Wow, Way Behind!

Gosh, I can't believe how fast time is flying and I haven't blogged.  I want so badly to keep up with all the information and fun times that we're having, so I really hope to come up with some kind of schedule that I can follow, even if it's a few minutes to jot things down.  So, here's the happenings.  Grace is all done with Preschool, and we had her meeting with her new teacher at the big girl school, the special education teacher, the principal and the OT, as well as getting to see Miss Kim one last time.

Here she is all ready for her meeting :)  

And we've been having fun going to church...

And hanging out with Levi!

These two kids are growing up way too fast for me.  I really can't understand where the time goes, and sometimes it feels like my kiddos are slipping away from me faster and faster!  But we'll have some fun and exciting times, I'll remember to write them down more often, and we'll have these books to read and reminisce about later :)  

Today was especially fun :)  We were out for about 3.5 hours.  We walked to campus to look at an exhibit they had with a bunch of taxidermy animals, and then walked to Kiwi Loco for some frozen yogurt! YUM!  A stop at the park to swing, and then ride the carousel, and off to home we went.  Poor Grace got the worst sunburn on her arms because I totally forgot about the darn sun, and that she was in short sleeves.  I'm SO sorry, Grace!!!  Pictures of the fun day!

They are being lovey dovey and getting a kiss, and also looking at awesome elephant head skulls!

We had some super yummy KIWI LOCO!!  Levi got to taste all the different flavors and he loved them all.  And Grace did so great at feeding herself and it made me so happy.  She's getting so much more independent, and I'm realizing I need to hold back on how protective I am.  And then the park!

Can I say ADORABLE!!!  My kids are the cutest!!!  AH!

And my hot stuff girly!!  I LOVE YOU SO MUCH GRACE!!

Amanda/Mommy

Gymnastics Competition!

I am so so excited because I was able to see Grace in her first gym competition!  Of course everyone got a medal but still, it was awesome!  Here's some photos!

There aren't very many photos because I got video of each of the events!  Great job, Grace!  Gosh I'm so proud of her :)  And she loved everyone cheering for her after every event, and she was so good at "Stick, TA DA!!!"  I love you girly!

Amanda

Gymnastics Girl!

Grace showed me an awesome thing that she could do that I never knew she could do!!!

Awesome job, Grace!  A bridge!!  I can't wait for her to show this off at her recital on Saturday!

Love you, Girl!

Amanda/Mommy

Almost Done With School!!

I can't believe that in two days, you'll be completely done with school.  You won't be a preschooler anymore!!  I don't know what I'm going to do with myself!  You're my little girl and always will be but soon you'll be in big kid school.  You definitely need to slow down on this growing thing!  Here's your school picture for this year.

Oh my gosh, right?!  What a big girl!

And here she is working on getting yogurt into her mouth instead of everywhere else :)

Good job Grace!!

And she has collected TWO bags of kitten food for her 4h project!  The group is going to be visiting the Animal Shelter on Thursday so they were supposed to all collect kitten food for the animals there.  I haven't heard from anyone else in the group but good job Grace!

Everything is just winding down.  Brad went to the cabin to help with the beginnings of a new building, so it's just me and the kiddos.  Grace's new favorite thing to do is brush her hair and boy, she's great at it!  She likes watching Iron Chef America with me, too!  She and Levi have both started going to bed around 7-7:30, and we are starting to nail down a routine.  I just found out today that bathing them at the same time ROCKS!!!  And she can spray herself with the nozzle while I'm dressing him without getting water everywhere so that just makes it even easier!  Way to go, Grace!

I've been heading to bed not long after them because Levi still has horrible nights, but tonight I'm waiting for a couple to come pick up our old futon.  I'm finally selling it and getting it out of the way.

I'm also working towards making a sensory room for Grace.  A swing, ball pit, crash pad, bubble wall, sensory wall...the works.  And I ordered some fabric and pellets to make her a weighted blanket for when she's overwhelmed.  Maybe it will help her sleep still as well.  She's a real mover.  But I have to make Elaine and Levi's blankets first before I can get to that, and painting the play room as well.  I'm going to paint it a really light blue since it will one day turn into Levi's room.  I'm sad she's going to lose her playroom but hope that maybe it can be half and half.  We'll have to see about that.

All in all, things are going well.  We had rice with vegetables for dinner tonight and you can't forget the pears!  Grace LOVES canned pears so she ate her dinner well so she could have her pears.  Well, I think the people are here that are going to pick up the futon so I best be getting off :)

Love you Grace.

