Bradley is still Bradley

I had my 20 week OB appointment and ultrasound this morning. Bradley is still Bradley! The arrow points to the spot...



He was all over the place during the ultrasound and even before. He started out upside down with his feet over his head. He moved around so much he wore himself out and fell asleep. It was funny!

This is Bradley's profile...


This was Bryant's profile...


It is obviously hard to tell in these pictures, but I have a feeling we are looking at two completely different looking (and acting) boys. I can't wait to find out!

In other news...

Bryant had his first speech therapy session today. The time went by so fast. This session wasn't very hands on as she wants B to get used to her being around. She will come once a week for the next 18 weeks. Same person, day and time for 18 weeks.

Today, she watched him eat, or I should say, not eat. He didn't want his pasta so he had some chips and a ton of fruit. Which re-confirmed that Bryant does need this oral motor therapy. Makes sense now why he likes things that are spicy and sour because those foods "wake up" his mouth.

For example, on Sunday, Bryant pulled the lemon juice concentrate from the fridge and wanted it so I let him taste it...he made a funny sour face, but asked for more. He liked it! I told this to the therapist today and she was speechless. She uses lemon juice in her oral motor therapy and most kids do not like it. Bryant will be an exception.

He learned the sign for "more" today and we will be learning some additional signs during this process. This weeks assignment is to incorporate the signs for "more", "all done" and "yes". Bryant never picked up on signing when he was younger so I just stopped doing it. I'm sure he would have picked up on it eventually had I been more persistent and consistent with it. He literally was signing "more" after doing it for 10 minutes. It was awesome!

We will also be doing some facial massage before meals to help stimulate or "wake up" the nerves in his mouth. Interesting...

More to report next week.

20 Months

I'm not quit sure what he is doing, but it's really funny to watch. He did the same thing a while back with his stack rings and I called it stack yoga... if you remember that blog post.



I took this picture this morning. B was hugging this Elmo and I thought it was really sweet. At one point he had it cradled like a baby, not intentionally, because he has no idea what that means, but it was really sweet.



I ask Bryant, "where's the baby" and he knows to put his hand on my belly. I'll also say for him to "love the baby" and he will lay his head in my lap. So sweet!

We had music camp at our church Mon-Wed. It was a baseball theme, so B wore his cap on Wed to camp. I think he had fun. He likes the instruments and he would clap and tap his feet, but that's about the only participation I got out of him. He preferred to stand still and watch. He gets that from both of us...I was always shy and Nick was too. The highlight was that he did hold a little girls hand on Tuesday, which put a pretty big grin on his face...moments like that when you need a camera. I took this picture in the car on the way to church. He wouldn't look at me.



Bryant will start his speech therapy on Wednesday, 7/27. I don't know how frequent we will meet with the pathologist right now, but we do have 18 visits with her. One of the requirements for speech therapy his to have a hearing evaluation. We did that on Monday and Bryant passed. So, I know he can hear me...he may not listen very well, but he can hear.

I am very optimistic and really expecting Bryant to blossom in the next few months. Especially since he will be starting mothers morning out in August.

Baby update

We had our appointment with the Perinatologist today. We are happy to report that the baby is growing perfectly on schedule with my due date.

I will see the Perinatologist at 20 weeks and again at 28 weeks to monitor the baby's growth.

Sweet baby hangin' out in the womb.



They asked if we wanted to know the sex prior to the ultrasound and we said yes. The tech had no trouble finding "it"...



It's a Boy!
Bradley Lawrence Gardner

Our sweet boy with his hand by his face just like his big brother did in the womb.