tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47730331298815971342024-02-19T10:08:34.923-06:00Despite All OddsThe adventures of Rachel, Kevin and children.Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17954609449994367606noreply@blogger.comBlogger257125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773033129881597134.post-82369329678808954852018-09-24T01:23:00.002-05:002018-09-24T01:23:18.081-05:00David and Goliath <span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-color: #f8f8f8; caret-color: rgb(55, 55, 55); color: #373737; font-family: SFUIText-Regular, -apple-system, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Today I asked David if he would help me give a talk at church. I asked if he would tell the story of David and Goliath, he started up with me and then ran back to his seat, but then as i continued my talk he started telling the story from his seat, he did a great job! So proud of my boy! So happy he could share his knowledge of the scriptures at church. He is awes</span><span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-color: #f8f8f8; caret-color: rgb(55, 55, 55); color: #373737; font-family: SFUIText-Regular, -apple-system, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">ome!</span>Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17954609449994367606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773033129881597134.post-31602102884081487902018-05-29T20:08:00.000-05:002018-05-29T20:08:25.463-05:00Conversations with my childrenFor the last few years I have been posting different conversations I have had with my kids on my Facebook page, recently some of my friends have been mentioning that I need to make a book out of it. So, with the intent of collecting them in an easy to organize place I am putting them here.Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17954609449994367606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773033129881597134.post-42331227444086682782018-04-13T22:37:00.000-05:002018-04-13T22:37:20.143-05:00TraumaSo, lately, I have been thinking about trauma. I have started seeing a counselor due to an emotional breakdown I had recently due to being overly stressed. I have only had one meeting with her so far, so I haven't really gotten much done. But it has caused me to think about things. I went through in my mind all the different traumas I went through since getting married and I really thought them over and I realized that I never really allowed myself to grieve over them. Often I powered my way through them and then bottled up my emotions because they were too difficult to deal with at the time and never really allowed myself to take them out, air them out and deal with them. I just bottled them up and shoved them down deeper and deeper. But this last year with everything that happened it was just too much too fast, too many things flying at me to bottle them all up and keep them all down without going a little crazy.<br />
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So I started thinking about trauma and about other traumas I have had in life. I was talking with my mom today and she asked about trauma I had as a child, and I couldn't really think of any. Then later I was thinking about coping mechanisms and things that I do to help keep myself sane, and how many of them seem to be an escape to other people. So then I thought to myself, well what did I do when I lived with my parents? Well, I ran off into the woods and spent some time alone with nature. Well, I just told Mom that I couldn't remember trauma from my childhood, so what was I running from? Bullying, that is what I was running from. The stress of being bullied. I was bullied from preschool till my senior year in high school. But I talked about it with my parents. I had a good friend who went through it with me and who was my confidant. I was able to process it because I worked through it, I developed strategies against it. Did it leave me scarred? Sure, but I grew stronger from it.<br />
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But you can't run away from cancer, you can't run away from fertility issues, or heart surgery, or your own autistic children. And all of those things are also often taboo subjects. They make people feel uncomfortable, they make people feel uneasy. They are often difficult to understand if you haven't experienced it yourself.<br />
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I was 19 when Kevin was diagnosed with cancer, I was still basically a child, and yet...widowhood stared me in the face. I didn't know how to deal with trauma like that. I didn't know how to handle it. So I took my cues from Kevin. And he was amazing. He didn't flinch, he was cheerful, and ready and was just so tough through all of it. And I, I was falling apart inside but didn't think I could show it.<br />
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I found my old poem book, one that I made before he was diagnosed and started writing poems in. It contains the poetry I wrote while he went through cancer. I read through it tonight, wow. I moved myself to tears. What I wrote then, oh I feel the same thing now. I expressed then things that I still feel about current traumas. Current frustrations. Here is one I wrote:<br />
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Life kills me from the inside this time<br />
I saw it coming years ago.<br />
Have you seen my play?<br />
This time I have learned<br />
the part far too well.<br />
Backstage my smile does not stay.<br />
How can I hold up again?<br />
Alone, I sit and watch my heart die.<br />
I can feel it ripping me apart.<br />
Thinking of us I cry,<br />
but not where it is seen.<br />
Life hurts so much<br />
I don't know if I can endure<br />
Yet for you, I must.<br />
Help me to survive this,<br />
