8/10 - The Sensory Swing

High on my priority list has been to get some type of swing for smarty pants to help with his sensory issues and be part of his sensory diet. We originally hung up the spandex fabric that I have for a swing in our doorway to the bathroom on our pull-up bar. It works fine for swinging front to back which is what smarty pants likes to do. Crazy boy really enjoyed spinning but that is too tight of a space and I'm scared he is going to hit the wall. 

My hubby and I brainstormed over what else we could do and what options we had. With hubby gone (and unable to build anything), I wanted something that was less than the $250-300 that I could spend buying something on-line that would work inside. So I figured it out when I saw this swing at our local walmart. I bought it, put it together (the pieces that I wanted) in about 30 min (with a 3 and 5 yr old "helping") and then had the boys up and swinging. I was going to get swing that didn't have a support bar across the bottom but when I actually swang on it, I felt like this one was much sturdier and worth the potential accident seeing how I plan on supervising the swinging. I bought a pool noodle to put over the support bar that is towards the back of the swing and used all the seat cushions that came with it as "crash pads" at the bottom. I bought what I call the "pod" at IKEA a few weeks ago for less than $40. I hooked it up the boys loved it. 

I love this because it's inside and the weather and time of day does not interfere with us using it. I had to experiment with the height of the spandex to allow enough room for one of them to fit in it and their bottom not touch the ground but also low enough for smarty pants to be able to get in it and swing regular. The boys love taking turns and pushing it each other. We had to establish some guidelines of how "hard" to push and then when someone says "stop," that means to stop right away. Since both boys were in agreement, they were rules that were not a problem. I actually attached the large clips to the sides where holes were already made in the metal for the actual swing to go. I just tied the fabric in a giant knot and made sure it was secure. 

Twisting is a bit hard to do with the fabric clips that far away but can easily be done with the help of an adult. 

Below is smarty pants swinging by himself.

As for the IKEA pod, that is working out great as well. We put a bean bag in the bottom of it (it has a separate zippered space for some type of cushioning). Because the swing frame is somewhat low (compared to anchoring the pod from the ceiling which is what IKEA had developed it for), I just a knot in the top of the fabric and hang it on one of the huge clips that we have. As for the pod, it is easy for them to push themselves because they can push on the pool-noodle covered bar which works out great when they want to be alone or need a time-out kind of swinging. They also really enjoyed it because it was like a mini zip line and they could slide up and down the length of the swing. I have a pair of large clips that I bought at Home Depot for 99 cents each and have now put those up on the frame when they are in the pod if I am not wanting them to be able to zip up and down. 

I am getting another piece of spandex material and am making a tunnel out of it. I will be also be hanging that and it will be great for them to climb through the tunnel starting at one of the swing and going to the other.    

The more we play with the swing, the more things my son finds to do. He has found he likes to stand up in the pod and swing back and forth. We have also now hung a rope up around the frame and he can pull himself up from the fabric. We are loving this swing and finding so many different ways to use it. I'm so thankful that I can find a way for him to get some of the sensory experiences he needs here at home.

8/8 - Getting adjusted

This first picture is a couple weeks old. The last week we were in Alabama a little girl in Eli's class at daycare got Fifths Disease. I had never even heard of it but did some research and kept my eye open to see if he would get it. We made it past a week or two and figured we were safe. Haha. Not so fast. As a nice kick in the seat pants from the boys' daycare, Eli got it about 3-3.5 weeks after we left AL. He got these little red bumps all over his arms and some on his legs. His cheeks also got crazy pink. In fact, the disease also has a nickname of slap-on-face or something like it because one of the key characteristics is that it looks like somebody slapped him on the cheeks. By the time someone with the disease shows symptoms (especially the rash), it is no longer contagious. He had a very mild fever for 2-3 days before the rash came and I thought perhaps it was an ear infection because his one ear has been bothering him alot. I took him to his primary care to get a physical so he could attend daycare and the dr confirmed the Fifths disease and no ear infection. The last picture in the bottom right cracks me up. I went to go check on Eli before I went to bed and he fell asleep holding his toy water gun. 

