The wonderful season of Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas out here in Seattle! It was made a bit more interesting in that when we woke up last Friday morning, the ground was covered in snow! I knew it had snowed at 6am when the school district called to let us know that school would be "delayed 2 hours" due to bad weather. I understand that they need to let people know, but I really wish you could "unsubscribe" to these phone calls and just get emails, but it is what it is, sadly. Another call at 7 confirmed what I had already guessed, which was that school was cancelled for the whole day. Adam's school was cancelled as well. Those few centimeters of snow really cause people to panic! Brian drove into work and it was the smoothest drive he's had yet - no traffic. What a contrast to the first snowfall in Calgary lol. Lynsey had a lot of fun playing outside in the snow - I even convinced her to go outside by herself in the afternoon! She has never been good at playing by herself and always wants company in everything she does, so I had to be pretty convincing for this one! I tried to make it sound like going outside alone meant she could do what SHE wanted and use her imagination and make up stories, all things I used to do when I was a kid. I couldn't believe she bought it, you never know until you try!

Brian's parents came in to the airport that night, quite delayed because of the havoc wreaked by the snow here, unfortunately for them. We had a great time with them here! On Saturday, we got our babysitter to come watch the kids while the four of us went into Seattle. We went on the big ferris wheel (not as cool as I had hoped, but oh well) and then went to Etta's to gorge ourselves on delicious seafood. On Sunday, we went on a Santa Brunch Cruise! It was a lot of fun actually! The food was good, they had fun entertainment for the kids, and it was a nice time. Nathan was a bit high maintenance as expected, what can you do!

I have to tell the story of how we almost didn't make it to this fun brunch cruise. It's a bit of a long story, I will tell it because I think it's worth telling! We leave our house with ample time to get there and park where the email told us to park, which was several blocks away from the dock we THOUGHT we were departing from. Because we are new to the area, we don't know that there is ample street parking basically right by the dock, and as we are walking there in the rain, we see spot after spot just sitting there, waiting for a car to park there (for free because it's Sunday). Anyway, no matter, we figured lesson learned, not a big deal. We get to the dock, all 7 of us (we had come with two vehicles, the dock was in Kirkland only about 7 or 8 minutes away from our house) and it looks oddly deserted. There was a big Argosy cruise boat by the dock, but it looked like there was no one there. It was about 10:20 at this point, so we had about 40 minutes until our cruise left (on the email it said we had to be there a minimum of 20 minutes prior to departure). We were pretty confused, so Brian called Argosy to ask what was going on. This is when we find out that the boat is no longer leaving from this dock. Apparently, our booking agent didn't feel this was a necessary detail to pass on. THANK GOODNESS it wasn't leaving from Seattle, because there is no way we would have been able to make it if this was the case. As it was, it was just a dock a mile and a half down the road. Now is where the parking situation comes into play! By the time we had this information, it was about 10:30 so time was getting tight. Brian has to run back to get the van to come pick us up. I probably should have run with him to get the car as well and left the kids with Mark and Frances, but we thought this was the best plan at the time. He doesn't take too long to come get us, and all 7 of us squeeze into the van. There is a reason we took two vehicles in the first place! I was literally sitting on half a seat beside Lynsey's big car seat in the back! We drive in the direction of this other dock, no one really knowing what to look for and just hoping it would be obvious. Brian was about to pull over and call again because we were sure we had gone too far when we saw it - thank goodness! We park in the parking garage and I run ahead to pick up our tickets. It is still raining at this point. You will see from my hair in the pictures that this was definitely the case haha! I got there at about 10:45 and she said we had made it on time. The picture with Santa was taken right after we got there, so I am still a bit flushed from the fiasco. Seriously - how do you NOT let customers know something like that?? The girl I picked up the tickets from was very apologetic, but it's the responsibility of the booking agent (Seattle Tours) to let their customers know of changes. I got an email today, asking me to give Seattle Tours a review. I did.

That was one of our adventures this Christmas season:). At least it had a happy ending! On Monday, Frances and I drove to the Premium Outlets and did some shopping. We all went to Red Robin for dinner and then took the kids to Redmond Town Center to ride their little train and let Lynsey ride the Carousel as well. Nathan was very opposed to the train at first, but by the end, he was "choo-choo"ing up a storm! Adam really liked it, too, which was a bit of a surprise. We never know what he will like! Neither of the boys would try the Carousel, though. Tuesday, Brian and his dad did a tour of the Boeing factory and Frances made us a delicious rib roast dinner. The kids opened presents from Grandma and Grandpa that night. Success! Adam liked TWO of his gifts! And he even unwrapped one of them, mostly by himself! The kids opened our gifts Christmas morning, but Adam had pretty much lost all interest in opening presents by then. Most of the stuff we got them has been played with at least a little bit, so that's good! I went through and did a mini toy purge to make room for the new stuff. Could have done more, but we decided to do our major purge when it came time to move in the summer. Nathan, as expected, all over the cars and trains he got. Brian and I are SOO sick of playing trains with him! How much can an adult play the same game over and over again before he or she goes officially insane?? We love our little boy and I'm so glad he is typical and wants to interact with us, but wow am I sick of playing with Percy and Gordon!

Lynsey got a big Lego set from Grandma and Grandpa and she is now able to get her own pieces and follow the instructions in the book all by herself. Of course, she wants us there to keep her company, but she rarely asks for our help. We also got her a chemistry set, which was a bit of a risk, but she loves it! That will be a Daddy/daughter activity, I think:). We bought Adam some Sensory Stepping Stones (tiles you place on the floor with different textures that you step on) and he likes to step on them. If I put them away, he carefully takes them out and sets them up again:).

Brian's parents left yesterday and Brian went back to work today. What a weird day, so dark outside first of all (I guess this is the depressing, overcast weather people have been warning us about??) and I realized that if I don't plan some activities next week while the kids are off school, I might go crazy! At least there is New Year's Day on Wednesday, nice way to break up the week!

There and back again!

Well, we have officially made our first trip back home to Calgary. The drive there was pretty good, we drove to Kamloops on the Thursday night and went the rest of the way on Friday. The Coquihalla pass was pretty slippery on Thursday, but the mountain roads we traveled on Friday were not too bad at all. It was a beautiful, clear, sunny day and the mountains were truly spectacular! I was driving for the most beautiful parts and I kept telling Brian to take pictures because it was just awe-inspiring, but he wasn't really into it and only got one decent picture. I don't think pictures do it justice anyway, it has to be seen! We got to Calgary around 6 on Friday and we stopped in at the private viewing at the funeral home (we took turns going, didn't want to go with the kids - Brian's parents were with us, too). The funeral was Saturday morning. I got up bright and early so I could go get my hair done (oh the things you miss when you move away! I was so happy I could go to my hair dresser again:)) and then we dropped the kids off at Bobbi and Jer's for the funeral. It was a really nice service. I felt like it was a very nice tribute for Brian's grandpa, who had clearly touched so many lives. I could not have been happier that we didn't have our kids along, so glad I could sit and listen the whole time!

Saturday afternoon, Lynsey and I headed up north and stopped in at my friend Katie's house for a bit and then headed over to see our house. As I was driving up the street, I see a Hummer parked in our driveway. Apparently this guy is not hurting too much financially! The house was spotless (he has a cleaning lady) and I was so relieved! Everything looked like it was in good shape, no pictures on the walls (and the walls were so clean, such a foreign sight for me haha!) and it was so nice to actually be able to talk to the renter face to face. I feel much better about the whole situation now. We went back to Stella's house (where we were staying) and just hung out with family the rest of the day. The next morning, we went to Brian's parents' hotel so the kids could go swimming. Lynsey had the most fun, Nathan was still a bit sick so he was a bit whiny. We spent the afternoon at Terry and Marilyn's which was fun. We drove the whole way home on Monday - 13 hours total trip. It wasn't as bad as I thought! The roads were a little dodgy, but the kids did so well! Another huge relief. I don't know how often we would want to do that, but it's good to know that it's a possible trip to make.

I had lots of weird feelings being back home. It felt very familiar and comfortable, although it was weird to stay with someone else and see our house with someone else's furniture in it. In a lot of ways, it felt like we had never left. I think that's because we haven't been gone long enough. It kind of felt like our life here in Seattle was a bit like a dream. It was great to be home, but I have to say that I was totally okay to leave as well. The feeling reminded me a bit of how it always was to leave La Crete in the early years after leaving home. I was so happy to be home and it all felt so comfortable and familiar, but when it was time to leave and go home, it got easier every time. Anyway, we have settled back into our routine this week and are getting ready for Christmas! Just a few online orders that are in transit and the shopping is done. Looking forward to Brian being off for a few days while his parents are here!

Nathan has been going crazy for trains lately! And he is learning games, too, such as one of his trains getting stuck and him saying, "Oh no! Gorday tuck!" and then you have to "push" his train out. He gets pretty particular, too - today, I just pushed his train out and he says, "more oh no! Gorday tuck!" He wanted me to say that before pushing his train out and once I did, he was okay for me to continue:). It's high maintenance, because he is always bringing us trains or cars or books and would be perfectly happy if all we ever did was read to him and play with him, but we aren't complaining too much obviously:). It's nice to see how much he craves interaction, I just wish he would get it from his brother and sister more! Lynsey certainly does play with him quite a bit at times, but she can also decide to shut him out on a whim which can be frustrating. Another thing we have noticed about Nathan is how much he is saying goodbye - to anything and everything! Very tearful goodbyes were said to the McDonalds play place in Abbotsford on the way to Kamloops, and Daddy always gets very sad goodbyes as well in the morning. Today he actually said goodbye to the hearts on a page in a book! Such a sentimental soul:).

We had Adam's teacher conference today. They seem to think he is making nice progress and would benefit from moving up to 5 afternoons a week. We are seriously thinking about it, but it's kind of tough to think about him being gone all day 5 days a week:(. His well-being if our first priority, so we might decide to give it a try and see how he responds. We are happy with how he is doing and if another few afternoons a week would boost his progress even more, we would not want to stand in the way of that. Something to decide in the New Year!

I gave Lynsey a trim yesterday. Well, it was supposed to be a trim but I didn't really know what I was doing so it turned into more of a "cut". It's about shoulder length which is shorter than I wanted, but it's super cute and Lynsey seems to like it, too (whew!).

Heading to the great, and currently very white, north

Who knew that we would be visiting our home and native land twice in the span of two weeks!

We decided to drive up to Vancouver over the Thanksgiving break. We didn't want our few friends here to feel sorry for us or feel any kind of obligation to invite us to their celebrations, so we decided for our first Thanksgiving here, we would just head up to Vancouver and do our own thing! We got a hotel with a waterslide, went to the Vancouver Aquarium, visited with some friends, it was a lot of fun! It felt really good to be back in Canada. I had never been to Vancouver before, but just being in Canada made it feel familiar somehow. It was great to see Lynsey having so much fun on the waterslide, and Nathan was really digging the water, too! It was nice to see how far he had come from our time in the pool at the beginning of September - might have to try and find him some swimming lessons after Christmas:).

We got back from Vancouver on Saturday and found out on Sunday that Brian's Grandpa Penner had passed away. We immediately knew that we wanted to go the funeral, so it was time to make some arrangements. Got the van in for a service and some new tires, got some tire chains for the possibly treacherous drive through the mountains (of course Calgary has been having the blizzard of the century over there, just our luck!) and tomorrow we take off. We will probably go up to Kamloops tomorrow and drive the rest of the way on Friday, and then drive the whole way back on Monday. Not ideal, but we can't really make this an extended trip. I am feeling dread about the upcoming journey, sadness for the reason for the journey, and a little bit of excitement at the prospect of coming home, even though it's going to be ridiculously cold and snowy.

Nathan is talking up a storm! Not only is he talking, but he's telling us things - I don't know that I would have been able to tell you the difference between talking and telling before Adam came along, but I sure do notice it now. He loves his trains and actually asks for them by name (finally that investment in the train table is paying off, third kid is the charm!:)). This evening I told him it was time for night-night and he walks away from me, "No nigh-nigh" and resumed playing. I feel like he really gets what is going on! And he loves books! He brings me books all day long, and again is asking for specific ones. Very interesting little guy, love to watch him grow up and learn and play:).

Not much to report on the other two, Adam did really well on our trip to Vancouver (was a bit tired at the Aquarium so there were a few rough patches there). He still won't get into the water at the pool except to dip his feet in occasionally. I really don't want to push him but I feel like there has to be some way to encourage him to try water! Any time you pay any attention to him at the pool he just skips away from you, he just wants to do his own thing (except for the odd time when he comes in for a hug and a kiss:)). I will have to ask around for a good swimming instructor that might be able to break through a bit - I have a feeling swimming lessons for him would be a real exercise in patience!

I am going to end this post with a story of my experience with the American healthcare system. We have good benefits through Amazon (the insurance company is called Premera Blue Cross), but it's still a bit of a learning curve as to what is covered and what isn't. I found a pediatrician on the Premera website a few months ago and I took Nathan there in October for his 18 month checkup and his shots. All of our kids need to get three rounds of Hep B shots because they are part of the infant immunizations here, but in Canada, you don't get Hep B shots until you are 10 years old. Apparently there are environmental reasons for this, but that's not the point of my story. He got his first round of the Hep B on the first visit. When we got our Premera statement in the mail, everything from that visit was covered under preventative care as expected. I took Lynsey for her 6 year check and her first round of Hep B a month later in mid-November, and took Nathan as well to get his second round of the Hep B shot. Nathan was present in the room when the doctor was doing his check on Lynsey, but he never examined Nathan at all. When we got our statement from Premera, we discovered that they had billed us $100 for an office visit for Nathan! Totally separate from Lynsey's checkup, which was covered under preventative care, totally separate from the shot which the nurse administered, which was also completely covered. I was sure it was just a simple mistake, but when I called Premera to ask about it, they told me that the office had indeed billed it as a visit with a diagnosis of a "viral infection". They not only fabricated the check up, but the diagnosis! When I called the doctor's office about it, they tried to justify it saying that the doctor has to check every patient before an immunization to make sure they are well enough. I thought about it after that he had apparently diagnosed Nathan with a viral infection, so why did they give him the shot then?? Anyway, I was way too angry on the phone to think about logical arguments, all I could think about was what a scam it was to bill for a visit when the doctor did NOT even look at Nathan except to show him where the toys were. I told them I thought this was a scam and that we would be finding a different doctor, all the while thinking, what if they are all like this! Well, it turns out, they are NOT all like this, and the next clinic I called said that kids do not have to see a doctor every time they are getting a shot, so I immediately had their records transferred and we are seeing a different doctor now. At least I never bothered to bring Adam to that other place, one less complication.

I should add that we will be maxing out our medical deductible and co-insurance payments anyway because of Adam's Autism treatment being so expensive, so the charge didn't really cost us anything. For me, it was the principle of it, that they would, in my opinion, commit insurance fraud to try and skim a few extra dollars. Very annoying! They also billed insurance for a urine test for Lynsey which never happened (huh?? A urine test for a 6 year old?? Shady if you ask me!). There's my vent about the shady doctor's office and my first experience with a medical bill. At least there were about 300 other pediatricians in the Seattle area to choose from, one of the pros to the private healthcare system!

I also had a separate heart attack when I opened that same Premera statement because it said that they were denying the claim to pay for Adam's Autism treatment. It was the very first "WHAT HAVE WE DONE!" moment I've had since we got here! Luckily, on my call to Premera they were able to confirm that this was a mistake, Adam's school hadn't used the right code or something. Until we actually see a statement that says they are paying for it, I will be on pins and needles - they sure are making us wait long enough!

Progress everywhere!:)

I feel like there's a lot to report so I want to make sure I post before I forget it all!

First of all, Adam seems to be making more progress every day. Our first few months here, we did not see any big improvements. And then we ran into all his sleep issues (which he hasn't ironed out completely, but we've seen HUGE improvements the last few weeks, thank goodness!) and now we are starting to see some real progress in some areas. Proper requesting, actually saying "no" instead of just screaming in protest, his eye contact, and there are a few very specific things he did this week that he hasn't done before. For his birthday last year, our friends Bobbi and Jer bought him a microphone on a stand. He has never done more than just take the mike off and shake the cord, we have never heard him talk into the mike. Yesterday, he picked the mike off the stand and said "Helloooo Adam". We told him to say hello to Mom, Dad, etc. and so he started saying hello to all of us in the mike! And he gave all of us turns talking into the mike, even Nathan, who has been sort of his nemesis as of late. It was very interesting to see him try something new, and then include us in his game! Another thing that stood out to me that he hasn't done before (at least not this clearly or without prompting) was when I asked him if he wanted to wear his coat, he said pretty calmly, "No coat". Normally his response would have been a scream or a growl to let us know that he didn't want to wear his coat, but he caught himself before any of those reactions and calmly told me "no"! I know they are working hard on some of these things at school, and it's fantastic to see some fruits of their labor! I continue to feel like he is in just the right place for him:).

Nathan has, just over the last few days, started talking like crazy! We always knew his word explosion was coming, and I think it started this weekend! He started putting a few words together this last week like, "Der it is" when I asked him where the police car was on the picture (his latest obsession by the way is police cars!) or "Der poe-ca (his words for police car). And yesterday, Brian thought he smelled something suspicious from him, so he asked him if he could see his bum. Nathan runs off saying, "No see bum". He brought me Adam's bus today and pointed at the driver and said, "Stuck", so I pulled it out for him. This kind of verbalizing is VERY recent and very exciting! We love to hear him be able to express himself more and more, and hope that it will result in less tantrums and frustration for him. Such a cute little guy!

Lynsey's reading has been coming along, albeit a bit slower than I would like (how can I be SOO impatient when she is reading to me! I turn into this Nazi, I hate it! Really need to breathe and figure out what issue is coming to the surface there, good grief!). Anyway, she really struggles with staying focused and is very easily distracted (I may have mentioned this before, it is a bit of a problem for her at school as well). Well, tonight, I asked her if she wanted to read me a book before bedtime and she picked a book she'd read many times before. She breezed through it, no pauses, she just kept reading. I was so impressed! But I thought, well, she has maybe almost memorized it so that could be why, so I didn't think too much of it. She then picked a book for me to read to her, a fairly simple book but not one of her reading books that she has practiced with us. She said she wanted to read it and inwardly I'm thinking, "nooo it's bedtime and this will take a half hour!" but she was on a roll so I let her give it a try. She read each page easily and with confidence, getting stuck only on a few tough words. I couldn't believe it! This girl has been holding out on us! I asked her what we could do to make her home reading during the week go this smoothly and she just said she didn't know, she was usually tired, so who knows how it will go this week. Now that I know how well she can do, it might make me even more impatient when she struggles through it (will have to be very conscious of that this week!). In any case, I am so proud of how much she has improved!

Another thing I wanted to mention about Lynsey is that I often ask before bed if she wants to say prayers and she always says no. I haven't read too much into that, I don't want to overreact to it, but just keep giving her opportunities to pray if she wants to. Well, today she said yes, and her first prayer was all about praying that she would have fun, and that her friends would play with her, etc - the kind of prayer you would expect from a 6 year old. But then when she was done and I was about to start, she said she wanted to pray again. This time, her prayer was all about giving thanks to God for numerous things! It sounded like maybe they had done some of these prayers in Sunday School because of the specific words she used, but it was so great to hear! Especially after a bit of a difficult day in which she was very emotional and had a bit of a behavior episode that was very frustrating. I thought we handled it better than we have in the past, and I made sure to try and connect with her afterwards and I think it was really what she needed. Parenting is such a journey of ups and downs, and the rewards come when you least expect it sometimes!

Brian and I had a date night in Seattle yesterday evening and it was a lot of fun! We walked around, browsed some stores and had some delicious seafood at Etta's. The kids did amazing! When we were leaving, Adam came over to us with a distressed look on his face and gave each of us a hug and a kiss. We said good bye and walked downstairs and we heard him go back to the table. It is the first time he has been able to say good bye to us, knowing that we were leaving him with a baby sitter, and go on with his day. He was definitely not thrilled about it, but his coping skills when it comes to sitters have steadily improved over the last while, and he really nailed it yesterday! I was so proud of him for being able to contain the panic and anxiety I know he feels when we leave him! It's like he is finally able to understand that yes, Mom and Dad are leaving, but they are coming back so everything will be okay. Yet another sign to us that his understanding of what is going on continues to expand!