me a tummy ache, I just ask them to leave him alone and continue on their way. It makes it worse if they stand there and try and console him or continue to try and talk to him. This one is a tough one for us to deal with, we cannot just keep him isolated to avoid situations like this, we are still trying to figure out ways to control these types of situations.
All in all we are very pleased with Prestyns improvement. He has come such a long way. Any one that tells you that Early Intervention does not work with children on the spectrum needs to look at Prestyn. I am very confident that had it not been for Dr. Zipps advice on getting Prestyn therapy early on we would be fighting a loosing battle. I am glad Amos and I were not the parents who stand in denial that something is developmentally wrong with our child. I am also glad for the support system that we have, because if it were not for them we would also not be where we are today!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Sleep, what is that?
In one of my previous posts I mentioned that there is never a dull moment in our house, not even when we should all be sleeping. Well I cannot help but write about sleep now since it seems to be the thing that we get the least of.
Degan and Prestyn both started sleeping through the night at about 3 months, this was so nice, no middle of the night feedings, no trying to make a bottle half asleep, just straight 8 hours of drool on the pillow and waking up feeling nice and rested.
A couple years passed and it was time to take Prestyn out of his crib. I must say, had he not figured how to jump out he might still be in one! Prior to Cruz being born and being in his new "big boy bed" Prestyn would become increasingly more difficult to put to bed. We could lay him down at 8 and if we were lucky he would be asleep by 11. Then be up throughout the night. Later after doing some research, we found out it is not uncommon for children with autism to have sleep disturbances throughout the night. With the help and advice from other parents with autistic children and some research we were able to get a handle on some of the problem naturally. The solution could not have come at a better time, because Prestyn would be starting school and need to be well rested.
Cruz came along just as we figured out how to get Prestyn to sleep better and have less disturbances at night. Just like any other newborn with the exception of a few he was up eating every three hours. As the months went on this time would slowly increase. We are now up to one feeding at night. Now you cannot look at him and tell me that he HAS to have his night time feeding, however if you are in our home between 2 and 4 when he wakes up you could not tell. He cries as if he is starving and not been feed in days. We even have to wait to burp him until he has guzzled down 6 oz or he gets very angry. And if you try and change his diaper before he has finished his bottle, you have an even angrier baby.
Im not sure I can do the cry it out method, but if I have a night like we did a few nights ago that may be the only option. This was by far one of the worst nights! We typically like for Degan and Prestyn to be in bed lights out at 9, actually falling asleep, well that brings me to this:
Last Tuesday we put them to bed usual time, and we were so exhausted we went to bed at the same time. Before I could even rest my head on my pillow Prestyn comes into the room, the first of many attempts to sneak into bed with us. This would not be an issue, however he moves so much and I always wake up with a sore neck or back from having to sleep in positions I did not think were possible. Finally at 11 he falls asleep, on the couch, fine. I position the cushions just in case he rolls off he will not hurt himself! Degan wakes up at 1:30 to pee and somehow wakes up Prestyn, could be that he has to turn on every light from his room to the bathroom. Now 2 of the 3 are awake, well and me. I wake up to sippy cups in my face that are begging to be filled. I trick them and give them water. I figure I may as well change Prestyns diaper, (yes he is going to be 3 and potty training so far has been unsuccessful). We know this is going to be a struggle, but we hope that one day he will wake up and decide he doesn't like a diaper (fingers and toes crossed). 1:45 I'm back in bed trying not to wake Amos who has work the next day. 2:00 we have a visitor in our bed, Prestyn, so instead of pleading with him to go to his bed, I move over and let him join us. We both toss and turn and struggle to get back to sleep. 2:15 Prestyn passes out and I follow, wouldn't you know.... 5 minutes later, Cruz starts waking up. I jump out of bed to get a bottle ready before he lets out his loud cry, and wakes Prestyn! 3:00 Cruz is done eating, diaper changed, burped and now I am wide awake. GREAT! I lay in bed but cannot fall asleep, check my phone it is now 3:30. Well my pop always tells me that if you cannot sleep you should pray the rosary, that will always put you to sleep. I thought I would give it a shot, sure enough I don't know how far I got and I was snoring. 6:30 Prestyn wakes up and is ready to start his day, "momma wake up." He then proceeds to try and open my eyelid and play with my nose, well guess I better get up because soon I know Degan will follow and then Cruz.
On days like this, I think to myself I can take a nap with Cruz in a couple hours and while Prestyn is at school, but then I remember there is laundry to be done, floors to be cleaned and homework that cannot wait. So, I settle for a cup or two of coffee and suck it up!
Amos and I have learned to operate on very little sleep, thank goodness for energy drinks and coffee! I love my boys to death and would not trade them for anything. I am thankful we had them when we did, while energy is still our friend.
8 hours of UNINTERRUPTED sleep............
.............last night my parents kept all 3 boys for the night! Amos and I joked that not even a year and a half ago when my parents would keep Degan and Prestyn we would go grab a couple drinks and hang out with our friends. Well last night we could not get home fast enough and no not because we were eager to get ready for a night on the town, but for our heads to hit the pillow knowing we were going to have a full 8 hours of sleep with no interruptions. It was nice yes, but to be quite honest I missed my Cruzie babies kisses and smiles he offers after his mid-night feeding, and the affection Prestyn shows when he wants to sleep with momma and dadda!
I am in no way complaining, I love my life and my family!
Degan and Prestyn both started sleeping through the night at about 3 months, this was so nice, no middle of the night feedings, no trying to make a bottle half asleep, just straight 8 hours of drool on the pillow and waking up feeling nice and rested.
