Rodeo and Crawfish

The past few weeks Evan's schedule has been crazy, but in a good way. He has been off actually a lot more, than he has been working. Which is something the boys and I are not used to! We have been enjoying it though!! Walking the riverwalk, farmers markets, parks with the minis. It's been fun.



For the past 2 weeks, San Antonio has been hosting a Rodeo, we finally went the other day. We didn't go into the actual rodeo, but we had a blast on the grounds!!! There was tons to do!! I was so proud of both the boys. They rode just about every kiddie coaster there was, and sometimes, even by themselves!!

Someone was excited to see all the animals!

Let's just say Brady is only a fan of the food the Dough Boy supports. haha

We even got Evan on the ferris wheel!! Brady was of course, completely fearless, trying to peak over the edge, and hang a leg out the cart. But really, he would have, if we let him.

Friday afternoon we boiled crawfish at Brad, Amanda, and little Bradley's house. They boys enjoyed playing with all of Charlie's toys. Brady was actually threw the huge disc like a pro, as you can tell!!





 

As always, Brady isn't scared of a thing!! He carried this little crawfish around for a good 20 minutes. He enjoyed watching it walk around.

Precious itty bitty Bradley, and his gorgeous Momma (yes, she just had a baby 3 weeks ago!!)

Our crawfish chefs.

My little minis, love these boys, and their daddy to the moon.

It's been a wonderful, fun filled, week off with Evan. Back to work he goes tomorrow! Tomorrow is also Aaden's first day of school! If you think about it, say a little prayer for him around 11:30, I am supposed to drop him off with a teacher in the front of the school, not even talk him to his class. So, yeah, say a prayer for me too! :)

Until next time...

He is accepted

Wellll..... after 2 months. We are ALMOST officially accepted into the school program!!!!!!! Things moved incredibly fast, and I couldn't be more excited for Aaden to start school. Although, I will miss his crazy little butt some kind of fierce. Especially being every day, but he will be home by 11, so it's not so bad.

We have a meeting with the school on Friday. Luckily, Evan is finally off work to attend a meeting. Then he will start school on Monday! I want to go shopping... is that a bad thing? Like let him pick out his little shoes, and some cute outfits (not that the kid needs any more clothes).

 I know this will help Aaden leaps and bounds, and I CAN NOT be happier.

I do have a copy of the report from the school, if any family is interested in reading it, it is approx 15 pages long. It is reassuring to see Aaden on 'paper', written by someone who understands him.

His school is going to love his fun personality... I can't wait to see how his first day goes.

I promise to update everyone Monday!!

Until next time...

Valentine's

Normally Valentine's Day isn't a holiday we really 'celebrate'. However, this year Aaden was super excited about 'Valentime's Day'. Yesterday morning, he made a comment about having a party. Soo- we loaded up and went to the store. I told him to show me everything he saw that had a heart on it, or was red. LOL. Obviously, he did an amazing job!!

Now, waiting all day to throw Daddy a party was so hard!!! Then, of course, Evan was 25 minutes later, than normal getting home. It always happens that way, doesn't it?

I knew this would be completely cheesy to a lot of people, and at first, it was to me as well. But then I thought- we celebrate our birthdays, turning another year older- I am also thankful for every other day I wake up next to my sweet boys. So why not celebrate the day of love? Even though we love our sweet families every other day of the year? This was a good opportunity to talk to Aaden about love, and giving to others. Brady only cared about the chocolate covered pretzels and cupcakes- haha.

Since Evan and I were born only a day apart, during the week of Thanksgiving, we are normally too busy for a 'party'. So this was so. much. fun. Something to actually surprise him with!! Not only were we able to surprise him, but show him we went the extra for him, because he does work extremely crazy hours, and we only see him for about an hour each day.

The boys are so excited to help out from making the cake to making Daddy a huge card!!! And of course, just being cute and playful!

 I promise you, when I said Aaden picked out the decorations!! Everything he saw with a heart on it, or was red, he showed me. I think he did very well!! Everything was super cute, and came together like a charm.

Don't laugh at the streamers, we have a cat, who was salivating over them. bahaha

The cake was however my idea, my version of a 'candy heart' lol I give major props to cake decorators, and pastry chefs. You guys are wicked talented!! This is just about as good as it gets for me. :)

While we waited for Evan to walk through the door, Aaden was so excited he couldn't stand still- well that isn't something irregular. But it was possibly the sweetest little thing. He stood there at the door and waited for Evan's head lights to show between the glass. He said, "this is going to be the best party EVER" & "Daddy is going to lub it".

You can just see the excitement oozing from his pores.

 Brady was just excited he could eat now. hahaha

We had a great time!! Even if the party only lasted 20 minutes or so, and Brady only ate the chocolate, and stayed up all night. It was worth it!!





I hope each and every one of you had an amazing night with your loved ones. We surely did.

Until next time...

Nutso

On a side note, from all the medical things going on...

Today I had to go pick something up really quick, so the boys and I loaded up in our jammies. It's actually pretty rare, if we change out of our jammies all day. But, that's not the point of the story. After our errand, I noticed both of the boys had fallen asleep, so I just drove around and explored the road passed our neighborhood. Also, it was a much needed quiet time for me. I started thinking exactly what a smile from my boys means to me.

BB in heaven, with his little cowboy hat and his red truck.

Although today is Ash Wednesday, someone forgot to inform Brady, we aren't Catholic. Seriously, Brady is the messiest kid I've ever met. He loves being a mess, and making one!! Today he had ice cream, then literally played in the fire pit ashes.

