Wagnermania

So Much Sadness

2012-02-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

This week has been really tough. Last Monday morning I got a text from my former secretary letting me know that the son of one of my fellow attorneys was released from jail and froze to death over the weekend. Her son meant everything to her, I can only imagine what she is going through.

Then later in the week I learned from facebook that a member of one of my online support groups who lost her ten year old son (who had Hydranencephaly) in October also lost her husband while they were on vacation. I can't even fathom what I would do if I lost my child and then less than 4 months later lost my husband. She has 3 other children as well. My heart just aches for her.

And on Sunday, Georgia's little friend Drew, who we met this summer, passed away. Its just too much loss. Having a special needs child you meet families with beautiful children and sometimes they just can't fight any more and it breaks your heart every time. It also makes you worry, is it going to be my family one of these days? It makes me hold Georgia a little closer.

Castles and Picnics

2012-02-01T19:48:00.000-07:00

Eden has really started to use her imagination. She loves to play with her Princesses and her Supas. Last week the girls were both sick with colds and so they got a little stir crazy. Eden was bouncing off the walls so Darryl took her up to her toom to play. They built a castle out of blocks and then put all the princesses in the castle and the villians were attacking and storming the castle.

Then they set out a picnic for Robin Hood and Maid Marian. Eden was sure Robin Hood and Maid Marian were coming to our house. She kept going to the window to check. Luckily, they came while she was sleeping and left a note for her.

I love how her little mind works and she's usually really good to play by herself and be creative.

Dr. Superglue

2012-01-31T18:52:00.000-07:00

On Sunday as I was unloading the dishwasher a dish broke and cut the heck out of my finger. I probably should have gone to the ER to get it stitched up but it was 10:30 at night and quite frankly I was too tired to spend hours in the ER. I wrapped a bandage around it and taped the heck out of it and will just have to live with the scar. Darryl is convinced my finger is going to fall off. Last night I took off the bandage and it looks pretty bad. I slapped some super glue on it and wrapped it again. It hurts like a mother. I'm having to only use one hand for things and that makes being a mom of twins difficult. Baths today nearly did me in. I plan on telling people the scar is from a wicked attack by a dragon.

Crib Party

2012-01-22T14:12:00.000-07:00

So as you can imagine getting anything done with two toddlers in the house is virtually impossible. Well, I've been trying to plan our trip to Disneyland and out of desperation I resorted to this:

As you can see they are both contained and happy.

It worked great for a little while.

Right up until Eden started standing on Georgia's head and Georgia started getting tired and wanted to be left alone (and wanted her sister to get off her head).

Eden loves having Georgia in her room!

Finally, after Georgia fussed for a while I took Eden out of the crib and let Georgia sleep . . . until Eden decided to have a tea party and threw a tea cup and saucer in the crib for Georgia.

She's a very loving sister, even while Georgia is trying to sleep.

Needless to say the Disneyland trip isn't completely planned but it's mostly there.

I love that my girls love each other and love to be around each other!

Explaining Differences

2012-01-18T16:48:00.000-07:00

Sometimes Eden notices that Georgia is different and sometimes she doesn't seem to notice at all. Lately the biggest thing she has noticed is Georgia doesn't talk. Like today she said "I can talk because I'm a big girl but Georgia can't talk because she's a baby." I first of all tried to explain that Georgia is a big girl too, that she is the same age. Eden was having no part of that, in her mind Georgia is a little baby. So I then tried to explain that Georgia talks in her own way and Georgia can't talk like her because her brain just doesn't work right but that we love Georgia and she loves us and she doesn't need to talk for us to know that. At this point she asked where her cup was. I guess its not important to her that her sister doesn't talk. I'm partly convinced that Georgia doesn't talk because she doesn't need to. She makes all her wants and wishes known without saying a word. Her facial expressions say everything. Plus, Eden seems to answer for her for most things any way.

Another thing we've been talking a lot about is the girls' birthday. Eden is very excited to have her birthday and keeps telling me what she wants for her "Princess 'Rora birthday in April." When I asked her what kind of party we should have for Georgia she said Cinderella (of course). But when I said we would have a Princess 'Rora and Cinderella party she was having no part of it. She said that Georgia could have her Cinderella party later. When I tried to explain that Georgia had the same birthday and we would do their parties together she just told me "No me first, then Georgia can have her Cinderella party later." After about 10 minutes of me trying to explain the whole shared birthday, twins thing, she finally agreed to let Georgia have her birthday party with her.

I know as the girls get older these talks will become more frequent and more difficult. I try to always explain to Eden how lucky she is to have a very special sister and how much we love Georgia and she loves us. Its VERY important to me that Eden always loves Georgia and doesn't resent the attention she gets from me. I always want them to be close no matter the differences.

Gangsta

2012-01-18T16:37:00.000-07:00

Did I mention that my 2 year old thinks she's a teenager.

The other day, after extended family photos, we went to my sister Jane's house for lunch.

My nephew Ryan was wearing this hat and so Eden thought she needed to wear it for a while.

She is funny because she goes between telling me that she's a big girl and "I do it all to myself" and asking me to feed her like a baby. I'm sure its hard for her to understand why Georgia gets treated like a baby but she's a big girl. I try to explain it to her and she just gets distracted by a toy. I wish they would just stay little.

A Princess Tea Party

2012-01-18T16:33:00.000-07:00

Avery's mom is still undergoing chemo and has lots of doctor's appointments so the other day Avery came over to play while her mom went to the doctor. These 3 play so well together. They are into the same things - Princesses and tea parties and playing kitchen. I swear between the 3 of them they wore every princess dress we owned. Every time I turned around one of them was asking me to help put on a different dress. I love how Eden and Avery include Georgia in all their play.

Avery loves Georgia and made sure that she had a tea cup and spoon for the tea party too.
She made sure to give her lots of loves.

Avery wanted to be Cinderella just like Georgia.

Then she started combing her hair with a plate.

And giving her a head massage.
I love that Avery loves Georgia and always plays with her too.

At this point Eden wanted nothing to do with her sister.

I wanted to get a picture of Avery playing with Georgia to send to Avery's mom.

Avery has this adorable little quirk that the longer she has to hold a pose the more crazy her smile gets. Its too cute.

We love having playdates and we love our friend Avery.

No Pants Monday

2012-01-18T16:26:00.000-07:00

Last Monday, Eden fell on her way in to dance class. She skinned her knee and ripped her tights and there was much drama that ensued (not actually when she skinned her knee but later in the day). She milked it for all it was worth. Once we got home from dance class and I tried to get her dressed she refused to wear pants, claiming it would hurt her owie. I could see how that would be true so I let her get away with not wearing pants. She still is saying that she can't wear pants because of her owie, that isn't flying now.

House motto of "In our family, we wear pants!" still stands unless its No Pants Monday.

All The Jewels

2012-01-18T16:22:00.000-07:00

If you haven't noticed, dress ups are a huge hit at our house. The other day I was upstairs doing something and suddenly Eden came up and showed me this:

She had on every jewel from her jewelry bag and what she couldn't fit on her she made Georgia wear. Daddy had helped her. Hopefully if she plays her cards right someday these will be real jewels. I love having girls! This is so much more fun than playing basketball or having a sword fight.

New Year's Eve Ugly Sweater Party

2012-01-03T16:31:00.000-07:00

New Year's Eve is always hard for us. Its the day we were told that Georgia wasn't going to live. So this year we decided instead of sulking we would throw a New Year's Eve party. Last year we threw an ugly sweater party with our neighbors and we had so much fun we decided to do it again but with a different group of friends. We originally were going to do it before Christmas but with everyone's crazy holiday schedules it got too hectic and we decided to move it so more people would come (at least that was our thinking). It turned out only 2 other couples came which ended up being super fun any way.

Darryl and I stepped up our game this year and crafted our own sweaters.

This picture doesn't do it justice but mine was amazing. It started out with embroidered and beaded palm trees which I then added lights to. I also added a penguin on a surf board and some tinsel.

The back was truly spectacular. It had a snowman with sunglasses and said Mele Kalikimaka which is what the Hawaiians say on a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day. It was glorious.

Clarrissa and Garrett went for a cross dressing approach.

While Will went for the Cosby sweater and Julie went for the classic Christmas sweater complete with mitten pockets.

Darryl and I clearly won but we exempted ourselves from the contest so Will won the major award for his Cosby sweater. This years award - a camouflage Snuggie to cover and hide from the hideousness.

Clarissa and Garrett received the runner up prize because their sweaters were Beastly.

White elephants were a hit once again.

We recycled the fingers crossed statue.

Who doesn't want a romance novel and a Jackelope

Garrett was truly excited!

And Darryl and I are now the proud owners of the made for TV movie with John Travolta "The Boy In The Plastic Bubble" and a skunk cat toy which Eden has been playing with for days and loving.

We had a blast despite the lack of attendance. Don't worry we've saved our sweaters so next year if anyone needs them we will be happy to loan them out.

Capture Me Photography - Georgia On My Mind

2012-01-03T15:34:00.000-07:00

Several months ago a photographer, Danielle Bowman, with Capture Me Photography contacted me and wanted to do a piece on children with special needs. She has a 4 year old daughter, London, who has special needs and she wants to raise awareness about how amazing these kids are. That they are not scary or weird that they are little fighters with beautiful spirits. I jumped at the chance to get Georgia's story out there. We also took the opportunity to get some family pictures done while we were at it. Danielle posted this wonderful piece in her "Greater Than Average" series (the formatting is a little different because it didn't transfer to blogger very well but its close). It is so beautiful I had to share. Here it is:

Georgia! Oh what a doll!! Hers was another family that just seemed so warm- and I've come to realize that this is a common trait in families like Georgia's and so many others that I've met over the course of 4 years. They are just instantly accepting. I think part of that is because they probably know what it's like to be UNaccepted. So let me tell you about this little peach (sorry, Emilee, I couldn't resist the puns!)

