Big COWBOY Birthday!

Chad's 2nd birthday party was a big success... minus the sweltering heat! It was 108 degrees on the day of the party and the location was the beautiful, yet not air conditioned, Express Clydesdales barn in Yukon. Even though the heat was horrible that day the kids still seemed to have a great time.

This was the massive Clydesdale barn

 The yummy cake pops I made that melted in the heat. :(

 Cupcakes, again by me.

 Chad LOVED all 4 of his cupcakes! We gave in since it was HIS birthday and all.

 Cutie BOOTie!

 Love his boots... they are actuall Gibson's old boots but we plan to get both boys a new pair of boots for Christmas.

 Miss Emma! This is Gibson's girlfriend, her Mommy is my best friend so they just HAVE to end up together one day!

 Miss Paige... she has twin brothers who will be turning one in November. I dont know how her Mommy does it, but its amazing. Isn't Paige just too cute?

 Chad enjoyed exploring the farm.

 Gibson LOVED the horses!!

 One of the many beautiful Clydesdales.

 Someone needs a teeth cleaning!

 The staff member that gave us the tour of the facility and showed us the clydesdale, BIG JACK I think was his name, showed us the difference between a normal horseshoe and a Clydesdale horseshoe.

 Ms. Ashley (Gibson's teacher from last year) and Reis. I absolutely adore this picture for so many reasons.

 Ericka and Rilee! Love these two girls!

 Gerod and Chad touching the Clydesdale. It took Chad a little while to warm up to him, I mean he was HUGE, but once he did he loved it.

We had a great time celebrating Chad's 2nd birthday! I cant believe my baby boy is already 2... time sure is flying by for our little family of four!

The worst day of my life

I have not blogged in a very long time. I have been overcome with grief, sadness and so many more emotions that I didn't even know existed. I hope to never go through the pain that my family and I have gone through these past couple of weeks ever again.

I'll start from the beginning...
Saturday May 21, 2011
This was the day that everything started.
The boys were already in bed when we got the phone call... Gerod's Granddaddy died in a motorcycle accident driving home from his lake house. Gerod was crushed. I have never seen him so broken. All I knew to do was to hold him, allow him to cry and comfort him to the best of my ability. It was a horrible night.

Monday May 23, 2011
We made the long drive to Gerod's hometown in TX for the funeral that was to be held on Wednesday.This was actually a really good day, the drive went well and we slept well after we arrived late that night.

Tuesday May 24, 2011
Another tough day as this was the day of the viewing. Gerod's Granddaddy looked really good and we were able to say our goodbyes. It was a very emotional time for all of us as Gerod and his Granddaddy were always very close. He was in perfect health so this was just the most unexpected tragedy that we could imagine. Little did we know things were about to get much worse.

Wednesday May 25, 2011
We woke up and got dressed for Gerod's Granddaddy's funeral service. We made the drive to town and met with the family at Gerod's Granddaddy's home. The service was so large they had to hold it at the civic center and it was beautiful. Afterward Gerod and I talked to some of our friends and I was able to speak with both of my grandparents and my parents who all came to the service. I hugged my grandparents and said goodbye because they were not going to attend the grave side part of the service.
The burial service was led by the Masons of the Masonic Lodge that Granddaddy had been a part of for most of his life and they did a beautiful job.

Little did I know that my whole life was changing during that service.

When the family arrived at the church for the meal that was to be provided to us there was quite a lot of talk going around. We found out that my grandmother had been in a serious accident and was in the hospital in the town. Panicking, Gerod and I rushed to the hospital. When we got inside I told them who I was looking for and they asked me to give them some of her information. At this point I wondered why my grandpa hadn't given them this information, where was he? Moments later a nurse came out of he ER and told me that I could see my grandma and that she was ok. I was confused, overwhelmed, scared and anxious all rolled into one. Once I got into the room and saw that my grandma was responsive and able to speak to me I immediately felt better. She was in serious condition but otherwise really didn't look all that bad. She asked where my grandpa was and I told her I would find out. I told her that everything would be ok.