A couple years passed and it was time to take Prestyn out of his crib. I must say, had he not figured how to jump out he might still be in one! Prior to Cruz being born and being in his new "big boy bed" Prestyn would become increasingly more difficult to put to bed. We could lay him down at 8 and if we were lucky he would be asleep by 11. Then be up throughout the night. Later after doing some research, we found out it is not uncommon for children with autism to have sleep disturbances throughout the night. With the help and advice from other parents with autistic children and some research we were able to get a handle on some of the problem naturally. The solution could not have come at a better time, because Prestyn would be starting school and need to be well rested.
Cruz came along just as we figured out how to get Prestyn to sleep better and have less disturbances at night. Just like any other newborn with the exception of a few he was up eating every three hours. As the months went on this time would slowly increase. We are now up to one feeding at night. Now you cannot look at him and tell me that he HAS to have his night time feeding, however if you are in our home between 2 and 4 when he wakes up you could not tell. He cries as if he is starving and not been feed in days. We even have to wait to burp him until he has guzzled down 6 oz or he gets very angry. And if you try and change his diaper before he has finished his bottle, you have an even angrier baby.
Im not sure I can do the cry it out method, but if I have a night like we did a few nights ago that may be the only option. This was by far one of the worst nights! We typically like for Degan and Prestyn to be in bed lights out at 9, actually falling asleep, well that brings me to this:
Last Tuesday we put them to bed usual time, and we were so exhausted we went to bed at the same time. Before I could even rest my head on my pillow Prestyn comes into the room, the first of many attempts to sneak into bed with us. This would not be an issue, however he moves so much and I always wake up with a sore neck or back from having to sleep in positions I did not think were possible. Finally at 11 he falls asleep, on the couch, fine. I position the cushions just in case he rolls off he will not hurt himself! Degan wakes up at 1:30 to pee and somehow wakes up Prestyn, could be that he has to turn on every light from his room to the bathroom. Now 2 of the 3 are awake, well and me. I wake up to sippy cups in my face that are begging to be filled. I trick them and give them water. I figure I may as well change Prestyns diaper, (yes he is going to be 3 and potty training so far has been unsuccessful). We know this is going to be a struggle, but we hope that one day he will wake up and decide he doesn't like a diaper (fingers and toes crossed). 1:45 I'm back in bed trying not to wake Amos who has work the next day. 2:00 we have a visitor in our bed, Prestyn, so instead of pleading with him to go to his bed, I move over and let him join us. We both toss and turn and struggle to get back to sleep. 2:15 Prestyn passes out and I follow, wouldn't you know.... 5 minutes later, Cruz starts waking up. I jump out of bed to get a bottle ready before he lets out his loud cry, and wakes Prestyn! 3:00 Cruz is done eating, diaper changed, burped and now I am wide awake. GREAT! I lay in bed but cannot fall asleep, check my phone it is now 3:30. Well my pop always tells me that if you cannot sleep you should pray the rosary, that will always put you to sleep. I thought I would give it a shot, sure enough I don't know how far I got and I was snoring. 6:30 Prestyn wakes up and is ready to start his day, "momma wake up." He then proceeds to try and open my eyelid and play with my nose, well guess I better get up because soon I know Degan will follow and then Cruz.
On days like this, I think to myself I can take a nap with Cruz in a couple hours and while Prestyn is at school, but then I remember there is laundry to be done, floors to be cleaned and homework that cannot wait. So, I settle for a cup or two of coffee and suck it up!
Amos and I have learned to operate on very little sleep, thank goodness for energy drinks and coffee! I love my boys to death and would not trade them for anything. I am thankful we had them when we did, while energy is still our friend.
8 hours of UNINTERRUPTED sleep............
.............last night my parents kept all 3 boys for the night! Amos and I joked that not even a year and a half ago when my parents would keep Degan and Prestyn we would go grab a couple drinks and hang out with our friends. Well last night we could not get home fast enough and no not because we were eager to get ready for a night on the town, but for our heads to hit the pillow knowing we were going to have a full 8 hours of sleep with no interruptions. It was nice yes, but to be quite honest I missed my Cruzie babies kisses and smiles he offers after his mid-night feeding, and the affection Prestyn shows when he wants to sleep with momma and dadda!
I am in no way complaining, I love my life and my family!
"oops I made mess"
We had a pretty relaxing thanksgiving holiday this year. It was very nice not having to run all over. It was kind of a bittersweet week. Although we were celebrating how thankful we are for the blessings in our life, cancer took the life of my sister-in-laws dad. Trinidad was an avid runner and completed several marathons. He is now running in the heaven's above. In his last days here on earth, I asked my sister to let him know let him know that the next marathon I run will be in his honor, she told him and he gave her a smile, it will be this smile that will guide me in my training and in the race! Even after he was diagnosed with cancer in January of this year it was his goal to finish another race, now he is racing in the greatest race of all up in heaven.
