I love reading stuff like this!!!!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35185356/ns/health-mental_health/

Christmas and Such.....

Wow. Yes, another month has gone by. I feel bad for the 3 people that actually read my blog. I am seriously going to try harder. Well, Christmas has come and gone. We were out of town for 6 days! It was fun, but exhausting. Cale was off his schedule so he woke up really early and wouldn't take naps, etc. But, he had fun. He is just so sweet. I don't think he has a mean bone in his body. He finally said his first word. "Ball". And I am counting it as the first word because he actually says it without us asking him. If he sees a ball, he points (still not with one finger, the whole hand) and says "ball". He also points and says other words, but he signs them. He signs 13 words now. And is starting to sign two words together pretty consistently. Oh, I just can't wait for the day when he calls me "mama". Yes, I'm still waiting on that one!! There were a lot of firsts over the last month....................

Cale's first snow:

Not a first, but cute picture:

Cale's first haircut. This was in Gun Barrel so there were no booster seats. Chris had to wear this crazy contraption. I thought it was pretty funny. Also, the lady cut Cale's ear so we got it for free!:

First time opening the cabinet and pulling out all the pots and pans then he crawled in! We were so proud:

First time at a big boy table. He eats his snack there, plays with Potato Head and Magna Doodle and can get in the chair by himself!! He also loves putting this plastic box on his head. He runs around the house everyday with this on his head:First time keeping a hat on. He actually likes them now!! Even though it is an OSU hat. We will let that slide!Also, as many of you know, we are expecting twins the first week of June!! A boy and a girl!! We are very excited. I am almost 18 weeks right now. I haven't posted about it before because we just wanted to make sure everything was ok. But, so far so good. I am past the horrible sickness phase and feel well. I will wait to post the later belly pictures when it really gets good and ugly. Right now I am just barely showing so it's not too exciting. As for names, we are really liking Luke Daniel and Harper Belle. Those are the leads right now unless something better comes along!!

18 and 19 Months!

It's has almost been a month since I posted. Sorry, I just couldn't muster the energy. Cale is doing great! He is so cute. He is getting so easy to handle and is starting to understand everything. Cale got re-tested at speech and tested at the 15th month level for expressive (up from 10 month level) and 21 month level for receptive (up from 15 month level)! Yea! Speech is working. He now signs the words more, eat, all done, again, please and shoes. He is trying to start two word signs like "more please". Cale loves to run. He runs everywhere. He falls a lot, but his balance is getting better. He loves to hug, play ring around the rosy, dance and tickle dada. We are really excited that he is doing well. We are trying to work on him not stuffing his mouth to capacity (sensory thing) when he eats, pointing with one finger and using a fork or spoon.

He is getting less and less anxiety. I am not sure if the Zoloft is a miracle drug or he is just getting older and more mature?? He did scream bloody murder with Santa. Yet, he goes over to the tree and points to Santa about 100 times per day?? Oh and I forgot the most exciting thing! Cale is clapping!! Yes, clapping. It's like 12 months of pent up non-clapping is finally released. He is now an avid clapper.

Ok, I'm taking you back to October. He was a clown for Halloween. Cameron and Connor actually wore this costume back in the early 90's:

His second costume was a farmer. This was at the GBC church festival. He was enthralled with the juggler. Cale watched him for about 15 minutes straight.Cale loves, loves, loves music. He especially likes watching the guitar. Cameron always has to pull it out when we go over there. You should see him at Little Gym. The teacher plays a couple of songs on the guitar and Cale is all up in his chili. I mean like 2 inches away. All the other kids are nicely sitting in their moms laps. The guy has to like not make eye contact with Cale so he can focus on teaching the class. It's pretty funny.Oklahoma trip. Cale with his uncles Jarod and Jay. He loved riding in the golf cart.And the Santa pic. This Santa isn't near as good as last year. This guy is like 35. He just didn't pull it off and I think Cale knew it that's why he is upset.

Aww... So Cute!

FALL = FUN!

We have been having some good times down here in GBC. We went to our second FX function. A Fall Festival. Here we are with the best picture we could get: Cale's cousin's, Morgan and Shelby came down from Oklahoma. I don't think Cale likes pumpkins very much or maybe it's being forced to sit on them and take pictures. Here is the best of all the pictures we took:

I did a little comparison. Last year pretty much looks the same as this year. Chris said he looks like Benjamin Button in the Fall 09 picture. Oh, did we get a chuckle out of that one. And it's true:

Cale's second trip to the Fair. Last year I remember it was so hot and he had his helmet so it made it even hotter. He rode his first ride:

Petting Zoo at the Fair. He wasn't too keen on the bigger animals:

New Jammies:

Cale LOVES the "Elmo Song". So when he hears the tune.......he cracks up!

This is Cale's version of a flip:

17 Months!

Yikes, it has been a while since I posted. We have been super busy with all of Cale's therapy. He is now in speech twice a week. They are trying to teach him to communicate using words, sign and pictures. For example....if he wants a drink, I have him go to his picture board, pull off the picture of the drink and hand it to me while I say and sign "drink". It is called total communication. We start off doing that to see whether he prefers sign or pictures all the while always saying the word and trying to get him to say it. Also, a lot of face massaging since he has low muscle tone in his jaw and lips. Pretty much I wish I would have majored in speech therapy or special ed instead of dumb computers. But, who knew? Anyway, the Zoloft is awesome. I would like to up the dose so I will probably be asking the doctor about that. He is just not as clingy and is sooo much better in new situations. What a difference.