Georgia's a miracle... and it all started before she was born. When Georgia's mom, Emilee, was 21 weeks along in her pregnancy with Georgia and her twin, Eden, she went in on Christmas Eve for an ultrasound. She was told that Baby A (Georgia) had a condition called Hydrocephalus, meaning there was fluid on little Georgia's brain. Emilee was told that the worst-case scenario was a simple shunt in Georgia's brain after birth to drain the fluid. Emilee was told to visit a perinatologist and an appointment was set up for the following week- New Year's Eve.

At that appointment, the world was changed completely for Emilee and her husband, Darryl. They were given the heartbreaking news that it wasn't just fluid on Georgia's brain... she didn't HAVE a brain, a rare condition called Hydranecephaly. They were told that Georgia would survive until birth, but would not live for long after that; perhaps only minutes, maybe days, but no longer than 6 months. The doctors told Emilee and Darryl that there was no hope, and there was no mistaking it.

Emilee and Darryl grieved for the loss of a child that wasn't even born yet. They planned a funeral and purchased a burial plot. They planned for something no parent should have to experience, the death of a child. And Emilee was still pregnant. They hoped that they would at least get to bring Georgia home for a while.

Emilee was induced at 36 weeks because of concern over Georgia's head size. Since she was Baby A, she was born first and immediately taken away to the waiting NICU team; Darryl went with Georgia. Only moments later as Emilee was delivering Baby B, Eden, Darryl was back by her side. He shared the good news that Georgia was doing okay. She was breathing on her own- something they were told NOT to expect at all.

Georgia was already beating the odds that were so heavily stacked against her.

Georgia began eating on her own and she was able to stay in the well baby nursery with her sister. Emilee and Darryl were able to take the girls home... but they didn't get to stay there long.

The next day, Georgia crashed. She was unable to keep her oxygen up, she stopped eating, and couldn't maintain a healthy temperature. They took her back to the hospital to get her stabilized and then thought they would have to bring her home and watch her die. After being in the hospital for several days, Georgia's neurosurgeon came in and told them that the prenatal diagnosis of Hydranencephaly WAS wrong after all. The doctor said that she did in fact have Hydrocephalus and if they put in a shunt, which they did at only 13 days old, Georgia may go onto live a perfectly normal life.

Along with this news, Emilee and Darryl also learned that Georgia has a condition called Sept Optic Dyplasia, which means that her optic nerves are small and she is visually impaired.

When Georgia was almost a month old, she finally got to go home again. Home life however proved to be stressful as she was an unbelievably fussy baby. She would sometimes scream for 20 hours out of the day. She would only sleep for about 2 hours at night and 45 minutes during the day. At almost 6 months old, it was discovered that Georgia had horrible reflux and a Nissen fundoplication was performed.She was finally calm and peaceful.

When Georgia was 10 months old, an MRI revealed that there was more going on with her little brain than just Hydrocephalus. Georgia's brain just didn't develop correctly. She has a small rim of cerebral cortex around the outer edge of her skull but most of her brain is filled with fluid. Her brain stem is small and malformed and her cerebellum is small. Her doctors have never seen brain anatomy like Georgia's.

Georgia is severely disabled; she is unable to lift her own head, roll over, sit up, crawl or walk. She can't communicate other than with cries and rare smiles- and, of course, those small things like facial expressions that only her family can see.

A typical day for Georgia consists of waking up between 3 and 4am. She stays in bed until around 7am, then it's a bottle and stretches for about an hour and half. There's usually some physical therapy then Georgia takes a nap. (There's no rest for Emilee, however, because that's about when Eden wakes up). After getting Eden her breakfast, Georgia wakes up and has breakfast (miraculously, Georgia eats orally- something she was not expected to do). After breakfast, the girls play together. Eden LOVES Georgia and such a great sister. She loves to give her toys to play with and she also takes very good care of Georgia. When Darryl gets home from work, Georgia just beams!! She loves to play games with him- her favorite being one in which she will drop her head forward so that she can get praise when she tries to lift it back up!

From Emilee: "Its been quite the roller coaster ride. Every aspect of our lives have changed. I used to be a very successful corporate attorney but gave up my career to stay home with the girls instead. We used to never have to worry about bills and now its a daily concern. I think the biggest effect on our lives is just the sheer exhaustion my husband and I both experience. Georgia doesn't sleep much and requires a lot of care and we still have a "normal," healthy very active 2 year old to look after as well. While its not an easy life, we see Georgia as a huge blessing to our family. The peace she brings us is like having a little piece of heaven in our home. I know everything that has happened with Georgia happened for a reason. If I hadn't been told that she was going to die, I wouldn't appreciate her condition now. When people ask me how Georgia is doing I tell them, 'Great. For a baby who's supposed to be dead she's doing fantastic.'

I worry that Georgia is bored because of her limitations. Most of her day is spent just sitting with me and playing with her sister. But I think she is happy and content. As for what my life is like, as you can imagine, its crazy and hectic and nothing like what I thought it would be. Raising twins is one thing, but then adding a special needs child into the equation makes it that much more difficult. I love my kids more than anything and I have the best husband in the world. Its not an easy life but its definitely worth it. Georgia has never said a word but in one look I can tell that I am her whole world and she is mine and that's all I need."

To learn more about Hydrocephalus, visit

http://www.hydroassoc.org.

Christmas Morning

2011-12-25T18:22:00.001-07:00

Georgia tried to start Christmas morning at 4:00 a.m. but Mommy was having no part of it. I finally let her get out of bed at 7:00 a.m. but she had to wait for her sister to wake up at 9:30 a.m. to open presents.

The girls both got bicycles.

And Eden got a Princess kitchen.
She didn't technically ask Santa for it and she only realized she wanted one a week before Christmas, luckily Aunt Kim knew long before then and she told Santa.

Eden made "eggs" for the family.

Its dangerous work and you gotta wear a helmet.

Santa gave me a massage gift card.
I think I liked it.

The girls got tons of dress ups because that's just we needed was more princess dress ups.

This was my favorite present.

Another year with Georgia.

Eden got a Princess umbrella, which she had asked Santa for.

Darryl got lots of toys.

I joked with Darryl that if someone broke into our house and stole all our presents, they would think I was the single mother of toddlers and an 8 year old boy.

Showing off my new bling.
Darryl and I bought our own presents for ourselves this year.

He asked me if I was bummed that I wasn't surprised and I said "nope, I'm getting everything I want, its all the right size and I don't have to return anything." I think we'll do this again next year. It was GREAT!

Darryl was not thrilled about his one and only surprise gift.

Sheets with a "No Super Glue" sign on them.
A couple of months ago he spilled super glue in our bed and ruined our sheets.

Who uses super glue in bed?

We now have a no super glue in bed policy.

He was a little more excited about his 75 Justice League comic thingy.

Georgia's loot.

Eden's loot.

It was a very princess Christmas!

Daddy's loot.

Mommy's loot.

This was us going allegedly light this year.

This was Georgia's favorite present.

A bean bag chair.

She's been lounging and sleeping in it all day.

Merry Christmas!

Twas The Night Before Christmas

2011-12-25T18:13:00.000-07:00

After everybody left we opened our Christmas pajamas.

And set out cookies for Santa.

Then Santa came!

Christmas Eve Wagner Style

2011-12-25T18:11:00.000-07:00

As I said we had to rush off to our house for the Wagner party. Luckily I had set everything up the night before so we were pretty much ready. We did have to tell Darryl's parents not to come early (they always come early to everything) because we wouldn't be there.

Georgia is always the star of the family.

Any Wagner party I rarely hold her. Cheryl is usually the first to grab her.

I think one of my favorite parts of having a special needs child is seeing other children's reaction to her. They absolutely love her! I'm worried for when she get older and kids are mean to her because they don't understand her condition. Irelynn wanted to hold her and was very concerned about why she kept staring at her. Cheryl kept telling her its because she's blind (which technically isn't true because she can see some but I quess that's the easiest way to explain it to a 3 year old).

All the cousins kept coming up and giving her kisses.

We had a little talent show.

This was cute. The other set of twins (Irelynn and Preslie) started singing Jingle Bells and so Eden ran up and then so did Emmy D and Graisyn. So all the little girls sang together.

Its fun because there are 6 girl cousins all within 4 years of each other, just from 2 different moms, it helps that there are 2 sets of twins. (Erin had 4 kids in 4 years she's insane!).

Then Grandpa read the story of Christ from the Bible.

Then we opened presents.
Eden got a shirt that you draw on with markers.

Hopefully she only draws on that shirt (luckily for Erin the markers are washable otherwise I might kill her).

Georgia got a book.

Graisyn giving Georgia a kiss because she loved her present from her.

Shannon singing a song to Georgia that she made up.
Georgia was smiling for it but the second I got out the camera she stopped. Little turkey.

This was my favorite picture. While we were cleaning up the little girls all started eating the candy off the gingerbread house.

This Is How You Make Cookies For Santa

2011-12-25T18:00:00.000-07:00

Topless, with an apron and bunny slippers in a fancy skirt.

Christmas Eve Hyde Style

2011-12-25T17:59:00.000-07:00

Both of our families do the big family celebration on Christmas Eve. It really only creates a problem every other year. Darryl's family usually will move their party to another day when it is their off year. My family on the other hand is a little more rigid and claims "you don't mess with tradition" which somehow seems strange to me that keeping the tradition is more important than having everyone there but whatever. This year they were kind enough to at least have their party a little bit earlier in the day so we could be there for part of it (it was a Wagner year and their party was at my house). So we headed to my brother John's house for a little while to exchange presents.

Eden and Lizzie were playing dress ups in the basement, this is what they came up as. Lizzie claimed it was Eden's idea that she wear that hat. I'm not so sure.

My mom has the tradition that she hides money in these felt stockings. It can be $5, $10, $20, or there is one $50. We love seeing who gets the $50 every year. We look forward to it even more than presents.

