Flip = massive amounts of videos!

We treated ourselves to a Flip video camera last month and I LOVE it! It is so much easier getting things put together and uploaded than our regular camcorder. So it makes capturing little moments much easier for us to share. So here are a few that we have been watching over and over at home...

Christmas morning, we surprised Owen with a drum set. Thanks to my dad for getting it all fixed up and delivered and thanks to my brother Matt for handing it down to Owen for his enjoyment. We have since taken the gate off the stairs so he can enjoy it as much as he wants (for now) and he goes to play at least a dozen times a day.
My favorite part of the video is when he first sees them and shouts "DRUMS!" with his hands out.
My least favorite part of the video is when he pushes his sister for trying to see them - but I left it in since this is truly their relationship and why try to hide it :)

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Another one also related to Christmas...Mallory received a karaoke machine for Christmas. And of course anything with a microphone is Owen's favorite. So he got a hold of it and busted out in a tune of jingle bells. Yes it is a little muffled, we need to teach him not to put the microphone smashed up to his lips, but you get the idea. We have a future musician on our hands.

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And finally, Owen received a very sweet card for his birthday from his old speech therapist Anne. It is one that plays music and he LOVES it. Again, you will have to put up with Olivia and him fighting but cute to see him try and figure out how to make the card work!
(Thanks Anne, It was so sweet of you to remember his birthday!)

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Five years

I started this post a bunch of times, then just kept hitting the backspace key to start over. It is a difficult one to get right, it is hard to come up with the right words to describe what it has been like. To summarize what we have learned, how we have grown, what has changed and the inspiration he brings to us, and still try to tell his story. The times when we are frustrated and sad about certain situations get outnumbered by the joy he brings, by the people he has brought into our lives and especially by him. We are truly blessed to a part of his life.
I think back to five years ago and what a mess I was. Trying to keep it together and understand it all but still also being a mom for the first time. It seems like it was such a blur but I have such vivid memories that will last a lifetime.
Today we celebrate what Owen has become.
He loves to show his love for people. His hugs are the best. He is always in costume even if it is just a t-shirt and sweatpants he is a hero to many. He has the greatest personality and expressions. He is funny. His smile is inspiring. He has no fear (except for a little snow). He strives to learn, even when it is hard, even if we have to keep reminding him to try. He is amazing.
Never did I think we would be where we are now with him. It is a lesson to be learned for us, not to think he will have limitations because he will always beat them.

And here is another montage to wrap up his fifth year. I hope you enjoy it, Owen has watched it about a dozen times telling me about each picture, it really makes putting these things together worth while.

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'Twas the night before christmas...

I felt like I was a kid again, excited to fall asleep and up early to see what Santa brought. Mostly because this year Owen was starting to understand a little about Santa and that he would be bringing presents.

With anticipation of how everyone would react we had an eventful Christmas eve spent at my dads house. Being together, opening presents, eating good food and celebrating the holiday.

Owen was lucky enough to inherit uncle Matt's drum set. However, he did not find out until Christmas morning but instead got just some sticks on Christmas eve. I think he was a little confused :)

And what wonderful times with Uncle Ryan home.

Lots of events going on. Animals, singing, gingerbread house making... So many in fact I just can not possibly fit them all into one post.

 

And then we made our way home to wait patiently on Santa to arrive. We got the final wrapping complete, Jason worked on preparations for a Christmas day dinner and the kids dreamt of sugar plums dancing.
Until Owen's internal clock decided it was time to wake up. And we told him we thought Santa came. He hurried downstairs to see a mountain of presents under the tree and some stockings hung over the fireplace with care.
"Wow" and "Cool" were the favorite adjectives heard for the next hour.

 

Olivia's expressions of every gift looked like this. She was sooo happy with everything. And between being frustrated with opening the wrapping paper and wanting to play with everything instantly Owen had a great time.

 

Watching them open their presents reminds me how lucky we are. To have healthy children, to be spending our time together at home and to be able to provide things for them that give them so much joy.
A few of their favorites this year have been books, little pop-up tents, a new guitar for Owen, strawberry shortcake girls for Olivia, pirate ships and castles.
And Santa did not disappoint this year and decided to tuck some money hidden away the last few months to save up to buy me a new iPad. So I have a fun new toy and am so thankful that my honey has kept it such a secret. Now I just have to figure out how to use it!

The rest of Christmas day was fun as we played with the new toys and then had the Kentros and Thorsen family over for a fabulous feast provided by Jason once again. The kids had a great time playing and again getting a few more gifts to add to their collection.

