January 2013!

Wow! It has been a while since I have made a post. A lot has happened, but a lot is the same. I have not had much time the last several months to get anything on a computer accomplished. So here is a quick update on everybody.

Kevin:

Kevin has been the definition of an extraordinary husband and father. I am not sure how he does all that he does. He is still full time at WSU in the Civil Engineering program, he works at Malleys Pharmacy every spare moment in between classes, and he delivers pizzas on the weekends. Every moment he is home he is doting on the children, letting me rest, or helping with chores. I am not sure what I did to be so lucky to have such an amazing man. 

Me:

I have been pretty busy myself. Things are much more time consuming without Kevin here to help! I have several children that I nanny during the week, and truly feel blessed to have such awesome kiddos in my daily life. I have an awesome bunch right now that just meld so well with our family rhythm. I have also began a postpartum doula course. I am extremely excited to be certified and begin helping mamas with their babies. I am also in the process of becoming a La Leche League Leader, and trying to get my pre-reqs completed to take the Board Certified Lactation Consultant testing. Lately I have been feeling a bit called to do birth work as well, but I am trying to take it one class at a time. After the postpartum doula class, I will likely take the birth doula class as well. I am very excited about my future in helping mamas and babies!

Alisha:

Alisha has been growing and maturing leaps and bounds this year. She is becoming a young woman, and I dont think its possible to be more proud than I am of her. She has overcome so much this year, and truly grown rather than be tied down by it all. She is an inspiration, and I am so incredibly lucky to have her. She is finishing up high school this year, and starting to think about college. She is thinking she would like to do counselling with a minor in nutrition, and be an eating disorder counselor for teenage girls. She is also becoming quite the fashionista, and enjoys dressing us all up in amazing outfits that we would never even think about putting together, and they turn out so beautiful!

Kailyn:

Kailyn is doing fabulous! She is in second grade now, and excelling in all of her school work. She comes home everyday excitedly talking about what all she did that day, and all of her friends. She desperately wants to be a teenager, and finds anything teenage related to be super fascinating. Its adorable, but she really needs to slow down and just enjoy being seven! She has been finding Aiden particularly entertaining lately, and has taken it upon herself to tend to him. It has been fun to watch her interact with him. She is such an awesome sister!

Abigale:

Abby is now in preschool! She is going to the developmental/special needs preschool four days a week, and she really enjoys it. She is learning a lot, and doing it quicker than we imagined. Since I posted last, we have learned more about her challenges, but still not enough to explain everything. We have learned that along with her Sensory Processing Disorder, she is cognitively and developmentally delayed. Her speech is typical of a two year old, and she is hypotonic. Along with her social challenges. We had her evaluated at the Responding to Autism Center a few months ago, and were told that she "Very highly likely has high functioning Autism". However the RTA center cannot diagnose. We have been on the waiting list to get her in to the Autism Center at Seattle Children's Hospital, but thats about a year long wait. Her teachers, and all four of her therapists agree that she is a pretty typical high functioning autistic kiddo. Just waiting on the "official diagnosis". That wont even change much since she is already in occupational and speech therapies, and the developmental preschool. But it will be good for insurance and IEP reasons. Anyway, she is really enjoying preschool, enjoys playing with my "extra" kiddos, and is super doting upon Aiden. I have to remind her often that he is a real person, she thinks he is a pretty awesome little toy! 

Aiden:

Aiden buddy is now 13 months old! He is now walking and trying to run, climbing things, and really enjoys trying to figure out how things work. I have never seen a child work so hard on trying to figure out the mechanics of the things around them. Maybe he will be an engineer like his daddy. He had a word explosion recently as well. He is trying so hard to talk! He is saying mama, dada, no, more, and signing the words more and milk. 

Over all, we are all doing pretty dang good. We miss daddy while he is working so hard, but know that it is worth it.