quickie update: appointments

we got in! to the Baton Rouge Clinic. in record time. our pediatrician said to expect a 4 month wait for the one she referred us to, and a 2-3 month wait for her partners. how bout August 5???? God is good! One of our prayers was that we would not have to wait long. So we were thrilled to be given a date less than one month away.

Yesterday was a day of people calling me back as well. Lots of great information. We got hooked up with the Tangi School System's early intervetion and they'll do an evaluation soon (when school starts back?) They seemed to be on top of their game and offer many free services, which we'll take!

One of the not so great things about any developmental delay is that most insurances dont cover diddly squat. So we're praying for that too.

I also heard back from SLU's speech/language/hearing clinic and got more information from them. Several folks have recommended them, and the cost is fairly minimal each semester. There's a "waiting list" but not first come/first serve, it has more to do with the patient's age/situation since it's a teaching environment. We are hoping they need a 3 year old with ASD! They also do an eval. there. So he'll be thoroughly evaluated :)

Prayers:

That Jordan wont be too overwhelmed with all these "new" faces/evals/therapies, etc. Remember, he's still Jordan and doesnt know what in the world is going on with all these doctors visits and specialist appts. He's also terrified of doctors offices and hospitals and it takes him a long time to feel comfortable. He cries and cries and just has a tough time. So we're praying the clinics are warm and inviting and that he's comfortable so he can be accurately evaluated.

Finances. Most of this stuff isnt free. And most of it isnt covered by insurance.

For Asah and I to make the best decisions for Jordan. I have learned what it means to be an "advocate" for him already. Wisdom comes from the LORD.........

I cannot thank everyone enough for the comments on this blog, emails, etc. It is so freeing to share this and not carry it anymore by ourselves. You are all so wonderful!

And you know I'll keep you posted!

jordan: explained.

been wondering how to word this post for awhile now. guess it's easiest just to say it. we believe that Jordan has some form of autism. wow. it's almost freeing to even type it out. for about a year now, somewhere deep inside I knew that J was different. I always wrote it off as him being "quirky" or in Jordan's World. Maybe 3-4 months ago I shared this with Asah. After watching him closely we could not avoid/deny it any longer. I began to read and research everything I could. It wasnt pretty. J seemed to have all the classic signs and symptoms, right down to walking on his toes. (Had no idea that was even a red flag). This morning we went to our regular pediatrician for a consultation and to share our concerns. I've been journaling his behaviors for about a month now to get a clear picture. I also printed off a developmental checklist for 36 months and found that he has only met about 1/2 of the milestones. Talk about a springboard for action. Dr. Tran was awesome. Very affirming. She gave us some tools for early intervention as well as a Referral to Pediatric Neurologists in Baton Rouge. It will take some time to get an appointment there (think: Months) but meanwhile we can begin taking steps to get him lined up for Therapies, etc even before an official eval/diagnosis.

Pray with us. Jordan is still Jordan. Happy, free, loving, caring, Athletic, warm hearted. We want to get the best help we can, so that he can improve in his speech, social skills, and other areas where he needs extra help. We believe that he is on the high functioning end. In fact, if you didnt know him you wouldnt think a thing was wrong. There are days he is fine. There are very difficult days. Mostly when we're out of routine.

any questions, ask away. now that we're walking this journey, we'd love to be a resource to inform others, especially of the early signs.

Edited to Add:
Just wanted to share an excerpt from a blog i'm now addicted to, thanks to Allison!!
It is the blog of a mom with a son Just Like Jordan. Here's part of a letter she wrote to him. My thoughts exactly. Sharing this has already been a good thing. So many people out there know of many many other resources for us. This is only the beginning!!

I'm sorry the little things are so hard for you. I'm sorry that I just don't understand sometimes.

I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud of you and your smart, wonderful, mysterious brain. I'm so proud of your good strong eyes that never miss a thing. I'm so proud of how far you've come and how well you talk now. I'm so proud of what a happy, confident boy you are, in spite of everything else.

I love you. I love hearing everything you have to say. I love your voice, your smile, the way I hear you humming along to the music in your room. I love how you manage to thoroughly charm people, even when you're making their job a little harder. I love how you always give me another chance to be a better Mommy, a more patient, fun and understanding Mommy, and how a rotten morning can still lead to a wonderfully sunny afternoon.

You're too amazing for this world, Noah. And that's our problem, not yours. Don't ever forget that.

this is what we did when we got home

sunday we caught up on some rest. jax took a 3 hour nap Sunday afternoon. 1st time in his life. i'll take it.

trip to GA: sweet time with family and friends!

our weeklong trip to GA was restful, and it was so nice to see many family and friends. We love and miss everyone and its always nice to be able to visit, even though most times only for a short while. here are a few pictures. i was good about taking them at the start of the trip, then slacked off towards the end. i didnt get any at the farm or revival leg of the trip :( we were too busy eating and sleeping!!! oh, well. the revival went well, the boys had a good time. God is good.

