Isn't She Beautiful?

Okay, I've tried over and over to figure out why my paragraphs won't separate with a line space. Can't get it to do it! What's up with this! Help, anyone!? So, I've separated them by color to hopefully make it easier to read.

So, does this make me a great aunt? I can't believe how much hair she has. I also can't believe this makes my oldest sister a grandma! She is 52 (or 53?). But that only makes me sound older to hear her being called a grandma. Oh well, at least I don't have gray hair yet...not that there's anything wrong with gray.... My sister is sooo excited and loves being a grandma. My other sister is loving it too...she's already gotten to babysit.

It all makes me a little sad because I'm away and won't play a big part in her life like her other aunt will. To be honest, I'm not even really close to my niece, especially not like I am to my nephew. He and I talk all the time on the phone. I think it makes a difference that I was still living in the same city when he was born. I had already moved away by the time my niece was born. My goal this year is to be the one to put forth the effort to stay in communication better. I usually go visit my family about 4 times a year or so, but other than my older sister (not the grandma), I don't talk a lot to the rest of my family on the phone. I used to talk with my mom all the time. But things have changed a bit since my dad's stroke a year and a half ago. But, that doesn't mean that I can't change that. Then maybe it'll make it easier for them to call me too. It's just kind of a strange thing to come up with conversation when you don't talk often. So I figure the more we talk, the more comfortable we'll feel. It's not like we're total strangers or anything. When I go visit, it's totally different...like we've never been apart. For that, I'm extremely grateful! It's just the darn distance.

Okay, well, thanks for the therapy session! I"m extremely motivated now.

Oh, did I already mention in a previous entry that Benjamin says, "Want, dat"? We don't ever know what "dat" is (unless we give him choices), but hey, he's saying a 2 word phrase! Rian, if I didn't tell you that already, sorry. I will when I talk to you next. :)

New Attempt

Okay, I've been out of the loop for a long time now. Thanks to encouragement from my friend Kathie, I'm ready to start making time for this again. So much going on. Bummer is, with such an open blog, I don't feel safe to post some of it. So, those thoughts and feelings stay to myself...and privied friends.

So, I went scrapbooking this past weekend to the same place I blogged about back several months ago. My friend, Jill, did a wonderful job organizing it, as usual. This group of women was competely different from the usual twice a year crew. Both are unique and fun and great in their own ways. This happened to be a group of 10 others, most of whom I knew the names, but didn't know personally, or barely knew. They happened to be a group I've highly admired for their servant hearts and uncompromising godly characters. So, I felt a bit intimidated going in. Everyone, including myself, was so incredibly blessed by the time we spent with each other. Lots of fun, fellowship, meaningful conversation and just plain silliness. Did I get much done? Ummm, no, but that's okay. I'll be going again in April. Maybe I'll catch up then.

Next thing: My niece (the 20 year old that got married last year and was diagnosed as a carrier) just had her baby this morning at 12:20am. She had a baby girl and named her Adelin Sage (not sure how to spell either). I can't wait to see her.

Next: Ian's program coordinator asked Jim today if we thought we might want to keep Ian in kindergarten another year. AMEN! That's exactly what we were going to ask for.

Next: Our family is transitioning to a new church that has (so far from what we've seen) an incredible special needs program called Special by Design. Although we adore our previous church, we have noticed that we have been so 'overwhelmed' by life that other than attending church on Sundays, we have not sought out ways to serve or fellowship. Even with our homegroup, we started alternating each week between the 2 of us because it gets hard on the kids. So, we heard about the caring SN support at this church, decided to attend, and are now looking for ways to serve to see if the Lord leads us to stay.

I think if I don't end now, this might end up being way to long for my jump back in. So ta-ta for now.

Can't Sleep

It's 1:40am and I can't sleep. Didn't someone else just have this problem not too long ago? So, I thought I would get up, eat another 1/4 of the container of icecream, and add an entry to my blog.

Ian is up to his old habit of not sleeping through the night again. Very irritating. He doesn't cry out and get mad like he used to. He just 'happy screams' in there. Not too long ago, he woke the other ones up. Not cool! He's in there now awake. We just up'd his does of guanfacine cause we were noticing that it didn't seem to be having the same affects. If we don't notice anything after a few weeks of the increased dose, I think we'll go back to clonodine again. We're thinking that maybe since he's gained weight since the last time he was on it, maybe he'll be able to take a small dose of it during the day without it knocking him out.

Remember my 20 year old niece who got married in April? Well, I don't remember if I already told you that she's pregnant. She got pregnant like immediately. She's 17 weeks. Well, she called about a week ago to let me know she got tested for FX and found out she's a carrier. It's weird, but all of a sudden, it seems the whole family is now wanting to read up on it more. It's a good thing, but it kinda woulda been nice to have them so gungho about knowing more about it when we got our diagnoses of fully mutated. My other sister just recently asked me for the websites. My mom said she read something, something, something about the repeats. And of course, my oldest sister (the niece's mom) is wanting to know more about it obviously. I'm not mad, just kind of feeling.....I'm not sure. Probably don't need to go there anyway. I just wish everyone would have wanted to be more educated when I needed them to be....with all my diagnoses. I actually hadn't thought about any of that until I started writing this entry. Oh well, better late than never.

Ian LOST another tooth. No idea where. But at least there wasn't blood everywhere this time. He looks awfully cute with his two bottom teeth out. He's got a tooth growing back in place of the first one. I just hope his permanent teeth are as pretty as his first set. I love his teeth.

AVERY SAYING: One more story, then off to bed. Grandma was watching the kids yesterday and told me this story: The kids were watching football (we have several games recorded for Ian, who loves to watch them over and over and over and over). She decided to give them a quick football lesson. She told them that the man with the ball needed to run fast to the yellow (first down) line. If he didn't make it, they had to try again. So, Avery pipes up and says, "Oh, that's like when I wait to long and don't make it to the potty. I tee-tee in my panties because I didn't make it to the yellow line." Too cute!