Slide Show of our trip to Canada

Unfortuantely we didn't get any shots of that really great snowfall...we just got shots from when it started falling. Kian was so excited :)

The snow started to fall while we were in our hotel room! Kian was so excited!!



Kian in Awe of Snow!!!




Catching snowflakes on his tounge hehe


Kian on a ride at the mall :)




Making music with a new friend


Our little musician :)

New Preschool Teacher, Health Update, and our trip to Canada

New Preschool Teacher

So, last week I went in to drop off Kian at school to hear that his teacher had to give her two week notice :( Kian was really doing well under her instruction so I am pretty disappointed. They do have someone else who is going to be taking over. She has never taught before, so hopefully it goes well. I know that Kian will benefit from the social interactions for sure. The new teacher will start on Tuesday so we will see how it goes. Kian is so easy going, I'm sure he will love going there :)

Health Update

Kian and I ended up with ear infections last week. We both went to the doctor on Tuesday - luckily both are in the same area so I kind of made the appointments back to back. I wanted to make sure that we were both ok since we were going to be taking a long weekend trip to Canada and be on an airplane. I had some ear pain but Kian had none that I knew of and he had a pretty bad infection. We have both been on antibiotics :P

Our Trip to Canada

Kian did great on the plane rides. I made sure we had lots of snacks and such for him. It definately was a breeze flying with him having Jamie with me to help out. I didn't fare so well on the plane - I still have a bad cold and the pressure from the congestion was very painful on landing and take off. In fact, I am still dealing with a plugged ear from all of it :P

Kian got to see snow for the first time this last weekend! He was VERY excited about it! But going from about 70 degree weather to around 30 was quite a shock to him. I tried to go for a short walk with him outside and he didn't really like the cold - I don't blame him - although it didn't seem too bad to me. For him, that is the first time he felt cold like that!

We got to visit some of Jamie's friends that live in the area and Kian made some new ones too since the friends have children around Kian's age. Everyone is so friendly around there. They seem very stress free - wouldn't that be nice lol

I have to say that one BIG thing I noticed was that people in Canada are VERY allergy aware! Highly!!! There are several local bakeries that are completely nut free and at the one restaurant we ate at, we let them know of Kian's allergy (as usual) and they were keenly aware of what to look for. I am so compeltely impressed and wished that somehow this care could be passed on to Americans too!

We arrived back home on Sunday. It was nice to be home where everything was familiar and warm :)

St. Patrick's Day!

Monday was St. Patrick's Day! I hope you wore green!!!

I wasn't able to do all I had planned since we had just got back from our trip to Canada. But we did have corned beef, potatoes, and cabbage salad. Of course we all wore green, Irish shirts and I played music by the Chieftains as I cooked (ok, I listen to that normally, so I guess it wasn't different lol!). I am longing for March 17th to land on a Saturday or a Sunday to have a big shindig with friends. Ah, I guess someday it will ;)

It's kind of a bummer that Easter is less than a week away from St. Patty's Day. Kian is counting down the sleeps until the "Easter Bunny comes to our door." He's pretty excited about that, and honestly so am I ;) Having a child really brings back some magic that was lost as we grew and stopped believing in those things. Now that we ARE those "things" I guess it makes it fun ;)

Kian is sick :(

I think that Jamie is battling the flu right now. Kian is running a fever of 102 - I have started him on motrin. He's in good spirits but i can tell he's congested. Please send some prayers his way...with his asthma he's high risk :( He had his flu shot this year, but it may have worn off by now...not to mention they apparently predicted the wrong strain of the virus.... Just please keep the prayers rolling.

Our Crazy Week

Illness - bleh

We have been struck with illness in this house...the last week we all over came one virus and now I am pretty sure Jamie has the flu. Jamie even came home early from work yesterday and his home today. He has all the classic signs of the flu...he seems to be doing ok but he feel pretty crappy.

I am praying that Kian's flu shot holds - that's it the right strain....bleh I am so worried about him getting it.

Craziness with Kian

This week has been an interesting one in our household. Kian’s speech therapist has been forceful with me again about giving him a full team assessment. This is something meant for kids that have severe issues – Kian does not fit the bill. I even spoke to his preschool teacher this week to get her feel on things and she doesn’t have ANY concerns about him. In fact, she told me he’s the head of the class and he already knows everything he needs to know for kindergarten! In fact, she’s trying to find things for him to work on that will challenge him – she is working on writing with him now! Since the preschool teacher spends 3 hours two times a week with Kian and his therapist only spends 20 minutes once a week with him.

Here are the things that the speech therapist brought up with me on Tuesday. Keep in mind that he is a 3 ½ year old:

- He holds a crayon with his fist (but not all the time) - she thinks he has poor motor skills. At home he can shoot a basketball, undress and dress himself without really any aid (unless he has buttons like on a shirt) even on down to socks and shoes with velcro. This is what she thinks he needs physical therepy for, which I do not.

- He does not know how to start and end a conversation.

- He changes the subject when talking sometimes. (who doesn’t!??!)

- Her son babysits for us and the last time he did so she told me that Kian was trying to injure our dog. What he was doing was running his HUGE monster truck near our dog - he does this when we are home and I think he does it because the dog will get up and move suddenly. She told me he was hurting our dog, and I have never seen Kian hurt our dog since he was probably 1 year old and poking our dog in the eyeball (lol!)

- He has poor eye contact. With this I have to be honest and say he's improving. He didn't see the therapist one week and he seemed dramatically improved. Now he's kind of reverting back...I don't use the techniques that she has asked me to use with him. I just make sure that when I talk to him that i am looking at him in the eye and he does it even though I do not demand it from him like she does.

Anyway, I decided to call the district's speech pathologist. She does all the evaluations for the school district and is familiar with Kian. I told her about how Kian's therapist wants him to have a full team assessment (which means he see four different specialists in a 2 hour period of time). But I don't feel like there is a reason for him to go in. It's apparent to me that Kian's therapist has no idea what this assessment is for. It's really just to see if a child qualifies for the special ed preschool - which it's clear that Kian does not need. The pathologist listed off a bunch of things that Kian would have issues with....let me tell ya that none of them are even remotely a concern.
Unfortunately, the pathologist does not know Kian's therapist personally and is not even sure if she is employed by the district or if she is out sourced (since speech is done as a state deal, they have to provide service for all the children in need so sometimes they have to outsource).

I also shared with her that the therapist does not really listen to me when I try to tell her that things are not the way she is representing them to be. She has also discussed Kian with her school's psychologist (without my permission) which really did not sit well with the pathologist. Then after I informed her about how the therapist's son babysits Kian and about the dog incident that I mentioned above, the pathologist said that there is not a clear set of boundaries here and she asked if I would feel more comfortable with Kian seeing a different therapist since I am feeling like I will pull Kian from speech all together because of the attitude that this therapist is taking with him. I guess it's impossible for me to pull Kian from speech and then later try to get him back in – so she finally suggested that she try to find an opening for Kian to see a different therapist.

I honestly do still feel like he needs improvement with his speech, but I do not agree with some of the stuff that she is doing with Kian and how she goes about it. Especially the eye contact thing, it seems like she is making it worse! Ugh!

