The cancelled weekend.

We had a weekend planned with lots of projects, shopping, and Stake adult meeting for church. We had a babysitter scheduled, then our plans were altered when a couple of these munchkins had a little stomach virus.  Nothing too terrible just the inability to be too far from the toilet, and yes the basement was too far!  So we decided to pull out the Christmas decorations and have a fun night with the family.

 We watched Planes and ate popcorn.  I adore these cute little ones! 

 It was so fun to watch Briony, she LOVED the lights and the sparkly decorations. She was pretty good at decorating the tree!  It made it especially fun with snow falling outside.

 We had a yummy dinner of Belgium chocolate chip waffles with strawberries and whip cream.  I love this picture because it describes Lilly and Liam as of late.  ATTACHED!  They are constantly hanging on each other and insist on sitting in the same chair for almost all meals.  They also love to make believe that they are a Mommy and Daddy and they not only act like parents but they call each other mom and dad.  Crazy kids!

 This morning we are still dealing with tummy issues so we have had a stay at home day.  We have had to come up with some fun things because Scotty is working a thirty hour shift so we are home all on our own.  

The favorite activity so far for the day is the Christmas chain.  Barrick was a big help and it has really got the kiddos excited for Christmas.  We love Christmas it is such a magical time of year!!          

Childhood Apraxia of Speech.

Definition

By Mayo Clinic staffChildhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is an uncommon speech disorder in which a child has difficulty making accurate movements when speaking. It's important to know that CAS is just a label for a speech disorder.
To speak correctly, your child's brain has to learn how to make plans that tell his or her speech muscles how to move the lips, jaw and tongue in ways that result in accurate sounds and words. Your child's brain also plans these movements so that he or she speaks with normal speed and rhythm.
In childhood apraxia of speech, the brain struggles to develop plans for speech movement. As a result, children with CAS don't learn accurate movements for speech with normal ease. In CAS, the speech muscles aren't weak, but they don't perform normally because the brain has difficulty directing or coordinating the movements.

This last summer we finally got a diagnosis for Liams speech, and as you can see he has CAS.  It is not very common and it didn't come as a surprise to us but was still very disheartening when we found out.

 From the time Liam turned two Scotty was convinced this is what Liam had but with his speech pathologist and teachers at preschool they told us we should wait till he was a little older and see if his speech picked up in the next 6 months or so.  He improved a little but I was having such a hard time because I could only understand less then half of what he was saying to me.  There is nothing more frustrating then not being able to help your child because you can't understand them.  And sadly even harder for him.  He thinks he is saying his words correctly and tries so hard but we were all struggling.  Then to see him to have a word mastered then the next day not be able to say it or form his mouth the right way was devastating.  It was also hard to hear that he would have years of therapy but we had an answer and a way to help him learn.  Of course what comes natural for kids as young as one, Liam has to memorize through repetition and practice to form his mouth the right way to say and combine every sound. 

After searching it online I quickly realized how blessed we are.  All though it is difficult it can always be worse.  There are kids who have apraxia not only with their speech but with the mouth movements.  There is another boy who goes to Liams speech therapy place with CAS who could not even open his mouth to form words.  Liam is motivated to get it right and works so hard.  He can say all of his sounds but has a hard time with the first consonant in words, but like I said wants people to understand him so works so hard. 

Of course with anything the success of the kids depends a lot on their support at home.  I adore this little boy and work every sentence out that he tries to tell me.  We have therapy sessions twice a day where we do drills, and Lilly and Barrick are a big help too. When Liam says a word the wrong way they help him correct it.  Also one perk about Scotty being a pediatrician is we have a lot of resources and we have found a lot of programs and apps that have done wonders for Liam and for us. 

It has been amazing to see Lilly and Liam together.  I think it is a twin thing but whenever I have a hard time understanding Liam I ask Lilly.  She understands almost everything he says.  Their little spirits came here together and they truly have a special bond and I am so grateful for that.  Liam protects Lilly and she helps people understand him.

