Amazing Grace and A Laugh

Amazing Grace:
This past year Brad and I taught a class at our church on Thursday nights.  As a thank you, the church gave all the teachers a little gift to say thanks.  We got a worship CD and this devotional.  I have been reading it and I wanted to share one of the devotions with you.  Isn't it just amazing how God always knows what you need when you need it?  I cried when I read it because of the simple timing of it all.  I read this after an especially difficult session with Alexander's occupational therapist. 

REST WITH ME A WHILE. You have journeyed up a steep, rugged path in recent days.  The way ahead is shrouded in uncertainty.  Look neither behind you nor before you.  Instead, focus your attention on Me, your constant Companion.  Trust that I will equip you fully for whatever awaits you on your journey. 
     I designed time to be a protection for you.  You couldn't bear to see all your life at once.  Though I am unlimited by time, it is in the present moment that I meet you.  Refresh yourself in My company, breathing deep draughts of My Presence.  The highest level of trust is to enjoy Me moment by moment.  I am with you, watching over you wherever you go.

Psalm 143:8; Genesis 28:15

A Laugh:
While you contemplate that for a minute I wanted to share a super funny Alexander story!  We were at Danielle's for speech and she has this plastic barn with all sorts of farm animals.  It's pretty fun- it makes sounds, has a big silo with a door, a gate that the animals can go in/out of etc.  It also has a trough with kind of chunky plastic hay (not fine wisps like actual hay) coming out of it.  Alexander was pretending to make a horse eat the hay and Danielle asked him, "What is the horse eating?"  Alexander (without missing a beat) responded, "french fries!" 

Alexander Praying!

Well, I'm glad that God knows what he's saying because we certainly can't understand!  This might just be the cutest thing you've ever seen, so brace yourself!

PS- We hope he does this for our pastor next time we get together for dinner! Hee hee!!!

Oh so fabulous shoes!

August 2010

 

June 2011

Then...and Now!

I guess he just loves fabulous shoes! 

"juuuuuust the two of us..."

Last weekend Brad and I traveled sans Alexander to Watkins Glen, NY for my cousin, Nathan's, wedding.  There were "no kids allowed."  A weekend away with no juice boxes, Elmo, or poopy diapers?  I didn't care WHERE it was or how long of a drive it was (5 hours) we were THERE!!!  I kind of forgot what it is like to JUST be a couple and not "Mama" and Da-y" so it was nice to reconnect and have some real time to ourselves.  (And not just the 45 minutes after we put Alexander to bed when we try to have a coherant conversatin in the midst of our exhausted stupor!!!)

Our growing family!  Welcome Jessi!  (Christopher's fiance)

 

The rehearsal dinner was on a cruise boat. It was SO fun! Watkins Glen is right on Seneca Lake and it was so beautiful.

Me and Nanny about to board

"I'm on a boat..."
(shout out to the boat song!)

A quiet moment...

Nate and Cara

Ok, so the rehersal was SO much fun and I was totally pumped for the wedding.  Well, it is a 40+ minute drive from the hotel to the chapel, and we got COMPLETELY lost.  We ended up on the wrong side of the lake.  It was a total nightmare.  It ended up taking us almost 2 hours to get there.  (We kept hoping that Nate got super nervous and passed out of something!  hee hee)  So, when we finally arrived it was just about over.  We saw the communion (where I got to ask forgiveness for all of the explitives I said in my head on the way) the "I now pronounce you man and wife" part and the recession.  Oh well.  What we did see was beautiful though!

Right after the wedding

(She's really not THAT much taller than he is, she's standing on a stair!)

We wish you lot's of joy and happiness Nate and Cara!

Chocolate Martini(s)...

June 16th...HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! 

My present to myself on the 17th...a lovely hangover thanks to my new friend (or nemisis)...

The Chocolate Martini!



My wonderful husband surprised me with my best friend, Jill, after dinner.  Drinks and dessert!  Sounds harmless enough, but after 2 of those bad boys I was surprised I could walk out of the restaurant.  Jill and I had a great time and I guess my headache will be reminding me all day of the fun we had last night! 

PS.  I got carded yesterday when I picked up a bottle of wine for dinner.  The man behind the counter asked me for my ID and I said, "For what?"  (I was so confused!)  Then he said, "Ummm, the wine?" and I said, "Oh my goodness!  Of COURSE you can see my ID!  I turned 31 today and you have totally made my day!"  It's ironic, because my mom got carded on her 40th birthday.  She had the receipt on our fridge for years!

Lot's-O-Pics!

Hooray!  I finally have my camera up and running and all of the pics on the computer!  I'm still mourning the loss of my other camera with all of our Christmas pictures on it though...  Alas, here are some updated ones of our life in the past few months!

My wonderful, amazing, beautiful cousin, Morgan, gave Alexander about 10 bags of clothes from her son.  This bathrobe was one of the hand-me-downs. 

