Kids for Jesus Carnival

 Chelsea told me this morning she wanted to be a flower girl - not like a wedding flower girl, but a girl covered in flowers, AND she wanted to wear her flowery dress. So, after a quick trip to dollarama, some wire cutters and hot glue, and a visit to Facepainting by Jo, we had our flower girl - pleased as punch.

 Gavin went as Batman - not that he had the foggiest idea who Batman is, but because the costume fit. He did, however, have oodles of fun running around with his cape and saying, "Batman, Batman!"

So fun!

A Profound Entry

My boy is smart - wicked smart, to be exact. He's two years and 4 months old and is constantly amazing me with what he knows. He can recognize and count numbers up to 50. He knows his alphabet and if you put down flashcards of the alphabet that are mixed up, he will pick them up in order. He is always singing the abc's or counting something. Yesterday, we found out that he can match the lowercase alphabet letters with the upper case partners.

But, there's one this he can't do (yet) and that's talk. This comes as no surprise. I've been dealing with it for a long time. First I kept insisting that he couldn't hear and it was hinted that I was overreacting. But we were able to go see a specialist and have a hearing test done and low and behold, he couldn't hear. He had t-tubes put in in April and we've had his hearing re-tested and so we were raring to go.

His speech had definitely picked up since April, but he still actually only had one true spoken word - "mom." Not once have I ever been called mommy. He has a huge vocabulary and language bank, but not the needed sounds to make the words. For example: ba for ball, na for banana, ee for cheese, etc. It is only ever one syllable and one sound.

So, I knew it was bad. Yes, he's a boy and yes, he's young, but I was concerned that his hearing impairment when he was younger had really messed things up. We went for a follow up to the specialist, and after seeing my little man work with numbers and flashcards, she too was impressed and said, "we need to get this boy talking!" We were given a referrel to speech at BTHC, but were told the waiting list was 6 months.

So, I talked to a speech and language pathologist and arranged for private speech. She assessed him and as she handed me the report, she warned me that it sounded worse than it was and not to be upset.

Ack. I knew there was a problem, obviously, as I was the one insisting he see specialists and getting hearing tests and asking for speech, but there's just something so heart-wrenching to read the words in black and white. He was placed "in the "profound" category of phonological impairment in comparison to other children with disordered expressive phonological systems." Ack. (And yes, I did cry when I read the report - I'm a wuss like that.)

Out of 14 categories, he basically flunked 9 of them. The summary said, "Based on test results, G's articulation/phonological skills were found to be significantly below the average range for a child his age. He was found to have a profound phonological delay."

Ah yes, but the good thing is the 2 year old brain is a sponge and he just LOVES soaking up learning. He sits sooo attentively and tries so hard and we have already seen so much progress. I can't wait to hear him in a few months!

Wow. That was a really long post.

Raw

Not sure what it is lately, but I've been in a major funk. I'm struggling with not feeling needed or wanted. I struggle with value and being valued. I've been praying like crazy because I can definitely see that somehow, somewhere along the line, I've believed a lie, but right now, my mind just won't let it go. It's hard. I don't like it.

So do me a favour - go send someone you know and love a little message letting them know just that. It might just make thier day!

Thankful

 I woke up this morning and read something on Facebook that made me feel left out and neglected and lately it seems too easy for me to feel that way. That is definitely one area where I seem to struggle with - fitting in. It seems to me that, with the exception of a few, I struggle with feeling worthy of friendships. In my head, I'm still that girl, hiding in the bathroom stall in grade 7, avoiding recess time. I sometimes feel like I am always the one inviting people out and in my head, I turn this into me begging to be your friend. I fully realize this is completely my issue, and most of the time, it's not true, but lately, it's hard to convince myself of that.

Our pastor spoke last week on giving thanks in all circumstances and how we should easily be able to list things we are thankful for, so I'm going to focus on what I'm thankful for and push all the other negative thoughts out.

I know, this "thankful" post is a week too late, but really, is it ever too late to be thankful? So, in no particular order, let's get started.

1. My husband is incredible. He loves on me like there's no tomorrow. He has completely picked up the slack at home because I am so busy. He is such a good dad, carting the kids off to dance and gymnastics and everywhere else they need to be. I'm reminded again that he is my best friend.

2.  My health. I am healthier and stronger and in better shape than I ever have been. I am ever so thankful for that.

3. My kids. Seriously, I love these two so much it hurts some days. My house is often in a cluttered, messy state because I neglect housework when I'm home so that I can have quality time with these two. We read, colour, snuggle, count, wrestle, craft, bake, dance and play. I always try to remind myself that those things are more important than a clean house.