We got back from our family vacation on a Saturday late afternoon and then Brad took off 1.5 days later on Monday morning. Here is a picture of Aiden helping Brad tie his motorcycle down in the back of the truck. Aiden was so scared Brad was going to leave without saying good-bye. Once Brad got his bike in the back of his truck (he put his back wheels in the gutter in front of our driveway), he got in it to move it back into the driveway and Aiden flipped out and almost started to cry because daddy was leaving. I had to quickly let him know that daddy was just moving the truck. It's safe to say Aiden is finally at the stage where he really does understand what happens when daddy leaves. Eli clearly does not yet. He didn't even really say bye to Brad because he was getting distracted with a toy. Eli tells me everyday how much he misses daddy and he also asks everyday if daddy is coming tomorrow or soon. Eli has a horrible understanding of time so that doesn't make things any easier. 

The day after daddy left, the boys had a dentist appt. It's been a little too long since they have visited the dentist. The pediatric dentist the boys go to is awesome. Eli went first and he did NOT do such a great job. He started crying a few times but eventually got control of himself. He was super glad when he was done and I never got to take a picture because I was too busy trying to calm him. As for Aiden, they did x-rays and he needed some extra assistance so the assistant helped him while I pushed the x-ray button. Fun! I was shocked she was able to get Aiden to take x-rays. He thought it was way too bright in the chair and they didn't even have the light turned on. He put his sunglasses on and was good to go. He was uncomfortable during the cleaning but totally rocked the cleaning in my book. I thought for sure he was going to gag and almost throw up and be crying and none of that happened. The picture below of Eli cracks me up because you can see a little tear in his eye still from crying. He was smiling in the picture because he was opening his goodie bag and was super excited about his new Diego toothbrush. He thought the dental floss was really fun to pull but has no desire to put it in his mouth at all.

This picture of Aiden cracks me up because he was so excited to make this dinosaur and cut it out and yet his facial expression does not portray that. 

The other day we had fruit kabobs (thanks to mrs. Rusty introducing us to them) at breakfast. I'm getting them used to these so I can rock their world soon and add different kinds of meat!! mwah hahah

I just love that Aiden could sit and listen to someone read his Bible to him all day long. He loves it.

Little Eli ... man does he give me a run for my money. Good thing he is so cute. I don't remember what we were doing put I can only assume that the only reason he has a shirt in his hand is because it's a requirement in our house in order to get food (and Eli loves himself some food). I must say though. For someone who loves food as much as he does, he does not like flavored drinks. It baffles me but I'm okay with it since most drinks that kids (and adults) have are full of sugar anyway. He likes almond milk and water. And special water (water with a little Mio flavoring). He also cannot stand smoothies of any kind. We make green smoothies on a daily or at least every other day basis and he is required to have a sip at least twice a week but he doesn't like them. Even non-green smoothies which have fruit only. He doesn't like those either. Unfortunately, getting him to take any kind of liquid medicine is a nightmare because he doesn't like the taste of anything.

Last week Aiden and I had a knock down drag out fight in the shower. He cried and screamed the ENTIRE TIME. I tried calming him down, giving him options, etc and nothing was going to work. He just (as he put it) "didn't want to get wet." I was going to have them shower together in our massive shower in the master bedroom but made Aiden eventually go to his bedroom because he was crying so much even though he hadn't even gotten in the shower yet. Eli had a blast in his shower and does such a great job. I guess God gave me one child who loves to bath and clean himself with soap because I have another who despises it so much.

In case you were not sure who this is, it's super hero Eli. I can't imagine those jammies actually stayed on during the night but I officially have proof that he does have jammies that fit him; he just usually chooses to not where them. 

On Saturday I took both boys to the pool in the morning. It was fun. Aiden tried to make it miserable by saying he "changed his mind" and wanted to eat his snack at the pool rather than in the van on the way to the pool. He was so upset when I said there was nothing I could do about it this time. He was crying and said he wanted to go back home. I inappropriately asked him if he wanted me to make him throw his bagel back up so he could then re-eat it at the pool. I told him we were not leaving and he could sit and cry in the chair  if he didn't want to come and have fun with Eli and I (see picture of him in chair). I called Eli over to take a picture before I put my phone away and I saw Aiden look at us. I asked if he wanted to be in the picture and he jumped up and came over and put his arms around us. He had a smile on his face for the rest of the pool time.