At this point they told me they were going to medi-flight her to a bigger hospital about 30 min away and that I would need to sign some forms to release her. I asked a nurse where the other three people were that were in the car with my grandma and she didn't respond. It was like a movie, everyone was looking at me, hearing my words, but no one was saying anything. After asking multiple times a trooper finally walked over to me and said the words that will forever haunt me, "Ma'am, the two males are deceased"... what he said next I am not sure of, I completely lost it. The "two males" were both of my grandpas... my only two grandpas... they were two amazing men in my life, and they were gone.I had just seen them not even an hour earlier and they were gone! As I type this my heart breaks all over again. I kept thinking this all just had to be a dream, no, a nightmare. How could they be gone?

They took Gerod and I back to an empty part of the hospital where I cried hysterically. About that time my parents walked in. No one had told them yet.
I didn't realize until later that I am the one who told my mom; I am the one that told my Mom that her father and father-in-law had just died. I don't know if I will ever be okay with that.
Then it was time to make phone calls, Aunts, Uncles, Sisters, Brothers... we called them all.

I felt numb, as my parents, Gerod and I all drove to the hospital to check on my Grandma as well as my Grandpas girlfriend who was also in the accident.
When we arrived at the hospital we found that we would not be allowed to see my Grandma until after her surgery, but we were able to see my Grandpas girlfriend before they wheeled her to surgery. She seemed to be alright but was also in very serious condition.

In the waiting room, surrounded by family on both my Mom and Dad's sides I wondered how something like this could happen. I couldn't imagine that it was all real. It couldn't be real?!?

Around 9pm we were able to go in to the ICU unit to see my grandma and my grandpas girlfriend. My grandma was alert and asked the question we were all dreading hearing, "Where is Jim (my grandpa)"?
My Mom, her sister, and my grandmas sister had all decided to tell her the truth if she asked this question. I am sure that my grandmas heart broke in the instant that she heard the news. My grandparents had just recently celebrated their 55 year anniversary. Just heartbreaking.

That night Gerod and I drove back to his hometown with his parents to stay one more night. We left the boys with his parents and we stayed in a hotel. Even though the kids weren't with us I still struggled with sleep. I woke up frequently, crying and didn't get good rest at all.

Thursday May 26, 2011
The next morning we prepared to drive back to the hospital but then decided to go back to my hometown instead. We ended up traveling on the same road that the accident happened on. I thought I was prepared, I thought I would be fine, but that was anything but the case. As we turned onto the main road in town I felt my fingertips starting to tingle and then it crept into my hands and arms and then my whole body was numb. I couldn't breath, it was like the air had been sucked out of my body and I cried uncontrollably. My hands and arms went stiff and I had no clue what was happening to me. Gerod got me to my parents house as quickly as he could and once I got home my family got me calmed down, and they told me I had probably just experienced a panic attack. It was the craziest thing to ever happen to me, although I guess the entire situation is just the craziest thing to ever happen to me.

Continued later...

Evals... Oh how I am sick of evals!

Gibson has an evaluation tomorrow with a doctor that can diagnose ADD/ADHD. Yet another evaluation for one of our little guys. As much as I dislike taking the boys to doctors for evaluations I am excited to find out if Gibson indeed has something else going on. We shall see how it all works out, I am just glad we are finally getting this checked out.

I will also be calling an ENT (Ear Nose & Throat doctor) tomorrow because Chad failed his second Tempanogram (?) test the other day during his evaluation with Sooner Start (which he qualifies for... more to come on that and what all services he will be receiving). I am hoping that because Chad flat lined on both the Tempanogram tests that tubes might possibly solve our problems and he may not have Autism after all. I am not going to get my hopes up but I am also going to try not to dwell on the fact that its still a definite possibility.

I am also calling up some doctors to see if I can get my shoulder situation figured out. I swear, after this is all said and done I don't want to see another doctor for a while. hahaha! Doesn't look like that will ever happen though.

I will update with our results from the doctors appt sometime tomorrow (or today since its 2am)!

Piece Walk - Oklahoma

We participated in the Oklahoma Piece Walk today and it was a blast. We got to enjoy the beautiful weather and were able to see all of our friends. It was a great morning!

Gibson was so excited!

 Mommy and Gibson (this was the best picture we got)

Waiting for the walk to start!

 Not sure what this face is, but it sure is cute!

 Love him!

 Gibson LOVED playing the chimes at the music station they had setup. We may have to get him signed up for some kind of music therapy soon!

