Happy Eater

Macaroni Pizza

I wasn't raised eating a lot of beef it was always chicken and salads with pasta and Mexican food.  I do enjoy a nice steak when cooked just right and I have been know to enjoy a hamburger cooked on the grill outside.  I eat meat.  Lately my girl has been doing the meatless thing for about a month now.  She has just about always complained about the items that I cook and the smell and how it looks when being cooked.  This is just how it was. I would even let her pick what we would have for dinner.  She never had an idea of what she might want.  For years now I have been feeding her Boca burgers, they are meatless patties, when we would have hamburgers.  Recently she has made a couple of friends that are vegetarians for different reasons and I don't think my girl thought that this was an option.  I personally don't think that it has to be all or nothing, meat or no meat.  I don't think that it has to be a big deal if she wants to go without and then have chicken nuggets from Chick-fil-la.  Sure if she eats meat a true vegetarian will say that she might not be. But do we have to put a label on it?  Since I have been making meals for all of us without meat she hasn't complained.  Ok I take that back I made shrimp Alfredo last night and the smell was more than she could handle.  But really it has been so nice fixing meals and not hearing the rants about the food I am fixing.  So my girl is eating my food with happiness and she is a happy eater again and that is what I will call her she isn't a vegetarian, she is a happy eater.  She loves food!  So if you have to put a label on it you can call her a happy eater.  We support this and of course we had to do some research and make sure she is getting all the nutrients that she needs.  I don't know where this is going to go for her, but as long as she is eating and is making wise and healthy choices I am by her side all the way baby.  She knows that she can count on her family for support and it is always a bonus when your friends support the decisions that you make.  She currently is spending the night at one of her special friends and her mom just happens to be my special friend, so i know that she is always being taken care of with lots of TLC. 

That special friend

Speaking of special friends, one of mine sent me a text tonight and said that she just put something on my porch.  How exciting!!  She brought me something that we decided in one of our conversations I needed. She bought me a weekly pill box.  Simple yes and friendship is simple like that when it is good.  So thank you Jess for caring.   When my friends do these kind of things for me I always worry that I am being the kind of friend that they are being to me.  I am not always good at doing the little things, but I do hope they all know that they are special. 

Goodnight and Sleep Tight

We are in the middle of our first full week of school and we are still trying to get used to all that goes along with that.  For some reason E has been getting up before 6:00am for several weeks now.  Ok this does work since we are getting around earlier but we don't really need to get up at 5:00am, that is the time he woke up this morning.  After so many days of doing this you have one tired and cranky mom.  Really this is never good.  The whole house suffers when I am tired.  I try to work thru it as graceful as I can, but was not so successful today.  Really we are all tired from all that we have going on.  Denis works all the time and when he is home he is wrestling with the boy or outside kicking the ball with our girl and let's not forget handling everything else in between that I mess up or forget about.  Yep, we are all tired. 

Both of my kids have always had a healthy bedtime routine.  We used to read books to my girl before she went to bed and now she likes her back or arm rubbed as I sing her several different songs.  My boys routine is evolving into this bedtime ritual.  It is like he is checking things off a list before he can go to bed and tonight he added a new one to his list.  Every night the curtains have to be shut with no gaps.  Even if there are no gaps he still wants me to touch the curtains before we can move on to the next thing on the list.  Next we have to locate both of his Dora dolls and they lay next to him and get covered with the sheet just like he does.   He always scans the room like he is looking for something and then he lays down and usually that is that, but tonight he surprised me with another thing that we need to check off the list.  He grabbed my shorts from my room and brought them to his room and wanted me to cover up the light that was coming from the Wii game.  The game is off but it still shows a yellow off  light.  So I covered up the light and he was then happy to go to bed.  Really it is easy to put him to bed.  All this talk of bedtime has made me really tired.  I am going to get to bed because I am sure I will be up early.  So goodnight and sleep tight my dear friends.

Life In Pictures

I love to take pictures but I have no training and don't fully understand how to get that perfect picture.  I just simply take a ton of pics and hope for the best and sometimes I get lucky.  I have recently discovered an app on my iPad that allows me to have no knowledge of photography and gives me the ability to pick different filters to place on pictures that I have already taken and what do you know...instant fun!!  Here are some of my favorites that I thought you might enjoy. 



