Due date May 5th

 Today is the 3rd anniversary of my official due date for Abe.  I am sure most moms forget what their "due dates" were but rather when they went into labor and the whole birth process and how much their child has grown. I think the date May 5th stands out to me for several reasons. The first one is his birthday is in February and not May since he was born at 26 weeks gestation. I craved Mexican food a lot while pregnant with him which is significant for a due date of May 5th since it is also Cinco de Mayo. Three years ago prior to Abe's extremely premature birth I thought wow May would be spent celebrating Nurse's Day, Mother's Day, my birthday and Abe's birthday however one of those birthdays is celebrated 3 and 1/2 months prior. I listened to a friend speak today at my church about special needs children in foreign countries that are placed in orphanages and not given early interventions.  It broke my heart my also made me realize that God knew what he was doing when he picked Glenn and I to parent Abe. I thought to myself wow 3 years ago, May 21 or 22 we brought home an 8 lbs, he gained 6 lbs while in NICU, medically fragile baby who was on NG tube feedings, oxygen, monitor who was supposed to be in a vegetative state is sitting in a chair that an OT modified while eating crunchy veggie sticks. He would not be where he is without all the interventions and love that he receives. He recently can say 3 words together while motioning, "momma", "sit". He also will ask for "cake", "cake", even for breakfast. He crawled all the way down our street and wanted to keep going but I stopped him since the end of the road is a busy road. He was super mad because he knew exactly what he wanted to do. We are working on a picture exchange book with real pictures since kids with CVI see them better than drawings.  He has been enjoying taking bubble baths and can even sit in the tub on his rear end with leg extended out without much assistance while he plays with bath tub toys we got a the Ready for Kindergarten program. He knows a cow says "moo, moo" now. I recently went to the Infant and Early Childhood Conference in Tacoma with a parent scholarship. I was able to attend for 3 days thanks to the respite we receive and that Glenn is on shore duty. I discovered that I need to do more normal learning stuff with Abe like teaching him how to make play dough and let him actually feel and stir it and other life skills like washing his face. The idea of rain pants so he can participate during recess time was brought up as well. Some days the play ground is too wet and cold for him to get down on the ground and play with the other kids. I am trying to find some inexpensive rain pants for him. We are working with ABA for his head banging and throwing behaviors. We are so impressed with Abe's progress. and we pray that he will continue to grow and be more verbal so the head banging behaviors will decrease. Oh another note my kidney stone is gone and next week I will discuss with my doctor all my lab results and hopefully figure out why I form them. It is so nice to not have to deal with the pain and urinary troubles the stone gave me. I am still on daily antibiotics though. Our Bremerton house is still on the market. We are praying it sells quickly. I will try to up date this blog monthly but some months we are just super busy.