::::::Warning...this is a ridiculously long blog that summarizes my summer. Read at your own risk and leisure! If you don't make it though, I don't blame you :) I really just like to do this so that I remember things that happen as Rex is growing but welcome and love readers! Happy reading! ::::::
So my little Rex will be 20 months old in just 5 days. That leaves only 4 months until I have a two year old!! Whoa...that was weird typing that out! A two year old! It's funny because, he still seems like my baby. I guess I really am beginning to understand why our parents say we will always be their baby. He's still my baby baby to me...but he definitely has grown quite a bit in the last few weeks!
Our summer came to and end Sunday night since I went back to work yesterday. It was definitely a bittersweet thing. I was really ready to go back to work. I do not function well at home. I don't like to stay at home. I LOVE being off to be with Rex and spending that time with him but I don't like physically being at home all day. I knew it before and have said it before and I'll say it again: I would be the worst housewife EVER! I get very lazy and can literally do nothing all day because whatever needs to be done can be done "later" since I have time but "later" never comes and I end up doing nothing. I'm not proud of the woman I become in the summer! When I'm at work, I'm in work mode and I know I only have x amount of time to get things done so, they get done. Hats off to the mommy's who have the motivation to get things done at home!! I honestly wish I enjoyed it more. To each their own, right?
The bitter part of going back is, of course, not being with Rex all day. He's becoming quite the character! My favorite new thing he is doing is our bed time ritual. I take him to his crib, kiss him goodnight and lay him down. His Nana (Corey's mom) got him a little Precious Moments Stuffed Animal that says a night time prayer: "Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. May Angels watch me through the night, and keep me in their blessed site. Amen!" We start the prayer with the sign of the cross and then I press the button for the prayer. He smiles every time I play it! At the end we say "God bless Mommy and Daddy and My Whoooooole family" while lifting our hands up when we say "whoooooole family." This is something Ms. Anna does with the kiddo's when they say grace at lunch so we continued it into night time. We end with the sign of the cross again with a kiss on the hand at the end. When he kisses his hand he goes "Mmm-aaaaa!" It is absolutely precious! When he did it for the first time last week, my heart just melted! If there is one thing I pray that I can teach my son, it is to have faith in and believe in God. I'm glad we've started that early!
In July, we re-assessed Rex's development to determine if we should continue or discontinue physical therapy. I'm very excited to say Rex is no longer receiving Physical therapy! He has made so much progress! He goes up and down small steps without hesitation and has even started climbing up big stairs on his hands and knees which is a big jump since he never crawled. He LOVES being on top of the bed and couch. He says "Up, up, up, up, up, up" Over and over to get me to help him up on the couch or bed. He thinks it's hilarious to plop down on the cushions and fall over! He is also loving pillow fights and being knocked over! He's only fallen off the couch once and it wasn't too big of a disaster :) I know there are many falls to come! He is also going down the slide in our backyard on his own. I have to admit, I didn't know he could do that! Ashley C. and I were busy inside doing something while Scarlet and Rex were playing outside. It was then that he went down on his own! That was definitely an a-ha moment when I realized I needed to quit worrying so much and let him figure things out on his own.
Feeding him is still a challenge sometimes. His latest thing he does when he doesn't like something is that he will gag! It drives me bananas! He has actually thrown up twice just a little bit! Little stinker! Some of the things he loves are yogurt, white grapes, string cheese, applesauce, strawberries, goldfish (What would I do without goldfish!), ritz crackers, Turkey, potates and gravy Lil' Entree by Gerber, spaghetti, mexican rice and taco meet, spaghetti, chicken nuggets, french fries and cheerios. Oh and baby food! My 20 month old is probably the only little weirdo who still likes baby food and baby oatmeal. I feel bad giving it to him because I feel like he's too old for it but sometimes, that's all I can get him to eat! I try to squeeze in other things as much as i can but most of the time I'm unsuccessful. I'm not going to lie, one thing that makes me feel even better about him being back at Ms. Anna's is that I know he is eating good at lunch! He loves her cooking and loves Mexican food!
We officially have a dog in the house! My little Bella is finally back home with me. She's been with my mom since I moved out. We were supposed to take her when we bought our house but never did. Rex absolutely loves her and Bella does really well with him so we decided to finally get her. I was sitting in my bedroom the other day and all of a sudden Rex came running faster than I've ever seen him run! And here came Bella behind him! I love that he has his little buddy with him!
We recently got new neighbors in July. I was so worried about what our new neighbors would be like because our old neighbors, Jeff and Jana, were wonderful! We couldn't have asked for better first-neighbors! So the new ones had big shoes to fill! Our new neighbors are Danny and Jessica and they have a little girl named Ella who is a month older than Rex. Can you say PERFECT???!! From day one, we've gotten along great with Danny and Jessica and have clicked so well and so have Rex and Ella!! We have definitely hit the neighbor jackpot twice! Having great neighbors is one of those things you don't understand the importance of until you live in your own place.
Over the summer we got to spend quite a bit of time with Ashley Olive, Drake and Hunter and of course, my number one sidekick Ashley Collier and Rex's number one, Scarlet :) Over the summer Ashley Olive found out baby number 3 is on the way!! I am so so stinking excited!!! Brandon, her husband and Corey's cousin, was not able to get off work to go with her to her first appointment and she didn't want to go alone so she asked me to go to help her with the boys. The boys didn't end up going but she still had me go with her. Honored sounds like such a cheesy word to use but I felt so honored that she asked me to go to share something so special. She is due in March and I could not be more excited! It was so much fun watching Rex, Drake and Hunter play together this summer. We got to do a couple of group dates with Ashley and Scarlet to the Childrens Museum so the kids could play in the TotSpot. The kids had a blast! We plan on having Rex's birthday there! The majority of my summer days was spent with Ashley Collier house shopping for her and Cody. I'm a sucker for looking at houses so it didn't take much convincing! Not to mention, again, it was a great honor to help her do that. If it weren't for my two Ashley's, I seriously would have been depressed being stuck at home all summer! I love you girls! Yay for best friends who are teachers too!! Watching Rex and Scarlet play together has been one of my favorite things to witness. They play so well together! They hardly fight and are always having fun. They'll be even closer now that Scarlet is going to Ms. Anna's full time! It's so precious!
Ashley Collier and I got to experience cheer camp for the first time as sponsors. Our camp this year was put on by the Pasadena Memorial cheerleaders who did an AMAZING job! Our girls improved so much over the week that we were at camp. They got camp chant champs and we also had our mascot and 3 of our cheerleaders name to the all star squad. Needless to say, we were very proud of them! Not gonna lie, some of the fun cheerleader games and dances brought be back into being a kid again! I had to remind myself that I was the adult this time and not the kid and couldn't get up and dance silly like the girls were! It was a very tough internal battle to fight that off! :) I'm really looking forward to working with the cheerleaders this year.
My big summer project was fixing my taqueria of a house and redecorating to fix the God-awful paint color we chose the first time around. With help of a wonderful decorator named Billy Marbery, we got it together starting with the perfect paint color! Corey and I painted the house again. We also added bead boarding to the bottom half of the dinning room walls with the bottom half being painted a truffle brown. We mounted our TV on the fire place and turned out living room around. Rex now has a designated play area on the back side of the couch where I put a bunch of low shelves with cube openings where he can store his books and toys. The wall above my shelves will be a work in progress. The room looks great already! Makes me love my house even more now that we've made it more our own.
Sadly my summer ended on a very sad note for the Lopez side of my family. My great-Aunt Catherine (My grandpa's sister) passed away on Friday, August 10. It was very difficult seeing her in the hospital those last few days before she passed because my aunt Catherine was always so active. She was 86 years old and still driving around! Family was so important to Aunt Catherine. She never missed a celebration for our family, even though we were not her immediate family. Although it was for a short time between when Rex was born and when she passed, she never missed an event for him. She was at my shower, his baptism, his birthday party and even the little halloween party I hosted for the kiddo's last year and everything in between for the rest of her extended family members. When I had Rex and had those gatherings for him, I really grew to appreciate her presence at each event. I will miss her very much. She was my Momo's best friend and I know she will miss her very very much. I know we will see her again, though, and I know she is with us. If you've gotten this far in my blog, please pray for our family, especially her daughters, grandchildren, sisters, and my Momo.
