Birthday Weekend

We spent the past weekend in Paris so here is the documentation. It goes without saying that this was a bittersweet weekend. I think the worst thing in the world would be to feel alone or forgotten at this time. We feel far from alone or forgotten. We have the best families and friends that have been so thoughtful. It absolutely means the world to us. There has been/is lots going on in my mind, but I just don't have it in me to write down.

I'll take you through Kanyon's birthday weekend!

Its that time of year again...MULE RIDES!!! Paw Paw and Kanyon were gone FOREVER Friday afternoon. klp is for sure feeling his 3 year old maturity in this picture:

We went over to Clay and Mo's for dinner Friday night. The cousins watched a movie. Kanyon started out on the couch with the girls, but he had to get a little closer to see the TV.

Meanwhile, qsp was downstairs soaking up the love from his Aunts!

It was 11:30 before Mom and I were able to start klp's cake. I had a few ideas and had even settled on the one I thought we would do for his party, but recent MONUMENTAL events in our house called for a change of plans. So, we went with the only theme that seemed appropriate this year....

Yes, my son had a Cheeto birthday party!!!!!!!!!! We all ate lunch and the only rule was you could have as many Cheetos as you wanted. No one was allowed to turn down their child's request for them! Kanyon had already eaten his lunch so he enjoyed bottomless Cheetos while his cousins ate their hot dogs.

Keeping an eye out for Cheeto stealers

Loving every bite!

Even the grown ups loved it!!

Here is the table

klp LOVES balloons!!!

We are so proud of our hard working, sweet natured, smart, funny, spunky, cuddly 3 year old!

And here's the Chester Cheetos cake.

Chalk another one up for MOM the cake fairy!!!

Singing to the Birthday boy....no candles here...3 Cheetos!!

He actually smiled and acted bashful! It was kinda cute!

Kasey sent him some music instruments. It was the first present he opened and he would've been just fine if this bell thing was the only thing he got! He loved it! Kase continues to nurture his musical talents!

For the first time, we gave him some cake. He felt of it....licked it....

then we gave him a spoon to see if that would help....but no, he handed it over to me quickly. So we gave him more Cheetos!

Kanyon may not have liked the cake, but I'm pretty sure Landry did

ya think????

Nolan seemed pleased as well!!

klp enjoying his balloons

Mom and Dad got out some kites. It was the perfect day for it and the kids had never done it before.

Paw Paw, Gay Gay, and Avery

Avery

Ro Ro getting her turn

Another ride on the Mule. My favorite part of this story is that Clay said he was holding Kanyon in his lap driving and Avery and Landry were in the back. After a few minutes, Clay said klp signed "please" and pointed to the backseat! He wanted to ride with his cousins!!! I loved that!

Here they are:

Here we are:

Thanks again for all the calls, cards, flowers, emails, texts, voicemails, etc. We continue to depend on those around us to carry us through tough days. Thank you.

We're Getting Kanyon A Backpack For His Birthday

Why a backpack? Because he's going to school! Holy cow. Holy. cow.

So, here's the info (as usual, it will probably be too much)

In Texas (and maybe other states, I just only know TX), the Early Childhood Intervention program (ECI) only goes until the child is 3. When a child with disabilities turns 3, the public school district where they live provides the Preschool Program for Children with Disabilities (PPCD). This can be 5 full days of school if you choose. We've been meeting over the last 3 months and just had our last one today to finalize the "plans". Our plans are for him to go Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 8:00-10:30. That is as long as he can go because they can't feed him. I'm fine with that though because I think that will be a good amount of time and he will be there for the bulk of the instruction time. While at school he will be in a classroom with 8 other kids ages 3-5. He has a main teacher and 2 helpers. I have met the teacher and she seems really good and I think she will be great for him. In addition to the normal school stuff, he will get PT, OT, Speech, and vision therapy. We will continue our home therapy (OT and PT twice a week) so the therapy at school will be a bonus! I really like the therapists that will be seeing him and feel like this is going to be great for him to have even more help with his development. Then again I feel bad for the kid. I'm sure he wants to say, "Seriously mom? More therapists... you gotta be kidding me!"

How do I feel about this?

I have mixed emotions. In a normal situation with a normal developing kid, I would NOT be ready to send them anywhere!!! I want my babies in my home. Not because I'm scared or overprotective but because I want them IN MY HOUSE making memories and growing up spending our days together. BUT we are well aware that this is not a normal situation and therefore some of our "plans" have had to change to do what we feel is best for Kanyon. I have no doubt that he will love going to school. He's such a social little guy and has already had tons of fun exploring the room and playing with his teacher and therapists. While we've been able to provide him with great therapy for his physical development, this will be a great opportunity to put him in an environment that will really encourgae his language development as well as social skills and other "life" skills. I'm excited to see what comes from this and have no doubt that it will be very good for Kanyon's whole development. I realize I keep using the word development, but that's kinda what this is all about.

