Day 1 of Therapy

Wednesday was Hannahs first Occupational Therapy Session with Diana. She really had a good time. I am not sure if it was the therapy itself, all the attention she was getting or both. Being it was the first day, Hannah got to explore all of the rooms (gym being one of her favorite) and got to do lots of activities in each station. They have a gym, a pool, listening room, vibrating machines, bean boxes - hannah loved sitting in the box of dried beans and playing - kinda relaxing, toddler size stationary bikes, and goodness so much more. She even gets to do messy crafts and games that a lot of times you dont want to do at home because of the huge mess. She is so excited about her Therapy and that makes it so much easier. She got a little nervous when another therapist came in to help. She is not big on change. But she calmed down and warmed up after a while. It will get easier as time goes along. At first when we got the evaluation from Diana we just couldnt imagine our little girl being so far behind. She seemed perfectly "normal" to us. (apart from the behavioral fits and head banging). But each time Diana evaluates hannah during play she brings up something that I havent ever told her. It is really interesting to hear how much these therapists really know. There are a lot of things that Hannah does that are developmental delays, that we just thought were security issues or her being an extra lovable little girl.
We were taught the Wilbarger Brushing Protocol that will help us work on Hannahs tactile defensiveness and sensory regulation issues. You know those bristle brushes you get for a newborns hair from the hospital? Think of one even being softer.... rub it on your arm (lightly) .. you barely feel it, right? Well, in Hannahs case it hurts. She is overly sensitive to touch. That is why she screams like crazy when I BARELY brush her hair. And her hair is never tangled. The brush just runs STRAIGHT through. Crazy. I always got so frustrated with her screaming, and now I feel bad cause it actually DOES hurt her. This is going to be such a great learning experience for me.
For most of the evaluation she rated at 3 years and one month old, but on the academic part she rated 4 years 6 months. Yeah. Diana told us numerous times that we have done an amazing job with Hannah considering all the stuff she has going on. I am glad to hear we have done a good job. I just wish we would have known something earlier.

If I havent mentioned it before, they are saying she has a Sensory Processing Disorder along with some other stuff. If it turns out she does have a seizure disorder, then the medication might help with alot of her issues. And therapy might not take near as long. Yeah! I am ready for this - It will be crazy with all the therapy and stuff, but whatever it takes to make my baby girl healthy and happy is what I live for. Here we go. Friday is our next session. Hannah wants to swim, so I guess we will be swimming. :)

Jusss

Hayden absolutely adores our next door neighbor, Justin. Every time we get out of the car or walk outside he yells, "Jusss Jusss", and runs over to his garage (which is normally open). He has a motorcycle and Hayden always wants to go check it out. The other day when we got home from church, Hayden runs over to his garage and secretly grabs this hat. :) Justin obviously knew about it, but Hayden thought he was something else.

We went from calling Justin "Ju Ju" to "Jusss". We are definitely making progress. I am glad our kids like our neighbors.

Lets Go Fly a Kite

Saturday we had Great weather for flying a kite. So, we took the kids down to the "big hill" and flew our Spiderman kite. I think we have had this kite for 2 or 3 years and havent ever opened it. Oh well! The girls did a really good job. Hayden on the otherhand, just enjoyed getting wrapped up in the string and jumping on the kite when it fell to the ground. Boys are going to be Boys!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Texas Rangers

Yeah Rangers!

April 18th we took the kiddos to their first Rangers game of the season against the Royals. Hayden LOVED it. I am not sure if he liked the baseball or music better. Crazy boy.

I am not sure if the people sitting in front of us liked us being there as much though - between Hayden throwing his juice box at the lady 3 rows in front and hitting her in the head and Hannah falling into the lady in front of hers chair, and just all the noise that comes from 3 Wonderful children ;) The kiddos shared a big bag of cotton candy. I haven't quite figured out why they like that so much. It is gone as soon as you stick it in your mouth and you are still hungry even after you consumed all 3000 calories :) We had a good time. We left in the 7th inning because they "claimed" a storm was coming and everyone in the upper level needed to move down. Unfortunately there was NEVER a storm. Oh well. The kids needed some sleep since we had church the next morning.

you

Hannah

Friday afternoon we took Hannah in to Cooks for an EEG. The pediatricians office called us EARLY Monday morning and said that they are referring her to a neurologist. They were not for sure what all they found, but they said they are definitely checking her for seizure disorders. We go to the neurologist on Wednesday. I just pray that it isnt as serious as it sounds, and that whatever they do find can just be controlled with medicine as opposed to surgery. She has been through enough in her 4 years.

Shane will be out of town all next week for training and obviously will not be able to accompany me to the appt. Since my memory is terrible at this time, my brother is going to come along. (to make sure I can explain everything the doc says to shane) It is nice to have a family member who has had a lot of medical school courses :) He can ask some questions that I might not have ever thought about.

