Happy Birthday Jack!

Happy Birthday Jack!

It was four years ago today that we welcomed our little man into this world!  I still see him as the tiny little baby he was four years ago.  Right now he is at school enjoying his second to last day before summer vacation.  We were going to have a small birthday party for him tomorrow evening, but since Peyton has been sick and he is still getting over a cold we decided to move it to the following week.  Justin and I got to give him one of his gifts this morning and he was all smiles when we kept telling him "Happy Birthday!"  I was saying it to him in the car on the way to school and with every Happy Birthday he would get the biggest grin.  He also started to say Happy Birthday, it was so cute.  I think he may be starting to understand the concept. What I do know is that he will enjoy his backyard birthday bash...once we get to have it :-)...he loves playing in the back yard.  His birthday theme this year is trains.  He loves playing with his trains, building his tracks, making pretend villages and tunnels (using dolls, chairs, pretty much anything that can sit next to a train track) and pushing trains and even cars down the tracks.  I keep hoping with each birthday that he will be able to choose his own birthday theme, instead of me choosing it for him based on what he likes at the time.  It hasn't happened yet, but when it does he will get the biggest and best birthday party his mom can plan!

Unfortunately, Peyton has been fighting a cold the past two weeks and it has finally got the best of her. She got worse over the long weekend and we had to take her to urgent care on Sunday morning.  They said it was just an upper respiratory infection and she would have to fight it off, but when we took her to see our regular Dr. yesterday we found out she has a double ear infection :-(  He also said that it looks like she is cutting her 1 year molars so this is not helping the situation.  She has been up the past two nights off and on getting sick.  Hopefully the medicine will start to work its way into her system and she will start feeling better soon. 

Justin is going to see one of his friends from St. Louis who is in town on business tonight so it will just be me and the kids tonight.  I am going to pick Jack up one of his favorite meals (McDonald's or Chick-fil-a) for dinner tonight and maybe we can watch a movie.  We are having a nice little rain storm today, but hopefully it will let up by the time he gets home from school because it is a challenge to keep that boy inside (very thankful for our covered porch:)  I hope that everyone is having a great day!

3 day weekend's almost here...

I am so excited about the three day Memorial Day weekend.  My parents and sister are on the road and will be getting in around lunch time.  I was very lucky and got to start my holiday weekend a little early.  Justin didn't have to leave for work as early as usual (which is usually before the kids are up) and was here to help get the kids going, fed and was able to take Jack to school.  I got to take my shower right after I got home from working out and got to eat breakfast before 8:00 in the morning.  Those two things are not typical week day occurrences but were a very pleasant addition to my Friday!


The one down side to this morning is that it was my last boot camp workout:-( I can't believe that my 5 weeks is over? I will miss seeing my friend LeighAnne, but I am going to continue working out MWF in the AM over the summer.  I think I will try and sign up for another 5 weeks when summer break ends and Jack is back in school.  I am very excited to have met my new friend and workout buddy Celina who also wants to continue doing morning workouts (it's always better when you have a friend with you to keep you motivated) Thanks Celina!


This weekend will be very nice because I will have my mom, dad and sister around the house to help entertain and play with the kids.  Justin got tickets to the Ranger's game on Saturday and we are planning to get out of the house, alone (which only happens when we have family in town) and see a movie and have dinner.  The last thing on the agenda for this weekend before my family heads back home, is my sister and I are doing the McKinney Memorial Day 5K Monday morning.  It is going to be a hot one, so my goal is going to be to not die...JK :-)  Although, she may end up leaving me in the dust since she is a more established runner, but I am looking forward to it.


Have a terrific Memorial Day weekend!

It's only Tuesday?

Picture this:  I am cleaning the kitchen, Justin is upstairs working out, Peyton is playing in the living room, and Jack is in the back yard playing with his trains...or so I thought.  Saturday morning after breakfast was over everyone was doing their own thing and I was clean up the kitchen after breakfast, when I look outside and Jack is flipping and flopping on the back patio.  He looks like a fish or like he is trying to walk on a ice. I go outside to find out what is going on.  I open the door and it looks like he dumped water all over the concrete, but when I stepped out onto the concrete (almost loosing my own footing) I realized it wasn't water....it was the gallon of bubble solution he found open (which was my fault) and he had poured it out all over the place.  He was laughing hysterically and apparently enjoying the fact that he was unable to stand up and found it extremely funny every time he hit the ground.  He was even more excited when I had to take the hose and wash all the soap off the porch and him...never a dull moment!

