Day 211...Chocolate Therapy

So I've started this post a few times but just keep pecking at the backspace key because it all sounds so cliche' in that December venting kind of way. Like there's so much to do and I can't keep up and oh how I'd love to shut the phones off, call in sick to work, watch a movie and knock off a batch of sugar cookies. But that doesn't distinguish me from any other woman on the earth right now. Hence the backspace.

I tried writing about something else but accidentally hit Caps Lock and, by the time I realized it, it was a nice long paragraph. A paragraph that looked like I was shouting. "We had an interesting day" comes off as really in-your-face when you write it WE HAD AN INTERESTING DAY! So I deleted that too.

So now I'm back to where I started.  Bodie and McCall are singing "Old McFarmer" in the background, and no I just don't have the heart to tell them its actually "Old McDonald".  Just a post about the crazy radomness that is December.

I was kinda feeling overwhelmed--the kitchen is shot and the laundry is heaping, presents aren't wrapped, husband is leaving on his vacation (to Las Vegas, don't ask :) )...but then Rhys's occupational therapists came over today to help us with some feeding issues.  We had fun.  Lot's of messy, learnin' fun!

He played and ate, making a HUGE mess along the way.  Then the therapist said, "Wow thank you for being so open to trying this.  I know its messy, but it teaches so much." And I thought....why wouldn't I be open to this.  He is having fun, and eating chocolate pudding.  Isn't that what December is all about?  Eating and chocolate? (...OK maybe some other things too.)
And maybe this sounds all unicorns-and-rainbows, and yes it sucks that I even have to preface this with that statement...but, really, does stopping to realize just how much you love chocalte pudding squished between tiny fingers have to be cliche'?
I love that making Christmas meaningful is a lot of freaking work.  But somewhere between staying up to stuff a stocking and slopping frosting over a Christmas cookie...somewhere between all of it, you feel this rush of "this feels good." And it's worth it. It's worth it because your kids are laughing and you're trying to hide your own smile and it's so not glossy or magazine worthy but because of that very fact...it is.
 
My heart is happy. Busy and overwhelmed at times. Frustrated and a bit sad once in a great while. But, most of the time...it clocks out content. And for that, I am grateful.

Day 200...it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We have had a busy week filled with half-birthday's (McCall), snowmen, sickness, laundry, doctors and Christmas decorations...just to recap!

The kids helped as I put up some Christmas trinkets.  I love that there is snow on the ground.  I love it even more that the kids seem to love the snow just as much as I do.  They built a snow-Bodie, then knocked him down.

Then they took a break with some Dr. Pepper. 

Rhys had another neurologist appointment this week and I am so excited to announce...hold on to your seats...he has tipped the scale at 20 pounds!  Yes 20 lbs.  His seizures are still not controlled as well as we would like, so we added another anti-convulsivant to his daily regimen...and so far so good.  The past 2 days he has only had about 3-4 seizures, compared to the 3-5 an hour before the new medication.  So as usual...he's happy!

Well, more snow to shovel...

 More fun to be had...

Day 193...Friendly the elf

Well, I survived my 13th Black Friday at the G.A.P.  It was madness!  Thanks to our "manny" (aka Papa) for watching the kids. 

On Friday night the kids got a surprise before bed. As they walked up the stairs they saw The Elf on a Shelf.

"Friendly" the elf is the moniker the kiddos gave him.  As the story says, Friendly was sent from Santa and each night he magically flies back to the North Pole to report to Santa who was naughty and who was nice.  Then each morning, he is somewhere different in the house for the kids to find.  You cannot touch Friendly or he will loose his magic!  I'm not sure who is going to have more fun with this...me or the kids.  (Thanks Auntie Amber for the recommendation!)

On another note...In some of my research of Angleman resources and news, I stumbled across a video of a family who's son Ethan also has the syndrome.  It has some harsh realities, and some positive thoughts, but also does a good job explaining in a nut shell the basics of AS.  I thought some of you may find it informative.

Angleman Syndrome NBC LA

Day 191...Happy Thanksgiving!

