Cupcake the kitten

Friday night, Erick came home from work with a kitten. He had found her wandering around at his work and he couldn't stand to leave her there all alone. The kids fell in love instantly, especially Caden. Caden signed "Caden's cat" over and over again. We seriously contemplated keeping her, but after watching her for 24 hours, decided that it would be best to drop her off at the shelter. She was much too small to be away from her Mama and she didn't know how to eat or drink out of bowl or use a litter box. So, on Saturday afternoon, we went and dropped Cupcake off at the vet's office that's down the street from our house. Cierra cried the most and is still sad about it today, but I know that she'll get over it eventually. Besides, we still have two very cute grown-up cats to take care :)

The Sunday Challenge

Early morning church is hard. Since our ward switched to the 9am block at the beginning of the year, we have missed Sacrament Meeting more than once. In fact, we missed the last three weeks in row. We made it in time for classes and nursery, but Sacrament Meeting just wasn't happening. So this week, I was bound and determined to make it to church on time and be present for the whole three hours. Saturday night I bathed the kids, got clothes ironed, packed the diaper bag, etc. All of this was to ensure that we made it to church on time. Well, I succeeded and we left the house at 8:54am and got to church just before the meeting began. On our way in, we saw the primary secretary, and Cierra with horror in her eyes says "Mom, we forgot about my talk!" I assured her that it would be fine and we quickly wrote a little talk when we got to our seats. Whew! Disaster avoided. I sat there in Sacrament for a few minutes, pleased with how the day was going. After that, all heck broke loose. Caden was very upset to find that I hadn't packed any of his cars in the diaper bag. So upset that Erick had to take him out. I went to check on him a few minutes later and he was having another meltdown because we had left his beloved (but smelly) blanket at home. I tried to calm him down, but Erick said he would just go home and grab it. After Erick left, I got him calmed down enough that we could go back in. He even walked in and usually he insists on being carried. Well wouldn't you know it? He walked right into the back of a pew and the meltdown started all over again. I decided to just let him cry it out for a minute, rather than bring him out again (which I'm sure everyone around us appreciated....lol.) Erick got back with the blanky and all was well. And then it was nursery time. Caden really struggles with other kids looking at him, talking to him, touching him and so on unless it's on his terms. So when another little boy tried to talk to him, the crying started. Then a toy was taken and the full blown meltdown started. I decided to take him out of nursery and let him calm down for a few minutes. We went out in the hall and I rocked him and held him until the crying stopped. I started talking to one of my neighbors and she started playing with Caden and he immediately cheered up and was smiling and laughing. I got up to take him back to nursery and he ran right into my neighbor's bag and fell over. Meltdown #576 of the day started. Got him calmed down again and went back into nursery. He stayed calm for about 30 seconds. The primary president was in there and she suggested that I just take him home and they would cover for me (nursery is my calling.) I went to go find Erick because he had the car keys. He was no where to be found. I finally called home to see if he might be there. He very sheepishly answered the phone and said he would be right there (the rest of that story is for another entry entirely.) He got there and we started to head home, when Cierra saw us and just had to go home, too. We then went and got Mackenzie, since no one else would be left at church. So at 11:15am, the whole Sullivan clan got home from church. After all my effort to get us there on time, we ended up home 45 minutes early. It is so hard to be the Mom and always try to set a good example. It would be so much easier on Sundays to just sleep in and forgo church all together, but I know it would not be sending my kids the right message. I just hope and pray that life with Caden gets easier soon and that the rest of the year with 9:00am church goes by quickly.

The Sweetest Sound

The last few days Caden has been saying "uh oh" pretty consistently and I caught it on video tonight. He is so proud of himself and we are so proud of him. He struggles to talk every single day and nothing more than jumbled vowel sounds usually come out, so when an actual word comes out, it's something to celebrate.

Saturday Outing

I saw a commercial earlier this week advertising "This is the Place Heritage Park" and decided to take the kids there this weekend. I invited my sister Megan and her little boy Tanner to come with us. Neither of us had been there since Elementary school field trips and weren't sure how much fun it would actually be. It turned out to be such a fun place. They have so many fun things to do and the kids are learning at the same time. They have a petting corral, pony rides, a train ride, a wagon ride, lots of fun cabins and buildings to walk through, lots of arts and crafts for the kids, and a great play area. A lot of the cabins and houses are the originals and it was so neat to walk through them and know that our ancestors had once lived there. I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't been there. We're already planning another trip back, so that Erick can go with us. Here are some pictures of our adventure.

All of the kids loved the petting corral. Some of the animals were only a few days old



The neat play area

Arts and Crafts

The girls with their bonnets on

Tanner and Caden passed out on the way home

A Possible Diagnosis

Caden has been doing speech therapy for a couple of months now with very little progress. On a good day, he can make the "b" sound a couple of times and he might say "uh oh", but these are both rare. It was recently brought to our attention that he may have Verbal Apraxia. Needless to say, I am heartbroken. I have shed more than a few tears the last few weeks while reading and learning about Apraxia and discovering that Caden fits the description perfectly. The speech therapist said that they don't like to make an official diagnosis until 2 1/2 or 3 years old because so many kids under two have speech delays, but all signs point to Apraxia. As a mother, I feel responsible and I want to be able to fix everything and I am having a hard time not being able to and I am feeling very helpless. With early intervention and lots of therapy, the prognosis is good, but it is always hard to hear that there is something wrong with your child. Sign language has been a wonderful tool in helping us understand Caden's needs and wants. He can sign over 75 signs now and is getting pretty good at it. I am so grateful to have some form of communication with him. Between Caden and finals, I have been very overwhelmed lately and have not felt like myself. I guess I just needed to get this all out because I feel a little better now. Thanks for reading if you got this far.

A Quarter of a Century

On Saturday I turned 25. I feel much older than that though, having been a mother for over 10 years now. Mackenzie and Cierra were so sweet and they threw me a surprise birthday party. They planned it for weeks and bought everything with their own money. They even decorated the house. I am so lucky to have such great kids. Saturday night we went over to my Mom's house and had dinner. She made homemade meatballs, baked potatoes, and broccoli and it was so yummy! It was such a great day, by far one of the best birthdays I've had.

ENT and Audiology appointments today

Caden had an appointment with the ENT and Audiologist today up at Primary Children's. We saw the audiologist first to test his hearing and his hearing is almost normal now. There are still some tones that he's not hearing, but he said that it shouldn't affect his speech anymore. After that we saw the ENT and he said that the tubes are in place and open. I am so happy and relieved. Between the tubes and speech therapy, hopefully Caden will grace us with some words soon.