Day 20: A letter to someone that changed your life

As I was car pooling home from work yesterday I was talking to my friend Weston and telling him how I couldn’t decide who to write this letter to.  He simply said “How about JD?”  It was an ah ha moment for me.  I can think of a million people who have changed my life over the years but none quite as dramatically as Deeds, so here it is.

Dear Dieter,

Do you know why we call you our miracle boy?  You were my 4th pregnancy.  I was heart-broken and daddy and I had decided to wait a while before trying to get pregnant again when we got the surprise of our lives.  YOU!  The pregnancy was not an easy one and at 27 weeks I was diagnosed with Pregnancy Associated Cardiomyopathy.  The doctors feared that if we ever got pregnant it would kill me so they told us you would be our only child, if you and I survived the rest of the pregnancy.  I cried and cried, praying that we would both be ok.  5 weeks before you were supposed to be born my heart wasn’t working well and they decided it was time to welcome you into this world.  You were born January 16, 2008.  I only got to see you for a moment before they took you away from me into the NICU.  Hours later a nurse finally let me sit in a wheel chair to go see you.  I had never felt so much love as I did for you that day, and so much concern.  Over the next week you had many problems.  There was issues with your blood and an infection quickly took hold of your little body.  I will never forget the feelings of helplessness as you lay in the NICU.  They told us you would be there for weeks, and you even had to have a spinal tap at only 1 day old!  Before they could figure out exactly what was going on you shocked everyone and started to get better!  It was a miracle and we were able to bring you home a week after you were born.

You were not a “typical” baby from day one.  But I didn’t know any better, you were our first and we were just so excited.  You were perfect.  You didn’t show a lot of emotion and we would tell people that you made easy babies look bad.  You were just heaven.  The older you got we really started to notice differences between you and your cousins.  Things we called quirks.  You were much stiffer than your cousins and never learned to crawl well.  You would flip onto your back and scoot on your head.  It was worrisome but then you learned to walk right before your first birthday so we didn’t think too much about it.  We were told to get you to stop walking and running on your toes but it was hard.  When you started to hit the age you should have been talking and babbling you didn’t and then you started to get upset if I would pick you up.  I cried many nights because you would let daddy hold and hug you but no one else.  Shortly after your second birthday we finally had you looked at by a speech therapist.  You qualified for early intervention services and it started us down the road that led to the diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Then just a few weeks ago you were diagnosed with PVL and mild cerebral palsy.  While these caused a lot of questions for us they also answered a few.

Things have been very hard this year.  You would throw a lot of fits because you couldn’t communicate with us, and they often escalated beyond what I’d seen other children do.  It wasn’t until your baby sister (also a miracle for us) started to grow up that we realized just how different you were.  Each time we seemed to break an odd quirk you would come up with something else, sometimes worse than what you just stopped doing.   We dealt with learning about these new diagnosis and trying to educate ourselves while educating others.  Often times outings in public ended with meltdowns and comments from strangers that weren’t helpful.  The therapists urged us to keep taking you in public and into crowds no matter how hard it was for us, they said it would help you in the long run. We made it a goal to keep you active, get you out and keep working with you every day!  Things aren’t just hard, they are different in good ways too.

You have taught mommy patience beyond what she has ever known.  We have worked very hard to get you to hurdle some milestones and it has taught your dad and I how to work together much more than we did without you.  You became our common goal and taught us how to love each other more so that we could lean on each other.  Every parent is proud when their child accomplishes something new, with you it was a whole new feeling of proud.  When you hugged me for the first time I cried for 2 days.  I was so excited.  Every time you do something new that we have worked on with you for months it is a celebration for us.  Without all the struggles and hardships we wouldn’t appreciate the little things as much.  We appreciate every milestone not just with you but with Gwen as well.  We appreciate you both so much more.

You are special JD.  You are a son of God and we are humbled that he has sent you to our home.  I don’t often feel like I am doing a good job as your mom, I feel like you are such a treasure and choice spirit and I just want to do what its right for you.  Those rare times when you make eye contact with us is magical.  You are such a sweet soul, and I am honored to be your mother.  You allow us to see the world through a unique perspective, one I wish everyone could see and appreciate.  Thank you.  I look forward to growing with you and I can’t imagine life with out your quirks.  You have changed my life dramatically, and I’m thankful.

I love you,

Mommy

 

Tweet Of The Day

So a week or two ago JD was able to put three or four discs into the PS3 and it almost broke until Bobbie was able to fix it and pull out the jammed discs and now it works. Trust me these two stories make sense. JD is real particular in the music he likes and I have been playing Weezer in the car and  he likes the ‘Sweater Song,’ but asks for drums since the first few seconds has a heavy drum set.

I sent out a tweet that said JD likes the song, so one my blogging buds at SB Nation knew about PS3 scenario and replied with this:

@JeremySBN If you want to destroy my PS3………….sticks the disks in wrong so they won't eject. <So they won't eject>—
Cowboy Altitude (@CowboyAltitude) November 06, 2010

@JeremySBN She didn't want you to buy a new one. She was going to fix it no matter what. Can't wait till my daughter starts breaking stuff.—
Cowboy Altitude (@CowboyAltitude) November 06, 2010

That is all…

 

JD’s New Toy

So, we got JD a large swing and a set of rings for him to exert his excess energy that never seems to go away.  The funny thing is that the first thing he does when the rings are up he does a backflip.  The only other time he has down that was when he would climb up your legs and backflip that way.

 

My Son

Things with JD’s Autism have been going well recently. He is communicating so much more and the therapies really seem to be helping him a lot. I was starting to feel comfortable and it even felt like the fits or meltdowns were decreasing. Then tonight rocked my world. When I got home from work JD was with his dad and having a hard time listening or focusing on Jeremy. Within 10 minutes JD was in the throws of the worst meltdown he has had to date. About 45 minutes into it he was sitting on the floor screaming, rocking back and forth, and alternating between plugging his ears and flapping his hands. Nothing we said or tried to do made it better. Everything seemed to make it worse till it got to the point that I was in tears. He wasn’t himself, he was someone else entirely and it took almost 2 hours to calm him down.

I’d like to say I handled it gracefully and it probably won’t happen again but I can’t. It sparked some new fears in me and brought some old ones back to the surface. All I ever wanted was the best for my kids. I never thought about what life would be like if there were larger challenges like this. I am thankful he did it all at home, where only his dad and I had to be there. I fear next time its that bad it will be in public. I know its part of life for us, but unlike a normal toddler and fits, JD isn’t as likely to grow out of them, and from what I’ve heard there is a good chance they could get worse like this one. I just pray for patience and understanding. I also worry about the day when he gets too strong for me to handle him. Sadly he is already almost there when he is breaking down and its a big concern.

I just needed to write a little to help calm myself down. Let there be no doubt that I love JD with all my heart. Tonight was just a shock since we haven’t had something escalate so quickly or last so long with such intensity.

 

Milestones

The entire family seems to be hitting milestones in our lives the past couple weeks.  Here’s a quick update.

• Gwen is now 6 months old and holding her own bottle and loves to roll over.  She will get quite upset if she is in her crib and can’t roll back onto her tummy.  She looks like a turtle on its shell, kicking her legs and waiving her arms while screaming.  One of her favorite things to do is scream and yell, when she is happy.  All of a sudden you’ll hear this loud dinosaur like shriek and you will look over at her and she is all smiles.  I’m not thinking she’s going to be a singer.  :-)  She does however love to coo and sing in the car.
• JD got an official medical diagnosis of Autism on Friday.  While we were prepared for it, it was still interesting to have someone come out say it to us with paperwork involved.  We were a bundle of mixed emotions.  Relief, fear, optimism, sadness… you name it and I’ve felt it in the past 24 hours.  Overall we are thrilled about the doors this can open for treating JD.  He is still doing great with his therapies and was such a sweet boy this morning.  He LOVES colors right now, while we drive we constantly hear him telling us what color everything is.  ”Is it?  A moon.  What color is it? Itsa white moon.” was one of the cutest one-sided conversations we heard the other day.
• Jeremy is enjoying his classes at the U of  U.  The weight lifting class is harder on him than I think he thought it would be.  He used to work out constantly for Water Polo but not often (ever?) by lifting weights.  :-)
• I graduated yesterday!  It’s nice to have it all behind me and to move forward.  I’m contemplating going to UVU with Trish in the fall and pursuing a bachelors degree.  We shall see.  I have really enjoyed school and I do better when I have something driving me in life so we’ll see.  I have loved working at the spa and look forward to a busy summer season.  Hopefully it will go well and we will be looking for a new place to live.  Not that we don’t LOVE being here with mom and dad, but it’s time to move on.

There is a very brief update, hope everyone is doing well!

 

Master Bodyworker Baby

Not only did I manage to pass all my classes but a miracle occurred and I got a 4.0 GPA as well.  How I found time to do the homework and study is beyond me.  I am SO thankful for all mom’s help watching the kids because otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to finish up.  I’m just amazed how much new information was packed into the last 10 weeks and I feel like I gained a TON of experience that will help me excel in the field.  I’m so glad I went through the program and equally glad that I got the opportunity to meet a whole group of amazing people.  I know I’ll be keeping in touch with quite a few of them, and loved all I got to learn from them while we were in all those long classes.

After multiple interviews I did get the job with the Spa at the Hotel Park City.  The drive is an hour but so much more beautiful and relaxing than the hour drive to SLC has been for school.  Not to mention I’ll be getting paid.  The spa itself is so beautiful.  I can’t help but feel relaxed the minute I walk into the doors.  It’s a job I didn’t think I’d be able to get for quite a while and I am so thankful and blessed to have gotten it.  A lot of resort jobs require a lot of experience and I’m so thrilled that they are willing to take a chance on little ol’ me.  :-)  I will start training next week and will be working 4-5 days a week starting in June.

Jeremy started back to school on Monday and it looks like he will be writing for the U of U newspaper.  I don’t know all the details so I’ll let him blog about it later.  So far I think he likes his classes.  His work schedule is kind of off right now since he has to work from 3pm to midnight to make time for classes but we’ve LOVED seeing him during the mornings.  JD’s hero is his daddy so it’s just been a huge blessing to have him around more.  Jeremy is even able to be around for a lot of JD’s therapy appointments now which is great.  JD is a different kid around his dad so its nice to have his imput on things and so that the psychologist gets a good picture of how things are with the entire family.

Come to find out the tube is still in the ear that was draining, so it did NOT rupture.  It was however the worst ear infection I’ve ever seen.  Poor kid survived but is now really jumpy whenever someone touches that ear.  JD is still going through the diagnosis process for the Autism.  It’s a long road but I have been so thrilled at the doors that have opened up for him since we have started this whole process.  The therapies are already making such a difference in our family and I am so optimistic about the future.  He amazes me daily with his intellengence, and he is so endearing.  There have been some hard days, and the tantrums are tough on me (more than anyone else I think), but I’m learning to get a tougher skin and not take everything so personally.  Much easier said than done.  We are quickly learning also that everyone has a oppinion about Autism and what they think it is.  It amazes me what people will say to us without thinking first if it might be offensive.  Like I said, I’m pretty sensitive about things still so I’m trying to relax but sometimes it just gets under my skin.  There are SO many stops along the Autism spectrum.  Sometimes I worry that JD won’t fit in with the Autism crowd or the other kids either, that he might be stuck in limbo.  The therapist says that hopefully we can work with him a ton now and help him to fit in with “normal kids” by the time he is in grade school.  He is on a waiting list for a pre-school that is apparently amazing.  It is all day and incorporates the different therapies in the morning and then in the afternoon they do things that teach the kids how to pay attention (HARD for autism), make friends, sit at desks, etc.  He won’t even be able to attend till next August and there is STILL a  chance he won’t get it.  I talked to one mom whose son was on the list for 2 years and never got accepted.  Tomorrow JD meets a new developmental therapist and next week he also gets a new speech therapist.  The therapist that had been working with him on speech is just going to focus on other areas now.  Right now JD is loving the therapy sessions, I hope it stays that way.  I think his favorite is the Psychologist because he knows we will stop at KrispyKreme and watch the doughnuts get made on the way home.  JD also had his first dentist appointment this past week.  I wasn’t able to go due to finals.  Poor Jeremy had to take him by himself and said it was a nightmare.  I think we may look into a pediatric dentist for him that might be used to working with kids, especially those that hate when strangers talk to them.  :-(

Since it’s been so nice outside we have spent a lot of time out there.  JD asks to go outside the minute he wakes up and doesn’t want to come inside for bed.  I’m hoping that next paycheck we can go get another little hard sided pool like the one we had last year.  He LOVED it and with it getting hotter it’ll be nice to let him cool off.  I have a feeling we will be going through a lot of sunblock this summer.

