Here we go again...

Long time no post!

So many things have been happening in the last few months and I am excited to tell you all about it! First things first - ROMAN HAS AUTISM SERVICES AGAIN! Starbucks announced in early April that they have lifted the seven year age restriction for autism services. Unfortunately this is only Premera Blue Cross through Starbucks. My good friend and sister in mothering a child with autism also has Premera Blue Cross but she is still battling to get her son services. So it's a bittersweet victory, but something I am immensely grateful for.

I am also trying to give myself permission to be human. Being human is being imperfect. I haven't kept up on scrapbooking. I stopped doing Project Life this year starting in January. And I haven't posted my finished my December Daily pictures to my blog. I was talking to my friend about this, saying how bad I felt for not keeping up with everything. She said something that really hit home.

 

"You are not Ali Edwards. You don't have staff."

She was right. I don't have staff. I homeschool. We drive to autism therapies three days a week and our homeschool group the other two days. I cook. I clean. I do laundry. I go grocery shopping. I work part-time. Scrapbooking isn't my job.

I am human. And that's okay.

Most recently I've been trying to listen to my body. About what my body needs. I've been ignoring something for a really, really long time. My body hates dairy. Let me get one thing straight, I am addicted to dairy. I can drink a gallon of milk in two days. If given the opportunity I'll eat an entire block of cheese. But it wasn't until cutting it completely out that I realized what it does to me. My intense cravings stopped. They completely stopped. I eat, get full and don't want food for a good four hours. Whereas before, I would eat large quantities and then two hours later, be ravenous for more. My chronic fatigue decreased significantly.

So we'll see how it goes! Right now I'm doing just fine. I'm eating more fruits and vegetables and they actually satisfy my hunger, something that has never, ever happened before.

So in a nutshell, we are doing great. And I have more opportunities for "me" time on Tuesdays and Thursdays during my son's homeschool group. So more posts and updates are coming soon! Stay tuned!

Holy "I-Never-Update-My-Blog" Batman

Wowsers.

A look back at the past year would tell me that so much happened in our lives, but none of it got on this blog.

But then I remember that so much DID happen to us. We were really busy. Which is why I have one post so far for the year 2012.

When I first started this blog, I saw it not only as a creative outlet, but a way for far away friends and family to catch up on our family. And I've done a really bad job so far.

But I want to change that. We have had some big challenges this year. Here's our story so far.

Roman started first grade this year. My baby is growing into such a big boy and will be outgrowing me very, very soon. We made the choice to homeschool this year for several reasons.

Last year, I volunteered almost every week in his Kindergarten class. And every single time I volunteered, I saw my son get behind. Not because he wasn't smart enough, but because he was distracted by something or someone. Something that happens to kiddos with autism a lot. When he finally got started on the task at hand, they were already on to something else. He never used his pencil grip, which is something that he needs to hold the pencil correctly because of his low muscle tone.

During recess, he would often fall and get hurt. He has poor balance because of his motor delay and low muscle tone. But he has an adventurous spirit and always wants to do what the other kids were doing. Like climbing on the big toys and swinging. But unlike other kids, if he gets distracted or bumped by another child, he'll fall. I know that children get hurt. I know that it's a normal part of life. But when it's every day, every time, it's a different story.

Roman is such a unique and awesome child. But he is different. And even in a "no bullying" school, he still got picked on. And he started to see himself not so much as "unique and awesome", but more of "different and unlikeable". And that's where I draw the line. He is an amazing, smart, wonderful kid. A friend of mine put it perfectly about her daughter who was homeschooled,

"She knows about teasing now; she didn't go through her entire life naive and oblivious to the social structure of Americans, she just got to figure out who she was a bit before she was blasted by those who told her that she was somehow insufficient."

Amazing. And dead on.

But our primary reason for homeschooling was to be able to keep him enrolled in autism therapies outside of school, three to four days a week. There he would get the social interaction from other homeschooled kiddos and the continued help for his challenges in life.

