What I am thankful for this Thanksgiving

Today especially I am so deeply thankful for my little Lucile Abigail Margaret Scales. My miracle. 

Last year on Thanksgiving, my family did our normal tradition of going around the table and saying what we were thankful for. I went last, and when it was my turn I said "I'm thankful for the new baby in my tummy". The kids reaction was priceless, Elli nearly fell out of her chair with excitement, Tobiah immediately said he hoped it was a boy (sorry kiddo), and even Naomi got excited. I unfortunately do not remember Ruth's reaction, but she was still two, so it may not have been much. It was perfect and wonderful. I had never had so much fun announcing a pregnancy to my babies before. 

About two hours later I started bleeding. The first thing that went through my mind was "why now, why after I told my babies". I was terrified and crushed, and I remember calling Rich upstairs and just crumbling into a sobbing mess. Lucy was so deeply wanted. I pulled it together as best as I could, and went downstairs and begged my mom and grandma to wait to go home so I could go to urgent care.

I don't remember the drive. It was a long one, all the way to Bellevue (around an hour away), and I've completely blocked it out. I do remember begging and pleading to God for my child's life though.

When we got there, I was numb. Too scared to be hopeful. They ran all the standard tests then sent me to an ultrasound. We saw our little baby, we saw her little heart flickering, and for a brief moment everything was fine. Then they told me she was measuring just six weeks, and it made no sense because of when I had found out I was pregnant (with multiple tests since somebody was a bit in shock and hesitant to belief the first one, and no, it was not me). We were told I had a subchorionic hemorrhage, and with how early in pregnancy it was, it could go either way. They also said that because she was so much smaller than anticipated it was very possible she was not growing at the normal rate, which would mean I would likely miscarry. They were careful to say that it was still possible I had my dates wrong, and that she may still make it, but because I was in Portland when I found out about her, I knew that was not possible. I left crushed and devastated, and unsure how to break the news to my kids.

The next few days were horrible. The day after Thanksgiving, or possibly the day after that, I received a package in the mail of baby clothes I had bought shortly after finding out (I clearly new she was a girl since they were all pink), and I remember Rich bringing it to me, and opening it. I took each little piece of clothing out, looked it over, and set it in a neat little pile next to me. The tears multiplied with each item until with the last I just sat and sobbed. It was the first time I really let my grief out. When I was done, I set the clothes back in the box and asked Rich to put the box where I couldn't see it.

On Sunday, I could no longer take not knowing, and I went to the local ER. I was ecstatic to see my little baby's heart beat flickering away. I felt sure that if she was still hanging on, it had to be a good sign. The next day, however, I went to see a local OB at the recommendation of a wonderful friend, and he couldn't see baby at all. I then had to wait until Thursday for a scheduled ultrasound at the local hospital. When there, we again saw our precious little baby, heart beating away, and were given the encouraging news she was still measuring exactly where the ultrasound at urgent care had put her. 

It was after that when I allowed myself to have a bit of optimism, but it took months before I felt safe. Clearly we had a happy ending, but it was a roller coaster to get there. So today especially I am thankful for this amazing gift I've been given to raise and love. And you know what? Today is going to be the best Thanksgiving ever.

Sonlight series, Entry 3

We have been using Sonlight for a couple of weeks now. The first week was a bit of a learning curve for sure, but i have to say, so far we are really loving the curriculum. 

My initial thoughts were all fairly positive. They do a really great job laying out how to do things the first week, and then it follows a consistent pattern after that. It is very easy to teach with for sure.

I really love the books they include, and love even more than I thought I would that they aren't all books written for their curriculum (although there are a couple that are). The first couple of readers Elli has read are not only having her work on reading and reading comprehension, but they are stories that are also teaching pieces of history, they use them to have the children practice their handwriting through copy work, and they even include a bit of geography by having you find the location of where the book takes place on a map.

I haven't found that it takes too much time to work through everything. This may or may not change as we get further into the curriculum, we will have to wait and see. I have tweaked how we do spelling, as I have one child that has yet to not know how to spell a single spelling word and one that struggles so hard she fights tears, but the awesome thing is it doesn't make it difficult to tweak.

My only complaint this far is with the pre-k curriculum. The girls have not enjoyed only reading one or two pages, have hated the one book that has long stories, and honestly seem mostly bored when we read little snid bits of this book and that. They love the activity books, and we are continuing to work through everything despite a lack of enthusiasm. My hope is they will enjoy it more as we continue. Again, we will have to wait and see!

Life with kids Entry #7

Life with kids Entry #7:

Let's face it, life as a stay at home mom is not the easy relaxed job some think of. It's busy, there is always something going on. Today was no exception, in fact I have more than normal on my plate with yard sale set up. 

Then little Lucy out of nowhere started gagging so hard she could barely breath (darn you reflux!). Her beautiful (at least for now praying they stay) blue eyes wide with terror. I've now spent two hours comforting and loving on this little miracle. Sure that means two hours of work that did not happen, but really, she's worth it.

Life with kids Entry #6

Life with kids entry number six:

I'm exhausted. The kind of exhausted where I'm thankful my husband is driving and all I want to do is zone in quiet because it hurts to be conscience and I still have to go home and help put five kids to bed then nurse the baby to sleep and pray she sleeps because she's sleeping in the car. Yes, that kind of tired. Then this happens.

Naomi: Mommy?

Me: *trying not to allow my voice to show the annoyance I'm ashamed I feel* What Naomi?

Naomi: *garbled and indecipherable*

Me: What Naomi? I can't hear you.

Naomi: *yelling* What's the blue minivan called?

Me: *thinking seriously kid, you are pulling that out of nowhere almost three months after we sold it?!* I don't remember Nae-Nae.

Naomi: But what it's called?!

Me: Petunia.

That, by the way, is a lie. That was the tan van's name. Sometimes, it's worth it for quiet.

Sonlight series, entry 2

This post is rather past due, but here it is!

My very first thought when I opened the box from Sonlight was "this is a lot of books". It was a tad overwhelming. 

The even more overwhelming part came when I looked at the teacher guides. You have to put them in the binder yourself (unless you pay $30 for them to do it for you), and I had a moment of anxiety. I went to the Sonlight website and ultimately found a video that explains how to put them together. Very helpful!

It took me about an hour to put the binders together. I decided to put all four of my kids stuff together so I would not be switching from binder to binder, and I had to use two binders to fit it all. Not so bad, and I love how easy they make everything, the guides are awesome!