Pool time with cousin Sumner. Had a ball.





pool time with Uncle Tyler at Daddy's house. He jumped off the diving board 100+ times and spent hours in the pool.


It's always nice when you can get them to do THIS in the car, at the same time. Rarely happens but when it does, it's great!



juice break. we have lots of juice, and snacks, and anything else to keep us occupied for 7+ hours. this was J's first trip "potty trained". he did awesome. and i love having boys. we just pulled off on the side of the road each time and let him "potty in the grass".

jax on the move

asah took some cute pics with his phone the other day. thought i'd share them. little man is everywhere these days. today i heard crying but could not find him. he was stuck under a chair in the kitchen. he's enjoying discovering every corner, and a constant reminder that my floors are never clean enough!

we love summertime!

bottle convert

for the first (almost 10) months of his life, we really could not get jax to take a bottle. it would be hit or miss, but he mostly nursed the entire time. i didnt mind it, but there were days i'd wish he'd take a bottle so i could leave the house for an extended period of time or just be assured that he'd take a bottle and go to sleep for asah at bedtime. well, the ear infection this past week changed all that. for 3 days he took no liquids, but when he felt like drinking again, to my surprise, he wanted nothing to do with me, but only a bottle or cup. so here we are, weaned at 10 months but i refuse to buy formula....so i'm going to become friends with the pump for the next 2 months to see if we can make the magic one year mark or beyond. i'd be lying if i said i wasnt sad that he's done nursing, it was such a special time and means that he's growing up. but part of me likes how "easy" it was to wean him and that he's becoming more independant. i love this kid. and he now loves his bottles!


no hands!

upside down even!

one of those weeks........

recap:

saturday night: a/c broke. same thing happened a year ago, capicitor busted...it got to 89 degrees inside on sunday, but we were able to find someone to come out and repair it on a Sunday afternoon.

Monday: Jordan and I got a stomach virus.

Tuesday: Jax was fussier than normal, up many times during the night and could not be consoled. completely stopped nursing.

Wednesday: early trip to the pediatrician with Jaxon. Ear infection (bad one) and tonsilitis. put on 2 antibiotics.

Thursday: it's been over 48 hours since jaxon nursed. he will not take a bottle or sippy cup either. super worried that he'll get dehydrated!

so, theres our week so far. please pray that things get a bit better. this mom's had about all i can take! praying lots for jaxon....also praying for financial provision....lots of medical bills and repair bills this month. good thing we had a yard sale...and so much for "fun" money! it is definitely for covering these emergency expenses we've had. but God provided. even ahead of the need.

asah read me this last night before bed. sort of joking, but mostly serious!

"the Lord will not allow the righteous to hunger....." prov 10:3

we trust and wait on Him.

new steakhouse in town! woo hoo!

we were treated to dinner saturday by gram, who was in town for a visit. it had been awhile since we'd been to dinner with both boys...probably not since asah's mom was in town. (i see a trend here....) anyway, we had fun trying out the new place...and while it's had mixed reviews, I'd recommend it! they were super fast considering they'd been open less than a week and have "call ahead" seating which puts you at the top of the list upon arrival. it's called Santa Fe Steakhouse over in the "new mall" area of town.

jaxon is munching on pretty much everything these days and enjoyed a variety of foods from our plates. i cannot believe how fast he's growing.

just like daddy

jordan decided to give shaving a try this morning. asah used the regular gillette mach turbo, jordan used one of mommy's pink disposeables with the sheild firmly in place. he had fun.

the jaxon crawl

asah and i both think this is pretty funny. he keeps one leg up the entire time he crawls. but at least we're crawling. now the real fun begins.

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vbs

the boys are enjoying it. i'm leading recreation this week...they're hanging out in the nursery. next year J will be old enough for the pre-k class.

let me just say that it's been around 10 years since I've led rec. I can tell i'm closing in on 30 this year. it's exhausting and my body hurts ! sometimes i join in with the groups that dont have enough people and we did relays today and i thought i was gonna die!

i get the boys out of the nursery in time for the Closing Assembly. Jordan thinks he's the assistant Song leader. (must watch video!!!) It's super cute though. this is likely their 1st of many many many vbs's. i sure do love these boys.

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this is how we ALL feel at the end of the day. the three of us race home for long naps!

yard sale!

yard sale break with the neighbors. he loved playing with the older kids.


jordan's elephant almost got sold because he brought it outside. people are pretty intense at these things!

"make offer" ha ha


we had a neighborhood yard sale today. so much fun! we were outside for about 5 hours total and the boys did great. jordan had so much fun playing with all the neighbors and jaxon had fun being cute. we netted $300 even from the sale....pretty incredible because it was all just stuff gathering dust inside our house. instead of doing what we "should do" with the $$ (payoff some debt, put it in savings, etc) we split it down the middle ($150 each) and can do whatever we want with it. it has been so long since we've been able to shop for clothes, or splurge on anything that we really wanted. I am so giddy and have no idea what to do with mine. I'm sure asah is dreaming of his next electronic purchase :) I hope this becomes an annual event because it was a ton of fun and asah is a GREAT salesman!!!!!

what's new?

sorry for the picture-less post. i just havent taken too many new pics lately. i thought a general update would be good though. first lets look at our family's weekly summer schedule. it's a doozy!

