Henry's Room Reveal

Been working on Henry's big boy room.

Sheesh...this room has been through some changes.

House plan...technically was a bedroom when we built.

Made it into our laundry room.

Then changed out MANY rooms before Henry's big arrival.

Vintage rock nursery...

Toy Story toddler bed.



Henry's big boy room was done on a budget.

Why?

Because this is still going on:

At least it was my art room door...and window...and wall.

Came off.

Point is...Not ready to spend a lot, do to sheenanigans like this!

And since sweet boy's room was done on a budget...it's still a work it progress.

We started out with bunk beds.

Hubs had some as a boy and loved.

I was (am still) waiting for a collar bone, arm...you name it...break.

So, we compromised...had to have stairs instead of a ladder.

And best part?

Drawers in the stairs!

Bedding:  West Elm.

Pillows:  Crate and Barrell

Little cubbies too!

And that opening down by Buzz and Woody?

Goes right under the bottom bunk.

Nice hiding spot!

On the other side of the room...

Couldn't put anything around the beds...

fear of little man ripping wall art down.

So, made a collage of a lotta business on this wall.

Again...work in progress!

Nice chair with the wrinkled sheet, huh?

I know...will eventually get a great chair.

But guess what?

That sheet...already drug out into the hallway, thrown over the catwalk.

So why iron it?

Here's the lowdown:

1.  Dave:  First thing I bought for Henry's rock nursery.  Still love Dave!

2.  Top Shelf Bear:  Girls made for Henry

3.  Top shelf books:  Hardy Boys:  Jon's childhood books.

4.  Low shelf art:  Jon drew when he was a child.

5.  Where The Wild Things Are...Jon's favorite childhood book

6.  Low pix:  I gave this to Jon back in college
6.5  Horse shoe:  found in Aunt Karla's yard, across the road.  Have collected around 30!

7.  Horse:  Z gallerie

8. Lamp:  Home Goods

10.  Tractor:  Jon's childhood toy

11.  Armoire:  Jon's ...I plan to paint it dark gray (the walls are light gray).

Still need to add some patterned drapes to the room.

Also...would love to add a pattern rug, but...would probably end up like the chair sheet...

thrown over the catwalk...left for dead in the middle of our family room.

I plan to add some wall baskets for toys and eventually may add lights for each bunk.

Changes will be made as our little man grows.

Henry loves his new room.

The girls adore it!

Now, if we can just keep everyone in their own beds.

I'm not a fan of musical beds in the middle of the night!
Ha!

When It Rains, It Pours

Yep, still here.

Quite a long week.

Got the best of me.

Drove to Indy 4x in 5 days.

It's an hour...one way.

Monday...hubs and I took Henry to a children's hospital.

Ranked nationally as one of the top children's hospitals in the country.

The jury is still out in my book.

Guess we haven't had the luck that others have had here.

Maybe it was that the therapist told us right away:

I haven't even looked at Henry's file.

By the end, little man was in tears, so was his momma.

I got pretty snappy with the therapist.

As parents, we get SNAPPY tickets, right?

Ahhh well...

preschool two more days and hippotherapy one.

Mr. is thriving in school.

All of a sudden into Peter Pan!

And the drama!

I know...pacifier.  He stole it from a baby doll!

My one day home to clean...oh the laundry...

school called.

Laney got sick.

Temperature.

And the next day...

hubs came home with bronchitis!

Well, some things kept me a bit sane.

Finished some doodles...preliminary sketches...illustrations.

Not sure when I found the time.

And bought a few books.

Nothing too deep...

but excited to dive in.

Figure if Henry gets to enjoy the horses, I can too.

(Although I would much rather be up close with them.)

And the girls...

play Swiss Family out in the woods all the time.

Thought I would brush up on it all...

give them some tips!

And am obsessed with this little number too.

I'll even play it alone! 

So, ya....long week, not a lot of pix.

I'll be back with more to share. 

I've got a feeling that some fun is coming my way!

Color Me Weekend.

O' Happy Day!

The weekend is here...

HOORAY!