I've been back at work for 2 days and I'm already super busy! I'm teaching a new thing for the 3rd year in a row but very excited to be working in special education which is where my education background is. I'm going to be doing mostly inclusion in general education classrooms and will teach a math resource class. I'm excited about the subject change but not so excited about the room change as I had to give up my giant science room since I did not need it! I was blessed to inherit all of the materials of my good friend and former 4th grade teacher, Leigh Anne Lidrbauch since I replaced her position (she is our new peer facilitator) so I don't think I will need to buy math materials, thanks to her! Hopefully this will be the last time for a long time that I need to move rooms! I'm definitely looking forward to getting my room together and done by the end of this week! I'm ready to see the finished project! And I'm excited for our new school year! Our cheerleaders are looking great already so I'm very excited about that too!
If you've made it this far, you deserve a medal! But you can't say I didn't warn you! :)
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Friday, July 13, 2012
Two years as Mrs. Robinson
This blog is a little delayed (surprise, surprise) but better late than never, as I always say!
Corey and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary a little over a week ago on the 4th of July. It feels like so much longer than two years. And I mean that in a good way :) It's probably because in those 2 years we've done so much.
When we "re-met" each other in February of 2009, I never thought in a million years we would end up where we are. It's so amazing how we really have no clue what God has planned for us. We moved in together in October of that same year and Corey proposed exactly a year after we re-met each other on February 13, 2010. At that point we had planned on getting married in March of 2011 but we got an unexpected surprise in April when I found out I was pregnant! With the help of my mom, aunts and cousins, we moved our wedding way up and planned a wedding from start to finish in just 8 weeks! We chose the 4th of July as our wedding date because it was on a Sunday that year (finding a venue on a Saturday with that late of notice was impossible) and it was just in time for me to still have a small enough pregnant belly to not look pregnant in a wedding gown. I was 12 weeks pregnant when we got married.
This is one of my favorite pictures from our wedding that captures the date
After we got married, I got a position teaching Texas History at the school I was already working at. We started home shopping in August as well and bought our home in September. Then our precious Rex was born the day after Christmas to top off our whirlwind of a year! So, I graduated from college (Dec 09), got engaged, got married, started teaching, bought a house, and had a baby all within a year! Do you see why it seems so much longer than 2 years??? :)
As we came upon our anniversary, we were stronger as a couple than we ever had been before. I'm more in love with my husband than I ever have been before. I started thinking about what helped us get to that point. We have fun together, we're silly together, we have a beautiful son together, we balance each other out with our personalities. Then I realized a surprising thing that made us strong: Fighting and arguing. What??? Fighting and arguing?? If someone had told me years ago that fighting and arguing are what would help make my marriage stronger, I probably would have run away from the idea of marriage!
Let me explain... One of my favorite things about Corey and I is our ability to communicate with each other. When we have a disagreement, of course we start off butting heads. But after we both cool off from the initial disagreement, we almost always are able to not only discuss the situation calmly, but come to a resolution together. The key though, is not only getting your own feelings out, but listening to the others feelings. If you are not listening to someone's feelings, it is likely that nothing will be accomplished. Corey and I were 22 and 23 when we got married. That's pretty young. We are still growing as individuals. We have to pray that we continue to grow together and never apart. Marriage is not an easy thing, especially when little ones come into the picture. Children are such a beautiful blessing and a wonderful addition to a marriage but to say that children bring only joy and no challenge to a marriage would be naive. I would have never imagined that one of our biggest fights would end up being one of our most triumphant moments as a couple. An argument that could have been so detrimental to our relationship ended up being one of the best things that happened to us which is why I am surprisingly thankful for those fights. Now...just to clarify...just because arguments typically help make us stronger doesn't mean we do it all the time! It's the times that we do fight that this happens :)
The perfect song for this: Jason Mraz's "I won't give up"
My favorite line: "We got a lot to learn. God knows we're worth it. No, I won't give up."
So next time you get into a fight with your significant other or even a family member or friend, try to look at it as a growing and learning moment rather than something negative in your relationship.
I doubt he will read this but if you do, Corey, I love you more than words can describe and I'm so thankful for every kiss, hug, happy moment and even every fight. Can't wait to see what the future holds!
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
18 Months Old!
I'm a few days late with this but...better late than never I guess! My baby turned 18 months old last Tuesday. Every parent says this and it gets a little old but...where has the time gone?? He's not a baby anymore...gosh...he's a toddler! Of course he will always be my baby but he's turning into a little person!
We went yesterday for his 18 month check up. I was very relieved to discover that he would not be getting any shots. Woohoo! He will get one more when he's two but nothing between now and then.
He's growing and gaining weight. Here are his latest growth charts they give us every time we go in for a well-child check up.
We went yesterday for his 18 month check up. I was very relieved to discover that he would not be getting any shots. Woohoo! He will get one more when he's two but nothing between now and then.
We were very excited about no shots!
He's growing and gaining weight. Here are his latest growth charts they give us every time we go in for a well-child check up.
I'm not sure how clear those pictures will show but he is in the 22nd percentile for weight and 33rd percentile for height. He's my little guy :) He's always been in the lower percentiles since birth but he's progressively catching up. But let's be realistic, with the parents and grand parents he's got, it's not likely that he'll ever be in the higher percentiles! He's a very picky eater so I was a little worried about how little he's eating but Dr. Jimmerson said if he's growing, pooping, and peeing, no worries.
She asked me if we had any concerns. I told her we're very happy with the progress he's made with his gross motor development. His physical therapy has been wonderful and definitely a God sent. We are a little concerned with his speech development though. He says a few words: dog, bye-bye, uh-oh, and up. When he's crying he says mamamamama. If he wants something or wants to get my attention he says (well shouts) what sounds like "Meh!" It's kind of hard to spell out baby sounds! haha! If he wants to turn the light on, he says "aa-puu" but I'm not sure what that really translates to. His receptive language is great. If we tell him something, he definitely understands a lot. We can tell him to throw something in the trash, close the door, stand up, sit down, put your shoes on, change your butt (change your diaper :) ), take it to your room, etc. etc. He knows where his belly, eyes and nose are and knows where mommy's are too. Dr. Jimmerson said that he should be putting two word sentences together by 18 months which he is definitely not doing. To be completely honest, I was a little surprised that she said they should be putting two words together by 18 months. To me that seems a little early but, nonetheless, I still agree he should be saying more. Next week ECI is coming out to do Rex's 6 month re-evaluation for his physical therapy. At that time, they will also assess his speech therapy. If it is determined that he does qualify for speech therapy, I'm assuming services will continue with ECI but with a speech therapist instead of his physical therapist. Dr. Jimmerson also wants to have his hearing tested to see if that could be a cause of his speech delay so we should be doing that fairly soon. Although we've had and are still hitting a few bumps in the road with Rex's development, I'm not overly freaking out or anything like that. I know that these are semi-typical delays that many children experience and I really don't feel like it's anything cognitively wrong with him. God willing, these are things that in a few years, it will not be evident that he experienced them.
One thing I do know for sure is that this boy loves to sing already! He woke up a couple of weeks ago singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." I didn't even realize that he knew the song and he woke up singing it on his own without hearing it or anything. It was so sweet! Needless to say, we sing that song quite a bit now. Most of the time, he starts singing it on his own randomly. I think it's so sweet that he just has music going in his head constantly. He will start singing whether we're playing inside or outside, or at the grocery store or eating dinner. I LOVE it! Now that I think about it, he always hummed even as a baby baby. It wasn't any specific tune, just humming. My Momo does the same thing so it always made me think of her. I'm praying he is musically inclined in some way. Corey was in choir and I was in band so I hope Rex follows in our footsteps.
He loves talking to himself in the mirror. When he sees himself he tries to say "Hi Rex!" I always say that to him when we stand in the mirror. Now he likes to peek over the side of the stand up mirror we have in our bedroom so it's like he's playing peek-a-boo with himself. He thinks it's pretty hilarious!
Here he is giving Rex kisses!
He's eating with a spoon. That was a very proud Mommy and Daddy moment! He still goes back and forth between using his hands and the spoon and he also still lets me feed him.
The toddler attitude is definitely starting to show a little more as time goes on. When he gets angry, he will yell and sometimes growls his little Rex growl. I joke that he knows his name is Rex and that a T-Rex growls! haha! He also throws his arms around sometimes and likes to scratch us if he is upset. The scratching is what has gotten him a little swat on the caboose. If he doesn't stop after I tell him no, the swat happens. I think he's getting the picture, though, because typically if I tell him "No!" very firmly, he will give me a hug immediately after. Thus far, the temper tantrums haven't been too bad. He's always been a pretty mild-mannered baby so lets see if that continues.
