Dale and Gini visiting

Sean's older brother Dale and his wife Gini and their three kids: Luke, Lea and Ty, all got here on Sunday but because my kids have been sick we haven't been able to see them. Tonight they had a big family get together with all the family. Thank goodness my kids were better. After I picked Boston up from school we headed out there. Unfortunately the weather has turned cold so the boys only swam for a little bit in the heated pool. They got reacquainted with their cousins they haven't seen in almost 2 years and had a blast playing around.

Boston standing on the sandcastle by the poolDallas enjoying climbing the castle

All the cousins (Asher, Boston, Lea, Ellie, Ty, Luke and Dallas in front)

They all gathered in the closet and I would open the door and they would all scream. So funny Sean with his older brother Dale

4 generations of men

Seans Dad, me, Asher and Sean's grandpa

Grandma Dorothy with all the kids

Grandpa Dale with all the kidsEllie and the boys eating on the bed watching Disney tvCelebrating Ellie's 3 birthday

Asher enjoyed laughing with Grandma Dorothy and pretending to give her some of his fruit and then saying, "mine!" and eating it. He thought it was so funny We had a nice dinner with everyone and then Sean and I and the kids stayed the night at the hotel with Sean's parents.

Dallas Neuro Pshyc Debrief

Dale and Pat came over this afternoon and watched the kids while I went to my Neuro Pshyc appt to hear the final results from the evaluation he did on Dallas. It went very well. He didn't have his written report ready so I'll look forward to reading that when it comes. The good news is that he isn't in the spectrum of Aspergers! Yah!!!! He said he has PDD, which is kind of the catch all for kids who have symptoms of Aspergers or Autism but don't have the social skills problems that they have. He mentioned that he has anxiety problems and attention problems. He didn't want to diagnose him as ADHD because he's only 4 but says we will need to work on that so that when he gets to 1st grade he won't have that problem. (Glad we caught that now!) He does have some fine motor skills problems and sensory integration problems that can all be helped with Occupational Therepy. I'm soooo happy with the evaluation. I feel like we have a more clear understanding of why he has some of the behaviors he has and how we can help fix them. He also mentioned that he has only a few ways of responding to situations (most children would have more than he has.) For example, if he is playing with the puzzle and can't do it he would just throw it across the room, instead of just walking away or asking for help. He needs to reprogram his brain to learn more ways of coping with situations. He said these problems could also be stemming from his ventricals in his brain being slightly larger. The good news for me was that every behavior he does has a purpose. None of them are random. The hard part for me is that I have to try and figure out how he's thinking so I can better equip him to handle the same situation in the future.

All in all....he's just like any other kid. He has a few things that with some OT and behavioral therepy will be fixed, and there maybe more meltdowns and such than other kids, but it's nothing that we can't work on and equip him to better understand himself and respond to situations better in the future. It's going to take work and patience. Honestly I think the big problem is that he has some sensory issues (the WHOLE reason I started this journey in the first place.) I think the sensory issues can overwelm him, also causing the anxiety. I'm reading a great book called, "The Out of Sync Child, " that offers some great advice for handling different sensory issues kids have. I'm looking forward to some innovative ways to help sensorize Dallas!

Sick sick house!!!

Yesterday started out oh so lovely with my parents surprising me and taking Boston to school, of course Dallas had to go along for the ride. Then my dad came and installed these grates over the screen doors on the patio so no kid or dog or cat and push throw them anymore. Thank you dad!!! When they were leaving my sweet Asher threw up in the front yard (thank goodness we were outside!!!) Poor thing! He had started with diarrhea yesterday and now this. I cleaned him up and layed him down for his nap and he seemed to feel better after the nap. I picked up Boston from school and we headed over to my parents house because they are supposed to leave tomorrow for the mountain house. My mom was sweet enough to watch the kids and I went to workout, since I missed my morning workout. Then we all decided to go to CiCi's for Pizza. Sean, Wes and Suzanne all met us there after they got off work. Right away Dallas didn't look good and was complaining he wasn't feeling good. He acted like his throat hurt and he just wanted to lay on my mom. He feel asleep right there at the table! Oh my. Asher by the way was feeling much better and acted totally normal (other than diarrhea still.) I carried him out to the car to go home and he threw up all in the car. Oh my! I got a bag for him in case there as more and hurried home! He slept in the bed with me and threw up constantly until about 3am. I tried Emetrol and it didn't work at all. He just couldn't stop. Boston kept getting up in the midst of this and asking for his vitamins so he wouldn't get sick (I had mentioned on the way home that I needed to give him his vitamins so he didn't get it.) Well right after I finally got Dallas to bed and no more throwing up, sure enough Boston started and went all night! What a LOOOOOONNNGGGG night it was! Why in the world does this always happen at NIGHT!