Eden got $5 and Georgia got $10.
We didn't get the $50, Michelle did this year.

Eden digging into her present.

She was so excited to get a princess tea set.

Georgia got this little toy that lights up and plays music and animal sounds.

It claims its good for sleep. We'll see?!? (insert scepticism)

Eden gave Lizzie a Repunzel doll which Ann Marie (who is 21 years old) was quite excited about.

Ryan was thrilled with his Pokemon cards from Georgia.

And I gave Greg a lump of coal (and a remote for his camera).

Everyone got to give Georgia some love, mostly Jim and Michelle and Lyndsey who are always the first ones to grab her.

I don't see my family much because my mom has "disowned" me (long story) and they don't get to see Georgia hardly at all because its winter and we don't take her out much.

We survived the Hyde family party without fighting much which is a big accomplishment and I am glad they were willing to bump their party up so we could be there for a bit, although Darryl was bummed he didn't get to stay for the prime rib.

We had to rush off to our house for the Wagner family party.

She Loves Her Reindeer

2011-12-25T17:48:00.000-07:00

Georgia loves this reindeer, although she doesn't get to play with it much because Eden often commandeers it and leaves her with the stuffed bunny instead. So Georgia really only gets to play with it when Eden is asleep.

The Best/Worst Elf Present

2011-12-25T17:47:00.000-07:00

We have a traditon that the twelve days before Christmas The Elves bring a present and put them in The Pockets (some sweet felt pockets my mom made with glitter in the 70's).

Well the Elves must have lost their minds because they brought Eden a kazoo.

The Elves also brought mommy these sweet slippers.

Can you guess why they are so awesome?

Here's a hint: "He looks like a deranged Easter Bunny" and "pink nightmare."

Eden, sensing their coolness, although not knowing why, promptly adopted them.

Our Attempt At A Christmas Picture

2011-12-21T17:13:00.000-07:00

Normally Andrea is nice enough to run over and take a quick picture of us in front of our tree, but since she is undergoing chemo I didn't want to bother her. I just used my remote and after 145 shots we got these.

Buddy Baby Kiya

2011-12-21T17:07:00.000-07:00

This is Georgia's little special needs buddy Kiya.

Mainly I'm friends with Kiya's mom, Kristen.

Kristen gets me.

She's in the same boat I'm in. Kiya has hydrocephalus too.

Whenever I'm frustrated about my situation I call Kristen and vice versa.

Kristen and I get each other so well that we gave each other the same Christmas present, acorn ornaments.

There is a long story about the acorn ornament, but basically its meaning is that some people's problems are small and insignificant and then there are real problems like ours.

Kiya is a cutie and her brothers Mason and Lex play really well with Eden so that gives Kristen and I time to hang out and complain about how much our lives suck.

Its great to have friends who get me.

The Polar Express

2011-12-21T16:25:00.000-07:00

When I was pregnant with the twins my sister-in-law took us on the Polar Express. The Heber Valley Railroad puts on what they call The North Pole Express which used to be called the Polar Express but I guess they got busted for copyright infringement because they have since changed the name. It was really fun when we went when I was pregnant so I wanted to take the girls when they got old enough. I had no idea how expensive it was going to be ($32 for an adult ticket, yikes!) But we went anyway because we are made of money.

The girls had a blast.

All the kids dress in their pajamas.

This was our narrator - Jack Frost.

He actually spray painted that jacket himself.

We were running very late and barely made the train (literally had to run to catch the train and park illegally, ya I let the kids sleep too long and then had to put gas in my car) so we sat right next to the narrator. It ended up working out for us because we were on the Santa side.

They gave us cookies and hot cocoa (which is what is all over Eden's face).

Peanut enjoyed her cookie too (as you can see by the cookie on my coat sleeve).

We took the train to the North Pole.

Of course I missed Santa waiving outside the window but here's right after that (I hate my camera!)

We sang lots of Christmas carols.

Eden was so excited because during "The 12 Days Of Christmas" she got to hold up the 6th day.

She was so cute and would hold it up even when it wasn't the 6th day.

Then Santa got on the train and gave everyone a gift.

This is the best picture I could get of the girls holding their jingle bells from Santa.

They even had elves and cooks on the train just like the book.

But I do have one complaint, don't get high school kids to play eleves. They aren't exactly up for doing things that might seem embarassing, like, I don't know, dressing up like eleves.

The kids had a blast and so did we although I think this may become an every other year tradition. It's just too expensive to do every year.

Santa Diapers

2011-12-21T15:45:00.000-07:00

We got a free pack of Santa Diapers from Babies R Us.

Eden has been dying to wear them.

The both were pretty happy to be sporting Santa diapers and leg warmers.

If You See This Face, Run!

2011-12-21T15:42:00.000-07:00

We lovingly call this look . . .

Poop Face!

It means Georgia is working on some business.

Santa Love

2011-12-18T22:33:00.000-07:00

FotoFly was doing these amazing Santa pictures at Thanksgiving Point. We tried to get a walk-in photo shoot a couple weeks ago but they were too busy. Then we made an appointment but Georgia was in the hospital so we missed our appointment. Luckily the wonderful people at FotoFly made time for us (even though they are all booked).

I LOVE these photos.

Darryl is actually the one in the Santa suit.
The great thing is that they have the dad's dress up as Santa so the kids won't be scared and freak out and then they just shoot in creative angles so you don't know its them. And they have the real Santa there so it keeps the magic alive for the kids.

Darryl was not happy about getting in the suit but he's a wonderful husband and father and he did it anyway.

These are perfect and amazing even if Georgia was sleepy and not cooperating.
Of course right after we were done shooting she was all smiles.

Thank you FotoFly.

Rebel Mommy

2011-12-18T22:26:00.000-07:00

So I was tired of seeing this and I didn't think she needed it, so . . .

I pulled it out!

It left a little rub mark on her cheek. Poor baby!

We were going to get Santa pictures so I took her feeding tube out and since she only really uses it at night it wasn't a big deal.

I've left it out to see if she has any more aspiration episodes.

We've been giving her extra calories in her food (we add butter or olive oil and crackers to her food, or blend what we eat) to keep her at 1100 calories a day.

She has choked a couple of times on her feeds so we'll see if she can keep her tube out.

HopeKids Christmas Party

2011-12-18T22:20:00.000-07:00

We went to the HopeKids Christmas party, it wasn't as great as last year (no dinner and no presents for the HopeKid and no family photos) but the girls still had fun.

They got to decorate cookies.

'And see Santa.

And make Christmas ornaments.

And the good thing is that we got to see Georgia's speech therapist while we there as she has a son who is a HopeKid. I got to tell her all about our recent hospital stay and her NG tube. She thought it was interesting that Georgia aspirated as she has never seen her aspirate and she's never had pneumonia (a sign of aspiration).

We got to meet more amazing families and the kids had a lot of fun getting facepaint and coloring.

Thanks HopeKids!

Painting Princesses

2011-12-18T22:13:00.000-07:00

Eden has been loving her Elf presents (the elves bring a present for the 12 days of Christmas).

The other night she got a paint set and couldn't wait to start painting like daddy.

Georgia liked it too.

I love how she likes to do stuff that typically developing kids like to do.

This Is Not What I Asked For On The First Day Of Christmas

2011-12-18T22:07:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday the 13th (officially 12 days before Christmas), I took Georgia to Riverton Hospital for a swallow study. She failed! She aspirated on regular formula and thickened formula but did fine on honey thick. I wasn't surprised that she didn't do well. She wasn't very hungry. Darryl fed her 2 hours before. And she literally was asleep in the chair right before the test started. The speech pathologist and the doctor would not let us redo the test. They wouldn't let us go home and they admitted Georgia to the hospital for an NG tube.

They wanted to keep us for 48 hours. I have no idea why. They said they wanted to see how she tolerated her feeds. She was on continuous feed all night but they had her on 60 mLs/hour which was way to high for her. She freaked out. I told the nurses that was way too much but they said that was what the doctor ordered. The good thing was that we were able to get her shunt checked to make sure it was still functioning well. And we were able to get the EEG done that we had scheduled for later in the week.

Georgia was really happy despite everything she was being put through.
She did have a big seizure that required Diastat, of course not during her EEG. In fact, she had a seizure literally seconds before they turned the EEG machine on and then didn't have another one. Little turkey!

I was able to talk my way out of there after about 24 hours.

We had to prove that we could take care of her with a NG tube. Which is stupid because as a newborn she had an NG tube. They even made me prove I knew how to make a bottle. Ya, I've made thousands of bottles and I had to make one in front of a nurse to prove I wasn't a moron. Stupid! The weird thing is that they let me feed her thickened bottles of formula and baby food. I didn't argue with them because I just wanted to go home but it makes no sense that if she was aspirating (and that's why we were admitted in the first place) that they still let me feed her.

It seems their main concern is weight gain (she's lost 3 pounds in the last year), which is ridiculous because she weighs almost the same as Eden. So they want me to feed her 1100 calories in a day. She was on continuous feeds at night and can eat food during the day. I think that's way too much for her and she'll blow up like a balloon. We'll see. I just don't see why she needs a tube for this.

Eden's Christmas Dance Showcase - Bring On The Crying

2011-12-18T21:53:00.001-07:00

Eden had her Christmas dance showcase.

I was nervous that I was going to miss it because I had to take Georgia to an eye appointment at the hospital. I had Shannon watch Eden and get her ready to go.

Fortunately I made it back in time.

Here's her class getting ready to go on "stage."

Probably not the best idea to have Eden go out first.

She screamed "I want my daddy" yet again.

Part way through the first number we pulled her off stage and gave her a pep talk.

At least, she went back out with her class.

Then she told off her teacher.

"You don't tell me! I'm not going to dance. You can't tell me to dance. I do what I want."

And then she stood there with her arms folded.

Little miss sassy pants.

I wonder where she gets it?

Finally she decided to do her leaps.

She did really well at her "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth" dance.
She actually danced the whole dance.

