"Easter" videos

Here are some video clips related to Easter.  This first one is Owen trying some sour candy he got out of an egg.



And Lewis eating a Marshmallow Duck outside of a chocolate egg (kind of like Kinder Surprise for those of you who are familiar!).

Easter

We had a good Easter!  It has been hard to figure out how to balance the reason for Easter with the activities surrounding Easter.  Hopefully in the coming years, we will do a better job of that, and if you have resources that help you, please comment and give me suggestions!! We really enjoyed dying eggs this year and hunting for eggs and several egg hunts. 

Owen's preschool class had an egg hunt at the high school and got to meet the Easter bunny.  Owen did not want to collect the eggs because they were wet.  He picked up a couple and said, "It's wet!" and threw it back on the ground.  He maybe put one or two in his "basket" and then I put 2 or 3 in there.  They must've evened them out at school because he came home with lots of eggs!  He did enjoy it though.

 We had bunny pasta (Owen and Phoebe did anyway!).  They loved it!

And then we had a lovely church cookout and egg hunt.  We have lots of great pictures from this event, but I'll just post one for now. It was Phoebe's first! And she loved her egg. :)

Then we headed to Shepherdsville/Louisville for time with our family. Phoebe loves this mirror at Grandma Linda's.  Owen loves the Monster truck! And he is super good at driving it all the sudden.

The kids hunted eggs in Louisville too.

 Phoebe got to bond with Leah, Mike, Will & Mallory.

 She showed Grandpa her egg.

It was a crazy and fun weekend.

Mandy, running and BSF

In March, Mandy came to visit from Houston.  She moved back in July, so we are thrilled when she comes to visit.  We enjoyed spending time with her, but it is always too short!  Before she moved, she was working with Lewis and Owen doing Applied Behavior Analysis and Community Living Supports through our Michelle P Waiver, and she spent a great deal of time with our boys and in and out of our home.  She's been a good friend for years, so we caught up by running and going to a Sixpence show in Nashville (video posted below).

I should mention that Mandy has influenced two major life changes in me during the past year.  Both took place AFTER she left, but I'm extremely grateful for both: BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) and running.  She got into BSF several years ago and was a leader here in Bowling Green last year.  If you're not familiar, BSF is a non-denominational Bible study that is just that--studying God's word.  With the boys' therapy schedule it had been hard for me to participate in group Bible study, and I had slacked off considerably in my personal study time too.  This year BSF all over the world has been studying the book of Acts, but also many of the epistles as well.  It has been an awesome thing for me to meet some new women, but mostly to reconnect with God and His word.  I have sensed a new love for TRUTH and it has seriously watered me like a thirsty plant.  I have soaked it in, and I am so thankful to Mandy (I call her Mandarin) for pointing me in this direction.  As a mom of two kids with special needs, it is so easy to settle into "victim" mode or throw the pity party, but when I am in God's Word I am reminded that God allows all of us to go through trials of various kinds to refine us.  I am not alone, and what is happening to me is not cruel and unusual punishment.  It is merely the state of a fallen world.  But that is not the end of the story.  God is redeeming me, and no one can thwart His plan--and it is GOOD.  Lewis and Owen are exactly who they are supposed to be, but I believe they are still a work in progress and will be made whole one day too.  So.....yes, I am grateful for a friend who challenges me to find hope and strength in the only place I can!

The other change has been physical.  I didn't INTEND to start running, but Mandy has talked about it for about 3 years now, and when she came into town this time she ran a mini-marathon.  So she is pretty serious about it.  I went into January hoping to lose the rest of my pre-Phoebe weight.  Justin got me a little Nike+ gadget for my phone and I realized I wasn't walking as far as I thought.  So I increased my distance, and started following Weight Watchers points plus.  But in mid-January, I jogged to get across a 5 lane intersection and thought I'd see how far I could go.  I went about a mile non-stop and thought it wasn't too hard.  Within a week I was running 3 miles at once, but SLOWLY!  I was going at a pace of about a 15 minute mile.  It was not much faster than walking, but my heart rate was up and I could breathe at this pace.  That is where I had made my mistake in previous attempts to run.  I had gone too fast too quick and got winded and figured it wasn't for me.

