Ten Minute Tuesday

It is 7:15 on Tuesday evening and I'm going to take the next 10 minutes to write about how the last few days have been.

I was thinking that last year, I topped my highest number of posts and this year I would like to match or beat it. That means I need to write a post every two or three days. That seems like a lot and at times, I wonder if people even care. Then I think, this blog is about my journey and if what I write doesn't interest someone, they don't have to read it.

I blog a lot about Sarah. The Blogger website is not based out of my computer so if something ever happened to my laptop, then all my notes and information that I've noted will still be safe. I love looking back at the ways she's grown and changed over the years and how far she's come. Along with that, is how far I have come as well. I am confident in advocating for her and I am continuously learning new things about her.

I also blog about my other kids, school, birthdays and other events and milestones. I love to share about my family and I guess this is my way of journalling. It's interesting how the words flow when I have a laptop in front of me as opposed to pen and paper. My mind seems to flow quickly and my thoughts are easily formed.

Here's to a New Year of blogging, and thanks for joining in this journey with me.

Friday's Here (finally!)

• No guarantees, but I think Sarah is "almost" over her cold that has lasted for 20 days now. I'm sure the poor girlie is done feeling bad. That being said, Arianna woke up earlier this week with the same, or similar cold bug. She's complaining about a sore throat and a stuffy nose. I hope her's doesn't last as long as Sarah's. 
• The weather here has been such a relief from the harsh beginning that January welcomed us with. Some of the daily temperatures are above 0* which is still cold but not painfully so.
• Doug has now finished his second week at the new job. It was a busy first week for him but he's quickly falling into place and figuring it all out. 
• Sarah had a few "wins" this week. The first was she has played independently for most of the morning while I do school, without getting into trouble. She is becoming so good at the pretend play where her toys talk and do things with each other. The second thing that was really great occurred when she asked to watch a movie on the iPad. I had said no, not now. She putters off and I watch her clean up her toys in the living room and then she proudly says "See! I cweened up! Now I have a iPad?" After that great thinking, how could I not! The third thing is a food win: she has been eating about 1/3 of a yogurt cup each day. She chose it on her own out of the fridge and she is enjoying it. She's fairly sensitive with things to eat and I'm really pleased that she's getting another food item into her!
• I ended my week with a wonderful coffee visit with friends. We drank coffee, ate a slice of banana cake and talked and talked! 

Things Sarah Says

Sarah speaking skills have really taken off over the past few months and I've been noting them down as I hear and remember them.

Here's a few that I'm sharing tonight:


I tucked her into bed and shortly after she came out asking if she could sleep in my bed. I said she could, and she asked if I would cuddle with her. I asked her why and she says back "cause you wan' to."

As her respite worker was leaving in December, I asked Sarah what she needed to say to Shaneen. Without a thought Sarah says, "I love you Sh'eem."

At the checkout at Superstore Sarah asked for a treat "cause I'm a good boy!" (We are trying to work on that)

"I need a hug-uppy"

"Let's watch Prairie House"

"My nose is sick"

"I have a hip-puffs" (hiccups)

"So. What's new?"

"You came back!" (to any one who comes back to the house)

"My tummy is so hun'gy"

"My teef is so di'ty"

Almost daily Sarah's little antics and one liners cause us all to laugh. She is lovely and entertaining on a constant basis.

"Sarah, what are you doing?"
- "I doing getting something."

It's Been Two Weeks...

... since I last blogged. It's been a busy time here as we wrapped up Christmas holidays, started the next school term and have had a bunch of other things going on.

Let's see... our family celebrated New Year's Eve at our church and it was a great evening. I didn't make it to bed till almost 2:00 am and sadly Sarah didn't know that so she insisted that I get up at 6:30, just like every other morning. It took me almost a week to recover from that!

In late December, it was confirmed that Doug was changing jobs. He spent the end of 2013 and the first two weeks of the new year making long notes, saying good bye to customers and friends and wrapping up his 20 months of employment with The Bus Centre. On Monday, he headed to OmniSport which is the place that he worked a few years ago.

