I'm Out!!

Leaving at 8 or 8:30 am for Montana. I can't believe that I'm leaving. I'll be staying in Denver Sunday night and then drive the rest on Monday...assuming the kids do well.

Wish me luck!!

100th Post...do a little happy dance!

This is my 100th blog post!

Here's what I have to say...
Since I have decided to gear my photography more towards children I am re-doing my name and logo. It took me a long time to think of something that was fun/funky, kid friendly, and reflects my personality.
At 3:00am sometime last week when I was lying in bed not sleeping I came up with
happy dance photography.

Click here to view my new photography blog. Still working on the logo.

Thanks for peeking!

Moving

So...Spencer and I have decided that it would be in our best interest for the kids and I to move back to Montana early. Here's why...

1. We need to find a house and close on it before Spencer graduates because I don't want to move more than once.
2. When Baer turns 3 years old he will be transitioning into the school district for his therapy. Because his birthday is in July it is in his best interest to move back early and get all his therapy going.
3. It will be much easier for Spencer to finish up the house projects without all the toys and kids messing things up.

So...see you Montanans in a week and a half or so.

Baer's Mischief

One example of what Baer likes to do when I'm working on something.

Pretty sure 32 lbs plus the occasional bouncing force isn't so good for the dishwasher door...yet I pause to take a picture ;)

Thanks for peeking!

Winter Formal

Photo displayed below

Spencer's school has a winter formal every year and hasn't taken me to any of them...until last night. I guess the last year is as good as any. We had a group of 8 and we all rode together in our armada. We had dinner, awards ceremony, and dancing.

Spencer ordered the vegetarian plate for me (he knows me so well) and got the chicken plate for himself. Mine was better than his was (or so it seemed by his reaction to his chicken plate...bland). One of the girls in our group kept leaving to go check on the Kansas State vs Kansas basketball game during dinner so we joined her after our meals. We joked that if her date/fiance had tried to pull that it may not have gone over well. Spencer wanted to make sure he got his cheesecake so Devin (the one who couldn't miss the game) grabbed one off the server's tray when she wasn't watching and handed it to Spencer. He took it with him and when we got back we all had been served our cheesecake...including Spencer. Lucky dog got two!

It seemed like forever before they finally started the awards. Devin announced the winners and then it was dancing time! I danced for a bit, Spencer danced a slow dance with me, danced a little more, and then decided it was time to go. Spencer and I left our group there to find their own ride home, haha. No, but really they were going to an after party to get smashed and said they'd take a cab home since we didn't want to go. I had a lot of fun and was glad that Spencer took me. Thankfully our friend Willa watched the boys for us and said they were really good for her. It was nice having a babysitter that we didn't have to drive home after.

Here is a picture of us and Joe's house where Spencer spends a lot of time working on the Jeep. What a great backdrop for formal attire, right??

I don't have a point and shoot and didn't want to take my big camera in so I'll have to get more pictures from one of the other girls who brought her camera.

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As for the rest of our happenings...
We are trying to get our house in order so that we can put it on the market. Don't stop by though because you may be confused or be thinking I am a liar. I just can't seem to get anything done! Baer is going through what I am hoping is a stage where he wants me to hold him all morning. If I set him down, he SCREAMS and throws his body around. I swear he will hurt himself one of these times. I have been doing a little better at my biggest feat...the laundry. I do it everyday and I am still not on top of it. I am constantly wondering how I am going to get my house ready to sell if I can't even keep up with my basic chores? I am seriously considering putting the kids in daycare for a week so that I can try to get things done. The only problem with that is something to do with girl stuff, being in pain, and not wanting to work. We are hoping to get it on the market by mid February but we'll see how that turns out.

Today I did a brainless thing and left the sink running while I went upstairs to get something. When I returned, the bathroom was flooded and leaking through the floor into the basement. Not so brilliant. I grabbed a bunch of towels from......the LAUNDRY pile right next to the bathroom and threw them down. Guess it was convenient this time to be behind on the laundry. I was scared to go downstairs and see what the damage was. Luckily the area it leaked down into was right where the drain is and there weren't any boxes. How lucky is that?? I just hope the wood floors will be okay.

