A Much Needed Expedition

It feels like we have been indoors all year long.

That is no exaggeration--this summer was one of the driest and hottest Texas has ever experienced, and I was heavily pregnant during that time. We could scarcely walk outside without my head swimming and I started to feel faint, so we had to pack up and come back in. Not to mention that Emerald was struggling with the potty training outside which meant that we were out just long enough for her to relax and realize she needed to poo, so I would be forced to grab everyone and rush us in as quickly as possible so she could sit on the potty and do nothing. Then of course we had Benjamin and he was too young to brave the elements for very long at all.

Once I was not pregnant and Emerald was potty trained and Benjamin was old enough to go outside, it got too cold! We hated being trapped inside the house all day long, and we were all getting cabin fever pretty severely.

This week, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous outside which means that we can start spending time out back again!

Of course, I realize that it is weird that it is halfway through January and we are having such lovely days. It makes me worry about how hot the summer is going to be, but I try not to dwell on that too much and we try and take advantage of being outside as much as possible.

Yesterday, we were able to go out for about an hour to swing and play on the slide; I walked Benjamin around in his stroller, until Gabe started getting a bit chilled and needed to come inside.

It was such a big hit and everyone had such a good time that I decided to do a repeat today; we just skipped nap all together and headed outside after lunch.

This time I set Ben up on a towel so that he could enjoy the fresh air and sunshine and roll around a bit. I took lots of pictures but they depressed me because my grass is so dead so they are rather drear. His baby cheeks started turning pink, so I took off his sweatpants; he was still too hot, so I stripped him down to his diaper. That's when he really started enjoying the gentle and cool breeze and the unseasonably warm sunshine.

Gabriel made a beeline for the swing, as usual, but now he will sign "Go" when he wants me to push him. This is very exciting, and I am pleased that he is working so hard at communicating. Playing outside is a good motivator for him.

Emerald swung and played on the slide and rode on her scooter and pretended to be a pirate, but the second I brought out the water hose to water my drab dirt backyard, she was completely uninterested in anything else. I didn't want her making a big mess of herself, but when I saw Gabe eyeing the hose hopefully too, I decided to let them go ahead and get soaked--after all, we had plenty of time to clean up before occupational therapy later that afternoon, and it was a lovely day for it.

The water was obviously pretty chilled still, but after running around in the hot sun, they were both ready for some refreshing cool water. Emerald continued to water my glass as Gabriel ran through it and giggled. Occasionally they would stop and steal a drink from the hose, which made me glad that we sprung for the water hose that makes the water drinkable. Something about filtering out the worst of the lead or something, I don't remember.

After a while, I let Gabe hold the hose for Emerald to run through. Gabe really liked that a lot--he is not used to being in control of these kinds of things.

Unfortunately about that time is when I noticed Gabe was shivering from head to foot, even though he was having the time of his life. Feeling quite guilty, I made them come inside, but gave them a hot shower and a special treat--together, we made Valentine's Day Mickey Mouse cookies and had that and flavored water for snack.

I cannot tel you how excited I am that we are able to spend time outside again. There is only so much you can do in the house, and having somewhere else to go really breaks up the tedium. I am thinking if maybe the weather holds, we will attempt walking down to the park soon; Gabe has his puppy lead and Benjamin can ride in the stroller. I will probably have someone come with us the first time so that I have an extra pair of hands for wrangling. The park is not far away at all and I can trust the kids to behave if they are getting a special treat like that. I just have to keep it simple :)

So yay for outdoor play!!

Home Again

I am kind of a mean mommy. I don't take all the Christmas presents out of the box on the day the kids get them, because then they lose everything in the chaos of Christmas and they get bored with them that much quicker...

At any rate, I open a couple presents at a time over the course of about a month so that the kids can appreciate them a little at a time.

In Emerald's stocking, she got a three-game set of Jacks, Pick-Up-Sticks, and Tiddlywinks. Now, I have played Jacks before (although the only thing I remember is leaving them out on the floor for Daddy to step on in bare feet--that got me in a bit of trouble!!) but Pick Up Sticks and Tiddlywinks are new to me. So I sit down with her and I am trying to figure these games out but I am making it way more complicated than it needs to be so I am confused and getting frustrated...in the end, it turns out I just stink at these games, lol.

When I was younger, I really enjoyed marbles, because that's how cool I was. I was thinking about buying some marbles and teaching Emerald how to play when lo and behold--I found a bag of game marbles in our shed! The last tenants must have left them, but we have to be careful because marbles are such a choking hazard.

