Spring Break-Trip to TX-Part 1

Since the end of summer/beginning of Fall of last year we have talked about going on a trip for spring break this year since Mikkele's birthday would also fall during spring break. We thought it would be a fun way to celebrate her birthday. We had a ton of different ideas, but we decided at the last minute that we would drive to San Antonio and surprise my parents. Here is the video that Aaron got. It is a different angle and a little longer than the one that I shot.

We left Sunday night about 7:30pm and drove straight through the night and got to my parents house about 8pm Monday night. It was so much fun to surprise them. Aaron and Brittany were in on the surprise and so they were there when we got there as well. That night we visited for a bit and then went to bed. We were all exhausted from driving for 23 hours straight.

TUESDAY

We spent most of the day just relaxing, shopping, and of course eating. We went to lunch at Rudy's. My old bishop/home teacher, Bishop Bohman from when we were kids came and met us for lunch. It was good to see him and his wife again. Hallie thought the ribs from Rudy's were delicious...smart girl!

WEDNESDAY

We went to a new amusement park for people with special needs called Morgan's Wonderland. They were just getting ready to have their grand opening that weekend, but we were able to get tickets for the soft opening. All of the kids had such a great time. It was so neat to see all the different rides and activities that were tailored to people with special needs. Grant had a great time! I really hope that one day we have one of these up here in UT.



A swing that we were able to put his whole wheelchair onto.



Ronnie fell asleep swinging. It was really cute.
Riding the train around the park.
Riding the carousel.


Pretending to be news/weathermen.


Mikkele's shirt blended in with the green wall, so the parts of her shirt that were green, blended in with the board. It was kinda funny to see.The kids got to play store.

A driving simulation.
Giddy-up horseyThis room was really cool. The pictures worked off of your shadow. The butterfly's would land on your shadow.

In this one you could catch rocks with your arms' shadow.

Remote control pirate ships. We tried to shipwreck each other. Good times.
Christian our awesome little fisherman.
Hallie wanted to touch and eat the fish.
A big tee-ter tot-er. The kids had a great time on this.
Round 2 on the train.

Round 2 on the carousel. This time we left Grant in his chair to ride. The wheelchair sea horse even went up and down just like the other animals on the carousel. Pretty cool!
We had a great time, and can't wait to go back next time we visit SA.

Easter 2010

Easter this year was quite a bit different for us. It began with a pretty big snow storm. We woke up and it looked like it was Christmas, not Easter or the beginning of the month April. It was also the beginning of our spring break and we had decided the day before that we were going to drive to TX. So we got up and the kids opened their Easter baskets and then we spent the rest of the day doing laundry, packing, cleaning and listening to conference. Once we were all packed and ready to go, we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Dorene's and had a family dinner and an Easter egg hunt with Dillon and Connor. From there, we left for TX. (See next post for details on that.)

Easter Baskets

Mikkele, Dillon, and Conner waiting patiently to start the Easter Egg Hunt. Since it was yucky weather, we had to do it inside this year.

Since General Conference was on Easter this year, the kids wore their new Easter outfits the Sunday before Easter while my mom was in town for the Scrapbook Expo. She made the girls their outfits this year. Hallie's dress matches Emma and Audrey's. And Mikkele's skirt is out of the same material. They turned out so cute. My mom really over did it this year. We didn't get a picture of all three kids together, but here is a pic of the girls.

We have had a busy last week with Easter, spring break, and Mikkele's birthday. I have a lot to post about and it's going to take a few days. In the mean time, here is a video to show what we did for spring break.

10 Months Old

I'm a little bit behind in getting Hallie's 10 month post out. The last couple weeks has been crazy busy. So here we go.....

Stats
Weight: 22 lbs. 4 oz.
Height: 28 3/4"

Other Tidbits
*Loves her blankie that her big sis made for her. She has to have it to sleep, and it's getting to the point that she wants it by her all the time.

*She got 3 teeth this last month. Her bottom 2 popped through basically together, and then her top one popped through a couple days later. Her other top one is close, but not quite through.

*She LOVES the cat. She chases after that poor cat all day long. He is so patient with her, even when she climbs all over him.