Gwen is doing amazing.  Her nurse came by today and she weighs 15 pounds exactly.  She is almost 6 months old and I can’t believe it.  We started solid foods and she is a champion eater.  So far she doesn’t like bananas or peas but adores carrots and sweet potatoes.  He smile and laughter are infectious and have actually kept her brother up a few nights now.  I will hear them laughing well past the time they are supposed to go to bed.  She likes to peek over the bumper in her crib and look for JD.  I’m glad they get along so well.  I honestly think the Lord sent Gwen to us to help her big brother.  She truly is a miracle baby and I love her spunky spirit.  She’s rolling over now and can almost sit up on her own.  Her eyes keep changing from blue to almost brown, then back to blue again.  We’ll see where they decided to settle.  She also hasn’t got enough hair yet to know what color it’s going to be.  I’m still rooting for dark hair like her mommy.  ;-)  Her favorite toy is a little Minnie Mouse that she got for Easter.  She loves to play with it.  She’ll squeal and then bite her nose.  It’s so funny!

So that’s the skinny on our little family.  We are as busy as ever but growing closer every day.

 

Pretty Good Day

This morning I was tired of watching Yo Gabba Gabba so I decided to try to have JD watch Wall-E and was surprised that he actually sat through at least 45 minutes of the movie; which was a shock since there are no words for at least the first half hour or so.   I think Ill start putting in whatever animated movie that I may want to watch and he usually is good to watch for half an hour.

Also, before I left to work my amazing 10 hour shift I was getting some food to take and of course JD saw that I was getting some pringles and he HAD to have some.  So, I put a few in his bowl and he sat at the table.  He had Brobee with him so he was set up in the chair and then he went and grabbed his stacking cups and started pretend playing with him by arranging the cups in front of him, and then started to feed him  his pringles.   This is good since the doctors have been asking about his pretend play — which was minimal at best — I was excited for him to do that.

Then I was working today for my first 10 hour shift (Saturday I took 4 hours off) which I was dreading to talk on the phone to stupid, soft talking, know-it-alls, and little kids try to make reservation.  The good thing out of it was that I was able to book someone for a 6 month stay and that basically guarantees me to be in the top 10% and make more money in bonuses — even though it will not be a ton.  I almost had another similar reservation which would have been sweet, but they kept saying they would call back in a few hours, so I tried to do a 24 hour hold but they were not having any of that.  Not a big deal since for the day I think I was at 300% for my revenue per call goal, so not too bad.

Then during one of my breaks I was checking my website (yes a shameless plug) and noticed a ton of hits from CBSSports.com.  Normally I get some from CBS from the team pages that I have related to stories of a certain school, but this was from the front page of the college football section of CBS Sports and within their main article on the expansion topic.  Not bad since of the three links from SB Nation two were from my site and if you have any interest in college football expansion click here and here for the two articles that were on CBS Sports.  That was a cool bonus since this time of year my page views are decreasing.  

Then on the way home I was listening to some random sports show on Sporting News Radio and they have this weird fantasy draft that encompasses everything, and tonight was fast food items.  I was probably hungry from a long day and listened in to this random subject, and at the end the host wanted people to send in their ideas via twitter, so I did.  Partly because someone had the gall to say Chipotle as a choice for their favorite fast food places.  That made me sick because Chipotle is not very good and locally would prefer Barbacoa, so I decided to send them a tweet and mention the BEST BURRITO EVER which resides in a small chain in Texas called Freebirds.

If you are in Houston, Dallas, Austin, or College Station it is required eating to stop there you will not regret it.  My brother had me bring him a burrito from Freebirds before when I traveled to Texas a few years back, yes you heard me right bought a burrito froze it over night (or at least I think it was frozen) and flew it back to Salt Lake.  He said it was still better then anything he could get, and that includes an overnight stay in the freezer and about a six hour time after that en route.

Back to the reason for mentioning the fast food draft(?) was because the national syndicated host mentioned my tweet as well as the name and made a bigger deal by saying he enjoyed my site about the Mountain West, which was probably just some radio talk.  However, mine got the most pub and I did notice he is following me now, if that means anything really.

So, I thought was pretty cool.  The segment made me hungry so I pulled over at JCW’s at Thanksgiving Point and snagged  a three piece chicken tender.

For the record the picture of the dude eating the burrito is definitely not me, but he is making me jealous that he has his hands on a Freebirds burrito.  Any comments that try to say Cafe Rio or anything like those places will be replied with a pat on the head saying ‘nice try.’  The closest thing anywhere to that style is Barbacoa which is really good, but not quite a Freebirds monster burrito.

 

Autism?

Before I dive into the title of the blog let me catch up on some other happenings.

