When You Can't Beat The Heat...

...eat some ice cream. Well, we used to do this quite a bit more often...before we gave up dairy for the boys. Needless to say "ice cream sundae suppers" have been limited since last summer and the subtraction of dairy from the diet this past winter. We have been on a quest to find the "right" fit for our family as it not only has to be dairy free, but gluten free as well. Most of the soy ice creams have been a bust...both with the kids and myself.

I am an ice cream lover in the summer. I could eat it for just about any meal when it hits the high 80's and 90's as it has these past few days. However, downing a big old bowl of Edy's Slow-Churned in front of my kiddos just isn't fair to them. (Yes, I know I could eat it after they go to bed...but they know how to open the freezer and can recognize the container...just not a battle I want) Plus, I've noticed since cutting most of the dairy out of my diet, (except my recent addiction to Klondike Bars...thanks to the twins!) my asthma with regards to mucous in my lungs hasn't been bad at all! (ya, ya gross!)

I think we've found a winner though. It is made by a company called Turtle Mountain. They have a few product lines that you may be familiar with...So Delicious, and Purely Decadent. They recently came out with a new version of their Purely Decadent line of ice cream that is not only dairy free, but gluten free, AND soy free! And the taste is exceptional. It's called Purely Decadent with Coconut Milk!

Let me show you what Rebekah and Josh thought of it last night...

We tried the chocolate and the vanilla bean...these two LOVED the chocolate. But they also have coconut, mint choc. chip, and cookie dough...all gluten free!! Yeah! As for Ethan...he has a tough time eating extremely cold things, but I don't think he liked the choc. flavor. We'll let him try the vanilla one tonight...but if I can find the mint choc. chip, I know he'll be alright as that is his most favorite ice cream flavor ever!! :)

Name Game

Mike here, I know a rare appearance I know, and I am using capitals (see Cheryl I can use the shift key :) ).

Anyhow Michelle and I have been tossing around names for the boys. We agreed to not use cutsie names so we started to brainstorm. As many of you know name just one can be hard never mind two.

So here is a short list of names that Michelle has axed so far.

Calvin and Hobbes
Romulus and Remus
Pinky and Floyd
Obiwan and Kenobi
Bruce and Wayne
David and Goliath
CJ and TJ (it's a jeep thing)
Smith and Wesson
John and Deere (Ethan's idea not mine)
and last but not rejected names Dunkin and Donuts

I am still pulling for Calvin and Hobbes.

.mike

We've Been Converted

As any one expecting twins finds out...a lot of changes must be made in order to prepare for their arrival. If they are you first kiddos, then you basically need double of everything. If they are your 4th and 5th kiddos, then you may just need to borrow an extra of some things. Thankfully we know a number of people who have very young children and have begun to offer up items like bouncy chairs, swings, pack and play's, etc.

The one thing we didn't realize until we really tried to do it, was how much carseat space we were going to need. We've been driving a Dodge Grand Caravan for a year and a half, and it has been a wonderful vehicle for us as a family. Especially with the Stow n' Go seating, we've been able to have the space necessary to go and do just about anything. However, for those of you who are still in the carseat phase of children, you know just how big those darn things are. We spent over two hours at a dealership trying to find a vehicle that would allow us to get 5 carseats in, and still have room for a stroller, diaper bags, and...um...us! No luck.

Mike tried for another hour and a half, one night last week, to again try different combinations of carseats together. We measured, looked on line for carseats that might be smaller...everything...nothing worked. So, we left it in God's hands...and thanks to the very powerful prayers from my bible study gals...He heard them.

About a week after the carseat fiasco at Bonneville and Son, we got a phone call. A 2000 Dodge Ram 1500 Conversion Van had just been traded in, and our sale consultant Dan Reitz, (whom I HIGHLY recommend) snagged it so we could be the first to look at it. Now, I had no idea what a conversion van is, much less driven one. All I could picture was The Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo...well that plus a van that had been on That 70's Show a few times...you know shag carpet, mustard yellow with beige trim and maybe a disco ball...

I didn't know what to think when Dan drove this on to the lot for us to see. My heart skipped a beat as I immediately judged it, saying to myself..."well, it doesn't look as bad as I thought it was going to...maybe this is what we've been waiting for.

The gentleman who traded this in took meticulous care of this vehicle. Bonneville hadn't done anything to it...and it was spotless. It only has 60,000 miles on it, and although Dodge no longer makes these land yachts, were able to tell us quite a bit about this vehicle. First of all a conversion van is designed to fit the buyer. So, the old buyer had it outfitted with a $25,000 conversion package which included a remote starter, indirect lighting, a 17" TV with VCR, two skylights...and many more options that we are still discovering.

Needless to say, Bonneville not only let us walk away from our lease on the minivan...but gave us an unbelievable deal on this mobile living room. Our payments are still where they were before hand, and although we have to avoid parking garages, and most drive-thrus, it is now our new VANOKDS. Before we signed the papers for it, we asked Ethan what he thought about us trading in the minivan for the conversion van. His response..."can we watch the TV??" Ah yes, the TV...don't worry...he still gave the other van a kiss and a hug goodbye right on the hood.

And then there were five...

...Ouellette children that is! As most of you, we had our ultrasound this past Friday...and much to everyone's surprise, we discovered not one healthy baby boy, but two!

Here is the first little guy...the more cooperative baby. The tech was able to get every measurement she needed from him without much trouble. He even held up his little "XY" chromosome for her to see that he is most definitely a boy!

This beautiful baby boy, wasn't quite as cooperative. He kept squirming away whenever she tried to get a good picture of his heart. Fortunately, after much moving around on my part, she finally did...both hearts look great! The boys are measuring exactly the same and seem to be growing well, despite my supposed small size. :)
If you look closely you can see it really is two babies. One baby's head is down in the lower right corner, and his brother's head is located underneath his spine, more centered.

Despite our shock, we couldn't be more thrilled at the prospect of this new adventure. We have been blessed already with three wonderful children...our hearts are excited at receiving TWO more into our family.

See...I told ya!

TROUBLE!! :)

Good thing she's cute...

She is trouble...good thing she's cute! She is sneaky...good thing she's cute!

She has attitude...good thing she's cute!

This little girl keeps me on my toes...she is my daughter...and she IS so darn cute!!

(The latest fashion, worn by EVERY child in the house at different times throughout the day, is the blueberry hat that Bekah is sporting in the picture. Don't be surprised to see it in other pictures on other children!)

