Merry Christmas 2016 and Happy NEW YEAR!

This is my last post of 2016! I didn't write much here this year because, well, we were busy! My boys and I reflected back on the year today. WOW. What an incredible year. We made tons of memories that will never be forgotten. It'll go down in the books as one of our biggest. I am grateful for everything that 2016 brought our way. We are praying for another year filled with great memories, adventure, family and good health!

This month was crazy. At times I wanted to hide in bed for days, but we kept marching on and made some great memories with loved ones. We hosted Dan's family on Christmas Eve, my dad and stepmom flew in the following day and the day after we had my sisters and their families over. We have the best families and it's another big thing we are grateful for!

We have been loving our new house! It has been a comforting spot for us all and I don't think there's another family who would love it and feel as blessed to have it as we do. We say prayers of gratitude every day.

The boys had a fruitful Christmas. They received a few prize gifts and were genuinely grateful for everything, even though they didn't get everything they wished could have fallen into their laps. We made an effort to focus on giving more than ever this year, so hopefully it rubbed off a bit.

My dad and stepmom left today after being here for almost a week. We loved having them here and both boys were so sad not to have their Grammy and Gramps tuck-ins tonight. More fun memories with them were made this week.

We accomplished a momentous feat today. The glorious locks were chopped! I personally love long hair especially on Sammy, but both boys looked so super handsome afterward. Look at my handsome boys!

I am going to make more of an effort to get here more often this year. There are constantly so many funny/cute things coming from these boys and I need to be better at writing them down. More to come soon! Thanks for checking in!

Back from Summer 2015 road trip!

The boys and I are home! We drove 11.5 hours from Louisville today. We made two QUICK stops and we were so happy to be home. We hugged Dan a bunch and the boys ran around and released pent-up energy. We had such a memorable trip, both in Kentucky and North Carolina. I have SO MUCH to report.. about things we did and memories we made and also about things I have realized about Elijah in the past two weeks. 

In a nutshell.. We miss my dad and stepmom and the Karrs so much. We made some unforgettable memories! Elijah, Sammy and I are feeling sad tonight but also happy to be reunited with Dan and to sleep in our own beds.

The boys and Gramps dressed up as cows our first morning in Charlotte to get a free breakfast from Chick-Fil-A. Aren't they cute?!

We have been continuing on a low dose of Straterra for Elijah's anxiety and thankfully, he is still responding well. Overall, he did SO great on vacation. We had a few incidents but nothing catastrophic. While we were at my dad's, E slept in a very dark and cozy walk-in closet and I think that helped him get a few great nights of sleep in a row. Depending on how the next few nights go, I may think about putting a bed together in our closet. Anything to help!

More later! Must sleep!

Waterpark Adventure 2015

I'm feeling a need to get this post done tonight because tomorrow I will be writing about a certain 8-year-old's birthday!

Our fifth annual waterpark trip was a smashing success. Dan and I both agreed that we managed our time better than ever before and we ALL enjoyed ourselves, even more than in past years. This was the first year that Sammy truly enjoyed himself. It was fun to see.

Here is the photo I take every year upon first entering the hotel/waterpark. The boys love to run to the windows to peek into the waterpark and get a glimpse of the "big bucket" and all of the action. This year we found that the windows had been frosted, so the boys had to peek through the cracks.

The first few minutes in our room are always SO EXCITING!!!!

Annual photo with Mama and boys in the top bunk!

Followed by....JUMPING ON THE BED! This year we talked Dan into joining us.

We spent an hour at the waterpark our first night. Both boys had a blast! Sammy willingly got into the water for the first time EVER!

I'm so proud of him. He stuck to a very specific area, but he went down the same slide about 100 times over the course of the weekend. Progress! A few times I tried to get him to extend his territory, but he resisted. I'll take it.

I always get photos of the post-waterpark bathers. It'll be so sad when they don't take baths together anymore! 

 I LOVE this cutie! Yikes, look at his tired mama..

Posing with the waterpark guys.

