Happy Birthday To Me!!!

It's not that exciting that I'm turning older, but it's fun to have family come and celebrate with me. My mom came over on my birthday on Friday morning. Kate had a half day of school so they made shamrock chocolate mint cookies and my Mom helped her with a "carnival" (a bunch of games) for the neighbor kids that Kate randomly thought of doing. We just hung out at the house while Lindsey took a nap. Then, Kyle got home from work early and we visited some more. Then, Marci showed up and we decided to go out for an early dinner. We went to Sabor a Mexico in Mukilteo. They have the yummiest carne asada. Delish. Then we came back to do the cake before us girls took off and went shopping while Kyle stayed home with the kids.

We went shopping for me and my Mom's birthday gifts. We were in Nordstrom's for 2 hours! My sibling's and I bought my Mom some navy blue Tom's and some MAC eyeshadow. She was excited. My Mom got me a new MAC lipstick, Twig, and I bought Viva Glam VI lipglass to go over it. I was excited. Then we ran over to Penney's before they closed to check out the shoes. My birthday gift from Kyle to me is a new pair of black flats. I found some, but I went to wear them on Saturday and I was sliding on the kitchen floor trying to walk. Not good. I'll keep looking.

I had a good birthday week though. Kyle was a rockstar and had to do baths and bedtime with the kids all week while I was out! I had the relief society birthday dinner on Tuesday night where I fixed my bangs in my infamous tidal wave like how I wore them in middle school and high school. We were to dress up in the decade we were born. It was a fun night. Then Wednesday night was mutual where we decorated shamrock sugar cookies for the Carliles and talked about the Plan of Salvation and played Scattegories. Then Thursday night I went to Keri's card class and had fun visiting with the other girls there while making 5 really cute cards. Then on Friday night I was out shopping with my Mom and Marci for my birthday! Kyle said he can't wait for his birthday week. haha.

On Saturday morning, my Mom offered to watch the kids while Kyle, Kate and I went to Jenna's funeral. It was a great funeral. Jenna's aunt, Brooke, spoke and did a great job talking about Jenna's life. Then Derek, Jenna's dad, spoke and talked about the Plan of Salvation and how they know they will be with Jenna again and that Jenna is safe and happy. Knowing families are forever is very comforting. They had the kid cousins sing "I am a Child of God" and invited primary age kids to come up and sing too, Kate went up and loved it. Then a couple more speakers, their Stake President and a family friend. I'm impressed with how Derek and Forrest are handling it. They are so strong. It would be incredibly hard to deal with something like losing a child. They have lots of family support and support from friends and the community they live in, which is awesome.

After the funeral, I came home to find out my Mom had cleaned out my fridge (I knew she was going to do that b/c she offered), but she also cleaned out all my kitchen cupboards and drawers!!! I told her that was a good birthday present! We left after lunch and went to JoAnn's to finish shopping for my birthday gift, new maternity skirts that my Mom will make. I found some cute material and we found some material for Easter dresses too. Then my Mom had to leave to get home. It was fun to have her come over.

Our Long Weekend

Thanks for all your comments on my last post. They were very encouraging and I really appreciated all of them. It's what I needed to hear. :)

The Portland Temple

I went through it during the open house when I was like 13 with Grandpa and Grandma Wright. I always loved it after that.

Kyle needed to go down to Portland to check out some properties for work. I convinced him to let us tag along so we could visit some friends. Megan and Lincoln Wright recently moved their from Omak (before that they lived in N.Seattle when we lived there) and Matt and Danielle Apken moved to Wilsonville from Everett. We drove down on Thursday afternoon and hit a bunch of traffic, but made it to our friends, Megan and Lincoln's house around 7:20pm. Then we visited with them while the kids made a mess and chased around their 2 cats. It was good to catch up with them and see them. We went to our hotel room and got the kids down to bed. It was a late night for them. Kate was so excited to sleep in a hotel again and eat the continental breakfast the next morning. You can tell our kids hardly sleep at hotels (except since recently!). Preston thought there would be a bunk bed like there was at Great Wolf Lodge. haha. Lindsey slept the worse because she would wake up and scratch or rub the side of the porta-crib. Why do they use the loudest, worst material for porta-cribs?! Kate made friends with the front office lady so she gave Kate a ring, Preston a die cast Mater car and Lindsey a stuffed monkey.