Ethan's Endoscopy

We were finally able to get Ethan's endoscopy scheduled and complete yesterday, (Monday)! He did great, and the procedure was very quick. Since we were the first ones scheduled for the day we were in and out and home by 8:45am!! After some much needed breakfast, Bekah and I decided it was girls nap time, so we laid down around 10:30 and woke at 1pm feeling famished!! :) (Everyone was up this morning at 5am...sharp) Those kids have parental radar, so if they notice one parent is not laying still in bed, it means it's time to get up and start the day...even at 5am!

Preliminary results show that, surprisingly, Ethan has a hiatal hernia. We have pictures, which are pretty cool, and they show the opening between his stomach and the end of his esophagus not fully closing due to the hernia, as well as redness and irritation from the acid reflux. Most kids this age are born with it...he certainly hasn't done any heavy lifting. It will, unfortunately, require more reflux meds. for 6-8 weeks to see if we can get rid of the irritation and acid. I don't know anymore about it yet, as she just came in and pointed out the hernia in the pictures. She was surprised to see that there as well, but it could be the explanation for the stomach pain every time he eats. He just isn't able to communicate this to us due to his other issues. We won't be changing his meds. until the biopsies from all of the other areas come back.

The good news is that his villi, which were flattened out due to the celiac disease, are long, tall and waving around fine in his intestinal tract. It means we've been very diligent with his diet and it shows in the healthy response from his gut. She still biopsied that area, as we are looking for other allergen culprits, as well as enzymes present in both the stomach and the intestine. Hopefully the results will be back by Friday!

The Butterfly Chronicles

As most of you know, from a previous post, we were foster parents to two caterpillars named Hermie and Wormie. Since our visit to the Butterfly Place on April 11th, our two caterpillars have gone through some amazing transformations. It was a wonderful way to combine science and nature for Ethan's homeschooling class as well.

Following are some pictures we took along the way, as well as a video at the end with the release of Hermie. Joshua was thrilled at seeing the butterfly "freak out" as I put it, inside the butterfly box when we took him outside into the sunshine. He was less than thrilled, however, when he realized we were actually going to open the box, and release this "deadly creature" into the world. You'll see what I mean on the video.

The other thing to point out is how Ethan hadn't connected the end of this journey with the fact that he would not see Hermie again. We had tried to explain this to him, but as it tends to go, experience is the best teacher. My heart broke for him, but it has been a great lesson to learn. Speaking of broken hearts, we were also able to learn another lesson...this one about death. Wormie didn't make it. He never formed his chrysalis correctly, and when he tried to emerge from it, his wings hadn't fully formed. He died the next day, as he was unable to fly. Very sad, and of course traumatic to a 5 yr.old as he tries to wrap his mind around the finality of it all.

In any case, I hope you enjoy the following pictures and video. We had a great time.

This was the day we brought them home. They were soooo tiny, we had a difficult time photographing them because the flash would bounce off the plastic vile. I'm not sure what kind of food was at the bottom of that container, but it served as their nourishment for the entire time we had them. We didn't need to open it, or pop holes in the top, it was a self contained environment for them.

At the end of the first week, they had more than doubled in size. (I wonder if that food is gluten free, maybe I could feed some of it to my kiddos!) They have a lot of webbing inside the container, and they constantly "shed" their outer layer as they get bigger.

Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of them at the end of the 2nd week, (which would have been on a Friday), and by the time we got around to taking the picture, (on that Sunday) Hermie and Wormie had decided to move on to the next phase of their lives. They were so big as caterpillars, they filled out most of the container. Simply amazing, that they were able to squish their chubby bodies into these tiny little things. If you look closely, the one on the right is Wormie. he never really finished doing his chrysalis.

Here is Hermie, a week later, freshly emerged from his chrysalis. We couldn't appreciate the beauty of his color as this point, as he was still drying and recuperating after the ordeal of emerging from that tiny home of his. We had to place a cotton ball soaked in a mixture of sugar and water 1:10 ratio. At one point, I checked on him and like he knew what he was supposed to do, he was sitting on top of the cotton ball with his tongue inside drinking up the sugar water.

It took him about two days to dry out and gain some strength. We knew he was ready when he began to "freak out" inside of this box. Ethan loved the term, and now uses it constantly. Anyhow, Hermie didn't really freak out until we brought him outside into the bright sunshine. His instincts told him this was what he wanted, and boy did he want out! I was surprised that I actually got this shot of him, because for the most part, he wouldn't stop fluttering around long enough to see the beautiful colors on those wings.

Joshua's Therapy

Joshua had his new therapist come to the house today. Ironically, we knew her before as she lives on the street behind us, and is very good friends with some good friends of ours, the Deludes, (aka: a Ruffing)

Her name is Jen, and Josh clicked with her right away. In watching the way he was interacting I began to notice something. He had changed in the two weeks since he'd seen the other therapist. Jen hadn't seen Josh before, but from reading through his info. made note of the change as well. His vestibular motor problems seemed to have "caught up" to where he should be for his age. I told her we had been doing more "work" with him with regards to getting him on the swing outside, using the trampoline inside, and giving him some time in the kidney bean box we have in our living room. Mike has also been doing more physical rough housing with Josh like putting him up in the air, and swinging him around...a reason why Mike himself is probably still in PT! :)

Jen also told us that it could account for his more aggressive, and temperamental behaviors over the past few weeks. Sometimes when one area of a child's senses are changing and growing, other areas become "stressed", causing new behaviors that can be temporary...as long as we stay on top of it. Although it's been tough to go through, I was glad to hear of this possibility. He HAS been very aggressive. Bekah, Ethan and I have been taking the brunt of it...usually hitting, kicking, biting, and body slamming. Bekah is going to be a, (as a friend of mine put it), pretty little girl you don't want to mess with! :) Heheheh...watch out boys!

In the meantime we have some more tricks up our sleeves to help him with this growing adjustment that is going on in his body. We look forward to more whistles, blowing straws and flutes to help develop his lung strength and facial muscles, as well as more of the aggressive behavior as we try to help him through all this. At least for know, Jen feels fairly confident that we are looking at his issues being Sensory Integration in nature. We both feel that developmentally he will catch up quickly, which will help with regards to teaching him some coping skills for the sensory issues he does have. It does mean that come July 4th, when he turns 3, we will be looking for outside therapy's in the areas of OT and speech, but since those are services Ethan is already receiving, we hope to get Joshua in to see the same ones that see Ethan.

Amara Rose

I'd like to introduce my newest niece...Amara Rose Yvette Karlosky! She was born today at CMC, very quickly, at 1:11pm...only 41 minutes after Sherry's water broke!!! She weighs in at 7lbs. 4.5oz and is 19 1/2 inches long. She has long black hair...more than Rebekah does now!

