PhD in motherhood

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Last move ever!!!!

I hope.

Last weekend we made the big leap and after three truck loads, not counting the several van loads back and forth over the past couple of weeks, we're moved into our new house. Hopefully this is it. The last move ever. I don't know how I would survive another one.

We're still in boxes, but things are taking shape. Jhonny is dreaming of how he will design the backyard and redesign our new kitchen . . . and . . . well he just needs projects. I let him dream. . .

I miss Round Rock Ward. They will be a tough act to follow. We have some dear friends there. We couldn't miss the talent show on Friday. The kids all performed. Lily did a dance with her 3 other friends in her dance class. They did it all by themselves and were fabulous. Jessica sang Popular and was wonderful. And finally the girls sang with Gavin "Somewhere there's a mountain." They sounded wonderful. I had to have Gavin sit on my lap and hold the mic for them all, but they managed to get through the whole song as rehearsed without too much incident. At the end I held back the tears. Not because the song touched me although it was touching, but because I realized that was the last contribution we would make to RR ward and it was hard to part with them.

I would post a video, but in true fashion, my husband left the battery charger for the camera at school after using it up on field day earlier. I managed to get one shot of Jessica before it died.

I keep being reassured that Old Settlers Ward is wonderful and that we'll love it too. I'm giving myself a little time to mourn before I judge that literally. So far I'm not in love with it, but again I haven't given it much of a chance yet. But since we are never moving again - I'm sure I will grow to love it.

Jessica's solo kicks off the Annual Round Rock Ward Talent Show!

Sunday, March 10, 2013

House hunting

It started with curiosity. I don't know why we were even looking. But we found a house that we adored. We called our neighbor, a real estate agent to open it for us. We looked, we loved. And that started us on a realestate rollercoaster that left me exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally.

First hurdle - can we really afford this? After much budget crunching and pre-approval applications, and discussions, we concluded that for our dream house for forever - yes we could probably make some slight sacrifices and afford this.

Second hurdle - school zone. With Jessica going to MS next year, I wanted to make sure she would be happy. With an initial background check with some colleagues, I wasn't so sure. We pulled out offer just in time to save us the $100 ernest money.

Searching for something equally desirable in the right school zone and right price led us to looking beyond the boundaries I really wanted to go. Looking closer to where we live proved fruitless. There just aren't many homes in this area with the square footage we want in the price range we can afford. And with this being our last home we will ever purchase, I wasn't willing to settle for anything less than exactly what I want.

We found a second home, but our offer was a bit too low for them. While they were muddling over whether they wanted to go with our offer or not, we looked into building. There were some beautiful options, but to get everything we want - the price just kept going too high. The more I thought about it and the sacrifices we would need to get the price down to what we could afford, I kept thinking about the original house and how I wasn't sacrificing anything for that house except an acceptable school option.

I decided to look into alternate school options. After all, we are teachers and transfers are usually accepted for us. We found an acceptable school option. We put our offer back in to the original house and it was accepted right away.

Now it's paperwork, packing and getting someone to lease this house so we can get out of it and start paying a mortgage again. My husband is trying to swallow the consequences of breaking our lease. I knew it wouldn't be pretty, but it is doable as long as someone moves in here right away - we'll be fine! I'm told that shouldn't be a problem. I'm having faith that since all other things have fallen into place so nicely to get this house, then this last hurdle should be smooth sailing as well.

Timing isn't perfect. I wish we were looking at July instead of March to close, but I have to believe that all will go our way. The interest rate is good right now. We're being told that rates and house prices are bound to go up by this summer as the market around here doesn't have a lot to offer in this price range and people are moving in.

Our real estate agent, Lileah has been a gem. We've bonded over many nights dragging our kids on another house search late on a school night with little or no dinner and waking up early to get ready for school/work. It's been tough on our schedule, but hopefully all will be worth it. The kids are unanimous on their vote. They like this house the best, too.

Updates to come. Ammon's babysitter is refraining from excitement for us until our ten days are up. After our yoyo saga in house hunting, she refuses to get her hopes up for us even though I've tried to assure her, this is it this time!

Ammon @ 9 months

So after some discussion with friends, and some internet research, I spent some time at the Dr. office discussing concerns about Ammon and his growth and development last month at his 9 month check. End result:

He grew 3/4", gained 1 ounce and his head is now in the 75% since his 6 month visit. The doctor said she didn't think he had a hormone dificiency nor RSS, but wondered if he might have Mosaic Downes. There is no way to tell without a genetic screening, but it could also explain some of the delays we are seeing. OR it could just be that he is slowly getting up to speed.

Of course I had to go look up what Mosaic Downes Syndrome is. Mosaic Downes means that only some of the cells replicated with trisomy 21 chromosome and not ALL of the cells replicated that way. So I'm guessing that means Mosaic Downes only have some of the downe's symptoms and not all of them. I couldn't determine if that means he would be affected in some of his physical features only or if it would affect his learning ability too.

In infants it does mention something about his muscle tone, facial features, motor skills development, etc. A study done said that on average children with Mosaic Downes scored 10-30 points higher in IQ than regular Downes, but some Mosaics scored lower than some Downes, so that didn't really help. I really just wanted to know if he does have that what will that mean for him?

So I've been watching him and I can't really tell. He seems like any other baby, just a little behind on some of his milestones. But if he were like 7 months, he would be right on track, so? I guess time will tell. He can't even be tested for it until after 12 months. Either way, I love this little Mister to pieces.

So the good news is that my little one is eating better. He has started taking in about 4 baby jars a day and then still nursing and taking a bottle pretty regularly. I'm still getting up to feed him at night too. I think he is hitting a growth spurt, because he is always hungry.

Yesterday I was feeding him some mixed vegetables. He seems to take after the rest of my kids in this department. He tolerated a few bites and then made me wonder if he was really hungry since he kept blocking the spoon with his tongue or spitting out what I could get into his mouth.

I finally gave up after half a jar and tried some pears and other fruits. He gobbled down the whole thing with no problems and couldn't seem to get enough. He certainly knows what he likes and DOESN'T like.

His bottom two teeth made a debut this past week. Hurray! Baby boy has teeth! And he likes to chomp his mouth open and closed like he's eating something. Soo funny.

Although the boy isn't crawling yet, he has taken to his tummy and is quite adept at rolling over and spinning around in a circle. He isn't quite army crawling yet and he isn't pulling up and cruising at all, but he is making an attempt at being mobile. Something we kind of expected 2-3 months ago. Soo, he's getting there, just slowly.

If I can get through to ECI, I have a referral for him to get a screening and see if we can get some OT help to move him along. The doctor also wants to see him at 10 months for a follow up visit.

Maybe this is much ado about nothing like his NICU experience, but ? again - better safe then sorry, right?

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Ammon is 8 months

MLK day marked Ammon's 8 month birthday. This cutie patootie is taking his sweet time growing up. I'm on the verge of worried about him, but we'll see what the doctor says next month. Perhaps he is fine and just taking his time.

This month he has finally decided he will eat baby food. His favorites seem to be carrots and pears. He is NOT a fan of peas. When he does eat, he sleeps longer meaning I get to sleep more at night.

He is grabbing at everything NOW and putting it in his mouth. We started letting him try finger foods that will melt in his mouth. Two little teeth are right on the verge of cutting through which means he is drooling all over the place and cries in pain a lot. He is definitely a fan of teething biscuits.

Formula still makes him spit up which means I'm not abandoning the pumping at work any time soon. I really don't know why he doesn't like formula because it happens even with the non milk kind.

He is also sitting up on his own for longer periods of time. But after a few minutes he does like to topple over and with that big head of his that usually equates to bumping it on the floor.

There is little sign of crawling at this point. He is trying to get up on his knees, but can't quite seem to get up on both hands and knees at the same time.

He is ticklish around the ribs front and back. He has the cutest laugh and smile.

We had to give him another haircut this month and his fingernails require weekly trimming. He has quite a pinch on him.

He is kind of saying momma especially when he is in pain and today I heard what is an almost dadda.

To go to sleep, he likes to snuggle with his blanket and a little light up toy that plays music when you push its belly and of course, he loves his mam pacifier.

I'd say he is 2-3 months behind his peers. I really hope he catches up. I also hope there isn't anything wrong with him, but even if there is well? He sure is cute.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Jake and Liangzi are married

Liangzi's parents take out their endowments and get sealed the day before the wedding. Pres Haines performed the ceremony and Sister Kong translated it in Mandarin. What a great day!