Apraxia Awareness Day 2013

On May 14th, we will celebrate the first annual Apraxia Awareness Day! The Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association worked hard to make this an official day recognized by the United States Congress. Several states have joined in to officially recognize this day as well. It's a very exciting event for those of us in the Apraxia community! Many people have never heard of Apraxia, and don't know about it, so it's a good chance to get the word out for these awesome kids. Many people made a meme for their child, and I joined in as well.  

 This week has been a bit emotional for me. I am so very proud of the hard work that Luke has put into speech. We started 2 months before his 3rd birthday, and we are right around 1.5 years into therapy. In those 1.5 years Luke has gone twice a week, pretty much every week other than the occasional day off or yearly vacation. And not once has he ever complained. Not once! He is proud to go and do his big boy work as he calls it. He knows Ms. Ginny helps him to talk, and he will tell you that. 

 It's amazing to think that this time two years ago Luke couldn't say "hi".  Luke had been in speech through early intervention for four months at that point, and he had made very little progress.  I stumbled across an Apraxia website late one night while desperately searching or what would help him.  I can remember reading the description of Apraxia to my husband, and knowing in my heart I was describing Luke perfectly.  I also knew then that I HAD to find him the right kind of therapist, or we would continue to go no where with therapy.

Today Luke has made amazing progress thanks to a wonderful therapist and PROMPT therapy.   At one point I proudly posted Luke's newest words and phrases on Facebook.  As we went on, the new words and phrases started coming so fast that I couldn't keep up.  When we started with Ginny, Luke had 10 words and/or approximations.  Meaning Luke had his own way of saying most of those words, but most people outside of our immediate family wouldn't understand them.  Today, I couldn't tell you how many words he has.  And the vast majority are words that strangers would understand.  

Luke still struggles.  He gropes for sounds sometimes.  There are times where he's talking, will pause, and you can see/hear him working on that next word.  But my boy is determined and has never gotten frustrated.  He works on those words until he gets out what he wants.  He patiently repeats himself if needed until we understand.  Motor planning is still a bit of an issue, but we're all working hard at overcoming it.   Luke may have Apraxia, but Apraxia does not have him.  

 

Food Allergy Tragedies

The last couple of weeks have brought some very sad stories in the news. One was about a 19 year old college student, home for Spring Break. He ate a cookie that a friend offered him. This college student had peanut allergies, but felt the cookie was safe because it didn't contain peanuts. Unfortunately it did contain peanut oil, and the young man went into anaphylaxis. His mom could not find his Epi-Pen, and was only able to find one she had at home that had expired 2 months prior. The 911 dispatcher told her to NOT use the expired pen. The hospital staff was unable to save this young man's life, and he passed away. The mom is quoted as saying she did not know her son's allergies were life threatening. 

Another involves a possible peanut reaction after eating at Chick-Fil-A. A 7 year old boy went into anaphylaxis after eating at Chick-Fil-A, though his parents did not know he had peanut allergies. This story is yet to be confirmed through autopsy and toxicology, but the hospital doctors felt he more than likely died from anaphylaxis. 


My first thought was about the peanut oil.   So many times I have read that peanut oil is "ok" for peanut allergy individuals because it's so refined.  The protein is essentially heated out.  Chick Fil A even has a statement on their website stating that peanut allergy individuals are ok with peanut oil. I've had people urge me to take Luke to Chick Fil A, saying I was being too protective.   That it was fine.   My feeling was always, I don't care if they say it's ok.  He will NOT eat anything that has the word "peanut" in the ingredients.  Why would I take that risk?  He's deathly allergic to peanuts, why would I play roulette in hopes that it would be ok?  

As sad as the stories are of what these 2 children went through, it was a confirmation to me that my instinct was correct.   It may be "ok" for some people, but to me it's not worth the risk. Would I went to risk my child's life for a chicken nugget? Definitely not.

Let this be an example of why people that do not live with life threatening food allergies should not try and influence those of us that do.   It is easy to have an opinion when it doesn't personally affect you or your child, but that doesn't mean their opinion is correct, and definitely not welcome.  Navigating serious food allergies is difficult, and scary, enough.  Having people that really have no idea what they're talking about throw opinions in is unnecessary. 


 

It's a.......

BOY!!! 

We have a name, but we're not announcing it yet :)

The boys are very excited to be adding a little brother to the mix!  And my husband and I are thrilled to have a little boy on the way.  I feel so very lucky to be able to say that I'm the proud mama of THREE little boys!

Mama's Three Boys

 

Dear NickMom - You Suck

I'm not a huge fan of Nickelodean.  I find most of the shows really annoying.   I hate that they show commercials (mostly because Luke and Cody both want every.single.thing advertised.). 

