PHOTO ALBUM!

 Okay folks - here is the deal.  I am way behind and I can't possibly do a post about each and every one of these photos.  So - I decided to post them all with captions and you can just scroll through and check them out.   How does that sound?  Great!  The next post will be a video album of the same nature.  If I get time you will get a regular post as well but we shall see!  

Now - these photos are in no particular order.  The dates are all intermingled as well as the topics.  This is VERY much against my usual nature and it is taking a lot of restraint right now to not totally rearrange them and put them in chronological order, etc.  I can do this!  Here goes!

P.S.  I don't think there are many, but there may be a few duplicates  - sorry!

On our way home from church our first week here.  It was cold but beautiful and only took us an hour to get to church! 

Me and the kids on the way home from church.  Wy didn't feel like taking any more pictures :)

Haze came running in one day and said she missed her papa and wanted to wear her "I Love Daddy" pajamas.  We put them on and took a picture to send to Papa.  Not sure if we ever did so if not, here you go Papa!

While Wyatt was in Session at Brain Balance, Paige and I watched a video showing us how to do the reflex exercises (VERY helpful!)  Bro and Haze played and built creations.  They are just cute.

So excited to finally get to Jump 2 it!  I had promised them for a week and we had not been able to get there.  After a freezing 45 minute golf cart ride we were finally here!  The mean mama made them wait to go in so she could get a picture :)

We kept finding Wy asleep on the floor in his closet which we determined was because he liked the light on while he slept.  He now has a crib mattress  that a friend in the ward gave us that fits right in there!

Brody just started doing this one day.  I supposed other kids probably do it too, but I thought it was interesting because this is something I did NONSTOP when I was growing up.  I went up and down the hallway at my house.  I never showed it to him, he is just a crazy monkey like his mom was. 

This is one of my favorites.  This is not just a picture of my cute little girl.  This is a picture of my cute little girl wearing a sock on one foot.  She wants to be like her brothers so when we went into Brain Balance she says "I need my sock too mama".  Seriously - how cute is that?

Switching Gears.....  My sweet little angel from the photo above just got in trouble for stabbing a pencil through the side of this chair that was brought over for us to borrow.  Notice the holes in the chair behind her..... oh Haze - that face is just pitiful.

Poor Wyatt.  He woke up Monday morning and we went to give him his supplements.  He started gagging before we even gave them to him.  (He usually fights a bit but takes them ok.)  He kept gagging and luckily Paige got him to the bathroom in time and he threw up!  We don't know why and assume he caught some weird bug?  He just didn't want to eat really for a couple days, but he didn't throw up again.  Poor baby just wanted to relax so he got a little extra movie time :/

Here is another photo of Wy chilling with his blocking glasses on.  He is only allowed 30 minutes of screen time per day and if he wants it he has to wear these glasses.  Sounds mean, but it is for his own good :)  What a good boy!

Brody and Hazel with their Base that they built.  This is something that occurs multiple times a day at our house.  It is always different and always creative.  They are two peas in a pod.

This is just yesterday at the park by the library.  It is right by the lake and we walked out to see the water and say hi to the ducks.  What a beautiful view.  What a handsome boy. 

Another one from the park with little sister.  They are so silly and best buddies.  Can't wait for Wyatt to play more with them.  He is starting to and it will only get better. 

Shock Trooper Masks - enough said.

Wyatt at Jump 2 It.  He is amazing.  He climbs up the steep slides instead of using the stairs.  I don't know how he does it.  He LOVES slides and jumping and loves when I slide with him.

Hanging in the Lobby at BB waiting for Brother.

The kids are all obsessed with swinging.  Brody and Hazel play a game (that I supposed I taught them) where they swing and I am standing in front of them and they "kick" me.  I of course don't let them kick me (usually) but I make over dramatic motions, let out yells and sometimes fall over and say "hey - don't you kick your mama".  Don't really know where I got it or why I started it but they LOVE it.  So you can imagine what the people at the park think when we are running towards the swings and Hazel yells "I'm going to kick you!" 

