Done with Kindergarten already?

Just can't believe that my little Gabey Gabe is heading into the 1st grade.  He had an amazing year in Kindergarten with Teacher Emily.  What an amazing, patient, caring person.  It takes a very special person to work with people with special needs and she is definitely that person!  We have been so lucky to have her!  Gabe loves school and really loved his teacher and the teacher assistants this year.  We are really sad and maybe even a bit scared to move on to another teacher.  Gabe will be going to a new school next year with a new teacher.

 Teacher Emily :)

Proud of you Gabe!

He lost another tooth!

Gabe lost his 2nd tooth.  Well actually he didn't really lose it, I had to pull it out.  That is the 1st tooth I have ever pulled and and it gave me the heebee jeebees!  Vinnie always takes care of that kinda stuff all the way since Austin lost his 1st tooth BUT he was out of town this time and it was driving Gabe nuts! Gabe kept telling me he had an ouey and wanted me to kiss it better.  Turns out his tooth was super loose.  I grabbed a paper towel, folded it, grabbed his tooth and pulled it out.  When I was done he said "that's better".

Well Child Check Up X 3!

We took the kiddos to the doctor today for their well child checkups.  We figured it would be easier just to get them all in at once.  Gabe for his 6 year, Sebastian for his 4 year, and Abby for her 2 year.

Gabe weighs 62 lbs and is 48" tall.  This puts him in the 95th percentile.  He is a BIG boy!  He got a flu shot in his thigh which he was not too happy about but he seems to be doing fine now.

Sebastian weighs 51 lbs!  He is 41.5".  This puts him in the 75th percentile for his height and for his weight...eek...over the 100th percentile.  Talk about a BIG boy!  The doctor suggested that we start watching what we feed him and try to get his weight under control.  He said that he hates to use the word "diet" for such a young person.  We told him about the feeding issues that we have with Sebastian and he gave us a number for a pediatric nutrionalist.  I have made that phone call already and am now waiting to hear back.  Sebastian did have to get a total of 7 shots today, one of them being the flu shot.  Poor kiddo, 4 in one thigh and 3 in the other.  He was screaming soooo loud.  He was fine just a few minutes afterward.  Also, the doctor discovered an ear infection in his right ear.  Good thing he caught it before it got worse.  He will be starting antibiotics today!  The doctor did also suggest to us that we should take both boys in and have them evaluated for Autism.  We still at this point do not have an official diagnosis for Gabe but we know he is definitely on the spectrum.  Sebastian on the other hand we don't really know.  The Doctor said it would be a good idea to have him evaluated as well because he did see some tendencies.  Boo!

Abby weighs 28 lbs and is 35" tall.  This puts her in the 50th percentile for her height.  This has gone down as she has always been above the 75th percentile.  (yay)  She is also in the 50th percentile for her weight.  She did great!  She also got a flu shot but they gave her the nasal mist and she did just fine with that.  She was so cute and so cooperative today.  She stood on the scale when told, she stood against the wall with her heels to the wall while they measured her height.  She didn't even flinch when the Dr. came close to her to examine her.  What a good girl!

Now, I just need to get Austin in for a check up since it has been a few years....

It's the start of another school year...

We have two MAJOR milestones for this school year.  We have one that is leaving Elementary and beginning Junior High/Middle School and one that is starting Elementary.  It is hard for me to believe that Austin is starting the 7th Grade!  Where has the time gone?  I can still remember my 1st day of Junior High and now I have a son this age!  Crazy how fast they grow up.  We live far enough away that he will be taking the school bus this year.  He is pretty excited about that.  For some reason he seems to be excited that the bus comes at 7:12 am...EARLY!!!

Austin had his 7th grade orientation on Thursday Aug 25th so he went to school for a 1/2 day.  His "official" first day of school was Monday August 29th.

