Comfort & strength

Andrew & Grandpa Lewis

Friday night, very late, I got a Father's blessing from my dad. We were staying at the same hotel as they were for the wedding. With all that's going on/will be going on pretty soon, I've felt like I'm on an emotional roller coaster. So many things were said, some too personal to share here. I was blessed many times w/peace. I was also blessed that there would be angels watching over me & Tom. I am soo lucky & thankful to have a dad who can & is more than willing to give Father's blessings. I'm also very grateful to have seen my parents for the wedding, and to spend quality time(albeit short sometimes, due to restless boys) w/other members of my family. It's probably going to be awhile before the next time we're able to go see them.

Our trip to Vegas

One of my younger brothers just got re-married, in the Las Vegas temple, on Friday. We went up Thursday, and got back Saturday evening. Longest road trip we've done w/the kids since April, when we went down to San Diego for Tom's friend's wedding. Enjoy the pics!

Thursday

Between these books w/buttons to push, our portable dvd player, and lots of snacks, the kids were set.

Collin, just relaxing.

We were in a hurry to leave on Thursday, and I had seen Ivy packing her own bag Wednesday night. Didn't double-check it till we got to Vegas. She had packed her swimsuit, 3 pairs of underwear, a pair of sandals, and the pj's she's wearing here. (Ivy was getting a dress from my brother's new in-laws when we got there, so we didn't have to worry about packing that). We picked her up a couple outfits to play in after dinner @ In N Out.

Somewhere out by Barstow.

We teased Ivy about joshua trees being "cactus trees". A little while later, she kept asking the infamous/inevitable "Are we there yet?" every 2-3 minutes, till I turned on a movie for them.

One of our many bathroom stops. This is Primm, Nevada. 1st city past the Nevada/CA border. We didn't stop here, I just took the pic on the way out. The place was called "Terrible's resort & casino". We had a good laugh about how it must be pretty terrible. In Las Vegas, we also saw "Terrible's Car Wash". Tom teased Ivy that they must use mud to wash the cars with. My new sister-in-law told me that Terrible's is a franchise & all over the place in Nevada.

Nevada was pretty hot, but not as hot as we expected. Still in the 100's, but it felt like high 90's since it's a very dry heat, reminiscent of when we get the Santa Ana winds.

Friday

My brother Aaron & new sister-in-law, Kristen.

Both sets of parents got lost in the temple, after everyone had come outside for wedding pics. It took awhile before they were found. Don't have a pic, but they got a big cheer when they came out(as if they were the new brides & grooms).

Wedding reception, Friday night. Family pics were taken before guests arrived. By the time we got there, all 3 kids were asleep. Ivy was cute sleeping on Tom's shoulder. I wanted to get a pic, but the flash of the camera woke her up. After she had been awake for awhile, Tom bribed her(with In N Out stickers) to get her pics taken w/the other little girls who had matching dresses.

Back at the hotel. The kids loved jumping on the 2 beds we had in the room. This tank top was used under Ivy's dress for the reception, she just didn't want to change. It's her first ever tank top.

Andrew looks like he's crying here, but he was having a good old time.

Saturday

This is on our way back thru Baker, CA(30-50 miles from Barstow, closer to Nevada). The world's tallest thermometer, or so Tom says. You can't see it well in the pic, but it said 101 degrees. We could tell a huge humidity difference between CA and Nevada. Once we got back home, we felt very sticky.

Small Victory!

We(or rather, I) have been really pushing the county to add Andrew to Collin's respite hours. Andrew is supposed to qualify, just based on his speech delay & getting approved for speech therapy. With respite hours, Tom & I get a break from Collin and get reimbursed by the county what we paid the babysitter. Only catch is the babysitter has to be at least 18 yrs old & have a SS #. Currently we have 18 hours per month for Collin.

The people who determine services said no about combining hours for the boys, and when I met w/Collin's service coordinator a couple weeks ago, she said they(she & Andrew's coordinator) weren't even going to try to ask again until October. That wasn't acceptable and I tried to figure out what options we had. As a last resort, I asked if I could get hours for Andrew, separate from Collin's. It means I'd have to pay the babysitter twice, but I know I need those hours once Tom's gone in a month & a half.

When we got back from our trip, I got a phone message from Andrew's service coordinator. She was supposed to call before we left. Andrew has his own hours now, 12 per month. I totally credit this to part of the Father's blessing I got from my dad on Friday night.

"The Bomb Shelter"

This was the only pic, taken 8 yrs ago(pre-glasses) that I could find where you can see most of the "bomb shelter".

what a difference a week makes!

whew! this past week has gone by so fast, and now summer's almost over.

ivy finished up her swimming, and all this week has been asking if it's time for swimming! lol i was definitely ready for it to be over, after 5 days a week, for 6 weeks. she starts up kindergarten, right after Labor Day. conveniently, that's when collin's preschool also starts up. if anyone has any suggestions on how to get her to wake up earlier/go to bed earlier so she can get to school on time, without sleeping in, i would LOVE to hear about that! we have just shy of 2 weeks.

andrew has moved out of his crib to the futon mattress & bottom bunk bed. the futon mattress is on the floor. when i put him in the bottom bunk bed, he climbs down and goes to the futon mattress. i took the crib apart late last week, so we could have more walking room in the boys' room. he doesn't seem to prefer either while being put down to sleep(for naps & bedtime). he will literally not sleep at nap & stay up late at bedtime--rather cuddle than sleep in a "bigger boy" bed, which is making me rethink this choice. ivy moved from her crib to the futon mattress when she was about 18 months, since collin was going to need it(they're 20 months apart). i don't remember how old collin was when he moved out of the crib. i think close to the same age, because he kept climbing out. something i'll have to check with @ andrew's dr. visit today.

