A Few Pics, Just Because

It's Thanksgiving day, and I should be getting ready for the family festivities today, buuuuuuuuut, I decided I wanted to post some pics of my kids.

Just because.

 His Pirate costume for Halloween.  

He kept saying, "Yo Ho Ho, and a bottle of DRUM."  

 My sweetness.

 Lunchtime at the Zoo.  Landon was being a bit stubborn and would only give goofy faces when I took out the camera.

 At the Zoo.  

Jillian thought it was GREAT to see all the people walking around.  

 Lovin' on Daddy.

 Another shot at the Zoo.  True to stereotype, Jillian thinks it's great fun to reach over the seat and bug her big brother.

And my ham.  I told him to make a happy face because if I say "smile" he makes a goofy face.  And this truly is his happy face.  

Always extremes with this kid.

Things to Remember #6

1. Jillian took her first steps two weeks ago.  She's now walking everywhere and is quite impressed with herself.
2. Jillian loves to be hung upside-down.
3. Jillian gets the hiccups every time she laughs a lot.  
4. Landon impressed the Pediatrician when he hopped on one foot and jumped forward....apparently those are 4 year old gross motor skills.
5. Landon does not like when I reprimand Jillian.  He either comes and pushes me or yells at me or does something to deserve a time-out.
6. When we ask Landon during nightly prayers, if he wants to tell Jesus something, he always tells Him about when we went to the park.
7. When claiming to be scared, Landon either tells us he's scared of the lion or the butterfly.  
8. When Landon goes down for a nap, Jillian does all she can to get back to his door and find him.
9. Both Landon and Jillian have a terrible gag reflex.  One or both gag or choke at practically every meal.  Eating is never peaceful or easy at our house.
10. We taught Landon to say "I love you too" any time we say "I love you."  But now, when he initiates, he says, "I love you too."  

This happens...... A LOT.

Busy Busy Weekend

Last weekend we were quite busy!

On Friday I hosted a play date at my house.  Two friends I've known since first grade, and a friend from High School, came over to the house with their kids.  In all we had two three-year-olds, a two-year-old, three one-year-olds, and a nine-month-old......that's SEVEN toddlers/babies at my house!  It was great to catch up with my mommy friends and have all the kids play together.  But I was a bit too busy to grab a camera to take a pic of the craziness.  Maybe next time?!


Saturday we went to Cagle's Dairy Corn Maize.  We went with Josh's mom and his brother Bear and his family. Here's the story in pics.......

We arrived and waited for the rest of the crew.  Landon was excited and was especially excited about his hair. 

Jillian had no idea what we were doing and so wasn't excited about being strapped into the stroller.  She apparently wasn't enthused with having her picture taken either.  I promise this was the best picture she gave me upon arrival.

 They had this trampoline-in-ground thing to jump on.  We started on the BIG one, but as you can see.....there were BIG kids jumping on it.  

So we moved to the smaller trampoline-in-the-ground thing.  

Jillian was too little to climb up the jumpy-thing.  She didn't seem to mind though, playing in the grass was great fun. 

We fed goats.   

 An attempt at a picture of the cousins.  Jonah is trying REALLY hard to give a good smile.  And Landon, well.......he's looking a bit confused or lost.

 There was running through the Maize.

The whole bunch of us.....with a few ears of corn for souveniers.

They rode some ponies.  Landon thought it was a lot of fun.  I couldn't get him to look at the camera to get a good shot of him on the pony.   But he would  look at the POOP 

one of the ponies dropped during the ride.

We went to the pumpkin patch.   

Jillian LOVED it!!!   

What a cutie.

Sunday we went to visit our new cousin Liam.  

He's so stinkin' little!!!!   

The big cousins got to play. 

Landon was interested, and was truly being sweet......but gentle isn't exactly his thing. 

Jillian was very interested in the baby.  She was also wondering what the deal was with her Daddy holding a baby.

After visiting with the new baby, we stopped at the park on the way home.  

Landon got to play and climb. 

Jillian got to swing. 

Little miss lookin' cute.

Getting some more climbing in. 