Then there is my little Gabe who is starting Kindergarten?  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  Already?  It is way too soon for him to be starting Kindergarten.  He will be in a Diagnostic Kindergarten class.  We are super excited about his teacher, she seems really mellow and very understanding.  She has worked with Autistic children for the last 12 years, so we feel very blessed to have her as Gabe's teacher.  He will be going for 1/2 day.  He leaves the house at 7:45 am and gets home at noon.  He was very excited to see the bus come to pick him up.

Gabe's 1st day of school was Tuesday August 23rd.

Sebastian will be going to pre-school again this year as well as next year too.  So he still has a little time before he is off to Kindergarten.  His bus picks him up at 8:35 and drops him off back at home at 11:15.  He is only gone for a couple of hours and only goes on Tuesdays & Thursdays.  He loves school and enjoys having friends to play with.

Sebastian started school before all of them, his 1st day was Thursday August 18th. 

All of my boys are off to school!  It sure makes it quiet around here having the 3 of them gone.  Abby seems to enjoy the one on one attention that she gets from us during this time.

You are missing a tooth!!!!

Gabe has lost his first baby tooth!  Is this really possible?  Did this really already happen?  Seems like it just came in not too long ago and now it has fallen out?  Can someone please slow this growing process down just a bit, my kiddos are getting too big!

I was upstairs and heard a frantic voice calling from downstairs, "Honey, do you know Gabe is missing a tooth?"  Again, I will put emphasis on his frantic voice.  I panicked and ran down the stairs to discover my little Gabey was missing his bottom right front tooth.  Normally this is an exciting thing for kids to lose their first tooth.  Poor Gabe, not so much!  He had no idea what was going on.  We didn't even know he had a loose tooth, neither did he I'm sure and if he did that didn't mean a thing to him.  We started searching all over the house looking for this missing tooth and then it hit me!  During the night Gabe was having a rough time, he was screaming hysterically it was really difficult to calm him down.  I had to take him out of his bed, take him downstairs, and hold him in my lap while we watched TV.  He finally fell asleep and let me put him back in his bed.  So while we were looking for his tooth I thought about his rough night and it made me wonder if this is why he was so upset.  I went and searched in his bed and there was his tooth.  I showed him out of excitement and he did not like that one bit!  In fact his gag reflex kicked in.  I had him look in the mirror to see this new milestone and he was not happy with this either.  I quickly had to do a happy song and dance and shouted what a big boy he was!  I did whatever I could to let him know that he was OK and that this was an exciting thing!



Abby is 18 months old....ALREADY!

It amazes me that she is already 18 months old!  This is crazy to me.  When we left Alaska she was only 6 months old, barely rolling over, not sitting, not walking, not talking.  This past year has gone by so incredibly fast!  Not only is Abby walking and has been for several months now but she is running, jumping on the trampoline, climbing up in her swing (on the swing set), talking, picking out her own shoes, and more.  Yes, I said picking out her own shoes.  It is so funny, every morning when I get her dressed I pick out her shoes to match her outfit and without fail nearly everyday she tells me "no" and then picks out a different pair.  It isn't the same pair that she picks each day, she likes all of them, she just seems to know which pair she wants for that particular day.  Once I get her dressed she then requests a bow to be put in her hair.  She loves accessories including her purse for the day.  It is so much fun to have my little girly girl!



We did have a little mishap last month, April 5th was the day...I was feeding Abby her dinner and noticed that her little front tooth is chipped.  Of course, it bothers me more than her.  I don't even know when it happened.  I was really upset about it and posted it on Facebook.  I soon felt better after reading every one's comments that explained this same thing had happened to their little ones and some of them were even able to take them to the dentist and have it filed down a bit.  I am leaving it as it for now and I will decide later if this is something I should do or not.

Her 18 month well baby check up went great!  The doctor said she is right in line developmentally with where she should be.

Weight:  25.8 lbs (about the 65%)

Height:  33 inches (about the 80%)

She is TALL!

Update on our family goals...

It has now been a little over 2 weeks since I did my post "Here's the deal".  The kids have sat at the table everyday since this post for both lunch and dinner.  I can't believe how easy it was to transition them.  No fuss what-so-ever!  I say "time for lunch/dinner, come sit down" and they come and sit down.  Sebastian likes to test us a little and see how far he can push the line.  On occasion he will try to get up and walk away just to see what we will do.  I do keep one of their books at the table and I will start to read it to them if they begin to get restless which has done wonders!  When they are finished they get up and take their plates to the sink and them come back to us for a "high 5".  I am so proud of them.  They have also been getting story time every night since I set the goal.  All 3 little ones get up on Gabe's top bunk while I read to them.  Sebastian LOVES book so much and gets upset when story time is over.

TV time has been cut back quite a bit.  It does help that the weather has been a little warmer and they can go outside and play, but along with that we have been turning the TV off and letting them have some play time in the quiet.  We definitely make sure it is off well before their meal times so they aren't too distracted when they are called to the table.

I think potty training is just right around the corner.  Gabe is doing great and consistently uses the potty when given the chance.  Sebastian seems interested in what Gabe is doing and is trying to copy him.

We are all doing an awesome job on our family goals and we will keep working on and toward the others that have been set.

The Boys get Bunkbeds!!!

The boys have outgrown their Sesame Street toddler beds, Gabe was nearly too tall to fit in his anymore and their mattresses were pretty worn out and uncomfortable.  We found them some bunkbeds before Christmas, Grandma Marci got them some mattresses for Christmas and some Toy Story bedding.  A couple of days after Christmas we decided to tackle this project.  The kids were having fun trying to help us..

They were sooooo excited!  Gabe was full of giggles and couldn't wait to climb up on his bed.  Sebastian soon followed and I believe he stayed on there for atleast an hour playing with his Sesame Street stuffed characters.  When it was time for bed Gabe was still full of giggles and had a hard time falling asleep, he was so happy and kept saying "new bed, new bed" with a big huge smile on his face.  Sebastian was a bit sad because he had the bottom bunk.  (I know how this feels because when I was in the 2nd grade we lived with my cousin Jill, she and I shared a room and had bunkbeds and I had to have the bottom bunk)

He soon got over it and now he enjoys his bottom bunk.  They have done so well in their new beds and sleep so much better!  

MY BOYS ARE GROWING UP!  :(

Sebastian's 1st day of pre-school

Sebastian has been involved with the Jordan School District in the early intervention program since shortly after we moved to Utah.  He has had a developmental specialist come to our house once a week to work with him on his speech and prepare him for pre-school.  You have to be 3 years old to go to school.  We found out that he will be going to school with Gabe and they will be in the same class.  He turned 3 on a Wednesday and started school the following Monday.  He goes twice a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays.

He was very excited to have his own backpack.

Every Morning he walks Gabe out to the bus and gets on the bus to check it out and then gets off and waves to Gabe...BUT, today he gets to go with him...

Daddy was a bit teary eyed watching his Baby boy go off to school on the school bus.

And here you are home from school, you put your finger to your mouth and said "hmmm"

You had a great day at school and Teacher Salli said that you did everything you were suppose to do and you participated in all activities, YAY!!



Abby is 11 Months Old!

These are some of the many faces of our little Abby!  The picture on the left is her famous look that she likes to give us when she wants something.  She does a cute little whine sound along with it.  It almost looks like she is getting ready to cry but she really is just trying to "work it".  She is such a little cutie and has quite the personality!

She has recently learned how to go up the stairs and loves it!  She will climb to the top and then start to give us her little whine with her "workin it" look and want us to come and get her.  As soon as we get her and bring her to the bottom of the stairs, she goes right back up!  This other picture on the right is her being very proud of herself for being able to climb into the chair on her own.  She loves to learn new things and loves to be praised for them.  A couple of days ago she attempted going down the stairs on her own.  She goes down frontwards and just scoots her little bum down each stair which leaves her in a squatting position and then she wiggles her legs out from underneath her and then scoots down to the next step.  Sebastian did this too when he first learned to come down the stairs.  Makes us so nervous because it looks like she could easily topple forward!


