Loving Life

Well the first week post op was full of pain and a nasty stomach bug.  I’d like to think that I’ll never have to live through another week like that if I’m a good girl.  It was a nightmare.

Today I finally felt well enough to venture out with the family and while I’m in pain tonight more than I have been recently it was worth it to just get out and about.  I’m really hoping that Monday afternoon the doctor will take the cast off and put the walking boot on like planned.

This evening Jer hooked up a sprinkler in the backyard and the kids had a blast playing in the water.  I couldn’t see them while they were out there but they were all sopping wet smiles when they came back inside.

Gwen is in a phase where she is giving us tons of hugs and kisses.  There is nothing like having a 19 month old’s sweet chubby arms around your neck.  We missed this entire phase of life with JD and I feel blessed each time we hit a new milestone with Gwen.  JD is growing so much and such an amazing little boy, there is no way to describe how much he has grown and changed.  We are blessed to have him in our lives, and going through the challenges with him helps us to celebrate the little things with both the kids.

 

PLAY

We have become big fans of the McDonald’s $1 parfait.  Why you ask?  Because on cold days we go play at the indoor playgrounds to burn off steam and have them as a snack.  Here are some pictures from our adventures.  We also have been enjoying a lot more time outside.  Since it’s been Bobbie overload recently I have decided to bombard you with pic’s from our recent fun.

I SEE YOU!

Help from Mommy

Don’t mess with me!

Climbing machine

Gwen LOVES the Leopard!

Look into my eyes!

SLIDE

Superhero shirt

No Jumping off the Rocks Gwen!

WINDY

Hi Brother!

 

 

 

Day 22: A photo that makes you happy

I’ll throw in 2 for your viewing pleasure.

 

JD as a baby, he made the funniest faces

Gwen with her Grandma Gordon, makes me truly happy.

 

 

 

Day 7: A youtube video you find funny

There are so many to choose from but this is a favorite:

 

Gardner Village

I have never been to Gardner Village before.  I have always heard the advertisements and used to live pretty close to it, just never felt the need to stop by.  Thursday mom invited all of us to go with her to see the witches they have around for Halloween.

The kids LOVED it.  JD was so good and enjoyed being around some of his favorite people for the afternoon.  There was a situation where a lady thought he was misbehaving and yelled at him.  I let her know he had Autism and he didn’t understand.  She made me so mad!  He wasn’t even misbehaving, he was chasing a kitty cat because he wanted to pet it.  When he gets excited he gets “flappy” and his hands go a mile a minute.  She thought he was trying to hit the cat.  I usually just apologise when someone tells me JD is misbehaving, I have always wanted to stand up to them more but never have.  This time it really got under my skin that she yelled at him and I was standing right behind him.  It brought out my mamma bear claws and I’m glad I finally had the gumption to tell her he was fine, just Autistic.

With the exception of “crazy cat woman” it was a delightful afternoon.  We took a lot of great pictures and talked about going back during the Christmas holidays to see how they redecorate things.

Wednesday (I know I’m going out of order, forgive me) Mom, Art, Steph and I watched Temple Grandin.  It’s an HBO movie about an amazing Autistic woman, Temple Grandin.  I had heard a lot about the movie but hadn’t gotten the chance to rent it until this past week.  Thanks to a mom in JD’s Autism play group for reminding me to check it out.  It was amazing!  Within 10 minutes I was crying because I could relate a little.  It was spectacular the way they showed how she viewed the world and it made us all wonder if that’s kind of how JD sees things and that’s why he’ll fixate on shapes.  We laughed and cried throughout the entire film.  It’s full of hope and really can show how amazing these souls with Autism are!  As soon as I returned the redbox I got on amazon.com and ordered a copy of the DVD, I expect it to come tomorrow if it’s not sitting in my mail box right now.  If anyone wants to borrow it I will lend it out.  I can’t wait to watch it with Jeremy!  Even if you don’t deal with Autism I think it’s a wonderful movie.

 

Discovery Park

Today I was going to spend the whole day at home.  I was excited at the prospect of not getting in the car or going anywhere.  It became obvious as the day wore on however that JD wasn’t going to make staying home easy.  It was almost as if he know my intentions to stay home and was determined to thwart them!

When Jeremy got home after work we took the kids to the Discovery Park for and had a picnic.  We enjoyed the outing, with the exception of it being so hot for an October afternoon.  We did not stay very long so that we could get the kids down for naps and be able to watch and enjoy conference but I got some cute pictures of our little outing.  JD loved it there and did NOT want to go.  I’m sure we will go back soon.