This afternoon I got a call from the pathologist saying that they are working on getting Kian a new therapist! WOOT!

I guess they are wanting to talk to this off-her-rocker therapist to tell her what is going on and let her know we are switching. She is going to be out of town this week but on Friday she will be back and I will get another phone call letting me know what is going on exactly.

I am very encouraged. The pathologist said it looks like he is going to be paired with someone she knows and trusts which makes me feel very relieved!

She also told me, therapists are supposed to be working on speech - nothing else. His first therapist that is not what this person was doing.

Anyway, I feel like I'm not crazy and good about where we are headed with this :)

Jameson and Sarah - 6 Years!!!

It's hard to believe that 6 years ago this weekend I married my best friend :) I wouldn't have imagined the crazy road life has taken us! Even though the road was crazy it has been good and we definately have been blessed :)

Tonight, Jamie and I went out for our anniversary celebration. Kian had our speech therepist's son, Kevin, come over to "play" with Kian while we went out. Kian was SO excited for Kian to come over! He was playing a new video game when Kevin arrived. Kian quickly abandoned it and bolted down the stairs! That speaks volumes to how much he loves being with Kevin :)

Jamie and I went to a movie and had dinner at a non-Kian friendly place. Boy it was nice!! We are going to try to make a monthly deal.

Some Good News - Some Bad News

Good News

Kian is THRIVING in preschool. Today I went to pick him up and he actually cried because he had to leave lol He really loves school and it's been so neat to watch him interact with the other kids when I pick him up. This preschool is definately a great find and I am so grateful for it! He's enjoying himself so much that he actually cried when I went to pick him up LOL!

Bad News

I lost my job yesterday - actually it was more like a week ago...I have not been paid for the last two weeks now. If you could please keep us in your thoughts and prayers - things are going to be beyond tight for us.

Kian gets a Big Boy Bed!!!

We finally broke down (well after Kian took apart part of his convereted toddler bed on Friday) and bought Kian a big boy bed. He already had the blue furniture from IKEA and the bed is from the same collection...the table and chairs as well :) We still need to get some more decor on the walls in there so it looks kinda bare :P Anyway, here it is!

Walking into the door:

Family of Tattoos

Today Jamie got his first tattoo. This is the symbol that the famous artist JR Tolkien used. He authored the books surrounding The Lord of the Rings. Jamie has always been a big fan.


So, on the way over to the tattoo shop I told Jamie that I had a vision of my next tattoo. I wanted three shamrocks (representing each person in our family) and Kian's name underneath it. The guy that did Jamie's tattoo (and who did my last one) had an open appt right after Jamie's so I did mine too!





Well, of course Kian wanted a tattoo too so when we were at Target getting stuff to keep our tattoos from getting dry we found some Cars temporary tattoos.

We Officially have a Preschooler In The House!!!!

This morning I called and cancelled our Mommy and Me class so that we could enroll Kian in preschool two half days a week :)

All weekened long Kian was talking to me about class. He asked if we could go to class EVERY morning he wakes up and if we get in the car to go somewhere, he asks if we are going to class. He loved it!

The original plan was for us to go to Mommy and Me until the session was over in the middle of March. But Kian thrived so much on Friday that we decided to cancel the class and enroll him on Wednesdays at preschool.

I am so excited for him and really Kian is too :) So it's official...Kian is a preschooler!!

Kian's First Day of Preschool!!!!

Today was Kian's first day of preschool on his own. We have been going to a Mommy and Me class that is like preschool but I go with him since this fall. Well, I finally found a place that will take Kian mid year. It's a new school so the class is really small, but I liked how they did things and they are very peanut aware.

So, I dropped him off this morning at 9AM. I said goodbye and told him I would be back when class was over. As I walked away i could see him in the same position I left him in when I said goodbye and I waved to him a few times. He just stood and looked. I was afraid that he might cry...but I guess he was ok :)

I had to run a few errands and when I got back home I felt naked without my little sidekick! I have been a SAHM since the moment Kian was born. We don't have any family around us so it's just the three of us and really just the two of us most of the time. I found myself checking the clock continuously while the phone sat next to me the whole 3 hours Kian was gone!
Well, Kian LOVED it! He did awesome. He participated in everything and was SO excited to tell me all about what he did and show me his art :) He even went on to tell me about everything he did and would say every so often "that was kinda cool" (that is one of his favorite phrases right now lol)

I am so excited for him and can't wait until Mommy and Me is over so he can start going two days a week to preschool instead of one :)

Preschool Starts Friday!

Ah yes, we finally found a preschool for Kian that doesn't cost an arm, a leg and part of your soul per month. lol

Kian and I previewed the class today. It's small and it's just starting up, but I think it will be a good fit for him for now. I do plan on pre-registering him for next year at a school I have heard a lot of good things about. Thankfully I will be able to do that in March for next fall :P Mom is on top of things!

For now we are going to finish up our Mommy and Me classes - which ends in March - and if Kian really likes the preschool we will bump him up to going twice a week instead of just on Fridays.

It's funny because a lot of moms feel sad about their little ones going off to school and growing up. For me, I just feel proud! I'm so happy that he is old enough to be on his own and I look forward to all the new things he learns and hear about what he has done on his own :) And really know it will be good for the both of us to have that time away from each other.

I am very excited for him :)

Kian if he were a cat

If this were Kian he would look like this but be saying "I no can do it.....hmph!" LOL!

No More Binkies Thanks to the Binky Fairy!

Ever since I read a post on my playgroup's message board about the Binky Fairy I have been talking to Kian about her. In case you aren't familiar, the Binky Fairy comes and takes the binkies, when big kids are ready, and brings them to babies who need them. She leaves a big boy toy in its place. The first day I told him about the Binky Fairy said he was ready, so we gathered up his binkies and put them in a baggie. He has two faves and said, "these stay home" so I said, ok well these we are going to keep in the baggie for the binky fairy and I put it on his dresser where he could see them.

We have talked about her off and on. Kian has said he wasn't ready.

Today we went to a Ped dentist who was AMAZING. I said I was concerned about Kian's bite and they said it was from the binky and it could have lasting effects on his bones YIKES!!! After the appointment we had to go to Walmart and Kian saw this big (and ugly) monster truck called the Grave Digger and said he wanted that. I told him that the binky fairy would bring him a big boy toy like that if he gave up his binkies. The look on his face was priceless...somethign TOTALLY clicked for him. All he could talk about was the binky fairy and that darn truck lol!
We get home from shopping and a while later get ready for a nap. He told me he was ready so we got the two binkies and he said he wanted the monster truck. I was gasping because well, i'm at home alone and well, I wasn't going to run back to Walmart to get him this thing! ROFL So I told him that we need to make an appointment with the Binky fairy and she only comes at night (ROFLMAO!). He decided not to nap and when I went in to get him he asked for his binky...I told him I already called the binky fairy and she was coming tonight. He was cool with that. PHEW!

So, last night I went to Walmart and scooped up the Grave Digger. When I got it home DH was SHOCKED at how big it was! lol! When I got home Kian was asleep! And in fact when DH put him down the only thing he mentioned about the blinkies was that he was going to get a monster truck!!! He also slept ALL the way through the night without any issue!

This morning he woke up and both me and DH went to his room - the binky fairy left the monster truck right outside his door. so I opened the door and said, "Kian, what is this?!?" and he couldn't get out of his bed fast enough!!! He ran over and said "MY MONSTER TRUCK!!!" He was so excited it was like Christmas all over again :)

So, this morning he's been playing with this truck - which btw, is bigger than his tonka dump truck! And I took a few pictures of him...and honest to God the poses are his...in fact, he wanted more photos after I was done with new poses ROFL!

Holiday Break

PHEW! It was a great 12 days or so of having Jamie home full time. What did we do? RELAXED! We went out on a few shopping outtings but other than that we all just did what we wanted when we wanted. It was very nice to be able to do that!

Jamie and I rang in the New Year on our own with some sparkling wine while watching Dick Clark's New Years show. It was a nice, quiet evening at home but we enjoyed ourselves :) I made my mom's famous bean dip and smokies - we munched on that all New Years Eve and Day...it was something that made the day feel special :)

It has been hard to get back into the swing of things though. Kian is SO ready for his classes and speech to start up again! Speech - that reminds me that Kian has seemed to take yet another leap in the amount he's talking and being understandable. It's amazing to hear what is going on in his little head throughout the day - gives us all some chuckles here and there ;) As for class, well I am trying HARD to get him into pre-school. He goes to a pre-pre-school right now where I attend class with him. Both Jamie and I feel like he's ready for the next step. I have a call into two different places and I am HOPING AND PRAYING that there is a spot at the first place we want him to go to. They have a NO NUT policy (woot!) and after seeing the structure of the class lined out on their website, I feel like this might be a better fit for him all the way around. We will have to see....right now I am leaving it in God's hands, but I really feel like he needs to be at class without me before he's thrown into pre-K classes next fall. We will have to see...but man it's weighing heavily on my mind (funny how things completely out of your control can do that to you!) I digress!

Jamie's Project Change

Jamie is back at work full time now and as of last week found out he was moved to work on Godfather II. A move he's not real happy about, but at least it's temorary...we are trying to keep a positive out look on it even though it means that Jamie will be home at about 9PM or later every night (Kian will be in bed by then) and that working even longer hours is just around the corner (most likely this summer). We are bracing ourselves and making changes as needed. I just feel bad for Kian not being able to see his Daddy much at all during the weekdays.

The San Francisco Storms

Well, we braved the storms that came through late last week. Thankfully Jamie wasn't feeling well on Friday and stayed home - I would have been VERY afraid if he were driving in the conditions that were outside! The wind was gusting strong and rain was coming down hard off and on. One bridge crossing the Bay was even shut down because of the winds!!! Some things on our patio got wipped around too - I even had to take down my new shamrock wind mobile that my grandparents got me for Christmas for fear it would be blown away and lost forever!

We got pelted with three different storms and more are headed this way GAH! At least the there was no damage to be seen near us...but many places in the area suffered power outages and the thread of flooding. Hopefully the other storms are not as bad as the last few.

2007 In Review

Well, I like to take time at the end of the year to reflect on good and bad highlights. Honestly there were a lot of positive things that happened this year!

January - Jamie's mom, step-dad and sister came out for a visit.

February - Jamie and I celebrated 5 years of wedded bliss together (ok, no I don't live in a freaking castle but the years have been good ones :))

March - St. Patrick's Day!!!! We had our friend's Steve and Lisa over to share in our corned beef and cabbage :)

April - Kian and I headed out to Wisconsin for my Grandparent's 50th Wedding anniversary.

May - Kian turned 3!!

June - The Painstaking treatment began on my foot (ouch!)

July - We threw our first party at our house for the 4th of July! I think everyone had a good time :)

We also celebrated one year of being homeowners! WOOT!

August - We bid goodbye to diapers - Kian was fully potty trained!!! (well, during the day time anyway - but a huge step!)

September - Kian started his pre-preschool class (I say pre-pre because I go with Kian to this class)

October - We took our first family vacation and went to Disneyland!!! We also had a great time visiting with my Uncle Dave and Aunt Lori that live in SoCal.

Kian also got to go trick-or-treating for the FIRST time! Even though we had to take out most of his candy and replace it, he had a great time :)

November - We welcomed Jamie's Dad and Step-mom for a visit. Then a few weeks later my mom arrived for a visit over Thanksgiving! Kian had a great time with all of them :)

December - We decorated the tree and Kian got to help decorate for the first time! Kian also helped me make cookies for the first time too :) Kian's excitement of Christmas has sparked a renewed excitment in our household of Christmas!

We had a very blessed and busy 2007 and we are looking forward to more blessings to come in 2008. We hope you and yours have the same :)

There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays!

This Christmas was spent in the comfort of our own home - just the three of us (ok 5 if you could Allie and Toby). Christmas Eve was had our gorging of gifts that our family sent us. We all received some very nice things, but Kian made quite the haul!

Christmas Eve night we had lasgana with garlic bread and salad for our special meal. We also had home made pumpkin pie - YUM! (ok, I took some store bought help - but nut free ones ;))

Santa brought gifts - the floor in front of the tree was filled with books, a Tonka garbage truck, My First Computer, Thomas Legos and a Thomas mat to play with his smaller trains with.

So far he has LOVED the My First computer (thankfully Santa brought two games to go with it) and his mat for his smaller Thomas trains. He really is enjoying everything, but those he's playing with the most.

And of course Santa stuffed all our stockings - even Toby and Allie's! Kian got two new cars from the movie Cars, a new Disney movie, Thomas underwear, and candy of course ;)

Our christmas vacation has been pretty relaxing. We have all really enjoyed not really having a schedule and just doing what we want when we want. A quiet Christmas this year but a good one :)

Our Christmas Gorging

Well our tree slowly filled with wrapped gifts as the month progressed. This morning, after breakfast, we gorged ourselves on those gifts. Kian was so excited! He has been asking at least once a day if he can open them lol We let him dig in while I pulled gifts from all around the tree and separated them all. Jamie and I helped Huricane Kian with his mass of paper and gifts before we opened our own. We both got some pretty cool stuff! And the best thing was that I surprised Jamie with almost everything I gave him ;) That is VERY hard to do so I was quite proud of myself :)

Before bed Kian and I baked cookies for Santa and set the cookies and some carrots on the special plate that my cousin Maggie gave him for his first Christmas....there is a sang on the plate that says the cookies are for Santa and something like "I was good this year, don't believe those things you hear" hehehe

Tonight Jamie read Kian Twas The Night Before Christmas and even I stayed in the room to enjoy the book :) We said goodnight and haven't heard a peep from that room since! Kian is so excited for Santa to arrive :)

Speaking of the big man in the red suit, I better get to bed so he can drop in ;)

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Christmas Countdown!

Well, the final stretch is here! Five more days until Christmas! Kian is SO excited to open gifts. It's been a little tough to keep him out of the gifts that are wrapped under the tree, but he's done a great job listening. He does ask several times a day about Santa and if he came lol

Kian has enjoyed the Advent calendar that we bought him last year.


Here he is with the calendar looking for the door to open for the day. It looks really neat but the door numbers are not in order so it's hard for Kian to understand how many more days are left. We do show him on the calendar though how many more days until Christmas and we count together what is left. Kian just really likes to get the candy out of the door that he says Santa brings him lol

A few weekends ago we celebrated Christmas with our friends Steve and Lisa. Here is one of the things they got Kian - which is his favorite right now.


Jamie got some fun things that he has at work with him (one is a BS button - we had to try it outside away from Kian ears! lol) and he also go a hat with his name on it...ok, not really - it's a Jameson Irish Whiskey hat but is VERY fitting :) Jamie loves it!


And as you can see Steve and Lisa know me well :) We hung up the Irish Blessing hanging immediately!


Last weekend Lisa and Steve gave us another AMAZING gift! Lisa offered to watch Kian for the night while me and Jamie went to the EA Christmas party! Steve had a prior engagement that ended up being cancelled so he came along with Lisa as well. I know Kian had as much fun as we did because he loves those two :)

This year we look forward to a quiet Christmas at home - just the three of us. We plan to start a new tradition of making cookies on Christmas Eve night so that Santa can have fresh cookies ;)

We miss you all and know that we will be thinking of all our family and friends that live far and near throughout the holiday season.

Stepping into the New Year with a New Foot

Yesterday was my FINAL treatment on my foot for my warts! WOOT! I've had a little bit of pain, but nothing that some ibuprofen couldn't take care of :) I am relived that this 6 month ordeal of going to the doctor every 10 days is over! Yep, 6 months! phew! But, at least when this is done I won't have to ever do it again :)

So, here's to starting off 2008 on the "left" wartless foot ;)

Kian Visits Santa

Well, Kian met Santa today. Our track record with Santa is now 1.5 out of 4 lol I say 1.5 because when he was 7 months he was cool with Santa and every other year after that he has screamed bloody murder when we it was our turn to see Santa.


This year we were headed down the same road. Thankfully we saw Santa on a weekday so he could take time to talk to Kian. Jamie brought him over to sit on Santa’s lap and Kian yelled “Let’s go that way!!” Well, Santa came down to Kian with a candy cane and a temporary tattoo. Kian said thankyou and then pulled out his “list” that we made this morning (we cut out pictures of toys Kian wanted and put them on some notebook paper). Santa took the list and pointed out some of the trucks and talked to Kian about them. Then he took Kian’s hand and brought him around his little area and showed him the stuffed animals that were decorating the area. He then had Kian sit on his big chair! We FINALLY got a photo with a half smile from my Kian with Santa standing right next to him :)


So, this is the only photo we got this year, but it’s a good one and definitely a great memory for us all :)

Grandma Visits!

My mom made her bi-annual Thanksgiving day trip out to see us. Since my step-dad hunts over the holiday, she is usually at home alone and figures it's a good time to take off and spend the week with us :)

Grandma certainly took this trip as an opportunity to SPOIL Kian! Kian got lots of new cars, crayons and a "magic coloring book" that i think Grandma enjoyed coloring in just as much as Kian did! Every time that Kian woke up from his nap or in the morning he would say, "Where's Grandma Lopas? You wanna play Candyland?" I think my mom played more Candyland with Kian this last week than she has in her entire life lol They also had great fun playing outside, going for walks and going to the park.

It was very hard to say good-bye but her trip was a very good one :)

Kian Met A Goal!

Kian's speech teacher said she is pretty sure she's ready to write in Kian's chart that he has met his goal of putting ending sounds on words! How exciting after such a short period of time!

We are still working on complete sentences and other things related to speech. I also spoke to the teacher about what her thoughts were on the group evaluation that she told me about when we first started going to see her. It will test all areas of development like fine motor, social, speech (those are a few I can think of). If he is delayed enough they will put him into a special ed preschool until he catches up.

For me personally, I see this as a win-win...either we find out Kian's ok and has a few things work on or we find out he has a delay and it is addressed. I have been so concerned about him lately and I figured this will give me an answer one way or another.

Kian's speech teacher, Miss Denise, will be emailing the person who needs to set up the evlaution. She felt she was going to wait and see how Kian is after Christmas break, but since I mentioned a concern she is goign to get the ball rolling. I will have more of an update on this once I have more information.

Brag on Jamie!

Most of you know that Jamie was working on a game based on The Simpsons. Well, the game finally released a few weeks ago. Full Sail, the school that Jamie went to for game design, has a small article on him. Of course I have to brag on my man for being featured! I'm so proud of him!

Copy and paste the link below into your browser to see the article.

http://www.fullsail.com/news/9730-designing-springfield-jameson-durall-and-the-simpsons-game.html

Speech Update and other odds and ends

Grandad and Nan

Jamie's Dad and Step-mom (Nancy - Kian calls her Nan) flew in on Saturday to visit. It was great to have them here as we always enjoy their company. Kian was SO excited to see them and couldn't get enough of playing ball with Grandad or having Nan read him stories.

The cutest thing was when Nancy and I explained to Kian that Grandad and Nan had to go back home to Kentucky. Kian's response to that was, "You stay here." He really liked having them around. Over the last few days he has asked for them, but I think he's realizing that Kentucky is far away.

I believe we all had a great visit - hopefully we will see them again soon.

Speech Update

Kian had his hearing and vision tested today. He is normal in both categories thankfully :)

He is making leaps and bounds of progress in his speech. The last session we went to his teacher (Miss Denise) said that she thinks he's become kinda lazy because she believes the words are there he's just not saying them.

The last few weeks we have been working on ending sounds, making complete sentences and now we are working on looking at the person who is talking. Yesterday Kian had an EXPLOSION in using complete sentences! He's using them almost all the time and it's been amazing to see how much creativity he has and his thought processes! Just today we were on our way somewhere and he saw a cloud big cloud in the sky and we talked bout that for a bit. Then he saw a big truck and we talked about that. then he said as clear as day, "That big truck is going to pick up the cloud." I giggled and I said, wow, that must be a really big truck hehe

Jamie and I are very encouraged with his progress :)

Halloween 2007

Well, Kian was finally not something Blue's Clues related for Halloween hehe He decided to be Thomas the Train. The outfit was perfect for him - last year he was in long sleeves and it was in the 80s! This year it was cooler, but at least we had the option of dressing cool or warm.

Halloween morning we started out by having breakfast at our Halloween decorated table that was have enjoyed all month (special thanks to my Aunt Lori for some cool dishes and decor!). Then we headed off the class. We had a Halloween party where we had some great snacks, sang Halloween songs, did some autumn crafts, and trick or treated "door-to-door" from the doors connecting to the room we were in. Kian had a BLAST! He even did great with particiaption!

There was also a little boy who was dressed as James (one of Thomas' friends). Kian and this little boy played together pretty often throughout the class because of the commonality - so cute!

Here are some photos from Kian at class:







Kian had a blast trick or treating! This was his first year going (we have held off because of his allergy mainly). But this year was the first year he was able to really understand what was going on. He would ring the doorbell and when people would ask "Who are you?" He would say, "Thomas the Tank Engine CHOO CHOO" LOL (btw, that is something he came up with all on his own!) Sometimes he would answer "I'm Kian and then correct himself and go into explaining how he was Thomas." After he said "Thank You" he would say "Let's go find more doors." LOL!