So cute and so grown up.  He has really matured in the last 3 weeks - for real.  It is crazy.  He will be 8 on the 23rd.

Just loving being outside.  He brought some Legos to the park and was playing with them a lot at home too.  Since he only made towers, we had to take them away.  :(  He doesn't have many toys left but since it is warming up hopefully he will be swimming everyday and that is his favorite (not mine..)

Wyatt is really far away in this picture but I wanted to get the old school slide and the beautiful trees in the background too.  We found a park to go to while Brody was in session one day and they LOVED It.  This was a fast metal slide - like the kind we had growing up.  Wyatt had a great time on it as well as the jungle gym.  There was a teenager playing basketball and Wyatt went over to play with him.  He kept stealing the ball and then giving it to the boy and saying "throw it", etc.  It was cute but the boy was not sure at all what was going on.  :)  But he was nice and played a long with him for awhile.

Same park as above.  Hazel loves to be a monkey on the monkey bars.  She is really strong and can hold on and hang for a long time. 

Brody's owie.  He was washing in the shower and leaned over and hit his eye on the soap dish that pokes out of the wall.  It seemed like it hurt a lot but he was a pretty brave boy.

Not sure what these are but they fall from a lot of the trees.  They are all over the park.  The other day Brody was picking them up and then hitting them with a piece of wood.  (See Below)  I thought it was pretty impressive since up to this point in his life he has not really had the hand-eye coordination, etc. to do that kind of thing.   His saying has been "Sports just isn't my thing".   I decided to try throwing some of these to him to see if he could hit them.  They are not very big as you can see so it was a pretty hard task - but he did it!  He missed the first few but then he was hitting almost every one I tossed to him.  It was absolutely amazing.  We have not been practicing or working on this.  Brain Balance has just been doing its job!

When the kids pass certain levels at BB they receive stars and trophies that they can stick on the wall.  This is Brody's second star! 

This is Wyatt's trophy from his first day at Brain Balance!  To Wyatt!

Paige got mad and hit the wall.  Bad Paige.

Paige got mad and ripped the golf cart cover.

Okay fine.  Neither of those things were Paige's fault.  The first picture is from me trying to break apart some hamburger patties that were stuck together.  I always hit them on the counter at my house but there were no hard surfaces here so I thought the wall would be safe. Obviously I am stronger than I thought.  (Or that frozen patties are harder than I thought)

The Second photo is because the golf cart cover doesn't really fit but at least keeps out the rain and freezing cold.  When we were zipping it yesterday it just split.  :(

This is my new favorite picture.  This was just tonight at dinner.  Brody has turned into a total bookworm.  He is a GREAT reader and when tested was at a 7th grade level for reading comprehension.  However, he never usually enjoyed reading very much.  We have been going to the library each week and getting all new books and he reads every single one of them.  He is not supposed to read the same book twice so we will be going to the library a lot.  Anyways, we went yesterday and got books and it is so cute because I keep finding him reading.  He is reading when he goes to bed, reading in the living room, and reading at dinner.  Love you Bro!

I will see if I can get the video post done now!

Bye!

Picky is an Understatement

We are going to try the "short" thing again and see if it works this time.  I just have a REALLY hard time telling a story without every detail.  (Left Brain)

Wyatt will be 6 in one week.  It is freaking me out.  I can't believe he is so old.  I can't believe we have been on this journey for 4 years now.  It seems like way longer because it is really the only way of life I know anymore.  I hope (know)  that it is all changing and soon.   That was totally off topic.  (Right Brain)

One Rule on this post.  You CANNOT watch the video until you read the post.  Okay - I will not really enforce that but I really want you to get the full picture of why this video is so amazing.  Otherwise I would not have spent 2 hours (with interruptions) writing it. 

In the beginning Wyatt was a good eater.  He drank his bottles, he ate his fruits and veggies (baby food) and even loved the Gerber meals with chicken, peas, carrots the works!  I was so excited because my Brody was a TERRIBLY picky eater.  Then, after environmental triggers mixed with a bad vaccine reaction (we will save that story for another time...)  It all stopped.  He started slowly but surely refusing the foods he usually loved.  He started throwing his mac and cheese on the floor, refusing his chicken dinners, etc. etc.  As a mom you get so worried when your child won't eat so you give them whatever you know they will eat.  We all do it.  He got to where he would only eat chicken nuggets and fries, drinkable yogurts were his obsession and he could down juice like nobody’s business.  Oh ya - and how could I forget Cheetos?  Great diet huh?  I tried everything under the sun but he refused or threw it so I just gave in and gave him what he would eat.  

It continued that way for a long time - from about age 18 months- 2 1/2 years until we decided to try going GFCF (Gluten free Casein free).  I had read that it was helping improve bowel problems and other symptoms for kids on the autism spectrum.  At first I wondered how in the world food could affect their brains but then I did my research and got the answers.  We can go into bowel disease, food and the autism connection another time - I am really trying to stay on task here.  When my husband and I found out that the foods Wyatt (and Brody) were eating could literally be toxic to their bodies, we decided we had no choice but to take them out of their diets.  I was scared to death.  Wyatt’s diet was entirely Gluten and Casein - so I knew he was going to starve.  At the time, he had become so picky that he would not only just eat chicken nuggets, but they had to be Dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets.  If you tried a different shape or size, it was a no go.  I went to a little natural food store near my town and found some gluten free chicken nuggets, some gluten free cookies and a few other foods for a mere $80.00 and headed home.  I thought for sure I could get him to eat some of this stuff.  Boy was I wrong. 

Six days went by and he ate almost nothing.  He lived on only juice and marshmallows - for real.  But I was not giving in.  I had read about the withdrawal symptoms he would have since those foods actually "drug" them (which is why they become obsessed and only want those foods. -Again - we can go into all that another time)  I watched him run to the fridge for one of his drinkable yogurts and  search everywhere.  It was so heartbreaking to see my little 2 year old frantically looking through drawers and on shelves and then falling on the floor crying and screaming.  This was so strange because Wyatt was always such a mellow kid and didn't act like that so I knew it was the food (lack thereof) that was causing it.

I searched everywhere online for ideas or things that I could get him to eat and one night I found it!  Gluten Free Chicken nuggets shaped like DINOSAURS!  They were an hour away from me, but I was going to get them the next day so my little boy could eat.  Wrong again.  I put them on his plate, he looked at them and even picked one up  and inspected it but then....... he put it down and wouldn't eat it.  :(  I was SO devastated.  I thought for sure he would finally eat.  Nope.  The next day I gave them to him again and they sat on the plate for an hour.  Finally he wandered over to them and grabbed one and ate it.  I was so happy my little boy was finally eating!  He still only ate gluten free nuggets (which we found out a year later and thousands of dollars later that they actually had trace amounts of gluten in them!!!), french fries and gluten free Oreos, etc.  Still not a great diet but we saw a lot of improvements in his behavior, eye contact,  and it especially helped with his terrible constipation problem.... 

Wow - I am NOT good at short stories.  I am going to try to cut a lot out here or you might all be here until the weekend reading this one post.


Over the past 4 years it has rotated slightly but essentially Wyatt has eaten only the following items:

From age 2-4 (Gluten Free Casein Free Diet)

• Gluten free Dinosaur Nuggets
• Gluten free cookies
• Gluten free french fries
• Fritos
• Lays potato chips
• Gluten free Waffles (but ONLY if they were the mini round ones - no other shape or size would do)
• Juice, Juice and more Juice
• That is really it I think.  Wouldn't touch gluten free cupcakes, Popsicles or any other item typical kids would like.  
• He would not even look at, touch or get near anything else.  He would not eat anything off of a fork or spoon. 