We spent several days in Belen last week, since I was off work, Prestyn was off of school and Amos had to work some early mornings at his new store minutes from my parents house. Well Saturday night we were all hanging out in the den sitting next to the fire place, chatting and just relaxing. Prestyn was in his room watching his new favorite movie, Word World. I would go in periodically and check on him and he would be playing with blocks or his trucks. Well between the time I checked on him and what would be the next time I went in, he found some baby powder that we thought was out of his reach. This bottle (15oz) was full and the top would not twist to close. Well I walked into the room he meet me at the door holding the powder with his whole body face, hair covered I mean covered in powder. I had this look on my face that I wish I could have captured and all he could say was "oops I made mess." The entire room was doused in baby powder. What used to be black dress shoes of Amos' were now white, the carpet turned from tan to white and the furniture looked like he had not been dusted in months! It was one of those instances where you are so mad but cannot help but laugh. I took Prestyn in the kitchen and had to show everyone how he looked. Everyone but my dad laughed. My mom wanted me to take a picture, however my dad was so scared that he was inhaling the powder demanded I immediately get him in the shower. So being the paranoid mommy that I am I skipped the kodak moment and got him in the shower. We blocked off the room and I took to cleaning it, this took a while and I had to step outside for some fresh air a couple times. Needless to say the room smells very good now! We called poison control just to be on the safe side, because I know I have read somewhere how dangerous it can be for children to inhale baby powder. They reassured us that if a child is exposed to baby powder the best one is the powder made out of cornstarch. We were safe. Lesson learned, we are now in Prestyn proofing mode, but he seems to be one step ahead of us. My mom thinks that we need to get him blessed, because it just seems everything happens to my lil man. I think I am going to take her advice, but rather then sprinkle him in holy water I think he will bathe in holy water.
We spent several days in Belen last week, since I was off work, Prestyn was off of school and Amos had to work some early mornings at his new store minutes from my parents house. Well Saturday night we were all hanging out in the den sitting next to the fire place, chatting and just relaxing. Prestyn was in his room watching his new favorite movie, Word World. I would go in periodically and check on him and he would be playing with blocks or his trucks. Well between the time I checked on him and what would be the next time I went in, he found some baby powder that we thought was out of his reach. This bottle (15oz) was full and the top would not twist to close. Well I walked into the room he meet me at the door holding the powder with his whole body face, hair covered I mean covered in powder. I had this look on my face that I wish I could have captured and all he could say was "oops I made mess." The entire room was doused in baby powder. What used to be black dress shoes of Amos' were now white, the carpet turned from tan to white and the furniture looked like he had not been dusted in months! It was one of those instances where you are so mad but cannot help but laugh. I took Prestyn in the kitchen and had to show everyone how he looked. Everyone but my dad laughed. My mom wanted me to take a picture, however my dad was so scared that he was inhaling the powder demanded I immediately get him in the shower. So being the paranoid mommy that I am I skipped the kodak moment and got him in the shower. We blocked off the room and I took to cleaning it, this took a while and I had to step outside for some fresh air a couple times. Needless to say the room smells very good now! We called poison control just to be on the safe side, because I know I have read somewhere how dangerous it can be for children to inhale baby powder. They reassured us that if a child is exposed to baby powder the best one is the powder made out of cornstarch. We were safe. Lesson learned, we are now in Prestyn proofing mode, but he seems to be one step ahead of us. My mom thinks that we need to get him blessed, because it just seems everything happens to my lil man. I think I am going to take her advice, but rather then sprinkle him in holy water I think he will bathe in holy water.
Friday, November 19, 2010
My Graduate
For the last 4 weeks, Amos has been in a training program for Wal-Mart. Well today is his last day of the Assistant Manager Training Program and he will now officially be a Assistant Manager at Wal-Mart. He has done what not many have been able to do in less then a year with the company! His new position is actually right down the road from my parents house in Belen! Will we move to Belen? Probably not in the near future. We are focusing on what is best for Prestyn and that is to leave him in Shining Stars. We are going to make sacrifices for this to all work out. I am so proud of my husband, he has worked tirelessly to do what is best for our family and has worked so hard, not to mention having to pick up my slack. My parents as usual have been so helpful and understanding. As much as they would like for us to be close to them in Belen, they understand and value the education and services Prestyn is receiving. Amos will not be alone on his hour long drive to Belen. He will be in the company of Degan and Cruz and will leave them off with my parents. Another neat thing is that most weeks with the exception of holidays, Amos will work 3/twelve hour days and have 3 days off!
As for myself, in the past month I had to reduce my work schedule to 30 hours a week, thankfully I have an employer that understands the importance of family. I am also still in school with 4 classes left to complete my MBA. What are my plans as far as when I am done with my MBA? Who knows? Am I going to become an advocate for children like Prestyn, look for something with a non-profit, do some consulting, am I going to try and stay with the state, or go to the feds, I am not sure.........
As for myself, in the past month I had to reduce my work schedule to 30 hours a week, thankfully I have an employer that understands the importance of family. I am also still in school with 4 classes left to complete my MBA. What are my plans as far as when I am done with my MBA? Who knows? Am I going to become an advocate for children like Prestyn, look for something with a non-profit, do some consulting, am I going to try and stay with the state, or go to the feds, I am not sure.........
We are back.....
I took quite a break from the "blog world" if that's what you want to call it! Things have been CRAZY to say the least. Here are a few things that have changed in our lives since my last post!
-Baby Cruz was born on July 7, 2010. He is now 4 months old and is weighing in at 15.5 lbs and is 25 1/2 inches long. He is still not sleeping through the night, however he does have a relatively early bed time. He reminds us between 8 and 8:30 that he is ready for bed. We lay him in his crib and he sings himself to sleep! It is so cute!! We can count on him waking up between 3 and 4:30. I have thought to myself if we keep him up later, maybe he will sleep later? But he just gets so tired. He smiles and laughs at anyone who looks at him! He wakes up talking and when you get him out of the crib he is so happy! Cruz loves taking naps, he will have a morning and afternoon nap that usually last between 2 and 3 hours! He is grabbing things, putting things in his mouth, sucking his thumb (uh-oh), hates his paci, drinks 7 oz of milk every 3 hours, loves belly time, he sequels and screams when he is so excited. He is trying to sit up, and tries so hard to roll over, we are good at rolling from our back to our tummy, but cannot quite get the arm out of our way to roll from our belly to back. We are starting cereal and so far he is loving it! Unlike my other two boys Cruz was able to "latch" and I was able to both nurse and pump and give it to him in a bottle! However, unfortunately last week, due to an infection I had to stop everything all together and he is now on formula. The pain was excruciating for me and I just could not do it anymore. Oh and he LOVES his brother Degan, and I know he loves Prestyn too, its just Prestyn is not around him much, although it is getting better! Degan sings to him and they talk it is so cute! When Degan and Prestyn are chasing each other throughout the house Cruz gets so excited, he does his squeal and even tries to jump out of Amos or my arms!
