What we've been up too!

Yes, it's been forever since I last posted. The only redeeming factor is that we have been having such an AMAZING summer & fall...and now into winter!!

Here is a brief update on what we have all been doing!

Cole...

• played T-ball again this year and did great. his attention span is still short, but he only hit off the tee twice all year! we also discovered that although he's a lefty, he hits way better right handed. watch out Chicago...he's headed your way!
• we ended up getting 2 child sized four wheelers this summer and boy are they getting use! Jas, Cole & Jacob race around the back yard for endless hours. my yard looks more like a motocross track now than a yard, but who cares :)
• had his first week of swimming lessons in July. he learned 4 new strokes! free style, underwater, back stroke & another thing on his back. he is swimming so well, it really boosted his confidence. less than a month later he was going off the diving board into 9ft water at the public pool!
• we've also had our fair share of problems. it seems 6 and three quarters is the perfect time to develop a terribly smart mouth "tone" without even knowing your doing it. it makes my skin crawl. fortunately I have wonderful friends that know Cole & remind me that not everything makes the same sense to him that it does to me. baby steps.
• in August he started First Grade with virtually no additional education supports...which is shocking with his diagnosis! to date (Dec) he's doing wonderfully and still right where he needs to be with his class.
• this fall Cole played soccer for the first time. he hates to run, so it was interesting for sure :) no doubt he enjoyed the interaction with friends and it was a good way to keep him on a routine for the start of school.
• in Dec. Cole was chosen to be the 1st grade Santa in the Christmas program! that was really exciting for us all :) video to come...

Jacob...

• went from hating the pool to loving it, it just took the right flotation device :) "1-2-3!" is all we hear before "SPLASH!" and he's in the pool. 
• became my first child to have stitches. (in the face none the less)
• is talking so much. i'm trying hard to keep track of word counts for comparison, but it's something new everyday now.
• is still very attached to Mommy. makes it hard for me to go anywhere without him (unless Daddy's home).
• wants to do EVERYTHING brother does (which is not always fun)
• went back to the ER for a bad burn on his leg (darn 4-wheelers!)
• celebrated his 2nd birthday with both sets of Grandparents as his Dad & I were VERY sick with the stomach flu :(
• has initiated us well with the "terrible two's"...he's quite the character, to say the least!
• has totally taken after his brother with his electronic 5th sense...he can navigate the ipad much better than Mom or Dad

Jason & I....

• the BIG news of the year is that Jason got a new job! In October he left for the academy in Springfield and spent 6 weeks in training. He now works as a CO very close...like 12 miles close to home! He is home at some point every day...it's amazing. I feel like I'm on my honeymoon all over again, seeing him everyday! The kids love it :)
• In October I took a break from much of my volunteer work, and it was such a relief to enjoy the holidays this year without 5 extra to-do lists waiting on me. I plan to step back into many of these roles at some capacity, just hopefully not as much as before. 
• we are continuing to plug through all the little home improvement projects on the list....we finished the laundry room re-do this summer....and now I've decided I do not like the paint color with the cabinets...it's never ending :)
• One of my goals for 2013 is to try to give myself a break. I am pushing to let go of my Perfection Infection! If you want to join me on this journey, check out Jill Savage's new book No More Perfect Moms. You can also sign up for her 31 days of encouragement here. It's going to be really good! I will host an online book study Mid-February. If your interested in being a part...let me know.

As we move into this new year, I pray that each of you are blessed with health, happiness & the joy of The Lord. Love to all!

Do you suffer from Perfection Infection? Yeah, me too....

I have long been a fan of Jill Savage, Author & Founder of Hearts at Home, so you can imagine my excitement when I found out that I was selected to be a part of the launch team for her new book "No More Perfect Moms" scheduled to release February 4, 2013.

Perfectionism exists at my very core. I have struggled through life unable to relax & enjoy much because of my need for it to all be "just so". I am being brutally honest when I say this book scares me....I'm not sure I want to venture down the road of imperfection. BUT, I know that I need too for the sake of my children. The crazy expectations I have put on myself, my marriage, my children, my home...well, it's just that...CRAZY! No one could ever live up to those standards. So, for the sake of all of our sanity...I'm going to give it a go & try to cure my Perfection Infection!

