Ok so it's been forever since I updated

Well, I suppose I should update once in awhile for the one reader that I have, LOL. So let's do a three month summary of everything that has been going on, followed by a whole bunch of pics...

Me - Well, I had a hair coloring fiasco, and instead of getting chocolate brown I now have jet black hair. It's faded a little since I initially colored it, but I have had a few people comment on how "goth" it looks, LOL. Other than that, things have been going good. Hit a little lull in the freelance business, so have been stepping out into the world of bidding on projects myself.

George has been busy with work. Not a whole lot new going on there (and he doesn't like me talking about him online anyways!)

Jasmine is in the second half of the year of preschool. She really enjoys it. They are starting to learn about letters and the sounds they make, so she is constantly asking us about what letter a word begins with. We are planning on putting her in kindergarten (homeschooling) next year.

Athena is doing much better. Hard to believe she is two! She is walking well and talking better. Still very much a drama queen about anything that doesn't go her way or is out of the ordinary.

Shane is getting so big - hard to believe he will be a year old as of the end of this month. He's definitely developing a personality and tends to be a bit of a mama's boy. He's pulling up to stand and starting to cruise a little - hopefully he'll walk sooner than the girls.

Here's pics, since I know that is the real reason why you read....

Our Very Merry Christmas, Not So Happy New Year, and Shane's 9 Month Checkup

Wow, just under two weeks since I last posted and it is ridiculous what has been going on since then. So here is everything to catch you up.

Christmas was wonderful. As usual, you can see pictures at the end of the post. Jasmine was finally old enough to get excited about the big day. Her "auntie" Christine brought her and her sister chocolate Advent calendars from Germany, so she got a big kick out of getting that little piece of chocolate every night and waiting for the bigger piece on Christmas Eve. Athena wasn't too sure what was going on, though by the last couple of presents she started to get into it. Shane just enjoyed being the center of attention. We decided to do birthday cake for Jesus instead of Santa, and as you can see Athena was a bit enthused by the decision! And YES, those are pigtails!

Later in the evening Shane started becoming a bit wheezy. If you recall, he had an episode back in October, so we already had a inhaler on hand to start treating him. He didn't get better overnight, so we headed off to the pediatrician, and after a couple of treatments there he earned himself an ambulance ride to the hospital. Long story short we ended up spending the next three days and three nights there getting him better again.

To add to the holiday "fun" we apparently brought home a bit of a stomach bug. Nothing like having multiple children puking at the same time to really define the word "parenthood" for you! Needless to say New Year's resulted in everyone going to bed early - we didn't even stay up to watch the ball drop on TV this year.

Today was Shane's 9 month appointment, and thankfully a bit of good news. For those of you keeping track of his stats he is now 19 pounds, 2 ounces (30th percentile), 29.5" tall (90th percentile), and 18.75" head circumference (>95th percentile). That's up a bit in percentiles for height and weight and pretty consistent for his head circumference. Guess he is going to be another tall, skinny one!

He also earned himself his own nebulizer to use at home. Basically it will be two inhaled treatments twice a day as a preventative for any future episodes. Sure beats another trip to the hospital! They will not officially diagnose kids with asthma until after the age of two, but there is a good chance that if he continues on he will be diagnosed with it.

Anyways, here are the pics you've all been waiting for:

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Well, it has been a busy couple of weeks here. Hard to believe that it is only a couple of days until Christmas.

George is busy with work - the holiday season keeps everyone busy. We had the company Christmas party last Wednesday. The kids came along - surprisingly everyone was pretty well behaved. Jasmine played with everyone, Shane tolerated being passed around, and even Athena made a friend - can we say future baby sitter?

Jasmine is all done with school now until next year. They had a sing-a-long on the last day, with plenty of cookies. I'm going to attempt to download the video of jingle bells. Bear with me, I'm still learning how to use the video function on my camera and get things online!

Athena is now officially walking. Which thrills her therapists to no end - we will be discharged from physical therapy at her next appointment. On the other hand it now takes three times a long for us to get anywhere - so hard for those short little legs to keep up!

Shane did not enjoy the weaning process - it took him nearly 24 hours to decide that he liked the bottle - but he seems to be doing much better now. His current favorite pastime is trying to get into the Christmas tree.

Not sure how much the kids are or aren't anticipating Christmas this year. "Auntie" Christine brought them German advent calendars, so they are really enjoying the chocolate at least!

Here's wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!

Let it snow!

Well, it looks like we are in the midst of our first "real" winter snowfall today. Not all lake effect either. I guess we'll have to see how it goes.

