Breathing Time

When Kate gets sick it usually goes straight to her chest and so we get out the breathing machine and she does her treatments. She usually hates it until we thought of the great idea to let her ride her horse. Now she loves doing her treatments and doesn't fuss through them. Yeah!

Kate & Lulu

Kate says, "Thank you, Aunt Jenni, for Lulu and my purple purse!"

Cute!

Where's Kate?

The answer: Stuck! Joel and I were in the kitchen and Kate somehow managed to get herself stuck in the lazy susan! It was so funny that I had to take a picture. She wasn't too thrilled with me taking her picture, as you can tell by her face! I think she wanted to get out. 8-)

New Do

After Thanksgiving, I got my hair cut, and the lady who cut it did it in a way that I can straighten it if I want. With curly hair, it's hard to have a cut that works for both curly and straight and the new hairstylist I went to (thank you, Julie!) is amazing! I'm so excited to have found someone who knows both. Curly hair isn't as glamorous as one might think! Anyway, here's a pic of my new do!

Thanksgiving Dinner!

We had Thanksgiving dinner at Joel's brother and wife's house, Dan and Angela. The kids played outside a lot and this was a cute picture I snapped:

From left to right: Judah, Kate, Truth, Timothy, Phillip, Grant, Michelle, and Mike.

Thanksgiving Day!

I know Christmas was just a few days ago but I now have our computer back and I am blogging pictures! :-)

Thanksgiving Day started with the Turkey Trot in downtown Dallas. My sisters, Jennifer and Christina, and my brother Daniel went with the kids and myself. We've gone before and it's always so much fun. This time I jogged the 5k with Grant. This has taken a lot of work getting to this point of jogging and it feels great! The weather was perfect and the kids did pretty good. When I was talking to Grant and Kate about the Turkey Trot on Wednesday and Thursday morning, I forget to tell them that there would be dogs, lots and lots of dogs. They LOVE dogs and all we heard from them was "Dog!" as they pointed every stinkin' dog out to us! Literally, there was probably a couple hundred of them...and about 35,000 people!

Happy Birthday, Grant!

Today, Grant turned 5! It's hard for me to believe. The kids and I had a relaxing morning with blueberry pancakes and then a late morning nap. For a late lunch we went to see Nana, my mom, at the hospital where she works. We don't get to see her very often at work and the kids always love going to see her. After lunch Nana took us to the gift shop and wanted to buy a stuffed animal for Grant. Kate immediately found 3 dogs, grabbed them in both arms, hugging and kissing them, saying "My dog, my dog, my dog". It was so cute! She was very good when I told her she could only have one and needed to put the other two back. I was pleasantly surprised at her obedience over something that she is nuts about! :-) I did try to see if she would go for something other than a dog (one can always try, right?) and showed her a cat. She just looked at it and shook her head 'no' all the while clinging to the 3 dogs still in her arms!

Grant saw two dogs (yes, we love dogs if you can't tell!), and was trying to decide between the two of them when he saw the biggest dog of them all way up on the top shelf. I told my mom that she really didn't have to get him that one but she insisted because that is the dog Grant picked! He was so happy and held on tight to his new dog all the way to the car. And almost all of the way home! He took a nap with it and it hasn't left his side since we have been home. It's now sleeping with him in his bed! This dog is almost as big as him, or the size of Kate! It's so cute and soft and cuddly. I'll post pictures later from his birthday but want to share another highlight of Grant's day:

Grant blew out all five of his birthday candles in his cupcake tonight!!! This is so huge because he's never been able to do that before - ever! It did take him several times but he blew out every single one by himself. Joel and I were so proud of him. It's little things like blowing out birthday candles that make our hearts leap for joy. It's like a gift to Joel and me from the Lord, seeing Grant do something that we work so hard on being able to do!

I'll post some pictures later on, hopefully before Christmas!

We have Grant's program!!!

NACD emailed Grant's program late this afternoon! I was just hoping for Friday, as they said to expect it within 3-4 days!

His first program includes 20 different activities we will be doing with him (everyday!) and includes 17 videos for Joel and I to watch before starting. They vary in length from 2-12 minutes each. We are supposed to watch them a couple times before starting with Grant. There will be a few things we will need to buy for a couple of the activities. It's very interesting, to say the least, but good.

