Sunday, May 29, 2011

Time for the....*SUMMER SWIMSUIT ISSUE*!!

brought to you by......




Our cutie-pa-tootie, Maylin!! =)


(What did you think you would see ME in a bathing suit on my blog?? Get real!)




So we are officially in swimsuit season, and today is Maylin's 1st pool adventure at Mamaw and Papa's!!




She wanted to show you all 3 of her cutie swimmies for the season....


Here we go!




Swimsuit #1:


Her itsy bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikini!!


(I'm a sucker for cutie babies in bikinis:)) I think she liked it too!
(And she liked the tags to chew on....we have a teether so we'll deal with it!)

Can't forget the backview! Love the ruffles!

Swimsuit #2

A fashionable floral one-piece with shoulder bows....

A 6-month garage sale buy that I'm hoping she can just wear first before she grows more=/
We will see....:)

And here's the back...super cute!


And last but not least,


Swim suit #3....the floral halter top!


This is a 6-12 month suit that she got last summer as a gift from the Holsopple's! I was hoping she would be big enough to wear it and I think she can!!
She was SO over the swim suite modeling by the time we got to #3...I don't think she has a future in being a swimwear model=/ ha!


...and I love the back!



Cast your vote NOW! Which is your fav?? #1, 2 or 3??=)




Happy swim season;)



Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Ch...ch...ch....ch...ch....CHANGES.

So. Yesterday marked an official day of change for our family. After sharing the news with our principal and the kids' daycare teachers, I submitted my resignation letter to my high-up boss lady through the corporation I work for in the area for Emotional Disorders. I have worked 2 1/2 years as a Para at FHS and am looking at 7 more days of full time work in a school.



My new job?



A FULL TIME stay-at-home wife and mom:)



Why the change?






Ever since we have gotten Isaac's official diagnosis, I have been wracking my brain with knowledge on what we can do to make our son better. Through many different resources I hope to use it to my advantage and put Isaac on a gluten-free, casein-free diet (as many of you already know about). This in itself will be a whole new full time job to me! I am NOT a domestic mother (and I've come to accept and be ok with it! ha ha!), so this will also be a huge challenge and adjustment for all of us.






Most of all, my kids are growing up...way.too.fast. I don't want to miss any more fun moments with them. I love the fact that they were in daycares with other kids, and that Maylin had great caretakers while I was working too. I just don't want to miss anymore. Today Isaac celebrated his birthday at daycare and preschool. He came home with an adorable paper crown that he wore at his parties. I would have LOVED to have seen that! (I did get a picture of it at least...thanks Wendy!)






We are praying the expenses of me not working will fall in place. This will be tough. As much as this new diet will be a change, so will the cost of everything for it. We can do nothing but crack down even more to make it work. Like I said, it will be tough!






My Goals?






*Get some long awaited projects done around the house.


*Keep my house a little more manageable and *maybe* more caught up on laundry! ha!


*Cook some really kick-butt meals for my family.


*Start planting a garden


*Have play dates with mommy friends


*Not drive all over the county every day...save on gas $$


*Finally do a garage sale


*Get to attend Mottt's again


*Later down the road....I may even pick up some part time fun jobs when the opportunities present themselves. Like working at the vet, or at my mom's candy store....and even substitute teaching in both Goshen and Fairfield schools. I love being around high school kids, and don't want to miss those connections too.






....Just some things off the top of my head...there are so many more.






Bottom line: the pros are really starting to outweigh the cons. And we're excited:)



Wish us luck on our new journey!=)




Monday, May 16, 2011

4 Years....

In honor of my 4 yr old, here is a mini photo timeline of our Isaac....



            May 16th, 2007 I gave birth to a not-so-tiny baby boy:) After 11 hours of labor and 2 1/2 hours of pushing, our 9 lb. 3 0z. Isaac Anthony entered the world...

Pretty sure out of ALL the baby pictures we took of you, this has always been my favorite. Just napping on daddy's chest and you look like you're snuggled in a cloud:)


You were always a smiley happy baby!


