Weddings and hot ears

My little guy bad ear infection over the weekend... I guess looking back he probably started acting funny earlier in the week but I didn't pick up on the cues. He just got a little extra needy, but was still in good spirits and sleeping for the most part so what do I know?

My niece Paige got married Friday evening and at the reception he was awful grumpy and even MORE needy. He threw up on the way home... and no little throw up either. It was bad. I was on Ian duty and Matthew got the other kids in and took care of Ian's HUGE mess he made so I didn't have to. Thank goodness... yuck! I am sure I could have handled it if I had to, but I was sure grateful for Matthew!

He fell asleep and wouldn't lay down, he finally fell all the way asleep with his little chubby hand holding on to his left ear. Bad night, I had to hold him upright all night. I know I fell asleep at least once because I was holding him up on a pillow and somehow he ended up sideways in between Matthew and I, sleeping... which was good, sleep is good. Saturday morning, first thing, we ran into the doctor's office and she said there was a little fluid on one side and then looked at the other and said "Oh yes! Oh, this one's bad! It's red and bulging and dull!" She prescribed meds and sent us on our way.

Later that night he was still in a bad way, in spite of Motrin and Tylenol. At Melissa's suggestion I called the doctor and had them call in pain drops (which as good to have in the family anyway...) and they helped but they are needed every 1-2 hours! So, another bad night. He was feeling better last night though, it was very obvious and he slept well and is napping again this morning so he's on the mend. He's the only of the three kids that gets really lovey and needy when he's sick, the other's tend to want to be left alone! It's kind of nice actually!

Paige's wedding and reception was beautiful with a gorgeous setting in Ami's back yard and yummy food. The only down side was Ian's ear and Dylan's bowels, but that's a whole nother story right? Otherwise perfect evening! The kids seemed to have a good time with all of the people and family holding and playing with them.

The wedding was at the LDS temple Fridiay morning and we were planning to take all of the kids and having Melissa and Ami's other kids watch them in the waiting room but we got lucky! My mom stopped by to bring us peaches and asked what we were doing, I mentioned the wedding and she offered to tend! She tended... and cleaned. She said I looked tired so she wanted to make sure I could come home and rest if at all possible so she did the dishes, picking up the kitchen and she ran some laundry through and folded it! She even did the kid's socks that had been on the couch for two weeks (I hate socks!). AWESOME.

We had our anatomy ultrasound last week and fortunately managed to not see any bits of anatomy that we weren't supposed to! Yay! So I just need to stay out of the ultrasound check up room at the doctor's office and we will be home free. Every time the doctor gets to the machine he wants to go exploring so maybe if we just stay out of that room?

It was measuring one single day ahead, so right on time, at 11 ounces. It was moving around so much we didn't get any really great pictures though, at one point it flipped right to left which the tech appreciated because it gave her a better look at the baby's spine. I told her I would prefer lots of movement and bad pictures over no movement and good pictures so it's all good. We will have the real thing soon enough. All of the major parts got the all clear, everything looks good. Now for more waiting and growing!

A bunch of nieces and nephews came over the other night and drew on the sidewalk with chalk all over and then the way down the neighbor's sidewalk. I thought it was adorable... but Matthew got up bright and early and washed it off so it wouldn't bother the neighbors. He got busted by Dana when she was going out for her morning walk though and she yelled at him, turned out she loved the art work. I knew she would! She's not the type to hate it but Matthew insisted. She made him feel nice and bad about washing it though. Now I have to have everyone come back and draw some more!

Dylie and her walker (Her pony is funny because Pat's out of practice dodging with a spoon and she got butterscotch pudding in it!)


The very first, Shannon approved, vinyl sticker that's made it to my car. Isn't it super fabulous!?


Crawling into funny places.


See, told you. Aweful proud of himself though!


It was the random foot on the counter that I had to get a picture of.


When the cousins were over. Love Elijah and Ian checking eachother out!


Matthew insists all babies don't look alike in the womb, just ours... but Ian and the new baby look like twinners! This is Ian.


This is the new baby.

Minor panic attack

Had myself a little freak out today... I took a test in to Dylan's preschool and picked up some paperwork that they had for me and got a little bit of a reality check. There were kids, everywhere... I mean, everywhere. It was the changing of the guards and kids and parents were all over, going potty, washing hands... getting name tags, writing names on boards for wearing the right colors...

