from our home to yours {merry christmas}

sana t'ause {a message from my angel}

santa clause {questions of a 3 year old}

 Here is my conversation with Avery this morning.

Avery: "Mommy, where Sana T'ause wive at?"
Me: "Buddy, he lives far, far, away."
Avery: "Mommy, we go Sana T'ause nome?"
Me: "No buddy, we can't go to Santa's home. It's too far away."
Avery: "Mommy, where Sana T'ause mommy at?"
Me: "She lives at Santa's house."
Avery: "Mommy, where Sana T'ause daddy at?"
Me: "He lives with Santa too buddy."
Avery: "Mommy, Sana T'ause at wook?"
Me: "Yes angel, he's at work."
Avery: "Mommy, Sana T'ause make me trac-trac and tains?"
Me: "If your a good boy, Santa will bring you tractors and trains."
Avery: "Mommy, Sana T'ause watch me?"
Me: "He sure does buddy. That's why you have to mind mommy."
Avery: "I tood mama!"
Me: "Yes, you can be a good boy."
Avery: "Mommy, Sana T'ause go night-night?"
Me: "Yes, Santa goes night-night?"
Avery: "Mommy, where Sana T'ause nome at?"
Me: "It's at the North Pole buddy. Far, far away."
Avery: "Mommy, we go Sana T'ause nome?"
Me: "No bud, we aren't allowed to see Santa make the presents."
Avery: "Sana T'ause come to my nome?"
Me: "If you're a good boy, Santa will come see you."
Avery: "I tood."

God Appears in Mysterious Ways

Have you ever just felt down? You don't know which way to turn and nothing seems to be right. I struggle with this often. Lately, I've been struggling on how to be the best mother to my Avery. A lot of days I feel like I'm falling short because my patience have run out at the end of the day, I'm tired because he didn't sleep the night before, or many days include multiple tantrums. I beg God to give me more patience.

I received an e-mail this morning that I'd like to share with you all, especially mothers of special needs children. I feel like it came at exactly the right time. God certainly appears in mysterious ways.


Most women become mothers by accident, some by choice, a few by social pressures and a couple by habit.

This year, nearly 100,000 women will become mothers of handicapped children. Did you ever wonder how these mothers of handicapped children are chosen?

Somehow I visualize God hovering over Earth selecting His instruments for propagation with great care and deliberation. As He observes, He instructs His angels to make notes in a giant ledger.

“Armstrong, Beth: son: patron saint…give her Gerard. He’s used to profanity”

Finally he passes a name to an angel and smiles. “Give her a blind child.”

The angel is curious. “Why this one, God? She’s so happy.”

“Exactly.” says God. “Could I give a child with a handicap to a mother who does not know laughter? That would be cruel.”

“But has she patience?” asks the angel.

“I don’t want her to have too much patience, or she will drown in a sea of self-pity and despair. Once the shock and resentment wear off, she’ll handle it.”

“But Lord, I don’t think she even believes in you.”

God smiles. “No matter. I can fix that. This one is perfect. She has just enough selfishness.”

The angel gasps. “Selfishness? Is that a virtue?”

God nods. “If she can’t separate herself from the child occasionally, she’ll never survive. Yes, here is a woman whom I will bless with the child less than perfect. She doesn’t realize it yet, but she is to be envied.

She will never take for granted a spoken word. She will never consider a step ordinary. When her child says ‘Momma’ for the first time, she will be present at a miracle and know it! When she describes a tree or a sunset to her blind child, she will see it as few people ever see my creations.

“I will permit her to see clearly the things I see – ignorance, cruelty, prejudice – and allow her to rise above them. She will never be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life, because she is doing my work as surely as she is here by my side.”

“And what about her patron saint?” asks the angel, pen poised in midair.

God smiles. “A mirror will suffice.”

Erma Bombeck

~ Erma Bombeck published this column on May 11, 1980.

painting {saturday fun}

“Paintings have a life of their own that derives from the painter's soul.”

jacksonville air show

We went to the Jacksonville Air Show this past weekend. Lots and lots of planes. It was amazing and I loved every second of it, even if it was freezing cold out.

you're never too old to...

see saw!

