Friday Randoms

I'm really glad my husband doesn't get all weird and macho about things. Like he didn't care one bit when I told him I wanted to get Noah a play kitchen. He doesn't care that Noah has been watching Angelina Ballerina clips on his iPad. Or that Noah found a red crayon and pretends to put lipstick on himself and me. lol. Frankly, I think if his favorite color happened to be pink, Brad really wouldn't care. I love that about him.

***

Speaking of ballet... you guys have to watch this.

In the beginning of the video, a guy named Silas Farley is talking. And while it seems silly to be all, "I know him!! I know him!!"... that's totally what I'm doing. I was/am good friends with his oldest brother (who played pro basketball in Europe) and have known his family since I was little. I give his momma hugs regularly in the hallway at church. His other brother? He started as a freshman for Notre Dame's defense (football) last year. Clearly, this family has zero talent. haha.
Anyway, I just think it's super cool to see him being so successful, especially knowing his family had very humble beginnings. And I remember him being the only little boy in our church's dance ministry. See what happens when dads don't get hung up on stereotypes and instead encourage their kids' talents? They end up being amazing. 

Also, families like theirs sometimes make me feel like this...

via

 ***

I've decided that I have zero problem being thankful and also celebrating Jesus' birthday simultaneously. I also don't have a problem if people like to be thankful and celebrate Jesus separately. So stop peeing on my flowers.

Somewhat related: If you move down South, please don't make fun of the rest of us for getting excited about a few snow flurries. Also, don't whine and complain about it. That's like me moving up North and making fun of everyone for wearing flip flips in 50 degree weather. You know, "because y'all don't know what real heat is!"
You could be stuck in your house for a week if you were back up North or West or wherever you're from. I think you can handle maybe 24 hours of Southerners losing their ever loving minds over the pretty white stuff. Let us build our snowmen from snow dust (hey, we're resourceful), stock up on milk and bread, and pull people out of ditches with our big trucks. We'll calm down eventually. :)

***

I took a brain test last night. Apparently, I use both sides of my brain equally. Which really, that kind of makes sense. Sometimes I have a hard time tapping into the creative side of my brain, and other times I can't seem to be logical if my life depended on it. So basically, I'm constantly on the verge of an identity crises. ;)



That's all I've got.
Happy Friday!!

Noah update

I really can't even begin to tell you guys how amazing Noah has been doing lately. And this has a little to do with my blog quietness. He's just so BUSY. He wants attention 95% of the day, and honestly, after trying so long to get him interested in being social? I don't mind one bit. He doesn't just want me around. He wants to play games with me, jump on the trampoline, give me kisses, have me tickle him, sing songs... it's just so amazing.

 

(he thinks it's hilarious when we take turns spitting water out at each other)

His vocabulary is taking off like crazy. He can now tell me what he wants regularly. Earlier tonight, he looked at me and asked for, "Cheese"... enunciated perfectly. He's making correct associations. Pictures aren't always necessary. I can say, "Okay, we have to go bye-bye", and he will respond with, "Shoes on!" While shopping at Target, he will clearly ask for "cookies", "cwackers", "apple", "Na-na", or my personal favorite "gweeps" (grapes).
He's now pretending to go potty. He'll sit on the potty, with his clothes on, and say "Potty". Needless to say, I think it's time. We're heading to Lowes soon to get one of those fancy dual toilet topper things, because he's too big for both of the potties we've bought already.

If he wants me to jump with him, he signs jump. He can say slide, swing, and outside. He can tell me if he wants to watch "George", "Tos" (Thomas), or "Tiguh" (Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood).
He does a TON of scripting, which is where he recites favorite clips from shows he watches. Sometimes it takes me a little while to figure out what he's reciting, which is kind of fun. :)

One of his favorite phrases is "Oh no, makin' a mess!" Wonder where he got that from?? (<-- sarcasm font).

Seriously, I'm not even sure I can remember everything he says. Words are just flying out of his mouth now. And so much credit goes to his speech therapist we've had since June. She's tough on him, but so awesome. I tell her all of the time that I know she doesn't always get to hear how much he says when we're with her (because she's making him talk vs him offering it up on his own), but that all of her hard work is showing up at home.

Speaking of his therapists....

He made them cry Tuesday.
Like tears streaming down their faces crying. I had told them a few times how he could sing and sign "Jesus Loves Me", and they finally got to see it. His OT felt it the most I think though, because she's been with him for over a year now.
She saw him when he barely acknowledged our existence. She was with him when he didn't even respond to his name. She knew him when his vocabulary was less than 10 words. So as he sat in front of me, concentrating very hard on following the signs and attempting to enunciate every word, she just couldn't hold it back.

He's come so very far in such a short amount of time.

And then she proclaimed for the second time in two weeks that she's convinced I will be a speech therapist or OT one day. haha. I just told her that the only reason anything I try ends up working is because he's mine. I know how he thinks, what makes him laugh, how to motivate him, when to push him, when to hold back. And really, he's such an amazing kid. I always worry people think I want a ton of praise when I brag on Noah. Because really, it's all him. His personality is just so sweet and silly and bubbly. I would love to live in his world for a day. It seems like a very happy place. :)

In the pictures above, you can see his OT on the horse swing with him. That woman, you guys. She has been a Godsend. She has worked for the past year on building his muscle tone, increasing awareness of his own body, and other sensory issues he's had. And because of her?

This is happening...

I know it probably doesn't look like a big deal, but I've been waiting for the big kid swing transition for a long time. He just didn't have enough core strength to hold himself steady. Now I can walk away, and he stays put, totally happy to hang on.

He had his (very late) well check on Monday. He's 48.8 lbs and 3'7" tall. So 97th percentile in weight, and 94th in height. Told y'all he's a big kid.

We saw a new pediatrician, and he is absolutely amazing. Amazing doesn't begin to describe it honestly. He was able to get a "high five" from Noah when he walked in. He's patient and calm, and I know Noah senses that. I don't feel rushed when I ask him questions. When I explained how the last ped labeled Noah as obese, his eyes got wide and he responded calmly, "That seems a bit presumptuous to label him at age 3". He went on and on about how, yes, Noah is a bigger kid. But that he's clearly healthy. We'll obviously need to watch what his weight does as time goes on, but as of right now, he's fine. He explained how kids on the spectrum are almost never in the middle... they're usually on the skinny side or heavy side. That for reasons doctors aren't fully aware of yet, their metabolisms are different and could be because of any number of things (including being low tone). When talking nutrition, he recommended going to Earth fare. Earth fare!! And to see if I can get him to eat tofu since he doesn't like meat.

And then as we were talking, he said words that were music to my ears. He said the words, "He seems pretty high functioning to me."
Noah's diagnosis says he's severe. I'm pretty sure it was so he could qualify for more services through the state, however hearing a medical professional confirm what you already hope in your heart is true? Cue happy dance.

Socially, he's doing so so well. He loves attention. We've gone to a couple of bigger parties lately, where other kids were there, and he was right in the middle of the action the whole time. At one point, his friend Jackson was wanting to ride in this little push car thing. Noah wanted to ride it too, but I told him he had to wait, that it was Jackson's turn. So he proceeded to push Jackson all around the yard instead. I couldn't believe it. No tantrum. Nothing. Just "okay, then I'll just push him"...

I'll stop here, because I know I'm just gushing at this point.
I guess we're just in a really good place right now, and it has me all kinds of excited at the moment. Had you asked me last year if this is where I thought we'd be? I would've been doubtful. I honestly had no idea what to expect. So yeah, I can barely contain myself when I get going on everything Noah has been doing lately.

I just love this kid so much I could squish him.

Halloween

Most of you know how I grew up not trick-or-treating or celebrating Halloween in any way. However, as the years have gone by, I'm fine with letting Noah go. My only rule is that he can't be anything scary or evil... but we haven't had to worry about that. Brad, who grew up celebrating all things Halloween, even refuses to let Noah go to the scary looking houses and avoids the scary aisle at Target with him. It's really cute actually. And of course, Noah doesn't quite "get" the concept of Halloween. So it's a non-issue.

So anyway.
The night before Halloween, we carved pumpkins. Noah, being a total sensory seeker, actually doesn't like the feeling of pumpkin guts. So I let him paint his instead.

Afterwards, he decided to do some pumpkin bowling. He set up his paints on the floor, and tried to knock them over with his pumpkin. Obviously, that proved to be a tad difficult, so I got him some TP to knock down. He plays pumpkin bowling every day since. I'm worried he's going to be really disappointed when his pumpkin starts rotting.

That night, after Noah went to bed, Chase insisted we watch a scary movie. I hate scary movies, so we compromised. We watched the 1931 version of Dracula, which turned out to be more funny than scary. Seriously, if you want a good laugh, go watch it. It was great.