*We had some allergy testing done to help us figure out what she is allergic to. It came back that she is allergic to eggs...both the yolk and the white. There is a chance that she can outgrow this, but no eggs for her for the next 2 years. Then we will retest and see how it goes. My theory is that most of her eczema has been caused by her flu and H1N1 shots and booster shots that she received in the fall/early winter, because flu shots and MMR contain egg protein. That is about when the main skin issues started, so I'm hoping that once those are out of her system, the eczema will taper off. We still are working with her daily on trying to keep it under control. Her hands and face are the worst right now, with an slight overall scaley feel to the rest of her body. I also figured out that she is allergic to the Mirilax that we were giving her for constipation. So we have quit giving her that, but now experimenting with which is the best laxative to give her some relief in the area. I am still backing off on dairy until she is closer to one. We went back on milk based formula, but no cheeses, yogurt, etc. Now to do some experimenting with some egg substitutes so she can still have a birthday cake.
*She is starting to get a little more opinionated on what she wants to eat. She's getting more independent and wants to do things herself. Spoon feeding has been a little more difficult lately. She made it quite clear in Costco the other day that she wanted some of my fruit smoothie. And she also made it quite clear that she wanted more when I would take it away from her. It was really funny. Now I just have to find things she can feed herself that doesn't have eggs in it. Cheerios are getting a little old.

*She is getting into EVERYTHING. I haven't baby-proofed in 9 years because I never had to with Grant. She is helping me to figure out what things I need to baby proof better...like this plant. I had just finished vacuuming the entire house so I decided to take my vacuum apart and wash out the filter. While I was doing so, she dumped the plant on the floor and proceeded to eat the dirt and leaves off the plant. This is how I found her after cleaning out the vacuum...with a BIG smile on her face. Needless to say, I had to borrow a vacuum from the neighbor since mine was then out of commission. And the plant was a complete gonner. Good thing she's cute!

*She has learned how to pull herself up to a standing position. We have to make sure the crib railing is all the way up now so we don't have any accidents out of the crib. She pulls herself up along the couch and fire place. She is just starting to take steps along the couch also.

*We set up the tramp the other day. She loves to go out and bounce with the kids. She makes funny sounds while they are bouncing her.
*She still has the funniest crawl. She is getting faster and faster. It's almost a sideways crawl. Here is a short video of her from behind so you can see how she keeps her left leg bent and her right leg more straight. It's really funny to watch.

I have a hard time believing that in 2 more months my baby girl will be 1. I am excited to continue to see her personality show through. I think it's a good thing Grant will be in all day Kindergarten next year, cause I think she's gonna keep me running. Love you Hallie May!

Fun Snacks 4 Kids

I have just been introduced to this awesome blog. It belongs to Grant's wonderful preschool teacher, Miss Rachael. We have been so lucky to be on the receiving end of her great ideas. Her blog is dedicated to fun treats to do with your kids. She has such great ideas.

Right now she is doing a give away for a really cool ice cream maker. Check it out! Hurry...the contest ends on Sunday, March 21st.

Springville Women's Volleyball

My friend Michelle and I have been talking about playing volleyball together for years and it has never happened. We were all set to play last year, then we both ended up pregnant and decided that playing while 7-8 months pregnant probably wasn't the best idea. This year we went for it again and we were able to get a full team together. She recruited her friend Stephanie, and I recruited Kim who is Grant's PT and she recruited Jessica and Connie. We just lucked out to have Tia sign up without a team and she was placed on our team. She was a great asset to our team, and her husband kind of ended up being a coach to us. We had a lot of fun playing together as a team. We ended up finishing regular play tied in 5th place. We lost our game against the team we tied so they ended up taking 5th and we took 6th. For the tournament, they divided the teams into an upper bracket and a lower bracket. (We wont' say winning bracket or losing bracket cause it sounds worse.) We ended up winning the lower bracket! Since we won, we all got T-shirts that say "Springville Volleyball Champs". Ya...that's right, we're the champs! Even if it is in the lower bracket!

Back Row: Michelle, Connie, Kim, Me, and Stephanie

Front Row: Tia and Jess

During the championship game we started doing this silly victory dance of sorts. Every time we scored a point we would say "wahoo" and kick our leg up and put our hands up. It was really dorky and really cheesy and it was really bugging the other team, so we kept doing it. This is a still shot of what our cheer was like.

Showing off our prize. Stephanie's little boy Tristen was our most consistent cheerleader. So he wanted to be a part of the pictures too. And notice how Connie is giving Kim the bunny ears. Yes...we are so mature! :)

9 Months Old

Hallie turned 9 months old this last Sunday. Why is it that the 9 months of pregnancy drag on and on, but the first 9 months of a baby's life go by so quickly? It really has flown by. This last month has been a little more trying with her that the months before. She has has some minor health issues that we are trying to get figured out. Because of those, she has been super fussy and her sleeping patterns have resorted back to newborn status. I'm especially not loving the sleep part. The rest of her fussiness can be dealt with, but she turns in to a monster at night. She doesn't want to eat, she doesn't want her binki, she doesn't want to sleep. All I can figure out to help her (and me) is BENEDRYL! Don't get me wrong, she is still a really good baby, but I just know that there is something that is bothering her. She is not typically a fussy baby. I'm hoping to have that all figured out here soon.