Trapped under the chairs

Here are just a few pictures of my kids playing under the table a couple of weeks ago.
Baer only let me take one picture before he was off chasing the can across the floor and James had taken his place.

Such a sweet boy.

Cheese!

RAWRRR!!! (means I love you in dinosaur...look how much he means it)
Thanks for peeking!

Old friend, and info on Baer

We are lucky to have my friend Pocahontas, her husband Jeff, and their son Ziggy with us for the week. I haven't seen Pocahontas since my wedding so it has been fun to reminisce about the old college days. I will have to post pictures later.

Today Baer had an appointment with the developmental pediatrician and it is official...Baer has autism. We still have to wait to find out if he has any genetic syndromes...so 4-6 weeks still of waiting for those. They don't have anything to do with autism...if he does have anything genetically abnormal it would be in addition to autism. He developmental pediatrician said that we are doing the right things with him right now (ie...therapy, therapy, therapy, etc...) so that is reassuring. She did say that he is way behind though and has a long way to go. Not a surprise. He is 2 1/2 yrs old and here are his stats... 3 feet tall (25 percentile for height), 32 lbs (75th percentile), and his head is in the 50th percentile.

Baer is a happy boy though and gave a lot of smiles and laughter to his developmental pediatrician.

Updates on Baer mostly

For one of my Christmas presents Spencer took my computer apart and fixed it. He put a terabytes worth of memory in it and an extra cd drive. We haven't hooked it up yet since we have been home because we are debating where we should put it. I don't use it as much when it is down in the cold and spidery basement so I want it upstairs....somewhere...but where?? Anyway...the point is that all my pictures are on that computer so that is why I don't have pictures to post.

Here's a picture I pulled off my email of Baer.

This last Monday Baer had an appointment with a geneticist. He has been on the waiting list for months and we finally got in! They basically asked all about my family and Spencer's family and a ton of questions about Baer. To make a long story short...they took 4 vials of blood (and the lady dug around quite a bit with the needle the whole time the blood was going into the vials...WHY? Poor guy) and are sending them in for some genetic testing.

They are testing him for Angelman Syndrome and Mowat-Wilson Syndrome. We don't hear back for 4-6 weeks. I am not a patient person. I wanna know last year!

I will update when we hear back.

Post Delete!!

Last night I worked on writing a fun and witty post and when I went to finish it this morning IT WASN'T THERE!!

So bummed.

New Year, New Goals

Wow, back to the blogging board!

Can you believe it is already 2010?

While in Montana this past extended Holiday I was sitting with my sister-in-law while she was going through some of her old journals and such. She read a few of her entries a loud and I chuckled as she read "I know it's been a while since I have written..." (or something much to that effect) because it is a phrase that is well known in all forms of my journals.

So...in keeping up with my reputation...

I know it's been a while since I have written. Many excuses come to mind, but I'll just have to try to pick up where I left off and catch myself up. It is important for me to keep a record of my family so I will just have to do a better job in the future. Before I go back and retrace those steps though, I would like to post my goals/things I would like to work on, for the new year.

In no particular order:

I would like to do better at my journaling/blogging/family photobooking. My mother-in-law gave me a very thoughtful gift for Christmas that should help to keep up with this a little more. There was a lot of time and thought put into this gift and I can't wait to try it out.

I would like to do better at reading not only a book for book club every month, but a book from my "to read" list as well.

I need to do better at personal prayer, making sure we have Family Home Evenings that include a lesson, and scripture study. These things always have room for improvement for me.

I would like to organize my house in a way that can allow for easier (I say easier instead of easy to keep things realistic) clean-up/staying on top of things.

It is important to me to keep up with regular exercise and to find a diet that can most benefit me and my dysfunctional body. I would also like to meditate more frequently as I know it helps to calm my spirit.