It was a perfect plan.

All that changed when we called our insurance company about a bill we received a few weeks after his seventh birthday. We learned that his autism coverage had been completely cut off the day he turned seven years old.

We were in shock. We couldn't believe that they would deny medical care to a child who legitmately needs it, just because of his age. We learned that Washington was one of several states that don't require insurance companies to pay for autism care after age seven.

It's ridiculous.

The reasoning behind it is that the public schools offer occupational, physical and speech therapy to children who qualify. But there's the kicker...."who qualify".

I learned early on when Roman was in developmental preschool that the public school system denies eligible children. They do it every single day. And even my child, who has the large motor skills of a child half his age, was turned down the first time. It's only if you push and push and push that they will listen to you. The squeaky wheel indeed, gets the grease.

And when the children do qualify, they get a half an hour of services per week, usually with another child. In comparison to what he was getting before (nine hours per week of quality autism care), it's a microscopic speck on a drop in the ocean.

We learned that because of Roman's hypotonia (low muscle tone), our insurance company will pay for 60 visits per year of physical, occupational, or speech therapy. And by "pay for", I mean they will cover everything outside of our $30 a session copay.

We also learned that to pay out of pocket for the therapies he was getting before he was cut off would be $4,000 a month. That's not a typo. $4,000 a month.

We applied for state assistance right after we learned that he was cut off. He was approved right away, which was great news! But then we learned that the waiting list for services was three years long. Three long, critical years.

So where are we now?

We made the decision to go ahead and homeschool Roman this year. If not for the reason that he'll be in outside therapy, but for the many reason I listed above it. And we are loving it. It's amazing to see his eyes light up when he understands something. Like really understands something.

We are paying out of pocket for a social group for special needs children for Roman. We really can't afford it financially, but we also know that we can't afford not to do it. We also have him enrolled in two other social outlets that are working out nicely.

We are still trying to get services through the school district. The woman I was in contact with through our homeschool program left her job without our knowledge and we got left behind. We have a meeting hopefully this Tuesday to discuss our options and I'm hoping and praying that it goes well.

In the middle of all this, we have been going through a major financial crisis. When I was diagnosed with celiac disease two years ago, our medical and food bills doubled. No more could I get a loaf of bread for $.99, now it was $6.00 for a small loaf that tasted like cardboard. There was a lot of adjusting. Add that plus our out of pocket expenses for Roman's autism care (keep in mind that this was when it was covered by insurance) and we were digging ourselves into a hole every single month.

We had to make some drastic changes in our life as a family. Zach's parents bought us a membership to Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, a class that reteaches you how to manage your money. It was one of the best gifts we've ever received.

I re-learned the power of a dollar. As the homemaker in our family (in my opinion, a kind of defective one at that), I realized the huge impact that I can have on my family's success.

So I cut back on Starbucks to once a week. I started making everything from scratch. And when I say everything, I mean everything. Waffles, bread, salad dressing, tortillas, pumpkin spice sauce for my coffee, everything. Having celiac disease, the two choices are make your own, or pay out the nose for something premade. I even started buying flours and starches in bulk and mixing my own gluten free flour mix, which costs me a quarter of what a premade mix costs.

Did I mention that I'm a defective homemaker? Well I am. I hate to cook. I hate to clean. I don't live to serve others. I work. I require an artistic outlet lest I go insane. And now I homeschool a first grader to boot.

Did I also mention that I'm insanely busy?

But this is where my crazy organizing skills come into play. I love to organize. I live to organize. Organizing is my friend. I actually had someone tell me once, "you're too damn organized". Of course I laughed because you can never be too organized. But I digress...

In the midst of all of this craziness, I didn't make time to post on my blog. Because I've been teaching. And baking. And cooking. And cleaning. And working. And banging my head against the wall. And scraping together some time to do something - anything - creative to keep from going bat poop crazy. And many days, falling into a deep depression because everything seems so overwhelming. And so unfair to my innocent little boy.

