Ho!Ho!Ho! Off to Grandma Jo's house we go

We left a day and half early...  due to excitement & potential bad weather.  Turns out we still got in bad weather, got in lots of traffic, and dealt with a child who CANNOT sleep in the car.  8.5hrs later at midnight we arrived.

Happy to get the holidays started!

Last day

Had our last out-patient therapy appointment today.  There's a chance we'll pick it back up but we're keeping our fingers crossed that the therapy preschool provides will be enough.

Thankful for all the one on one attention, time & energy his therapist spent on him
Thankful for the 3 women that understood Logan & gave us insight
Thankful they allowed me to bring Reagan
Thankful that Reagan was extremely well behaved each and every time we went
Thankful for health insurance
Thankful that the 55mile roundtrip visits twice a week are over

Excited for the next step

Super sad

We dropped cookies off at Daddy's work today.  We can't go in his office so he came out and sat in the car with us for a few minutes.  The thrill of seeing Daddy in the middle of the day took a sharp turn for the worse as soon as Logan realized he wasn't coming home with us.

Enter super sad face:

The picture doesn't even do it justice.  It's the holding back the tears, the deep breaths and the whimpering "Daddy all done" that just breaks my heart a little. 

Swimming Sundays

My parents discovered at their last visit here that the hotel down the road from us offers "open swim" for the public :o  And it just so happens that Mr. & Mrs. Claus dropped an early Christmas present off for the Hawk family in the form of pool pass :)

I'm not a fan of being in my swimsuit off season buutttt we've gone every Sunday and a couple Friday nights the past couple weeks.

And it would be an understatement to say we all have a blast.

Foto Friday

I CAN NOT believe that this picture was only taken a year ago?!  Where did my baby go and why is she growing up hating hairbows and loving sweat bands?

Reagans week so far

1.  She would NOT let me carry the basket at Target
2.  She made Tiny Tina some lunch
3.  Salty got just a smidge too close to her head
4.  Discovery of pockets!

Another day at school

Wakey Wakey

Big Steppin'

He's been working hard on trying to master an upright step up and a step down.  This morning on our walk he did it for the first time unassisted  :o 

Foto Friday

Kiddos and I went for a walk in the woods this morning :)

Reagan says "Thank you Grandma for my snowsuit - I liked it so much I didn't even throw a fit putting it on!!"

TGIF!

Here we go

Just had Logan's standardized tests done this morning.  

BDI-2 : Battelle Developmental Inventory, Second Edition

PLS -5 : Preschool Language Scales, Fifth Edition

His service coordinator and speech therapist from Birth to Three spent an hour  doing the tests with him this morning.  It's some toy playing, and some identifying, it's me answering questions, it's Logan trying to answer questions, it's observations & it's them filling in bubbles and making notes.

As we predicted, Logan is classified as Globally Delayed and will qualify for the Special Education program.  

and the ball is rolling....here we go

Tomorrow he goes to school from 8:30-9:15 to be introduced to the classroom and take part in the first part of a standard day - playtime.   From now until he goes for his first full day they will gradually increase his visit time to see how he does.

January 8th he has his final transition meeting with the school and Birth to Three.  At that point we will establish his IEP (Individualized Education Program) & his schedule for his school day - therapies etc..

February 1st he starts school...officially.

I think Kevin & I have mixed emotions.  We know this is what is best for him but sometimes our lives, Logan's life and the situation as a whole seems a bit surreal.  So while we digest the newest chapter of Logans life I leave you with some words from another blog that I check.  She has twin girls, one with special needs similar to Logan. This post she wrote awhile ago makes me step back and think about the big picture:

These sisters have shown me that there are much more important things to life than expectations and goals. One of my daughters has special needs, and she’s teaching me things I never knew I needed to learn.

The most profound lesson I’ve learned from Isaiah Jane thus far is a simple one – I cannot fix her. Not because I don’t have the answers, but because she is not broken. She is perfectly whole. I feel like I exist to give her all of these tools, as if I can somehow protect her or make life easier for her. But she doesn’t even know that she’s different. Her disabilities are not her identity; they are merely a part of the bigger picture of who she is. She demonstrates beauty and strength and zeal to everyone she meets, and it goes not unnoticed. I want to be like her when I grow up, and she’s only eighteen months old.

tiny taco lover

34 months & 18 months

Today these are our babies - the littlest is a big year and a half and the oldest is little boy who looks to be one boutonniere away from going to prom?!

To celebrate I pulled the tags off their super fancy's that we never seem to have a reason to wear and I promised a cookie & some outback time :) As you can tell Logan thought it was hilarious that I was throwing snowballs at them...Reagan, my tough little cookie, notsomuch. 

and it's time to go inside....

They are growing. 
I look at these pictures and I hardly recognize Logan.  When I see him running around the house I still see a little boy that cries and sucks his thumb, that still likes to be rocked.  But these pictures are of a little boy that's turned big boy in the last year.  He weighs (according to the Hawk House scale) a whopping 32.3 lbs and is a little over 3ft tall with his boots on.  He can run. He can snap his fingers.  And he's starting to sing some songs. And he's so very handsome.