I'm super excited about being home with him for summer. I'm trying to keep him on the same feeding and napping schedule that he's on regularly at Ms. Anna's. So far, so good. This is only the beginning of Mommy and Rex's annual summer adventures and I can't wait to see what we get ourselves into!
Monday, June 11, 2012
On your feet! And the beginnings of summer :)
One day...I hope to fulfill my hopes of blogging regularly. One day... :)
I'll start with another "Rex milestone." Since he started walking, our next challenge to tackle was standing up on his own. He's been able to pull up for awhile but it took him awhile to generalize it. For example, he could pull up on a toy basket that I had weighted down with books and could pull up on the couch with no problem. He was struggling with pulling up on other things, though, and also struggled with standing up without pulling up on something. It's been a definite work in progress that we started months ago. He started pulling up on random things much better about a month or 2 ago but the free standing has been more of a challenge. We started with teaching him to lean forward and put his hands down on the floor. Over the last few months, we've guided him to position himself to hold his upper body up with his arms then bend his legs to stand up. Again, because he never crawled, this motion and position did not come naturally to him. For a long time, he would rock his body forward like he wanted to get into the position but didn't quite make it all the way. About 2 weeks ago, he got to the point where if we helped him get on his hands, he was able to stand up from there. BIG accomplishment! We were so proud with just that! Last Friday, June 1, we were hanging at Cody and Ashley's having a little girls night in. Rex was completely restless and was being mr. busy body, as usual. He ended up on the ground and FINALLY stood up completely on his own!!! SOOO exciting! During the following week, he still struggled with it quite a bit but this last weekend, he really got it down! He's standing up with no problem now! In fact, sometimes he sits down again on purpose so that we can clap for him again! haha! Sometimes his little shoes get in the way of his flow but he's working on it!
It's so interesting to me to see how he does things exactly the way that we've taught him through physical therapy. He did the same thing when he learned the motions for pulling up and sitting up on his own from laying down. It really is amazing how the brain works. Our next challenge is to get him to step up and down on steps. He thinks he can't take them but, of course, he really can. For example, when the transition happens between the patio and the grass, he stops on whichever side he's on and waits for us to grab his hand to cross over to the other side. I typically put my hand out just enough to where he reaches for it and takes the step on his own. He does pretty well with it but sometimes he's hard headed. Catching himself better with his arms when he falls is also another big obstacle we're working on.
I'm loving the fact that his little personality is starting to show. If there's one thing I know for sure, it's that he is such a loving, sweet hearted child. He loves giving hugs to his friends! Rex and Scarlet have gotten to see each other a lot more here lately because she is going to Ms. Anna's a couple of days a week. As soon as Rex sees her, he goes straight to her and gives her hugs and pats her! Our hearts just melt!! It's so so sweet to see the bond they have! It took awhile, I think because she was walking so much sooner than Rex. But now that he's keeping up with her, they play SO well together. Needless to say, Ashley and I are just smitten! :) Our plan to make Rex and Scarlet husband and wife is playing out just as we planned! haha! Just kidding :) We know they will probably be just the best of friends and that's perfectly fine with us.
Rex loves to take clothes out of the dresser drawers. When he takes them out, he does it with such determination! He grabs the item and throws it on the floor! Seeing him attempt to put clothes back is quite amusing too!
Awhile back, he started scratching us when he becomes upset. For example, if we tell him "No!" or take something away from him, he scratches your arm. No matter how firm of a voice I would get, little stinker was persistent and would keep doing it and laugh at me on top of it! Daddy decided it was time for a little swat on the caboose so my little stinky got his first little spanking a few weeks ago. I know there is much controversy on "corporal" punishment but I have to say that since we started doing that, he has not been doing it as much and it is obvious he is thinking about it before he does it. Sometimes he will do one finger instead of the whole hand. Sometimes he will lift his hand to scratch then take it back. There was even a time when he was about to scratch me but I caught him and told him "No!" and he put his head on my shoulder and patted my back! Aside from that, we have a pretty well behaved, non-temperamental little toddler. Time will tell how long that will last! Last week when we were leaving my mom's, Rex wasn't ready to leave. Usually I say "Ok! Let's go bye bye!" and he'll start saying "bye-bye" and wave to go. This time he was NOT ready! When I went to get him, he actually growled at me! It was the funniest thing! I told my mom, he must know his name is also the name of a very large dinosaur! haha!
My newest niece Melania Grace Anzaldua was born last Monday, June 4. She's absolutely beautiful! She brings my niece/nephew count up to 20!!! Just one of the many blessings of coming from a mixed family! When Rex saw her, he immediately shook his head at her!
School is out for summer! Tomorrow summer school begins for 3 weeks. I'm crossing my fingers for a good experience! We'll see how it goes!
Let's see who got this far...I'm very hesitant to "say" this "out loud" because I'm sort of superstitious about it but I'm going to roll with it...Corey and I have decided we're ready to be serious about trying for little Robinson #2 :) I don't like to plan...I like for God to take the lead. That's what He's done with everything "big" in my life. NOTHING has gone as I planned but it has worked out the way He planned and the way it was supposed to be! So we're not necessarily "planning" but giving a little boost to God's plan and praying it will all play out just the way it's supposed to!
I'll start with another "Rex milestone." Since he started walking, our next challenge to tackle was standing up on his own. He's been able to pull up for awhile but it took him awhile to generalize it. For example, he could pull up on a toy basket that I had weighted down with books and could pull up on the couch with no problem. He was struggling with pulling up on other things, though, and also struggled with standing up without pulling up on something. It's been a definite work in progress that we started months ago. He started pulling up on random things much better about a month or 2 ago but the free standing has been more of a challenge. We started with teaching him to lean forward and put his hands down on the floor. Over the last few months, we've guided him to position himself to hold his upper body up with his arms then bend his legs to stand up. Again, because he never crawled, this motion and position did not come naturally to him. For a long time, he would rock his body forward like he wanted to get into the position but didn't quite make it all the way. About 2 weeks ago, he got to the point where if we helped him get on his hands, he was able to stand up from there. BIG accomplishment! We were so proud with just that! Last Friday, June 1, we were hanging at Cody and Ashley's having a little girls night in. Rex was completely restless and was being mr. busy body, as usual. He ended up on the ground and FINALLY stood up completely on his own!!! SOOO exciting! During the following week, he still struggled with it quite a bit but this last weekend, he really got it down! He's standing up with no problem now! In fact, sometimes he sits down again on purpose so that we can clap for him again! haha! Sometimes his little shoes get in the way of his flow but he's working on it!
It's so interesting to me to see how he does things exactly the way that we've taught him through physical therapy. He did the same thing when he learned the motions for pulling up and sitting up on his own from laying down. It really is amazing how the brain works. Our next challenge is to get him to step up and down on steps. He thinks he can't take them but, of course, he really can. For example, when the transition happens between the patio and the grass, he stops on whichever side he's on and waits for us to grab his hand to cross over to the other side. I typically put my hand out just enough to where he reaches for it and takes the step on his own. He does pretty well with it but sometimes he's hard headed. Catching himself better with his arms when he falls is also another big obstacle we're working on.
I'm loving the fact that his little personality is starting to show. If there's one thing I know for sure, it's that he is such a loving, sweet hearted child. He loves giving hugs to his friends! Rex and Scarlet have gotten to see each other a lot more here lately because she is going to Ms. Anna's a couple of days a week. As soon as Rex sees her, he goes straight to her and gives her hugs and pats her! Our hearts just melt!! It's so so sweet to see the bond they have! It took awhile, I think because she was walking so much sooner than Rex. But now that he's keeping up with her, they play SO well together. Needless to say, Ashley and I are just smitten! :) Our plan to make Rex and Scarlet husband and wife is playing out just as we planned! haha! Just kidding :) We know they will probably be just the best of friends and that's perfectly fine with us.
Rex loves to take clothes out of the dresser drawers. When he takes them out, he does it with such determination! He grabs the item and throws it on the floor! Seeing him attempt to put clothes back is quite amusing too!
Awhile back, he started scratching us when he becomes upset. For example, if we tell him "No!" or take something away from him, he scratches your arm. No matter how firm of a voice I would get, little stinker was persistent and would keep doing it and laugh at me on top of it! Daddy decided it was time for a little swat on the caboose so my little stinky got his first little spanking a few weeks ago. I know there is much controversy on "corporal" punishment but I have to say that since we started doing that, he has not been doing it as much and it is obvious he is thinking about it before he does it. Sometimes he will do one finger instead of the whole hand. Sometimes he will lift his hand to scratch then take it back. There was even a time when he was about to scratch me but I caught him and told him "No!" and he put his head on my shoulder and patted my back! Aside from that, we have a pretty well behaved, non-temperamental little toddler. Time will tell how long that will last! Last week when we were leaving my mom's, Rex wasn't ready to leave. Usually I say "Ok! Let's go bye bye!" and he'll start saying "bye-bye" and wave to go. This time he was NOT ready! When I went to get him, he actually growled at me! It was the funniest thing! I told my mom, he must know his name is also the name of a very large dinosaur! haha!
