10 Months Old

10 Month photo session with our bear of comparison.
Everett is bigger than him now. Though we have noticed Everett getting chubbier and taller, he really has not gained much weight. In January when he was weighed at the doctors he was 16lb 9 oz. When I took him back in March I was sure he would be 20lbs but he was only 18lbs 1oz. Although that is remarkable gain compared to what he was doing, it is still not as much as we expected.

The goats milk is still going great and Everett is loving all foods.

He is crawling very well, cruising the furniture and saying things like "baba" "Mama" "Dada"...I don't think he really is calling either of us or requesting a bottle but we are working on it.
Everett loves to wave bye-bye to people. At the bank the other day he waved bye to the teller then to every other person on our way out. It was cute.

Anyway, he is ten months and I am pretty sure he is completely caught up from being a preemie.

Everett is sporting his big boy hair do and his corduroy elbow patches.

I've Got Trouble.

You know that saying, "Be careful what you wish for"?

Well we were all excited for Everett to start crawling. Ryan would put him on his tummy and say, "Crawl Baby"

Everett is now crawling and he is trouble. Rawley crawled a lot and got into to some things, but never like Everett. Everett has a sixth sense about things, it is like he knows everything he cannot do and wants to do it.

He hates organization. If I put his books on the shelf he will crawl across the room just to rip them down. If I line his cars in a row he will crawl over just to mess them up. He doesn't stay to play with them he simply comes to unarrange them. Anything we stack he will knock over. If Ryan lines up the mini hockey sticks side by side on the floor Everett will have to move them. If his toys are in the toy box, it must be dumped out. He will rip all the diapers out of the shelf just to have them thrown all over the room.


At the doctors office he ripped the paper protector off the table, then in to a million tiny pieces and then he tried to eat them all.

He has found the hole where the tv & internet cables come out of the floor and gets his finger down the tiny hole to rip out the underlay. Then he proceeds to eat it. He will run his hands over the couch to find every lint ball or stray hair so he can eat it. He loves to dump over the garbage in the kitchen and pull open the drawers. He finds Rawley's dropped crumbs in the dining room and rips the cords from the computer. Oh and his new favorite thing is to crawl to the tv, pull himself up and them smack it so hard that it creates white bursts on the screen. Daddy really hates this new habit.


The funniest thing is that he will do all these things then look at us with the biggest smile ever. Either he is just proud of himself, or he knows he is being naughty.


Because our house is all split levels we need 2 baby gates if we are on either one of the main levels. This is a hassle because Rawley cannot get over them and only knows how to open one. It would not be so bad if he remained in one spot for more than 10 minutes, but this is Rawley we are talking about. I spend most of my day opening the baby gate for him.

On the plus side, Everett is much happier now that he can get around and entertain himself.

Look what I can do mommy.

At the doctors, can you see the grimace on his face?

"Trouble? Who me?"
At least he has good taste.


Playing at the mall with Rawley and Barney

Sharing a baba with Daddy

No matter how much trouble he gets into, No matter what he has spilt or knocked over, no matter how much snot or milk is on my clothes....... At the end of the night he is still my little angel.

Seeing the Good in the Bad

Last night I had to run out to Safeway to get water. We don't drink the city water here because it gives Rawley and I an upset stomach. I was not feeling so hot and really didn't want to go. Ryan and Rawley got free tickets to the Wheat Kings game though so Ryan wasn't around to help me. I bundled up Everett and headed out. As we were crossing the river I looked down and there were about 20-30 deer all walking single file up the river along their well beaten path. It was such a beautiful sight I wished I had a camera with me.
The river is still frozen and covered in snow and it looks so peaceful as the deer walked along. In the end I was really happy I had to go out to get water or I would have missed seeing that.

Then last night I was feeling really deathly sick. I spent the majority of the evening curled up in a ball on the bathroom floor or tossing and turning in bed completely taken over my pain. It was an awful experience...However, While I was up and down I noticed that the skies were lit up in a beautiful green. So I stood at the window a few minutes and watched the Northern Lights. Now I would not opt to have all the pain and nausea again just to see the northern lights, but if I am trying to see the good in the bad that is it.

Oh and Everett is crawling. The good? We are so excited that he can get to his toys and keep himself a little happier. The Bad? Now we have to keep the floors really clean, make sure everythign is up high and kee babygates up. But Ya!

Who? What? Where? When?Why?

