Finally.....a month later.......

WOW! Time really does fly when you're having fun, huh? Somehow I will get back into the groove of updating my blog regularly.

Right now the big news is that AJ is completely weaned from the bottle. He hasn't had a bottle in one week. Surprisingly, he now sleeps through the night, too! I have to say I'm not one bit sad to realize my last baby has officially left babyhood behind and entered toddlerhood. When AJ was born, Ryan was only 19 mos and just barely-so I never really got much of a break between them. It feels like I've had an infant for almost 3 years straight. I had to go to the grocery store today. I actually felt like I was forgetting something because I didn't buy any baby/toddler food and no formula. Our last hurdle to jump will be getting everyone out of diapers. I don't see that happening anytime soon, though. But, the good news is that I have a monthly subscription for diapers. Paige's pull-ups and Ryan and AJ's diapers just show up at my doorstep once a month.

We had a nice Thanksgiving! Steve's family came to our house to celebrate. It was a beautiful day-I'm guessing the temp was in the mid-60's! Beautiful weather for smoking and frying turkeys. We don't bother with roasting turkeys anymore. The guys cook 2 turkeys and both are done outside--one fried and one cooked in a smoker. It works out really well. The ladies chase the kids around and do the cooking inside. And, to be honest, when it comes to frying a turkey being in the house is the best place for me. Don't get me wrong, they are very safe.....I'm just really nervous around open flames, oil, and propane tanks. But, the turkeys were delicious (as usual) and I think everyone had a great time. The girls worked very hard to make the placemats this year. I wish we had gotten pictures of the table. Maybe I can at least get a picture of their placemats to post on here.

In other news, Ryan has an appointment with a geneticist tomorrow. I don't expect to learn anything new. To be completely honest, I have no idea why the developmental pediatrician referred him to this Dr. But, we will go and see what they say.

I do have some wonderful news to share about Ryan! His speech therapy session last week was one of the best ever! He was labeling animals on a puzzle and even making their sound. Then, when it was time to put the pieces away he was able to say bye to each piece....as in "bye pig", "bye sheep", etc. It's still a big struggle for him to retrieve the word he needs in a situation like that. But, he was working so hard at it and really taking his time to find the words all by himself without prompting. I was so overcome with pride and happiness that I started tearing up. When his speech therapist saw me crying, she started crying. Ryan must have thought we were nuts! I'm going to try to get it on video at his next session because it really is a huge milestone for him!! When you are so close to something it's hard to actually see the progress (similar to how we don't really see how much our children grow from year to year because we see them everyday), but that animal puzzle is a great marker for measuring his progress. At his first session Heather used that same puzzle. 7 months ago he couldn't say any of the animals names or sounds even with a prompt. Now he's naming them all AND combining two words to say bye to them all. He's a long way from sounding fluent, but he's at least able to do it now!! Sometimes I think I lose sight of the fact that all his little baby steps toward learning to speak are monumental for him. I get frustrated because his progress has seemed slow and daunting. Each month I would look forward to the 11th (because he'd be a month older) and I would secretly hope that THAT would be the day he suddenly started talking. I'm more accepting now that this could be a long road of lots of baby steps, so I'm learning to celebrate his small accomplishments instead of always waiting for the HUGE overnight improvement. I won't lie, though, right now I'm holding my breath waiting for Feb 11th. He'll be 3 on that day--maybe he'll suddenly catch up and all my worries will be a distant memory. I've heard about that happening to many kids and all my hope is hanging on that happening to Ryan. But, I'm also trying to remind myself that it means nothing if it doesn't happen. He will get there when he's ready. He has so much to say, I know it's only a matter of time before he's able to tell us everything on his mind.