Decking Our Halls

Until we start decorating each year, I forget just how much excitement it creates in the house. As I unpacked boxes of decorations at the end of November and piled them everywhere, Preston was oohing and ahhing at everything, saying how beautiful it all was. (Until he exuded all that excitement, all I was seeing was a mess and a project to tackle!). Just like Preston, Miss Gracie gets so excited when she sees the lights on the tree, the lights outside and all things related to this festive time of year. It makes the project so worthwhile to see the joy in their faces... and once we're done, John and I both love it, too! There really is nothing like the warm glow that the lights and glistening decorations create in our home.

This year was extra special because Gracie was so involved in decorating the tree. Yes, she did her typical rounds underneath the tree, excitedly signing, "color" "lights" "tree," all of which makes us so happy, knowing that she remembers what we do every year. We never imagined, though, how completely involved she'd be in decorating the tree! It was so fun to see her choosing ornaments to hang, hanging them and delighting in her accomplishment.

Here are (so many!) pictures of our time decking the halls...

On November 27th, the kids awoke to "The Elf on the Shelf" sitting on our entertainment center along with the book.

Named by Preston (despite my efforts to encourage a more creative name!), "Elfie's" adventures in our home will be chronicled later!

On November 29th, Preston helped John put up the lights on the house.

Finally, on December 1st, I finished decorating the house and, that evening, we decorated our tree.

It's finally time for the angel... Preston was so excited!

John held him up, over and over, but Preston was so nervous (Daddy definitely had him... he wasn't going to fall!), that he couldn't get the angel up on the tree. 

What transpired next was a massive meltdown from Preston about not liking our tree, being mad that John put the angel on (after four very long attempts at holding him up over his head!) and stomping off, screaming, to his room for a timeout.  Oh the joys of the season!  So much excitement... and a little out of control.

He yelled from his room for about ten minutes... because there was no reasoning with him, we just ignored him! John said, "He's going to fall asleep."  To which I replied, "No way... he's still screaming!"  No sooner did I say that, there was a pause in the rants from our four and a half year-old and when I peeked in his door, this is what I found. While it was sort of a sad way to end a wonderful evening, it was also kind of funny... and I'd be lying if I said John and I weren't both relieved that he gave in to his exhaustion. ;)

Thankfully, he was back to himself by morning and he does, indeed, love our tree!

O Christmas Tree!

On December 3rd, Gracie "undecorating" the tree!

On December 4th, Gracie climbed up onto the couch to look out the window and see the lights outside... all by herself!

Next on our agenda... a visit to Santa and a special request for him to come on the 26th since Daddy works the 22nd through the 25th.  Hopefully, no matter how tired they are, Santa, his reindeer and his elves can make that happen for us! 

If you give a boy a dog...

Loosely modeled after the popular book (and subsequent series) by Laura Numeroff,"If you Give a Mouse a Cookie."


If you give a boy a dog...
he might gain a new best friend.

That best friend might get really comfortable and break a rule (and look really cute doing it)...

To get his dog (the offender) off the couch, you call him down. He might not (likely won't) go for you.

But if the boy calls his dog down, he might (definitely) want to go outside and play together.

The boy might ask for some bubbles. You decide to give him just the mini "party favor" size bottle, thinking the bubble blowing won't last long.

The boy starts to blow bubbles to chase and pop (because that's the fun of bubbles)...

They might chase the bubbles together... 

His dog just might (most definitely) like to try and pop them, too...

And jump... really, really high... with his mouth open really, really wide!

They might look thoughtfully at the ground wondering how the bubbles all popped before they got any of them...

The boy might ask for more bubbles, after all, you only gave him the mini bottle to play with.

His dog might wait patiently for the boy to open another bottle...

And the boy will blow some more bubbles...

The boy might giggle... a lot.

They might try to catch (eat) the bubbles...

And they might, just maybe, start to look more like brothers than a boy and his dog...
(Do you see the similarities in their mannerisms and expressions?!)

When the boy is tired of blowing bubbles, he might ask you to blow some.

You'll say yes.

And, because you can blow more bubbles a lot faster than the boy, you might see the boy and his dog go absolutely crazy!

You will giggle (a lot), the boy will giggle (a lot) and the dog, if he could, would giggle, too!

Finally, the boy and his dog get tired and the boy asks to go back inside...

Our new son... 4-legged son, that is!!!

Meet our newest family member, Tobias ~ "Toby"
Christmas came a bit early in our household!
This handsome 10 month-old German Shepherd is our big family gift!

We adopted him on Monday, November 28th and, because everyone in our home has a lot of nicknames, he is already being lovingly called Tobster, TobyBoy and BigBoy. (BigBoy is fitting... he is going to be huge when he fills out!) He has also already earned a very special place in the hearts of our entire family.