After that we switched to the Specific Carbohydrate diet which is VERY limited.  He cannot have any carbohydrates.  No gluten/wheat, no corn, no rice, no potato or starches,  no sugar, etc.  He essentially can only have meats, fruits and vegetables and nuts.  He cannot have any pre-packaged foods at all - everything has to be made from scratch.   So we switched to Almond flour for baking and for 2 years we have baked and cooked all day long (totally not something I ever enjoyed or would have ever thought I would be doing)  We make pancakes, waffles, muffins, breads, crackers, etc.   The boys are both on this diet even though I have been talking mostly about Wyatt.   We saw HUGE improvements with this diet - especially when we took out all the juice and switched him to water and only water.  That was REALLY hard.  Anyways, this is when we FINALLY saw bowel improvements and a lot more language coming out of him.  This diet has been said to be the BEST diet for kids on the spectrum.  I truly wish I would have just started on this diet right away instead of going GFCF.  That diet costs SO much more money and even though they are eating gluten free, they are still just eating cookies, nuggets and unhealthy items.  That being said - I don't think I could have pulled off home-made dinosaur shaped nuggets :)

From age 4-6  (Specific Carbohydrate Diet)

• SCD Waffles (we finally got him to slowly switch to square waffles...)
• SCD pumpkin bread (this was a HUGE accomplishment)
• SCD Chicken nuggets 
• Ground turkey burgers (again - another HUGE accomplishment)
• SCD crackers and cookies
• SCD Cheese crackers (obsessed = bad)
• We finally got him to use a fork (with help) for his turkey burger once in awhile
• We finally got him to touch, lick and sometimes bite a few different foods after months and months of food programming in ABA therapy.  As I mentioned the other day, it took hours sometimes to get him to take a bite or try a new food and we only ever got him to try 3 or 4....
• Still overall much improved over the previous 2 years but still slow, slow change.

Let's talk about Brain Balance!

Again, no time to go over it all right now but in a nutshell  (ha ha)... Kids with a brain imbalance have a lot of sensory issues. Their brain does not properly process sensory input among other things.  Smell is the only sense that has a direct path to the brain.  A lot of kids on the spectrum can't smell (Wyatt) and some have a heightened sense of smell (Brody).   If a child can't smell, they have to rely on the texture, color or look of a food to decide if they want to eat it.  If they haven't ever had the food or it is drastically different from the foods they usually eat, or if it has hurt their stomach before, then they are going to avoid those foods.  I had always noticed that everything Wyatt ate was tan/brown in color (with the exception of Cheetos which he obviously remembered from before the problems started).  If you look over the lists above you will see tan waffles, tan chips, brown breads, etc.  All of them are similar textures as well.  Either bread types or crunchy/chip types.  If you get a fruit or vegetable or something with a totally different texture close to him he will literally gag and sometimes throw up.  Also, I had never seen him smell.  Since he doesn't talk he had never said that he could or couldn't smell things and I had never really thought about trying to get him to smell anything.  So I recently tried to get him to smell and he really can't/doesn't sniff at all!  Crazy!  So, with Brain Balance they do things to stimulate the sense of smell plus they are working and changing the brain in other ways and they said that once the kids can smell then they will start to eat more and try more foods.  I have heard that before - many times - and I have never seen much improvement.  We have seen bits of improvement but nothing drastic and whatever it was, it took years.

So - now lets talk current.  Over the last few weeks we have tried a little more to offer foods to Wyatt.  He has been a lot less resistant to at least look at, touch or even let a food get close to his mouth.  It is still a fight and we haven't really tried a lot. 

This last weekend we tried getting him to take a bite of a carrot and he did (a tiny one) after some reinforcement.  He also licked a spoon a few times with some Chili on it as well as licked some applesauce off a spoon.  We were way excited!  However, I was NOT prepared for what happened today.

He wanted my phone really badly so I decided to take advantage and had Paige get some applesauce in a bowl.  At first he did his usual ticks of licking the spoon (mostly in parts where there was no applesauce...)  and trying to get me to eat it instead.  (Cute)  Also he takes one little lick and then says "yay!" for himself as if to say - "that was good of me so leave me alone."  So finally he got little bits in his mouth a few times and was not fighting it so bad.  Each time he got a small amount in his mouth I would let him play on my phone.  I had to take an important call so Paige continued the party in the kitchen.  She is awesome and doesn't give up - you are great Paige!  Then, she came into me and showed me the most amazing thing!  She had taken this video and I about DIED!

