Our (Neurodiverse) Family

I feel like this blog has become just a bunch of catch-up lists. Maybe I'll get with the program. Maybe. The big update is that we went to Disney Land last week with my husband's family. It was in the works for a long time and it finally happened. I hadn't been since I was sixteen with my high school orchestra...and it was a very limited experience even then because we got rained out. Disney Land this time around was fun and very exhausting, though I would rather not do it with a mostly nursing baby again. However, the baby care centers at both Disney Land and California adventures were wonderful. Kate turned four a week before we left for Disney Land. We took doughnuts to play group the morning of her birthday, because I am too tired and lazy to have a big friend birthday party. Then in the evening, we had spaghetti and birthday brownie. We also Skyped with my parents. I still can't believe I have a four-year-old--it feels like yesterday that she was just a baby. ...

Hello 2016 Good-bye 2015 As I mentioned on Facebook, 2015 is best described as "the best of times, the worst of times". While there were great parts of the year, there were also some very difficult parts. The best of 2015 Stephan's new job. While it was an adjustment at first (longer commute, longer hours, and different atmosphere), he is genuinely enjoying it now. We thought we were going to move closer, but decided that we needed to stay put, especially since... We found out we were having baby #2! Admittedly, it was a wee bit of a surprise, mostly at how quickly it happened after Stephan started his new job. Thank you for waiting until Daddy had a new job, baby ;) Finding out that baby #2 was going to be another little girl! I grew up with brothers and Stephan's sisters are about 12 years and three boys apart in age, so most bets were on me having a boy. Kate kept insisting she was getting a baby sister, and lo and behold, she was right. We were thr...

Kate doesn't get ill often, but when she does, it's usually only for a few days tops and then all is right in the world again. So, when she woke up in the wee hours of Sunday morning last week with a fever, we thought that it would be over in a few days and we could continue on with our lives. We were wrong. Sunday, we all stayed home from church to keep Kate from spreading germs. She seemed to want us both, so it was good that we were all home together. She slept a lot, we dosed her with children's Tylenol and Advil, etc. Monday, the fever was still there and again, she slept a lot. She drank lots of water and lemonade, but didn't really want to eat. Then she threw up--that's when I called the doctor. By the time we got to the doctor, she was acting pretty normal and her fever was under control. The doctor said it was just a bug and that she would get over it soon enough. She never threw up again, thank goodness. On Tuesday, she didn't go to presch...

Kate had her first ever dentist visit just over two weeks ago. Truth be told, I put it off too long mostly because I was scared of her being traumatized for life from the dentist. I mean, come on, dentists are a child's worst enemy right? Except, my dentist growing up was actually very nice. He even had a daughter the same age as me who I went to elementary school with. Even still, going to the dentist isn't fun the first time...right? Well, these fears proved to be unfounded. Kate did VERY well at the dentist. The hygienists and the dentist were so sweet and gentle with her. I was floored at how well Kate was handling everything--she seemed curious about it all. My first memory of the dentist includes me screaming, but remember that I was speech delayed and was going through more than my fair share of medical tests at the time. Unfortunately, Kate had a lot of cavities. In fact, one was so deep that she was going to need a baby root canal. They thought she ...

If you look closely at this picture of Kate, you will see a small pinkish-red birthmark on the right side of her forehead. It was much more noticeable when she was a baby, and people would often say (after commenting on how cute she is), "Oooooh, do you have an owie?"  Her birthmark has never bothered me, since it hasn't caused problems, but the questions about her being hurt got old. Even a friend who saw Kate frequently blurted out one day, "Is that scab ever going to heal?!" I more or less yelled at her, "IT'S A BIRTHMARK!" Stephan and I have affectionately called her birthmark her "little ruby." Kate has recently become more aware of her physical features, and one day while looking in the mirror she pointed to her birthmark and asked, "What's that?"  I told her, "That's your little ruby. You were born with it." She smiled and exclaimed, "My little wooby! It's ...

I finally got around to picking up the two-pack of Epi Pens for Kate. The pharmacy was out of the generic brand and only had the name brand, which made them even more expensive. It's a good thing Kate's allergist gave me a $0 co-pay card, but it only brought the price down from $360 to $260. That's more than I pay for a week's worth of groceries! Why two? One for the diaper bag and one to leave at home. I have mixed feelings about spending so much money for something I hope to never need to use, such as: Well! I had better get my money's worth out of these! There are a couple of problems with that line of thinking. For one thing, the only reason I would have to use one is if Kate is having a severe allergic reaction, and well, that's traumatizing for everyone involved. That, and if I use one Epi Pen, it means I'm going to have to pay for another one because we need to have two Epi Pens (one in the house and one in the diaper bag), which means more m...