 Our entire group, not bad since we were a little behind on signing up for the event! :)

We had so much fun but we wish that Daddy could have been off of work to join us. That would have made the morning even better.

Next year Gerod and I are thinking about taking on the 5K together as well as raising some money and getting a team together for the walk. I cant wait for next May! :)

Thank you!

Thank you all for your sweet comments and emails! :) God sure gave me great friends who stick by my side when I need them the most!

A bit of heartache

I have been on the phone a lot today; scheduling appointments, calling the insurance company, and so on. I took Chad into the doctor last Thursday and he said what I have been thinking for a while now, "I am seeing some things that Gibson started doing at this age that concern me Callie". Oh goodness, and there go the waterworks. I have talked about this with Gerod, our small group and even on the blog but I guess I kept thinking and hoping that it was something else. Maybe there is a hearing issue? Maybe he is just mimicking behaviors that he sees in Gibson?

We obviously don't know for sure yet, but I kind of feel in my heart that something is off. I keep telling myself that I CANT do this! I CANT have 2 children with Autism, I just CANT. However in the same breath I hear God telling me that I CAN and that he chose me for a reason.

Chad will be evaluated in September to find out for sure if it is anything Autism related or just a speech delay or hearing problems. I don't know what the outcome will be, I am not a doctor, but I cant seem to shake that nagging feeling I have like I got with Gibson.

Something just isn't right here.

Some days I think about it and I cry, the tears flow and I just cant seem to shake them. There are other days when I can talk out loud about my thoughts and fears and not even shed one single tear.
All I know is that for some reason God knows I am strong enough to handle this. I don't know if I believe it, but God only gives us what we can handle. I know that there is some divine purpose to all of this and maybe one of these days I will find out the true plan.

Until that time I cherish everything that is going on with my children. Gerod and I couldn't be more pleased with the progress that Gibson is showing, and we are ready for Chad to get started on his journey of therapy as well. Our first meeting with Sooner Start in Tuesday, May 10th. We will get an evaluation from them on the kinds of services that Chad will receive (I know he will qualify) and then we can finally get the ball rolling.

I should be getting a call back from the doctor who will see Gibson soon to get him evaluated for ADHD. I have thought that ADHD might be another issue for Gibson but had been reluctant to ask our pediatrician if we could get him evaluated, but as soon as I brought it up he agreed that it would be good to get Gibson tested and gave me two doctors numbers on the spot. *I love our pediatrician by the way, he is AWESOME!*

So anyway, that is what is going on here! We have a lot on our plate right now and we are just trying to take it all in.
I know I have promised MANY times to keep this thing up to date, and I promise yet again that I will get better about it. I think sometimes I stretch myself a bit thin and I need to sit down and re-evaluate some things I have going and maybe give up one or two things to make my days a bit more stress free!

I will keep you all updated on what we find out.

Tomorrow we leave for Texas to visit family. It should be a nice break or us, and LOTS of Mexican food for this Texan born, Texan bred Momma!! I am ready!

Today

There are sermons that hit you smack dab in the face and make you realize who is really in control.
I very much enjoyed the sermon at our church today in which the Pastor talked about having trust in God. It kind of hit me like a ton of bricks that God is in control, not that I didn't know that before, but sometimes I need to be reminded I guess.
In the sermon our Pastor talked about a book called Sabbatical Journey by Henri Nouwen. In the book the writer talks to trapeze artists and how the "flier" has to trust the "catcher" to catch her. In the same way our Pastor talked about how we must "let go and wait for God". We want to "reach out but we must wait in absolute trust that God will reach out and catch us".
God has his hand in everything! Sometimes I forget that he is right here when I need him. He is here beside me when I have a bad day and feel like I just cant take anymore. He is here with me when I rejoice and he is rejoicing with me. I only hope that I remember to seek God ALL the time, not just when I feel like I need him the most.
I appreciated today's sermon so much with everything we have gone through in the past year with Gibson. God has been right there ready to catch us when we need him the most, I just need to remember that.

P.S. I promise to update with new pictures really soon by the way!