But there is a light at the end of the tunnel. All the hard work I've been doing with our finances have been paying off. We are now spending.......drumroll please.....less than half what we were before on groceries and eating out. And I'm hoping to get it down even further. Eventually. Baby steps.

I've been able to work with Roman on his fine motor skills through handwriting. And because we are homeschooling, I can make sure that he uses his pencil grip every single time. And make sure that he is having a great time learning. We also started using a chart where Roman can earn "Superflex bonus points", a.k.a. quarters. If he does something flexible, something outside of his usual comfort zone, then he gets a bonus point. Seeing what lego sets he can learn by being flexible has really helped him grow. Tonight he even tried sweet and sour sauce! Which is huge - this is a kid who doesn't like sauce, frosting or glaze at all. Even on his birthday, his cupcake had to be frosting-free. His occupational therapist would be proud :)

So....in a really long, wordy, drawn-out nutshell, that's what's been going on with us recently. But we are happy, healthy and grateful for all the blessings that we have in our life. With the holidays fast approaching, my favorite creative outlet of all is coming, December Daily. I am so excited!

So stay tuned, I'll be uploading a few videos about my album this year in the next few days. I've challenged myself to only use materials that I have on hand. That's right, I'm not allowed to buy anything this year. Not even a piece of paper. Nada. Zip. Challenge accepted. Bring it on.

Hooray for Project Life

Well I put that post up a few months ago about starting and have yet to put up an update. Well the update is...it's going great! I am currently on week 15 and am finding it pretty easy to keep up. One thing that I did before I got started (and I think that it is key to me completing this album) - pre-stamping the dates on the cards, putting all the cards in the album and putting the monthly tabs in the album. I'm not going to lie, it took FOREVER to do. 52 cards to stamp. 416 cards to put in. 12 tabs to insert. But I'm really glad I did it. I can say that I'm almost positive I would've quit by now if I hadn't done the prep work first.

One thing that I'm noticing as the weeks pass is how many stories would normally go untold in our lives. For example, my husband told our son the other day that he had made a cool Lego dog. Our son then replied that it wasn't a dog, that it was a fierce creature from the 1970's. Seriously?? I couldn't make this stuff up. And I wouldn't have done a full scrapbook page on it either. It would have been lost in the shuffle of our everyday life.

So hooray for Project Life! I'm really enjoying it and I know that I'm creating a real treasure that my kids and grandkids are going to love to look through. Very cool.

holy smokes I want this book

I've seen this skit before but never made the connection that it could actually be a book (even though the book is shown before the skit...but whatever). But be still my beating checkbook....it is.





Shut Up About Your Perfect Kid: A Survival Guide for Ordinary Parents of Special Children

Thankfully I'm not yet at the stage where parents are comparing report cards and sharing amazing stories about their kids, but I know that is coming soon. And I'm actually okay with that, I've been lucky enough to surround myself with people who are understanding, accepting and open minded.

One of the reasons I am so "into" scrapbooking and taking pictures is because of self esteem. I didn't have a whole lot growing up (I still struggle with it to this day), so that is something I want to instill in Roman every day.  That he is original, one of a kind and amazing. Here is a page that I did the day we learned he was on the autism spectrum.

Doing layouts and making art is therapeutic for me. Sometimes its hard to get over yourself when you have a non-typical kiddo. This definitely helps me focus on what matters most. Some days when Zach gets home I confine myself to the office for a few hours until I get my groove back. And that is totally okay.

Documenting the good and the not so good. Because that's life. Anyway, the book is in my shopping cart, I am so excited to get my read on.

do not read unless you are a parent of a boy. you have been warned.

Okay, the following post should not be read unless you are a parent. Scratch that, unless you are the parent of a BOY.

You have been warned. Proceed with caution.

