Mrs. Inna

One thing I've learned through our journey with autism is there is ALWAYS something in which to be thankful. I am always thankful when Evan achieves a goal after a lot of hard work, learns a new skill, speaks more words, and the list goes on and on.

There is no question in my mind that God has had His hand on us every step of the way. He has blessed us with a physician that is supportive and respectful of the research and opinions we have (one that doesn't force us into vaccinations that we truly feel are linked to Evan's autism but is willing to listen and help us with an alternate plan). He has provided us with a school that has been great. Evan has had some wonderful teachers, and there is no doubt in my mind that starting him at this school the month before he turned two has made all the difference in his progress. We have been blessed with some amazing therapists, most of which we have become extremely attached (one we even took on vacation with us once after she wasn't his therapist anymore).

Today, I had to say good-bye to one our most favorite therapists Evan has ever had. Mrs. Inna has been Evan's Physical Therapist for about three years. In that time, she has taught him SO much! She taught Evan to ride his tricycle and now almost has him riding his bicycle and so, so much more. Inna even helped us after Ella Grace's broken leg. In no time, she had Ella's leg strong enough for her to start walking.

Inna is so special to us. I wanted to share a little more about her besides the fact that she is an amazing Physical Therapist. Inna is from Russia. She has an accent that I LOVE! One day, we were talking about her family, and I asked her how she met her husband. She told me that he had gone on a mission trip to Russia and she was his interpreter. She said that is how she became a Christian! They kept in touch after his trip, and I guess the rest is history. They now have two beautiful daughters that look just like her.


Inna was so supportive of our family while Derek was deployed. However, in our many conversations about how Derek was doing, she never told me that her own husband was deployed stateside. I didn't find this out until later. After 9/11, her husband joined the Army. He was an attorney and now works for the JAG helping deployed soldiers with their paperwork, which I know since going through our deployment is an extremely important job. He had been gone in another state serving for a year and came home for about two months until he decided to volunteer to help if he was needed. After being apart and not knowing how long her husband will be away, they have decided to move with him so they can be together again as a family. I certainly can't blame her. I would have done the exact same thing. She, however, is leaving behind a church, community and job she loves. I am so sad to see her go.

I went by today to tell her good-bye. Inna is absolutely, without a doubt, one of THE sweetest people I have ever met in my life. Not only did she help E & EG with therapy, she showed them love all the time. She is so kind, patient and caring. She has beautiful blond hair that she continuously grows for "Locks of Love." Countless times I have thanked her for helping my children, and her reply was often, "I am so thankful to God for her progress," never taking the credit herself. She is truly beautiful, both inside and out.

Thank you, Inna! You will always have a special place in our hearts. We will miss you!

How Sweet!

Ya'll my heart has been so touched! Two of my newest and sweetest blogging buddies Audrey and Rachel have been so sweet to give me an award.

Thank you so much, Audrey and Rachel, for thinking of me and totally making my day with this honor! If you haven't read either of their blogs yet, you should definitely check them out. Both of them are so cute and oh so talented. Audrey also has an Evan and has a background in helping children with autism, so needless to say she touched my heart immediately. I am convinced Rachel can do anything and is pretty much Martha Stewart (just a much more beautiful version). Oh, and they both have the cutest little boys! You should definitely stop by and visit them!

So, here is what I'm supposed to do...

1. Put the logo on your blog.

2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.

3. Nominate at least seven other blogs.

4. Add links to those blogs on your blog.

5. Leave a message for your nominee on their blog.

I absolutely LOVE all of you on my blog roll. I check on you every day (sometimes two times...ha)! This time I'm passing it on to others I haven't sent awards to before. I wish I could send it to all of you, but I guess I actually should get some housework done today. :)

I pass on the love to...

1) Becky. Becky is adorable! I love reading her blog. She has a beautiful family and she and her husband are always on an adventure. She's expecting grandchild number three any day now.

2) Betsy. Betsy is so sweet and has such a great family. She is the mom of four great kids. She is the kind of mom I strive to be. Plus, she is a teacher and just SO CUTE!

3) Heather. Heather has to be one of the strongest women I have ever met. She shares her heart and I can ALWAYS relate to her and ALWAYS feel uplifted after I read her blog. She is amazing!

4) Kelly. I adore Kelly and have ever since we lived together at OBU. I know she has been like the most awarded blogger ever, and rightfully so. She has THE best blog! I admire Kelly so much. Her faith is amazing! I am so excited about little Baby H that is on his (I think she's having a boy) way! What a lucky baby to have her as his mom.

5) Melissa. Wow! I love Melissa's blog. She actually has two. One is about her family and the other is "Amazing Kids," a blog devoted to children with special needs. Plus, she has started a special needs ministry at her church, so I hope to learn a lot from her as I try to help our church with one.

6) Michelle. Michelle is my childhood friend. I have known her since I was five. Even though I still see her at least once a month, it has been so fun to check in on her through her blog. It's like seeing her every day! She has two cute kids and she is a great mom who always has fun activities planned for them. Plus, she home schools. Need I say more?