-Prestyn started pre-school at Shining Stars in Rio Rancho. This was tough for all of us at first. We had so many days when we had to sneak out and watch him have a huge "meltdown," until we found our saving grace. The BUS!! From the first day he got on the bus he has never cried about going to school! His teachers get him off the bus and tell us EVERY morning he welcomes them with a huge HHHEEELLLLLOOOOO!! In 2 months Prestyn has expanded his vocabulary and now makes complete sentences. He repeats anything you say. You ask him, "Prestyn do you want to take a shower" and he says just that..."Prestyn do you want to take a shower?" It is so funny. His teachers are working so hard with him. He went from asking for things with a "nahh" like scream to saying, "I want......" We are so lucky to have Prestyn in this school. UNM-Health Science Center is actually working directly with Prestyn's class on a study and project, and are using them as models to teach other teachers how to interact and teach Autistic children. Prestyn is beginning to warm up to his baby brother. He went from barely looking at him, to kissing him on his head, to last week singing him a song! Every day is a better day for Prestyn and although we have a long road ahead of us we are doing everything we can to get Prestyn the help he needs to fight this disorder.
-Degan....haha this little boy never ceases to amaze us! He is in a pre-school 3 days a week. Sometimes he goes half-days, sometimes full. It is all dependent on if he eats his lunch. Let me preface this by saying, Amos and I are generally not picky eaters, Degan, well he is very picky. He hates cheese, he likes fruit and some veggies, yogurt, and of all things, he likes spam. If we let him live off nuggets and fries he would oh and lets not forget Lays Limon chips, he loves those. Well the preschool cannot plan a menu according to Degan, however if they are making something that has cheese, they leave it off for him. If there is a veggie he wont eat they will give him 2 servings of fruit. And then there are days when he will just not eat anything and these are the days my dad has to pick him up after a half day! Sometimes if Amos or I are getting mad about something either at him or his brother, he says...."mom, it really isn't a big deal!"
Well that is my recap in somewhat of a nutshell! There is never a dull moment in our household, not even when we all should be sleeping! I'll save this for another post!
-Baby Cruz was born on July 7, 2010. He is now 4 months old and is weighing in at 15.5 lbs and is 25 1/2 inches long. He is still not sleeping through the night, however he does have a relatively early bed time. He reminds us between 8 and 8:30 that he is ready for bed. We lay him in his crib and he sings himself to sleep! It is so cute!! We can count on him waking up between 3 and 4:30. I have thought to myself if we keep him up later, maybe he will sleep later? But he just gets so tired. He smiles and laughs at anyone who looks at him! He wakes up talking and when you get him out of the crib he is so happy! Cruz loves taking naps, he will have a morning and afternoon nap that usually last between 2 and 3 hours! He is grabbing things, putting things in his mouth, sucking his thumb (uh-oh), hates his paci, drinks 7 oz of milk every 3 hours, loves belly time, he sequels and screams when he is so excited. He is trying to sit up, and tries so hard to roll over, we are good at rolling from our back to our tummy, but cannot quite get the arm out of our way to roll from our belly to back. We are starting cereal and so far he is loving it! Unlike my other two boys Cruz was able to "latch" and I was able to both nurse and pump and give it to him in a bottle! However, unfortunately last week, due to an infection I had to stop everything all together and he is now on formula. The pain was excruciating for me and I just could not do it anymore. Oh and he LOVES his brother Degan, and I know he loves Prestyn too, its just Prestyn is not around him much, although it is getting better! Degan sings to him and they talk it is so cute! When Degan and Prestyn are chasing each other throughout the house Cruz gets so excited, he does his squeal and even tries to jump out of Amos or my arms!
-Prestyn started pre-school at Shining Stars in Rio Rancho. This was tough for all of us at first. We had so many days when we had to sneak out and watch him have a huge "meltdown," until we found our saving grace. The BUS!! From the first day he got on the bus he has never cried about going to school! His teachers get him off the bus and tell us EVERY morning he welcomes them with a huge HHHEEELLLLLOOOOO!! In 2 months Prestyn has expanded his vocabulary and now makes complete sentences. He repeats anything you say. You ask him, "Prestyn do you want to take a shower" and he says just that..."Prestyn do you want to take a shower?" It is so funny. His teachers are working so hard with him. He went from asking for things with a "nahh" like scream to saying, "I want......" We are so lucky to have Prestyn in this school. UNM-Health Science Center is actually working directly with Prestyn's class on a study and project, and are using them as models to teach other teachers how to interact and teach Autistic children. Prestyn is beginning to warm up to his baby brother. He went from barely looking at him, to kissing him on his head, to last week singing him a song! Every day is a better day for Prestyn and although we have a long road ahead of us we are doing everything we can to get Prestyn the help he needs to fight this disorder.