Abby loves any and all food!  She will be our only one that is not picky!  Hopefully it will stay this way.  She tries to copy some words that we say, if she is thirsty, she will bring us her emtpy water cup for us to fill it up.  Anything that resembles a purse (meaning that it has a handle) she tries to pick it up and put the handle over her shoulder.  She is just too cute and so much fun to watch!

Abby is 10 Months old...

10 Months old...seems like I just barely posted that she was 9 months old.

Abby had her well baby check up and she weight 20 lbs 1.5 oz and measured at 27.9 inches tall.  That puts her in the 60th percentile.  She is definitely smaller than all the boys were.  They were all in the 90th percentil or above.

We love her new pediatrician, Dr. Bosworth.  He said that Abby was "medically boring" .  That is ALWAYS good news, I was very happy to hear that!  I then informed him that we had 2 other little ones that weren't quite so boring.

Abby is a mouth full of teeth coming in.  She has had her front 2 bottom teeth for a while but now her front 2 top teeth broke thru the gums on the 13th and then I just noticed the other day that she has a couple more on the top getting ready to break thru.  She is ready to walk, she can take about 4-5 steps on her own without holding on to anything and then falls down.  She loves to go outside, as soon as the boys open the sliding glass door to the backyard, she is quick to crawl as fast as she can to get out the door before we can get it closed.  She just loves to hang out on the back deck.  She likes to chase Sebastian around, which cracks him up!

She is such a good good baby!  She is so quiet and calm, very content.  She laughs and plays.  When she finds something on the floor that she shouldn't have (small wrapper, tiny toy, etc.) she looks at us and then hands us whatever it is that she found.  She loves to dance, whenever any kind of music comes on she just starts dancing....SO CUTE!

Abby is 9 months old...

20.4 lbs & 27 inches tall

SLOW DOWN!!!  Look at her, she is already standing, in fact she is almost walking!  Where is the time going and why is it going so fast???

Abby is such a cutie!  She is such a good baby and is very happy natured.  She loves to play with her brothers and is always trying to go outside with them.  She gives kisses, waves bye bye, says Mama & Dada.  It is amazing to watch her play with toys and try to figure them out. 

We got her ears pierced a couple of weeks before she turned 9 months.  She didn't even cry.  I held her on my lap with her facing outward and the lady drew the dots on her ears as to where she was going to pierce them (that was the most difficult part) and then a few minutes later she said "okay, we're done".  I didn't believe her at first because Abby didn't even fuss.

Abby is on the move!!!

What a cutie pie!  She loves her baby food and gets so excited when she sees the food container, bib, or the spoon....

She is learning how to travel around a bit, she is scooting backwards, rolling all over, she pushes herself up to a sitting position and this was the latest....she scooted backwards into the bottom of her exersaucer..so cute!

 

Here, Austin really wanted her to be on the go.  He is such a good big brother and loves to play with his siblings and calls for me whenever there is a good photo opp.

She is growing up so FAST!  It is amazing, every day there is something new.  One morning she was sitting on the floor in the family room with Gabe & Sebastian and I noticed that she had crumbs all over her face, well it turns out that she found a little piece of Sebastian's pop-tart on the floor and she munched on it!  Time to go and get some baby crackers....

AND....she can now drink out of a sippy cup!

 

Her biggest milestone yet....She is crawling!  She took her first "steps" of crawling on July 23rd and I was right there with my camera ready to take pictures because she sure was rocking back and fourth ALOT looking like she was ready to take off.

 

Abby is 6 Months old already!

I can't believe how fast the time is going! She is now already 6 months old. It has been a busy month for her, she has said "Mama", she has rolled over, she started on baby cereal and baby food.

She didn't quite know what to think of her cereal the first day.

Yesterday she had her 6 month well baby check up.  She weighed 15 lbs 5 oz which puts her in the 50th percentile for weight.  She measured 26.25 inches which puts her in the 75th percentile for height.  She does seem to be tall and skinny.  It is different from any of the boys because she actually wears the size of clothes that her age is.  She is 6 months old and wears 6 month clothing.  The boys were wearing 12 month clothing when they were 6 months old.  So, the skinny thing is a bit different for us.  She is doing great, the doctor said that she is right where she needs to be developmentally.