I don't know how long I can last.<br />
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The stress, the fear, the pain, when it is your life you can't really run from that. So I found escape methods. I found ways to ease the pain, found ways of ignoring it until it went away. I got good at not feeling things, especially if I didn't want to feel them. No wonder lately I feel numb. I often think of my life and I don't feel a lot. My body has all these things it keeps doing that are screaming to anyone who knows how to read the signs that I am under overwhelming stress, but my outward disposition is such that people can't tell. People don't know because my mask is too good. What I think is part of the issue is that I have tried to share my sorrow, my pain with others. I have tried to process it so many times. And yet, it is not a comfortable topic. It is not something that people want to hear about. So they shut you up, and they get you to move on, and things never get processed. And so here I am. Scarred, and yet falling apart still, from the inside, and there is not enough tape to hold me together anymore.Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17954609449994367606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773033129881597134.post-39744155975342604622018-02-25T23:19:00.001-06:002018-02-25T23:19:26.556-06:00BecauseSo, because I know no one is really currently reading this I can put down my thoughts on stuff and not really worry about it. Life is stressful at times. And to be honest I have trained myself from the beginning of marriage to put a happy face on the trials in life. But sometimes things drag you down and you just want to...well get away from all of it. Sometimes you wish that life would stop sucking so much. It is hard to have people give me advice on what to do with my kids when they really have no idea. It is hard to deal with the stress of autism and intense medical issues with Kevin and then the times when he is jobless and not go a little crazy. It is hard trying to not let the stress get the best of me. My fingers are getting chewed raw, they are peeling and painful and I wish they would stop hurting but I keep chewing on them, without even thinking about it I keep chewing on them. All too often I feel heartbroken, overstressed and tired and often I feel like no one knows and if they do know they don't really care. I have been holding tears in for so long, it gets hard to let them go sometimes.Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17954609449994367606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773033129881597134.post-24567372599187390202018-01-12T00:22:00.001-06:002018-01-12T00:22:19.796-06:00TimeIt is strange to watch time go by. Years which passed so slowly as a child now pass so quickly. You sleep, then wake then sleep again. Days pass, weeks pass, months pass and soon another year is gone. Childhood seems like it was yesterday, just a few years ago. But in reality, I left it over 18 years ago. 18 years, I left childhood an entire childhood ago. How did time pass so quickly when childhood seemed to go so slowly. Those early years, which seemed so important at the time, and now they are gone. My son turns 7 in just a few days and I wonder where the time has gone. My daughter is now 5, and I wonder how she got so old so fast. Their first years were so full of worry, and now they are both out of the super worry stage. Now on to the next stage of life. Sometimes I look back on a day and think, well that was a failed day, I guess I will make it up tomorrow. But life is made up of days that become years. I need to focus on the days more so that the years don't become wasted.Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17954609449994367606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773033129881597134.post-43671693694454573132017-12-08T00:50:00.001-06:002017-12-08T00:50:39.856-06:00CopingToday I thought about coping. I finally found a good song to cry to. I have been needing a good long cry lately. I went this entire year crying very little and having much to cry about. Sometimes it feels like I must be strong to make it through the tough times. And sometimes I think that ends up being holding it all in while I put up a strong front. It has been a rough year, I gave myself time to cry once during the whole heart surgery for Kevin thing. I didn't cry over the flood, didn't give myself time to mourn my Grandpa, just held it all in. Didn't express the stress from Kevin having such a long stretch of unemployment this year, just let it all build up. Developed new coping methods. Found blessings in the trials, and developed permanent new nervous habits. Almost ceaselessly bouncing my legs and I chew on my fingers until they bleed. I keep myself distracted with games and other things to keep from thinking about everything because thinking about it all causes me to feel overwhelmed.<br />
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I realized that I have not had a good solid weird friend since Grayslake, so basically 2010. And I haven't had a good friend that I can completely let my guards down with since Utah. At least not outside my family. And this year I learned a hard lesson there too. I realized that sometimes I overshare things and because of stupid decisions on my part with sharing info on my Grandpa on Facebook now my family hardly trusts me with stuff. Or if they do they give me the disclaimer of, now don't put this on facebook. As if I really needed to be told that.<br />
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Though I really do look for the blessings, I have no one to vent to. I have no one to release my worries and fears to. And so it builds, and I just need to release, I just need to let things go sometimes. Tonight I have wept, and it is good. Tonight I have let things out for the first time in a long time. Here's hoping that next year isn't quite so full of trials. Here's to hoping for some stability. In the meantime the tears fall and I let my worries fall with them.Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17954609449994367606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773033129881597134.post-47612155099023785372017-12-08T00:28:00.002-06:002017-12-08T00:28:34.516-06:002017<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
Each year around this time my Father in law like each of his children to give a synopsis of their family's year. So I have been thinking over our year and what our synopsis would be.<br />January: Open heart triple bypass surgery for Kevin during which he died once, and had his heart stopped for the surgery.<br />February: Recovery/Basement flooded almost 2 feet<br />March: Recovery and the beginning of job hunting for Kevin<br />May: Kevin starts new contract job<br />July: After over 18 years of battling with terminal cancer my Grandfather passed away<br />August: Kevin's contract ends<br />September: David begins to have violent tantrums at school<br />November: Kevin starts a new contract job<br />December: Starting the process to get ABA therapy for David</div>
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Overall it has been a year full of trials, and yet one of my ways of getting through trials is to look for the blessings.<br />January: Once again Kevin cheated death. The doctors told us that if he had waited one more month he would probably have died of a heart attack. We saw so many miracles happen in that hospital. And I still have my best friend and husband to spend each day with.<br />February/March: Kevin recovered quickly enough to be able to start looking for work. Though our basement flooded we saw an outpouring of love and support from people. We had so many people help us clean up the ruined things.<br />May: We were so blessed that Kevin found a good job for over the summer.<br />July: Though it was sad to lose my Grandpa it is good to know that he is now at peace and no longer in pain.<br />August: We got to have Kevin at home for a bit while he looked for a new job<br />September: We were able to explore new ways of working with David to see if they would help, many of those ways making it easier to talk with David<br />November: Though the new contract is only three months long it is already causing Kevin to stretch and grow. When he is done with this contract it will give his resume a huge boost.<br />December: We are hopeful that ABA therapy will help David develop the skills he needs to be able to self-regulate his own emotions.</div>
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Overall it has been a year of so many blessings and miracles. It really is wonderful to see God's hand in our lives and to see how he really does bless us individually. He knows each of us and is willing to bless us if we turn to him. I am so thankful for all the blessings I have received this year.</div>
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I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. (Phillippians 4:13)</div>
Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17954609449994367606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773033129881597134.post-11389325439344696742017-11-16T13:26:00.001-06:002017-11-16T13:26:19.055-06:00Continuing the storySo after the diagnosis of both kids, we took their diagnosis to school for their IEP meetings. If you are unfamiliar with IEP meetings you meet with the teacher and the team that works with your child and come up with a personalized plan for your child. The goal is to set goals for your child that will help them to progress and also identify what services (therapies) your child might need. The great thing about their school is that they were already doing everything that was prescribed for the school to do in the diagnosis.<br />
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Since then David moved from preschool to kindergarten and is now in 1st-grade. Kindergarten was pretty good for David. He had his specials (art, gym, music) with his kindergarten class, then had reading with a reading group that was at his reading level. Math he had with a 1st-grade class. This year he has done the same thing just moved things up, so math is with a 2nd-grade class. We are trying to see if he can be taught more science stuff since he likes science so much.<br />
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The one thing we are having issues with is that David has been having meltdowns at school. Lately, the meltdowns have been turning violent. Both his teacher and Kevin and I have been trying to figure out what to do about it. We have talked extensively with David about his behavior, we have tried consequences, we have done sticker charts, etc. Recently I went to an informational meeting through Easter Seals on ABA therapy, what it is and what it does for those who receive it.<br />