Oh. my. word. The whole thing had me thinking that my kids were going to be preschool drop outs because their mother couldn't handle it.

One mom had a double stroller and her preschooler but how could I even do that? Two babies, a non-walker, her walker... and my head started to explode thinking about it!

The parents are supposed to park across the street and walk over since there's just a tiny parking lot and it's reserved for staff and busted kids. Crossing the street, with four littles and a walker in the middle of February. Egads! So, one step at a time. Get a busted kid pass to park close.

Next step, call and whine to Matthew that I need a remote start on my car so I could leave my little littles in the car while I ran the other two in without fear of someone stealing the car. Or the kids, yea, them too..., because who wouldn't want them too right? If I got both of those things, I cold park so close in the back lot and run in and out without taking 45 minutes just to get in the building!

Panic attack!

So these are the things that people think about before getting pregnant again! I am enlightened!

PIcture Day 2010 - Thank goodness it's over!

Jill and I decided the time was up and we needed to get the job done when it came to this year's pictures so, at the nudging of her... I reluctantly agreed. It was time. So we got up bright and early Monday morning and head on over to Aunt Kristen's house to get a job done. Kristen's house couldn't have been MORE perfect as a backdrop! (Thanks Uncle Gary for all that yard maintenance... now we have a whole new reason to enjoy it!

Jill's help was priceless. She's a smart girl, she knows if she helps me I will help her, we are scheduled to revisit Kristen's to take her kids' pictures next Tuesday! It's a mutually beneficial relationship! There's no way I could do it without her putting Sugar (the dog) on my head and jumping around behind me like a monkey. In fact, the best shots of Duncan are when she was playing peek a boo with him behind a tree.

Don't tell him I told you but Matthew's not quite as much help on picture day. I wanted to get up early and do it last week when he was off a few days in a row, 'early' being the first problem. Then, he really thought we needed to do it when Kristen was there to help... ummhmm. Like we couldn't do it? I mean... if Jill and I can do it while wrangling 5 or 6 kids, I think he and I could have handled wrangling three. BUT, I can't say I blame him. You leave absolutely exhausted, miserable, and questioning whether at least one out of the 600 that you took actually worked. It's not a fun time, and if I could get out of it too I totally would!

Duncan was by far my most difficult subject. He was so hard to get to smile because he's in that horrible stage where he has no idea how to intentionally smile! He has no idea he's pulling the face that he is, Matthew made the same face back and Duncan stopped short and looked at him like "Why in the world are you looking at me like that?"

And Dylan - Well, the little princess isn't that photogenic. She's just not, for every one good picture I have of her I have 50 that weren't so good. It's just the way she moves, or looks, or her little crazy eye. It's all good... but we did leave thinking that the picture we had would "just be Dylie." I took three times as many of her as I did Duncan and there were SEVERAL keepers. She looks adorable! Jill was playing with her and her baby and some of them look like "'Aunt Jill, are you going to give me my baby now?" but most are just plain adorable.

On a different subject, we are having some major success in the potty training department! So... note for next time. It's okay to stop and start over if he's not ready! Again, there's no sense in my training myself, so waiting was definitely the right thing to do. He's been doing so well!!! No wet accidents since the very first day. I am wicked proud of my little dude.

And, before I forget again... Matthew's cousin Monika called me and asked me what she should teach her kids to do when they see someone with special needs. I had no idea! I guess I had only thought about what was wrong to do when people are around Dylan, not what was right! I didn't know what to say... but, I have had a lot of time to think about it now and I think I might have an answer. I hope I am not too far off from what I shared on the phone.

People come up to me all the time and ask about Dylan's braces. I frequently get "Are those to help her walk", "Do those hold her feet right?" "Can I ask what those are for?" and I love love love answering people. "How long will she have them?" Is a follow up that I also don't mind answering. (FYI, the answer is that she will likely have them forever! Lots of fun colors and patterns are coming her direction!)

So I guess the answer (which I think is what I said...) is to just ask! I am trying to imagine what it will be like when Dylan's in a wheelchair and I don't think I would mind at all if someone said "Why does she have a wheel chair?" or "Can she walk?" Just like I've gotten "Why does she have that?" and "Can she eat at all?" When people ask about her button.

I would much rather have someone ask than to try (and fail) at ignoring the big elephant in the room!

"Duncan, smile at mom!"


And the famous 'you' face


Obviously someone got in trouble for something.



Here's a slide show of all the keepers! Winna winna! (You can click the little 'x' on the bottom right to make the ad go away.)