 

Weekend Fun

Last weekend Jeremy had Saturday and Sunday off work.  I know he envisioned himself sitting on the couch relaxing and watching football all day Saturday but instead we went up to the Zoo.  It was busy and hot but JD loves it and was very excited Daddy got to come too.  We met the Griffee clan up there and had a picnic lunch.  All our kids were decked out in their U of U gear for game day.  Lucky for you guys I took a lot of pictures!

Jeremy was a good sport and still got a chance to watch all his football games.    Sunday was my favorite day because he was able to go to church with us.  It’s been hard to take the kids by myself and it was wonderful to have him there with us.  Made everything feel like such a breeze.

 

Church?

After struggling this morning to get myself and the kids all ready and loaded in the car for church I was really bummed when I pulled into an empty parking lot and realized there was conference today.  I turned the car around and drove home.  JD started to scream when I pulled back into our driveway.  He was all ready for church and going home was NOT an option for him.  We finally decided to go around the corner to the park.  It’s not something we usually do on a Sunday but we did it anyway.  The 3 of us had a great time and most meltdowns were averted for the afternoon!  The video of him “rolling” down the hill kills me.  I tried to show him over and over how to do it the “normal” way but he would have nothing to do with it.  He was determined to do it his way.  He did make it to the bottom but we were laughing so hard by the time he did I had to stop filming.

For dinner mom and dad brought Braxton and Michael over for dinner.  JD had fun playing with his cousins for about 15 minutes then started to beg for the ipod.  I guess I should be thankful for the 15 minutes.

 

Whats that password?

You know it’s been a long time since you have blogged when you can’t even remember your password to log in!  Whew.  Probably a record.  Life with 2 kids is crazy sometimes but Jeremy is putting JD to bed and Gwen is content at the moment so TADA!  Maybe I should only blog on the 1st of each month?  Ok maybe not.

January 2010 has been a good month for us!  Here are the awesome highlights.

• JD turned 2, I can’t believe he is getting so old.  At his 2 year check up at the doctor we all laughed when he was measured at over 3 feet tall already.  To say he is off the charts is an understatement.  This past week he is starting to put a lot more words together and it’s actually been really fun to get to communicate more with him.  We still don’t understand everything he says but we are learning.

• Gwen was blessed.  We were lucky enough to have Jeremy’s mom come up from Houston for JD’s birthday so we blessed Gwen on short notice at the same time so she could be here.  She looked so precious in her white dress.

• I signed up for school again!  I will be completing the 10 week Master Body Worker course up in Salt Lake starting in March.  It’s full-time so I’ll be sad to be away from the kids so much but I’m excited (and a little scared) to be getting more education.  I think I may be addicted.

• I started to practice massage, finally.  Its been going really well and my body is starting to readjust to the work.  I’m still offering a special till Feb. 13th.  $25 for an hour massage, give me a call.

• We got our taxes done early this year and already got the refund (shocker I know).  We have payed off debt with it and have also upgraded Jeremy’s ancient laptop to a new Mac Book Pro.  It should be here by Wednesday and I can’t wait.  I tried to talk Jeremy into a trip to Disneyland but he was a bit more practical about how we spent the money.  (I’m glad he’s so good like that)

• Jeremy has applied all over the country for jobs since he will be switching departments in March and taking a pay cut we decided no better time than now to really go for it!

We have been busy but January was good to us.  Gwen has wanted a lot more attention than JD did as a baby and in turn now JD wants attention too so I don’t often have free time, and when I do I’m trying to book massages so it’s nice to get a moment to catch up.

JD LOVES playing in the snow

Gwen has been smiling a lot

JD would eat "circles" all day if I let him

 

Eviction Notice

Gwendolyn Olive Brierly M.,

I am issuing 2 week notice for EVICTION. Tenant will have 13 days in which she can either gather her belongings and promptly vacate the premises, or wait until the final day. After which, she will be physically removed from the property.

She’s being evicted due to breech of contract and destruction of property. Expansions only to the FRONT of the house, within reasonable limits, were discussed. Not only have these limits been exceeded, but additions to the back of the house were also made!

Remodeling and gutting of the home was never approved, nor was changing the initial layout and base structure. And due to property damage, there are now leaks in both the upper AND lower levels of the home. On top of which, the landlord has received numerous complaints about nightly disturbances.

After 13 days from this day that she doesn’t comply with the notice will result in immediate and forceful removal at my discretion.

Signed,

Mom

To find out more click HERE to view a post about our appointment today.