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ABA therapy works with people (children and adults) who have social behaviors that need to be worked on. For David this would mean we could get a therapy for him that would help him work through his meltdowns and develop skills that would allow him to avoid having meltdowns. The only problem is that we would need insurance that would cover the therapy.Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17954609449994367606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773033129881597134.post-61754046584657306172017-11-15T10:49:00.000-06:002017-11-15T10:49:06.952-06:00Updates and hopefully starting againI decided that I wanted to start writing again. Mostly because I need to start journaling again. So I figure I will play a little catch up since the last time I wrote. My last post was in 2015, since then a lot has happened. When Evangeline aged out of her therapists they suggested that we get her tested for an official diagnosis. We took her to the <span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.87);"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Advocate Illinois Masonic Pediatric Developmental Center in Chicago, during the first testing they told us that they were looking at ruling out autism but wanted to test her again in a year to see what they thought. During that year David received an educational diagnosis of autism and I decided it might be a good idea to see about getting him an official diagnosis too. So I called the </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.87);">Advocate Illinois Masonic Pediatric Developmental Center and made an appointment for him at the same time that Evangeline's appointment was as well. The testing took an entire day and was about a 6-hour long process. Both children were tested on different things, I had a lot of paperwork to fill out. Then they looked at the test results and had us come back after a week or so. When they went over the paperwork with us they told us that both children had autism. Both are high functioning. but David has some sensory avoidance issues and Evangeline has sensory seeking issues. </span>Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17954609449994367606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773033129881597134.post-26384168744113600932015-03-02T09:13:00.000-06:002015-03-02T09:13:23.549-06:00PlanetsSo yesterday Nana made Davy a diagram of the solar system, except he wanted all the little planets she had cut out. So he brought home from Nana's house an envelope of tiny little planets which he played with until he lost some of them. Then he had an epic tantrum. Finally we got him to go to bed for the night, but he decided to take his planets with him. Can you see where this is going to go? That is right, a night full of him losing his planets in bed and then crying because Jupiter is lost!!! So I finally printed out some large versions of the planets, laminated them and sent them to bed with him. When Jupiter is the size of a dinner plate it is difficult to lose it anymore.<br />
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While he was playing with them I started asking Evangeline which planet was which, to see if she has picked up anything from David's obsession. Sure enough she know her planets too! Crazy smart kids.Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17954609449994367606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773033129881597134.post-23209672248025049052015-02-02T19:32:00.000-06:002015-02-02T19:32:30.774-06:00CarrotsToday we went to the store and David asked for carrots, he held them all through the store and then wanted to hold them on the way home. When we got home he wanted to eat some of them, so we gave him carrots and Evangeline got some carrots too. Later tonight Evangeline went into the kitchen and got out a bunch of carrots and took one bite out of each. Just one bite.Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17954609449994367606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773033129881597134.post-27820571944233019612014-11-05T09:41:00.001-06:002014-11-05T09:41:39.426-06:00Words and ABCsRecently we have been working with Evangeline with therapists, she has a developmental therapist and a speech therapist (who we haven't met with yet) and a physical therapist. Anyway her developmental therapist had us start making a list of words that she says and this has got me really listening to her to see what words she actually knows.<br />
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While I have found that she knows a lot more words than I thought she does I also discovered that she is saying phrases as well. Things like, "There it is!" "Where'd it go?" "Its a..." and more. I also found the other day that she knows most of her letters. I was putting away some puzzles and found a letter puzzle and thought, "Hey why not see what she knows." Turns out she knows all her letters except for maybe two or three. Crazy! She also knows some of her numbers and some of her shapes. I guess David is a good influence.<br />
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As far as David goes he has started to do basic math, such as basic addition. Smart kids!!Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17954609449994367606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773033129881597134.post-5669768161522425462014-05-29T21:54:00.002-05:002014-05-29T21:54:53.789-05:00SpidersLast year a female orb weaver spider set up shop outside our sliding glass door. Being a person who does not like spiders but is fascinated by them in controlled circumstances I started to watch it. Kevin joined me and soon we were checking on it nightly, sometimes staying up late just to watch it build a web or eat a meal. We watched it mate and then fall came and it disappeared. Then we had one of the coldest, harshest winters we have ever experienced out here. In fact last winter broke records for how cold it was. Understandably we were shocked when the spider showed up again this year. She was HUGE but happy and seemingly healthy. So we took up watching her again. Tonight I went to check on her, because last night was rather weird. Last night she did not come out and remake her web and a male orb weaver was wandering in the web. Tonight the old web still stands with no spider out to take it down and make a new one, instead I saw a tiny baby spider rappelling down our door. I think it is official, Charlotte is gone and a new generation has replaced her. I am ironically sad for the first time that a spider has died and I actually hope that one of her babies takes her place. Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17954609449994367606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773033129881597134.post-11563869634997405722014-03-19T21:47:00.002-05:002014-03-19T21:47:35.428-05:00TransitionsSleep, it is one of those rare things when you become a parent. When we had Davy it was rather easy, he slept exceptionally well for a baby and allowed me to get better sleep than what I realized. We kept him in a bassinet until he was like six or seven months, basically until he was too big for it. Then we moved him over to a crib. His bassinet was in our room, the crib was in his room. It was a big transition for me.<br />
