Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful mothers.  This day really didn't carry that much significance until I became a Mother.  Sure, I enjoyed acknowledging my mom's on Mother's Day but you don't really "get it" until you become a Mom yourself. 

I am blessed to have had more than one Mom.  I have a biological Mom who made the selfless decision to give me life back in 1973.  I have the most upmost respect for her for making the right decision because we all know she could have made a different choice and well I wouldn't be here writing on my blog.  My adopted Mom, well that's complicated.  All I can say is she did the best she could, and I learned a lot from her, and I probably wouldn't be the person I am today because of her.  She lived a tough life and had many struggles in her life.  She passed away this past year at the age of 60.  Even though she had some shortcomings as a Mother she never lacked in her ability to love me unconditionally, and I love her for that.  Rest in peace Mom!  God also blessed me immensley with a wonderful stepmother who has been in my life since I was 8.  I could not imagine my life without her.  God knew that I would need her to fill in the gaps where my adopted Mom lacked.  God is good that way!  I also can't forget to mention my wonderful mother-in-law.  She is the best!

Now that I am a mother I understand the love mother's have for their children.  It is truly the hardest and most rewarding job ever.  If only their were guidebooks though :)  Now I understand when people would say "I would die for my child."  I get it now because I would do the same.

Trip to Del Rio

Me, Mark and Matthew went to Del Rio to visit family this past week for a few days. Matthew and I have been several times.

A little background: My Dad, stepmom, stepsister, her husband and kids and my grandparents all moved down there in 1996. My Dad sold his nice home, quit his job as vice president of sales and marketing and bought a trailer on a couple of acres in Del Rio. I'm sure you are wondering why. Well his passion is the people of Mexico so he does mission work in Ciudad Acuna. He has worked with various orphanages and currently has a home for unwed teenage pregnant moms. He helps them with the pregnancy and teaches them how to be good moms and gives them lots of love and lots of rules and boundaries. They have to go to school or work. He is doing some good work and is showing them God's love.

I hate that they are that far but I'm used to it now. It is about 420 miles so it's about a 7 to 8 hour drive. Matthew does very well in the car. I am able to get down there fairly often since I only work 2 days a week. Matthew and I are going again in a couple of weeks and will be staying a week. I enjoy going. There isn't much to do in Del Rio but that's what I like about it. It's relaxing and we spend most of are days doing nothing. Love it.

This past visit was good! Matthew's 2nd cousin was there as well who is 2 1/2. He is a cutie. Of course he is very advanced in his language but other than that he is a typical 2 year old. His Dad is VERY SMART so the advanced language is no surprise. Matthew and him really didn't have too much interest in each other. I think they saw each other as a "threat" to each other. Especially if there were toys involved :) Typical selfish nature of 2 year olds.

Until next time!

Betsey

PPCD evaluation

Well today Matthew had his evaluation with the Mansfield ISD to see if he qualifies for services when he is 3. There was a speech therapist and a diagnostician and Matthew did very well today. He was cooperative and had fun. They really just played and interacted with him and asked me questions. I also had to fill out several questionnares prior to the evaluation. Today was just a time to gather information and they will call me back for a meeting prior to his 3rd birthday to give me all the results of the evaluations and they will let me know if he qualifies for services and what they recommend. Of course I had to ask if they think he would qualify based on what they saw today and they didn't hesitate to say "yes." Even though Matthew did well with the evaluation he does have a significant communication impairement. He just isn't communicating like he should. Does it make me sad? Of course, but at the same time there is still a lot of hope because he is still young. There is a good chance that he will be all caught up by kindergarten but there is always that possibility that he won't and I am accepting of that. I do fear that all these language impairments may be a sign of later learning disabilities. Only time will tell.

I have been doing some reading on language delays and was looking back on Matthew's visit with Dr. Mauk in September and she did diagnose him with "developmental language disorder" which is another term for "specific language impairment." Kids with specific language impairment have problems with expressive and receptive language that can snowball into other issues such as social, self help and cognitive delays. A very high percentage of these kids go on to have learning disabilities so getting help early is key. There is a lot of information on specific language impairment and it seems to fit Matthew very well.

I will update when I have the "official results" of his evaluation.

Betsey

What's new with us!

Things are good here. Had a good Easter. Matthew scored 3 easter baskets. We had a small family easter egg hunt in our backyard. He enjoyed that. He did get the hang of finding the eggs and was very proud when he would find an egg.

The cat is working out great. He has actually been a wonderful addition to the family. The cats name has changed to "Mia." Not really a boy cat name but that is what Matthew calls him so "Mia" it is. "Mia" is Matthew's word for meow so basically he calls all cats "Mia." The cat is very tolerable of Matthew and is quite playful. The cat loves to be out back with all of us and likes "playing ball" with Matthew.

Found out my Aunt Vicky passed away. She was only 60. Sad. She lived in New York. She lived a tough life. Hopefully she is at peace now! I really didn't know her too well. Saw her a lot when I was a kid, but didn't see her much as an adult. That's the reality of extended families these days. Noone really lives close anymore. It's kinda of sad.