Then Friday morning, we met up with Danielle. She used to be the young women president that I worked with before she moved. She's also a dental hygienist so we have lots in common. Kyle took her car and went to see his projects. Danielle and I took the kids to Pump it up and they had fun. Then we grabbed lunch and drove around where she lives to see the area. While Lindsey napped the kids watched Despicable Me. Kyle got done around 2pm so he was fast. We went to a park and it was a gorgeous day so we soaked up the sun. We drove around some more then met up with Matt at Red Robin for dinner. Then we headed home. The kids slept the whole way home which was nice and we didn't hit traffic which is even nicer. :) It was a fun getaway.

The big ginormous slide at the park

Me and Danielle

It's been a somber weekend as we received news that our good friends lost their 7 yr old daughter Jenna in a horrible tragic accident early Sunday morning. (read about it here.) A younger sibling accidentally shot her on Saturday afternoon and she didn't make it. It breaks my heart to think what this family has to go through. I can't even imagine how they are feeling right now. I was in shock and disbelief when I first heard about it then even more numb when I found out she passed away. I've cried about it and it's been hard to sleep because I keep thinking about them. Thank goodness for eternal families because they will see Jenna again, but it's just so hard to even fathom losing a child. They have a good supportive family which is what they need right now.

Testing, Testing, 1.2.3

We are having another evaluation done on Preston at the Center on Human Development and Disability (CHDD) at the University of Washington. The last evaluation he had was 2 years ago and his team (therapists, teachers, psychologists) at school recommended it. I was thinking of doing it again anyway because it had been a couple years so I was fine with getting him scheduled again. They have a 3 month wait list to get in so I returned the paperwork as soon as I could. We got a letter from them saying we'd get scheduled in 3 months, but then the next day a lady called saying they were ready to schedule his appointments. Sweet! It's quite the process with 4 different days filled with appointments. He gets evaluated by a psychologist, speech therapist, physical therapist and then we talk with a social worker and fill out many forms of evaluations based on what we see at home. Then after all the therapists and evaluations are complete they meet with us and discuss their findings. I think his team at school wants to rule out autism. If he does get an autism diagnosis this time then he would qualify for all day preschool next year and that is what they want to figure out. (He has another year before kindergarten because his birthday is in October, which is to his benefit.) Plus, they see things that he was doing 2 years ago that he's still doing. Some things he's really improved on like his speech and self help skills (putting on coat, shoes, clothes), but then his social skills are still lacking.

I've always been resistant to the "autism" diagnosis because I don't want him to have it. I realized I am in denial about having a kid with developmental delays. Kyle and I have always hoped he'd "snap" out of it and be normal. But as the years go on we realize that might not happen. It's really hard. It's hard to deal with his constant issues, and having to discipline him (he's gotten better, when he was younger it was even worse, very emotionally draining). But it's also hard to realize you have a kid with special needs. It's something I never expected to deal with in my life. I always saw other parents with special needs kids and think "bless them for everything they go through with that kid because that would be hard" and would hope I never had to deal with that. I know his condition could be worse. I know we are all dealt with things in life that are hard and we are given them for a reason. These challenges are here to make us stronger. I just need to accept it and stop comparing Preston to other kids his age. I'm really bad at comparing. When I compare it just makes me more upset that he can't do certain things or behave a certain way like other kids his age. It just makes life more challenging because when we go out and Preston is interacting with other kids we always have to be like a "hawk" and watch him constantly just in case he does something bad or mean. It's not just a relaxing thing to let him go play. It's amazing seeing Lindsey grow and develop because she is doing things that Preston has just barely shown interest in (like putting on her coat, shoes, trying to buckle her car seat). So having another normally developed kid has really shown us how amazing development is because it just happens naturally...for most. As Preston has improved with his development, things have gotten easier. He is pretty independent and plays great on his own. :) He's cute, smart and likes to have fun. Then there are those rough days where Kyle and I ask "why us?" "what are we to learn from this?" It's always a challenge. But onward and upward to more testing and we'll see what the professionals think this time around.