ThE TaYLoR tWiNs ArE 2!

My babies aren't babies anymore! This past week was birthday mania. When two very loved kids under one roof have their birthdays on the same day, it's just crazy (in a very good way). Gabriel and Ariana loved every minute of birthday festivities. They reveled in the birthday song, enjoyed reading and rereading their birthday cards, had a ball with tearing open gift wrap, obsessed over each and every birthday gift, and of course, savored their birthday cakes as if they were heaven-sent.

The kids had some awesome moments and got some super presents. I won't attempt to recall and name everything that they did & got, but some birthday highlights include: Sprinkles cupcakes from grandma, reading birthday cards with stickers and tunes, doing the birthday princess parade around the neighborhood, playing at the park, catching up with friends at the party, Gabe chasing grandpa, & yummy party food. Some birthday present favs include: 'Cars' DVD, adorable summer clothes, pretend dishes & makeup/accessories for Ari, a dresser & nightstand, Maddacrawler, Swim n Float bathing suits, pretend aquariums, a potty for Gabe, sand toys, water toys, bubble toys, art toys, and the king of the birthday present jungle... a Ford F-150 truck.

Thank you to everyone who made this day(s) special for us!

Gabriel's cupcake experience
Ariana's cupcake experience
Princess Parade

BiRtHdAy PaRtY!

Birthday Girl

Birthday Boy

Isabella
Tumbleweed Park Playtopia

Cake again

Valentines Day

This Valentine's Day was special for me. I think Jake was trying to convince me that corny Hallmark holidays really do mean something to him since they do for me. He did a great job. Jake surprised me with a beautiful chocolate dipped fruit bouquet and scrumptious sugar cookies. We spent the day hanging out as a family at a birthday party and then Tempe Town Lake. The weather was beautiful. Later that night, Jake took me out to Wildfish, which is one of my favorite restaurants in Scottsdale (he even had reservations!). After, we went dancing in Scottsdale to commemorate how we first met. We picked the wrong night for dancing (it was NBA All Star night) but it was so fun just to be out with him anyway. I love him.

"HOPE for Ari" Button

<center><a href="http://jaketaylorfam.blogspot.com"><img border="0" alt="HOPE for Ari" src="http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk148/BloggerBoutique/Elisa/button2.jpg" /></a></center>

Maddacrawler

It wasn't easy, but I finally got a Maddacrawler for Ariana. I met some resistence from Ari's physical therapist, and of course, insurance put up a couple hoops, but I was bound and determined to get this for Ari, and darnit -- I did it! I think I'm more excited about it than she is. She's still a little short for it, but she'll grow into it. Gabe and Ari have already started having crawling "races" down the hallway. I put "races" in quotes, because I don't want to give the wrong impression that Ariana is actually crawling in it. She's not, yet. But she will get there! Grammy just bought her some knee pads to help with the traction issue. Other than that, it's also great for bench sitting, and this she does love.

Bounce Jungle

Last weekend, we took the kids to Bounce Jungle. It was tons of fun for the twins and a total workout for us. At first, Gabe was overwhelmed by the huge inflated playground and all the commotion. But it didn't take him long to realize that this was his personal heaven on Earth. Ari was sold from the get-go.

Gabe loved jumping & dancing on the giant jumpolene that played music.Ariana bounced right along with a little help from Mommy. Ariana peeked out from within the bounce maze to wave to Mommy.

Daddy climbed up the slide dozens of times; rope in one hand, toddler in the other.Gabe slid down the 20 foot slide all by himself.Ari loved the slide so much that she would whine whenever it was Gabe's turn.

Amputee Clinic & precious cargo

This morning, Isabella and I got up early and made a trip down to the Children's Rehabilitative Services (CRS) for her first appointment in the Amputee Clinic at St. Joseph's Hospital. I will get to the point of the post in a paragraph or two, but I'm going to preface with a brief story:

The appointment was scheduled for 9 AM in Phoenix, so as you can imagine, we were driving in the heat of rush hour traffic. On the freeway, it was stop-and-go, with some spots of 60 mph traffic and others at a standstill. I saw a truck that was completely filled with boxes piled upon boxes of Dole bananas. I thought to myself, man, if someone slammed into the back of that guy's truck, his day would just be ruined. Not only would his truck be banged up, but all of those bananas would be smushed into banana puree. It would be tragic. Then I snapped back into reality. Rarely, do I ever stop and think about my cargo. What if someone absent-mindedly smashed into my minivan? Here I am, driving around with my most precious cargo and not even giving it a second thought. At that moment, I put on my glasses and turned down my radio, shivering to think of that possiblity. I know, that was a morose story. But really, it does me good to give myself a reality check every once in a while -- life is just so fragile.