Autism Screening

We had Chad's Autism Screening on Tuesday afternoon. During the screening the screener had him play with toys and tried to get him to interact with her in certain ways and she would score him. After the screening was over we went over his score. She told me that for his age he should score less than a 2.75 and he scored a 2.75. Since he scored right on the cutoff and because Gibson has Autism she suggested we get an evaluation because she is not certified to give a diagnosis.
We have already contacted Sooner Start, the program that Gibson was in until he was 3, and they should be contacting us for his initial evaluation soon. On top of that we will be contacting a few of the doctors here in OKC and possibly the doctor we used in Lubbock to get Chad evaluated.
I feel like we are going through deja vu here in our house right now. Chad and Gibson couldn't be more different if in fact Chad is also on the spectrum, but at least we know more about Autism and have a few more resources this time around in case we get a positive diagnosis for Chad.
I will keep everyone informed of what we find out.

All about Gibson

I am very sad. Gibson has an AMAZING teacher at his school that does so well with him and I found out recently that she will not be coming back next year. She would have been his teacher for another two years but since she is leaving he will have a new teacher. With our plans of selling the house (which isn't even in the beginning stages of getting an offer right now) we don't know if we should stay in the same school district that we are in or if we should move to a new area. It is so difficult to make decisions that can so greatly effect your child. Gibson truly needs a teacher who can understand his trials and can help him work through them.
I am amazed at the amount of compassion from the teacher he has now and I wonder if we will find such an amazing person again. Can we get that lucky twice? I sure hope so, but in the meantime if you all can be praying that we make the right decisions in Gibson's future schooling. It is something that since we found out that he was on the spectrum has been one of my biggest fears; not getting him in the right place where he can maximize all of the potential that I know is inside him. I think there is a lot of research in my future of other school possibilities.

I also want to say a big thank you to all of our friends and family who wore BLUE yesterday (April 2nd) in honor of National Autism Awareness Day. It is amazing to see everyone show their support of Gibson and our family. We love you all and are so thankful that we have your love and support for Gibson. I know that there are more struggles ahead, but that only means that there will be even more for us to celebrate when those struggles are overcome. We have already come so far in such a short period of time. Thank you all!
We have already started raising money for Autism Speaks and you can access our page here if you want to donate to help fund research for Autism in Gibson's name. This year our goal is to triple our fundraising last year which means I would like to raise $3000 or more! Please help us reach this goal. AND Mark your calendar to walk with us in October. I would love to have 25 or more people walking with us. You need to register if you plan on walking with us.

I am such a bad blogger...

In case you haven't noticed, those of you that actually "follow" my blog, I have been a really bad blogger lately. We have been so busy sometimes I cant even see straight. Not only am I wife, mother of two, Photographer, and Jeweler for Premier Designs but I also just recently started selling Rodan & Fields skin care line. They are an amazing company that I will talk much more about later and if your interested in hearing about the products let me know, but again that's for another post.

Lately things have been going pretty good here. Gibson is doing really good and has only had a few recent tantrums that have been extreme. He is doing well in school and getting better in his new Mothers Day Out program at our church. One of the directors actually gave me the best book the other day called "Autism Alleluias" which is a devotional book written by the mother of an Autistic son. It is really a blessing to read some of these stories and I cant say enough thanks for the generosity of the director who thought enough of me to get me this book.

Chad is doing well too, although we are a bit concerned with his delayed speech and will be getting an evaluation on him on Tuesday. I can talk more about that after we have the evaluation. We also converted Chad's bed to a toddler bed the other day and he is actually doing very well with the change, it is amazing how quickly he adjusts to change.

Gerod and I are doing well too. Just enjoying life with two little men! Its definitely crazy around here but every day is a blessing and even though we don't see it as such sometimes we know how truly blessed we are.

Pictures to come later when it isn't so late and I am not so tired. I better head to bed now because I am taking the boys to the zoo tomorrow morning with some friends. I will be bringing the camera of course and should get lots of pictures of the kiddos!!

ABC's will never be the same...

For 2 years Gibson barely said a word... he wouldn't sit still long enough to "read" a book or be read to... he was very behind in many areas but we were working with a therapist and knew that one day he would start to get better. I know there are many children out there on the spectrum who never speak. I have a few friends whose children are in those situations, so I knew it was a possibility that Gibson might never talk. Remembering those hard times make the little things, that many parents take for granted, so special to us.