This post was simple and lacking lots of words but I was hoping my pictures would say it all.  I love how you can capture a simple moment in time and freeze it.  Capturing that perfect expression from my girl when she is excited and doesn't realize I just took her picture is the best or when E is calmly looking out the window.  These are moments I want to remember always and forever.  So go capture your own precious moments in time.  I dare you!!

Rolling with the New

1st grader

You have been reading about all the new going on in our lives and how I like to resist it at every cost; the new always ends up being not that big of a deal when it is all said and done.  My friends and family knew what this first day was doing to me and let me tell you they all showed up on the first day of school for me with text messages of "Thinking of you" and "How did it go" and phone calls from everyone that cares about my little ones wondering if we all survived.  We did survive and both kids had a good day.  My girl likes all her classes, but it always takes her a couple of weeks to settle into her new schedule and the work-load that is being thrown at her in all directions.  Each teacher this year gave her a list of supplies and it is funny how trying to figure out how to organize the supplies has been one of the more stressful things so far.  She will get it all figured out.  The teachers don't waste anytime in trying to get to know the kids.  She has had to complete several questionnaires and I have had to sign several slips stating that I understand what role we are to play in my girls education and that we also understand what is being expected from her.  The start of a new year is exciting when you think about all the great things that your girl is going to learn and experience.  I am excited for her. 

7th grader

My boy surprised me in every way possible.  I love it when he does this.  It isn't that I don't think that he is capable of doing certain things I just like to think of all that could possibly happen and have everyone prepared in case it does happen.  It is kind of like when schools practice fire drills and have an emergency plan in place, this is what we do with our boy.  He started his day off like any other day except he put on his backpack and went to school where a teacher he had only met once got him out of the car.  He was totally fine with this.  I watched him walk off just like all the other kids were doing.  He is in first grade now and he looked like it as he walked into the school holding his teachers hand.  So wish I could have gotten a picture.  I do try to not make big deals out of big moments because I don't want to cause a big upset when things are working so well.  That was that.  I drove off feeling a little like I didn't know what I was going to do now.  My kids were at school doing what they do so I needed to do what I do.  When I picked him up he looked just like he did when I dropped him off.  Happy.  So many times in the past he would look stressed and just plain tired, but not today.  I let the school know that I was concerned about my boy's new school and I hope they understood where I was coming from as a parent.  They did help us all transition into this school with so much guidance and support.  Love them.  This is how we roll with the new and we say bring it on!!  We rocked the first day of school!!!   I do hope everyone else had great first days!!

After school fun

After school treat

School's In

I knew I would be writing about the first day of school.  I just didn't know I would be doing it before the kids even got home to tell me how it went.  All I know is somehow it all came together without any tears, and that goes for me also.  I know most of you know that this year we are experiencing a lot of firsts and being the mom that I am I totally over analyze every aspect of things till I just can't think about it anymore and I need to move on to the next new challenge in our life.  This year we didn't get our school supply lists until we enrolled and for E I didn't get them until two days before he started so we felt a little out of sorts yesterday.  Usually we have everything figured out all the way down to what we are eating for breakfast, but yesterday we were still trying to find red pens and a backpack along with that perfect outfit that my girl would feel comfortable in yet cute.  She is all about comfort and just in the last couple of years cute has become a major factor.  We did manage to succeed at locating everything we needed at least for the first day.  Denis was amazingly calm with our lack of organization this year.  He is a lot like my girl when it comes to having everything figured out and I have to say I like it also when it comes to getting ready for school.  My girl told me she was nervous because she still didn't know what she was supposed to be doing.  Me I told her I totally understand, but we will get it all figured out before you go to bed and that we did.  The last thing I asked her before she went to sleep was what do you want for breakfast and lunch and tada we are done. 

My boy requires a little different kind of preparing.  He needs to be able to see where he is going and meet the people that are going to be helping him learn and grow for the new school year before the actual event takes place in order for first day to even come close to being a success.  We went yesterday to see the room and meet all the players and I have to say I felt much better after doing this and E seemed to like everything OK.  He even gave a couple of the teachers hugs.  Always a good sign.  Our school district has really done some amazing things in helping E getting ready for his new school.  They created a motor/classroom for him and bought a nice swing for the room.  His previous school and teacher is providing his current teacher with whatever she needs and they sent over some sensory equipment for E.  I know that E will not be the only one to benefit from this and I am sure E is not the only reason all this just fell into place for us but we are so grateful for the efforts of the school district.  I have always said it takes a team to keep things going for my boy and I call his doctor the quarterback, because without him keeping him healthy the rest just wouldn't matter.  So we have learned that we do have a huge team when you throw in all the players from the school.  We are glad that we have added new ones and look forward to working with them this year. 