He is not only eating the applesauce - on a spoon, but he is eating it at his own will without anyone forcing him or handing him the spoon!  (He is also wearing his blocking glasses which are important for his proper visual stimulation).  It is quite a funny sight but a quite amazing one for us!  (You should have seen the fighting and screaming to get him to wear the glasses yesterday!)  Paige said she asked if he wanted more applesauce when the bowl was empty and he said yes so she got him more.  Granted they were very small bowls, but he ate 3!

So - without further ado- I give you the video!  What may seem like not a big deal to most of you is absolutely HUGE for us!  And - after trying for 4 years and getting it in just 3 weeks of Brain Balance is another confirmation to me that this program DOES work and will change our lives.  

Watch and enjoy my darling little (big) boy  He is amazing!

 Goodnight!

As You Wish.....

The kids have been begging to watch my favorite movie of all time "The Princess Bride".  We were going to watch it last movie night but didn't have it so we watched Newsies - which they loved.  Paige brought the Princess Bride from my house when she went home last weekend and they have been DYING since then.  (Especially Paige :)  In fact, they probably already know the movie from start to finish because they have asked me 1000 questions and I have told them the whole story and have probably quoted every line from the movie.  (I once watched it 8 times in a row - literally)  They are so excited and not happy that I am taking a few minutes to do this post!

It is Spring Break here and there is no Brain Balance this week.  That sounds like a break, but really it is just more time we have to try to fill up with appropriate, right brain stimulating, fun activities.  The windy weather today made it extra hard because we couldn't really go anywhere.  We did some art projects and other things, but the days really drag by.  We were hoping to have our car by today so that we could do some fun things this week, but the plans fell through so we are back to the drawing board.  (Thanks Drayton for being willing - you are awesome!)

We are hoping to hit the library tomorrow for some new books.  By "hit" I don't mean rob or anything - although I think that is what they thought I was trying to do when we were there last week.  I guess I still haven't posted about that either - man I am behind.

Anyways, I will try and get back on tonight and get some more posting done, but if I am too tired then we again wait until tomorrow.  I am trying to balance my life and my old self would just get the kids in bed and work work work.  I still do that, but once in awhile we will stay up and have a party! 

Goodbyes are Hard - Really Hard

Wow.  I knew that Papa leaving would be hard and emotional, but I never expected what took place tonight.  I hope for everyone's sake that it gets easier each time because I am not sure how many times we can make it through this.

Let's rewind to Friday and start from the beginning.......

Friday was absolutely insane. As I said before, I had to get a rental car to make it through the day.  We had to get Wyatt to Brain Balance by 12 and then pick him up at 1:00.  I had to be back for my nutrition meeting (this will be a WHOLE separate post because there is NO way I can go into that tonight) by 1:30.   The meeting went until 3:00 even though I got a text from Bo that his plane had landed early at about 2:40!  I finished up the meeting and headed out only to realize that the rental car had absolutely NO gas!  My husband who I hadn't seen in three weeks was waiting for me at the airport and I had to stop and get gas??!! When I left the rental place they had said they put $10 in it - obviously they did not.

I picked him up (kissed him) and we headed out to see the kids.  They were waiting at Brain Balance for us since Brody had just finished his session.  I was so proud of Paige because it was her first time driving to Brain Balance in the golf cart and she made it there with three kids and didn't get lost! I already posted about their reunion so if you didn't see it, check it out :)

Bo needed to scan and send some documents to his office so we all piled in the rental car and went to Staples.  We were all starving and had to wait for the documents so we decided to go to the Chilis that was right in the parking lot.   We usually NEVER go out to dinner  - for lots of reasons:

1. The kids diets are very restricted and it is hard to find something on the menu that is legal.
2. We usually end up taking our own food in for Wyatt and having them heat it up.  Most places are nice, but some are not.
3. The kids are usually loud and crazy.  (Probably from the excitement since they don't get to go out much)  I once got yelled at while at Texas Roadhouse because Wyatt was being loud.  He wasn't being bad, just squealing from excitement.  A woman stood up and leaned over the divider to our booth and said (in a mean voice with a very mean look on her face)  "Can you control your child!" I told her that sometimes I couldn't because he has special needs but she didn't seem to care much.
4. If you turn your head for 1 second, Wyatt will run away. 
5. If you turn your head for 2 seconds, Wyatt will be at a different table drinking people's drinks and eating their french fries.
6. You get the picture. 

