Ha, maybe it's time for a bit of a catch up, no?
Our twins are four years old, y'all. FOUR years old. Fournagers I like to call them, particularly little miss Boo Bear talks-back-a-lot. These days are filled with entertainment! Lots of learning moments on all of our parts. Plenty of giggles. A good amount of stubbornness. A pinch of sass alongside some solid tears and some big fat crocodile ones, too. Oh yes, this all includes our big little man as well. He's not exempt from his fair share of sass and stubbornness. Heaven forbid!
Oh, but the entertainment. Our two have the best belly laughs you've ever heard, and they absolutely beg for "more tickles! More and more tickles" at every opportunity. We've got some epic story telling from our little miss and some adorable silly faces from big bubba. Particularly his pouty face, oh my!
Both kids are in preschool. Caleb is in his second year at the public school special Ed preschool and Grace is in her first year at a little private preschool about ten minutes from our house. She couldn't love it any more. She's made great friends, completely trusts her teachers, and is loving to learn. Everything I could have hoped for! Caleb spends a lot of his days in reactive mode trying to avoid meltdowns but he has a full-time aide at school now and gets plenty of care and attention to help him get the most out of his couple of hours at school. The kids are in opposite schedules, each at school three days a week for about 3 hours, but never at the same time. It gives me more individual time with each of them, which I love, but no free time. One more year of preschool after this then it's off to Kindergarten and I'll get some alone time! #iswearimnotcountingdown
My days are spent shuttling around a bit, cleaning and cooking less than that, but mostly managing Caleb's care. It's a lot of time on the phone with insurance agencies, doctors offices, therapy agencies, and equipment providers. It's even more time in conversation, on email, and texting with actual therapists, supervisors, doctors, and nurses. There's the posting for, interviewing, filling out paperwork for, and training each and every new therapist...multiples times per year. It's a lot of extra time organizing schedules, provider and therapy hours, goals, program updates, equipment, technology, and behavioral modifications, and research. Oh the research!
See, Caleb is our mystery man. He's always keeping us guessing and questioning. So, a lot of time is spent speculating, researching said speculation, and putting together new ideas to assess and address said speculation. From continuous fevers to a lack of sweating and stagnant development, there's always something to ponder over with our little dude. It keeps me on my toes...and usually my A game.
They are both also in swim lessons in addition to school, and they love it. Oh the illogical pride I feel when I see my daughter swim across the pool and my son float on his back with no help! Takin' after their mama, heck yeah!
Caleb is also doing music therapy, speech therapy, feeding therapy, occupational therapy, and physical therapy 1-2 times per week each, on top of 40 hours of habilitation focused on basic life skills like waiting, playing, communicating, washing hands, holding hands, and seeking help. He's a busy guy! We're very lucky to have all of the help we have to keep Caleb engaged. The new goal for 2016 is to try to find more happiness for Caleb, be it through decreased goals and demands, increased "play", some form of medication to help with his sleep, attention deficit, self injury, and possible seizures, or some combination therein. He's happiest when in or playing with water, running free outside, listening to his music of choice, eating, being tickled, riding roller coasters, or meeting Mickey and Minnie Mouse. So...more of any of that is in our plans this year!
Grace is happiest when coloring, painting, making up and telling stories, singing, eating any and all sugar, going on dates with mommy, daddy, or the whole family, playing dress up, petting dogs, meeting and playing with friends, watching Disney movies and shows, eating peas, playing with her cousins, and hanging with nana and papa, preferably at the cabin. So, hopefully more of that in 2016, too!
A lot has happened in the last two and a half years. We've had surgeries, MRI's, splinters, splinter fairies, first steps, first falls down the stairs, hospital stays, promotions, new jobs, quitting jobs, leg braces, eye patches, vacations, diets, first bikes, dates, getaways, work trips, lost therapists, new therapists, first trips to the movies, first words, potty training, thousands of diapers, meltdowns from each of us, counseling, a new church, new friends, lots of laughs, too many tears, new diagnoses, denial, anger, pleading, acceptance, and some peace. #kindabored
I'm looking for more acceptance and peace this year. I'm hoping to create some more organization in our lives/home/paperwork...etc, get back into working out 5 days per week, and build a lot more beautiful memories. I'm hoping to document 2016. I'm not jumping on the crazy train again to commit to every day this year, but I think I'll do another monthly goal each month and try to stick to it. So, without further ado, I'll be spending the month of January documenting each day, catching you all up on our world, capturing the madness of this life so I don't forget as I prematurely and rapidly age...
Wish me luck, and welcome back to All Things Haley!
Aaaaand now for some photos!
Grace's first preschool field trip to the farm!
Snuggles!
Preschool Halloween!
Countdown to Disneyland!
Christmas Eve treats for Santa!
Little fish
Poor little man confusing us again with his sporadic rash. Don't worry, it was better within a couple of hours!!
Whew! That's just the past couple of months! It'll be good to catch up. Don't forget to say hi in the comments! Hope everyone is doing well and enjoyed the holidays. Happy New Year!
-The Haleys
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