I love Thanksgiving. The linens, the dishes, the food, the chaos, the football, the heat in the kitchen, and the fullness at the end of the evening.  Thanksgiving is a teaching holiday and I wonder how to teach the kids how to be grateful.  We went to the library and got Thanksgiving books, they learned about it at school...but how do I teach them to be grateful in their everyday lives?

I think the true meaning of gratitude arrives on its own. You can't try too hard to create it; you can't stress too much about conveying it. Oh, we'll read the library books. We'll talk about Plymouth and Spanish explorers and throw out fancy phrases like "bountiful harvest" that will leave their little eyes crossed, clueless and confused. We'll take turns sharing what we're thankful for this year which will range from less original but still valid answers like houses and jobs to the more emotional blessings of little Rhyser and the tiny soul that changed us. I'll most likely cry and then pull it together. But still, that's not the heart of it. That's not the meaty core of Thanksgiving...the kind I want my kids to grasp and feel.

It will come somewhere in between...when no one's watching. Right when the kitchen's crazy and the gravy's boiling and the football game is roaring and hands are being washed and kids are being prepped and hotpadded dishes are being carefully carried to the table. And someone will holler for everyone to come, and I'll watch as conversations are wrapped up and bibs are fastened and heads are tipped in laughter. And right about then, I'll want to grab my kids and kiss them, whisper into their ears...."This is Thanksgiving. This, right here, is being thankful. Take it in, kiddos. Take it in."

And then I just hope they get it. That over time, they know that they are blessed and that there are so many places in this world, in this country, in this town, where there is pain and need and hunger. And knowing just how good it feels to have it, you hope they give it back.  I know that this year has changed my priorities, my gratitude, my perspective on life...

So, yeah. I'm thankful tonight. 

P.S.  Bodie is very thankful for peanut butter.  It could be worse, at least it's a protein!

Day 188...The view from inside

It's warm inside.  Rhys and I are having fun watching the goofiness going on outside.  Bodie and McCall couldn't wait to get their little fingers in the snow...

now they can't wait to get back in.

Slippery, cold, gloved hands make it hard to turn door-knobs.  I could help, but this is so much more fun.  However, Bodie just said "Hey BORON  let us in, we're freezin.' "   (I may have called someone a moron ONE time...and he picked this up.  Whoops!) 

Day 187...The BIG three-one

I'm thirty-one...I said it.  It just so happens the mark of the end of my first year into a new decade comes at a climactic stretch of life for us.

It's taken me awhile to grasp it all, but I have finally arrived at the grown-up place of life is what you make it and there are lots of things in life we go through that aren't comfortable or ideal, but they could be so incredibly worse, and a simple life of comfort does nothing to change us, mold us, make us into better, stronger more beautiful versions of ourselves.

"humans are designed to seek comfort and order, and so if they have comfort and order, they tend to plant themselves, even if their comfort isn't all that comfortable. and even if they secretly want for something better."
~donald miller

So maybe I have been planted for too long and this little bit of discomfort will challenge me, in my thirty-first year, to push myself more toward new chapters in the story of our life.

Busy, chaotic, un-edited, non-spell checked chapters.  But they will be good chapters.

Yep, thirty-one and lucky.  Thanks to all for the birthday wishes.  I couldn't ask for a better group of family and friends. 

On a completely un-related birthday note...Rhys is just as naughty as his brother...well, maybe not that naughty, but...

he crawled up on to the dishwasher as I was un-loading it!  He's fast, and I'll let you in on a little secret...am so proud of his naughty streak :) Just don't tell Bodie!

Day 186...my little monster

Rhys got to ditch the helmet for a bit and sport his cute monster hat.  The helmet has got him used to something on his head at least...so hats are staying on his head longer.

Oh, I love my little man.  He is doing so well with physical therapy...he's standing up so much now.  He pops up quick and then cruises along the furniture.  We couldn't be more proud.  I love that he is proving medial professionals wrong already.  He's one strong dude and he will do whatever he sets his mind out to do. 
Rhys makes me laugh...smile and I swear he wants to say to me..."Don't worry, Be Happy".  (Can you hear the whistling to go along with the song?  You know which one...Bobby McFerrin in the Cocktail movie :) )