Kian made quite a haul with candy. Unfortunately about 80% of it he could not eat. Needless to say, Jamie will have quite a stash of candy to bring to work tomorrow! Luckily I bought replacement candy for Kian so he does't feel left out. But we did let him enjoy the candy that he did get tonight that was safe for him to eat allergy wise. I'm sure he was in sugar overload mode before bed lol But he was wiped out from all the fun today!

Kian with he Pumpkin that we carved yesterday.



"Let's go find another door!"





Enjoying some candy after his night's work hehe

Pumpkin Patch!

Kian's class went to a pumpkin patch in our area a few weeks ago. We started out with a hay ride to a classroom area where we learned about how pumpkins grow. It started to rain a bit (more like mist) while we were on the hay ride so most of the moms wanted to get their pumpkin and get out! Kian and I took our time. We were able to pick out a pumpkin, a gourd, and a little white pumpkin. We took our time. Got a wagon and loaded it up with our stuff.

Here are some photos of our little excursion. I also threw in a "signature" I made since there are some cute photos of Kian in there :)


Here is me and Kian before the hayride started.


Kian in front of the yearly height sign hehe

Here is Kian with our haul from our visit!

And here is the signature that I made

Kian's first Speech Appointment

Kian started speech therapy yesterday. He actually had a good time. The teacher had him say a word and then would allow him to fish one fish from a game that she had. He really enjoyed himself. Most importantly he responded really well! Kian drops the end sound of some words like cup, truck, cat… The first word the teacher asked him to say was cup, he said “cuh.” The teacher asked him to look at her lips and said “cuP” and asked him to say it again…he said it correctly the second time! He responded well throughout the entire session and even continued on when we came home!

The speech therapist that did Kian’s evaluation said that I would see changes quickly, but really I had no idea that she meant THIS soon! I am very encouraged.

Speech Therepy

This morning I got a call from the person that will be working with Kian. It's close to our house, which is nice and she seems like a nice person. Kian will be starting on Tuesdays at 1PM.

Kian has been making more sentences and actually sounding clearer to us, but he does still need some help. I am really looking forward to getting him started.

Disneyland 2007 Recap

We just got back from our vacation – we ALL had an amazing time! We started with the long trek down to Southern California via the 5 on the last Friday of September. We were surprised at how much of nothing is out there lol! But the trip was uneventful and we had a great visit with my Aunt Lori and Uncle Dave. Toby (our black lab) stayed with them while we were at Disneyland – he of course was spoiled rotton ;)

Sunday afternoon we headed to our hotel to check in. Kian could see the “Hollywood Hotel” (a thrill ride in Californialand) from our room – which we told him was Disneyland and he often would tell us to look out and see Disneyland ;) It was cute! After that, we went to Downtown Disney to look around. We decided to have dinner at the Rainforest Café – it’s a restaurant that has “moving” animals and a “rain storm” at different times. A HUGE snake hanging from the ceiling ended up scaring the poop out of Kian…so we had to sit outside and eat…. We were wondering how the next 4 days at the Disney parks would go! We then headed back to the hotel and before Kian went to bed, we were treated to the Disneyland fireworks…we couldn’t see a lot, but we saw the ones that went high in the sky – Kian loved that!

Before we started our trip, I actually contacted Disney about their food preparations. I called and spoke to the head chef of the park - he was an amazing wealth of knowledge. Gave us a small list of places to avoid. And also assured me that each of their food places has at least one person trained in cross contamination on site - they have to pass an eight hour class in order to be certified to do this! Anyway, I felt very assured when we were there that we would have a great time without any reactions. (speaking of Kian's allergy, in some of the photos you will notice Kian's medical alert bracelet - he's really adjusted to wearing it)

Monday we headed to the park – we took a tram and then discovered that our hotel was very close in walking distance and decided for the rest of the trip we would walk to and from the park. We weren’t sure what Kian could handle ride wise so we thought It’s a Small World would be the best place to start. He’s never been on a Disney type ride before so we wanted to do one we knew for sure was not scary. A while after that we decided to go on Pirates of the Caribbean. I totally didn’t remember how scary it was!!! It has changed a bit because they added some things from the movie – but it was still scary! Kian did AWESOME! There were times he would grab my hand or he would lean up against Jamie but he did AWESOME! So well that we decided to take him into the Haunted Mansion. The Haunted Mansion was done up in the Nightmare Before Christmas theme which was really, really neat! Kian did great there and honestly there wasn’t a ride he didn’t go on – unless he couldn’t because of height requirement. The little guy even rode the Matterhorn TWICE lol

Because of the time of year that we went to the park and because we were there during the week, the park closed at 8PM every night. We decided the first day to let Kian skip his nap and see if he would make it through the day. He did amazingly well! I think it was mainly because he was doing things that he enjoyed the ENTIRE time we were there…heck we ALL enjoyed our time! The only dull moments were when we stood in line – and even with that Kian did fairly well. Every night we stayed for the parade – which is AMAZING! Kian was so amazed by it – even though it was the same thing every night, we were all still in awe :)

Tuesday we headed to Californialand. Jamie and I had never been to that park before so it was a new experience for all of us. We first headed to use some special tickets we got for booking our trip through AAA – we got preferred seating for “A Talk with Crush” – the turtle from Finding Nemo. We all sat right in front and Crush talked to Kian! He called him Kahuna Kian – so for the rest of the day Kian would say “I’m Kahuna Kian!” hehe, so cute! We then headed over to “meet” Lightening McQueen and Tow Mater from the movie Cars. Kian was in awe :) Jamie went on a few rides by himself – the one I did want to go on was Soarin’ over California – which was really neat. Kian and Jamie went on all the rides in the A Bug’s World area. There was a spinning ride that went in the air that looked like it was builtout of food boxes like Chinese take-out and animal crackers. Another ride was like the teacups but it was Francis the Ladybug that spun around and then there were bumper cars. Then we did all went on the train ride which was the caterpillar from A Bugs Life – he ate his way around the track. It was a super cute ride :) Kian enjoyed all those rides – I think he rode all of them 3 times. Californialand seems like it’s more for the older crowd, so once we hit all of what we wanted to ride and see, we headed back over to Disneyland and spent the rest of the day there.

Wednesday we had special passes (again, thanks to AAA) to get in to the opening of Toontown. Toontown in the area of the park where the characters “live.” We got to see a special opening with the mayor of Toontown and was able to get in line and meet Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Dale (of Chip and Dale). Kian loved that :) After that we headed to Blue Bayou for a special dinner – the restaurant functions on reservations alone and is also on part of the Pirates of the Caribbean – it’s a really neat atmosphere. It was a super neat lunch and really kid friendly – Kian even got veggie sticks and ranch dressing for dipping when Jamie and I got our soup and salad! I was very impressed with Disney and how kid friendly and focused they are.

Thursday was our last day at the park. We also had another perk of getting into the park early one day – and this was the day we chose to do so. We had breakfast at the park and then headed to some rides. Later in the day we stood in line for the new Nemo ride…AMAZING ride and worth the wait! We of course ended the day with the parade and then some souvenir shopping. I think Kian’s favorite item is a Disneyland Semi truck – he’s actually cried at night when he had to go to bed and stop playing with it lol

Friday we took it easy, checked out of our hotel and headed to Downtown Disney for some more souvenir shopping and lunch before we headed back up to my Aunt and Uncle’s house.

We had an AMAZING time and we hope to be able to do it again next year. It was a trip that we all had a blast doing – and really that’s the most important point of having a family vacation.

Here is a short slide show I put together of our vacation. We took over 500 photos! YIKES! So I pulled a select fun few.

Second Mommy and Me Class and Other News

Mommy and Me - Class #2

Today was our second class of Mommy and Me (basically preschool with mom in attendance) and Kian did very well! He is slowly wanting to participate more in the circle time. And I know that the Little Einstein's lunch box we found helped a lot with him actually eating his snack today. Today the kids got to wash baby dolls and draw with wet chalk on paper. They also have paint and easels up in the room and Kian helped himself to painting twice. Thankfully today I dressed him in clothes that I didn't care if they got stained...because Kian was wearing purple paint after the second go. I might need to head out to the thrift stores for some long sleeved shirts at a good price.

We also played outside for a bit - even though it was quite windy. We played with playdough and of course the train set. And Kian even participated in about half of the stuff we did in circle time. Thankfully some of songs that we did in our Terrific Two's class were the same so Kian knew what fun it was to join in.

He did get upset when he had to leave the trains to head home - luckily the lunch bag helped us in getting him out the door...he likes to help and I asked him if he wanted to carry his lunch bag. He even held it on his lap the entire way home hehe I think that bag was the best $5 spent!

FALL HAS ARRIVED - I think hehe

Well, the weather has turned pretty cool for us here in California. We haven't really had the air on at all and in fact today it's way too windy for us to have the windows open....even with them closed it is very cool inside. Cool enough for me to think that I might have to set up for the heat to kick on tonight!

We gladly welcome fall and all the wonderful things it brings :) Once we get back from Disneyland, I'm going to set my eyes on when we should go to the pumpkin patch!!!

SPEAKING OF DISNEYLAND.....
We leave in 9 days!!!!! I've already started making lists of what we need to pack and we have already started figuring out how Toby, the stroller, Kian and our luggage will all fit in the car.

Also, I was looking at the Disneyland page and noticed that it will be decorated for Halloween! How fun!! I'm really looking forward to that and I know Kian will be just in utter amazement :)

Update, a Brag and some Personal Notes

Update on Tantrums

IGNORING WORKS!!!! Jamie and I have been ignoring Kian's tantrums and seriously within just a few days we have noticed a difference! Now the big thing for me will be our next trip to Target. There are a lot of temptations there for him - things he wants to touch. The last trip ended with him having a scream fest because I wouldn't let him touch something - I guess we will see what happens!

Bragging about my Little Guy

I feel like I have only been sharing the things that are wrong with Kian lately and not all the wonderful things he knows or has done. So I wanted to take a few mins just to share about the nice stuff :)

When we were at class on Wednesday, one of the moms was in a previous class with us and told me she was floored Kian knew his ABCs and could identify the letters. She said neither of her two boys knew them and one of them is now in kindergarten! She wanted me to give her tips on how to get her kids to learn. I honestly drew a blank because I have no idea how I taught Kian really. He has had bath letters since he was about age one. I would sing the ABCs to him a lot...and honestly he couldn't sing the song until probably this summer sometime. But he could identify letters for sure - I could even ask him to find the "F" and he could point it out on a page.

Goodbye Albertson's - Hello Lucky's

I'm not sure if Albertson's grocery stores have changed all over the state to Lucky's but ours in Livermore have. With that we had to say goodbye to the only French dressing in probably the state of California that I can make Orange Dip and Taco Salad with. Jamie and I tried a country French by Ken's Steakhouse with our Taco Salad this week and we thought it tasted good...the real test will be if it will be good in orange dip. I'm going to make a trial run batch sometime this week to find out.

Also, with Lucky's comes a new word for Kian. He has trouble with the letter "l" - which I am told is very common at this age. So Lucky's sounds like "Yucky's" LOL

Halloween Decor - SCARY!!!

Halloween stuff is out in the stores now and with that comes all the scary masks and decor. This is the first year that Kian has really noticed it. Walking around he will tell me he's "scared" Jamie and I plan to take him out Trick or Treating for the first time this year...I am wondering how he will do. I plan to have replacement candy on hand for him since most of what is out there is probably processed near nuts.

This weekend we plan to shop for a costume for Kian - this will be the first year where he's been involved with picking out his costume! I'm pretty excited :)

As of today, 14 more days until we leave home for our Disneyland vacation!!!!

Terrible Two's? LOL! And Kian's first Mommy and Me Class

Man, if the two's are supposed to be so terrible, I wonder what people think of the threes? "Have Mom Committed" Threes or Tantrum Threes. I don't know. Whoever coined the term terrible two's must not have been around for the threes...that's my only guess.

In the last few weeks Kian has been in rare form. He has been throwing tantrums and they are getting worse and worse as the weeks have gone on. I'm beginning to wonder if he's been body snatched and where my well behaved boy went.

Yesterday I shopped Target with him screaming in the cart because I wouldn't let him hold a toy. That was a real joy. Today was our first day of Mommy and Me (essentially preschool but mommmy comes) and he threw at least two huge fits. Luckily one of the moms told me that everyone has been there and backed up what mine and Jamie's plan of action is in dealing with them. Ignoring. It's hard to do but the only way to combat this behavior.

Kian did two things at class - he painted a picture using cars as the "brush" he really liked that. And he played with a train set. I am guessing it will take him at least a month for the newness of the train set to wear off...the kid has trains at home so it's not really "new" but he plays with them almost all day long. I had a good time singing some new songs while sitting in circle time - trying to lead by example and asking Kian if he wanted to sing with me from time to time. I'm hoping my Kian returns soon....I miss him :(

Speech Evaluation Update

Kian’s speech evaluation was this morning. It was at the school that Kian will attend kindergarten at so it was neat to see the place!

When we got there I had to sign some paper work (I think mainly because in California this is something that the state pays for). The speech pathologist asked in a round about way that I not stay in the room so that Kian didn't focus on the fact that I was leaving. I could hear what the teacher was asking (but I stayed out of sight). Honestly it was then that I realized just how bad Kian’s speech is :( I couldn’t understand most of what he was saying to her at one point. I think because Kian and I are always together and I can see the context of things I can take a great stab at what he’s saying.

Kian did really well with listening to what the teacher wanted him to do. After he was done she asked him to tell me he was through and he went to play while I talked to her. She said he definitely needs help. His main issue is that he’s not putting the ending on his words. Like he says “Ca” instead of “Cat” She did tell me it was something that could be easily corrected and he will be speaking in a way that everyone will understand by kindergarten.

I guess what’s going to happen is he will go to sessions once a week for a half hour and at the end of the year the speech therapist will re evaluate him. She said I will probably be able to see dramatic changes. I go in to meet with the speech pathologist the day before we leave for our Disney trip so that she can go over a report she has to write up and have me sign some paperwork. After that we will start the appointments and I will have more information.