I want to do better at supporting my children in the things they need. I need to either put James in a preschool or do better at doing it myself. I need to be better at organizing my schedule so that I can keep up with Baer's therapy and appointments.

I need to to better at keeping to my budget. Enough said.

I guess I can sum a lot of this up into: ORGANIZE MYSELF!!

And the list goes on....



As I was writing this list, I found myself wanting to write excuses to why I am not doing better at these things already. I'm not going to do that because I only know of a couple of perfect people and I am not included....yet ;)

Conversing with James

I know I have been horrible about blogging lately. It just seems so much easier and take less time to get on facebook than to get on the blog.


I had a cute conversation with my smart (3 almost 4 yr old) James tonight when I was putting him to bed and I wanted to get it on here so that I could remember.

Me: Ouch!

James: What happened, Mom?

Me: You hurt my feet with your feet.

James: Like what?

Me: Your skin pulled on my skin.

James: What's skin? (He knows what skin is but often asks questions he knows the answer to)

Me: It's all of this stuff that covers your body (showing him the skin on his arm).

James: Why do we need bodies? (He knows this too)

Me: Because if we didn't have a body we wouldn't be able to walk, or run, or play...

James: I would just be standin' if I didn't have a body.

Me: You couldn't even stand.

James: I would just sit?

Me: Nope, you couldn't even sit.

James: What would I be able to do?

Me: Nothing!

James: But if I didn't have a body, I might be dead...and then I wouldn't be able to see you ever again.

Me: I would see you again in Heaven some day though.

James: What's that place?

Me: That's where Heavenly Father lives.

James: Is that Jesus? (He absolutely knows who Jesus is, he just likes to talk about it)

Me: Jesus is Heavenly Father's son just like we are his children.

James: Yeah.

Me: Jesus is the one who died for us, so that we can be forgiven of our bad choices.

James: Bad choices like hurting people like this (as he pokes me), and putting our fingers in our mouth too much, and poking our eyes?

Me: (chuckling) Sure...and other bad choices.

James: What does Heavenly Father want us to do?

Me: He wants us to make good choices.

James: What does he do when we make good choices?

Me: He is very happy with us.

James: Well, what does he do when we make BAD choices?

Me: I guess we will find out some day.

James: I think he will have a MAD, MAD face. And then when we go to Jesus's house we will say "I'm sorry I made bad choices, I won't make bad choices in your house anymore". And then he will say "Okay, that's fine."

If only it were that easy, right?

It just really reminded me of a conversation I had with my Mom when I was a little girl. I remember when I first asked my Mom what happens to us when we die. I envisioned myself floating in pitch darkness, alone, and not doing anything. I'm so glad I have a good understanding of what happens when we die and I am glad that James is so smart to ask these questions and is learning too.

Better late than never

So...Sunday Spencer and I accidently slept in on Sunday and got up just after 9am (or so we thought)...which is what time church starts. So I hurried and got James's hair trimmed (yes, it HAD to be done before church) and showered and got ready when I yell down to Spencer (who is feeding Baer) "We gotta go in 5 minutes!". Then he told me that it was actually not even 8:00 yet and his alarm clock was wrong. We were on time to church yesterday!! I didn't look my best but we were on time.

Nursery was a bit stressful...we had crying children, kids pushing and stealing toys, stinky children, and hungry children. Jenny and I took turns dealing with stuff and taking kids to their parents for one reason or another and Jenny told me she didn't see either of our husbands in class. I wasn't that suprised since we were both so tired getting up this morning I thought he might be in the car napping or if they were together...ditching. Jenny laughed and agreed they were both possible for her husband, too. On the way home I teased Spencer asking him where he was and what was for dinner (he cooks on Sunday). He said he was there for part of the time but wasn't feeling well...and was not sure what we were going to have. When we got home I opened the door and it smelled like roast & veggies cooking in the crock pot and he had cleaned up and vacumed. Stunned, I stopped and asked..."Did you come HOME and CLEAN??" (DUH). He then replied "Happy Mother's Day!". I can not tell you HOW GREATFUL I was and still am since we had therapy at our house today and I only had to do a little picking up. It's not spotless and still has a lot to be done but I was SO far behind with so much going on that I am So greatful and impressed he got so much done in that amount of time.