Anyhow...I was one tired mommy. And not rest for me because neither of them were going to school today. It was a MOVIE day for sure with my two sickos on the couch and Asher running around. I called the doctor first thing and finally got a prescription for something to help Boston stop throwing up since he still hadn't stopped. Once I got that it stopped and then the two of them were running around like nothing was ever wrong. Man this stuff comes on like a bullet train and leaves like one too!

Dallas and school

Today Dallas had a meltdown when I went to drop him off at school. He never does this. He didn't even want to get in the car today or get out of the car when we got there. After hanging around and listening to him scream and yell in the class I didn't feel good about it so I went back in and told the teacher I was going to take him home. He was so happy we were leaving. He kept asking me if he can go to "church school" instead with Mr Chuck and Mrs Mindy. He's referring to Sunday school and his teachers (friend of ours.) I told him were going to the store and he got to happy and excited. He was just so happy to be going with me. What a joy he was and so much fun. He found delight in all the little things and we had such a fun day together.

When Boston got home we went down the the playground with our neighbors again and the kids had such a great time playing!

Nichole, my neighbor across the street, is a physical therapist and she suggested some exercises I can do with Boston to help get his full extension back. She said I need to work vigorously to help him so I started that tonight!

Post Marathon Relaxation

After the marathon the Garcia's and us went back to the hotel to hang out by the pool for the day. The guys were in a lot of pain so they headed right to the ice cold pool and soaked their legs in it. Here's they are relaxing by the pool

Asher, me, Rebecca and Lucas in the poolAsher and Lucas playing with the birds that kept trying to eat our food. We ate a ton of food by the pool

Me and my boys. What a absolutely beautiful day it was! Paradise!! We left about 4pm and Asher as asleep before we even got to the car and he slept all through the night. Sean's already planning his next marathon and for sure we will be back at the Disney on in 2010!!

Sean running the Disney Marathon

The boys started out very early this morning. Sean was up at 3am and they left at 3:30am. The race took off at 6am, all 25,000 off them. Rebecca and I were all packed and headed out at 7am. They said the best to get around because of all the traffic was to ride the Disney transportation so we waited for a bus to get over to the Magic Kingdom to see the guys run through Cinderella's castle but unfortunetly we didn't make it there in time. We were on the bus for over an hour to only go a few miles. Crazy! But the kids were great and we finally made it there and decided to skip trying to see them at any other points and head right to the finish line so we didn't miss them there.

Juan, John and Sean early in the morning before the race Praying together before starting. Run, run run! The Disney Marathon is so awesome because they get to run through all the parks. There's visits by all the characters along the way, there's music, there's animals lined up to meet you at Animal Kingdom. So much fun to see along the way!

Sean and John running through Cinderella's Castle Wes and Suzanne drove their own car and they were able to find Sean at several points along the way. Here they saw him as he was running down Hollywood Blvd in MGM Studios (or the new Hollywood Studios)It was so emotional as we rode the monorail through EPCOT and saw the runners. It's so amazing what they were accomplishing! 26.2 miles! Disney has an amazing website that we were able to go on and put in the guys pace, 11 minute mile, and it would tell us when they would be at each mile marker. He was also wearing a little chip on his shoe and it would get text messages and emails telling me when he got to certain mile markers. Rebecca and I were amazed at how many people were at the finish line when we got there! You couldn't even get close to the finish line to see anyone because there were so many people. Rebecca suggested I use my Disney passes and take the boys in the park (the finish line is in the parking lot of EPCOT) so I can get closer. In finally got in through the crowds and found Sean's parents who were already inside. What a great spot we had! And it was a relief to see someone to help me out. I had been a long morning running around with the boys (at this point it was about 10:30am) Boston was especially excited to see daddy running. He sat right down next to the where the runners come by and didn't move an inch. He was watching closely for almost an hour. Here's a picture of the boys watching for daddy.Asher watching with GrandpaGrandpa and AsherMe getting a shot sean running with Boston standing next to me. Go Sean!He did it! Amazing! We are sooooo proud of him!! Congratulating daddy (Dallas standing behind)

All three of them finished

What a great medal!