For Halloween, Noah was Bob the Builder... he makes a good one, don't you think?

The other neighborhood kids loved it and would walk around singing the theme song when they saw him.
Noah did okay trick-or-treating. He's not a big candy eater, and he couldn't figure out why we were ringing doorbells and NOT going inside. Made NO sense to him. lol.

But he was awfully cute...

 Happy Wednesday! ;)

31

I recently celebrated my 31st birthday. Which is weird, because I swear I'm only 25. Ha.

I had these big plans to meet up with friends at a local (huge) corn maze... at night with flashlights. I just knew it would be so much fun and was looking forward to it for weeks. Only for Noah to get strep throat the day before.

womp womp.

So yeah, we of course cancelled it and spent the weekend trying to figure out how to get Noah to actually swallow his antibiotics instead of squirming, crying, and spitting it out (we eventually opted for a shot instead).

But it's okay. I think I'm finally coming to terms with the fact that birthdays don't like me. Last year, if you remember, was probably the worst birthday ever. Nobody was around to go out with me, and I had a miscarriage at 10 weeks. We tried to make the most of it and go to the beach, but Noah refused to sleep the whole weekend. That and he pooped all over Brad in the ocean. Super fun.

However, I ended up spending my birthday with those most important to me. On my actual birthday, Brad cooked me an amazing dinner. Chase also came over and brought cupcakes from a local bakery. While we were hanging out upstairs later on, he went downstairs and came back with a cupcake, candle, and sang happy birthday to me. I swear sometimes guys really do make the best friends.

The next day, we went to my grandparents for dinner with my family. Chase came too and got a few family pictures of us. I'm trying to be better about asking people take pictures with me in them. Sure, there are bound to be blurry ones, but I don't even care. I've been documented in moments with my family, and that makes me really happy.

So no, my 31st birthday wasn't quite what I'd pictured, but it was still perfect.

time

I swear these blog breaks aren't intentional. I mean, I guess they sort of are, but it has nothing to do with blogging itself. I actually have several posts half-written.

See, the thing is? I've been working on myself a little bit lately. And one of the things I've been working on is... as my favorite 4th grade teacher would put it... "using my time wisely". I've realized that everything I spend time on, that we all spend time on, can be justified. Blogging? "I need to document my family's life so these moments aren't lost forever." Watching TV/playing Candy Crush/catching up on FB? "I need the mental break or I'll go crazy." See how that goes? All decent excuses... but it's still going to take up time.

Just about every one of us complains that "we don't have enough time" to do certain things. But all of us get the same amount. We all get 24 hours in a day. It's what we choose to do (or have to do) with that 24 hours that makes a difference.
So I've shifted priorities a bit. Not because I think blogging is a waste of time, but because I have a crap ton of other things that need to be done first. If I find myself with a few extra minutes of time during the day, and all that other stuff is done? (HAHA) Then I'll blog. But lately, I'm getting to the end of the day, and I decide I'd rather watch New Girl. Or go to bed early, because I'm freaking exhausted.

This time of year always gets insanely busy, for everyone I think. Target is gearing up for Black Friday, which of course takes up Brad's time. And people want their pictures taken for Christmas cards, so my photography biz has picked up. I'm already planning for next year, business-wise, and the many changes going on there (which frankly has me both nervous and excited). Noah is ready to be potty-trained, we have therapies to go to, morning/evening classes at church started back, my kid is a pro at trashing the house, and throw in the regular fun Fall stuff... it's a lot.

But the funny part? EVERYONE and their dog suddenly wants to get together. It's kind of becoming comical. And I don't mean my regular friends. I mean like one of my childhood friends' mom messaged me wanting to get together. I adore the woman and would LOVE to catch up, but it makes you wonder where these people were 6 weeks ago?

Anyway. That's what's going on in my head right now.
I literally just brain dumped on the page. There was no plan for this post. I just sat down and let the words fly. Or flow. Probably fly, since this will most likely have zero flow to it.

 

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Fall Kick-off

I swear, I was trying so hard not to let the hot weather here spoil my fall fun and make me think it was never going to get here. I mean, 90+ degree heat in October is just wrong.

But thanks to a tropical storm, last Monday brought cooler temps and happy vibes.

So on to what we've been up to...

(which I kind of feel is starting to become a little redundant to blog about since I post pics on FB... but whatever).

A little over a week ago, we took a little day trip up to the mountains. Which is weird because technically, we had to go down to SC, then back up to NC. Apparently that was the quickest route.