He was a surprise to the kids - - neither of them had any idea that John and I had met him the week before. They had no idea we were even considering getting another dog... and we hadn't been until late October when, on duty, John rescued a female shepherd on the freeway. That event sparked a lot of dialogue between us about whether we were emotionally ready to get another dog (we lost Sophie nine months ago) and whether we wanted that responsibility with a baby joining our family in less than three months. We all miss Sophie terribly - - she is often the first thing Preston talks about in the mornings. And, while we will always miss her, we also have never lived without a family dog and that void was starting to feel ready to fill.

Some might think we are crazy getting a dog right before we are about to have a baby. Maybe we are. But, for us, it makes a lot more sense to get into a good routine with a dog now and bring our baby boy home to a pet than to try and get one later on.   I'd rather do the work now than with a newborn or toddler running around.   Granted, we didn't necessarily plan on a puppy, but we didn't plan on Tobias either.

At the point we started seriously talking about getting a dog for our family, I searched the Internet for the right type of rescue shelter that would be able to find us a good match (Sophie was a rescue dog, too).  When I found Westside German Shepherd Rescue, I couldn't have anticipated how great of a job they'd do.   I completed the application and let them know about a few females we were interested in, as that's all we were considering. (John and I have only had female dogs and had no interest in getting a male.)   When one of their foster families called about a young female we were interested in, she told me about a few of their dogs, asked me some questions and answered mine. Then she mentioned a male nine month-old pup that they had who, in her opinion, sounded like a great match for our family. I explained we were interested in getting a female.

Two weeks later (after one failed attempt to their home due to horrendous traffic) John and I met the foster family (nicest people... a wonderful family) and several of the dogs they were fostering. Midway through introducing us to the females they had, the foster "mom" asked if we'd like to meet Tobias, the male she mentioned to me on the phone. (I had told John about our conversation and we had looked him up on the shelter's site, but still were not into the idea of a male.) We met him... and instantly clicked, despite our hesitation.   They brought out the rest of the females and, before we left, we saw Tobias one more time. He was sweet, smart, easy on the leash, gently took the ball from John's hand multiple times, sat for us, laid down, played and all signs, including the instant bond we felt, pointed to him being a great fit... but we still weren't sure about having a boy. 

The drive home was quiet, we were both deep in thought and felt silly for not being certain just because of his gender.   (Those of you who we texted, called and emailed about this subject matter... thank you for your input!)  By that evening, we knew we wanted to bring him home, but we needed to wait until John had a few days off in a row in order to help him acclimate to our family as a unit. So, on Monday, unbeknownst to either of the kids, we went to pick up our four-legged son.

This is Preston, in the car, not yet knowing what we are doing other than "running errands."

The sound isn't great on here, but his reaction is clear and priceless!
And, as I anticipated, he was super happy that the boys will now be taking a 4-2 lead!

When we got Toby in the car, he was nervous... and so were we.  There are no guarantees in this process.  But we were also excited and so happy.  About halfway home, he scratched at his crate door and let us know he needed us to stop so he could go potty.  Such a good boy!

The boys... playing ball and bonding.

Gracie's first encounter with Toby. 
She was so happy to see him and was laughing and signing "dog."
We had hoped to surprise both kids together, but it just didn't work out with school schedules.  
Preston was sweet during the car ride, at one point saying that he was sad Gracie couldn't be with us to pick him up. (Considering it was close to three hours  total in the car, it worked out better for her!) 

A welcome gift from our sweet next door neighbors... well, from their one year-old lab!

John bonding with Tobias on his first full day with us!

There are no words to describe how happy this made us.
This was Toby's second night home and Gracie laid with him for about 45 minutes.  She was so happy to cuddle up to him (and invade his space multiple times!).  He was such a good sport and just took it!  Toby clearly senses how special Gracie is and that only made us realize how special he is, too.
Such a good boy.

We are, at this point, just shy of four days with Toby and are still very much in the "getting to know each other" stage. He definitely has some puppy behaviours - - he loves getting paper towels out of the trash can and he likes to sneak shoes that aren't in the baskets or certain toys from either of the kids' rooms (so far only in the mornings!). The good news is, he is easily redirected when we correct him and give him one of his own toys. He likes to explore, so he definitely cannot be trusted off leash in the front yard. He is smart, gentle natured yet protective, great with the kids, house trained, crate trained, a great sleeper at night and getting more and more cuddly and affectionate with us each day. John and I are so happy we made this decision for our growing family.

Thankful

We are thankful for so many things... too many to make a complete list here... which is a good thing.

