Is it wrong?

Jonah fell asleep in my arms, and I needed to do something, so I laid him on the couch. 15 minutes later, he popped his sweet little head up, looked around, and whimpered until I picked him back up. Now he's asleep in my arms again, and I LOVE it!

Is it wrong to love that Jonah thinks my arms are the best place to sleep??? ::evil grin::

I've been pondering what my issue is with blogging. I finally came to the conclusion that it makes me feel selfish. Yeah, I know. I only read about 50 blogs on a daily basis, and LOVE every minute of hearing about these people's lives! Do I think they are being selfish by blogging? Not a chance! So what's my problem???? I am going to work on getting over that - I do enjoy this outlet lol! I want to thank those of you who actually take the time to read what I have to say, as that really means the world to me =)

Ooooooh! I told you about the card swap - well, here's the DARLING card I got!!! It's so stinkin' CUTE!!!! I just love the FUN little cupcake!!!



Then, yesterday, I got an email saying that I'd won a giveaway!!! Holy cow! The giveaway was on MADE, and it was for this shirt from Small Threads!



In other news, we celebrated Madeline's birthday last week, and she requested a lemon raspberry cake. Sighhhhhhh.... I can make a mean cupcake, but cakes are just not my forte. So, here is the disaster I created lol!





Ah well, at least it was yummy, and Madeline was pleased ;o)

Here's the Valentine's card I did for Ellie - found the idea here (it was *originally* found here):



I've also been busy knitting hats, but don't have any photos of those right now lol!

Card swap, anyone???

Ok, I just signed up for Melly's card swap - and I'm SOOOOOOO excited about it!!!! Any of you want to play along? (And check out her blog whether or not you wanna play - she's awesome!)





I'll come back soon with photos - the kids are growing like weeds, of course, and I've been crazy busy! I've sewn and knitted, and even picked up a little crocheting. I'm about to go upstairs and start getting my sewing room together so I can do some more sewing, too lol!

Today, I received a call from a lovely woman with the early intervention program. She informed me that Jonah has been accepted into the program, and she will be his case manager! I was ecstatic - so happy that I nearly cried!!!

We had an intake person come out to evaluate Jonah a few weeks ago. She was nice, but didn't feel that he was a very good candidate, as he is incredibly sociable, and makes good eye contact. However, she was quite concerned by his refusal to eat solid foods at 8 months. Funny, because that wasn't even a concern, in my book lol! Turns out, that qualified him for further evaluation.

The next lady came out a week or so later, and evaluated him, looking at me like I had lost my mind. She couldn't get over how friendly and happy he was, how he made great eye contact, responded to different stimuli, etc. Yet again, she was concerned about his inability to eat. She said she really didn't think I had anything to worry about, and that she was going to run his information through the computer to see if he qualified. She was rather doubtful about it, though, saying that he might just be laid back and meeting milestones a little slower than average.

I wasn't thrilled about these responses, as I can see that something is certainly different with him. The past two nights, I've been trying to figure out what the next step was going to be. And the more I read the more I recognized traits in Jonah that seem very strong indicators of some form of an Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Flapping his arms when he's frustrated or excited, opening and closing his hands when he's hungry and upset, not reacting AT ALL when the pyro goes off at a football game, right beside us. Then, of course, his issues with food. It really appears to be a combination of a texture problem, and just not knowing how to move food from the front of his mouth to the back. He almost "nurses" his food, pressing it to the roof of his mouth with his tongue, neither swallowing it, nor spitting it out. So many little nuances that I just chalked up to him being HIM!

Now, if I could just get Adron to realize that this isn't a BAD thing, we'd be ok. I'm afraid he thinks I'm overreacting, or that having a form of autism is a horrible thing, not just something that makes Jonah, well, Jonah lol! While I want nothing more than for my children to have "normal" lives, I think there are many, many blessings to be gained by being gifted with a child with special different needs!

The oddest part, however, is the more I read, and the more videos I watch, the more I see of Ellie in them. Crazy - I honestly thought she was ADHD, but with the arm flapping she has been doing since she was 5 months old, the screaming that started 4 years ago (and hasn't stopped yet), and her funny aversions to touching things, I'm starting to wonder. That kid didn't eat much solid food until she was a year old, either...

My special little guy

I'm sitting here looking at my beautiful baby boy in a somewhat different way. It's a really great thing, but kind of strange.

One of my sisters is blessed by having a son with autism. He is quite high functioning, but still very much a challenge for her. Anyway, she came to visit us the other day, and brought both of her amazing children with her. We laughed and talked for hours, and it was so wonderful to catch up with her.

While we were talking, the subject of Asperger's came up, and she mentioned that it might be a good idea to have Jonah evaluated. I've often suspected that something was *different* with him, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

He's always been an exceptionally good baby, only crying when he truly needed something. Since he was a newborn, I've been able to stall him for an hour or even two when he's hungry. It's just been a matter of giving him his pacifier and hugging him. Not that I would do it normally, but, for example, I would know he was hungry during church, but I could put him off until the end, and even longer sometimes. Granted, he would make up for it by spending much of the rest of the day nursing, but still. That's NOT normal behavior for a newborn! Even at 3, Noah can't do that!

Another thing that has kind of concerned me is that he doesn't care a thing about playing peekaboo. He smiles because I'm talking to him, but doesn't look for me or get excited by the game. I call his name, and he doesn't turn around with recognition in his eyes. Oh, sure, he responds when I talk to him, but it's different. If I say anything in a sing-song manner, or in mommy-eese, he's going to look at me, smile, and usually try to crawl over to me. But, calling his name in a normal tone doesn't elicit any kind of response.

Granted, all of these could be completely unrelated, and maybe he's just a very laid back guy, and has a high tolerance for discomfort/hunger pains? However, if there is something there, and all it takes is a little effort on my part to make his life more "normal", I'd be foolish to ignore it.



None of this worries me or freaks me out, it just makes me realize that this little guy really IS special! I've known that he's incredibly smart, but now I know that he might have to work a little harder at being like the other kids. When I say "light", he starts opening and closing his hand in the ASL sign for the word. However, while he associates the sign with the word, he doesn't look up at the light. His first "word" was "I love you", otherwise pronounced "ah wub wub" followed by a huge kiss! Today, he started saying "ba ba" while waving. LOL the kid loves to go places! Not "mama" or "daddy", but "I love you" and "bye bye". How cool is that!!!!

One of *those* days.

Do you ever have a day where nothing has really gone wrong, but you just kinda feel a little off?

Noah was supposed to be putting his shoes on, but misplaced one of them. I found it, and by that time, he had taken off the other shoe. Then, I told him to bring it to me and put them both on so we could pick up Amelia. While he was putting them on, I changed Jonah's diaper, found socks for him, put him in his carseat, and turned around to see Noah taking his shoes off AGAIN. Grrrrrr! So I yelled at Noah. That, of course, made matters worse. And on top of that, Noah had pooped in his diaper. He was in big boy undies all day yesterday, and only had a little accident late in the afternoon. Two steps forward, one step back, right?

I loaded the boys up into the van, with Noah wailing the whole time because I hadn't zipped up his jacket. After getting past that, everything was fine with Noah. Jonah, as usual, fussed almost the whole way home from getting Amelia. He did, however fall asleep right before we got home, so, as usual, I carried both babies in the house and left them in their seats. Gave Noah his antibiotic (ear infection), put Amelia's milk in the freezer, and by that point she was fussing.

Poor kid was starving, and it took forever to get her milk thawed. Bless her - sweet little thing was even willing to eat it cold! While the milk was thawing, she cried no matter what I did. Amazingly that didn't wake Jonah. But as soon as I got her fed, he woke up starving. Ok, no biggie. Changed his diaper first, only to discover that his bottom is still red.

Now, Jonah is quite a, well, regular kinda guy - fills his diaper around 5:30-6 every morning. No problem, but apparently he was running a little ahead of schedule last night. This is the kid that never gets rashes, so I figured the redness would go away by the next diaper change. It didn't - in fact, it was worse. Now he's in a disposable to see if that might help keep him a little drier.