Sisters with their boys :)

 

And as fast as the magical season came in, it has now left us with two kiddos with fevers. Up most the night coughing and now ready to celebrate a birthday and the coming of the new year.
We hope everyone enjoyed their time with their families and were able to celebrate the joy of the season.

sugar and spice and everything nice

A special post about a little girl who has grown sooo much in the last few months. It is hard for her to not get stuck in the shadows as we focus a lot of our attention on teachings with Owen. But she is always a participant wanting a turn trying to work on letters and Owen's name and colors, and counting. She loves to learn.
But what is even more amazing is the maturity that she has. I could not believe how quickly she picked up the potty training and from the very start figured out to stay dry at night as well. Only problem here is her wanting to get up at 2am to go potty. Yikes!
Her singing is coming along and she has now gone beyond her abc's to singing mary had a little lamb, row row row your boat, and jingle bells to name a few. Always singing with such a cute high pitched voice with the words mumbled a bit just like her mom when she doens't remember the words. She knows all the animals and even some random ones thrown in there that just amaze me.
She still has her moments of her true 2 year old behavior, loves to carry her blankie around, suck her thumb and loves to cling to her mommy. We are just so blessed to have her on this journey with us.

We love you sweet princess!

Our year in review

Another year has flown by but we have thoroughly loved every minute of it. Through the ups and downs and crazy schedules we have remembered to pay attention to the little things that make it all worth while. I didn’t get a chance to write a Christmas letter this year or last so I thought at least to do a recap here for anyone interested ;)
After five months of having our house on the market, the house we fell in love with was sold to another buyer and our buyer was offering too little for us. So we decided to stay put for a while. It was a trying few months trying to keep the place spotless with 2 small kids that had no interest in leaving things on shelves and keeping windows clean.
Owen has made big strides this year, he has also had a pretty eventful year. He started the year out with surgery to get his tonsils and adenoids out. That recovery was REALLY hard and will be 2 weeks I will never forget. He has been big into costumes and loves to play with his sister. We enrolled him in his first sport – T-ball, which he struggled with a bit but it was an adventure to say the least. A big change came this fall when we learned he would need hearing aids but it has really been a blessing since he has been doing SO well with them since he got them. He continues to amaze us with his accomplishments, his spirit and his pride in his work. We are all sooo proud of him.
Olivia started the year off still a bit of a baby, not fully walking yet and not talking too much. And she wraps up the year in what seems like has been 3 years in development. She is a smart little girl learning right along side her brother and mastering all the skills he is working on. She loves her brother and also really enjoys helping him. My favorite thing about her is her communication skills and the way her voice gets high when she talks and asks questions.
Jason started a new job this year. We were really struggling having him gone each week and we have seen quite the improvement in travel. It is nice to be a full time family again. He is enjoying the new position and the new opportunities. He keeps himself busy with kid time, video game time and always a house project here and there.
It has been a busy year for me. Dealing with some health issues on top of it all I hope things start to settle down a bit. Still working like crazy but I feel a light at the end of the tunnel is on its way, one can hope! I have been trying to focus on a few fun things this year like learning how to use my SLR camera so that has been a new challenge. I love capturing the special moments that we can cherish for a lifetime. Now just need to figure out how to get the lighting right so the moments don't look so blurry ;)
These really have just been some highlights so it was fun to look back as I reviewed the blog from the last year. It really has been a rollercoaster of a year but I am excited to see what next year brings. New adventures. New friends. New perspectives. Kindergarten: eek!,

Happy Holidays everyone.
Thank you for joining us in the adventure~

A little of this and that

It has been a few "hunker down" weekends lately. With the winter storm and now with two sick kiddos and 1 sick momma we are a bit confined to our home. But this time of year I could not ask for anything better (except for the sicknesses).

We have been keeping ourselves busy digging out of the snow, movies, playtime, rocking out to the Christmas music and lots of snuggles. For everything in between Jason and I have been tag teaming getting the Christmas preparations together. On top of all of that we have a little boy with a birthday just 2 days after Christmas so still trying to figure out how to make his day special amidst all the holiday celebrations.

Owen has been a VERY good student lately. Every single one of his teachers has been noticing huge changes in his participation over the last month. We all assume it has everything to do with the hearing aids! We also met with his team again to go over a new strategy since he now qualifies for deaf and hard of hearing services. So they will go through a round of testing to see where he falls in all the tests at school. We should know more in a few months what all that really means.
I got a nice note from his speech therapist at school this week. I always love hearing when things are going so well.
I just finished working with Owen. I had to write to tell you how exciting it was!!! Owen hardly let me get a word in the entire session!! I made a list of the things he told me about. There were at least 17 things!! Some included Santa Claus, Matt and Molly, Grandpa, presents under the tree, daddy shoveling.... Megan came in to give me something and he continued to tell her things. It was probably my most fun session with Owen yet!!! I am still smiling about the MANY things he talked about and I understood them!

