In other news...

...Logan was accepted into the ECI program for speech delay. Through his evaluation, they estimated that his expressive speech (what he actually says) was about the level of a 9-10 month old, but his comprehensive speech (how much does he understand when we speak to him) was estimated at the level of a 26 month old. So, I wasn't wrong. He really does understand most (if not all) of what we say, he just can't express himself with his own words. So, he has been getting speech therapy for almost a month now. Every Friday morning, a speech therapist comes to the house and stimulates him to talk through play therapy and gives me "homework" for the week between her visits. She is a very friendly lady, and Logan took to her immediately. And in the month that we have been seeing her, Logan is saying one more word and is attempting to make 2 animal sounds. His vocabulary now consists of "Mama" and "Daddy" (although Daddy sounds like "day"); and he is trying to make the sound "moo" and "woof". It is really interesting to watch how his speech develops. For instance, when he goes to say "moo", he only says the beginning sound "mmm". And when he tries to say "woof", he only says the ending sound "fff". But he is trying!! And that is improvement. Before speech therapy, he wasn't even trying to say words, make sounds, etc. And in one month, he has doubled his vocabulary (!) and is trying to make animal sounds. I am happy!

....I have also recently been "promoted" at work. For the last year, I have been teaching classes for a women's service unit at Christus Santa Rosa Westover Hills. I have been loving my classes! I teach breastfeeding basics, infant care to expectant parents, and childbirth classes too. The classes are all in the evening, so I don't have to leave my sweet boys during the day. I have the best of both worlds: am able to be a stay-at-home mom and work and do something that I love (teach) in the evening about once or twice a week. But recently, I was asked to be the Community Education Program Coordinator! I happily said "yes". It will require a bit more time away from home, but for this, I am willing to work! I will be in charge of coordinating teaching schedules, coordinating curriculum, managing registration of classes---basically maintaining the operation of the community education program. I am delighted and excited about the opportunity. The program needs a lot of TLC right now; a lot of organization, restructuring, etc---and I have so many ideas to get the ball rolling! The hospital where I work is new. We are approaching our 1 year anniversary in mid-July and in the past year, we have more than exceeded any estimations on patients that have come in and out of the hospital. Likewise, the same for the education department. I remember my first breastfeeding class had 2 couples---and now, we are offering the class twice a month and I am averaging 8 couples per class! Wow! Talk about growth! So I am excited about the opportunity to take the community education program to a new level and hopefully help it grow even more.