Uncle Royce got Gabriel some inflatable long balloons with a little hand pump to blow them up with; I blew up a few of them and let the kids use them as swords to fight, until Gabe started chewing on them and Emerald was shooting them all around the living room--someone was either going to choke or get a balloon to the eye, so I called a stop to it and put the balloons away.

Benjamin got a lot of toys that light up and talk in annoying high pitched voices and make music...you know, basically the toys babies just adore. Well, they are the only ones--older kids love them too. Gabe and Emerald wanted to play with Ben's toys as much as he did!

I put together Gabriel's Thomas the Train railroad set; you flip a switch and Thomas puffs along until his batteries go dead or until you flip his switch again. Gabe did not like that and wanted to manipulate the train on his own, which I am fine with, as it is hard to keep enough batteries for all their toys that require it.

It was a lot of fun to play with all these new toys together :)

More Pictures from our Trip to Abilene

Gabriel playing in the tummy mat--Aunt Julia set it up for Benjamin to use while we were there.

Andrew was fascinated with Benjamin; Ben loved playing with him!

Uncle Jarrod and Andrew playing Skyrim together.

The nudist is at it again--he didn't want to wear clothes pretty much the whole time we were there.

Benjamin got a Bumpo from Oma for Christmas--this is him practicing sitting up like a big boy.

Emerald trying on hats at the store; we ended up buying her a big floppy white sunhat for $2.50!

Gabe at Burger King, staring longingly at the play place.

Tummy time!

Momma and Emerald.

At the Frozen Yogurt place; they liked sitting on the tall stools.

Trip to the Zoo

On Tuesday in Abilene, Jarrod took me and the kids to the zoo!

I have to say--the fact that they have a zoo is a major selling point for possibly moving to Abilene. Lubbock does not have one, which I have always found disappointing.

Anyways, Tuesday Julia had to go back to work but Jarrod still had the day off. He has a year-long pass to go to the zoo, so he called Emerald and had her meet us up there. We took a stroller for Benjamin and a two-seater wagon for the bigger kids, which left Emerald walking. That is okay, seeing as she is four years old and we don't need to be dragging her all over the place.

When we got there, it was pretty chilly but not bad. The wind had a bit of a bite, but overall it was decent for a January day. Right outside the zoo they have a little lake full of different types of birds, and that's where we went first.

One of the sensory things we do with Gabe is deep pressure--a good way to accomplish that is to get him to push heavy weights. So while we were going across the grass, I had Gabe push the stroller. Jarrod laughed because Julia dislikes the stroller because it is too heavy (which it is, comparatively to an umbrella stroller) but there Gabe was just trucking pushing it and Ben as well!

When we got inside, Emerald was there and she brought her daughter Lily, as well as two of the children she watches during the day--Taevyn who is 2 and Kelton who is 5 weeks. I kept worrying the kids would be too cold, but everyone seemed just fine--they were really enjoying themselves. Because we got there early and the weather was less than ideal, the zoo was pretty deserted--the kids could all walk between us, except the ones that were too tired to walk and rode in the wagon.

Emerald's favorite part of the zoo was walking around with Lily. She doesn't have any little girl friends to play with, so it was fun having more than just boys around. Every exhibit was fun for her, and she just overall had a great time.

The only downside was when it was nearly time to go--Ms. Emerald took the little girls to the bathroom, but I could hear my little Emerald in there screeching so I went to help. Apparently, she did not want to try and go potty and was having a meltdown because of it; more than likely, she was just reacting to the stress of transition, and did not want to leave the zoo to go back to Jarrod and Julia's. Anyways, I was helping Emerald go potty and she pushed me of the stall, slammed the door closed and locked it, yelling "I said I was NOT going to go potty! Go away!". I had to slither on my stomach on a public restroom floor to get under the stall--Emerald was not a happy camper after that :-/

Gabriel seemed to enjoy himself as well, but far and away his favorite part was feeding the giraffes. There is this steep bridge and at the top there is a cracker cart; there are two giraffes that eat the crackers at the top. It was so cute--Gabe would hold out the cracker, but as soon as that long black tongue would reach out to get it, he would squeal in terror and drop it, laughing as the giraffe used his freaky almost-prehensile tongue to pull the cracker to his mouth. Of course, that was a big hit with all the children, but I had fairly convinced myself that all Gabe was going to do was attempt to eat the crackers and run off while we were distracted.

