Christmas Card Pictures....

 I can't figure out how to make the pictures flip to the right direction. It was saved in the right direction on my computer, but now they just won't post right. I'm so excited to have these completed. Never dreamed how hard it would be to take pictures with three children....

Eva is 6 months old!

6 months

5 months

4 months

3 months

2 months

1 month

I've always wanted to take pictures of my babies by the month, but I've never been organized to actually complete it. Since Eva is my last I am doing it right :). Love this sweet baby girl so much!!

Visual Perception

Visual Perception- Who would have ever guessed that this would turn into a quick familiar dirty word in my house. Because of Visual Perception or LACK of might  I say, Andrew's world has been turned upside down. My world has been turned upside down.

Now, we have been aware since 2012 that Andrew is dyslexic. In his reports from Magnolia Speech School in March of 2010 it stated that he was a "little" dyslexic. Some reasons for him being dyslexic could be because of his ADHD behaviors. From that test, Andrew's testing journey started. I took him to Tupelo and had him tested for ADHD. His results were he was 90% ADHD. In every situation he would act 9 times out of 10 hyper. Rock on.. I went to our pediatrician with the ADHD and Dyslexic reports (by the way.. I still owe 300.00 on the 2000.00 balance) and Andrew became medicated. He is currently on 50mg of Vyvanse everyday. He suffers extreme anxiety with this medication, but I can't bring him to the point of switching meds or adding meds to his already medicated life. In the 4th grade even with Dyslexic Therapy and medication, Andrew still had challenges. He passed and entered the 5th grade with Mrs. Sisk. She is trained in Dyslexia and was a HUGE help for Andrew. Rock on.. at the end of the year the SPED department decided to test Andrew for a ruling so he tested with an average range IQ, but during the test he should so many characteristics of Aspergers. Goodness... I never realized that my child showed characteristics of Aspergers. Anyway, he has a SPED ruling of Aspergers and is currently receiving therapy for Dyslexia.  Last May, Andrew was tested for Occupational Therapy and it was decided that he needed the services for handwriting. 

In October 2012, The Occupational Therapist from OCH evaluated Andrew and I finally after asking and having to get approval from the SPED department they finally released the report to me. When dealing with VISUAL PERCEPTION, Andrew has the age equivalent of 5 year old. Yep, that's right a 5 year old and we are just now finding this out. Out of all the testing we have paid for and got completed we now find out just how DYSLEXIC he is. I had to research just what visual perception was. Visual perceptual skills are the basic building blocks of all functional activity. No human activity is performed without the utilization of these skills. So from what I understand EVERYTHING that we learn, we learn through visual perception and Andrew has the age equivalent to a 5 year old. No wonder my child gets so frustrated very easily.

Andrew's first day of Jr. High  August 2012

So, you ask.. what are we going to do now? We are going to fight this battle that was given to us. Despite all the reasons why Andrew can't learn and all the set backs we have endured.... we are going to fight. We will make sure that he is not asked to copy much at all from the boards or books. We will learn even when we are told we can't. We will fight to our exhaustion to inform teachers to make sure Andrew doesn't have a meltdown so that's he isn't asked to complete tasks that we know are out of his reach. We will fight this battle with everything we have to ensure that Andrew will learn in an environment that he feels comfortable in without ridicule.  We will win this battle.. with a visual perception deficit or not.. we will win. 

Pumpkin Patch 2012

My sweet babies!

Getting pictures these days are so very hard!

Jenna LOVED the wagon

Andrew said he needed this tractor

Daddy and Eva (The sun was so BRIGHT)

Andrew is almost 5 feet tall!

Jenna says, LET'S RIDE

We made a VERY quick visit to the pumpkin patch this year. We had not been since Jenna was born and we thought it would be a great idea to try it again. Two years ago they had alot of free and fun stuff, this year they charged for EVERYTHING.. not a big deal, but we only took enough cash to pay for a pumpkin. Needless to say, Andrew wasn't very happy with us. Oh well, Jenna had a great time in the wagon. :)

Andrew over the years!

 Andrew's 11th Birthday!

Andrew's 10th Birthday!

Andrew's 9th Birthday!

Andrew's 8th Birthday!

Andrew's 6th birthday!

Andrew's 5th Birthday!

Andrew's 4th birthday!

Andrew's 3rd birthday cake :)

Andrew's 3rd Birthday!

I am so excited to have the pictures of Andrew's birthday's over the years. I'm missing a few, but I promise to add them to the collection soon.  

Isn't it just amazing how much different a year makes? Jenna has changed so much since her first birthday. She has stolen my heart in so many ways.

Baby Eva

Goodness, I never posted about Eva's birth! She was born on May 7, 2012. She weighed 8lbs 11oz and was 20 inches long. She is such a very sweet baby and has made our family complete! 

Sweet baby Jenna turns 2! I decided to have Jenna's 2nd birthday party at our house on Monday, October 8 instead of on her birthday Wednesday, October 10. Her party turned out really well and we had many guests. She actually had 3 little girls that were around her age to attend. This was very exciting because we normally just have grown-ups at her parties. Her theme was pink and zebra and she had a beautiful princess dress. She played with her new kitchen and had fun opening her gifts. This day was ALL about Jenna. Since having baby E, I feel like there just isn't enough of me to go around. I try my best to be a good mom, but working full time and having three children is kinda hard to be everything to everyone. I hope Jenna looks back on her second birthday pictures and remembers how much we actually love her. I can't put into words how much this sweet baby means to me. 

New Orleans

During Spring Break, Chan, Miranda, Andrew and I went to New Orleans. Yes, we left Jenna in Starkville with Chris. This was a trip for Andrew before baby #3 is born. I don't want him to feel left out when his second baby sister arrives. He was our only child for nine years and probably will forever be our only child. Since he is our only boy, he will probably still continue to be our unique child. We spent the night and went to the aquarium, rode the horse and buggy and got to eat at Cafe Dumond. We enjoyed our short trip, but was very happy to return home to Dad and Jenna. 

I will miss you so much my sweet Janie

My cousin Janie from MO, was diagnosed with ALS right after Jenna was born in 2010. Today, Janie passed away and my heart is so heavy. She was a distant cousin, but all my life I've heard about Janie. See, Janie became a nurse and in my Mimi's eyes that sealed the deal of favorite niece. Mimi would keep Janie's picture above her TV and talk about Janie ALL the time. So, I grew up knowing Janie without ever meeting her when I was a child. My Mimi passed away in 05 and Janie came to her funeral. She also brought her sister Regina, who I didn't know existed because all I heard about was Janie. Turns out Janie had two sisters, Regina and Stacy. I have made several trips to MO to visit and have grown to love all of them so very much! Uncle Orval, Janie's father, my Mimi's brother, passed away three weeks ago to the day. Chris and I made the trip to his funeral and I got to see Janie one last time. My heart is so sad for this sweet family. I can't think of the pain that my Aunt Shirley is going through right now. She lost her husband three weeks ago, now her oldest daughter. There aren't any words...

Goodness.. where have I been?

Wow, hard to believe it's been almost a year since I've updated my blog. I'm guessing I was side tracked. It's been a different kind of year. A year of growing, becoming secluded (I do this EVERY TIME I am pregnant), letting go, realizing what is important in my life, watching Andrew & Jenna grow, heartache, and great joys. We've lost family members and gained a few. At this moment we are getting ready for Baby C's arrival in just about 3 weeks. Andrew has grown up. He has had many accomplishments in school and was also named one of Henderson's best students for the past nine weeks. (BIG DEAL FOR US) Andrew was diagnosed with Asperger's, which is an Autism Spectrum disorder. We are learning things about Andrew and why he does "certain"things at certain times. This diagnoses has allowed me to understand my child and give him much more patience than before. Jenna is walking, running, talking and just growing up so fast. We lost my great uncle orval and my pop has been diagnosed with liver cancer. My days have been filled with work and children and I've not had much time to do anything else. I've never had a schedule like this before in my life, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I took Andrew to New Orleans for Spring Break.. much needed time for us without any babies around. I think he enjoyed the trip. With Asperger's he thinks he should have the same routine year after year, so of course he thought we should have been at the beach...


Getting ready for baby #3 has been so different than before. I had all new things with Andrew & Jenna and now I am so thankful I have things I saved from Jenna that Baby C can use. It has saved us tons of money. It's just remembering "where" I have stored the things and washing them up that has consumed most of my time. I have the car seat washed and bassinet ready to go. Just have to wash the swing and the other bassinet. Many things to complete before she gets here. I do have all of her clothes washed and ready.. big accomplishment for me!

Hopefully, it won't take me another year to update my blog. I have really missed reading my real friends blogs and the pretend friends (people I don't know) and catching up on their life. One of the blogs that I follow just had a baby. I missed her whole pregnancy. Kinda weird I feel guilty about missing something from someones life that I don't know.. but I kinda do.