Where have I been?

Wow!  I have not written anything in a very long time.  Which, does not really matter, since no one reads my blog anyway.  But, I think it might be helpful to write a few things down...
The babies turned two last week!  It is crazy how time flies and also goes so slow all at the same. time. 

Annabelle is a hoot!  She has a huge vocabulary, more words than I can count.  She puts two and three words together to create sentences.  The phrase of the week seems to be "Sit down mommy" and "Sit down daddy" with an occasional please added on.  Annabelle is potty training right now.  She was really ready before our trip to North Carolina in June, but I did not want to deal with it on the airplane, so I waited.  It may not have been the best approach.  We are on day 3 and she is really doing well.  But, I am not confident in her abilities quite yet.  Luckily, Granjan is in town and helping out.  Annabelle loves to play with her baby dolls and will push them in the stroller, feed them, and put them down for a nap.  She also enjoys books and never seems to have had enough books read.  She knows several letters and numbers.  She knows "A" is for Annabelle and "J" is for Jack and "M" is for mommy and "D" is for daddy.  She also knows a few more.  She counts "1, 2" but is not very good after that.  She can sing several songs.  It is sweet to her her sing, "Tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, star, tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, star."  She likes to tickle, chase, and laugh!  She has two of her two-year molars coming in.  Annabelle will eat anything on anyone else's plates, including mushrooms, onions, and all sorts of vegetables.  She is also into meat and says, "mo, mo, meat daddy".  Her vegetarian mother is not thrilled, but working on acceptance.  Luckily, she has been healthy! 

Jack is a sweetie!  He is saying "ma ma", "da da", "eee" for eat, and doing the sign for "more" and "all done".  He has been working on matching and puzzles.  He loves music and will hum songs and do the hand motions.  He is pretty good at "Trot Ole' Joe", which makes me laugh, since he hated it during music class.  My favorite thing is when Jack will hold my hand and walk down the street.  Jack was diagnosed with autism on March 28.  We had previously started with OT and ST.  He has been doing great in OT and his sensory issues seem to be fairly well regulated at this time.  He used to freak out when there were loud noises or when we were in certain social settings, like music class.  But, he is doing much better and we are working in OT on motor planning.  He is getting ST through ECI and I am not impressed.  We also have a 25 hour a week home based ABA program.  It is finally going really well.  He is making progress and mastering programs.  We have also started some dietary interventions as well.  We are soy and dairy free and will be gluten free in another week.  Jack is just finishing a round of antibiotics and will then start a round of antifungals.  We are hoping it will help!

I have made some wonderful "autism" friends since Jack was diagnosed.  It is great to have people who understand some of the challenges I face due to Jack's issues.  I have also (lost my mind and) decided to get my BCBA.  If I am going to learn about all of this stuff, I might as well get a degree out of it.  I am starting my first of five classes.  I will work on getting my hours after I get in the routine of class.  I have filed a law suit against ECI because they will not provide the ABA.  We have court in a couple weeks and will see how it goes.

I am going to try and start writing a little more.  It is good to track what is going on with the kids and also a good outlet for me.  We will see how it goes!

Washing dishes

So, today something funny happened.  I have been waiting for my kids to start doing funny things so I can blog about them and I think the time is near.  Today, Jeremy told Annabelle it was time to wash her "lovey".  She promptly took it over to her play kitchen, put it in the sink under the faucet, and made a "shhshhshh" noise.  It was super cute.  She was not nearly as cute when Jeremy took it out of her hands and put it into the real washing machine.  But, it is clean and she survived.

2011 in review

Well, somehow it has turned into 2012!  The first three months of the babies' lives seemed so slow and the next three months were not much better. 

Newborn pictures with Neely Brooks

But, since then (basically 2011), time has been flying!  I can't believe all of the things Jack and Annabelle accomplished this year.  They feed themselves and currently each have 12 teeth - four top front, four bottom front, and 4 molars.  They are not so great with utensils yet, but are working on it.  Annabelle is a very messy eater and I would bet she is 50/50 for what makes it into her mouth and what makes it onto the floor.  Jack is very neat, taking his time to eat one bean at a time - most of the time.  The kids are both fairly good eaters.  Annabelle will eat almost anything.  Jack is a fruit and carb kind of guy.  Here are a few pictures from the spring of the babies with their messy faces!

The kids were both walking by their first birthday.  Since then, they have picked up speed and now run - usually in opposite directions.  Jack prefers to be outside and walks around and around looking for treasures (also known as: trash).  We went to the beach four times in 2011.  The first was in February with the Pattersons.  The babies were really too young to have much fun.  We went to the Outerbanks in North Carolina with the King family in June.  The babies had fun and so did mommy and daddy!  We had professional pictures taken and they turned out great.  Unfortunately, they are not on this computer, so I will have to add them later.  We went to the beach in September with our dear friends, the Moehrings.  The kids had a blast at the beach.

The final time we went during 2011 was with Granjan and Grandpa King.  They came to visit at the end of October.  Jack and Annabelle really had a fun time during this trip.  Annabelle loved playing in the sand and the ocean and Jack was happy just walking around looking for "treasures".

We had a wonderful holiday season.  We dressed up as a Dr. Suess family for Halloween, visited a pumpking patch, celebrated Thanksgiving with friends for the 8th Annual Friend's Thanksgiving and Gpa, Gma, Granna, and Josh on the actual Thanksgiving, and spent Christmas with Grandjan, Grandpa, Lauren, and Josh.  The kids were spoiled with a kitchen, work bench, craft tables, and train tracks, among many other things.

Annabelle is talking up a storm.  She says, mama, dada, bye bye, night night, wa-wa (water), nana (banana and Granna), dog, ball, block, bird, eyes, peas (please), all done, gaga (milk, lovey, potty, fish - just depending on the situation), budubadah (barbeque), choo choo (train), car, no and ya (not sure she uses either correctly), beebee (baby), ubba (up), ees (keys), leaves, and other words I am just not remembering right now.  She knows quite a few body parts - head, hair, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, tounge, teeth, shoulders, elbows, fingers, belly, heart, knees, feet, toes, and occassionally neck, cheek, and chin.  She makes animal sounds for some typical animals and some not so typical animals - snake, bear, lion, monkey, owl, bird, rooster, cow, sheep, duck, and dog.  She will often respond to other animals, but her accuracy is not quite there.  She loves to read books and demands lots of attention.

Jack has not started talking yet.  On two different occassions, I think he has said ball, so I am going to count that as his first word.  Jack prefers to walk around outside and explore.  He gets very upset when he has to go inside.  He does not care if it is cold or raining or dinner time, he really wants to be outside.  He is the master at picking up trash and other objects I would prefer he leave on the ground.  He finds many "treasures", his favorite being smooth stones or cigarette butts.  Jack can entertain himself and likes to look through books by himself or push toys around.  We are working on his "imaginative play" and he will occassionally hug the baby doll or play in the kitchen.

We have been lucky this year (and really the kids' whole lives) because we have been relatively healthy.  Jack managed to have Hand, Foot, and Mouth virus twice.  The first time was really terrible, but the second time it was more managable.  Annabelle did not get it either time.  But, for Christmas, our neighbor Charlotte gave it to Annabelle.  At least we are all covered in this household.  Otherwise, we remained healthy!



All in all, it has been a wonderful year.  It is amazing to watch two tiny babies develop into toddlers who clearly have their own personalities, opinions, and desires.  I am excited to see what 2012 will bring!

October 2011 - Time is flying

I really thought I was going to do a better job about writing updates.  Unfortunately, life happens and I seem to run out of time.  So, I have quite a bit to write about. 

GranJan came to visit us.  She was here from October 20-30.  The first weekend, Grandpa King was also here and we all went to Port Aransas together.  We went back in September with our family friends, The Moehrings.  At that time, the kids had a blast and we thought it would be fun to go again.  This time, they enjoyed it even more.  It is so fun to watch them!  Jeremy dug a big hole and I convinced him to make a trench to the ocean, so the hole could fill up with water.  The majority of the filling up was from me carrying a bucket full of water.  Occassionally, the ocean made it all the way up to the trench.  Annabelle played for what seemed like hours.  She loved being in the hole, she loved throwing things into the hole, she loves smashing the castles around the home, and she loved splashing in the water in the hole.  It was wonderful!  Jack walked and walked and walked and walked.  He probably walked several miles while we were on the beach.  He picked up little treasures along the way.  Sometimes a rock or a shell, othertimes a cigarette butt or beer bottle cap.  I never realized how much trash people leave on the beach.  The kids did great in the car and our condo worked just fine for us.  Overall, we had a wonderful weekend!

Back in Austin, we continued with our regular routine of music class and library time.  This was the week before Halloween though, so we wore our costumes!  Annabelle was Thing 1 and Jack was Thing 2 (she was born first, what can I say?).  I made their wigs out of carwash mits.  I found red pajamas at my AMOM consignment sale.  The Thing 1 and 2 we made with some felt.  I thought their costumes turned out really well.  Most of the other kids we saw had store bought costumes.  There is nothing wrong with that, but I think handmade has more character.   We also did a trip out to the pumpkin patch.  We went to Sweet Berry Farms in Marble Falls.  It was a lot of fun!  We pet goats, picked flowers, and took fun pictures with pumpkins. 