Here is what we found out with her at her 9 month check up.

*Weight: 21 lbs. 10 oz. 94%
She has slowed down quite a bit in the weight gaining department.
*Height: 28 3/4 inches 89%
*Head: 45 1/2 cm. 90%
As far as the minor health issues go:
*She has been really constipated since January. I thought it would all go away once we got the tubes in her ears and she was off all the antibiotics. Not the case. She is now on Miralax. It is working wonders for her. So that is one issue we have under control now.
*She has had a pretty good case of Eczema. She is itching all the time. She has scabs from scratching on her head since the rest of her body is covered at during the day and night with her clothes. But if her body isn't covered with clothes for a period of time, she will scratch away. We have tried a bunch of different creams, medications, lotions, etc. Right now we are putting them on twice a day. We alternate 2 different creams for her body every other day. And there is a foam that we are using for her head and face twice a day as well. I think we are starting to get her body under control, but her head is still having issues. I'm hoping it gets resolved soon. If not, off to the dermatologist we will go.
*Our pediatrician thinks that she has a milk allergy, but there's a possibility of something else as well. And because of that, he's thinking that the eczema is a side effect of the allergy. I am usually very cautious when introducing new foods so that if there is an allergy it can be caught without having to wonder too much about what caused it. The only new food that we have tried lately are yogurt melts and a baby yogurt. I normally don't give my babies those types of dairy items until they are closer to a year in age, but these are on the baby isle and the package says they are for sitters/crawlers. So I figured it was ok. Once I started to give those to Hallie, her eyes started to get red and puffy. There was a question initially if it was just her eczema acting up, but now we are thinking allergy. So since Tuesday we have started to cut out all milk based foods and she has been changed to a soy based formula as well. We have also cut out anything with high fructose corn syrup. So no more animal crackers, or nilla wafers that she has been enjoying. We will try this for a couple months and then slowly reintroduce each item. The hope is that her body just isn't ready for those types of foods and if we give it some time she will out grow it and also we are hoping this will help with her eczema. There is always the possibility of a permanent allergy, I hope not, but we'll just have to wait and see. Whatever it is, I would just like to know what we need to do to make her more comfortable.
Things Hallie has been doing this last month in no particular order:
*She started crawling the weekend of Valentine's Day. She is getting faster and faster every day. She has kind of a silly crawl. She pushes with her right leg and drags her left leg. It's almost more of a scoot than a crawl. It gets her to where she wants to go. I think she has enjoyed this independence.

*She is able to go from sitting to crawling and then back to sitting. This came really quickly after learning to crawl.
*She moves around a lot more on the bed than on the floor. I don't know why. Maybe she thinks that since it's softer, it's safer, even though that's not the case.
*She loves to play peek-a-boo. She thinks it is the best thing ever. She would play all day if we would play along all day.
*She is vocalizing more and more each day. The sounds we are hearing are the d's, n's, m's, b's, k's (for kitty-you can kinda hear her say it as she's trying to crawl toward the cat in the video. It's quiet, but it's there.)
*We are working with her on waving hi/bye and doing "so big" by putting her hands up in the air. She can do both, but it's still a little inconsistent.Hallie doing "so big" and the silly face that comes with it.

*We moved her into her big girl car seat. This has been an adjustment. It's a lot tougher going into the store with Grant and Hallie together. So I just try to avoid it all together unless Mikkele is there to help me.
*She laughed at me the other day when I told her "no". I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.
*Her hair is getting a little longer. She doesn't like to have her headbands on her head anymore, she just pulls them off and then tries to pluck the flower petals off. She will leave in a little clip, if you can get her to sit still long enough to put it in that is. (You can see one in the video above) Mikkele got her hair into a little pony on the top of her head. It's still not quite thick enough to do too much, but it's something.If you look hard you can see the hair above the butterfly clip. It's there...I promise.

*She's getting better at feeding herself. She loves to eat puffs, cheerios, fruit leather, crackers, etc. Some of which we are having to stop for now. But she is really improving on those fine motor skills.
*She shakes her head at us to say no if she doesn't want something (food, bottle, binki). It's kinda frustrating that she's learning no already, but it's still cute.
*She has never been much of a cuddler, but she has started to want to cuddle a little more lately. It's really sweet, except when she wants to do it at 4 in the morning.

