New Friends--a post by Ali

One day there was a new kid in my kindergarten class. His name was Dylan. I asked him to be my friend and he said, “Yes”. And today just before my church class was leaving for Primary, I asked a new girl in our church class if she would be my friend and she said, “Yes”. And now I have two new friends.

Alicyn

As I mentioned in a previous post, our ward had a Primary talent show yesterday. Ali finally decided she wanted to learn a song on the piano. She practiced and practiced (man, am I sick of this song) and learned most of it in just one week. Sadly, she got a sinus infection and was too sick to go to the talent show. So, we decided to have our own little performance.


Ali keeps our lives interesting. I just love her personality and sense of humor! For example, she has decided that she is going to have a "Thoroughly Modern Millie" birthday party. She's figured it all out. We are going to serve Franks, Sauerkraut, Tapioca pudding and Raaazz-berries. I am supposed to dress up in a kimono and say, "Welcome to The Priscilla!" as the guests arrive. She's even picked out a three tiered cake from Albertsons. She wants everyone to bring their tap shoes so that we can recreate the elevator scene and she wants to teach everyone the Tapioca dance. She thinks all the girls should wear Millie or Miss Dorothy dresses and the one boy she's going to invite should wear a blue Jimmy suit. We are currently accepting additional ideas for the party. (Seriously, I need help if I'm going to pull this one off!)

Ali got several new books for Christmas and has read them all at least once. Her favorites have been the Nancy Drew mysteries. She can finish one of those bad boys off in just a few days. She finishes Junie B. Jones books in a few hours. I love that she loves to read. I can't wait for her to be old enough to read Harry Potter so that I can relive all of the fun of reading them for the first time.

Here is a cute picture of Ali and John reading before bed.


John is notorious for falling asleep in the middle of reading and then slurring all the words together. For a long time Ali would just try to wake him up but lately she's just been sighing and taking the book from him to read herself.

Above all else, Ali LOVES being a big sister. She takes such good care of Bubba! She has gotten used to his crying. When he throws up, she is often quicker than I am to wipe him up. I can count on her to "babysit" while I'm in the shower. She knows what his favorite toys are and is very effective at using them to soothe him. I honestly don't think I could maintain my sanity and live this life without her help!
Here are some pictures of the Big Sis in action.
Feeding Bubba

Secrets

Matching sweaters from Great G-ma and G-pa S.


So proud of her baby brother!

Andrew

Andy is knocking on the door of 7 months old and I realized that I hadn't posted his 6 month old picture on this website. Andy had his checkup and immunizations a week or so ago. He is doing great! Though his growth is slow and way behind his peers, he is growing and that is a big accomplishment for him.
(four months)

(five months)

(six months)

You can see that his hair is really coming in strong. I keep wanting to give him a hair cut but am afraid of what the results might be since he sometimes still struggles with holding his head up.
Andy loves laughing and smiling. He can tell when Mom, Dad, or Ali come into the room. He is very good about communicating with us and has a different cry for different issues. He does get tuckered out pretty quickly. I've noticed that he's sort of started panting or taking deep breaths after he's been crying really hard. It's a good reminder of what's going on inside of him since I have a hard time remembering about that little heart condition. ;)
Here are some cute, albeit random, pictures we've taken of Andy recently. Look out ladies, Dr. Love is in town!

Andy is serious about his sleep. When he's tired, there's nothing you can do to keep him awake. He loves sticking his thumbs in his ears, as you can see by this picture. I also put this in because you can see his extra digit really well.
That reminds me of a funny story. A few months ago, some friends were looking at Andy at church. They have two teenage sons. After John told them that we would eventually have the extra digit removed, the younger son said, "You can't take it off- it's too cool to take off." The older brother then said, "Let's just hope he doesn't kill anyone like the six fingered man." (Princess Bride) The Younger brother thought about that for a minute and said, "Yeah- you should definitely get that off."
So, back to the sleep thing. Andy has also started using his bib to block out light when he's tired. It is really remarkable that he does this as it is a big indication of higher level brain activity. It's very encouraging. Here's a pic of that.
Andy has also started to enjoy playing with rattles. Here's a little video that we took tonight of him playing. Notice how he drops it, picks it back up and then a few seconds later changes hands. That's something the doctors never thought would be possible.


Andy is still not eating through his mouth. He was doing well until about 3 months old when the sucking reflex started fading. Now he eats everything through his G-tube. However, we are trying to create a positive oral experience as the feedings start so he associates the feeling of his stomach filling with his mouth. Because of the oral aversion, this is a slow process. We start by playing with his cheeks and move to his lips and eventually I put my finger in his mouth, feeling the inside of his cheeks and gums. Then I put in the bottle. It's really nice that I don't have to worry about him starving and we can just have fun with it.


Andy was evaluated by the Early Intervention people and his strongest area was social skills. He loves to be part of the crowd. He loves music, singing, snuggling, and kisses: (but NOT Mom's wild hair in his face)

In A Galaxy Far, Far Away...

We got a kick out of this and thought we'd share.
Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.