Matthew's evaluation with the school district is set for April 20th. I will update when I get those results. He is doing pretty well. His word list is growing. He is up to about 60 words. Go Matthew. I will be curious to see what the school district thinks. ECI will end in June and I think I will just lay low with Matthew the rest of the summer. I think it will be good for him to have no therapy for a few months.

Enjoy the pics! "Mia" loves to climb trees in the backyard so there is a picture of him in a tree. He was way up there.

Until next time!

Matthew's cast is off and he is in a big boy bed.

Well the cast came off yesterday! Yeaaa!! Other than having a skinny, very dry and flaky leg it otherwise looks good. He will have to wear a walking boot for the next 2 to 3 weeks, but we can take it off for naps, bedtime, and baths. He had his 1st tub bath tonight. Its been almost 5 weeks since his last tub bath. He isn't walking much yet but he should start walking in the next few days. It will be nice when everything is back to normal.

Matthew is finally in a big boy bed. He is almost 3 so I figured it was definitely time to get him out of his crib. I really didn't have a reason why he is still in his crib but I really didn't have a reason to get him out of his crib. Most toddlers move out of their cribs because they are climbing out of it or they have a new little brother or sister on the way that needs it. I was one of the lucky ones because Matthew was good about entertaining himself in his crib when he woke up so I was able to get some extra sleep :) I admit, I have been spoiled. The first couple of nights have gone well, but he didn't take his nap today. I thought he was sleeping but then I heard a very loud banging noise on his door. He was throwing his toys at his door and he made a big mess in his room. We'll see how tomorrow goes.

Enjoy the pics of Matthew's noncasted leg and him sleeping in his big boy bed. Notice the "da di di" (a.k.a. fire hydrant) right next to his bed. His "da di di" also goes "night night" when he does.

Whats new!

Hope everyone is getting used to the blog rather than the share site. I know, change is hard. I am still getting used to the blog as well. Mark and I had a nice visit from Mike (brother in law) this past weekend. He is always great to have around. He loves seeing Matthew and we always have good talks. We had a great conversation about rasing kids. Raising kids is likely the most difficult job on the planet. There is no training and no guidebooks. You just kind of have to figure it out as you go along. There will likely be many mistakes along the way, but hopefully the things you do right will outweigh the mistakes.

Matthew is good. His word list is growing. His latest word is "wa wa". Yep, that's his word for giraffe. Grandma Carroll will be happy to hear that Matthew has a word for giraffe. She LOVES giraffes. Matthew is still very much in love with his "da di di" (a.k.a. fire hydrant). We put "da di di" to bed every night now and "da di di" even gets baths :). I have decided that the theme of his 3rd birthday is going to be fire hydrants. Should be interesting :) Matthew still has his long leg cast. He gets it off in a week (yeaaaaaa!). He is walking on it which is an interesting sight. Overall he has done pretty well with it.

My brother and his wife live in Iowa and are in the foster to adopt program. Well they just got a little 9 month old boy named Ben that they are fostering with hopes of adopting. Just saw pictures today and he is a cutie. Pray that everything works out for them. Ben would be very lucky to have Allan and Katherine as his parents.

Work is good. We are still slow so there is always the fear of getting cancelled, but so far it has been ok. Working Sunday nights is working out well. As long as I get a good nap in that afternoon I can usually make it through the night ok.

That's all I can think of for now.

Betsey

Enjoy the pic of Matthew with his Uncle Mike and "dada" on Uncle Mike's Harley.

Introduction

So who are we? My name is Betsey and I have been married to my wonderful husband Mark since July 2005. We met through a friend and things really got going after hanging out at a Stryper reunion concert together. We are both huge Stryper fans so it was just meant to be for us to be together.

We have 1 son named Matthew who was born on June 24, 2007. Can't believe he will be 3 in June. Where did the time go? Matthew is a very handsome boy and his mommy and daddy love him very much. Matthew is speech delayed. He has about 30-40 words and his first words didn't really come until after age 2. He has been in ECI since his 1st birthday and is receiving speech therapy. He is doing much better than when we started. There were some concerns about autism because he did have a lot of "red flags" like no pointing, no babbling, limited waving/clapping, etc.... The "red flags" have gone away, but we are still dealing with the speech delay. ECI ends at age 3 so he will transfer to the school district and will likely attend PPCD (preschool program for children with disabilities). The school will evaluate him and recommend what they think is best. He currently attends a wonderful preschool program 2 days a week and I enrolled him for 3 days a week in the Fall. I would like to contine with that preschool and use the school district as a supplement. I do believe that he is more than just a "late talker", and I think he will need all the help he can get to get his language skills to age level. It's hard to know what the future holds, but we will be there for him every step of the way. He has been evaluated by a developmental pediatrician and will see her again in June.

I have been an RN since 1998 and love it. I currently work 2 days a week in the NICU. I love working in the NICU, and I feel so blessed to be able to work part time so I can be home most of the week with Matthew. It brings a nice balance. The days that I do work are a nice break. Mothers of young kids know what I mean.

Matthew LOVES fire hydrants so the reason for the pic with Matthew and a fire hydrant.

P.S. Matthew had his 1st dentist appt. today and it went well. All they did was look in his mouth. His teeth look good! Next time they want to do a teeth cleaning. Good luck with that!