We have been busy with OT and speech homework and we review his "book" everyday after school. Even if that means stopping instantly what you are doing because he wants to do it right then. As seen here as Jason was trying to cook dinner, Owen wanted to go over his book.

 

A trip to the mall

What would the holiday season be without a trip to visit Santa. Sit on that lap and tell him what you want for Christmas?
I have been prepping the kids to peak their interest. Olivia keeps wanting to look at the picture from last year where she was crying. So I have asked told her over and over not to cry this year when she sits on Santa's lap. That he is our friend and he loves her. So she said ok and was quite excited to go.
We got there and immediately both kids clammed up. They wanted nothing to do with him. We were the only ones there so Owen sat on a bench away from him and waved. Finally he warmed up enough to walk over and talk to him. I reminded Olivia one more time, let's not cry on Santa's lap this year. So we quickly plopped them up on his lap. And this is what you get.

At the end of it all, we couldn't pull Owen away and Olivia just kept asking where he went. The best part of the whole thing is that Owen has his name mixed up. He thinks he is "Christmas Tree". A little hard to explain to Santa why his new name is Christmas Tree but he went with it anyway. Thanks Santa.

Progression

As we navigate a life with child with special needs we often times find ourselves struggling to make progress in certain areas. It is hard to isolate yourself from others out there that are the same age. To live in that bubble to not realize how far behind we are in things. Something simple as watching a neighborhood boy who is the same age as Owen riding his bike down the street. We get blindsided by the fact that we still struggle to get Owen to pedal a trike consistently on his own.
What makes this even more prevalent is now having Olivia. 3 years younger. But developing right along side him. And at times passing by with such ease. He struggles with counting, can't seem to get it together. He gets 1, 3, 5 and then out of the blue we hear Olivia go straight on to one through ten. It is such a battle within us. To be soo happy and proud of one and yet be a little saddened that the other struggles.
I often feel like I am raising kids that are the same age. Because really that is where they are both at right now. One maturing very quickly. The other starting to gain momentum. But the beauty of it all is they have each other. They have us to cheer them on. They have all of you to show the support to help along this journey. And for that I am grateful.

I try not to post pictures like this - Owen's tongue sticking out - but I could not resist this one.

If I could just zoom out so you could see how there arms are so intertwined working on a project

They make an amazing pair.

Until they start fighting over something... :)

A colorful world

We are seeing more and more of Olivia turning into a little mommy. This is another example of her doing just that. We (me and Jason) do this with Owen ALL the time (minus the screaming - they were a little hyper).

I LOVE IT!

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Adventures in life

It seems our weekends have been jam packed that I haven't been able to detail all the fun we have been having. I love the stages that we are in with the kids. They are great fun to be around  and we can take them places without there being some form of meltdown.

A trip to see Tangled with the Thorsens. Owen enjoyed it, it wasn't too princessy and had some good action to keep him entertained. Olivia isn't quite ready for this stage.

A trip to the super crazy sledding hill with Auntie Erin. She did all the work. Owen is a bit scared of snow but he managed to enjoy himself for a wee bit.

And then there is the hustle and bustle of the everyday adventure. One that entails school, daycare and therapies with 2 kids that are refusing to nap. So they often times fall asleep in the car on the way home. Even carrying them into the house doesn't awaken them.



Trimming the tree

What would the holiday be if not for family traditions?
I remember growing up that even if there wasn't a lot of money to go around, we at least had a the spirit of the season. Somehow my mom and dad always made it special as we shared time between the two houses. But leading up to Christmas is what I remember most. The Christmas music, the house filled with the holiday lights and the Christmas tree that was always nice and plump. Often times falling over and eventually hooked to the wall. We would trek through the snow at the local tree farm to find the one that was just right. Pull it through the back yard and drag all the snow in with a mess of fresh pine needles. And then it was Lisa, Nick and my job to get everything on the tree. Stringing together popcorn. Picking through to find our favorite ornaments. Being together.
I really love this time of year. And as the kids get older it is becoming more and more special to watch them enjoy the traditions we are starting. We may not have the freshly chopped down tree (we tried that a few years ago with Owen. Did.not.go.well) But we have in it's place a beautiful look alike that is no hassle other than plugging the pre-strung lights in. I hope in a few years we can venture out as a family and start bringing a fresh tree in through the back door dragging in the snow and leaving that mess of pine needles.