I will post again soon to update you on the kids first day.  I failed to get a picture of E before school so I am hoping that I can manage some kind of picture later. 

Here's to the New

Here's to our buddies

This summer definitely ranks up there with all the good stuff that we like, ice cream, swimming, cool morning breezes and the smell of clean laundry.    We had two months of carefree living, ok as carefree as we get here at the Lane household.  They say all good things must come to an end.  Is this true or do we just move on to more good things?  I hope the later is true, because we are moving into a lot of new things this school year as we say good-bye to our summer.  My girl will be in a new school and doing new things.  This has never been an issue with her.  Sure she is like all of us and gets nervous when going down a new path, but she is good at paving new roads.  My boy also will be at a new school with a new teacher and this makes for a very nervous mom.  I know that sometimes things have to change in order to move forward, and we want to keep moving forward, because moving  forward is our motto here.  We got that from the movie Meet the Robinsons.  If you haven't seen it I suggest you do.  In planning for the new year I put together a profile of  E for the teacher.  It includes hopefully just enough information to help her understand where my boy is coming from and where he is going and what we would like to see from his school year.  This is very important because E is a mystery to most and if you hold the key that unlocks the door to his world you will experience the most amazing things from my boy and that is what I hope for this new teacher.  I want her to hold the key and have the patience and understanding to make things click for him in his new environment.  We start on Thursday and I still feel like I need to do more in planning for this big day.  We always start getting our school routine on two weeks before and well we have yet to get this started.  Why we are lagging this year I don't know.  Maybe it is because I haven't spent enough time doing what we do in the summer, or I am just not ready to say goodbye every morning to my kids.  Yes I am one of those crazy moms that would love to just keep them home, but I am also living in the real world and I know that just would not benefit any of us.  So here's to the new I say...bring it on!! 


Playing at the park turned into a photo shoot


This weekend was about getting that last get together in before all our schedules change and we can barely squeeze in a simple hello.  We enjoyed hanging with the Day family!!  Jackie came over and gave me a makeover with a color and cut.  She totally keeps me from turning grey.  She just won't let it happen and I love her for that.  I never ask for a color she just brings it over knowing it is time.  It is always time because I am turning grey on top and it is not the good kind of grey where it is all in one spot like Jay Leno's started out.  No signature grey streak for me.  It is nice to hang with friends when the evening just kind of flows from one thing to the next and the next thing you know it is dark outside and you realize that all I fed my guests were homemade potato skins, chips and dips served with limeades for the kids and mojitos for me and Jackie.  No dinner just snacks that we topped off with a trip to Cherryberry for some nice cold yogurt served up how ever we wanted!!  E even took one bite, he spit it out quickly when he discovered it wasn't anything he was familiar with.  Yes this weekend went way to fast as did the whole summer.  But we are moving forward because really there is no where else to go.  So I will see you down the new path that we are taking and new is good, new is good.  Most of these pictures were taken by Jackie. She always gets the good ones!!

Nothing but sweet in this picture

Go Green

Showing off our green

Green and blue are two of my favorite colors and I like to combine these whenever I can.  Blue they say is a calming color and maybe that is why I like it so much and green is just great in any shade.  In college my dorm room was blue with blue clouds on the ceiling, can't say that I painted it that way, it was just that way and we lived with it for a while.  Me and Denis painted our bathroom the darkest blue ever in one of the first places we rented and in our first house we put in blue counter tops.  When my girl was born we painted her walls a soft green and splashed in just enough blue and now my boys room is blue and green and I don't want to forget my dining room is a nice shade of blue.  Yes I like to have these colors close to me at all times.  My girls first soccer team was called the grasshoppers and you guessed it they wore green and black.  She just left a team that was all blue to go play on a team that sports red, gold and navy blue.  What does this have to do with anything you ask?  Nothing really, just filling space.  But really she is going to look awesome in her new colors and I can totally add a new color to my list of favorites.  She plays in her first 3 games tomorrow and I will be sporting my new favorite colors.  GO TSC!!!