I'm feeling the pressure to get going, knowing it will take time to watch the videos and not wanting to waste any time with all the busy-ness during this time of year. I know we are in this for the long haul so I probably should not stress about it. I just want to get going so bad and not have it be 2-3 weeks before getting around to it. Joel said tonight, "We're going to have to start saying 'no' to things." Our life as we know it is soon to change! I say, "Bring it!"

Meet Lyn Waldeck!

Lyn is from NACD and is who evaluated Grant on Tuesday. She will be the person who will re-evaluate him every three months. When we got home we read her bio, and, if you are like me, you'll be blown away. I thought I would post it on here in case you are interested in reading her story. I know it is a little long but if you have a few minutes, it will be worth it!

"Prior to NACD, with an education background in Real Estate/Finance, Lyn first managed the acquisition, development and disposition of property for a Texas Land Development Company and later was the Branch Manager for a successful mortgage lending company based in Fort Worth. When Lyn became a mother, she left the mortgage business and devoted her time to raising and educating her children at home.

After her first two boys were born, Lyn learned of a two-year-old Romanian orphan who needed a loving home. During the time it took to process the adoption, Lyn could never have imagined what was taking place with the child. As the adoption was proceeding the child suffered a tremendous amount of abuse that left him brain-injured, blind, and close to death. Upon completing the adoption process, Lyn and her husband name him Evan and brought him home. Evan’s initial medical reports from the specialist were grim, and the Waldecks were told it was doubtful he would learn to walk, talk or see due to the amount of brain damage. Their family physician, however, was a dear friend who comforted them by saying that children are sometimes more resilient than expected. He cautioned them that if this was the prognosis they accepted then this would be the future to expect; however, the more work done with the child, the more there would be a possibility of change. The unanswered question, though, was what “work” would bring about the greatest opportunity for their child?

They enrolled Evan in a unique program where he went four days a week to a special private school and received in-home visits one day a week. This program offered the very best traditional therapies. Evan received Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Orientation and Mobility, and Speech and Language Therapy, along with instruction for visually impaired children. After two-years of consistent intervention, however, the amount of improvement Evan displayed beyond his initial recovery from injury was nominal at best.

At this point Lyn learned of NACD. She took Evan for his initial evaluation with Bob Doman and realized afterward that the previous therapeutic interventions had failed because they were not addressing the brain directly, and totally missed seeing the child as a whole. Eager to make up for lost time, Lyn dedicated herself to implementing one hundred percent of Evan’s first NACD home program. Over the next three months, Evan made far more progress on his NACD program than he had in the two years of therapies he received at the private school. Evan responded well to his individualized program and made wonderful gains in every area of development. The first year was phenomenal. The next thirteen years have had times of gigantic leaps and times of going forward at a slower pace. To Lyn, the most important thing is that NACD never stops at any point but continues to utilize every possibility to help Evan move forward.

Evan’s remarkable progress in those first three months inspired Lyn to begin volunteering with NACD. She was trained as a Parent-Trainer and became a Branch Manager for the Dallas Chapter. As time passed, Lyn continued to train with NACD and started conducting local seminars. The Dallas area clientele grew quickly to the point where NACD opened a Texas office, and this allowed Lyn to study regularly under Bob Doman’s mentorship. In 1997, Lyn became an NACD Neurodevelopmentalist as well as the Regional Director. Throughout the years, Lyn has continued to participate in NACD training programs and has become an integral part of the NACD staff.

Since Evan’s first evaluation with Bob Doman in 1992, Lyn has continued Evan on NACD programs and also obtained NACD programs for her four other boys as well, using NACD guidelines to structure her homeschooling program for all five children. In addition to transforming Evan’s life, NACD has spared two other Waldeck boys from very frustrating educational experiences. Lyn says, “One of my sons could have been the ‘Ritalin Poster-Child’ if it weren’t for NACD. Today these issues are resolved and each of my boys have been spared the heartache from the road that labels and limitations have to offer.” Evan has come a long way from the original medical reports predicting he “would never walk, talk, or see.” Now an active teenager, Evan shows no traces of the emotional scarring one would expect from his early experiences. Lyn says, “He’s probably the most well adjusted child I have of the five. He’s very sweet natured, compassionate, and discerning. His academics are not where they would be without brain damage, and his vision is limited compared to ours, but he can see, he is extremely witty, and his language is very good.” As for her other children, Lyn says, “My children don’t see anything as impossible. They have an “Ah, that’s nothin’!” attitude. They’ve seen what their brother has been able to do and what kid after kid in the NACD waiting room has been able to accomplish, and now they don’t see anything as impossible.” "

Tuesday!