One of the neat things about being on the launch team is getting to read the book before it's release. I just finished Chapter 3, and I can say the book is awesome! Jill really "exposes" so many of our fears as Moms and assures us that it is OK...we are not the only ones. We are not the only one that yells, or punishes out of embarrassment or anger. We are not the only one that walks into church on Sunday smiling...knowing we spent the 20 minute car ride screaming at each other. We are not the only Mom that feels like a failure because one too many nights this week the family had pizza rather than a healthy meal for dinner. We are not the only ones. And the sooner we take off the perfection masks we wear and show each other it's OK to be real....the sooner we stop suffering from these feelings!

In the coming days I will be posting more about the book & my experience on this journey. In mid-February I plan to host an online book study, and would love to have you join us!

In the meantime, I've listed a few ways that you can begin this journey yourself now, before the book even hits the stores :)

1.  Sign Up for Jill Savage's "No More Perfect Moms" 31-Day Email Challenge. I'm sure it'll be a fantastic way to start the new year. You don't have to have the book {which doesn't release until February anyway} to be part of this.Click here so you can start receiving real-life encouragement in your inbox on Jan. 1.

2.  Don't buy the book yet, but get ready to do so Feb. 4-9. Along with the release of "No More Perfect Moms," Hearts at Home and Moody Publishers will offer additional bonus resources worth more than $100 if you order/buy the book anytime Feb. 4-9. Click here to learn more about this and sign up to receive the email reminder.

3.  Visit "No More Perfect Moms" Website. This is where you can share stories, learn more about the book, and view motherhood resources.

Happy New Year, Friends!

Dinner time battles :(

Have you ever secretly wished for your child to lie?? I know this sounds completely horrible. Let me explain....

I am fairly sure I have the pickiest eater on the planet. I'm certain if there was a world title - Cole would get it. (don't try to argue with me, my therapist says over exaggerating & venting will certainly make me feel better. no, you can't have his name or number.)

At {almost} 7 years old, I'm exhausted trying to get anything other than fast food fare into his tiny little stomach. If you ask him what he likes, the list consist of the following....

1. Hamburgers (no cheese, ketchup & mustard only)
2. Hot Dogs
3. Pizza (no "green stuff", and stick with the idea what pizza cheese isn't the same as regular cheese)
4. Red Chips (ie..Doritos, name brand - nothing generic)
5. Cheese Chips (ie..Ruffles Sour Cream & Cheddar)
6. Cheetos
7. Green Chips (ie..Sour cream & onion) 
8. Brownies
9. Chicken Nuggets
10. And Mustard. Lots & lots of mustard.

Looking at that list you would think we lived in our car & ate every meal out of the drive through or the convenience store. Truth time...Cole NEVER had jar, store bought baby food. Nope, I made homemade, from scratch from the get-go. My baby was eating spinach, asparagus, avocado all at 5 months. By the time he could eat meat finger foods - I'd have to cook him an entire pork chop to fill him up. He loved salad, would eat cucumbers like a banana, and had no issue finishing my whole plate too. Until he turned 3, then something changed practically overnight.

Everyone told us he would try new things once he got to school. Nope. He would be the only 3,4, & 5 year old sitting at the table content to never try that {insert practically anything served NOT on the top 10 list}. Kindergarten came & he never drank milk at snack, not even once. Refused to eat cafeteria food. So I packed a lunch, same thing every day...4 cold chicken nuggets, apple slices, frozen gogurt (this was a huge success this year, even getting him to try it), pretzels, and a handful of M&M's for a treat. He would only drink apple juice mixed with water, so we invested in lots of thermoses. By the end of the year I could get him to eat a ham sandwich (with mustard, of course) instead of the nuggets...but not much else variation there.

So last month I decided I had officially had it. I was sick & tired of preparing 2 meals every day in this house and I did not want Jacob to pick up his brothers crappy eating habits. New rule...he would eat what I put on his plate. (if you saw the portions I dished out, you would think we live in Ethiopia). After 4 weeks, we are still battling every single meal. He will eat nothing without mustard, and, 99% of the time I have to actually feed him to get him to eat it. Seriously ridiculous. And exhausting. He admits to liking nothing new than what he did before. {sigh}

So Wednesday night as I'm wearing down from the fierce dinner time battle, Jacob has a massive blow out. A bath was most definitely in order. I leave Cole sitting at the table with a bowl that had no more than 2tbsp of mac & cheese (homemade none the less, I'm a darn good cook!), covered in mustard, and, instructions that he must finish these bites before he comes upstairs to join us. Every 2 minutes he would round the corner & ask me if he could be excused from the table and join us upstairs. Everytime my reply was the same "When you finish those two bites, put your bowl in the sink & come upstairs". Pretty open ended for a little guy huh?! Yep, no Mom around, he could so easily have dumped the mac & cheese and walked upstairs with victory on his face.