She loves all her new bows that Jessica gave her

This week has been about catching up with old friends.  This summer was a little different for me because two of my friends that I like to hang with decided to be responsible adults and get jobs.  It is funny how life sometimes gets in the way and friends that you so casually met on the corner every morning for a walk or at the coffee shop turns into a quick text between running an errand and fixing dinner.  Wednesday night we were invited over to Jackie's house at the last minute and yesterday Jess called and asked about doing lunch today.  Yes!!  Let's do it!!  Jackie always tells me that last minute always works best for me because anytime we have planned to do stuff together something happens and I can't go.  This is true.  So surprise me with a spur of the moment invitation and I am there.  She also sent me home with a green gift.  Mojito hand soap from Bath and Body.  How did she know? 


Jackie



Me and Jess

  School is starting up again and I thought summer was busy.  I know I will be catching up with quick texts between picking up one kid and dropping off another.  The thing is to just keep in touch.  So here is to old friends and green gifts!!

Grand Opening

Well now that I have officially been blogging for almost two months now it is time to have my Grand Opening and celebrate where this blog is going and all who visit me each day.  I never knew it would be so fun to get all my thoughts together and put them in one place for all to see.  I truly have enjoyed it and I love to hear that others are enjoying it also.  I know that everyone has met the characters and I have decided I want to share a little bit more for you, some background if you will. 

 As you may know my daughter is getting ready to turn 12 and my son is 7 and has a dual diagnosis of Down syndrome and Autism, PDD-nos. I have left out this little bit of info and have been trying to figure out how to share it.  I am sure you might have seen this on the side of my blog and well I didn't want that to be the first thing everyone saw when they opened my blog so I am trying this out for size and I think this is going to work just fine.  I have only recently started acknowledging that we have a dual diagnosis. I thought that if I didn't say it or talk about it and nobody knew about it that it just wouldn't exist. I finally had to look this diagnosis straight in the face because my son needed help, we needed help. It is funny how at one time we where confused and worried about the diagnosis of Down syndrome but Autism left me scared and empty. I longed for the interaction I saw in other kids and I only wanted one diagnosis. I know strange that I even wanted one, but I have accepted the diagnosis of Down syndrome along time ago and children with Down syndrome are no different than any other child, they just might take a little bit longer to get to the same places everyone else is at and you throw autism in the mix and well things get a little sketchy.  Now that we are addressing his issues fully armed we are moving forward again and it feels good. I don't want to leave the impression that he does not interact with us because that just isn't true, he is totally engaged with us now and moving forward with this everyday.  Our biggest problem is crowds, loud noises and restaurants.  I do not have any big solutions or remedies to try. This blog is just about a family dealing with life and having fun. 

 I know that this post seems a little  strong on the special needs side of things and you wonder how does my girl fit into all of this?  Her brother is just her brother to her and she loves him very much.  She is turning into a very caring, understanding and patient person that is going to do great things in life because of what she has learned from her brother.  Our lives will never be the same and thank goodness for that.  So thank you again for stopping by for my Grand Opening and I do hope you come back for a visit and I know that all Grand Openings send their guests away with something so I am going to splash some extra pictures in for fun and I hope you take from this post that we are doing fine, growing as a family and basically we have been blessed with two wonderful children.   

Extreme Summer

This is what Centennial Park looks like without rain.

Yes this is the summer of extreme events and it is always interesting to see what will come out of all of it.  I am talking about the weather again, I know enough already!!  We continue to experience extreme temperatures along with little to no rain leaving us relying on each other to conserve our resources and do our part so that some of the smaller towns have water.  According to channel 2 we have had 13 consecutive days of temperatures reaching over 100.  The norm right now is 111.  Tulsa county is experiencing rolling blackouts due to people using so much electricity.  I call this EXTREME!!!  I am someone that believes that even though I am one person and we are one household I like to think that I can make a difference, so I am not turning on the lights during the day unless we need it and we are not watering the yard.  I think I have mentioned that the yard is ugly and this is why.  Sure alone we are not going to do a lot to cause the rolling blackouts to stop but maybe if everyone understood that what they do does have consequences and if we are all doing our part that maybe we can stop the rolling blackouts.  I have several friends that have gone without electricity and why not turn your lights off and turn the air up and use less electricity so that maybe just maybe someone doesn't have to experience a blackout. 

My girl helping her brother.

I think that this is an important thing to teach our children, that they are important and their actions have consequences.  I am not just talking about taking care of our planet, but in all aspects of life.  When they say something mean it has consequences.  When they don't feed their pet, consequences.  This can go both ways.  We have all heard about paying it forward.  I want my children to see the bigger picture and that their actions count.  So because our actions count we recycle, conserve our resources and we always try to say nice things.  Sure we could always do better and we know this. 