She sure is a cutie, she loves to be talked to and loves to play peek-a-boo!  She sleeps in her own bed and wakes up once a night to eat.  Her sleeping habbits are getting a bit better, she actually only stays up til about 10:00 pm now instead of midnight.  Thank goodness!

Abby is 5 months old...

Hard to believe that my baby girl is already 5 months old.  She is rolling over, she can almost sit up on her own, and she is saying "mama".  It is amazing how fast the time goes when you want it to slow down, and how slow time can go when you want it to go fast!    She rolled over on April 17th for the first time.  We were in Sebastian's room playing and I had her laying on the floor on her belly, of course I turned my head for one minute to look at Sebastian and I felt her little hand flop on my foot, I turned around and she was now laying on her back.  I quickly rolled her back over to her belly to see if she would do it again.  Sure enough, she did it again right away as if it was nothing new to her, so I rolled her over again just so I could watch again.  Later, I pulled out the camera to film her and what do ya know, she doesn't roll over.  I turn the camera off, she rolls over.  I put her on her belly again, turned the camera on, and YAY she rolls over.  So cute!

The night of April 14th, Austin, Vinnie, and I were playing around and talking to Abby when all of the sudden she says "Mama"! We couldn't believe it, we all looked at each other in shock. I still couldn't really believe it until I heard her say it again the next day. She now says it all the time, this makes me so so so happy! I missed this whole milestone with Gabe and Sebastian since they are both so very speech delayed. Here is video of Abby saying "mama" and other babbles...

A Hair-dryer brain?

Wow! I just read the most amazing blog!!! It is from a mom of a 4th grader with Autism, she was asked to speak to his class (he wasn't there) and answer questions they had about autism and her son.  She really explains this Autism analogy so well! Here is the link to her post:

http://momnos.blogspot.com/2010/03/on-being-hair-dryer-kid-in-toaster.html

Here is the link to the rest of her posts:

http://momnos.blogspot.com/2010/03/toast-to-inclusion-autism-education-in.html


During the night when Abby wakes up to nurse, I hold her in my glider and nurse her until she falls asleep, at times I will log onto Facebook, check my email, or Google stuff during the night on my iphone while I am up with her. This morning I was up with her around 6:00 am, I checked my email and my mom had forwarded me a message with this link attached. So I checked it out, oh my gosh! I couldn't stop reading, even long after Abby had fallen back to sleep I still couldn't put my iphone down, I wanted to read this amazing story that this mother was telling. I put Abby back in her crib and I climbed back into bed and continued reading. These stories that this mother was sharing hit so incredibly close to home and brought such a realization in to my little world. I will back up and share the beginning of my Journey with my Gabe.

Gabe was born in Feb 2006, all seemed well, he coo-ed, he laughed, he played, and everything seemed to be pretty mainstreamed. He started eating baby food when he was supposed to, finger foods, etc.

Now I was just waiting for my cute little guy to say the sweet word "Mama". 8 months came and went, 10 months, came and went...still not talking. Crawling around everywhere but not walking. His first birthday was now here, still not talking or walking. I was starting to become a little concerned but didn't think too much into it. Finally, 14 months old and he is walking, but he is walking as though he has been walking for a long time, in fact he can nearly run. We were elated! So excited! So now my areas of concern are: he still isn't talking, and now I cannot transition him from baby food to regular food. To speed things up a bit, a month before his 2nd birthday I had PIC (program for infants & children) come to our house to do an evaluation of his development. After the evaluation, it was recommended that Gabe have speech therapy, occupational therapy, and to attend LEAP (a learning play group for developmentally delayed children). He started LEAP within a few days, we were put on a 6 month waiting list for speech therapy and we were able to start occupational therapy within a couple of weeks.