On the flip side of all of this is everything I'm dreading. First of all, klp is NOT a morning person. We've been actively trying to adjust his bedtime to earlier so that he would start to wake up earlier. Yeah, so I WOKE HIM UP Sat. morning at 10am!!!! That is unusually late, but he would sleep til at least 9 if he could. Breakfast is and always has been his most difficult meal. So, our days are about to start WAY EARLIER that usual and I hate the idea of waking him up and having to feed him and get ready and rush out the door. I'm not a morning person either and am not good at getting everyone ready and out the door without it becoming a stressful nightmare. We live very close to the school, but will still probably have to be up by 6:30 to get everything done and there on time. Selfishly, I don't want him to get so used to waking up early that he wakes up that early on NON school days!!! This is going to seriously affect little qsp because he's gonna need to eat at some point in there (wihle we're getting klp ready) and he is usually asleep at 8am. Not sure what to do about that. Kory is gone by 7 at the latest, usually earlier, so I'll pretty much be on my own! I don't like the idea of loosing our mornings here at home. All in all I feel like my life is changing forever. Once this thing starts we'll never go back to the way its been. Just us rockin' and rollin' in the mornings leisurely getting ready for breakfast and that day's therapy (we have it almost every day but they come to us 3 out of the 4 days). It will never be like this again. I realize I'm sentimental and always have had a hard time letting go of where I am to go to what is next even if its a good thing. I just am not ready for this!!! The good thing is this will just be for 2 months and then we'll have summer but when Fall comes and school starts again it will be all of this all over. Of course I think about the fact that he will be sharing a classroom with other kids and that means.....you guessed it!! GERMS! I'm really not that worked up about that. It's going to be a part of the deal and I realize that and there is nothing I can do about it. So, we'll just pray for a strong immune system. Thankfully we can keep our normal home therapy, but that means finding new places to fit all of that in. We've been enjoying having Mondays therapy free, but now there will be no such thing as therapy free days. We'll have to work out our schedules to try and fit it all in and I'm not sure how that will happen. I have no major plans for my time while he's at school. I'd like to not completely ruin qsp's naps all 3 of those days so I may just spend most of the time at home getting things done around the house. It will be nice to be able to run errands without having to lug out the double stroller everywhere I go. Everyone keeps telling me it will be a nice "break". I realize that, but I don't feel like I need it. I'm sure I do and I'm sure I'll enjoy it, but I think I was doing just fine without it! :)

Despite all of the bad things I've just ranted about, I am excited for Kanyon. I am praying this will be a great thing for him and am cautiously optimistic about seeing major leaps in different areas of his development (I've learned to not expect DRAMATIC changes to happen very quickly) and once we get in the swing of things, I'm sure we'll find all kinds of good things about it! I am thankful that I feel so confident in the school district and the teachers and therapists we've met. There is no way I would do this if I didn't feel good about the people that would be working with him.

So there you have it. Kanyon is going to school whether his mommy likes it or not. He will start next Tuesday. I'm not sure if I'll cry or not. Mostly I just get a really big sick pit. I'll hopefully take pics and will be able to post them soon.

The birthday is Friday. WOW. Have we really been at this Phillips Phamily thing for 3 years?!

That's What I Get for Bragging

As soon as I clicked "publish" on Quinn's 3 month post--the one full of gushingly proud things like "easy" and "on schedule"--it all went down the drain! Seriously, this week he's decided to not take naps, not go to sleep, and wake up at night every 3-4 hours. Nice. Not sure what the deal is. All I can come up with is that I bragged on him too much in the blog and he thought he needed to give me a run for my money.
Good thing he's cute:

Quinn's 3 month pics

A week ago Quinn hit the 3 month mark. I actually took pictures that day, but am just now getting them up on the blog. Its been a great month with q-boy. He is growing big and rolly and is an absolute joy to take care of.

Maybe the biggest thing this month has been his sweet smiles. He smiles all the time and it doesn't take anything to get one of those sweet grins. He looks at us and watches us so closely. I love it when he looks at me! (I realize I'm probably a blurry mess to him at this point, but its still fun!) In the last week, I've noticed that he's loosing his hair. Only on the bottom of the sides of his head. Its making for an interesting look, but he's pulling it off quite well if I do say so myself.