This was a very nice change of pace from the week.  Jack had a rough week.  He was throwing more tantrums at school and at home and just seemed to be much more moody.  He kept getting upset and spend a lot of time stuck in a verbal loop saying things and asking for things he really didn't want.  Thankfully the weekend seemed to bring some relief, but we still had a few moments when things weren't great.  Sometime with Autism, things get bad, then worse, then bad again and you never know exactly why or what is causing new and unexplainable behaviors.  We tryed hard to think about what might be causing him to be frustrated, but sometimes you just have to admit to yourself "I don't know why" and ride the wave, besides it won't be long and another and different one will be along soon :-) for you to try and figure out.

We did however have a fun family time Sturday afternoon at the Children's Aquarium (located at Fair Park in Dallas).  Jack has been very interested in sharks and after our visit his newest favorite is stingrays.  They have an open enclosure so people can pet and feed the stingrays.  Jack was a little hesitant at first, but with a little help and encouragment he started to put his hand in the water and touch the stingrays.  He has a blast jumping around and by the end had his entire arm in the water with the stingrays.  He really enjoyed pushing them back down into the water and though it was funny when they tryed to eat on his arm.  Peyton even tryed to get into the action and was able to touch one or two of the stingrays, but wasn't as brave as her brother. 

Despite the dificult week and moody Jack we a very fun weekend, which also included a birthday party Jack and I went to on Sunday afternoon for Jack's friend Heath who was turning three.  Unfortunately Jack was more interested in running and trying to get close to the lake that surrounded the pavilion the party was at then the party itself, so we stay as long as we could, but had to leave early.  Once he gets it in his head he wants something, its very hard (especially in a new environment) to redirect that behavior.

Today Jack had a much better day at school and did very well at his OT appointment. I am really hoping that he will  end this school year on a positive note.  He only has eight more days before his summer vacation officially starts so hopefully my wish will come true.  The one thing I am looking forward once school ends is being able to relax in the morning and not  have to rush around, waking up kids, making his lunch and to try and get him to school on time ;-)

I hope that everyone has a great week! 

ESY (Extended School Year)

For a day that Jack is off school there as already been a lot of activity.  I woke up at 4:30 this morning and went to boot camp then when the everyone was up and ready we went to have breakfast at Denny's.  After breakfast we went over to Jack's school for our ARD meeting to make changes to his IEP to add ESY (extended school year).  This means that Jack will be provided services from the school district during the summer.  He will be going for 5 weeks, which will be split up into two sessions, and attend from 8-11 Monday through Thursday.  They still are not sure of what weeks this will be occurring, which was a detail I though would be ironed out by our meeting today, but will hopefully be figured out soon. He will be going to a different school and have new instructors/aids.  I am concerned about how he will react to new people, but on the other hand interested to see how he responds with new instructors. 

He originally didn't qualify for ESY because they usually only offer this program to those who have skill regression after receiving breaks from school.  Jack hasn't shown any skill regression (which is a good this) this year, but did show regression when it came to classroom routine, transitioning, and behavior.  Which to his teachers and us are just as big of concerns as the retention of skills.  His teacher talked with the people who make the decisions on who will qualify for ESY on Jack behalf and was able to get Jack qualified for ESY as a Summer Enrichment program.  Even though he will be at a new school his classroom environment will be set up similar to the one he is in now.  He will continue to work on his current goals and maintaing the classroom routine.  The teacher-student ration should be the same or possibly lower then what he has now.

I was disappointed that the schedule for ESY hasn't been finalized yet, but since that really isn't within my control I can only hope that they will have the dates for us as soon as possible.  I would very much like to try and set up Jack's additional therapy schedules, get back to the ABA therapist we had made plans with for the summer, and figure out when would be a good time for us to take a mini family vacation.  I hope the school district gets it together quickly because school summer officially begins May 31st...

I am looking forward to my parents and sister coming down for a visit over Memorial Day.  Justin and I got all the details finalized for our trip in July thanks to the help from his parents.  We are going to leaving the kids with my folks and go out to San Fransisco/ Napa area to celebrate our ten year anniversary (which technically isn't until September, but our baby sisters are only available over the summer :-)   I am very happy it's Friday and am looking forward to a nice and hopefully (fingers crossed) sick free weekend!

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope all the great mom's I know had a terrific mother's day!  I had a very nice weekend.  Justin did all the running around yesterday which included getting the oil changed in my car and also brought home lunch from one of my favorite places, Raising Canes.  This morning I started my day with a shot of DayQuil, because one of the lovely presents I got from my kids this year was a cold :-(  Jack seemed to be feeling much better today, but poor Peyton nose was still running most of the day.  I am really hoping that by tomorrow I will be feeling better.  We spend the day at home, I got a much needed nap and enjoyed a delicious steak dinner!  I got a super cute card and clay pot with seeds to plant that Jack made at school and Justin spoiled me by buying me a new handbag.  I felt very loved this weekend!

We finally got our computer back from best buy so I was able to post the pictures and video I took from Jack's field day.  The field day was put together by the school and the Special Olympics Youth Athlete's program.  There were seven different stations with sports related activities for the kids.  Jack's favorite station was the bowling station.  He really enjoyed pushing the ball down the ramp and loved watching it crash into the pins :-)  He also enjoyed the matching station and the obstacle course.  He did such a good job and never got frustrated or overwhelmed, and had the biggest smile on his face the entire time. 

We are getting very close to the end of the school year and we are still trying to plan out what Jack will be doing this summer.  We are scheduled for an ARD meeting this Friday to add summer services to his IEP.  I am looking forward to getting the details about summer school and being able to start planning out our summer.

I hope everyone has a great week and will post again soon!

  

Field Day (playlist)

My Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

You'll love Shutterfly's award-winning photo books. Try it today.

Good Morning...

I got a chance to use Justin's work computer so I decided to take advantage and do a quick up-date.  Yesterday was a very busy day.  It started with me running my very first 5K.  I am happy to report that it went very well.  I ran the race in 41 minutes and 56 seconds, placed 17th in my age group (females 30-39) and placed 83rd overall. I have never been much of a runner (anyone who knew me in high school can vouch for that) and the though of walking crossed my mind several times, but my goal was to run the entire time (no matter how slow:-) and I did.  Maybe the next 5K I do I can try an improve my time, but for my first 5K ever I am just happy I made it to the finish line.   

After the race was over I came back home and Peyton had just gone down for her nap.  Justin took Jack and they hit the farmers market and Target.  While they were gone I was able to shower and relax while Peyton slept.  Later that afternoon we took the kids to my friend Tara's son's first birthday party.  The weather her is already hot (it was 95 degrees yesterday) so they had the sprinkler going for the kids to play in at the party.  Jack and Peyton had a blast!

We came home fed the kids dinner and got them a bath.  They were both so exhausted from the day they were in bed by 7:00.  Since it was Cinco de Mayo Justin and I made ourselves some chicken taco's for dinner after the kids went to bed.  Justin has gone to play golf with a friend this morning while Jack,  Peyton and I are enjoying a relaxing and lazy Sunday morning. 

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Hello May

We had to take our computer in to best buy because it has been running slowly (hasn't worked terribly great since we got it). Turns out our hard drive was corrupt so since im writing on the ipad today please forgive me if I have any typos.

Peyton and I had a really nice morning. First, we met up with our friend Amanda and her daughter Caroline at the park and went walking. Then we came home and had a playdate with my friend Kara and her two little ones Brayden and Addison. Peyton missed most of the playing since she was taking her morning nap. She did wake up just in time to see them before they had to leave and have a quick bite to eat before we had to go and pick Jack up from school. He had a 6 month checkup with his ENT. Can't believe it's been 6 months since he had his tubes put in... They tested his hearing and they said all his levels fall within the normal range. The tubes looked clear and they said his ears looked good. We will go back in another 6 months or sooner if he has any problems.

The appointment as a whole was a little hectic. It started off pretty good. We of course got the usual looks from people in the waiting room while Jack entertained himself by running around the waiting room, speaking random phrases and jibberish, and trying hard to climb up and get a closer look at the fish tank. I have gotten more use to the looks people give, I figure as long as he isn't jumping on people I'm happy :-) He had a harder time with the hearing test and exam this time and didn't want to be as cooperative as he was at the last visit. When we first started the hearing test I realized Jack was in desperate need of a diaper change. That threw him off a little when I had to stop the exam and take them both into the bathroom for a quick change. Once we got back, we made it through and the nurse said she was able to get what she needed. Since you have to have silence when the testing is happening I had to let one of the nurses try and entertain Peyton while I stays with Jack. My poor little girl is not a fan of leaving her mom, I could hear her muffled screams through the testing room door... Once we were all back together she calmed down pretty quickly. After the Dr was done looking Jack over he was so ready to go he went over, grabbed my bag, handed it to me and headed for the door. Both kids got to enjoy a sucker on the way home which seemed to make everything all better...funny how that works.

 I am really looking forward to my moms night out tonight and to the 5K I am doing on Saturday. If anyone is interested in pledging me in this event I included the link below. I'll post again soon and will update with more pictures once we get our computer back. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Team Up with Autism Speaks!