One of the things I love about this time of year is that we 1) remember to be thankful and count our blessings - - big and small. 2) We can use the season of giving and thankfulness to teach our children how to be thankful and, in doing so, we teach them perspective, we teach them what matters and, hopefully, it sticks. 3) And, in teaching them and reminding them to count their blessings and be cognizant of the things for which they are thankful, we remind ourselves that we have plenty of reasons to be thankful and see that, despite the things that we let crowd our minds with worry and stress, our glasses are more than half-full. By making a list (whether in our minds, in our everyday conversations or writing it all down), it's easy to find perspective and find that with all our wants and worries, our cups do runneth over.

I am thankful for:
- This guy... my chosen family.

He is my very best friend. He works hard for our family... and worked on this holiday (and countless others) to keep the streets safer for your family and mine. He is funny, kind, compassionate, giving, wise, a wonderful daddy and husband... the list goes on. I cannot imagine this journey without him by my side. He is my other half - my better half - and I love him more every day.

- The family we have made.
Our little (and rapidly growing... so thankful) flock is everything.

- The other family we choose.
We are blessed to have the most amazing friends... people who we call family even though there is no true relation.

- The family we have had all our lives and their own chosen families.

- I am thankful for countless immaterial things and I'd be lying if I said I weren't thankful for some material things... like the roof over our heads, the big, gas-guzzling beast I drive that is big enough for our family (even as it grows) and all of Gracie's equipment. The Keurig that sits on my kitchen counter :-) and this list goes on, too.

- I am thankful for moments like these...

I cannot get enough of how much they love each other. On a daily basis, I am blown away by the ways in which they interact.

- And, for moments like these...

We have have had a lot of these, lately. They come in little, unexpected bursts. Miraculous displays of what Gracie is capable of and how determined she is. In this picture, she turned her walker every which way in order to get into the position she desired. But, this skill that was present for over a year up until the summer of horror, has been tucked away and hasn't really reared it's head again, but for this day in October.

Last Monday, in therapy, she threw overhand for the first time ever (at least that we've ever seen at home or therapy). And, not just overhand, but overhand with authority and power. She looked over and saw the beanbag toss game, signed "throw" and even though Erika, her OT, had another activity in mind first, she gave her what she asked for. Gracie proceeded, in her own time, to throw the first bean bag into the center "500 point" target... it didn't even touch the sides, just landed with a big thud against the backboard, smack in the center. The next one was the same but in the "300 point" spot and the third, in the "200 point" spot. All three thrown overhand, all amazing, all in the middle row with perfect aim.

I am so thankful that, despite all she faces medically, developmentally and physically, she continues to persevere.  I am thankful that she is full of fight, spunk, determination and smarts... amongst many other things.

- I am thankful for this little man.

His heart, his humor, his intelligence, his determination, his loving spirit, his compassion... the list is endless. Like his sister, he has taught me more than any formal education or paying job and, for that, I am so thankful.

I love (and am thankful) that he excitedly thanks us for his food. "Thanks for making dinner, daddy!" "Thanks for the pancakes, Mommy!"
He is grateful for the fun things he gets to do and runs to us, for a big hug and says with glee, "Thank you for taking me and Gracie to the park." I hope this never changes and that he helps teach his brother to be the same way. I am thankful he is so very excited about and loving toward his baby brother. My bump is hugged, kissed and talked to many times a day.

I love (and am thankful) that his list of things to be thankful for was too long to fit onto our thankful tree. After I took the picture of it, he wanted to add "God" and "Jesus" and "the beautiful pink and purple clouds we saw during our sunset walk."

I wrote everything that Preston said (with the exception of "perspective" which was only a loose translation and synopsis of many things he listed... like "Gracie's supplies" (we had just put a huge shipment away), "raising money for sick kids" (his school did a trike-a-thon for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital again this year)... you get the idea.

Preston's thankful for:
- friends and Family
- the Baby Brother in Mommy's tummy
- fun dates with Daddy
- Sophie (our dog we lost nine months ago), even though she is in Heaven
- our home, neighbors and my cozy bed
- our health and Baby George (his small, stuffed Curious George from Nana... he sleeps with him every night)
- that Gracie has many good days (she still
- a daddy who cooks yummy food
- school, daddy's work and my teachers
- perspective, no matter the source
(My words, of course, because some of the things for which he is thankful are the positive side to things like Gracie's precarious health and, thus, her need for endless supplies or the fact that children - he knows many - are sick.)

In addition to me writing on the leaves and the branches, he wrote his own list in the leaf I helped him trace:
- zoo
- park
- toys
- walks
- family

We will do this again next year and I look forward to seeing what he is thankful for then. (Thanks for the idea, Hannah!)