LEAP was great, he went every Tuesday morning for an hour, during this hour they had circle time, sensory games, singing, interactive play with other children. He was having so much fun. During one of the sessions, I spoke with one of the Developmental specialists about Gabe. She had suggested to me that from her observation she thought that maybe he fell somewhere on the Autism Spectrum. I was in shock, I thought there is no way, and he is just speech delayed. We talked some more and thinking back to some of the "cute things" that he did as a baby maybe just weren't "cute things", such as lining up all of his cheetos in a row, or getting all of the canned food out of the lazy susan and lining up the cans, or even being able to successfully stack "stacking cups". I began to tear up as I thought about my cute little guy. The specialist told me that everything would be okay and of course it is difficult to hear that something may be wrong with your child. She told me that I should talk to our pediatrician and get a referral for him to see a Dr. for special needs to see if he is on the spectrum. I put it off feeling that it wasn't necessary to get such an early diagnosis. I had read that normally they don't like to see children for this until they are at least 3 years old. I whole heartedly agreed! So I decided just to continue with LEAP and Occupational therapy. I never really quite understood the occupational therapy but I also thought that it couldn't hurt to have that extra intervention. I talked to the occupational therapist and she agreed that he showed signs of being on the spectrum. I was still on a waiting list for speech therapy. I called and called several people everyday and finally came across a therapist that had an open slot. She had a private practice that she ran out of her house; in fact she lived just a couple of streets away from us. We started speech therapy that week and she saw Gabe twice a week for 30 min each time. She taught him some basic signs and how to request things. It was a slow process but it was working. I told her about the referral for Autism and she felt that he could be on the spectrum also.

October 2008, I called Dr. Brennan, the special needs doctor. The clinic mailed me the lengthy packet to fill out and send it back to them and then they would call me to set up an appointment for Gabe. Well I filled out the packet but never sent it in. I was so afraid to give my son this label. I just felt that since there really wasn't a "medical test", (you know like a blood test that you can test positive for Autism) how could they be so sure. So I put the packet away in the filing cabinet and thought I would hold off a bit longer. When Gabe turned 3, he was tested by the school district to see if he qualified for the special education pre-school. In order to qualify for this, you must be delayed by at least 25%. He qualified and was able to start pre-school immediately. The elementary school in our neighborhood has this program. I was very happy to hear that because this is where Austin goes to school. Gabe started pre-school in Feb 2009. With school now 4 days a week, speech therapy 2 days a week and occupational therapy 2 days a week, I need to cut down on our appointments. LEAP group ended as soon as he turned 3, so that was out of the equation, occupational therapy seemed like it could be replaced with his schooling. Speech is still a NEED. Things seem to be going great, school is good, speech therapy is good, Gabe is happy. He was finally starting to use some words...still no "mama", but hey that's okay, any words at this point are fabulous!

Gabe was excelling with his new pre-school class and finally starting to use some words. Very basic but he was saying words. His teacher felt that he was doing so well so she was worried about summer break and him not having school. She recommended him for the summer school program. This was held at a different school a bit further away. He was put on a school bus route and he loved riding the bus. He continued to excel in the school setting and was talking more and more. He is so smart, he can read, spell words, he knows how to work a computer. Summer school ended and his regular pre-school started back up again at our neighborhood elementary. He had a new teacher this year, who has just been amazing! When I first met her she wanted me to tell her a little about Gabe. I explained to her that it has been suggested to me on several occasions that he is possibly on the spectrum. I shared my concerns with her about giving my son such a profound label. She has been such a great teacher to Gabe. She has been very patient with him and keeps me informed of how his days go. Gabe keeps a notebook in his back pack that Ms. Jones and I write notes back and fourth in for each other.

Gabe's speech therapist has moved out of state and now we are on another waiting list for speech therapy. He does get some speech therapy at school. His vocabulary just continues to grow.