It took a while to separate all the books between core, 3rd grade readers, and 1st grade readers. There IS a page in each teacher manual that shows the books and even what week you start using them, but it took me a bit to find it.

Overall, it was pretty intimidating opening the box, but it was also very exciting! I really enjoyed looking through all the awesome books, and it definitely had me very excited to start school.

Life with kids entry #5

In the same breath, in true run on sentence form: "Elli get your fingers out of your mouth Tobiah get your finger out of your nose!"

That's what happened when I looked in my rear view mirror. Sigh.

The birth of Lucile Abigail

Our little Lucy Lue is five weeks old today, so I thought I should finally get around to writing my birth story.

For about a week and a half leading up to her birth, I had contractions that would stay consistent for hours, but never develop past uncomfortable. One week before her birth I realized, very much to my dismay, that she was transverse. Her head was ever so slightly lower than her tush, but she was very much transverse. With my due date approaching, I kind of last it at that point. The same thing happened with Naomi and her version was successful, but I had been told before had it had less than a 50/50 chance with me being 39 weeks pregnant. It was also the most painful thing I've ever been through. So I just lost it. I texted my midwife asking her to come in the morning and check her position so we could figure out what to do.

Shortly after that text, there were some big painful movements, and I was fairly confident that she was finally truly head down. The next morning Terah confirmed that, and said that her head was very low, far lower than she had been previously. I finally felt better, felt like things were going to happen, and I was happy. That was Friday, the following Monday the contractions started again, for hours each day. I texted Terah each time they were consistent for more than three hours, which i believe was twice. Tuesday Rich decided he was done working until she came, and started his leave. We spent the day running errands, and ended up going to the missional community group we used to attend just to see everybody. I left that knowing I was in early labor. When I got home, I saw a "birth bound" status from Terah, so I decided I needed to sleep anyway, took some Benadryl to stop the contractions, and went to sleep. I woke up the next morning knowing it was "the day", and sent Terah a message saying I was in early labor for sure and would let her know when things started to progress.

The day went on without a lot of change. Contractions just would not stay 100% regular, but I could tell they were leading to something. I had a feeling that as soon as we got the kids in bed, things would pick up, and they did. Only they darn contractions still would not get regular. I finally decided I was done a little past 11:00pm and tried to get comfortable in bed. I kept turning from side to side, but just could not get comfortable to save my life, then about 11:30pm she kicked very hard and I felt three pops right in a row, and it actually hurt a little. It took a minute for it to sink in, but I realized my water had broken. I actually panicked a little bit, I guess because it was a new experience (my water has never broken like that, it's always been right before birth or not at all in Jeanette's case). I told Rich to call Terah and went in the bathroom to sit on the toilet while I figured out where I could be since every time I moved I gushed fluids. Then the contractions started. They were the really intense ones right away, which was hard to deal with since there had been no real lead up. Terah got here about ten minutes later, and about that time Rich finished covering my chair I bought to labor in last time in disposable changing pads my friend had happened to I give us. Rich had already blown up my pool, but had not filled it, so Terah suggested we work on filling it. Silly Rich decided it would be a good idea to fill the pool with the outside hose, thrown up onto the deck and brought in through the slider. Never do this.

About the time that he was working on that the student midwife arrived. We spent the next hour and a half or so with my laboring in my chair while Rich worked on boiling pot after pot of water to try and heat the ice cold water he had filled my pool with. Around 1:45am I really wanted in the pool, so I got in while it was still luke warm, and it was such a relief! Rich brought a couple more pots of hot water up, then I started feeling the urge to push so I had him go and get the kids. They came in, and then of course I couldn't decide if I really needed to push or not, so after a couple minutes I asked them if they wanted to watch a movie downstairs for a bit. Elli, Tobiah, and Ruth all jumped at the idea, but sweet Naomi would have nothing to do with it. After a few more contractions of me trying to decide if i was as ready to push, it was undeniable, and I have to say, I don't think I've ever pushed quite that hard. At the beginning of the contraction I started pushing on, I screamed for Rich to get the kids, and on the first push her head was out, and then the kids came in as I pushed a second time, and walked in right as their little sister was born. Yes, that's right, I pushed twice.

Lucile Abigail was born at home in the water at 2:17am July 24th, 2014. On her due date. :) She weighed 8lbs 4oz and was 21.75in long.

I bled heavily, so they had me get out of the water pretty quickly. A few minutes later they had me deliver the placenta so they could determine where the bleeding was coming from, and then they had Tobiah cut the cord. He had a little trouble so Rich ended up helping, but he has since proudly told more than a couple people that he cut her cord.

From the very beginning she was a champ of a nurser, and after five not so great and flat out bad nursers, it has been such a blessing. She did get formula a couple times so I could sleep in the first few days, but it was far less than the others had, and really only because I desperately needed some sleep. 

We have all been very blessed by the sweet addition of this amazing little girl. She is a smiley little girl that fills our house with happiness. It did take Jeanette a while to warm up to her, but even she just adores "her baby". There was a point in the beginning where she refused to look at me because I was holding her, which just makes me laugh since that is how she treats her therapist most weeks for the first little bit. She looks at the floor and will glare at you out of the corner of her eye every once in a while to check on you. I am thankful it was short lived, though, and that now she loves on her every chance she gets.

And one from today

Triumph in the midst of the storm

Last night Tobiah was having a really hard time. I think he was over tired and his blood sugar may have been off a bit, but he had been told he needed to clean his room before he could come out after Rich got home. This escalated to one of the huge screaming, kicking, banging, throwing things tantrums, so we calmly went about it in our normal way, taking a stuffy away every time we had to remind him not to stomp, kick the wall, or throw things, talking to him calmly, reminding him to take deep breaths, and so on. After about 30 minutes, he was FINALLY mostly calm and doing an amazing job cleaning his room. Then Elli came along... She very meanly and snottily said "we're having applesauce", just to be a jerk to him and upset him. I have to say though, Tobiah shocked me. He paused for a second, then said (granted in an equally snotty tone) "well I can have some when I am done, and I'm almost done anyway!" When questioned exactly what had been said to him (I only heard his response, but given what he said and how he said it I am certain he was being truthful), he also said that what Elli had said had really upset him and made him angry.

I am flat out amazed with my son. This is my boy who has a hard time regulating emotions, and often has a hard time expressing himself. He was only maybe 20 minutes out from one of his all out huge, out of control, not coping at all tantrums, but he did not take Elli's bate and get all worked up again. He kept calm, held onto the knowledge that if he did what he was supposed to he would get his applesauce like the girls had, and told Elli off. He handled it better than I've ever seen him handle a hard situation like that. I'm so impressed, so proud, and so amazed. I'm also full of hope that we are getting somewhere, and now have something big to remember in the midst of his tantrums. My boy will overcome, he will learn to cope with emotions, and he will succeed in life.

