Happy Halloween 2012!

Brian could not be more excited for Halloween this year.  I remember back when we started speech therapy.  It was right before Christmas.  My biggest wish?  I wanted Brian to be excited about Christmas...and be able to verbalize it.  I am finally getting my wish.  Just a different holiday!

He decided to be a bat.  In July.  He also assigned costumes to everyone else in our house.  Lilah would be a ghost.  Mommy would be a witch.  Daddy would be her cat.  He got one of out of three.  Lilah is a ghost today. 

We were so lucky to have a friend and co worker of mine, "Ms. Shari," to make the kids costumes this year.  The best part?  Brian tells everyone she made them.  He even told Lilah today that we had to go to the office at Mommy's work to thank Ms. Shari for making her a ghost.  How's that for progress?   Well that may not be the best part.  The best part is the actual costumes.  Oh my word!  They are ADORABLE.  Thank you Ms. Shari!!

We have spent a lot of time at various pumpkin patches the past few weeks.  We went with a group of friends to kick off the month.  Then I went with Brian and his class about a week ago.  Finally, Lilah got to go with my class that same week. 

Friday night we went to a Halloween party at Brian's school.  Addison came with us and the kids had such a great time!  Baby Kangaroo came along.  He dressed up too.  As a girl.  (Brian put one of Lilah's doll sweaters on him-hahahah!)

Then last night we carved one of our pumpkins.  Lilah didn't understand that you are supposed to wait to eat the seeds until they are roasted.  Ooops!

Today Lilah and I went to Brian's school to see the Vocabulary Parade.  All the kids dressed up, but had to wear a tag with a vocabulary word relating to their costume.  Brian's word was nocturnal.  You should hear him say it.  What a big boy!  His definition was bats fly at night.  He had it down pat!  He also learned a song about bats to sing at school.  He's just adorable when he sings it!  We've also been singing a Happy Halloween song that ends by yelling BOO.  Lilah is really good at that.  She's too precious!

Too bad it's rainy and 40 degrees today.  Trick or treating will be short.  We are going to hit up the grocery store for their trick or treat after Brian gets off school.  Hopefully he will get his fill there!!

Playing Catch Up

Before posting a few Halloween pictures, I wanted to make sure to play catch up regarding our last few weeks.  Poor Lilah has gone from her first stomach bug, to getting 5 new teeth (4 molars), to another sinusy virus, to a sinusy infection in the last month.  She has not been her pleasant, sweet self for most of the past month and I feel so bad for her.  She is on an antibiotic now and yesterday I caught a glimpse of her normal behavior for about an hour, so hopefully we are heading in the right direction with her!

Brian had an accident a couple of weeks ago that sent us to the ER.  We were at the car wash and Shawn started to shut the trunk not realized Brian was reaching in the trunk at the exact same time.  He got a sizable cut on the top of his head and of course it bled like crazy because it was his head.  The worst part was  that we were at the car wash and couldn't leave until our cars had made it through the line.  Ahhh!  The ER doctor didn't put in any staples or stitches.  He said he could put one staple in, but felt it wasn't worth the trauma it would cause Brian.  Whew!  Brian was pretty much unaffected by it all.  He cried when it happened, threw a fit about going to the doctor, but was running around in the hospital waiting room like nothing even happened.  He did tell me the other day though that he doesn't want to go get the car washed!

Lilah, 15 Months

Last week we visited Dr. Price for Lilah's 15 month check up.  She was 24 lbs 4.5 oz and 31.5 inches long.  She's big, but not as big as her brother.  She was NOT a happy camper about her 3 shots, but she recovered quickly.  The doctor said knowing body parts and animal sounds are 18 month skills, so that made me smile!

Here are some other things she is doing at 15 months, just so I don't forget...
*Holding a crayon/pencil correctly.
*Throwing appropriate things in the trash can.
*Dribbling a soccer ball.
*Saying Mama,  Dada, Bubba, Nana, Pap for Pappy, Teri, Jon, dog, ball, dis (this), dat (that), book, poppoppop (popsicle), bee, wawa (water), ish (fish), hiii (hi) and several other words, but not all consistently.
*Climbing the ladder on the play set with ease and sliding down the slide on her bottom and belly without assistance.
*Flushing the toilet.  Often.
*Turning on the washer and dryer whether there are clothes in them or not.  Often.  Mostly when it's unnecessary.

And just one fun anecdote I don't want to forget.  I took Lilah with me to the "lady doctor" yesterday.  She was in rare form.  When I got undressed, she tried to get undressed.  Then while the doctor was talking to me-mind you I hadn't even touched the table or stirrups yet-Lilah laid back on my lap and threw her legs up in the air in a full straddle.  The doctor said, "I guess she's ready for her check up!"

Oh that little girl.  She's a total crack up.

And of course a few pictures of the little ham... 

Keeping it Simple

I keep getting overwhelmed by how much I want to blog about, that I just avoid it all together.  So I am going to keep this simple and do what I can!

Currently stealing internet from McDonald's while Miss Lilah naps and Brian is in school.  We do what we have to, right?!

I definitely want to make sure to document a conversation I had with Brian's teacher last week.  We went to this event at the County Extension Office for his school.  She came over to me laughing and said that she was cracking up because I kept getting onto Brian for the way he was playing with the other kids.  She said it was funny to see him "get in trouble" for interacting with other kiddos because all she wanted for him to do last year was interact with the other kids.  Progress!  She also said that she can't wait for us to see the data she has been taking on him.  In his IEP most of his classroom goals have to do with his ability to attend to the teacher during small and large group time without being corrected.  She said he has been doing amazingly well!  He is due to start with an FM system soon, and she said that she doesn't see it making a difference because he's already acting exactly as he should during those times.  Can I get an AMEN!?  Soooo happy to hear this!!

The kids had fun that day too.  The teachers took the kids while the parents took a short class and the kids had a ball making drums!  Then we all headed out to the garden to pick flowers, veggies and berries.  So fun!

A big part of the last week or so has been Pappy's retirement.  The kids have really enjoyed having him around more!  Me too!  It seems so funny to get lonely when I have my babies with me 24/7, but sometimes I really do.  It helps to have someone else that I am close to who is home all the time.  Grandad always filled that void for me when he was still alive, so in away it's like having a new Grandad...20 years younger!

The kids really enjoyed Dad's party over the weekend.  Brian golfed of course and Lilah impressed with her outfit and smiles.  Miss Personality!

The Reds have dominated a lot of our time lately too.  They seem like they may be well on their way to the World Series!  Mom is thrilled, of course.  We were all at the game where they clinched and then Mom and I took the kids for the last home game of the season.  They won in the 9th.  Lilah slept through a homerun and the end of the game fireworks.  Brian, however, was pretty darn excited at the end of the game!  Normally he is so overwhelmed by the noise that he doesn't show a lot of excitement, so this was pretty cool to see.

We also went on a boat a couple of weeks ago for Nana's birthday.  It was fun!  We also went to a wedding with a great bunch of our besties.  Brian had a ball with Miss Addison.  I'm waiting on her Daddy to get me pics of them dancing.  TOO CUTE!

 And, Lilah and I have been trying to take advantage of what's left of the nice weather.  We hit the park last week and are hoping to hit the Zoo this week.  Poor baby girl was really sick about a week ago.  And she just can't catch a break...now she has her first two molars coming in.  Ouch!  And yes, I just said my BABY has molars coming.  Double ouch!

I guess that's about it for now.  We are very much looking forward to a visit with WHITNEY later this week.  As in I can barely keep my mind off of it!!  We really thought we were going to have to wait for Christmas, so this is an extra special treat!