Olivia

Olivia is doing really well. She loves school and giggles as soon as we turn around the corner to onto the street of her school. One of the kids in Olivia's class moved up to the elementary school class so now there are a total of 4 kids in her class. They have a great teacher and a fantastic aide. Olivia is making progress towards her IEP goals.



Here are some of the notes from her latest quarterly IEP report: "Olivia is using signs and PECS to express when she is hungry and thursty during meal times; more comfortable moving around the classroom and playground; she can point and match well and her receptive understanding of directions is improving".



I was able to help with one of their recent fieldrips and we had a blast! The class had an installation on display at the New Orleans Museum of Art so the whole school took a field trip to the art museum and then had a picnic lunch and some play time at the park. It was such a great experience to hang out with such amazing kids and teachers. All the kids in Olivia's school have some sort of special or unique challenge so we were a pretty unique group. I am so glad that I was able to go! At the museum Olivia showed off some of he stair climbing skills. We've definately worked hard on this so it was really exciting to see her doing so well in such a new environment. We have also decided to resume ABA therapy and finally found an ABA therapist and completed all the paperwork and initial evalations and Olivia will begin ABA therapy next week.

Showing off her stair-climbing-skills:





We are continuing to love the civilian healthcare system! It still seems like such a luxury to be able to call the doctor's office, speak to a real person and schedule a same day appointment in less than 5 minutes! Olivia has had a case of pink eye and a sinus infection but other than that she's been pretty healthy since the move. Olivia also saw a pulminologist earlier this month.



This was the very first time she's ever seen an actual pulminologist. Olivia has been on pulmicort and xopenex for about 2 1/2 years. We raised some cocerns about this with her doctor at Ft. Bragg about a year ago but those concerns were dismissed. The pulminologist has decided that we should stop the brathing treatments and see if we notice a difference. It still feels very strange to not have the 20 minute nebulizer treatments as a part of our morning and evening routine. We have had to use Olivia's inhaler a couple of times and we're looking forward to our next appointment with the pulmonologist next month.



Olivia is playing with toys more and interacting with Peter more. We're seeing new apects of her personality emerege. We've learned that Olivia loves the tuna fish at Subway. She recently started paying attention to tv and movies, Olivia will sit an watch about 10 minutes of a favorite movie or Micky Mouse Clubhouse episode. In the mornings Olivia wakes up when she hears me making coffee but I'll bring her milk and she'll continue to stay cuddled in her bed with her toys until it's time to get dressed. Olivia has started to say a few words again. She says "mamma" pretty consistantly and has added "dadda" over the last couple of weeks. She will also say and sign "eat" and will imitate words more often. She definately likes vocalazing and is quick to let us know when there is something she wants or needs.

Olivia also loves to jump! For christmas my parents gave Olivia a trampoline and jumping on her trampoline has become one of her favorite activities!

Peter

Somehow over the last 6 months Peter became a little boy. There are still traces of the little baby we brought home from the hosptial but we can only find them because we know exactly where to look. I know that when he's fast asleep I can still catch him making the little sucking sounds he made as an infant.

Peter is talking up a storm lately. He loves school and has made friends with some of his classmates. Peter fell and skinned his knee a few weeks ago. His teacher just as I was on my way out of the office to pick him up for the day to give me a head's up. I arrived at Peter's school and got a glimpse of him running and playing on the playground but the second Peter saw me he started to cry and limp. He told me in the most pitiful of voices that he got an bo-bo on his knee but it would feel better if I gave him a kiss and ice cream after dinner. Peter pretended to limp around for so many days that I really begin to wonder if he really had injured himself, but then I got a glimpse of him sprinting across the playground.



For show-and-tell a couple of weeks ago they had to bring something that began with the letter "B", Peter insisted on bringing his Buzz Lightyear and nearly caused a riot in his class. We'll be bringing pictures of objects from now on. In January Peter moved up to the 3 1/2-4 1/2 year old class at school. He has homework now and the program is much more curriculum based. He is loving it though. He brought these home last week and then announced during dinner that we were having beans that grew in the ground. We were actually having rice but at least he was making some progress. He does know that ice creme does not grow in the ground but it comes from the grocery store.



Peter is such a pleasure to be around. You can see aspects of both Mike and my personalities emerging in his little mannerisms. Peter can be a little moody and grumpy when he doesn't get his way (no idea where he would get this :) and he can be a little stuborn (hello Mike). Peter is also becomming a master manipulator. I had better figure out a way to put a stop to this now or it could get out of hand! Look at that pout!

Texas Traditions

We ran out of checks. Really who even uses checks anymore, we were still using checks printed with our address 3 moves ago. Anyway, we ran out, and I may or may not have just ordered the Texas Traditions checks just to drive my dear husband from Louisiana a little bonkers. Some may say it's wrong to do something that you know will deliberately irritate your husband, but I just can't seem to stop smiling about it. I'm not saying I would ever do such a thing, after all it really is all about charity and a portion of the purchase price from our check order will be donated to the Alamo Fund for preservation of the Alamo. That's all that really matters, right. It's not like I paid the extra $1.50 to have the slogan "God Bless Texas" added (and yes, that was an option so it could be worse).

long neglected but not forgotten...

My little blog here has been long neglected but it certainly hasn't been forgotten. I think about blogging often. I think about cute, fun, little aspects of our days that I would love to share but there just never seems to be enough time.

I've missed the blog. I have regularly kept a journal since high school. I always journal during Mike's deployments. I find the process so soothing and therapeutic. It gives me a chance to reflect. I very rarely look through my old journals. For me, blogging is similar in some ways. While I try to be authentic and honest it is always in the back of my mind that the blog is open for others to read and interpret as they will. I blog more so that I can remember and look back on what was going on during that stage in our lives. Unlike with journaling I love to look back at some of the older blog entries.

In any case I've missed it! I've missed sharing the kids and some of our adventures. It's taken some time for us to adjust here in New Orleans. We lept right into our lives here. It was such a hectic move from North Carolina, we never had a chance to really land before jumping into our lifestyle here so I feel like we just spent the first 6 months trying to play catch up. We're not caught up now but I've just decided we're never going to be and we'll just continue to have to figure it out as we move along.

Laissez les bons temps rouler

Let the good times roll! We throughly enjoyed our first Carnival season as a family here in New Orleans.

A synagogue down the street from Olivia's school sponsors a special VIP area for kis with special needs. They had handicap accessible stands so that kids could enjoy the parades. There were snacks and clean bathrooms and a magician. We had a blast!


Snacks and a parade at the same time :) Peter easily ate his weight in King Cake througout the Carnival season.


Between the parades we were able to rest inside away from the crowds.


While Olivia and I were in the VIP stands Peter and Mike were down mixing with the crowd.


After his first few parades Peter wasn't shy at all about shouting "THROW ME SOMETHIN' MISTER"


A few of our favorite floats.




After a full day of Parades Peter was exhausted.


The kids haul from 1 day of parades.


Mike and I were able to enjoy a few night time parades without the kids.