-Degan....haha this little boy never ceases to amaze us! He is in a pre-school 3 days a week. Sometimes he goes half-days, sometimes full. It is all dependent on if he eats his lunch. Let me preface this by saying, Amos and I are generally not picky eaters, Degan, well he is very picky. He hates cheese, he likes fruit and some veggies, yogurt, and of all things, he likes spam. If we let him live off nuggets and fries he would oh and lets not forget Lays Limon chips, he loves those. Well the preschool cannot plan a menu according to Degan, however if they are making something that has cheese, they leave it off for him. If there is a veggie he wont eat they will give him 2 servings of fruit. And then there are days when he will just not eat anything and these are the days my dad has to pick him up after a half day! Sometimes if Amos or I are getting mad about something either at him or his brother, he says...."mom, it really isn't a big deal!"
Well that is my recap in somewhat of a nutshell! There is never a dull moment in our household, not even when we all should be sleeping! I'll save this for another post!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
34 weeks and counting
Me and Cruz at 33 weeks
Prestyn was riding his dino saying "yee-haw" it was so cute!
Our big boy degan on his quad...
Just "busted a broadie" as Degan and Amos refer to them!Here is a pic of Cruz painted wall and name. Hobby Lobby was out of a U so it will be finished in a week or so!! 
Prestyn and I took the train a couple weeks ago to my parents in Belen. He loved it and the whole time entertained the conductor and ticket agent with his "choo-choo all aboard"
Prestyn and I took the train a couple weeks ago to my parents in Belen. He loved it and the whole time entertained the conductor and ticket agent with his "choo-choo all aboard"
Wow, I cannot believe that in a little over a month we will be a family of 5!! How exciting and scary all at the same time! I had my 34 week check up this morning and it went well. My midwife said I needed to drink more water since the fluid level in my ultrasound came back a little low. For those of you who know me know that I drink over a gallon of water a day, so I guess this just means that I better shoot for two gallons so everything stays normal. I'm beginning to think that i should have a toilet surgically attached to me for the next few weeks! We are just about ready for Cruz, his room is just about finished, Amos and pop painted it a couple weeks ago and I got done making the bumper for it yesterday. Its all coming together. On top of getting Cruz's room ready we have just completed Degan and Prestyn's room. We were able to get Prestyn a race car bed just like his brother!! Their room came out so cute, and they both love spending time playing in it!
We are in week two of Prestyn's Gluten Free/Casien free diet.....I have been lucky to find quite a few things that he likes that do not contian either of these ingredients. The hardest part in shopping is making sure that if something that is gluten free is also casien free as well. Luckily Prestyn loves beans, and those are great for him to eat....A co-worker of mine gave me a few instant brown rice bowls that Prestyn has taken a liking to! I am going to try and mix in chicken in the bowls in the next few weeks. I have also implemented fish oil and probiotics into his diet. I slip the fish oil in his sippy cup at night and so far he has not noticed, I was worried about this since it does smell kinda fishy!! I laugh becuase Prestyn wakes up smelling like fish so I have recently taught him how to give fishy kisses!! I have already noticed that Prestyn is making better eye contact and his focus has gotten much better. Another improvement is when you are talking to him asking him to do something he does not ignore you, he actually does it. And we are loving all the kisses he has been giving us lately, especially since he was not the most affectionate lil man.
Everyday is a learning experience with Prestyn, we are definitely learning to be more patient with him and with one another. There are times when things can get overwhelming and stressful, but it is these times that Amos and I grow. This has not been easy, I am not going to lie, especially when we are trying to have a nice dinner date with the four of us and Prestyn gets uncontrollable. Amos and I just look at one another with the same look and kinda laugh about it. This too shall pass.
We got to meet Prestyns speech therapist yesterday and I think she is going to be great. He will meet with her once a week in our home. She has asked us to try and teach Prestyn sign language. It is a way to deter him from getting frustrated when he is asking us for something for the time being. Amos and I are all about teaching him. We tried when he was about 9 months old just like we did with his brother, but he never took to it. Degan was quite the opposite, he used sign up until he was about 18 months. We have explained to Degan that he needs to help us teach his brother. So as a refresher to Degan, he gets to watch Baby Einstein my first signs!
We were lucky enough to get to get into a well known Pediatrician here in Albuquerque for an evaluation tomorrow. Dr. Lopez seems like an amazing doctor and I have heard some great things about him and dealing with Autism. His organization is called Jump Start NM. They will even offer Amos and classes on dealing with Prestyn's condition. I am almost 100% positive Prestyn will be diagnosed its just a waiting game to see on what end of the spectrum he will be placed. We are not giving up hope that Prestyn can be cured, we know there are no scientific cures, however we know that what we are doing for him now will impact his condition in the future.
Degan, wow my baby is going to be 4 this month, so crazy!! He never fails to put a smile on my face! We bought him a gas powered quad a year ago and I used to have to ride it with him. Now our big boy is riding it all by himself, with the throttle released all the way. Since we have land in our back yard Amos has built him a course and he practices ever day! He has gotten so good and brave its almost scary. And of course its saftey first!
Well till next time...........
Monday, May 24, 2010
Phew......no time to be tired!
Well, well, well.......time seems like it has been pushed into fast forward all of the sudden. My sisters wedding came and went, April flew by literally, and now we are a week away from June! I am currently in what I think is my 33rd week of pregnancy, although the ultra sound I had last week would have me at 34 weeks and 3 days!! This was an unplanned ultra sound, because at my usual two week appointment the midwife did not like that by her measurements I was small, (however I do not feel that way!) so she ordered an ultra sound for later in the day. Sure enough Cruz was growing just perfect!! I was really excited to see if we could have a sneak peak at what he looks like, however he had his hand in his face most the time! Its ok we can wait to see if Cruzie will look like his brothers! That seems to be the question everyone has, since everyone seems to think that Degan and Prestyn look so much alike, I wonder if you are going to have triplets?