Thank you to all of you who were praying for us and who have been praying for us leading up to Tuesday. It went great and Joel and I were so encouraged and hopeful for the future. I can't tell you how good I felt walking out of there when we left!

Exciting News!

We are starting a new direction with Grant in regards to intervention and therapy. It's through the National Academy for Child Development. They are based in Utah and have 12 chapter locations in the US. We are fortunate that the closest one to us is only 1 1/2 hours away - Waxahachie! He is still continuing special ed preschool Monday through Friday mornings and private speech therapy once a week. A few months ago we stopped private physical and occupational therapy due several reasons, mostly because we were knew we were going to try something different with Grant. It's not that private therapy hasn't helped him, it has, but from what we have learned about this new program, the intervention is much more intense, and we are very hopeful that this will be what Grant needs in recovering from Dyspraxia and the developmental delays that he suffers from.

To get into the program, we had to first purchase and listen to a 6 hr audio seminar (interesting but a whip!) - both parents have to listen to it fully, then we had to fill out a pretty thorough application, and then finally send that in with half of the intitial fee, a little overwhelming to say the least. Oh, not to mention that we have been saving money just to get started over the past 6-9 months!

When we first heard about this program, we were told to 1st pray about it and 2nd that God will bring in the money. I thought to myself, "Ooo-kay." So we did pray about it and continued to pray. I have to say, God is good and He is really showing his faithfulness and perfect timing through all of this. It is such a huge in-my-face testimony that I am humbled and brought to tears. Our goal was to have more money than the initial fee set aside, knowing that there will possibly be extra expenses in implementing the program at home. First, God brought the starter seed from our escrow refund - unexpected check in the mail is always nice and Joel said to me "NACD" with a smile, then I had a $90 bow order (wow!), then the guy who hit me and sped off - Labor Day weekend one year ago - has been ordered to pay $ in restitution and we have gotten $250 from that, over $100 in bread money since starting to sell homemade bread a few months ago, and $ left over from Grant's PT and OT fund that trickled down the pipe from when my Grandpa died. It's just amazing to see how this money just started coming in. If you are reading this then you know that this is huge for us. We drive old cars, our kids wear 2nd hand clothes (for the most part), and we eat in almost every night! So to have this much $$ come in - totally God. And he is using people around us as well as unforseen circumstances to say loud and clear, "I got it."

So once we listened to the audio seminar and got the application and fees sent in, it was not even 2 weeks later that we got the call from them confirming they received everything. They called the following week to schedule the eval, which was scheduled for Jan. 9. As excited as I was to finally have it on the calendar, I was a little bummed out, as I was hoping we could get him in before Christmas break so that we could get a jump start on the program during that time. Well, what do you know, God says, "Hello?" again.

Friday morning, two days ago, I'm talking to my friend telling her all about NACD and she very gently reminded me that God's timing is perfect and mine isn't. So I was like, "Ok. Jan. 9 is the day." I was okay with it. Guess what. Late Friday afternoon NACD calls and says they have an opening DEC. 9 and can we come? Joel and I were thinking "Um... YES!!" but at the same time realizing that Tuesday is probably the worst day in Dec. for the eval to be! I have 8 piano students on Tuesdays this year and this Tuesday is the last lesson before my student's piano recital on Sunday. You can't cancel the lesson before the recital! Not to mention, who is going to watch Kate somewhat rather last minute - all day? So I call my mom and guess what...she is not working that day and assures me my parents will understand rescheduling. She was right and I was able to reschedule students without too much trouble. Thank you, Lord!