For the record, Elli got in a good amount of trouble for antagonizing her little brother and for the next week will be learning about serving others through cleaning his room for him daily. Hopefully she will not only think twice before being mean again, but will learn something about what it means to serve and love our brothers and sisters instead of leading them to stumble and sin.

Life with autism is...

...letting your child come in the bathroom, when you just got woken up by a loud firework, are having contractions, and really just want SPACE, and letting her sing you the ABCs, because she wants to "show you something", and letting her get closer and closer to you as she sings until she is almost touching you (remember you're still on the toilet), and then excitedly telling her how amazing she did when she is done, because, well, you love her, and these silly moments are what make her so amazing and special. And the part that is truly life with autism? You don't have to fake it. You truly do love it. You live for these special times with your child, you focus on them when she is staring at you blankly not recognizing what is going on because she's just too overwhelmed. You hold them in your heart when she is screaming because her favorite dress is dirty and she just cannot wear it for another day. You store them up for all the times it hurts, it is hard, and it is scary, because it reminds you that while autism brings many challenges, it brings more beauty.

Sonlight Series, Entry 1

We recently made the decision to switch to Sonlight for our homeschooling. This will be my first blog in a series on the curriculum, starting with explaining why we decided to make the switch as well as some money saving tips, and covering first thoughts when we receive the curriculum, thoughts after the first couple of weeks of using it, and then periodically throughout the year touching on things that we love, and, if applicable, things that we do not love. At the end of the year I will give a final overview on what Rich and I thought, what the kids thought, and how well our children learned with it.

*Disclaimer* I am not being compensated for this in any manor. These are my own thoughts, and where applicable Rich and the kid's thoughts.


Before now, we have been using a mix of various curriculum, and I was beginning to feel rather overwhelmed realizing that I would now be trying to balance that for three separate levels. It has honestly been enough of a challenge to balance time for everything for just two kids.

I have always thought full curriculum was not for us. I liked to be able to customize things more, and hated how expensive it was, and how hard it was to find every single piece you needed used, because you need tons of pieces that are only available new from them. I also really prefer learning through literature verses doing lots of worksheets.

The first thing that attracted me to Sonlight was the amount of reading. A lot of the curriculum is reading together. Yes, there are still work sheets that the kids are supposed to do, but they are limited and mostly focused on teaching children to love to write. I think this is great, as I love writing. Even with that aspect, though, I was really turned off by the price, and the amount of time it would take me to teach three levels with this. Then my friend told me about something awesome that they offer. They actually make it easy to group kids that are close enough in age together so that they are doing a lot of the core work together, drastically reducing the teaching time required. It also cuts down on the price a good deal. Lastly, I did find out that they offer time payments. They will break your total into four payments, the first is due immediately, then they have different lengths of time available for the other three payments. It is interest free. This helped us as our payments are almost exactly what we set aside for school needs every two months, so that is the option we went with. If we stick with this curriculum next year, I will budget ahead of time and be prepared to pay up front since I truly hate owing money, but it was definitely a nice option that helped us make the decision to go ahead and dive in for this year.

I will also mention that for the girl's Pre-Kindergarten things, I tracked most of them down used. I also did this with Tobiah's readers, although I could not find two books in particular (or at least not for less expensive than Sonlight offered them) so I ended up ordering those. It did help that we had several of Tobiah's readers already (which is GREAT! I certainly love that Sonlight uses regular books verses books only offered through them for the majority of their teaching), and one of the girl's books. I managed to save about $200 by ordering the books this way. I likely could have managed to save more, but it was already pretty overwhelming to track the long list of books I had down, and the thought of doing that for more was a bit too much for me to handle in a short amount of time. I feel like I picked a good middle ground between making things a bit easier on myself and saving money. Again, assuming we continue to be happy with the choice we made to switch to Sonlight, I will likely work on tracking down the list for next year all year long, eliminating the need to make a choice between saving money and not completely overwhelming myself. The one thing I want to ensure that I do, though, is to buy at least ONE core from them each year, as this gets you a 10% off all purchases made for an entire year, as well as free shipping on all orders. This has already come in handy with a book that I thought I had found, only to have the seller refund my money. I could not find it inexpensively anywhere else and managed to get it for very cheap from Sonlight-the one I originally bought that was refunded was only 50 cents cheaper than ordering from Sonlight.

The things that I did make a point of just buying new were all the teachers guides, which come with the student worksheets and really everything you need but books themselves for the older kids. For the younger girls I had to buy four work books each, but they were not terribly priced. You can find the teachers guides used on various websites where people sell their used curriculum, and I also found them at Homeschool Potpourri here in Washington (but remember, even if you are from out of state you can call Homeschool Potpourri and make a phone purchase!), but for this year at least I decided to just buy them new. If I can find them in good enough shape for next year, I may do things differently. We will just have to wait and see.

So, there you have it. A big and exciting update about our homeschool journey, the reasons why I decided to make the switch, and a few pointers to save some money. Check back soon for my next post in this series about our first impression when receiving the curriculum.

The truth behind the man I tease

Ok, I love to poke fun at my husband on Facebook. It's a lot of fun to tease him. However, I feel the strange need to actually be nice to him, so here is the week my husband has had so far...

Monday was "normal". He got up at his normal time, did some chores, got dinner in the crock pot, and went to work, which takes over an hour. Spent eight hours at work fulfilling his various duties that help ensure the computers for the regions biggest hospital (Harborview) stay running. Then he commuted home, again taking over an hour. On his way home he stopped at the store to get me ice cream. He got home and all the kids excitedly piled on him, then he got them a snack. He then got me a bowl of ice cream and took over child care responsibilities so I could rest and take it easy after a long day. He also made sure to do math lessons with all four of the older kids since he has decided that he wants to fulfill that part of their schooling, which all I have to say about is THANK YOU! I hate math. After feeding the kids supper he put them to bed and spent the next hour ensuring they stayed put. Then he eventually came to bed and helped me fall asleep, then got back up and did some more chores (one of which was taking care of the chickens he never wanted).

Tuesday was much the same, only I had way over done it chasing the stupid chickens that got outside, so I was having tons of contracts and completely miserable and on the verge of crying while biting his head off for dumb stuff that didn't even matter. So he caught the stupid bird I could not catch then took care of my cranky self AND the kids.

