6 weeks

Well, it's been about 6 weeks since I've posted and I thought it was time for an update! Warning: it's my usual marathon catch-up, so just read the first few paragraphs or skip it all entirely. :) For the few of you that might make it to the bottom, you deserve a stiff drink!

January is a considerably bleak month around these parts. The annual inversion settles on the Salt Lake Valley and what few options we have for outings during RSV/flu season are further limited by the gunky air (that means no walks, no building snowmen, no bike rides!). There were a few days where I pushed it and took J out for just a little bit so that we could get some fresh outdoor air and sunshine illuminated haze, but was quickly reminded how sensitive his little respiratory system is because naps and bedtime were full of coughing fits. Even naptime drives to get mom out of the house were out of the question since that would just be adding to the problem. It is hard to be content when you feel like the place you are living isn't sufficient for the one that's been entrusted to your care. But, like all things, we are relying on God to help us make it through these seasons and if we ever decide to make a change, He'll be the one paving the way.

So, January was spent pretty much indoors but we had a lot of fun! Jason is so fun right now. He loves to pretend play with anything and really is talking up a storm. He likes to color, paint, has started "singing", practice hopping and jumping, count, and of course play with any type of vehicle (dump trucks are the flavor of the month)! He likes musical instruments and loves to play with this great puzzle my mom got him that has musical instruments that make noises, his favorites are the guitar and violin! We spent our days inside playing with all these things!

As far as his speech goes, I don't think I've really talked much about it on here. That hasn't been entirely on purpose, but to be honest, my season of intense anxiety about a year ago centered on his delays. Jason has always done things "in his own time". He was late to roll over, crawl, walk, talk... Whenever we try something new, we know the first time is going to be awful. He hates new things.. but, once he's seen it or done it at least once, then he loves it! We started seeing a speech therapist regularly in September. It was an answer to a very fervent prayer. I didn't know what to do... Early Interventions? The Children's Center? Through the state? Private? There are so many options and when you feel like your kid needs a resource, it can be overwhelming. God answered my prayer by sending the right therapist to me (literally!) and she comes twice a week (and is even covered by our insurance! Amazing!). She suspects that J has a condition called Childhood Apraxia of Speech. You can read about it here if you like, but it is basically a motor planning problem between the brain and the mouth. The best description I've heard is "the brain is running on a Mac OS and the mouth on a PC, so they have a hard time communicating". The goal is to train his brain and mouth to run on the same operating system and that is best done through short and frequent bursts of speech therapy. When we started in September, Jason had zero words and wouldn't even try, he would get frustrated. That is a major component of Apraxia, because the child has already been met with much failure that they lose confidence (break my heart!). Now, I'm happy to report, he has over 50 words and tries every word we give him. He tries the word, waits for us to say it correctly (intensely studying our mouths) and then tries it again. This is how a typically developing child would learn to speak around 16-17 months. So, is it speech that has helped or would he have just started speaking on his own? Of course, we'll never know. But, we are thrilled with our speech therapist(s) and their ideas on how to help him (for instance, we would just try to get him to say a word and they have us working on long and short vowel sounds). I think it has been a great training period for Matt and I to learn how to help him best. His speech is definitely not clear and he still has a hard time with a lot of sounds (he can't pucker his lips yet, so 'O' and 'U' are hard sounds). I have some pretty cute videos of him talking and I will upload one soon so you can see his great progress! Many people have asked if this is caused by Cystic Fibrosis and the short answer is no. Although, I have read some interesting recent research about CF and the nervous system and brain development, and I'm convinced there can be a relationship (not in every case, but some). Many of the other little CF boys that I "know" through parents or blog land have problems with eating, texture, sensory stuff, and the like. So, no, but maybe. :) Either way, we are so proud of him and thankful that he has learned to communicate so well. His tantrums have dramatically decreased and his desire to communicate has increased exponentially. It has been fun to watch and he is such a joy! I got to spend 3 full days with him while Matt was gone for the basketball state tournament (over Valentine's Day). Last year, this was totally overwhelming to me and I think it's because he couldn't and/or didn't want to communicate at all with me. This year was so different. When J wasn't talking, there were many people that (albeit well-meaning) told me to "enjoy the silence, because soon enough he'll be talking non-stop!" I didn't really believe them at all and kind-of cringed when people said that, but Valentine's Day was that day. He wouldn't stop talking and only napped 45 minutes. I'm pretty sure that was because he wanted more time to talk. And, just like I promised, I never complained! I am cherishing these sweet words that were once just a dream. Here are some cute shots of my littlest Valentine! (And a huge shout-out to my faraway bigger Valentine, he took the time to schedule a beautiful flower delivery and then had a student hand-deliver my favorite sushi to our door on Valentine's Day! What a catch, I'm one lucky gal!

Also, it has become my tradition to do something drastic to our house whenever Matt is gone for at least 3 days. I didn't at all plan for it to happen that way, but it just does! He hates paint fumes, so I usually try to paint when he's not home.. this year was no exception! I've been wanting to paint our master bedroom for a very long time but couldn't pick a color. A friend of mine gave me some good insight and at first I was going to pick a color called Faded Silk by Ralph Lauren. It is a beautiful color, but when I sent a sample pic of it up on the wall to Matt, he commented that he thought it was a little too green. So, I ventured back to the trusty Home Depot with J in tow (who can now reach the shopping cart handle and wanted to push it all over the store. Let's just say we went through a ridiculous amount of hand wipes and sanitizer that day). We picked a color that was a little more blue and I'm thrilled with it! It's called Verdigris by Behr and is a beautiful green-grey-blue-ish color. It's a very pretty and soothing color. I put J to bed and then stayed up until it was done (which may or may not have been 3 am), then added a few touch-ups during naptime the next day. A tip on decreasing paint fumes is to keep the air circulating, but I didn't want to risk exposing J to the fumes, so I kept the door tightly sealed, ran the ceiling fan on high and kept a window open (it was cold in there!). I also read a tip to burn some scented candles and it helps. Not sure if it just masks the odor or actually eliminiates it, but a little vanilla never hurt anyone. Here are some shots. I also took the opportunity to rearrange everything on our walls, another thing I usually do when Matt's out of town. I especially love that this whole makeover cost only $35, the price for a gallon of Premium Zero VOC paint! Everything else was stuff we already had. Yahoo! Oh and I also added some wide white stripes to the hall bathroom downstairs, but didn't take a pic yet. It adds a little bit of spunk to a teeny tiny used-to-be-a-pantry bathroom.

Hung the jewelry by my side of the bed, rather than it being the first thing you see when you walk in the door. Instead of hanging it off the bottom of our window mirror like before, I hung my necklaces off a key holder we had from awhile ago.

This is on the wall that you don't see unless you're in the room entirely. I put the mirror on this wall (above the light switch) and hung some new things. I bought those letters at Hobby Lobby about 6 months ago when they were on sale ($2 each!), I think this is the perfect spot for them.