Plan C: Natural History Museum

Plan A: To leave Sunday and spend 3-4 days with my brother and his family and celebrate a slightly early Thanksgiving (and to pick-up some hand-me-downs and "hand-me-backs" that they have for TieBreaker). But, when we realized that our available days did not coincide with their days off of work and school, it made no sense to travel that far and not spend very much time with them.

Plan B: A surprise two-day getaway to SeaWorld and LegoLand. The plan was to wake the kids up early Sunday with an already packed car and head out. John and I were so excited to see surprised faces and hear squeals of excitement from Preston. But, Mother Nature had 14 straight hours of wind and rain in store and, for once, the forecast was spot on. Thankfully the kids knew nothing and we were the only two disappointed. We will definitely be attempting this surprise again before TieBreaker is born. (We better get planning!)

So...

Plan C: A rainy day trip to the Natural History Museum - Los Angeles County.
We had a great time!

Preston was super excited and insisted on pushing Gracie for about the first 30 minutes. He oohed and ahhed at all the dinosaur exhibits and loved identifying the ones he could (which was a lot)!

We took in one of the museum's shows, Dinosaur Encounters.

It features juvenile-sized dinosaur puppets (a T-Rex and a Triceratops) that are fully articulated and have, what paleontologists presume to be, accurate sounds. Even though we knew the dinosaur was a puppet, you get caught up in how cool and real the movement is in the upper part of the body.

Preston loved this, though was definitely a bit nervous when the T-Rex
lunged at the audience and looked prepared to chomp on the volunteer's arm. He raised his hand to answer questions (even though everyone was shouting!) and was right every time! (He didn't understand why everyone else wasn't raising their hands and waiting to be called on! So sweet!)

Click here for some cool video footage... we highly recommend these shows!

We checked out the mammal exhibits, the birds and the rain forest.

Both kids thoroughly enjoyed the "lab" where everything was hands on.

Love this... Preston is signing to Gracie all the animals that are displayed.

This was, by far, Gracie's favorite exhibit.
She wheeled herself into the ideal position to get a good look at everything and really did not want to budge when it was time to move on.

Time to leave... but we'll be back... soon, I imagine, since Preston already asked if we could go again next weekend!

The Blue Feather

When I stepped onto the bus to say hello to Gracie yesterday afternoon, she had a huge smile on her face and a blue feather in her hand.  I remarked to her nurse, Kim, how happy she looked and she turned around and said, "It's that feather!  She hasn't let it go!" 

Turns out, they did a Thanksgiving craft in class and made turkeys with pine cones and feathers.  Apparently this particular blue feather caught Gracie's eye and never made it onto a pine cone turkey!

She held it all the way home on the bus.  She held it as the lift brought her down in her chair, all the while stripping off her shirt (her usual routine) and she never let go.  We went inside the house and she sat on the couch, shirtless, connected to her feeding, and holding her pretty blue feather.  Without letting go, she got down from the couch, got on the floor and took off her jeans.  As Kim and I argued with her during her very determined mission to remove her diaper with one hand, she held tight to the feather with the other. 

She followed Preston out the door, scooting (yes, in her diaper... yes, it's too chilly... no, there's no stopping her) down the walkway and into the garage... feather in hand.   I stood her up and got her to sit on her bike (I needed to comb-out the leaves she "grabbed" in her hair along the way!) and, finally, I grabbed my cell phone.  

Happy as a clam, sitting pretty on her bike with her bright blue feather.

With determination to do what she wanted and keep hold of the prized possession, she stood up gripping only one handle bar!

After going inside, getting changed and getting in the car, she still hadn't let go.

After the 25 minute drive to therapy... love this!

After getting her shirt back on and getting in her chair...

And in therapy she still wouldn't give it up!
(This is a contraband photo... pics are forbidden in the therapy unit!)
Erika, her OT, asked her to share, asked her to give it to her, she even tried to take it from her and Gracie held tight, clutching her blue feather to her chest. 
Finally, I signed that I would take it and give it back to her after therapy.  Gracie watched wide-eyed and stretched out her arm as I took the feather from her hand and set it on top of her wheelchair canopy.
Thankfully, she refocused and was able to get through the rest of OT and all of PT.

And this is what she looked like when she got back her feather!

As the sun faded away, Gracie carefully took off her shirt (see the top row... the blue feather never leaves her hand) and removed her shoes and socks, never losing focus on her beloved feather.

I hooked up her feeding and she was ready to roll!

Though blurry, her smile is obvious.
When we pulled into our driveway, I discovered that she had finally let it go
when the darkness prevented her from seeing it any longer.

Gracie held onto that feather from about 1pm until I took it from her during OT at 3:56. She held it at least another 20 minutes after therapy ended. She hasn't ever been fixated long enough on anything to hold it on a car ride... ever!
Today, at school, Kim is going to see if she can get her another feather, this time a different color, and we will see if it bears the same magical power!