Wednesday again was much of the same, until after work when he found out his train was having problems. He sent me a message letting me know what was going on and we ultimately decided he would take the light rail to our old neighborhood and I'd meet him there, which was a compromise between figuring out a way for him to get to Auburn on his own (possibly taking hours) and me needing to drive clear to Seattle. When we got home I very quickly realized the contractions I had been having since I woke up were getting worse, so I tried to find a sitter, and when I could not Rich drove me to the hospital, dropped me off, then went back home to get my phone charger since I had forgotten it and wanted something to do while I was being monitored. He then brought it to me, and proceeded to go home and take care of the kids and clean the house up. Then he came back and got me past 11pm, and helped me fall asleep. Then around 2am Jeanette woke up SCREAMING, and he tended to her, trying everything he could think of to calm her down, and ultimately dozed in a chair holding her for an hour or so before laying her back down.

Thursday morning he got up early to start getting everything we needed for the day ready, having the intention of allowing me to sleep until it was time to go. He prepared the kids breakfast (they always eat at therapy verses before we go), got diapers together, then one by one got the kids up. This is a task in and of itself, as when you wake my kids that early they are ALL cranky, and the fit Ruth threw in particular was extreme. He got all five kids dressed (even if he only buttoned the top button of Nette's dress), got their shoes on, and got them in the car. Then he came upstairs and woke me up from a very groggy state (I had taken benedryl to counter the shaky on edge feeling the drugs they gave me at the hospital left me with), brought me my clothes since I was having trouble waking up, then helped me find my shoes. He drove to Seattle, and he hung out with the kids while I went to the pharmacy to get some Tylenol for poor Nette who was not feeling well. He pushed me around the zoo in a wheel chair (I weigh more than him and was also holding our 20lbs Jeanette), humored me when I wanted to stop and buy more chicks, waited in the car with the kids while I ran inside various places, then when we got home he let me go upstairs and relax for a while. He mowed the front yard, took care of the kids (ok, he turned the TV on for them, but I am not faulting him here), and tidied the house. After a bit he had the kids start working on chores. Then we had our cupcakes to celebrate Naomi's speech therapy graduation, and I promptly left after that for an HSA leadership dinner. While I was gone, he bathed Zeke, moved his kennel in the house, moved the pen he was in to a different part of the yard, put a cover on it, put the chicken coop in it, and put the chickens in it. He also set up the chicks, did some chores with the kids, did math with the kids, cleaned, hung the diapers he had washed at some point, and got the kids in bed. Then he waited patiently for me to come home, and even more patiently when I sat in the driveway chatting with my friend for an hour and a half. By this point it was about 11pm, and he then helped me go to sleep and finally fell asleep, exhausted, himself.

Today is Friday. He got up at 4am to do patch work for work since he is on call, did some chores, and went to work. Today is the first day of something they call TGIF, which basically means in the summer, if you get your work done early, you get to come home early. We're both very excited about this. He is going to come home and take me to Puyallup to fulfill yet another random pregnancy craving, then I am quite sure he will come home and want to work on a million different little projects around the house. This weekend, he won't take time to have fun unless I force him. He will instead work like a dog to help prepare things for when our newest little girl arrives. He is also going to make a dump run with my step dad then help him make a trip from their storage locker to their new house.

Yes, I love to poke fun at my husband. I love to tease him. I am married to an incredible man, though, that does so much for our family, constantly sacrificing of himself to ensure that things are running as smoothly as they can and to ensure that I do not over do things. I am blessed beyond words to have such an amazing husband.

For my best friend on Father's Day

You are shaping and molding six precious lives, and while I know you feel like you are constantly falling short, you aren't. You do so much right. The fact you care that you may be falling short is further proof of the amazing heart that you have for your babies. So here is the kind of father I see when I look at you:

One who is not afraid of the dirty work, even if you hate it.

One who spoils them every time you think I am not looking.

One who creates elaborate routines with them that they love and cherish.

One who strives to nourish their bodies with healthy food.

More importantly, one who strives to nourish their souls.

One who includes them in hobbies, even if you know it drives me crazy (WOT anybody?).

One who loves to teach.

One who protects.

One who let's them experience life outside a bubble.

One who understands that even when it hurts your heart, discipline is important.

One who tries to be the best he can be, and asks for help when he doesn't know what to do.

One who is willing to sacrifice personal needs for their needs.


I could go on indefinitely. You are an amazing dad, and I hope today you understand how important you are to these kids, and how important you are to me. I hope you realize even when you feel like a failure, they look at you with love and see the Daddy that plays with them, puts medicine on their owies, snuggles them, cheers them on, and lifts them up when they are down. You are their superhero. We all love you. Happy Father's Day.

I remember when...

Fair warning, this post is about something that is heavy on my heart today. I try to keep an upbeat attitude about the fact that I have children on the autism spectrum. I am a very firm believer in the fact that this is NOT a death sentence, that it is NOT the end of the world, and that my kids will grow up to be the amazing people God created them to be.

Sometimes, though, it makes me sad.

Sometimes it gets hard.

And sometimes, like today, I remember what my life was like before we knew anything was wrong.

Before the heartache.

Before the fear.

Before the confusion.

When we were a "normal" family.

Today, autism is hard. Today, my heart hurts, and I miss the plans and dreams I had for my kids. I miss the life I thought we would live. I miss the simplicity of what my existence was.

Homeschool Potpourri annual sale 2014

Confession time: I get giddy when I am planning a trip to this awesome store. It is one of my favorite places, and I never come away empty handed. I could spend days pouring over everything they have, and even after many, many visits over several years, I seem to discover something new just about every time. They have amazing prices, the staff is knowledgeable and very kind and helpful, and the many consignors they have (me included!) help to ensure there are always wonderful treasures to discover.

I believe this is the third time I have come to this particular sale. This year, I prepared far better for it than I normally do. I suppose my organizational skills are slowly improving with age, haha.

We have recently decided to completely redo the way we homeschool our children because frankly, what we were doing was NOT working. Parts were, yes, but as a whole there were a lot of issues, both in the fact we had picked curriculum that is time consuming and tedious (not helpful when you have multiple ages to teach) and because we were not addressing a couple specific needs of our children. We also decided that Rich will be teaching math from here on out, as honestly, despite a natural ability with it, I loath math. I do not want to teach my children to loath it as well, and we all know how they pick up on things like that. Rich also decided he wanted to put together his own math curriculum, as he just does not like the available options for various reasons. I will go more into detail on exactly how this is playing out in a future blog. For me, I have decided to do something I thought I would never do, and dive into a fully formed curriculum after hearing some of the amazing things about Sonlight. Again, expect a more in depth blog on this decision in the near future.

So, this year in preparation for their annual sale, during which ALL used items (yes, they carry a few new items) are 30% off, we not only made a list of things to look for, Rich also took a day off from work and we arranged a sitter. Best laid plans of mice and men, the only sitter we could find was my mom, who moved last week, so we decided to still take Ruth and Jeanette to make things a bit easier on her. I have to say, only having those two to worry about, and not my two that are truly challenging at that store, was heaven on earth! It was also strange and nice to only have two kids with us, as it has been a while (you know, over four years) since we only had two children.

So, now for the part I'm sure is all that matters to you, our awesome finds! I think we made out pretty well. We spent about $210, and got a lot of stuff.


We got a lot of math stuff, as this is where most of our need was. Lots of flash cards of varying types (Rich loves flash cards), the "pattern animals" are pattern block cards and something I have been wanting to find. Math wrap up, these things are awesome! There is a third book that goes with the brown and blue books. These are the books Rich found and was just giddy over. He plans to use them as a base for what he teaches the kids. The first book is MIA, so I have a feeling he took it to work with him. Yeah, I love that man. Large Cuisenaire rods, although not a full set, they have proven to be lots of fun, and I'll keep looking for more. The red math board thing is multiplication, Rich was also excited when I found that. It is one that shows the problem, then you push the button and it shows the answer.

Just a couple random things I found, magnets are always tons of fun, and those books have lots of fun songs in them. Now I want to find the CD for the "Wee sing America".

These are awesome. You can build sentences with them. Some have words, others have word pieces to make bigger words.

These were in the math stuff picture, but do you see how many there are here? I paid $19.95 for ALL of these.

We're switching the handwriting we are using, this is what I was able to find of the Handwriting Without Tears that was printing. Not ready to teach Elli cursive since her penmanship needs some work.

These are some random books. "Things That Go" and "Mammals" I found in the clearance section for $1, meaning they were $0.70 with the sale. Elli loves I Spy type books, which the two "Great Search" books are. One book with audio CD for our listening library, a random Dr. Seuss book Ruth picked, "Big Cats" was also for Ruth, and I found one of the Usborne "That's Not My..." books, which are AWESOME for Jeanette with her sensory problems.

This wouldn't fit in the picture with the other books without me getting up and moving stuff around on my bed. However, I think it is awesome enough for it's own picture. Isn't this a gorgeous copy of Huckleberry Finn?!

I am buying all of Tobiah's Sonlight readers separate and not from Sonlight to save money. I know I could do this with *all* the books, but I'm going to be honest, between his readers and the girl's Pre-K books, which I also decided to track down, there were 35 books we did not have, and I just did NOT have it in me to look for more than that. So, this is what I was able to find of Tobiah's. He needs two more books.

This is what I was able to find for the Sonlight Pre-K list that we do not yet have. I had hoped to find more, but honestly, this is better than nothing. That Bearenstein Bears book? Sonlight wants $30 for it. Before the sale it was $6.50.

And, this is what I found after taking all the pictures. Go figure. Rich was excited to find the Base Ten Number set, and it is basically brand new. The Boggle game I fully intend to use for Elli to practice looking for words with, not as a game played in it's intended manor. Although I'm sure we'll play it occasionally as well.

Now a couple pictures of what my girls were doing while I was writing this blog. I love to teach them the "right" way to use manipulatives, then just let them go at it however they want. Ruth was putting on a "puppet show" with the snap cubes.

This is the "race car airplane" Naomi made with the Cuisenaire rods. She is SO detail oriented. She made sure each rod was lined up perfectly.

There honestly may be one or two things that the kids ran off with before I got pictures. I really do not remember. I do not believe so, though. So, all of that for $210 (rounding the change up). I think we did pretty well!

Next time I will do one thing VERY different. I will email them ahead of time with my list of the important stuff (like the books) and have them look before we get there. I meant to do this Friday and it just never happened. This would have been very helpful for two reasons: First, I may have found more. By the time the search for the books happened, it was already around 1pm and they had sold hundreds of things already, and there were a couple books the owner said he thought they had that could not be found, so who knows, maybe they had already been purchased since they opened. Second, I had to wait for about an hour for him to help me search out the books, and I had NO idea where to look for most of them (since this is my first time looking for literature there). That is not usually the case, they usually are not terribly busy and are always happy to help you find what you are looking for. It was PACKED though. I've never seen it so busy! Guess that is what the first day of the sale looks like, though.

All in all, it was a fun trip, and I'm excited about what we found. We'll be going again soonish, perhaps when the baby comes and Rich is off for a couple of weeks, or perhaps before then, so that he can talk with the owner about the math curriculum he wants to put together for the kids. That was the one and only thing we did not get out of our trip yesterday, the personal touch of sharing in the wisdom of seasoned homeschoolers. They were awful busy, though.

Autism Awareness April 4th

Autism Awareness April 4th

I apparently published this on the wrong blog. Whoops!

I talked a bit about how Naomi plays. So today I am going to talk about Tobiah's favorite play. Since before his first birthday, he has been obsessed with anything that has wheels. To this day he will line his cars in a perfectly straight line and lay with his face in the carpet looking at them. He will take one and play with the wheels, then roll it slowly back and forth on the floor before putting it back in line. He completely flips, and always has, if anybody so much as touches his car lines. Naomi's very first way to "play"? Why go kick his cars and laugh while he flipped out, of course! (She was barely one when she started that, and honestly these days it's mostly Ruth)

We have had MANY cars lose their wheels over the last five years. His obsession has never been limited to cars, but anything with wheels. The obsession is not slowing down, either. 

I recently saw a post on Facebook of a perfectly straight line of cars that said something along the lines of "Just because autistic children cannot draw a straight line, doesn't mean they do not know that one is". It made me laugh. My autistic kids are very artistic, but I can still relate to the car lines.

Naomi does play like this as well, but not as often. Her preferred way is collecting, and in turn that manifests in very limited, perceivably normal ways for Tobiah (he has a rock collection, and is very obsessed with "complete" sets of toys like Imaginext). Each autistic child is different, but both of these behaviors are very common.

I will get a picture the next time he does this and update the post.

Viability

With every pregnancy I have breathed a little easier when we have reached the point of viability, which is typically considered 24 weeks (there are babies who make it before then, but 24 weeks is when the baby has a 50% chance of survival or more). It is always a huge relief to make it to this point because I know that if something awful were to happen, my baby would have a fighting chance.

This time, I have waited rather impatiently for this day to come. As I have brefly talked about in a previous blog, we experienced some complications at the beginning that put my baby at a higher risk of not making it. I have what is called a subchoriatic hemorrhage. This is actually a fairly common thing, and I even remember being told in a dating ultrasound I believe with Ruth that I had a small one. That one resolved and never caused a single issue, which is the most common outcome.

With this pregnancy, I started bleeding. The part that made it the hardest is this bleeding started about an hour after we told our kids (at the Thanksgiving dinner table) that we were going to have another baby. The bleeding was very heavy, and then the cramping started. We were sure we had lost our baby we so desperately wanted. We spent that whole weekend convinced she was gone, then I went to the ER Sunday night because I couldn't take it. The doctor found her on the ultrasound, her little heart beating. I was elated, but that was not the end of the roller coaster. 

We spent the next two weeks in and out of appointments and hospitals, one day it was good news, the next it was bad or suspected to be bad. The bleeding finally stopped after a couple of weeks, and I was relieved until it started again. For me, it never completely stopped. It has continued to come and go, and each time I stress a little more because I'm at an elevated risk of my placenta detaching.

So, here we are at viability. I can finally breath a little easier. I still want our sweet little girl to stay right where she is for at least another 13 weeks (although if she follows the trend of the others it will be more like 16.5), but it is a huge weight off my shoulders to know that if the worst were to happen, she would have a fighting chance.

Autism Awareness April 3rd

One thing that autistic children are not is flexible. They are schedule and routine loving people, and thrive with those two things. 

We have a pretty good routine. One of Naomi's favorite parts of her routine is her speech therapy that we go to on Thursdays.

Last night we got her to stay in bed by telling her she had to go to sleep so she could wake up and see Natalie (her therapist). This morning we got her in the clothes *we* wanted her in by telling her Natalie wanted to see that pretty dress. We drove all the way to Seattle with her asking every few minutes how much longer until she saw Natalie. When we got to the hospital where her therapy is, she got so excited and said "yay!" Then we got upstairs to check in, just to find out nobody called us to tell us therapy was cancelled this week.

Autistic children are not flexible. Today we narrowly avoided one of the worst melt down, freak out, kicking and screaming tantrums... Because I told Naomi we would do anything she wanted, besides see Natalie. She cried. She started to freak out. It took every trick I've learned, but we avoided it. Today was nothing short of a miracle.

Folks, that's life with autism. I swore I'd never be that type of parent. I swore my kids would learn to deal with disappointment. When living with autism, you learn to pick your battles very carefully, and you figure out when the battle is not worth it and do whatever is needed to maintain order. 

Thankfully Naomi wanted to play with friends, and we just so happened to have a friend that could play. Like I said, today was a miracle. The last time this happened, I left carrying a kicking and screaming child that I almost dropped repeatedly, and she screamed the entire way home, because NOTHING was good enough to replace what she had planned out in her mind.

We have dealt with this in other areas, too. It is because of her inability to cope with the disappointment of something she is told is going to happen not happening that I never tell my kids what we are doing until we are there. That's life with autism. You learn to avoid the let down. You learn to just give in and buy them ice cream to eat in your freshly cleaned car because you forgot five days ago you said you'd buy them a treat the next time you went to the grocery store, and they remembered. You learn to pick your battles and work within their challenges, and you learn that despite the disapproving comments and looks, that it's ok.

Autism Awareness April 2nd

April 2nd autism awareness:

Naomi is starting to have some great imaginative play. It has come from a lot of work and modeling, mostly by Ruth and I, with the other kids playing with her on occasion.

However, Naomi's preferred way to play is to gather her toys up and put them in anything that will carry them. When this behavior first started, she was two and it was an Easter basket. Since it has been baskets, bags, boxes, toy shopping carts, really anything that holds objects, even when it is too small (which is often a source of great frustration that leads to some of our bigger tantrums that we still frequently have-small compared to the past though). Her favorite is her dinosaur backpack. If she is playing this way, she completely flips out if you try to take anything from her collection, which is very frustrating to the other kids since she is not "playing" with it. This is a major source of fights in our house.

Rich and I were cleaning the entry way and found this box. We both sighed then laughed. This is such a common thing to find in our home.

I think the funniest I ever discovered was when we changed the master bedroom from the playroom to our bedroom, and I went to put something in one of the master bath drawers, and could not open it because it was crammed so full.

The most embarrassing and upsetting was the time she attached to a little tin at the Goodwill, and refused to give it up even to have it ringed up. Once we were in the car and had left, we discovered she'd filled it with random little toys.

Autism Awareness April 1st

Yes, I know it is April 2nd. I had every intention of starting this yesterday, and life got the best of me. So, here is my first post, and only a day late. ;)

April 1st autism awareness:

Naomi sings this song hours every day. The words change, but she's been using the same melody for a couple of years. Before she spoke (approximately 26 months is when she first started using words), it was a wordless song. Naomi has loved music since before she was born, and has a natural ability for it. Not all autistic children do, but quite a few do. This is one of the beautiful parts, but it is also something that can be very trying. She does this CONSTANTLY. She's not often quiet about it. Especially in the car.

In other news, Naomi's creative play has gotten a lot better. We work on this daily.

Oh, and please, pretend you don't see my clean laundry waiting to be dealt with.

Autism Awareness Month

April is autism awareness month. I decided that each day in April, I will post a little view into how our lives are touched by autism. I typically try to keep things upbeat when I talk about autism, because I prefer to look at it in a positive light. However, as a mother of children who have autism, I also feel it is my job to educate and give insight. Autism can be very challenging for both the autistic child and the parents, and a lot of people see the moments of struggle and cast judgement. This is a serious problem, and one I hope to start to change by teaching others about life with autism. So, some of my posts will be the upbeat, silly, and beautiful side of autism, and some will be about the challenges. My hope is that by the end of the month, everybody who reads them will have a better understanding of what our lives are like, and will have experienced a glimpse into the world of autism.

Judgement and autism

Let me begin by saying I consider myself a fairly strict mother. I expect my children to obey me, and to obey their dad. Does this mean they do it 100% of the time? No. They are children. They are learning. I also expect them to treat each other with respect and love, to clean up after themselves, not to complain about the food I put in front of them and to be thankful they HAVE food in front of them, and so on. Again, do they do this 100% of the time? Of course not. They are children. Children who are (mostly) still very young and learning.

