Amber's Wedding Part I

Amber was sealed on Tuesday, July 17, in the Manti Utah Temple.  She picked the Manti temple because that is where Mom, Megan, and I were all married.  I'm glad she did.  It's so awesome that we were all married in the same beautiful, sacred place.

Amber, Trevor, and the parents had to be there early.  The rest of us needed to be there by 10.  As I was without a vehicle (Sorry, friends from Utah!  If I'd had a car and a longer vacation I promise I would have tried to get together!), the boys and I got to ride up with James and Megan's family in their GIANT RV.  Micah fell asleep on the way, but it was not a peaceful sleep as I'd left his special Blankie behind.  Woops!  Luke and Blake watched Thomas the Train while Megan and I chatted.  Taylie, RJ, and Brenna were in the RV too, but Ethan was at scout camp.

We called Nathan and Sarah mid-route and asked them to pick up a few last minute items we'd forgotten when they stopped in Ephraim to go to Wal-mart.  I was hoping they could find a replica of Micah's Blankie.  They found one that was close, but Micah wouldn't take it.  They also picked up a white shirt for Blake.

James brought the RV to entertain the kids while we were in the sealing.  Apparently at Manti, kids have to be 12 before they can even go into the Visitor's Center.  As there were a lot of kids we wanted something enclosed to keep them all contained.  So they were all cooped up together with Monica's mom and the older kids while we went into the sealing.  I gather that Micah did the seat belt buckles over and over pretty much the entire hour we were gone while Luke rotated between pretending to drive the RV and pestering RJ to pick him up to see the vent fans.

After the sealing, we rushed down to get the kids and haul them back up the hill for pictures.  Micah was a pill for some of the picture taking, but once he wasn't expected to stand still he had a good time.  There are a lot of pictures that I want to post, so that is why I will have to separate the posts a little.  Here goes round I.

Amber's colors were navy blue and a chartreuse green.  I thought they turned out very pretty.  And she found great outfits for everyone to wear.  I thought the little boys were adorable in their little blue and green ties.  Luke was very excited to have a "tie like D."

The beautiful bride

Letting Luke smell the flowers

 

Amber and Trevor

Okay, hardly anyone had the opportunity to meet Trevor until a few days before the wedding.  My parents had met him and Megan had.  I think that might be it, though.  Amber and I talk on the phone pretty frequently, so I'd heard a lot about him.  I liked what I heard.  But I was so impressed when I met him in person.  He was polite, funny, and so gentle with Amber.  But the thing I liked best about him was the way he just waltzed right into his roles as uncle, brother, etc.  We went to Chuck E. Cheese on Saturday afternoon.  Trevor followed Micah around so that I could have a chance to sit and talk with Nathan, Sarah, and Megan.  Micah is a tough one to follow around, and I was grateful for the break.  After that, I was a forever fan of Trevor.  

Monica was a HUGE help to me the entire trip.  Micah would run in one direction and Luke would run in another, and I didn't have Jared to help me.  I was so glad that she was right there to step in and help out.  Monica and Micah got to be pretty good friends.

Luke is really into Curious George lately.  Luke spent a lot of time in the tree pretending to be George.

Blake also spent some time in the tree.

Okay.  Pretty much everyone liked taking pictures in the tree.

Our cute Bridesmaid dresses  (Or are they matron dresses?)

Eric's and Monica's cute daughter, Brooklyn

Nathan and Taylie

Ha Ha Ha Ha

Micah and Luke spent a lot of time trying to break in.

Luke really liked Trevor!

They are so happy!

Playing with Mima's zipper on her purse--

Micah loves Mima.  Especially after her weeks with us in Williamsburg and Amarillo, Micah is fully in love with Mima.  But for whatever reason, he thinks her name is Papa.  After repeatedly telling Micah that her name is Mima, he has consented to call her PaMa.

Luke took this picture, so it isn't very focused and I'm not sure why there wasn't a flash, but I had to post it because I have so few pictures of just my dad and I.

Hee Hee.  Caught ya!