It seems that overall, Sarah stays pretty healthy, except for one good bout of a cold each winter. This year was no exception. Today is the 10th day of this run and although her energy levels have picked up, she still fighting a runny nose and head congestion.

On Sunday the 5th, we got a cold spell. I mean REALLY cold. Like -37* C cold. Which translates to -34.6* F. Funny thing though, the very next evening, we reached up to -4* and I confirmed with my friend in Alabama that we were actually WARMER than them! Crazy!

Oh yes, the door had frost on the INSIDE of the frame!

In early January, our former respite caregiver was leaving for a trip to Thailand. Thus began the search for someone to watch Sarah for me on a part time basis. So through the use of Facebook, a friend of mine suggested I call her friend and so far, she's working out really well. Sarah is easy to like, easy to please and pretty easy going. Sarah loves having M come and play for those mornings and I feel like it's just easier to clean, bake or homeschool. 

 One afternoon, Doug brought me one of these! Yummy!!

 I made these French Toast Muffins using a gluten free flour blend. Pretty good I thought!

Fuzzy socks and fleece pajamas. My favorite. 

Well, that's a quick recap of the beginning of our year. Hopefully I'll get back to blogging more and maybe even meet or surpass how much I wrote last year!

Welcome 2014!

Good morning and Happy New Year! I am remembering now why I don't generally stay up late... Sarah doesn't know the difference or the fact that I went to bed at almost 2:00am. Her little body received enough sleep and was ready to go at 6:45. *yawn*

Last night was maybe the third night in our marriage that Doug and I both (willingly) stayed up till midnight without the demands of an infant. Our little church held a New Year's event which included families, friends, games, food (we know how to put on a good spread!) and worship music. It was a really good evening and I'm so glad we went. To be with some great people and share laughs and stories was a wonderful way to bring in 2014. Arianna was the only kid who came with us and she was thrilled to start the first moments of the new year with two of her very good friends! Andrea willingly watched Sarah for me while Joshua had a friend over for the night.

If I look back to things that occurred last year, I can recall a few highlighted events and moments.

• I think last year was probably the biggest breakthrough in Doug's depression. The medications began to take effect and the doses at last were helping him maintain a more even keeled mentality. 
• In August, our family began to attend a little country church which is actually a campus of the main Alliance church in Spruce Grove. This transition has been a wonderful one for us and we feel very much "at home" there. Change has always been very hard and even more so when I had attended SGAC since I was two years old. I've told Doug and a few others that I don't know if we realized we were searching for something until we found it. We "found" Calahoo and have been blessed with new friends as well as a church home. This has also allowed Andrea to play an active role on a worship team and additionally Doug has led a few teams. I love that music is being brought back into our home and it makes me happy!
• My main blogging journey has to do with Sarah updates. The reason I do this is so that everything that she does or doesn't do is recorded for my own memory. Here's a recap of her year: *We had received inconclusive blood work results after waiting for 15 months. *Her 2 years of Early Intervention had come to a close once she turned five. *She saw the pediatrician four times to follow her growth curve. *She's growing, just doing it much slower than typical kids. *Her speech has moved ahead and her pretend play is taking off like a rocket. *We've had an amazing respite care giver (who we sadly have to say good-bye to) and even she noticed big changes in Sarah since April. 
• Another big part of my blogging is homeschooling. This fall has taken a bit of a different turn, especially for Joshua and I think the change has been really beneficial to him. He is doing three classes online and is receiving exceptional grades. I am extremely proud of him! The other two girls are continuing with a more traditional approach but are both excelling in their math and language arts programs. Sarah is doing a play filled *kindergarten* year. She's learning how to play pretend, how to clean up afterwards (much reminding is still needed) and she loves to match sets of toys together. She also can get fixated on desiring one specific piece and it's up to whoever is with her to help find it. She'll say "missing piece" and it's usually a small Duplo bit that simply MUST be found.

It's hard to look back over the past 365 and think of the most memorable events of the year. Nothing overly exceptional took place for us but life remained an exciting journey. The past is now behind us and we can reflect on it, see what we learned from it and then move onward. 

May you all be blessed in 2014!