I'm happy to report that now, I can run between 11 and 12 minute miles, and go 3 miles in about 35 minutes.  I've run two 5K's and lost 21 lbs.!  I'm almost back to pre-Lewis weight, but not quite.  The best part is that running makes me feel good, gives me more energy and keeps me sane quite honestly.

I will say that running has been sort of a physical picture of some internal changes.  In December and early January, I was frustrated and felt sort of trapped that I was still wearing maternity clothes and felt generally bad about myself (not that I've arrived by any means!), but at some point it occurred to me that I had to DO something about it.  Continuing on in my regular habits wasn't helping, and by making changes like writing down what I eat, keeping lots of fruit and veggies on hand, PLANNING to run in my schedule etc., and keeping tempting items out of the house has helped to bring about real change with God's help.  In that sense BSF and running have really gone hand in hand because instead of feeling bad and disconnected from the Lord like I had been, by meeting with Him and following the study, He has met me and blessed my meager efforts. Both areas required ACTION on my part that was fueled by his power. And He has convicted me in some areas of things that need a LOT of work.  All of this to say.....Mandy, thanks for being a true friend, even when you are far away.  You mean so much to me.

Mandy and I got to share a short run when she was here and it was fun (and ironic) to catch up with her pounding the pavement. Lewis made her a special card.

We also caught up some at a Sixpence show in Nashville (along with Heather Morozov and Beth) that was being recorded for an upcoming TV show about music.  Anyway, this video is one of their new songs that hasn't been released yet. Soon, I think??!! Enjoy!

Sesame St. Live

Our boys are seriously OCD.  It goes along with autism too.  Some of it is frustrating (like crying if one light is off, and the rest are on--it's all or nothing at our house!), and much of it seems ridiculous.  But when our kids are into something they are REALLY into it.  Somehow, Owen got back into Elmo after Christmas.  As a result, Lewis also embraced him and the Sesame St. characters along with that.  Just about this time, SKyPAC opened (a new performing arts center in Bowling Green, just blocks from our house) and one of the first shows was Sesame St. Live!  We got some of the last tickets for the evening performance and secured our babysitter for Phoebe, and we were excited to see how it would go.

They loved playing Elmo's piano, and watching some live characters dance right in front of them.  When we got there, Lewis shouted out, "I'm on Sesame St.!"

We never know how that kind of thing will go, but they loved the music and the characters' dancing around.  They both had such huge smiles the whole time.  It was awesome! 

the bright side of autism

It is still autism awareness month for a few more days, and while I feel like I have a lot to say on the topic, I wanted to have at least one post on the positive side of life with autism.  While there are social and communication issues galore, in the evening, quite often, Lewis will serenade us with a whole concert of songs he has learned by ear on my mom's old piano.  I wonder sometimes if we would've known he could play music like this if we didn't have the piano.  I kept it for sentimental reasons and never realized that Lewis would have such a "voice" through it.  Here is a recent clip of him still figuring out how to play something.  Maybe it is Canon in "D"? I'm not sure. His version has evolved and become more perfected since this recording.



We have also been blown away at our boys' intelligence.  Again, we have TONS of issues that drive us crazy, but it is great that Lewis tends to pick up academic tasks easily.  He learned to read when he was 4, but Owen picked it up easily at 3.  Comprehension is a different story, but here they are reading "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and obviously enjoying it and understanding it.



Not everyone with autism will excel in academics, and our boys work so hard when they are home, but we are grateful that some of their strengths are obvious.  

Phoebe turns one!

 Our baby girl is one!  Her birthday was yesterday, April 20th.  It was an uneventful day, but we plan to celebrate today, with pictures to follow.  We did start the day at the doctor for her one year check-up.  We are thankful to report that she is in excellent health, finally!  Her ears are both clear after 6 weeks of low dose antibiotics, and she is on target developmentally.

Her stats are:

Height: 30.25"
Weight: 22 lbs, 8.5 oz.
Head: 18" (or somewhere in there)

She is leveling off with her weight gain, but is still in a healthy range!  :)  Phoebe got her first shot yesterday, the combination DTap + polio.  We will see how she reacts and continue slowly if all goes well.  I will admit fear and hesitation in regard to vaccines, but pray for guidance as we allow them into her system.

Some highlights of her recent life include trying to take some steps! She's learned to stand up in the center of the room without pulling up. Her little steps are tiny and she gets so excited that she ends up lunging forward, but she's taken 3-4 tiny steps a couple of times now, over the course of the week.