Today I was getting Roman off the potty when he looked back at his handiwork and said "Mommy, can we take a picture of that and put it in my album?"

(when he says album he means scrapbook)

I thought he meant the super cool shirt he wore today.

I was so wrong.  "No, my poop Mommy. I want you to take a picture of my poop and put it in my album".

While I am a fan of scrapbooking everyday life, I tastefully declined.

He is such a boy.

diagnosis: autism spectrum

Yesterday we had our meeting with the neurologist, thankfully it was a good meeting. Both Zach and I felt really good going in and leaving, the neurologist was very open minded and we felt comfortable talking with her.

Roman is officially on the autism spectrum. Something that we already knew in our minds and hearts but is now in black and white. Zach and I are still doing okay, we found ourselves bickering about little things in the afternoon and realized that it was a little hard to see the diagnosis on paper. When you have a special needs child it's hard to get over yourself sometimes. But it's all good.  We are all good.

We also learned of a supplement called carnitine we can give him for his hypotonia that we'll be starting him on right away (I can't believe we've never heard of it before).

This opens the door to all sorts of things for Roman, something that we are very happy with. Now we have access to networks and programs. Which is awesome, considering we were on our own for two and a half years.

This is a good thing for our family. Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers.

for the love of vintage and family

I am a vintage nut. I love ephemera, nostalgia, antiques and all things vintage.  Which is why I love this.

This is my Dad's old typewriter. I've had it for months, hidden away in a closet under the stairs. I finally found a typewriter repair place in Puyallup and had both this typewriter and my black beauty repaired. And the crazy thing is....I like the way this one types better than mine. So my beauty is in my curio cabinet upstairs and this one is now put to work.

I even have the original case with my Dad's name on it (the white is just to show where it is, kinda hard to see).

I picked it up yesterday while Roman was in school.  I had an hour to spare when I got back so I spent it wisely at some antique stores looking for treasures. I found some awesome 50's children's books that inspired me to do this layout. 

See the alphabet page in the lower right corner?  That is from a vintage Golden Book that I scanned and added to my layout in photoshop.  I loved that the "R" and the "Z" were right next to each other. Fate I tell you. Fate.

Here is the stuff that I used: background paper: bazzill dotted swiss paper in rope swing (I am in love with that dotted swiss paper, the texture rocks); Heidi Swapp lowercase Ghost Letters; distressing ink in chocolate: Close To My Heart; font used: ozwald itc; other: Dad's Typewriter, Photoshop.

I want to do many more layouts like this in the future. Layouts to show Roman that he is loved and unique and amazing. We have our "big" appointment with the neurologist tomorrow to go over his autism test results, although at this point it is merely a formality...we know in our minds and hearts that he is on the spectrum (and his therapists have let us know what they think). And you know what?  It's okay with us. We are at peace with it. For two and a half years we have been searching for an answer. Every test has come back unremarkable. A diagnosis for us means more support for our family (which we really need).

I'll be putting a post up either tomorrow or Saturday about the results. Please keep our family in your prayers but know that we are seriously okay with this. We are the parents of an amazing. one-of-a-kind child and that is something that we celebrate every day.

this is way too long for my facebook status...

Roman has a a cold so I kept him home from school today. He was really dragging and said he was sleepy so I told him that we could take a nap.  I tucked him in, said goodnight......and promptly fell asleep myself.  I wake up to Roman running in to happily tell me that Sally (his fish) was dead and we can now get a cleaner shrimp.  At first I thought he had a really bad dream but I was sooo horribly wrong.

So I go into his room and see that his fish tank looks suspiciously empty.  Then I see that he has taken all of the big rocks and plants out of it and put the soggy bunch on top of his paperback books (of course).  Then he had climbed on top of his desk to get the fish net and the rock vacuum - both were completely wet (the rock vacuum even had a rubber snake stuffed inside).  Then I noticed something in the net.  Yup, he had caught one of his little fishies and it looked like lights out for Sally.

