My friend Meredith is taking a poll on her blog regarding church attendance for families who have a child/children with special needs. If you'd like to contribute to her poll or read others' responses CLICK HERE.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Critters in my house!!
Yes, this bug IS as big as it appears!
What a cute little mouse Ava found!!
The kids and I thought we were SO funny buying a plastic mouse to scare all of our house guests this summer. Our house guests have all come and gone and not one of them fell for our joke! Did you???!!!
When Daddy works from home....
He doesn't get as much work done, everyone wants to sit on his lap! This is what I walked in his office to see yesterday.....
Wednesday weigh-in
Well my cheap weight loss plan is working, at least so far. I can't tell you how many times I resisted temptations in the last two days because I knew that Wednesday was coming.....the moment of truth.
By the way, I had a couple of comments about how brave I was to post my weight on my blog and I wanted to explain my rationale. I figure, people can hide their weight but they can't hide their fat rolls, (at least I had been trying to but couldn't), so as far as I was concerned my actual weight wasn't so much an issue as how I felt walking around the swimming pool. I know it probably seems weird, but I do so much better with accountability, I had great success last year with Weight Watchers but as soon as I met my weight goal I quit the meetings and the weight came right back on.
So here goes...Last week 154.8, today's weight 151.6...I lost 3.2 pounds!
John's weight last week...211.8, today's weight 208.6...he lost....OK that's weird, 3.2 pounds!
Let's hope this week is as good as last!
Monday, July 21, 2008
More feeding progress
Rachel, Ava'a OT, handed her a bowl of pudding and a spoon to see what she would do with it last week. I was shocked to see that she put it right in her mouth!! I had never even thought to attempt that yet, as I wouldn't have expected her to "get it" yet. But she gets it!! Look.....I LOVE how her sister is always right beside her cheering her on in every new accomplishment.
More swimming pictures
The kids are SO bummed because it's ADULT SWIM TIME. They hate adult swim time!!!
Hope finally realized that if she has a lifejacket on she doesn't have to hold on to my neck for dear life....Yay, Hope!
What I love about digital cameras is that I never would have necessarily taken a picture of wrinkly waterlogged toes, but I'm so glad I did this time!
Remember my post about how much Ava hates her bath and the swimming pool? Well what a difference a couple of weeks makes. She still hates the nice warm bath....go figure. But look how well she's adapted to the swimming pool! I'm especially suprised with her previous sensitivity to cold temperatures. I guess that brushing therapy has really paid off. And you should see her squeal when her daddy throws her up in the air and catches her in the pool. What a change! She is truly an Urban now. :) And in the process, she learned a new sign, water (make a 'w' with your fingers and tap your lips). She is truly surprising us every day. What a smart girl she is!
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Blackberry Curve, anyone?
I don't know what a Blackberry Curve is, and I don't know what I would do with it if I had one, but I bought 3 chances to win one nonetheless. I have good reason though. I hope you will visit SHELLY'S BLOG to find out what would possess her to give her Blackberry Curve away. I love her heart, and I love this idea. (By the way, Shelley is Xander's mom, remember Ava's best friend at the orphanage). PLEASE take a look, and consider participating in this neat project.
Date night catch-up....Jude's turn
We're doing catch-up since we haven't had date nights with the kids since returning from Ukraine. Bad Mommy! We're going youngest to oldest so today was Jude's day. (Ava won't count until she can actually appreciate date-night).
Dinner of choice...Cheesecake Factory. Let's just say he was more than a little disappointed to realize that there is nothing in there than even remotely resembles a "factory". I think he was expecting our cheesecake to come down on a conveyer belt through a waterfall of chocolate.
I think I could have enjoyed this slice of Godiva chocolate cheesecake a little more if it didn't cost $7.50!!!! Oh well, it's the memory that counts, right? (Oh, and so much for my diet by the way, huh?)
Our next stop, Ross. He wanted to buy a bathrobe, since he's never owned one and thought it would be a cool thing to have. His friend Michael wears one after all. Unfortunately nobody in Oklahoma sells bathrobes in July I don't think. So this t-shirt for $3.99 was a perfect replacement, since our next stop was.....
The movie theatre...We saw Wall-E. Pretty cute....
He finished his special day off by losing a tooth! Let's hope the tooth fairy doesn't forget to pay a visit (again!) Of course, now I can blame it on mom-nesia!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Mommy date night
We have a tradition of scheduling one-on-one time every so often with each of our kids. Tonight was Hope's night. It doesn't cost a whole lot to entertain a 3 year old, really. Oh, how I love mommy date nights.
Strawberry and green tea frappucinos from Starbucks (Thanks Christine for the suggestion)...Somebody please explain to me why a small is called a tall??!!! Tall? Grande? Venti? What does this mean? Let's call them what they are folks, small, medium and large! I'm not sure why I let it bother me so much.
