Annaliece's Second Birthday

 

We celebrated Annie’s party a little late this year due to so much going on in our world!  However, it didn’t matter when we did it.  She was still the happiest little girl.  She loved the cupcakes and especially loved the Minnie Mouse theme.  Friends and Family showed up to celebrate with us and it was a really nice low key event!

 

 

 

 

Early Intervention

Early Intervention is an educational program ran through the Jordan School District that is geared toward children with developmental disabilities.  Teachers and therapists of all styles work with children on a variety of developmental delays to try and get them back on track before they reach school age so that we can hopefully prevent them from needing remedial programs once they reach mainstream schooling.  Most of the time this program completely works and a child is totally on track by the time they reach first grade.  Is some cases, the child still needs minor assistance when they reach school , but in ALL cases, at least teachers know exactly where the child is and what is needed when they get to school and their educations can be built to their needs so if they need to be sent to a specialty school or program we can do that from day one.  

The program is designed to teach siblings and parents how to cater a child’s play and home environment around key theories so that a child can maximize their learning.  In Annaliece’s case, she is incredibly behind in her social and emotional oral communication and development.  So after meeting with her therapist, whom Elizabeth fondly calls Dr Sue, we have set the following goals for the next six months:

• Use 20-25 words or signs to describe her personal day to day needs.
• Use a fork and spoon to be able to cleanly self feed all meals.
• Be able to accurately play with 10 daily objects in an appropriate manner. (example: feed a baby, bounce a ball, build with blocks, etc)
• Express appropriate emotions at appropriate times, especially when interacting with other children.

So once a week for the next several months Miss Sue will be coming to spend time at our house and work with Annie.  She will be teaching Elizabeth, Jason and I how to use our daily tasks to incorporate additional skills so that we can encourage steps toward these goals.  Here’s hoping that is works.  I have total faith that is will, but if it doesn’t, we set another few goals and we keep going.  

The other good news is, this program also has music classes and other great things that we can participate in together while we are doing these therapies.  So I get to start taking the girls to play groups and music classes starting next week.  I am super excited for that.  They will have so much fun and they will never know that it is educational therapy.  Elizabeth is excited that she gets to participate as well. 

I QUIT!!

 I quit!
So I did it.... or I should probably say WE did it... quitting your job is never a one sided decision.  It is always a decision made up of a million tiny decisions that compress together to form the much larger decision.  And man was this one big!!  HUGE!  I mean, how do you decide to down size your income?  How do you decide when you are going to take that jump?
Jason and I did it though.  After weeks, if not months, of talking about where we were headed with my jewelry company and the pros and cons in life associated with my working at Walmart, we finally did it.
I gave notice earlier this week.  It turns out my two week notice will be much shorter than intended.  You see, due to jewelry events, I had requested time off next week so I wasn't on the schedule for several days.  Because of that, my last day of work will actually be this upcoming Sunday.  I am a little apprehensive and a little excited.  It marks a whole new experience for me.  I am very much looking forward to this new adventure.
I am very sad to be leaving my position at Walmart, but I am very excited for the opportunities and doors this opens for me.  This will open up my schedule to so many new things with Paparazzi and that is what I need.  Paparazzi has been such a huge blessing and is growing so fast.  I am amazed by how productive it has been for my little family and I have only been able to give it a smidgeon of my time.  If I am able to triple that time and energy, just imagine what can happen!  The possibilities are endless.
So here, we are!  Two shifts left!  I am so excited!  

Resolution 2012 -- Weight Loss

I worked really hard in 2012 to drop the “baby weight.”  Hard to call it baby weight though seeing as my blessed bundles came weighing only 3 lbs and 2 lbs respectively.  Needless to say, when I started 2012 I was weighing roughly around 265lbs.  I know, I know, it was the largest I have ever weighed.  People say there is no way I was that heavy.  I carried it fairly well, but yes I did weigh that much.  It was causing a lot of problems and I was MISERABLE.  I hated being that heavy and it was causing all sorts of secondary medical issues.  So it made my 2012 resolution really easy.  

Then the trouble started.  I HATE DIETING.  I hate the word DIET.  Diets imply things you can’t have and things you deprive yourself of.  So I decided right then I was not going to diet.  I know that sounds silly, but what joy are you going to find in this world by starving yourself, going out with your friends just to tell yourself you can’t have 80% of what is on the menu, and all for the sake of being able to fit in to a size 5.  NOPE not for this girl.  What I did do was swap out my lunches for those little Green Giant Veggie Steamers you buy in the frozen food section at the grocery store.  I would have an entire bag of those over one of the cups of minute rice.  That was lunch.  And a HUGE lunch.  It was quite filling and very low calorie.  I would heat up that bag of veggies, took about 7 minutes, put it over the cup of minute rice and BAM  -- lunch.  I lost 10 lbs the first month.  Another 10 lbs the second month.  I couldn’t believe that just swapping to a high veggie lunch was shedding some of that baby weight.  It was awesome.  My drs were impressed and so was I.  It was really cool.

Then thing slowed down a little.  The weight wasn’t coming off as fast.  It was okay, because I had dropped 20-25 lbs pretty quickly.  I was pretty impressed by that.  I decided I needed to find something else.  So Jason and I got some passes to the rec center.  Megan, Jason and I began going to Rec Center to work out several nights a week.  That was just the motivation I needed.  It was early spring and spring fever was kicking in for everyone.  The gym was fairly light most nights and Megan and I could get in several miles of biking on the stationary bikes.  It was nice.  Megan usually got in a much more aggressive workout than I did but I still felt accomplished.  BAM – there went another 20 lbs.  I was loving it.  