In our society, there are SO many people who seem to think children should behave perfectly and get mad at them and judge their parents when they do not. I find this highly annoying.

I have an autistic daughter. I most likely also have a (very mildly) autistic son, although he has no official diagnosis at the moment. I then have an almost three year old who copies everything these two do. They are also at "hard" ages, ages where they are still learning a lot and obeying is not high on their priority list.

Lets give a basic example of our new bedtime routine.

*To give a little background on the change in bedtime routine and why this is such a big deal to Naomi, up until this last week Ruth and Naomi have been sharing a twin size loft bed in our room, but we decided it was time to graduate Naomi to the "girls room" and for Tobiah to get his own room, so we're moving stuff around and completely changing an already very difficult time of day for Naomi.

Tonight I found myself posting on Facebook about how I wish Naomi would fall asleep faster, and wished that Rich had not made it part of the bedtime routine that he be in there while she falls asleep since it will be very hard to break her of this. I found myself feeling the need to explain and even justify why it is "normal" for this to be an issue, and to explain why it is nobody's fault that changing routine is hard here. For an autistic child, routine is VITAL. They cannot function without one, and changes to the routine are taken very hard and take weeks, sometimes months, to readjust. This is "normal" for autistic children. Yet I realized that by me saying "I wish she didn't take so long to fall asleep, and I wish this wasn't going to be a pain to change later" that I was opening myself up to ALL the comments of "you're the parent, just don't do it!" or "it is only hard if you allow them to run your household".

This stuff flat out makes me mad. Did you all know that 1 in 88 children is on the autism spectrum? Did you know there are studies that point to the fact that it is even more common than that? Yet until you are the parent/primary care giver of a child with autism, you will never understand. Never. I do not care if your niece/nephew/grandchild/brother/sister/etc is autistic, although clearly those relations gives you a much better understanding of the dynamic than the general public, it takes being the one actually caring for these precious children day in and day out to truly understand what a challenge (and blessing!) it is.

Naomi is exhausting. Day and night. She is four now, and still never sleeps through the night. You heard me folks, never. I will admit that I am no longer the one that gets up with her (or the others for that matter) at night. I reached my breaking point about two years ago, as I suffer from extreme insomnia and have a LOT of trouble going back to sleep once fully woken up, and to top it off require more sleep than some. So yes, I make Rich do that part. He gets it. He understands how difficult she is. He understands the daily, hourly, sometimes every other minute tantrums that can last anywhere from 30 seconds (if we are VERY lucky) to 5-6 hours. Yes, 5-6 hours straight. I think Naomi's record for a non-stop tantrum with top of the lungs screaming the entire time was just shy of eight hours. Confession, there were a few points during that tantrum that I put her in her room, went in mine, closed the door, and prayed God would help her fall asleep so the screaming would stop. That tantrum was over two years ago and I remember it perfectly. That was the longest, but that type of behavior is common place in our house. I spend a good deal of my life redirecting Naomi. Explaining things to Naomi while she screams in my face. Telling her no calmly over and over while she screams at me and calls me stupid and "baby" (my children's version of the worst possible name you could EVER be called). Standing my ground, even though giving in would be easy. Naomi is like having ten children all in one. I don't like to focus on only the bad sides of autism, and Naomi is also the sweetest child who teaches me to live life in a beautiful way every. single. day of my life, but I want to give you an idea of what living with an autistic child can be like.

Now, when we change Naomi's routine is one of the biggest triggers for these tantrums. So think about that, at bed time, when I am worn out and ready for a break and just desperately want the kids asleep. Yeah. That right there? That is why I wish he had not included that in the "transition routine".

Naomi is not a bad child because she throws fits and doesn't listen hardly at all. She has many amazing things, even. Did you know that Naomi doesn't lie? Seriously. She doesn't understand how to lie. She's a sweetie. She is also so stinking awesome, something can be lost, we'll have no idea where to look, and she will know exactly where it is. How cool is that?! Granted she never knows where important things like keys are because she could not care less, but her favorite toy? Ruth's favorite toy? Yeah, we can count on her. Heck, the other day she kept insisting her new puppy was "in the couch", and we didn't really believe her. Guess where he came out when he woke up? Yep, out of the couch. Naomi is awesome, and I love her. She is exhausting, but she is worth it. She is loved. She is most definitely not a "bad" child just because she has a very hard time listening.

Likewise, Rich and I are not bad parents because she does not listen perfectly. We love her. We go so far out of our way to be good parents for her. Rich has gotten up in the middle of the night to put "medicine" (Vaseline) on Naomi's eczema. I've literally put my life on the line for that child (yeah, ask me about that one sometime). We do not take the easy way out by giving her what she wants. We are training our child to obey. She is just special and learns differently, responds differently, has special challenges (especially socially), and will likely grasp all this far slower than most. We are preparing her to be a functional member of society, autism and all.

So please, next time you want to say something to be about how easy it would be if I did things the "right" way, just do me a favor, and don't.

When did this happen?!

Today I kicked all the bigger kids outside, then sat to play with Jeanette since she was longingly watching them out the slider door. Sitting, watching how she moves around, watching her be silly, it suddenly hit me... she's a kid!

What?! When did this happen?! When did my sweet little baby turn into another little stink pot kid?!

I realize I've been so sick and busy the last month, but sheesh! I wasn't ready for this one. I wanted her to stay little and sweet a bit longer yet, and really, since she is my first delayed walker (I still owe you all a blog on that one, maybe later today), it just seemed like she would. I mean, they aren't kids until they can walk! (And for my kids a while after that typically, since sweet little Ruth walked at nine months!)

As I have been sitting here typing this, I have seen even more examples of what a kid she is turning in to. I brought her upstairs with me (obviously) and set her on my floor. She crawled right over to the closet entrance and grabbed a couple "guys" (Imaginext people) and stuck them in the driver and passenger seat of Dora's camping van and made little people noises for them. She was pretending they were driving! When she (rather quickly) lost interest in that, she wondered into my bathroom, which I was fine with until she started getting into stuff. I told her "Jeanette Helen, come here!" and guess what?! SHE DID! Wait, what?! My BABY is LISTENING?!

So, there you have it. Until July, this Mama is baby-less.

Baby update!

Today is the day for blogging I guess. I have a lot more blogs in mind, but don't want to post ten in one day, so hopefully later this week...