However,  we were all hungry and it was going to be a bit before we went home so we decided to go for it.  Problem:  We had NO food for Wyatt.  Not even snacks.  This usually means that he will just go hungry because he is so picky and will NOT eat anything - ever.   Here is how the night went:

1. I ordered chicken breasts with corn on the cob for Brody and Hazel and figured I would try to get Wyatt to eat some of the chicken.  This plan always fails and ends with Wyatt (and me) crying from trying to force Wyatt to eat the chicken - or whatever food I have ordered. 
2. Since I had no food for Wyatt, I cut up the chicken and put it on his plate.  He wouldn't touch it - surprise, surprise.  However, I decided to bribe him with my phone (he loves to watch movies on YouTube and never gets to watch anything anymore so he wanted it bad) It worked!!!  He ate a piece of chicken!!!!  This is HUGE and amazing!  I let him play with the phone for a minute and then made him eat another piece to continue playing.  We did this until he had eaten the whole plate of chicken!  Yahoo!  Amazing! Breakthrough!  (FYI - it once took 3 hours to get him to take a microscopic bite of a carrot....)
3. They were still loud and crazy.  Banging forks, putting stuff in their drinks, jumping, squealing, etc.  But overall not too bad.
4. Wyatt tried to run away a couple of times but was caught just in time.  
5. Wyatt tried to drink some of Bo's drink but was unsuccessful! Luckily no one near us was eating french fries. :)
6. You get the picture. 

As I looked around at my cute family and how they were becoming more "normal" (ha ha) I turned to Wyatt just in time to see that he has just peed his pants.  Hmm.  Not sure why since he has been so good with that lately?  Maybe because he was so excited to have my phone?  Maybe because he wasn't right by a toilet?  It was so strange because usually he would say "potty" or try to take his pants off first, but not this time.  He just stood there and peed (a lot).  We cleaned it up with napkins and Paige got some paper towels from the bathroom, but he was soaked.  When we got to the car,  we decided it was better to get him out of his wet clothes so he sat in the backseat with no pants, no underwear and just a hoodie. 

We went to Staples to pick up the papers.  Bo was just going to run in, but Brody and Hazel wanted to go - really, really bad.  (They obviously don't have much excitement in their lives)  Brody said "can I go?  Bo said "ok".  Hazel said "Can I go?"  Bo said "ok"  Paige said "Can I go?" (punk) and Hazel (mini- punk) said  "NO PAIGE!  YOU ARE TOO OLD!   Since Paige was too old, Bo, Brody and Hazel ran in the store while Paige and I stayed in the car with the naked boy.   As Hazel ran in the door I heard her yell "This is So Fun!"  It is amazing how the little things are so fun for kids.  Just being with their Papa (no matter what they were doing) made them so happy.   After a couple minutes, Paige and I turned around to find Wyatt laying in the back window of the car (teaser pic #1 from Friday)  Bo and the kids walked out and saw him as well as some passers by who thought it was quite funny.  

So Happy and Free!

We loaded back up and headed back to Brain Balance.  We decided that Paige would drive the car home with the naked boy and the rest of us would take Bo home on the cart paths   We were loading people into the golf cart when we saw Wyatt naked standing on top of the car.  (He is very fast)  Brody saw him and yelled "He shouldn't do that - it's inappropriate!"   Brody was right so we quickly got him down (after a few photos of course) and we all headed home. 

He even did a little dance for us.

When we got home, Papa gave everyone the prizes he had brought from home and then it was time for bed.