My newest niece Melania Grace Anzaldua was born last Monday, June 4. She's absolutely beautiful! She brings my niece/nephew count up to 20!!! Just one of the many blessings of coming from a mixed family! When Rex saw her, he immediately shook his head at her!
School is out for summer! Tomorrow summer school begins for 3 weeks. I'm crossing my fingers for a good experience! We'll see how it goes!
Let's see who got this far...I'm very hesitant to "say" this "out loud" because I'm sort of superstitious about it but I'm going to roll with it...Corey and I have decided we're ready to be serious about trying for little Robinson #2 :) I don't like to plan...I like for God to take the lead. That's what He's done with everything "big" in my life. NOTHING has gone as I planned but it has worked out the way He planned and the way it was supposed to be! So we're not necessarily "planning" but giving a little boost to God's plan and praying it will all play out just the way it's supposed to!
Friday, May 4, 2012
The role of a mother and a teacher
Over the last 2 months, I've really come face to face with the battle of being a Mommy and being a teacher. To be completely honest, before I proceed, I have to admit I feel guilty as a mother that I even have this debate in my head. I've been wanting to blog about it for awhile though because I'm willing to bet there are other teachers out here who experience the same thing.
When you are a mother and a teacher, you play two very important roles for children. Teachers who are mothers have two sets of "kids."
First and foremost, I am a mother to the most precious little boy who I love more than I could have ever imagined. There are no words for the joy I feel when I chase him around the house and he's cracking up, or when he learns new things, or pats momma on the back when he hugs me or when he says "Bye-bye" when I hang up the phone in the sweetest soft voice. I LOVE being a MOM and I especially love it when I see how much my baby loves his Momma. Being a mom is truly a blessing that I will be forever thankful to God for.
On the other hand, I am a teacher to my other set of kids. When you are a teacher (especially a female teacher), I think there is a sense of motherhood that comes along with it. I know this is not the case for all teachers but it definitely is for me. I feel a lot of the same emotions with my students that I do with my own child: Pride when they do something great, disappointment when they let me down, excitement when they accomplish something, etc. I am blessed that I can honestly say I LOOOOOVE my job! And I love my kids! Well...most of em! 92 kids is a lot to love...you can't love em all! haha! Just kidding...even the ones who drive me the craziest usually have at least a little something I enjoy about them. I've always known that I wanted to be a teacher and but I never in a million years thought I would be a 7th grade science teacher, much less did I ever think I would enjoy being a 7th grade science teacher as much as I do. While my job can be mentally draining and stressful and my kids can drive me insane, I can honestly say there's always a handful of kids who manage to put a smile on my face even on the toughest days. I've said to some of my co-workers before that I think you have to be of a special breed of teachers to work with crazy hormonal junior high kids!
While I've always known I wanted to be a mother and I wanted to be a teacher, I did not foresee the mental and emotional tug between the two. I hate that I don't get to spend as much time with Rex as I would like to. I wish I could make the money I do (not that it's so much!) and be able to spend more time with him. At the same time, I genuinely love being a teacher and because I work with kids, I think there is more of an emotional attachment to my job.The last two months have literally been non-stop! Between March 5 and now, we've had cheer try-outs, spring break, two rounds of STAAR testing, 8 weeks of Cinco de Mayo practice and finally our big show we had today (Which was great, by the way!)During this crazy busy time, Rex unfortunately has gotten sick a couple of times. When Rex gets sick, there's a multitude of thoughts running through my head: As a mom, OF COURSE not only do I want to stay home but I NEED to stay home with my baby and take care of him. I am his mom, he doesn't feel well, he's clingy, he NEEDS his momma. But I'm also feeling the need to go to work. So then the teacher thoughts start running: Will my kids be on their best behavior if I stay home? How far back is this going to set me with curriculum? Oh gosh, I need to be there to help so-and-so with this assignment, etc, etc. Just like no one else can do your job as a mother exactly the way you would do it, no one else can do your job as a teacher exactly the way you would do it. The thing about being a teacher is that you are dealing with someone's child. That students you're dealing with are someone's world just like my child is my whole world. As a mom, I would want my child to have the best education possible with the best teachers who put their best effort in. While I have them for one year of my career, they have me the ONE year they will be in 7th grade. They don't get to say "Oh, I'll do that better or different next year" One really bad year for a kid can literally be a life altering thing for them (depending on the subject, of course). So as a teacher, I don't feel like it's OK to have a "bad year" because it's an injustice to the kids that had to deal with your "one bad year." For the record, I know missing a few days here and there doesn't automatically mean I I'm having a bad year and being a horrible teacher...but you get my point! Right? :)
Anyway, The debate is how to feel and what is "right" and what is "wrong." If I stay home, I'm feeling great as a mom but guilty as a teacher. If I go to work, I feel great as a teacher but horrible as a mom. I wonder so many things: Do other working moms feel this attachment to work? Is it just a teacher thing? Am I a workaholic? Am I a bad mom for feeling that attachment? Is there a happy balance between the two? On a more positive note I think...well...maybe it's a good thing as a teacher that I feel that way because it reminds me that I genuinely care about my kids and my job. Soooooo many thoughts!! It's crazy!
I know that my most important role is being Rex's MOM. He is number one! If he's ever super sick, without hesitation or question, of course I would stay home and put work in the back seat. It's the other not-so-serious sick times that I'm talking about :)
As I think about it more and more, I think what's hard is that I've always been a busy-body, crazy busy kind of girl, even as a kid. I was always involved in a variety of things in school and that has definitely carried into adulthood for me. I have a bad habit of wanting (key word is wanting, no one forces me into these things!) to be involved in too much sometimes because that's how I've been my whole life! I think because being busy and being involved in a bunch of things is so normal for me, it's kind of hard to turn that part of me off now that I'm a Mom because that's part of who I am. I need to work on finding the best balance between being the best mom and wife possible and still doing things that I as a person want to do and want to accomplish.
I can only pray that I make the right and best decision for all involved.
Sorry this was so long...had to get it out!
When you are a mother and a teacher, you play two very important roles for children. Teachers who are mothers have two sets of "kids."
First and foremost, I am a mother to the most precious little boy who I love more than I could have ever imagined. There are no words for the joy I feel when I chase him around the house and he's cracking up, or when he learns new things, or pats momma on the back when he hugs me or when he says "Bye-bye" when I hang up the phone in the sweetest soft voice. I LOVE being a MOM and I especially love it when I see how much my baby loves his Momma. Being a mom is truly a blessing that I will be forever thankful to God for.
On the other hand, I am a teacher to my other set of kids. When you are a teacher (especially a female teacher), I think there is a sense of motherhood that comes along with it. I know this is not the case for all teachers but it definitely is for me. I feel a lot of the same emotions with my students that I do with my own child: Pride when they do something great, disappointment when they let me down, excitement when they accomplish something, etc. I am blessed that I can honestly say I LOOOOOVE my job! And I love my kids! Well...most of em! 92 kids is a lot to love...you can't love em all! haha! Just kidding...even the ones who drive me the craziest usually have at least a little something I enjoy about them. I've always known that I wanted to be a teacher and but I never in a million years thought I would be a 7th grade science teacher, much less did I ever think I would enjoy being a 7th grade science teacher as much as I do. While my job can be mentally draining and stressful and my kids can drive me insane, I can honestly say there's always a handful of kids who manage to put a smile on my face even on the toughest days. I've said to some of my co-workers before that I think you have to be of a special breed of teachers to work with crazy hormonal junior high kids!
