Cast Free

I know she doesn't look all that thrilled here, but she was so EXCITED to be able to wear the things she loves like her bathrobe, and normal shirts. We took Addy into to the Dr to have her cast removed and and pins taken out from the surgery, going into it we knew it would be a battle so we pulled out all the stops, once we knew the plan we started preparing her, the majority of the problem with the cast coming off was due to her sensory disorder, she was still upset about the split coming off and they don't use power tools for that, so we knew we needed to bring our A game with us, we worked through it with our OT and went perpared to do all that we could to get her through it, which involved her weighted vest, her sound deading headphones, The sound of Music playing, her favorite blanket and stuffed cuddly friend, a dose of tylenol with co-dene , and of course a dangling carrot of you keep it together and we will go to the toy store when we are done. If she couldn't keep it together the alternative was to go under, but we would have had to schedule the OR and wait and go through a ton more anxiety on her behalf, so we just went with it, there was a lot of screaming, a lot of crying and when we were done I thanked the Dr, and Addy let her know she was not happy with her and did not want to see her again. She has no intetnion of going back although we are for a follow up in a few weeks. The Dr also apologized to me and noted perhaps we shouldn't have gone this route with her given the other factors, But Thankfully it is just done! Grandma and Grandpa surprized her and met her at the toy store to pick out her prize for indeed doing the best she could, such a trooper, she picked you guessed it the guitar, to which she sits in random places around the house strumming and singing do re me fa so la ti do, over and over, it is so stinking cute! I was surprized we got out of the toy store for under 20 bucks as I hadn't given her a range the only limitation was I wasn't buying a jeep/riding car/ driving car. After that we celebrated with grandma and grandpa by going out to dinner.... She babied her arm for a bit and is working with her PT to get full range of motion in it but she is getting dang close to having that, and is really using it well now. She does still tell everyone about it, and I randomly drove by the park where it all happened and she started freaking out on me not in a good way she calmed down long enough to tell me she was NOT GOING there and That she could see the bridge that broke her.. WE ARE ALL SO HAPPY TO BE CAST FREE!

Grandma

We are so thankful we were able to see Doug's Grandma this last month, She made an unexpected trip to Doug's Parents house and stayed for a week or so, she hasn't been this way in 9 years, as traveling is very hard on her aged body. So it was super special to see her here and visit with her. It was all last minute so we were only able to head over to his parents house for an afternoon, but we enjoyed our visit all the same. This is the Grandmother that Adelaide is named after her middle name anyways. She is a very sweet and kind woman, who has seen much and aged gracefully, but of all her traits we truly adore her heart. We hope that Addy can learn the joy that comes from loving others as Valere does.

The licorice is so interesting, BLAH, This is Doug, his Mom, Grandma and the kids. Thanks again for the visit. It is always nice to see loved ones.

Twenty Months

I often forget he is still just a little guy, He sure doesn't act like it. He is so MUCH fun! I was doing an assessment with Addy to see where she was and what we really needed to be working on, he jumped in and joined in the fun, he almost always does. He loves his gymnastics time with dad and wants to know everyday if it is the day he goes in Dads truck to gymnastics, he usually speaks in 3-5 word sentences and is doing great at learning his colors, although he still thinks eating  crayons is more fun then using them. He knows most animals and their sounds and ADORES Puppies. He has recently discovered sound puzzles and he can't get enough of them. His favorite song is Popcorn Popping or anything from Mary Poppins, he knows the songs well enough that if we try to fool him he can call us on it. He is still not a great sleeper, but getting better thankfully.His favorite place to be is outside, running, although he is usually up for whatever adventure I am taking him on. He loves his sister and wants to do everything she is doing, but I have noticed that he plays really well by himself when she is not here, which is really not what I expected. He is still very strong and learns things very quickly.If only I could teach him to listen?  He is as of late very interested in Cars and lightening McQueen. I most often hear from him, thank you, yes please, I want to hold you, again, I don't like this, Whats this and Why. He is seriously so sweet when he wants to be  and is very self guided. His face when saying I'm sorry is simply adorable.... I just can't get enough of him I do wish he would slow down just a bit though...
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Labor Day

We went to Doug's parent's house for Labor Day weekend, a good number of his sibilings and their families were there, it was nice to see everyone. We met up with the family at church on sunday, then over to Moore. While we were there Addy had her first true sleep over, note above, she was so excited to get to sleep with the girl cousins and in particular be by Aubrey. She did very good with it, she wants to have sleep overs everyday now.  