I saw a commercial on TV advertising a program called "Your Baby Can Read". This looked amazing to me. It is a program which comes with 5 DVDs, flash cards, books, and a music CD, so I ordered it. Sure enough, Gabe conquered it. He could sit at the computer and spell words like Rhinoceros, hippopotamus, elephant, giraffe, and many many more. He absolutely blew us away. At this point he was using so many words, singing songs, and repeating phrases from his favorite TV shows. We could understand what he was saying and what it was that he needed. We were able to read his ques and help him. We knew how to solve problems before he even had them.

Speeding things along again, bringing us to current, Gabe is doing fabulous! He loves to spell things on the dry erase board; in fact I didn't even know that he could write until one day he was standing on the kitchen counter writing the word "go" on the dry erase board. He would write it, say it, then erase it and write another word. He loves to read books, I don't really think the comprehension is there but the words definitely are. His favorite shows consist of Super Why!, SESAME STREET, Little Einsteins, Leapfrog videos, and sight word videos. He is doing so well.

When I read this blog, there were so many things in there that made me think "Wow, that sounds like Gabe", especially the echolalia. This mother's blog was really such an eye opener, after reading this blog I decided that it was time to send in the packet for Dr. Brennan and schedule and appointment for Gabe, just to see what they say. We'll see!

I know this was such a L O N G post but I felt that I needed and wanted to do a summary of Gabe.  Thanks for taking the time to read it, if you did.

Update on the kiddos....

Let's begin with Austin, poor guy!  The other night he was sitting on the kitchen counter in the corner above a lazy susan cabinet.  He was told to get off of the counter, he turned and got ready to hop off and his foot hit the cabinet and pushed the lazy susan open while he was hopping down and he landed on top of the cabinet door straddling it.  His tailbone is now bruised and he can barely walk.  He is in so much pain, what a great way to spend your spring break, atleast he doesn't have to sit in school all day, now he can just lay around at home while it heals.
Gabe is Gabe!  He cracks me up, he is always learning new things and saying something new all the time.  The other morning I got him up and then he went in Sebastian's room to wake him and but Sebastian got up and left the room immediately, Gabe suddenly yelled "Where are you going? Come back!"  So cute!  He also loves to say "That's so exciting".  He had his 4 year check up the other day.  He weighs 45.6 lbs which  puts him in the 95 percentile for weight.  He is 41 3/4 inches tall which puts him in the 75 percentile for height.  He is a BIG boy!  He had to get 4 shots, 2 in each thigh.  He did pretty well, just screamed while getting the shots and then was fine as soon as they were done.  Doctor says he is a healthy boy and looks good.  He told us not to worry too much just yet about the potty training, stick with it and he will get it.  He said "yes, most kids understand the potty by this age but is it a delay if they don't, no."  Well that was a little bit of relief that it isn't a delay but I still wish he was potty trained.  He's getting closer though, he has gone potty just a few times in the toilet, but now that he is home from school all next week because of spring break maybe (crossing fingers) we can win this battle.
Now Sebastian, that crazy guy!  He is doing well, we have been working on his feeding issues and I am very happy to report that things are going so well!  We cut him off of his cookies a few days ago and I refuse to buy anymore!  He has been eating 3 meals a day and is now asking me for food instead of just cookies.  Every time that he would ask for a cookie I would just offer him something else instead.  Well I think he is figuring this hunger thing out.  He has been enjoying spaghettios for dinner the last couple of nights, still having peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch, and for breakfast he has been eating french toast.  This may sound like little stuff to others but here, these are HUGE milestones.  He actually went to bed last night without a bottle of milk for the 1st time ever, he must have been full.  I am so excited for him!
Abby is just as cute as could be.  She loves to talk and I think she is learning screaming from her brothers.  She can squeal like you wouldn't believe, they are happy screams though which is good.  She is getting so big, so fast!  I want it to slow down just a bit, especially since she is my last baby.

I love being a Mom!

CHICKEN........