While I've always known I wanted to be a mother and I wanted to be a teacher, I did not foresee the mental and emotional tug between the two. I hate that I don't get to spend as much time with Rex as I would like to. I wish I could make the money I do (not that it's so much!) and be able to spend more time with him. At the same time, I genuinely love being a teacher and because I work with kids, I think there is more of an emotional attachment to my job.The last two months have literally been non-stop! Between March 5 and now, we've had cheer try-outs, spring break, two rounds of STAAR testing, 8 weeks of Cinco de Mayo practice and finally our big show we had today (Which was great, by the way!)During this crazy busy time, Rex unfortunately has gotten sick a couple of times. When Rex gets sick, there's a multitude of thoughts running through my head: As a mom, OF COURSE not only do I want to stay home but I NEED to stay home with my baby and take care of him. I am his mom, he doesn't feel well, he's clingy, he NEEDS his momma. But I'm also feeling the need to go to work. So then the teacher thoughts start running: Will my kids be on their best behavior if I stay home? How far back is this going to set me with curriculum? Oh gosh, I need to be there to help so-and-so with this assignment, etc, etc. Just like no one else can do your job as a mother exactly the way you would do it, no one else can do your job as a teacher exactly the way you would do it. The thing about being a teacher is that you are dealing with someone's child. That students you're dealing with are someone's world just like my child is my whole world. As a mom, I would want my child to have the best education possible with the best teachers who put their best effort in. While I have them for one year of my career, they have me the ONE year they will be in 7th grade. They don't get to say "Oh, I'll do that better or different next year" One really bad year for a kid can literally be a life altering thing for them (depending on the subject, of course). So as a teacher, I don't feel like it's OK to have a "bad year" because it's an injustice to the kids that had to deal with your "one bad year." For the record, I know missing a few days here and there doesn't automatically mean I I'm having a bad year and being a horrible teacher...but you get my point! Right? :)
Anyway, The debate is how to feel and what is "right" and what is "wrong." If I stay home, I'm feeling great as a mom but guilty as a teacher. If I go to work, I feel great as a teacher but horrible as a mom. I wonder so many things: Do other working moms feel this attachment to work? Is it just a teacher thing? Am I a workaholic? Am I a bad mom for feeling that attachment? Is there a happy balance between the two? On a more positive note I think...well...maybe it's a good thing as a teacher that I feel that way because it reminds me that I genuinely care about my kids and my job. Soooooo many thoughts!! It's crazy!
I know that my most important role is being Rex's MOM. He is number one! If he's ever super sick, without hesitation or question, of course I would stay home and put work in the back seat. It's the other not-so-serious sick times that I'm talking about :)
As I think about it more and more, I think what's hard is that I've always been a busy-body, crazy busy kind of girl, even as a kid. I was always involved in a variety of things in school and that has definitely carried into adulthood for me. I have a bad habit of wanting (key word is wanting, no one forces me into these things!) to be involved in too much sometimes because that's how I've been my whole life! I think because being busy and being involved in a bunch of things is so normal for me, it's kind of hard to turn that part of me off now that I'm a Mom because that's part of who I am. I need to work on finding the best balance between being the best mom and wife possible and still doing things that I as a person want to do and want to accomplish.
I can only pray that I make the right and best decision for all involved.
Sorry this was so long...had to get it out!
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
He's a CHAMPION!
REX IS WALKING!!!!!! My baby is walking!! Over the last week, Rex has turned a huge leaf! It's been a very busy week too. Without getting into detail, our cousins Elia, Alejandra and Aile moved to Houston over Easter weekend. Aile is 4 months older than Rex and they have always had this bond anytime we would get them together. Since they're staying with us, obviously Rex and Aile have been spending a lot more time together. I don't think it is coincidence at all that Rex really started moving this week with Aile being here.
Last Saturday, April 7 (the day before Easter), Corey and I took Rex to the park. We sat a good 15 yards away from each other on the playground and Rex walked between us perfectly! We knew then, for sure, that he was able to do it, he just needed the confidence to do it. Awhile back, Rex had gotten to the point that he would walk a good distance in the house if we would stand up and back up to make him go further. At that point, we thought it was just a matter of time til he started really walking on his own. We hit a roadblock when he fell one day at Corey's moms when Corey stepped back like that. Ever since that day, he would not move if we were standing up. We could stand and tell him to come, and he wouldn't. We could squat and tell him to come, and he wouldn't. As soon as we sat, he would come without hesitation!! Little stinker had gotten too smart and figured out our tricks! So that Saturday at the park, when he was going that far, we put him to the test. As he was on his way towards me from Corey, I stood up and he literally stopped in his tracks and sat down as soon as I was up! We got the biggest kick out of it but to be completely honest, it was also frustrating because we KNEW he was able to do it. He was just afraid. Elia, Alejandra and Aile got here Sunday and Rex has seen Aile, who has been walking around everywhere for awhile, everyday since. I noticed about Wednesday that he was starting to cruise a lot more around my mom's house. He was holding on to the walls and door frames to get around rather than only holding on to furniture and going back and forth between them. That is when I posted on Facebook that I could finally "officially" say that Rex was walking but still needed some work. He continued doing this over the weekend.
This last Sunday, April 15 was a rainy day here in Houston. Elia, Ale, Aile, Rex and I went to church that morning then ate breakfast at my mom's. At this point, Rex was still just cruising. I was feeling lazy when we got back home so I laid down to take a nap. By the time I woke up, we noticed that Rex was walking around without holding on to anything!! So literally from one hour to the next, he went from cruising but having to hold on to things to completely walking on his own! AMAZING!! We were so so so excited!! I really really think Rex seeing Aile gave him that extra push to walk. I'm so glad he finally got that confidence he needed. I think one of the most difficult things to deal with through all of this was knowing that he was able to do it, he was just afraid. We couldn't do much to "fix" that besides encourage him and praise him as much as possible.
We still have things to work on. Since Rex never crawled, he doesn't use his arms very well. When he falls, he doesn't use his arms to catch his fall and goes belly first or head first instead. Needless to say, when he falls, we typically have a mild meltdown so we definitely still need to work on teaching him to use his arms. Pulling up is still a challenge as well. He pulls up great on anything he can grip with his hands and fingers. For example, he pulls up great on our couch that has a thick thread on the edge and pulls up great on the edge of the bed where he can grasp the sides of it. He also has a toy basket that we weighted down so that he can pull up on that. He still struggles with pulling up on anything else. Again, because he never crawled, he didn't get accustomed to getting on his knees to pull up so that's another missing step. We're also working on standing up freely without having to pull up on anything. I know with continued hard work, all of these things will come with time, just as his walking did. We are so so proud of everything he has accomplished already!
After posting the video showing Rex's walking progression, I was amazed at all of the words of encouragement and loved seeing how excited everyone was along with us! Rex is a very lucky little boy to have so much love all around him. We're beyond thankful for the words of praise and encouragement! It means a lot!
Not going to lie, I'm a little anxious for someone random to ask or say "Oh I bet he's walking all over the place!" Now I can say "Yes! He sure is!!" :)
Last Saturday, April 7 (the day before Easter), Corey and I took Rex to the park. We sat a good 15 yards away from each other on the playground and Rex walked between us perfectly! We knew then, for sure, that he was able to do it, he just needed the confidence to do it. Awhile back, Rex had gotten to the point that he would walk a good distance in the house if we would stand up and back up to make him go further. At that point, we thought it was just a matter of time til he started really walking on his own. We hit a roadblock when he fell one day at Corey's moms when Corey stepped back like that. Ever since that day, he would not move if we were standing up. We could stand and tell him to come, and he wouldn't. We could squat and tell him to come, and he wouldn't. As soon as we sat, he would come without hesitation!! Little stinker had gotten too smart and figured out our tricks! So that Saturday at the park, when he was going that far, we put him to the test. As he was on his way towards me from Corey, I stood up and he literally stopped in his tracks and sat down as soon as I was up! We got the biggest kick out of it but to be completely honest, it was also frustrating because we KNEW he was able to do it. He was just afraid. Elia, Alejandra and Aile got here Sunday and Rex has seen Aile, who has been walking around everywhere for awhile, everyday since. I noticed about Wednesday that he was starting to cruise a lot more around my mom's house. He was holding on to the walls and door frames to get around rather than only holding on to furniture and going back and forth between them. That is when I posted on Facebook that I could finally "officially" say that Rex was walking but still needed some work. He continued doing this over the weekend.
This last Sunday, April 15 was a rainy day here in Houston. Elia, Ale, Aile, Rex and I went to church that morning then ate breakfast at my mom's. At this point, Rex was still just cruising. I was feeling lazy when we got back home so I laid down to take a nap. By the time I woke up, we noticed that Rex was walking around without holding on to anything!! So literally from one hour to the next, he went from cruising but having to hold on to things to completely walking on his own! AMAZING!! We were so so so excited!! I really really think Rex seeing Aile gave him that extra push to walk. I'm so glad he finally got that confidence he needed. I think one of the most difficult things to deal with through all of this was knowing that he was able to do it, he was just afraid. We couldn't do much to "fix" that besides encourage him and praise him as much as possible.
