The Best Girl

Since the last post was very Zac-centric, I thought I would talk a little about the best girl I know. This picture is just for my sister's sake, she questions whether or not I exist since I'm always behind the camera.

Ava loves to read books. She takes after her mommy with this one, she is a true bookworm. And she loves a good lap to read, especially if that lap belongs to her Bompa. She loves her Bomps.

She loves her aunt Maddie. Ever since Thanksgiving she's been asking about "Middy" and pointing to her picture on the wall. Can't wait to see you at Christmas!

Ava is my partner in crime. We go everywhere together, and since Zac has been in school she is getting some great one on one with both mom and dad. She is loving the attention, she is such a performer and a very silly girl. It's sad to realize how she is no longer a baby. Ava is sooooo strong willed, very independent, likes things her way. Hopefully she'll follow my example and grow up to be very calm and timid and easy going.....

The boot story: I tried these boots on Ava at the store. I didn't necessarily want her to have them since they're too cute to get dirty in the snow. Unfortunately her girl-ness kicked in and she loved them instantly. She would not let me take them off of her, and insisted on walking to the checkout with them on. Have you bought shoes before? Do you realize that they are connected with a very short elastic string, limiting movement? Ava could care less, she just shuffled to the checkout, pointed her finger down to her feet and told the cashier "pink bootsth peezthe." Unfortunately people think her charm in irresistable so she typically gets her way.

She loves the camera, only she can't keep her eyes open when she smiles.

Ava is the biggest mimic in the world. She loves her older brother so much, and always has to do everthing that he does. Most of the time I'm sure she has no idea what she's doing, she just does it because Zac does it. Zac loves to play on our bed, so of course Ava now thinks it's super cool. Only she just sits there, looking around like "okay, now what."

I can't believe how lucky I am to have this girl. She is very smart, and as stubborn and strong willed as she may be, she is also very sensitive and I know that she knows her brother is very special. She is very special. I love her sweet, piercing high pitched voice, how she calls me "mama" like she has a french accent, how she runs up to Zac after he gets off the bus to give him "gweezies and kissies", I love how she has the dang cutest speech impediment with her S's, I love how she loves to read and can entertain herself all day long, I love how when she wants me she says "more mama", again with a french accent, and I love how she loves to say prayers, shouting "Amen!" at the top of her lungs because she is so excited. I love that she is mine. I love being a mom to the best boy and the best girl.

Therapy Wrap-Up

Here are three of our dream team. I'm so sad that I didn't get a picture with Rhonda, our Occupational Therapist, and Aimee, our Psychologist who did our Behavior therapy. I've been meaning to do a therapy post for the longest time, and now I have tons of free time since therapy is over. First of all, I can't really find words to express how much these individuals have impacted our family. Zac was not the only beneficiary, I have learned so much and made some great friends during our time in therapy. Ava also really blossomed since she was an integral part of therapy( a goal was to get Zac to like her, I think we're really close). Here are some pictures of what life has been like for the past 13 months. Again, I didn't get any pictures of two of our therapists, but here's a glimpse of how we've survived, it's all thanks to these guys!

Having fun with Benny. Benny is pretty much the pied piper. Zac and Ava just love him. I remember the first time we met Benny was back when we had our first evaluation, and Zac took to him right away. He couldn't get enough of Benny, and he gets so excited when Benny comes over. Benny is our Developmental therapist. To explain what that is...hmmm, he just does everything. I hope I'm not selling him short, but he really helped me with everything, and he was very supportive with Zac's diagnostic appointments, and helping us right after we got our diagnosis of autism. I've relied on Benny for a lot of support and information. He's the best.

One of our speech language pathologists, Miss Amber. Oh boy, does Zac love Amber. We saw Amber twice a week at home, and she also ran a group therapy he went to at a clinic. Every time we drive in the area of the clinic, Zac yells "play Amber". I've used the promise to "play Amber" to get Zac out the door and to calm down many times, I'm sad I can't really use it that much any more.

Reading Zac's favorite book Brown Bear, what do You See? Funny story about this book: Zac memorized it very quickly, and if you're familiar with this book you know that it lists various animals and their color. Well, we were leaving the gym one day, a family in front of us had a little girl with brown skin. Zac was saying bye bye to everyone, looked at the little girl and said,"bye bye, brown bear." That was one of those moments where you pretend your child is not your child. But I had a very curious mother staring at me, so I just explained about Zac's fave book, and that had her child been green, Zac would have said "bye bye Green frog." That was the best I could come up with.

Another of our speech girls, Miss Kerry. Zac has a major crush on her, he always loves to cuddle with Miss Kerry. Something he worked on with Kerry is to use multiple words together, using prompts like "I want...." Sometimes after being prompted by Kerry with "I" Zac would shout "I...love...you!"

We love you Amber, Kerry, Benny, Aimee, and Rhonda! Please come back and play anytime!

