Holy catch up!

Goodness... I have lots of catching up to do! Sometimes when I go a few months without posting, I debate about quitting altogether, but then I read back on things I would've forgotten had I not written it down. I'm always glad in the end that I take the time to make note of our special memories.

First of all, Luke started preschool and is really enjoying it. He's going to Levelland Christian School, and it's for half a day on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. It was fun to shop for school clothes and shoes with him and get him all pumped about going. Since he's our oldest, I was proud of him for choosing to be brave about going. Luke was very unadventurous in his infant and toddler years, to say the least! ;) He walked in on the first day of school without hesitation, and he hasn't skipped a beat since! I love picking him up and hearing about his day at school. He's memorized two verses so far. Makes me one proud Mama!

Luke has also started soccer this year. We managed to get on a team with his cousins, Miley and Jaxon. He's one of the youngest on the team, but he didn't mind it! He was happy to be out there with his friends and cousins. It was fun to watch them all play together! At one of his practices, a little feisty boy on his team was punching him in the stomach. Fighting is foreign to Luke, so he was shocked that someone would be mean like that. Since the little boy's parents weren't doing anything about it, I told Luke after practice he should hit him back next time. The look on Luke's face was priceless! I mean, I'm all about being nice, but at some point, he's gonna have to defend himself! On the way to the next practice, he double checked with me... "Babe (as he still calls me), if that boy hits me, I just punch him, right?" Ha! - So, he got a trophy at the end of the season and was one proud dude for it.

And Landry.. our Nanny girl! She turned two! We had a Minnie Mouse party for her here at the house the day before her birthday since her actual birthday was going to fall on Labor Day weekend. We had mainly family here, and a few close friends, too. She got all things Minnie Mouse for her birthday, and quite a few baby things, too. She loved all of her new gifts! We were lacking in girl toys around here before her birthday. We filled her closet up after that, and she has loved having her own "big girl" toys. We finished off her birthday night with her first hair cut/trim. We took more video than pictures at her birthday party.

So, at 2 years old, she is sleeping 10-12 hours at night. She goes to bed after a book and a few minutes of rocking, praying, and singing. She LOVES reading books, playing with babies, and bothering Bubba. As I type this, he's sitting in the recliner begging her not to turn the lever to raise the foot rest up! She loves going to church, and is already begging to go to school, too... "Me cool, too, Mama?" She's still pretty fond of oatmeal, fruit, pizza, and yogurt. She loves playing peek-a-boo. She'll cover up her face and say, "Mama, Nanny doe?" (Mama, where'd Landry go?) I'll ask, "I don't know!? Where DID Landry go?!" And she'll pull the blanket off and say, "Ight deah!" (Right there!) She loves to chew gum, and she'll put her charm on from the back seat to ask for a piece... "Mama (or Daddy), bum pee peeeeas??" (Mama, gum pretty please?)

As far as her eating progress goes, we have good days and bad days. I'm a lot more familiar with "sensory processing" and how to manage it, so we are no longer doing the clinical therapy. She's still doing hippotherapy, but I have actually been able to catch up on things around the house! I'll never forget how terrible it felt pulling up in the parking lot to Covenant Neurosciences for the first time, and leaving there this last time, it was very bittersweet! Since January, her therapist, Alison, has been the bad guy, and I've gotten to be her "savior". It's taken the strain off of Landry and me because Alison can push her beyond her limits, and I get to "rescue" Landry. I was afraid that I would turn into the food monster I was to her before therapy once we quit going. Alison is very reassuring and is willing to see her again if she ever regresses. I am so thankful for "Allie"!! -- We are still taking her to the chirpractor, too. I swear this has had as much of an impact on Landry as the occupational therapy has. Landry has been more willing to try new foods since we've been going, and she voiced being hungry for the first time after seeing Dr. Hillman. She, too, is a God sent to us!

We managed to squeeze in a little fun before harvest hit in full force, too.

- We spent several days camping in Grapevine with Heath's parents. Keetha tore her ACL early this summer and had surgery in August. Hence, the the sleeve on her leg!

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- The kids got to swim a few times before fall, at least! To say everyone has been "busy" is an understatement. Keelee battled pretty severe pre-elampsia throughout her last trimester, but she took it like a champ, and I got a new healthy, sweet nephew, "Baby Gray". It's been a tough year for the Greshams... one we'll always remember, I'm sure!

- We celebrated my mom's 50th (Fiddy!!) birthday.

- We also went to Georgetown to watch Hank play football and went on to the Northcutt's ranch in Mason.

A few more... :)

 

Summer 2013

Up until this year, summer wasn't really a significant thing for us. It was just growing season. Now, we have a preschooler, so we'll be learning to appreciate the summer months more!
We actually have an okay crop this year. It's refreshing after the last two years. I'm pretty sure I wrote about it last summer, but we were put in a pretty unfortunate situation. 2011 was a terribly dry year, and it hurt! We were a little apprehensive starting 2012, and Heath had an opportunity to buy some land at Olton. His plan was to let the tenant at the time farm it for the year, and then he would take it over. Then, the guy ended up jumping ship in June, leaving Heath to scramble to get something planted at the last minute. If that wasn't enough, it was hot and dry AGAIN last year. Heath has had to fight round-up resistant weeds really hard this year, but we're thankful he has a crop worth fighting for.

Luke started school today, and I feel like I should be more upset about it than I am! I was just excited for him, and I think we were both ready. I have no regrets in the last 4 years. I spent every minute with him that I could and didn't miss a thing! I am proud of him for being so excited about it, too. We are leaps and bounds from the toddler who'd be traumatized when he would go to the nursery at church. I know it won't be any problem for Landry because she'll just follow in Luke's footsteps. She already wants to go to school, too. But, with Luke being our first, I feel like he was brave to go and be excited about it. It'll be nice to start to have a routine, too. We've had a routine at home, but there were lots of times we didn't leave the house for days - especially before we started all of this therapy. Plus, I like the baby steps of preschool, too. He only goes half a day three days a week, so we get to ease into the school thing. I'm feeling a good year ahead of us!

As for Landry, we've done therapy all summer, and we're now into chiropractic care, too. I felt like we sort of plateaued in clinical therapy about the time we got a recommendation for a chiropractor in Lubbock who works with kids and focuses on wellness, too. We started seeing her about 6 or 8 weeks ago, and I have seen even more progress from Landry. I was relieved to start seeing Dr. Hillman because she was just as concerned with Landry's nutritional status as I was. She's now on some good supplements, and she's trying at least one new food a week. Used to, she would try a new food every month or so, and even then, she would trade off a "no" food for a "yes" food. Since we started the chiropractic care, she has tried (without spitting out) raw broccoli, hamburger meat, canadian bacon, scrambled eggs, apples, and refried beans. It thrills me to see her enjoying meal times. She is still small, but she has gone up to the 8th percentile in her weight and height. She was around the 45th percentile at 9 months, and then dropped off to as low as the 2nd percentile after she was weaned from me. So, the 8th percentile is progress.. It's just very slow progress. I hope to be finishing up the clinical therapy soon. We'll still probably do the hippotherapy, and we'll keep seeing the chiropractor. I still feel crazy writing about how it's helped her.... In my last post, I wrote about how big of a skeptic I am. I was the same way with the chiropractic care, but as a mama, I was willing to try anything to help my baby!

Between therapy and farming, we still made time for a few weekends off this summer, at least! We spent lots of time with friends and family, squeezed in a few weekends at the lake, and we went to Dallas for a long weekend to take the kids to a water park. Oh! And even got a mama's night out right before school started. :)