Jaden's First Day of School

What a wonderful day today was!

Jaden started her first day today, at The Childhood League Center. I am so incredibly excited about the opportunities that this experience is going to afford her. Her teacher, assistant teacher, Speech therapist, Physical Therapist and Occupational therapist all seem terrific! I was honestly surprised when I actually saw all FIVE of them in the room with the EIGHT students! What a great student/teacher ratio - how could that not be an amazing benefit?

She was super excited about her cubby with her name on it! She had to hang it there all by herself. :-) And today was costume day (thus the pumpkin costume). They had gone on a pumpkin patch field trip last week, so the theme was carried into today. They not only dressed up, but they played with orange playdough with Halloween themed cookie cutters, played with a sensory table filled with black and orange strips of paper and plastic pumpkins! What fun they all had throwing it everywhere! lol

Jaden made me smile when she decided to take the small strips of paper, crumple them up and then hide them in the plastic pumpkins.

Then, the teachers/therapists took the kids "trick-or-treating" to the various classrooms and the front office area. Ms. Renee, her teacher, was a natural with Jaden.

After we got back to the classroom, I decided to leave and watch through the one-way mirror for a bit. After about 15 minutes, I felt pretty confident that she was doing well enough for me to go out to the parent waiting area, where I enjoyed about an hour of pleasure-reading! It has been a very LONG time since I have done that.

The last part of their day is going to the gym, which Jaden LOVES!!! Neither of us can wait for tomorrow!

Our Little Pumpkin

Debit Card Thief!!!

I am disgusted that someone has stolen my debit card number and has already proceeded to spend almost $700 tonight!!!!! Thankfully, KeyBank has frozen the account, but we won't have access to those funds for almost 2 weeks ...seriously...I find myself dumbfounded by some people's complete lack of integrity and care for others!

Praise God, though...that we were online looking at finances and specifically looking at our checking account ledger. I actually saw some of the charges show up in real-time. They could have completely cleaned us out!

They were spending some major cash at:

Tilly's (online Skate Apparel Shop) $225

Ecko Unlimited $325

FrangranceNet.com $125

I am guessing teenager...but honestly, who knows anymore?

Bubba & Jaywee: Snuggle Time

The other night, I walked into the living room to find Caleb and Jaden like this, watching The Backyardigans together. I just had to run and get my camera and get a couple of shots.

Honestly, they really are wonderful with each other almost all the time. This kind of affection is not as rare as some may think. Jaden truly adores her big brother, Caleb (aka: Bubba) and Caleb thinks Jaden (aka: Jaywee...don't ask...lol) is the, "most special sister in the whole world!"

It is times like this that make me even more grateful than I thought I was, to have the both of them. They are really amazingly beautiful children, whom God has blessed us with the opportunity to love. :-)

Cowtails & Ponytails

Caleb and Jaden enjoyed a late-morning snack of Cowtails, while I got the blood Drive table set up this morning at church. Whatever it takes to keep them sitting in one place rather than running all over the building while 2nd service is still going on! :-)

PS - Jaden couldn't have looked cuter with her adorable Fall Hanna Andersson Play Dress, Orange Velcro Vans and her signature three ponytails! *sigh*

Scissors, Stickers, and Sweetness...Oh, My!

We had a lovely, lazy, Friday morning... no-school for Caleb...sleeping in...stayed in our PJs...and had fun art time!

Jaden is becoming quite adept at using markers and even glue! She made quite a few projects using construction paper, stickers, markers and a glue stick. She really wanted to use the bottle of Elmer's Glue that "Bubba" aka: Caleb was using, but that very quickly turned out to be a BAD idea, as I was cleaning glue out of the grout in the kitchen tile! :-)

Caleb is also really improving in his cutting skills, which we have been working on. He has recently taken to making cut-out paper, glue, and marker "people". So cute!

Mommy & Caleb Date

Caleb pictured with the "T-Rex Leader"

Today was a very special time for me, as Caleb and I had a "Mommy & Caleb Date". We went to The Columbus Children's Theatre to see, The Dinosaur Musical. It was a wonderfully fun performance and Caleb and I both loved it!

In a life full of such business, it seems to be such a rarity to spend time along with my son. Taking the time away to enjoy some quality one-on-one, has become more and more important to me. I can't wait until I get to take my little boy out on our next "date"!

From Stroller to School Bus...how time flies....

Caleb Matthew: From Stroller to School Bus

May 2006

September 2010

Childhood League Center

Today, David and I toured the Childhood League Center with Jaden. It was really a wonderful facility. We got to see where Jaden's classroom will be, the gym, the Occupational Therapy room, and we also got to meet her teacher, Ms. Renee.

Praise God, that a spot opened up on Monday and Tuesday afternoons. At first, they offered us a Wednesday/Thursday morning slot, but if anyone knows our family - well, let's just say that afternoons are better for us! :-) The classroom will have a maximum of 8 students and when we were observing, there were 5 adults in the class, providing various forms of play & play therapy: physical, speech, and occupational.

This program is such an answer to pray for us, for Jaden! She lit up when we were in the classroom, playing & exploring. I have no doubt that she will excel in this peer-group setting and I am super-excited to see how more intensive therapy is going to affect her development, especially in language!

Here is a link to the center:http://www.childhoodleague.org/index.php/programs-services/early-intervention

Link to Caleb & Jaden's World Blog

http://calebandjadensworld.blogspot.com/

Caleb is Getting the Hang of It!