Gibson has a bedtime routine that is pretty consistent every night. He goes into his room, chooses a book (usually his ABC book), reads it to us, turns off the light on his own, gets into bed, sings us "Jesus Loves Me" and then sings his "ABC's" then tells us "Goodnight" and proceeds to say "Shut the door" before we walk out into the hall. Sometimes he even says "I love you" before we kiss him goodnight. These are moments that I never was fully sure would happen for us. We cherish them every single night and I am so thankful that we were able to capture Gibson reading to us one night a few weeks ago. Its amazing the progress he has made in only a years time!


How cute is that little man? We are so proud of him and the progress he has made in such a short period of time. We had a Parent/Teacher conference with his teacher the other day and she feels that with the progress he has made already that by the time he enters kindergarten he should be able to be in a typical classroom. :) We are SO happy to hear this news!

Once I get around to it I will be posting pictures from Gibson's Valentines Day party at school.

BIG DEALS!

I bought all of this for only $25!! It was originally $64!!

Some people aren't into clipping coupons. I used to be one of those people. I thought that the people that clipped coupons were weirdos that weren't really going to save that much money in the end. Then I went to a coupon class at my church. The lady that taught the class has a family of seven (2 adults and 5 kids), they used to spend over $1000 at the grocery store every month which is pretty close to what I spend for our family of 4. However this lady now spends less than $300 per month on EVERYTHING... produce, normal groceries, and toiletry items. I thought that this lady must be spending literally ALL of her time working on her coupons but I found out that you can do it all fairly easily. This was my first "real" coupon trip and I saved almost $40! That's insane. If I go to the store 3 more times this month that means I will save over $160 and spend about $100. I am sure there are a few little things that I need to purchase in the beginning that wont be on sale or have a coupon but in the end I will be able to save a lot of money. This is great for anyone in any situation... Married, Single, Kids, No Kids... Anyone likes to save a buck or two.
If you are at all interested in saving some money please check out the website www.couponcloset.net you will fall in love with coupons and how easy it is to save money.

Good luck in all of your future money saving adventures! :)

Spelling our name!

Gibson has impressed us so much in the last year with everything he has learned and how far he has come since November of '09 when he wasnt hardly talking at all. Now he is spelling out his name and knows what he spelled. We are amazed!

Save a Penny...

I went to the coupon class at my church tonight with lots of girls from out Sunday School class. I learned a lot more this time around than I did the first time and I am hoping to really dive into the world of couponing now! If you are interested in learning some of the things we learned in class go to www.couponcloset.net
The information is a little overwhelming at first but it is amazing what this lady saves every month and I hope that I can do the same. :) We are making some changes in our house over the next year or so and this will help us out a ton!!
More to come on our money saving ventures!! :)

You dont understand...

Gerod and I decided to take the family to Jason's Deli after church on Sunday. On Sunday our Jason's Deli is extremely busy because of the church crowd. When we got to the restaurant there were quite a few people there but it wasn't packed until about 15 min later. We got the boys in high chairs and Gerod got into the long line to place our order. Sitting at the table trying to entertain a tired 1 year old and a 3 year old with a short attention span is, needless to say, VERY difficult!
As I was waiting for Gerod to finish up in the long line I noticed a family with a Mom and Dad around my parents age and their kids (I assume) that were probably close to my age. They sat down after us at a table right next to where we were sitting.
Gibson was getting restless and although he was making very little noise he was being somewhat irritating pushing his high chair backwards and then pulling himself back up to the table. I asked him to stop, quietly, a few times. The entire time he was doing this the Mom from the table next to us kept glaring at Gibson. Once he stopped doing messing with his chair he decided it would be fun to play with the pepper shaker. At one point it slid across the table and fell on the floor right next to the foot of the Mom at the next table. The son picked up the pepper shaker and handed it to me, to which I apologized for Gibson's accident. The Mom again glared at Gibson then turned to her family and said the following: "If you kids ever acted like that out in public I would have taken you outside. You guys never acted like that in public though. Its so irritating when parents don't make their children behave." It took all of my strength not to fly across the table and give that lady a piece of my mind. First of all, no child is a saint and I am quite sure that at some point her children were obnoxious in public. Secondly, Gibson was not being bad... yes he wasn't listening to me very well but I have had many worse situations with him and in my opinion he was being very good.
Situations like this infuriate me because the people that talk badly about my child for one have no right to talk bad about him like that and two they have no idea of the struggles that Gibson is faced with daily. I don't understand why other people out there think they are so much better than others especially when they have no clue of the situation that they are talking badly about.
With that being said I hope that I can ask everyone that reads this blog a big favor... If you see a Mom struggling with her child don't automatically come to a swift judgement about her and her parenting style. You never know what is REALLY going on there. I ask that you maybe give a helping hand or give her an encouraging word, not talk bad about her and her child right in front of her. You never know what something as small as asking if you can help her with something or telling her its okay might go. I know that there have been certain situations where people have done this for me and it has almost brought me to tears of thanks.
Acts of kindness can go a very long way!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. I head out to Texas first thing in the morning!