Twice!

And she did most of the dance moves.

Maybe next recital we'll either not let daddy come (to avoid the "I want my daddy") or we'll have daddy go backstage with her first and give her a pep talk.

She's quite the kid.

Making Gingerbread Houses

2011-12-18T21:42:00.000-07:00

In my attempt to be a fun mom I figured we should make a gingerbread house.

This was a good idea in theory.

We bought a kit which I thought would be easy.

First of all, they do not provide enough frosting for these things.

Also, with the help of a 2 year old these houses never turn out like on the box.
The people on the box looked like they were having a lot more fun than we actually had.

While the gingerbread house was setting we made gingerbread cookies.

Eden was very helpful with spreading the flower, note my shirt and her apron and the chair, etc.

Even Peanut joined in the fun.
We realized the back of our house looked better than the front so we tried to turn it around.

Note to everyone, do not try to turn a gingerbread house around.

It just collapses.

But that smile is all worth it!

Letters To Santa

2011-12-18T21:35:00.000-07:00

We had the girls write letters to Santa.

Eden was all over it and kept adding to it.

Peanut loves to color.

While she was in the hospital I left a crayon in her hands and she colored all over her sheets.

Eden wadded up her letter (aka folded it).

But we didn't have an envelope so we had to wait for daddy to come home so she added more to it.

Here's Georgia's letter.

Daddy helped her a bit.

Here's Eden's.

It clearly says she wants a Princess Bicycle and a helmet and a Princess Umbrella.

Eden even mailed the letters to Santa.

We actually put them in our inbox because I wanted to save them but the postman took them out of our inbox. But the good thing is the Post Office writes a letter from Santa to the kids.

Eden was so excited to get a letter from Santa and it said she was on the nice list.

More Dicken's Festival

2011-12-18T21:29:00.000-07:00

We went to the Dicken's Festival with Kari and Abbey.

Really the girls just wanted to see the reindeer the whole time.

Abbey wanted no part of getting in the sleigh.
But we did get her to stand by it for a second.

This was my attempt to get the girls to stick their head in the cut outs.
Not even close to successful.

Eden found a dance bag that she fell in love with and had to have so that's the only thing we bought.

Peanut was exhausted by the time we got home.

This Is How Eden Eats . . .

2011-12-17T17:22:00.000-07:00

when I tell her to hurry and finish her breakfast so we can go to Avery's.

Two handed!

Courage, Bravery, Hope

2011-12-14T11:38:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to write this post for quite some time but I know how private my wonderful neighbor Andrea is so I held off. But I wanted to let her and everyone know how amazing I think she is. In September, Andrea (Avery's mom) was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is just 29 years old. We have loved Dustin and Andrea since they moved in across the street. Avery is just 6 months older than my twins and she is one of their best friends. Andrea has always been there for me. She has taken Eden for me countless times when I had to rush off to the hospital with Georgia. She's watched Georgia for me while I took Eden to swimming lessons. We've borrowed eggs and sugar from each other just like true neighbors. She was the winner of the ugly sweater party last year. Proving her friendship once again by catering to our crazy antics.

But what I've learned to love even more about Andrea is her courage and grace during her fight with breast cancer. She's never showed the "poor me" attitude. I'm sure she has her moments but on the outside she is the epitome of bravery. Last week we had a play date and I was able to really talk to her about what was going on. In some ways I could completely relate, I've said it myself "its not strength, there's just no other choice." She's attacked this whole cancer ordeal with the thought of lets just get it over with and move on.

Another reason why I love Andrea is even in her own struggles she still thinks about others. Yesterday, as Georgia was admitted to the hospital she was one of the first people to text me and ask what she could do for me. I had to laugh and tell her to worry about herself, we were fine. She is really a sweetheart.

When Andrea went for her lumpectomy, another neighbor and I decorated her house just to show her how much we love her. I'm sure she hated this outward attention because she is so private and it all was taken down very quickly, but we just wanted her to know how much we love her.

And decorating her house was pretty hilarious. I misunderstood when she would be home after her surgery so we ended up having to do it while she and Dustin were home. Dustin was actually in the family room playing videogames so we had to be stealth mode. The funniest was watching our other neighbor, Stacie who was 6 months pregnant at the time try to be like a ninja.

Andrea loves my kids and that makes her an even better friend.

She always wants to hold Georgia whenever we're together.

Avery is so cute with Georgia too. She loves to give her hugs and snuggles.

It warms my heart to see people appreciate how special Georgia really is. While some people are afraid of Georgia's condition (I don't blame them, I was that way too before I had a special needs child), Andrea has embraced and loved her from day one.

And now these two share an even stronger bond, they are both medically fragile but stronger than all of us.

Get well soon, Andrea.

We love you!

Dicken's Festival Santa

2011-12-12T21:50:00.000-07:00

We once again headed to the Dicken's Festival because the "real" Santa is there.

My kids were really good.

We went with Abbey and Kari. Abbey was terrified of Santa and wouldn't sit on his lap.

This is why this is the "real" Santa.

He makes the best faces in reaction to kids.

He was so good with Georgia.

Fixin' It

2011-12-12T21:46:00.000-07:00

I bought a new special needs stroller for Georgia on ebay.

I got a $3,000 stroller for $450 (plus $70 to ship it).

Its totally adjustable so Eden was helping me fix it.

I think this stroller will give Georgia great support when we go to Disneyland.

Just Keep Swimming

2011-12-12T21:45:00.000-07:00

HopeKids had a night at the aquarium and Georgia absolutely loves the aquarium.

Her favorite fish is the trout.

She always likes strange animals.

How cute are these outfits?

Georgia's new thing is that she loves to color.

She really does enjoy doing things that typical children do. We just have to adapt things so she can do them.

Santa Babies

2011-12-12T21:42:00.000-07:00

This was the scene last year . . .

and this was this year . . .

Much better!

Eden actually went running to Santa.

She told him that she wanted a Princess bicycle and a helmet and a Princess umbrella.
Santa was so good with Georgia.

I love when people are sweet to my little girl.

After we saw Santa we went to California Pizza Kitchen.

Eden was so funny she was standing on the bench doing a "butt dance." Oh so well behaved.

Reindeer and Lights

2011-12-12T21:38:00.000-07:00

We took the girls to Thanksgiving Point to see the reindeer and lights.

Eden was so cute she brought a carrot to feed the reindeer.

Georgia loves animals so much.

I asked Eden to strike a pose and this is what I got.

Here Comes Santa Claus . . . On a Fire Truck

2011-12-12T21:35:00.000-07:00

Our town does this cute little tradition where Santa drives around all the neighborhoods on a firetruck and throws candy to all the kids.

I waited all morning for the sirens, because my kids have always slept through it.
Eden loved it. Georgia was just mad that I woke her up.

The funniest thing was watching our neighbor Dustin come running out with Avery and then like a ninja he was gone.

Georgia was just happy to go back to sleep.

Eden thought her candy needed to go in her stocking.

Eden thought Georgia needed to have her stocking too.

Ward Christmas Party

2011-12-12T21:30:00.000-07:00

Once again Georgia couldn't go out so I took Eden to the ward party solo.

Of course she found Abbey and they played together after the dinner was over.

Festival of Trees 2011

2011-12-12T21:27:00.000-07:00

My niece Jessica was playing the piano at the Festival of Trees so I took the girls to watch her.

Since we are not supposed to take Georgia out I wanted to protect her from germs. I had her wear a mask but she drooled so much I thought she was going to drown in her own drool.

My sisters and I have this thing with doing fishy/kissy faces in pictures, but the thing is that somehow not all of us ever do it at the same time.

I love this tree. Its "A Christmas Story" tree. Complete with the leg lamp. Awesome!

Eden made me take a picture of this tree.

Its a super hero tree.

This tree was decorated for one of Georgia's little HopeKids friend, Tyson.

Tyson's parents lived in our ward in Lehi.

Tyson has had half his brain removed and doing remarkably well, he's walking and talking.

We waited for an hour to see Santa but apparently the man that was playing Santa forgot his suit. So we left without seeing Santa and promised to take them to the mall to Santa later.

I love the trees at the festival of trees, they make me want to make our tree better. And all the trees are dedicated to amazing people and all the money from the auction goes to Primary Children's Hospital.

All Settled In For a Long Winter's Nap

2011-12-12T21:16:00.000-07:00

Nothing's better than a post dinner nap.

New Old Heart Binka

2011-12-12T21:15:00.000-07:00

So despite all my best efforts to have my kids not get attached to one particular pacifier. One night Eden's Nuk binka was chewed all the way through so Daddy gave her a Mam binka with hearts on it. It became her favorite Binka and after that she wouldn't take any other pacifier. Well she has chewed on that Binka and chewed it down to a nub. Finally the nub got to small to stay in her mouth. She became unglued. She wouldn't take her nap and wouldn't take another pacifier. In desperation I ordered another heart binka on the internet. In the mean time I gave her a different heart binka.

Old heart binka.

New Old Heart Binka

So when the new heart binka arrived, she called it "new old heart binka."
She was so happy!

I know I'm a horrible mom for still letting her have a pacifier, but we do not mess with sleep at our house. And if heart binka helps her sleep she can have it until college for all I care.

New heart binka came with an I Love Mommy binka so she gave that to Georgia even though Georgia only takes a pacifier when she is sick or teething. Now when Georgia takes her nap Eden makes sure she has the I love Mommy binka.

The Lights At Temple Square

2011-12-12T21:06:00.000-07:00

Its been several years since we've seen the lights at Temple Square but we finally thought the girls were old enough. We bundled up Georgia and we went with our friends Kodi and Victor. It was very busy but spectacular as always.

The girls loved it, but Peanut got too hot. I guess I was too thorough with my bundling.

It was cold but it didn't seem to phase Eden in the slightest.

Here's Eden with Lexi and Titan.

She thinks she is one of the big kids.

She looks so little climbing the stairs of the temple.