The other part that he really enjoyed was the train ride--it is a train that goes all around the zoo, reeling off facts about the animals as we drive past. Gabriel, Benjamin, and I were in one train car; Emerald rode with Uncle Jarrod and Andrew. Trains are a favorite of Gaby's.

After the zoo, we loaded up and went to Schlotzsky's for lunch--I got a pizza and potato soup and both the kids had ham sandwiches. Gabe just ate the ham and tried to eat the cheese off the bread, but overall they behaved themselves and had a good time.

That little cutie is Taevyn--he is the most sociable little boy I think I have ever met; he is just darling.

We had such a good time at the zoo; I hope we can go again sometime soon!!

--Andie--

Our Visit in Abilene

There's a picture of Dominic and Emerald on the ride back to Abilene :)

I decided that who and what Benjamin is right now is still pretty ill-defined as he is only four months old, so he will get his own 'getting to know you' post next time around, when he is a little over a year and is starting to have more of an individualistic personality.

We got back to Jarrod and Julia's on Sunday night; we stopped at Eric and Emerald's on the way and had a pizza dinner with them. Monday, Jarrod and Julia had off so we went to Wal-Mart to get potty training stuff for Andrew, which Julia is going to start working on soon. While we were there, I found a leash puppy pal for Gabriel--it is basically a little fuzzy lab puppy that sits on his back like a backpack, with the four legs reaching around to clasp on his chest. It has a matching fuzzy leash.

Okay, so child leashes are a little controversial. I am well aware of the judgmental, incredulous looks that I get from other parents as Gabriel toddles about on the other end of the leash. After this story, however, you will see why I felt I needed a puppy pal leash and harness.

I buy the puppy and we head to the mall so the kids can play in the fun zone. I put Gabe's puppy harness on so that I can see how he is going to cope with it--I keep the loop of the leash around my wrist, but Gabe holds my hand docilely as we walk through the mall. Maybe he doesn't need it after all??

Feeling more confident, I take it off as we take off the kids' shoes and let them run around and play. Benjamin just sleeps in his car seat, and when he wakes up he goes shopping with Auntie Julia. Emerald made a friend right away--a pretty little girl that introduced herself as Blake. It was really funny because Emerald replies with, "My name is Jessica", the little story-teller!!

I am running around, getting pictures for the blog and trying to corral the kids when another mother approaches me and tells me one has made a break for it. The mall is fairly empty so I can see that Gabe has all ready gotten about five stores away and is running hard. I take off at a full sprint, people laughing at me as I give chase to a delighted and laughing little boy. It was quite funny to everyone else but to me it was terrifying--what if he had gotten lost or further away before I noticed he was gone? What if someone else picked him up? He was running for all he was worth and had a pretty significant lead on me.

I did, obviously, catch him fairly quickly; the rest of the time we were there, I stood guard at the entrance so that he couldn't make a second escape attempt...the little stinker crawled over the wall!! It made me realize to what extent I have a "wanderer"--a child that copes with stress or boredom by taking off. A woman on my ASD forum posted a great article about wanderers that was full of great advice for how to contain Gabe and how to recover him as quickly as possible if he does slip away. One of which was: Leash him while you still can! It will help in public places.

For dinner, Jarrod made a venison taco cheesy noodle casserole--he made the mistake of telling Emerald that it was deer meat, because she refused to touch it saying "I don't want to eat moose noodles!" How she arrived at that conclusion, I can not fathom, but it was quite hilarious.

Tuesday we went to the zoo with Emerald and the children she watches during the day, but I am going to give that trip it's own post.

Jarrod and Julia had to go back to work on Wednesday, so the kids and I got back into a bit of routine, taking an extra long bubble bath in their clawfoot bathtub. Jarrod came home and had lunch with us, and when Mom got home from work we made tacos for dinner. The really neat thing about Wednesday was that Benjamin slept through the night for the first time; mom had bought him infant rice cereal and baby food, so little Ben ate until he was too uncomfortable to move. He was apparently full enough to stay that way all night long!

Wednesday night was also church. Jarrod and Julia and Mom all go to this relatively small church--about 15 members, plus Jarrod and all his friends--so they have dinner provided every Wednesday night; one of them volunteers to cook it. Emerald and Jarrod collaborated to make cheesy broccoli soup and shredded chicken mixed salad, plus there were peaches and peach cobbler and M&M cookies.