 

 

 Despite this set back in his life nothing stops this little boy!!  He is extremely smart!!  He is such a sweet little boy and is a magnet for people.  I worry so much about what other kids will be like with him.  But his little spirit shines right through those stumbling words and he is loved.  I cannot tell you how many moms have come up to me and told me how their little girl in either his church or school class talk about Liam all the time.  He is so sweet and is so loving to everyone.  I feel so blessed to have him in our family.  We love you Liam BOY!!

Mom and Dad day!

At Barrick's school the in September and October they had a Kindergarten Lunch day, and a Moms munch morning for the kids.  Scotty was able to get off work for a bit so he could go eat lunch with Barrick. 

 This is when Scotty first walked up.  As you can see this little boy was pretty darn happy.

 They ate lunch with them and played at recess.  Scotty loved being able to go see Barrick in his element. 

Then a couple of weeks ago they had a Moms munch morning where all the moms went before school and ate doughnuts with the kiddos.  It was so fun to see Barrick with all of his friends.  He is so funny whenever he tells me who his friends are he always says their first and last names. 

Such a sweet little boy who makes us so proud!

Halloween Fun!

Well October is always a fun time of year for us!  The kids love the parties, costumes, and the candy, I mean who doesn't?  Well our weekend was full of fun and it started off with the ward trunk or treat.  I decided earlier in the day since the kiddos didn't have school I would go in and get all of our flu shots.  It was quite dramatic.  I had to hold every single child down and with four it was quite the process.  Of course they were fine 20 seconds later and they were great, but they were the most upset when it was Brionys turn.  Liam was started crying telling me "NOT BRIONY"  Lilly covered her eyes, and Barrick kept trying to pull her away.  They really did not want their little sister hurt.  If you cant tell she is adored!

With a promise of lunch at Chick Fil A after the shots they were very happy and excited.  We got there and it was CRAZY busy!!  We finally got a table ate lunch then went to play in the kid area.  About 10 minutes later Liam came up to me and wasn't breathing very well.  It came on so FAST and he wasn't following his typical pattern of an attack.  I gathered the kids up and rushed out to the car because I didn't have any albuterol with me and Liam needed it quickly.  For the first time ever I was really scared.  It kept getting worse and worse and he was getting to the point where he couldn't keep his eyes open.  I called Scotty in tears because I didn't know what to do.  I was closer to home then the hospital.  He calmed me down I got home gave him some albuterol and was doing okay.  The reason for this long story is because this kicked off our Halloween weekend.  A friend and coworker of Scottys happened to be home so he came over and checked Liam out and called in some oral steroids.  The day was busy and just got busier I had to make treats get costumes put together and get to our church.   

 

Here are the kiddos at the trunk or treat.  Liam was doing okay here by the time we made it outside for the trunk or treat he could barely breath so he spent the rest of the night in the trunk with me.  As soon as we got home we gave him a dose of steroids and he immediately threw it up because he couldn't stop coughing.  We were up all night giving him breathing treatments and holding him because he gets scared when he can't breath and just wants to be held.  Crazy day with a long night made for one tired mom!

 

The next festivity was a fun Family Home Evening where we carved pumpkins and had treats.  We had a long weekend, and with Scotty on a busy rotation we weren't able to get a pumpkin.  One of our friends took pity on us and let us carve one of theirs.  We had a great night! 

 

 

 Here is Barrick with our Pumpkin!  We won the award for the ugliest pumpkin!  Barrick was ecstatic!  We got these glowing rats and our kid loved them.  They played house with them all week! 

 Lilly wouldn't claim our pumpkin she preferred the most traditional. 

 Liam tripped and fell so he wasn't the happiest of kids.  Also why we were there Scotty was lifting kids up and ended up with a herniated disk.  Which has led to a lot of sleepless nights and a half functioning daddy!  It has been pretty bad, but has had some better days as of late.

 

Then Halloween day!  The twins each had a parade and party at school so first thing in the morning we headed to the school and watched as they paraded around the school in their costumes.

 Lilly was the prettiest little Princess there.  It was so fun to go in their class and see how they interact with their friends.  Lilly is actually quite the little leader and was so happy to show off her class.

 Here is Lilly with one of her friends from school.  She is one of three sets of twins that are each in Lilly and Liams classes.

 

 Then my little Pirate.  He was the leader of his class and looked so handsome. 

 We snuck Liam into Lillys class so we could get a picture all together.  After their parties we had the twins annual dentist trip.  The workers got a kick out of their costumes the kids LOVED having them on all day!

 

 

  After the dentist we got some lunch and did I mention how AMAZING Briony is?  Man alive this little girl is so good and easy going.

 We then headed to Barricks school for his Halloween parade.  He was so funny!  He barely waved to me but later when he came home told me he was so happy I was there.  Then we headed home I got things ready for the night and we headed out trick or treating.  Yes we were among the people who braved the weather for some free candy. 

 Scotty was great!  He was in so much pain with his back this night but he put on a happy face and made the night a good memory to look back on.

 Did I mention how good this little one is?  Seriously she just sat back in her seat waved at every person who walked by and had a smile on her face the entire night!

 It was quite a change for Lilly to be running and keeping up with Barrick and some of the big kids. 

 We could not go fast enough for Barrick!  He wanted to run and get his entire pumpkin filled.  Liam on the other hand was still having some residual asthma issues so just took it easy and after a full day they were all exhausted. 

With all the excitement of parities, candy, trick or treating and friends my kids favorite part is by far handing out the candy.  They each took turns running down to the sidewalk and yelling "COME AND GET YOUR CANDY"!!  "WE GOT CANDY HERE"!  It was a wonderful holiday full of fun memories!  

Birthday FUN!

After a wonderful week in Chicago we drove home the day of my Birthday so I could share my day with my family.  The drive home was wonderful I was able to talk to family and friends and enjoy spending the last quite moments with Scotty just to talk.  We enjoyed the driving as much as the trip because we were able to talk which is hard to do when you have lots of little people around.

 

We were pretty excited to come home to our kiddos.  My mom had to fly out the next morning so for dinner I wanted Mexican food the one type of food we didn't have while in Chicago.  As you can see on the drive there everyone but Barrick, my mom and I fell asleep.  I think we were all tired after a long week.

 

 We had a great dinner then it was home for some cake!

 The kids were a little upset, they were convinced we were having a party with party games, piñatas, and prizes. I think with some cake and the fact that they hadn't seen us for a week they were appeased with cake.

 I am so lucky I have these four little ones.  They make my life so wonderful!

 As you can see they were very happy about the cake!  We opened some presents and put the kiddos to bed. 

 Of course even though my mom had to be up at 430 the next morning she insisted on following the tradition of taking me out and buying some clothes along with everything else she did.  Like I said before there is nothing better then being able to leave your kids and not have one worry.  My mom is truly the BEST mom and more importantly LOVES my kids.  I am grateful she is the type of Grandma who gets down on the floor and plays with my kids.  They had so much fun!  They did Halloween crafts, painted finger nails, played board games, decorated cupcakes, and were just loved.  Thank you so much Mom for not only loving and playing with my kids but teaching them what is most important in life.  You are such a great example to me and my kids.  We love you!

CHICAGO!! Ten years down!

Our ten year Anniversary was the end of September, so we decided to take a trip to Chicago for the week with just the two of us.  It was more then amazing and everything we hoped it would be.  Crazy to think we have been married ten years.

 The day when it all began September 27, 2003.

 The day of our anniversary it was a typical day.  Barrick on the bus, preschool drop off for the twins, grocery store, gym, pick up twins.  But to my surprise in between grand rounds and clinic Scotty came home cleaned the house and left me some flowers!