7) Traci. Traci is an amazing mom who also has a child with autism. I adore reading about her children and all the progress her precious son is making. She is truly an inspiration.

Love you all!

She's a Dipper; He's a Streaker

Ella Grace is a fan of condiments. She loves anything she can dip her food in...honey mustard, ranch dressing, or her favorite, ketchup. Derek took us to eat Mexican food Sunday night and the girl put some hurt on some cheese dip. Actually, that is all she ate. I loved her concentration as she dipped her chip and then ran it across the side of the bowl so it didn't drip. I made some smaller chip pieces for her and put them on a napkin, but she was having none of that. She wanted the big chips. I guess as it should be. She is a big girl after all, as she now refuses to sit in a high chair at restaurants.

Evan has had THE best time with this Mickey Mouse sprinkler my mom and dad got him for his birthday. The other night, he was running and jumping through the sprinkler and then going to his trampoline to jump around and then back to the sprinkler. Well, when he was finished with the sprinkler, Derek put it away and came inside (I was out buying school supplies). After a few minutes, Derek looked out to check on Evan, and Evan was butt naked jumping on the trampoline. I guess his wet swimsuit was slowing him down. :) We have a privacy fence, but our neighbors sure would have gotten a sight as he jumped up, as you can see him over the fence. He was having the biggest time out there jumping around in all his glory! We didn't take a picture of his streaking. Nobody needs to see all that. Ha!

I had to include this pic, too. I sure wish I was this cute in a bikini! EG is not big on the sprinkler.

The Blogging Connection

I just love blogging. I have made so many new friends I probably would never have met otherwise!

A while back, I met Becky. She and her daughter are friends of my friend, Jill. One day before Derek and I left for the mall, I had been on Jill's blog and visited a link to Cortney. Well, that afternoon at lunch at Chik-fil-a, guess who we sat by...Cortney and Becky. I told them I thought I knew them from blogging and sure enough we all recognized each other. I have been keeping up with them through their blogs and last night ran into Cortney at Target. I also got to meet Becky's other daughter Casey, who I felt like I had already met anyway because I had read about her. Ha! Becky and her girls are SO sweet and I'm so glad I got to meet them. Plus, I had been in this dilemma about if Evan was too big to have his backpack monogrammed this year for Kindergarten. Thank goodness Cortney helped me solve my dilemma right there in Target since she has one starting Kindergarten, too. We both agreed they are not too big for monograms! :)

Today, I went over to Jamie's house for a Chez Ami clothing party. I "met" Jamie first through blogging. She was a friend of Kelly's. Then, I happened to run into her at a restaurant one evening and recognized her right away from her blog! Since then, we have emailed some and hope to get our kids together soon for a playdate. She is also SO sweet and has the cutest little kids ever. I'm so excited about the outfits I got for Evan and Ella Grace for Fall. They will probably end up on a Christmas card! :)

I got this shirt for Evan with his monogram. I thought I could get away with this one without Derek freaking out too bad. Derek did not like it one bit when I put Evan in a Peter Pan collared shirt for his first Christmas. That is a whole other post. :)

I got this jumper for EG with her monogram in brown (instead of the apples) and the little striped turtleneck. I did not get the tights though.

I got this sweater for Ella Grace in pink with lime green monogram of "EG" on it, of course.

Ella had the best time at Jamie's because there were a lot of other children there. I snapped this picture of EG and A, Jamie's daughter. They were both pretty excited about seeing Barney. Thanks so much for having us, Jamie. We had a great time and I can't wait until Fall to dress E and EG in their new duds!

Shopping for clothes for my kids is my favorite thing to do! I love to plan outfits for seasons and holidays. How about you? Where are your favorite places to shop for the little ones in your life?

Just Some Old Pictures

I was going through this little album of old pictures my mom made for me recently. I always tease her that there are only eight pictures of me from when I was little. Maybe I exaggerate a little because I think actually there may be 12. Ha! I guess my mom was just a tad busy raising three girls.

I came across these pictures and they cracked me up that my sisters and I have these inner tubes on in a baby pool, especially how gigantic mine is.

I also just love this picture. My mom was (and still is) so beautiful. She was such a great mom. I think I kind of look like EG in this picture. I'm first on the left. :)

We are taking the kids swimming today and having a cook-out with my family. I hope you all have a GREAT Saturday.

Puppies and Trucks

It's hard to believe that I'm already starting to plan Ella Grace's "bigger girl" room. I'm going to try to keep her in her crib as long as possible, but I have a feeling I better be ready in about 4-6 months for her to be in a bigger bed. Therefore, I'm starting now...planning on a sweet room for a sweet girl. My sister still has a chest from when she and I shared a room as little girls. It is a beautiful piece of furniture...an antique that has a built in jewelry box at the top. When I was last at her house, she told me she was getting rid of it. I asked her if I could have it, and she gladly said yes. So, I'm going to get it repaired and painted pink or off-white depending (it is stained brown now). I think it will be sweet for Ella to have something of mine from when I was a little girl. I have vivid memories of that chest.