Bragging, big time...

Yup, this whole post is bragging. I have a great family, what can I say? I am always amazed how much I seriously lucked out!

Duncan's taken to making his own train tracks with his Geo Trax. He takes apart the track that's carefully put together as the set's instructed and makes his own routes. I think it would help to have a never ending tack so I quickly closed the loop and Duncan looked at me and said "No... No Oval!!" What? Oval? I said "What? Did you just say 'no oval' to me??"

Stars and hearts too Grandma LouAnn has a star on the front of her house, we pulled up the other day and Duncan goes "Look mom, a star!" I asked Matthew if he'd ever pointed it out and he said he hadn't, random!! When I was sorting clothes I pulled out a little sweatshirt of Dylan's and Duncan ran by and pointed, "Hearts!" then "lots of little hearts!"

And counting, the other night he held up two fingers, "two dad, two." Matt said "two." The Duncan said "three... four... three... four... five... dad, five." Holding up the corresponding fingers.

This is all so out of left field. We knew he knew two, but not the fingers... though he will point to two things, give two kisses and all that. He's just such a a sponge right now... and to think I said, only a short couple months ago, that I didn't think he was ready for preschool. Bah!! I started this post a couple of days ago an even this information seems like old news now!

He also started saying "I love you" back... mark this on the calendar folks! It only took almost three years to get some pay backs on the thousand of "I love you's" that I've thrown his way, not to mention everyone else's'! Matthew took his face in his hands and said "Duncan, you're a good boy, I love you" and Duncan grabbed his face back and said "I love you too dad, and kissed his cheek." So you know mom had to try it when I heard about it! He loves me! He reaaaally loves me!!

We've also started potty training again and the first day he had a couple of wet accidents but he stopped himself and finished on the pot. Not wet (er... solid?) accidents are another story, but one step at a time. Since then though he's held his own really well and we've made some great success in this little area, yay Duncan! It doesn't hurt that we got some Thomas underwear and he gets a chocolate "num-num" (M&M) every time he goes right? He's really proud of himself and a big thanks to everyone who we've bragged to in person for making such a big deal out of it. (including Uncle Kiko who I know could care less!)

And for Dylan, she hasn't ever clapped her hands together (sometimes when she's mad, but I think that's just random flailings...), she doesn't like to hold two objects at the same time, much less bang them together to make a fun noise. The other night in the wee ours of the morning she was singing (yes, she woke Ian up, who will be moving to Duncan's room shortly...) so I went in to give her a couple ounces of water, some Tylenol for her UTI (I think that's why she's been waking in the middle of the night) and change her diaper. I handed her a little penguin rattle and she held it in her left hand and was hitting it with her right to make the rattle... rattle.

Now, I am no therapist, but I consider this 'hands working together' bit to be a step in the right direction. I was really super happy to see it and in my sleepy stupor, tried to encourage it.

We are also working on having her put things in containers... now, why would any sane person let go of some great thing that they have found? Simply because someone asks them to? Well I guess... I take her and face her with her back against a pillow and the couch, my legs around her, and there's formula can in between us. I have found these heavy music blocks make a great noise when dropped into the can, so we hand her another and hope when she drops the first it will go in the can. Then we celebrate. Yayyyy! She's actually getting better at dropping the toy when we guide her hand to the can, no longer holding on for dear life like three or four weeks ago. That's improvement too right?

Thursday and Friday I noticed a HUGE improvement with her pulling to a stand around the house with her AFOs on. FABULOUS! (Thought Saturday she seemed to take a break, she goes through phases but they get longer and longer.) She is getting a lot better although, I can tell she doesn't feel stable enough to take a step. She's so funny though, standing she keeps trying to let go and just stand there... I appreciate the effort baby girl, but we aren't quite there yet. We will be, oh we will be... but not yet.

And Ian, well, aside from cutting both of the additional teeth I mentioned is also pulling to a kneel around the house and to a stand in the shopping cart! What?! Noooo... Okay, I know some kids walk earlier than 10 months but I have kind of prided myself on holding back my "normal" kids from being mobile, and he's just not cooperating with the plan. I had him sitting in the big basket and he pulled up and was standing, facing forward, holding on for the ride. Having a great time! Him, being in the 10th percentile with height and all it's just his little noggin that's peeking out over the top of the basket. Although unacceptable, it's still pretty darn cute.