I went to Arkansas the weekend before Halloween.  My friend Tara, and I threw a birthday party for my friend Marissa, who sucessfully completed treatment for cancer (angiosarcoma).  It was fun to be in Fayetteville for the weekend.  I got to see lots of friends including my guy friends, Justin, Kyle, and Brandon (and their lovely wives) who I do not see very often.  I also saw Emily (and her pregnant belly) and Ashley.  Before I left on Sunday, we had a family lunch with Janet, Adrian, Kaitlyn, Jasmine, Megan, Dad, and Peggy.  It was also nice to be kids free for a weekend and get in a little sleep.  Sunday evening, GranJan and I crossed paths in the air, as she and I were both on our way home.

Monday was Halloween!  The kids were Thing 1 and Thing 2.  Jeremy was the Cat in the Hat and I was "Sally". 

Our first stop of the night - The Moehring's

We have not had many trick-or-treaters in the past, so we decided to me out and about, rather than waiting at home to pass out candy to the 3 or 4 kids that might stop by.  And, we did not want to trick-or-treat ourselves, as the kids are not old enough to have candy yet.  So, we started our evening at our friends, the Moehrings, for a pre-party - also known as a quick hello to check out each other's costumes.  Then, we went down the street to Chris, Courtney, and Charlotte's house.  We had happy hour in the yard.  A bunch of kiddos from the neighborhood came over.  Chris and Courtney did a fantastic job hosting.  They made vegetarian chili, which was delicious!  They also had some fun adult beverages and super cute Halloween sippy cups for the kiddos.  The best part was the icecream - pumpkin and salted caramel were my favorites.  After a while, the kids were getting tired.  We made a quick swoop through the neighborhood acrosse Bull Creek.  We had been invited to two parties there.  We basically did a super quick hello and goodbye. The babies came home exhausted and went straight to bed.  We saw tons of kids in cute costumes and I am already inspired for next year!

head, shoulders, knees, and toes

To my surprise, Annabelle knows quite a few body parts and a bunch of animal sounds.  She has known them for a couple weeks, but I am not good at blogging.  I am motivated to turn over a new leaf and start writing.  Anyway, we were in the car and Annabelle was ready to be out of her carseat.  To keep her entertained, I started asking her questions.  To keep me entertained, she kept responding.  She touches her head, shows off her belly, sticks out her toungue, bites her teeth, wiggles her fingers, and stomps her feet.  For eyes, nose, and ears, she grabs her ears.  We will need to work on that one!  We are also working on elbow, because I think it is fun.  During our car ride, Annabelle also roared like a lion, or at least a 15 month lion, she hissed like a snake, and she "ooh ooh aah"ed like a monkey.  She had her own version of "moo" for a cow and she may have had a version of "quack" for a duck.  It is difficult to decipher.  I think she had a few other animal sounds as well.  Had I never asked, I would have never known!

So Sweet

Jack and Annabelle are really starting to enjoy each other.  They hold hands in the stroller and laugh and laugh at each other.  The other day, Annabelle was holding Jack's foot while we walked in the stroller.  He could not contain his laughter.  Perhaps he was being tickled?  They also like to give, what look like open mouth kisses.  They basically lean into or fall on top of each other with their mouths wide open.  Knock on wood, there is no biting yet!  They are clearly sharing a tender moment with their hands around each other and their mouths open wide, all while laughing and laughing and laughing.  I know these days will not last forever, but I hope they do for a while! 

Fall - well a version of it

Jeremy is a wonderful father and I am so thankful he is the father of my children.  Every now and then he does something to or with the kids and it is so sweet it practically brings tears to my eyes.  Yesterday, we had one of those moments.  We decided to appreciate the 90 degree weather (as opposed to the 100 degree weather) and walk to the park with the kids yesterday afternoon when Jeremy got home from work.  We went to a small park by our house.  There is a huge Live Oak tree there with the fun branches that go to the ground and then back up into the air.  It is big enough you can go under the branches and practically feel like you are in your own secret fort or hide out.  It was a great place to play because it was nice and shady.  90 degrees is still hot!  Anyway, Jeremy and the kids were running around and playing hide-n-seek.  Then, Jeremy grabbed handfuls of leaves that had fallen to the ground and threw them up into the air.  They fluttered to the ground and Annabelle and Jack laughed and laughed.  Jeremy continued to throw leaves into the air and watch them flutter down.  Annabelle also threw some leaves into the air (along with a stick or two) and was very proud of herself.  All three of them were having a wonderful time doing something so simple.  It was really a precious moment for our family.  And, it was fun to see the leaves fall and hope we will someday have "fall" weather.