Surprise, Mom! Love, Liam.

Last month, August 10th to be exact, Liam had a big surprise for me. 

The story starts with me deciding to put Liam in speech therapy, a little before his second birthday. For the past nine months, he'd only been saying two words total, and that didn't even include "Mama" and "Dada". When he'd learn a new word, instead of growing his vocabulary, he'd replace an old word with the new one; thus, always just two words. My efforts to teach him sign language over several months failed, even though his favorite movie was the "Your Baby Can Talk" signing video which he watched every day. And lastly, I couldn't get him to wave bye-bye. I'd had his hearing tested, so all this language delay worried me a little. Considered in light of my suspicions about John having some autistic-like issues, I didn't want to "wait and see," like many people suggested. So when I heard about FREE early intervention speech therapy, I made the phone call.

To determine if he was eligible for state-funded therapy, some evaluators came to our home and did a complete developmental evaluation. They said he did indeed qualify, and that they also noticed something might be just a little off with his eye contact and interaction with people, and he should get further testing. Well, okay. I didn't think very much of it. He seemed normal to me, aside from the lack of talking. So in the several months between that evaluation and the next, I put their comments out of my mind.

He started speech therapy and immediately began talking more. We were so pleased; he was learning so much; our smart boy was doing so well. He even learned all his letters and numbers! Five months later, the day came for the next evaluation. I thought the only outcome would be reassurance that he was just a "late talker." I pictured the evaluation team thinking, "You guys are cute for bringing him in. He's fine."

However, that isn't what they thought. They gave him a diagnosis on the autism spectrum known as Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified, or PDD-NOS (it's a fun mouthful -- no wonder the acronym). It could be described as "partial autism," because the diagnosis is given based on the fact that he fits some of the criteria for autism, but not all. About two-thirds. Many people have heard of Asperger Syndrome; this is similar disorder that is "on" the autism spectrum without being full-blown autism, because the symptoms overlap. You can read an "official" definition of PDD-NOS here.

I was quite in shock. I had convinced myself that nothing was out of the ordinary besides his lack of speech. He was making eye contact with me. Showing me things that interested him. Responding when I spoke to him. But apparently, just with me. Jeremy wasn't at all surprised: he told me, "Liam hardly ever looks me in the eyes." Say what?! Now you tell me?! Suffice it to say, I was the one to have my world shaken that day.

I could go on and on about all the thoughts this germinated while in the midst of closing on our new house, John's school year starting, moving into our new house, and being in a physical survival state during the last weeks of pregnancy... but that would neither be brief nor organized. The story of the diagnosis will have to do for now. I look forward to the stories to come, of Liam's development and progress, which have already begun. His future really is bright.

Summer Vacation

The past two weekends, also the last two weekends before school starts again, we have been able to take some actual summer vacation. The first was a much-needed getaway just for Jeremy and me. The second was a family fun trip, postponed from June when everyone was vomiting all month long. Each one took us into the beautiful Sangre de Cristo Mountains, though in different states.

Weekend Trip Number One: Couple getaway! It was our ten year wedding anniversary, plus we really needed a break after enduring six months of the most difficult pregnancy yet. Grandmommy and Grandpa took care of the kids (a thousand thank yous) while Jeremy and I went to Santa Fe for the weekend. You could almost hear a young Christian Bale breaking into song.

The entrance to our room at our B&B.

Chile pepper door knocker, of course.

Santa Fe has a lot of museums, art galleries and arts and crafts merchants, so you can spend all day just walking around Old Town looking at all of it. We found some little things to bring back for the boys: a small handcrafted wooden helicopter for Liam and a very colorful pair of socks depicting chile peppers for John. And of course a taste of some really unique chocolate for the pregnant girl: dark chocolate with rosemary and Spanish almonds.

Who knew the USPS produced R2D2 mail boxes?

Also in Santa Fe is the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi. We were all set to take a picture of ourselves in front of it, when we realized we had forgotten to recharge the camera's battery the night before! It's a lovely church, as wikipedia can show you:

On our way home, we took a detour up a canyon road through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains just east of Santa Fe. It was very pretty, especially to people accustomed to desert scrub and rock gardens. (Again, we couldn't take a picture). The Sangre de Cristos are the southern-most subrange of the Rocky Mountains, stretching from Santa Fe up into Colorado. We find their name quite inspiring, too: It is Spanish for "Blood of Christ".

Weekend Trip Number Two: Family Fun! We met our friends at the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado. Mama was too fat to hike up the dunes, but that was okay. Here, the Sangre de Cristos are really beautiful:

 

The only girl child here is in utero.

We stayed at a hotel that had a mini water park inside, which was a big hit with all our boys. Luckily John had had swimming lessons this summer, so he was able to go down the very tall, very twisty, very super fun water slide. Liam mostly jumped off the edge to Daddy.

We got home quite exhausted but happy, and I'm so glad we managed to fit some vacation into this summer!