"tick or teat"

Avery came home last night and told me, "tick or teat, t'andy, boo!" So sweet. He was a conductor for Halloween. He was thrilled to "drive" a choo-choo t'ain. At school yesterday, they got to go trick or treating around to different class rooms. He dressed up as a "blue collar worker." Precious!

meet penelope cruze...

...the newest addition to our family.

My ole' Saturn Vue finally bit the dust, therefore, Avery and I made this purchase over the weekend.

I've never made a purchase like this and my nerves were shot after signing all of the paperwork.

However, it was an exciting time in my life and now Avery and I are in a safe vehicle that cranks when I turn the key. :-)

avery rides the school bus

After being highly disappointed yesterday that he wasn't able to ride the school bus to Mrs. Sharlee's house from school, Mr. Avery finally got to ride the bus today. Y'all, this child has been asking to ride a school bus for months now. Every time we'd see one, he'd asked to ride. When he found out he was going to start "big school", as he calls it, the first question was whether or not he was going to get to ride the bus. I'm so happy that his wish finally came true today.

 

 

first day

I dropped Avery off at school today.

It's was a strange feeling to drop him off at the same school I went to kindergarten and first grade at.

It still looks the same as I remember.

Everything miniatured sized.

Avery did well.

No tears.

A few looks of confusion, but all and all not bad.

I held up well too.

No tears from me either.

I'm happy for my baby.

I'm glad there is a great special needs school in our area.

Sweet, baby, boy is going to do miraculous things in his life.

I cannot wait to witness my baby accomplish so much.

He's an amazing little boy who has changed my life.

There is no greater gift than being his mama!

 

 

 

 

 

little chef's

If you've read my blog for long, you know that I love different recipes. I blogged not too long ago about making The Pioneer Woman's pizza dough. It is easy peasy and so yummy too. It only took me 20 minutes tops to make the dough and have everything cleaned up. I like to let my dough set in the fridge for at least two days before trying to use it. When you first make it, it's rather sticky and ooey-gooey. 

As I metioned yesterday, we had 4 yougin's at Chris's house this past weekend. Here they are making their own pizza's. It was an easy project for them all and each one was excited to see how yummy their pizza tasted.

tarzan

I love the imagination of children.

This past weekend we had four little lads at Chris's house. We sent them out to play and a good time they had. They swung from Kudzu vines and picked up leaves to make leaf imprints.

apples and lemons {life is bittersweet}

As I was driving home tonight from school, I started thinking about how bittersweet life can be. Sometimes you take a bite out of life and it's sweet, much like an apple, other times it's like biting into a bitter lemon. Then, occasionally life gives a lovely twist and you take a bite out of an apple and a lemon at the same time. That's how I feel today.

I got a call this morning from Avery's school. About a month ago I started the process of trying to get Avery accepted into the special needs program at one of our county's elementary schools. It's an extensive process of testing and evaluating to get into the program and today I got the call I so desperately have been waiting for. Avery got in.

Of course I'm ecstatic that he qualified. Avery will be getting so much help and as I talked about in my previous post, he's getting the early intervention that is so critical. However, on the other hand, it's hard to accept the fact that my little guy has developmental delays and we are even going down the road of needing a special needs program. I want to scream, "Why my child?" But, I already know the answer. "Why not my child?" Just because he has delays makes him no less and it doesn't change my love for my sweet baby boy. It's just a hard pill to swallow that my little buddy is struggling. No parent wants their child to struggle. It breaks my heart and tears me to pieces inside. I'm doing my best to stay strong for Avery, but it hurts his mama's heart.

So today, my friends, I experienced one of life's bittersweet moments. A time when my heart was overjoyed because my baby is getting the help he needs, but sad that he's having to go down this road. I have no doubt though that my angel baby is going to push forward and succeed in anything he wants to do. He's already come so far in his speech. It's amazing to hear him say new words. No matter what, I love my baby boy and will keep pushing to get him all the help he needs.