I just very glad that Jamie brought this issue to my attention and we pursued it.

Toe Update and other Random Tidbits

Toe Update - Treatment #4

I just realized that I've been so busy that I forgot to update on my toe. Today I had my fourth treatment. She froze the warts this time...she did that last time too. Luckily this hurts just at first and gets better as the day goes on. With the other stuff she used the first two times it gets worse as the day goes on and leaves me completely immobile.

We are gearing up for our trip to Disney - we will be leaving on September 28th to spend some time with my Aunt Lori and Uncle Dave before we head to Disneyland. I let my doctor know about our trip and my concern about walking. She wanted to put that nasty stuff on my foot again this last time...I told her it scared me :( so she said she would freeze it again and told me she thinks that after one more time freezing that these warts in this area should be gone. She also said she's hopeful. That gives me hope! The area does look a lot better...and I'm glad she's ok with doing the freezing because that kind of pain on new skin would be close to unbearable for me. She told me she could give me Vicodin for the pain (yes, it's THAT bad) but I'm not sure I could function on Vicodin and take care of Kian.


Kian's Bracelet

It seems that Kian's bracelet has pretty much become a part of him. He really doesn't figit with it much anymore. It's also serving it's purpose. Kian and I went to Trader Joe's (a local grocery store) yesterday and the cashier noticed his bracelet and told me she had no idea that they made them like that. So, it's doing it's duty...letting people know of his allergy but also looking cute at the same time.

Happy Labor Day!!!

Our Extended Weekend

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend!

We had a good weekend spending time together. Jamie was on call and didn't have to go into work (thanks to being able to monitor emails and talk with people at work via his cell). We didn't venture too far from home though, just in case Jamie had to go into work. We did some shopping and made a trip to IKEA (we are really, really needing some new desks and some different organization in our office). It was low key but it was good to finally have Jamie around!!!

Update on Kian's Speech

Last week I got a call from the school that Kian will attend for kindergarten. The have a speech evaluation set up for September 11. I guess it's a pretty lengthly process , but the teacher said that she will do it as long as he will allow. Hearing that made me feel good. I am just hoping to have more information and tools to be able to help Kian speak better. I will post an update when I can on his appointment next week.

Medical Alert Bracelet

We got Kian's Medical Alert Bracelet that I posted about in a previous entry. Jamie had to put it on him....it's really hard to snap on him. We put it on him on Sunday morning and he's had it on ever since. He was slightly annoyed with it at first but he's really used to it now. I am going to try to take a photo of him with it on - but I am going to wait until next week sometime. We are really trying not to draw attention to it in the hopes that he really gets used to having it on.

Photos

Here are some photos from this summer. I have a lot more in my snapfish account. If you would like to be added to the list to be able to view them just leave a comment in this post and I will gladly add you :)

Kian on our back patio :)


Kian petting an elephant at Discovery Kingdom with Daddy:




Petting a donkey that was walking around the park:


Daddy and Kian on a frog ride!


Kian with Thomas the Train in the background - he really was happy in this photo we were just trying to get him to look at the camera instead of Thomas lol:

Our Saturday and some Updates

Thursday I took Kian to see the podiatrist. He had Kian walk up and down his hall...he did this all the way on his toes. Then he asked him to run and as he was running the doctor turned to me and said, "Mom, he's fine." PHEW! A wave of relief went over me! He does want to see Kian in 6 months to make sure he's "not liking walking on his toes." So I scheduled an appointment right away.

Thursday mornings is the usual day that I have my treatments done on my toe every other week. Since Kian had his appointment Thursday and I had to be able to walk and drive about 20 mins (it's really hard for me to even sit in a normal position..my foot has to be propped up) I had it scheduled for Monday morning. This actually worked out good because I can actually walk on my foot right now. Saturday Jamie was able to take the day off and we all went to Discovery Kingdom (the amusement park that has animals). We all had a great time. It was SO good to be able to get out of the house...I seriously have been locked inside almost full time for over the last month. We were going to try to go to some different shows this time around but Kian really wanted to see the dolphin show so we went there...we have been every time we have gone to the park lol He LOVES watching them so of course we had no problem with going. Thomas Town was also open so we all got to ride Thomas the Train and Jamie rode with Kian on a helicopter ride that was also a Thomas thing. Jamie and Kian actually rode a bunch of rides together and played on some climbing structures. I think we all had a good time although Jamie says his legs are sore and I'm just beat hehe But I know we are all glad we went especially since it will be another two weeks until I can do anything again.

Saturday was pretty much our weekend. Jamie headed back into work Sunday morning - luckily he didn't have to go in last night after we got back from the park...that was a big possibility for him. Today my goal is to clean the house and shop for the next week and a half at least. Standing for more than 30 seconds is VERY painful so I am trying to get microwavable or quick fix meals for us over the next week.

If you think about it, say a prayer for me because I think I see two warts coming back into the new skin area :( I will know more tomorrow but I sure could use those prayers.

Medical Alert Bracelet is On the Way!

Well, my nervousness of Kian's allergy sent me searching for medical alert bracelets. I talk to Kian from time to time about his allergy, but he still has very limited understanding...and I'm sure it will be a while before he really grasps it.

I scoured the net for a bracelet that well...didn't look like the bracelets I remember kids having to wear when I was growing up when they had diabetes or epilepsy or something along those lines. I found a place that sells ones that have a band on them with different scenes! This is the one we though Kian would enjoy the most right now:




The band will fit him now up until his wrist is 8 inches around (it's a little over 4 right now). We also have the ability to order other bands like soccer themed, bugs, camo....there are a lot of choices so when he wants something we can order it for him. I am now praying that it fits good AND he won't be bothered too much by wearing it.

When Food Kills

The link below is only about 10 mins of a video about food allergies and the seriousness of them. Please watch. Thank you. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=397657414346223887&q=peanut+allergy&hl=en

Update....

Bye-Bye Training Potty and Hello preschool!!!! YIKES!

Since Kian started using the "big" potty we took removed both of his training toliets. He seemed to notice but not care at all about the change. He hasn't used them in over a week and it's nice to have that floor space back.

This week I realized that we will be able to enroll Kian in preschool because he's fully potty trained now (well, during the day anyway). Kian and I will start a class in September where I attend preschool with him. I feel like that will be a good transition for him and I can help him understand what is going on and what he will be doing for about 4 hours a week starting this winter.

I have to say that I am EXTREMELY nervous about sending him off to preschool where he will not be under my watchful eye. I'm sure that during that two hour period there will be snacks. I am for sure will be checking in with the teacher before he starts to make sure they are aware that he can have reactions to odd things that people wouldn't think are processed near nuts (like the cinnamon sticks I mentioned in the previous post). I seriously have visions of something terrible happening to him - nightmares - because of someone else's inability to understand the severity of this allergy or just deciding I'm an overbearing mom gone crazy about this issue. When Kian goes in for his flu shot this fall, I will be requesting a presciption for another Epi-Pen so I can leave it in his cubby at preschool. I'm praying for a teacher with understanding.