Eli loves animals. It's unfortunate he thinks they want to play with him and they are perhaps toy to be played with. Here he is with Pouncer after he put his blanket on him and was petting Pouncy on the head.

On Saturday afternoon, Aiden started to get the sniffles a little. I put him to bed at his normal time and then he was up 2 times a coughed a few times and then went back to sleep. About 45 min after he originally went to bed, he was suddenly up and somewhat barking like a seal. He couldn't catch his breathe. It was freaking me out because it wasn't the same thing as when he had croup when he was younger but you could tell he was not able to breathe very well. I ran and got the nebulizer and started to give him a breathing treatment but he hasn't needed one in so long that he freaked out with the noise of the machine and the "smell and taste" of the medicine (according to Aiden). I stopped it and just have him his inhaler. I searched frantically for my stethoscope which hadn't been unpacked yet. I have no idea how parents who don't have a stethoscope and know how to use it survive. Yes I realize that is the majority of the population but I felt like I was flying blind. By the grace of God, I found mine and was able to listen to him. His lungs didn't sound as bad as his cough did so I tried to calm him down (thank you DVR and Handy Manny). I got his breathing under control but it was still labored and I was still feeling borderline about taking him to the ER. I propped him up on the couch and slept near him all night. I had to readjust him a few times because his breathing would get all crazy but we made it through the night. I was so glad my mom was here because it brought peace of mind knowing that I could take him to the ER if needed and Eli would still be okay. We stayed home all day sunday with Aiden. He was breathing better but had a yucky cough. 

Of course the law of life when your hubby is away dictates that both kids will get urgently sick within the first week of being gone so Eli followed suite the next night with the same thing. He was fine and then BOOM, severe coughing bouts. Eli is a little more dramatic but he also has reactive airway disease so I guess he thinks he has the right to be more dramatic. Haha. In order to allow everyone the ability to sleep on Sunday, I eventually brought Eli in to my room and propped him up and he was able to sleep for a little bit (as was I). He felt pretty yucky on Monday but thankfully Aiden was getting better. Eli's sleep has been off for the past few weeks and I'm not sure what is going on. He didn't fall asleep until 1 hr and 50 min into his nap time and I didn't let him very long because I'm trying to get him back on a schedule. That said, the child was complete mush in my arms and didn't want to wake up on Monday. Monday and Tuesday night I (and Eli) didn't get much sleep but hopefully we have his cough under control now and things will start to improve.

We stayed home for a few days so that we wouldn't get anyone sick and we were starting go a little crazy. We got out the store bought play-doh one day and realized it was too hard so we decided to make some new stuff. I love making our own play-doh. It's so easy and pretty quick. It would be such a great sensory experience for the boys to play with it while it's still warm and cooling put .... I don't think that will ever happen. We played with play-doh and put toothpicks in them. Here is the lego man lifting his barbell of play-doh.

This picture to the right makes me smile. Eli is trying to put sunglasses on Pouncer and he's got this devilish smile on his face. I'm starting to see more and more of that crazy devilish smile but he's just too cute.

8/5 - Our vacation to Orlando

So I have some updating to do as usual. We got my mom moved in and had 2 days to enjoy her company before we all left her. Here is the evening before we left. We were having some backyard fun. Since our yard situation is so drastically different from Alabama, we've had to be creative. This is one way that entertained us for a while. Brad is using the stomp rocket and sending missiles upstairs to the balcony to my mom's room. The boys love hanging out up there with her so it was pretty cute.




They tried catching the missiles for a while and then they both actually came down to try and send some rockets up themselves. Aiden did pretty good because he will jump high/hard enough to give the rocket enough ump to send it high enough.


We were pretty excited for Eli this evening because he finally learned how to blow bubbles on a consistent basis. He always blows too hard and can't make bubbles but Nana must have given him some awesome instructions because he finally got it!!!