I walked in a little further and noticed flowers in the livingroom and kitchen, chocolate cake, "special" m&m's, and fresh cherries & blackberries. Yummm.

And that was just the beginning of a great day :)

Mother's Day or Father's Day??

Yes, this is a poor me blog...just so you know :)

I have a friend who says that she appreciates it when people are "REAL" with her about things and don't pretend like everything is always perfect. I tend to try to hide things when things are difficult and when I need help I try to spread it out so that I'm not asking the same friend for so many favors. I hate asking for help but I feel like I have had to ask for it a lot lately. I guess I have a lot of friends who need to gain those blessing from serving me, lol. Anyway, this is me being REAL...

Spencer went in to the ER yesterday for his back and has been completely helpless the last few days. I have been catering to his every need and the kids haven't exactly been easy. I'm sure I am making it worse than it is...I tend to over-react when I'm tired/grumpy.


I haven't been sleeping well either. Spencer snores SO LOUD and it's so hard for me to deal with. I have tried earplugs (the highest rating I could find), He has tried some over the counter snore prevention stuff (mouthguard, nose strips, and a nose ring looking thing) and I have tried to get him to go to the doctor about it but he seems to think he knows what the problem is and how to fix it...that problem just isn't getting fixed though. Sometimes I seriously consider moving in to the guest bedroom but I don't because I feel that could potentially be a problem in other areas. Today I tried to take a nap after church and after I got the kids down but Spencer was snoring so loud...I kept kicking him until he asked me why I kept kicking him. I told him "It's Mother's Day and I just want to take a nap!" I know that was probably insensitive of me since he has been in a lot of pain but I feel wound so tight lately and need some relief. He ended up hobbling down the stairs for a little bit so that I could take a nap but it was a horrible one. Have you waken up from a nap feeling like your blood is just boiling with anger? That is how I felt after this nap and got woken up by Spencer comming back to bed because he couldn't stay awake [the pain medication he is on is making him drowsy...maybe I should jack a few of those ;)].

So from serving Spencer and catering to him so much I just feel like today is more of a Father's Day than a Mother's Day...if Spencer wasn't in so much pain. I do feel bad feeling that way.

On another note, Baer has been getting test after test and is up to 3 therapists...this week 4 therapy appointments so far but are waiting to hear about possibly more. The developmental pediatrician mensioned autism as a possibility and wants to add some more therapist that SHE recomments IN ADDITION. He will be getting another speech therapist and an ABA specialist/therapist. She says that I should be working with Baer 40 hrs a week...this I have to say stresses me out. I feel like that is a lot to handle with everything else going on. I will just have to do my best and that's all I can do [no this statement isn't me being rational...It's a little attitude...I'm just being real :)] Baer will also be getting some more genetic testing and has to see a pulmonology specialist, possible endoscopy and/or throat swallow, has an appointment for a GI specialist, a doctor to come and diagnose whether or not he has autism, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera... I feel like up to this point I have actually been dealing with all of this really well. I was talking to my Mom the other day and she said the same thing. I just feel like it is starting to really catch up to me now. My house is a disaster...more than usual and I just can't seem to get caught up. I feel like I should be able to do more but I am always SO tired I just don't have the energy to clean when I have a spare moment so I don't.

James has been having a listening problem lately and it has been hard emotionally to deal with. It made me feel better to hear/see that my sister-in-law is having the same issue with her boys this last week as well.

I know that I have a lot of blessings and I am not forgetting those. I know that there are a lot of people out there with more issues to deal with than me....and maybe it's you. I don't know. I have so much to be greatful for...I just want you to know that after such a post.

Hopefully I will wake up in the morning with a little more sleep and all of this will just seem silly, but sometimes you just gotta rant when you are IN the moment.