i've been busy cleaning & rearranging our patio--to make room for a new to us treadmill(used, on craigslist, so i can run/jog/walk in the mornings before everyone gets up, after tom's deployed).

our desk, lovingly dubbed "the bomb shelter" got the boot, after about 8 years. we got it a little bit after we were married, from one of tom's uncles. we call it the "bomb shelter", since it is built very sturdy, all metal, and weighed easily over 200 lbs. it was a lot of work, but i managed to get it out of the house to the front yard w/the help of a dolly...then a branch on the peach tree bumped it, and it fell upside down. this was all while tom was at work. i stuck a couple "Free" signs on it. i was very surprised i didn't hear whoever got it(just since it's like a 2-3 person job to move it), but it was gone within a couple hours of me putting it out there. today my arms are bruised from it. the "bomb shelter" got replaced with a small file cabinet that's sitting on a metal frame w/wheels--much easier to move.

i need to go thru photos today, but i bet i have one of the "bomb shelter". this is its replacement:




the new to us treadmill took some work getting into the house. fortunately, the missionaries were riding past our house, while we were trying to call around last night to see who could help us unload it out of the van. we had to got thru the side gate to the backyard, and then disassemble some parts first so it could fit thru the door.

i put it back together while tom was watching some of the Olympics, and tried it out this morning while everyone was still sleeping. it's got some good cushioning, so much that when i ran i couldn't feel it in my knees, like i do out on the sidewalks. it's got a spot for me to plug in my mp3 player, so i can listen to music on it's speakers, if i want to. i tried out the fan it has, to help cool me down when i was sweating buckets. anyway, i'm excited for this. gives mommy a little more energy & makes her a lot less grumpy.

Andrew

I'm starting to learn how to take short video clips w/our digital camera. Andrew was a very willing guinea pig. :) He's just started up his Speech Therapy a couple weeks ago. They're working on a few sign language signs, and car/animal sounds. The signs he's mastered so far are "all done", "more"(he already knew those 2 before the speech therapy, from mealtimes), "open", and "want." Still working on "help" and "thank you". He was working on "please", but "want" was much easier for him to sign.

At the very end of this video clip, he's signing "want." Sorry the clip is so short. We had to change the batteries in the camera, after about 15 seconds of starting. Anyway, he's such a ham & loves the camera.

Happy 4th birthday Collin!

Collin's birthday was on Saturday. We sang "Happy Birthday"--his hands were flapping very fast(a sign of super excitement in autistic children), and Ivy blew out all but one candle. I'm not quite sure why she did that, since it's not her birthday. I put the cake back on the counter to re-light the candles, and just the angle I used to set it on the counter relit them. Collin did blow them out on his own(I helped a little, after realizing he was having a hard time with it--my fault. I had put candles in the middle of the cake instead of closer to him).


For presents he got the Hungry, Hungry Hippos game from my mom. All of us are loving it! He also got the "Cootie" game, where you build bugs, a few train tracks(so he can make a full loop for his trains), and these army vehicles(conveniently came with 3 little guys, worked out nice). I would say he likes the army toys the best!


Ivy likes it that Collin's got a few presents where they can play together.

Tom's job

Tom interviewed for his current job yesterday morning. A few other people were interviewing for the job too. But Tom was offered the job late afternoon & accepted.

Well scratch that for now...

The county didn't fax the speech therapist the contract or our contact info, so no therapy for Andrew today. Maybe next week, if the county's Regional Center can get their act together.

We do have something to look forward to tomorrow though, besides my juggling the boys while Ivy swims(lots of sarcasm there--today was a disaster). The Shipleys are in town & we're going to meet up with them. Ivy's excited. Collin will be too, he's been wanting to go to the park since early this morning.

Quick update

We had an 5.4 magnitute earthquake here on Tuesday(originally it was labeled as 5.8, then downgraded to 5.6 and then 5.4). We're okay. It was pretty strong, and I could see the house moving, but the earthquake only knocked a couple things down. It broke a piece of my see-thru ruler that I use with the rotary cutter for sewing. It already had a small crack in it before Tuesday. Nobody really asked us about it or if we were okay, no surprise there, but I did call Mom to let her know we were okay. Collin was at school, on his way to a swimming field trip, and was apparently fine since we got no phone call from his school.

Ivy's been taking swimming lessons, 2 weeks long each class. She's finally moving up to the next class(whales) tomorrow. It took 4 (crab) classes--between this summer & last summer, but she's now putting her face in the water. That's all that was holding her back from the whale class. Tomorrow is the start of her last 2 weeks of swimming this year.

Ivy's favorite is the back float. She is the most relaxed in her class & will stay there the longest.

Yay!!

One night we found her asleep in her swimming goggles!

We noticed today she is getting a 3rd molar.

Andrew's starting up some Speech Therapy tomorrow. He's mainly saying "da" and "hi there". Has never said "mama," "baba," or "papa". Andrew qualifies for free services from the county based on Collin's diagnosis, and his(Andrew's) 37% delay in expressive language(his talking).

Collin started full-time potty-training, and wore underwear his last week of school. It's been interesting, especially since he hardly verbally says when he needs to go. He will take himself to the bathroom at home, and is tall enough that he can hop himself up without much trouble. Sometimes he starts stripping down wherever he is, and we remind him to get to the bathroom fast. Today was his first full day at home & church in underwear. He did rather well, and kept them dry all day.

Boys' room

Not entirely finished yet, but here are some pics: