The Washing Machine Treasure Machine

I usually find some sort of random treasure when I do laundry. Shoes and other mysterious items in the laundry basket, acorns, rocks, coins, plastic jewelry in pockets.

This is a first: A whole pack of M&M's went through the washing machine. What a waste. :)

Luckily I discovered this BEFORE the laundry went into the dryer so I didn't have a hot, melty chocolate mess!

Theme for the day:

"M&M's, melt in your mouth AND in the dryer!"

Global Developmental Delays

In the fall, Ashlyn was diagnosed with Global Developmental Delays, which is a long term that means she is behind in many of her developmental milestones. The specialist confirmed that she was at least six months behind (she wasn't rolling over or walking, etc). Thankfully, all of her blood work and genetics testing came back normal, but that leaves a big fat question mark as to the cause for her delays.

The doctor wanted Ashlyn to begin physical therapy, speech therapy, and see a feeding team. With much thought and conversation with other therapists, we decided to start with JUST physical therapy so Ashlyn didn't get overwhelmed.

Ashlyn currently goes to physical therapy once a week at the children's hospital and HATES it!! She cries and doesn't let go of me, which makes it difficult for the therapists to do their job. I feel bad for Ashlyn AND the therapists so we are brainstorming what would be best for Ashlyn at this point. They want to strengthen her right leg and loosen up her hips so we are doing exercises at home to help with this.

Since the appointment with the specialist, we have seen some progress with Ashlyn. She is almost 18 months old now and has rolled over three times and has taken a few steps! We celebrated! We were hoping that after watching Ashlyn take a few steps that she would be walking by Christmas, but we don't know if this will become a reality.

The doctors also recommended that we teach Ashlyn some basic sign language and she has made some progress with this as well.

So, what's next?

Ashlyn goes back to the specialist in January so he can monitor and make note of any progress. Until then, we will still continue some sort of physical therapy and look into speech therapy within a few months.

Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers for little Ashlyn!

Our Second Grader

Mariah, our oldest daughter, asked if she can get a phone when she is in fourth grade.

I laughed.

Way to plan ahead, Mariah!

When I was in second grade, I wasn't thinking two years ahead and I surely wasn't thinking about getting a phone. I was probably more concerned with things like candy and which tree to climb next.

Yikes.

UPS Man Vs. Santa Claus

We were unable to successfully intercept a package from the UPS man before the girls saw a big brown box. They began to put two and two together:

Christmas -> presents -> UPS truck

We had some explaining to do, most of which included changing the subject.

In the News

Well, Friday is the big opening day at my new job, The Tree House! I am looking forward to watching kids play and meeting new parents.

Today, The Tree House was in the local newspaper (click to read the article) and tomorrow will start the circuit of radio commercials.

I am excited to be a part of the staff at The Tree House and I am LOVING my job. It is a perfect fit for me.

(PS: The Tree House has a blog too: http://ashevilletreehouse.blogspot.com. Check it out!)

What's Behind the Crib?

Every time I go to change the crib sheet, I pull the crib away from the wall and to my surprise, there are a bunch of little treasures! I play a game called "What's Behind the Crib?"

This week I found:

15 tiny rubber bands from Ashlyn's pigtails

1 red ball

1 green ball

1 sock

a small teddy bear

a toy banana

5 plastic bugs

3 plastic animals

2 wooden blocks

I'm just thankful that the banana and the bugs were only toys.

Keep-Your-Child-Awake-in-the-Car-Theory

Having a child take a nap in the car brings about two main theories...

ONE: You WANT your child to sleep in the car so that they will be well rested when you get to your final destination.

TWO: You DON'T want your child to sleep in the car because then they will not get a long enough nap, which turns into extra crabby kid, and pull-your-hair-out mom. And, transferring a sleeping child from car seat to crib pretty much never works.

In order to reach the goal of THEORY #2 (no nap), I will do whatever it takes to keep my child awake.

In random order:

*turn up the music

*sing loudly

*sing with a British accent just to mix things up

*sing with a deep voice just to be annoying

*tickle toes

*ask my child where their nose is, toes are, etc.

*sing "if you are happy and you know it, clap your hands" to get child involvement

*lie and say we are almost home, when in fact we aren't even close

*open the windows

*start clapping

*give them a toy to play with

*ask my child to recite animal noises

Half of the time, this works. The other half of the time, I have a sleeping kid in the car seat and I just made a fool of myself in the meantime. :)

(Are you laughing because you do this too??! Hopefully I am not alone).

Shout Stain Remover

I have had great results with Shout Stain Remover. It has gotten out grass stains, red pop (yes I said pop, I am from the Midwest), chocolate, blood, grape juice, baby formula, and any other mysterious stains that show up on the girls' clothes.

The other day, I was excited because the red pop stain came out of Mariah's white shirt, but then my excitement turned into frustration when I saw a stain on Ashlyn's shirt---oops, I forgot the Shout! Darn!

Shout works great if you remember to use it!