 

Then a couple weeks later it was off to Chicago.

 

I have so many pictures and many more that I could post but need to limit myself!  So the First part is

 

Sights:

 

 

 

 There are so many amazing sights to see.  Here we are on a river taxi.  It was so beautiful the sun was setting it was a little chilly and it was one of the few things that were a must for me.

 Along with their being a Professional Football, Hockey game, and it being Columbus day with parades downtown, it was also the Chicago Marathon while we were there.  It was unreal how many people were there from all over the world.  I LOVED the hustle and bustle!!  It was so much fun to be there during one of the biggest marathons in the world! 

 

 Here are some of the people from the Columbus day parade.  There were floats and businesses representing countries from all over the world.

The Blue bikes as we referred to them were so much fun!  You paid a flat fee and could ride the bikes all day. There are stations all over the city, but you could only have them for 30 minutes at a time before you had to drop it at the next station.  We rode along the shore and through out the city.  I have to admit I was pretty scared riding on the streets with cars but got used to it pretty quickly.  

 

Of course you cant go without seeing Millennial park. 

The famous bean!

 

 

 We also got to sit back and enjoy a protest.  It was CRAZY  hundreds of people in masks, screaming with signs, and a big microphone.  They were protesting GMO.

 

 

 

 Navy Pier.

 Here we are at the Willis Tower.  Pretty amazing!!  It is very similar to the Empire State Building in New York other then the glass room that you can stand in.  I like heights but for some reason standing in the glass box made me very nervous.

Scotty obviously had no problem with it.

 

Museums:

 They have some pretty amazing Museums.  Our favorite by far was the Field Museum, it had so much to see but we hit the highlights and called it a day.

3D movie about the Ice Age.

This is the section where we really missed our kids.  They had you shrink to bug size so all the insects were huge!  Barrick would have LOVED this.

 

 Everyone says a must when going to Chicago is the Art Institute of Chicago.  Everyone raves about it.  Were we impressed yes, but wouldn't be at the top of our list. 

 It was pretty cool to see world famous art!!

 But Scotty and I were a little confused by the modern art.  Honestly maybe we needed some more art appreciation classes, but we just couldn't see how you can compare the two.

 

We also went to the zoo and the Shedd Aquarium.

 

Food:

 If I could I would post all of the pictures of our food.  We had the most amazing food!!  We made a deal that every place we went we would try one of the craziest things on the menu.  We ate every kind of meat and body part/organs you can think of.  It was all amazing!  I think we were just as excited for the food as we were for the vacation!!  What can I say I LOVE FOOD!!

 Of course along with the crazy food we had the traditional Chicago style hotdog, and Deep dish Chicago style pizza. 

 This soups was one of my favorites!  I don't know why I had never tried this but this beat soup was so delicious!

This was our last night in Chicago and we had such a wonderful meal at MK.  It was such a fun night 7 course meal and this fun dessert to end the night!

 The Girl and the Goat had my favorite thing we ate in Chicago.  It was the Goat empanada's seriously amazing!! 

 

Entertainment:

We planned some fun nights with some amazing entertainment.  Here we are at Once the musical.  Once is known for how amazing the music is and it did not disappoint.  We were on the 10th row and the theatre was so beautiful!

 

 Blue Man Group was so fun!!  We have been to Vegas so many times and passed up on this show and honestly it was the best show we saw there.  So clever and hilarious.  I would for sure go again!

We also went to a Thirties dinner theatre set in Chicago.  It was a fun night and they recognized us on stage for having our 10 year anniversary. 

 Boyce Avenue Concert was so packed, and standing only which made me feel like I was back in High school for some reason.   All though I think I enjoyed the pre-show more.  The girl who sings Titanium opened the show and I really enjoyed her music.

We had such an amazing week!  I am so lucky to have Scotty as my best friend and husband!  Last we couldn't have done this without my mom being willing to come out here and watch the kiddos.  Thanks mom you are the BEST!