Quilt Show

I made it out to the quilt show in Reardan this weekend. What a pretty area! Such a nice way they display their quilts, all along the fences and on the barn and The Buggy Barn quilt shop. I'm pretty happy with the picture opportunities, too! There were some craft booths there, as well, and Virginia Cole was there with her miniature quilt art. I just love her stuff! Check her out at http://www.gallopingpony.com/ to see her work.

School starts in a few days, and with all the chaos of summer, I'm looking forward to settling down into the routine of the school year.

Here's a little critter that Jim found out in the garage...actually it was hiding in the cover of his motorcycle, and it made its way into the laundry room! I've never seen Jim move so fast, when he was hustling to grab a glass to trap it! I took a picture (I have never seen a black widow before), so that we could all learn what to avoid! Creepy!!!

Is It Autism?

To further explain Asperger Syndrome:

Here's an excerpt from the website http://www.autismaspergers.net/ :

"This diagram as developed by Daniel Rosenn, M.D. (1997) shows autism as a spectrum disorder with different levels of severity and presentation. Considering autism as a continuum of its own may help solve the problems of defining and classifying people who are within the autism spectrum. The cluster of circles at the Severe-Kanner’s end of the graphic depict the relative ease of diagnosing autism in a person when she is at this end of the spectrum. Towards the moderate area, the presentation of autism becomes more varied as indicated by the introduction of different shapes such as the square and the triangle. The high-functioning-Asperger (HFA/AS) portion of this syndrome has the greatest diversity in shapes because the variation in presentation along with the number of people with autism in this area is the greatest. At the extreme right, those with autism blend into the general population. This autism spectrum severity wedge diagram shows that it is impossible to state unequivocally that a person with autism must have a particular trait or cannot have another trait. "

I'm finding lots of interesting stuff on the Autism Asperger Publishing Co. website www.asperger.net if you're interested in more information.

Day 12 ~ post op, and I'm doing pretty darned good! I haven't had to take much medication today (just a dose of naproxen this morning), despite running around the yard picking up stuff.

Our neighbor with the bulldozer came by today for a few hours. I am amazed at the difference already! We've watered down the dirt for hours, in several places, and it's paying off! Our neighbor really knows his stuff! He's able to get some huge boulders up and pushed off out of the way. After some more dozing tomorrow, we should be closer to being ready to pour some concrete. In the meantime, the dozer gets rid of weeds, sage brush, and thistle in an instant! That makes me pretty happy!

Chicken update: We're down to 7... Sometime during my week away, two went missing. I do suspect that we have two hens a-laying now.

I have to say that, during the past 2 weeks, I'm glad that I took lots of pictures. I have this thing that happens, anytime I have to take narcotic pain reliever, that I have gaps in my memory. Looking through my pictures during the past 12 days, has been a little bit of a surprise! Not only that, but when we all arrived home yesterday, I took a peek in the fridge, and there was zucchini that I had forgotten that my cousin had given me before the surgery...It's all very bizarre to have gaps in my memory.

As for an update on Bowen, the Opthalmologist has said that he does not have amblyopia after all. So, that's a relief! His eyeglass prescription is correct, and there's nothing to be concerned about as far as his eyes are concerned. Great to know!

At this point, I've found a couple of books about Asperger Syndrome (AS) that I think I'll end up adding to my library. The OASIS Guide to Asperger Syndrome is the first, and the second book is Asperger Syndrome and Sensory Issues. The first book seems to be an encyclopedia for the topic, and the second book is a very practical look at how Asperger's affects the behavior of someone with AS. For a long time, I blamed myself for being a bad mother, assuming that Bowen's odd behavior must be due to something I had done wrong. I'm relieved, not only to know that there is a reason for this behavior, but also that there are other parents out there who have faced the same parenting difficulties. Ultimately, I'm concerned not only with raising an AS child, but how to handle the dynamics between Bowen and the other kids. Anyway, that's all for now.

Just for fun, I've added this picture, taken by my friend, Kara, of Emma and Jimmy driving a little Jeep. It was June of 2006, so Jimmy was 3 1/2 and Emma was 18 months old. They grow so fast!!!

Reunion

Well, I wasn't sure if I could make it, but I did get to the family reunion this year. The kids had a great time playing with their second cousins on the playground and also getting their feet wet in the Columbia River.

At 7 days post-op, I'm doing pretty good. I have had some allergic reactions, first to the surgical glue, and now to the vicodin, so I'm off the heavy drugs and going to see if I can make it from here on out with just benedryl and tylenol. I'm feeling pretty sore though. Very happy with the results, but need to get beyond the healing process.

There's a quilt show coming up in Reardan, WA where they hang quilts all over the outside of the barn and nearby fences. I'm looking forward to seeing that and possibly getting a good picture of the scenery there.

