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Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I figured that since it's been MONTHS since I updated I should take a minute and do it now while both kids are sleeping and my sister and husband are at work. I am sure I have 100 other things I should be doing but I have put this off long enough. The frustrating thing is that I think about my blog EVERY DAY. No joke, everyday I think, ah, I need to post. And I want to I really want to but I just get wrapped up in so many other things it just rarely happens. Here is a run down of our lives right now.

Austin: Austin is doing great and just being Austin. The warmer the weather gets the happier he is. He LOVES being outside and helping dad with any chores - especially fixing the truck. He loves going to primary and although he won't sing when others are singing, I hear him singing the words when he is playing alone so I know he knows the songs....he just won't sing with others. Weird. He is getting taller and taller everyday. He is very self sufficient and like to do most things by himself. He LOVES gum and it's a great treat for him. He recently decided that he doesn't need a pull up at night anymore and has been dry every night for about a week now. Go figure. He has his alphabet down pat but not so hot with numbers but we are working on it. He LOVES Kate and although he makes her scream more than anything I know that it's (mostly) him trying to help her and play with her and I enjoy watching their friendship grow. Austin is a happy kid who makes me happy and keeps us laughing. The stuff he comes up with and picks up on amazes us. My favorite thing that he is saying right now is that when he is grumpy he will come up to me and say "Mom! (think deep angry voice with the scowl face) I crabby!) Phahahah. I was in walmart the other day and he told me that as this older lady was walking by and she just started laughing. She turned to me and said, "well, at least he warns you" LOL. He's a good boy and we love to watch him grow!





Kate: Oh dear Kate. How you try me! LOL I love her to death and she snuggles more than any little bunny you have ever met. She sleeps like an angel and I am so grateful for that because once she is up sometimes the days are long. We are actively in therapy with her. One to two therapist come out every week and we have her in Physical therapy, speech therapy and now music therapy. She also is in a gymnastics class once a week. Over the last 2 weeks we have redone her evaluations and have found out that for her fine motor skills she is actually several months advanced for her age, for her gross motor skills (ie walking) she is 9-12 months behind. For her vocab she is hit and miss LOL. She has everything up until 12 months and then she has different skill all the way up to 24 months but not everything up to 24 months. Hmmm, I don't know if that makes a lot of sense. So in some areas of her evaluation she is at 24 month, some 18 and some 12. Today she starts music therapy. It should be interesting. It is a 3 month program that is hopefully going to help her desensitize, enhance her vocab, encourage mobility and help her get over her fears of textures and motion. With this program we are given a new cd every 2 weeks and we have to listen to is for 30 min. 2x a day. And if that's not hard enough we also have to do it in a small space so either that bathroom or the car! Those are my only two options well, unless I get a refrigerator box and then we can also listen to it in there. LOL. I am excited to see how this works. I haven't listened to the first CD yet but the lady told me that it sounds like warped music. They take specially orchestrated songs then put them through a synthesizer and that's how they get the results they want. Now, while doing this program I have to watch her carefully because it can also bother her physically. It can make her have diarrhea or constipation, it can alter her sleep patterns, it can make her puke all sorts of weird fun stuff that you would never think music could do to you. The therapist said that I also need to be aware of how it affects me. She said that she has a mom right now that the music make her physically sick. Every time she hears it it makes her throw up. Crazy huh?! So I'm excited to see if it works and also a little hesitant to actually start it.

As for other things, I took Kate into the doctor about a month ago thinking she had chicken pox but instead she had some rare skin disease that the doctor had only seen once before (and he's no spring chicken) and had to actually look it up in his book to even remember what it was called. Also when we were there he told us we need to take Kate into an allergist. Her dairy and soy allergy seems to be getting worse and he said it should be getting better not worse and told us we need to get her checked. Yay. Oh dear Kate. The thing is none of them are HUGE problems and they are all things we can deal with....but sometimes I just want to scream AHHHH, why can't you just be normal?!! She is getting to be more mobile and plays a lot with Austin. She can crawl and pull up to stand and walk like a bear but refuses to stand up. We've seen her do it so we know she can but she HATES it. She LOVES pancakes, eggs, peanut butter, ham, crackers and applesauce. Hates about everything else. She loves music and we often find her singing or rocking out to the music. One of her favorite things is to lead the music for family night. She loves playing with cars and hates when Austin takes them from her. She screams any chance she gets and loves to squeak. We love you crazy Kate!




Devon: Um....don't really know, hardly see him LOL. Work is going great. They are super busy! We have been greatly blessed with a contract with Boise Hunter Homes, a local builder who is doing very well, and they have kept Devon busy all winter. Boise had a fairly mild winter and because of such he was able to have his crew work almost ever single day. Now that spring has sprung he is up at 5 and gone by 5:30 then comes home between 5:30 and 6. Throw that in with his calling and other obligations and I am officially feeling like a single mom....and we aren't even is full swing yet!!! But he is happy and loves it everyday so I wouldn't have it any other way.



Ashley: My sister Ashley is now living with us and it's great to have her here. She works for my doing vinyl Tuesdays and Fridays and works at a chiropractors office Wednesdays and Fridays. She starts massage school the middle of April and can't wait!