We still have things to work on. Since Rex never crawled, he doesn't use his arms very well. When he falls, he doesn't use his arms to catch his fall and goes belly first or head first instead. Needless to say, when he falls, we typically have a mild meltdown so we definitely still need to work on teaching him to use his arms. Pulling up is still a challenge as well. He pulls up great on anything he can grip with his hands and fingers. For example, he pulls up great on our couch that has a thick thread on the edge and pulls up great on the edge of the bed where he can grasp the sides of it. He also has a toy basket that we weighted down so that he can pull up on that. He still struggles with pulling up on anything else. Again, because he never crawled, he didn't get accustomed to getting on his knees to pull up so that's another missing step. We're also working on standing up freely without having to pull up on anything. I know with continued hard work, all of these things will come with time, just as his walking did. We are so so proud of everything he has accomplished already!
After posting the video showing Rex's walking progression, I was amazed at all of the words of encouragement and loved seeing how excited everyone was along with us! Rex is a very lucky little boy to have so much love all around him. We're beyond thankful for the words of praise and encouragement! It means a lot!
Not going to lie, I'm a little anxious for someone random to ask or say "Oh I bet he's walking all over the place!" Now I can say "Yes! He sure is!!" :)
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Words of encouragement
So lots has gone on since my last post!
Lets start with Rex's therapy:
His biggest accomplishment to note is that he is now able to 100% sit up on his own! This was my main concern when I wanted to look into physical therapy and it was such a feeling of accomplishment for both him and us when he did it! It was very exciting! That happening made me feel even more so that we did the right thing with getting him physical therapy. He does it just the way his therapist taught him. He's also doing great with taking steps on his own. He cruises all around the living room with no problem. He pulls up great on his toy basket and is now pulling up on the couch with no problem. We're working more on generalizing pulling up, though. He has a hard time pulling up on anything other than those 2 pieces of furniture so that is our focus now. He also does great with walking from person to person but we're now going to work on boosting that confidence to go from objects that are further apart. If you're too far from him, he chickens out and sits. He's able to do quite a bit...he just needs that confidence. His walking is much more controlled now rather than flying forward on momentum without being able to slow down. He's still a booty scooter! I'm pretty sure he will never crawl as a way to get around, which is completely fine. To work on pulling up from sitting, we will have him reach for the object he is pulling up on to encourage the upward movement, then get him on his knees so that he can step up, one foot at a time, to standing. Getting on his knees is definitely his biggest challenge. He is not a fan of being on his knees at all!! I can tell he's getting the motions though. We just have to continue to encourage him!
Speaking of my booty scooter, Rex was in at baby crawling race at the Rockets game on March 2. We had an absolute blast!! From the get-go, Corey did not think Rex would even move for the race thinking he would be overcome with fear from the crowd and the noise. Our little man is quite the chicken when it comes to loud noises. He has never been a fan. So we got down to the service level where the court is and they had the mat laid out so that the babies could practice before actually going out on the court. Here is a picture:
Lets start with Rex's therapy:
His biggest accomplishment to note is that he is now able to 100% sit up on his own! This was my main concern when I wanted to look into physical therapy and it was such a feeling of accomplishment for both him and us when he did it! It was very exciting! That happening made me feel even more so that we did the right thing with getting him physical therapy. He does it just the way his therapist taught him. He's also doing great with taking steps on his own. He cruises all around the living room with no problem. He pulls up great on his toy basket and is now pulling up on the couch with no problem. We're working more on generalizing pulling up, though. He has a hard time pulling up on anything other than those 2 pieces of furniture so that is our focus now. He also does great with walking from person to person but we're now going to work on boosting that confidence to go from objects that are further apart. If you're too far from him, he chickens out and sits. He's able to do quite a bit...he just needs that confidence. His walking is much more controlled now rather than flying forward on momentum without being able to slow down. He's still a booty scooter! I'm pretty sure he will never crawl as a way to get around, which is completely fine. To work on pulling up from sitting, we will have him reach for the object he is pulling up on to encourage the upward movement, then get him on his knees so that he can step up, one foot at a time, to standing. Getting on his knees is definitely his biggest challenge. He is not a fan of being on his knees at all!! I can tell he's getting the motions though. We just have to continue to encourage him!
Speaking of my booty scooter, Rex was in at baby crawling race at the Rockets game on March 2. We had an absolute blast!! From the get-go, Corey did not think Rex would even move for the race thinking he would be overcome with fear from the crowd and the noise. Our little man is quite the chicken when it comes to loud noises. He has never been a fan. So we got down to the service level where the court is and they had the mat laid out so that the babies could practice before actually going out on the court. Here is a picture:
At first, Rex would not move! So we thought, well, Corey must've been right! Then he went about half way and there was a bump in the mat so he stopped at that bump. At that point we were thinking and hoping he would at least go half way so people would see him scoot and we knew the crowd would love that. We were totally ok with him doing just that. We were fine with anything, really! We were just excited to be there! There were two other babies: a little black girl, a little black boy, and a little asian girl. The Asian girl was going everywhere on the mat but straight! The two black babies were smoking him, especially the little girl! We just knew for sure she was going to win. We let Rex cruise on the mat with the other babies for the rest of the time it was out. He was starting to enjoy scooting on it and even shook his head "no" when we tried to pick him up! So our hopes were getting brighter! Then it was show time! I was ridiculously excited. Really, annoyingly excited if you ask Corey! haha! They took the mat out and the crowd starts cheering. They introduced all of the families (which I did not even hear, by the way! It all happened so fast!) I just remember them saying "On your mark, get set, Go!" I pulled out the secret cup I had in my pocket to try to get him to come to me. When Corey first set him down, he fussed a little but then saw the cup and started scooting away! The two little black babies completely froze and did not move at all!! They were waaaay too intrigued by the lights and noise in the crowd! So it was a race between Rex and the little Asian girl! It was a pretty close race but she ended up beating him! I can't remember who said this afterwards but they said Rex better get used to being beat by Asians on many aspects! haha! jk :) I didn't see what was being shown on the big screens at all but the lady in charge told us they zoomed in quite a bit on Rex because he was the only scooter!! Needless to say, Mommy and Daddy were VERY proud of Rex!! I cannot wait to see the video the Rockets is supposed to be sending us in a few days. I will post as soon as I get it! We had an absolute blast and it's something we will never forget!!
If you've made it this far, I really would appreciate any input you have on my next topic. I'm very seriously considering going back to school in the fall for a Masters degree in school counseling. I'm positive that that is the field that I want to pursue. I'm just very afraid to overload myself and more importantly, I'm afraid that achieving my goals of higher education will come at a high cost to my family in regards to losing time with them. I've always been the type to do 5 million things at one time. I've never been a calm person who had nothing going on, even as a kid. It has worked fine before but I also did not have a husband and baby before. While this is a personal goal of mine and something I am determined to do, I feel that it is also something that I am doing for my family because the end result will be a higher paying career which ultimately benefits my family. Is it a selfish thing to do, though? That is what I'm confused about. Ideally, I would have gotten my Masters degree before I had children. Obviously, that was not God's plan for me and I would not change it for the world. I plan to take it slow, in order to not overload myself and also to lessen the time spent away from my family. If it takes 5 years, it takes 5 years. I'm fortunate to have summers off to enable me to focus more on my studies at that time too. I'm blessed to have a husband who is encouraging me to go after it and I am even more blessed to have a mother who is willing to help me so much. Lord, what would I do without that woman? So I know that it can be done. I just have to work on not feeling so guilty about spending less time with my Corey and Rex. I know, though, that things are only going to get more difficult and more busy as time goes on which is another reason to push myself to just do it! I guess I just need words of encouragement...just like Rex does with walking! Interesting how we all need words of encouragement whether it be to continue taking those baby steps or taking those big education steps!
Monday, February 20, 2012
Baby steps, confidence and lessons learned
Eeeek! I'm kind of sucking at keeping up with this! But that's not anything new...
Rex is doing great with his PT. I'm definitely seeing improvement! I guess our biggest update is that he's pretty much walking! I picked him up from Ms. Anna's on Friday, February 3 and she showed me that she taught him to hold on to his shirt to make him think he's holding onto something. Since he felt that "security" he did great with taking multiple steps on his own! By that Sunday, he was going a good 6 feet or so by himself! Corey and I work with him together every night. On that note, I have to mention how much I love doing that together. Rex gets so excited walking between Mommy and Daddy and I just LOVE watching Rex and Corey together. Rex sure does love his Daddy! They have always had such an amazing bond, from day one. Typically when I lay Rex down for bed, he gives Daddy a kiss goodnight, I take him to his crib where he kisses Mommy goodnight, then when he lays down, I turn on the light-up mobile, cover him up and he goes to bed. Over the last week though, when he goes to give Daddy kisses, he doesn't want to come back with me, he wants to stay with Daddy. Absolutely melted our hearts!! It was so so sweet! So now it's a nightly thing for Rex and Daddy to hang together just before he goes to bed. That is definitely their snuggle time and I love watching it!