So our exciting news is that Grant will be evaluated this Tuesday, Dec. 9 from 12:30-2:30pm! Please, please pray that everything goes well. Joel will be with us and my mom will be watching Kate all day. I'm excited but someone anxious. We have a lot of hope that this will help Grant but the unknown is, well, the unknown. I don't want to get my hopes up high and then be dissapointed. So while I'm trying to guard myself from that I am still super excited. If you have a few minutes and want to know more about NACD I encourage you to visit their website here. I will let you know how it goes on Tuesday! Within a few days of his evaluation, we will get an intense program via email as a video file of how and what we will do with Grant. Two weeks later we are supposed to send a video of what we are doing at home so they know we are on the right track or not. Every three months he will be re-evaluated and the plan will be altered accordingly. I've been told by veteran moms of NACD to do these two things before you get your program: 1. clean your house, and 2. stock your freezer with meals because once you start the program you won't have time for either one! I've also been told that it's nearly impossible to do 100% of the program because they give you so much so we will see! So you can pray for us over the next several weeks as we enter into an adjusting time with figuring out how we will fit everything in! I'll keep you posted! And........thanks for taking the time to read this long post!

Yeah Grant!

For the past several months Grant has been trying very hard to dress himself. Sometimes he can get his pants on completely but it wasn't until recently that he started getting both legs in the right hole and was able to pull them completely up and over his bottom. He is so proud of himself when he gets his pants on right and smiles and giggles. Putting on shirts have been a little harder for him. He always cooperates with us and will put his arms through once we have gotten his head through. Lately, he has started to get the hang of opening his shirt at the bottom so that he could put it on over his head and then pull it down over his head. A lot of times he gets frustrated by this point and needs us to help him finish.

This morning I'm not sure what prompted me but I gave him his pants and his shirt and said, "Put your clothes on." He was excited about that and did his Grant giggle while starting to put his pants on. I was changing Kate's diaper and before I was finished with her, he had his pants and his shirt on! He only got frustrated at one point with his shirt and that was in getting his second arm through the hole. He kept wanting to go through the neck but knew that wasn't right. So I did help him but just a teeny weeny bit. It's not that I've been in the way of letting him dress his own self but as his mother knowing that he needs help, I dress him talking him through it and having him do most of the work.

What surprised me the most, I think, was that he dressed himself almost effortlessly and mostly efficiently. It wasn't like it took him 5 minutes but like 30 seconds. I couldn't believe it! I hugged him and told him how proud of him I was and how he did such a good job! He was of course equally happy and ready to move onto "eea", signing "eat".

Go, Grant! Mommy is so proud of you!!!

Update

I think we have finally adjusted to DST and the kids are sleeping in a little later each day, except sometimes Kate will wake up anytime between 5 and 6 am. Sometimes she will go back to sleep and sometimes she will stay up and play.

Our main computer is still down. Joel just bought stuff he thinks he will need to fix it so hopefully in a few days we will have our computer back and then I can blog again - with pictures!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Daylight Savings Time Stinks!

That is, if you are parents of young children who could care less about getting an extra hour of sleep! So now my children are waking up between 5 and 5:30am even though we are putting them to bed later at night to help make up for it. My children are tired and cranky... and so am I!

Thankful Grant and Sad Grant

Something really cool happened today with Grant: Before his nap today he put his hands together and said, "Pray" meaning "It's time to pray"

So I started with "Dear Jesus" and Grant said the same thing in Grant Version. Then I said "Thank you for..." and Grant filled in the blank with "Tatie" who was standing right next to his bed. Then I said "Thank you for..." and he said "Dada".

We kept going and he continued to fill in the blanks after I said, "Thank you for..." He said, Tatie, Dada, Mamum, Me (pointing to himself), eeea ( eat thanking for food), he said someone's name that I'm not sure, then 'ho' meaning "home". I thought that was so sweet! And the last two were "piwwow" (pillow) and then "agh" (roaring and pointing to his lion that sleeps on his bed next to him.

It was the coolest thing. It's the first time he's ever done anything like that meaning filling in the blanks with specific things/words!!! Normally, he prays along with us and we go slow and pause so he can try to repeat what we say. But today was different because nothing was prompted and everything he said he came up with on his own!

Tonight he did it again but this time with a few different things. After the four of us he said a few words that I didn't understand and then he said "Papa" (my dad who he just saw over the weekend when he was in town) and then "Nana". What's cool about that is for the longest time whenever referring to my mom or going to my mom's house, he always says "Papa?" like "going to Papa's house?". And we always say, No, Nana's house. We're going to see Nana." Since my dad lives/works out of state it's just easier this way.

Anyway, he clearly distinguished between the two and that was really cool.

