Vrlyfry Day: Week 17

Let me just start by apologizing for this week.  I missed a few days and most of these pictures are anything brilliant.  But here goes nothing...

Day 110: 4/20

Zilla and I went to the park on Monday.  We started out at the new park, but he really prefers the "red slide" park so we ended up down by the school.  He also learned about the joys of jumping in puddles.

Day 111: 4/21 

Today we announced to the general public that we are expecting another baby!  Here's the picture we used.  I'm hoping that the pic a day blog can be my replacement for the super detailed weekly posts I did when Zilla was in my tummy.  Sorry baby #2, you're already getting the short end of the blogging stick.  Just know it doesn't say anything about how much I love you and can't wait to meet you!  It just says something about how tired I am.

Day 112: 4/22

Mt baby carrier addiction is being fed during this pregnancy, and I am super excited about it.  I finally convinced hubskie to let me get a woven wrap and it came in the mail today!  I don't expect to wear Zilla in it much, since he is more of a fan of walking.  But I do appreciate his willingness to let me practice so I'm ready to go when Baby Panini arrives!

Day 113: 4/23

Womp Womp no picture today, but happy birthday to my Godson!

Day 114: 2/24

Not only did I miss yesterday, but Friday's picture is pretty much a repeat of Wednesday's picture?  Yeah sorry.  It's all I had.  I tried out a new carry first, and it was a gigantic fail (thank goodness for the apple bribe or Zilla would have been pretty upset with me).  So we went back to the basic.  By this time I was worn out from struggling with the other carry and we ended up with a pretty messy version.  We did take Boots for a short walk while Zilla was up there and the wrap held up well.

Day 115: 4/25

My Godson's bday party!  What a little cutie.

 Day 116: 4/26

 Bump Update for 13 weeks!  Other people are starting to notice Panini's recent showing too!  It's a bit sooner than with Zilla, but I hear that's pretty normal for the second time around so I'm not going to worry about it.  Also, eventually I hope to take much better bump pics than awkward belly selfies, but for now this will do!



Vrlyfry Day: Week 16

Day 103: 4/13

Zilla was "fixing" his bike.  He would push himself 4 feet and then because his left side wasn't as strong as his right would start to veer off to his left and run into the grass.  He attributed this issue to the bike being broken, so he found a stick to fix it with.

 

 Day 104: 4/14

Well, these are awkward but it's all I have from Tuesday.  I was trying to find sunglasses.  I didn't end up buying any. 

 

Day 105: 4/15

My little guy, going on an adventure!  We are loving the nice weather being back.

 

Day 106: 4/16

Our first time seeing little Baby Panini (our gender neutral name) when he/she doesn't just look like a bean.  The profile!  Yes, I cried.  At one point it looked like Panini was snapping his/her fingers to the music that was playing in the sonographers office.  Musician in the making.

 

Later that day I went to Happy Hour with friends from work.  Our past three Happy Hours I have had to order fake drinks because they didn't know I was expecting.  This one was my favorite because it was just juice, rather than a bunch of sugar and sweeteners without the alcohol.

 

Day 107: 4/17

This is how my co worker and I announced to the office that we are both expecting.  I told her I was pregnant pretty early on and then a week later she found out she was pregnant too! 

 

Day 108: 4/18

Trying to pretend like our new park has lots of things Zilla can actually play on.  It requires quite a bit of parental participation. 

 

Day 109: 4/19

My bump popped this weekend!  Woohoo!  And I think it's getting bigger by the day. 

 



Vrlyfry Day: Weeks 13-15

WOW I have a lot of catching up to do!  I have been feeling pretty tired lately and haven't been great about updating our daily pics, but I am still taking them.  So here you go, weeks 13-15:

Week 13

 

Day 82: 3/23

This is the same pic from the last post from Zilla's assessment. 

Day 83: 3/24

He was showing me how to use a bat.

 

Day 84: 3/25

Just hanging out with my little Roodle.  Love this Chica so much!

 



Day 85: 3/26

Still loving his bubble machine

 

Day 86: 3/27

Zilla was really enjoying that lemon.

 

Day 87: 3/28

Helping dada with the yard

 
Day 88: 3/29

Uncle B is the best!

WEEK 14
 

Day 89: 3/30

The neighbor's came over for dinner!  Zilla stole Unlce J Wag's hat.

 

Day 90: 3/31

Zilla really enjoys bothering the neighbor's cat

Day 91: 4/1

For some reason he was convinced I wanted to carry the lawn mower.  Whenever I set it back down he would bring it to me and say "here you go momma."  April Fools?

 

Day 92: 4/2

Dada had a very busy week and we didn't get to see him too much.  So Zilla asked to take and send a picture to him in the morning.

 

Day 93: 4/3

His school picture.  We didn't order any.

 

Day 94: 4/4

We went down the street to decorate Easter eggs.  Look at these cousins having so much fun together!

 

Day 95: 4/5

Lots of Easter pictures!  I love this one of our little family.

Before the egg hunt I asked Zilla to get in a line so we could say go.  He stood directly behind Mini B like this.  I guess he has learned something at school

Zilla started out really strong with the hunt.  But then he realized after about 3 eggs there was candy inside and just started to open the 3 he already had.

 
Week 15
 

Day 96: 4/6

Zilla was putting a diaper on Elmo

 

Day 97: 4/7

Me and hubskie had a date night.  We went big and ate at Paninis Plus.  It was really yummy

 

Day 98: 4/8

BATH TIME!

 

Day 99: 4/9

It's hard to get a picture of Zilla smiling because he really doesn't like cameras.  But when he is in the mood, he can give the cutest pictures!

 

Day 100: 4/10

Y'all!  BABY!  She is so precious. We took a trip to Houston and I got to visit lots of my friends.

Day 101: 4/11

AIDANZILLA

Playing at our friend's house!  He thinks running in hallways is the best too!

 

Day 102: 4/12

Lol his hair

Sploring nature; holding his first ladybug



 

Zillupdate: Annual Review

Last week we had our annual with Early Childhood Intervention Services.  It has been such a joy working with these individuals the past year!  We went through a few changes; with ECI switching companies, going from one OT to a new one and back to the original, and working with three different special skills therapists.  Each person has played an important role and I am so pleased with Zilla's treatment team right now!  I can tell how much they all care about him and his success and it warms my heart to know that I can be very raw and honest with them when I have questions or concerns.

I remember starting out this process so scared and worried how we would progress.  Our first special skills therapist did an amazing job calming my fears and listening to me as I sat at Zilla's daycare and cried.  And our OT, I just love her.  She might be one of the most optimistic people I know and she works great with Zilla.  And he loves her too.  When she came over to our house (we usually meet at daycare) he was so excited and kept running over to her to give her big hugs.  And our newest special skills therapist has made me see how truly amazing our son is.  She honed in very quickly to Zilla's talents and did such an amazing job challenging him and helping him to build on his strengths.  It has been such an amazing journey and I can't help but think what a blessing it has turned out to be.  I get to spend extra time with Zilla, that I wouldn't have spent with him otherwise; we've gotten to help him develop skills that he may have struggled with otherwise; I've gotten parenting tips and advice from the experts; I've learned new techniques and games that will help me be the best mom I can be. 

More than anything I am so proud of my little Zilla.  I just got his score report from a year ago.  At the time he was 14 months old and with his left hand was testing as a 4 month old.  And in communication he had a 5 month delay.  But he has worked so hard, and I've been lucky enough to watch him in sessions where he truly tries his best and adapts and learns new skills.  I am so proud of his resilience and I am so proud of all of the little personality traits that while frustrating at times, I believe have helped him tremendously through all of this.  I remember one time expressing to our first special skills therapist in frustration how stubborn he is.  She just looked at me and smiled and said she notices this in a lot of the kids she works with and believes it's truly a gift.  Because sometimes when life hands us some extra limitations, it's that stubbornness that will get you through.  So Zilla, today I am so grateful for your stubborn self, because you have come so far!

Okay, mom brag time.  The whole time they were doing his assessment, they just kept commenting how exciting it was to get to do the different tests because they had never been this far with a kid as young as Zilla.  So of course I'm all beaming and stuff and trying not to interfere because I know it's all standardized, but I just want to jump down there and cheer him on.  Instead, I just let him do his thing and kept watching in amazement.  If he would miss something the therapists would quickly reassure me that it was a "high level", 4 year old skill and not to worry.  So I didn't.  Maybe next year I shouldn't be in the room while all of this is going on.  But really, I enjoyed watching the testing process.  By about 45 minutes in (the typical length of his therapy sessions) Zilla was mostly over it.  But he hadn't gotten enough wrong answers for them to stop, so we went for another 30 minutes.  In the end, here's how he did:

His lower scores were, not surprisingly, in fine motor...but I am no less proud!  Zilla has jumped 7 months in his fine motor skills!  I've known there has been progress, but it's nice to see it on paper too.  And before they adjusted for his left hand, his right hand fine motor scored at the equivalent of a 40 month old.  He also scored a little low in his peer to peer interactions, which didn't surprise me too much because he doesn't always get along with other kids great.  But it wasn't anything drastic or too concerning. 

On the other hand, he scored in the 91st percentile compared to other kids his age in: personal responsibility, adult social interactions, receptive communication, expressive communication, attention and memory, and reasoning and academic skills.  In these areas, he tested equivalent to a 31-35 month old. 

In the end, we decided, per recommendation from our treatment team, that we would no longer receive the special skills therapy service, but that I could send her emails if questions came up.  We will continue with weekly OT. 

So yeah, I was just a little bit beaming with those scores.  Not because they are so great, but because it reaffirms to me that I should trust in God's plan.  I was so scared when all of this started but, it truly is in His hands, and this is more than enough.  The day after we found out about his diagnosis, a dear friend of my family text me and asked me to find a song that gave me strength to hold onto for the day.  And here's the song I sent to her that was on my heart then, and continues to remind me of the incredible journey we have been on the past year. 

Vrlyfry-Day: Week 12

Day 75: 3/16

Zilla really really wanted to go swimming.  "Look mama, I'll just sit in the float like this and won't get wet!"

 

Dada was out of town for the first part of the week and our wonderful neighbors were gracious enough to invite us over for delicious salmon! Roodle is an excellent hostess.

 

Day 76: 3/17

Hubskie will obviously be thrilled this is on here.  Kissy selfies get us through those business trips.

 

 Day 77: 3/18

 Zilla's school had a curriculum night and I got to go watch him do some Montessori work.  Here is stringing beads without looking.  What a pro.

We also got to look at his artwork

 

I asked Zilla if he wanted to hold his boat and he said yes.  Turns out it was because he wanted to try and eat the Cheerios off of it.

 

Day 78: 3/19

Mimi watched Zilla the night before and left him a block message for when he woke up in the morning!

 

 Day 79: 3/20

Zilla decided to fix mommy's hair.  It was so beautiful when he was finished.

 

Day 80: 3/21

Mommy wakes up earlier, so mommy gets to dress the Zilla.   Here he is practicing being a Yell Leader.  Precious!

 

 Day 81: 3/22

 Zilla and dada working on the yard together.