Half a Year

I am (finally) six months pregnant and it's great to be in the home stretch. If you like comparisons, click here to see me at four months pregnant.

I feel bigger than I look here. Isn't John cute?

In India they decorate pregnant women's bellies with henna paint to celebrate the pregnancy, the way they paint hands and feet for other occasions. This woman is really celebrating her pregnancy:

How wrong is it to use a copyrighted photo? Does it make it any better if I provide the source?
http://www.dfwfunnybusiness.com/images/face_paint/karen_henna/henna_pregnant_lady.jpg

I had the opportunity to get my belly painted, which at the time seemed like the coolest thing in the entire world. If you can bear to look at my pasty white skin and stretch marks, here she goes:

It's a peacock with flowers. That's as girly as I get, even for Little Miss.

Perhaps I should have wrapped up in a sarong like the woman above. I probably would have had a more euphoric experience.

It's all in the math. Or the pudding.

You'll have to forgive any errors I make in the following proof. I haven't written any proofs since high school. But at least, the proof is in the pudding, and I have made pudding.

Given:

 Pregnant 
 =

Crockpot.

Given: The entire city of Albuquerque still uses swamp coolers. Still. 

Given: The Swamp Cooler Equation: x - 15 = y

Where x is the outside temperature in degrees Fahrenheit, and y is the indoor temperature in degrees Fahrenheit.

If x = 100

And Sears ran out of window AC units 

Then: y = 85

And

Epilogue: It is true that I did cry when Jeremy came home to tell me that Sears was sold out of window refrigerated air units. But the good news is that today -- the very next day -- was better for two reasons: One: It rained for the first time since our drought, so it cooled off a little outside, and two: we had the bright idea to keep the cooler running all night, instead of turning it off. We usually turn it off at night because it has no thermostat and only two settings: on and off. But lo and behold, we slept better with it on, even though it must have used a ton of electricity and water.

It's been busy

I see that I haven't posted anything for a month now, so let me explain.

We're going on our third straight weekend of stomach flu. It's been hitting us each weekend (today, it's Liam and John; last week, me; before that, John). I guess it's nice that we're healthy again come the weekday rush of work, summer activities, and house hunting (more on that), but it is a bummer to have every weekend turned into a sick-fest. This weekend was even supposed to be a vacation getaway to the sand dunes in Southern Colorado. Postponed for August!

I mentioned house hunting. That has of course been quite stressful, but we're almost ready to make an offer on one of two houses. They're both really great houses and it's hard to pick! We're only looking in the small area included in John's elementary school, because John doesn't transition well. Let me repeat: John REALLY doesn't transition well. So we aren't messing with the good thing we've got going.

And finally, I guess I haven't written much here because it's been a rather rough pregnancy. The nausea in the beginning was pretty bad, and while that's gone now, I'm really, really beat. Two naps a day beat! Does that border on crazy, or what?! But it's fun to think of having a daughter in the family soon. Someone gave me a bag of baby girl clothes, and it was nearing pink-floral-princess overload. I guess things are about to change here!

That's the news that's fit to print. Now we'll see how long till my next post....

Yes, I Am.

Yes, I am pregnant. Here is my four months pooch taken yesterday:

Previously, with #1 and #2, people said, "You don't look x months!" I'd get my mid-pregnancy ultrasound and find out it was a boy, and they'd say, "You don't even look pregnant!" That was always very annoying to me. I was measuring perfectly on track; I just kept the little tyke tucked up inside my lengthy torso. Maybe some people thought it was flattering to say I looked too small, but it felt more like they were denying all the misery I go through in the first trimester. If it was going to cost me so much to be pregnant, then I wanted something to show for it!

This time I look bigger (and I even measure bigger). The rumors even started flying around church when I was only 8 weeks along. Hopefully this is because it's #3, and has nothing to do with the possibility that this is #3 AND #4. We find out tomorrow!


P.S. If I have offended you by telling you that you were showing before you wanted to be showing, I am sincerely sorry. I used to think all women would want to be showing, like me, and have since learned that is not the case. But everyone else must be nuts.

A Riddle

I have a riddle for you to decipher. First one to guess gets a prize. But you'll have to come here to get it if you really want it that bad.

1. Junior high flashback time. Pass the Clearasil!
2. Fingers crossed that after we buy a house this summer there will be enough money left over for a new car.
3. I don't have to travel anywhere this holiday season!

April Fool's

After eating worm sandwiches for dinner (which didn't really fool anyone), I hyped up dessert and went into the kitchen to prepare it.


I came out carrying plates like this (minus the "fish sticks"), saying we were having mashed potatoes and vegetables for dessert.

It looked completely convincing so John walked off with a look of disgust and indignation. It was priceless!

The "mashed potatoes" are really ice cream with butterscotch topping, and the "vegetables" are candy. I used orange and green Starburst to make "cooked carrots" and "lima beans" that were fairly convincing. (Chop the orange ones into dices; soften the green ones in the microwave before making lima bean shapes.) The combination of potatoes and veggies helps the trick look realistic.