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When it came to Evangeline things were more difficult. She was a cluster feeder. She liked to eat every two hours. So she woke me up a lot at night, and she didn't really sleep through the night until she was almost a year old. She started in a bassinet co-sleeper, and stayed there for a good long time, then I moved her to a crib but put it in the spare bedroom so I didn't have to trek all the way across the house to get to her, instead I just slept in there with her. Finally after Kevin protested enough times I left her in there and went to sleep in my own bedroom. This, it turns out was just what I needed to do to get her to sleep through the night.<br />
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So at this point she has been sleeping through the night quite well. I have been wanting to move her into the kid's room so that she isn't all by herself in the spare room. But I just haven't gotten around to it yet. Then today Kevin and I started talking about it and how it would be nice to move the hope chest out and put the crib where it was. Kevin was too sleepy today to help me with it before work so tonight before the kids went to bed I cleared out the area for the crib and drug it out of the spare bedroom and into the kid's room. I won't say it was easy, in fact it was quite a lot of work. But now it is done and based on how quiet it is I think it is successful so far. We shall see if Evangeline sleeps through the night or not. I am crossing my fingers.Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17954609449994367606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773033129881597134.post-49968065530364704742014-03-19T10:13:00.000-05:002014-03-19T10:13:39.788-05:00Zip Zip ZippersDavy has recently (as in within the last few months or so) figured out how to work zippers. He loves to use his new found knowledge on things like his jacket, toy containers that are closed with zippers, and his jammies. This has led to some of the more numerous of his toy messes, as well as his tendency to come out of his room in the morning without his jammies on. Today the kids were playing happily in the other room and I decided to check on them. I called both their names, Davy came up happily and said, "Hi Mama!" Evangeline giggled happily every time I said her name and eventually came over, as she rounded the corner I noticed that she was naked except for her diaper. "Someone" had helped her unzip her jammies and take them off. It is fun to see how "helpful" Davy can be when it comes to his sister.Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17954609449994367606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773033129881597134.post-10410904919034953552013-12-07T22:38:00.001-06:002013-12-07T22:38:55.469-06:00ChristmasOne of my memories from my childhood is going to look at lights. It usually happened when we went to visit my grandparents out in Iowa. Everyone would pile into one car and we would drive around the small town of Boone Iowa looking at all the lights. There were some nice houses but after awhile it got too warm and our little drive got too long and I would become bored and ready to go back to Grandma and Grandpa's house. I have thought about taking drives with Davy to go look at lights, but in the previous years he hasn't been all that interested.<br />
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This year however things are changing. Wednesday night we went over to visit my parents, they were setting up their tree and wanted us to come over to help. After helping and then socializing for a bit we got ready to go home. Nana took Davy outside and walked down the sidewalk with him a bit to look at the neighbor's lights, Nana hasn't had a chance to get her lights up yet. Once we got everyone in the car and took off all Davy could talk about was the lights and the colors and how it was all "so pretty". So I decided to drive us around a bit before going home. We drove through my parent's subdivision and there were some pretty houses. Then I started on home. Davy was happy as long as there were lights to look at, but as we drove through town the houses got sparse and the businesses became more frequent. He was a bit upset by this by the time we got to our street. So I decided to explore our neighborhood a bit before going home. I drove down a few streets and then down one I saw a house that was flashing and bright. So I drove down the street and discovered it was a house with dancing lights. Dancing lights (as I like to call them) is where the homeowner has set up the lights on their house to flash or dance to songs. They usually have everything set to broadcast the songs to a radio station, so you pull up in front of their house, tune your radio to the station they have posted in their front yard and then watch the lights dance to the music. I don't remember how long we sat and watched and listened but Davy LOVED it! I foresee more light viewing drives in our future.<br />