Thank you everyone for reading and sharing my last post! It means so much to me and our efforts are paying off! I was interviewed to be on Good4Utah and hopefully my segment will air tonight either at six or ten p.m. Check me out then! Well, mostly check out the Kate footage because she's so darn cute. She actually cooperated for the most part during the interview, thank goodness. 

Kate's maternal instincts have been growing recently. She will feed her toys. Chocolate milk, if you were wondering. But remembers to feed herself too Put them in the stroller. Snuggle her baby in bed. Don't strangle Baby, please! Have her dolly on her lap in the swing. Push her kitty in the swing. She'll even push real babies in the swing. Have them in her lap. She BEGGED to hold him.  I suppose she is mimicking me, which is further confirmation that I'm doing right by her. Or maybe she's telling me that she wants me to give her a baby to play with. True story: when my brother was born, I thought my mom had him so he could be MY baby. And Mom was worried that I would be jealous of him. These acts of nurturing are not limited to toys and real babies. They also extend....to tomatoes. Observe: Tucking the tomato in...with an exercise band. She even made sure Tomato was buckled in! Let's take ...

Today was allergy testing day! It was supposed to be last Wednesday, but they had a scheduling mix-up. Yeah, didn't find out about the mix-up until I got there...never mind that I had to drive in the rain and get lost a few times finding the place, but they were apologetic about the whole thing and scheduled Kate for this morning. Waiting, waiting Luckily we didn't have to wait very long at all for Kate to be seen. Kate did not like getting her weight and height checked--it was different than how it's done at her pediatrician's office. After getting checked in, again, we didn't have to wait long for the allergist to see Kate. The nice thing was I know the allergist--he was in one of my old wards in Houston when he was in medical school, and then we were in the same ward as his parents. He was on the referral list from Kate's pediatrician, and since I already knew he trained at one of the best medical schools around and that he's very nice, why no...

Stephan and I came up with this parody to the chorus of "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" from The Sound of Music . This is dedicated to exhausted parents everywhere. Enjoy Climb over mommy Spill your sippy Give up afternoon naps Fine! Just watch TV! If you don't remember the tune....

Oh Kate, where do I begin? Will Grandma finally have her pianist? Her intelligence never ceases to amaze me. It seems like she's learning at least one new word a day. Here's some of the things she can do and say: --recognizing letters (A, X, M, V to name a few) --Sing most of the alphabet song --Sings "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" --Recognizes shapes (circle, square, diamond, heart, rectangle) --Colors --She sometimes refers to her ball as "ballon" (French word for ball) --repeats almost everything we say (have to be careful *laughs*) --Pats my cheek and says, "S'okay Mom." --Pretends. One day, she got my folding music stand out, put a blanket over it, and called it a Christmas tree. --Likes tucking stuffed animals/toys in and kissing them good-night --Can say "Good night!" --Requests The Piano Guys when we're in the car --Can pray with assistance from us. --Can't reach it? She'll jus...

If you read the post I published late last night, you may have been a little concerned about me. I just wanted to do an update this morning to tell my readers that I'm doing better. After I published the post, I got ready for bed, said a prayer, turned on some calming music, and snuggled with the husband. Kate got up in the middle of the night, which would normally be bothersome, but this time I welcomed it. For some reason, snuggling my sweet girl helps the anxious feelings melt away. Oxytocin is a beautiful thing, isn't it?  However, I am facing the consequences of staying up too late--I'm a bit tired now. We also overslept a bit, making it necessary for Stephan to rush out the door for work. I've been making the best of it. Kate has had some tummy trouble this morning, so she's getting lots of mommy loves right now :)

Taken on her second birthday Kate had her two-year visit a few days ago. Basically, we found out that she's ridiculously tall, is in the 75th percentile for her weight, and she once again wowed her pediatrician with her vocabulary and how clearly she speaks. All in all, Kate is very healthy. However... You know how Kate is allergic to peanuts? Image Credit Good grief! Well, she could be allergic to cashews too, although the one time she had cashews, they were roasted in peanut oil (I didn't know this until AFTER she had some). Her reaction to them was bad--vomiting, hives ALL OVER her body, and the worst diaper rash ever. The pediatrician said that the vomiting is a potential sign of an anaphylactic reaction, which means I now have to carry an epi-pen around just in case. I also got a referral to an allergist, so we can see if she is allergic to any other nuts and confirm whether or not she is actually allergic to cashews. We already know she isn't all...

With my recent posts on depression, illness, and such...where did Kate go? Kate is 23 months old now, meaning that she's almost two years old! As cliche as this sounds, where did the time go? At nearly two years old, Kate can: Talk A LOT. I know, I say this every time I write a Kate update, but I swear she is learning at least one new word a day. She also repeats things, which means we have to be careful what we say around her. She is also using sentences and phrases like "I chase you!", "Mommy, come in", "get out", "Mommy, where are you?", chocolate chip cookie...etc. She can also answer questions.  Remove her own clothing. She has only done this twice--her shirt at the library and part of her onesie at home. Yeah, I thought keeping her in onesies would keep her from stripping, but alas. She hasn't done it again in the last few days...*knock on wood* Has become obsessed with dinosaurs. I don't know how, but I see ...

