Update on family

We are doing great! Sorry if this post is boring by the way. lol.

Camden is doing well, he's talking like a MAD man and is just so smart, this kid blows me away. He talks in sentences, counts to 5, and loves the color yellow. He's so sweet and loves his brother and sister being at school for mommy time where he can chatter my ear off but once it's time to get them from school he runs to the car so we can get there faster. Such a cutie. He knows he's the baby but that doesn't slow him down on his development thankfully. He isn't potty training yet but is so anal about dirty hands, makes him crazy! We offer and he's sat on it several times but it's just not time yet and I'm not about to push him. Shoot, no way dude am I doing that with him! lol. He just turned 2 and is the height of a 3 year old... and no I'm not kidding. His weight is fine, he's average on that, but his height is off the charts. No one believes that he just had his 2nd birthday... makes me laugh actually.

Ariana is really enjoying preschool. She has a new "best friend" every week it seems and loves the other girls in her class. She's a joy to them and is so smart, we love watching her blossom. We had a few meltdowns recently because her schedule was off due to holidays and missing school from smoke but she's getting back into the swing of it and loving it all. She's such a good girl. Now if only we could get her to stop sucking her thumb, arguing with me about what she wears every day (she's always had an opinion about her clothes, since she was a year I think it was that it started). Her hair looks crazy too, trying to decide what to do with that problem... got to love it!

Alexander, well, he's the reason I am doing this post. :) First off he loves school. He makes friends easily and really thinks it's just a blast to be there. Thank goodness! No one is mean to him in Kindergarten, why does that have to change as they get older I ask you. Oh well, we'll enjoy this stage now. We have been watching him though, that boy is so active and really a problem at school. He fidgets a lot, talks a lot, and stimulation distracts him. We had an IEP meeting today and have settled on the idea that he most likely has ADD. This is a relief to me because we know this runs in both families and can be worked with. My worst fear was more severe... glad I had it wrong actually. We knew he had a problem paying attention and this is finally getting adressed, whew! Still digesting a lot of the meeting tonight actually. We will start his Speech program on Monday and will meet with Occupational Therapy soon to learn what the plan is with that and what we can do at home to help him. He did OT when he was really young but was discharged when he was almost 3 (I think) and hasn't been seen since. The last year we've really pushed to get him back into an OT program but were denied, told that he can't until he's in Kindergarten. We've been patient enough and here we are, getting that taken care of finally and I couldn't be more happy!

We will be meeting with a Gastro intersomethingoranother soon... (GI doctor... digestion... etc). They will be checking that there isn't some weird blockage or anything going on and that he's digesting well since he's always had bowel problems. I don't honestly think they'll find anything and am determined to find a doctor that will look at the BIG PICTURE instead of picking on little things and making him go through tests that aren't necessary. Mothers instinct here... trust it already!

We also are still fighting to get him that juice he needed. It's high calorie, high protein, and totally amazing. If the insurance denies it again I'll have to keep fighting and go higher up and see what they will do for me. I'm willing to kick, scream, anything I have to in order to get that big red "failure to thrive" on his chart and get my kid that darn juice. Grr... don't mess with me.

I also am going to have them do an ultrasound or x-ray on his spinal cord. He had this checked at 9 months of age but he was maybe 10 lbs at that time? Teeny little thing, had to have an iv and sedation, it was awful! I think he was too small at the time and want a less invasive way to look at the same thing they were trying to check, is his spinal cord tethered? That would cause his in-ability to potty train and his uncle (Ray's brother) had this condition since birth and it was not diagnosed until high school. Long time to wear diapers dude and I'm not going to do it.

Ray and I are good, I'm digesting this still like I said and trying to figure out our next plan of action. All I can do is pray and hope that we are given the answers as we need them like we have so far.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers, we are really hoping to see a big improvement in Alexander this year. :)