4. My job. Although this year is proving to be intense and stressful, I am thankful for my job at the school. As I'm getting more and more settled and confident in my new position, I'm liking work more and more.

5. My clients. When I opened A Better Life Wellness Centre, I never dreamed I would be as busy as I am. It's overwhelming and stressful at times, but when I come home and share the stories of the day with Chris, I'm reminded of how incredible these people are. It's so uplifting and encouraging to be a part of helping people get healthier and happier. Watching people grow in confidence as the pounds come off is such a rush. I'm grateful to be a part of their lives.

6. My friends - I do have a few close friends who I know will be there for me, no matter what. I don't ever feel pressure to be someone I'm not. Our lives are all crazy busy so sometimes it's hard to find time to hang out, but their friendship means the world to me. Oh and I have a few internet BFFs who kinda rock too. ;)

Okay, so far, those have all been the usual, sappy ones we all expect. Now onto some randoms that I'm thankful for.

7. I was super blessed to spend the day yesterday with a girl who simply gets me - everything about me. It was such a great, easy day. It was refreshing. I am oh so thankful for her. Oh and I'm thankful I found what I hope to be a really warm winter jacket to make those winter duty days a little easier.

8. My Kindle. Sounds weird, I know, but I have found so much peace and joy in reading again. I find the Kindle so convenient to just throw in my purse to read whenever I have a few spare minutes. I fall asleep reading every night and I have been getting much better sleep with less tossing and turning.

9. Feta cheese and Greek salads. I know, not as life impacting as friends and family, but I could eat this every. single. day. And this week, I have. :)

10. Good music. I love being able to crank the tunes and change my attitude. I can go from feeling sleepy and tired to rockin' it out with a ton of energy. I can go from feeling down and depressed to worthy and loved.

Alright, now it's time for church, which I'm also thankful for. Oh sunshine. Oh and coffee. The list goes on and on.

Master Re-do

Okay, so I have been putting off posting these for a long time because I was waiting to hang the picture frames. I don't have any before shots though. When I decide to start something, I just do it, so this is as good as you get. All the walls in the bedroom were this blah, beige colour (although here you can tell I had already painted most of the room.)

Now I love bluish/grey colours and I've repainted my kitchen, master bath, basement and now master all various shades, trying to get that perfect grey without a hint of blue, but to me, it still looks blue. Either way, I love how light and bright it is.

I love the wallpaper, although not sure if I'd ever wallpaper again. It was a lot of work.

I made the LOVE artwork in the corner. I was going to hang it above our bed, because I really don't like the star, but I'm not in love with that either, so for now, the star stays. I made the pillows and the body pillow case. The bedding is from Wal-Mart.

The headboard is an old door I painted a long time ago, and our dressers are still the good, old used dressers I got when I moved out of home, 12 years ago. I painted them when we got married (8 years ago) and really, I don't mind them.

I bought an etsy print with our initials and wedding date and used that to kind of anchor our photowall. I love pictures and have tons of them all over our house. I'm going to eventually just hodgepodge my walls with pictures of my kids. Who needs wallpaper?

Well, that's it. Our master bedroom. I LOVE it. The only thing that we'll be changing is that hopefully in 2012, we can get rid of all the carpet and switch to laminate floors.

Hmm... now what to paint next?

Defying Gravity

Yesterday I ran a half marathon. 13.1 miles or 21.1 km. My good friend and inspiration Amanda offered to run beside me, even though it meant slowing way down from her usual pace. (She's a rock star. This was her 7th half marathon.)

I've always claimed that I'm not pretty when I run, but these pictures totally make me regret the bandana. It is a lulu lemon one, but still. Ah well, it was very effective at keeping the sweat out of my eyes!

There were 208 runners, with 72 running the half marathon.

Lined up, all ready to go.

These pictures make me laugh. I'm totally a dork. Seriously. We had to loop around Winkler twice. The first time, we were wearing our sunglasses. The second time, we were wishing for our sweaters!

And I finished. I wanted to keep 10 minute miles, and so  I was pretty pumped when I crossed at 2:12. I didn't really have any goals in mind, as this was the first time I had ever run anything longer than 12 miles. It was a huge accomplishment, no matter what the time!

Every person who completes the half marathon, got a medal. Woo hoo!!

Seriously - look at Amanda - she doesn't even look like she just ran 13 miles. Tall Amanda, however, does, and still regrets the bandana!

:) One of my life's goals crossed off the list.