On Wednesday morning, we packed up and headed to Orlando. We made a quick stop at IKEA and then checked in to our resort. It was called Reunion Resort and it was awesome. We had a 3 bedroom, 3 bath with full kitchen, a huge dining room and living room, and a huge balcony. There were something like 11 pools within the resort. The first day we were there we went to one of the pools and the boys got in the hot tub for the first time. Go ahead and judge me. I was so stinking excited Aiden got in. He is very temperature sensitive and has never gotten more than a toe in the hot tub. I was equally impressed (maybe even more so) with Eli who eventually got in. Eli is way temperature confused (he gets hot and cold mixed up all the time) and sensitive as well. That little guy eventually even got in!! Another highlight of the first day was being able to ride to shuttle (aka rocket bus) with the boys. They were so excited about it. Here they are to the left waiting for the rocket bus to come pick us up. Unfortunately we had to wait 20 min!!



Here are Aiden and Brad relaxing on the balcony. That was the part out of the master bedroom and there was another part with a round table and 4 chairs over by where I was standing taking the picture. Aiden stayed out here during almost the entire nap time just relaxing.

On Thursday, we got up and went to Wet n Wild. The new family splash park was huge. I was a little nervous to see how the boys would respond but they did really well. I was completely blown away with how quickly Aiden adapted and how brave he was to go on the slides. First of all, the water was FREEZING. Also, there was falling/flying water EVERYWHERE. It was a little much but nothing we could do about it. We tried to teach the boys how to go around some of the water or how to block it out of their way and I ended up carrying Eli a lot up the slides. They had a blast. We eventually took them on the lazy river and then we also went down one family ride where we got all got in a huge innertube and went down a ride. We got there right after it opened and stayed until about 12:30. Eli missed his nap the day before and we wanted to get back in time for him to nap this day. 

The boys changed clothes (it was Aiden's idea to bring dry clothes). Here is Eli waiting for Aiden and daddy to come back from changing clothes. As you can see, he was so tired. We headed off for the what seemed like 2 mile walk to the van. Eli was exhausted so I was carrying him. We were almost to the van and it started POURING. I mean POURING. We ran for a bit and then I had Brad and the boys hide out behind a car which blocked a little of the rain and I just took off for the van. I was soaked. I got in and hurried off to pick up the boys. Needless to say, they were wet but not as bad as you would have thought with the amount of rain that came down. We just hung out at the hotel that afternoon and eventually, our friends Arin and Grace came to visit and stay with us for a few days. 

Here is a staple activity when we are on vacation and the environment permits: playing with the sliding glass door. You would think the boys have never seen one with how much fun they can have with a door. 

On Thursday afternoon we went to the water park that is in our resort. It was pretty amazing. It has a water playground type thing, a lazy river, and then a zero entry pool. The kids had a ton of fun playing on Thursday afternoon. Just below is a picture of Brad getting ready to go around the lazy river with the boys. 

The picture below is Aiden doing one of the shape puzzle (like tangrams) that I brought.

On Friday morning, we headed off to the Rooftop pool. Aiden had been asking to go see this pool when he heard us talking about it. I must say, it was a pretty amazing pool. Here is the view from the pool on the right. 

The kiddos were all ready to go swimming. Eli just loves his floaty and his arm bands and thinks he is such a big boy now. 

On Friday early afternoon, our friends (and Aiden's former therapist - The Beckers) came over. They were also vacationing in Orlando (from Alabama) and we decided to hang out for a few hours. We headed down the resort water park. Eli and Brad stayed back for a while so Eli could nap and the rest of us went on down to the water. It was a great time. To the right is a picture of Rusty and I.

And here is Arin and little Ms. Grace.

Eli of course had a great time and loved going down the lazy river with no inner tube and just floating down in his water wings and vest.












Brad was a great daddy as usual and the boys enjoyed playing bumper boats with him with their inner tubes.

Aiden had worn himself completely out and didn't have the energy the to walk home. Luckily for him, Rusty is a sucker and carried him the whole way home. He really does love this sweet woman though :)

And this last picture ... well, I had to include this for me. To many of you, it may just be a picture of 2 drenched gals. For me, it makes me laugh and smile. Rusty is one of 2-3 people I know who could totally work this picture if I put it on Facebook. I love the lactating mom look!

Below you can see that Brad has turned Aiden in to a burrito. When Brad learned from Rusty that doing that was actually really good for him, he took full advantage of that :)









And the picture below: two boys enjoying their iPads.





Overall, it was a great vacation and it really fun to see and hang out with friends. I will update the blog again soon. We were home for one day and then Brad took off for a few months. Ahh the life of a Navy family.