We attempted a cute siblings sliding picture. 

But we only got their cute tushies. 

And then Landon left her in his dust. 

Then we forced a pic with Mommy before we left.

And that was our busy busy weekend.

Old Enough to Say.......

So I was thinking about different.......random......things.
I ended up on the theme of

"I'm Old Enough to Say...."

1. My first car had manual windows and manual locks.  
2. In second grade my teacher led our class in prayer before lunch every day.
3. I saw Willy-B (the silver back gorilla at Zoo Atlanta) when he lived in small room with a tv.
4. I remember Hickory Flat when it was a "town" of 2 stop signs.
5. I watched Captain Kangaroo.
6. I remember when GA400 didn't connect to I-85.
7. I watched a tv that had to "warm up" before you could see the image on the screen.  
8. I watched shows on a black and white tv with an antenna.
9. Some of my classmates in first grade got "paddled."  And through 3rd grade my parents signed a paper stating whether they would allow school personal to "paddle" me for punishment.
10.  I remember when gas was $1.05 a gallon.
11. Both of my grandfathers are veterans of WWII.
12. I used an electric type writer.
13. The assistant teacher in my kindergarten class had hair-do that resembled a bee-hive. 
14. I used a polaroid camera.
15. I remember when you needed film negatives to order reprints of a picture.

Autism Has Taught Me....

For 4 years now I've worked with kids who have Autism.  A total of 7 boys, ranging in age from 2 years to 9 years old. 

I have worked on speech goals, language goals, occupational therapy goals, physical therapy goals, vision therapy goals, academic goals, and behavior goals. 

I have helped with potty training, swim lessons, attending school, eating issues, and sensory issues. 

I have assisted while the kids receive IVs of medication, sat in a hyperbaric chamber, and monitored dietary restrictions. 

I've learned about IV-IG, GFCF diets, oral motor exercises, listening therapy, ABA therapy, the Floortime approach, the RDI perspective, homeopathic medicine, and cranial-sacral therapy.

For 4 years I've worked for amazing parents, played with amazing kids, and learned so much. 

I wanted to share some things I've learned.........

Autism has taught me ...........

1. to be thankful for my babies staring into my eyes.
2. to take delight and find fascination in simple things like bubbles and feathers.
3. that gluten free, dairy free cupcakes are wonderfully yummy.
4. all the names to the Thomas the Train characters (and there's seriously a ga-zillion of them).
5. our bodies, immune systems, and nervous systems are WAY more complex than most people know, and oddly, more than most Doctors admit.
6. the value of body language.
7. how to play with my children, and not just teach and instruct.
8. you have to shake up your routine every once in awhile, or you forget how to deal with change.
9. how valuable hand-eye coordination is.
10. 3 day potty training is possible.
11. kids with special needs want to be invited for play dates too.
12. the brain processes singing and speaking in different locations.
13. poop can tell you a lot of things about your health.
14. dark circles under eyes can be due to more than sleep deprivation.
15. typical development is truly complex. The fact that for most people it is automatic, is miraculous.

And most of all,

Autism has taught me

to be THANKFUL for typical development.

 

Even the annoying, frustrating parts of it;

like when they realize they can be very loud, when they ask a million "why" questions, or when they demand to "do myself."

Beach Vacation

In August we went on vacation with Josh's family.  It was the first "annual" vacation/reunion.  We had a blast!!  We had 6 kids under the age of 5......all in one house!  We're looking forward to more trips like this in years to come.

Here are a few pictures....

There was coloring.

Jillian spent a lot of time in the pack-n-play.  And Esther Grace spent a lot of time finding ways to crawl in to join her. 

 

Toe nails were painted pink.

We went to dinner where the rolls were literally the size of Landon's head and the servers threw them to you.

 

We managed to get a group picture. 

We have no idea why Landon was crying.

 

Daddy & Jilly. 

 

Babes in sunglasses.

 

"Aunt B" (aka Brooke) spent a long time digging out holes in the sand so the kids and grandparents could sit in the sand for a fun picture. 

SO  MUCH  STINKIN'  FUN