When we arrived at CRS, my heart was suddenly flooded with warm feelings. I know that people seem to have varying opinions of CRS, but I happen to love it. I don't love making the 45 minute drive down there or being made to wait forever as we sometimes have to. There are no comfy upholstered waiting room chairs, topiaries, fashion magazines, or ambient music. But I love being there. CRS is a world where my children are the typical ones and where the spectrum of "normal" is broad and all-encompassing. It's a place where children with special needs (and their mommies) are made to feel special -- in a good way. It's where doctors know the answers to your questions and make you feel smart (instead of rediculous) for asking them. It's a place where everyone smiles at everyone else. When I'm there, I feel grateful for the blessings that I have been given and humbled by witnessing the much heavier burdens that others have to bear. At least, this has been my experience.

Like I said, this was our first time at the Amputee Clinic at CRS so I had no idea what to expect. In the waiting area, other little boys and girls with missing arms and legs filled the seats. We were all there for the same reason. Bella and I were called right back, and Isabella weighed in at 16 lbs. 1 oz. I was told by a doctor that we would get to meet with a panel made up of 2 doctors, 2 prostheticians, and a therapist (all specialists). She warned me that I might feel overwhelmed -- she doesn't know me too well I guess.

The head doctor in the group was Dr. Ott. Here's where it gets interesting. Dr. Ott told me that Isabella's limb defect was not due to our blood clotting disorders. He says that it was caused by bad luck. Dr. Ott exclusively works with limb reduction defects, and he told me that this is a rare genetic anomoly that could not be attributed to a clot. He said that in a new embryo, there are three vessels that make up the arm. He said that for the clotting disorder to have caused the limb reduction defect, three clots would need to have formed in the same location in all three of the vessels at the exact same time. Not likely. I bought it.

Now for treatment. After answering all of my questions, Dr. Ott informed me that in order for Isabella have the ability to utilize a functional prosthesis in the future, she will need to be trained from very early on with a passive prosthesis. In other words, we are getting Bella fitted for her first prosthesis in April, when she is 6 months old. The experts informed me that Bella will suffer no ill effect from having to wear her prosthesis at this early age. She will be just as functional with her short arm as she would have been had she not ever worn a prosthesis over it. The only difference is that she will have the added benefit of being able to be bi-manual in a bi-manual world. The cautioned me that it is a very big committment to be a parent of a child wearing a prosthesis, because she will not want to wear it, and it will be a constant daily battle for years. The docs told me that only 10% of children fitted for a prosthesis end up being successful wearers of one, because it is just that hard to train a child to wear something that they feel they don't need. The doctors told me that while two handed babies are born with a part of their brain pre-programmed for the use of both hands, Isabella does not have that. In other words, she does not think that anything is missing from her short arm, and given a hand, she would have no idea what purpose it serves or how to use it. That's where the training (for the prosthesis) comes in. Other than making sure that she wears it and plays using it, there is no other treatment or physical/occupational therapy needed. Since Bella did not suffer a trauma and a loss of a limb, she will not need to learn how to do anything differently. To her, we are the strange ones, and she is perfectly complete.

I feel like I have definitely gained an understanding of her situation and the road ahead of us. I want to do all that I can to give Isabella as many options as possible for later in life. I'm all in favor of whatever I can do to make her journey easier. If that means a passive prosthesis (fake hand), then that's what we'll do.

January Milestones

Another month has passed again. My babies keep right on growing without ever looking back. So bittersweet :). On January 19, the twins turned 23 months, and on the 27th, Isabella turned 4 months.

This month, Gabe mastered his phonics. He had it pretty much down pat in the beginning on January, but he can now rattle off his letter sounds without even pausing to think. We like to try and confuse him by rapid-fire drilling letters and mixing them up. It never works-- he's a pro. I'd like to think that early letter and phonics mastery will correlate to early reading, but that's probably getting way ahead of ourselves. Gabe's launguage development has been impressing us in other ways. His pronunciation is becoming more clear, he is using "self-centered" pronouns (i.e. "me"), he has an expressive vocabulary of over 200 words, he is answering questions, pluralizing, is spontaneously imitating new words, and is starting to use prepositions. Gabe also likes to participate in singing songs by singing the last word in each verse of the songs he is familiar with. Gabe has been getting a kick out of naming people. He loves to shout the names of everyone in the room (including the dog). Once he has gone over everyone's names about five times, he'll move on to those not present, "Daddy work! Daddyyyyyyyy! Papa! Gram home?". Gabe has also started trying to memorize his books. His favorite book (and has been for many months) is Go Dog, Go!. On many a morning, Gabe has been found trying to read this book to himself. Overheard: "Yellow dog up. Green dog down. Dog car. Go car! Red light. Stop. Green light. Go car. Go!"