March Birthdays

In our family the birthdays are nicely organized: kids in March, parents in April. It's handy. So here are some snippets from each of the boy's birthday parties.

John turned seven and had a party with six other kids. We're glad we only have to have seven seven year-olds in our house once this year.

Playing Twister

Dad's a good sport to join in on freeze tag.

He wanted Dunkin Donuts instead of a cake. Works for me!

Here's how he looked a few weeks before his birthday, missing his two front teeth. 

 

 Liam was sick on his birthday, so we waited several days to celebrate. We invited the families of the children in his playgroup to meet us at the park for a picnic and cupcakes. Unfortunately, none of them could come! We had fun ourselves anyway. It was great park weather that day.

Sampling the frosting for his cupcakes. "Yes, Mom, it's good."

High-impact cupcake eating.

When the ice cream truck drove by playing its music, Liam stopped to dance.

Opening presents. John drew Liam a nice picture.

Going down the double slide together.

Missing You...

I have been missing Chapel Hill keenly lately, and not just because they won the ACC tournament. Again.

I miss the warm spring. I'm finding that spring doesn't come to Albuquerque as quickly as it comes to North Carolina. I may have grown up in a place where winter can last over half the year, but it's been a long time since then and I've become accustomed to a different pattern. I haven't seen a single bud anywhere and we get frigid winds off and on. I'm not so sure I like this high elevation at the moment.

I miss the hospital! That sounds a little dumb. But the floors and chairs were clean. It was five minutes away. There were awesome doctors and midwives. It's kind of frustrating trying to find new health care providers I like! And the hospital is a 30 minute drive into downtown, because the nicer, closer hospital won't accept the insurance given us by the largest/most influential company in town.

I miss the personality. A little bit of the South, a little bit of the East, and a lot of Chapel Hill. Things here in the Southwest are quite laid back, which would be good if it didn't extend into things that you shouldn't be laid back about. Like education, health care, coming to birthday parties when they actually start, etc. And Chapel Hill of course has a vibe all its own. Someone recently said to me, "That must have been hard moving here from Chapel Hill. That's one hip little town." Yes, indeed, it is.

So if you live in Chapel Hill, hug a tree for me. Thanks.

These are some delicious scones

John and I have gone gluten-free since the beginning of January. We aren't hard-core, avoiding things like malt flavoring and chicken bouillon, but nevertheless it has been an adjustment. I had been wondering about the diet for John for a little while, because it can help children with problems like his. So when my doctor suggested I try it for my tricksy tummy, it seemed like a great time to start.

In the past month, I have learned that wheat -- or gluten -- must be some kind of chemical marvel, provided by God to make cooking easy. To attempt to replicate its qualities in a baked good requires at least three ingredients. There's no single thing like it. Gluten-free recipes call for a mixture of a) one or more grainy flours, b) one or more starchy flours, and c) the mystical zanthan gum.

You'll never guess what zanthan gum is. When I was pregnant with Liam and could not tolerate wheat, I refused to make gluten-free baked goods because I refused to use zanthan gum. (I was nauseous and it was so easy to get grossed out). Zanthan gum is dehydrated bacteria -- the kind that begins to form on your veggies when they get old and slimy. Or least a byproduct or something. Anyhow, I wanted to vomit thinking about it.

But now I'm not pregnant, and I also have a 6 year old who is expecting his pancakes and bread and bagels, and I husband who said I tortured him last time. So there's a canister of zanthan gum in my pantry. And ooooo did I just make some delicious scones using it.

I'm still not happy with my pizza crusts yet. But I guess my gut is happy.

Baby, it's Cold Outside

A little hat for your nose. I don't know why this accessory hasn't caught on more.

Jeremy has been commuting to work, on his bike, in wind chills in the single digits. He rides something like 80 miles in a week, so I made him go to the bike store to get proper clothing (I had to "make" him because he didn't want to spend the money). Now he says he's great except for his nose. So last night, while we watched Dr. Who save the earth again, I made this little contraption. I wouldn't tell him what it was until I was all finished (nor could he figure it out without me putting it on him).

You should see it on Jeremy -- it fits his face so much better and looks mahvelous.

Surprisingly, people actually make these (besides me). I found four separate instructions online. This one is particularly worth having a laugh look at. Mine is much more masculine, don't you think?

Now why in the world did he leave it at home today???

These are handsome boys

My two bigger boys went to BYU's bowl game here last month. Liam and I came for the ward's tailgate party, then went home for nap time. You can't mess with nap time.

 I've always thought Jeremy looks great with hat hair. Not kidding. See what I mean?

 The players doing their football stuff. Whatever that is.

 This is Mitch Payne, BYU's kicker. Seems like a nice guy. He holds BYU's all-time scoring record. John and Jeremy were just in the right place at the right time to get this picture.

BYU wins the game, and John seems to be pleased. Jeremy said it was close for about the first two minutes. UTEP never stood a chance against my alma mater.