A hot summer night!

Hello all...we are sweating here in Illinois. With the heat index it felt like it was 107 out today. That is just nuts. I thought I wouldn't have that kind of heat here but I forgot in the Midwest you get it all.

So you are wondering how we are doing after our weekend. Well I think Braxton finally caught up on sleep which is great. He was being a pistol. Payton is feelin mighty fine...lol They are both rotten as ever.

Ok so I said I would inform everyone about the doctors visit that we had over two weeks ago. Well as I said we went and saw a developmental specialist pediatrican...I am sure this is not his technical title but that is what I call him. We went through Braxton first and they ask a lot of questions and what to know about him and how he acts. Pretty much he is a normal 17 month old and we need to stay in Early Interventions and he will have speech once a week and an occupational therapist see him once a month. Really it is a precautionary due to Payton's delays. He has a hearing test just to make sure that it is "normal".

So we get to discussing Payton. Payton has his normal rituals and likes things a certain way. We had already had his hearing test once before Christmas and it was adnormal and then again in February, which we were told that it was ok. Well the Dr pulled the results from his last one "have to love computers" and said he did not like it all. He told us that the results showed that Payton's hearing was like if you or I would have ear plugs in our ears all day. That with his significant speech delay he would recommend that we get it tested again and then if the results came up the same then to have tubes put in his ears. So of course we were upset because we thought his hearing was ok but come to find out there was a problem all along. Really that was his main concern was Payton's speech. He did say that he felt that Payton does have verbal apraxia which is a neurological issue. Verbal apraxia is when the brain has problems telling the mouth what to say, unlike his mother that has no issue speaking her mind. Also if the hearing test comes back the same then that also been a problem since he can not hear us completely. Both boys are anemic and are now on iron.

Jeff and I had a long road to getting pregnant and then staying pregnant. With our first miscarriage we didn't know if we would ever be parents but then God gave us Payton. Then of course we had to go through another lost and then we were give Braxton. Both boys are a gift from above and we cherish every minute we have with them. Of course we didn't have the easiest of pregnancies and then Payton was born early and had to hospitalized and no one ever could have prepared us on how to survive that but we did. We survived him having stomach surgery at 3 weeks old also. Then we no one could have prepared us for almost losing Braxton when he was born. I feel the only people that truly knew how serious the situation with him was us, the doctors and our parents. For of those that don't know we had him blessed because we didn't know if he was going to survive. A month later our a "big" boy was home with us finally. You are probably asking why I am typing all of this. Well I was asked why I keep this up and how to do I find time. This is relaxing to me and to be honest I never knew if I would be a parent ever. Sometimes I look at them and realize what a blessing they are and that they are they way there are suppose to be. In the beginning I would ask why us, when it came to them being sick when they were born and now with Payton having speech delays but then I say to myself why not. I stopped comparing my children to others their same age it isn't fair. I stop comparing myself to other mothers because it is not fair to myself. I stopped comparing my family to others because to be honest we are one of kind. We are who we are and we live our lives the way we see best. I feel that Jeff and I have lived through so much because we are strong and can handle it. Has it made us better people I don't know but it has made us a stronger FAMILY and that is what counts. I am proud to say that I am a wife to a disabled man and a 3 year old with special needs and a 1 1/2 year old. I will tell everyone that asks how my husband is doing and what a great and patient father he is. I have never been shy and will not now. I am a proud wife and mother to my perfect family.