Yes, we are alive.

To bring this blog back from the dead I will post about the recent things going on in our house. Heh. I WOULD post pictures, but lucky for me..My camera broke. Grrr!! But, it's also a WONDERFUL excuse to get a new one :).

Anessa got glasses! YAY! Welcome to the world of the blind young one. She looks super cute in them. Again, when I get my new camera *wink wink* I will post a picture of her. This last week she has been going up to the CPD (Center for Persons with Disabilities) building for her dyslexia testing. Yes, I said dyslexia. I knew Anessa had some learning difficulties since pre-school, and so she's been in Special Education for a learning disability since then. We've noticed that she can do really good at math problems when it only involves numbers, but when it comes to deciphering them..Forget it. She also has an extremely difficult time with phonics and reading. I've had 2 special education teachers plus her pediatrician mention this to me, so I figured we might as well see what is going on. Will let you know the results later. I'm not upset, it just means we have to work harder, and there is nothing wrong with that! She's super smart in a whole lot of other ways and I couldn't be more proud of her accomplishments thus far. She's a hard worker!

Peyton is doing really well. He's such a smart little guy. He's teaching himself to read. Everyday he will pull things off the shelves or books out of the closet and spend HOURS sounding out words and asking me questions. I LOVE it! He's been cracking us up too with some very interesting sayings. His new favorite one is to say "my tenders feel weird" or my "tenders" this or my "tenders" that. THANK YOU, Kung Fu Panda.

Cohen is doing pretty darn good. I've noticed that when he's super stressed he will either spin circles for a long time or lay on the ground and flex his muscles, and since his dad has been gone he's been doing it a lot more. He misses his daddy so much, it breaks my heart. The FUNNY things he's been doing is repeating EVERYTHING he hears..and not just once, but many, many, many times. Mitch, in the car today, said in the 30 minutes that we had been in the car he had heard mommy or daddy about 300 times. He also has learned some less than desirable things from the kids. Meaning the word "shut up". He mainly says it to Peyton. The reason it's funny is because, Peyton has this what I like to call "theme music". He sings it all. the. time. It gets old. So we were driving in the car one day and I guess Cohen got tired of hearing it and I hear this "shup, pee-pee" come from the back. It took me awhile to figure it out, but he was telling him to "shut-up, Peyton". He also had a humerous encounter with his speech therapist. She's trying to get him to say Peyton not Pee-Pee. Here is how it went:

ST: Cohen, say PAY.
Cohen: Pay
They then go on to repeat this many times.
ST: Cohen, say TON.
Cohen: ton.
They do this many times as well.
ST: All right, Cohen, say PAY-TON.
Cohen: PEE-PEE!! (he said this with emphasis as well). I had to walk into the other room and just laugh. It was great.

Aja is doing really good. She's crawling still, but not getting any more "graceful" with it. It's kind of funny to watch her. It's more of a get on her elbows, pull her self forward JUST using her elbows, flop forward on face type of move. It doesn't look pleasant, but it's how she gets around. She is so stinkin tiny! I bought her some Robeez awhile ago and they STILL don't fit! Once I get that new camera *evil cackle inserted here* I will post a size comparison picture. She's got a cold right now,and so of course I'm on full-alert. Anytime a shunted child gets sick the virus, bacteria or whatever is going on in their body, can attack the shunt and cause a malfunction. So she's on my radar right now, hopefully we will pass out of this one with no trips to PCMC. Her head isn't growing now either, which was a concern that I mentioned a few months ago and the sutures closing too early. It's remained 41.5 cm since she was 2 months old. I've got to make an appointment with her neurologist for her 9 month follow up, so I will keep you posted on that.

We just got back from a trip to Elko. Mitch had some work to do down there so we went with him. It wasn't the funnest trip of my life, but it was good to spend time with him. It seems that I have brought back a case of vertigo with me too. LOVE IT! I've gotten vertigo in January for the last 3 years. I'm SOOOOOO lucky. Hopefully it passes soon. Anyway, that is just a bit that is going on in our house. I will post pictures soon! ;)