Monday afternoon we had Morgan Kate's speech re-evaluation. It went really well and Morgan Kate did a terrific job. We don't have her "official" scores back yet, but I know they are going to be great. During the re-evaluation she had to repeat numerous words, using various consonant sounds, as well as identify and label objects and people. She also had to follow two part commands/directions, pretend play, answer/ask questions and identify actions. She did so well on all of the parts, but struggled with the questions and identifying actions. She was given several pictures of children doing various activities (one child playing with blocks, one child running and one child taking a bath). She was supposed to point to the child playing and then to the child taking a bath. She was way more interested in pointing out the blocks and the soap. As for the questions, she seemed clueless. Either way we have a new set of goals and we know what we need to work on. 


I am so excited with how well she is doing and how much talking she does, but I did/do have concerns about her articulation. She can say many words, but they are not always clear (like 95% of the time not clear) and to people who aren't with her everyday her words sound like a foreign language at times. This is something we plan to work on as well.


She has made such tremendous progress in the last few months, especially since being with Roddey and being around other children. It has been so good for her! Each day Morgan Kate is doing something new and continuing to amaze me! 

This past weekend we attended the Okra Strut. The Okra Strut is an annual festival held in Irmo. It was hot, hot, hot, but Melissa, Raven and myself headed out with babies in tow and made an afternoon of it.

These two girls had a blast strolling around, eating french fries and Dipping Dots and running from their mommies.

It's always nice when mommies can get together, not only to catch up and visit, but to also let the babies catch up and visit.

This little boy had a great time at the Okra Strut, but an even better time back at our house in his new favorite toy - the exersaucer. Nolan loved it!

And Morgan Kate loved watching Nolan in it!

Dear Sweet Girl,

I feel like each day, each week and even each month just pass faster and faster. Time just will not slow down. I want to remember all that you are doing and it's difficult because you are doing so much! You are one busy little girl and I love you to pieces.

These are just some of the things you are up to these days:

-You are adjusting to a new routine and a much earlier wake-up time. You and I are definitely getting better with our routine, but we both are struggling with the wake-up time. We are not morning people! Each morning I tiptoe into your room, leaving the lights off and I slllloooowwlllyy wake you up. You hate getting dressed on the changing table, so your daddy and I have gotten quite creative. I hold you in the rocking chair while he quickly changes your diaper and clothes. All the while, you are eating away on a bagel or cookie or muffin. You like to eat as soon as you get up!

-You are still wearing mostly 12 month clothes, size 3 diaper and size 4 shoe. You may be tiny and petite in size, but you make up for it in personality.

-You are dancing, dancing, dancing! You love to dance. Any time you hear music you start to move.

-And talking, talking, talking. You talk all of the time and you know exactly what you are saying and what you mean. The rest of us have a little harder time deciphering your language.

-You are so snuggly. You love to snuggle and give hugs. And I just eat it all up!

-You are finally allowing me to put a bow in your hair. You still take it out 100 times a day, but you will wear it most of the time.

-You are eating really good and you love veggies and fruit. Just last week we offered you a piece of cake and you asked for broccoli. Wow!

You make me smile all of the time and I am just so thankful for you. I love you so very, very much!

Another sneak peek into our weekend...

The weekends are entirely too short. Thank goodness for fun times and pictures like these to remember them by.

Desperately longing for next weekend....

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A special happy birthday wish for Kaky who turned a year "younger" yesterday.

We love you, Kaky!

Fall Back Friday

Our little Gamecock last year compared to our little Gamecock this year. What a difference!

Check out how much her hair has grown! It's so hard for me to see on a day to day basis, but this picture proves that her hair is indeed growing!

This week I have been missing my girl. Lots. Yes, I see her every morning and every afternoon/evening, but it's just not enough. I've been playing the "Just-a-few-weeks-ago-I-was-doing-this (fill in the blank)-on-this-day (fill in the blank)". You know the one where you think back to what you were doing a week ago or a month ago or even a year ago on that very same day. Maybe I'm the only one who plays this ridiculous game. It's pure torture so I'm not sure why I even play, but I do. This week the game has gone a little like this:

Tomorrow is Tuesday. I remember when I stayed home, Tuesdays were my favorite days. No appointments, no meetings, no obligations. I could spend all day on Tuesdays in my PJs and just love on Morgan Kate whenever I wanted to. We would play and play and play some more. Nap and then play again. Tuesdays are NOT like that anymore.