I am so so so excited!  Sebastian ate chicken for dinner last night.   This is so huge.  We have had feeding issues with both Sebastian and Gabe.  They both did really well as newborns, nursing and then switching to the bottle.  When it came to switching from formula to whole mile, Gabe would no longer drink any milk.  Sebastian on the other hand loves a bottle of milk.  Gabe did really well on baby food, in fact he was still eating baby food (stage 3) when he was 2 years old.  We couldn't get him to eat anything else except for Cheez-its.  He slowly progressed to peanut butter sandwiches and any other kind of cracker but would not eat any meals.  Sebastian never really took to baby food too much.  Sure he ate his baby cereal when first introduced but then once he had fruit baby food that was the only thing he would eat.  Soon, he gave that up and would only go for the bottle of milk.  One day I had to force Gabe to eat a chicken nugget, the first bite was a bit rough but he eventually got it and now he eats popcorn chicken every night for dinner.  We can't seem to get him to eat anything else for dinner without the gag reflexes going.  Now for Sebastian, *sigh* his diet consisted of milk and cookies, he loves cookies (oreo style).  Well about 4 months ago I was able to get him to eat a bite of a PB&J.  I had to make a big "song & dance" out of this so he would continue to eat.  I had to keep placing each bite on top of his stacking cups in order for him to show any interest.  This was a challenge for quite a while and then before we knew it he was eating a PB&J for both lunch and dinner everyday.   He did try french toast a few times and was successfully eating that for breakfast but then gave that up.   Well last night I decided it was time to try the chicken.  Well sure enough, it was deja vu!  I went thru the exact same thing that I had to with Gabe.  I had to force the popcorn chicken in his mouth and hold my hand over his mouth so he couldn't spit it out.  He ate the chicken and then 5 more pieces willingly after that.  Keeping my fingers crossed that he will continue to eat the chicken and eventually try other things.

Brothers....

These little guys are so cute!!!

I love these cute little guys!  Everyday they are doing something new that just makes me smiles.  This morning I was at Gabe's school for a meeting with his teacher.  We had our meeting in another classroom so Gabe wouldn't be distracted by my presence.  After our meeting I was peeking thru the little window on his classroom door , I was trying to be careful that he didn't see me.  All of the sudden Gabe comes running to the door yelling "Hi, Nonny, Hi Nonny" (still working on the "m" sound for this word).  So I opened the door and went in, he was so happy and seemed so proud that I was there.  He kept telling me "hi" over and over and was smiling and all giggly.  It made me feel so good.  I remember at the beginning of the school year, one of our goals was to have Gabe call me "Mommy" and understand exactly what he was saying.  I must say "Goal Accomplished"

Today when Vinnie left for work, Gabe, Sebastian, & I were at the door saying "bye" to Daddy.  I was trying to get them to wave and say "bye bye".  All of the sudden Sebastian was waving his hand real fast and said "BYE".  It was so clear!  That was the first time he ever said that.  I am so excited that the words are finally coming...FABULOUS!!!!

Mama!!

I am so so so excited!!  Sebastian has finally started to call me Mama!  What a great feeling.  It feels like I have waited for this for so long.  The other night he walked up to me pouting "mama, mama", I was in shock but I didn't really think too much of it because I thought maybe he was just babbling.  Well sure enough the next day he said it again.  This is so awesome!  He has been saying "Da" for a while now so I was feeling just a bit left out...not anymore though!  His speech is finally coming.  I can tell that he is really wanting to learn, he does little things like picking up toys and putting them next to our face so that we say what it is, he does this with letters too.  If he holds up a letter (magnet from fridge, puzzle piece, foam letters from bathtub) to our face and we say the wrong letter, he looks at the letter and then looks at us again to let us know that we have said the wrong letter.  He will sing along with the Alphabet on Sesame Street.  He also has a little magnadoodle that he loves for us to write letters or numbers on.  We write one at a time and he will say it if he knows what it is.  His favorite number is "12"  he says "welve".  So cute!  He also really likes the numbers, 1, 2 (oo), 4, 5 (ife), 7, 8, 9.  If we write the number 7, he will automatically say "8, 9".  I can't wait to hear Sebastian and Gabe talking to each other....one day, one day, one day it will happen!