Early Intervention

I wish you all could hear Avery talk now. I'll try to get a good video of him soon just to show you how well he's talking. Sweet boy has worked so, so, so hard and has come far in improving his speech. He still has struggles and a lot of words are still hard to interpret, but to hear my sweet baby really talk and communicate absolutely warms my heart.

With that being said, here's my soapbox. EARLY INTERVENTION people! If your child is struggling, has been diagnosed with a speech disorder, autism, or any other delay, early intervention is KEY!!! As soon as I noticed Avery not keeping track with other kids his age a red flag went up. True, not all kids form at the same speed, but when your child isn't talking at all at age 2, there's a problem. There are so many resources out there to help special needs children. I know some parents don't want to believe their child needs extra help because no one wants there child to be "delayed." However, being delayed doesn't mean your child is stupid. It simply means your child may need a little extra help in certain areas. I am a firm believer that the earlier your child can get help the better off he or she will be. So please parents, if you have any concern with your child's development, ask your pediatrician. If your pediatrician says "wait it out" and you feel that something "just isn't right," get a second opinion. Your child is worth it! Ok, I'm off my soapbox now. You're welcome.

Avery continues to go to speech weekly and I meet with the special needs preschool next Friday to hopefully get everything finalized for him to start. Please pray this process goes well. :-)

Fall Wreath

Isn't it cute?

the joys of boys

I go to pick up Avery yesterday afternoon from his sitter. Her son runs cross country and had a meet at the high school. I get to the track as the last few laps were ran. Avery's sitter and I are standing there talking and carrying on just like any other day. I can see Avery out of the corner of my eye and knew he was right there with me. So the sitter and I kept talking. Then I looked down to see that my child had pulled his pants down, had his penis in hand, and is about to pee on the lawn of the track. I hurry and pull his pants up and look around to see who all might be starring at me. Those poor runners. They were trying to concentrate and here is my child naked about to pee on their running area. I guess I'm going to have to stop letting Avery pee in the yard at home.

After I picked Avery up, we go home and I start to get ready for my girls night. I lock the house up good so Avery can't escape and jump in the shower. All seems to be well while I'm in the shower. He normally plays or watches T.V. I get out of the shower to check on him to see the biggest mess ever. He got into the dogs food and water bowls and spilled that everywhere and then he dumped out an entire bag of dog treats and cheese nips in the floor. Oh my!

I start to clean up this mess when he runs to me and says, "mama, I wet." Oh geez, He peed his pants. I clean up that mess and take him upstairs for a bath. Luckily, bath time didn't turn out so bad, but goodness I was worn out and it wasn't even time to leave the house yet.

Oh, the joys of boys!

boys and cars {an update}

The "cars" are stuck in traffic now trying to go down the hallway.

boys and cars

I guess it doesn't matter the color of the car, or the fact that they are Barbie cars, boys like cars. They also like to take care of their cars and park them nicely in their respected garages.

meet my new friend:

Water!

I'm a diet coke-a-holic. I admit it. There's no shame in my game, but there is shame in the fact I still have extra weight from when I had a baby, ahem, three years ago. I've lost 25 pounds, but let's get real folk, it's time for the rest of this weight to go! I'm ready to be back in my skinny jeans and I'm not talking about the cute skinny jeans they sell at Old Navy.

So I tried eliminating all soda last week...that worked out not so well. So I'm using you, my readers, as my accountability partners. I need encouragement. This is crazy talk in my world, you know, me without soda!

So you guys with me? Anyone else want to join in and say bye-bye to soda and hello to water?

six flags

We went to Six Flags last Saturday.


Here is Trevor. He's anxiously awaiting to ride his first ever BIG roller coaster.

While Avery was excited to look at the roller coasters, little man just didn't make the height cut to ride. Not that his scaredy cat mama was disappointed.

We found the kids area and found a few more enjoyable rides for the kiddos.


Avery was hesitant about riding the swings without his mama, but he mustered up the courage and went ahead and rode.


The boys spotted the airplanes and couldn't wait to take off.


And off they went!

We had a great time! Happy Wendesday!