Wear your sunscreen folks!

When my parents got home from their mission they had doctor's check-ups. It was at the dermatologist where they found a melanoma spot on my dad's forehead. Since my dad and I have similar skin I decided to go and get a check-up. On my back they removed 2 moles, both were irregular, and one they needed better margins. 

So I scheduled an appointment (day 3 of moving, mind you) and they took a chunk out of my back, right on my spinal cord. It was horrible. HORRIBLE. My entire back was sore, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't walk, and after about 3 days it itched like crazy. And the stitches would get caught on my bra strap and pull. Let's just say it was a very long 2 weeks having those things in.

Moral of the story.. WEAR YOUR SUNSCREEN! After that experience I will be the sunscreen patrol because I never want to go through that again!

Jane 18 Months

My baby girl is 18 months. Oh it makes my heart hurt because I want her to stop growing. She is the sweetest, sassiest, most love-able toddler there ever was. We are all smitten by her silliness and her ability to make us laugh. She has recently developed this little scream when she doesn't get what she wants. If she continues to not get what she wants, she then sits down and kicks her legs and screams again. We still call her "Bay Jane" and it has somewhat morphed into "BeGe". She says a number of words, but most definitely her favorite is "DA-ddy". She won't go to sleep until every one says goodnight to her and she waves and kisses everyone. Her favorite toy is her pink car and her favorite food is Gluten Free Pasta with marinara sauce. Can't believe she will go to nursery this Sunday!

 She loves Uncle Doodle and Diet Coke.

Preschool

Lucas started Preschool on Wednesday September 4, 2013. It was a big day and we had been counting down. Lucas couldn't wait to start school. His teach is Mrs Katie and she is amazing. Lucas has a total crush on her and asks about her everyday. Lucas goes to Sunrise Preschool, which is a preschool through the school district for kids with learning disabilities. In Lucas' class there are 10 kids and the majority of them are language delayed- which is actually Lucas' strong suit. So it works out perfect because he helps them with language and they help him with social development. Since starting preschool it has helped Lucas SO much. He has already grown so much and is doing things I never thought possible.

Each day they paint, do story time, learn a new song, play on the playground, and all sorts of other activities. He only goes 2 days a week for 3 1/2 hours. They already did one field trip to the apple orchard and next week he goes to the pumpkin patch. He loves field trips because they get to take the school bus, that is enough for him!

We love preschool!

We moved!

Also in September WE MOVED! It was crazy. No seriously, crazy. All Summer long we searched and searched and searched for a bigger place with less rent. And we concluded it could not be found. So after 6 months of searching we gave up. Switched rooms with the kids so they would have more room and organized like crazy. Even though it was a long haul getting our tiny 2 bedroom condo organized.... it felt so good to be done! The kids were ecstatic to be in a bigger room and we were all set at renewing a one year lease on October 1. 

On September 23 Andy was looking at Craigslist when he found a new posting for a duplex. He clicked on it and immediately called me. He said he found where we were going to move. WHAT? But we just reorganized and decided to stay! After looking at the duplex I knew I wanted to live there. We put in our application only to find out that there were 5 other applicants and we were told good luck and sent on our way. We were devastated! We put the new place out of our mind... then on the 25th they called, said they chose us! But they wanted us to sign the lease the next day and move in that weekend, otherwise they would give it to the next applicant. Andy and I looked at each other and said, OK. We can do it. We signed the lease, knowing we would have to move in on the 27th and we hadn't packed ONE thing. Fortunately, we had just reorganized.... but that still left us with tons to do AND we both had work the rest of the week. I think in the next 5 days Andy and I got a total of 12 hours sleep. We did not stop. It was long and hard and I bribed my brother and all his roommates to come help us load and unload the moving truck. Even still 4 weeks later, we can't believe we are all moved in. 

But after it was all said and done, we are so glad! It met all our qualifications... bigger and cheaper. The best part is it is brand new, we are the first tenants! We feel so incredibly blessed to be living here and to be able to have such a nice place to live. Our neighbors are this cute family who have a daughter Lucas' age and a son that is 10 months. Perfect! The hardest part about moving was leaving our wonderful ward. We went back last week for Testimony meeting and every time someone came up to say goodbye I would fall into a heap of tears. We would not have survived this last year without them!

I don't really have any pictures of the house.... but here are a few random ones to get a feel for it..