I think that's about it. I'm sure I'm missing something, but this post is long enough already. We love our cute little Hallie May! We are excited about all the different things she is learning and doing.

The Granty Boy Turns 5

My baby boy is FIVE! As I sit down to ponder my thoughts on this big milestone in his life, my heart is full and I find my self quite emotional. I hope that I can put into words all of what is in my mind right now.
I don't usually get very emotional when his birthday comes around. We usually will just reminisce on how far he has come and the advancements he's made. Can you believe this is where he started? And these are some of the better pictures with less tubing attached.This year, I have found out that a friend is going through a similar situation. However different or similar it may be, it has brought a lot of emotion to the surface and it just makes my heart ache for her and her family. I hope the best for them and their little boy!
I wonder sometimes how we made it through such a difficult time in our lives. It has not been an easy road to travel on, but it has definitely been worth every worry, every sickness, every hospitalization, every weird look, every stress. He is such a beautiful little boy. His laugh and smile bring so much joy to anyone he is around. I am so blessed to be the mother of such a special little boy.
I read a quote yesterday that has made the emotion come even closer to the surface as well.

"God doesn't give children with special needs to strong people; He gives children with special needs to ordinary, weak people and then gives them strength. Raising a child with special needs doesn't TAKE a special family, it MAKES a special family."

I don't feel like I am any stronger of a person that anybody else. I have people tell me that they admire me for being a mother of a child with special needs and all that I am still able to accomplish. While this is positive and uplifting, I don't always feel adequate to be put up to this challenge and all that comes with it. Even though I try to put on a pretty good face, don't like to admit my weaknesses. I am stubborn, I am independent, and I don't like to ask for help. But this journey has made me realize that as much as I would like, sometimes I can't do it all by myself. And I am truly grateful for everyone that has helped me out in any way over the past 5 years. I really couldn't have done it without the help of some amazing family members and friends! Our Granty boy really has helped to make our family extra special!

WHEW!
Ok....enough boobing....and onto all the festivities.

It's hard to know what theme to do for Grant's parties. We always try to make it fun, and kind of try to think of what a normal boy of that age would like. While we toyed around with different themes like Ninja Turtles, or Sports, or Trucks, etc. we decided to stick with what we know he likes. ICE CREAM! That boy could eat ice cream all day long, well he would eat period all day long if we let him. He was really funny in the weeks preceding his party. If you asked him what kind of party he was going to have, he would respond with "mmmm". He was having a "mmmm" party. "mmmm" to him means food, or more specifically ice cream. It was really cute! So we just decided to set up an ice cream bar at the house and let everyone make whatever kind of ice cream cone, sundae, banana split, etc. they wanted. It was a simple party, but he had a great time.

The invitationOnce you pulled the scoops of ice cream apart, it revealed the details of the party. It read: "I scream! You scream! Grant screams for ice cream! Come help us celebrate Grant's 5th birthday! When: Sundae, January 31st Time: 7:00pm Where: Grant's house

Grandma Dorene offered her lap as a seat for present time. He didn't want to sit in his chair to open presents. He was a wiggly little boy and kept squealing with excitement. It was cute to watch him and know that he knew it was HIS special day.

This picture shows a little bit of his excitement.

Great Grandma Gallier made him a quilt that was actually started by Great Great Grandma Ada Gallier about 55 years ago for Glenn, but never finished. A lot of the material is very old, but mixed with some new material as well. It's really warm and snuggly.

The ice cream bar-we had just about anything that you can think of that you would want on top of your ice cream. Sugar galore.

Grant's ready to dig in.

On his actual birthday, I took in some individual ice cream cups into his class to share with his friends. The kids were sure excited for their treat. Grant looks a little nervous in this picture. When I come into the classroom he thinks it's ok to fuss and cry. He is usually very calm and cooperative at school, as long as I'm not there. He wanted me to feed him the ice cream, not Miss Britt. She was a little sad that mom comes first before her. He normally wants his Miss Britt before anyone else. He loves her to pieces. Anyway...I only got this one picture before he started to freak out cause he wanted me to come feed him his ice cream. Demanding little boy! Good thing he's cute!

Overall he had a fun filled few days celebrating his birthday. He got a lot of handsome clothes, treats, yummy snacks and of course...ICE CREAM! Thanks to everyone that helped to make his birthday extra special.