But tonight, I have a new found very strong dislike for them.  

It was brought to my attention that they have a Facebook page called NickMom.  This is apparently supposed to be a "funny" page for moms.  One of those "look at how witty and snarky I am!" type of pages.   I watched a couple of their videos, and I'm not laughing. 

The first was Taking the Food out of Bake Sale.   Another?   The (fake) Allergy Remedy Your Doctor Will Never Tell You.  Oh wait, one more.   Top 9 Most Desirable Kids Allergies.  

Now, I have a pretty good sense of humor.  I think it takes a lot to offend me.  But seriously?  Using something as serious as kids' food allergies to create "humor"?  And I use humor loosely, as even looking past the offensiveness of it, the videos aren't even entertaining.  A lot like the majority of Nickelodean shows.  

What's next?  Poking fun at physically disabled kids?  Down Syndrome?   Children with cancer?

Severe food allergies are considered a disability.  The children that have food allergies did not choose to be dealt that hand.   I know if you were to ask my Luke if he would rather not have food allergies, he would say YES!  One of his current favorite phrases is "it's safe for me!".  He uses it on any food item that he really wants to eat, regardless of the safety. 

No one should have to deal with serious food allergies.  No parent should have to worry that the smallest amount of an otherwise innocent food item could send their child to the hospital, or worse. Making fun of this issue is nothing but mean spirited, and Nickelodean should be ashamed of themselves.


 

11 Week Ultrasound

Last week we got to see our little bit again during a NT scan.   I was 11 weeks, 5 days, so the tech told me from the start that she wouldn't be able to tell us the gender.  Dang!   The baby ended up being super active, and I don't think she could have gotten a money shot anyway.  As it was, she had a hard time getting a reading for the blood flow in the heart, so I have my fingers crossed that my OB will send me back for another one :)  The tech was able to see the neck and nasal bones, and said everything looked perfect.


 Introducing our little bit

If you look close, you can see that the baby is sticking its tongue out.  Cute!

I'll be 13 weeks this Thursday and am feeling pretty good! Very tired, but no morning sickness or heartburn like I had in my other pregnancies. My biggest complaint right now is that I get hungry, but then nothing is appealing. Makes meal time difficult!

 

Homeschool Article from Forbes

Want To Tell The State To Stick It? Homeschool Your Kids 

My favorite quote: "Homeschooled kids don’t lack socialization . . . but socialism." 

Still Here and Where I've Been

I guess you could say I took a bit of a break. I have a good reason though!

We're expecting baby #3!  I found out right before Christmas.  Early December was a little sad for me.  We lost a baby in mid May at 9 weeks, and my due date would have been 12/24.  I prayed and prayed that I would be pregnant again before Christmas, but I wasn't feeling very hopeful as December approached.   I finally decided that I could either choose to enjoy Christmas and be happy, or I could choose to dwell over what was making me sad, and not enjoy the holidays.  I chose to be happy.

A few days before Christmas, I decided to take a pregnancy test.   I didn't have any symptoms, I just felt like I should.  Sure enough, it was positive almost right away!  We announced it to everyone pretty quickly.  I know some people prefer to wait until the risk of miscarriage isn't so high, but I look at it differently.   After having two miscarriages, I look at telling everyone as a way to celebrate and enjoy every single minute of each pregnancy, no matter what may happen.

We did have a scare around week 6, when I started spotting.  I was convinced that another miscarriage was in the works.  Thankfully an ultrasound at 8 weeks showed us a healthy baby, and we were able to see our little bit's heartbeat.   Beautiful sight! I'll admit, I cried.

 I am now 9w1d.  I feel pretty good, other than a horrible cold that I'm fighting.  Up until a couple days ago I was exhausted every.single.day.   I haven't had to nap in 2 days, so I'm hoping that phase is over!  For cravings, so far it's been pears, BLT's and tomato sandwiches.   I may or may not have had a tomato sandwich at 5am today.

I go in the first week of February for a NT scan.   I'll be over 35 when this bub is born, so I get to do some extra testing.   I've learned though that it's basically a long ultrasound and you usually get some really good pictures of the little bit, so I'm looking forward to it :)  I'm due somewhere in mid August. My due date is still a bit of a mystery thanks to my long cycles (happens every pregnancy), but we should have a concrete one after the NT scan.

The boys are excited, though they both insist that we have to have another boy.   I'm perfectly fine with that, and would be perfectly fine with a little girl.   People assume that we're having #3 in hopes of a girl, but that's not true.  The thought of having 3 little boys makes me want to cry.  Not in a bad way, in a very happy way.  I would love to have a daughter too though, just as much. So I guess that makes it a win-win situation for me :)