Gabe has been working more with using utensils at the table. He has his own bowl, spoon, and fork now, and he's getting pretty good at it. Overall, I'd have to say that I think this is his weakest area, but it's probably all my fault. I just hate messes, and all this "practice" isn't helping things. What else isn't helping is Gabe's decreased appetite and increased pickiness with foods. To top it off, the bugger has started throwing all of his food off his tray as soon as he's finished eating. I have to anticipate when he's finished and immediately clear the tray or the food quickly covers my kitchen table and floor. Such a boy!

Gabe has officially learned how to jump. Ever since figuring it out, he has been my little jumping bean. He has also been kicking really well (favoring his right foot) and learning how to catch a ball with two hands. He has been so active and rough and tumble, always running and climbing over everything, throwing himself to and fro, that he's given himself his first black eye. It's not merely a bruise. It's a full on shiner, and he's been wearing it with pride for the past two and a half weeks.

Socially, Gabe has been playing with his friends and not merely beside them. Parallel play is almost a thing of the past, as now Gabe mostly enjoys playing catch and chase with companions that are slightly older than him.

Ariana has been desperately wanting to be a big girl this month. I feel like she has suddenly become much more aware of what she is capable of, and she's trying to reach her full potential. Sometimes, in the past, I've felt like I was carrying dead weight trying to get Ari to practice new skills. Now, she wants to learn new things so she can be on par with the other kids her age.

Since seeing Gabe practicing eating with a spoon, Ari has been wanting to eat with a spoon all by herself. I only allow her to do this with certain foods (like macaroni and cheese and applesauce) where she's sure to have more success than not, but does a great job when given the chance (both with scooping and with bringing the spoon to her mouth). I love to see her budding independence!

This month, Ari has been trying to pull up to sit and crawl. Although she has not succeeded in these efforts yet, the fact that she is trying is half the battle! I often see Ari trying to grab on to the edge of an ottoman or the coffee table to pull herself up. It's an awesome oblique/ab excercise, and it shows -- Ari has fab abs! Not kidding, she is ripped. Ari's sitting is always getting better. She is getting much better balance, as now she is often able to play with toys for extended periods while in the sitting or prop sitting position. It should be noted, however, that Ari does sometimes fall out of a sitting position and needs a minute or two to get her bearings when first put in a sit.

At the park, Ari wants nothing more than to slide down the big slide. She will do this over and over, wearing you out completely in the process. She also loves to play in the sand, which is disgusting (think how many kittys have peed in that sandbox) but makes me oh so happy at the same time, because it shows how far she's come since her texture aversion to sand.

Ari has also been successfully identifying family members this month, using her hand to point at each person as they are named. She has been following more simple commands, such as "arms up" when I go to pick her up, and "put your hand through [the sleeve]" when I am putting her shirt on. Ever increasingly, she is showing understanding of what is being said to her.

Recently, one of Ariana's favorite things to do before going to bed is playing peek-a-boo. This is no ordinary game of peek-a-boo. Ariana has just figured out how to lift up her bumper to spy on Mommy and Daddy after she's been tucked in. She thinks she is so sly when she's peeking out at us from underneath her crib bumper. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it just cracks me up to see her mischeviously peeking out at me with a big grin on her face like she's the cat that just ate the canary. So cute!

Ariana has been getting very possessive of her toys. She doesn't just submit when Gabe tries to take them away anymore. This is a good thing, even though it leads to many tantrums and tears, because she is much more motivated to get up and moving. That said, Ari loves to share, just as long as she gets the toy right back.