Did he? No.
Was I secretly wishing he would have to end the ridiculous battle? You bet.

It's the little things...

One of my favorite thing to do as a child was color. I would sit for hours with a coloring book a new box of crayons, meticulously outlining each image before I filled in the color. Priding myself in the gradient color from the outter edge to the center. I felt like such an artist. 

For 6 years I have waited for Cole to want to color.  Around the age of 4 I kind of gave up that he would ever enjoy this hobby. Even at school he refused to do much of anything with coloring or writing. The OT's told me that it truly hurt his hands and that's why he didn't enjoy the activity. We worked & worked & worked...still no interest :( When he was forced to color, he would do everything in green, very sloppy (and purposely sloppy)...almost as if to prove a point. {stinker}

So, you can image how THRILLED I was when Cole started showing interest in coloring over the past couple of months! I would never have guessed that at almost 7 years old he would decide this is something he could enjoy. Jason & I have bought multiple coloring books & new boxes of crayons to the point that he has access to them in the house (upstairs & down), in the car, even when we play outside. If the urge hits..he can color anywhere he wants!

Our little lefty, working hard on his grip!

Trying hard to stay in the lines, and, using a rainbow of colors!

Hey Mom, PICTURE THIS! ha!

While we don't want to burn him out, we do want to encourage coloring, painting, finger painting, etc as much as we can. All these activities will continue to strengthen Cole's fine motor skills & help in handwriting (which continues to be a challenge for him).

I'm so proud to see him working hard, and, enjoying what he's doing!

Teacher Appreciation Week

We have been blessed with such an amazing team of professionals that work with Cole everyday, and we certainly wanted to recognize them during Teacher Appreciation week!

I really wanted to find a gift for Cole's Kindergarten teacher that the whole class could give her together. I thought about gift cards, purchased gifts, then I found a similar idea to this on Etsy. I was in love! My Sister (the super-duper, fantastic graphic designer) and I designed a piece that was exactly what I wanted! This is the picture I did for Mrs. Lister. Each leaf is a child's thumbprint :)

It was such a blessing that the day I went in to get the thumbprints (a day that Mrs. L was out of the classroom) every child was t school!

Are these not the most adorable "leaves" ever?? I love that each one is just a little imperfect :)

These are what I decided on for the therapists & aides who Cole see's everyday. I thought they were super cute, and, a nice little treat for their day. (beware...these are WAY more time consuming than I expected...but, very worth it!)

And, part way through Cole & I decided to make one for every teacher in Cole's school. Because it's a small school we see them all so often, we thought it would be a nice way to show our appreciation. I think we ended up with about 40 by the time we were done. I was able to sneak in & put them in mailboxes when teachers were in class. The Principal shared with me later that it was neat to see the teachers surprised to find something other than just papers in their box :)

I already have ideas for next years projects too (thanks to Pinterest!). Which is good, because they will take much more time than these did ;)

I think next year someone needs to have a Teacher Appreciation Linky party - any takers?!

WWARNING! Blogging while emotional is dangerous. Yes, it's been one of those days. I'm operating on very little sleep. The babies were very needy today, and I didn't have a minute to myself. My to-do list got longer. My feelings got hurt. My kids feelings got hurt. I got mad. Dinner sucked. I'm hungry. {and hormonal} I still have a boulder hanging out in my left kidney. I need time with Cole. I need time with Jacob. I need a date with my husband. {I NEED to shave my legs}

2 years...and counting!

Wow. The last 2 years have gone by so fast. I can hardly believe it's been that long since I have worked outside the home.

It truly feels like just yesterday I was running out the door, late to yet another meeting. I went from savoring my drive-thru lattes to downing a cup of folgers before the bus arrives. I gave up my leisurely hour long lunch, for munching the crusts of my toddlers PB&J.

Days like today make me feel overwhelmed with gratitude that I can be home with my boys everyday. Today was one of those awesome, snugly, wonderful days where all was right within our home.

Of course everyday isn't like this. More often than not we have messes everywhere, kids fighting and an exhausted, stressed out Mama that has no opportunity to refuel for at least 4 more days. But, even in those moments I'm reminded that THIS is where God has called me to be, for this time in my life. This is where He had been gently nudging me to go for so long. (and for those of you who don't know the story, I didn't listen so well, so God gave me a good, hard shove finally! ha!)

I have no idea what the next year will hold for our family, but I'm so excited to see where God leads us :)