Thursday Jarrod came home again for lunch and took me and the kids to Burger King. Emerald and Gabriel loved playing in the play place, but it was hard to drag them away to eat. Emerald of course loves fast food and watched Oso Special Bear; Gabriel completely ignored his food to look sadly at the play place until we were ready to leave. Mom brought home Carino's for dinner--I got lemon-pepper mahi mahi with artichoke hearts and squash and zucchini, which would have been really good if I had thought to warm it up. We tried to watch Mars Needs Moms but the kids were too loud and rowdy.

The low note of Thursday was when I went to take a shower after dinner--as soon as I had climbed in the aforementioned claw foot bathtub, it began to lean precariously. I yelled for helped, but unfortunately my mother answered the call; she could not stop laughing because I had broken one of the feet off the tub. I had to go get Jarrod to come and fix the tub, feeling like a rhino the whole time for breaking a solid tub like that. All my friends got a pretty good laugh out of that one.

I ended up staying up quite late that night because Gabe opted out of dinner as well; by the time we were laying down for bed, he was too hungry to sleep and too sleepy to eat. I made him a caramel cocoa, but he just cried and cried for hours, his little tummy growling noisily and him refusing to eat or drink anything I gave him until he just fell asleep out of exhaustion.

Friday passed quietly enough with us generally trying to pack up and get ready to go home the next day. After Mom got off of work, she took the kids and me to a frozen yogurt shop to get a treat. I got limoncello with strawberries and blueberries; Emerald got red velvet cake with chocolate chips. She loved it so much, but it look like she had just eaten a squirrel or something because she had red dripping down her face and all over her top. Gabe doesn't do utensils so well and would be more interested in finger painting with the fro-yo than actually eating it, so we gave him a small cup full of M&Ms and gummy bears.

While we were eating our snack, Mom and I decided we wanted to make a nice dinner for Julia since it was my last night there. We discussed getting together a picnic dinner to eat at the park because it was unseasonably warm, but we worried about Gabe not eating or wanting to run off. So instead we got groceries and we made: Parmesan and herb-crusted panko chicken, crushed red potatoes, braised and browned Brussels sprouts with red onion, and potato rolls. I think it turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Julia took me out to a martini bar after dinner with Emerald and Marnie, friends of hers and Jarrod's while Jarrod and Mom watched the kids. It was a cute place with big fancy chandeliers and girly touches everywhere, with drinks with names I was much to embarrassed to order aloud. It was a lot of fun hanging out and talking. Afterwards, we went to Emerald's house and had tea.

Saturday was the day we were going home--Mom was driving us. I called Michael who told me he had to work late and wouldn't be home until 7 pm, so none of us felt in a big rush to leave until 3 at the latest.

Poor Michael was trying to surprise me because Joe gave him the second half of the day off to greet us when we got there, but he couldn't surprise me because he fibbed and we didn't get out of there until 3.30. I felt really bad when he told me, but he was expecting us home at around 3 or so.

We went to Kohl's and exchanged Emerald's gift, and got her a big floppy sun hat, a pair of mittens with hearts on the back, and a pair of chocolate-colored corduroys. Once Butters was done at the pet salon, we picked him up and headed out to Lubbock. We ended up getting home at about 7 that night, incidentally the time Michael would have gotten home had he opted to stay at work. We got Chinese for dinner, which was super yummy; I never get to eat Chinese any more.

Mom stayed the night and we took her and the kids to church the next morning at Monterey and stayed for church for the first time. The kids went to the hero worship, which is a special program for the kids during service. Michael and I went to that while Mom stayed with Gabriel; it was pretty good, if you ignore the beatboxer behind us (which we tried very hard to do).

She headed back to Abilene after having a fajita lunch with us, and told us she would come visit again the next long weekend she had.

It was a good visit, and we are happy to be home now :)

--Andie--

The Kids Today--Gabriel

Continuing with the last post, this is about Mr. Gabriel and where he is and who he is as of today!

Gabriel is almost three years old--he will turn three next month. He is a clever, persistent, athletic, sweet-natured, and autistic little boy. His nicknames are Gabe, Gable-Gobbles, Goo-Boo, Goob, and Gaby Baby, though you're lucky if he responds to any of them.

His favorites:

Games--Gabriel likes to play physical games, usually where rules are not strictly adhered and he gets to run and jump around and just enjoy himself. He can kick, throw, or catch a ball, can run near-unceasingly, and has vast amounts of energy. Daily, we have to do sensory activities such as brushing him, deep pressure massage, deep pressure compressions, running, pushing Benjamin in a laundry basket, spinning, and wearing a weighted vest so that Gabe has the control and focus to practice communicative and social skills that he is currently lacking.

Activities--Gabe will wrestle with you just as long as you are willing to participate and he seems to think that whenever someone picks him up they are wanting to flip him. He is still all-around an outdoors kid and he hates to be stuck inside all day. Once we are out there, he likes to run and throw balls, swing on the swing set, jump off of things, and explore. In the shed, we have a spare bed frame that he likes to scale like he is climbing a mountain. Inside, bubbles are a big hit and one of the better motivators to get him to sign.

TV Shows--Veggie Tales.

That is all.

Just. Veggie Tales.

Food--We are not quite sure, but it seems like Gabe's olfactory and/or gustatory systems are hyposensitive, so overall he is generally uninterested in eating actual food, preferring instead to consume non-food items such as chalk, crayons, candles, rocks, dirt, mud, diaper wipes, cardboard, and paper. Per suggestion from his OT, we are going to start incorporating more exciting flavors such as lemon pepper and cinnamon into his meals to see if we can tempt him into trying a wider variety of foods. As of right now, he has a pretty standard list of foods that he will eat, none of which he is particularly enthused about but does not toss to the floor or blatantly ignore like he does other times.

Movie--Once again, Veggie Tales (particularly Jonah) are your best bet with Gabriel. But if you need a much needed break from that, "Monsters Inc", "Princess and the Frog", and Toy Story's 1 and 2 are usually good bets with him. He will watch Cars until after Mac loses Lightening on the interstate before he loses interest, and Disney's cartoon "Robin Hood" will sometimes hold his attention for a little while. He loves Mickey Mouse, he just hasn't seen an interpretation of Mickey yet that he just loved (having mostly watched Clubhouse Mickey and the old black and whites).

Songs--When he is upset, "The Sausage Man" song will generally calm him down. Other than that, he doesn't pay much attention. I sing "You Are My Sunshine" to him, and we have our end-of-the-day and our wake-up songs, none of which he protests, but I don't know if he is really listening or not.

Books--Gabe does not like to sit with people and read. He has no patience for how slowly you turn the pages, doesn't like hearing you drone on, and would much rather just look at the book himself, thank you very much. When the kids are bathing, I read aloud to them from whatever source I chose that day, be it a children's book or a book I'm currently reading (mostly parenting) or GameInformer and he seems to like that. On his own, he loves to flip through pages of...you guessed it--Veggie Tales books!

Toys--Bead tracks are still a favorite, and he likes balls. He has a big red soccer ball he likes to carry around and throw; maybe he would make a good goalie? He does seem to have a diminished pain tolerance. Firetrucks are a new big thing with him as well, especially ones that make too much noise and light up. Toy Story toys are good because he seems to remember them from the movies, and he adores Rex the Dinosaur because he roars and yells inappropriately in conversation, not unlike Gabe himself. His favorite though is his plush Larry the Cucumber. Because of course it is.

Gabriel is a mama's boy and has very strong opinions on how his day should proceed, including how mommy should (and should not) wear her hair. He is a wanderer, liking to get away from people to explore and be in the quiet or outdoors by himself. Given the choice, he would never wear shoes and rarely--if ever--wear clothes or diapers. Though he is developmentally delayed on several levels, anyone that spends time with him can tell you that Gabe is obviously an intelligent child with complex emotional levels; he is just currently unable to express it. Our family wouldn't be complete without our lovely, beautiful Gabriel!!

The Kids Today--Emerald

Around this time last year (technically December of 2010, but close enough) I wrote posts about "getting to know the babies better", talking about favorites and who they were at that moment in time. Looking back at those posts have made me quite nostalgic, so I decided it was time for an updated version!

Emerald is four years old now, and is a strong-willed, stubborn, sensitive, beautiful child. Her nicknames are still Em, Emmie, and Emmie-Lou Darling, though she does insist more often than not that her name is Emerald and that is what she would like to be called.

Her favorites:

Games--She is very fond of the Hungry Caterpillar Game, Memory, and Candy Land currently, though any game you are willing to play with her is a game she is excited about. Lately, she has been getting into the old school games like hopscotch, tiddlywinks, jacks, and pick up sticks, all of which I am hopeless awful at.

Activities--Emerald is a great helper around the house. She loves to make Benjamin smile or laugh, so she plays with him a great deal. One thing she particularly enjoys doing is putting on puppet shows for Ben, singing silly songs and telling goofy little stories. Dressing up is a new-found favorite of hers as well, and she recently acquired several wonderful new pieces in which to fancify herself. When she has been especially good, sometimes Daddy will reward her by taking her to pick out a comic book from the comic shop and to get ice cream from the ice cream shop.