Again, that was Friday... I guess once they do it once they try all over the place? There he is on Saturday, standing at the play table, crawling in the bathroom and standing up to the tub. What? Nooo... bad Ian! Bad!

And on to bragging about my husband... he and I celebrated our Anniversary this week! Big old number 5! He, of course, spoiled me and I, of course, followed directions and didn't even get him anything! We aren't supposed to get presents for each other on these random days because we'd rather just get present all year long... see how this works? Or, doesn't work because he doesn't behave. Which, according to his mom, is just the way it's supposed to be, the wife gets spoiled! She taught him well!

Regardless of the gifts, I am so lucky to have him in my life. He is the best dad EVER, really... I am not kidding. Right now I am listening him sing Duncan a song before Duncan drifts off to dream land. He really does put in as much parenting effort as I do, and when he's home on the weekends he tried to make up for the time he's missed during the week by turning it up to 150%.

He's also my best friend who I can talk to about anything in the world. I am soooo lucky! But, MOST of all, he puts up with me! Can you believe it? He puts up with all of the cranky, tired, moody and feistiness that just doesn't translate well to the blog! Shut up! I know, right? I can't even believe it myself. He puts up with it and he still seems to like me in the end! Yay me!

And now to unbrag my mothering. Look where I found Dylan the other day, fast asleep. I swear she didn't make her normal 'I'm tired' noises and I would know, I was RIGHT there! Her food was even warming! Poor baby!


Tucked in all sweet when I moved her...


Duncan, chillin' watching TV in the laundry basket. He looks so big right? Good thing I have the ever-baby because the other two are growing up WAY too fast!

This morning, right after she woke up, bed head and all. Look how cute they are in their little jammies!

They love playing together! It's really fun to watch.

Top 20 Reasons Moms of Kids with Special Needs Rock

Love this! It's from a blogging mom at Love that Max. Some are a little too 'pat yourself on the back' for me... but most of them are superbly awesome so definately worth the re-post.

1) Because we never thought that "doing it all" would mean doing this much. But we do do it all -- and then some.

2) Because we've discovered patience we never knew we had.

3) Because we are willing to do something 10 times, 100 times or 1,000 times if that's what it takes for our kids to learn something new.

4) Because we have heard doctors tell us the worst, and we've refused to believe them. Take THAT, naysaying doctors of the world!

5) Because we have bad days and breakdowns and bawl-fests, and then we pick ourselves up and keep right on going.

6) Because we gracefully handle the stares, the comments, the rude remarks. (Well, mostly gracefully.)

7) Because we manage to get ourselves together and get out the door looking pretty damn good. Heck, we even make sweatpants look good!

8) Because we are strong. Man, are we strong. Who knew we could be this strong?

9) Because we aren't just moms, wives, cooks, cleaners, chauffeurs and women who work. We are moms, wives, cooks, cleaners, chauffeurs, women who work, physical therapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, teachers, researchers, nurses, coaches and cheerleaders. Whew!

10) Because we work overtime every single day.

11) Because we also worry overtime, but we work it through. Or we eat chocolate or Pirate's Booty or gourmet cheese (which aren't reimbursable by insurance as mental-health necessities, but should be).

12) Because we are more selfless than other moms. Our kids need us more.

13) Because we give our kids with special needs endless love, and then we still have so much love left for our other kids, our husbands, our families. And our hairstylists, of course.

14) Because we inspire one another in this crazy blogosphere every single day.

15) Because we understand our kids better than anyone else -- even if they can't talk; even if they can't gesture; even if they can't look us in the eye. We know. We just know.

16) Because we never stop pushing for our kids.

17) Because we never stop hoping for them, either.

18) Because just when it seems like things are going OK, they're suddenly not OK, but we deal. Somehow, we always deal -- even when it seems like our heads or hearts might explode.

19) Because when we look at our kids, we just see great kids -- not kids with cerebral palsy/autism/Down syndrome/developmental delays/whatever.

20) Because ... well, you tell me.

I knew it!!

I mentioned that the test a week ago said that Dylan's bladder infection was gone but I had my suspicions, what I didn't mention was that I took the poor little thing in for another urine culture on Friday. The truth is, the doctor I saw there, who wasn't our normal Pediatrician made me think I was crazy! The initial 'dip' came back negative, no trace of white blood cels, no nothing. They kind of give you that sympathetic, condescending, you're nuts look sometimes... he pushed on where she might be sore, kidneys, yada yada, saying he didn't think anything was wrong at all. Her urine looked a little concentrated so maybe that was the problem and told us to push water and sent us on our way.