Do you really know?

Because my Great Grandmother passed away today I have been thinking a lot about life. I spoke with my Dad on the phone tonight and he read me a story that my Great Grandmother wrote about her life; growing up, getting married, having children, owning successful businesses, and seeing the world change around her. There were so many things in the story that I just didn't know about my Grandmother. I guess I just never thought to ask her about her life. Oh there were the stories that I heard over and over again that I could tell lots of people about but truthfully I learned more about my Grandmother in the short time that I was on the phone tonight than I had learned in the 26+ years that I have been alive.
This makes me wonder how much people really know about their family; where family members are from, when they got married, what major world events did they witness that we only get to read about in the history books? I wonder how many people out there were stunned to find out something about a loved one only after they passed on. I know that for me it is a blessing that my Grandmother was asked to write these things down on paper. Now I can share things about her life with my children and in turn they can share them with their children.
I encourage you as I write this, to sit down with an elder in your family and ask them questions. Ask them about how different it was growing up then as opposed to now. I am sure there are many stories to be told and many stories that we will never hear but I know that we will never learn things about our family and its history unless we listen, truly listen to the people that have been through it all before. I hope that I will take this new found knowledge and speak to my living relatives about what things were like back when they were young. I might even take it upon myself to write some of their stories down so that future generations of my family will know about the history of our family.

One last mention about my Grandmother that I thought was too sweet for words:
My uncle sat down with my Grandmother the other day and prayed with her, they prayed that she would accept Christ as her Savior because she couldn't remember if she ever truly had done that. Then she followed by saying that she was 96 years old and she was entitled to forget things *still witty as ever*. She prayed with my uncle so that she would be assured a place in Heaven alongside her two husbands and two of her children (one of whom was my amazing Grandmother; Barbara Ann). I love the song "I Can Only Imagine" and every time I hear it I think of my late Grandmother Barbara and now I know that when I hear it I will think: I can only imagine what fun my family is having in Heaven and I know that I will rejoice when I can see them again!

Jennie Mae

Christmas 2009

God Bless you and your family... please hug and kiss your dear family members because you never really know when they wont be with you any longer.

Great Grandmother

Today is a sad day, I got a phone call from my Dad earlier who let me know that my Great Grandmother passed away early this morning. It makes me very sad that she is no longer with us but she lived a great life. She died at the age of 96 and she was spunky up till the very end. Here I am with her on Christmas Day.

 And here is my Dad with her. She was his only living Grandmother left.

I am so glad that we were able to see her one last time before she passed away. She insisted that we bring the boys over for her to see them. The smile on her face was priceless watching the boys play in her room. Gibson even gave her a kiss and told her bye bye.

I am thankful for her in so many more ways than I can write about. She was an amazing woman and I only hope that I can be like her. I am happy that she went peacefully and that she is doing much better now. She can be with her two late husbands and two of her children up in Heaven. I know that she is rejoicing to be with her family again!

Love you Great Grandma, you will truly be missed!

Clipping Coupons

One of my goals for 2011 is saving money! One of the ways I plan on saving money is by doing something I made fun of my grandma for doing when I was younger. I always hated going to the grocery store and her pulling out her many coupons just to save some money. I had no clue just how smart she was!
I went to a coupon class back in November and I will be going to another of these classes on January 20th at my church. I cant wait to start working on my spending habits, especially in the grocery store because that is where I spend the most money. I have two boys so spending money on food is something that is NEVER going to go away, that is until they move out but that is far off in the future.
If your interested in attending the class it will be Jan 20th at BFC in Bethany, OK. I look forward to learning more about couponing! One of the girls that teaches the class went from spending over $1000 on groceries every month to spending less than $300!! That is some serious savings!! :)
The coupon website is here!

