Our (Neurodiverse) Family

We've been busy. Here's a summary of what's been going on: Kate started Kindergarten. Livia turned two I'm part of a flu shot study. Kate is back in dance I may graduate from therapy by Christmas I'm exhausted. Livia sleeps through the night sometimes We went to Grandpa Gary's cabin for part of a Saturday over Labor Day weekend. Livia is going to getting speech therapy from Kids on the Move Kate scored really high on DIBELS testing. That's about it for now.

A few days ago, I opened up my minivan and was greeted by the stink. It smelled like death. Okay, maybe not quite death, but close! I noticed the wet towels leftover from the swimming lessons we finished up last week (Kate passed Level 1 with flying colors, yay!) that I hadn't taken up because three flights of stairs and kids makes me lazy about such things. So, I took them up. But the smell did not leave. I took up more laundry. My van is not only a repository for toys and snacks, but also...a laundry basket. Once again, the smell stayed. I even apologized about the smell to the lady putting groceries in my trunk at the grocery pickup. God bless whoever came up with online grocery ordering and curbside pickup, by the way. Pretty sure my clothes smelled too. Today, I found the source of the smell. I went down to get something out of the van. Fine, I went down to grab the potatoes I had been meaning to bring up. Guess what? The potatoes stank. They were also starting to g...

Yeah, sorry about that. Again. I didn't realize that I hadn't updated since May. Not like anyone reads this anyway ;) Highlights of our summer so far: June --Kate starts the very last summer of preschool. --We decided to move the girls into their own rooms because being roommates was not working out. So far, it's actually worked out nicely. --Had my annual well woman checkup and got bloodwork done, and found out that my Vitamin D levels are super low and I have high cholesterol. I'm making small changes to my diet and physical activity. -I saw Wonder Woman with some women from church and it was awesome. I came home telling Stephan that if we ever have another baby and it's another girl, I want to name her Diana. July --Slack Family Reunion in Bryce Canyon the first weekend in July. We discovered that we actually like hiking....as long as they're not too long or too strenuous. --We visited The Aquarium for the first time ever with Grandma Kathy ...

Exactly a week after I posted our last update, we found out that Kate won the lottery! No, not THAT lottery, but the charter school lottery. We are excited for her--she's going to have the opportunity to do a language immersion program if she so wishes, which is one of the reasons we were hoping she would get in. She's all registered for Kindergarten now and very excited. Two of her friends from church got in too, so that is also great. Although now we're going to have to buy uniform clothes for her. Kind of a bummer, but she'll look adorable anyway. Kate had her first dance recital last week. I was worried when she froze up in dress rehearsal and wouldn't dance, but at the recital itself, she got up and danced! She was so very proud of herself, and so were we! We actually said a little prayer before leaving for the recital, asking Heavenly Father to help her be brave. Kate said it helped :) Now she wants to take dance classes forever. I'd say this has been ...

Kate and Livia had their checkups last week. Yes, they had them together because Livia's 18-month coincided with Kate's five-year, and doing it all in one appointment made perfect sense. It worked out pretty well, to be honest. Since Kate is going to be starting Kindergarten in the fall (wait, what?), she had her first vision test ever. She barely passed it, which could have been performance anxiety on her part, but considering how Stephan and I both wear glasses AND everyone in our families is bespectacled, well let's just say that we're positive that glasses will be in her future. The doctor said there was no need to rush her to the eye doctor just yet. She'll keep getting vision tests on a regular basis, so I'm sure we'll catch it in enough time to get her glasses. I suppose we'll need to set aside a little extra money for that little inevitability. The doctor also tested her reflexes and her strength, and she passed all of those with flying color...