Then something horrible happened.  In March, I was diagnosed with a mild seizure disorder that required medication to keep under control.  I was experiencing micro-seizures that were leading to severe migraines causing quite a bit of disruption in my life.  The drs put me on some medication to help control all of this.  The medication was remarkable.  But the side effects were even more remarkable.  One of the better side effects, all though still under debate by my drs, is that it increased my metabolic rate.  While I had to begin being heavily monitored by doctors for the next 9 months (insert a lot of dollar signs right here) the weight began to just drop off.  You see, in combination with my new eating habit, my slight increase in activity and my new drug combination, my body started dumping weight.  It was awesome.  OR SO I THOUGHT…..

Apparently, it can be dangerous to drop too much weight too quickly.  I hit that level.  At one point I was dropping 8-10 lbs a week.  I got to the point where I  was actually having to consume extra calories to make sure I was not dropping weight too fast.  It was not something I was used to.  Instead of thinking twice about dessert, I was eating seconds.  It was kind of a nice problem to have, but on the other hand it was getting a little annoying.  I would go to dr appointments to hear them tell me that my dosing was off or that I had lost too much weight that week.  My blood levels were off, my brain patterns showed I was still seizing, my migraines were back, my weight was down again, over and over and over.  It was a vicious cycle.  However, after several months of this, we finally did figure it out.  We got the medications figured out, my weight loss and weight evened out, and my migraines and seizures are under control. 

And here I am, writing this blog to share with everyone.  I am content with where I am at although still striving to drop another 5-10 lbs.  While I have always been curvy with an enviable bra size, I really wish that some of this weight loss had lessened some of my upper curves.  My cup size hasn’t changed much.  So I am hoping that with another 5-10 lbs that might finally change.  If not, we may look in to more permanent methods.  But that is another story. 

For now, I am happy to report that having started at 265 lbs I am balancing the scale between 145 and 150 consistently right now.  My drs are thrilled and amazed and I am very pleased and shocked at the difference a year can make.  I went from a size 18/20 pant size to a size 6/7 and couldn’t be happier. 

Bring on 2013!!

Elizabeth's Third Birthday

Elizabeth turned 3 on November 10.  It was such a crazy time of year for us this year that I regretfully admit that we didn’t have a chance to celebrate until later in the month.  When we finally had an opportunity to celebrate, our little Elizabeth was very particular.  She had to have Rapunzel decorations and LOTS OF BALLOONS.  Our little angel girl loves balloons.  LOL.  Pretty hard to come by when we are going through a helium shortage in the United States, but hey, I managed to scrounge up a good dozen balloons and made her day pretty special.  

We celebrated at Grandma Bartlett’s house with cupcakes and ice cream and plenty of gifts for her to open.  She was more interested in just tearing all the paper off the packages than she was on what was inside them, but it was really fun to watch. She also loved blowing out the candles on her cupcake.  She thought that was pretty awesome.  

Elizabeth got lots of fun stuff to play with along with some much needed clothes and diapers.  She loved the My Little Ponies that mom and dad got her and she especially loved that Kennedy came to play with us along with all of our family members.

Elizabeth is doing great at three years old.  She is 36 inches tall and weighs 30 lbs.  She has a few delays still but is otherwise caught up to her full term classmates.  We hope that we have worked through the rest of her delays before she is ready to start preschool in the fall. Elizabeth is bright and outgoing and loves to help mommy with whatever she is doing from dishes and laundry to selling jewelry and getting ready for work!  Mom and dad find life is never dull with Elizabeth around.  She is a fantastic big sister to Annaliece and Annie and Ellie love to rough house together.  Mommy and GaGa love you!

Annaliece's First Birthday

We held Annaliece’s first birthday on a sunny Sunday afternoon.  We had a nice little turnout of family and friends.  Elizabeth was more interested in helping us open Annie’s gifts than Annie was, but hey, what are big sister’s for.  We did a ladybug theme to mark the big occasion for our little lady and I handmade the invitations and most of the decorations.  Grandma Bartlett made the cupcakes and ordered the cake for Annie as part of her gift and we tried to keep expenses to a minimum.  

We have a lot to celebrate in this past year.  While Annaliece continues to be small in stature, she has proven that size isn’t everything.  She has hit most of her milestones on target and continues to strive to reach the rest.  She is a bit speech delayed and struggles to push the walking barriers but works at it all the time.  She isn’t gaining weight very fast although it isn’t because she doesn’t like to eat.  LOL.  That little one can pack away food better than most. 

She was very happy at her one year party and loved all the beautiful gifts she got.  We did miss the presence of some of our family but loved having those that joined us.  Annaliece especially loved having her own smash cake and LOVED the frosting!  She was disappointed when daddy finally took it away.  She loved having her former NICU buddy Max there to play with and it was an extra joyous party when Kiri  and cousin Braylee came to join them.  Having all those babies in one house playing was fun to listen to.  They have their own way of doing things that makes the rest of us wonder what they are up to.  

All in all it was a wonderful event and was just perfect to mark the one year survival of our very precious princess.  Here’s hoping that the next year is a bit calmer in comparison!