The doctor said the can tell if there's something the next day (though they don't identify the strain until day two) and he was working Saturday morning so he would talk to the culture guy in the morning and call to let me know. He didn't call, of course.

When we got home Sunday night there was a call from the Peds office asking for a Pharmacy number. BOOOYAH!

Turns out it did culture out some random strain of bacteria that's resistant to her profolaxis. It's different from the strain that got her a couple weeks ago too! Bah!! It's a whole new infection. This particular strain is resistant to quite a few drugs and the nurse was a wee but surprised it didn't show up on the 'dip'. Dylan's doctor is leaving her on the same profolaxis because it covers most things but she got a new prescription called in today to combat this new bug.

Now, see... I am trying not to be boastful here but... I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT! Again!! Momma's over here doing her happy dance because the doctor made me second guess my spidey sense and think I was crazy!! Booyah! I knew it!!! What's that? I am awesome? Why yes, yes... awesome indeed!!

Okay, I got that out. I feel better, just wish the doctor was here to see my happy dance, that would make me feel all the more better!

Doctors don't always know best!!

Appointment after appointment!

I started this post a couple of days ago but my loving, wonderful, amazing husband was off work the last couple of days to help me with all of the appointments and he tends to stay up late playing silly boy games on his computer. He didn't set my computer back up for me to do pictures so alas, one whole week between posts! Blech! Anyway... Dylan got her walker this week, her Gait Trainer. It's pretty cute, little tiny, but heavier than she is! It's green, kind of an uglier green than we expected but the only other option was blue, so green it is. I need to borrow my mom's bejeweler and deck it out. I am not sure where we go from here though. Mike will come over for another consult and the PT at the school asked me to bring it to school with her, more on that in a second.

I took Ian to his 9 month well-baby check and he's short ad fat! He's only in the tenth percentile for height and weight for height is in the 50th! He's 18.8 lbs and 27 inches tall. He also cut tooth #5 on Wednesday, on the top right and his working on the match set. He's woken up a couple times in the night (or... rather Dylan's woken him and he hasn't gone back to sleep. Turkey.) We've had a few very long nights for everyone but Duncan who has slept through it all and popped up bright and early as usual.

I went to the OB on Friday and again the doctor tried to get a peek at parts he shouldn't be looking at. I stopped him, again. So funny! I did get to see the baby though, both arms were up against the sides of it's head looking really cute. No heart rate this time though. We scheduled our ultrasound for the end of the month, mama LouAnn will have all three kiddos!

We took Duncan and Dylan to the dentist Wednesday for the first time ever. I think the dentist was like... 9. He was really super nice, but so young! Funny! Dylan cooperated while they did pictures or her teeth but that's about it. She was not having a cleaning/polishing so they just brushed with fluoride and sent her on her way. Her first x-ray of the top didn't show her permanent teeth so they re-took it for me to see what they would look like. They are pretty funny looking. She will have single central incisor (some HPE kiddos do when they are kids, but not their adult teeth) and her teeth are pretty rounded. Though, not as pointy as her teeth now, rounded just the same. The central incisor is about in proportion with the other teeth as her baby incisor is.

He did say that tube fed kids have more build up and they 'make them sleepy' to clean them but they don't usually do it until it gets pretty bad. He said if we notice some staining not to worry about it... it's normal. Try to keep brushing her teeth because they really look good now. I have not been so good with her brushing, she HATES it, and they look good? Egads, I lucked out right? I better get brushing!!

Duncan was fabulous! I think we benefit from Dylan's doctor visits. I always tell him "Dylan's going to see the doctor" and he said "My see doctor too?" and I say yes, because... well, he will see them. However, he's not really in on the action right? With the dentist he was so great! He let them do everything they needed to do, clean and 'count' his teeth. His adult teeth are GOOFY, Matthew said they are his. They are big and look awkward right now. It was kind of fun to see them. He has a little chip on his front tooth which the doctor said is quite normal for active boys and no big deal.

We took Dylan back to the doctor to make sure her Bladder infection is gone. It looks like it is... nothing cultured out, but I have my suspicions. We are going to try and push a lot of water in the next couple of days and see if maybe her not getting enough liquid is adding to the problem.