Thanksgiving went well for us. We did a turkey breast and all the sides. Shane loved mashed potatoes and gravy!

Jasmine is enjoying school. They are now in the middle of Christmas projects and learning carols for the sing a long right before Christmas.

Athena is doing better, and she is walking more now. Our OT appointment got rescheduled for this week, so we'll see what they say then. She remains a very picky eater and is always fighting with her sister!

Shane is doing ok. He's not gaining as much weight as they would like him to, so he will be starting formula this week. Unfortunately that means we have to wean him, since he won't take a bottle otherwise.

Some new pictures for you...

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

Yup, it has happened. We got our first sticking snowfall of the season. Yuck. Though I suppose we were due for it being that it is the middle of November and all. Jasmine of course is THRILLED to see it. Right now it is not much more than a dusting, you can still see the tops of the grass and all, but it is a sign of things to come.

And now for the catch up on everyone...

Shane is feeling much better now and off the inhaler. He's put weight back on too, which is a good thing. A not so good thing (for mommy at least!) is that he is figuring out how to do the army crawl. He's not able to go too far yet, but just far enough to start getting into trouble. Won't be too much longer and he'll be off chasing his sisters!

Athena was officially diagnosed as being "sensory defensive" last week. That is a form of SPD where she is more sensitive to outside stimulus, in her case mostly touch. For those of you that didn't read my earlier post, the therapist explained it is like that feeling you get when you are sitting in a dark room watching a scary movie and someone comes up behind you and taps you on the shoulder and you jump out of your skin. Except for her it is like that all the time, making her very anxious about places, people, and activities that she doesn't know. To be fair, George doesn't agree with this diagnosis. He personally thinks that she just likes her personal space and is a little stubborn and strong-willed. So I guess we'll see how things go. For the next two weeks we are using Wilbarger protocol of brushing and joint compressions. This means brushing her with a surgical brush several times a day. The idea is that this stimulates the nerves to cause the body to produce more endorphins to help relax her and cause her to feel less threatened by her situation.

Outside of her diagnosis she is definitely becoming a little girl. She is starting to talk more, loves dress up, and thinks that the slide at Jasmine's playground is the greatest thing since mac and cheese.

Jasmine is still enjoying school, though they will be off next week for Thanksgiving. She has learned to write her name now and has been bringing home some cute projects.

George and I have been busy with the usual work and parenting things, not too much exciting going on around that end. Christmas is coming up, so we are considering how to decorate the apartment for the holidays, as well as what should go on the shopping lists. George really wants a train to put around the Christmas tree, so if anyone knows a good place to find one of those, let me know. The only hobby shop around here locally closed down last year, and we haven't had a chance to check out good old Wally World for one yet.

And as always, here are some pictures for you to enjoy:

No Fun Being Sick!

So, everyone this week managed to come down with a cold. Not much fun for anyone involved. But here is an update on everything else that has been going on.

Shane got the cold the worst of us, and had a little bit of chest congestion. So he earned himself a trip to the doctor office and an inhaler to take home. Thankfully the medication worked and he is on the mend now.

Athena got the cold too, but it just wiped her out for a couple of days and made her very whiny! Thankfully we have one bit of good news - she passed her speech evaluation! She is testing as having her skills emerging at an 18-21 month level, which is good enough to not need additional therapy. She'll have a re-evaluation after the first of the year. Swim therapy keeps getting pushed back, but hopefully we will get to start that in a next couple of weeks.

Jasmine had to miss a day of school this week because of her cold, but other than that she is doing well. They had great fun making spider hats for Halloween, and she has been wearing it around the house telling everyone she is "spider Jasmine."

Work has been keeping me busy, and add in the extra appointments and there goes the free time! For my "fun" work, don't forget to check out the congo! You can find it here: http://hyenacart.com/TheWholeSHEBang/ and we will be having a special stocking this month for the congo's birthday!

With everyone being ill, I haven't gotten any good new pictures. But here is Jasmine in her hat and mittens - yes, it has gotten cold enough to have to wear those now!

Fall Fun

Can you believe that the month of October is almost over? Hard to believe that we are just two short months away from Christmas already! We were out shopping yesterday and the stores are starting to put out their Christmas decorations...

Not a whole lot new has been going on around here. School and work keep us busy and in the interim there are always plenty of things to do. However we did get a chance to go out and enjoy the fall weather this past weekend. A little on the cool side, but sunny. Many of the trees still have their fall color, and we let Jasmine pick out a pumpkin. Shane and Athena weren't too enthused about it!

So some pics for you to enjoy of our day at Patterson Fruit Farm: