Kiersten's 1st BEE-Day!!

Ok, so I have totally dropped the ball keeping up on my blog.  We have been SO busy doing life since the fall that I haven't had time to write about it.  SO, I've been sorting through pictures, thoughts and memories the past couple of weeks and it is my goal to get caught up....before things get crazy again :)

We celebrated Kiersten's first birthday on October 10th.  Jace's mom was able to come out from Texas to help throw her birthday party and it was awesome!

To celebrate on the actual day of her birthday we just got Kiers a cupcake, her first cupcake.  She was so excited and anxious to eat it that by the time we finished singing Happy Birthday to her she was having a mini temper tantrum because we weren't giving it to her.  Then once she had the cupcake all was right in the world again :)

The progression of expressions is actually quite humorous.

The theme of the party was "Kiersten's 1st BEE-Day" so everything was bee themed.

"HAPPY BEE-DAY KIERSTEN!!"

My friend LaVista helped me make (by which I mean, did most of the work) these super cute beehive cupcakes!  Complete with edible bees - yellow peanut M&Ms, edible black marker (who knew that existed?) and white fondent.

Elaine spent hours and hours at home in Texas crafting and working her magic to make all the decorations for the party.

Proud Dad hanging the "beehives"

The decorations were so great, I just want to share some, or a lot, of pictures with you!

Everyone wore antennae!!

Cupcake time - let's get messy!!

At first we thought Kiersten was just going to town on the cupcake.  Then we realized she was so scared of all the people watching her and singing all at once, that she was actually hiding behind the cupcake.  Jace was getting concerned about her being able to breathe because she had it crammed up against her mouth and nose, so he moved it, and the most adorable and pathetic little cry came out of her.  Everyone was so kind and just casually started to move away and start chit-chatting.  Then Kiersten got to enjoy eating her cupcake :)

The final result

Overall it was a great time with family and friends.  And it was such a joy to celebrate our baby girl's first year of life.  She has brought a lot of laughter and silliness into our lives.  God knew we needed her for that.  We love you Kiersten Jade!!

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.