On our second day, Elijah literally RAN around the waterpark at full speed for hours on end. Dan and I could do nothing to get him to slow down, short of making him leave the place. Literally...he ran from the slides in the kiddie area to the big tube slide to the wave pool to the lazy river (with one of us following close behind)....repeat repeat repeat...without taking a breath. Toward the end of the day, Dan handed Elijah off to me and said, "Watch him!" I took one look at E and knew what he meant. He had worn himself out. He was totally exhausted and even felt sick to his stomach. He literally could hardly stand. I hadn't gotten many photos of him yet (and I always snap a few!), so I asked him to smile and pose since I knew these were our last moments there. After a dozen attempts, I got a smile..

Then he sat down in another area on the way out and after another dozen photos, I got another smile..

Then I realized I was being selfish and had Dan scoop him up and take him back to the hotel room. He was draped over Dan's shoulder like an exhausted baby! Poor guy. I got a partial smile..

We had dinner in our hotel room (a second-night tradition) and by that time Elijah was feeling much better. We headed down to the arcade for a bit of gaming fun! Both boys had a blast. Sammy keeps telling me that the 30 minutes we spent in that arcade were his favorite moments of the entire trip.

Elijah threw a ball into the teeny-tiny 1,000-point bucket in the tossing game (impossible feat), hence the celebrating..

Look! It's Sammy! Participating in games and not hiding behind a Pac-Man machine (yes, he really did that)!

We won BIG at Deal or No Deal! Hundreds of tickets, which earned us.. toy handcuffs (you can imagine how much we've loved THIS) and ring pops (which Sammy calls "Rain Pops").

A few more notable things about our adventure..

It was so much fun to watch Sammy (Elijah wasn't so interested in this) RUNNING through the hallways to get to the elevator, push the button and accomplish absolutely everything before his brother could.

I loved our family nap on our second day. It was a revitalizing intermission when Sammy watched a movie by himself while the rest of us slept like we were dead.

Trips to the ice machine! Who knew this could be sooo exciting?!

Elijah and I made a few trips down the "blue-tube-slide" together and WOW was it fast! I cannot believe how much that boy loves speed. It was a ton of fun, and each sliding experience was followed by a trip around the lazy river and then a jaunt in the wave pool.

Sammy insisted on wearing his goggles in his own Sammy way (of course). The straps folded his ears in half and hung at the bottom-back of his head. He swiped our hands away any time we tried to fix them and refused to take them off, even when they were completely fogged over.

As always, I LOVED our first hour in our hotel room. It was pure happiness and excitement for all of us. Elijah kept asking me, "Is this a dream?!" We all cherish this trip so much every year. On our way home, both boys whimpered constantly.. "I MISS OUR TRIP!" Me too, boys.. can't wait till next year!

Okoboji family reunion 2014 and a visit with the developmental ped

We are back from our 2014 Okoboji family adventure. It seems like our trip went by so quickly. Dan was able to be with us for the first few days, but then had to head back to work in the sky. The boys and I missed him terribly after he left. They said about a hundred times, "I MISS DADDY!" We had plenty of distraction, though, with tons of family surrounding us constantly. Elijah and Sammy have some older second cousins who lavish love upon them. We spent some time on my uncle's boat and Elijah particularly was in HEAVEN. Oh my goodness that boy loves to go fast. His arms were flapping a hundred miles a minute with a huge smile smeared on his face as he screamed, "GO FASTER! FAAAASTERRRR!" The boys also got some partial lake time. It was only partial because Elijah has not been cleared by ENT to swim yet (hopefully this will happen tomorrow). 

Dan had to leave before the bulk of the family arrived, so he missed out on family photos. :( We were able to capture a bunch of family shots, including this one of my dad/stepmom, older brother and us (minus Dan).

We had an incredible time, but it has felt so good to be at home. I don't think I've ever loved my home/bed so much!

Today we brought Elijah to see his developmental pediatrician, the incredible Dr. M. We chatted about a few key issues: Elijah's inability to prioritize bodily functions/needs, his lack of self-awareness, his anxiety and his lingering potty issues. Oh how I appreciate smart doctors. A few things that he said today struck a chord since these are thoughts/realizations I've had recently.

