A letter to my three year old.

My sweet Caleb. Happy 3rd Birthday! We love you so very much.

 

Today is your very special day. Today, we celebrate your life and the wonderful ways in which you bring joy and happiness to ours.

You are such a sweet boy. You love books and reading, you love cuddles and playing with Lucas. You take such good care of him and are his protector. You love being silly and singing and dancing. Sweet, sensitive, and silly. I can't believe you are three today! I look back to our very first moments together...

 those moments when you danced inside my womb, already full of spirit.

 I remember your first moments here with us. You let out of a loud cry and seemed to know your voice right from the start.

 Since your first few days home you brought a lot of sound to our house! You still love to hear your voice....talking or singing...you love to chit chat.

And you remain a cuddle bug to this day :)  

 We celebrated your first birthday party at home with family. It was very special to celebrate your first year of life and all that we accomplished with you!!

 

 

And then you turned two...much too soon!  

And we spent your day at home with family celebrating another wonderful year with you!

Today you are three...and growing up way too fast.

 You continue to be a sweet and sensitive boy who loves your mama and daddy and little brother so much! I love this picture of you because it is the first time you have had the birthday song sung to you at a restaurant...you were so excited and then pulled out your classic look of shyness and trying to hide that smile....such sweetness was that moment. I'm so glad I captured it on camera. Sometimes you get so shy but I can tell you want to smile...the corner of your lips turn up and I see the beginnings of your dimples ( you're so much like your mama in some ways...I know all too well that shy smile)

 

My sweet, sweet, boy. You are surrounded by so much love. I hope you'll always feel our love and especially God's love. I hope you know we cherish you so. You are such a blessing and bring so much love and strength to our family. We love you more than words can say our sweet boy.

To the moon and back.

Love, mama.

caleb's 3rd birthday celebrations in slo

birthday celebrations

 starting out at home and getting ready (daddy brought out the boxes to entertain)

 beach picnic for lunch

 pumpkin picking at avila barn

 and a birthday dinner in downtown slo

 

this was a hilarious moment I was able to capture on camera! Lucas dove right in and started chowing on caleb's birthday treat! He wanted in on the action too!

 

It was such a wonderful day and so special to celebrate in one of our very favorite places!! I can't believe I'll have a 3 year old come Monday! My little boy is growing up way too fast!

 

 

fall friday!

I love fall.

fridays in the fall-even better.

this means....

baking up fall treats-oatmeal molasses cookies this week

walks in the crunchy and colorful leaves

smelling sweet, crispy air! hm...i love it.

the chill in the air-early morning fog and the burning of my pumpkin spice candle on a cool day.

backyard play, a good book on the backyard swing

warm soups that simmer all day

school kids that chatter outside our house early in the morning and in the afternoon.

the start of school everywhere..i always loved back to school...especially my college years. those memories are still so fresh and every fall I smile and remember such happy days!

i love having family traditions with the boys with each new season

and really- i just love everything fall.

 

soooo excited for birthday celebrations this weekend. pumpkin picking and visiting our college town with the boys! be still my beating heart-i seriously get way too excited when we go back to slo and even more that we can take the boys and share in something with them that means so much to us.

 

happy weekend ;)

thursday tidbits

What we've been up to this week :)

 

"Rejoice in Hope. Be patient in Suffering. Persevere in Prayer"

Romans 12:12

(my scripture of the week-while doing my quiet time , I found this and have been praying it through the days this week. It just touched me so much. I felt as though God planted it right where I could see it so that I could pray it through the day)

 

We have had a busy week. Two days OT and one field trip of a day to the children's hospital in Standford (this was our second time there). One of Caleb's blood tests (for cortisol) came back borderline so so we had to go back for a stimulus test. It was 3 hard hours of driving in traffic and tired boys on the way home (who thankfully napped in the car) we left at 8:30 and didn't get home till 3 and then I had less than an hour till more driving to work :( The good news is everything came back fine. Praise the Lord! I cried in relief. I am so glad my mom was there for emotional support. Caleb had to do two blood draws and was hysterical it is hard to see your baby upset like that. But- there were so many other kids we saw who were so sick and I am sure were there much more than they would like to be. It broke my heart to a million pieces. It may be hard right now...but it could be so much harder. I could only lift up those sweet children in prayer. I am so thankful for such wonderful doctors though! We are in good in hands and so are those sweet boys and girls we saw yesterday. We are waiting for one more blood test and I am hoping we won't have to go back to Standford for awhile!