Summer is flying by!

Just a quick post. I took the kids to Ohme Gardens near Wenatchee, WA the other day. It is really pretty there, and I'm glad to find that there was lots of shade, given the temperatures. It must have been hot at home, as well, as a grass fire burned around 5000 acres near our house in Soap Lake. I figure it got to be about 10 acres away from our property. I can see the blackened area from our kitchen. Thankfully, there was a large armada of firefighters helping, from ground crews to airplanes dropping water.

Last week, I was told by an optician that Bowen has amblyopia in his right eye. I'm taking him to an opthalmologist to see if his eye needs to be patched. Also last week, it was confirmed that Bowen has Asperger's (if you're interested in learning more, check out http://www.autismsocietyofwa.org/Resources.html for more information.

The kids finished up swimming lessons last night. I'm really proud of them. All three kids can retrieve toys from the bottom of the pool, which makes for a fun game. Jimmy and Bowen both have declared that they don't like jumping off of the diving board. (Bowen insists that he NOT be enrolled in swimming lessons again because he doesn't want to go off the diving board anymore). Well, as it goes, the rest of the summer is spoken for, so we won't be doing another session of swimming lessons this summer. I'll take them to the pool when I have a chance, and I do feel much more confident that the 3 older kids won't drown while playing near the frog slide or the fountain.

Little Swimmers

The kids continue to improve during swimming lessons! I am really amazed at how quickly they are picking up the skills. I never did any official swimming lessons as a kid, because I couldn't get my ears wet, and the techniques the lifeguards use to teach the little kids is very interesting. Emma is doing great now, as she is very comfortable going under the water. I went under about 5 times while holding her, and she liked that a lot. Then she was excited to try it on her own. After that, I couldn't get her to stop putting herself under the water! That makes me happy for her, since putting my head under the water was always a challenge for me when I was learning to swim. Bowen says he doesn't like to do "bobs" which is where they jump up and down, each time putting their heads under the water, in quick succession. He does quite well at it, though! He doesn't plug his nose much. Both he and Emma have been opening their eyes under the water as well. I went under once with Emma and told her to look at me underwater...I started laughing, she looked so cute underwater...She just might graduate from the parent-participation class this time! Who knows! Jimmy is really enjoying his class. The only part he doesn't like is when he has to get out into the cold air. Tonight was particularly bad...we were all freezing--it was 68 degrees when we got out of the water, and mommy was the only one without a sweatsuit to put on! What was I thinking!!!

One side note: I will be having surgery on July 21st. Those of you who know me, know my chest got outrageously huge after having kids...well, I visited a plastic surgeon and he submitted a request for the insurance company to pre-approve the reduction surgery. I figure the people at the insurance company took one look at the pictures of me and said, "Yes,,,hurry up and help that poor woman!!!" In case you are wondering, I will be losing seven cup sizes...I'll let you know how much that actually weighs after the fact. I've debated on making a separate blog about the before, during, and after experience (blogs of other people's experiences have been helpful to read), however, I haven't made up my mind yet. Anyhow, when this is all completed, I look forward to swimming for exercise purposes...right now, I can't do much moving around in the water as my suit won't stay on, on top. I do plan to have a bra-burning party afterwards...:)

Here's a sweet photo of Andrew in June. I can't remember if I shared it or not!

Swimming lessons went very well for these kids. By the end of two weeks, Bowen and Jimmy showed that they love playing in the water. It surprised me, but Bowen ended up being the one to virtually swim, face in the water, unassisted. Jimmy is having more trouble relaxing as far as getting his face into the water. Emma really had fun in her class (with me in the water helping). She's nearly tall enough to keep her head above water in the deepest part of the swimming area. the first day, she kept saying, "can I swim now by myself?"... She did go under water a few times, but not exactly willingly. By the end of the first week, she was clinging to my neck...She's more like Jimmy, in that it's hard to relax going under water at first. Anyhow, the kids are schedule to start more lessons this coming week. Jimmy will do level 1 again, Emma in the parent-participation class with me, and Bowen has graduated to level 2. No matter how well each child does by the end of the summer, the best part about it is that they each have tons of fun! There is even a little frog water slide (2 years old and up), that is a huge hit. There is one super giant water slide also, but it's for kids about 10 years old, or so. It's a pretty awesome facility...much better than the one in Pleasanton, for sure!

A week ago, Jim took Bowen and Jimmy to work. They had a great time seeing the dams up close and personal! That was a pretty big treat for the boys to see. They went places that no tour takes people in our times of increased security!

Emma picked some flowers at cousin Wendi's house...you can sort of see her left eye is swollen from a mosquito bite. Still, a cute pic of her.