I also took my car in to get the claim rolling on my little fender bender and, I think I had the course of events a little incorrect. I thought she was stopped and started going and ran in to me, turns out, she probably wasn't ever stopped! Her insurance only allows the initial claim to include what they can see and the bumper is smashed over the tailgate so they couldn't assess the internal damage. As for now, it's about $1500 BUT... she was going fast enough that the steel reinforcements for the bumper are bent down about 3-4 inches (down because she probably was braking fast as she hit me). They expect more damage and possibly even frame damage. Okay, so I guess I got nailed then! Who knew? The final tally will probably come in closer to $3500. Yowza! Fortunately I get another van while they work on it, starting next week. Still boo, but good that that ball's rolling I suppose. I do NOT like that gals insurance agency, shouldn't everyone be treated as a potential customer? They have been rather rude... so, all my 4 loyal readers, boo to State Farm!

And on to Dylan's school evaluation - I went in on Friday for Dylan's school evaluation. Basically a BUNCH of people, her team, all sat on mini-chairs around a mini-table and talked about what she can do. It didn't take long before several of them dodged the table and went right on the floor with Dylan so see what exactly she is capable of. It was AMAZING. I loved them. Here I have built myself back up to being scared of the IEP again and then I go in and I have been reassured that she's in the right hands!

I spent a lot of time with the Physical Therapist, the Vision Therapist and the Occupational Therapist as well as her over all care coordinator and we talked about the things that they can work on. Boy, they hit everything that we have been working on right on the head!! They nailed it.

- They realized very quickly that music is a motivator for her and that will work better than treats for rewards. (Just like we used to do for feeding!)
- She already got a piece of chewelry, a squiggly necklace that she will hopefully like enough to put in her mouth rather than, well... everything else.
- They will start by giving her choices of things, then start associating pictures with the things and having her make choice of pictures. This is great because there's numerous iPad programs that will allow you to upload your own pictures to provide choices for non-verbal kiddos.
- I am supposed to try a hat with a brim for the outside play times. She HATES the sun and we are hoping that will help.
- They will work on having her play in a peer group. Recognize that the group is all doing one thing and have her go along with it, rather than doing her own thing.
- Attending to activities for a period of time.
- Turn taking with others.
- Recognizing her name when she's in a group of people. I think she 'gets' her name, but we are the only ones here... so try it when there are more people around to see if it's us speaking that gets her attention or her name.
- Clapping, with people, with music.
- Working on having her recognize when we tell her she's not supposed to have something. She said plant some things she should have next to things she should and work on redirecting so she learns no.

Speaking of which, she was headed to take a toy away from Ian the other day and I put my arm in front of her and said "No, that's Ian's, you go find something else!" and she pulled her hand back, looked at me, and moved on. She listened to me!

These things will be converted to goals and written on her IEP when we meet again on the 8th but over all I was very encouraged that they could spend just a short amount of time with her and come up with such good, relevant, goals!

Also - Another sign that they really do have her best interest in mind - She told me they were able to get both Duncan and Dylan into a morning class! Originally I told her Dylan's better in the morning but, because there was no room in the morning classes for Duncan we had to go to the afternoon class. (Dylan can have whatever class she wants! It was getting Duncan in that was the trick.) Apparently they had a cancellation and she said she immediately thought of Dylan! It was so thoughtful for her to think of us even though it had been a few months and it would have been easier just to go with what the plan was. Every time I meet them I am just a little more convinced that they like the busted ones more than the non-busted ones! Granted, I haven't seen them in action with the non-busted ones, but to get that impression? I just think she will be in such good hands! Yay!

Because of the picture and choice conversation I mentioned the iPad and that's where we intend to go with it. They had me pull it out so they could see it, and Dylan with it, in action and they were very impressed! With both! The possibilities with the iPad are amazing, they really do need one in each school to work with the kids, even for a short amount of time. They talked about getting grants and donations to save up for one.

So that's it for this week, lots of appointments!

My boys couldn't make cute faces in the same picture...


So you get two pictures of them!


The view from my porch the other night, it was gorgeous. I love having "country views" across the street. Its smells so nice... most of the time. There are usually just three horses but for the last couple of weeks there's been only two horses and three cows. The cows like to try and stare us down when we are out front.


Who me? Duncan's got this new thing "Ian play trains with me?" And I bring Ian in Duncan's room where Ian plays on the floor and Duncan plays with his trains. It's so cute, and the beginning of something GREAT!


Cute bald baby!