Gwendolyn is just doing so well.  Everyday I get home from school I swear she has grown since I saw her in the morning.  Her new favorite thing to do is laugh.  Grandma can get her rolling better than anyone else.  I tried giving her some rice cereal the other day and she was NOT a fan.  I think we’ll wait a couple more weeks and try again.  She is getting to be a bit of a scooter and will move mysteriously.  Maybe she’s a crawling prodigy but only when no one is watching.  :-P

I had a cardiology appointment last week and it wasn’t spectacular.  I haven’t been very diligent about taking my medications and when I got a cold it really started to effect my quality of life.  When we went in we found out that back in December my heart had enlarged and mom and I don’t remember them ever telling us then.  I probably would have been better about setting my appointments on time and taking my meds.  An echo showed a bit of a decrease in function and they gave me 3 new medications to take.  I hate them.  I feel about the same now as I do when I at the end of a pregnancy.  No energy, can’t breathe, can’t lay down, etc.  One of the pills I have to take is a diuretic and I can tell it’s working but I think it’s the main culprit making me sick.  I now have to monitor my weight, heart rate and blood pressure every day.  I’m hoping that things will mellow out of school is going to be very hard for the next 6 weeks.  I go back in for a check-up next Thursday.

Now for the Autism part of the post.  Let me start at the beginning.

Last time I posted I mentioned that JD qualified for Kids on the Move for help with his speech development.  When they came out to test him I let them know that I was sure he wouldn’t qualify but just wanted to be able to tell the doctor and nurses that had suggested he be tested that we had done it.  I was shocked when he qualified.  This started a snowball rolling that we weren’t prepared for.

During JD’s 3rd visit the subject of Autism came up with the therapist.   Mom explained that I’d been asked on more than one occasion if JD was Autistic, sometimes by strangers.  I would always tell people that he was just big for his age.  I told the therapist that I wrote it off as people expecting to act like a 3.4 year old and not like the 2-year-old that he is.  She prefaced what she was about to say by letting us know she couldn’t diagnose anything, I knew when she said that I wasn’t really going to like the next part.  She said that before she worked for Kids on the Move she worked exclusively with Autistic kids and that she has quite a few clients now with Autism, and JD does in fact show many signs of Autism.  We then discussed how we would go about having him “tested”.   She said she was a little concerned with how much JD will seek deep sensory stimulation, and maybe an additional therapist would help him with that.

I spent about 6 hours one day on the phone with many different people.  You see since JD wasn’t showing severe signs of Autism I was finding it hard to get him an appointment sooner than 5 months out.  His young age also seemed to be an issue.  I learned that many parents that have kids with a more mild delay/disorder don’t notice or get their kids tested until they are in a kindergarten setting where teachers might notice it.  JD on the other hand is lucky in this aspect because he did qualify for Kids on the Move and have astute doctors that saw that something about him was just a titch different.

Now I say different because I mean just that, different.  Not bad, not wrong, just different.  JD is still, JD.  I want to make that clear.  He is a very bright little boy and I don’t expect anyone to read this and think that we feel that he is defective in any way.  He is still our first miracle baby and we are BLESSED to have him in our family, no matter what.  Nothing will change that.

I digress, sorry.

I finally got him an appointment this past Friday.  Jeremy, JD and I all made the trip to Provo.  JD was having a very active morning but once we got into the office alone he loved all the new toys and was great about letting us all talk.  This appointment was with who I like to call the “gate-keeper”.  He is the one who gets JD’s history, talks to us and observes him to decide if there is even a reason to go any further with this process.  We went in there hoping for the best.  Someone to tell us he’s just a 2-year-old acting out a bit, and to have a nice life.  We left with a promise we’d be contacted by someone who specializes in kids JD’s age and to expect weekly family therapy.  We were told it may be quite a long road to find a diagnoses since there is a chance it is Asperger Syndrome and that isn’t usually diagnosed until 4-11 years old.  At first I was upset.  If they were going to give him a diagnoses I wanted it then.  Once Jeremy and I talked about it more however I realized I don’t want them to just slap a diagnoses on it and send us on our way.  If there is an issue I want them to take their time about getting to know JD and our family so that they can be certain.  Nothing is going to help JD if he isn’t diagnosed properly.

I know that many people look at labels as being a bad thing, I however think they can be empowering.  It can help us help JD, and knowledge is power.  When I start to mention some of JD’s little “quirks” that are alarming the therapists/doctors I often hear from other mothers that it’s normal for kids his age, and yes many of them are… however the combination of many of them and the severity of them are what raises the red flags.