So we take the net into the bathroom and Roman says that he wants to say a "pare" (prayer) for Sally.  I said, okay, go ahead.  This is what he said, completely uncut and uncensored,

I caughted Sally in the net

and now she is dead

now we can get a cleaner shrimp

in Jesus name amen

Then we empty the net into the toilet...and the fish starts swimming!  It wasn't dead after all!  I contemplate catching it again in the net and putting it back into the fish tank when it swims down the toilet drain.  This sealed Sally's fate and she is now (no pun intended) sleeping with the fishes.

What did we learn from this crazy mishap?  Roman is too young to have his own fish tank.  We told him over and over again to never ever ever touch his fish tank, but the temptation was just too strong.

RIP Sally...and Max, Mary, Mel, Jack and of course Saggy the mystery snail. You will all be missed.

autism screening tomorrow

Roman starts his Autism screening tomorrow, it will last the week (he has evaluations with his speech, occupational and physical therapists) and then an eval with their psychologist.

I do want to stress that if he is diagnosed with autism that it doesn't change anything. It's not bad, it's not good, it just is.  The only thing that may change is that we may be able to be eligible for funding which would be awesome. Being in constant debt because of medical bills just plain sucks.

I'll be posting a lot this week, I have a lot of projects up my sleeve that I want to talk about. Ali's December Daily project inspired me so much that I want to do a daily project in October too.  Every year I look forward to October and I always feel like it goes by way too fast - hands down it is my favorite month of the year.

Have a great day everyone!

working on fine motor this month

we had Roman's parent-teacher evaluation not too long ago and they were concerned about two things - his talking in class (well duh, he's my kid) and his non-improvement in fine motor skills.  So his wonderful OT (who is now officially on maternity leave - we will miss you so much Jackie) suggested a chalkboard.   We have one downstairs but we don't like him going down there without a grown up (we have one of those glorious seventies split level houses).

So she suggested putting black contact paper on his door.  Brilliant!  I loved the idea and went on a website she recommended, Discount School Supply, I found the black contact paper along with some really bright fun chalk.

The order came the other day and I realized that I would need to put the contact paper on something flat.  We had some left over pressboard from our kitchen remodel in the garage, so I cleaned it, plopped down the contact paper and then realized that it was too big to put on the door.

So change of plans, I bolted it to the wall just below his artwork.  Perfect!  Here is the finished product:

You can also see some beautiful artwork that he drew.  When I asked him to tell me about his picture, I expected to hear, "its an owl" or "its a dinosaur".  Oh no.  Not my son.  He says, "it's kitty puke Mommy, can't you tell?!". 

Oh my.

I am back

First of all, I apologize for the extremely HUGE gap in posts, things have been a bit crazy around here lately.

Roman has been increasingly difficult lately, it is still super hard for him to transition between activities, even with his chart and giving a "count down" (five more minutes until we do this). There are many other things going on, almost too many to remember right now. Its been almost a constant battle for the last couple of months.

I am feeling better now, but I struggled with depression for a few weeks. I know that Moms of special needs kiddos can relate with me on this one. It is really hard sometimes.

We are having him tested for Autism again coming up here soon, he was tested at about 18 months and it didn't look like that was the case, but so many things have changed since then. That wouldn't change anything on our end, he would still get the care he needs through private therapy and through the school district. But it may open some doors for more resources for him, which is so, so important! He is such a great kid and we really want the best for him.

But I am now back! I buried myself in creative work when my husband came home (a saving grace for me, truly) and I have a super fun project for December! I am working on my post right now with all the details. Stay posted!

new book on my nightstand

I am now reading It's a Boy!, a book that I bought a couple of years ago but just haven't picked it up.


It was recommended to me by my sister and I also remember someone coming to our MOPS group a few years ago that talked about this book.  I remember really liking this guy (was he the author?  I don't remember unfortunately), he talked about the importance of mothering and the bond between mother and child and how it is crucial for development.  Awesome stuff. 