 My new favorite picture of Alexander!!!  This was at Brad's sister's graduation from art school.  It was about 4:00 and Alexander finally crashed!  Brad took it like a real man though!

Brad's sisters Autumn, Amelia and April standing in front of April's gallery display.

After the ceremony we found a park and the 3 kids ran around for about an hour!  I tried to get all 3 of them together, but it was a bit like trying to herd cats!

We don't have many "family" pictures, so we tried to get one here...Alexander wasn't too happy that he had to stop running though!

We finally corralled all of the kids!  Alexander just wanted to give Amelia kisses though.  Good job Brian for being the ONLY ONE looking at the camera!!!

Alexander and I made a trip to Rochester to see Eileen, Jamie and Grandma Dietrich who is one of Alexander's GREAT, GREAT Grandmas!  (He has three)  We had SUCH a wonderful trip!  It was too short though.  Here is Alexander singing the intro to VeggieTales with Amma..."If you like to talk to tomatoes..." 

We were pretty pooped when we got home!

No, this is not photoshopped, that dog really is that big!  That is my best friend Jill's dog, Winston.  His head weighs about 30lbs I think!

Jill also has a pool.  We put the life jacket on Alexander incase he fell in, but I guess he wanted some extra protection and walked around with the raft around his neck too!

Eating "Pfwe Priy" with Daddy.  Need a translation?  Answer: French Fries!

I bow down to you, Exercise Ball!

Ok, so HOLY COW!  Can I just tell you how my life has changed since Arice came on Monday?  Praise God for Occupational Therapists!!!  If you read the previous post you know that Alexander played really well and calmly after his therapy session with Arice on Monday.  Well, to preface, it has always been pretty, I'll use the word "challenging" again (!) to get Alexander to settle down for his nap.  It is always a fight to get him to sit calmly and read books, a fight to get into bed, a fight to get him to lay down in his bed, a fight to keep the covers on, etc.  So, on Tuesday before his nap I decided to get out the exercise ball for 15 minutes.  I gave him a one minute warning before his nap, then we said "night-night" to the ball.  I picked him up, he calmly went into his room with me, calmly read books for 10 minutes or so, calmly got into bed, calmly put the covers on, and calmly said our "nappy prayers" and then calmly went to sleep!!!!!  Can you even stand it?  So, we still have some challenges and things that are difficult, but some things have gotten a little easier now that I am starting understand the whole sensory thing a little better. 

Today, Heather and Tracy came today to follow up with the observation session I had last week.  She did a little more observing and just getting a feel for who Alexander is.  She recommended that we look into getting him an official evaluation by a diagnostic pediatrician that specializes in diagnosis on the autism spectrum.  The earliest we'll be able to get an appointment is 3-4 months out.  We'll keep you updated on what's going on with that.

We also had speech with Danielle today.  (It was a busy day!)  He did great, which is saying a lot!  He usually has a really hard time there, but I think since we did so much sensory stuff when Heather and Tracy were here it got some of his needs met so he wasn't a maniac the whole time. 

Next Wednesday I have a meeting at a school with Heather for Alexander starting in the fall.  Heather said that classes are 15 kids and 7 of them are "normal" and 8 have IEP's (Individual Education Plan) so it is balanced. 

Thanks for your prayers...we love you!

Strategies for Alexander

This morning Heather and Arice, an occupational therapist, came to our rescue!  Since all of this has been going on with Alexander, I have been wanting to know what we can do NOW to help him with his sensory stuff.  It is quite clear to pretty much anyone who spends at least 5 minutes with Alexander that he has an incredible amount of energy.  Once you look a little further, it is pretty clear that he has some type of sensory seeking disorder.  Meaning, he is constantly looking for physical input because "normal" 2 year old activity isn't enough to satisfy his need for getting his energy out.  Arice was able to give us a lot of activities to do and ways to compress and move his body to give him the input he is seeking.  One of our newest best friends is the exercise ball (or some may know it as the cheezy ball!  ...yay Joel!)  We can roll him, bounce him, press it on his body when he is laying down and tons of other fun things.  Another thing we can do is spin him in an office chair.  By making him dizzy, in a safe way of course, it will kind of disrupt his need for crashing and banging because being dizzy is a different sensation.  Also, jumping provides a lot of input.  It not only engages the muscles, but you visually move, and compress your joints all at the same time .  We will be getting him an indoor trampoline with a handlebar.  Right now we use the beds, but that makes me a little nervous.  I knocked my two front teeth out while jumping on a bed when I was super little and had to have fake ones until I was like 10!  One last thing Arice told us to do was to stroke his arms, legs and back with a lot of pressure.  Do each limb and his back about 10 times.  Joint compressions are also good.  That is where you put your hands on his shoulders when he is standing and press down quickly 10 times, or do individual joints.  With all of these activities you start off fast and then slow it down at the end.