Back to walking...he's getting better and better! Now, he holds on to his shirt with his right hand and holds his left arm up in the air when he walks. There's a picture of me when I was a baby doing the same thing! I'm going to have to dig up the picture and take one of Rex to put side by side. He's also doing better with pulling up on his own. He does it great on a toy basket we have in the living room. I put a bunch of my old textbooks in there to weigh it down so that he's able to pull up on it. He's also getting braver with walking from the furniture to someone without holding on to something. And he's finally getting better about sitting down on his own. Most of what he struggles with is not that he's not able to do it but that he's been afraid to do it. Now that he's got those tubes in his ears and his balance and spatial awareness is getting better, I can definitely see his confidence growing.
Our next big challenge is going from laying down to sitting up. His Physical Therapist showed us this last week how to get him to do it. He struggles with it but I can see the progress he's making with that. As long as we're making progress, that's all I care about! She also taught us how to work with him on standing up from sitting down. That will probably take a bit longer. One thing that I've discovered is hard about this is that we're kind of having to take steps back because Rex skipped the transitions between the larger milestones, i.e transitioning from laying to sitting down and transitioning from sitting to standing up. Those are things I take a lot of blame for because if he fussed, I typically knew he wanted to change positions so I would do it for him. So all of you new momma's out there: don't cave into those poor little whimpers! Make em work for it!! Lesson learned for this mommy.
Everything else is great :) Can't believe we only have two more six-weeks left of school! Let the count down to Spring Break begin!! Ashley and I will be the Cheer sponsors at school next year and I'm really excited about it! We'll be getting everything rolling with that in the next few weeks so I have a busy couple of weeks up ahead.
Corey and I are stronger than ever! We marked 3 years of being together last Monday. I can't believe it's only been 3 years...seems like a lot longer, probably because we've done so much in those 3 years. Another lesson learned over the last month is this: fighting is sometimes one of the best things for a relationship...as long as you really listen to each other. Shocker! :) I've come to believe that when you fight, it presents opportunity to get to know each other better and work out those "kinks". I pray that Corey and I continue to grow and learn together through every happy moment as well as every not-so-happy moment. I'm very lucky to have him!
Lent starts this week...I hope to get better about going to church every week to give Thanks to Him for all we are blessed with. Not sure yet what I plan to give up...gotta think about that one!
Rex is doing great with his PT. I'm definitely seeing improvement! I guess our biggest update is that he's pretty much walking! I picked him up from Ms. Anna's on Friday, February 3 and she showed me that she taught him to hold on to his shirt to make him think he's holding onto something. Since he felt that "security" he did great with taking multiple steps on his own! By that Sunday, he was going a good 6 feet or so by himself! Corey and I work with him together every night. On that note, I have to mention how much I love doing that together. Rex gets so excited walking between Mommy and Daddy and I just LOVE watching Rex and Corey together. Rex sure does love his Daddy! They have always had such an amazing bond, from day one. Typically when I lay Rex down for bed, he gives Daddy a kiss goodnight, I take him to his crib where he kisses Mommy goodnight, then when he lays down, I turn on the light-up mobile, cover him up and he goes to bed. Over the last week though, when he goes to give Daddy kisses, he doesn't want to come back with me, he wants to stay with Daddy. Absolutely melted our hearts!! It was so so sweet! So now it's a nightly thing for Rex and Daddy to hang together just before he goes to bed. That is definitely their snuggle time and I love watching it!
Back to walking...he's getting better and better! Now, he holds on to his shirt with his right hand and holds his left arm up in the air when he walks. There's a picture of me when I was a baby doing the same thing! I'm going to have to dig up the picture and take one of Rex to put side by side. He's also doing better with pulling up on his own. He does it great on a toy basket we have in the living room. I put a bunch of my old textbooks in there to weigh it down so that he's able to pull up on it. He's also getting braver with walking from the furniture to someone without holding on to something. And he's finally getting better about sitting down on his own. Most of what he struggles with is not that he's not able to do it but that he's been afraid to do it. Now that he's got those tubes in his ears and his balance and spatial awareness is getting better, I can definitely see his confidence growing.
Our next big challenge is going from laying down to sitting up. His Physical Therapist showed us this last week how to get him to do it. He struggles with it but I can see the progress he's making with that. As long as we're making progress, that's all I care about! She also taught us how to work with him on standing up from sitting down. That will probably take a bit longer. One thing that I've discovered is hard about this is that we're kind of having to take steps back because Rex skipped the transitions between the larger milestones, i.e transitioning from laying to sitting down and transitioning from sitting to standing up. Those are things I take a lot of blame for because if he fussed, I typically knew he wanted to change positions so I would do it for him. So all of you new momma's out there: don't cave into those poor little whimpers! Make em work for it!! Lesson learned for this mommy.
Everything else is great :) Can't believe we only have two more six-weeks left of school! Let the count down to Spring Break begin!! Ashley and I will be the Cheer sponsors at school next year and I'm really excited about it! We'll be getting everything rolling with that in the next few weeks so I have a busy couple of weeks up ahead.
Corey and I are stronger than ever! We marked 3 years of being together last Monday. I can't believe it's only been 3 years...seems like a lot longer, probably because we've done so much in those 3 years. Another lesson learned over the last month is this: fighting is sometimes one of the best things for a relationship...as long as you really listen to each other. Shocker! :) I've come to believe that when you fight, it presents opportunity to get to know each other better and work out those "kinks". I pray that Corey and I continue to grow and learn together through every happy moment as well as every not-so-happy moment. I'm very lucky to have him!
Lent starts this week...I hope to get better about going to church every week to give Thanks to Him for all we are blessed with. Not sure yet what I plan to give up...gotta think about that one!
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Progress already!!
I'm a couple of days late in updating but I'm kind of glad I waited a few days...I have more to update!
Last Monday, Rex had tubes put in his ears. I am still amazed at how fast the procedure was! We went in at 8:00, they actually took him back around 8:50 and the doctor was out to let us know it all went well by 9:10! When he said it would be a 10-15 minute procedure, he wasn't kidding! (And boy, do they make a hell of a lot of money in those 10-15 minutes!) The toughest part was definitely when he was coming out of the anesthesia. He was just very out of it. Sort of drunk-like. We stayed in the recovery room until 9:45 then went home. Every time he burped, his little ears would pop and my poor baby would scream in pain because it hurt. We got home, snuggled and he fell asleep again after a bit. When he woke up a little before noon, he was completely back to normal! He never had any other side effects or anything. Easy peasy! We even went to Brandon and Ashley's that night for taco night!
Thursday he had his first therapy session here at our house. My mom picked him up early from Ms. Anna's to be here by 3:30 when the therapist (Angela) was coming. I ran out of work when the bell rang so I wouldn't miss too much of his first session. She gave us 3 things to focus on: 1) when we sit and read or play together, to have him sit on the edge of my knee with his knees at a 90 degree angle rather than leaning on me to build his balance better. 2) place him in the kneeling position while looking into his toy basket. 3) encourage him to round the corners on the coffee table by moving his foot over then lightly pushing his hip to shift the weight and move the other foot over.
It's only been 3 days since we started and he has already mastered the kneeling thing! The first time she put him in the position, he HATED it! Cried a river of tears breaking my moms heart! She's such a softie! After a couple of minutes though, he settled down though. When she showed us that, she mentioned that later we would build up to him picking one foot up then the other to stand up. By Saturday morning he was doing that on his own! Corey and I said "Wow!! These people really know what they're doing!" I so wish I would've learned some of these things earlier on. As soon as I position him on his knees, he's picking his foot up to stand up. YAY!! And no more crying! Hopefully as we do this more, he'll get better at getting onto his knees then to standing.
He balances pretty well when we sit him on the edge of a knee. I'll put the laptop out in front of him and play Elmo songs so he wants to sit there for a little bit and so that he doesn't have my arms to grab on to (as they would be if I were reading him a book). That will be a continued practice though to continue building his balance skills.
And I guess therapy on Thursday was just enough work to build his confidence to walk around the coffee table. Before therapy, he could go up and down the sides but did not like to round the corners. By Saturday night, he was going all around the table! There were even a couple of times he would go back and forth around the corner as if he was saying "see! I can do this!"