Speaking of bed...... I am headed there right now.  It is late and I am so tired.  I am sorry that I have to keep y'all hanging on the rest of the details of the weekend, but it just has to be.  Last night Hazel's bed deflated and I had to switch her to another one, Brody was up in the night saying he was going to throw up and I had to make him a bed in the hallway near the bathroom and this morning Wyatt DID throw up.  No idea why and no other symptoms.  He acted fine today except he wouldn't eat at all.  I had wanted to wait up to talk to my husband when he lands, but I don't think I will make it. 

Goodnight honey, we love you and miss you and can't wait to see you again. 

Goodnight everyone else - I will post the rest of the weekend tomorrow.

Tammy

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

This is just a short post to tell y'all  how grateful we are.   So many people have been so kind, generous, supportive and prayerful and we very much appreciate it.  I have received many kind emails and phone calls from people which are so encouraging.

Short story I forgot to share before:

As we arrived at the airport for our flight (will be three weeks ago this Monday!) Hazel was already asleep in the car.  Our flight left around 10:00 p.m. so everyone was exhausted.  It had been a long day of packing like crazy and saying our goodbyes.  The night before I had maybe gotten 2 hours of sleep but the adrenaline of the whole situation was keeping me going.

We pulled up to the curb in Paige's big red truck.  In the front seat sat Bo, Tammy & Paige.  In the back seat sat Brody, Wyatt and Hazel.  In the truck bed sat 14 suitcases, a portable cooler chest and a stroller.  It was quite a sight and I can't believe I didn't take a picture.  Oh wait!  Paige took one, but she has just spent the last hour trying to get it off of her old phone onto a computer, but was unsuccessful.  I will try and post it some other time. 

Bo dropped us off at the curb to go park which sounded like a good idea at the time.  However, now we were stuck.  We couldn't possibly get everything inside at once, we couldn't leave anything unattended on the curb (especially the little girl asleep in the car seat) and it was too late for Skycap or any help for that matter!  So we all just waited for Bo to park and come to rescue us.  When he did, I went in with the first load and got in line.  Bo stayed on the curb with the kids and loaded up cart after cart with suitcases and Paige and her little helper Brody brought them in.  I am not sure how many trips it was, but it was quite a few.  As I stood there in line, I watched all of the people stare in awe at the amount of luggage being piled by the counter.  I heard whispering, there was some head shaking and some comments such as - "all that luggage and all those kids"  I finally spoke up to the woman next to me and said "We are moving - it is not just a vacation".  She seemed very relieved and started asking questions.  I explained (in very short) why we were going, that we were moving everything with us on the airplane, etc. etc. She (and others listening close by) were very nice and even let me go ahead of them in line since we had a lot of people to truck through the airport and get through security in a short amount of time.

We checked 10 bags -too bad checked bags are no longer free :(  Bo and Paige started off toward security with the 3 small kids (one in a stroller)  5 carry on suitcases and 4 backpacks - not an easy task.  As I finished up at check in, I grabbed our boarding passes and was on my way.  The woman I had been talking to stopped me as I walked by and asked "what is your favorite color?" I was slightly confused thinking I must have ALL green suitcases or something? (Believe me I would if I could :)  I told her my favorite color was green having no idea what she might say next.  Her response was:  "Every time I see the color green I will pray for your family". 

Wow.  A total stranger who at first was slightly scoffing at the crazy family with the 15 suitcases, was now saying that she would pray for this crazy family. 

We have been so amazingly blessed.  I know that we are continually blessed by our prayers and faith and also by the prayers and faith of our friends and family - AND other people we don't even know. 

We love you all! 

Tammy
Note: Any of you that thought I could tell a short story obviously don't know me very well  :)

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P.S.  This was Paige's Worst Nightmare :)

We Interrupt this Blog to Bring You a Marriage

I have SO many things to share.  The information and ideas are piling up.  The kid updates are being written down and saved, etc, etc, etc. 

However, after careful consideration, I have decided that since I have VERY limited time with my sweet husband - the blog posts are just going to have to wait.  I know, I know - you are all very heartbroken and some of you will have so much free time now that you will not know what to do with yourselves ;)

In the meantime,  I will post little short "teasers" showing you what is to come once posting resumes.