Ahhh, Fridays. Fridays were another great day for me and Morgan Kate. We would sleep in. When she woke up around 9:30 I would run into her room and excitedly carry her to the den to have breakfast and read a book. We would read, snuggle, play with puzzles and then if we were feeling extra froggy we would take a walk around the neighborhood.

I know I shouldn't play this game. And I don't know why I do. Like I said, it's absolute torture. I'm just really missing my time at home with my baby girl. Thank goodness tomorrow is a Friday and the weekend is right around the corner. These days, I live for the weekends!

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I just had to share this video. This is a classic example of how Morgan Kate is so much like Travis, yet so like me. Here she is in her monogrammed pink bloomers, shirtless, crawling up and down the slide. Of course the monogrammed pink bloomers would represent me. Not the shirtless part. Ha! And the shirtless, crawling all over the place would be Travis. Morgan Kate is such a girly girl, but yet so very tomboyish. I love it!

Morgan Kate no longer takes multiple daily medications.

Morgan Kate no longer has numerous weekly doctor appointments.

Morgan Kate no longer needs oxygen or a feeding tube.

Morgan Kate no longer receives or needs physical therapy.

And as of today, she no longer receives or needs occupational therapy. She has been officially discharged. She has graduated!

Morgan Kate began receiving OT services in the spring of 09. There were some concerns about her reaching and grasping. After a thorough evaluation she qualified for OT services. We received those services for several months. At the end of the summer/beginning of fall our OT took another job and at that time she discharged us. I still had a few concerns, but figured that I would give it a few weeks/months before I made any requests. Almost four months later I requested that MK be evaluated again for OT. I still had some minor concerns about how often and in what manner she was using her hands, fingers, arms, etc. This time she just barely made the requirements to receive OT. We began our second round of OT in early March. Right about that same time I began to see vast improvements in all areas, especially fine motor skills. I'm not sure if it was her age, a growth spurt. I don't know. But as the months went on MK continued to improve (rapidly) and today when she was re-evaluated she placed out of services. Of course, I had mixed emotions. Don't I always? I was thrilled, thrilled, thrilled that she no longer needed services, but I was so sad to tell our OT goodbye. I hate goodbyes. Fortunately, our OT lives close and we run into one another from time to time.

As of today, Morgan Kate is only receiving speech. And we just recently (as of last week) found out that we will only be going to speech once a week. Our SLP is going to be out on maternity leave soon and she wants to transition MK to once a week versus twice. Once she returns from leave we will reassess and decide if once a week is still working or whether we need to return to twice a week. I'm crossing my fingers for once!

We still see our EI twice a month because MK still qualifies for speech and our EI handles our "case". But other than that, we are crossing things off of our list. And it feels great!

When I was much, much younger my mom had the hardest time finding clothes that would fit me. Apparently when I was younger I was tall and slender. It was hard to find pants long enough that also fit in the waist and legs. Either pants were too short and fit perfectly everywhere else. Or, pants were the perfect length and fell right off of me. (These days all of my pants are too long and won't button. My tall and slender days are over and I'm now in my short and round days.) Luckily my mom ended up finding slim fit pants and all my fashion problems were solved. Until now. I am now having those same fashion problems with my baby girl.

Case in point.

Sunday I decided to take a little time to shop. Morgan Kate was napping and Trav was watching football. Good time to slip out for an hour or so. I made my way straight to Old Navy, as I had heard they were having super sales. I spent a few minutes looking at things for myself and then proceeded to the children's section. There were so many cute things. Oh. My. Goodness. Cute, cute, cute things. Shopping for Morgan Kate is usually so much fun and I sometimes have to stop myself before things get out of hand. However, today was a little different.

