waterfalls and pools

It is hot this week. hot, hot, hot! Where on earth did fall go? So we pulled out the pool and played in the water with bubbles and we enjoyed the sunshine.

weekend fun is just around the corner!

National Sensory Awareness Month

October is National Sensory Awareness Month. You can find out more about that....here at understandingspd.com and here at SI focus

and read more personally about it

    here
We are new on this journey, although we've been walking it all of C's life we are just truly beginning to understand it and get help for him. I'm learning and understanding more and more each day. Even without an official 'sensory processing disorder' diagnosis we do know that Caleb has sensory difficulties and he is working with an OT to help him in his everyday life. But even with all that has been happening in our life right now we remain just a family, going through everyday struggles. Some days are harder than others. Some mornings I pull the pillow over my head a little longer than normal. Some moments when Caleb is in a melt down and I'm trying to help him out of it with hugs and deep calming pressure I feel lost. And then I open up books and blogs and stories and friends who are going through a very similar sensory walk and I know that God has given us angels on earth to help us along the way.

Here is to all the sensory kiddos out there. Who live an extraordinary life everyday as they struggle to overcome things most of us take for granted. We are so proud of our sweet boy and all he works through everyday. Little things like kicking a ball, jumping, overcoming an 'almost melt down' being able to play along side other kids without going into his shell...making strides in sleep...and many other daily things...these are little big things we celebrate everyday with Caleb. I'm learning to look even more into Caleb's eyes and how they view the world in order to better understand and love every piece of him. We love you so much sweet boy.

weekend video

captured:the pushing/pulling brother game and what meal time sounds like lately ( *caleb didn't want to be on camera for the meal part of the video ;0)

weekend snapshots

Our weekend in Pictures.

 

 

 

We didn't do much of anything this weekend. It was nice just to be home and spending time together. Taking pictures, going on long walks, letting the boys play at the park and in the backyard. We did some baking and tried new recipes. As always enjoyed some naps and reading. We did some seasonal 'organzing/cleaning/pulling out decorations/etc'  Ran  13.1 miles for the -first-time-ever. (1hr56min) there's just something about those long Saturday morning/still dark outside/runs.  Now we feel ready to go for race day. Two weeks and counting.  I'm so in love with these boys of mine and our weekends together:)

play time

climbing in for a book read

daddy's home :) boys are happy!

 

finally our 'all day' home, relaxing, playing, baking, walking, napping, reading, more playing, cooking, spending time together friday :)

i do love my fridays!

today we played...walked...played some more...lunch time with daddy...naps...and...

do you ever day dream about dinner days in advance? our new friday pre-saturday/long/run meal is this...

bbq steak (hubs special seasoning style) and pioneer woman tomato cream pasta...with veggies/salad(now i'm an italian pasta eater and this pasta meets my high standards as far as pasta goes.) it is so good with steak! i'm in love and have declared it our friday dinner for the next 3 fridays pre-long run day/race day) mmm. my mouth is already watering.

rachel ray magazine came in the mail...that always gets me excited for our weekly meal planning :)

no big weekend plans. just some good ol' fashioned family time :)

rainy day friday; heavenly.

 

 

 

sunshine through rain

there is something deep inside me that stirs in the rain. the day my poppy (grandpa) died there was a beautiful rainbow that appeared in the sky moments after we found out he passed away. it had been raining all day and then the clouds opened up and there was color and hope. have you heard that song 'holes in the floor of heaven' it's a country song. it makes me think of my nani and poppy and their happy tears in heaven.

yesterday as I drove to work I watched the sky open up and the sun shine through. I always feel God's presence and his sweet whispers, as if he is reaching out some light and hope through those rain clouds. Can you see it in that picture? The beautiful sun rays from heaven? So beautiful.

My heart feels light and happy today. It is still raining outside and I love the rain. I feel warm and cozy and content. Today was a 'celebrate the little things' kinda day. Celebrating the fact that Caleb did OT (an hour session) without me or lucas there with him. Lucas and I played in another room while Caleb played with miss a. He didn't even know we weren't there and when he did ask, miss a reminded him we were playing outside the room (today the goal was to leave for half of the session and we were able to be gone for the entire session) This is a huge step. Caleb adores his OT. She is so good with him and so sweet and we are just following his lead and he was ready today to be without us today.  I got to see little bits of his session and then I got the all the details after when miss a told me what they did....and so more celebrating was in order. It may seem little but it is really big for us, for our family, and for caleb. He was able to lay all the way on his back for sit ups today on the therapy ball/yoga ball (sit ups help develop his core strength and bouncing on the yoga ball help with proprioceptive and vestibular input) The reason caleb resists getting his hair washed and cut is because his head is tilted back; because of his vestibular sensitivity, he feels like he is off balance and falling and this scares and upsets him. But today, he was able to be on his back/elevated off the ground on a ball with no trouble at all because of all the vestibular input he's been getting in OT and at home. They did lots of running and jumping (he's getting better at being able to jump now and actually wanting to do it) and then he did cutting with scissors at the table. This is another first. He was able to make some snips after miss a helped with the correct way to hold the scissors. All the sensory input he's getting at OT and at home (proprioceptive and vestibular along with his core strength stuff we work on, tactile/brushing, massages, joint compressions) are helping re-wire his central nervous system...his brain is building the correct pathways now and he is learning how to do things that he was not able to do before. I am so amazed and so appreciative of his occupational therapist. A month since we started and we're seeing so many changes! We still have our days. Oh boy do we have our days, there have been so many hard days, days where I feel so helpless and frustrated. Yesterday and this morning were the first really good days in a long time...there are moments here and there where I see Caleb completely immersed and happy and doing things he couldn't do a month ago and I am so thankful we found help for him and for us. I'm so thankful our parents have given us the ability to do so with their emotional support and financial support. I am so glad we are able to learn and educate ourselves on ways to help and understand Caleb and where he struggles and needs support.  I feel like I'm watching my Caterpillar emerge from his cocoon and it brings happy tears to my eyes.