Isabella is still a wonderful baby! I count my blessings every day that I have such a sweet and content bundle of love as her. Every day she expresses her contentment by squealing, cooing and giggling. She loves to laugh, and she's already ticklish pretty much everywhere on her chubby little bod. She loves to be bounced, sung to, and of course, held. The only times Bella gets irritable are when she's hungry and tired (and who could blame her?). At these times, she won't settle for anything shy of being nursed. Yup, I'm the pacifier. And it's paying off in the growth department: 15 lbs. 7 oz. and 24.5 in. at her 4 month check-up (85th and 60th percentiles respectively). And it may be a little unorthodox, but can I just say that (almost as much as she loves to nurse) I love to nurse her. I didn't get to nurse my twins due to their prematurity and oral motor delays, so this is such a pleasure for me. It is such a bonding experience for both of us. So special.

This month, Isabella has been such a little social creature. She is already loving to interact with strangers, although she definitely recognizes her mommy and daddy. She enjoys social and frolic play, loves the mirror, and vocalizes in response to others.

Isabella has been sitting her Bumbo seat. She loves being in a sitting position, so she can witness everything that's going on. She's been kicking her legs much higher when she's on her back, and she's getting super close to grabbing her feet. She can hold her head and chest up pretty well while she's on her tummy. And although she hasn't officially rolled yet, she is just days away, it seems. She call roll from her back to her side and from her tummy to her (almost) back. She usually teeters on her side, heading in either direction, and then plunks back over. She's trying so hard, and it's dang cute.

Isabella loves grabbing and shaking her rattles and putting them in her mouth. For that matter, she loves putting anything in her mouth, especially her hand and short arm. She's happiest with her little fist and little elbow both stuck in her mouth, covered in drool.

I need to mention that this month, as is to be expected in the winter (if you can call 60 degrees winter), all three of the kids got a nasty cold. We were congested for about two weeks, with sore throats, and low grade fevers (Isabella included), and it was no fun. Thankfully, it has passed, and we're none the worse for it, so onward and upward.

Wishing for Words Wednesday

If you were hoping to see a "Wordless Wednesday" picture-only post, you've come to the wrong blog. Instead, I find myself feeling quite the opposite sentiment -- wishing we weren't wordless. In past months, I've mentioned that Ariana was saying two words: "hi" and "mama" and sometimes even "dada" on the regular. However, over the last several months, I regret to inform that she has stopped saying these words altogether. As much as I try to get her to imitate my words, Ari only responds by making incoherent noises, such as "eshhh," "usss," or "eh." Despite my desperation to hear words where there are none, Ari rarely ever comes close to imitating a sound anymore. The closest she comes is imitating a sneeze by spitting. That isn't to say that Ari is not vocal; she is very vocal. She has different tones to her grunts, gurgles, whines, and giggles that very clearly communicate her wants and needs. That is not the problem. The problem is that my nearly 2 year old girl isn't talking... not even a little.

So, I've been thinking about this a lot more lately. And in doing so, I've find myself wondering why I haven't thought about it hardly ever until now. Maybe it's because Gabe was barely learning words back then, versus how now he practically holds his own in conversation, and the disparity is so much more obvious. Maybe it's because Ari was saying words before, however few, so I just assumed the learning curve would be more gradual. Maybe it's because everyone (including the doctors) always seem to be so concerned with whether or not Ariana will eventually walk on her own, but no one has ever mentioned talking. Maybe I have just ignorantly assumed that all children with an intellect and awareness as strong as Ari's (despite her Cerebral Palsy) eventually talk. Recently, it has been becoming harder to neglect the thoughts.

Yesterday, I was talking to someone who was asking about Ariana's progress. Right away, she asked me if Ari was learning to walk yet. I have grown really accustomed to this conversation by now, and I informed her that Ari was probably several years off from learning to walk, but she knows how to roll and is getting really good at sitting. In an well-intentioned attempt at giving me encouragement, this person shared a story with me about a seven year old boy she knows very well who has Cerebral Palsy and is learning to walk with a walker. She went on to say that he is very aware and intelligent and he can understand everything that is said to him, but he can't talk. Not even a little? No, not at all, but he does use a couple hand signs. That's when I realized -- Ari may never talk.

This, for me, would be so much harder than if Ari never walked. I know that if I had to choose one or the other disability for myself (not walking or not talking), it would be a no brainer. I mean, the use of legs for walking is, in so many ways, cursory (of course, it would be miraculous if Ariana did walk). But words are the true windows to the soul. This is especially true when the dexterity of Ariana's hands (especially her right) is far worse than her oral motor coordination, thus ruling out effective sign language.

But this is a new year. And as always, anything can happen. So if you don't mind, this Wednesday, wish with me for the end of wordlessness (Ari's that is), and maybe it will come true.