Zoolights

Last Friday, we went to see Zoolights with the Edwards family. Our kids are in love with Christmas lights, so we were all very excited for this outing. It was beautiful and the weather was nice and chilly, just like real winter. Everyone had a great time strolling in the glow and watching the light spectacles until they started getting cold and tired. Isabella is teething (1 incisor & 4 molars!), so she was drooling buckets. Despite her layering, she was still getting soaked, and everyone knows that wet and cold don't mix well. After going potty, Gabe refused to dry his wet hands under the dryer and there were no paper towels to be found, so his little hands got a little chilled to say the least. By the time we rounded the zoo circuit, it was time for us to get our grumpy elves home to bed!

November Photos

The photo journal of this month (in reverse order of event):
Dressing up babyWhen I'm cooking dinner, the kids get to enjoy one of their favorite times of the day: Movie time!All chic and Jacquie OPicking out our Christmas tree!The kids met Santa for the first time at Glendale Glitters.sleepyheadDecorating gingerbread cookies with Nana. Could these kids be any happier?Splashing around in the water feature at Tempe Center for the Performing ArtsBedtime storiesAri mastering a neat pincer grasp!Best buddies walking to the stairs together. Whenever Gabe gets in a mood and refuses to walk Bella to the stairs, she will cry and chase him around with her hold hand held out to him. It's the sweetest thing ever.Dinner at Nana's for her birthday. Hanging out with Aunt Marci.Ari got a huge kick out of Nana blowing out her candles.Scottsdale Train Park

November Milestones

Another late milestones post, but really, there has been so much going on. So much, in fact, that I haven't even really noticed if my children have hit any milestones this month. *Mom guilt*. That being said, Ariana and Gabriel both turned 33 months old, and Isabella turned 14 months old this past month.

Gabriel has been excelling in his verbal skills, and his imagination has been taking off. This I know for sure. He's just starting to sound like a little boy; meaning that he doesn't simply repeat what he's heard me say, but he thinks of things on his own. All in all, he's so much more of a little rascal lately. Sometimes, it's adorable, and other times... not so much. For instance, when Gabe is feeling a little threatened, whether it be in a group of children or just because we're telling him what to do, Gabe often tries to scare us, announcing in his gruffest voice "I'm a skeleton (or dinosaur)! I'm spooky! Raaaar" or "SHARP!", which he thinks (don't ask me why) is a very intimidating and "scary" word (he uses it like it's an expletive). He's also been getting creative when he gets into trouble. His newest behavior is to scream, "Don't hurt me! Don't hurt me! OOUUUCH! OUUUCH!" like he's trying to get me in trouble (when he's in a time-out chair in the other room). Thankfully, this has yet to happen in public, but other people (primarily Ari's therapists) have witnessed the behavior, and it's quite disconcerting. I thought maaaybe he might pull this sometime by the time he turned ten years old, but 2 1/2? Craziness.

Gabe is improving a lot on his pre-reading skills. He has really gotten into working in his pre-K workbooks, which comes as no surprise to me, because he was obsessed with flash cards when he was 14 months old. One of his favorite excersises in the workbook is to tell us what letter starts the words dipicted in the images. Like, there will be a picture of an astronaut, and Gabe will tell us, "It's an astronaut. Astronaut starts with A". If we see a rake, we'll ask him, "Does this word start with an L?" To which, he'll answer "Noooo, it starts with an R. Rrr rrr rrr rake!" Other workbook excersises we're currently working on include counting objects, drawing lines to match same types of objects, circle the different object (pre-writing skills & identifying similarity/difference), and tracing.

Gabe and Bella have gotten to be best of friends this month. They are little compadres in crime; always getting into trouble together. One night this month, I noticed the house had gotten particularly quiet. Always a bad sign. The two little muskateers were found pantless (wearing underwear & diaper) & shoeless, outside in the dark & cold, sitting on the (at the time wet) grass, side-by-side, staring at our Christmas lights. It was horrifying and adorable at the same time. And believe it or not, the first thought that crossed my mind was that I wished Ari had escaped with them :(. Anyway, Gabe & Bella have grown really close. He always holds her hand and walks her down the hall to the stairs before nap and bedtime, and he always asks me to wake her up when she's still asleep so he can play with her. But he hates sharing... especially his yellow plasma scooter.

Ariana has made fewer milestones this month, but she is growing and learning all the time. Ari has been starting to identify colors for us. So far, she knows all of her body parts, types of clothing, family and friends, everyday objects, and other vocabulary. Lately, however, I've been trying to ask her to point to a "green cup" then the "pink cup", etc. She's been showing quite a bit of consistency in understanding these terms. Ari's use of her "talker" was interrupted, because it broke, and we had to wait for a loaner. Now, she has the loaner, but we're having to encourage her to use it a little more than we did in the past. She seems really interested in the power button (turning it off), which isn't really functional as far as communication goes.

Ari seems to be raising her hips more when she's on her tummy (prone), for crawling, but especially if she wants us to pick her up. When she's excited about something (reaching an object or getting lifted), she bends her knees, pushes up with her arms, and shoves her little bum into the air to where she's almost in a quadriped (4-point, hands & knees) position.