Marathon Weekend!

Today we headed over to the Dolphin Hotel to stay the night with the kids and our good friends Juan and Rebecca and their 4 kids. Thanks to Rebecca, we got a great rate at the hotel! Juan and Sean (and their other friend John) are running the marathon together tomorrow. (Can you believe those names together-Sean, Juan and John!) We met up at the hotel we let the guys rest for a little while and Rebecca and I headed to the pools with all 7 kids. It was just gorgeous there and we tried all the pools out until we found the kiddie pool, which was the warmest of all of them, and all the kids liked it. They splashed and had a blast. Sean and Juan came down and ran 2 miles around the lake and then met back up with us on the beach. Then we all headed in and got changed and finally decided on Perkins for dinner. We sure were a site, 4 adults and 7 kids! We had one big kid table and then us adults and the two babies. Poor Asher busted his lip open pretty bad on the back of the chair while we were there but other than that the kids were great and ate like horses!! I even had to order extra food for Sean and the kids! Ha ha Back to the hotel we went and we tucked in the kids and the dads and Rebecca and I went downstairs and talked over dessert for a couple of hours. What nice girl time it was! And then we headed back inside to brace ourselves for the marathon we were about to run tomorrow. Us, 7 kids, 2 strollers and several bags running all over to try and catch a glimpse of the guys running at several different locations!

Boston LOVING the pool. We couldn't have been blessed with better weather! It was about 78 and perfect!!!Dallas all over the poolAsher was surprisingly not as into the pool as he usually is. But he sure loved running around.Jonah and Dallas splashingThe 5 big kids playingTrying to all climb in the hammock without falling out Dallas found this seal and I noticed the nose was interesting and then realized it is supposed to have water coming out of it...then we found the on button!
It was a source of much fun at the end of the day

My precious baby growing up toooooooooo fast! He loved throwing sand into the water
While walking in for the night these two ducks were taking a swim in the pool!
While Boston got pushed in the pool and I just happen to get his reaction on film. He was not happy :-)Daddy, the big marathon racer, cuddling up Asher at the end of the day

All 7 kids getting ready to head out for dinner (Dallas, Amaya, Asher, Lucas, Israel, Boston, and Jonah. What a fun group of kids!

Everyone's Hero

A week ago on Family Movie night, which is on Friday or Saturday night, we watched "Everyone's Hero." What a surprisingly great movie it was! My boys LOVED it! We still haven't returned it to NetFlix. It might have to be one we purchase for sure.

And it's spured a renewed interest in baseball. So each day we have been playing in the front yard with our own bases. They love it. Mommy's the pitcher and they love hitting it and running around the bases while I try and tag them. It sure does where mommy out. And both of them are great hitters. Boston hits with his left hand and Dallas is a switch hitter already. Mommy is learning how to pitch for sure...this girly girl is turning into a well rounded woman now....Ha ha!!

Hopefully we will have the boys playing t-ball soon!

Weather

Beautiful weather lately! Just beautiful! After we pick Boston up from school each day we pretty much stay outside playing until dinner time at about 5 or 5:30. It's weather like this, in the 70's, why I live in Florida! Thank goodness it's not freezing here!!

Today I did a little shopping today and also at at Five Guys with my mom for the first time today.

Also watched the movie Sweeny Todd tonight. HORRIBLE! I had always wanted to see this musical because I'd heard it was good and it's by Steven Sodheim. But my goodness. It was by far the most disturbing movie I have EVER seen. Don't see it!

Video Games and reading

Sean has Playstation 3 and we have the Lightening McQueen game for the boys and recently it's become a very big thing in our house. I can now see how people have to put a limit on the time their kids play video games. I think they could play this for hours on end. They really like the fact that the two of them can race each other. Of course Asher always wants in on what the "big boys" are doing and he covets the controller anytime he can get his hands on it.

Here's some pictures of him trying his best to play.

"Oh ya, I'm a pro!"

The boys also love to read. Whether its a book on their own or me reading to them. My only problem now adays is trying to figure out how to read Boston chapter books, Dallas younger books, and Asher board books. Of course they all want me to read to them all at the same time. I LOVE to read books to them! I couldn't resist this picture. Each night they get to pick 1 or 2 books each for me to read and then I pick a few. They were on the couch waiting patiently for me.