TV Shows--She is agreeable to watch pretty much anything, though "Yo Gabba Gabba" and "Pinky Dinky Doo" are always top contenders. Others she is enthusiastic about are "Sesame Street", "Dora the Explorer", and "Angelina Ballerina". The only thing really that she is uninterested in are things that Gabriel has watched unto death.

Food--Emerald is still pretty much a junk food kiddo. She loves pepperoni pizza, corn dogs, and the typical "kids" stuff: grilled cheese, hot dogs, ranch, fruit snacks, goldfish...before we go grocery shopping, I help her draw a picture list of some of the things she would like to get from the store, then help her pick them out once we are there. I show her how to tell if the fruit is good or not, how to pick things based on price (though she is still struggling with that concept, obviously) and how to pick between two similar items that we don't need both of (goldfish and cheese-its for example). This has gotten her excited about shopping with Mommy and helps her feel more important because she now has responsibilities. Also, it has cut down on her asking for everything in the store!

Movie--Barbie movies are a big hit with her, "Swan Lake" and "The Magic of Pegasus" being up there with her favorites. "Princess Hello Kitty" is a big hit as well, and the Disney princess movies. The biggest treat for her is letting her lay in bed and watch a girly movie all by herself or with mommy and daddy in there as well. Gabriel tends to dominate what we watch out here because he is so much more particular than Emerald, and she doesn't get to just be a girl and do girl stuff as much as she would like. Sometimes, instead of taking naps, her and I set up in her room after the boys go to sleep and we watch a movie together while I paint her nails or braid her hair.

Songs--Emerald's interest in music has taken a shift to pop-y songs like Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus, but is majorly dominated with church songs. "The Fruit of the Spirit" song, "Day 1", and "My God is so Big" are all common requests and are sung by her nearly every day, but loves to sing any song you would find at church.

Books--Emerald has two favorites right now--"Periwinkle Smith and the Twirly Whirly Tutu" and "God's Little Princess" are delicately feminine in a way that Emerald cannot get enough of. They are pink books and about little girls that dance and dress up and have tea parties, just like her, and she absolutely loves every minute of that. She has taken to memorizing books and "reading" them back to you or Benjamin, which I am told is a pre-reading skill. Reading is still a major interest for her--I read aloud to the kids from their own books as well as from whatever I am reading. They don't understand all the words, but they like the sound of my voice.

Toys--This one is nearly impossible to tell, because we just had Christmas and she has many new exciting toys that have grabbed her attention. Overall, she loves Disney princesses, Barbies, dolls, make-believe toys like tea sets, magic wands, and dress up clothes. She is positively obsessed with accessories and wants to pick out what shoes, hat, and jewelry she wears with every outfit. I wish she had more little girl friends so that she could have someone to dress up with; I myself am not very good at it, though I try my hardest, and Gabriel and Benjamin remain totally uninterested.

Emerald loves her daddy and her brothers, praying and playing church (as well as going to the real deal), and snow. Her favorite color is pink as she will tell you many times, and she has an opinion on everything. Overwhelmingly, she is sensitive and wants other kids to like her and want to play with her, wanting to make them happy and not get them into trouble. She digs in her heels quite often when she doesn't get her way, but she is getting better. She is beautiful and intelligent, sweet and patient and kindhearted, all around a wonderful little princess!!

Gigi and Papa's Christmas

As I said in another post, normally at Granny and Papa's house, Christmas starts dark and early--usually we are up before the sun, all tearing into our presents, much to Michael's exhaustion, lol. This year, the one that Michael was unable to make it, we actually couldn't start until later!!

Amber and Jud both worked Friday and could not get out of Tyler until early Saturday morning, so they didn't arrive until 9 or so. As they knew Amber would be late, Aunt Cindy and Uncle Ted did not rush over, so they did not arrive until around 10.30 or so.

This actually turned out to be a blessing because it gave us plenty of time to do Gabriel's sensory things!!

Every day, we have a list of things that Michael and I are supposed to do with Gabriel that help him feel more focused and calmed and centered. Basically, it helps him learn and cope with his environment better.

So that morning--New Years Eve--Jarrod and Tyler (my cousin) helped me. We spun him around in circles in the swivel computer chair or holding him, ran him up and down the stairs, did deep-pressure compressions, chased him outside until he was breathless, brushed him, and put his weighted vest on. Anytime he got overwhelmed we took him out to the van so he could sit and regroup for a few minutes or Oma would rock him and spell words or recite addition problems.

We had the plan that we would try and get Gabriel to wear his new headphones while we opened presents, and if that did not work, I would take him into the computer room where he could open his presents all by himself.

He would only wear the headphones for short bursts, and as the presents were being handed out, I noticed he was getting more and more fidgety. Right before everyone tore in, I got Gabe to sign "thank you" to Gigi and Papa, and I snuck him off into the computer room. I think it was the right decision because I didn't want to make the day more stressful for him than it needed to be, and we haven't gotten very good at calming him down once he is worked up yet.

He opened one present and then was officially done--it was the "Jonah" veggie tales DVD and from that point forward, all he did was stare at that movie. So as soon as I was done trying to tempt his attention away, I finally put his new movie in to watch and went to go check on Emerald and Benjamin.

You never have to worry about either of them--someone is always happy to hold little Benji, who is an incredibly happy, loving little baby that will be content to lay in your arms or thrilled if you babble and play with him. Emerald had all ready torn into all of her presents and was wandering around seeing what everyone else got, so I opened my own presents and Benjamin's as well.

After opening all our presents and trying new clothes on and everything, Papa went outside and saddled up the horses, much to Emerald's delight. I let her go outside and ride, but Gabriel wasn't very interested. I helped clean up and set out the smorgasbord of food--there were sausage balls, queso, french bread and bruschetta, crudites, several types of cheeses, summer sausage, hummus, dips, orange slices, chips...more than I could possibly remember, but I bet you Granny is going to be eating leftovers from that lunch for a long time.

We just kind of lounged about for the rest of the day--we took a nap, Gabe watched that Jonah DVD at least the full times (he just kept requesting it, and no one had the heart to tell him no!), Emerald and I went to Sam Moon to exchange a purse that Julia had gotten. While we were gone, Mom set up the tent for Gabriel who was absolutely thrilled to have his own little special place. Benjamin got spoiled rotten because he was not set down for a minute the entire time we were there, so when we left and he had to spend some of the day entertaining himself, he was less than pleased, lol.

Gigi was worn out and requested that we NOT stay up until midnight on New Year's Eve, seeing as we were all in her house and we all had church in the morning. The kids went to sleep around the usual time, but Amber, Julia, and I stayed up late talking so that we could ring in the new year together.

Sunday morning, we got up and got gussied up to go to my hometown church. I miss it a lot, but it feels so different because so many things have changed since I was there. Gabriel and Emerald were all in the same class and Benjamin was right next door, so I stayed in the class with Gabe to help him out. Sure enough, he made multiple (rather successful) escape attempts that left me clodding up the hall to catch him. Poor Dominic at one point tried to bar the door to keep Gabe from leaving, which earned him a rather harsh hair-pulling from Mr. Gabe. Emerald herself had a bit of a meltdown when we left class. Service went pretty smoothly--Benjamin and Emerald made it all the way through sitting next to Gigi, while Gabriel only made it to communion before I had to sneak him out. Gabriel had taken a liking to my cousin Justin, so they played together in the nursery with the other kids while I went back to church.

After service was over, we decided to go out for lunch to spare Granny another mess to clean up. Unfortunately we forgot that it was now New Years Day and almost everywhere was closed. Babe's chicken ended up being opened, so we went there--it was really good, actually. We got fried chicken (some people got chicken fried steak) and mashed potatoes, black-eyed peas, this sweet corn, and gravy...the atmosphere was a bit hectic, so I couldn't convince Gabriel to eat--he just watched Jonah on my phone while everyone else ate and I fed him ham and cheese and oranges and trail mix when we got back to Gigi's house.

We loaded up in the car and drove back to Jarrod and Julia's after that--we stopped long enough to drop Dominic off with his mom, and had a pizza dinner at Ms. Emerald's house.

So that is the last "post" of 2011!! Stay tuned for our adventures after the new year :)

Going to Abilene

Fact about me: I hate travelling.

Oh, I know most people are not a big fan; generally speaking it is a tedious chore rather than a fun adventure, especially if you have young children. But I particularly dread it--I don't particularly like being in the car for extended periods of time, Gabriel struggles with new environments and changes in his routine (kid will have a rotten day if Emerald showers before he does in the morning, imagine what it is like to uproot and go somewhere else), and packing is a nightmare.