I haven't made a Kate post in a while, so I thought I'd write one. She is 19 months old now and is in Nursery. We started taking her to Nursery two weeks before her 18-month birthday (that was the earliest we could start taking her). She LOVED it that first Sunday, at 17.5 months old. Then when she turned 18 months, she decided she didn't like it anymore. For the time being, Stephan and I are alternating who's in there with her. I stay with her during the second hour of church (Sunday School) while Stephan comes in during the third hour so I can lead music in Relief Society. Hopefully, she'll start loving Nursery soon so Stephan can start attending Priesthood meeting again! Oh yeah, did I mention we don't teach Primary anymore? We actually got released right as Kate was starting Nursery. Oh the irony. I am now the chorister in Relief Society--I choose the hymns and lead the singing, basically. Back to Kate. At her 18-month checkup, she weighed in at th...

I never knew what eczema was until I married Stephan, and only because his mother and grandmother have both struggled with it. Even then, however, I really didn't know anything about it. Then I had Kate. See the eczema patch on her left eyelid? It eventually cleared up, thankfully. When Kate was almost four months old, I noticed that she kept getting dry patches on her thighs, but I assumed that because summer was coming, she was just getting dry skin and I needed to be more diligent about keeping her clean and rubbing lotion on her. At her four-month visit, I showed the dry patches to the PA and she said that it was eczema. She told me to stop using Johnson's baby products and instead to use Aveeno products and to start using hydrocortisone cream. That was all the information I got. So, I bought Aveeno creamy baby wash and cream to go with it. Again, I didn't really know anything about eczema--just that it was dry skin. When Kate started scratching herself si...

Yes, you read that right. So, one of the moderators for the ICP Support/Itchy Moms page on facebook is writing a book about the liver disorder as a way of increasing awareness. She is going to have a section in the book devoted to women's experiences with cholestasis. I volunteered, and since there were many women clamoring to share their stories, the moderator sent me a questionnaire asking me about what my experiences were, my health history, family history, etc. My mom also filled out the questionnaire, and because of our family history of cholestasis, our stories are going to be in the book. My aunt is going to be interviewed as well. The moderator called me last night for a phone interview, where I gave a play-by-play of my pregnancy with Kate. I'll give you the gist of the conversation: When did the itching start? I had a day of intense itching at 32 weeks. It was the telltale itching on hands and feet. I decided that if it didn't go away in the next day or so, ...

I took French all through high school and took a few classes when I got to college, but stopped because of class scheduling and because BYU's foreign language classes are brutal. Great, but brutal. I have studied it on my own off and on, and even volunteered at the Missionary Training Center, letting French-speaking missionaries practice speaking French with me.  My French has gotten pretty rusty, although I still have the accent down, at least according to some francophones I've spoken to. Naturally, I want to expose my daughter to this beautiful language. Not for overachieving reasons, I assure you, though I understand that there are benefits to exposing young children to foreign languages.  Plus, a former beloved baby-sitter from my childhood commented that Kate's lips were so beautiful, they looked like she should be speaking French ;) For Christmas, I got her a French board book that had flaps you lifted to see the French word and it's English transl...

Okay seriously, this has been the month of the germ invasion.  Let's start from the beginning. The night before the presidential election, I woke up to Kate crying. This is normal--this usually means she's hungry and wants to nurse. So, I go to her room, and as I'm picking her up, I notice that her pyjama top was very wet. It didn't take me long to realize that she had thrown up! I turned on the light and saw that she had vomited all over her bed :( Needless to say, I was traumatized. I called for Stephan and we got her out of her dirty pajamas, brought her into our bed so we could monitor her, and I nursed her back to sleep.  Then a few hours later, she threw up in our bed. We changed her clothes and our bed sheets, and went back to bed. I nursed her again, and yes, I realize that she was throwing it up but how do you say to someone incapable of verbal communication that nursing will only make them throw up again? And then a few hours later, we were chang...

Unlike the vast majority of Utahans, we do not do our banking at Zion's National Bank. When we were first married, we agreed that since we were open to the possibility of leaving Utah after Stephan finished school, it would be wise to go through a bank with a more national presence (I have nothing against Zion's, for the record). I already had a bank account through my family's bank, so we just put Stephan's name on my account. Well, Stephan finished school and we are still in Utah, albeit in a different city now. And we seem to have a talent for not moving very close to one of our bank's branches. This isn't always so bad because Stephan's job automatically deposits his paycheck into our account every payday. But on Monday, we got part of our cleaning deposit back from our old apartment. Yeah, only part of it, but that's a whole 'nother blog post for another time. I picked Stephan up from work and we were going to run a couple of quick erra...