One more thing I'll share...on a somewhat funny note: Saturday I started coming down with a cold and by Saturday night I was not in good shape. My voice started acting weird sometime Saturday afternoon and by the end of the night it was gone. So Christina and I are driving home from the carnival with Grant and Kate and we had the windows open. The windows were open all the way because some little girl stunk it up big time. We just passed the first light on Renner when Christina says, "I think Grant just threw his sock out the window" Great. I look in my side mirror and see something bounce. I'm thinking it's not his sock but his shoe. Great. So I panic and turn around as quick as I can. By this time my voice was shot and I couldn't yell at him if I wanted to!!! By the time I get back to the place where we thought he threw his shoe out I start praying, I just bought him new shoes last Saturday! And inside his shoe is an orthotic from Scottish Rite Hospital!!!!! So I'm praying that God would protect his shoe from being run over as I turn on Telecom. I can see something from the intersection before I turn onto Telecom and I'm thinking it's his shoe. So I pull over as soon as I could, jump out, and sprint for his shoe. I run onto Renner, grab his shoe, and sprint back to the car. Yeah, his shoe was OK! It was right between the inside and middle lane laying on it's side. I'm sooooooo thankful it did not get run over! God protected his little shoe and spared me the hassle of getting another pair of shoes and orthotic to go with it!!!!!!!! Grant is such a toot throwing his shoe out the window! What was he thinking?? "Hmm...this will be fun. I'll throw my shoe out the window." !!!

Since I couldn't talk more than a wisper I saved the punishment for later when I could talk to Joel about it. We decided appropriate punishment is that he can no longer have his window down when we are driving in the car! He asks for his window down quite often, especially with the weather being so nice lately, so I know he will be sad the next time he asks for his window down. Poor Grant but Poor Mommy who had to go run and get his shoe while feeling like crap! Agh....

Tomorrow is Another Day...

Ok, today pretty much sucked in the potty training department. And in the dinner department. But I did get most of the house picked up which had gone to pot over the past several days. How does it get that way so fast, I still don't understand???

So Kate wore diapers after 2 peepee accidents and one #2, and we had Double Dave's take out for dinner. Whew...

So maybe I was a little too confident in the potty success. I am hoping tomorrow will be a better day. I think for the most part Kate was really tired today. At some point in the middle of the night I woke up to some serious laughter, and not from either one of my children. Thank you, Tickle Me Elmo. And Kate did not take a good nap as well. Which means she was cranky which means Mommy was cranky! Thank goodness Joel came home early today! 8-)

Yeah for Kate (& Mommy, too!)

Kate is totally going potty in the potty chair! She has been doing so good at home that I felt she was ready to try going out without a diaper. So this morning we went to the gym and she wore her training pants. I'm so proud to say that she stayed dry the whole time we were gone: to the gym, there for almost an hour, then to school to pick up Grant, then home. When we came home I checked and she had dry pants! I thought I would put her on right away but I went with my 2nd thought which was to let her tell me when she needed to go. So far she is very good at telling us that. She didn't tell me during lunch so afterwards before her nap I sat her down and she went right away. She always gets a certain smile on her face when she starts to go and you can tell she is so proud of herself. She is cute.

Yesterday and today she is taking a nap with her training pants on and so far she is staying dry during her nap, too.

I wish so very badly that I could give the same report on Grant but we are not quite there yet with him. We are working with him, too, but so far he's only gone a few times. He likes the idea of it but is very distracted by everything around him....working on that.

I know it's little early for Christmas but if I had to make a list right now it would just be one thing: Grant and Kate out of diapers!!!

We have internet access!!!

My amazing husband got an old laptop up and running this evening. I think I have caught up now on most of my bloglist. We still don't have our pc working but I'm so thankful and happy to have access to the world from my happy little home...yeah! 8-)

I have actually taken some pictures lately but I'm sure it will be awhile now until I can figure out how to get them on here, the laptop.

Grant was out of school today and tomorrow so Kate and I are enjoying him being home with us. We had a relaxing morning today and then went to the gym. It was raining and I was tired but I'm proud of me for taking my two kiddos out in the rain to the gym!

Changes

We canceled our home phone.

Our computer is not working. Joel is hoping to fix it later tonight.

In the mean time, you can reach us on our cells, and we don't have internet access until Joel fixes the computer. I'm at my lovely friend's house catching up on my email and blogs! :-)