Grandma and the girls playing with the playdough, although Jimmy also loved the play dough I don't know why I didn't get a picture of him, Grandma also did some painting with the girls to which the next time we went Addy kept asking when are we going to paint she must have enjoyed it.

 Doug and his brother-in-law did 4 wheeler rides which everyone loved when it was their turn, and a few need to still work on being okay that it is not always their turn, note the sad face below.

Addy, James and Regina, This is the closest cousin age wise Jimmy has to him on either side of our family. I hope they learn to get along and play well together. It would help if we got to see them more often I guess we will have to work on that.

 The three girls, they are all very close in age, despite the fact they don't look it, Sam on the far right is the oldest she just turned four, then Addy who will be four in dec and Jennie who will be four a week after Addy, I asked them how old they were going to be on their next birthday and there they all are sporting their cute fours...

More rides, Jimmy of course he loves anything of this nature, he is so boy.. And below some of the boys got to go out on grandpa's boat, Jimmy was thrilled to be a part of that, this is what he wanted to do the next time we went to grandma and grandpa's house. All and all we had a nice visit and were glad the kids got to have some more fun cousin time this summer.

Ten

Doug and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary this year, we were married in April but decided to celebrate in Aug as April was full of other things,  it wasn't exactly what we planned, not even close I wimped out on being able to leave the kids for a week with someone else without being close enough to come back so we had decided on a week in glacier, alas Addy broke her arm the week before we were suppose to leave and it just didn't work for us to go to glacier, but we did have a really nice week, and we were still able to Sneak away for a couple nights, we went to red lodge one night, then we took the scenic byway to Cooke city  and on to Yellowstone, it was really nice, Mainly just to spend some time with Doug, I did miss the kids, and honestly I really  hope our plans for 15 stick! I can't believe we have been married 10 years, my how time flies.

The day of....

This was the last day of summer before school started here, and the day of Addy's break! We had a great time, up until the break of course, it was a blast, we love the spray parks and our friends were all here so that made it even better.  When we first started coming to the spray parks Addy wouldn't even touch the water, but now, well she is all about the fun!

This is her and her little friend levi they share a birthday and are the same age, though you wouldn't know it to look at them, she is a full head taller, but they have so much fun together, it is so nice for her to have such good friends her age.

Her exclaiming "this is so fun, lets do it everyday"

And there's our little guy keeping time with the big kids, he loves the water too. Unfortunately we left the park that day on a sad note and Addy saying she would never place a toe here again, but hopefully by next summer when it is open again she will be singing a different tune. (note this is not the area of the park where her arm broke it was the dry end that did her in, also note she is now out of her cast and almost completely healed just doing some pt for range of motion)

I Love this girl!

This was the first day of the other preschool Addy is in, it is a Mom based one we rotate homes, for the most part the same group we had last year, on the first day we did A is for Art and we learned about different types of art, like painting, stained glass art, sculpting, building, beading, and photography. I had a pile of clothes and the kids got to put together their own attire for the photo shoot, notice the three other girls in the group went for girly princess type items, Not my Addy though, she went for super hero! PINK SUPER HERO, Oh how I love her imagination, it has really taken off lately, we are constantly being chased by Captain Hook, or having to find things that the lost boys have hidden and taken for their treasure, this week the kids were rowing their boats in the front room trying to find land, what a bummer it was only sea (pictures to come) I honestly never know what she will come up with, but it sure is fun.

We are so glad preschool is back in swing we were so MISSING our friends and the adventures we have with them...We just adore them all...