If you have made it this far...(I don't know...I got nothin'...that was going to be clever but it's gone) :)



P.S. (I'm adding this after posting)... On the bright side of things I DID get chocolate dipped strawberries for Mother's Day from church, and some of the men came and took over Nursery to give me a break. I was able to go to class, which I haven't done in a long time.

The Park

Here just some pictures from a stroll/ride to the park.

I really like this picture but I just wish my lips were closed all the way.

James swinging.

Lauren doing her thing.

I love this picture...Baer has such beautiful eyes.

James was showing me that he could climb down the "tree" all by himself. He was very pleased with himself.

James can be a bit afraid of heights and Spencer helped him on the tree until he was comfortable doing it himself.

Baer loves to swing.

Spencer scooted him back in the swing so he'd be more comfortable but once he started swinging he slid right back forward pinning his arms...it made a cute photo though.

Playing with the sticks/dirt.

Before we went to the park James had the white hat on and when he took it off his hair was matted and I couldn't resist taking a picture.

Justin and Shaggy.

Grinnin' Baer.

I thought James's outfit was cute. He found his hat he got in the hospital when he was born and was wearing it all afternoon. His shirt is buttoned the wrong way, you can't tell in the picture but his pants are a size too small and he's wearing boots. Not your typical spring outfit...I love it!

The End...Thanks for Peeking!

My new hair-do & the boys

We have been getting a lot of rain the last week or so and James was playing in a puddle we have by the road. I thought this was a cute picture and I added some grunginess to it and burned the picture around him.

Splish-splash!
My friend Erika took this picture.

James's friend Lauren shared her water/sand toys and they made "cupcakes".

Just a fun one of my new hair and glasses.

Cute Baer.

Baer kept making this face when I went to take his picture. It was pretty funny/cute.

James likes to wear Spencer's radio headphones.

Cute boys.

Thanks for peeking!

My Boys

Sunday I had Spencer take pictures of me with the boys. I need to be better about how I have him take the pictures because I think I hurt his feelings. When Spencer takes a picture he just stands there and holds down the shutter so it takes a ton of pictures really fast so I had a ton of pictures of me trying to push my hair out of my eyes and pull my dress down. I got after him for it because that's what he always does. He was a good sport though and I asked him nicely this time to move around and wait until I was done moving around. He got some really good ones I think.

It was bright in the kids eyes, but this is a cute one of Baer.
The first picture I edited my roots but this one I didn't bother. I knew I was getting my hair done in 2 days.

James likes to wear his pants backwards occasionally....and yes, it is on purpose. I think it's creative.

James loves dandelions...yellow AND white.

Thanks for peeking!

Just DO it!

I have been uploading my pictures onto facebook and haven't been so good about putting them on my blog as well. Tonight I decided I needed to top procrastinating and as my title says...Just DO it! Here are some pictures from a fun night we had tonight.

Our neighbor Willa (who was babysitting her neice) treated us to some pizza since Spencer helped her with her car a while back and we had a picnic on our lawn. A little later we went on a bike ride while Spencer worked on the Jeep and Baer went to bed for the night. James's motorcycle ran out of batteries about 15 feet up the sidewalk so he ended up riding with me and we went to a nearby park. Afterwards we drove to a gas station to get gatorade...we were all parched!

Us and our wheels...James's battery died 15 feet up the sidewalk (we hadn't charged it in a while) so he ended up riding with me.

Wonder-Willa
James (gotta love the pizza face)

Lauren took this picture and actually did a pretty good job!

Willa showin' off her blade skills

Lauren and me

Super-Fun Crazy-Chicka

The End, Thanks for peeking!

For all my creative friends

Anyone want to do a handmade gift swap?? Let me know if you are interested!

Hair Madness

Should've known better...

I got my hair cut today and I hated it so the first thing I did was march straight upstairs, take a picture, and then grabbed my scissors.


Here is how the lady cut and "styled" it.

Here is what I did with it.

Here is the cabin with a leaky-roof and garage that James and I built.

Upclose of the garage with a van inside.

The End! Thanks for peeking!