First Day of School

We did it! We survived the first day of school! Zac was so incredibly brave, much better than Jer and I, my mom was there also and there were tears all around. I have to admit it was terrifying to send my little boy on a bus, especially since his ride is an hour each way. But he held it together. He got nervous when we were about to board the bus, I had to put him on, and he was a little nervous while I strapped him in his vest. He kept whispering "okay baby, okay baby" which is what he says to try and soothe himself when he gets nervous. But he did well, the bus driver said he didn't make a peep. When he got home, he was so excited to see us, and as soon as I got on the bus he started saying "all done s-chool bus, all done s-chool bus". So he was happy to be home, and all apparently was just fine. Maybe over time Jer and I will grow thicker skin and not be such bawl babies.



total cheese face


Strapped in and waiting to go, very nervous but very brave. I'm pretty sure this is where my tears started to pour. Whew, at least it's over.

Happy To You

That's how Zac sings happy birthday, which is today. Three years old! Tomorrow is our first day on the bus to preschool, I am so nervous, he has no clue, I'm sure it will be harder on me than on him. Here are some pictures of his party last night. We had a visit from Jeremy's parents, which Zac called Grandma and Grandma J, so we celebrated a day early.

His mound of gifts


Dipping into the cake, he could care less about presents, just sing to him and let him lick the cake


Help from Ava

Handstand racing before bed


"Grandma J"


The actual Grandma J

Happy Birthday to the best boy around! I am so proud of Zac, he has made incredible progress this past year with his therapy, and I can't wait to see how much further he will grow now that he is in school. Wish us luck, we'll post the first day of school pictures and stories soon.

Life is NOT like a box of chocolates...

....more like a kick in the__________.

Sorry, vulgar I know, judge if you must but that's how I feel right now. After reading everyone's comments I realize I may have misled you, I don't have fun and exciting tales of what has been occupying my time. We fell victims to the economy about 2 months ago, Jer's company was bought out, his position eliminated, I got a part time job and currently Jer is on day 11 of an 18 day trip to Utah to start working with his dad. No, we are not moving. To clarify, we have no clue what we are doing.

I started losing my mind at a controlled rate, but the past few days I seem to be going crazy at a much more rapid rate. I've been working around 30 hrs a week, which may not seem like a lot. But it is. Oh, it is. We're winding down Zac's therapy, he turns 3 in a week and a half which means he starts the Special Ed preschool through the school district, and it also means that I have had many many meetings. Quite literally I've been to meetings whose sole purpose was to schedule future meetings. Inefficient, no? Anyway, I'll post more about his therapy and school which we are so thrilled about later, but here are just a few of the pictures from the past little while.

Zac as "Me Moux" for Halloween. Jer didn't get to see them this year, except in picture, he said it looked like Zac was wearing a red skirt, but I assured him that in person you could tell they were shorts, and was soooo cute.

As Ava says, "My Mouth". We seem to have a bit of a speech impediment, which is pretty cute right now.

I promise this was a pumpkin patch



We had such a fun visit from the Greats, my grandparents

Zac wearing "daddy's head" most people would just call it a hat

Ava thinks it's hilarious to walk around with a bucket or blanket or anything on her head. She walks until she runs into the wall, I hear giggling and "oopth" and a thump all day long (her "s" sounds like a "th")

This isn't violent, this is actually having fun and playing really nicely together

Ready for church, we love cousin Chloe's hand-me-downs

Sunday coma nap

Lame Excuse

So....I've been busy. I know, lame excuse. But that's all I've got, life is a little too much right now, so here are a few pictures to prove that we still exist. Hopefully I'll have time later this week to update more and explain a little about what's going on with us. Until then, does anyone read this blog anymore? I guess we'll find out...

Cuzzies, Yuckles, and Heffalumps

Today after church, Zac decided to remove all couch cushions and build this...

That is every toy on wheels that we own lined up very carefully around the couch. As I blog this he is naming every toy to Jer, Jer has to repeat back, and then they start again. I think it's been about 20 minutes now....who do we think will break first?

Jer bought Zac a new trike. He loves it as long as you push him from the back. His coordination and little muscles aren't quite where they should be, but it's fun to sit on.

Nap recovery time

Zac loves to do "cuzzies" or cuddles. He brings his fave blankies out of his room and asks for cuzzies all day long. He also is obsessed with Pooh's Heffallump movie. He thinks Lumpy is the coolest, so he gears it up to watch what he calls "Pooh Pear."

Desperately trying to get the kids out of the bath after a frazzled day, I do Zac first, but this time he snuck back in the tub fully dressed while I went to get Ava's towel. At least it made me laugh at the end of a long day.

And again, she just makes me smile.

A few updates on the cute things my kids are doing....our speech therapist taught Zac to give knuckles instead of high five. He calls it "yuckles" and Ava calls it "yubbles". Zac's new fave place to play is on our bed. He plays cars and just talks and sings to himself. The other day I was doing dishes when I thought I recognized what he was saying. This is what I heard: "Yee me ga me, wawa si me Help me fa da way.." He was singing I am a Child of God, singing his guts out, he knew it word for word, just in his own little way. That was a very good day.