This is Micah's trouble-maker grin.  He does it several times a day, and it ALWAYS means that he is plotting something he knows he shouldn't do.  Right after this picture he turned and bolted away from me.

Nathan and his sweet family

  

Nathan and Sarah were also staying at Mima's house.  They were great helpers too.  They helped me get boys into bed, etc. and they taught me to play Ticket to Ride on ipad.  

More pictures to follow....

Dinner with the Wilkersons

I emailed Amber Wilkerson and asked if the boys and I would be able to see them while we were in Utah for my sister Amber's wedding.  Amber and Leonard have a lot on their plate right now, and I didn't want to be too imposing.  But I asked anyway since I really wanted a chance to say Hello.  Luckily they were happy to host.  Jessica and her boys were able to make it to the dinner.  Frank had to work.  Sally and Jeff and Baby Noah were also able to come.  Jeff missed all the pictures.  I think he was sleeping somewhere....

My mom drove with me to help manage the boys so the driver would be free to concentrate in the rainy weather.  Mom and I enjoyed our time to visit and catch up with the Wilkerson side.  We had yummy pizza (Papa Murphy's is the best!) and got to meet the animals.  Micah was especially enthralled with Shadow, the big black dog.  That is one child that desperately wants a pet dog.  Too bad, Micah.  Maybe in a few years...

Luke spent most of the evening playing with the super long ceiling fan strings in Tucker and Jonah's room.

We tried to get pictures of the cousins together.  It didn't work all that well.  Nohl and Jack were outside somewhere.  Olivia, Tucker, and Jonah weren't interested.  So in the end, we nabbed a few shots of Luke, Micah, Eli, Noah, Myles, and M'Ree.  Group shots of kids are always funny.

It was great to meet up with some of Jared's family.  Thanks again for hosting, Amber!

Ear Tubes!

After 7 ear infections and a whole lot of antibiotics this year, Micah had surgery on July 12 to put tubes in his ears and hopefully fix the problem.  The surgery was done at the Geddy Outpatient Center, and his doctor was John Howard with Hampton Roads ENT-Allergy.  

Micah and I arrived at 7:30 in the morning.  They schedule the little kids first because the patient can't eat or drink anything from midnight the night before the surgery.  Micah usually drinks a big cup of water first thing in the morning, and he was very thirsty and unhappy that Thursday morning.  

Jared and I had to divide and conquer that morning because Luke had therapy from 8 am-10 am, and I didn't want him to miss because he only has a few visits left before the move.  So Jared was taking care of Luke.  My friend Stacy had volunteered to take Luke to therapy that morning, but being the idiot that I sometimes am, I forgot to notify the therapy office ahead of time.  So Jared had to take him and I had to be tough.   

The nurses were all kind and helpful.  They brought us into an exam room (triage room?  recovery room?) where they took his weight, blood pressure, temperature, etc. and also dressed him in his surgery gown.  Micah HATED the gown.  I wished he could have just gone naked.  What is the point of the gown anyway?  He hasn't leaned modesty yet.  The world is one big Garden of Eden.  Anyway, I had the nurse snap a shot of us:

We had a few minutes to kill while we waited for the doctor, and we didn't have to stay in the room.  There was a red wagon available to pull Micah around the floor of the outpatient center.  Micah wasn't actually a big fan of riding in the wagon.  He liked pulling the wagon himself or running laps around the nurses station instead.  But we did get a few pictures of him in the wagon during the 2 minutes or so that he stayed in.

Micah would cry and point when he saw one of the nurses holding a cup.  He was so hungry and thirsty.  He saw a spot on the floor and ran over to it, almost frantically.  He was yelling, "Cookie!  Cookie!"

But it turned out to be just a spot of rust or something.

Poor kid!  He wanted out of there!

The surgery itself was probably the easiest part, although the moments surrounding it were rather traumatic for Micah.  The doctor came in to see us and answer final questions about 8 am.  The surgery nurse came to get him about 8:10 am.  Our parting moment was not fun.  Micah was crying and calling for "Mama," but the doctor was back by 8:30 to tell me the surgery was done and everything looked good.  Micah stayed in a recovery room for a few minutes while they monitored him to make sure he wasn't having any bad reactions to the anesthesia.  The doctor and nurses had warned me that Micah would be screaming and crying when they brought him in.  They said that is a normal reaction to the anesthesia because kids wake up very disoriented and afraid.  Micah thrashed around and cried for probably 15 minutes or so.  It was very sad!

Since I was alone with 2 big bags and a screaming baby, a hospital volunteer settled us into a wheelchair and pushed us out to the car.  The nurses were scared that I would drop Micah if I tried to get everything myself.  I think they were probably right, and I was grateful for the help.  Once Micah was strapped into his familiar car seat, he began to settle down.  When I offered him fruit snacks, he snapped out of it completely.  By the time we got home he was pretty much his normal self.  The only difference was that he was incredibly uncoordinated.  He would stumble and fall just walking across the room.  But he wanted to do his normal activities (that means climbing), and I was too scared to let him.  Micah had a rough time being forced to read books and watch movies on Mama's lap.  I put him down for an early nap after a good breakfast, and when he woke up he was completely back to normal.  You'd never even know he'd had surgery that morning.

So glad for good doctors and for a trooper of a baby!

Fourth of July Bowling Extravaganza

To celebrate the fourth, Jared took the morning off from studying and we went bowling as a family.  Luke, especially, was very excited to go to the "heavy balls."  Bowling with kids is great because you get to use the bumpers and a special "ball slide."  

Watching Micah's first attempt

Luke liked watching the balls come up from the ball return.

He had to be a big boy and carry the ball all by himself.  I think that ball is 12 pounds!  Can anyone guess why he picked it?  Anyone?

We played 2 games, but after the first one Micah wasn't very interested in bowling anymore.  He wanted to play in the arcade.  Here he is driving the car.

And pushing buttons.

Okay.  Baby bowling shoes are SOOOOO cute!

Luke really got into some of the songs.  Here he is dancing the morning away.  I wish I'd brought the video camera because it was very cute.

I really dig these moves.  He was spinning around on the floor.

We can't wait for the bar to be OVER so that we can have more fun family mornings like this!

Survival Kit

Public bathrooms are scary for Luke.  There are a lot of loud sounds and echos in them.  He is the most afraid of automatic flushing toilets and hand dryers.  As we have to go into public restrooms sometimes, I knew I had to figure something out.  From friend's advice and from my reading about sensory processing disorder, I've put together a "public restroom survival kit" to get us through it.  It consists of hand sanitizer, flushable wipes, sticky notes, and some heavy duty ear guards (the kind used at a shooting range.)  

I stick the ear guards on Luke before we go into the restroom.  I put a sticky note over the sensor on the toilet to keep it from flushing, and Luke has been doing great.  Last week I talked him into letting me turn on the hand dryer.

I didn't get any pictures, but he even took off the ear guard before we left!  And since then he's been excited to see hand dryers.  This is AMAZING because 2 weeks ago, the sight of one made him freeze up or sent him running.

I'd bet you can figure out what flushy wipes are for.  And the hand sanitizer is because some bathrooms have sinks that spray and get Luke's shirt wet.  Since that is cause for a scene, we just use hand sanitizer in those restrooms.

And I love our survival kit.  My life has become SOOOOOOO much easier!

Getting Ready

Our move to Amarillo is just around the corner.  Ask me if I'm nervous.

Yes!

But we have the most important thing taken care of now.  We found a place to live:

Isn't it beautiful?

We are very excited to have found a home to rent in the area that we needed.  In preparation for the move, I called the school districts around Amarillo in order to find the best fit for Luke.  I found it, but then we had to find housing within that specific school boundary.  We were searching classifieds and craig's list.  I had seen 3 postings for the Tradewind area, and you can bet I jumped on each one right away.  The first one was posted as being available August 1, but it turned out to really be July 1, and the realtor filled it.  The second house looked promising.  We were emailing back and forth, but then the house sold-- apparently they were looking for renters because they were losing faith that their house would sell.  Then we saw the posting for this home.  I called immediately, and the nicest woman called back.  She said that they had received several calls about the posting already, but for some reason-- THAT I WILL CALL DIVINE INTERVENTION-- she gave us preference.  The application process went fast, and they chose us as the renters.  