What's Going On?

Lots of things going on in our household lately!

Gibson and Chad are no longer in Mothers Day Out. Gibson, unfortunately, has experienced his first sign of discrimination for being "different" from the other kids. Gibson was kicked out of Mothers Day Out because he was "too hard to handle" according to the teachers in his class. I don't feel like standing on a soap box right now but this really frustrates me. I know that sometimes Gibson can be difficult but I don't see how he is so bad that two teachers cant handle him on top of only 7 more students. I could understand if the class were much larger but it isn't. Needless to say Gerod and I decided to take Chad out of the program as well because we didn't think it was fair for Chad to be able to go while Gibson couldn't go.

Now that Gibson is not going to MDO he is in school Monday-Thursday from Noon to 3pm. He LOVES his class and his teacher. I cant say enough about how much I love his teacher and everything she does not only just for Gibson but for all of the other kids in his class. She has a heart of gold and she truly loves those kids! It makes me so happy that we were placed in a class with a teacher like her. Gibson is doing really well at school and I am getting better reports each and every day. I cant wait to see all the changes when May comes around.

Chad is teething like NO OTHER, he is constantly waking up in the middle of the night and it is about to drive Gerod and I crazy. However, we know that this too shall pass and we are looking forward to the time when we can put Chad to bed and he doesn't wake up until morning. Other than that Chad is doing wonderful! He loves his big brother and I am enjoying the fact that they are finally getting along and playing well together.

Gerod and I just celebrated our 6th anniversary and we couldn't be happier. I think we are happier now than we were on the day we got married. We are enjoying our lives together and we are enjoying our children more than we ever could have imagined.
We have some big changes ahead, so if you can please be praying that we make the right decisions. We are very excited about what is in store for our little family of four! More to come on all the changes that are in store for us will be coming soon!

Weight Loss Wednesday!

I kind of regret saying that I would make Wednesday a post about my weight loss. Not because I am not actually working on it, but rather because I am not usually one to go on about talking about my weight (except to my husband who hears me talk about it all the time).
I started everything off by downloading the "lose it!" app on my phone. It is helping me a ton because I can track all of my calories during the day. I can enter in food that I prepare, or food that we get at a restaurant and I am staying more on track. I have realized though that some of the foods I have been eating in the past are completely horrible for me! You think that because there are veggies in something that it makes it good for you... but there are lots of calories in things I didn't even know about.
Anyway... I am down 3 lbs (who knows if this is real weight or just water weight) but I am down to a number that I have'nt been at in a LONG time and its all from just one week of eating healthier and starting a work out plan.
In the area of working out I found an AWESOME thing on Cox Cable. If you go to your On Demand Free Zone and go into the Health & Wellness section you will find Exercise TV. This thing is AMAZING. I can work out to a great fitness video (there are TONS to choose from) and I dont have to spend a penny. Usually I end up signing up at a gym and then losing interest because its just one more place that I have to be and with two kids its next to impossible to do that all week long. So this is not only free but unbelievably convenient.
So I am working out, eating healthy and hopefully by the end of March I will be looking better too!

I am going on a trip to Kansas City for my annual Premier Designs Regional Rally and I am leaving on Thursday. I am really excited because this is the first year that our region is moving our rally to KC and I have never been there before. I only hope that I can stay focused on my goal and eat right and possibly throw in some exercise while Im there. I know that convention food isnt the best to stay on your diet but believe me I will try!

Until next Wednesday!
Hopefully I will have dropped a bit more by then.