Our little boy is four so I have quite a bit of catching up to do (I just started the "toddler" section LOL), so far it is really interesting - makes me happy to be a mother of a boy.  I actually really wanted a boy, I played with boy-oriented toys when I was a kiddo (dinosaurs, transformers, gobots, etc.) and I actually had more guy friends growing up than girl friends.

We're still planning on having another kiddo and I would love to have another boy. Part of me would love the challenge of raising a little girl too, what an opportunity that would be. Raising a girl in today's society that has confidence and self esteem (something I lacked severely growing up). We'll be incredibly happy with whatever we are blessed with. And we're not in any hurry right now to have another child. Although many of our friends and family have children fairly close together, we wouldn't be concerned if our children are several years apart. It's what works for our family.

On another note, I WILL be resuming my Template Tuesday to Thursday give away, I absolutely promise! I missed the month of October so this month I will be giving away two....count 'em two templates/banners, whatever you like! And I have also decided that you can either take a freebie or get ten dollars off a Webset, eBay store design or Selling Blog Template too.

On yet another note (yes I really am that random), I will be unveiling my 2010 signature design really early this year....like hopefully this evening early (but probably tomorrow). The reason? I am really tired of my current design to be completely honest (LOL) and I also wanted to have a separate button so customers can purchase a selling blog template instead of having the hassle of purchasing a regular blog template and then purchasing the add-on. Here is a sneak peek....
More to come soon!

keeping the peace

the past few days have been...challenging around here. Roman has been having a hard time transitioning between playing and...anything really. It is especially hard to get him on the potty these days too, each time he we try to put him on he throws a fit and sometimes even cries because he says he is busy.

Yesterday morning I was at my wits end when we finally got to Occuptional Therapy (late of course). I told Roman's therapist about the issues that we have been having lately and she recommended putting together a schedule to help him transition a bit better. She also recommended reinstating the potty chart (which didn't seem to be working) in addition to giving M&M's as rewards.

So last night I got to work and this is what I came up with, (the squares you see above his schedule are the completed activities for the day)

I made 3x3 squares in photoshop and typed his activities for the day along with a corresponding picture (thank you Microsoft Clip Art!). I printed them out then laminated them with sturdy 10 mil sleeves (my favorite thickness), cut them out, rounded the corners, then added a strip of velcro to the back along with a magnet, the velcro is white and hard to see against the white paper so I added black lines to show where it is.

Then I laminated an 11x17 sheet of paper, rounded the corners and added three strips of velcro for his squares. Last night I made up his schedule for the day and left it on the fridge for him to see the next morning.

The result? Today has been incredible! He loves taking his squares off his schedule and putting them up on the fridge after we're done doing something. We have had zero complaints about going potty today and get this...zero accidents! I also made another potty chart for him too, the one we were using had 20 boxes across and was a bit overwhelming to look at. This one only has ten, everything seems to be working - wahoo! I even made a special square for our "nothing" days: that would be the "Go To Starbucks" square. He is a sucker for hot cocoa and lemon loaf lol. So far so good, will keep you posted!

scraplifting ali's tuesday tutorial

This Tuesday I was really inspired by Ali Edwards' Tuesday Tutorial, "Trash to Tools". I loved the look of the toilet paper roll idea so I put it to work on one of my layouts: Love how it turned out, how easy it was and how inexpensive the tools for this layout were! Very nice. I will definitely be using this technique again.

Speaking of Tuesdays...this coming Tuesday is the first of the month and I will be doing my Template Tuesday to Thursday drawing! So tell your friends. Tell your family. Tell people you don't even know! If you are in need of a prim or vintage banner, auction template or blog template be sure to come back this Tuesday! Have a creative day everyone!

sick kiddo today

Roman has a cold and missed his first day of school and will probably miss the week (no school on Fridays), poor baby. He has been really looking forward to this! We're hoping that he sleeps through the night, like Mommy, he can't sleep when his nose is all plugged up.