I have had a few more ultrasounds, and our newest baby has continued to grow and appears to be doing very well. The SCH is still very much there, and I have continued to have occasional spotting. Baby is very active, but I'm not feeling a lot yet, which leads me to suspect my placenta is currently in front. This would be a good thing, actually, as I had an ultrasound at 14 weeks 1 day that showed it over my cervix, and without it moving as baby grew, that would be an automatic c-section, exactly what I do NOT want!

At that same ultrasound, I got a very good look at Baby, and am quite sure baby is a GIRL! We have not actually been told this yet, but after four girls I kind of know what I'm looking at. Tobiah was crushed at first, but I explained it meant that he continues to get to be special because he is the only boy. In his words "well, I guess it is a good thing, because if the baby was a boy, he'd steal all my boy attention!" Such a silly guy I have! I also reminded him how deeply he loves all three of his younger sisters, and promised him he would love his new sister just as much. He still longs for a brother, so perhaps next time. Maybe. ;)

I am hoping that by my 20 week ultrasound the SCH will have resolved, but it was still very, very evident at the last one. We shall see! My midwife has not made a big deal of it since seeing the last report, so I think I'm in the clear for a homebirth regardless, assuming no other complications come up.

I am definitely already nesting. I've been sick with one thing after another, though, and it's just been hard. Rich is home today as is our tradition for the kids' birthdays, but we decided to stay close to home today. Planning on a trip to the park soon, other than that I am hoping to get the house wiped back into shape.

Anyway, yay for more pink! And even more importantly, yay for a healthy baby! :)

Happy 4th birthday, Nae-Nae Dawn!

Funny side note. Some time ago, I want to say last summer, Tobiah was upset with something that Naomi had done, and in this super serious voice said "uh-uh Nae-Nae Dawn!" We laughed about it for weeks.

Dear Naomi,

Today you turn four! I can't believe it! What an amazing roller coaster the last year has been with you. We have had some lows, but we have had many highs! You have grown, learned, and changed in this last year, and I am so proud of you, and so proud to be your Mama.

Shortly after your last birthday was when we had my suspicions confirmed and you were given an autism diagnosis. Naomi, just because you have this challenge, does not mean there is ANYTHING you cannot do! You have spent the last year proving this baby girls, and I am so proud of you!

Your speech has improved so much, most people can understand you now. You have started stuttering a bit, and honestly sweetie, I hope it sticks around for a while. I find it so enduring.

You have continued to work on being adventurous with eating, and we found a food you absolutely LOVE that kind of surprised Daddy and I-Chili! You still have days where I'm not sure how you survive on how little you eat, but that's ok, you are growing big and strong. You love plain celery (you like to be a Wonder Pet) and will eat carrot after carrot, cut up or not. Your favorite is homemade mac and cheese, just like Mama, and that is exactly what we are having for dinner tonight.

You have learned so much in the last year, too. You know your colors, you are starting to count, and just yesterday you sang the ABC song perfectly.

You started preschool in December, actually on Daddy's birthday! You are doing very well, you are learning to interact with the other kids, and Mama and Daddy are SO proud of you! You love going to school, and love riding the bus.

You also love dinosaurs. You have for a while now, and it all started from the Land Before Time movies, yet I am not so sure you have ever even seen the original as they do not have it in a digital form, and we are mean parents and haven't bought the DVD for you. We really should do that sometime. ;)

A week and a half ago we brought Zeke home. He is your puppy, and our plan is to train him as your therapy dog. He already helps you calm down a lot, and I love watching you with him. You are a little rough, but he loves you anyway. Soon enough he'll be big enough that you won't be able to harass him quite as badly.

Lets see, what else have you been up to lately? Hmm. One thing we are working on is how we talk to others. When one of your siblings (usually Tobiah, occasionally Elli or Ruth) is bothering you, I remind you to go ask them nicely. You always bark out orders at them, and honestly hun, it makes me laugh to myself. You know what you want, and you are determined to get it! While I will be so proud when you master how to speak kindly to others, I honestly think I will miss this sass you have! I hope it never completely goes away, but that it manifests in a more appropriate area.

Did you know that your name means My Joy? Naomi, you ARE my joy! You make me smile every single day! You are the sweetest child, and you fill my heart in a very special way. I love you, my sweet, special, precious child! I love your tender little smile, your big beautiful brown eyes, your gorgeous hair. Naomi, what I love most about you is the beauty that is inside of you, that sweet, loving, spunky little girl that shines through in a special way. I am so, so thankful God has entrusted you to me! I am so thankful to be your Mama! You make me SO proud, you bring constant joy and laughter, and you help me to see the world in a whole new beautiful way that I never imagined was possible. Life through your eyes is beautiful and unique, and I'm blessed to be able to experience a small level of it.

While I look forward to watching you grow, learn, change, and become the amazing women God has created you to be, I hope some of these things never change. I hope you keep that special innocence I love, I hope you continue to see things differently-beautifully!

Naomi, you are so special, you are so unique, and I am blessed to watch you grow. Happy birthday to my "queen".

Rather short update

Well, a LOT has been going on in the Scales household the last few months! Here are some highlights.

In October, I got very, very sick. What I thought was a virus (and actually was, at first) turned out to be a horrifying kidney infection that had me out for nearly three weeks. This was a miserable time, and I never want to feel like that again. I also found myself constantly thanking my gracious God that I have an amazing first born daughter that was willing to help me so much.

In November (I think it was November?) Rich and I took our very first vacation without the kids. Only it wasn't really without them, because Nettles came along. Someday...

While on that vacation, which was actually about 24 hours in Portland, we found out the biggest news of 2013... I'M PREGNANT! That's right folks, baby number six is on the way!

On Thanksgiving, just two hours after telling my children we were pregnant again, I started bleeding. We went to the hospital, and while they found the baby, things did not look promising. This was followed by the most agonizing weekend of my life, thinking I was going to lose this precious baby I had so longed for. More ultrasounds the following week showed the baby was in fact growing, and looked great. However, this could end up being my first high risk pregnancy. I was diagnosed with a subchoriatic hemorrhage, which is actually very common, but apparently mine is one that will need to be monitored for a while, at least.

December was a whirlwind. Three very big birthdays, my precious Monkey Doodle turned 9, her last single digit, three days later, my nerdy but oh-so-handsome husband turned the big 3-0, and then four days later my little Nettles turned 1!

Step by Step Christmas party was amazing as usual.

Nettles was diagnosed with a severe gross motor delay (more on this in a future blog) and a minor communicative delay.

Christmas was the best ever!

So, there ya have it. A very, very brief update on our family.

And yes, it is January 6th without my typical New Years post. That will be coming hopefully tonight/tomorrow.