Reagan is the little girl that is so much wiser than her years.  She amazes us everyday.  In an instant I go from thinking she is growing up too fast to seeing her grab her blankie and paci and run to me to be held.  I still have some baby left in her :)  She is an opinionated firecracker and her seat on the time out step some days never goes cold.  She loves Logan, knows her ABC's and can count to 10.  She can sing songs, and scream loud.   Hair wet, clothes and one boot on, she weighs in at 24.6lbs. Didn't record a height for her today...I decided  not to pick that almost battle  ;)

They bring out the best and the worst in each other (and in me for that matter...lol).  They are more a team now than 2 individuals and they use it against me.  If Logan starts doing something that I tell him to stop doing, Reagan immediately starts doing it and vice versa.  Double trouble if you will.  I'm out numbered. 

Tonight

We went from having a house full of family for almost 2 weeks to just me & the kiddos in a blink of an eye. Grandma Jo left on Sunday and the next day Daddy left on work travel for the whole week. Which makes for some looong days & nights for me and the kiddos.

Tonight, their favorite Elmo movie was playing when they got out of the tub....sometimes the clock stands still when it gets to that time of the night & tonight the movie got me to bedtime.  2 days down, 2 to go.  

Happy get over the hump day.

The family

in Reagan speak is:

Mommy, Daddys, Ogic, Waygun, & Doggies

Pretty sure she calls Kevin Daddys because most of my sentences are "Daddy's at work, Daddy's home!, Daddy's upstairs" 

Ogic? I don't know how this one came about but here is a quick video of her letting me know that Ogic is in timeout.

 

I think Waygun is a pretty good attempt at her name 

and the poor pooch, Dylan, has been referred to as doggie since Logan was born. lol.    

Little Mommy

Everyday she turns more and more into a little Mommy's helper.  She wants to hold the dust pan when I sweep the floor, she helps turn on the vacuum, she organizes the laundry with me, she throws trash away for me, and she wants to help change Logans diaper...lucky for Logan I suggested she change her babydolls diaper while I did Logan's.

And lucky for you this isn't the full 20min version ;)  

Instead I present 7mins of diaper changing Reagan style



 

In the days that follow Thanksgiving

we jump straight into the Holiday season

Yesterday was the classic mall Santa photo, which didn't go quite as planned...hence Kevin & I  in the picture. But a Christmas that will go down in the memory books as The Christmas that ....they are wearing maybe the most perfect Christmas outfits ever,  the one that for the first time ever Logan was afraid of a stranger (aka Santa), the one that Reagan has no shoes on because she was one breath away from throwing a fit about putting them on, the one that Mommy & Daddy are smiling their biggest smiles to make up for blank stares from the kiddos.

Today was the annual Hawk House Tree picking at the tree farm.  Logan had a blast.  Reagan was recovering from a mega "I don't want to wear a jacket, hat, or shoes" fit... but all and all it was a good time and we got our tree.  We opted for a Charlie Brown size tree this year since we won't be in town for Christmas, and it's exactly as perfect as we hoped it would be :)

 

Tis' the season to be jolly :)

Foto Friday: Black Friday Edition

I did it.  And I did it by myself & I did it Thanksgiving night at Target.  Absolute madness.

Gobble Gobble

Lots to be Thankful for this year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday

Kevin's birthday actually falls on Thanksgiving this year so instead of packing in Turkey & Birthday we celebrated a day earlier :)

Happy Birthday m'love :*

All here

The last of the Thanksgiving family arrived today - Grandma Jo is here, and she came with gifts!!!!

whew.

Maybe thats why young families travel for Thanksgiving....because it would be near impossible to shop, clean & cook for Thanksgiving while caring for two young babes.   I certainly wouldn't be sitting on the couch already dipping into the Thanksgiving wine if our families weren't here to help.

Thankful.

Battle of the Birds

Boston College Eagles vs. Virginia Tech Hokies

We had fantastic weather, amazing seats and pulled off an overtime win. WhoopWhooop!

Sooooo to celebrate we went to the bar drank 12 pitchers of beer, had 2 rounds of shots.

Foto Friday

Yes, Grandma & Grandpa are in town partly for Turkey Day & partly so that we could sneak away to Boston for a surprise pre-birthday weekend for Kevin which included the Hertels & a Virginia Tech game.

This was our Friday.  Last time Andrea & I hung out without being pregnant, breastfeeding or having to worry about caring for kids was March 2007 - so this was a long time in waiting.  And it didn't disappoint.

Grandma & Grandpa are here!

hence the new rocking horse!!

and new clothes

and new truck

and all the new fun they bring :)

So here's the thing...

when you catch a nice day you take advantage of it - especially when the coldcoldcold days are upon us - so after naps we had a fire and played outside

YAY for long holiday weekends :)

 Warmer temps & nothin better to do ....

Logan navigating the woods would make any smile.  The first collage of pictures shows him trying to figure a way around the smallest tree  ever that happened to be growing in the middle of the path.  It took him a serious 3minutes to get around it.  The second collage is of him "climbing up" and "stepping down" from all the roots.  He did awesome - to think that he wasn't walking a couple of months ago.

 Flash forward 5 years and Kevin and I will be on the sidelines watching this little lady