Amanda/Mommy

So far Behind

I feel like I've done a disservice to Grace because it's been so long since I've written.  Things get so crazy around the house and I have ended up going to bed between 9-10 pm the past few weeks because my body has just been so exhausted.  And it's not like there's anything new going on!  Or anything more!  It's just that I'm up every two hours with a baby at night and then have busy days.  Don't get me wrong, Grace.  I LOVE YOU.  And I LOVE the busy days!  My body just seems to not be able to handle it as well anymore.  But no more excuses, ok?

So, where am I?  I'm in Saint Anthony and the reason for that is because I'm at an Autism Retreat!  I'm getting some great information for my girly and while doing so, I'm getting a little break from the craziness of every two hours waking up at night!  There are twelve ladies here and some of the coordinators, so it's a nice group.  

Today I painted a picture as one of our activities to do after watching presentations from 9-1.  Lots of information, and I'm hoping I'll be able to help Grace a lot with all this information.

Our girl got GLASSES!  She doesn't like them.  I don't think I would either.  She can watch TV from the tv without wearing glasses but she's supposed to be wearing these all the time.  But when she wears the glasses, it's obvious she can't see from the tv because she pulls them down and looks over them.  So we're going to have to talk with the ophthalmologist and see what he has to say about it.  Plus, I forgot to take them out of the car before I came to the retreat so she doesn't even have them!!

Grace's Cloverbud 4h group sis collecting kitten food as one of their special activities, so she colored this and I helped her write the message on it.  I posted it ALL over Facebook and I'm really hoping there will be some people that want to donate.  It would be really nice.  

My kids!

I have adorable kids.  That's all I have to say about that!!

Sorry, Grace, for being so far behind....I hope to get back to the daily writing, or at least every other day.  OH.  Grace will be in summer school!  I don't know if I wrote that.  The month of June she'll be in school Monday through Thursday, 8:15-12:15.  And they will feed her lunch and she'll be working with her aide that she'll have in kindergarten!  Awesome!

Amanda

My Sweet Girl

Just a quick note to show my beautiful girl off next to some pretty flowers...

We had a fun day today.  Daddy left for the cabin and so it's just the three of us hanging out together :)  We went on a walk, enjoyed the laziness of not rushing (which I feel like we usually have to for some silly reason), had some totally awesome split pea soup, and colored outside with chalk while Levi watched us in his bumbo chair.  It was such a great day!  

Amanda

Movies and SICK SICK

First the fun news.  A couple days ago Grace and I had a fun time.  We watched movies while snacking!!

And then comes the sad news.  Yesterday was a miserable day.  It started off really well.  I finished making a blanket for Grace's cousin Nyssa...

And then we had her 4h Cloverbud meeting.  Right then is when it started going really bad.  Grace was throwing a fit, white as a sheet, and kept saying her stomach and throat hurt.  Oh boy.  I knew what was coming but hoped it wouldn't while everyone was there.  She also hadn't pooped for about 2 weeks (I mean a real good poop.  She's had some...but not an actual one.)  I thought maybe it was toxic shock or something.  Everyone left after the meeting and it became horrible.  She threw up...again and again and again until about midnight.  And I was sick sick as well, except mine kept me running to the toilet as I tried to care for Grace because Brad and throw up DO NOT mix.  Poor guy.  He was so good about caring for us, and around 10:45 pm I was crying and so tired.  He told me to go to bed and he stayed with the kids.  He took Grace to the bathroom and gave her an enema and they were in there for 45 minutes cleaning her out.  Enema after enema after enema.  She went a lot, and it was grueling work.   Oh, I forgot to say that a lady from our ward brought me some Powerade, the enema kit and surprise!  Bubbles for Grace and milk duds for me :)  Grace tried playing with the bubbles but quickly tired out.

But today is much better.  I'm still friends with the toilet but so far, Grace hasn't thrown up.  She's had juice and water with crackers all day and she's done well.  She's also having bowel movements so that's great as well!  Here's the kiddos...

 I scared him on accident with the flash.

And there's the girly!!  I'm glad I canceled the trip I had planned for Brad and I because we wouldn't have been able to make it since I'm still not feeling up to par.  Thank Heavenly Father that we had the feeling to cancel the three day trip.

Hoping for all of us to mend quickly.  