He has had lots of "boo boos" since starting to walk. He also got attacked by mosquitoes so his forehead looked like the elephant man for a couple of days.

He is loving Little Gym and starting to leave me and go explore. He actually climbed up a few stairs (with my urging). He loves the balls and bubbles. He is picking stuff up without actually going down on his hands. He is starting to point with one finger, but not at stuff that he can't touch. He can point to his toes, tummy, head, ears and your nose. Occasionally he will stick his tongue out if you ask him. He understands so much more than he can communicate. He actually lifted his hand up toward the fan the other night. Like he wanted us to look at the fan, but he didn't quite know how his arms and hands worked? But, he is starting to discover his hands, opening and closing them. His flapping is getting less except when he is really excited, like when he sees the dogs.

Basically, everything is going smoothly right now. I am just really focusing on his communication which, I think, will be the thing that gives him and us the most trouble.

And lastly, we are back on the IVF train. Our retrieval of the eggs is this weekend and then 5 days after that they will hopefully be able to transfer 2 embryos. I will then take a pregnancy test 2 weeks after that probably around October 24th ish. I am so nervous! Wish us luck and please pray for a pregnancy!!

A couple of weekends ago we attended our first Fragile X function. Texas has a Fragile X organization based in Irving. So it was nice to get to meet other parents dealing with the same things. Cale's friend Kolton and his family came all the way from San Antonio! It was really nice talking to Kolton's mom, Deanna, and getting some great advice and pretty much just venting to someone who knows exactly what you are going through. I wish they lived closer!

Another football game. I thought it was cute that Beau and Cale were watching the players warm up. I guess they will be out there in about 15 years?
Our family from Michigan came in town and Cale loved hanging out with his cousin Annie!He loves to pick up sticks.
Nene's 80th birthday party. Pretty much Cale pulls all my shirts down and stretches them out. Even the one time a year I try to wear something nice.
Cale hanging with Grandma.
And......he is ready to go.
He LOVES the vacuum. I can't even vacuum at all if he is in the room because he wants to lay on top of it. I can't figure out if he likes the noise or the vibration.
I got this lawn mower for Cale way before he started walking thinking it would help him because he could push it. Well, I didn't realize that the handle was floppy and didn't support him so he never used it. Yesterday I was in the living room and he just walked right in the playroom and got his mower and started mowing around the house! Yes! Excuse the bad lighting and the horrible mess of a living room. I call that the Calenado. Like tornado, but caused by Cale. No? Ok, bad. Here's the footage.

Back from Cali!

The trip was awesome! We learned so much. I am so excited. Cale did great. They did an IQ test, developmental test and blood draw. I was so glad to have Aunt Misty and Nanny come with me to help with Cale. Thanks so much!! They took him to the zoo and park and everywhere else while I was in doing my testing stuff. They did some tests on me because they are doing a lot of research on "carriers" of Fragile X. Anyway, back to Cale.

Right now his IQ is 69, which is in the "mild retardation" range. I am not too phased by this because I know it can improve. Also, he scored lower because his speech and language are really delayed right now. He starts speech therapy twice a week this week! His fine and gross motor skills along with his visual perception were at the 14 month level, which was good, and then his expressive and receptive language were at the 9 and 10 month level, which was not good. But, again, he will be starting speech, so I expect that to come up in the next few months once he learns how to communicate better. He did test negative for Autism, but they said that could still develop before he turns 3. Right now, because he has high anxiety, the doctor put him on Zoloft. Just a teeny, tiny bit each day. This is going to ease his anxiety, boost his language and hopefully prevent Autism from developing because if his anxiety is eased he will be more social! I can't wait to see the results.

The blood draw is going to test his methylation status which is basically how much FMR1 protein his gene is producing. The high percentage being produced the higher functioning he will be. But, I am not even going to concern myself with the number because I finally accepted that Cale has Fragile X and that is a part of who he is. It doesn't define him, it is just something he has. Like a large mole. Ok, not like that, but you know what I mean. This past week I realized that I love him the way he is and I wouldn't change him one bit, Fragile X and all. Fragile X kids have a lot of common characteristics. They are really sweet, people pleasers, honest, easy to forgive, and have a great sense of humor. So........if I had to choose, would I rather have a really smart kid that has a high IQ or a kid with all of those great qualities?? Exactly.

They also talked about a new drug that has been tested on mice with Fragile X. The drug has actually repaired the synopsis in the brain that have been damaged or not working from Fragile X. They are starting the human trials for it and when Cale is 3 1/2 he will be old enough to engage in that study! It is so exciting to be involved in this research that will one day hold a cure for Fragile X. I mean, it tears me up just thinking about it and all the great kids out there that will benefit!

And..........................................it's official. He is a walker. I am calling it at 16 months. He did not crawl one time this weekend!!

Monday morning when Cale woke up he threw up about 6 times! I guess he got the stomach bug that had been going around. So this was him in the car on the way to the airport. Good thing I did this because he threw up again in the car, but after that he was fine. He did really well on the flight.

Aunt Misty and Cale at the Sacramento Zoo:

Just looking cute in his converse:

This is where all the "magic" happened:

We went down to Old Sacramento on Thursday night and walked around looking at the trains:
G-Paw and Cale taking a stroll after church:

Scout and Brooke came to play with Cale today. Brooke and Cale already know how to share: