Busy November/December continues!

It's weird when you can say that things will slow down closer to Christmas, but strangely that is how it is for us this year:-/. I had a great girls trip to Las Vegas, we saw some shows and ate some good food. Sadly it wasn't super warm so we didn't get a lot of pool time, but I did sit in the hot tub a few times! As soon as I was back, it was time to get the house ready for Brian's parents who arrived the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Brian's dad graciously put most of my new closet organizer together (so exciting!) and we had Thanksgiving at the Daveys house. After Thankgiving we put up our (new) tree, did some shopping, went to see "Wonder" with Lynsey since she was really wanting to watch it. It was a fun week! All the while our vacation to Costa Rica was fast approaching but up until the day we left it didn't feel real . . . too much going on! I'll do a separate post(s) about our trip, but we had a great time:-).

We got back really late Tuesday and Brian's parents stayed until Thursday. We had Brian's work Christmas party last night, which is the final big thing on our schedule for now. Unless you count Adam's IEP meeting, which is happening next week. Adam's problem behavior at school has continued to happen (him going after the teacher and trying to grab her head or otherwise disrupt her while she's teaching). We have gained some more insight into why this is happening through some people from his team observing as well as Brian a few weeks back. The teachers still seem to think it's attention seeking when it is obvious to us and to Adam's ABA team that he is trying to avoid all the prompting (over prompting) he is receiving from his aides. Apparently they are using a lot of physical prompts, moving his hands/body to the position they want it to be in. I am not at all surprised that he is responding very negatively to this! Long story, but our ABA team has been so proactive and have even called upon some pretty high up administrative type people to come to Adam's IEP meeting next week (the school psychologist called me and didn't seem overly thrilled that we were requesting them, maybe it looks bad for her? I just want the best resources dealing with this, so her feelings aren't exactly top on my priority list!).

I truly believe his classroom teachers are doing the best they can, but I hope they will be open to new ways of handling Adam in the classroom. When I hear that he is getting stressed at snack time because they aren't properly helping him peel his orange, it infuriates me. Is it annoying that he keeps asking for you to repeat things? Of course it is - we get frustrated, too. But that doesn't mean you don't do it and help him when he needs help. Apparently they are just physically putting his hands on his orange thinking that somehow this will just spur him into action and he will start peeling and eating his orange like a typical child would. I have been sending him oranges because 1. it's one of the 3 fruits that he actually eats and 2. I just assumed someone was helping him peel them. It's hard for me to hear how they are handing him at school, hopefully some changes will come about with this IEP meeting and the behavior assessment that we requested.

Anyway, that's a little glimpse of what's going on with Adam! We were still able to relax and enjoy our vacation, although this was always in the back of our minds. Mark and Frances fared quite well with the kids over all, Lynsey actually missed us the most! We ended up having to chat with her a few times a day because she was missing us. Nathan didn't much care at all that we were gone, he was too busy building cardboard boats and planes with Grandpa! Adam had some stressed moments but all in all, I think he handled things pretty well. Now I have to focus on Christmas shopping, as our kids will have to open our gifts to them next weekend already. I can't believe our Christmas trip is almost here! I love all the fun things that have been going on, but a boring January is sounding pretty good to me right now!:-)

Our oldest is in the double digits!

Mid November is upon us and life has been busy! We had Halloween and harvest parties, Lynsey's birthday, Brian's work trip . . . lots going on!

For Lynsey's birthday present, we decided to get her a hamster. I found a cute one at the pet store and they wouldn't let me put it on hold, so we decided to give it to her early (the Monday before her birthday). She was pretty happy about it to say the least! This hamster (Luna is her name) still won't let anyone hold her and Lynsey is getting a bit discouraged about that, but we are encouraging her to be patient and keep trying gradually to get close to her. Hopefully it pays off soon! 

Halloween went pretty well, Adam went to a few houses again this year. He seems to understand the concept of trick or treating, maybe next year he will have more longevity! The pumpkin carving the night before was a bit of a bust because it was the same day we gave Lynsey her hamster so she wasn't all that interested in the carving. Brian and I ended up doing most of it. I was pretty proud of my Oilers logo (I also did the Seahawks one). I think next year we will just get three pumpkins!

Another interesting thing that happened that week is that Adam lost one of his canine teeth at school! Finally his tooth pain seems to be gone, so strange that he lost that tooth so early. It had a huge root! He was just sitting at his table and suddenly remarks, "Oh your tooth is gone" and there it was in his hand. Such low drama, is he even related to his older sister?? Anyway, so glad his tooth pain is gone for now!

Another one of Lynsey's birthday presents was getting her ears pierced. She had waffled a bit on doing it because she was afraid of it hurting, but she did say on the day I was going to take her (Thursday) that she wanted to go for it so I took her to a tattoo and piercing shop in Bellevue. Let's just say that was a very testing experience. I understand why people get their babies ears pierced before they know what's going on. Or go to those mall kiosks where they have two guns and just get them done at the same time. This place had a great environment, very sterile, very professional, beautiful earrings (pricey but worth it I suppose!). The guy that was doing the piercing was very patient and friendly, much more so than me 45 minutes in, let me tell you. She finally let him do the first one and then started hyperventilating over letting him do the second one. I kept my cool for the most part, but by the end I was practically begging the guy to just do it - I was seriously starting to think we were going to walk out of there with one earring if he was going to wait until SHE told him she was ready! Ugh. Eventually she steeled herself and we got the other one done, thank goodness. The joys of parenthood sometimes!

Lynsey's birthday was on Friday, but we had her party on Saturday (I went to Jen Hatmaker and Nicole Nordeman on Friday which was amazing!). She had 7 friends over for pizza, games and a movie. 4 of them stayed for a sleepover. It all went pretty well considering how many of them there were. The next morning it had snowed so the girls all went outside to play in the snow. Thank goodness for our Canadian preparedness, we were able to get most of the girls suited up with mitts and even boots in some cases! They had breakfast and then they were off. 

Brian was also leaving that morning for his trip to Indonesia so we drove him to the airport. This last week and a half without him had challenging moments, but all in all it went pretty well. All the kids were a bit emotional by the end, Adam was a bit extra repetitive, but we survived! Did a few puzzles (I think I'm getting Lynsey interested, fingers crossed!) but other than that, nothing really out of the ordinary. I did take them out for dinner once and that went pretty well. Tomorrow I get my break by going to Las Vegas until Sunday with 3 of my good friends! I am so looking forward to it! I get back on Sunday and then Brian's parents come out on Tuesday, and then the following Monday, Brian and I leave for Costa Rica! I can't believe it's this close already, time has flown by!