We are having an EXTREME summer and I am trying to turn it into an EXTREME lesson.  Funny?  Maybe, but something good has to come from all this heat and lack of rain.  So I ask are you doing your part because you count and can make a difference. 

At Your Age...

This is me at my age

At your age...this is something that I have been hearing when I go to the eye doctor since I turned 40.  I am 42 now and I am still hearing it.  Last year I was told I need bi-focals and every time I read a tiny label with my eyes squinted so much you would think they were shut, I rejoice and do some kind of happy dance in my head and I am chanting take that Dr. who needs bi-focals now.  Really what about my age?  Being in my 40's has given me a new kind of confidence that I have never had and I am not really sure why. I survived my awkward teen years and my 20's were all about having fun and trying new things while my 30's left me to think about all I had done so far and wonder what else should I be doing with my life and did I make the right decisions and now in my 40's I know there is more for me to do but I don't worry so much about mistakes and I am good with everything I have done so far. But being in my 40's took me a little to get comfortable with.  I blame it totally on hearing "at your age" over and over.  I have never felt like I was getting old and leave it to the ol' body to remind me that time is passing and things are changing.  I guess it all comes down to taking care of yourself and that is what we are trying to do.

I often wonder what kind of person I would be today if I didn't have my kids. They have taught me patience and the joy of celebrating the little things.  My kids have taught me to not sweat the small stuff.  So my boy tosses the bread out of the grocery cart and on to the road as we are leaving the store and my girl can't find her favorite top and it just might not ever be found, it is all good.  Having my girl first and then my boy with Down syndrome I didn't realize that some of the milestones she was reaching so eloquently, could be so hard for my boy.  We learned to cherish the little scoots he might make across the floor or the fact that now at the age of 7 he is finally pretend playing.  You find yourself not realizing you are missing something until he does it and it is suddenly something you long to see again and again.  My girl being my first child she reached most of her milestones early and potty training was something I think she taught herself, no but seriously it was easy for her and she was trained before she turned 3.  My boy has to work really hard to learn all the things that come so easy for most kids and he has his sister to help and support him.  At one point she had a box of goodies to help him with his letters and colors, which he knows by the way.  He is lucky to have her and he knows this but he still treats her like a sister, you know how brothers treat sisters, they pick on them until they can't take it anymore.  He loves to get a reaction from her and he just can't stay out of her room.  Yes he loves his sister so much he just can't leave her alone.  I love to see this kind of interaction between them because it is normal.  So much of what everyone else calls normal is not our normal.  We don't understand why people watch a show straight through without rewinding to hear their favorite part again and again.  How about all the various noises  that you encounter everyday that is so common for most and we absorb it all in.  This day to day noise is just to much sometimes for us.  Why is all this noise normal?  You walk into a place of business and you are immediately hit with the noise of the loud speaker paging someone for help and then there are people talking, a child squealing with delight and music playing over the loud speaker non-stop.  Lots of noise and this is just one place we go into.  All this can cause my boy to go into some kind of meltdown.  Just thinking about the chaos that surrounds us daily is making me a little edgy.  I do like the quiet of my home and that is where you will find me most of the time. 

My sweet M who came and played today

I had a friends daughter over today and realized that we create our own annoying sounds that I have been able to tune out for the most part.  E has a guitar that plays Dora and he takes that with him in the car, non-stop playing.  My friends daughter was kind enough to be honest and say I think that is starting to bother me and it suddenly brought the music into my range of hearing.  Yes, yes that is annoying I am so sorry.  Then when he watches TV he rewinds and plays only the songs over and over again.  She kindly brought this to my attention.  Poor thing.  E does make a sound sometimes when he is out of sorts and things are not balanced for him and it is non-stop,  I can't seem to ignore this sound.  It wears on me like loud speakers going off all day long.  I can't escape it. 

This is what we wish for right now...RAIN

I thought you would miss me talking about the weather so here I go...It is 111 outside today.  It is amazing to me that each day that it gets hotter than the day before I find myself wishing for that cooler day of 106. I know crazy.  Our grass is ugly now but I have managed to keep my plants alive.  My girl has soccer practice today at 5:30 and as a parent you wouldn't let your kids go outside and play in these temps, but soccer well that is a different story I guess.  She has been drinking water all day and she has been stretching to prepare for what lies ahead for her.  Maybe instead of talking about the heat I should switch gears and only talk about rain and snow.  I don't know we shall see, but at any age this weather is HOT.