This was mid moving in.... so much stuff!

 Jane being naughty and escaping bath time.... but look at the stairs!! Rooms are up and the rest of the house is down! Its amazing. And the closet under the stairs for toys! Hip hip hooray!

September

Agh! I need to be better about blogging! 2 months is much too long. Here is a September Recap.

Nothing really happening in this picture... just a casual park day with the Nelsons. But I loved Jane's little shorts :)

 Being Bossy and Sassy. 

 Oh me of my! Slurp opened... and changed my life. I LOVE the cookies. They are amazing, I crave them daily and am SO happy it is 20 minutes away otherwise I would go way too much. And the diet coke is just as good. And it has a drive thru. Yum!

 For labor day weekend we literally hopped in the car and went to Las Vegas. It had been way too long since we had seen our family. Lucas still asks if we can go back to Bea's house. We swam all day long and ate the best food. Can't think of a better weekend!

 And Jane fell in love with Pirate the cat.

 Headed home after a nonstop trip. Everyone was trying to get some rest...

 Bathtime!

 3 days after getting home from Las Vegas we decided we needed to see more family. So we hopped in the car and drove through the desert to see the Trythall Family! We too swam all day and ate wonderful food. SO sad I didn't get a picture with Kelly Ann!

 We even got to see all the Trythall's place soccer. Jane fell in love with the ever debonaire Uncle Bill.

 Then the real reason we went to Roseville... the Michigan Notre Dame game.

Fortunately, THEY WON! GO BLUE! 

After church and Kellys famous coconut shrimp we packed up and headed home :( We could have stayed a week... we love you Trythalls!

Lucas Update

Many people have asked how Lucas is doing. Thank you for your concern. :) He is going so well! We still have our struggles, but since his diagnosis we have been doing Therapy and in a few weeks he starts early intervention preschool. He will work on his speech and social skills in preparation to be fully integrated to Kindergarten by 2015.

We went back and forth several times between ABA therapy (Behavioral) and Sensory Integration and we have decided that Sensory Therapy is the best thing for Lucas. In short, 99% of the time when he struggles in social situations it is because 1-2 of his senses is being overloaded and his little mind can't process correctly. Usually it is hearing and touch. If it is too loud or his hands have a different texture on them he has a difficult time functioning. Through Sensory therapy they teach him how to work through those struggles.

We are forever grateful to everyone that has reached out to us and helped us through telling of their own personal experiences, so thank you!

Lucas is honestly one of the most tenderhearted little boys and we are so grateful he is ours :)

Potty Training Diaries

This post is mostly for my own memory sakes. I decided to Potty Train Lucas in November os 2012, a month before his third birthday. The truth is I was sick of buying diapers and thought, he is going to primary in January he needs to be trained!

Every time I sat him on the toilet, his potty chair, or anything resembling a toilet- he screamed. So I bagged it and thought "After Christmas".

In January we were in the dog days of Winter, cooped up inside anyway, and thought I might as well train Lucas.

This time it went a little bit better. Day 1 he actually went poop and pee on the potty. But by nightfall I was exhausted. Day 2 was TERRIBLE! He refused to sit anywhere near the potty. Held it ALL DAY LONG. And as soon as I put his nighttime diaper on for bed he had an explosion of mass proportion. Down the legs, up the back... terrible. I thought about bagging it, but reconsidered thinking third day = third times the charm right?

WRONG!

Third day was worse. I was so mad, he was so mad. By 10 am we were back in diapers headed to Sonic so everyone could take a chill pill.

So I heeded my mom's advice of "He won't go to kinder with a diaper. Just wait until he is ready". Over the next few months I would ask Lucas if he would want to sit on the toilet. Somedays he would, other days he wouldn't. By the time May rolled around he was pretty much going #2 on the toilet exclusively. Every now and again he would go in his diaper, but for the most part he had it down. On June 1 I ran out of diapers. So I put Lucas in underwear and told him if he needed to go potty he had to go in the toilet. I then told him Thomas (on his unders) doesn't like to peed or pooped on and it makes him so sad.

He has had 2 accidents since June 1. I know that for some kids the whole 3 day potty training thing works. For us, I was pulling my hair out, Lucas hair out... and wanted to crawl in a hole. Instead I now have a perfectly potty trained boy and everyone survived.

So if you are in the midst of potty training, I say good luck. And don't push it. Literally they will do it when they are ready!