May 13th we celebrated Amos 27th birthday!! We went to dinner at Kellys it was a beautiful night on the patio! It just amazes me that as young as my husband is, the amazing MAN that he has become. He has done so much for our family and sacraficed so much for us! He went from spending his days off working on his baja trucks or anything in the garage, to spending his days off figuring out what he and his sons are going to do for the day? I have been truely blessed by him and cannot wait to grow old with him!
I am currently over 33% done with my MBA! I am in my hardest class so far. I have never been a big fan of math, in my undergrad at ENMU I stuck with the basics and since I was a communications major, the basics were good enough. This class, statistics, has been a challenge to say the least, there are times when I have to remind myself why I am putting myself through this! There have been times during these last five weeks that I have felt like throwing in the towel, but then I see my boys, Amos, Degan and Prestyn and I remember why I am doing this....oh and feel Cruz kicking me telling me everything is ok gives me even more motivation.
To catch everyone up to speed on another event that has been presented to us, Back in January at Prestyns well baby check up his pediatrician was very concerned because Prestyn was not talking. At that time Prestyn had a vocabulary of 5 words. This was including some words he would say and then weeks later never say them again. Dr. Zipp referred us to an agency called Abrazos. Not knowing what was in store for us we meet with them. Several appointments later, they determined Prestyn was eligible for their program. They determined our monkey was not developing at the rate he should for his age. This was so hard to accept, "what our son is fine...he will talk when he is ready." This evaluation opened our eyes to a lot of things, including certain behaviors Prestyn was exhibiting that we never took that serious. Prestyn could not talk, but he would memorize movies, he could sing you a tune to any song you started, if you practiced his ABC's with him and say A he would say B you say C he said D...and so on all the way to Z. It was the ladies that evaluated Prestyn that suggested we have Prestyn evaluated for Autism. We juggled with their recommendation for a few days and after talking with eachother and with our families we thought this would be for the best. After doing a short amount of research I found that Early Intervention was the best with Autism. We felt it was better to have him evaluated now and be able to get a handle on it. Before all this I was only slightly familiar with Autism and never knew much about it. Needless to say I am now spending countless hours on Google researching, learning and attaining as much information as possible on how to help my baby boy. There have been days when I want to break down and cry, asking why? why does this kind of thing have to be happening to our son? But we must remain strong. If it was not for Amos, for my parents, for my sister ashely and my mother in law Debbie I would not be able to function. They have all made my life so much easier and kept me sane. Together with my dad and Ashely we are reading tons of information on Autism, I will never stop reading, I can never know enough. Although we have not gotten an official diagnosis, we are not wasting any time in tackling it, at the most recent appoinment the pediatrician basically said we are headed in the right direction . We have another appointment June 2nd and should know something then. We will then get a second opinion because those never hurt. As of today Prestyn can spell his name, he has also been meeting with a developmental specialist once a week and has since broadend his vocabulary. Prestyn is an intelligent little thing. We have learned how to help Prestyn calm himself when a situation has become to overwhelming for him, and we have learned to have patience with him especially when we are in a public place and he is having a hard time adjusting to the situations. His smile keeps me and everyone assoicaited with him going and fighting.
Like I said there is so much information on the web, in bookstores and so many other parents that are battleing this same thing. I will be reading Jenny McCarthy's book in the next week I have read interviews with her and have learned so much. We are starting Prestyn on a special diet, and although it will not be easy we feel after researching its best for Prestyn. I will become a regular at Whole Foods and Sunflower Market as we shop for Gluten Free and Casien free products, and try new menu options for Prestyn. This is not going to be easy, we have started Prestyn off by eliminating Dairy. The first few days have been a little difficult as we try and get him used to drinking almond milk, its going to be an adjustment, but we have to be strong!
Thank you to all our friends and family who have been so encouraging to us and who keep us in their prayers, this is going to be a battle we do not want to loose!
As for Cruz, we are all anxisouly awaiting his arrival. Amos and my dad painted his room and I am working on accesorizing it! We know July 13th or sooner will be here before we know it!
Degan has become such a big boy!! He makes us laugh everyday and you have to be super careful what you say around him! He is still in lil kickers with Prestyn and has come such a long way. He is on the field by himself and has developed some awsome listening skills. He looks forward to soccer every saturday! It has been a really awsome thing for him, especially since he does not have much interaction with kids througout the week!
Well, I think this may be all for now. I will post some pics of the belly, the boys and of Cruz's room for your enjoyment!! I think I should become better at blogging so my blog posts are not so long!!
May 13th we celebrated Amos 27th birthday!! We went to dinner at Kellys it was a beautiful night on the patio! It just amazes me that as young as my husband is, the amazing MAN that he has become. He has done so much for our family and sacraficed so much for us! He went from spending his days off working on his baja trucks or anything in the garage, to spending his days off figuring out what he and his sons are going to do for the day? I have been truely blessed by him and cannot wait to grow old with him!
I am currently over 33% done with my MBA! I am in my hardest class so far. I have never been a big fan of math, in my undergrad at ENMU I stuck with the basics and since I was a communications major, the basics were good enough. This class, statistics, has been a challenge to say the least, there are times when I have to remind myself why I am putting myself through this! There have been times during these last five weeks that I have felt like throwing in the towel, but then I see my boys, Amos, Degan and Prestyn and I remember why I am doing this....oh and feel Cruz kicking me telling me everything is ok gives me even more motivation.