The weekend I love...

that much I know.

So, off to enjoy it...

Ready...Set...GO!

Mr. George...oh so kitty smart.

I'm gonna hafta sneak in some cuddling...

beteween my new project...some new ART!

My other little Mister, Mr. Henry, too messy for acrylic paints.

So, I tried some old school watercolors!

Enjoying my time...and having a lot of fun...

Better get busy...before this weekend is DONE!

Happy WEEKEND!

Love Day.

So much excitement...

always swirling around LOVE DAY.

Opening up card valentines as a child.

No candy, nothing fancy.

Just cute cards.

In 2nd or 4th grade...

my parents gifted me with a little wooden heart pin.

(Who are we kidding....dad didn't do the shopping!)

Oh...loved that special pin.

Yes, the little things.

Fourth grade...

my first piece of jewelry from a boy!

little necklace with a clear rock crystal.

His name was Joey.

It was too much.

I didn't want a relationship that involved jewelry.

I never looked at him in a romantic way again.

(Although we did remain close friends.

Even walked together at graduation.)

At 37, Love Day...still fun...

because of these three!

(hat day at school too)

Henry's first school valentine gig.

So much fun to see him put valentines in his classmates' bags!

While my boy was in school, I gifted myself...

walked the church halls, Starbuck's, Trader Joe's.

In the afternoon, back to help Emily's class celebrate LOVE DAY!

Cousin Megan, classmate and Em.

After eating lotsa colored candy (guessing GREEN)...

the kids were ready for my arrival...

I took root beer floats and a few fun games!

After school...

had tons of mail and goodies from grandparents!

My sis...that girl shipped an insane amount of LOVE sugar!

After sugar overload...

the girls and I were off to gymnastics...

Me:  instructor

Them:  students!

After tumblin' around, back home for baths and goodies from moi!

Henry's Woody hat was a hit!

Oh, to get a pix of all three littles with their gifts!

LOVE gifts were enjoyed...

And this morning...

looky what I found.

Guess the new Barbie has a friend already...

thanks for the introduction from Miss Laney!

Ah, LOVE DAY...

so special and grand.

So wonderful to share with my hubs...

my whole family.

Well, goodbye LOVE DAY 2012.

Today's another day...

This momma...

mind is just spinning...

up and doodling at 1:30am.

I'm hoping that this doesn't turn into a great ME time.

Doodling fun...just not in the wee hours!

Here's to you and yours on LOVE DAY.

And to doing what you love every day!

THE ARTS...are back!

Oh, I doodle all the time,

but haven't touched a paint brush in a few months.

Life has just taken over.

Well, THE ARTS...

they made their way back into our home again.

Inspiring...and WOW...just freeing!

Yesterday...my SIL Suzanne and I took the girls to a little play.

THE MAGIC SCHOOL BUS:  GLOBAL WARMING!

They all seemed to enjoy the song and dance!

And it's always great to go back to PURDUE!

We got married on campus...

had our reception there too...

So, had to get the girls' pix right were our reception was held!

And if a cute play wasn't enough...

We created our valentines this past weekend!

I found a little saying on a birthday site.

Drew up the pix.

Hubs made copies.

Added google eyes to Henry's...little more masculine.

Filled his with goldfish crackers.

And the girls?

They added ribbons and fun.

Their fill request?

Sweedish fish!

The girls...so excited to take their valentines to school!

And Henry...

first Valentine's party tomorrow at preschool!

So excited when he made his first Valentine art!

Probably won't get the whole Valentine's thing, but will definitely go for the goodies!

And crafting with the kids...

made me really miss art.

I needed a fix,

so had a little fun yesterday.

Started out with a cereal box...

ended up with this:

Yep, just stopped daily life to create,

but OH MY! 

Like a HUGE deep breath!

I forgot how much I missed some creativity!

And even hubs got out the paint yesterday!

Painted Henry's room!

Can't wait to show you...

new BIG BOY bed ordered,

comforters here!

So, THE ARTS...

wonderful to have them back into swing again!