Before I know it she'll be in a white dress doing it on her wedding day.

Eden thinks the temple looks like a castle.

Thanks Sotos for going with us.

We Miss You

2011-12-12T21:01:00.000-07:00

Our former neighbors, Mike and Julie Ward came by to visit. The moved away a year and a half ago. I can't believe how big their kids are getting. We miss them so much. The neighborhood just isn't the same without them.

Eden was pretty good with their kids, although Michael didn't want much to do with her.

They've had another baby since they've moved.

They were so fun to live by, they were always up for a game night or just to hang out.

We miss you Mike and Julie, figure out some way to move back.

Deck The Halls

2011-12-12T20:57:00.000-07:00

It takes about a week to put up Christmas so I started a little early. Normally, I have a strict no Christmas before Thanksgiving but since it takes so long I started the Monday before Thanksgiving. I would do one tote per day. As I would pull out a decoration and put it where it goes, Eden would move it. Finally on Thanksgiving we put of the trees.

Eden loved decorating the little tree. She said the little tree was hers and the big tree was Georgia's.

The little tree has the ornaments that we've given the girls over the last years.

Last year the girls got a Peanut and a Monkey ornament.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we finally got around to decorating the big tree.

Eden was very independent and wanted to do it all herself.

Once again we put our tree on boxes and he bottom half of the tree was unbreakable ornaments.

Eden was so excited to put the angel on the tree.

For days every time she saw the tree she would tell me how she put the angel on the tree.

It definitely takes longer to decorate with kids but look at the smile on that face.

Feast, Feast, Feast

2011-12-12T20:46:00.000-07:00

Because Georgia was sick on Thanksgiving Darryl offered to stay home with her. Don't feel bad for him. My neighbor, Kodi, brought him dinner, then his mom brought him dinner, and then I brought him dinner. I think he preferred to stay home. Eden and I went to my brother's house for dinner and then to see The Muppets. Somehow I ended up with all the little kids so I spent most of the movie divvying out popcorn and drinks. Eden was fine for some of it but then she lost her Binka and it was pandemonium. She was too far from me for me to reach so eventually I had to have Maddie switch her places so I could sit next to her. By the way, The Muppets was great from what I could see of it.

Eden was so funny, she kept saying that she was going to "feast, feast, feast."

Play Time With Aunt Jane And Uncle Ron

2011-12-04T23:03:00.000-07:00

Darryl has been applying for a new job and as part of the interview they wanted to meet me, which seemed weird but anything to get insurance, right? So Jane and Ron came to watch the girls for us. Eden just climbed right up on Ron's lap and had him read her books.

When we got back Eden said she wanted to hold Georgia.

The "interview" went pretty well. We haven't heard whether or not he got the job but we are hopeful.

When I heard that they wanted to meet me too, I told Darryl "I hope I don't screw this up for you." They asked Darryl what his wife thought when he told his wife he was looking for a new job and he said "all my wife cares about is insurance" which is kinda sad but true. I hope he gets it. We were talking about what it would be like to have insurance again - we can go to the dentist, we can actually go to the doctor when we are sick, Darryl can take his heartburn medication again. It would be wonderful!

Haul Out The Holly

2011-12-04T22:53:00.000-07:00

Christmas at our house is quite a prodution.

It takes about a week to put all the decorations up.

I normally have a strict rule that no Christmas decorations go up until after Thanksgiving, but it takes so long I started a little early. The Monday before Thanksgiving I started getting the totes out. Eden was a big helper. I'd put a decoration out and then she would put it somewhere else.

Poor Georgia, got sick again.

The Tuesday before Thanskgiving she started sounding congested and her lungs sounded rattley so I took her to the doctor and we got a chest x-ray. At first they were worried it was pneumonia or RSV but after the x-ray and some tests we learned that it was a viral infection call Bronchiolitis. There was nothing we could do for her and she was highly contagious so she had to stay home for Thanksgiving too. Darryl stayed home with her. It actually worked out well for him because our neighbor, Kodi, brought him dinner and his mom brought him dinner and I brought him dinner. Plus, Peanut slept most of the time.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

2011-12-04T22:43:00.000-07:00

Eden has been asking for quite some time to go play in the snow but there was never enought to play in. We had to keep telling her that when all the green grass was covered with snow then she could go play in it. Finally there was enough snow!

So we put on her new pink snow suit.

And off her and Daddy went.
They started with a snowball fight.

She loved running in the snow.

They made a miny snowman on the porch.

And made snow angels.

What is it with little kids taking off their mittens?

I swear Darryl had to put her mittens on like 10 times.

Georgia didn't get to go in the snow.

She was having a freak out and had to have a cool bath and some Ativan.

What the?

2011-12-04T22:38:00.000-07:00

Darryl went to get Eden out of her crib after nap time and this is what he found . . .

She had taken off all her clothes and thrown them in a neat little pile on the floor.

What can I say, girl likes to be a naked butt.

A Budding Photographer and Mommy Down

2011-12-04T22:32:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago the whole family got the stomach flu. It started with me. At 1 o'clock in the morning I woke up vomiting and it lasted for about 18 hours. I felt aweful. It was Georgia's last day for horse therapy and I didn't want her to miss it. Darryl took her to ride horses and took Eden to Kim's. Then he stayed home to watch the girls for me. He's so wonderful!

While I was down, Eden got a hold of the camera and snapped away. She actually took the above photo.

But we also got a lot of random photos and A LOT of pictures of the carpet.

She may have some mad skills though.
She truly captured my misery.

I felt so bad because the next day Eden threw up and poor Georgia was so sick but she can't throw up because of her Nissen. She was miserable. On Sunday Darryl came down with it. He was so sick. He actually threw his back out vomiting. It was aweful. Eden kept asking (and still keeps aksing) if Daddy is all better. He was sick for several days. Poor guy!

Why I'm Okay With Having Twins Once

2011-12-03T14:05:00.000-07:00

I remember distinctly the day we found out we were having twins. Prior to getting pregnant I had made statements such as "If I ever have twins, I'm killing myself in the delivery room." And so of course God gave me twins! The day of our ultrasound I knew twins was a strong possibility. With in vitro there is a 30% chance of twins, which seemed kind of a low chance at the time. Then when I took my blood test I was told "you're good and pregnant." And when they got the numbers back from the blood work they were so high the machine couldn't even read the results, when I asked the nurse what that meant she said "there's a good chance its twins or more." Or more! What? Ya I was a little freaked out. So the day of our ultrasound, I was a little paranoid. Even with all this preparation, I still wasn't prepared to see 2 little yoke sacks and hear 2 little heartbeats. Darryl's response was "I knew we would have twins." Mine was a little less dignified and positive. I was terrified and wondered first of all, how I would carry 2 babies and secondly, how would I care for them. There simply wasn't enough of me to go around. This, of course, was all before I knew that special needs were going to be involved. Now here I am now several years later and I'm not scared any more and I'm not paranoid and we've survived and I can look and see that twins were exactly the way these babies were supposed to come. They are a package deal. From the moment of that first ultrasound I knew these 2 were meant to be together. I was constantly fearful during my pregnancy that I would lose one. Little did I know how much they would need each other. While I was pregnant Georgia was a mover and a shaker, she was constantly wiggling, Eden was more calm and didn't move around a lot. (Completely opposite of how they are now). Every ultrasound, Georgia would be squirming and Eden would hardly move. When I was close to the end of my pregnancy I commented to the doctor on what appeared to be Eden's calm demeanor. She said that sometimes in twin pregnancy when one of the babies is medically fragile, the other baby will not move as much in order to preserve energy and nutrients for the more fragile baby. Even in the womb, Eden took care of Georgia. Now, the same is true. Eden looks after her sister. If Eden gets a sticker or a treat, she always gets one for Georgia too. If Georgia is crying, she tries to comfort her. Lately Eden has liked helping me take care of Georgia, she likes to help feed her and comb her hair and give her a bath. She still makes Georgia go first on practically every task, which I'm fairly certain is why Georgia was born first, but Eden is so very caring and wonderful to Georgia. Lately, she has started noticing that Georgia doesn't talk. The other day she went to give something to Georgia and I could hear Eden telling Georgia to say "please." I had to explain to Eden that Georgia doesn't talk the way she does, she makes noises to let us know what she wants. It didn't even phase Eden. Every night when Eden goes to bed she gives Georgia a little pat pat. I absolutely love to watch these two together. Sometimes Eden will just randomly reach over and grab Georgia's hand and hold it for a while. Its the sweetest thing I've ever seen. They love to play together and just be around each other. Georgia doesn't even seem to mind when Eden is being rough around her. I love their relationship and how Eden doesn't even seem to notice that Georgia has disabilities. She's her sister and that's all that matters. I know now that these two were meant to come to earth together. I can just imagine in heaven that when Eden heard that Georgia was going to have struggles on earth, that she volunteered to come down with her to protect her and take care of her. When I see the way Eden is with Georgia it makes all the difficulties of having twins worth it. These two are a package deal and that's the way they are supposed to be - together.

(I added the "Once" to the title because as much as I love my twins, I really don't want to do it again. Darryl laughs right now because he knows my greatest fear is having another set of twins again. Dear fate - this is not an offer to tempt. And no I'm not pregnant again!)

Just Another Day At Casa De Wagner

2011-12-03T13:41:00.000-07:00

Its never a dull moment at our house.

From dress up and playdates,

to having a parade down the hallway,

to whatever was going on here.