Other updates. Lately there have been so many updates on Caleb and all that's going on with him. So not to leave anyone else out :)
On Lucas: Lucas is pushing his way all over the place, as in...pushing everything so that he can walk his way to what he wants. He likes to crab walk and crawl speedster style. He is such a hoot at meal time. He eats a lot of food...and I do mean clears his plate (i'm not sure where he stores it all) and then signs or says a'da for all done and tries to take off (rip-off is more like it) his bib. He signs more for his food. And eats with a spoon or fork. Quiet amazing to watch him get stuff on it and put it in his mouth. He insists on using it and will get upset if we try and do it for him. His little personality has gone from totally mellow baby to still mellow but with some spice added in there now,toddler. He is into everything and is very willing to tell us and let us know how he feels about it when we take away something that is not safe for him to be playing with. I.e. a rotted tomatoe he has found in the backyard and then tried to put into his mouth to eat. hm. not the best idea lucas! He still loves his sleep and somehow manages to just go with the flow for his shortened morning nap on days when caleb has Ot in the morning and he has to nap in the car. He still takes an orca 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon with caleb and snuggles up so sweetly with his lovey for naps and bedtime without so much of a cry. Sweetness. He's grown really/super attached to his lovey as I've slowly brought him down to nursing only once a day. So his lovey and me are his favorite things to hold on to as of late. Such a lil ham bone and really brings caleb out of his shell by exploring things and making his way to new people. He reminds me of my youngest sister laura who helped jenny and I come out of our shy/shell.
 
Dave and work- good and good. His work had the most sales ever in all their history this month and so they all got treated to a bbq from running rooster. Not gonna lie, I was a lil jealous for a free bbq. Running Rooster has the best food! And it is nice to get treated to a free lunch every now and then :) The boys and I managed to have a good lunch at home without daddy even if we did miss him. And we told him how proud we were of him for working so hard. He's quite a guy if I don't say so myself!

As for me-...running, still my favorite way to de-stress. And this weekend is our last really long run before our race. We're doing 13 miles and then next Saturday 8 mi and then race weekend! I am not sure how this occurred but our 12 mile run was done at an 8min20sec avg pace and yesterday's 3 mile run was 7:50 min avg pace. I'm still pinching myself over the fact that less than a year ago I had never run more than a mile! seriously. And pretty sure my fastest mile may have been um....10 or 11/12min avg paced miles?...who knows! I just know having a running partner and super supportive/amazing/rockstarhubby who watches the lil fan club at home has made all the difference! Bible study starts a new study in the book of James next week and I'm excited about it. My work case in gilroy ends next week, and well, kinda excited not to have to be doing all that extra driving and hoping a case opens up close by in hollister for me soon.

Another rainy day of cozy candle burning and fresh laundered blankets which beckons us to do some warm cuddles tonight when the boys go down and we watch our new favorite show...The parenthood! And please, if you haven't heard of or seen this show...it's pretty good...might consider checking it out. Be warned though, you might really like it :) (i'm totally hooked) It is Sealed with my stamp of approval!

Off to soak up the rain and and go do some fall-ish stuff :) Happy Thursday! Somehow this turned into a super long post! yikes! Thanks for reading if you made it all the way to here :)

rain

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Enjoying The first rainfall this season of fall. Windows are open. Pumpkin Spice candle is burning. Boys are napping. Mama is happy. Sweet smelling rain. There is nothing quite like it. I love rain. I love dancing in rain. Swimming in rain. Running in rain. Reading a good book while listening to rain and watching the boys splash puddles in the rain!

Today we baked pumpkin muffins. (caleb and I)
We went to the doctor for Caleb's three year check up. Sweet Caleb came home and spent the next hour tending to his tiger (giving him shots, band-aids, stickers, feeding him, and changing him, checking his ears, throat, eyes, etc) basically working through our one hour dr. visit this am. We've been reading a lot of corduroy goes to the doctor, given the many doctor visits we have been doing lately. He's processing it all through books and pretend play and I love listening to his stories post-doctor trips. My sweetness! I do love him.
We played outside.
and then lunched, napped and listened to sweet sounding rain!!!

Happy Wednesday!!