When we described E's impulsiveness and tendency to break down easily, he said something along these lines: Elijah requires so much energy and patience and control just to get through every day. Every little thing is either overwhelming or confusing for him, and that depletes his resources. So basically, he is at 211 degrees all the time. When the littlest thing happens, he reaches boiling point and explodes. To us it may seem like a minor issue, but for him it may be the thing that breaks him. I did a really good job of holding back tears as Dr. M spoke these words. It makes me feel so sad that Elijah is running on empty basically all the time, struggling with every little thing that comes his way. We've of course known all of this for some time, but it was somehow different hearing it from the doctor.

Dr. M also mentioned how Elijah's tendency to rely on facts is significant. It tells us that he feels out of control most of the time and clings to facts in order to feel secure. So much of his life feels uncertain, so he thrives on talking and learning about concrete things. Geography, history, time, birth dates, ages, schedules, events...these are all things he talks about CONSTANTLY. At one point during the appointment today Dr. M looked at Elijah and said, "I love your tie!" (He wore his Easter tie to the visit.) Without missing a beat, E replied, "Thank you! I love yours, too!" Dr. M made a comment that even though that is probably a learned thing, it is a great sign that Elijah is able to reply in such a way that makes people want to engage with him. A step in the right direction and a tiny sign that our efforts are making a difference.

We also chatted about potty. His thoughts were encouraging. Bottom line: be patient. Eventually E will be able to move this up on his list of priorities.

Dr. M recommended that if E has trouble in school again this year, we should consider putting him on an SSRI to take the edge off his anxiety. In the meantime, we will just keep doing our best! Early bed times, mapping out our weeks on the white board, getting him sufficient sunlight, disciplining consistently and LOVING him so he feels secure and safe.

Tomorrow we have post-surgery follow-up with ENT and our first appointment with Fraser (super hopeful/excited about this one). Elijah and Sammy get to spend an entire day on Saturday with their awesome Grammie and Gramps while Dan and I work. They are so excited!

Thanks for checking in!! Have a great week!

Very random post-trip thoughts

Today was weird. I was foggy-brained, exhausted, sore and impatient. Dan worked at the dz while the boys and I wandered aimlessly around our messy home. Dan had the house totally clean when we got home last night and now? It's a disaster and I don't care. Maybe on Sunday I'll care. Tomorrow I'm shooting a wedding and Dan will be working, so the boys will be spending the day at their Auntie Christine's. Please pray for good behavior and a great day! (Gulp..a little worried.)

Some miscellaneous thoughts.. (Have you noticed I like to write in bullet points lately?)

- I have big plans to organize our home! Mainly for Elijah because from what I've read, NLD kids thrive when their surroundings are organized. In the next few days/weeks, I plan to: 1. create an "alone" space in our closet for Elijah and Sammy to retreat to when they want to be alone, 2. organize our disastrous storage closet, 3. organize our garage, 4. get rid of some toys, despite the boys' pleading not to and 5. go through the boys' clothes/closet. 

- Potty issues were very frustrating on our trip, and even at home today. Something with E is still just not clicking. During our long days of driving in the car, I may as well have had a newborn with all of the pulling over for poop clean-up that was going on. This is extremely frustrating, as it is such a regression from 8-9 months ago.

- We were able to spend time with my brother and his girlfriend while we were in North Carolina and we cherished our time with them! The boys also got to go to two days of VBS at my parents' church, which they both loved. We swam in their neighborhood pool a handful of times, and Sammy even got in the water! And he removed his shirt (major improvement from last summer)!

- I am determined to teach both boys to swim within the next year. Also on the agenda is music lessons! In the NLD book I just read, I learned that musical talent tends to come naturally for these kiddos and it is a great outlet for them. And Sammy has always been musically inclined, so...we will pursue this. Violin? Piano? Both? 

- My dad and stepmom brought us to the Lazy 5 Ranch in NC and it was such a cool place! We traveled in a large wagon amidst very large roaming animals, feeding and petting them. If I hadn't been fending off Elijah attacks, it would have been even more enjoyable. For the first 8-10 days of our trip, the meds (I believe) caused E to totally lash out at me, both verbally and physically. It was rough. And sad. But I kept reminding myself it wasn't "him," and that helped.

Here are some fun L5R pics! Thank you so much for peeking in!