 
3 months old...in your 1st pair of Nike's:)



Fast-forward to 11 months...I started falling in love with those pretty eyes....and that one brown stripe:)





1 year old!






 15 months....

The day you became a big brother.....(16 months)





2 year birthday!





3 years old....





4 YEARS OLD!


And what a handsome boy you have turned out to be!









We love you to the moon and back! Happy 4th birthday Isaac Anthony!


Love Mommy, Daddy, K-bub and May May=)

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Always Unique, Totally Interesting, Sometimes Mysterious






These words sum up our oldest child, Isaac quite well these days. I especially love the ribbon with puzzle pieces incorportated into it. That's our Isaac. He is AMAZING at puzzles these days. Give him any puzzle and he'll stick to it until it's complete.



We had an awakening event occur the other day, but has been a topic in our brains for quite some time now. If you've kept up on Isaac the past couple years, or know him at all, you would know there's something different about our soon-to-be 4 year old.



On April 25th, we sat down with Isaac's special needs pre-school teacher, a speech therapist, and Occupational Therapist, and finally the Autistic consultant. Isaac was evaluated by these therapists and consultantants the previous month, along with a long list of questions filled out by Brock and myself. This was the day we were hearing the results of that evaluation.



After a 2 hr. long meeting, to make a long story short, we heard what we already knew, that Isaac has Autism Spectrum Disorder. (ASD)



As far as where on the spectrum, we do not know until he is a little older. What matters now is what steps we're going to take to be proactive and to help Isaac's needs as much as possible.



The good news: Isaac is eligible to attend his special needs preschool another year, only instead of going twice a week, he will be going 5 days a week. We feel it will help Isaac greatly, and hope we're making the right move. Since we know early it will be to his benefit.



The bad news: That word. Autism. It will follow our son on his paper work, his entire educational career. That's tough to swallow. I hate that our son is stuck with a label at such an early age for the rest of his life. I hate the fact that it will affect his social life.



Will people make fun of him because he's not quite right?


Will girls like him or think he's weird when he's in high school?


Will he be that "weird kid" in class?


Will teachers be annoyed or frustrated with him?



(Just a few of many questions that are now in my head when I think about Isaac's future)



What I'm thankful for: I'm so happy Isaac has a little brother so close to him in age. I think...no I know...that fact will get Isaac through tough times. I pray Kahler and Isaac are best friends and that Isaac can get through his obstacles ahead because he has Kahler there to help him through it.



I'm thankful that Brock and I are in education. I still question whether or not my position at school as an Autistic Para is a good thing....because I see first-hand every day how having an emotional disorder can affect the social life of a highschooler, and how that label affects who that person is as an individual. It's tough. But, Brock and I know what our kid will endure when he gets to those stages in his life.



What better thing to do than to start praying about it now?



Our next move, and big questionmark is whether or not to get him medically tested aside from his educational label. IF we do a medical test, he as an individual would be waivered for any medical needs (other bad part: there is a HUGE waiting list to be on this). At this point, I have no clue what medical benefits he will need at this point. Maybe just more therapy? Medications? (I hope not). We'll do what we have to though.



Bottom line: It's our son, we love him no matter what. WE were made to be his parents for reason. THAT is what is getting Brock and I through this. I'm thankful for my friends that reminded me of that very thing the day we found out. Thank you for loving our son!



We are in for a big journey ahead.




P.S. Just the following day after Isaac's meeting, he woke up the next day with a dry diaper! I took him to the potty, he sat on it, nothing happened. A few seconds later he got up, turned around, lifted the 2 toilet seats and started pottying! As he was doing it he just looked at me and smiled:) Silly boy. It's his personality--he'll do things on his OWN agenda! I should know this by now! ha!





2nd thing: Last weekend Mr. anti-eater of anything strange actually ate 2 pieces of pepparoni pizza! Little Ceasar's pizza out of all kinds! THEN the next day he ate a cheese and supreme pizza from another pizzeria! Crazy kid. Guess he's found a fondness for pizza and realized it's good stuff!