Anyway... Brad, Chase, Noah, and I decided to go apple picking. There's an amazing farm in the mountains that, according to every (local) friend I have on FB, is the place to be. The only down side was that it was hot. But other than that, I think it was the coolest apple orchard I've ever seen. Watching Noah and taking decent pictures is proving to be a very difficult feat lately, but I did the best I could. This kiddo is b-u-s-y.

The place had three rules:
1. No eating apples in the orchard.
2. No throwing apples.
3. No riding on the wagons.

The only rule we didn't break was the third one, and that's because we didn't grab a wagon.
But at least the one doing most of the rule-breaking is really cute... and can't read.

The guys tried to give me a hard time for dragging them almost two hours away to trek through the mountains picking apples that we could've just as easily bought at the grocery store.
And they have a point.
But dangit, I was going to have my perfect Fall apple-picking memory even if it was unseasonably hot and out of the way. And so what if someone spotted a bear hanging out near the Jonagold trees. Or that Noah had a fit on the mountain because I wouldn't let him run into the woods.

The guys may have had a fun time picking on me, but I think they were surprised at how fun it actually ended up being. Especially when all the really good apples were up high, and they had to figure out how to get them down.

We went home with an insane amount of apples, some apple-cinnamon butter (which btw, you paleo peeps should make... no added sugar, and it's amazing), apple jelly, and apple cider doughnuts. I'd never actually had apple cider doughnuts before, and I'm glad they only seem to exist in remote areas, because I could've devoured that whole box. Thankfully I had three boys to fight over them with, so I only had two. :)

The whole day was awesome. Definitely worth it. And the apples were way better than store bought. Even the guys had to admit it.

Our church recently had a big "Family Fun Day". We didn't get to go last year, because it was all rainy and Brad had to work. So I was really excited about this year. They have an enormous field for soccer, relay games, etc. Noah's obviously a little too small for all that, but they had some big blow up slides and bouncy houses for the little guys.
Any time we go anywhere crowded, I usually put Noah's autism shirt on him. It's amazing how people are immediately so sweet and patient with him once they see it. The girl at the top of the slide helped coach him up the stairs, and in order to get him to go down the slide, she counted down 3-2-1-GO. Worked every time.

He's getting so so good at waiting in line (which he really doesn't like), taking turns, and learning to be patient. He still gets annoyed when he has to do it, but he does it regardless. I'm so proud of how far he's come even in just the last couple of months. And no, I didn't hold him in line the whole time. lol. Just long enough to help him wait and go over the whole "First her turn, then Noah's turn" routine.

I usually come prepared with snacks for Noah at events like this, since I know he won't eat meals like BBQ or mac n cheese. However, when the three of us adults went through the line separately, we all grabbed Noah a bag of his favorite chips, not realizing the others did too. Yeah, he's not spoiled at all.

 

I love seeing how Noah handles himself now when there's too much sensory input for him to deal with. Instead of having a meltdown, he calmly finds a spot to chill for a little bit. Some days he's all about being in the middle of the action and plays with the other kids, and other days he needs to just hang out on the sidelines.

As long as he's having fun, that's all I care about. :)

Happy Monday!

adventures in wedding photography

I second shot for a photographer friend of mine over the weekend at a wedding. The couple was super cute (and the bride was sweet), the reception area was pretty, and the bridal party was a lot of fun... it really had the potential to be perfect. But because it was not my wedding, and because I don't want to accidentally offend anyone, everyone will remain anonymous (so no pictures)...

So here's the ridiculousness that ensued: 

- I tried to get a cool shot from above of everyone dancing at the reception. The problem? I stood on a FOLDING chair. You can figure out what happened next.

- At one point, every single groomsman was twerking on me. I screamed.

- One of the groomsmen apparently had a crush on me. He stalked me all night, asked me to take a selfie with him, and told me to add him on facebook (thank the Lord he didn't even know my name).  Me and my friend stayed together and she refused to let me walk to my car alone afterwards.

- They put a keg on the dance floor and proceeded to turn people upside down to drink from it. I don't have much experience with keg parties, but I kind of figured women in dresses wouldn't want to participate. I was wrong. So very wrong.

- The groom kept trying to dance with my friend while she was working, and the bride kept having to rescue her.

- By the end of the night, the whole bridal party was so gone that they didn't even bother doing a fun exit. That actually made me a little sad for the bride. But she looked like she was having a good time. haha

The plus side? I took home free cake. :)
And also made lots of hilarious memories with a new friend.