She's learned to stick out her tongue, and she really enjoyed all the Easter festivities (more on that soon), but we included a photo.

We have gone to the park a few times lately, and she likes to crawl in the mulch, but she also likes to eat it, so we have to be really careful there.  She's trying to say some words including "ball" and "baby" and has said something that sounded like "bye, bye" a couple of times.  She exploring more foods too, but still is not a fan of fruit. She eats it mixed in cereal, but otherwise is not a big fan. She is sleeping great, and sometimes we have to wake her up in the morning!

Here's Phoebe trying to say ball:



Phoebe standing up by herself:



Phoebe laughing while playing her new game, throwing things in the floor!



We are just so blessed to have Phoebe in our family.  She is such a happy baby.

most of march

There seemed to be a lot of rain at the beginning of the month. I found some used rain boots on consignment and these two have literally soaked in the opportunity to jump in the puddles.


Lewis' class took a field trip to Auntie Anne's to see how the big pretzels are made. He apparently ate a whole pretzel there.

They went to Chuck E. Cheese after that, and when the pizza came he was not too hungry, but did eat a piece of pepperoni pizza. He was most excited about the big characters! The one above was just a statue, thankfully! He wanted to rub his tummy. Lewis really enjoyed the tokens and playing some of the games. He really liked ski ball but it was really scary!!

Also in March, we rooted for the hilltoppers and they made it into the NCAA tourney and even won their first game.

We also attended SKyPAC's community day where Lewis made a mask (at Aunt Beth's workshop) and danced like a crazy man to some of the music.

Owen helped daddy make a pizza.

Lewis had a "cone" of ice cream. He became obsessed with 3-d shapes as a carryover from Math class. He said he would eat some ice cream if it was a cone. I made into a cone shape and he ate it up.

Aunt Ellen brought Owen a new/used Buzz Lightyear bike. The training wheels need to be adjusted but he likes it a lot!

We took the boys to some Lowe's build and grow workshops.

Henry came over some more too. They helped make smoothies and enjoyed that too (another food first for Lewis).

We enjoyed a night out at Steak N' Shake at Lewis' request.

Lewis showed up for bath wearing his swim trunks and thought it was hilarious.

Phoebe got cuter and cuter.

The boys had picture day at school and ended up with a picture together somehow. Not sure if we will order these, but they're pretty funny!

Owen has the doctor act down after all of our doctor visits! I even came down with bronchitis which was not fun! There are a few more fun things from March, but due to length, we'll put those in separately.

february post

Here are our February highlights! Being the month of love, I had to include this cute photo of Owen and Phoebe. They really like each other (so long as the bigger one doesn't end up hurting the smaller).

On Valentine's Day, we got a fun package from Tasha Caruthers, including these funny hats for the kids. Owen was so excited to wear his! They are in our dress up trunk for crazy moments when we want to be someone else.

The boys begged to make burgers and fries out of playdoh for Presidents' Day.

Lewis really just wanted to make green and red apples, a new obsession. At school, the kids get a piece of fruit to take home, or eat while waiting for the bus perhaps, and they have kids in each class go get the fruit (often apples) from the cafeteria in the morning. Lewis had this job one week, and after that was wanting to eat apples almost daily (after school) and draw apples, etc. He was also interested in fruit in general. Which for a boy with extreme food selectivity seemed like a big plus.

Here he is with one of his apple cores.

Around the same time, we started doing some playdates with a couple different friends so that Lewis could begin targeting social skills. We are trying to maximize the interaction he has with his friend Henry by arranging things needed to do various activities in such a way that they have to ask each other for things or cooperate/take turns with one another. It has been cool to see them interact. It requires a lot of prompting and attention, but fun is had by all.


One of the first activities we did was making fruit pizza. They put whipped cream on cookies and added kiwi, red & green grapes and strawberries as toppings. Lewis ended up eating all of the fruit off of his "pizza" which was pretty amazing! He had never tried kiwi or strawberries before and seemed to think nothing of it in this setting.

Afterward he colored this worksheet his teacher, Mrs. Lee, had given him that says, "Circle all the foods you would like to try." and he circled them all and colored them their correct color. Pretty cute.

I can't remember all the other things we did in February, but I'll leave you with this picture of me and Owen with his duck noisemaker.