Emotional Rollercoaster

As I have mentioned before, some days are harder than others. When you sign on to be a mother it is a job that doesn't come with a handbook. You don't have a schedule of set jobs to do. You don't have a road map of where you may be in the years to come. You just have to live life day by day and see where things take you.
My role as a mom started on September 26th 2007 when my sweetheart Gibson was born, actually before that if you count pregnancy. Although pregnancy is another thing with no set path it is not quite the same as when your child is actually born and you have that brand new baby in your arms. I never knew exactly what was in store for me and my family on that day over 3 years ago. I didn't know that we would have a child that has Autism. I. Had. No. Clue.
I didn't know much about Autism when I started researching it as a possibility for what I saw going on in my son. I have learned so much since I first got on the computer and typed in that word. I always thought that there was a clear definition for Autism and my son didn't fit the bill. Boy was I wrong! I had no idea just how broad the Autism spectrum is, nor did I know just how much is yet to be found out about Autism. We have no REAL clue as to what causes it... people have their speculations, but that is not what this post is about. We have no way of know how to cure Autism, or if there really is a cure. All we know is that there are therapies out there and they may or may not help our children.
Gibson started speech therapy back in November of 2009. After a year of therapy he is doing in many cases 100% better! He is actually talking which is, to say the least, one of our very biggest blessings. I know some families who have children who do not talk at all. We are blessed beyond measure that our only struggle with speech right now is that Gibson is still delayed but otherwise speaking about as well as a 2 year old would. Parents of (as we call them) "typical" kids really have no idea what it means to have your child tell you what happened at school that day, or follow simple directions. But these are things we deal with every single day. Gibson has made so many strides that it is hard for me to write about me having a bad day, but I am no different in that way than any other parent out there.
Today was a hard day. I am not sure what sent me over the edge emotionally but I just gave up at the end of the night. I was beyond ready physically, and emotionally for the kids to go to bed. I just needed to rest my mind. Spending an entire day with your kids is simply stated bitter sweet. You have those times where you just quite frankly want to pull your hair out and yet in the next second you want nothing more than to squeeze and cuddle and kiss on those sweet little faces of theirs.
I know that eventually things will get better, or I will get stronger. I know that God has his hands in this and he will guide me through and sometimes I think that days like today happen to me so that I can sit back and realize that I am not the one in control here. God is always in control. I need to let him lead me more than I do and I think that once I can let go things will fall into place better or at least I will be more at ease when things don't go the way I plan.
I am praying that tomorrow is a better brighter day and I know that the best way to start off on the right foot is to have a positive attitude. Tomorrow I will have a smile on my face knowing that in the end it is one more day that I have to spend with my kids... even if they do drive me a little crazy sometimes! ;)

Chocolate Pudding

Gibson was a big boy all weekend so I decided to treat him with chocolate pudding for dessert. Gibson helped me make the instant pudding and loved licking the spoon! Go figure!
We had fun and I look forward to letting him help me cook things more often. He really seems to enjoy it.

6 years of wedded bliss!

I met my wonderful husband Gerod at a basketball game at the junior college in my hometown on February 11, 2002. From that night I feel like we both had a small case of "love at first sight".
Our first date was on Valentines Day 3 days after our first meeting at a quaint little Italian restaurant in Midland. By candlelight we visited about anything and everything. He gave me a rose because he said he had to give me a rose on Valentines Day. What a Gentleman! Our courtship was a whirlwind after that night and we had our first kiss to end our 3rd date.
2 years after our first date to the day we got engaged. Valentines Day of 2004 was absolutely amazing. We went out for a picnic dinner that ended up being held at center court of the basketball arena where we first met. After our picnic dinner Gerod led me up the stairs to the upper level where I saw rose petals that spelled out "Marry Me" on the ground. Gerod got down on one knee and opened up the ring box and I of course said "YES". Nine short months later we were wed in a small church in my hometown.
6 years later I still feel like I am married to my best friend. Gerod and I laugh together, cry together and love each other more than most people can ever say. After having two beautiful children together it just makes our love even stronger. I don't know what I would do without this wonderful man in my life.
I absolutely LOVE him and I look forward to many many more years to come.

We actually got to sneak out for a date night and were able to leave the kids with a great babysitter for our Anniversary evening. We went to a great new place we have found called the Sushi Bar and it was awesome! We had some great food for dinner and then headed to the movie theater where we watched the newest Harry Potter movie. Gerod really loves me for going to that movie with me!

Check out the awesome sushi we had for dinner! It was delish.

(Gerod was embarrassed that I took this picture!)

  I am glad we were able to get out for a great date night to celebrate 6 amazing years of marriage. I cant wait to see what 2011 has in store for our marriage and our family.

I am so glad that I have such an amazing man by my side that I can walk through this journey hand in hand with.