This years decorating was giggle worthy. As I handed an ornament to each of them, they each took it over to a branch to hang it. Eventually they each had about 10 ornaments on 1 branch each. Next year we will need to work on using other branches. But it is their tree too so I let them decorate as they wanted :)

Owen's side

Olivia's side. She was pointing out her ornaments to Owen.

Thankful

We have so much to be thankful for.
It is always a blessing to have healthy children, to have enough to be able to provide a good life for us, to have such a wonderful family. It seems sometimes it is too good to be true. How are we so lucky? But we don't let it go without being thankful for it. That is one of the reasons I love this time of year. To appreciate each other and to appreciate all that we have.

We had a lovely day on Thursday. Jason worked hard all day cooking an amazing feast and somehow planned it all right to be done at the same time. My job...keep the kids entertained. Sometimes I think that is a feat in itself ;)

He brined the turkey overnight, made his own herb butter to spread inside and out. Stuffed it with all sorts of goodness and it turned out wonderfully. He is an AMAZING cook!

We had a small family gathering (small for us). Even Uncle Ryan made it home for the holiday (see him in the picture wearing Jesse's hat?). The kids did not let him leave their sight all night. Even as he tried to take a bathroom break, Owen was laying on the floor trying to find him under the door.

We missed having Jason's family, my brother Matt, my mom and brother Nick and family. So it felt a bit incomplete.

But with everything else. We will take what we can get. And with that we got Marshall.

Here is a preview of what we are working on tomorrow!!!!

Lots of.

So much wrapped up in the last 3 days.

 Lots of dr. visits. Lots of costumes. Lots of birthday wishes. Lots of music.

Lots of smiles. Lots of fun.

yes he is standing on the kitchen table. no I was not home.

{I have a picture of Owen's nasty finger but decided against posting it. It started showing signs of infection under the glue on Friday so we had to get him seen. Two dr. visits, a round of antibiotics and neosporin to dissolve the glue and it is looking much better now. Thank Goodness!}

everyday things

There seem to always be something we note as "wow that was a first" in our daily happenings together. So many lately it is hard to keep track of them all. So just as a catch up of ones we haven't posted in a while, here are my favorites lately...

Olivia
- She says thank you to EVERYTHING. Even tells Owen to say thank you from time to time.
- She is now starting to sing songs on her own without us singing along. It was the cutest thing as we drove home the other nite, I hear her little voice in the back singing twinkle twinkle little star and then switching over to ABCs.
- She is fully potty trained now. Even when we are out and about she tells us.
- She is starting to become helpful. I can ask her to get me something and she usually does it.
- Her vocabulary is amazing. With clarity to go along with it.

Owen
- Only 1 week of having the hearing aids and the changes we are seeing have been DRASTIC.
- We were at the dr.s office today and one of the nurses brought us to the room and asked us a few questions then went to get the dr. She said bye. Owen said bye. She shut the door. Owen turned to Jason and said "cute". Hmmm, I think we are a wee bit young for that one - eeek! (Jason and I were giggling pretty hard though)
- His coloring is getting more precise. He used to make huge strokes/the whole page. Now he is isolating the movement in a smaller area. OT homework is paying off!!!

We have some amazing kids.

pinkies sometimes get in the way

There is usually lots or running in our house. It is just what kids do. Well this evening we finally had an accident. I was on my way to the mall when Jason called to say come home Owen got hurt.
He was running around and tripped on something or just fell and somehow his pinkie got caught on something or ran into something. Lots of blood, lots of crying and a little pinkie finger that looked bent out of shape. So we rushed to the ER.
They got us right in and off for xrays. Owen did really well throughout the whole process. I however, got a little queasy a few times just looking at it. I won't go into all the gory details but let's just say the puncture wound ended up having a little bit of finger sticking out of it.

The xrays didn't show anything but the dr. could tell it was pretty badly hurt and the fingertip most likely broken. His nail as a very bad bruise underneath it and everything is pretty swollen. They gave the option of doing surgery to fix the nail. But they also said we could let it be and wait it out. But there will probably be some form of deformity when the nail grows back.

We also need to go see a hand surgeon to have them take a look at it as a follow up.

Never a dull moment around here! Guess we will be taking a break from our home OT exercises.

