9/17 - The past 2 weeks

So I just realized I haven't posted any pictures of the boys in about 2 weeks. I"m slacking. Actually, I'm still learning how to manage my time since I got the job at UF and am gone a lot more and am so tired. Some of these pictures are actually 2 weeks old. Here is Eli copying me and trying to use the PedEgg. He was so cute. He even tried to do Brad's feet.

Here is Aiden and daddy and Eli playing on the car track I made with painter's tape.

Eli is such a cute little guy. His smile lights up a room.

Eli is starting to enjoy coloring more and is behaving with the markers for the most part. 

These boys are so cute and starting to play together so much more. It's great.

 

The boys love playing in the kitchen in Aiden's sleeping bag and on their blankets. I can't wait until we actually try to camp in the backyard soon when it gets a little less hot and humid.

Last Friday, I went down to St. Pete for the Mary's girls reunion. I got to skype with the boys on Saturday morning and it was great to see them. I even took a picture of us skyping.

Before we left for church last Sunday, the boys thought they would try the gliding discs again. Aiden did pretty good.

Eli could barely stand up on them and it was pretty funny to watch. 

Aiden playing with his crane.

Aiden finally got his bag from AWANA that the rest of his class got in May. You can color the bag and then wash it and it clears again. How fun!

Here is daddy and Eli getting some rough play time in. Eli loves it when Brad throws him on the bed and tickles him.

My cute little Eli.

Eli's last day of daycare at Sunshine Academy was on Friday. He will greatly miss Mrs. Reeva, his primary teacher. He wasn't in the best mood to take pictures when we picked him up but he finally gave us a smile.

Eli really enjoyed it at this daycare. He'll be starting Aiden's daycare on Monday since he turns 2 tomorrow. Hopefully he'll like it there too. We'll see. It's definitely more structured which is great for Aiden but I'm not so sure about Eli.

The boys are still enjoying their train track and doing a great job of playing together.

I made cupcakes for Eli's daycare on Friday to celebrate his birthday and I also made cupcakes this morning for a little gathering we had for Eli's birthday today. We just introduced Aiden to licking beaters and he likes it. He was trying to watch Brad to see how he did and didn't get so messy but Aiden hasn't perfected it just yet.

Aiden also helped daddy fix a table today. Aiden is such a helper. He always helps me with laundry and sometimes with the dishes. This cute big boy has such a huge heart.

I'll post pictures tomorrow from Eli's birthday party. This time 2 yrs ago I started labor pains. I tried so hard to hold off as long as I could but I eventually had to wake Brad up. I'll give a short summary of that tomorrow.

9/12/11 - Club Gymnastics Reunion

On Saturday, we had a reunion for our old club gymnastics coach, Mary Linnemeyer. I reconnected with Mary a few months ago (she lives in Jax) and thought it would be great for all of us to get together. We met in St. Pete at Harvey's 4th Street Grill. There ended up being about 16 girls that came throughout the meeting and about a dozen parents. It was great catching up with everyone. The first picture is Mary with all of the former gymnasts that were there at the beginning of the meeting (around 11:00am).

We also took a picture with the parents and Mary. With as much traveling and time spent with Mary, many of the parents became quite close to her. Oh yeah, Mary is wearing a black shirt, black pants, and has long hair.

As many of the girls and parents will attest, she looks exactly the same as she did 10+ years ago when she coached us. Below is a picture of Breck and I. We were on optional team at the same time.

Below is a group of some of us. I was the oldest one at LaFleur's (it's now called Tampa Bay Turners) and was in a lower level than many of the girls younger than me. I started gymnastics really late and only competed for 5 years (1990 - Level 5; 1991 - Level 6; 1992 - Level 6; 1993 - Level 8 (93/94 was a double season for me), 1994 - Level 9) and then I graduated. Many of the girls in the picture below were in Level 10 for almost as many years as I competed total. Anyway, it was great getting to see everyone. Two of the girls below went you University of Illinois and competed, two went to UF (myself and Krissy - in the gator outfit), and Breck went to Nebraska for a year.

My mom went for part of the time too which was fun. This is a good picture of both of us even though she hates her picture being taken.

Here is one more group shot at the table I was sitting at.

In the picture below is Tiffany, me, and Kelli. We all came from a different gym back in 1991 and were together for a while.

This picture is awesome. Below is myself, Mary, and Kelli. I'll have to post another picture (once I find it) of all of us about 15 yrs ago. Kelli and I were great friends and really competitive. In the year that we competed a double season (August - December for Level 6 and Jan - May for Level 8), we won the awards Optional "Re" and "Pete." One of us would learn a new optional skill and then the other would quickly follow!

And finally, here is a picture of Mary and I. We butted heads because we were both hard-headed but Mary was a good, tough coach. She did make her gymnasts the best they could be. Because I started gymnastics so late, I had lots of learning left so I thankfully got to walk-on to the University of Florida team which I never thought would happen. Level 9's don't go to UF, even to walk-on.

Brad kept the boys by himself from Friday afternoon to Saturday night, which is when I returned. I'll post some pictures of the boys tonight or tomorrow. Eli turns 2 in just a couple days. Where has the time gone??

9/5 - Aiden update

So we had Aiden go through some testing over the past couple weeks. I just feel that in my gut, there is a better way to parent Aiden and his personality. He's such a smart kid and so kind, caring, and sensitive. That said, he's still pretty particular and slightly different. He'd be perfectly happy playing by himself all day and if another kid wanted to join him, that would be fine he he/she played by Aiden's rules. He hates water. We were at a friends house on Friday night and there were 6 kids out swimming and he wanted to stay inside by himself and play. That's Aiden.

Needless to say, the psychologists that tested him said they think he has Sensory Integration Disorder but he needs to be evaluated by an OT. Right now, without the OT testing, they are treating him for being very anxious. They gave us "homework" last week so we could work on his fear and fits about water and even taking a bath. We haven't been able to work on it though because he got huge blisters on the back of his heels from his shoes on Wednesday and the water burns them. His doctor gave us this paper we have to fill out when he throws a tantrum/fit and we have to turn it in on Thursday when we go to this next appointment.

It's now 9/14 and I just realized I never published this. Last weeks appointment went well and gave the doctors a few ideas of how to proceed. Yesterday, Aiden was assigned a case manager on base and the he seems really nice. He's putting in a referral for a sub-speciality for an evaluation from a pediatric developmentalist. It takes a few months to get in but this case manager thinks it's worth the wait. In the meantime, he has sent in an authorization for Aiden to start occupational therapy. Hopefully we can figure out a way to help our huge hearted little Aiden.