To catch everyone up to speed on another event that has been presented to us, Back in January at Prestyns well baby check up his pediatrician was very concerned because Prestyn was not talking. At that time Prestyn had a vocabulary of 5 words. This was including some words he would say and then weeks later never say them again. Dr. Zipp referred us to an agency called Abrazos. Not knowing what was in store for us we meet with them. Several appointments later, they determined Prestyn was eligible for their program. They determined our monkey was not developing at the rate he should for his age. This was so hard to accept, "what our son is fine...he will talk when he is ready." This evaluation opened our eyes to a lot of things, including certain behaviors Prestyn was exhibiting that we never took that serious. Prestyn could not talk, but he would memorize movies, he could sing you a tune to any song you started, if you practiced his ABC's with him and say A he would say B you say C he said D...and so on all the way to Z. It was the ladies that evaluated Prestyn that suggested we have Prestyn evaluated for Autism. We juggled with their recommendation for a few days and after talking with eachother and with our families we thought this would be for the best. After doing a short amount of research I found that Early Intervention was the best with Autism. We felt it was better to have him evaluated now and be able to get a handle on it. Before all this I was only slightly familiar with Autism and never knew much about it. Needless to say I am now spending countless hours on Google researching, learning and attaining as much information as possible on how to help my baby boy. There have been days when I want to break down and cry, asking why? why does this kind of thing have to be happening to our son? But we must remain strong. If it was not for Amos, for my parents, for my sister ashely and my mother in law Debbie I would not be able to function. They have all made my life so much easier and kept me sane. Together with my dad and Ashely we are reading tons of information on Autism, I will never stop reading, I can never know enough. Although we have not gotten an official diagnosis, we are not wasting any time in tackling it, at the most recent appoinment the pediatrician basically said we are headed in the right direction . We have another appointment June 2nd and should know something then. We will then get a second opinion because those never hurt. As of today Prestyn can spell his name, he has also been meeting with a developmental specialist once a week and has since broadend his vocabulary. Prestyn is an intelligent little thing. We have learned how to help Prestyn calm himself when a situation has become to overwhelming for him, and we have learned to have patience with him especially when we are in a public place and he is having a hard time adjusting to the situations. His smile keeps me and everyone assoicaited with him going and fighting.
Like I said there is so much information on the web, in bookstores and so many other parents that are battleing this same thing. I will be reading Jenny McCarthy's book in the next week I have read interviews with her and have learned so much. We are starting Prestyn on a special diet, and although it will not be easy we feel after researching its best for Prestyn. I will become a regular at Whole Foods and Sunflower Market as we shop for Gluten Free and Casien free products, and try new menu options for Prestyn. This is not going to be easy, we have started Prestyn off by eliminating Dairy. The first few days have been a little difficult as we try and get him used to drinking almond milk, its going to be an adjustment, but we have to be strong!
Thank you to all our friends and family who have been so encouraging to us and who keep us in their prayers, this is going to be a battle we do not want to loose!
As for Cruz, we are all anxisouly awaiting his arrival. Amos and my dad painted his room and I am working on accesorizing it! We know July 13th or sooner will be here before we know it!
Degan has become such a big boy!! He makes us laugh everyday and you have to be super careful what you say around him! He is still in lil kickers with Prestyn and has come such a long way. He is on the field by himself and has developed some awsome listening skills. He looks forward to soccer every saturday! It has been a really awsome thing for him, especially since he does not have much interaction with kids througout the week!
Well, I think this may be all for now. I will post some pics of the belly, the boys and of Cruz's room for your enjoyment!! I think I should become better at blogging so my blog posts are not so long!!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
March Madness
Here is daddy and his boys!! They love to crawl all over him and even better they like for him to lay in degans bed and watch movies with him!!
I took a picture on my ipone of the ultra sound picture and kinda like the way it came out!! But here is Cruz Enrique Baca
Prestyn being camera shy...but he loves the swing!!!
One reason we cannot get Prestyn a "big-boy" bed! He took a nap on his brothers bed and his is how I found him sleeping! The picture above this one was after i fixed him to be on the bed the right way!
I cannot wait till there are three lil men playin together!! But I am going to have to request they put another steering wheel up so there are no fights!
I took the boys to the park and they had so much fun acting like they were driving!
Degan with his new uniform...i could not get him to take this off for three days! He would shower and then it went right back on!Wow, some time has definitely passed since the last time I posted something...that's probably because life has been so crazy busy!! The boys are still playing soccer and love it more then ever!! They are getting ready to advance to the next group. Prestyn will learn a little more independence and Degan will no longer have an adult with him on the field instead will just be him and the coach and the other kids!! This is going to be a learning experience for him as we have been there making sure he listens and is respectful to the kids. So he will have to do this on his own.
Since the last time I posted, we also found out that baby number three is a BOY!! I will admit I was a little sad I did not get my lil girl....but the more I think about it the happier I am that we will have three precious sons!! Seeing how Degan and Prestyn play together now, i can only imagine how all three are going to be with one another!!
Amos is starting his third month at Wal-mart and he has already been offered another management position. We are all so proud of him and love that he likes his job!! He has also been working a lot on his brothers "race truck" as the boys refer to it!! Amos is so talented in his welding and his mechanical ability is off the top!!