Me: Wow, I'm super busy. Vinyl is starting to really take off and I love every minute of it. Sometimes I wish I had more time - or more so more energy to put into it but I can only do what I can do. Between being here with the kids trying to stay on top of life, my vinyl and my calling I really feel like my plate is pretty full. I have so many great things I want to do (like blogging!) but at the end of the day I am just ready to crash. I am also on a diet. Yup, it's true. The first time in my life that I am doing it for real. It's been an interesting experience and I haven't even been doing it that long. I work out lifting weights for an hour every other morning and walk for about 45 min. every night. More than anything I just want to get into shape. I really miss my muscles LOL. That about sums up my life. Although I have been given about 3 job offers recently which has been fun. I was called by the owners of a gymnastics gym and offered a job, one girl wanted me to be the one to take her place as a Cents of Style consultant (which I think would be so fun) and I had to make a weighted blanket for Kate as part of her therapy and all her therapists loved it and pretty much wanted me to start a business selling them. They pretty much told me that they would supply me with a customer base and wanted me to make business card for them to start handing out. I wish I had the time and energy to do all of the above but it's just not meant to be. *sigh* Well, that's all for now, I wasn't expecting to spend so long on here but it's been fun chatting! ps, I LOVE my camera...still!





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Sunday, January 10, 2010

Here are some of the Christmas pictures








At the top of the stairs Christmas morning.
Here are some of the Christmas pictures

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try again




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Saturday, January 9, 2010

Happy New year and New layout.


Before I start with an updated blog I want to try larger pictures.

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Thursday, October 29, 2009

Pictures


Kids playing

Oh Kate!

Austin got into my lipstick grrrrr


trying to get in a few more park days


mmmmmm cookie dough




Yay! She's starting to do things normal 1 yr olds do! Like learning what comes up has to come down.

Pumpkin Patch





Indoor play center with our neighbor Palin


These are from our neighbors 1st birthday.




I have SO MANY PICTURES!!! I went to post them today but I have so many it's just not going to work. I think I will post a few of my favorites and then upload the rest to facebook. I'll leave a link once they are up.

*well, these aren't my FAVORITES but I couldn't flip all of my favorites right side up so go check out facebook!
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Stair Master

It's offical, Kate can now climb the whole set of stairs YAY!!!!! It's funny, up until even yesterday (when she had therapy) she wouldn't climb more than two at a time without having me help her. Then today, out of no where, she climbed the whole set!! Now, I'm so excited that I even went and counted the stairs so you would know what a feat she conquered. We have 2 stairs then a landing and then 14 stairs. Until today she would climb the 2 onto the landing then scream at me from the landing to bring her the rest of the way up. Well, today I was upstairs on the computer and Austin was with her on the stairs and I hear them laughing and talking but I figured that they were on the landing, after a few minutes she sounded too close so I peeked around the wall and she was RIGHT THERE, 2 steps from the TOP! I was SHOCKED! She proceeded to wiggle back down them and then back up again not 10 min. later all by herself. I can't tell you how happy I am for me and for her. SO yay today for our Stair Master.


Sunday, October 25, 2009

Time FLIES!!

I was looking through my blogs today and apparently I have been playing hookie. I didn't realized I hadn't written in so long! I think that when I take pictures I plan in my head what the post is going to be on and consider it done...but apparently it doesn't work unless I actually post it - duh!
I don't even remember what has happened this month. It has FLOWN by. When I make it upstairs I will upload my photos and then I am sure it will bring back the memories but right now I am drawing a blank. Vinyl has started to pick it. I'm loving it! I've started to cut vinyl 2 days a week and it has made my life so much easier. I was cutting and mailing 1-2 things almost everyday and it was starting to consume my days. Now that I have started doing it just 2 days a week I am so much happier. I have anywhere from 4-10 orders to cut and I just focus, get them all done, and surprisingly it seems to go even faster than just doing the 1 or 2 I was doing. This leaves the rest of my week stress and guilt free. I don't feel guilty that I'm not cutting vinyl even though orders have been placed and on days I do cut it I don't feel guilty working because I know doing it this way allows me to be a better mom the rest of the week! So, yes. Tuesdays and Fridays Austin watches a little more TV than I would like but he is usually watching educational programs and he is really good about playing by himself when I finally make him turn it of and I still have work that needs to get done. On a side note, I just don't know what I am going to do with that boy for the next 3 years. Right now he is 2, almost 3, but still 2. He has (obviously) a late birthday so won't be able to start school until he is almost 6. Now, at 2 he already knows all of his letters and what sounds they make. He is starting to catch on to things super quick and understand concepts faster than I was anticipating. Kindergarten just seem SO far away!!! I know I will probably have him in preschool before he starts kindergarten but that is still a ways off. I think it is unnecessary to have him in preschool for 3 years. I think the poor kid is going to go crazy at home, being bored out of his mind! I don't know, it's a problem I can feel starting to brew and I want to figure out the solution...but don't even know where to start. He is anxious to learn and understand things. Does anyone know of any great games or programs that are good at teaching preschool stuff? I think he would enjoy it. Wow, that was a longer side note than anticipated.LOL Back to life. Well, actually that's about it. Devon's work is starting to slow down. He still has tons of work but since it doesn't get light until 8:00 he isn't getting up quite so early and a couple of rainy days have let him catch up on office work so he doesn't need to stay late at the office any more. He still has work scheduled out until Christmas Eve, if the weather holds that long, but they are no longer in panic mode. Kate is still being Kate. She is stubborn and such a mama's girl...but heaven forbid she actually call me mama. No way, not her, she would rather just scream at me and everyone else for that matter. Ugh, her scream just rubs me like nails on a chalk board. I seriously can't wait for the day that she starts walking. Not that I think it will be any time soon, but it will be a great day when it comes. Well, I think that's all that is going on here. I will post again soon with pictures!



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