Pictures

school visit...

Our wonderful teacher-consultant Marge set up a visit for us today at the Ida hearing impaired program. Because Lauren has a mild-moderate hearing loss she qualifies for this program and it was wonderful. The teacher is very outgoing, social and sweet and all of the kids (all 4 of them) are very social, speak very clearly and are very close to one another. They do all sorts of typical preschool activities with a special emphasis on language development. They do not use any sign-language (thanks for the memories, Alex and Leah) but rely completely on the spoken language.

Lauren can start as soon as she is 2 1/2 years old....aka... in January 2010. That is probably the hardest part for me to swallow. I talked to many people there, including the program director and they recommended that Lauren start at 2 1/2 in order to get the most out of the program.

LoLo isn't even walking yet but I know that she will be relatively soon. I want her to be able to keep up with the kids in as many ways as possible. It's hard to not be afraid of her being left behind developmentally though i know that she will shine in her own way.

Gosh, Why does everything happen so suddenly, no matter how long it takes?

Lauren Love

After yesterday's blog entry, I knew that I needed something more positive. And, I have it. Gabe, Lauren and Davrin. Lauren is such a big love muffin and really brings out the best in the boys - they love making her smile and totally get into her accomplishments and antics.

Today I had to drop snack off at Gabe's school and had Lauren with me. I set her down so that I could go back to the car to get the watermelon I had included. (FYI I was supposed to bring snacks for the whole week but was in a fog the first part of the week so didn't send anything in. Today, I made up for it and allayed my guilt by spending about $30 bucks on snacks for Gabe's classmates)
Anyway...when I went back in, Lauren was in performance mode, shaking her head and moving about. The kids were asking her questions and then waiting for either a yay or a nay. It was so funny!

Gabe loves making Lauren laugh and if you could hear the sweet sound of her you would know why. It's so unique, so pure and so wonderful. Gabe goes to the greatest lengths to get her to giggle but it fits him as he is so active, energetic and persistent. If Lauren picks up anything from Gabe, let's up it's the persistence!

here are some pictures of my sweet boy, Gabe and LoLo
Gabe is one of the greatest people I know. He has so much energy and enthusiasm and emotion. He's also incredibly smart and self-assured. I admire him in many ways and he has taught me so much as a parent. He tries me to my very last nerve but it's always worth it.

Life as I know it...

it's been one of those days, I suppose. Not enough sleep, too much stress and some surprises thrown in for good measure. Lauren was sick the past week or so but is doing much better, so much better that sleeping has become her least favorite past time. I like sleep and I seem to need lots of it. Lauren...not so much. Kids seem to find sleep pretty pointless most of the time. Just last night I talked to Gabe about it. He swears that he is never tired and that he never actually falls asleep. I told him what sleeping does for us and he didn't seem very sold on it, even so.

So, what else? The house is pretty much a mess most of the time. The dishwasher is broken in that it leaks water because there is a clog somewhere in the drainage system. The thought of hand washing dishes isn't over whelming to me; nor is it something I can see doing from this point forward. But, on the big scale of things not a big deal.

These things are harder to take:
A friend of mine emailed me a couple of days ago to let us know that her daughter, who we thought had beat breast cancer a few months ago, is now at U of M because the cancer has spread to her brain and there is a very poor prognosis. She is basically at U of M to receive treatment that will alleviate her discomfort.

and this:
a family from our church lost there little boy to Zelwegger's syndrome last year and gave birth to a beautiful baby girl this past December. I just found out that this baby has the same congenital syndrome - with a better prognosis - but it's rare to live past 2 years.

Everywhere I turn there are issues and challenges...and yes, blessings and amazing things, too. But, it is truly hard to feel grateful at times. I know how lucky I am to have a home, healthy and happy children, an education and a future. But, geeze,,,my husband and I really don't get along much at all and we don't see eye to eye on much of anything. Home feels like a battle field at times. There are lots of reasons why and I do plan on getting help for it: help in understanding what is going on, what I do to contribute to the problems and what we can do to make things work.

That's it for now...I needed to get that off of my chest.

(almost) Wordless Wednesday

Lauren and Marge - we "heart" her. She works with LoLo on hearing skills. Lauren absolutely adores her and if you met Marge, you would know why!



















Lauren wearing her beautiful hand-me-down dress from Naomi; her friend with Ds from Dundee.


Happy, Happy Lauren! She LOVES the camera! check out the bangs! Who would do that to their child?

Have you even seen anyone this happy with a bottle?











Just my cute girl~

not too much to say but wanted to let you in on the fact that 1. I'm trying to get rid of those ridiculous ads that show up on my blog. It's not as easy as you think to undo them.