Sherry was amazing. She's been in labor for several days, and at her appt. on Friday was told she was 2 1/2 cm dilated and 80% effaced. When she called me this morning I could tell from her voice that this was it. She came over with Jack and labored for a little while longer, but the contractions were coming fast and furious. I brought her over to CMC around 11am, where her friend Kathy met her, and Mark came from work about 20 min. later. I then made it back over there (after finding out that she was 6cm and 100% effaced), with a quick call to Mike to come home and take care of the kiddos. Good timing, I made it right around 12:30 as they were moving her back to the bed...and then she was here! It was amazing.

Welcome to the world little girl!

The Past Few Days...

...have been very interesting!

My poor boy Ethan had a difficult week last week. I was on the phone with the docs. most of the week trying to figure out how to help him with his stomach pain and lack of BM's. We ended up having an x-ray of his abdomen done and found out that he was about 3/4 of the way constipated... right down into his rectum. (graphic I know...but it is what it is) So, we had a choice, enema or 2-3 days of increased dosage of his laxative. The enema would be quick and uncomfortable, the laxative would be slow, crampy, gassy, and uncomfortable. We bribed Ethan with a Popsicle and did the first of two enemas on Thursday. It didn't clear him out as much as we'd hoped, so the second enema came on Friday...that one worked...boy did it ever. Poor kid! On, Saturday night, he started eating again. So far we've had two good days of eating, but tonight we were back to belly pain, and no BM at all. Still waiting for the appt. for his endoscopy...needless to say I'm getting impatient.

During all of this, however, Ethan remains a trooper. Thursday was such a beautiful day, that following his enema, I put a diaper on him just in case, and we went outside to enjoy the sun. I was hoping that the running around would help the medicine along a bit.

It was Rebekah's first time outside using her new skill of walking. She took to it like she'd been doing it the whole time. In fact, she joined the boys in throwing, jumping into, and destroying my leaf pile. They were all absolutely filthy when it was time to go in, which was awesome.

On Friday, we had a field trip. The homeschooling group I am a part of does organized field trips here and there. This one was to The Butterfly Place down in Westford MA. Ethan was very excited as he is a big fan of a video we have by Max Lucado called Hermie. It's about a very common caterpillar that asks God why he isn't special like other caterpillars. God always tells Hermie that He isn't finished with him yet. It's a great story, and Ethan really likes it when Hermie becomes a beautiful butterfly. With that in mind, he couldn't wait to "meet" Hermie and his pal Wormie.

Until we got there...

I've never had Ethan listen to me so intently...don't touch anything and stay next to me...and HE DID! He was curiously afraid. He wanted to see and be near everything, but he was afraid of what would happen should a butterfly land on him. For those of you who've never been to such a place...it's an atrium filled with beautiful plants and flowers, and LOTS of butterflies flying around in every direction. It is truly an awesome sight. If you think Ethan was afraid, check out Joshua...sheer terror. I've never seen him so truly terrified. He doesn't like anything in his face, so for him the thought of one of those unpredictable flying "things" coming anywhere near him sent him into a panic. Thankfully, they have bench's in there to sit on, and because they are away from the main source of plants and flowers, the butterflies don't come over too much. Of course, who was the one kid they kept trying to land on...??? So, I just sat down and held his hand and rubbed his leg, and calmed down and did fine, unless one came to close. I couldn't take him out of the stroller while we are in there because they have strict rules about children under 3 being in a stroller at all times. Towards the end, both he and Ethan were doing better, but still wary of those beautiful, flying creatures.

Then you have Rebekah...pointing, laughing, and say "butta, butta, butta" every time one would get close to her. She loved it!

We had a picnic there afterwards, and then bought the kiddos their very own caterpillars to watch grow into beautiful butterfly's. They are these tiny little things, and require very little care. Every morning the boys look forward to saying hello to their new little creatures. Can you guess what they named them....???? That's right...Hermie and Wormie.

Tidbits

It is with mixed emotion that I tell you my baby girl is growing up! She officially weaned herself a week ago today. All of my kids have weaned themselves...Ethan was the week of his first birthday, and Joshua was 11 mos. old. So, she did nurse the longest at a little over 15 mos. old. Still, it's bittersweet because although I won't miss the biting down when she was teething, or the waking in the middle of the night for a little "snack"...I will miss that closeness that comes with nursing. Yes, I know I have another one on the way, but each one has its own special way of nursing. Another milestone reached, and even more independence gained...by both of us! :)

This young man is proving to be our medical anomaly. Even Dr. Hofley has said that she wants to "get to the bottom of Ethan". We feel like it's all happening again, like it did two years ago. There was a period of about 3 weeks between waiting for the endoscopy and then waiting for the diagnosis, that were just hell. He wouldn't eat, drink, or sleep well. Now, he's doing it all again. It's like pulling teeth to get him to finish the smallest amount of food, or even to drink a little bit of water. We've even made sure to make his absolute favorites...tacos, chicken nuggets and french fries, omelets, but he just won't finish any of it. He wants to sleep, or lay down most of the day...but still has his spurts of energy. We've increased his Prevacid dose to see if it helps with the belly ache he complains about every time he sits down to a meal. We're just waiting on the phone call to tell us when his scope is scheduled so we can get on with some possible answers. Please pray for him, and us as we make our way through this...again!

And then there is Joshua! We are looking at his at-home therapy to start next week. We've been trying some of the suggestions made to us on how to "wake up" his mouth...and he will have none of it. We even purchased a John Deere cornstalk teether that vibrates when you bite down...another suggestion from the therapist...and he did it...once. He won't bite down on it again. He makes everyone else do it, but other than that, he's perfectly happy just playing with it. They also wanted us to do a hearing test to rule it out as a possibility for his speech delay...he passed it with flying colors. It was done yesterday at his pedi. office. Basically it's the same one they do on newborns. It just tells you whether or not any air is getting in and bouncing off the ear drum. If the child passes then you know that the canal is clear of fluid build up which can cause garbled hearing among other things. Other than that, Josh is his same ornery, noisy self that we know and love!!

Head Spinning

The boys had their 3 month checkup with Dr. Hofley today. She is there GI doc, and has done weight and height checks on them for quite some time now. She has been an incredible source of information and support.

So, today, we received some awesome news...and some not so awesome news.

Joshua is officially thriving!! He gained a little over two pounds, and grew just about an inch!! He actually looks a little chubby! :) She said in the past three months he has flown up to the 5th% for weight, and overall is doing exceptionally well. It's safe to say that, from a GI point of view, Joshua is finally okay!! She still wants to check his weight every 3 months to make sure that this is a curve that he will still on...but yipppeee! He is also scheduled to have a bone density test done to make sure that during the time of any malabsorption he may have had, it hasn't effected his bone density. From our lecture on Friday night, we learned that it should be done 6-12 months after a gluten free diet has begun and health has returned.