(nights)
M-Tara works for a client
Tu-Asah doing Marriage Counseling
We-Tara at Women's Small Group
Th-Asah leads Men's Small group at our house
Fr-sometimes Tara works at Parents Night out at North Cypress, other nights we steal away some family time
Sa-low-key
Su-Church stuff usually

WOW. This summer is going to be crazy busy. June 14 is a date that we'd ask you to please keep in your prayers, at our church Member's Meeting we'll be voting on the move to a BUILDING. wow! our very own facility to worship in!!!! it's been over 5 years now since Crossroads launched, and we've been with Crossroads now for around 4 years. Since that time we've attempted to get into two buildings. The first was heavily damaged by Katrina. The 2nd was wrapped up in some red tape with the Fire Marshall and we just couldnt make it work. After being locked in a lease for 3 years with that place, the lease is finally up and God has provided a wonderful place....it used to house a 2 screen movie theater but The Mission Church renovated it into a great place to Worship. We are way beyond excited at the possibility of moving there.....in 7 Sundays if all goes well. Please pray for our Church as we seek God's direction in this.

Jordan news: He's wowing me daily with his ability to memorize and retain. He now has 4 scriptures memorized. Gen 1:1; John 3:16, Eph 6:1, and Prov 3:5. I love to hear him recite God's Word. He's doing great on the potty, loves the pool this summer and his kind heart really challenges me to do the same. I love this little guy!

Jax: I still cant believe he's 9 months. He is so close to crawling that I expect it any day now. Just yesterday he started saying "Da-Da" when Asah walks in a room, so I know he knows what that means and associates it now. He is also waving Bye Bye and it's the cutest thing ever. I will try to get it on video.
Last night for supper he ate about 4 oz of pureed green beans mixed with cereal an ENTIRE dinner roll broken into pieces and a whole thing of applesauce. He can eat, and eat, and eat. He is still nursing about 3 x a day but I think he's beginning to wean himself. He does not yet drink from a cup though so I'm trying to make it to the one year mark....we'll see.

We'll be in GA end of June/early July to visit and then again at the end of August for someones FIRST birthday (unbelievable!).

love to all.

more from Memorial Day

i only uploaded the pics of Jax for his 9 month Bday, so here are the rest. Great friends and a great, low key time. Lots of wonderful food. It was "bring your own meat" so we had lots of yummies to try. I made "loaded baked potato salad" (oh my!) and a berry bliss cake featured in this month's Kraft magazine.

i love cookouts and here's to the beginning of summer and many more!

somebody's 9 months old today!

and i just cannot believe it.
i rocked him a little longer this morning when he woke up and nursed...my baby wont be a baby too much longer, and this year is just flying by.

he's oh so close to crawling...starting to pull up....sleeping through the night!! (6:00pm-6:00am)
has 5 teeth now (6th coming soon)...eats 3 big meals a day, loves "table food" (whatever's on my plate; broken into small pieces)...naps 2 times a day....his brother is his hero....his cuddles melt my heart.

STATS from today:
25 lbs even
31 inches

these pictures of Jax are from our Memorial day cookout. More to come....

blueberries

J and daddy filling their bucket.


professional picker! he kept saying, "only the blue ones!!!"

jax was NOT happy to be there (short afternoon nap)

but he perked up when a gave him his own bucket of blueberries. he dove right in and started eating them! and loved em!

more bath pics....

these are a couple i'd forgotten....

2 new videos

jam session in action:

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giggles n grins:

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weekend reminder from jax: RELAX.

thurs nite jam session

i snagged this awesome drum set at the restoration house today, popped in some batteries, and voila! it worked. jordan played with it all afternoon, and jaxon enjoyed dancing to the beat. here are my two little musicians. jax even had the wooden flute, which was serving as a drumstick before we located the other ones.

my favorite preacher is now online!!!

you can now hear asah's sermons online.....woo hoo!

he preached one of his best (in my biased opinion) last Sunday....we're now going through Ephesians...and this one is on "Making Disciples of Christ through the Godly family".

enjoy!

http://www.churchcloud.com/crossroadshammond/sermons/

(click on "launch jukebox" to hear each one).

raisin a cajun

baby mum mum=baby YUM YUM

jax LOVED these! i've never seen them in walmart before but have heard good things...truth is they taste great! i had one (gotta sample things before the kids eat them, right?)...anyway, they melt in your mouth practically but are little rice cakes. it was adorable to watch him eat them like a big boy. here are some pictures that capture his feelings about Baby Mum-Mums.

from jordan, last night in the tub:

"brother, don't splash! if you do that again i'm going to spank you!"