Too Long Old Friend

As you can see my blogging as fallen by the wayside with 3 kiddos, a move, therapy out the wazoo and just good old fashioned LIFE! But that also means this is in dire need of an update. :)

Ryan and I ~
Well, we bought a new house (with gracious help from my parents) and moved June 1st. It was a roller coaster of decisions but perfectly planned by God. At first we thought we would like to stay in the city but it was clear after weeks of looking that was not God's plan. We took a break, got a new realtor and changed gears to the county. It took a little time but not much to find an awesome house in Affton that is extremely close to my family and closer to Ryan's family as well. We were able to get the house for an amazing price after some tough negotiations but we really had peace through the whole process. Everything on our house list was answered with a 'Yes' in this home. It was really neat to see God just work it all out and continue to work in Ryan's business and my Pampered Chef business to provide for us.

Skyler ~
He has been my big helper this Summer with the move and being a great big brother. It is neat to see the different personalities in all 3 boys and how their 'ranking' plays into it. Skyler is very protective of his younger brothers, likes to take them around, show them off almost and keep an eye on them. If he wants to wrestle with them or pick on them it should be no big deal but the Lord help the other child whole steals a toy from them because they band together and attack in protection of the other brother! He loves to help get things for Gavyn or teach Nevin knew things (like potty training!) or help me doing chores around the house. Some days I don't know what I would do without him. In a few weeks he starts kindergarten at SCCS. He is so excited about his new school and learning to read and more about numbers. I really think he is going to take off and have a blast at school. I just started reading 'The Chronicles of Narnia' to him and his eyes just lit up with excitement over this new world I opened to him. He is a great kid.

Nevin ~
My little man is making HUGE progress from a year ago! He graduated from First Steps when he turned 3 in February and we started to go with the city schools for therapy and preschool but that was a bad situation. We ended up never enrolling him in school and found other options. He has been going to this amazing therapy place called PS Kids since the end of February beginning of March. The things he has learned and the care we have gotten from them is phenomenal, I can not say enough. He gets OT for an hour a week, PT for an hour a week and over the Summer he got 2 hours of Speech. He has made great strides in OT with learning to get clothes on and off better, hold a crayon the right way, cut with scissors, strengthen his overall upper body and take direction while sitting at the table a lot better. PT has been amazing! He is climbing better on ladders (like play equipment), going up and down stairs with just holding onto the railing (he had been going up and down on his belly before), running and the biggest goal just this week, JUMPING! It was so great when his PT teacher brought him out to the waiting room on Tuesday with a huge smile on her face and said, "Nevin, show your mom what you can do!" and he JUMPED! The entire waiting room clapped and cheered. Everyone there knows and understands, they just get it even if they don't know you. Speech has been making some big strides as well although it is much slower than the other areas. We are working on doing an AAC board with him right now so he can tell us what he wants through the computer since his language is so delayed. He is at about an 18 month level and yes, that is progress for us. A year ago he could make the /m/ sound and say 'mom' now he can say:

Mom
Lightening
Baby
DaDa (NaNa)
Binki
Dog Dog
Skyler (Iler)
Shane
Matt
Mater
Moon
More
Yes
No

These are approximations, if he said these to you you may not have any idea but I do! He can make the /b/ sound, /p/ sound, the vowel sounds. He can pick out the right verbs and nouns from pictures. There are so many things with speech that have progressed but it is very slow. He starts preschool at Affton SSDEC in a couple weeks and will be getting Speech and Language, OT and PT and we will keep going to PS Kids as well. Keep praying for him, he is a little fighter.

Gavyn ~
My miracle baby continues to be a miracle. We have conquered a big fear and defied odds when he became mobile! We have an army crawling baby on our hands and it is amazing to me each and every time he gets going. We never knew if he would sit up, if he would eat OK, if he would roll over much less be mobile with crawling and one day walking. He is not really pulling up yet, he can do it about half way so we are very hopeful that he will but only time will tell. He is getting better at holding his weight when you stand him up and he likes it now. Anything new is scary to him and he fights it. The biggest battle is showing him he can do these things and they don't hurt. Once the mental part clicks for him he seems to take off. He is still very much a baby and I am OK with that most days. Some days I do cry and mourn for the normal 17 month things we are completely missing out on but I have to pull myself up by my bootlaces and remind myself there was a day I thought I would not bring him home. We have to keep moving forward and not feel sorry for ourselves! We are so blessed and he is so amazing. Gavyn is still in the First Steps program and does PT once a week, OT twice a month and we are starting speech with him in a week.

I know a lot of you still pray for my boys and thank you, I feel your prayers and I see the answers daily. Last Tuesday morning I was having a really hard time and I prayed for a miracle and that was the day Nevin jumped. God hears us and answers us.

Love to all!