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On Thursday we set up the tree. Davy helped us to decorate it, and now keeps trying to take ornaments off the tree. We have tried to erect a barrier around the tree, but it doesn't deter him much. He is excited by it all though. I have made a few paper ornaments this year, which are currently on the tree but may end up hanging from the ceiling. We will see.Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17954609449994367606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773033129881597134.post-74473517466722578082013-11-13T09:28:00.000-06:002013-11-13T09:28:46.737-06:00Talking, reading, and cutenessLately Davy has begun to talk more and more and in complete sentences. The other day he walked up to Kevin and said, "Daddy, I want to watch Dinosaur Train." (his new favorite show) And just Monday we were in the car and Evangeline started to fuss and Davy reached over, took her hand and said, "Evangeline, what's wrong?" So cute!<br />
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Davy is also reading a lot now. Lately he will read me the books he chooses for our bedtime story, and I know he is reading and not reciting memorized words because he will come to a word he has a problem with and look to me for help with it. He now knows how to read over 100 words, knows his colors, shapes, can write his uppercase letters and lowercase letters and is now writing some of the words he knows. For example he will draw a sun and then write the word SUN. He can draw most of his shapes, he still has problems with stars and octagons and such, but he can draw squares, rectangles, ovals, hearts, and diamonds. We have been working with him on drawing "The Star of David" as an alternate to the 5 pointed star. Kind of ironic since it has been the first star he has been able draw.<br />
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The kids have been playing really well together lately. Evangeline has been getting around by butt scooting everywhere. And Davy seems to like the fact that she is much more mobile and can now play with him. He likes to share, and sometimes not share, his toys with her. She has her four front teeth all coming in right now. Only two have really broken through, one on the top and one on the bottom, but they are all pushing their way out. She has been saying Mama, Mom, Dada a lot lately. It is super cute. These past two weeks everyone has had a cold, but we are now almost all over it.Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17954609449994367606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773033129881597134.post-86703103456532739502013-11-07T09:30:00.000-06:002013-11-07T09:30:57.231-06:00Eva UpdateEvangeline has now had about 3 to 4 weeks of physical therapy and one week of developmental therapy. The physical therapist has been working with her on crawling, crossing mid-line, and her head tilt. We have been working with her on all of her exercises, mostly the kneeling exercise she is to be doing to help her crawl. But we have also been working with crossing mid-line. We need to do more work with some of her relaxing exercises. What we have found is that Eva tends to hold herself rather stiff, she likes to tense up whenever she is upset or frustrated. So we have been working with her on relaxing. Kevin has been a huge help with everything and gets a good amount of her therapy done while he is taking care of the kids in the morning. Eva is getting closer and closer to crawling and has finally gotten past sleeping with a swaddler. We are seeing progress!!Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17954609449994367606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773033129881597134.post-64870810047496543342013-10-01T12:51:00.000-05:002013-10-01T12:51:02.629-05:00Torticollis and MRIEvangeline has Torticollis, which is basically a head tilt. We can't really tell how long she has had it because it is rather slight and because of this we didn't notice it right away. My mom was the one who noticed it first. After she suggested that we bring it up to the doctor we scheduled an appointment with him and he told us to take her to a physical therapist. The physical therapist got us set up with a group that will send physical therapists, developmental therapists, and occupational therapists to our house to do therapy with her. They came by yesterday and did an evaluation of Evangeline. They are going to work with her on her torticollis, as well as on crawling, standing, cruising, and walking. They are also going to work with her on helping her sleep through the night. Yay!!<br />
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Last Thursday I took Evangeline in for her 9 month check up, the doctor decided that there was a small chance like 1% chance that the torticollis might be caused from some neurological issue, so he ordered a MRI for her. We took her in for that today. She was put under for the MRI so we were a good bit concerned for her. But as we don't like to chance things (seeing that it was a 10% chance that Kevin would get cancer again when he got it the second time) we decided it was better to check than to leave things to chance. We got the results back already and everything came back completely normal. I feel much better about that. Now we know that we just have to do her neck exercises with her and everything will be ok. Stressful week, but everything has turned out good so far.Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17954609449994367606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773033129881597134.post-14554356230972979032013-07-31T08:25:00.001-05:002013-07-31T08:25:22.333-05:00LoveDavy loves baby Evangeline, and baby Evangeline loves Davy. How do I know? The little giggles when they see each other, the way she reaches out to him and smiles at him. The way he smiles at her and tries to feed her. The fact that he shares his toys with her. The fact that a toddler and a 7 month old baby seem to have inside jokes! What is up with that!? Seriously I am going to have to be careful with them, they are both very bright little kids and they have already started ganging up against me on things. One of them will do something sort of naughty and when I get after them they will look at each other and laugh. They are fun. And it is fun to see our children love each other as siblings. It is awesome to watch a child who is just barely talking and a baby who doesn't talk at all "get" each other so well. Children are awesome!Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17954609449994367606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773033129881597134.post-25124195726221908992013-07-31T08:19:00.001-05:002013-07-31T08:19:45.971-05:00Potty!On July 27th, last Saturday, Davy used the potty for the first time. He pooped in it! I know putting bodily functions on an online blog seems strange but we were thrilled! We cheered for him and clapped and made a big deal about it. And this morning after waking up with a dry diaper Davy peed in the potty as well! We are so proud of him and though I don't look forward to the stress of potty training, I do look forward to this next step in toddler-hood. Hurray for Davy!!Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17954609449994367606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773033129881597134.post-87896349344989421692013-05-30T23:12:00.001-05:002013-05-30T23:12:58.471-05:00Sight wordsDavy has started to learn his sight words we have been going over them with him for a while now. When I say that he's been learning his sight words I mean he's been learning to read them. He already has quite a few words down that he can read now such as cat, yellow, dog, milk. Sight words are words that you can't use phonics to sound out. Davy uses phonics for quite a few of the words that he reads but he has been learning to read his sight words as well. It has been a lot of fun lately to watch him learn, he has also started to try to write some of the words that he knows how to read. He really is an amazing little boy!Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17954609449994367606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773033129881597134.post-42546684552002936072013-05-13T09:07:00.003-05:002013-05-13T09:07:30.486-05:00TreeYesterday at church we pulled out one of the books we bring to keep Davy busy, it is an 100 words book, and some of the things it covers is fruits and veggies. So Davy was looking through the book and trying to read some of the words. He got to the fruits and vegetables page and saw the broccoli and said, "Tree" Kevin, who was watching him, pointed at the broccoli and said, "broccoli" then he sounded out the word for Davy while running his finger beneath the word. Davy looked at the word, looked at the picture then ran his finger under the word and said, "Tree." Yep I am pretty sure I know what broccoli will be referred to for some time now. Davy is doing better and better at reading. He sounds out words and has been learning a lot. He really seems to like the fact that he can learn a word by sounding it out. He is such a fun little boy!Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17954609449994367606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773033129881597134.post-51737873002108037352013-05-05T23:47:00.001-05:002013-05-05T23:47:56.086-05:00ReadingLately we have been having Davy watch shows that teach reading as well as play with games on the tablet that also teach reading. He already knows all his letters and their sounds and can write pretty much all of them now. So today he was carrying around some of his letter flashcards and was saying the sound and the letters and I decided to see if he knew any small words. So I went and got his magnadoodle and wrote "BAT" and said, "What does that say?" And Davy looked at it, ran his finger under it and said, "Bat". Then I wrote CAT and he knew that, I tried him on DOG, HAT, SUN, and he knew all of them. I called Kevin in and told him about it and showed him Davy reading. Kevin got excited about it and pulled out Davy's Matchbox cars and began writing colors on the magnadoodle. Black Car, White Car, Orange Car, Red Car, Blue Car. Turns out Davy knows them all. So not only does he know how to read by sounding out words but he also knows words by sight. We made flashcards quite awhile ago with different colors and their names on them. This is where he learned those words from. Smart little boy! I can't wait to see what he learns next. I do find it awesome that at 2 years and 3 months old Davy has shown us that he has learned to read.Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17954609449994367606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4773033129881597134.post-32701261350054216692013-05-05T11:46:00.000-05:002013-05-05T11:46:02.521-05:00Tickle TickleThe other day I was tickling Davy with my ponytail and was saying, "Tickle, tickle, tickle." Davy was giggling and giggling and then he looked up at me and said, "Tickle tickle little star?" It was so cute! Lately he has been saying more and more of songs that he likes. And very often he will talk along with shows that he likes and has watched multiple times. It is a lot of fun to watch him pick up more and more words.<br />
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I also discovered recently that Evangeline is super ticklish and that I can get her squealing and giggling pretty easily because of it. It has been a lot of fun tickling her and getting to know her sweet little personality. She and Davy get along pretty well. She loves to watch him and he likes to pet her and try to give her things.They are cute to watch together.Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17954609449994367606noreply@blogger.com0