So what does all of this do for him?  Well, let me give you the whole picture.  When Heather and Arice arrived Alexander got really wild.  He was crashing, running from room to room, talking "baby talk" and just being all around crazy.  Arice showed me how to do a lot of those activities listed above for about 25 minutes.  After she demonstrated that stuff on Alexander, he went into his bedroom and we continued to talk.  Alexander came out a minute later with a fish game (picture right) that he hasn't played with since he got it, sat on the floor and calmly and nicely played for about 20 minutes!  He probably would have continued to play, but Arice had to leave and it drew his attention away from the game. 

So, all of those activities give his body the input it needs, gets his energy out and allows him to focus on a certain activity.  Not that I was skeptical that it would work, I just can't believe it worked so well!  I mean, 30 minutes before I had a crazy toddler crashing into me, and now my little boy was sitting nicely and playing with a toy in a calm way.  He NEVER plays in a calm way!  FYI, Heather says that she uses a lot of those techniques on her kids who don't have any sensory disorders to get them to focus and calm down if they are wild and crazy.  So, let me know if you have any questions for your own family! 

Our next appointment is on Thursday with Heather and Tracy.  She is coming back to do a little more observation with Alexander and go over some paperwork.  Right after that he has speech with Danielle.  I'll let you know when the blog is updated.

Love to all...



Debate...does running or walking burn more fat?

So I was at my best friend's house yesterday for the afternoon.  I mentioned that I'm training to run a 5K to her husband, who is wonderful (love ya Jeff!), but THE most pessimistic man ever!  Of course he says he's a "realist" to which I promptly pointed out that, "We're not pessimists- we're realists" are on the cocktail napkins at their club!"  (I know I crack myself up too!)  ANYWAY, he said that walking burns more fat than running.  I couldn't wrap my head around that, so I looked it up!  I found some interesting conclusions...

-Running burns more calories than walking.
-However, the effects of running are worse on your body, so walking at least 5 mph is considered equal to running in some aspects.
-When you begin a workout your body is metabolizing carbohydrates, but as the minutes tick by you start burning fat--at minute 50 of light exercise, you're chugging along on a 75/25 fat/carb mix. Sixty percent of your maximum aerobic capacity (reached at roughly 75 percent of maximal heart rate, which is generally calculated as 220 minus your age) is optimal for fat burning; as exercise becomes increasingly strenuous you start burning more carbs.
-Running is certainly more of a workout per unit of time, but if your idea is that 15 minutes of running equals 30 minutes of walking, forget it--sustained exertion is the key.
-At any rate, calorie consumption isn't the chief goal of exercise; cardiovascular fitness is.

So, basically, I still have no idea!!!  Any thoughts?

2 tornadoes in Springfield

Yes, WE ARE ALL OK!!! The tornadoes touched down about 2 miles away from our home. All of our extended family is ok, but my in-laws ended up with a pretty big branch on their roof. The area surrounding their home is just devastated.  God incredibly blessed us by keeping everyone safe.  Here are some pics.



    


     

Tracy's Observation

Hi Family and Friends!

Yesterday Tracy (diagnois lady!) came and spent about 90 minutes observing Alexander.  We also went over a much more specific questionaire.  What we found was quite eye opening and, if I'm honest with myself, disheartening and scary.  There is definitely cause for concern and Tracy thinks that it woud be a very good idea to move forward with an official evaluation from a pediatrician.  I know that some of you might be wondering why or what the "red flags" or concerns are so here is a list.  It might seem like, "well, duh- he's a toddler and all 2 year olds do that...or my kid does that too...etc" but when you put all of those things together it adds up.

-Alexander does not make eye contact pretty much ever.  He won't look in your eyes for more than a second if he is close to you.
-He has very "intense" energy.  He doesn't just have a lot of energy, it is constant activity.  He slams his body against walls, couches, the floor, people etc to give his body more input to release more energy.  Just running, for example, isn't enough to get his energy out. 
-Alexander doesn't connect or converse with you during play.  He is quite focused only on what he wants to do.  There isn't a lot of conversation.
-He doesn't "make-believe" or pretend very often.  Only rarely or if encouraged by an adult to "hug the baby," or "pretend to eat the play food" etc.  He doesn't really do that stuff on his own.
-He doesn't point to things or picures in books very often unless asked to by an adult.  When looking at books he points with his thumb. 
-He uses Brad's or my hand to do things for him.  For example, instead of handing us a jar of bubbles to open for him he'll take our hand and put it on the top. 
-Alexander gets very upset and worked up if something isn't played with or done in the way that HE wants it done.  For example, if HE wants to flip the pages of the book instead of reading it together he throws a fit and screams.
-He also very rarely takes turns with you.  He is just focused on what he is doing and struggles with social reciprocity.  (Social reciprocity is the back and forth flow of social interaction and communication.)

I know that it is a lot to take in and proccess, but that's it in a nutshell.  His next appointment is on Monday for speech with Heather here at our house. 

Love you...