Atlanta!

Well, we just got home from a week long vacation in Georgia. We flew cross country to visit Luke's family, and it was great! We all had a wonderful time, it's too bad it's so far away. It was great seeing his family again. While there, we went to the Georgia Aquarium, and to the Civil War and Locomotive Museum. Both were great. The girls had fun getting to know their cousins, Ava and Ella. What sweet girls! Can't wait to go back again in a couple years for another visit.

Happy Mother's Day!

I had a great Mother's Day! The girls and Luke got me a beautiful Mother's ring that has both girls' names engraved on it, along with their birthstones.

My second gift was that my mom came up and watched the girls so that Luke and I could get the house painted! It was nice having a break from the girls, even though I was working outside I enjoyed it. I am SO glad I no longer have to stare at the awful red that our house used to be. I am really happy with how it turned out. Next weekend we are putting in a new front door, we will have a new house by the time we are done!

Before:


After:

Jessica's 1st Birthday!!

Our baby girl turned a year old yesterday! We had her party at our house today, I think she had a good time! She got several nice gifts, and had a great time devouring her dairy free cake I made her!

Opening her present from Mom & Dad on her birthday


Playing with her new present


Happy 1st Birthday!



Opening presents at her party






Checking out her birthday cake


Really? My own cake?


I guess I can try a little taste....


Yum!! Guess I'll dive right in!

It's fun to patty cake my cake!
>

Shoveling it in, I really enjoyed it!

Spring 2009

Hannah

Hannah has been going to OT (occupational therapy) for the past month (once a week) to get therapy to try to help with the sensory issues she has been having. Well...I haven't seen much of an improvement at all.

Last Friday, she was evaluated by a developmental/behavioral pediatrician. Another bittersweet day for me, but we came out of the appointment with a diagnosis. Hannah was diagnosed with Anxiety with features of OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) and Selective Mutism. She was also diagnosed with a Sleep Disorder. (one thing isn't enough, right?!)

You are probably wondering what the heck all that means! Well, the anxiety is due to a chemical imbalance. Basically, she inherited my anxiety disorder. And while it didn't affect me until I was older, she is getting nailed with anxiety at a very young age. In fact, the doctor said she was the youngest he had ever diagnosed with all these things. He said that since they are cognitive disorders, they generally don't pop up until later...but he said that Hannah is extremely smart and advanced with her cognitive function, and that is why we are seeing it now.

He also saw a component of OCD with her...again something that doesn't usually surface until around age 6-7 years, but something she is definitely dealing with.

The Selective Mutism was something new to me, but after he explained it, it makes sense. She doesn't have this to a very severe degree, but he said if the anxiety isn't treated, she could go full blown with it as she gets older. Basically, it is when a child can be extremely social at home or around people they know, but won't speak to strangers (can you see how this could be an issue when she is school-age?). Hannah instead, acts anxious and makes funny squeaking noises instead of using words around people she knows. If I remind her to use her words, she will to some extent, but it is in a very quiet voice and is usually more baby talk than anything.

The sleep disorder comes from the anxiety and OCD. She has always been a horrible sleeper. It's as if her brain just will not turn off and let her sleep. She is always awake worrying or obsessing over something. Last night, she was up from midnight until 4:45 am. She couldn't sleep because she was having unrealistic fears, and was obsessing about something she had done during the day.

I think we are going to discontinue her OT since we really aren't getting much out of it. She LOVES her therapist, and has finally opened up and is really comfortable with her and talking to her etc. But...we aren't rich and can't pay for something we aren't getting much out of! I have gotten several good ideas to try and implement at home...but they are also things I could have found and done just by searching the internet.

The developmental ped wants her to try Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Basically, it teaches people with these types of disorders how to control themselves when they are feeling anxious or having OCD problems. I am really hoping she will benefit from it. I have no idea how long we are going to have to wait to get her started though, as the therapists are apparently extremely busy. We were planning on holding off on medicating her because we wanted to try therapy first. But....since we don't know how long the wait will be, and she is getting worse by the day, we have decided we are going to put her on meds. All of the research I have read shows that children showed more improvement on a combo of meds and therapy than they did on either meds or therapy alone. The goal would be to eventually get her to the point where she can control her thoughts/actions on her own and not need meds.

Wow! Sorry that turned into a novel. I have had one heck of a week. Everyone in our house is sick, and then we got this diagnosis to top it off. I'm glad we can finally get help now, but it really is hard. You never want anything to be wrong with your child. Wish us luck with the meds...I am really hoping they make a HUGE difference. I love my Hannah so much and it is so hard seeing her not be able to control herself.

Fun with Food!

Jessica is loving "real" food! She insists on feeding herself and making a huge mess, but that's ok with me...at least she is eating and not puking! I'm trying to be creative with foods, but it's hard since everything seems to have milk and/or soy in it! I did find some "safe" mac & cheese for her...she had so much fun being a big girl! And she got spaghetti one night too and made a good mess! Our little girl is growing up fast!

Hannah's 3!

Hannah got to have 2 birthday parties this year! The first was on her birthday with just family at Chuck E. Cheese. She had a blast! The second was on Saturday following her birthday with friends and more family. She was spoiled as usual and got tons of Thomas train pieces for her train set. Her theme was Little Einsteins, which she insisted on. I had the hardest time coming up with a cake as none of the bakeries have a Little Einsteins cake! So I ended up ordering an edible picture sheet off the internet and laying it on the cake myself! She was happy with the finished product! Here's some pictures from Hannah's parties:









Jessica had fun at the party as well, she liked the balloons!