Dear Jon

First of all...to everyone who commented/emailed after my last post...
Thank you sooo much for your sweet words regarding my amazing Henry!

They mean the world to me.

And now back to our daily...nightly...craziness!

Yepidee-yep...

another Dear Jon letter.

Unlike my first letter...

this one's more like a lil' note.

Dear Husband Jon,

Bedtime for our littles...little crazy this week.  Two with barking coughs.  The other...sick to her tummy.  After breathing in Vick's vapors, sleeping upright in a rocking chair with my baby on my chest, changing sheets due to sweet little miss's upset tummy...I was tired...but everyone was soon on the mend.

I was in need of some spa treatment.  Dreaming of when our 3 went to bed...soaking in the tub, then laughing over my favorite sitcom, under my  fresh, warm BLEACHED sheets!  Couldn't wait!

So, put the girls down.  Check.  Then I head it..BAAAAMMMMM!  And my spa bubble was popped right when I went into our bedroom.

Next time you try to be Stone Cold Steve Austin, let me know.  I'm thinking your pole vault over the end of our bed wasn't a good idea.

Our son, who was on the bed at the time of your cannonball, now knows what fun it is to go down with the furniture.  Pray that he doesn't try your stunts on his own.  Lotsa praying, because you know he'll recreate this stunt!

So happy that I could help you with the recovery.  Did get little boy into bed.  But, you weren't going to totally destroy my dreams.  Crazy glad that you didn't say a word as I sat on the floor right in front of you  and watched my show, while you slaved away.  That will teach you to NOT TRY CRAZY STUNTS...then laugh because the bed broke on MY SIDE!  Thanks Mr. Fix-it!

Love,

Your I think I need a real spa day wife,  Lauren

Diagnosis

I've thought about this post for so long.

When I was going to post it.

What I was going to say.

Well...it's here.

You have all read bits and pieces about Henry.

Speech therapy, hippotherapy...

Why?

Even though you've been given bits and pieces,

I failed to address many questions.

The million dollar question: 

 What is Henry's diagnosis?

A few weeks ago, we finally got that answer.

Our greatest concern:  Autism.

Our greatest relief:  NOT Autism.

At a year, I started to notice differences in Henry.

He wasn't talking and wouldn't respond to his name.

Red Flags!

I kept getting:  He's young, It will be fine.

I knew something was NOT fine.

Here I was, a momma with an instinct, but didn't know what to do...

where to turn.

Speech therapy was first.

Our therapist introduced us to hippotherapy.

Our OT at hippotherapy introduced us to a special social and language development preschool group.

And here we are.

Henry's diagnosis:  Pervasive Development Disorder Not Otherwise Specified.

He is on the Autistic spectrum.

Why?

He has a communication delay.

His speech is delayed and so are his social skills.

It may SEEM that he is ignoring you...

but he's not.

At a social gathering with a lot of kids...people...

he may choose to play alone.

Doesn't mean that he dislikes interaction.

The spectum...1 in 110 kids are on it, and that number is increasing.

Our speech therapist nailed it...

said if tested, everyone would be on the spectrum for one reason or another.

We are all different, we all have our quirks.

So, we have a diagnosis.

What does it mean?

Only extra resources if we need them.

Honestly, we forget that he even has a diagnosis.

He is a beautiful boy who is so loving.

He is improving daily.

He knows all of his numbers and letters...and we didn't even teach him.

He loves Toy Story, Scooby Doo and others.

He sings. 

He dances.

His sisters are his best friends.

Yes, this has been very, very hard.

Yes, there have been times that I have been on the floor in tears...not able to even get up.

Yes, I have asked WHY HENRY?

Yes, I have worried myself sick...with all of the WHAT IFs.

And it all comes down to this.

Like Emily and Laney, Henry is a true gift.

Okay, so our road may be a bit different with him,

but every child is different and needs his/her own path.

We all have wants and expectations for our children.

Henry has taught me so much.

What do I want for my children?

As long as they are happy, healthy, confident and make good life choices...

can it get better?

So, we are making itty bitty sacrifices...traveling over an hour (1 way) 2-3x a week for school and therapy.

