what's going on

I thought I'd do a little update on my little ones. They're all growing up so fast!

Nate: You might think I'm bias but he's ridiculously smart! He read If You Give a Mouse Cookie to me the other night. We read our first chapter book together at bedtime over a week or two. I was pretty excited for him to get to hear Journey to the Homeland (the book that my sister wrote). He really got into it and was able to recall alot about the storyline and characters. We were doing a math work sheet the other day and he was doing simple addition problems in his head. He's five years old. Oh! And this weekend he's at the grandparents' lakehouse with them and rode his two wheel bike all by himself! I can't believe how big he's getting!
He has been testing boundaries alot lately which is exhausting. But then the very next minute he is affectionate and loving. I have never known a kid to say "I Love You" unprompted as much as Nate does! Nate is the most interesting combination of rough & tumble and sweet & tender. I love that kid!

Joe: It took a few weeks but Joe is finally enjoying the school bus. He rides a lift in a wheelchair and the first couple of weeks he was a little uneasy about going up in the lift. But now he's all smiles and seems to really enjoy it.
Just to be clear - We are all working on getting Joe to walk. However the rules for transportation on the school bus insist that he not be carried onto the bus - hence the wheel chair to get him on and off the bus (and wheeled into the classroom). Whie in class he does not use the chair but rather is on the floor or in his therapeutic walker. Hopefully the wheelchair is just a temporary situation as we hope he will be walking someday soon. So hard to tell with him. We don't get a whole lot of predicting "when" Joe will do things but everyone seems confident that he will eventually. ;-)
Joe had an appointment with his genetic neurologist a couple weeks ago. He said that there are not any tests or anything that he recommends us do at this point. He has a couple of things that could be done but they are either invasive or really expensive and he said that they would not necessarily find anything that would change Joe's current treatment. So, for now we will just keep doing what we are doing and hope that he continues to progress. I am thankful that in the face of many challenges Joe still has the sweetest smile!

Christine: What a joy this girl is! She lights up a room with her grins and giggles. Christine is already a chatterbox. This morning she woke up jabbering and didn't even want to nurse for awhile because she was so busy babbling to me. Such sweet sounds!
She is starting to reach and grab which is good to see. Given our experiences with Joe I am still on the lookout for signs of delays in Christine. The genetic neurologist did say that he thought her tone was good and he didn't see any reason for concern. That was a bit of a relief to hear.
Over the past month or so we have been working hard on getting Christine's bedroom done (which she is now sleeping in all the time!) and we are just about there. Can I just say how much fun I'm having with all the girly stuff?!? ;-) I'll post pix of that soon!