I mean, seriously--you always forget one important thing, like a toothbrush or wipes or a bottle. Something that you will need every day that you are there but might not need the morning you are loading up. Then, of course you are going to leave several things wherever you stay. I am bad about leaving my cell phone charger, then simply having to buy a new one. And deciding what is of importance enough to take or what you can do without...ugh!!

Anyways, I have a good time once I have reached my destination, but I am antsy and tense leading up to the actual arrival, which does not do for someone with small children.

I am lucky in that all three of my children apparently travel well. They don't ask to stop a million times to go to the bathroom, they play with the same few toys quietly until they are bored and then just stare out the window until we get there. Very low maintenance. But I am so tightly-wound that I fear I am stressing everyone else out.

Dad came and picked us up on Wednesday around lunchtime. We took my van because it has lots of seating, and we drove to Abilene in about 3 hours. Overall, not bad at all. We stopped once to get the kids some McDonald's and then arrived at Uncle Jarrod's by mid-afternoon.

Jarrod and Julia and Andrew were out of town visiting Julia's mother for Christmas, so it was just us and Oma and Grandpop until we left for Ponder on Friday. Aunt Cindy, Uncle Ted, and our cousins Jessica, Grace, and Grant were driving through back home from Christmas in New Mexico, and they stopped and had a BBQ dinner with us on their way through. It was a lot of fun--Emerald enjoyed playing with all the cousins, Benjamin loved getting the extra attention, and Gabriel adored the ham, lol.

Thursday was when the trip started getting more stressful, all because of....

...this guy.

Ben is a baby--he could care less where he is, especially if he is getting fed. Emerald is curious by nature, and this gave her the chance to play with toys she doesn't have and explore a house she doesn't remember well. Gabriel, while not a tantrum-er, certainly acts out when there is a change in the way he lives in his life.

It became a necessity for him to have constant supervision. At home, generally speaking I can sneak away to the bathroom if I really have to go or pop out to check the mail, especially if Benjamin is asleep in his bassinet. Now, I didn't even have the luxury of sitting down to feed Benjamin without looking up and seeing Gabriel engaged in some sort of shenanigans.

First, he would take off his diaper after he pooped in it, then run around the house stark naked (and quite yicky) until I could catch him, clean him up, and go searching for the soiled diaper and any mess he made between it and where I caught him. Of course, that takes a few minutes which means that in the time that I am cleaning up his last mess, he is all ready fully engaged in making a new one. Scaling the baby gates, climbing on top of counters, knocking over chairs, pulling Christmas ornaments off the tree and attempting to break/hide them, standing on the table, or swinging from the chandelier...every second, he was endangering himself and fraying every single last one of my delicate nerves.

Food became an issue as well, because of my spoiled children's limited diets. At home, I buy things that I know they will eat, but I also offer them whatever Michael and I are having. If they choose not to eat it, it is no big deal. But at someone else's house, if they opt out of a meal, that is wasting food we did not pay for. I feel guilty as heck about that, and I don't like doing it. So I try and generally give the kids things that I know they are likely to want so that I minimize waste. Unfortunately, while Gabe is stressed out and away from home, meal times become even more difficult--he does not focus long enough to eat, throws all his food on the floor, and doesn't say anything when he is simply famished and actually NEEDS to crack and eat something. It is just sort of a sucky situation for him because he really doesn't mean to be acting this way, but he is positively driving me crazy!!

Emerald enjoyed herself a great deal. And I liked spending time with Mom--Dad left Friday morning without us and we didn't get to see him again before we left.

Between clumsy rhino me and destructor Gabriel, we managed to break something in Jarrod and Julia's house pretty much every day that we stayed there!!

Thursday evening, Mom made us cabbage rolls which are absolutely wonderful. My great-grandmother used to make them for us--traditionally they are called runza's in Germany, and they are pastries stuffed with hamburger and onion and cabbage and seasonings...

yeah--all that awesomeness. They are super good especially when you eat them with salsa.

Friday, we left for Ponder. We stopped on the way to pick up Brian who rode in the back with Emerald. They really got along very well. When we got to Granny's, almost everyone else was there all ready. She had made these really tasty crock-pot enchiladas and we also had tamales which were surprisingly spicy. We had gotten there so late that all the mild tamales were all ready eaten!

Normally when Michael is with us, we all sleep in the bonus room upstairs because we have the biggest family that will be staying there, but since Michael didn't come with us this time the boys and I stayed in the computer room that has an adjoining bathroom. Emerald slept in a sleeping bag upstairs in Oma's room.

Next post: Christmas with Gigi and Papa!

--Andie!--