He is eating about every 3 1/2 hours during the day and is sleeping.....get this....6 1/2-7 hours at night. We haven't quite hit the 8 hour mark, but who cares?!! He's been working his way up to this steadily the last few weeks and it just seems so easy to me. I feel like this is early to be sleeping that much, but I think I might be accidentally comparing it to the fact that I was getting up every 3 hours with Kanyon for like 8 months!! It was WELL over year before he could go 8 hours! All in all I feel like he's really super easy. He's happy and content and takes good naps. He is almost ZERO stress or trouble. That is great too!

When I was with the boys by myself after my 6 weeks of recovery, I figured out really quickly that "winging it" as far as his eating goes had the potential for disaster. It worked fine sometimes but when eating times hit at the same time for both boys, it just wasn't possible. I don't mean hard. I mean not possible. So, when qsp was bout 2 months old I attempted to get him on a schedule. I have a love-hate relationship with schedules, but I had no choice. It has turned out great. He was very little trouble to transition to the routine and has done great. Its not super rigid, but its enough to let ME know that I will be able to get both boys fed and sleeping the way they should. It has helped me make sure I can get Kanyon's food ready and fed to him without trying to console a hungry baby or heaven forbid nurse a hungry baby at the same time. The only down side is that for now, the 2 boys don't sleep at the same time. So my house work has taken quite a hit, but oh well. Enough rambling...check out my chunky chunky qsp.

"Uhh Mom, WHAT is this?"


"Oh yeah! A camera! CHEEEEEEESE!!!!!"

If you are ever looking for this boy, follow the sound of sucking and slurping. You will find him going to town on his fists. He loves it.

I attempted to get the thunder thighs. The other night I counted 8 rolls from his hip to his ankle!

squinty eyes prove the smile is as BIG as it gets. We've yet to hear sounds with the smiles, but it looks like he' laughing out loud in this picture!

I got a little carried away here....

Elvis?

Not sure how much he weighs. Kory stood on the scale with him and it said Q weighed about 16 lbs. I'm starting to worry that the onesie isn't going to come close to making it through the year!

I am just flooded with joy and thankfulness when I think about this boy. I'm so glad he is in our family.

My Almost 3 Year Old

As we approach and prepare to celebrate my Kanyon baby, I have a lot of things to document/share. Tonight, I'll share with you his current favorite of the favorites.....

Driving. He is obsessed. Totally. He buckles up first (safety first, right?) and then takes the wheel always making sure the windshield wipers are going full blast.

Then, he's kind enough to open the garage door for us.


The other favorite is laughing. He's such a giggle box. I think you're probably seeing it, but the pattern of Daddy being the one to make him laugh, continues:

This first one was happening while Kory was feeding him. Our feeding protocol is based on rewards as long as he's eating...reinforcements if you will. Those reinforcements can be anything. Toys are the obvious choice, but the sky is the limit and this night, it wasn't the shape sorter itself, but the game Daddy invented!



The second one happened while I was gone and Kory knew I would want to see/hear it so he set the camera up to video it. As soon as Kanyon sees the camera, he gets distracted (AS USUAL....UGGHH!!), but you can still enjoy the sound.




Now, if I were keepin' it real 100% I would insert a video here of his other favorite thing. FITS. Like a billion a day. I could let you hear the squeals and screams when you say, "Not right now" or heaven forbid just "No". I could do that, but I'd better not. No one wants to hear that. We'll stick to the giggles and belly laughs.

Good Ol' Saturday Fun

A few weekends ago we had a Saturday full of time together, time with friends, and time enjoying the beautiful weather! It was a great day start to finish.

It started with a little time waking up in the recliner with Daddy.

Then, qsp and mommy went to a birthday party and KLP and klp headed out to run a few errands.

We love putting him in his MSU hat (even though it only stays on for a few seconds!)

After naps, we headed to a park near our house. This was really the first time Kanyon had played on a real playground.

He LOVED the slide!

Though this little trolley thing looks like torture.........

but here is proof that it is F-U-N!!!!!!!!!

He even got to go down the slide by himself.

He would lay back and slide down laughing the whole way!!!

Wanna see it for yourself????




A little fun walking across the bridge.

and the always-a- blast SWINGS!!

even when it gives you whip-lash

Oh don't you worry...this tough guy was there too

Oh...not so tough now are you, little cutie!!??!!

Back to the tough guy. (despite his happy demeanor, I get the furrowed brow look ALL THE TIME! It is so HIM)

I have several more blog posts to add but PLEASE don't miss the one I posted before this one. Its a must read!