This month, Isabella climbed out of her crib for the first time (early in November), so we had to drop the crib and raise the rail. I was not at all prepared for this, because neither of my other two have ever attempted this feat. I thought it was just an urban legend that babies climbed out of cribs (that's an exaggeration, I'm not that naive). But really, I am NOT going to transfer her to a bed any time soon. So she can just forget about it. Little monkey. She has also been walking so well. She walks everywhere, she's very fast, and she rarely falls (except when Gabe bumps into her, which is sadly, a little too often).

One of her favorite things to do is retrieve the most girly, sparkly shoes of hers and Ari's and demand that I put them on her feet whenever she's toddling around the house. Then, she throws her pink Dora purse over her shoulder, and off she goes, shaking her booty and bopping up and down to the rhythm in her head (my phone ringer, the Christmas music, the dryer, the tunes on the musical toys). Isabella has a very unique personality, and everyone seems to comment on it at first glance. She has intense eyes, on which people frequently remark -- she looks as though she understands you a little too well. And when she's not staring at you directly in the eyes, she's chirping, chuckling, screaming (happily, usually), singing, or nodding. Especially nodding. Isabella opens her eyes really big and slowly, dramatically nods whenever anyone asks a question or when she makes a request. Seemingly, she thinks that if she nods when she's asking for something, that she's guaranteed to get what she wants. She also uses it to mean, 'yes' of course, which she doesn't say just yet. Instead, she just grunts "uumm!" and nods. She has no trouble saying, "no" however, which she uses to boss me all the time "noooo noooo noo noo no no!".

Bella has been talking a lot more this month. She says all kinds of words but rarely gets credit for them, because she jibber jabbers so much in between her words that they frequently go unnoticed. Some of her newest words inlcude "diaper", "poo poo", "socks", "that", "boon" (balloon), "moo moo" (movie), "baby" and others. Sadly, I haven't been keeping a very good record, but I promise to do better with this from now on. In my defense, I did just finish Isabella's "pregnancy" & "first year" baby books, which has been keeping me pretty busy.

I have also weaned Isabella to nursing two times per day: last thing at night and first thing in the morning. It's really kind of sad for me that this chapter of our special time is coming to an end, but she is getting even more affectionate during the day, which makes up for it. Bella frequently runs up to me, wraps her arms around my legs and kisses me on the knees (lip level for her). She's darling.

January 18th

Ariana's Stem Cell therapy is booked for January 18th! This date is closer than anyone expected, and we are so excited to be getting her treatment this soon. We will be leaving for San Diego, CA on Friday, January 15th, and are returning on January 19th. We plan on spending the weekend relaxing before Ari's procedure. We have already booked our lodging as well. This is getting so REAL!

Stem Cell Update

The Krispy Kreme Doughnut fundraiser in Holbrook, AZ was a HUGE success. As of this afternoon, nearly every single one of the 1,000 boxes of doughnuts had been sold. Proceeds are expected to total $5,000!!! People in Holbrook and the surrounding areas have been amazing to us and our cause! We cannot thank everyone enough for their participation and suppport. The total funds raised from our fundraising efforts since April are over $11,500!

After months of consideration, research, and prayer, we have decided that we will be taking Ariana to Mexico for Umbilical Cord Blook Stem Cell Therapy. We are in the preliminary stages of booking right now, as the doctors will need to review Ariana's medical records and we will need to complete the requisite paperwork, but I'm sure the time will fly by. We are VERY excited to have reached this point, and I can't wait for Ariana to have this opportunity for potential improvement!

For those interested, this is a video describing stem cells and their role in healing in greater detail:

Thanksgiving 2009

This Thanksgiving was a Starr family event. And as is customary with all Starr events, it began late (even later thanks to my mashed potato mishap), came with plenty of great food, and there was lots and lots of picture taking. Attendants included: Nana & Papa Starr (hosts), the Taylor family, Marci & Paul, Leah & Goran. It was lovely.

Ugh.

I know it's only Monday, but what a week!

• Ari's talker froze up. Called tech support & nothing worked. I have to send it in for repairs & *fingers crossed* my memory card will be left in-tact so we don't have to reprogram the whole thing.
• Isabella outgrew her prosthesis. Just like that. Her arm got too big to squeeze into it over the weekend or something. Too much turkey. At best, she'll be without a prosthesis for 2 months. At worst, 4? 5? Who knows? We were just getting used to it too!
• Devyn (our nanny) has Strep throat and will be out the week most likely. Doctor's appointment tomorrow for Bella's 1 year appt. (at 14 months no less), and H1N1 vaccines for all three kids. Jake will be gone all Thursday, Friday, & Saturday with the car for his licensing class (so I'll be stuck at home without). Fun.
• Family just got denied for health insurance for the tenth time in two years. Sensing a pattern?
• Gabe has started acting out again. A lot. He'll just plow Bella over when she's trying to waddle around, he's grabbing toys from his sisters, hitting, throwing fits... every 30 minutes.

Can't wait till the (short) weekend is here!

Tonight we were having family home evening, and I read a story to the kids about being a forever family. Then I said to Gabe, "Do you want to be with your family forever?" He enthusiastically answered, "No thank you!". hahaha.