I've always known Rex is completely capable of doing all of the things he's not doing. He has the strength to do it. I believe whole heartedly that his balance has been the missing piece of the puzzle which was thrown off because of the fluid he had in his ears. He struggles most with the transitioning part of moving around. Once he gets to the position, he's good to go. It's just getting there! I have to admit, I feel responsible as well. I usually know what Rex wants to do (sit and play, stand up and walk, etc) and I would just get him to that position myself. So in his mind, he was probably saying "If momma's going to do it, I don't have to!" If there's anything I've figured out for sure, it's that he's a smart little boy so I'm sure it didn't take him long to figure that out! He's catching on to the new things quickly though so I'm feeling very optimistic about this whole process!
Like I said before, I know in a few short months, we'll look back on this as a little bump in the road. My baby's just taking his time and needs a boost!
I heard this on Modern Family the other day: What's the difference between try and triumph? A little "umph!" We're getting that extra umph!!
Last Monday, Rex had tubes put in his ears. I am still amazed at how fast the procedure was! We went in at 8:00, they actually took him back around 8:50 and the doctor was out to let us know it all went well by 9:10! When he said it would be a 10-15 minute procedure, he wasn't kidding! (And boy, do they make a hell of a lot of money in those 10-15 minutes!) The toughest part was definitely when he was coming out of the anesthesia. He was just very out of it. Sort of drunk-like. We stayed in the recovery room until 9:45 then went home. Every time he burped, his little ears would pop and my poor baby would scream in pain because it hurt. We got home, snuggled and he fell asleep again after a bit. When he woke up a little before noon, he was completely back to normal! He never had any other side effects or anything. Easy peasy! We even went to Brandon and Ashley's that night for taco night!
Thursday he had his first therapy session here at our house. My mom picked him up early from Ms. Anna's to be here by 3:30 when the therapist (Angela) was coming. I ran out of work when the bell rang so I wouldn't miss too much of his first session. She gave us 3 things to focus on: 1) when we sit and read or play together, to have him sit on the edge of my knee with his knees at a 90 degree angle rather than leaning on me to build his balance better. 2) place him in the kneeling position while looking into his toy basket. 3) encourage him to round the corners on the coffee table by moving his foot over then lightly pushing his hip to shift the weight and move the other foot over.
It's only been 3 days since we started and he has already mastered the kneeling thing! The first time she put him in the position, he HATED it! Cried a river of tears breaking my moms heart! She's such a softie! After a couple of minutes though, he settled down though. When she showed us that, she mentioned that later we would build up to him picking one foot up then the other to stand up. By Saturday morning he was doing that on his own! Corey and I said "Wow!! These people really know what they're doing!" I so wish I would've learned some of these things earlier on. As soon as I position him on his knees, he's picking his foot up to stand up. YAY!! And no more crying! Hopefully as we do this more, he'll get better at getting onto his knees then to standing.
He balances pretty well when we sit him on the edge of a knee. I'll put the laptop out in front of him and play Elmo songs so he wants to sit there for a little bit and so that he doesn't have my arms to grab on to (as they would be if I were reading him a book). That will be a continued practice though to continue building his balance skills.
And I guess therapy on Thursday was just enough work to build his confidence to walk around the coffee table. Before therapy, he could go up and down the sides but did not like to round the corners. By Saturday night, he was going all around the table! There were even a couple of times he would go back and forth around the corner as if he was saying "see! I can do this!"
I've always known Rex is completely capable of doing all of the things he's not doing. He has the strength to do it. I believe whole heartedly that his balance has been the missing piece of the puzzle which was thrown off because of the fluid he had in his ears. He struggles most with the transitioning part of moving around. Once he gets to the position, he's good to go. It's just getting there! I have to admit, I feel responsible as well. I usually know what Rex wants to do (sit and play, stand up and walk, etc) and I would just get him to that position myself. So in his mind, he was probably saying "If momma's going to do it, I don't have to!" If there's anything I've figured out for sure, it's that he's a smart little boy so I'm sure it didn't take him long to figure that out! He's catching on to the new things quickly though so I'm feeling very optimistic about this whole process!
Like I said before, I know in a few short months, we'll look back on this as a little bump in the road. My baby's just taking his time and needs a boost!
I heard this on Modern Family the other day: What's the difference between try and triumph? A little "umph!" We're getting that extra umph!!
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
The link between ears and gross motor development
I'm not very good at getting-to-the-point in a story. Corey always teases me because I never leave out an unnecessary detail that leads to the point of a story! But I will try to get-to-the-point:
Rex has a gross motor development delay.
I remember when I was getting ready to be home last summer, I was excited because I would get to be home when Rex would start crawling so I wouldn't miss it. He didn't start sitting up well on his own til around 7 months (July 2010). Then the end of July came, no crawling... no biggie...he was only 7 months. Then August rolled around...still no crawling...and it was time for me to go back to work. In the mean time, everyone is asking/saying "Oh! I bet he's crawling all over the place!" I would get a little sad every time someone would ask me if he was crawling yet because I had to say "Nope, not yet." But! I also completely understand because I would probably ask the same thing, even now. I went back to work and he still wasn't crawling. September rolled around and so did October. Still no crawling. At one point for a little while, he would scoot backwards on his belly. But still no crawling and no pulling up. Then I realized that he also wasn't pulling up and was not able to go from laying down to sitting up. There were times he would get on his knees from his belly but he never lifted his head up at the same time he was on his knees. Obviously, I began to worry. I didn't know if I was being an over-worried mommy or if something could really be wrong. I would mention it to his doctor when we would go in and he insisted Rex was fine and that I needed to sort of push him more to do things on his own. I kept giving myself (and Rex, I guess) new "goal dates..." I would think "By Halloween he'll be crawling!" That didn't happen so then I would shoot for Thanksgiving. That didn't happen so I just "knew" he would be all over the place by his birthday. But still, no crawling, no pulling up and no sitting from laying down. I was worried before but now, I was really worried.
In the mean time, Rex kept getting ear infections, which I know is very typical in little ones. His pedi referred us to an ENT who we went to see in December, just before his birthday. He decided it was best for him to get tubes because his hearing was beginning to be effected and there was fluid in his ears. We set the surgery for January 23. Over the month of December, Rex got more mobile...Rex style! He army crawls when he's on his belly and scoots on his butt when he's sitting down. Still no crawling, no pulling up on his own and not moving from laying to sitting. At Rex's one year check up, I mentioned everything that I was observing. What caught Dr. Azim's attention was the fact that he did not go from laying to sitting, so he referred us to ECI (Early Childhood Intervention Services). Finally! Some answers! I was so anxious to get them out here to assess Rex to see just what was going on. ECI is one of those things that you don't want to encounter but when you need them, you're so happy they're there!
Three ladies came to the house yesterday to evaluate Rex. They did a series of assessments that I am so interested in, by the way, because early childhood special education was my primary focus in college. The watched him do all kinds of things and asked me lots of questions. Just as I thought, they confirmed my concern that there is in fact a gross development delay. They also confirmed my thoughts that in every other area, he's doing great! In fact, he is above his age level in most areas. Woohoo! Go Rex! It's just that gross motor development that he's having a hard time with. So, starting next week, he will be working with a physical therapist here at the house so we can work on getting him "up-to-par." At this point, he has a 33% delay meaning he is at about an 8 month level in gross motor development. I asked the occupational therapist what her thoughts were as to why he had a delay. She was aware of his constant ear infections and she attributed a lot of it to the fact that there's fluid in his ears. She explained that there are receptors in your ears that make you aware of your surroundings and motions. It seems like those receptors are being impaired by the infections and fluids which could be a big part of Rex's delay.
Bottom line: I'm writing all of this because I don't want to forget it. I really want to document his progress so that I can look back on it to see how far we go and the amount of time it took. I know that within a few months, we probably will not even notice he had a "delay." I'm trying not to set anymore "goal-dates." As a mom, it's hard not to be hard on myself about it. I'm sure I'm not the only mom (especially new mom) who takes blame anytime anything is "wrong" with their baby. I would start to wonder what I did wrong? What could I have done better or different? It's been especially hard for me because of the fact that I've worked around and been around kids so much that I know what he should and should not be doing. I'm anxious to see how things change after he gets the tubes in on Monday.
I will keep updating with his progress-for myself and for anyone who's interested in reading! I can't wait to see how this goes! Like I said before, ECI is one of those things you don't necessarily want but you sure love when you need them and they're there!
Stay Tuned for updates!
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