Our Family Closet

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to transition all four of our closets into one. I have been having a difficult time with arthritis in my knee and have been a having a hard time with stairs lately, so I decided that cutting back on the up-and-down to and from the kids' rooms would be helpful.

I have read on a couple of other blogs that I read, about the "Family Closet". It seems that each family has different reasons for doing it, but here are mine:

1) No more going up and down to collect dirty laundry (all of our dirty clothes go in one hamper in our bedroom)

2) No more going up and down stairs to put clean & folded laundry away. (everything goes in the same place, which is EXTREMELY convenient!)

3) No more going up and down stairs to get clean clothes for Jaden during the day.

4) No more having Caleb yell downstairs, "I can't find any underwear!"

5) Easy bath & bedtime in our Master Bath, followed by getting into PJs that are easily accessible in our Master bedroom Walk-In closet (the Family Closet)

6) Easy getting ready in the morning. (Everyone's stuff is in the same place)

7) Overall, LESS STUFF/CLOTHES/SHOES/ETC... (I definitely had to consolidate everyone's clothing, shoes, bags, etc, in order to fit it all in our space.

David and Caleb have one side and Jaden and I share the other. Amazingly, we have plenty of space for all of our hanging clothes and for Jaden and Caleb's socks, underwear, PJs, t-shirts, shoes, etc. (That is what is in the pink & blue & white baskets on the shelves.) David and I still each have a dresser in the bedroom for ours non-hanging clothing.

So far, we are all loving it!

2 Year-Old + Nail Polish =

Blood Drive Ministry

This has really been an interesting road for me the past 6 months or so, working to establish a Blood Drive Ministry at our church, in coordination with the American Red Cross.

This past August 26th, was our first official blood drive as a new ministry team. My dear friend, Jolissa and I coordinated it, with the help of many wonderful volunteers. We initially had a goal of 22 pints, but exceeded it by collecting 40! That is over 120 lives that could be saved! What an amazing gift most of us can give, in donating blood.

In all honesty, before coming in contact with my county coordinator, Eric, who recruited me to take on a drive, I had only donated blood two times before in my 37 years... Why? I'm not really sure...mostly, because I hadn't really ever been asked since college. So, here I am now, coordinating blood drives through our church every 2 months!

I feel incredibly blessed to be a part of something so very important. So many of us struggle with what we can do to help others, and here is one example of something that costs nothing except an hour of time. And just one donation has the potential to save three lives! Imagine that: 1 HOUR + 1 PINT = 3 LIVES SAVED! In how many other situations that you can think of, can one hour of your life have such far-reaching impact???

So, here I am, 2 weeks away from our second blood drive this year, to be held on Saturday, October 23rd, from 11am to 5pm at the Grove City Church of the Nazarene. Our goal has now been moved up to 40 pints, but we are shooting for 75! Jolissa and I went down to check out a large goal drive in Fayette county this afternoon. They have a regular goal of 90 pints and it seems to be run like a well-oiled machine. I look forward to the day when our blood drives will run as smoothly and as successfully.

If you are reading this...are in the Columbus, Ohio area...and have blood...might you donate?

You can go to www.redcrossblood.org and use Sponsorcode: grovecitynazarene to sign up!

If you aren't nearby, you can still go to the same website and find a blood drive near you! :-)

An Article About EVAS...the Syndrome the ENT Believes Jaden has...

http://vestibular.org/images/pdf/Enlarged%20Vestibular%20Aqueduct%20Syndrome-EVAS_VEDApubF28.pdf

We got results back from Jaden's CT scans of her inner ears last week. They are sending us to another specialist, an otological neurologist at OSU for further evaluation, but the scans are suggesting that she has EVAS (Enlarged Vestibular Aqueduct Syndrome)

In her case it is a mild enlargement, praise God...but honestly, we don't completely understand it very well yet, and whether the size makes a difference or not...but here is a additional link to more info for those who might be interested: http://www.hearinglosshelp.com/articles/lvas.htm

Please keep Jaden in your prayers, that the doctors will have wisdom and discernment and that God's will will be done in this situation. My prayer would be that God would choose this as a time to heal her completely and that it would forever be a a part of her testimony of God's grace and mercy in her life.

In Love,

Ali

Finally Getting Somewhere...

This week is going to be a busy one. We are finally getting closer to getting an official diagnosis for Jaden. We have out first visit with the Developmental Disabilities Clinic through Children's hospital on Thursday at 10:30am. We sent in the paperwork for this referral over 2 months ago...things really move slowly.

It took us almost 7 months with Help Me Grow, to get our first home visits with the teacher, PT and the speech therapist (which is on Wednesday). And only one week after starting those therapies, we got a phone call from the Childhood Justice League, who has had a spot open up at their center that is located right across from Children's.

It would be every Wednesday and Thursday morning from 8:45am to 11:15am! David, Jaden and I will be touring the center on Thursday morning at 9am. I really pray that we get a good feeling there. I think Jaden would really benefit from the center-environment.

So, we will see...

Caleb is R-E-A-D-I-N-G!!!

How is it that time can fly by so quickly? ikt seems that only yesterday, my sweet little boy, Caleb, was just taking his first steps. And now, here is, reading!

We sat down tonight after dinner, to work on a couple of papers that he missed when he was sick, and he blew me away with his growth in handwriting, math, and reading in only 7 weeks since starting Kindergarten.

Here is the list of the words Caleb read all on his own tonight:

but at all run yellow jump red the a I

it in for up look is go we down can

see you not my big blue