All of this planning, plus the excitement around Kelly and Sarah's new babies, has gotten me all sentimental about my own babies' rooms. I am extremely sentimental anyway, but when it comes to my babies growing up...oh my! I started thinking about Evan's little nursery. I loved that room. The theme of the room was puppies and trucks. We had an artist come in and paint trees and a puppy on the wall along with his name. She also painted some art for the wall above his chest.

I think why I loved this room so much, especially thinking about it now, is because it was before autism, before we had so many worries, before that terrible diagnosis. I just remember playing for hours in the floor of that room with my sweet boy without a care in the world. I loved watching Evan look out his huge picture window waiting for cars and trucks to pass by. We spent a lot of time in there. It was just a sweet, pure time. A time I'll always treasure.

These pictures really do not do the nursery justice. I scanned these pictures from Evan's baby book. Everything was inspired from his bedding. I loved that the puppy's collar said "EH". I never really noticed it before, but you can tell how well loved those wooden blinds were from Evan looking out of that window all the time. :)

I'm sure Derek would agree that it was a great nursery. However, when we got ready to move and the older lady that bought our house didn't have a need for a puppy dog on the wall, Derek came up with the rule for there to never ever be another mural on a wall. It was terribly hard to paint over for some reason.

One of my other favorite things in his room was this rocking truck. This picture was taken in the living room for a Christmas card, not taken in his room, but this truck sat in front of that big picture window that Evan loved and had puppies in it of course.

Evan age 9 months

If I had anything to tell new mommies, it would be to make your baby's nursery the one of your dreams. You will never regret it. It is such a sweet time and you will make a lot of wonderful memories there loving on your sweet baby.

Awww, I think I need to have another one!

JUST KIDDING!!!

Week End Wrap Up

This week has been like a whirlwind! It has been busy and stressful, so I decided I would use the gift certificate Derek gave me for our anniversary and cash in my pedicure. It was really a relaxing experience. The salon has a private room, so I was the only one in there. I really wish I would have picked a different color. You know, sometimes it's just hard to tell from the bottle. This color ended up really dark and I'm more of a pink kind of girl. Nonetheless, I enjoyed myself, especially at the end where she poured wax from a soy candle and rubbed on my feet and legs. That was wonderful. However, I don't really recommend going to the mall after you've had your feet rubbed down with wax. It makes walking in sandals a bit challenging! I'm sure people were wondering what was wrong with me as I tried to walk without losing my sandals!

I went to the mall to shop at Gymboree, my favorite children's store, to cash in my Gymbucks. I got Ella Grace two new outfits and got Evan a jacket for Fall long with the rest of his uniform clothes and several shirts for Fall. I got a REALLY good deal. I got all of that and wasn't out much money at all, and for Gymboree that is good!

I had just enough time after that to pick up lunch for Derek and me (he had stayed home with EG), and then I was off to take Evan to a doctor's appointment. We were there FOREVER. Really, we were there for three hours and probably two and a half of that was waiting. It was terrible. Evan was a real trooper though, and thank goodness the office had just gotten new fish tanks. That saved the day!

Evan checking out the fish tank.

Then, after all of that, I had just enough time to get home and get ready for Girls Night Out, one of my favorite nights of each month. We had plans to go to one of the newest restaurants here, but it was packed, so we went to another restaurant that is also very good. The food was wonderful, but I enjoyed the company more. I laughed so much...I always do with them. Oh, how I needed it!

My girls...Suzanna, Tina, Michelle, Abby, Kim, me, Toni, and Abby. Morgan, we missed you!

After dinner, we went to see Mama Mia. It was really a cute movie. However, I think we all agreed that we rather see Pierce Bronson as 007 rather than singing in a musical. He was still pretty to look at though. :)

This is me and Tina in the movie theater. Tina was my very best friend in high school. There really isn't a memory of high school that I have that doesn't have her in it.

Derek had drill this weekend, so I was busy here at the house by myself trying to keep Evan and Ella Grace entertained. Saturday night our church was having the "soft opening" of our new campus. It was so beautiful and there were SO many people there. I am so excited about the opportunities that are going to be there for Evan and Ella Grace as they learn to love Jesus. I am also excited about the possibility of a special needs ministry there. I am going to start praying now for how I can help. Being a leader is definitely not my thing, but I can follow directions well and of course loving on the kids is the easy part. For so long, we have had such a hard time knowing what to do with Evan at church. Our new church instantly paired him up with a buddy, who just happened to be a speech therapist, who also just happened to be someone I already knew! That was such a relief! There is definitely a need for a special needs ministry. I know we can't be the only parents out there that have struggled with finding a church home that will also minister to our special needs child. I'm ready to dive in and serve.

Sunday we played while Derek was at drill, and then, while he was on his way home, our power went out. It seems to goes out a lot! Urgh! It was 103 degrees, so the house heated up REALLY quickly. We went out to dinner to return home to power. It was only on for about an hour and then it was off again until about 10:30. It is so frustrating. As difficult as it was for us, I couldn't help but think about all of the neighbors around ue that have newborns and had no way to warm a bottle, plus the heat! I can't imagine how miserable they must have been. I sure take AC for granted!

What a week! Here's to what I hope is a more relaxing one! I hope you are off to a great week, too!