Today is Tuesday. Kate has dance class on Tuesday mornings. It starts at 10:35 (an odd time to start a class, but okay) and is only a half-hour long. We get up just before eight. Stephan is usually up and getting ready for work. Today, Kate wakes up and greets him in the kitchen before coming back to the bedroom in attempts to drag me out of bed. Usually, I'm nursing a sleepy Livia (who somehow winds up in our bed in the middle of the night). Kate insists that she's hungry, and I tell her that Daddy is just as good at getting her breakfast as I am. Unfortunately, she doesn't agree with me and tries to roll onto Livia because she isn't waking up fast enough for her liking. Livia starts crying and Daddy and I have a discussion (again) about why we don't roll on top of our little sisters. Daddy leaves for work, and I get Kate her breakfast. Livia is not happy about being up (she didn't fall asleep until after 11 p.m. last night), so I'm pretty much doing ev...

Livia is seventeen months old now, which means NURSERY is on the horizon. Oh wait, we just started taking her to Nursery. Actually, she just waltzed in one Sunday when someone left the door open and she saw toys. There was no taking her out after that. Stephan or I stay with her, until I go to Relief Society so I can lead the music. So, some things about Livia... Enjoys "helping" me load/unload the dishwasher. She has a proclivity for taking the silverware out and hiding it, clean or dirty. I've taken to removing the silverware caddy in the dishwasher to take care of the silverware. Frequently gets mistaken for being younger because she's petite weight-wise. Well, she LOOKS skinny, but she is actually right about average for her weight. She is, however, TALL. Just like Daddy and big sister. Has a few words: no, mama, dada, baba (bath), dadoo (thank you), something that sounds like "tickle", Sis (what she calls Kate) Still loves nursing. I'...

...can bite me Ha ha ha ha, pun intended and no, please don't bite me. According to my mom, teething just wasn't a big deal for any of us. Of course, she sardonically adds that we were hollering all the time anyway, so it was no different when teeth were coming through. Stephan's side of the family...is another matter altogether.  They get teeth early and they get a bunch at once, and EVERYONE is miserable.  Of course, Kate didn't start getting teeth until she was ten months old, and then she had pretty much all of her teeth by 14 months. Worst. Four months. Ever. How many kids do you know have all their teeth BEFORE they start walking? Ibuprofen and numbing gel (yeah yeah, I know but it was the only way anyone got sleep!) is how we survived. Livia started teething at six months, and everyone's suffering has been no different, but there have been plenty of "that happens?" along the way. Like the time she was working on molars, and on...

My last post was semi depressing. I would apologize, but I won't because sometimes we get depressed. The last few months have been eventful, so I'll try to sum up what I can remember. Kate is not doing reading class anymore as of November. She enjoyed it at first, but as time went on, she wasn't. I think she was a bit overscheduled anyway, and well, she didn't really need a reading class. A few weeks before Christmas, she asked if she could try dance class again, and after she asked me a second time a little while later, I decided we could try it again. We tried dance class last winter, and it was a spectacular failure for various reasons, not the least of which was the really awkward time. This time around, I found a time slot that was pretty much perfect...and Kate is enjoying it. Yay! Kate's fifth birthday is in a few weeks, and I can hardly believe it has been five years since she joined our family. We're planning a My Little Pony birthday party for her....

And not being successful, unfortunately. 2016 was a hard year. Some parts less hard, some parts almost unbearable. And for the most part, we had to deal with them on our own. The elephant in the room for the first part (and possibly ongoing) of 2016 was developing postpartum anxiety. Yes, Postpartum Anxiety. It was hell. Apparently already having a history of mental health issues and a high risk/stressful pregnancy can cause that. It took me a long time to admit that it was PPA and not *just* my normal crazy anxiety. It was anxiety made even worse by having a baby. Seriously, I had no idea that anxiety could get worse than severe--mine hit critical. CRITICAL. Thanks to many prayers, going back to therapy, and continuing to take my prescribed medication, I am coming out of the fog. I didn't have a lot of physical help though--I mostly had to deal alone when Stephan was at work. He's gone 10 hours out of every weekday. It is easy to say "just ask for help...