(I think Peanut was having a freak out and we were trying to cool her down)

Ya its a pretty crazy life, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

One thing I've learned over the last several years is that my life is different from everyone elses. My priorities are different, my ability to deal with nonsense is different. Not many people can relate to me any more. And until you live this life there is really no way to understand it. My friend Kristen (a mom to a darling little girl with special needs) said it best when we were talking about how much help we need living with these kiddos, "You don't understand this life until you live it, and those that are living it are too busy to do anything to help anyone else." Its true, most people get at most a couple hour glimpse into our daily lives. They don't see the constant care and worry that go into taking care of a child with special needs. They don't feel the stress that is involved in this lifestyle. It is taxing on every aspect of our lives, physically, emotionally, financially. We love our kids and would do anything for them. We are constantly barraged with something. A doctor telling us "the worst." An insurance company denying something or another. A new medical crisis that we've never seen before. But sadly not only have I become used to this, I've learned to expect it. I live at a heightened state of consciousness all the time, which is crazy considering the lack of sleep we get around here. In the beginning everyone offers to help, to be there. But time goes on and life happens and people get busy and then its just us. I don't blame other people, I would do the same thing. I've learned to live on very little sleep, with a lot of stress and heartache, with very few resources. I do it, not because I'm strong or because I want to but because of love. I hear all the time how amazing I am or how strong I am. Let me make one thing clear, I am not amazing or strong. I just have no other choice. If I were given another option, I would take it, in a heartbeat. I'm an "easy way out" kind of gal. I do it, not out of greatness, I do it out of love. I love my child and would do anything for her and have done every thing I can for her with the limit resources we have. So please don't tell me how strong I am, you don't see how much I cry. Just recognize the love I have for my daughter, that's what keeps me going day after day, night after night. LOVE!

I love this girl

2011-12-03T13:20:00.000-07:00

I cannot imagine a day that I won't be able to see this face.

Georgia has become such a funny happy girl. She loves to play with her dad.

As soon as he gets home she starts getting wiggly and excited.

She could play with daddy for hours.

She smiles and goes crazy around him.

She also likes to cuddle her dad.

I love this sweet girl more than words can ever say.

Even at 3:00 a.m. when I see that sweet little face looking back at me in the baby monitor with those big brown eyes its hard for me to be mad at her for causing me to not get a full nights sleep in 2 1/2 years.

I love her unconditionally.

She is my whole world.

Thank you baby girl for teaching me how to love and teaching me what is really important in life.

The Epitome of Good Parenting

2011-12-03T13:14:00.000-07:00

To say that Darryl is the more lax parent would be an understatement. No wonder the children like him better, he lets them do whatever they want.

Observe . . .

Cheetos for breakfast!

That would never happen on my watch!

Eden's new thing is whenever I leave the room she asks, "Is daddy in charge?" Because lets face it, if I'm around this kind of stuff does not fly.

A Very Informative Trip To Shriners

2011-12-03T13:11:00.000-07:00

Georgia has been having problems with her hips. Lots of kids with cerebral palsy and high tone have problems with their hips and spine. We found out in May that Georgia's left hip was 50-60% out of socket and her right hip is about 10% out. Well since May we noticed that Georgia's left leg is shorter than her right leg and she stopped putting weight on it. We were very worried that her hip had become completely dislocated. In July we learned that Georgia's spine is starting to curve (also common with kids who have CP). Also, Georgia's feet turn out and down so her doctor recommended we start seeing an Orthopedist. We applied to Shriner's Children's Hospital and were lucky enough to get accepted right away. The great thing about Shriner's is all the services are free to families. FREE! To a family that spent as much as we did last year in medical bills, free is the best word in the English language.

We had a really good visit. The doctor x-rayed Georgia's hip and we learned that its not all the way out of socket yet. Its a little bit further out but not all the way. Basically the doctor said its only a matter of time before her hip goes completely out. The good news is that it doesn't appear to be hurting her. The doctor said if we did surgery right now to "fix it," its likely the hip would come out again due to her high tone. Its a huge surgery in which they would go in and deepen the hip socket and pin the bone back in place and she would be in a body cast for 8 weeks. So I'm really glad that the doctor didn't want to do that surgery. We decided that for right now we aren't going to do anything and we'll just keep a close eye on it. The doctor said her spine didn't look too bad and the best thing to do for her feet is to keep having her wear her DAFO's (her little boots). The thing that we will need to address at some point is doing something about her tone so more problems aren't caused. The problem we have is Georgia does not respond well to all the oral medications typically used for tone. She has tried Baclofen 3 or 4 times and on the last trial I said we are never doing that again. It made her very irritable and increased her seizures. We tried a different drug (Tizanidine) but that made it difficult for her to swallow and she was choking a lot so it was unsafe to continue. Our only other option at this point is called the Baclofen pump. Georgia is still too little for the pump and I'm in no rush to get it for her. The Baclofen pump is basically a piece of machinery the size of a hockey puck surgically inserted into the abdomen which then a runs a catheter to the spine to deliver baclofen in small doses to the nervous system. Georgia is still so tiny a hockey puck would look huge in her cute little belly. I'm having a hard time warming up to that idea. After the appointment I had a few questions so I called the nurse practitioner and now the plan is to check her again in about 6 months and at that point see if maybe she would benefit from a tendon release surgery (she's still too little to have that surgery right now) so that the muscle will not keep pulling the hip out. If it looks like she needs the tendon release surgery, we'll get put on the waiting list for the surgery. So maybe this summer she might have to have another surgery but for right now we are in a holding pattern.

I love that they put a bar code on Georgia, like you can just pick her up at the grocery store and take her to the check out.

Georgia was really kind of off during her visit. I made Darryl go with me because I was worried about what we would hear. I was fearful that they would tell me that her hip was completely out and we were going to have to do a huge surgery and have her in a cast for months. During the visit Georgia was really stiff and wiggly and she did not want the doctors messing with her. Once we got home she had a huge seizure and had to have her medicine. It was a rough day for everyone but all in all it turned out better than expected. What I really liked about it was that the doctor said that even if her hip comes completely out she doesn't know if surgery will be the right thing anyway. My concern was if its not hurting her why would we put her through such a big surgery. Supposedly there is some evidence that when some kids like Georgia get into their teens their hip starts bothering them and its easier to fix when they are little. My thoughts about this are that we don't even know if Georgia will live to be a teenager (kids with severe disabilities tend to not live very long, either their bodies just give out or they get pneumonia and just can't fight it) and why would we put her through something so huge on the possibility that later in life it may bother her. The doctor said "at the point that the hip becomes dislocated we will have to decide if we are really fixing the problem or if we are just fixing an x-ray." So I was really glad to get a doctor who was not all gun-ho to just operate on my child just to operate. That was comforting. Georgia is also going to start doing physical and occupational therapy up at Shriner's. In April Georgia turns 3 and will no longer be eligible for Early Intervention which comes to our home for PT and OT. And since Shriner's is free its a good option to continue her therapy, although it will suck to have to drive to Salt Lake all the time. So all in all it was a pretty good visit and I think we are really going to like Shriner's. Everyone I've ever talked to who has taken their kid to Shriner's has loved it.

Disney On Ice

2011-12-03T12:31:00.001-07:00

HopeKids came through once again.

We got to go to Disney On Ice.

And we were on the 6th row (sometimes when its a HopeKids event we are in the nosebleeds).

The girls LOVED it!

Georgia had been really off that day and had had a big seizure so I debated taking her and boy am I glad I did.

Eden was in awe the whole time.

This is how she looked most of the time.

Either sucking in her bottom lip, holding cotton candy or mouth wide open watching everthing.

Silly me, I forgot to put the girls in their princess dresses.
Next year for sure.

Eden was so excited when all the princesses came out.

She was a little confused that Princess 'Rora was in blue and not pink.

Peanut loved it and was so smiley throughout the entire show.

Eden was exhausted and fell asleep with her Mickey ears.
It made me so excited for our trip to Disneyland.

I love how she is still holding her cotton candy even though she is asleep.

Thank you again HopeKids!

A Trip To Build A Bear Courtesy of Aunt Kim

2011-11-28T20:41:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago (when we went to PF Changs) we took the girls to the mall and we looked in Build-A-Bear. Eden got a sticker and made a wish. The next day she still had her sticker on when she went to Aunt Kim's. Kim offered to take the girls to back to Build-A-Bear the next week to get them some bears.

Eden was so excited and talked about it all week.

When we finally went she picked out a bear for her and Georgia.

She stuffed the bear.

And kissed the heart and made a wish.

She also stuffed Georgia's bear and made a wish for Georgia too because, of course, Georgia was sleeping.

Then she gave her bear a bath.

And picked out an outfit for the bear and for Georgia's bear.

Of course they were Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.

She then proceeded to pick out all sorts of accessories for their bears, because what bear doesn't need underwear and shoes and a purse and sunglasses?

Thank you so much Aunt Kim for the wonderful bears!

And while we're on the subject Build-A-Bear, that place is a racket!

Sure the bear itself is reasonable priced but then you add the clothes and all the accessories. Yikes!

Once again, thank you Aunt Kim!

A Progressive Playdate

2011-11-28T19:57:00.000-07:00

I love having playdates with Kari and Abbey.

The dress code is always casual and usually pajamas.

But on this particular playdate we had a progression of wardrobe.

Georgia was completely naked, Abbey was in a tank top and Eden was in sweats.

No Pants Wahoo!

2011-11-28T19:55:00.000-07:00

I don't know what it is with my kids and not wearing pants.

On this particular day Georgia had a blow out and I just didn't bother putting pants back on her and apparently that inspired Eden to take her pants off too.

What can I say? My kids love to be naked.

Our family motto, despite all evidence to the contrarty, remains:

"In our family we wear pants."

Daddy Daughter Bonding

2011-11-28T19:53:00.000-07:00

To say that Eden loves her daddy is an understatement.

Most days once he gets home she wants nothing to do with me.

She is also very possessive of her daddy. She doesn't even like it when he takes time out to say hello to Georgia. They have a blast together.

Doing piggy back rides.

She also has taken up painting with daddy.

I'm so grateful that my kids have a wonderfull daddy that they love so much.

First Trip To PF Changs

2011-11-05T13:54:00.000-06:00

On Thursday we had a meeting with the school district to talk about Georgia transitioning from Early Intervention to Preschool. Okay we don't even need to talk about that my baby is too little to get on the bus and go to school. Ya, I'm tripping out about it a little bit.

But after our meeting we went to PF Changs for dinner, which Eden called POS. Its interesting to see what she hears. She loved the fortune cookies,

and who doesn't love the giant horses outside.

Afterwards we took the girls to Build A Bear and the Disney Store and successfully left both stores without purchasing anything, despite Eden's best efforts. She really wanted a Christmas Stitch doll in christmas pajamas, Darryl almost bought it for her but I put my foot down. But at least now Santa has some ideas.

Check out their adorable outfits for the day.

The miniskirts remind me of when I was a teenager and my mom locked all our miniskirts in a safe (why she didn't just throw them away I don't know) and my sister literally ripped the back off the safe to free our skirts.

The Hot Dog Dance

2011-11-05T13:49:00.000-06:00

If you have ever watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse you know what the Hot Dog Dance is. Well, here is Eden going nuts doing the hot dog dance. And notice her sweet new zebra pajamas. Man, she's skinny.

Even daddy had to get up and dance.

Yes, he is wearing Superman pajamas.

Strike a pose!

We Love Our Sweats

2011-11-05T13:47:00.000-06:00

Its cold again so mommy busted out the velour sweats.

Darryl calls my sweats "smelly pants" because I wear them so often and he questions how frequently they get washed (I do wash them, I swear).

Ok tell me that she doesn't look like a Jawa from Star Wars.

She Can't Sleep At Night But She Can Sleep Through This . . .

2011-11-05T13:44:00.000-06:00

We had a play date with Abbey and Damon and Peanut slept through most of it and trust me it was pure chaos. Notice Eden is in a plastic tote while Abbey attempts to drive through the princess castle tunnel. So fun to play with other kids in the neighborhood.

All The Trick Or Treating One Can Handle

2011-11-05T13:43:00.000-06:00

Nothing like multiple days of trick or treating.

Sunday we went Trick or Treating at Nana's.

As you can see Georgia was not thrilled to once again be in her Eeyore costume.

You may be noticing that these are last year's costumes.
Well, the girls were supposed to be Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella but when Eden saw the costumes from last year she could not be disuaded and promptly told me that she was going to be Tigger and Georgia was going to be Eeyore. I tried to change her mind many times. Forget that to me this is like wearing the same outfit in a week but she could not be disuaded.

Nana gives out full size candy bars and Eden helped herself.

She took all the Snickers bars (we put most of them back), she's not stupid.

Then on Halloween we went to Aunt Kim's and them mommy took the girls around the neighborhood while daddy stayed home and handed out candy.

We only made it to like 8 houses because I was carrying Georgia and she was not happy.

But Eden had fun handing out candy.

Every time the doorbell rang she would shout "Its kids trick or treating" and she would run for the door.

Halloween is so much more fun with kids.

3 Suckers

2011-11-05T13:34:00.000-06:00

Eden is a candy addict. I turn my back for one second and this is what I get . . .

"I got 3 suckers!"

Let's forget the fact that apparently she can't count, but she wandered around with multiple suckers for days. I swear all she's eaten is candy since Halloween.

How To Host A Murder Party

2011-11-05T13:30:00.000-06:00

Because we are awesome, we decided to host a party with Darryl's friends. It was really fun and hopefully we'll be able to have more parties with them.

We found a How To Host A Murder on eBay and asked everyone to dress up. It was hilarious to see what everyone came up with.

Will and Julie

A waitress and her rocker stalker.

Laurie and Kathan

A nurse and a doctor

Dave and Carrissa

A distributer and a candy maker with the murder weapon (peanuts).

Clarrissa and Garrett

My assistant and a mortician

Ryan and Candace

A stripper and a wicken

Darryl and Emilee

A butler and the inspector

Because another couple dropped out we also had to play the ghostly spirits and the fortune teller (the victim) but I forgot to get a picture of us in those costumes.

It was really fun and I hope everyone had a good time.

After the game it got a little awkward because Carrissa started asking everyone how each of the couples met and Darryl and I had to fess up that I had dated Kathan and all of this happened in front of his new wife. But history is what it is and we all got over it.

We went all out with the food including dry ice and gummy worms in the witches brew.

My goal was to not burn down my house during the "seance." And we had to use an Aladdin snow glow as my crystal ball. Laurie also brought a smoke machine so it was surprising that our smoke detectors didn't go off.

We even gave out awards.

Will won for Wardrobe Pinache (Darryl made up the awards).

Ryan won for Outstanding Theatricality.

He also won for best costume but we gave it to Will so everyone had a chance to win.

Dave won for Detective Excellence but in all actuality Clarissa really won but because I was sleep deprived and didn't hear Darryl correctly I though Dave and Carissa won so I gave it to both of them. Since Dave was actually the murderer, I'm stripping him of his title and giving it to Clarissa because she actually figured it out without having the clue of "put a peanut in Madame's drink."

It was really fun and Darryl and I were most excited that Cheryl was taking the kids for the whole night. She was going to take them to church as well on Sunday but that morning at 9:30 a.m. I got a phone call from Cheryl asking me to come pick up the girls. Apparently she didn't believe us that Georgia doesn't sleep at night. I guess she's not cut out for my life. But thanks to her anyway for taking them for the night.

Trick Or Treating At Nolan Park

2011-11-05T13:16:00.000-06:00

Eagle Mountain did trick-or-treating in the park. We knew on Halloween the girls (and mom) wouldn't last long going house to house so we took them to the park.

Eden was all over it!

She was so good and always got some candy for her sister too (even when daddy had already gotten candy for Georgia).

Georgia played the perfect Eeyore!

They got tons of candy and I got to get rid of all of our expired prescriptions (they had a booth to drop off your expired prescriptions, not that I was handing out old meds as candy). Ya I had stuff from 1993, it was scary.

Then we dropped off daddy at home and I took the girls to Aunt Cheryl's house for the night.

Final Jump In The Leaves

2011-11-05T13:12:00.000-06:00

Its been getting colder so Darryl wanted to rake up all the leaves. I told him he better let Eden have one final jump in the leaves. So here are the results.

She had to keep checking on her jack-o-lantern every once and a while,

and then she'd get right back in the leaves.

Its the simple things that make this kid so happy.

Pumpkin Carving

2011-11-05T13:10:00.000-06:00

The Friday before Halloween we finally carved our pumpkins. I scooped all the seeds out earlier in the day so all we had to do with the kids was carve. Mostly they watched while mom and dad carved.

Peanut's pumpkin looks just like her complete with long eyelashes, crooked smile and shunt.

See she loved it!

I have no idea what Darryl was trying to do. Is it supposed to be Nacho Libre? Anyway, no a 3rd grader did not carve this pumpkin, it was Darryl going freestyle (I drew faces on all the other pumpkins for guidance, next year I'll just draw a face on his too).

I went for the classic pumpkin face on mine. That way if the headless horseman is riding past our house he can use my jack-o-lantern in case he drops his head.

On Eden's I did big eyes and big lips just like her.

She was pretty funny, she kept saying "my pumpkin turned into a jack-o-lantern."

She didn't want to put her pumpkin out on the porch, she wanted to keep it with her.

But we finally convinced her it was okay to put her pumpkin outside, she really liked that it lit up.

Once Upon A Time, Tigger and Eeyore Played In A Pile Of Leaves . . .

2011-11-05T13:04:00.000-06:00

And Eeyore was not amused.

But Tigger was bouncy, trouncy, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun.

Tigger tried burying Eeyore in leaves.

But then was nice and posed for a picture for Christopher Robin a.k.a. Mommy.

Eden has had so much fun playing in the crunchy leaves. In the morning before we went off to Georgia's motor skills class she saw the leaves and promptly proclaimed that she was going to go play in them. We were running late so I told her she could play when we got home. When we got home she jumped out of the van and ran to play in the leaves. She had so much fun, Georgia - not so much!

Painting Pumpkins

2011-11-05T12:59:00.001-06:00

We've had so much fun celebrating Halloween this year. I try to do lots of fun activities for the kids to keep them occupied. I knew that carving pumpkins would be more of a grown up thing so I let the girls paint the pumpkins we got at Hee Haws. They both had so much fun. I stripped Eden down to her diaper because I knew she would make a huge mess. She actually didn't do too bad.

They were so excited, even Peanut.

I love Georgia's crazy hair, she had piggies the day before so it was really awesome hair. Darryl was working late so he didn't get to enjoy the fun.

Eden ended up mixing all the colors together so her pumpkin ended up looking grey like the moon. But she still loved it.

Over the last year I've really noticed that Georgia loves to do stuff that typically developing children would do. so I gave her a paint brush and helped her hold her arm up, but she did a lot of the paint strokes herself.

She was so happy, she's just like any other kid that way.

It makes me cry a lot that Georgia can't do things other kids do but whatever can be adapted for her to do, we adapt. That's what our life is now, its all about adapting.

Here's Georgia's finished product.

And here's Eden's.

The Kissing Game

2011-10-28T06:18:00.000-06:00

Georgia has a new game that she plays.

Its super cute and she thinks she is so funny.

The Perfect Pompadour

2011-10-28T06:17:00.001-06:00

Cornbelly's

2011-10-28T06:17:00.000-06:00

After several attempts and our plans falling through many times due to cold weather or illness we finally made it to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point.

We went with my sister, Jane, and her kids.

We spent a lot of time in the Pumpkin Princess Patch.

We rode the cow train ride.

Eden liked this pirate ship.

And can I just say, "what the heck is wrong with parents these days?" Eden was swinging on the monkey bars on this pirate ship and a little girl who was about 4 years old came and took the monkey bars away from Eden and them pushed Eden. The little girls mom was standing right there and didn't say or do anyting.

Eden got very upset and so daddy had to come rescue her but he made her walk the plank instead.

Jumping on the giant pillows

Eden also mined for "gems" (polished rocks that cost me $5) - sorry no picture.
And playing on Cornbelly mountain.

