Monday, June 13, 2011
Summer Fun!
Last week, friends of our needed me to watch their kids...let's just say, having 6 kids (unrelated) is way easier than dealing with 4 all day (that ARE related!).
We had so much fun with them!
Hope you are having a super fun summer too!
Joe, Megan, Joey, Morgan, Jameson and Baby Jackson!
We had so much fun with them!
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| We had a tea party for lunch (Joey wore a tie to dress up). |
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| JJ has a love hate relationship with the beach ball sprinkler |
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| Does this look like a summer photo or what? |
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| and...just a must add photo...Paige and Jackson during House Church yesterday |
Joe, Megan, Joey, Morgan, Jameson and Baby Jackson!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Happy Memorial Day!
What a weekend we have had!
We went to the Indy 500 Memorial Day Parade (something we have done annually for a few years). It was quite smart of us to find a spot at the beginning of the parade (thanks to Joe looking at the parade map ahead of time). It was so nice to watch in the shade too!
Then, on Sunday, Joe surprised the kids with a reservation to Caribean Cove. It was a "Staycation" for us. This hotel with a big waterpark connected to it is just a few minutes from our house. But, to our kids, we were in another world!
JackJack was a champ! Happy the whole time, just taking it all in and watching everything...this was our one attempt to get him to nap while we were there...didn't work.
We stayed in the "atrium" area that overlooked a separate indoor pool and all kinds of fun activities (ping pong, pool, putt putt). We never even made it there though, just watched all the action from up above.
When we first arrived, the pool was just opening and they had all these hundreds of kids wait 15 minutes while the checked the pools...luckily, that was the only time all trip they did that to them!
JackJack enjoyed the patio view too!
Amazingly, this was the first time ever that we've stayed in a hotel. So it was quite an experience for the kids - "Look a bathroom! Look at TV! Let's stay here forever" :)
We finished our stay with a small mis-hap. (No photos of this one).
Morgan chose to jump into the pool backwards, which unfortunately caused her to bonk her chin on the concrete. It was in a spot that was pretty hard to see and it was just about an inch wide...so nothing we thought would need stitches, especially Morgan!
She is just fine, just wearing a "Butterfly" bandaid until it heals - couldn't have picked a better option of style of bandaid for her, that's for sure.
Now, she joins many of her family members with a scar on her chin - Mo, Bubba, Ry Ry, me and Joe...hopefully none of the other kids join the club...but I won't hold my breathe!
What a memorable Memorial Day weekend!
Joe, Megan, Joey, Morgan, Jameson and Baby Jackson!
We went to the Indy 500 Memorial Day Parade (something we have done annually for a few years). It was quite smart of us to find a spot at the beginning of the parade (thanks to Joe looking at the parade map ahead of time). It was so nice to watch in the shade too!
Then, on Sunday, Joe surprised the kids with a reservation to Caribean Cove. It was a "Staycation" for us. This hotel with a big waterpark connected to it is just a few minutes from our house. But, to our kids, we were in another world!
JackJack was a champ! Happy the whole time, just taking it all in and watching everything...this was our one attempt to get him to nap while we were there...didn't work.
We stayed in the "atrium" area that overlooked a separate indoor pool and all kinds of fun activities (ping pong, pool, putt putt). We never even made it there though, just watched all the action from up above.
When we first arrived, the pool was just opening and they had all these hundreds of kids wait 15 minutes while the checked the pools...luckily, that was the only time all trip they did that to them!
JackJack enjoyed the patio view too!
Amazingly, this was the first time ever that we've stayed in a hotel. So it was quite an experience for the kids - "Look a bathroom! Look at TV! Let's stay here forever" :)
We finished our stay with a small mis-hap. (No photos of this one).
Morgan chose to jump into the pool backwards, which unfortunately caused her to bonk her chin on the concrete. It was in a spot that was pretty hard to see and it was just about an inch wide...so nothing we thought would need stitches, especially Morgan!
She is just fine, just wearing a "Butterfly" bandaid until it heals - couldn't have picked a better option of style of bandaid for her, that's for sure.
Now, she joins many of her family members with a scar on her chin - Mo, Bubba, Ry Ry, me and Joe...hopefully none of the other kids join the club...but I won't hold my breathe!
What a memorable Memorial Day weekend!
Joe, Megan, Joey, Morgan, Jameson and Baby Jackson!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Jameson's Fish Oil Experiment
Our sweet 2 year old son, Jameson is not much of a talker. Actually, compared to his big brother and sister, he's practically mute.
So, when he reached 24 months in February, we decided we needed to start pursuing speech therapy.
We are involved in an amazing program called First Steps.
The program is funded by the state and assists families with children in need of therapy for minimal to no cost AND they come do therapy IN YOUR HOME.
We are so thankful that God placed Jenny, our amazing and gifted speech therapist in our lives and most importantly for an hour a week into the life of our son.
Per her suggestion, I purchased a book called The Late Talker.
Now, I have picked up my reading a little in the evenings, because of the Happiness Project I am doing, but this book was one I read in 1 night. I was dedicated to understanding our son's issues and willing to do whatever it takes to help him get his voice.
It's interesting, in the beginning of the book it lists some common things that parents are told by family, friends and even their pediatricians - we've heard them all too:
-Don't worry, he's just a late talker
-Uncle Eric didn't speak until he was four
-Einstein didn't talk until he was three
-He'll speak when he's ready
-His older siblings speak for him
-Just give him time
Well, although the advice had the best of intentions, there is still more that we can do...
In Chapter 8 of the book it talks about "Alternative Strategies: Nutritional Intervention"
So here's what we're going to do...
It recommends that you give your child Fish Oil.
Fish Oil supplements contain varying balances of Omega-3 LCP's, DHA, EPA, ARA, EFA, ALA and GLA (I am NOT going to type out what all those are - but they're good for you!)
So, I went to Good Earth (a local store that sells super good quality suppliments and everything else organic, even shoes, that are good for you) and invested in Coromega - orange flavored. It's a mushy pudding texture in individual sized servings of about 2 teaspoons per package.
I have been putting it into his orange juice in the morning since Tuesday.
From this point on, I am going to blog his progress and see if this little experiment works.
There is no clinical studies, no federally funded research on it's effectiveness...but parent after parent wrote of amazing results from the use of this "brain food" - we just need to get those synapses sparking in JJ's mind and this is a safe, harmless way to do it.
Here's the words Jameson could say before supplement (5/23/11):
HOUSE
CATCH
GO
OPEN
THANK YOU MOM
BOAT
PLEASE (peas)
QUACK QUACK (gack gack)
BLUE (boo)
BALL
BABY
MOM
REESE
UH OH
UH HUH
UH UH
TA DA
ROUND AND ROUND
UP
WEE-OOO (fire truck)
BUBBA
MO
BAMMY
BAMPY
JUICE
MILK
ME
JOEY (goey)
JACK JACK (gack gack)
GAWWY (daddy)
HELP
BYE BYE
MAMA
PAPA
NEIGH
PEEP
BEEP
BOO BOO
BUS
COOKIE
BUCKLE
OUT
Day 1 of Fish Oil New Words or Statements: (5/24/11)
EAT JOEY (goey)
EAT SISSY (gicky)
HI (usually just waves at neighbors but says nothing)
(5/25/11)
ROLL ROLL
We'll see where this takes us...it is just a small thing that may truly help our son...who'd of thought fish oil may be all he needs to get his voice :)
Joe, Megan, Joey, Morgan, Jameson and Baby Jackson!
So, when he reached 24 months in February, we decided we needed to start pursuing speech therapy.
We are involved in an amazing program called First Steps.
The program is funded by the state and assists families with children in need of therapy for minimal to no cost AND they come do therapy IN YOUR HOME.
We are so thankful that God placed Jenny, our amazing and gifted speech therapist in our lives and most importantly for an hour a week into the life of our son.
Per her suggestion, I purchased a book called The Late Talker.
Now, I have picked up my reading a little in the evenings, because of the Happiness Project I am doing, but this book was one I read in 1 night. I was dedicated to understanding our son's issues and willing to do whatever it takes to help him get his voice.
It's interesting, in the beginning of the book it lists some common things that parents are told by family, friends and even their pediatricians - we've heard them all too:
-Don't worry, he's just a late talker
-Uncle Eric didn't speak until he was four
-Einstein didn't talk until he was three
-He'll speak when he's ready
-His older siblings speak for him
-Just give him time
Well, although the advice had the best of intentions, there is still more that we can do...
In Chapter 8 of the book it talks about "Alternative Strategies: Nutritional Intervention"
So here's what we're going to do...
It recommends that you give your child Fish Oil.
Fish Oil supplements contain varying balances of Omega-3 LCP's, DHA, EPA, ARA, EFA, ALA and GLA (I am NOT going to type out what all those are - but they're good for you!)
So, I went to Good Earth (a local store that sells super good quality suppliments and everything else organic, even shoes, that are good for you) and invested in Coromega - orange flavored. It's a mushy pudding texture in individual sized servings of about 2 teaspoons per package.
I have been putting it into his orange juice in the morning since Tuesday.
From this point on, I am going to blog his progress and see if this little experiment works.
There is no clinical studies, no federally funded research on it's effectiveness...but parent after parent wrote of amazing results from the use of this "brain food" - we just need to get those synapses sparking in JJ's mind and this is a safe, harmless way to do it.
Here's the words Jameson could say before supplement (5/23/11):
HOUSE
CATCH
GO
OPEN
THANK YOU MOM
BOAT
PLEASE (peas)
QUACK QUACK (gack gack)
BLUE (boo)
BALL
BABY
MOM
REESE
UH OH
UH HUH
UH UH
TA DA
ROUND AND ROUND
UP
WEE-OOO (fire truck)
BUBBA
MO
BAMMY
BAMPY
JUICE
MILK
ME
JOEY (goey)
JACK JACK (gack gack)
GAWWY (daddy)
HELP
BYE BYE
MAMA
PAPA
NEIGH
PEEP
BEEP
BOO BOO
BUS
COOKIE
BUCKLE
OUT
Day 1 of Fish Oil New Words or Statements: (5/24/11)
EAT JOEY (goey)
EAT SISSY (gicky)
HI (usually just waves at neighbors but says nothing)
(5/25/11)
ROLL ROLL
We'll see where this takes us...it is just a small thing that may truly help our son...who'd of thought fish oil may be all he needs to get his voice :)
Joe, Megan, Joey, Morgan, Jameson and Baby Jackson!
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