I had one mother I talked to whose son has Autism tell me that once you’ve met one kid with Autism, you’ve met one kid with Autism.  Her son was just older than JD when diagnosed and gets worse the older he gets.  There is a huge spectrum to Autism.  The kids I’ve known with the disorder in my life were mostly pretty severe, JD (if he has it) is not.  But like my cardiologist tells me “I don’t think it’s wise to pretend something isn’t there.”  In JD’s case, us meeting with therapists and doctors will only help us understand things more.  Help us grow together with him, what small child wouldn’t love time even just once a week where mommy and daddy focus ONLY on them!

Am I scared, yes.  I would lie if I said I haven’t cried quite a few times about this whole process.  I’ve expected none of this and am blessed to have such an amazing supportive family.  We are starting to get an idea that it’s going to be a long road, but we are optimistic and glad that we have such amazing resources available to help us, help JD.  I know this is a subject that many people have strong feelings about, positive and negative.  I have a couple of friends that have been down this road already and I am thankful for their support since I don’t know very much about things right now.   With both Jeremy and I dealing with working and school right now life is packed, we need all the positive thoughts we can get.

I will try to keep everyone posted on things.  I’ve not been emotionally able to blog about it, maybe it’s because it’s all so fresh right now.  A quick facebook update is about all I’ve been able to deal with, but this evening I just needed to document my thoughts right now.

 

Daisy, Daisy

While I’m sitting waiting for the clinic to open (Gwen might have pink eye) I thought I’d shoot out a quick blog post.

I have been playing a CD in the car for a couple weeks that has a ton of kid songs on it. As a matter of fact we used to listen to the same songs on casset tape when I was younger. JD has started to sing a long to some of the songs and its so cute. He love a bicycle built for two. I’m sure he thinks its about our dog Daisy. I’ll catch him singing “Daisy, Daisy, so crazy.” I can’t get over how cute it is.

I just have to gush about what a great big brother JD is. He loves Gwen and is always watching out for her. I’m enjoying it while it lasts.

The kids are now in the same room and so when JD talks we can hear it through the baby monitor. A couple nights ago we heard him talking so we turned it up to listen. “Daddy? Daddy, hi daddy. I wuv you daddy, wuv you.”. It melted our hearts. He still won’t say it to our faces but it was cute to hear him on the monitor.

I have been having fun making hair bows with Kristin. Here are my latest creations. This last time we also made the boards to put them all on.

Well its time to head into the clinic. I’ll snap a picture of JD right now. He’s been quite unhappy to be in his seat the past 5 minutes.

 

Our Halloween Week

The major part of our week was the hospital/baby issues we had, but if you want to read about all that check out THIS post.  So many good things happened I just want to keep one post drama free. 

Thursday morning I took JD in for his first official haircut.  Until now I’ve always just buzzed his head when it got too long but this time I wanted him to have it a bit longer.  We went to Cookie Cutters in Lehi and it was worth every penny.  He was the first customer of the day so he got to pick out any seat he wanted.  We opted for a blue car that he could honk the horn on.  He also got to pick out a Winnie the Pooh movie to watch during the cut, but the biggest hit was the bubbles that he could try and blow during the haircut.  I ended up blowing them at him any time he started to get worried about what the girl was doing and it worked like a charm.  He’d giggle and laugh.  The little cut he got turned out very cute and we’ll probably take him back there again since it was so hassle free.  At the end they gave him a balloon and sucker, his favorite part of the day.

After getting his hair cut I took him to get a trick-or-treating pail.  We found a cheap Elmo one and he was so excited.  All the way home I heard “Melmo, nandy, tank too.” then he would kiss the pail on the nose.  It was so funny.  Jeremy’s been trying to get him to say trick-or-treat but it’s just not gonna happen.  He’s going to be Nemo for Halloween tonight and I’m excited to take some pictures!  Last year it was all about over his head, at least this year he knows what candy is.   I may drive him and Jeremy around so that I get to see him trick-or-treat.  We’ll see.  I’m not guessing he’ll last very long.

When we got home the stuff I ordered from Diapers.com showed up!  I ordered it Tuesday night and it got to the house before noon on Thursday.  Pretty snazzy.  JD and Parks loved playing with the box, I think I know what to get him for Christmas now.    It all came, no errors and I’m still excited about the awesome deal we got.  If anyone wants to try them out remember to use promo code MAUSS to get $10 off your first order.

Here are some other photo’s I had on my phone, enjoy their awesomeness:

 

Playing at the Doctors Office

Looking at all the "Punkins"

I'll take this one!

Sunday afternoon with Daddy

Hairbows I made for Gwen