The head spinning part, unfortunately, is with Ethan. He is officially "failure to thrive"...again! He hasn't gained even an ounce in the last 3 months, nor has he really grown in height. She is concerned because with Joshua responding so well to the diet changes, Ethan should have had even slight improvement over the last few months. Some recent studies have talked about the possibility of refractory Celiac Disease, as well as something we learned on Friday night which has to do with a bacterial overgrowth in the intestines. Something else she has seen in children just like Ethan, is eczema up and down the lining of the esophagus, and digestive tract. Needless to say, all of this means Ethan needs another endoscopy. They want to see where the health of his intestines stands, as well as check out what kind of enzymes he has in his gut. In the meantime we are to put him on a probiotic, and use Duocal on everything he eats and drinks. He had some blood work today to check on the levels of the fat soluble vitamins, A, D, and E. What a trooper...he was excited to see the blood fill up the tubes...even if it meant a little pinch first! My brave little guy!

Happy Birthday Michelle!

Belated of course. Being the excellent husband that I am I failed to do anything special for me wif of 7+ years. Once again when she said she did not want anything - I took her at her word. Silly husband, so I screwed it up. So here I am apologizing.

My lovely wife was 33 yesterday. A mother of 3 soon to be 4 as you probably figured out by the post below this one. She works tiredly (not so much tirelessly these days being preggers and all!) raising our kids. If any of you reading this knew me when I was that tender age of 5, just think of 2 of me running around. Plus a spectator egging them on. Our little sweet Rebekah is learning fast. She bring them to the doctors, play dates and home schools. Her days are busier than mine!

Through all of the chaos she still has time to run our Celiac support group plus a Bible Study. No wonder she sleeps in until 7:00 on the weekend!

She is an amazing mother, friend and wife! (and baby oven) So happy belated birthday sweetie!

Love ya!
.me

In a Heartbeat

We heard it...the wonderfully rhythmic sound of the next little Ouellette's heart pounding frantically inside of me.

On Friday, I had my first midwife visit. I am 13 weeks today, and they usually don't need to see you until the end of your first trimester, beginning of your second. With the last three pregnancies I have been in for an early ultrasound, or blood work or checkup of some sort since my miscarriage in 2004. I'm pretty sure I waited this long with Ethan, but that was sooo long ago, I honestly don't remember. So, it was nice to finally be "seen" by the midwife and to hear that wonderful heartbeat.

Still, the moment was bittersweet as I hadn't realized I had been holding my breath over the past couple of weeks, until a good friend of mine found out she had miscarried her baby. It was then I realized what had been bothering me...the fear of miscarrying again. For all the joy that hearing that heartbeat brings, you can't imagine the sorrow and loss of not hearing that heartbeat, unless, like so many of my friends, you've been through it.

Take a moment and say a prayer for all of those tiny hearts that have begun to beat today, that they may continue to grow in health. But, please, take the time to say a prayer for all of those whose hearts stopped beating so soon.

Winter/Spring Flip

This is how my kitchen looked yesterday, as I attempted to put away winter coats, hats, boots, and slippers.

This is how my boys looked as I was pulling out and trying on various spring and summer time jackets, sneakers, sandals, and hats.

I remember dreading this time of year when I was a child. I hated trying everything on, and finding out my favorite sweater no longer fit me, but fit one of my younger sisters. It took ALL day. Well, nothing has changed. I still don't enjoy it. Especially since I'm now on the buying end of things. Fortunately for us, our children don't grow very fast, but the many friends, and relatives, and in some cases very giving strangers' kids do...so we have LOTS of hand-me-downs. LOVE THAT!! Unfortunately, I still have all of their clothes to do. If you don't hear from me for awhile, I may be buried under a large mountain of kids clothes, and unable to move. Gotta love the change of seasons! :)

Happy Easter!

Easter was celebrated a little differently at our house this year. When I say different, I mean due to some food issues...we didn't do a lot of stuff we did last year.

First of all there was breakfast. I think that if I were a first time mother, I might be appalled at the thought of what it was that these kiddos ate for breakfast. But since I'm not, and we have so many limitations now in their diets, we figured it wouldn't kill them to break the rules when it comes to a "traditional breakfast".

Ahhh...breakfast of champions!

Yes, that would be a plate with a purple bunny Peep, some Starburst Jelly Beans, and yes, an incredibly delicious chocolate covered donut. Mmmmmm....yummy! Did I mention that they also had some slices of ham immediately following the sugar breakfast? And, before we left for church, I did make sure their belly's were full of bananas and apples, so if you are the candy patrol...back off! :)

We traveled to my brother-in-laws house for dinner this year as it is the last holiday we will be spending with them before they move to Ireland for at least 2 years! So, we did like we did for Thanksgiving, and just made our entire dinner before we went over, and just had to warm it up and eat. It works out so much easier, because I don't have to question everyone about everything they did to their food, before my children can consume it.

All-in-all, it was a very tiring, but truly wonderful Easter for us. Ethan is going to have a difficult time when his cousins and Aunt and Uncle leave the country, so hopefully we will have this memory to carry him through a little while.

(We're finding Ethan to be the more difficult one to photograph now!)

IFSP

For those of you who aren't familiar with Early Intervention (EI), IFSP stands for Individualized Family Support Plan...and we now have one for Joshua.

Upon a recommendation from Ethan's OT, as well as our own observations, we decided to have Joshua evaluated for sensory issues and developmental delays. He will be 3 yrs. old in July, so as far as EI goes, we don't have a lot of time. However, after going through what we have with Ethan, the earlier when can intervene the better it will be for Joshua in the long run.

It was hard for us to decide to have him evaluated because we just didn't want to "jump the gun" every time one of kids seems to have an issue. Since Ethan's development was anything but typical it has been hard for us to determine whether or not Josh's development was right on track or a little behind. Mostly because in so many ways the issues that Josh has are completely opposite of what Ethan had.

For example, Ethan was talking quite clearly and "intelligently" before he was 2 years old. Joshua is really difficult to understand by just about everyone else, except me...and even then, I struggle with understanding what it is he is trying to communicate to me. Ethan has slept through the night since he was 4 mos. old, Joshua hasn't slept through the night since the day he was born...(okay, maybe 5-6 times since then!) Ethan has/had many issues with upper arm strength, Joshua has issues with lower leg/foot strength. It took him much longer to walk, and still he's just gained confidence in doing some more jumping and running...inside.

That's just a few...and I know that many people may look at it saying..."well not all kids are the same"...but when you are in a family that has experience with sensory and developmental issues, it's never far from the realm of possibility that other children may have similar issues.

We saw Ethan's neurologist last week, and she's been following him because she is doing research in the area of connections between gluten and neurological problems. She found Ethan's case intriguing and wasn't surprised that we were having Josh evaluated as she pointed out his speech delay before I said anything. She also said she wasn't surprised because Josh had been on gluten for the first 10 months of his life, and it may have caused enough of an upset in his digestive system to throw off some of his neurological developmental. Obviously, not to the extent of his brother who went three years on gluten!

So, now we have a plan written up to help work on Joshua's speech issues, and motor planning. They feel that his speech issues may have to deal with low oral sensory input...which would explain the pocketing of food, over stuffing his mouth and then not swallowing or spitting it out, as well as his speech. As for the motor planning...they believe he has it all up in his head, he just can't make the smaller muscles in his body do what his brain is telling them to do. In testing him, he flew through the tests up to 24 mos. old. But once they added in another step to bring him up to a 24-30 month old, he started to fail the testing...he is 32 mos. old. Again, not far off...but enough that if we don't intervene early (see Early Intervention), that testing gap may get bigger. They also noticed he has low to normal muscle tone in his lower leg and feet muscles. This may explain why he walks and stands toed in all the time...it could also explain why it has taken him longer to achieve some climbing, jumping, and walking milestones.

Besides all that, they will be looking into some sensory issues like tactile and vestibular motor problems. After a few weeks of therapy they are hoping to give us a better picture of exactly where he stands...is it developmental...is it sensory...is it something else...or is it all of the above. At least, for now, thanks to EI, they come to us to do his therapy. Currently, Ethan goes out on Monday for OT, Tuesday for Speech Therapy, and Saturday for a Social and Communication Class. I am ever grateful, at least for a little while, that they will be coming to me.

As Requested...

I was asked today to post some more video of the kids doing stuff...more specifically, Rebekah walking. I think some of her "Aunties", (more specifically Jaime), enjoy watching their little girl growing up! So, enjoy!

First Quarter Review

Yippeeee!! We successfully completed the first quarter of Kindergarten! Ethan did excellent. I submitted his grades and other than a B in Science/Health and Art, he had all A's. Pretty simple grading system really, and I'm so proud of his success. It took us 16 weeks to complete the 10 week lesson plans, but keep in mind we had a week for potty training, Christmas, New Year's, as well as various sick and snow days. All in all, not a bad timeline.

His new schoolroom is working out well also. One of Mike's coworkers donated the old wooden school desk, and Ethan's Tripp Trapp chair fits perfectly. He loves to store all of his "scissor work" inside the cubby of the desk!

We now look forward to starting the second quarter work next week. I'd like to finish up before the summer even though I know Ethan may want to continue to do his schoolwork. I'm hoping that once we get rid of the snow, and start seeing some warm weather and ground, he may change his mind about sitting at his desk to learn his numbers and letters! :) We have plenty of time though because he technically doesn't begin Kindergarten until September and Seton gives you up to 2 years to complete the program anyway. By the time we get through everything it should time out just right for him to begin 1st grade in September of next year if not sooner.

Notice Anything Different...??

Pictures...As Promised

Emma has an overnight!

The Potty Training Prize...a farm tractor (shocked I know!)

This little girl is crazy about her beans!

All bundled up for a snow day...nice and warm.

My nephew Jack...on guard!

Joshua...lounging...it's a lot of work walking around in that suit.

See...I think we found E.T.!

"The Snow Boyz"

Potty Training Diary...Catch Up

The reason I haven't posted in a few days isn't because of potty training. Nope...not at all. Actually, it's because the "morning" sickness I've been having has been down right nasty. To the point where I'm having some difficulty being vertical for too long!! Thank God for my husband. He's been great!! Since he's been home, I've been able to take advantage of some much needed rest. In fact, on Thursday I slept for a large part of the day. The only time I don't feel nauseous is when I'm laying down or asleep. Other than that, it pretty much feels like I'm coming down with the flu every minute of every day. To make it even worse, I'm starving! All I want however is red meat, fruits and vegetables. Nothing too salty. My only other craving has been peanut butter cups...by the hand fulls...can't seem to get enough. Anyway, it's been interesting. Again, thankfully, my Mike has been absolutely awesome with everything!!

As for the potty training...it has gone much better than we anticipated. Ethan has just been awesome about it. He absolutely refuses to be in a diaper now, and for the first time on Wednesday, he actually did a BM. I gave him three choices...big toilet, little potty, or the diaper. He flat out refused the diaper, but was struggling with the big toilet. So, I told him to try using the little potty. It worked. I think it was a matter of body positioning. He's still pretty small, and his knees and feet don't really have any where to go on the big toilet to help him out. Now, he's been using the big toilet for urinating, and the little potty for BM.

Mike took him out on Wednesday, so we put a pull up on him. He came home dry! We were amazed. Not so amazed that we will be putting him in the car without a pull up on quite yet, because he does tend to fall asleep in the car and I know he can't hold it while he's sleeping.

Josh has no interest at all. Not even for choc. chips. That's okay...I think he'll change his mind in a few months...he's not quite three, and I'm not worried about him right now. It's actually easier for me to keep track of one "underwear boy", right now rather than two.

All-in-all...we will call this week a success. I know we will still have our ups and downs, but it's great to see my little guy really grow up and make some progress this week. He's had a lot of struggles with everything that is bathroom/diaper related that this is long overdue.

I'll post some pictures later...must go eat the red meat that my hunter-gather brought home...from Outback...mmmm

In Other News...

Rebekah has been doing an incredible job with walking. She has done it much sooner than her brothers, (Ethan was 15 mos. and Joshua was 16 mos) as she is not quite 14 months old. She's been taking a few steps since Valentine's Day, but this past week has just started to take off. She should be walking all over her brother's in no time...they'd better watch out, she is a force to be reckon with.

The Potty Training Diary...Day 3

Another great day!! Ethan is doing really well, despite a couple of accidents he had today. Both accidents were more a result of mommy and daddy not paying attention to time and place, rather than Ethan just not going. So, that's good news. He LOVES wearing his cute little dinosaur underwear. He has some Thomas, Cars, and Spider Man underwear but the spidy ones chafe him on the inner thigh. We'll see how the others do after a good washing.

However, if he's focused on an activity...like using his play dough...he won't think to stop and take a break in the bathroom. Which is what happened today. It taught Mike and I that we need to make sure he's used the bathroom before such activities, as well as give him a 15-20 min. bathroom check during his activity.

Unfortunately, we haven't had another successful BM since Sunday afternoon. We are getting concerned about him holding it for so long, because he does constipate easily. We've even offered him the "diaper-out" like the behaviourist suggested, so that he can at least go like he did before in the bathroom. But, he actually refuses to go back into diapers...which is great...but he still needs to go to the bathroom. So, we are going to up his laxative dose tomorrow and see if that helps to move things along!

As for Josh...hehehehe...he's not doing so well. He yells at me when I remind him it's time to use the potty, and doesn't like being disturbed from his playtime now. I'd say the novelty has worn off for him. However, we are keeping him in pull ups during the day, so that if he asks to use it, we can let him try. Who knows, maybe he'll show more interest once Ethan is doing a more regular job.

The Potty Training Diary...Day 2

Sooo, potty training day number 2 was...to say the least...interesting. I bet no one can guess just how interesting. No matter how many of you have been through this potty training thing, I'm willing to bet none of you have dealt with what we had to deal with today!!! Pretty confident, hun? Let me tell you why...

First a little back story here...we've been having some "issues" with our toilet for the past couple of months. It's been slow to flush, and would occasionally, (1-3 times a month) get clogged up...usually over nothing really. I figured that maybe one of my little angels had flushed some paper, or cloth or something, and eventually it would dissolve and pass through. Well, on Saturday we had the equivalent of Mount St. Helens in our bathroom. Okay, minus the exploding ash, and hot lava...but still quite an overflow of liquid pouring out of our toilet. Needless to say, I called Heritage to come out and take a look. No problem, they came first thing this morning.

After talking to the plumber regarding what was wrong with our 41 year old toilet, and trying a few cheaper options with no luck, we had the pleasure of replacing our toilet...this morning...while potty training...with a very nauseous mommy (icky morning sickness)...and relatives visiting..(thankfully it was only Lee Anne and Pete, but still). Did I mention it is our ONLY toilet...besides the little kid potty!!! Good times, good times.

Amazingly, Ethan did quite well through it all. Unfortunately, we've discovered, that he's too tall for the little potty, and whenever he'd try to pee on it, it would just end up all over the floor. He was also quite attached to the old toilet, (oddly enough since he rarely used it!) and had a difficult time dealing with it being hauled off to that special toilet trash heap. Once the new toilet was installed it took everything in him not to push the plumber out of the way so he could flush it and watch the new way the water would go down the hole. At least it kept him interested in using it...which he did about 50 times today. Probably a good thing we replaced the toilet. I'm not sure it would have been able to keep up with our kids. We've already replaced the innards to that toilet about 3 or 4 times since we've lived here...it would have never survived.

Josh on the other hand managed to fill his underwear twice, completely, while we were distracted by either the plumber, the visitors leaving, or anything else that took our eyes off his little butt for 10 seconds!! So, he was placed into some pull ups...much to his dismay. (He loves his underwear) We were done and it wasn't even noon time!!

We'll see what tomorrow brings...but it can't be worse than having to replace the one toilet in the house...can it???

The Potty Training Diary

We officially began our week long effort of training our two boys on using the potty. And boy are we in for it!! We decided to start today after church, because I knew we were going to go through a "novelty" stage of using the toilet...and boy did we ever. I've never seen so much activity in our tiny little bathroom before. And for those of you who have been to our house, you know how very tiny our ONE little bathroom is!

Let me tell you, I was tempted to break out the camera. We have a little potty, and of course the regular toilet with one of those little seats on it. (Our boys have very tiny bum-bums!) At one point, Ethan was on the big one, Josh was on the little one, and I was sitting on the floor trying to keep Rebekah out! (She is very unhappy that she isn't part of the "party in the bathroom"!) Despite the crowd in the bathroom, we had decent success today. Of course getting a handful of mini choc. chips afterwards never hurts your chances at success. (We can't do M&M's because they have dairy in them...so we found these mini chips by Enjoy Life that are dairy, soy, gluten, and nut free...and VERY tasty!) For the very first time today, Ethan actually did a BM on the toilet. He has NEVER had success with this. Maybe all the prep we did before hand actually paid off. He has been awesome at going into the bathroom every single time he needed to go, even though he was still going in his diaper. Even Josh, did pretty well. A couple of times we caught him standing with his little legs crossed saying..."oh-oh, water"...as it drips down his little leg.

I'm not sure what they were happiest about: being virtually naked from the waist down...except for those cute little boy underwear; being allowed to eat handfuls of choc. chips at every successful use of the toilet; or being able to sit down on one of the toilets and be cheered on to do what they needed to do!

So, for the next week, I will try to post the good, the bad, and the ugly of our potty training event, praying that we will have at least one diaper less child when all is said and done. And I know, that we will have our setbacks, etc....but it will be a really great start in the right direction!

Cooperation

About 30 seconds of playtime peace...

Potty Training Prep

Yes, I did say prep. In other words preparing Ethan for the inevitable end to diapers. Just the mention of such a world changing event to him, instantly brings him either to tears, or defiance. Very frustrating. So, we spoke to the behaviourist that he's been seeing on Saturdays during his Social and Communication class.

We've been bringing him to this class for the past three weekends, and we have three more to attend. Then, since it seems to be going well...they have 4-5 kids in the group...we will have a break in between and start up again with another 6 week session. The "class" is set up as a sort of playdate with planned activities and lots of room to "teach" the kids how to be a part of a peer group...eg: turn taking, preventing/resolving conflicts appropriately, recognizing and expressing feelings, making friends, and school/community routines.

Ethan LOVES it, and talks about his new friends most of the week.

So, I spoke with Linda, a behaviour specialist, after his class this past Saturday to pick her brain about suggestions, tips, advice, whatever she could share, to help us with potty training Ethan. Mike plans on taking the week off at the end of February to help in this endeavor, because we decided that if we are potty training Ethan we might as well work on Josh too. Especially since Josh is showing signs of interest...telling me he has a dirty diaper, "using" the kid potty when he goes into the bathroom...all stuff Ethan never, and still doesn't, do.

The preparation part? Well, we are "training" Ethan to recognize his need to use the potty. So, every time he feels the need to go, he has to go into the bathroom to do it...in his diaper. He's done a great job over the past two days, except for when he's playing upstairs. We only have one bathroom and it's on the first floor. He doesn't seem to notice when he has to urinate yet, so we're hoping the whole "run around naked except for your underwear" during the last week of Feb. will help with that. We will only put a pull up on at bedtime, and a diaper on around 6ish at night for him to do a BM in if he refuses to do so on the toilet. She wants us to deny him that "out" for a BM during the day, in the hope that he will stop fighting it, and use the toilet instead of holding out until nightime. Unfortunately, due to the laxative that Ethan is still on, he will do a BM several times a day, with no regulation. We have been advised not to take him off of the laxative however, until he is potty trained to prevent any constipation issues with the whole power struggle end of potty training. (See why I need Mike around for that week?)

It has been tough to do mostly because there may be an issue with his ability to "sense" the need to go in time. Linda suggested we try her method for a week or so, and at that point we should be able to tell whether it's sensory or behaviour. In the meantime, Mike and I get to prepare ourselves for what we hope will be a rewarding week. I'll be happy to get even one out of diapers. The savings in the cost of diapers alone would be a silver lining!!

p.s. if you notice any spelling errors I'm sorry, the blogger spellcheck isn't working today!!

WOW!

She slept through the night. Rebekah really slept through the night! And when I say "slept through", I mean 7pm-7am kind of sleep. The kind where you wake up and say to yourself, "did I get up to nurse her at all last night...I must have...no, no I don't think I did...wow".

Rebekah has always been a great nurser. She has done it the best and the longest compared to her brothers. Ethan weaned himself the week of his first birthday, but he was such a difficult nurser, I was relieved. Joshua, weaned himself by 11 mos. old, but I think that was partly due to the conception of his sister when he was 9 mos. old. Needless to say, I wasn't surprised when he weaned so early. But, Rebekah has been going strong about 3-5 times a day...up until recently. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed she was down to about 2-3 times a day, and it was only before her nap, nightime bed, and once in the middle of the night, that she was nursing. It makes me wonder if it's because she's getting older and eating a lot more food throughout the day, or is it because of Baby Ouellette #4 on the way...??? Hmmmmm.....

Autism Speaks

I received this link from a friend who knows some of what we go through with Ethan. Obviously his level of autism is extremely high functioning, however it is still there. I was finally able to watch the video...a warning...it may make you cry...it's just so beautiful.

Then I saw the very same link on another blog that I visit frequently, Danielle Bean. So, I figured I would post the link here as well, so that when you can spare a moment of your time, you can watch this beautiful video. It is an easy way to do something for children with autism.

The band Five for Fighting will donate 40 cents to children's autism research for each time this video is viewed online: What Kind of World Do You Want This is for real. Who knows whose life you could change in just a few minutes.

Thank you.

Five Firsts

We've been going through some great...and not so great...changes here in the Ouellette family. My kiddos are all growing up so fast, it's hard to keep up with all the changes. So, here are a few of the most recent "firsts" for some of those changes...enjoy!

1. Rebekah is standing and cruising. She will stand right up in the middle of a room, and shake her little butt, with the biggest, proudest smile on her face. If she is holding onto furniture, or a wall, she'll cruise, but hasn't dared to step out on her own...although she isn't far away. You can see it in her face...she knows what is next, but can't quite figure out how to make her legs move like everyone else. At the rate she's going she will still beat our her brothers who were 15 mos. (Ethan) and 16 mos. (Joshua) old before they began to walk...slugs! :)

2. For the first time in months, Mike and I were able to sleep in our bed...by ourselves. Granted it only lasted until 1 am, but it's a start. I'm not complaining about Joshua being in our bed all these months, he's been a nice bed warmer on these cold nights!! However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep Ethan in his own bed, when he knows his brother is "allowed" to sleep with mommy and daddy. The words "it's not fair" keep ringing in the air, and I know it's just the beginning. Needless to say, we decided to take up on an offer of a crib mattress that was being given away by a friend, and place it on the floor between the bed and the wall in our room. It fits perfectly, and Josh was very excited about his little nest...until around 1 am, where in my groggyness I vaguely remember the words, "mommy, up, up, up, up, bed, bed, bed...pwwwease??" We'll see how tonight goes, but it's a great start in the right direction.

3. One word for you...THUNDERSTICKS. Yup! We "won" a bunch of them at Hannaford last week when we were trying to pick up a few things with all three kiddos. At least my hubby was there to witness first hand, why I don't take them grocery shopping anymore!! :) Anyway, they absolutely loved the idea of being allowed to beat these two sticks together to make an awesome noise. Of course, they figured out you could make similar, if not better, noises by beating the sticks on each other...but we knew that going in...and they are now only allowed to use them for 10 minutes at at time. Can we say over stimulation??

4. Joshua is discovering his imagination. He's never been a big fan of having anything on his feet, and the first time we tried putting these monster slippers on him, he screamed!! That's why it was so surprising when I turned around to see him strutting his stuff, with monster feet. The trick?? He put them on over his other slippers. That's the only thing I can think of. However, he thought it was great to stomp around the house, and growl...because that's what you do with monster feet...right??

5. And the best first ever...Ethan actually helped me make play dough!! He's never really been interested in "cooking" past the initial dumping one cup of something into a bowl...then he'd be done. He not only dumped into the bowl, but helped to measure out all of the dry ingredients. (We still won't let him near the stove!!) Anyhow, Ethan was the only one who ever really used play dough and that was before we were gluten free. But since we were diagnosed, we gave away or sold all of our play dough as well as the "tools" that go along with it. For those of you who don't know play dough is made with wheat flour, and even though most kids won't eat it, it gets under their finger nails, so that when they do eat something, or put their fingers in their mouths, they will then ingest it. So, I finally took the recipe and made it gluten free! Ethan couldn't wait to get his hands on it...Josh wanted nothing to do with getting his hands on it. He wouldn't touch it, until I gave him a spoon, which he then used to beat it, and scoop it up to move it around. We'll see how well it stores for, but I plan on making some green and blue as well.

GI Checkups

It's hard to believe that another 8 weeks (well more than that due to snow storms and rescheduled appointments) has come and gone since their last medical checkup with Dr. Hofley. None-the-less it was a good day/bad day kind of appointment.

Joshua is doing awesome now. At his last check up he was at 22.5 lbs. but has jumped up to a whopping 24.03 lbs!! That's huge for him...generally he gains ounces to maybe A pound. Plus he grew a little more in height by almost an inch. We both believe it is largely due to the lack of dairy in his diet...to the point that she wants him 100% dairy free for at least the next month. We want to see if it further helps his sleeping issues, and diaper issues, as well as continue to add to the weight gain. He's had some really nasty, foul diapers which could be due to a number of things. We replaced his soy milk so that won't be the issue anymore, but he's still having enough dairy that although his asthma is at bay, it may still be enough to cause some digestive issues, or sleep issues. Not to mention that fact that he just survived yet another ear infection. In any case, we will do some blood work on Monday to check his CBC, zinc, TTg (celiac blood test) check for lead and Hep B. I guess some kiddos with digestive issues are having problems with their vaccines "sticking". We are also able to wean him off his Prevacid with hopes of weaning him off Zyrtec as well. It will be nice to continue to drop off some of the meds he's been on.

Ethan, not so good. He didn't gain any weight or grow any taller since his last visit. And for the first time ever, I had a small glimpse into what life may be like for people with low functioning autism. Throughout most of the appointment today, I had to restrain Ethan, full body, due to his yelling, hitting me, head butting, pushing his brother, and other extremely over stimulated activity. Even Dr. Hofley noted that he was much worse today than ever in the past. We've noticed more autistic behaviour in the past couple of weeks as well, rigidity, anxiety, lining up all of his vehicles in nice straight rows, (for those of you who know Ethan he's a rather destructive player, piling up toys so he can scoop and dump them...everywhere), and falling apart at the seams over a change in his schedule. Basically, all of the progress we had made over the past several months, falling apart in the past couple of weeks. Thank God, we have Dr. Hofley...she pointed out to this very exasperated mother that dairy may have a part in all of this. Ironically, Ethan has increased his dairy intake over the last couple of weeks. He's been eating at least 2 bowls of cereal with whole milk for breakfast, lots of cheese, and asking for a cup of milk with his dinner every night. We were psyched because he's NEVER been a big milk drinker and were happy that maybe he would really start some serious weight gain. Hehehe, no more. He will also be 100% dairy free for the next month. She wants to see if we notice any change, and if we don't we can participate in a double blind study she's been providing for families to determine if milk is really the issue with regards to behavior. Interestingly I mentioned that when we started Rebekah with yogurt we began to notice that she would cough repeatedly every time afterwards. Dr. Hofley wasn't surprised and said that since we now know that Joshua definitely has a problem with milk, it isn't out of the realm of possibilities that the other kiddos will have their own issues with it as well.

So, where is the silver lining in all of this?? Well, fortunately for us, most of our gluten free packaged foods happen to be dairy/casein free as well. The only problems we run into now are cheese and milk substitutes. A few of their favorite snacks like pirate booty, and their arrowroot cookies will have to go as they have a lot of milk ingredients. Our fall back lunch-on-the-go of cheese sticks wrapped in turkey/ham slices will also be a thing of the past. Plus, it's going to be real tough if not impossible to find any kind of substitute for mac and cheese...the "if all else fails we can make mac and cheese for all three kiddos" kind of meal. But, since we've been doing a mostly dairy free diet for Josh, we don't have to make too many changes. It just makes things that much tougher when we go somewhere. That whole "at least we can have the veggies, sour cream dip, and cheese slices" when we go to someones house has now become "mmm...veggies".

Growing Pains

It may be tough to see, but it was a little project we did this past Friday. I wanted to see how all of their hands compared to each other, and to "make their mark" in time so to speak. It is simply amazing how fast children grow...even the "slow growers" like my kiddos.

We have noticed a big difference in Joshua's growth since we cut out dairy. He is an eating machine now. I can't keep that kid full! He will have a waffle, and 2-3 bowls of cereal for breakfast now!! We stopped using soy milk, thankfully (I'm not a big fan of soy products) and have switched him over to almond milk. He still hasn't needed to use his nebulizer, but we've also noticed, due to his sudden interest in eating us out of house and home, he is putting on some weight at an astonishing rate. (Again, astonishing for my kids!) We will see just how much on Thursday at his GI check up, but he not only feels heavier, he looks a little chunkier!

He's even beginning to catch up in clothing sizes. He's around the 18-24 month mark in clothes, which is still smaller than his "age size" of 30 months...but much further ahead than before. Just last month he was still wearing 12-18 month pajamas!!

We're still having some bowel issues that his primary care doc. tells me is normal...but I can't see how having "blow through your clothes" diarrhea every other day, several times a day is normal...but hey, I'm just a mom! :) Needless to say, it is a question we'll be asking his GI on Thursday. It is one of the reasons we cut out the soy in his diet. It is known to cause diarrhea. He hasn't had soy milk for well over a week now, but still the bowel issues...we'll see.

In any case, my incredibly white, pizza faced, smiling boy is an amazing kiddo, and we are constantly astonished at the new things he is learning to do. His vocabulary has become quite impressive, although we still find it hard to understand what it is he's saying. He still has some sleeping issues, but at least we can put him to bed (in our bed) and still go downstairs and enjoy some adult time without him banging his head until it's black and blue or screaming so loud he could wake dogs in the next town over.

It makes us wonder what challenges Rebekah will bring to the table for us...hmmmm :

Epiphany

Happy New Year to all of you! We welcome 2008 with great joy and excitement for whatever may come.

As I had mentioned before, we were waiting to decorate our tree until Christmas Eve. So, on Monday night, before we went to Mass, we decorated. The kids loved hanging the ornaments on the trees, and even Rebekah had her little hand in it. Granted it was mostly with UNdecorating the tree, but she was still participating.

Ethan really enjoyed seeing all of his ornaments. Being 5 years old, he has received one from us every year of his life. However, he also has some on the tree from his godparents, friends and relatives. He was quite content trying to hang them all in one place. He kept calling it "Ethan's branch". Good thing it's an artificial tree, otherwise it many not have held up under the weight!

Anyhow, we are now at the end of our Christmas celebration as today is the Epiphany of the Lord. We have been able to light our tree and enjoy it's beauty for the past 12 days, and even though I'm sad that we have to take it down, it's nice to be able to do a little winter cleaning.

Ethan is having a hard time with not only putting the tree away, but also with putting the advent wreath away. We've been using it up until last night, but with 4 white candles to help him understand that we've still been celebrating Christmas...that it isn't just one day. (We put away all of the decorations yesterday except for the tree, which will come down today after Mass) I think he enjoyed the lighting and blowing out of the candles more than the meaning behind them, but we hope to continue the tradition to instill in him the true meaning of the season.

"Epiphany Day itself commemorates the arrival of the Magi in Bethlehem to worship the Messiah and bring Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2:1-12). Since the earliest days of the church, these wise men have been considered to be representatives of all the peoples of the earth. By means of a miraculous star, God showed them that Jesus was born to be not only the King of the Jews, but the Lord and Savior of all nations." - www.stpaulskingsville.org/epiphany.htm

I have a hard time grasping a lot of the meanings of the season, and am still learning myself. It's been a blessing to have the opportunity to learn more about our Catholicism while homeschooling Ethan. Most children can grasp the unimaginable pretty easily, I think. However, someone with Asperger Syndrome may struggle with the abstract more than others, and instead can deal much better with the literal world. So, Mike and I have been trying to find ways to teach Ethan many abstracts in a literal fashion. It's a challenge to say the least, but it's so rewarding. For example we always say grace before our meal, but during these past 12 days we've been adding a prayer in celebration of Jesus birth. Even though our Advent wreath has been put away, Ethan still shouted out at the end of grace last night, "Rejoice, Jesus is born!"