Birthday Surprise

In just a few short weeks I will be at yet another beginning in my life.  I will be beginning my thirties!  I've known for a while that Jace has been planning a surprise getaway to celebrate.  Unlike him, I wanted a quiet, relaxed time away from everybody in honor of turning 30, not have a big event with 50 of my closest friends.  It's an introvert/extrovert thing :)

So, I've known about this surprise trip, I just have no idea where we are going or what we are doing.  A couple of days before he will tell me how to pack.  Well, starting on October 1st I started finding these little envelopes in random places each day.  Each one has a laminated little piece of paper.  On one side there is something sweet and thoughtful written, and on the other side is a piece of what I assume is a puzzle.

Apparently there are 31 pieces because we are leaving on October 31st (yes, Halloween...my kids are not old enough to care).

So far this is what I have:

This has been the piece that has told me the most so far and really, it tells me nothing.

Stay tuned...

My Daughter in a Nutshell

This is what she wants you to think.

This is the truth.

Riley's Journey, Part 2

Riley has been in therapy for almost 3 months.  It is going so well.  We have two therapists, Cristina and Jessica, who are in our home almost every day.  Before we met them, we prayed that God would provide therapists who were competent, caring and who would be the best fit for Riley.  He has answered big time.  Not only are they very experienced and good at what they do, they also thoroughly enjoy it and genuinely care about our son.  And they are both a great resource for me when I have questions or just need to talk about my daily struggles.

Working on Mr. Potato Head with Miss Cristina to help
Riley learn the names of face and body parts.

Some of you may be wondering what it is that we do every day.  I sometimes explain it to people that it's like having preschool at home.  We do puzzles, color, play-doh, play in the sand, blow bubbles, and a lot of other fun things.  The whole time we're doing this, we talk about everything we're doing.  We are also working on learning colors, animals, face and body parts.  Riley has learned so many new words just through repetition and teaching him how to ask for what he wants.

Miss Jessica has been working on teaching
Riley to sort by color.

We've really been focusing on language this month, and many of our friends and family have been praying with us that Riley's vocabulary would increase.  Ever since Riley learned the phrase "I want" his vocabulary has significantly increased.  He constantly asks for things that he wants - ball, more, jump (trampoline), outside, sand, water, juice, down, up, cracker, bubbles, and several others.  Jace and I have both commented that we never realized that he wanted so many things throughout the day.  This has really helped to decrease his level of frustration, and we have far less meltdowns and whiney days as a result.

Riley does puzzles at least 10 times a day.
He loves them and they are a calming activity for him.

So, for now we are just staying the course and considering other options that might be beneficial.  Thank you everyone for continuing to pray for Riley.  We are so grateful to God for what He has done for Riley already and are looking forward to seeing what else is in store for him.

Riley's favorite activity is playing in the sandbox.
He asks to go outside ("I want side") at least once
every therapy session.

Riley's Journey, Part 1

We've known for a while that Riley is somewhat unique, not like most other kids his age.  It's often been very frustrating for me, not being able to participate in many of the activities that my other friends do with their kids or feeling the need to make excuses for him - why he is acting the way he is or why he's so upset.  At his two-year appointment, I brought up my concerns with his Pediatrician.  The way that he behaves along with a speech delay was concern enough for her to refer Riley to a Behavioral Pediatrician.

Over the next 5 weeks, we had a long series of appointments and evaluations, and Jace and I had to fill out a LOT of questionnaires, answering what felt like hundreds of questions.  It was determined that Riley had developmental delays in several areas, his skills being almost a year behind in most areas, excluding motor skills - no problems there for sure!  It was like we had a one-year-old in a two-year-old's body, who, because of his size, looked like a three-year-old.  The decision was made that Riley would greatly benefit from therapy from a variety of specialists.  Then came all the referrals, and yet even more appointments and evaluations.

At this point what we know is that Riley will be receiving 10 hours per week of in-home behavioral therapy and 2-4 appointments per week of speech and occupational therapy.  We are overwhelmed by the amount of assistance we are receiving, both because we are excited for this opportunity for Riley to grow and improve, AND because what this means practically is that we will spend the majority of our days over the next year participating in therapy sessions.  As a mom and as an introvert, this sounds exhausting.  But when I think about what can be accomplished I am SO excited, and SO grateful.

We want to share this journey with you because God has used these circumstances to teach us and grow our faith in several ways:

- God made Riley exactly how he is and He chose us to be Riley's parents.  God has a plan and purpose for Riley's life and He is more than able to accomplish His purposes.

- God can do things that medical professionals can't.  In our hearts, we have had to entrust Riley's little mind and body to God for healing, and we truly believe that God will take care of our son.

- God answers prayers!  Already in the past couple of months, God has answered many prayers, from getting in for appointments quickly to choosing therapists that Riley would connect with quickly.  It has been a real faith builder to watch as friends pray along with us and seeing God answer.

Therapy starts this week! (if we can get Riley healthy enough to participate).  More updates to come...