                                         playing at the park while brother does OT with nani

                             favorite thing to do at the park is climb up the slide...and then go down it!

continuing to learn new ways to help our sweet boy!  

via image

 book number two came in from the library this week :) i like it even better than the first book I read (the out of sync child)! this book is packed full of information and ways to help us with caleb so that everyday things aren't so overwhelming...and it is written in a simple way to understand. It has a ton of great activities to do with him. My mom went to OT with him today (while lucas and I played at the park)...besides my mom enjoying the session and seeing the great stuff his sweet OT does with him; she got to see him string beads/blocks (which is a first for him!  he wasn't able to do this a month ago during his evaluation and at home with us) and watch his interaction with his therapist (the most interactive he's been with her yet). We are already noticing improvements (socially/emotionally/physically)ie. he doesn't leave the room when new people come over, he can stay in the room and be okay. he hardly drools now. and he is able to play at the park and participate with other kids around and not just stand and observe. bedtime crying has gone down a lot (still cries for 10-15 minutes though)...we have a LONG way to go, but it is so great to already see improvements. We're working so hard at home with him by doing the home program and looking more closely at the root of what is setting him off and we are learning ways to help him. I feel so blessed that we found such a great OT and that our parents are so supportive and are able to help us in this journey!!

 

                                                                         via image my new favorite show! my sister told me I'd like it. I have yet to 'not cry' during an episode. we are catching up way back with season one (it is already in season four) so we have a lot of catch up to do! It is really an amazing show about family...there are four siblings and it really touches into so much of what so many people are going through. The characters have great chemistry and we laugh and cry (well-just me crying!) through the entire episode!! I love having a show to watch with hubby when the boys go down (we watch it on our free trial of netflix and free episodes on hulu!)

What else?
Date night with hubby ended up being an early morning date that consisted of running under the moon ;) We always enjoy our dates when people visit since that is the only time we get to have (away from home dates).

We have a birthday boy come monday. Celebrations will be this weekend and I am so excited about it! But-i'll wait to post about that until I have some pictures.

It is now almost-my friday and I am so happy to have this stressful week behind us! I am so thankful my mom could come up to help us this week! I can't even imagine doing that drive alone :( blah or having dave take off work for it. I was a basket case when we got home and had a nice sob fest with my sister on the phone (the crying bits on the phone must be getting old!)

Fall is in the air- I am ready for decorations and pumpkins. Burning my candle with the fall breeze slipping through the windows is the best :) Happy Thursday!

'hope is at hand'

 

via image

 

I've ordered a few books from the library (inner library loan) that our OT recommended. While there's a fine line between reading too much-and reading enough to help I already feel more hope and understanding from starting in on book one...the out of sync child (that came today).

 

This Monday morning we found ourselves baking ginger snap cookies (with my favorite almost three year old helper while brother took his morning nap)

Setting out on a field trip to the library (for mama's books-and the boys got to pick out some books too of course)

and finally stopping at the park to play on the way home.

 

 

While the boys napped I got to start in on the first sensory related book that we picked up from the library today.

Here's a little excerpt from The Out Of Sync Child. It is from a parent that was written at the end of the book. "As I look back upon two years of OT and a nurturing nursery school, I shudder to think what a mess we would all have been without them. They were our lifeline, our hold on hope.
"'Here is my charge to you: If you have concerns about your own or another child, no matter how vague they seem or how inarticulate you feel verbalizing them, pursue them. A child can have less pronounced problems than mine and still need help. And in your pursuit, continue until you find hope. In doing so, you may free other wonderful, enjoyable, little people help hostage by sensory processing problems. They are too small and frightened to free themselves. (the out of sync child, p281).

And one more excerpt from, The Out Of Sync Child "The journey may be long. It may be expensive. It will certainly be frustrating at times. But the journey will also be wonderful and exciting as you learn to help your son or daughter succeed in the occupation of childhood. Hope is at Hand." (p 50)

We as parents, are our childrens' advocates. We are their warriors who believe in them and know them best. We are surrounded by a tribe of family and friends who stand up with us. Knowing that our loving Father is guiding and has his hand in all of this is the most comforting of all. I'm so glad we've found hope and are well on our way towards help and healing for Caleb.