That brings us to the clothing issue. Right now, I have 4 large totes worth of 0-12 month clothes IN MY ROOM. They are a huge mess, and are making me nuts! The problem is Memphis weather lol! Last week, we were wearing shorts every day. This week, it's chilly. Making matters worse, Noah was an October baby, Jonah was born in April, meaning that they are complete seasonal opposites! I have plenty of little bitty long pants, sweaters, and other cool weather clothes. And nearly all of the 6-12 month clothes are summer. Ugh! Of course, there are winter clothes in 12-18 month sizes, and I left out the smaller ones since it will still be cool by the time Jonah grows into them. However, the poor little runt is swimming in a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, both of which have been cuffed so they are wearable lol! Unfortunately, the cloth diaper was really helping keep the jeans on Jonah's scrawny little behind, and how that he's wearing a paper diaper, he's crawling right out of his pants!


But I lost 1 lb this week LOLOLOL!!! That brings me to a total of 10 lbs even for the past 7 weeks. That makes me happy!

Here are a few LOs I've made recently. I'll post pics of some of my sewing projects later ;o) Click for credits:

This was yesterday - Jonah is rotten!



Ellie and Noah playing with my camera - there were oodles of hilarious photos:


Noah and a friend at the last Tigers home game:


I love that Jonah tries to play with the mobile on his swing!



Ellie, after a very long day lol:



Madeline in her Halloween costume:




Wow. I REALLY need to get some pictures of Audrey!!!

Grateful! (Warning: Photo Obese)

So another month has gone by - and life is good! There are SO many things right now that make my heart happy!!! Amelia is getting so vocal, and Jonah loves her as much as ever! It makes me feel good to know that somebody else's baby loves me as much as Amelia does. My kids kinda have to love me, right? But she doesn't, and that makes it super special! I have succeeded in spoiling Jonah to the point where he won't sleep unless I'm holding him :o) Is it wrong to love that so much? I love that Noah is such a sweet big boy, and so desperately wants to help me out and make me happy! Ellie is learning to read, and it's blowing me away! I don't remember the big girls going though this age - but maybe it's because I was working when they were in kindergarten? Or because I hadn't had and lost Max yet, so I didn't appreciate them like I should. Madeline is my little song bird. She's in the choir at church, and was thrilled to be able to chose choir as her art elective this year. In fact, they performed tonight, and it was amazing! Audrey is the tough one. She's so gorgeous, smart, funny, and talented, but SUCH a teenager. We are very much alike, and butt heads regularly. That, for some funny reason, makes my heart sing, too. Not the fighting in and of itself, but the knowledge that I have a fabulous daughter who is growing into a strong woman!

Adron and I seem to be doing really well lol! For as crazy as he makes me, there is something completely breathtaking about knowing that he loves me so much! I can't imagine how anyone could love me so much, especially with all my multitude of flaws. I know I must make him even crazier than he makes me, poor guy!

I've been doing a lot of hugging babies, and not much of anything else. I've done a little sewing, a little scrapping, a little cooking, but not so much house cleaning. I've got a stack of sewing projects that need my attention, but I was able to put them off by trying quilting! Shocker, I know!!! I can not believe I am actually making a quilt!!!!

Here are a few pics of our life - I don't want to write a book tonight lol!

Skirt made using this tutorial, flowers with this one - birthday gift for a sweet friend of ours:


Tailgaiting before the Tigers' last home game - couldn't have been a prettier day! 70 degrees in the middle of November? Woohoo!





Noah has learned how to put his shoes on, but I still need to tie them ;o)





My sweet baby boy




And Halloween - totally forgot about these!

Here's Madeline, the dead bride:






And Ellie as Rosetta from the Tinkerbell movie:





Noah as Spiderman, his hero :o)



And here's all of them, plus my baby sister and David, a dear friend of ours:



Jonah was a vampire, but the pics are awful, so I'll dress him up tomorrow if he's feeling up to it lol!