EASTER

Hannah and Joshua Harrison

Little Stud!

He Is Risen, Risen Indeed!

Happy Easter. What a wonderful day! We went to church this morning, and then went over to Debbie and Jerry Stamps house for lunch. They have an Easter Lunch EVERY year. Debbie makes delicious ham and the BEST rolls EVER! This is our 4 or 5th time to go to their house for Easter. We love it! The kids got to make a door knob craft, and had an easter hunt. Debbie and Jerry are always so good at having fun activities for the kids. They are the best! We love them dearly, and man, sometimes wish they were our kids grandparents. (Not comparing them to our own family ) They are the Godliest people I know. We have just been so blessed to have them in our lives. They have been wonderful to us since we moved here 7 years ago.

Resurrection Cookies and Toddler Bed

Girls beating the pecans just like the Roman Soldiers beat Jesus

Saturday night we TRIED to make Resurrection Cookies with the kids. It was a lot of fun, and a great way to tell the story. Although, something went wrong. We woke up Easter morning, and the cookies did not rise. I am going to try to find another recipe for next year. I have heard of resurrection bread as well, so maybe we will try that instead. The girls had fun so I cant complain.

Hayden also had a good time helping Daddy put his toddler bed together. He got a big boy twin bed, but I just don't think he is quite ready to be that high off the ground. Mimi bought him a toddler bed, so we are going to start with that. :) Friday he decided to climb out of the pack n play during nap time. Crazy boy! We have had a great weekend so far, and the best is yet to come.

Good Friday

getting ready to go find eggs

Mimi and Uncle Tim came up this weekend, and they volunteered to watch the kids for me Friday morning so I didn't have to take them to my Neuro appt. It makes things so much easier. Later Mimi took the kids to Target to pick out a few clothing items for an Easter gift. We need summer clothes desperately. They outgrew EVERYTHING from last year. The kids chose to eat lunch at TARGET of all places. Piece of advice - DO NOT get a SALAD! It was horrible. My mom and I ate a few bites and couldn't stomach it anymore.

Later in the day the kids dyed and decorated some eggs, which they really enjoyed. They were hoping to get to keep them FOREVER, and were not happy when daddy ate one. :)

We watched Ms. Pattycake - Easter Eggstravaganza - and had so much fun dancing and singing all about the Resurrection of JESUS, and how much he loves us.

Before bed we read about the crucifixion of Jesus, and the girls made paper stick people -Jesus and the two other guys who were crucified with Jesus - and we made three crosses out of branches. We took them outside and put them in the ground.

King had a good time too. We gave him a bath, only for him to get even dirtier afterwards.

Today was such a beautiful day. The kids and I spent ALOT of time outside. We finished the day off by making mud pies. They had a great time and got extra dirty. Hayden loved using the spray bottle to spray his body, then he would smear dirt all over it. :) He is such a funny guy. He loves to play in the dirt and grass, but when he discovers he is dirty he flips out. What? Isn't that what girls are suppose to do?

Phoebe Easter Party

Hailey, Marianna and Phoebe

Wednesday, the family was invited to Hailey's friend, Phoebes, house for an Easter party. They had a great time. We had an Easter egg hunt, played in the backyard, dyed and decorated eggs, and decorated bunny rabbit sugar cookies. What more can you ask for? Hailey loves getting to spend time with Phoebe. She is such a sweet girl. We are thankful we live so close, and have met some great friends.

7 Year Anniversary

Monday was our 7th Anniversary. Shane took me to the Reata in Downtown Fort Worth. It is a pretty neat place. The food was great. Hmmmm, especially the dessert - Fried Apple Crisp with Cinnamon Ice Cream. Yummy!

It was a bit chilly outside, sot the rest of the plans got altered. We ended up walking around the mall awhile until it was time to get back to the house.

Becky got us a great babysitter.... Chloe Hancock. The girls LOVED her. They were asking when she could come back as soon as she left. :)

We left the camera in the car, so we didn't get any pictures. But, check out the beautiful flowers Shane got me.

Dallas Arboretum

Hannah LOVES her baby brother!

Sunday we decided to do something special with the kids. We got up early, ate a good breakfast, packed a picnic, got our bibles and headed off to the Dallas Arboretum. We thought it would be fun to go see all the spring blooms (the girls love flowers), have a picnic, and of course have our family Bible Study. We decided it would be okay this once to miss church as long as we did our own lesson. :) The weather was a bit chilly and WINDY! We put the kids in their Easter dresses and tried to get some cute pictures. They did a really good job considering how cold it was. I think we got some cute ones (of course EVERY picture is cute to me). We had a good time, and it was definitely worth the trip.