As I was looking through the clothes and trying to determine which size to buy (which has always been an issue for me), I noticed their tags. Let me back up for one quick second and just say that I have never been able to go into any store and buy the clothing size that correlates with MK's age. At twelve months of age, we weren't picking out twelve month clothes. Instead we were looking through six month clothes. Until recently she was usually right about six months behind in clothes sizes. These days, we are almost an entire year behind in size. And that brings me to my most recent dilemma. Old Navy's 12 - 18 month clothes read: 29- 31" and 22-27 lbs. Their 18 - 24 month clothes read: 31-33" and 27 - 30 lbs. Morgan Kate happens to be 31.5 inches tall, meaning length wise she would need the 18-24 month clothes. And she does. Almost all of the 12 - 18 month clothes are too short. However, she only weighs 22.5 lbs, meaning she just hits the weight requirements for the 12 - 18 month clothes. The 18 - 24 month clothes just fall straight off of her. It's ridiculous.

Anyway, I realize that I could just shop somewhere else and I could find clothes that would most likely fit. But, I love Old Navy and I love their clothes and I just think their children's stuff is super cute. I guess for now I'll just stick to their dresses - they do seem to work!

And by the way, I am laughing at myself right now for even writing all of this. Of all the things I have going on right now and need to give time and thought power to, and I am caught up in this so -called fashion dilemma. Oh well, at least it makes me laugh! Hopefully you get a chuckle too!

Our little Gamecock enjoyed a nice, relaxing weekend at home.

She spent lots of time playing outdoors, cheering on the Gamecocks and snuggling with her mom and dad.

She and her parents are already anxiously awaiting next weekend!

Fall Back Friday

Video Style

Morgan Kate and I share a birthday month and even celebrate our special days within just a week of one another. Seems odd, seeing as if our birthdays are supposed to four months apart. This August was a BIG birthday month. Morgan Kate turned 2 and I turned 30! Yikes! I have been meaning to share some of our birthday pictures for weeks now, and I am finally getting around to it.

For my 30th, my sweet hubby and amazing parents threw me a surprise birthday party. I was blown away! And as with most anything, I shed a few tears!

And, since it was a complete and total surprise I did not have my camera ready and available. So, I don't have many pictures of that night, but I am pretty sure that night will be etched into my mind for a very long time. I've always wanted a surprise birthday party, but didn't think it would actually happen. I'm a pretty inquisitive and curious person and I usually figure things out before hand. This time though, I was caught off guard. It was an amazing night and I just feel so blessed and so appreciative of everything.

While I didn't have my camera available for my party, I did have it for MK's. However, I was so busy enjoying everything and everyone, that I didn't remember to take a whole lot. I've really got to get better with taking pictures!

We celebrated MK's 2nd birthday in our own backyard and I loved it. It's just my opinion, but I thought it was so relaxing and I just had a terrific time. I think MK had a pretty good time as well!

The month of August may be over, but there are still more birthdays to celebrate. Next up, Kaky's birthday!

Fall Back Friday

(Video Style)

So, my child is part cannibal. Okay, maybe she's not really a cannibal, but she did have her first "biting incident today" and she was the BITER. Yikes! I'm not sure what I had hoped for first - the biter or the victim of the biter. After the way I have felt today, I think I was hoping for the victim of the biter. Either way, it happened. She bit someone. And we are trying to deal with it.

At first I felt terrible (and I still do, but in a different way) and embarrassed and all of those things. I felt like it was a reflection on me in some way. You know, all those typical mommy feelings. I was so worried about the other child involved and their parents. All of that stuff. But then I started thinking that I don't want to feel some of those things. Of course I want to be concerned and worried about the other party involved, but I don't want to think any less of myself or my child because she bit someone. I'm not defined as a good or bad mommy because of what my little girl did. But I am defined (in some way) by how I handle the situation and how we proceed in the future. I want all of this to be a learning experience for me, Trav and Morgan Kate. I want Travis and I to remember that MK is watching and attempting to imitate anything we do, including biting. Sometimes when we are playing or wrestling with her, we nibble on her arm or tummy. Maybe not such a good thing to do at this particular age. We also need to talk with MK about biting and how it's not nice or the right thing to do and that you don't do those types of things to your friends. And when you do, you have to be punished. (We had this very conversation with her tonight.) As parents I don't think we should necessarily be defined by what our children do, but rather, how we handle and react to what our children do. I hope and pray I am handling all of this the right way.

And just for the record, I know many children go through this type of thing. Many children bite and bite and bite again. I'm sure Morgan Kate will outgrow all of this, but for the time being, I want her to know it's not okay.

And that's how I feel at this very moment when dealing with a two year old. I'll get back with you in about ten years or so. Ha!