Amanda

Busy Week

Between Grace getting better from Strep and Levi getting worse from sharing strep, it's been a crazy week.  Now both kids are on antibiotics and I'm really hoping to see things looking up by the weekend.  Grace did get to go to school on Wednesday because she'd been on antibiotics long enough, so that's good.  She got to see two big german shepherds in her class on Wednesday!  They were Miss Kim's sons dogs, and he was back from the army for a week so he brought them in.  They did a bunch of tricks for the kids and Grace had so much fun!  And then there was gymnastics afterwards, and Grace had a new worker.  They clicked so well together!  Grace did the floor routine two times and did each activity the correct time, and I'm just so proud of her!  I could tell she knew how well she did as well because she was so hyped up and excited.

Today is Thursday and she's at therapy as I write this.  I'm working on making a tie blanket for Nyssa, Grace's cousin, and then I'll cut out squares for Elaine's rag blanket, like the one I made Grace.  But this is going to be slow and steady.  I'm not going to push myself like I used to before I had the baby.  I'd like to but the kiddos need their mama :)

Well, there isn't much more to say.  She'll be out of school May 13th and then it'll be fun time!!  Camping, traveling, cabin time, etc.  Oh!  We went to the kindergarten class yesterday and met one of the kinder teachers.  I really liked her.  We spend about an hour there and there was some assessment going on but Grace was really distracted with all the activities that are everywhere so she was just here and there and everywhere.  My fears were lessened a bit by being there, meeting the teacher, and seeing the classroom.  And the fact that she has an aid will help a TON.

Love you Grace.

Amanda/Mommy

Getting a Ride from Daddy!

Sometimes it's just fun to get up high on Daddy's shoulders.....

SO FUN!!!!

Amanda

Sick

04/12/15

My poor sweet Grace just doesn't get away from anything!  She is now really sick, and I don't know what it is yet but whatever it is, Levi sounds like he's catching it as well.  Grace's throat has more white globs than it does normal skin so I'm hoping to be able to get her into the doctor first thing tomorrow.  She told me in the morning that her throat hurt but I thought she was just whining because she'd slept with her mouth open.  But then after Brad woke her from nap with a temperature of 106.5, I checked her throat and there was the culprit.  Mommy fail right there.  Dangit.

We went to church and everything, so of course, now there's no school, gym or anything else.  She's supposed to be meeting her kindergarten teacher tomorrow, but now that's out.  And there is a block play day at her school on Tuesday but I don't think she'll be going to that either because we don't want to share.  I hate that my girly gets sick all the time!

Amanda

Crazy Week

Well, we've definitely had a crazy week.  One that we most definitely didn't expect.  We headed to Utah for an appointment with Grace's ophthalmologist and found out her optical nerves were swollen, so instead of getting to go home, we waited around for hours for an MRI.  We went into the appointment at 8:40 and didn't leave the hospital until 6:30.  LONG DAY.  But the kids did so great, and Brad took Grace to the playroom and they were there for hours!  The scan was to check for any abnormalities in her brain and thankfully, everything was normal.  So now Grace gets to wear glasses and we'll go back in three months to have her checked again.

Here is a picture of Grace getting prepped to go into the MRI machine.  Makes me choke up to even look at it.  Thanks to daddy for the picture!

I'm so glad to be home and I can tell the kiddos are too.  Back to our normal routine sounds good to me.  And soon Grace will be out of school so we can have real vacation!!  I'm hoping to do a lot of traveling with the family.  Utah for some caverns and rock climbing, Montana to be with family, camping in Idaho.  Just fun stuff.  Oh, and I'm hoping to make it to California as well.

Amanda

Videos

We watched videos today of Grace when she was little.  Not too little...we were already living here.  She was so calm, collected, and wow!  Her language has gotten so much better since those videos!  It's so great to see the progress that she's made, and I'm so proud of her for it.  It was nice to share that time with her.  And she got such a kick out of seeing herself, and picking out the videos that she wanted to watch.  It's been a ho hum drum day.  Haven't done much but watch Little House on the Prairie movies one after the other after the other.  Mommy has had a couple low days so we're just sitting around and not doing much.  I'll get better in a little while.  I should be napping right now while both kiddos are napping, so I guess I'll sign off and go do that.

I don't know if I posted it in an earlier post but Grace went to the dentist to get checked and has NO sugar bugs!!  Hurray for Grace!!

Love you girly.

Amanda/Mommy

School Day...Field trip Day!!!

04/01/15

It was so exciting at school!!!  Grace got to go on a field trip, and I got to go as well!  We went to Cal Ranch in hopes of seeing a bunch of little chicks, bunnies and turkeys, but all that were there was about 12 chicks.  They had a huge sale and everything was sold out!  But Grace had so much fun riding the bus and getting to see the few chicks they had that she didn't even care the other animals weren't there.

 On the bus she goes!  She did so well stepping up the stairs :)

And seeing the chicks!  It was so great to see Grace having fun with her classmates and visiting the little chicks.  

Grace had a great time.  After the field trip I got to watch Grace in class.  I don't normally do that because there's no observation booth, so this was a special treat.  

 Grace got to help with circle time today!!  She was the music helper and so she got to pick a picture of a song off the tree you can see there, and then she got to choose the topic for the song :)

SNACK TIME!!!  Trail mix and water :)

I loved watching her in class.

Amanda

So Many Days

I hate that I've missed so many days.  Time is flying by and things are being passed up and forgotten because I can't seem to find time, or energy, to write.  I know, it doesn't seem to take much to write, but mentally, it does.  So anyways, I try my best, and I don't like there being gaps, but truly, within those gaps, nothing really happens.  There are a lot of days when we just follow the monotonous days with therapy, or school, nap time and fights over nap time.  But anyways...

I signed Grace up for "Imagine If" summer classes.  They get to learn how to use their imagination to be something they want to be.  Music, drama, dramatic play and creative play.  It's one day a week for 6 weeks and it's only $24!!!

I'm also going to sign her up for some art classes and they are free, so she's really going to like that.

I just really want her involved with kids throughout the summer.  I signed up to be a leader for a Cloverbud Club!!!  I named our club "The Clever Clovers" and we're going to have SO MUCH FUN!!! Service projects, fundraising for the dog shelter, crafts, working on our packets...etc.  Hurray!!  I have about 10 or so moms interested in their child being involved, and that would calculate out to 10-20 kids.  We'll probably just meet 2 times a month and there will also be activities throughout the month to coincide with the activities we are working on.  I'm pretty thrilled.

We went to play at her friends house yesterday.  It was so nice to visit them because it's been forever, and Grace had a fun time playing with them!  I'm hoping to have a lot of play groups this Spring and Summer.

Amanda

Sissy and Elaine wearing blue to support Grace and her Autism!  April 2nd is Autism Awareness Day!

Fun in Montana!

We had a super impromptu trip to Montana to visit Aunt Lisa while Daddy is at the cabin with Papa Brian, and we've been having fun!  When the cat is away, the mice will play for sure.  Grace has been having fun playing with Nyssa, and Levi has been such a good little boy.  Both kiddos have gotten sick because they shared with Nyssa's cold (pre-pneumonia) but it doesn't really slow them down!  We took Levi to the walk-in clinic because he's got a really wet cough and is raspy, but after having an x-ray and just seeing minimal clouding, the doctor said he'll get through it without much help.  So we are going to pick up a prescription for an inhaler of albuterol.  We've been just hanging out since the kiddos are sick, but have been making Walmart runs here and there.  Today we'll go to pick up a TON of Easter Eggs and candy because Lisa is putting together a hunt for her neighborhood, and I'm so excited to help her fill them!  We're hoping it warms up enough to take the kids to the zoo but so far, it's been pretty cold.  

 Grace absolutely LOVES this big dog!!  It's super soft so I can understand why.

And she got to get a bag of goldfish because she had such a good morning yesterday (March 23).  And she REALLY likes Nyssa's car!

All in all, a wonderful trip.  We went to Heather's baby shower first in Belgrade on Saturday and headed to Lisa's house afterwards.  The drive was long...the kids had just a little trouble but that's understandable.  The trip I'm worried about is the 6 hour drive home on Friday.  But we'll take lots of stops and everything will go fine.

Amanda

Getting Better

You are doing so much better now from being sick.  We ended up not going to Utah for your Spina Bifida Clinic because you still have a cough, and so we couldn't stay in the Ronald McDonald house.  So we'll go in two weeks.  That means you get to go to school tomorrow and you get to wear your pajamas!!!  It's Dr. Suess' week so you get to have a party :)  I'm pretty excited as well because you have a pair of zebra pajamas that you LOVE and you are going to be so excited to wear them!

Not much has gone on because of you being sick, and now Mommy and Levi are sick as well, so we've really just been hanging out not doing much.  But there is one thing we have been working on, and you've been a big help!  You had a friend in your preschool class, and she's been in your class for the past 3 years.  Well, she's got brain cancer, and is in the Huntsman Cancer Center getting treatment.  We've been working hard on a comfort box full of tons of things from people in the community.  Everyone in the community were just so absolutely loving for her, and they gave so much stuff to her!  Here's what you and I collected together!

We did a great job together, Grace!!  And here is your friend.....

Fight, girly, fight!!!

Amanda