Playing peek a boo!
Opening Birthday Gifts this weekend
The train cake my mom made for Jaris
Can't remember if I have posted this picture on a previous post, it is one of my favorites of Hayden
Love his smile and how curious he is
Kenzie hanging out with her older cousins.
Well where do I begin. It has been a while since I last posted anything. In part because life is so full and in part because sometimes what I have written I decide to not post for everyone to read.
Jaris turned 3 this past week. On his actual birthday we went out to a local Vernon restaurant that has a good gluten free menu and we were able to get something that was gluten free and dairy free for the kids. After we took them to a playground, which was a huge hit and the weather was amazing. Next was a family coffee date at our favorite Blenz Coffee shop. Followed by a trip home for a supper of Hot dogs and tomato soup, with dairy free coconut ice cream for dessert.
You may have noticed in the last paragraph that we have decided to go gluten and dairy free for a while. The reason for this is we have heard that following a diet like this may be helpful for Jaris and some of the behaviours he has been exhibiting. We have been dairy free for almost a month and gluten free for 2 weeks now. In mid April we will reassess to see if we feel this is helping Jaris. I will admit that I am finding it hard to come up with things he will eat when some of the old stand bys were definitely filled with gluten and or dairy.
Jaris has a formal assessment at speech therapy this week, and for it we have to bring in a list of words a phrases that he uses on a regular basis. As I have been writing them all down I realized that he has doubled the amount of words he uses regularly in the past 6 months. I often need reminders like this that Jaris is progressing and developing, because there are days that are hard. Some days I find my self wondering what Jaris' future will be like. No parent envisions a life in which their child will possibly struggle with being able to effectively communicate in say to day life. No parent I know of wants their child to face a life of constant struggle. Many days when we are in the middle of a melt down I hold him in my arms and I choke back the tears, as my heart breaks for him. Our dreams for his future now are changing. They are not dashed because we know he will have a full life. Yesterday I was reading the facebook status of a friend whose 16 year old daughter went to be with Jesus last summer and I was reminded that while we do have challenging days, at least we get those days with our son because he is alive. I want those days we have despite how difficult they can be. I would rather have a life time of challenging days, than not have him.
So onto my two other miracles.
Kenzie. Oh my! She has a fiery personality. She likes things to be her way, and will politely say, "Not yet mommy!" When I ask her to do something she is not ready to do yet. A few weeks ago Jeral's aunt Cathy was visiting and just before bed she read Kenzie a story. The title of the book Kenzie picked was, "My Adopted Child There is No One Like You." At the end of the book she told Cathy that she was adopted by us and that she was happy about it. The other day she came to me and said, "Mommy you were not able to carry me in your tummy, however you can carry me in your arms so pick me up!" I promptly picked her up and told her how much I love her and that I can most definitely carry her in my arms. While I know she does not cognitively understand what adoption is, I know that she will grow up with these words being used and that when she is old enough to understand cognitively my hope is that she will not be afraid to ask questions, and we will do the best we can to answer them. While she is a very secure child in the fact that we love her, she still sleeps with us at night. I can count on one hand how many nights she has slept in her own bed, and I will admit that I hate sharing my bed. However waking up to her cute telling me that the sun is up, and that it is going to be a good day, is pretty spectacular. This past weekend her cousins taught her how to do a summersault. I think we have a gymnast in the making.
Hayden - He has the most enduring smile ever. I love listening to him talk to himself in the mornings as he waits for us to come get him out of his crib. He loves to eat his feet. This past month he has started to sit on his own with out us supporting him. I still put a pillow behind him just encase he looses his balance. He wants to crawl and keep up with is big sister and big brother. He also wants to eat whatever we are eating. I look at him every day and wonder where time has gone. He is growing up way to quickly. My baby is 7 and a half months. Hayden is seriously the most laid back of our three children. It we could guarantee that we would have another kids with his laid back personality I think we would be tempted to have another one. However we have absolutely no control over that! Hayden has three teeth that have cut through and he has three more coming down. in the next two weeks I think he will have 6 teeth. Talk about growing up way to fast.
Well this has gotten longer than I intended!
Jaris has a formal assessment at speech therapy this week, and for it we have to bring in a list of words a phrases that he uses on a regular basis. As I have been writing them all down I realized that he has doubled the amount of words he uses regularly in the past 6 months. I often need reminders like this that Jaris is progressing and developing, because there are days that are hard. Some days I find my self wondering what Jaris' future will be like. No parent envisions a life in which their child will possibly struggle with being able to effectively communicate in say to day life. No parent I know of wants their child to face a life of constant struggle. Many days when we are in the middle of a melt down I hold him in my arms and I choke back the tears, as my heart breaks for him. Our dreams for his future now are changing. They are not dashed because we know he will have a full life. Yesterday I was reading the facebook status of a friend whose 16 year old daughter went to be with Jesus last summer and I was reminded that while we do have challenging days, at least we get those days with our son because he is alive. I want those days we have despite how difficult they can be. I would rather have a life time of challenging days, than not have him.
So onto my two other miracles.
Kenzie. Oh my! She has a fiery personality. She likes things to be her way, and will politely say, "Not yet mommy!" When I ask her to do something she is not ready to do yet. A few weeks ago Jeral's aunt Cathy was visiting and just before bed she read Kenzie a story. The title of the book Kenzie picked was, "My Adopted Child There is No One Like You." At the end of the book she told Cathy that she was adopted by us and that she was happy about it. The other day she came to me and said, "Mommy you were not able to carry me in your tummy, however you can carry me in your arms so pick me up!" I promptly picked her up and told her how much I love her and that I can most definitely carry her in my arms. While I know she does not cognitively understand what adoption is, I know that she will grow up with these words being used and that when she is old enough to understand cognitively my hope is that she will not be afraid to ask questions, and we will do the best we can to answer them. While she is a very secure child in the fact that we love her, she still sleeps with us at night. I can count on one hand how many nights she has slept in her own bed, and I will admit that I hate sharing my bed. However waking up to her cute telling me that the sun is up, and that it is going to be a good day, is pretty spectacular. This past weekend her cousins taught her how to do a summersault. I think we have a gymnast in the making.
Hayden - He has the most enduring smile ever. I love listening to him talk to himself in the mornings as he waits for us to come get him out of his crib. He loves to eat his feet. This past month he has started to sit on his own with out us supporting him. I still put a pillow behind him just encase he looses his balance. He wants to crawl and keep up with is big sister and big brother. He also wants to eat whatever we are eating. I look at him every day and wonder where time has gone. He is growing up way to quickly. My baby is 7 and a half months. Hayden is seriously the most laid back of our three children. It we could guarantee that we would have another kids with his laid back personality I think we would be tempted to have another one. However we have absolutely no control over that! Hayden has three teeth that have cut through and he has three more coming down. in the next two weeks I think he will have 6 teeth. Talk about growing up way to fast.
Well this has gotten longer than I intended!
1 comment:
yeah for an update. Cute kids you have!
Do you find those teething necklaces work?
That's cute what Kenzie said about adoption.
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