I will tell you that the kids were SO HAPPY to see their papa - (of course I was too!)  They all screamed and ran up to him and hugged him.  The best part was:   Wyatt was sitting in the golf cart when he saw Bo.  He got a huge smile on his face and got really excited and jumped right out of the cart.  He ran right to Bo and hugged him.  Bo spun him around and hugged and kissed him.   The smile on Wyatt's face and the joy you could see in his eyes was totally priceless.  He truly loves his Papa and missed him very much.  It is so fun to see that.  The other two talk about Papa and how they miss him, but we don't get to hear that from Wy.  It is SO rewarding to know that he has a good connection with his Papa!

Papa brought a toy from home for each one of them.  It was so nice of him.  They were very excited and can't wait to play with him tomorrow.  Here is a picture of them reunited!

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You better believe there is a story behind this!  

Goodnight!

Tomorrow is the Big Day!

No- I am not getting married.  :) I have been married for 12 years to the most amazing man and tomorrow I get to see him for the first time in 3 weeks!  It feels like it has been 3 months.  Even though it has been very hard, I think that this journey we are on for our boys may be good for the two of us as well.

It is funny how a little time away can change things.  Because we can't see each other, we seem to be making more time to talk, email, text and communicate with each other than we did when we were living in the same house.  It even feels a bit like it did when we were dating.... The longing to see each other again, the not wanting to ever get off the telephone and, well - you get the picture :)

Tomorrow will start with showers and frantic house cleaning.  Exercises, bills and paperwork also need to be done.   Then the rental car place will be picking me up so I will have a car for tomorrow for many reasons: 

1.  I have to get to Brain Balance and Back twice (which is normal for a Friday)
2.  I have to go an additional time to Brain Balance for a meeting to go over all of the lab tests.  I am hoping that I find out something interesting in this meeting regarding the boys' current nutrition levels and food intolerances/allergies. I can make it there twice in a day on the golf cart batteries, but not three so I wasn't sure how I was going to swing it - but then I realized....
3.  That I had to pick up Bo at the airport at 3:00 - all right in the middle of all of this!  Renting a car was just way more practical and economical than having him take the shuttle.  Plus, it allows me to be able to get where I need to go since the cart would let me down tomorrow.

We are SO excited to have Papa here.  The kids are freaking out and cannot wait!  (Paige is the most excited of all!) I know his time here will go way too fast but we will take what we can get.  I am hoping there is time for him to take each one of the kids on their own special outing.  They each enjoy different things about hanging with their Papa and when they are all together, it gets so crazy and they don't get that personal attention that they want. 

We are excited to take him around on the cart paths and show him how good of a navigator Brody is.  I can't wait for him to see the changes I have seen in the boys!  I can't wait for him to see the Brain Balance center that is changing our lives forever.  I can't wait for him to watch the kids while I take a nap :)

What I can wait for is writing the updates for tonight because it is SO late again!  Does anyone have any ideas on how to adjust to a different timezone?  Even though I am exhausted, I don't get really bad tired until it is SO late here.  By that time I am on a roll getting things done that I can't do while the kids are awake or I am spending time talking to my sweet husband.  Before I know it, the time is 3:00 a.m. and I have 3 or so hours to sleep until the kids wake up and come in yelling that they are hungry, that there is a bug in their room or that Wyatt went poo poo on the floor. 

The last thing I will say before I say goodnight is HAPPY BIRTHDAY COUSIN HALI!  My sister's oldest child turned 8 today and we didn't get to call and sing Happy Birthday!  I feel HORRIBLE!  We thought about it this morning, but it was 6 a.m. her time so we didn't call.  Then we thought about calling when she was in school!  By the time I remembered again, the kids were all fast asleep :(  Brody will be so sad when he wakes up tomorrow and he finds out that we didn't call her.  We will have to make up for it somehow Hali! 

We hope you had a great Birthday and I am sure you will have 2 or 3 awesome parties because you have an awesome mom! 

Goodnight!