After 4 hours we finally got to go home and get some dinner. He is doing great now. Happy, doesn't seem to be affected by it too much. I just hope it isn't too painful for him tomorrow.



The kindgergarten process

Seems a little silly to be talking so soon about Kindergarten. After all we are still 10 months away.
But we have the benefit of IEP meetings so we get the extra special attention to these types of transitions.
Visits need to be done. Observations need to be made. Decisions to decide upon. That is our task for the next few months. We will have the official Kindergarten transition team meeting in April but we really need to determine what our plan is prior to that.

See things are a bit different for us. Thankfully we have options. Not all school districts have options. So we are the lucky ones.



The options are:

A. Send him to the neighborhood school. Our daycare neighborhood school as well as our own school both do not have any services available to help Owen 1-1 for tasks which would give him extra support in meeting his goals.

B. Continue for another year at the school he is at (they have a kindergarten program). It is 2.5 hours of school a day. He would be pulled out of the class to work on his goals. But he would be in the regular kindergarten classroom.

C. Go to a school in our district that has a special program for special needs and have him participate in a regular kindergarten class for a full day. This would give him opportunity to go back and forth between rooms based on what needs he would have. There would also be a para in the kindergarten room to help him with tasks as he needs it.

Option C is what we are leaning towards but I need to see for myself what it looks like. We like the idea that it is full day program so he gets more opportunity to participate in the kindergarten class.

I am thankful to be able to plan this far in advance to get the opportunity to do my homework. I know Owen would do great with any option. But we need to determine where he will be best. Nothing but the best for this boy!

The zebras are here!!!

The Zebras have arrived!
We decided to call the new hearing aids his "zebras". Its easier and more fun to describe them like that versus calling them his "ears" or his "aids" or his "speakers".
They fit perfectly.
He is adjusting really well to them.
We are already noticing improvements.

We went into the office on Friday to get them and learn all about them. Owen was a little hesitant at first to put them in his ears. I had to hold his hands down as he tried to block his ears. But once they were in, they were in. It was one of those moments that brought tears to my eyes. The look on his face was unforgettable. He could hear. We showed him the mirror and he kept turning his head to get a good look. And the way he was talking was like someone flipped a switch. His volume went up 5 notches and he wouldn't stop. Just kept making noises so he could hear himself. Then we made our way outside into the street with all the chaos of background noise and again he had this look of surprise. Like he had been missing out on all these sounds. He just kept gasping with eyes wide open. It was AMAZING!

 And now at home things are going really well. He has asked to take them out a few times and pulled them out a few times but he wore them for 90% of the day on day 2.

Tomorrow we venture to daycare and school.

From the front you can barely tell they are there.

Here is the side profile. We chose zebra print to make them fun. And the orange strap is attached to the back of his shirt so we do not lose them if he pulls them out. However, we were on a hunt for one of them today in his room. Lesson Learned already on how to attach the clip better!

A new phase

I often wondered if we would ever get past the constant fighting stage. And then one day they decided they could be in the same room with each other without everything being a battle. So we take this stage in baby steps as they get to know each others boundaries.
I love the days when they make little activities to do all on their own and they can play so nicely without adult intervention. One of the favorites lately is to lay on the steps covered in their blankies.

One of the best parts of watching them is their affection towards each other. They ask each other for hugs. If one is hurt or sad the other tries to comfort.

And then we get into the category of "big sister" for big brother. I have noticed lately on certain occasions Olivia doing things to help her big brother. The first time it caught me off guard. I wasn't expecting to see it so soon. But there it was. She was carrying his toy chair to the couch for him and says "Here you go Owen". It's probably just one of those simple things of kids helping kids. But it really hit me that this role shift will become more and more apparent as time goes on. But I know she will be a great helper for her brother. She's only 2 and does it with great pride.

Oh my goodness!

Picture this...Owen sandwiched between Jason and I in our bed with a big Toys R Us Holiday add on his lap. He was supposed to be napping like his sister but he is trying to ween off of that. So we went page by page. He looked at each page and pointed out different toys that caught his eye. He'd finish looking at a page and then say next page please. So I would flip to the next section of toys. UNTIL I landed on the page with this...

And the let out a huge gasp, put his hand on his chest and exclaimed "Oh my goodness". He proceeded to stare at this page for over 10 minutes. He didn't want to continue looking through the add. He found what he wanted.
He has been carrying this page around with him since he saw it.

It is very hard not to go out to the store and get this for him. It is the first time he has ever identified something he has wanted. But guess what he has a birthday coming up and Santa may already know this is on his wish list. He will have to wait.