One Trip, Many Celebrations

We visited Texas for 9 days in March and it was a whirlwind of a trip but it was all good stuff.  But first we had to get all of our stuff and our two kids there!  Wish we could have taken a picture in the airport of how ridiculous we looked, but we were too busy trying to get everyONE (two adults, a toddler, and an infant) and everyTHING (two suitcases, two carryons, and two strollers) through security and on the plane!  It could not have gone ANY smoother.  Thanks to planning ahead and being prepared (and prayer!), the kids were champs and we didn't lose anything!

We spent the first half of the week in San Angelo with Jace's parents and sister, getting some much needed visiting, and grandkid playing and snuggles.  Riley and Kiersten took to Texas pretty well :)

Mimi made sure the kids had more than enough fun toys to play with!

We celebrated Riley's second birthday at Mr. Gatti's, it's like the Texas version of John's Incredible Pizza.  Riley pretty much just ran back and forth, so excited to have a giant room with bright lights and noises where he was let loose to do as he wanted.  We ate (too much) pizza and had chocolate chip cookies, Riley's favorite.

Jace headed out to Fort Worth on Thursday, and I joined him on Friday, for our friends' Randall and Meghan's wedding.  Randall is a dear friend of Jace's and he had the honor of being a groomsman in the wedding.

In between the rehearsal and dinner on Friday night, and getting to the church early the next day for the wedding, we stayed at a historic hotel in downtown Fort Worth called The Ashton, to celebrate our 8-year anniversary.  It was a short celebration but our first night away since Kiersten was born, and it was a treat!

After the wedding we extended our Anniversary celebration when we stopped at The Cracker Barrel, something Jace had been anticipating for months.  Can't beat those rocking chairs and good old-fashioned country cooking!

While we were away the kids had a blast with their grandparents and Aunt Kelly.  Riley even got to go on the boat for the first time.

That's right, everyone wears a life vest, even the dog :)

We had such a good time and although it was definitely not relaxing, we returned to California refreshed and feeling very blessed.

Eating Healthy AND Enjoying It

Jace and I are in the final phase of a diet we've been on, Jace since November and me since January. We've both done well and reached the goals we set for ourselves!

One of the greatest things that has come out of it, besides losing weight of course, is that we have broken our addictions to junk food, sweets, fast food etc. Eating an apple or some berries is like a special treat. Dried apricots are my new addiction. Eggs and oatmeal are our cravings. We feel great and NOT hungry! And we are saving money because we only eat at home. I sincerely hope that we can keep this up when our diet no longer dictates what we can eat. The benefits seem to far outweigh the temporary satisfaction of eating something tasty but with no nutritional value whatsoever.

Here's a picture of the chicken kabobs we grilled tonight. Red and orange bell pepper, onion, pineapple and chicken marinaded in our own homemade concoction (sugar-free, I might add!). They were super easy to make, filling, and YUMMY!

Dinner is served!

On A Roll

Kiersten is almost 5 months old, if you can believe it. I can't!  She is a real joy to us lately.  She is interactive, super social and makes the cutest girly noises.  She took a couple weeks longer than her big brother did to figure it out, but she is rolling over now. Here's a quick video - this was the third time in a row that she'd done it. Please forgive Mommy's loud commentary.

Our Rainbow...

A rainbow is a symbol that God gave us to remind us of His promise to never flood the earth again (Genesis 9). Whenever I see a rainbow I always think about that. It's exciting to me to be able to SEE God speaking to us and reminding us that He is faithful and we can trust Him.

For several years, we have driven past Vineyard Avenue on the 60 freeway. We have seen an empty piece of land be slowly transformed into the new Kaiser Permanente Ontario Vineyard Medical Center. About the same time they started building, Jace and I started praying. Jace was in school for his Doctorate in Physical Therapy, I was working to pay the bills, we were anxious to start our family, and there were a lot of unknowns in our future.

Slowly but surely, God began to answer each prayer, one at a time. Internships, exams, housing, job offers, income, benefits, kids, and most recently, the location where Jace works. For the five years that we drove past the Kaiser construction site we prayed specifically for many things. The building was a reminder to us to pray and trust God with our future. Now that the hospital is completed and Jace is working there, it has changed from a reminder to pray to a reminder to be thankful! Every time we drive past (which is several times a week for me and well, every day for Jace!), it's a symbol we can SEE that reminds us God is faithful and we can trust Him. And we are so thankful!

Beginnings...

We've had a lot of beginnings in the past couple of years. Jace began a new career, and a few new jobs. I began my new role as a stay-at-home mom. Our kids, Riley and Kiersten, began, well, life! It's been a big shift for us to go from married with no kids, Jace in school, me working full-time, to this new season in life. But I can't help but feel like all is how it should be. We worked toward this time for so long, it always felt like we were waiting for our "real" life to begin. It's not all sunshine and roses for sure, but God has really blessed us and answered every prayer we've ever prayed about Jace's jobs and about having a family.

So, here it is, the BEGINNING of our family blog. I'm hoping that this blog will help me to be better at documenting my kids' milestones, latest goofy things they're doing, and just what we are up to. And hopefully I'll be better at taking pictures!