What I am looking forward to is having that time to do work and do other things that are hard or impossible having him with me as well as seeing him learn and grow in ways I feel I cannot provide for him at home.....especially in the area of having playmates. Although it's such a huge step in my mind...he's still my little guy!!!

Late Hours....Again

Are you sick of me saying this lol! I seriously cannot wait for this project to be put to bed as those in the newspaper industry say. We have about 6 weeks until Disneyland. I am starting to talk to Kian about seeing Mickey and Minnie and I am REALLY looking forward to going myself. We are also starting to plan out legistics of getting down there with Toby in the back of my Matrix. My Aunt Lori and Uncle Dave have GRACIOUSLY offered to dog sit Mr. Toby - he's going to be so spoiled lol It will be like a vacation for him!

Toe Update

Last week I had more treatment done to my toe. Same stuff put on top of new skin feel s WORSE than the initial treatment. I've been sitting on the couch so much over the last week I think my butt is imprinted on it now. Poor, poor Kian. I feel stir crazy so I can only imagine how he feels. We ventured out on Tuesday when my foot feelt pretty good....well, I think that did me in. Since then I haven't been able to walk really or do much of anything else. I can't even sit without my foot level with my body without it throbbing with pain.

I am not looking forward to going to back a week from Monday. But I am hoping there will be only a few more times of going back and I will be done.

Our Big Boy and Other Stuff

Kian's Gaining in Big Boy Status!

Wednesday Kian wanted to go potty on the big potty. So, I pulled over the stool he uses for the sink. Kian had yet to do number two on the potty so I thought maybe this would be a great transition for him to do that. The next day Jamie stayed home from work and when Kian told us he needed a Pull-up (for number two) Jamie asked him if he wanted to use the big potty. Kian pooped on it for the FIRST time and that's been the only place he's done it for the last 2 days :) Let me tell ya, we are all very happy that there will be no more poopy pull-ups!

General Update

Thursday morning I went back to the dermatologist to retreat my warts. (If you are squeamish you might not want to read on).

She cut off the dead skin which was most of the bottom of my big toe. Then she reapplied this nasty stuff that causes the blisters to get rid of the ones that were still there. Putting that on new skin hurts like HELL. Well, it doesn't hurt right away but it sure does after about 10 hours. Friday was the worst...I woke up because I was in so much pain...and since Jamie is working late I am on my own with Kian in the evenings....I barely got him to bed...standing hurts the WORST.

So, right now I am sitting on the couch and I am parked here for as long as I can be. Poor Kian is mainly on his own - unless we are sitting on the couch reading stories and that lasts only so long for my active little man. Luckily Jamie is working today and staying home Sunday - I am hoping that he can do something with Kian because I know the rest of the week will not be good for outings in anyway.

Poor Jamie has been working a lot lately again. Weekends and late nights will be the normal around here for the next month at least. It really stinks the timing of the stuff with my foot and work...but we are trying to make the best of what we have. Also keeping in mind that we have a little less than two months before our Disney trip!

Our Little Scare Sunday

Jamie's been working some crazy hours. In fact, he had to work on Sunday all day but was home for dinner. We decided to order a pizza. We found a deal through the place we like to get pizza from where we could get a large specialty pizza, cinnamon sticks and a two liter of coke for under $20.

Kian has had this pizza many times before. He LOVES it. We weren't sure on the cinnamon sticks because well - it was a new thing for him and we were unsure of where things were processed. I gave him a small bite of a cinnamon stick. He didn't seem to have a reaction so we gave him a whole stick (about two inches long). As he was eating the last bite he started making a weird fact....I thought he was just goofing around. Well, he wasn't. It was then that I noticed hives forming on his face where ever crumbs/cinnamon and sugar landed. Jamie made a smart move of having Kian spit out the food - which Kian gladly complied. I went to the medicine cabinet to get the benedryl to find it was expired!!!!!!! Jamie grabbed the bottle and headed to Target so he could make sure he got the right stuff. I got Kian wiped off REALLY well and sat down with a new cup of water and read stories until Jamie returned.

It was quite a scare! I have been SO careful monitoring the food that Kian has that he hasn't had any sort of reaction is probably a year. It's funny because people think that if the item does not have nuts that it's ok for him to have....these were just cinnamon sticks. Pretty much a churro...they were good...but they were also apparently processed near nuts and will never cross the threshold of our door again.

The Joys of the Game Industry and other things

Late hours have now arrived for Jamie. I'm glad that he was able to hold off on working like a dog until now so that me and Kian could have more time to spend with him. Right now Jamie is working on the weekends and very, very late during the week. Last night he didn't get home until after midnight and was back at work at his regular time in the morning. Luckily both he and Kian were up earlier than normal so they were able to spend some time together.

I'm also having some problems getting around. I had a sizable cluster of warts treated last week. The treatment has caused the whole bottom of my big toe to be pretty much a huge blister...it's pretty painful to walk...luckily the other pains subsided after the first day or so. Unfortunately for Kian this means not going to the park and that I am limited playing with him even on our back patio. Sitting on the ground is painful on my foot for some reason.....we are making the best of what we can though....but it is tough. I will be going back for another treatment next week :P Not looking forward to that but it's necessary!

We are a little under 2 months away from our trip to Disneyland! Right now that is what my eyes are focused on - having Jamie with us for the full week and hopefully by then my warts will be all gone and I won't need anymore treatments.

Random Happenings

The Simpson's Game

Below is a link to the official website of the game that Jamie is working on. Right now he's working some crazy hours - comes with the territory of the job. Anyway, give it a look! :)



I've Been Inked

Yep, it's true! July 1st I went and got a tattoo that I have been wanting for a long time. It is a Claddagh. It's an ancient Irish symbol that I have loved pretty much forever. It means Friendship, Loyalty and Love. It's on the inside of my left leg, right above my ankle. Here is a photo:



Weird Weather

We have been having some strange weather for our part of the country. We got rain earlier this week! Yes, rain! Craziness! We don't get rain but only in the winter...it's kinda like Wisconsin getting snow in July!

We have been enjoying the cooler weather though. We been able to turn the AC off and have the windows open for most the day. Honestly, this time last year we couldn't go outside because it was TOO HOT and the AC would run without turning off once all day long.

This weekend things are supposed to be back to normal with temps in the 90s. that means early morning play times again. But that's ok with us! Comes with the territory of living in Cali :)

Busy, Busy, Busy....

Jamie is in the thick of his project right now. He's planned on coming home at his normal time on Tuesday and Thursdays. Kian has really been missing his daddy a lot and has enjoyed having him around on the weekends. We are hoping that we continue to get him on the weekends for sure though the summer - Jamie has been on call for the last few weekends and **knock on wood** has not had to go in. For now, we are trying to make the most out of family time weather it's 5-10 mins in the mornings or a full day on the weekends.

Big Boy Update

We officially have a big boy in the house!!!

We have been working on potty training for the last month or so. Kian is doing VERY well. We are down to virtually no accidents and he wears underwear all day (minus when he's napping or sleeping).

He has also been sleeping in a toddler bed for the last week or two. His crib converts to a toddler bed and he's been sleeping in there and doing VERY well.

Kian's also becoming more independent with doing things on his own and even asserting his desires more often. He certainly is becoming a little man more and more every day.