These are the reasons we are so excited:

1.  Luke will go to Tradewind Elementary

2.  We will have a FENCED BACKYARD!

3.  It is a BRAND NEW HOUSE!  The people we are renting from buy rental properties for investments, and this is their newest acquisition.  They close on this house mid-July, and we move in the first week of August.

So now we just have to pack up our apartment, drive our two little boys halfway across the country, find some new appliances STAT, transfer all the boys information to start them on their services in Texas, and we'll be set.  

Oh, and Jared has to pass the bar exam.

Sounds easy, right?

HAHAHAHAHA

The Hook

In May Luke was approved, through our insurance company, for ABA therapy.  This is an intensive behavioral therapy that addresses pretty much any trouble behavior.  For Luke, we are targeting several things-- particularly his tantrums and fixations.  He works with 2 different therapists, each for about 5 hours a week, and through the sessions he has made a lot of progress in many areas.  It's great to bounce ideas of each other and get tips on how to implement the ideas.  Also, Jessica can pinpoint behaviors that are a big deal.  One day Jessica and I took the boys to Yankee Candle, the point being to make him pee in a new public restroom.  Luke LOVES Yankee Candle, and he kept darting off.  Jessica would chase him down while I stayed with Micah, and in the car on the way home Jessica said she thought we needed to target the darting/wandering behavior FAST.

She had the great idea of getting two carabiners and some rope and making a leash that can easily be clipped on or off.  This would teach Luke an appropriate distance so that he could understand what "Stay close to Mama" means.  Jared and I let Luke pick the color of carabiner that he wanted (He picked red because there wasn't a green) and the color of rope that he wanted (there was green.)  We wanted something light, skinny, and not too long, so we ended up getting green shoe laces instead of rope.  Plus, after Jared read the review of these laces, he just HAD TO GET THEM.  Check this out:

"aswome": im an OG from Chi-Town & these are top notch gangsta. I love these Fat Gangsta laces & pimp em out in my Old school kicks.  -- t7Eaton

I wouldn't say that Luke pimps em out, but he does look pretty cute wearing his hook.  The first time I used the carabiners, Luke was hooked to his therapist, Carrie.  He took off running and snapped back so fast he almost knocked himself and Carrie off their feet.  The look of surprise on his face was priceless.  He figured out what "stay close" means really fast, and he started remembering to ask permission to go ahead and look at things.  We've used it several times now, and Luke is so good that I usually only have to clip him on for a few minutes to remind him of an appropriate distance.  Then I can undo the hook and just use it as a threat.  He knows that if he runs ahead without asking, "Mama will get the hook."  Sometimes I can just remind him of the rules before we go into a store and that is enough to keep him close.  When he is very excited about the place we are going, he forgets and runs ahead.  These pictures are from a trip to Lowe's.  We went there specifically to practice staying close because he gets so excited in Lowes that he tends to dart off without thinking.  This time, though, he did great.  He was pretty much only on the "leash" long enough for me to take some pictures.

Luke and Jessica checking out A FAN

People's reaction to the leash is pretty funny.  Usually we get a lot of dirty looks.  I mean, really dirty looks.  

The strange thing is that today the boys and I went to Wal-mart.  Luke kept walking too far ahead or else right in front of the cart and not fast enough.  So I got the hook, clipped it to the cart near the handle and went to clip Luke to the other end.  Except that he was wearing pants with an elastic waist, so I couldn't clip it to him.  I told him that he just had to hold onto his hook.  And with Luke holding it, people would look at us and smile, like, "Isn't that just the cutest thing?" and SEVERAL people told me what a genius idea that was.  

So what's the difference?  A belt loop.  That's it.