Exciting and interesting posts will return in a few days! I am working on some fun Halloween crafts with inspiration from old Creating Keepsakes magazines and Martha Stewart. Stay tuned!

the first day of school that wasn't

Our school district has been on strike for the past couple of weeks so when we heard that the strike was ending and that school was starting on Tuesday, we were super happy! Roman especially. So we got there and waited...and waited...and waited...

only to find out that even though school started today, preschool doesn't start until this coming Monday. So we went to Starbucks and drowned our sorrows in hot cocoa.

He is so excited to go back to school!

blueberry picking in washington

Last week we went Blueberry Picking with my sister in North Bend. Farms here in Washington are bursting with Blueberries, the farm we went to isn't certified organic (which our family supports every chance we get), however they don't use pesticides. And they were only $1.75 a pound! We had a blast and it was beautiful over there.Roman ate so many blueberries, we joked that they should have weighed him instead of the blueberry bucket.We had a super fun adventure and were able to bring home a ton of blueberries to freeze. Even after Roman had his fair share. So much fun.my sister Jeffie (and my neice Adele who will be hatching soon) and Roman

what empowers you?

I was thinking about this this past weekend. Empowerment is an incredible thing and I really think that more people need to be more empowered (myself included). Empowered to make a difference. Empowered to reach their goals. Empowered to be their true, authentic self.

So many times in life we tend to blend in, to not "rock the boat", to please everyone and everything. And for women, this tendency is huge. And it can easily turn into apathy and complacency.

You are an original, beautiful creation. You are not like anyone else. This isn't something that should be hidden, it should be celebrated! One of my favorite quotes is by Anais Nin, "And the day came when the risk to remain tight in bud became more painful than the risk to bloom".

What are you passionate about? It can be a cause, a hobby, a person place or thing. My husband has recently become very passionate about politics. I have recently become more involved with and passionate about art. Roman is passionate about dinosaurs and other slimy little boy stuff.

Because of Zach's new passion, he is empowered to learn more about what he can do as an individual citizen. Because of my passion, I am empowered to do something creative every day. And because of Roman's passion, he is empowered to learn. I love this. He can't get enough of Dinosaur books, we read them every single day.

Celebrate your passions and learn from others. When you find what makes other people "tick", you can find a new found appreciation for that thing and that person. Who knows, you may be empowered to try something new.

kitchen is done!! however I just loaned my camera...

...to my Dad. It's true, I can't believe I didn't take pictures before I gave him my camera - I will probably get it back tomorrow and I promise - I PROMISE that I will post pictures! I'm excited to do a before and after picture comparison too.

I am also happy to report that Roman got new orthodics and he has graduated from the full ankle support, leapfrogs, to ones without ankle support - crickets. This is huge for him, when he was first fitted for orthodics his poor little ankles were curved so much that his feet turned up on the outer edges. Our little man has made some amazing leaps and bounds in the last three years!

Keep posted for pictures. I promise they are coming!

memorial day weekend

Things have been quite busy here in the Allen household, we went on our first "pseudo" camping expedition at Cama Beach here in Washington.
We stayed in the cutest little cabin! I say "pseudo camping" because our cabin had electricity and heat....but no bathroom! Aha - so it is kind of camping....ish.

We had so much fun. I realized that this was Roman's first trip to the ocean! How could this be? I realized that between all the therapy appointments and the craziness of our lives that we never really went anywhere. And of course with the constant threat of another layoff at Starbucks, we have been super quick to pinch pennies lately. But this was so much fun, Roman and I got to snuggle in our sleeping bags while Zach slept in one of the bunk beds outside the little room.
I fell asleep snuggling with Roman, he was super happy and smelled like S'mores. It was awesome.