I don't even know if those are sacrifices. 

Henry has opened our family up to a whole new world.

The girls know about his delays.

They are always helping as much as they can.

They see the kids in wheelchairs, leg braces, etc. when we go to hippotherapy.

Yes, it was a struggle at first, but now they are so much more aware of children with special needs.

And they are not quick to judge at all.

Our whole family...

we all have open minds now.

So, Henry's journey may be a bit different,

but we are ready for it.

We have such a wonderful support system...

family and friends.

Yes, people will judge, but it doesn't matter.

Every family is different.

Every family tackles different challenges.

And like I've said before...

My family is the world to me.

I will fight like hell for them.

Thank you for all of your kind words along this journey.

Parenting is the toughest, most rewarding "job".

And to bond together as parents...

definitely uplifting.

So, our journey will continue.

Henry's journey...

our family journey...

with a ton of hugs and kisses along the way.

Here In Indiana

Weekends...

always the best!

Little Henry has been down for the count.

Barking cough!

Not fun!

We've just been taking it easy...

my favorite!

Yep, taking it easy,

but someone has to have a lil' push...

pump it up some.

ME!

This momma has a new unwanted sidekick...

Blood pressure monitor.

Bummer.

So, no more slacking.

I layered up this morning...

And off I went.

Let's just say...

I didn't love it.

Not one bit.

But gotta make some changes!

And this afternoon...

beautiful day.

First day in months that everyone down our lane has been out.

The girls...

first time their bikes have been outside since fall!

And off they went to play in the woods.

So, definitely taking advantage of the weather here.

And gearing up for tonite!

A little event that you may have heard of is just about an hour away from our home...

SUPERBOWL!

No crazy plans here...

but grilling out...the best!

Can't remember last time...if ever...that we grilled out in February!

So, here's to a FAB weekend,

amazing weather...

little sweet babes getting healthier...

and Superbowl commercials!

Welcome To Preschool

First day of preschool for my guy.

Oh how he did a FAB job!

His momma?

Not so good.

Ya, I cried and cried...

but Henry...

not a bit!

Dropped him off...

had to watch a bit from outside the door.

Sweet boy just went to play!

Went back early to watch some more...

heard him talking,

sitting at a table following directions.

And WOW!  watched him eat snacks!

Boy oh boy, does he love his snacks!

Ha!

When they let him outta class, he ran up to me...

MOMMY!

and jumped into my arms!

The other moms couldn't believe it!

Couldn't believe he wasn't crying!

Yay, Henry!

So, here's my boy, eating breakfast on his first day.

We drive over an hour to get to school,

so, breakfast pix while it was still dark out...

well, they will do.

Because it's only once when my baby has his first ever day of school.

Happy weekend everyone!

Here's to a few down days...

to just  love on my little ones!

February Cha-Cha-Changes

Hello February!

Topped 60 degrees here yesterday...

spring-like!

Won't last, but February.. countdown to REAL spring is on!

Adding some LOVE touches to my home...

you know...just to brighten things up a bit!

Getting geared up for LOVE day!

Had to try out some goodies!

Chocolate, of course!

Peanut butter balls!

WOW!  My babies...

just couldn't get enough!

Last weekend, while the girlies and I shopped for bathroom decor...

hubs went next door to Home Depot.

The wheels were turning in his head.

Made a new swing accessory!

Definite winner!

February...bringing new changes here!

Mr. Henry...not only hippotherapy...

but...PRESCHOOL!

Yep!

Yesterday, sat in on the class.

Gonna be a great fit for my guy.

Three teachers for 9 kids.

One speech therapist and one occupational therapist.

Tomorrow...first day.

I drop him off.

I've dreaded this day forever...

my baby...dropping him off.

It's going to be downright rough.

For both of us.

Maybe they will let me peek in...

just like this fellow yesterday at hippotherapy.

We were in the therapy room.

Mr. Horse...just wanted to be with Henry so much!

So, I'll be back.

Tomorrow I will be quite a mess...tears!

Wish us luck!