Where was I suppose to be?
Why did I come upstairs?
Who was I suppose to call back?
What was her name?
When was your hot lunch order due?
Where did I put my keys?
Why did I I forget to give Rawley his pill this morning?
Who did I need to pay today?
What time was Everett's last bottle?
When is parent teacher interviews?
and HOW.
HOW do I screw this all up all the time.

I am feeling extremely frusted with myself today. I cannot remember anything. I mix things up at work. Forget to take my meds, forget to give Rawley his, forget to brush everett's gums. Forget to pay people money we owe them. I lose my keys constently, can't remember people's names. Forget birthdays and anniversary's. I forget that there is clothes wet in the washer and then they start to stink and have to be washed again. I write list after list io things to remember then I forget where my lists are. Or I forget them at home when I go out. I thought this happened to people when they got old, not when they are 28.

I have 2 prime examples for today.
Ralwey's nurse called this morning and asked if Rawley had his meds this morning. He was acting very crazy at morning program. Nope he had not. I had forgot to give it to him.
And as I sit here writting this I just remembered I have a doctor's appointment this morning at 9:20 that I forgot to go to. Itis on the calendar. They called on Friday to remind me.....I still forgot.

What is wrong with my brain?

Just Pictures Today,

I said "good-bye" to my split ends, my frizz, and some of my curl too.

I decided to cut my own hair the other day. So far I like it. It is shorter with more layers and a little bit of a choppy look.

Everett and I were bored this afternoon so we did a littke photo shoot. I dont' have moany pictures of just him and I because I am usually the one taking the pictures.

I love this cute little noise maker!

Morning Program.

I always meant to write a blog about Rawley's morning program with the Child Treatment Centre but never got around to doing it. Now that the program is coming to an end in 2 weeks I will fill everyone in.

It has been and incredible experience and Rawley has had the chance to work with different doctors and nurses on behavioural skills, social skills, anger management and family and peer relationships. We are so blessed to have been able to get Rawley into this program and I can see he is growing as a person already.

He has showed that he can have control over his body in certain situations. It is incredibly hard for him to do it but he can do it. He has been able to get some of his impulsiveness under control and learned a lot about respecting others.

They have done a lot of testing with Rawley at morning group. His academic scores are very high; between the 72nd and 99th percentile. That means that his skills are better than average for his age. One thing they did notice was that his internal processing is in the 90's and his external processing is only in the 70's. This is a little unusual and may be why Rawley gets frustrated a lot at school and at home when trying to communicate things. Most people score pretty evenly with internal and external processing; meaning they can figure something out in their head and express it. Rawley can process a lot in his head but cannot always express it in words, actions, feelings.... I am sure we can all imagine how frustrating that must be for him. Learning this about Rawley certainly helps understand where some of his frustrations come from.

Rawley will be going for some academic testing next. They are going to focus solely on writing and spelling. This is one area at school that he struggles with. We have been so confused by it because he can read very well. The teacher says he is one of the 2 top readers int he class yet he is the furthest behind in spelling and writing. This testing will determine if there is a learning disability. Once we know that we will be better able to help him in class. Hopefully get him the support he will need to succeed.

They are also going to do some sensory testing with him just to make sure.

Another thing we have kind of stumbled across is the idea that he may suffer from anxiety disorder. The doctor had mentioned it to us on his last check up. It makes sense now that we think about; Rawley has always been a worrier. He stresses about a lot of things and we quite often have to tell him, "Rawley we are the parents and we will take care of you, you don't need to worry about that". This may also be why he is always chewing the skin on his hands and feet. If we find out that is the problem they may give him a low dose of and Celexa. The nurses were telling me that they have seen it do wonders in children who suffer from anxiety but we will cross that bridge then we get to it.

I am sad that Rawley will be done with morning group in two week. It has been good for his self esteem, he enjoys going and always has a good time. I have also enjoyed having the parenting support they offer. The Positive Parenting Program I have been attending has given us some new parenting skills that seem to be working. It is a work in progress and always will be but any help we can get is appreciated. The nurse has made it clear to us that Rawley is a lot of work and he always will be more work than the average kid. However, the extra work we put in will pay off for him in the long run. She could not be more right. Sometimes working with Rawley is absolutely exhausting, but when we put in the hard work we do see results.

Anyway, overall the help that has been available to us for Rawley has been amazing and we are so much better off because of it. There are people out there who care and there are systems out there that can help. Thanks to a wonderful family friend that not only pointed me in the right direction but even got me the phone number to call. You have no idea what a difference you have made in our life.