As for me, I have been feeling really good!! My belly is growing and baby Cruz is kicking like crazy. We are in the 23rd week!! Time is going by so fast!! The wedding is only 10 days away....so far everything has gone so smoothly...we had a minor travesty with the flowers, but luckily we were able to find another florist to take care of it!! I ordered a bigger bridesmaids dress because I was not sure what size I would be at the time of the wedding!! I actually had to end up getting it altered because you could not tell i was pregnant in it! It looked like I had eaten one two many doughnuts in the last 5 1/2 months!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Our New Beginning!!!
I have decided to keep the world and those who care informed on what is going on in the lives of The Baca's through this blog....
This month has been crazy already and we have no signs that it may be slowing down in the near future. Amos started his new job as the TLE Support Manager at Wal-Mart. So far he likes his job and is far less stressed then he was when he was at Discount Tire. Amos has big goals in mind as usual and I know he will not fall short. He works only 40 hours a week, which he was not used to at Discount Tire, so this has worked out great for us. Now if we can keep him healthy we will be ok!! He is getting over a slight bought with pnemonia that we were able to get a handle on before it got to serious! For the past two saturdays I have offically been labeled a "soccer mom!" Degan and Prestyn are enjoying their time at "Lil Kickers." Its such a great program at the local indoor soccer facility that is teaching the boys the fundamentals of soccer, team work and taking direction!! The first week was kinda bad and I was worried it would continue on. However, the boys proved me wrong and did so good the second time around. I think we can only get better from here! Prestyn knows that the ball is to kick not to hold and run around with, he knows when the coach says sit in a circle he needs to sit!! Degan needed to be around kids his age, since the boys do not go to day care. The program will continue through March then after that its golf time for Degan and hopefully i can introduce tennis to Prestyn!!
As for me......I am in my 18th week of pregnancy and I have been feeling so much better. The first 17 weeks were so rough and I was pretty sick. This feeling was so new to me because with Degan and Prestyn I was never sick! My ultrasound is scheduled for Friday February 19th and I can hardly wait!!! We are planning on finding out the gender and hopefully everything will look good on the baby!! We are excited to be adding one more to our family!! Degan is excited and says that "his baby sister is in my belly...and his big brother is in his!" Prestyn could care less but I do know as of right now he dislikes any baby i hold or come close to....So as the time approaches I have a feeling we will be bringing a doll into the picture to get him used to it. Does anyone else have any suggestions on transitioning him? Degan was never like that with Prestyn he was so sweet. But Prestyns personality is far different!
Im still working four days a week and attending school on wednesday nights at the University of Phoenix for my MBA, which with no breaks I will be done with in May 2011! Seems so far away.....
Amos and I have been truly blessed with a lot of help with the boys!! Amos is off two days during the week and me one so on the days we both work my mom and pop watch the boys for us!
We are also busy preparing for "Tia Ashley's" or "our sissy's" wedding!!! She is getting married March 20th and we are just as excited as she is! As her Matron of Honor I am trying my best to make this as less stressful as can be!! The wedding is going to be beautiful despite me being 6 months pregnant and looking that pregnant in all the pictures!! Oh well!
Well....thats it for now, I will post some pictures of my belly and of the family when i can finally figure this out.
This month has been crazy already and we have no signs that it may be slowing down in the near future. Amos started his new job as the TLE Support Manager at Wal-Mart. So far he likes his job and is far less stressed then he was when he was at Discount Tire. Amos has big goals in mind as usual and I know he will not fall short. He works only 40 hours a week, which he was not used to at Discount Tire, so this has worked out great for us. Now if we can keep him healthy we will be ok!! He is getting over a slight bought with pnemonia that we were able to get a handle on before it got to serious! For the past two saturdays I have offically been labeled a "soccer mom!" Degan and Prestyn are enjoying their time at "Lil Kickers." Its such a great program at the local indoor soccer facility that is teaching the boys the fundamentals of soccer, team work and taking direction!! The first week was kinda bad and I was worried it would continue on. However, the boys proved me wrong and did so good the second time around. I think we can only get better from here! Prestyn knows that the ball is to kick not to hold and run around with, he knows when the coach says sit in a circle he needs to sit!! Degan needed to be around kids his age, since the boys do not go to day care. The program will continue through March then after that its golf time for Degan and hopefully i can introduce tennis to Prestyn!!
As for me......I am in my 18th week of pregnancy and I have been feeling so much better. The first 17 weeks were so rough and I was pretty sick. This feeling was so new to me because with Degan and Prestyn I was never sick! My ultrasound is scheduled for Friday February 19th and I can hardly wait!!! We are planning on finding out the gender and hopefully everything will look good on the baby!! We are excited to be adding one more to our family!! Degan is excited and says that "his baby sister is in my belly...and his big brother is in his!" Prestyn could care less but I do know as of right now he dislikes any baby i hold or come close to....So as the time approaches I have a feeling we will be bringing a doll into the picture to get him used to it. Does anyone else have any suggestions on transitioning him? Degan was never like that with Prestyn he was so sweet. But Prestyns personality is far different!
Im still working four days a week and attending school on wednesday nights at the University of Phoenix for my MBA, which with no breaks I will be done with in May 2011! Seems so far away.....
Amos and I have been truly blessed with a lot of help with the boys!! Amos is off two days during the week and me one so on the days we both work my mom and pop watch the boys for us!
We are also busy preparing for "Tia Ashley's" or "our sissy's" wedding!!! She is getting married March 20th and we are just as excited as she is! As her Matron of Honor I am trying my best to make this as less stressful as can be!! The wedding is going to be beautiful despite me being 6 months pregnant and looking that pregnant in all the pictures!! Oh well!
Well....thats it for now, I will post some pictures of my belly and of the family when i can finally figure this out.
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