I loved listening to Hope's deep 3 yr. old thoughts, including this one..."Mommy, it's OK if we jump in a house, but not on a house, wight? Or we might fall off and get hurt weely bad, wight?"
Holding the cutest puppy (in her opinion) at the local pet shop....She told me that if this was her dog she would name him "Cute Little Baby Boy Dog". They sell some very interesting things at pet shops, like crate bumper pads for $35....and doggy strollers......hmmm.
I had to post this one too. She wanted to take a picture of herself in the car. I sure do love that girl!
Last stop: The Dollar Store. I told her she could pick two things for herself, then something for her brothers and sisters to share. She picked a package of greeting cards, so she could invite everyone to her "bowtday pawty", and some fake flowers..."for when she gets married". I tried to talk her out of the flowers, saying that she might change her mind by the time she gets engaged. To which she replied, "Well you can use it for when you get married to Daddy. Are you and Daddy already married?"
Had to get a 25cent gumball on our way out, so she could make a "gum hole". For some reason that is more fun that the gum itself.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Ava "singing" with a sippy cup microphone
When I was on the phone with my mom yesterday she asked me which one of my kids was crying in the background. I said, "Oh, that's not crying, that's Ava singing." She asked me to take a video of her granddaughter "singing".
Then earlier today when I posted the update about Ava and her fluid intake, along with her new interest in singing, I got 3 more requests for a video. So here is a video for you....Doesn't it seem like she is jamming to a beat that only she can hear? I think I foresee a musical career in her future. :)
Ava is drinking finally!
I wanted to follow up about Ava and her drinking. Remember she weaned from her bottle before she knew how to drink out of a straw or sippy cup. Well we tried the honey bear, different sippy cups, medicine cups, medicine droppers. Finally I tried the cheap ($1-ish) sippy cups with the flexible top. I cut a slit in the top so she doesn't have to suck too hard. I thicken her drink up a bit otherwise it comes out too fast and she either chokes or it all dribbles down her chin. If it's milk, I add yogurt and if it's juice I add applesauce. She is drinking like a pro now, even holding her own sippy cup. What's cute is that she likes to hold the sippy cup and pretend like she's singing into a microphone. At least I THINK that's what she's doing. She's been watching her brothers and sisters playing Rock Band on the Wii.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Playing practical jokes on our guests
My kids played this practical joke on me. I screamed SO loud and then laughed so hard afterwards. So what do I do? I play it on our guests. I am so terrible.. This is so funny. Here is our sweet neighbor girl Anna, she is such a great sport. Also, Liesel started her own blog. It is really cute. You should take a look at it if you have a chance. Don't forget to leave her a comment. She loves getting comments. CLICK HERE to see her blog.
If you'd like to play this trick on your friends, it can be found HERE.
I love family!
I don't get the in-law jokes, maybe because I have such great in-laws. We loved having Janell, Jeremy and Heather visit us for a few days. I'm so thankful to have bigger cousins that are great role models for my kids to look up to. Thanks guys for coming. And with gas prices so high, I am especially honored that you made the long trip down here.
I like your shirt, Heather.
And Jeremy, I liked your late night singing. You didn't think anybody was listening, did ya? :)
And Janell and Heather, thanks for being such great sports by putting Target bags over your heads with me while shopping without umbrellas on a rainy evening. Not only did we keep our heads dry, but we made some great memories in the process.
It's so fun to be a girl
Liesel and I prayed for 2 years for a girl to move into the neighborhood. We have a plethora of boys around here. So imagine our excitement when this little girl knocked on our door last fall saying that she had just moved into the neighborhood and was wondering if our daughter could play. I'm sure you've seen her in so many of our family pictures. What an answer to prayer Anna has been for my Liesel!
Here we are shopping at....The Dollar Jewelry Store! Did you ever know there was such a thing? Too bad I'm not a jewelry person, I could have gone crazy! Aren't their Dollar headbands cute though?
Then they decided to trade just one shoe. Gosh, I love little girls!
A cheap weight loss program
John and I have been talking about losing weight forever, my goal was to lose the weight before our family pictures. Well, it never happened.
I really like the idea of Weight Watchers, the accountability aspect of it, but I am too cheap to spend the $12 a week. So...talk about accountability...I'm going to start posting my weight on my blog, and the accountability will be knowing that anybody in cyberspace could potentially know how much I weigh. John wants to do it with me. I can't believe that I have resorted to this, but nothing else has worked (Right Marcie, my accountability friend? :) ) Thanks Christina for giving me the idea and the inspiration to lose weight!
So....this morning's weight....154.8...My goal is to lose 15 pounds.
John's weight this a.m........211.8, his weight goal is 190.
So here goes........I'm clicking the publish button.........Now! (Yikes)
Anyone care to join us??!! (PLEASE?)
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