Sleeping little love, and his froggie.

Although they are a handful all the time, sweet little innocent moments like this make the craziness worth while.

He looks too sweet to do anything crazy, huh?

THINK AGAIN!!! That is a whole container of cheese balls... a few seconds before this, he was stomping on them, and giggling. So, yeah, remember when I said messy... Prime example.

So, yeah, my boys are crazy, they act up in a restaurant, and in the store. They are defiant. But I allow them to be themselves, and I love them for it.

Until next time...



Progress

I just want to say how much I appreciate all my 'followers' for the support and love. We have had a crazy past few months, and things are working out for the better, each and every day.

Things with Aaden are moving very fast!!! We met with his school psychologist yesterday. I had a large questionnaire to fill out, and Mrs. Geralyn evaluated Aaden through play, with an autism play pack. There were a few things that stood out to her, although I thought Aaden participated very well. He ranked slightly high on the autism spectrum, but not enough to worry as of now. We still aren't concerned with finding a label for Aaden. Just looking for help. After I finished my 'homework', as I told Aaden it was, because he wanted me to play with he and Mrs. Geralyn. We plugged all my answers into a system, and actually saw a 'diagnosis', it was Aaden 'on paper'. Which was actually pretty interesting to see. I was nice to actually SEE the things we have worried about for so long.

He ranked extremely high for the autism spectrum, ADHD, possible bi-polar, and anxiety. Which these are mostly in the same family, and can all be treated the same way. No matter what his diagnosis is, there will be help offered to both A, and us as a family. 

Through the play evaluation, like I said, Aaden was on very well behavior, Mrs. Geralyn noticed his anxiety, lack to focus on a certain task for more than 20-30 seconds, his sensory issues to sound and touch, and how he tends to avoid eye contact (yes- I know, as well as the psychologist, this isn't an issue he always has, he does make eye contact, but he also tries to avoid it). He also struggles with performing simple tasks, as instructed, and accepting an alternative to something he wants.

There were a few different exercises Mrs. Geralyn suggested we do, to help the different parts/sides of his brain work together. We will definitely be implementing these things.

One of the things I thought was most amazing is, she asked if Aaden had acid reflux when he was a baby, and if he would ever sleep on his stomach. She traced him all the way back to infancy, and said the way his brain functioned, even as a new born, linked him to the issues he has now.  Lets just say Mrs. Geralyn is God sent to our Aaden.  I am so thankful for her.

Now we are waiting for the report from his evaluation, and we will be offered a date to start school! He will go half days, every day. There will also be a teacher that comes to our house, to help us deal with his tantrums, if he were to have them. So lots of new things to come!! We are very much looking forward to it!

As I said before, thank you so much for all the support, positive thoughts, and prayers!! We are grateful, and so blessed.

Until next time...

With love,
Courtney :)

Recently...

Alrighty, a few things have taken place since I wrote last.

Per my meeting with the school, here in San Antonio, the psychologist thought an EEG should be done, while Aaden was off his medicine. We traveled to BR, for a few days to have the test done. If any of you have ever had to bring your child in for an EEG, they want you to keep your child awake as long as possible, then wake them super early, so they will fall asleep for the test. Let's just say, I was terrified of how Aaden would do. HE WAS PHENOMENAL!!! He allowed the technician apply all 15ish leads to his head, with no issues at all. Then sat still for the majority of the time, THEN actually fell asleep, when he had 3-4 minutes of the test left. He. Did. Perfect.

THE RESULTS WERE A NORMAL EEG, WHEN AWAKE AND ASLEEP!!!!

While we were in town, we struggled a lot with Aaden's temper, and how he was unable to accept alternative solutions to his problems, and something that is always an issue, self soothing. Which is not something that can be taught or beaten out of a child. Period.

We met with our regular pediatrician, Dr. P, we went over how Aaden responded to being weaned from his medicine, and so on. One factor about the weaning process was... Aaden was an angel when we were on half of his regular doses, so, being that Aaden does require medication at this point. He is currently only taking half of what he had been taking for the past 6 months or so.

Let me take a minute to say how truly thankful I am to have Dr. P, although we did go through our neurologist for all of Aaden's 'issues', he was more than willing to help us in our time of need.  I sent him a face book message, and text, to see if we should travel home for the test. Being that it was a Saturday night, he wasn't on call, and out with his wife, I still got a response. He is amazing. To which, he has also checked on us today. Thank you, Dr. P, if you're reading this. I appreciate all you do!!

I also received a call from the psychologist from Aaden's school while I was in BR, she said basically Aaden had been accepted, now we just need to finish up some different paper work, and she needed to evaluate Aaden, which can be done in our home, or at the school. So, instead off all sorts of different things the school system required, we have just a few things to do. I am ecstatic.

So now I am waiting for my pediatrician office to send a form to the psychologist at the school, and a referral to our developmental pediatrician, in San Antonio, and we can get things moving again!!!

Since Aaden had to be kept awake most of the night, for his test. Brady stayed with his Aunt Kel, I'm so happy she and her kids were able to enjoy him, and Brady was able to get a good nights rest!!! Then go play at her mom's house with other kids his age. I  know he had a blast!!! Thank you Kelly!! You'll never know how much that meant to me, along with your bible study group praying for me, and Aaden!!

Please continue to keep us all in your prayers! Things are moving in the right direction, and they are going to be grand.

Until next time...

With love,
Courtney :)