Back By Popular Demand

Ok, so maybe not "popular" demand.  More like, I saw the sad look my dear mother-in-law gave me when she expressed how upset she was that I was no longer posting photos of her grandchildren and she missed it so much.  That, coupled with the fact that I really have missed blogging and I do want to continue to document our family's journey, has brought me back to this old blog.  I was gone so long dust was starting to collect around here!

I can't really give a specific reason as to why I haven't been blogging.  I think I just got caught up in the chaos that is life and just stopped doing it.  Having two young children, especially one with special needs, maintaining a home, and being able to find time to fit everything else in that I want to do has been a bit of a challenge for me in the last year.  Time management is not one of my strong suits.  But I'm hoping to make a concerted effort to add some weekly blogging into my busy schedule.

Before we get to that, I'll give you the Reader's Digest version of what we've all been up to lately.

Cody has been working hard at work.  He's also been trying to finish up some of those 95% projects around the house. You know, the ones that get about 95% done and then you move on to something else without ever finishing it for whatever reason.  He's gotten back into his running schedule after taking a bit of a break at the end of last year due to an injury and lack of time.  He's hoping to run a couple of 5k's this year so he's very excited about that!

I've been keeping busy shuttling the kids to and from their various appointments and activities.  I'm a PTA member, which I actually really enjoy.  I think my biggest chunks of free time these days are spent baking and decorating sugar cookies and cakes.  I've always loved it (as I'm sure most of you know) but I've taken it to a whole new level in the last year.  The cookies are becoming a strong favorite over cakes so I've been doing a lot with those.  I make them for friends, the kids' birthdays, holidays, and for Owen's class whenever they have a party.  It's time consuming but I love it!

Owen is having a blast in Kindergarten.  He's adjusted well to the change and is really enjoying it to the fullest extent.  Last fall he started Tae Kwon Do and he loves it.  He's in Tiny Tigers, which is for kids aged 4-6.  His friend, Ben (my good friend, Chrissy's son) is in it with him, along with a boy from his class.  He's tested twice since he started and moved up to Tiny Tiger Yellow Belt.  He's also gearing up to start Tee Ball for the first time this Spring.  We're apprehensive about how that will go since he's never really enjoyed team sports all that much but we're hopeful that he'll have fun with it.

Cameron now has a very full therapy schedule.  We are driving to Des Moines to Child Serve, a therapy center made just for kids, 3 days a week now.  He gets speech and occupational therapy at the same time, 45 minutes each time.  We're also going to be adding a feeding therapy session there soon to help with his limited diet, which is due largely in part to his sensory defensiveness.  We have really discovered in the last year just how complex his disorder is and how everyday is such a struggle for him.  But he is progressing everyday!  He's also receiving therapy at home through a great place called The Homestead.  They do ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) therapy, which is an essential part of autism therapy.  It is intense, but if done correctly can really produce some awesome results.  They are coming to the house 4 days a week for 2 1/2 hours each time.  It's been an adjustment for him but he's doing well so far.  He LOVES the water so we are expecting to log a lot of hours at the pool this summer!

So that's us in a nutshell.  We just had Owen's birthday party this past weekend so I'll be sharing photos of that soon!  I can't believe my baby is turning SIX tomorrow!  Where does the time go?