This year we did the kiddie corn maze.

Much easier and we could take the stroller.

The girls got to meet the pumpkin princess.

I thought Eden would be more excited but I guess since she's not a Disney princess she's not as good.

Eden was unimpressed with princess story time.

But Georgia liked the princess.

My sister's kids are older so we spent a lot of time doing kid stuff while her older boys went off and did scary stuff. We met back up to go on the hayride and then we left because the girls were cold but my sister stayed so her boys could do all the haunted houses.

Another fun year at Cornbelly's.

I Wish She'd Let Me Do Her Hair More Often

2011-10-28T06:04:00.000-06:00

Georgia looks so cute in pigtails but she hates having her hair done.

I have to have Darryl hold her while I do her hair.

Most days I don't bother because she fights me so much but some days I'm up to the challenge.

Its worth it because she looks so cute.

And she knows how cute she is!

Its A Wonder More People Don't Still Wear Diapers

2011-10-27T14:54:00.000-06:00

Well, we tried it. The dreaded potty training.

Because of fall break we didn't have Georgia's motor skills class or horse therapy so I had several days in a row where we didn't have to go anywhere or do anything. I thought it was a good time to test the waters on potty training. The result? She's not ready!

We started off in Princess 'Rora panties.

And spent nearly 2 hours in the bathroom and 20 minutes after we left the bathroom she peed all over the floor.

So we spent several hours in the bathroom. (She did not want her picture taken.) Even Georgia had to be part of this.
We set up our own little mini base camp.

We spent hours in there reading books and just hanging out. And she peed in the potty a grand total of twice the first day and had four accidents.
So the next day we decided to try a different tactic.

The naked butt!

I just let her run around all day totally free.
She got the concept a little better but we also ran to the bathroom about 50 times and she would sit on the potty for literally 2 seconds and say she was "I all done" without having done anything, only to pee a few drops in the kitchen only minutes later.

She did jazz up her naked butt a little with princess wings and a tutu.

By the fourth day and having had more accidents than success I asked her if she wanted to keep potty training or wear a diaper and she agreed wearing a diaper would be best for now.

We'll try again in a few months.

This Is How Our Day Went

2011-10-27T14:45:00.000-06:00

Darryl says he can tell how our day went by whether or not any of Eden's toys are in time out.

Well . . .

this pretty much sums it up.

Her dolls had to stand in the corner shortly after taking a ride in Georgia's wheelchair.

Nobody sticks baby in the corner.

Unless she's in a corner chair with her iPad and even then she may just fall asleep.

Ward Chili Cook Off

2011-10-26T18:11:00.003-06:00

The ward chili cook off was the other night and we decided to contribute. As you can see from the photo our contents included chili mix and wine. Hmm I wonder why we didn't win? Eden loves to help cook so she helped daddy.

We Love Nana

2011-10-22T13:01:00.000-06:00

Nana is off her chemo treatments this week so we went to see her and play in the yard.

Eden was finally brave enough to go down the slide herself.

The trees were changing colors and were so pretty.

Nana will probably kill me for this picture. She hates having her picture taken, sometimes I snap pictures just to drive her crazy.

But the good thing is she doesn't know how to use a computer so unless Grandpa prints this post off for her she will never know its on here. Hint, hint, Grandpa don't show her this picture.

Eden loves to torment Tigger. She was throwing leaves at him.

The reason Eden isn't wearing shoes is because she had huge blisters on her feet from her Princess shoes.

Attacked By Pirates

2011-10-22T12:57:00.000-06:00

On Groupon they had a deal for 50% off a Provo River boat ride complete with a pirate attack. So I invited my friend Kristen and we took our kids.

Georgia loved it even with the life jacket.

They had carved pumpkins all along the river (about 100). They have to recarve them about ever 5 days.

We were even attacked by pirates who gave us booty (candy).

It didn't last very long (only about 30 minutes) but it was really fun.

Eden is still talking about the pirates.

Look Daddy I Love Riding Horses

2011-10-22T12:54:00.000-06:00

Darryl finally got to come watch Georgia do her horse therapy.

Sadly, Georgia was tired so she wasn't her usual happy smiley self for daddy.

Too tired to even say goodbye to her horse.

Picking Pumpkins

2011-10-22T12:52:00.000-06:00

We went to Hee Haw Farm to pick some pumpkins with Ryan, Kari and Abbey.

We took a hayride out to the pumpkin patch.

Eden immediately found her pumpkin.

Little did we know we would actually need a machete to get it off the vine.

Georgia was a little more discerning.

Eden carried her pumpkin every where and dropped it several times.

Georgia had to find a perfectly round completely orange pumpkin so it took a while.

But finally we found the perfect pumpkin.

Abbey also was a little indecisive about her pumpkin but finally found it.

So we waited for the hayride.

I had to take a picture of this because Ryan was just standing there holding the girls' pumpkins like this. it

was pretty hilarious.

This picture would be a whole lot better without the large "NO SMOKING" sign on the corn husk teepee.

Who would be dumb enough to smoke in a corn husk teepee. Obviously some idiot has done it before otherwise they wouldn't need the sign.

By the time we ate dinner it was too dark to see the animals.

Or ride the pony but at least the girls still got to pet the pony.

We rode the animal train in the dark anyway.

The girls didn't want to get out of the corn but it was getting cold and poor Georgia was freezing.

We had a really fun time.

Thanks Campbells for going with us.

Happy Halloween

2011-10-22T12:44:00.000-06:00

Here's this year's Halloween shirts.

Eden flipped out when she saw Georgia's shirt (with the mummy with a Binka) and she wanted to wear it instead. But we were running late and Georgia was already dressed so I promised her she could wear it next time. I humored her by letting her wear the Jack-O-Lantern headband.

It Doesn't Look Like Much But Trust Me Its A Big Deal

2011-10-22T12:42:00.000-06:00

She's bearing weight on her arms and holding her head up.

Yay, baby girl!

Happy Fall Y'all

2011-10-22T12:41:00.000-06:00

Once again this year we took the girls up to American Fork Canyon to play in the leaves. It was a little cold but I wanted to get a few pictures before the leaves all fell off the trees. I also wanted to try out my new wireless remote for my camera. I'm so excited about it. Now maybe I will be in a few pictures with the kids so they will actually have proof I was at places with them. We also discovered yet another reason why it is great to have a child with special needs - free access to National Parks.

Man my butt looks huge in this picture, I'm sure it was the angle of the camera and not my actual behind.

Man, I love Photoshop!

Eden had a ton of fun playing in the leaves and throwing rocks in the lake.

Of course she came home covered in mud too.

How To Make A Chair Out Of A 5 Gallon Bucket

2011-10-20T22:26:00.002-06:00

I took Georgia to see a therapist at Now I Can (where they do intensive therapy).

He taught me how to make a chair for Georgia out of a 5 gallon bucket.

I improved his model a bit and thought I would post how to do it.

First get a 5 gallon bucket.

I bought this one at Home Depot, they have a lot of really cute colors.

Measure a slot for your child to sit in, be sure to leave about 2 inches at the bottom so your baby doesn't slide out (on my first prototype I didn't do this and she just squirmed her way out).

Make it wide enough so that your child can easily get in and out and to grow a little.

I used a scroll saw to saw off the front of the bucket.

Don't worry if the edges are jagged they will get covered.

You'll also need to cut out some additional holes to attach straps to hold your child in.

Measure the width of your child from hip to hip and the height from bum to armpit and cut corresponding holes.

My daughter has poor trunk control so I put straps around her waist and around her chest.

The next step is to pad the inside to make it nice and comfortable

I used a foam mattress pad but you could also use cotton batting.

Use your bucket to trace a pattern on the foam pad.

Cut the foam pad just a little inside your pattern.

You'll need a circular piece for the bottom.

And a rectangular piece for the sides.

I just laid the bucket on the foam and then rolled it across to get the width for the rectangle.

Secure the pieces with glue.

I used craft glue on the inside and then secured the edges with a glue gun.

The next step is to pad the edges.

I used a pool noodles to pad the sides.

This project requires 2 Funoodles, one for the front and one for the top.
Cut one side of the foam pool noodle.

Mold the foam pool noodle around the exposed edges of the front and top.

Cut off excess pool noodle.
I also hot glue gunned the pool noodle to the bucket.

I made sure to put the noodle over the padding.

Next, for safety, apply straps.

Also a warning. Always have your bucket grounded to something. I lean mine against the couch but you can also use small sandbags to anchor it in place. You don't want your child tipping over in the chair.

I found these straps and buckles at a fabric store.
They are similar to what you find in high chairs.

Just web the straps through your precut holes in the back, you also have to cut small holes in your padding.

And apply buckles or clasps to the end.

I did have to do a small amount of sewing to attach the buckles but it wasn't anything too difficult.

And voila! You have a little chair that is light weight and portable (I even left the handle on mine for easy carrying).

You can also make some sort of fabric cover for your chair but I'm not all that into sewing so I just throw a blanket over mine.

Enjoy! And best of luck.

Which Witch Is Which?

2011-10-20T22:01:00.000-06:00

Once again this year I took the girls to see the witches at Gardner Village. The whole way there Eden kept telling me "I don't want to see the witches." I told her they were nice witches. Once we got there she liked seeing them but she didn't want to go anywhere near them. This is the closest I could get her to them . . .

They have such adorable witches there.

Here I am trying to show Eden how to hula hoop.

I've got mad skills!

Of course because they have so many cute photo spots there we had to do a little mini photoshoot.

This was Eden's favorite witch. She kept wanting to go back to the witch in the row boat. She stayed there for the longest time. In order to get some pictures I had to promise her we would go back to see the witch in the row boat.

Jane went with us and acted as pseudo photographer for some shots.

Hmmph

2011-10-20T21:53:00.000-06:00

Georgia makes this face when she is really tired and just waking up.

We call it her "hmmph" face.

This is the tail end of it, usually her lips are more poubty.