I don't think I ever blogged about Mothers Day, or Fathers Day. Both were pretty chill days. I kind of dropped the ball on pre-planning a Father's Day meal, but luckily I was able to thaw some steaks, boil some corn on the cob, salad, and something else Jon loves I'm sure. No potatoes, which is a bummer because that would have probably won me some extra bonus points. I had a REALLY hard time deciding what to get Jon for his birthday. We are cutting back expenses and trying to put more into retirement and a 529 for the kids (I used a CNN calculator that said their education will be anywhere from $150,000-200,000 for a four year degree. Wha?!) Anyway, so deciding how much to spend was a serious dilemma. I had wanted to get a table saw but couldn't decide whether or not it was good timing to spend that kind of cash. I asked Jon how much he thought I should spend and in typical Jon fashion, he told me not to spend anything since he recently got a truck. I don't think I blogged about that either. Sheesh. Anyway, I wasn't going to not get him anything so one day I just bit the bullet and got the saw. I'm glad I did because he loves it. Although we had a MAJOR scare today with it. We had just gotten home from gymnastics with Vanessa. Benson fell asleep in the car so I carried Brigham inside and then went back out to get Benson. While I was laying him down I heard the table saw go on, and I knew Jon wasn't home yet. I ran out as fast as I could, my heart racing. Brigham had turned the saw on but had immediately waddled away from the crazy loud noise so he wasn't in any danger. But it was still terrifying. He can't reach the actual blade and it is the general policy to always unplug the tools since Brig is obsessed. So, now that I have completely digressed from the point....The table saw happened to be on sale at Amazon. And a real sale, not just they marked up the regular price so it looked like a sale. Since I had been staring at the saws for over a month I was very familiar with the price. I also locked into the Amazon Prime trial and got free shipping which saved me $85. I miss having free Amazon Prime with Amazon Mom. That was pretty awesome. Sigh. When the saw was delivered, on like Wed or something before Father's Day, Jon was the one that received it, not me. And it was quite obvious what it was. So I walked out to a very confused Jon and UPS guy. I assured him we had ordered and said, Happy Father's Day. Climax fail. What can ya do?
Mother's Day. Jon is always really good about getting gifts on holidays. Which is funny because I thought men all forgot that kind of stuff. Jon never does. Although, it has only been six years. And, I will say that I am probably one of the pickiest people ever to shop for. I expect too much from a gift and I'm working on it. It's totally not about the price tag for me. Actually, expensive gifts stress me out and make me mad (see birthday, oh wait, I didn't blog about that either. Ha!). Jon did great this holiday though. He got me a gift card to JoAnns, an herb grinder, a pineapple corer and slicer, and a punch server thing. I am always slightly embarrassed when we have people over about my lack of anything to serve food in. We're on the right track here. It was a fun day with family and hanging out. Jon even got up with Benson in the wee hours of the night.
Other events that should be documented. Benson said the prayer all by himself the other night and the entire prayer involved asking Heavenly Father in various ways to protect him from Brigham. Brigham doesn't quite understand how to be soft with Benson. He makes Benson really nervous. But they still have a really cute relationship and it's hilarious to me when Benson talks to Brigham in his baby voice, kind of mimicking adults.
Vanessa and Benson have always been pretty good about getting along and being nice to each other but they just kicked that up a notch lately. They are getting along so well! Vanessa is being an absolute sweet heart. She is getting things for Benson, helping hold him up sometimes, sharing even better, and I think legitimately enjoys spending time with him. It makes me so happy, there are no words. She also loves Brigham to death, even though he is less than affectionate with her. He loves to play, but only when he is in the mood and he's kind of a moody baby. He takes tantrums to a new level. But he can also take happy to a new level and makes us laugh, really hard, all the time.
Vanessa had her first private lesson for gymnastics and the asked her to join the pre-team. Pre-team is what is sounds. The young girls train together until they are able to compete on the team. They don't compete until age 6. But pre-team, similar to the team, is by invitation only. They said she is very talented and has powerful legs. Her jumps are amazing! Literally, she can jump higher than I could have in high school (which I would consider my athletic prime). She is literally amazing to me. I'm really excited to see how well she does and where she wants to go with this. She will practice twice a week for an hour and a half. It sounds like a lot for a 4 year old. I think it will be a great get away for her through summer, though I'm super anxious about how it will be once she has school. I'll miss her being gone so much! So, we'll cross that bridge when it comes. As soon as she is not having fun or it interferes with family, school, or church, we'll have to call it quits or back off. But we'll play it by ear and enjoy the journey. I think she has amazing potential. It was really cute watching her at the private lesson. She adored the attention and beamed with shy pride when we talked about talented she is. I've asked her several times if she wants to go so often and for so long and she says, "I think I would like that." or "I think I can do that." or "I think it will be fun."
Benson saw a pulmonologist and his lungs and respiratory function still looks great. His chest x ray looks great and the his bell shape is less than the dr expected. We also had a back x ray to check for scoliosis. He had one about a year ago and they said it looked like there was a six degree curve but it could have been positioning. We have a different doctor now, obviously, but he said almost the same thing. Only this time he said it looked like the curve was around a 12 degree curve, though it could have been due to positioning. I'm thinking it's an actual curve since the degree is increasing and it's shown up on both x rays. It makes me feel a little paranoid about having him wear a back support. Luckily, First Steps just got our Benik wrap in today. It has aluminum stays to help support. It is made of neoprene, but it's like a funky neoprene I'm not a huge fan of. What do you do though? It's not like shopping for jeans. There aren't many options.
We were also very blessed to be told about an organization called My Gym Challenged America. Our physical therapist told us about it so I jumped on and applied. You just give a little background on the disability and tell them what you would like in equipment, up to $500. I asked for Bamboo Braces and an adapted tryke. I didn't really expect to hear much back but we got a call only about a month after I submitted his story that said they were going to grant his wish! I won't lie, I totally started crying. It was on a day when SMA was getting me down and the $$$ that goes with it. It turned out that the tryke in his size would be $800! It was because he needed a smaller size and the considered it custom. So we got the size bigger that was "only" $400. We have already received the Bamboo braces and they are awesome! They are neoprene too but they are a good neoprene. Not fuzzy, just smooth. Does this make sense to anyone? Anyway, we haven't heard much on the tryke so we'll see when that arrives. I'm excited to try it out. All his neighbor friends are excited for him to come ride bikes with them.
Speaking of riding bikes, Vanessa has been practicing riding without training wheels! She is doing so great! She is still really cautious and gets pretty worked out with the frustration. We can only practice in about 15 minute increments before we are both ready for a break. She can go straight for a couple houses without falling and without help. She hasn't decided if she's ready for turns yet though. And she doesn't like starting on her own. I think she'll get there by the end of summer though.
I feel like I should say more about Brigham. He has 8 teeth now. He is walking around like a champ though sometimes he can be kind of like a drunken sailor. He has figured out how to open doors. He likes to close them and then screams bloody murder until someone comes and opens it. He is starting to allow other people to hold him. He seems to like men more than women. He still doesn't like being left with a babysitter and is especially clingy the day after we leave him. He doesn't need to be held as often during the day though which is really nice. I feel like I can get a lot more done in a shorter amount of time. He is also into more things though which equals more to clean up, kind of ironic. He doesn't really say any words. Seriously. He says, "hi-da" "uh-oh" "whoa" and "ba." He will occasionally say "ma." It's rare though. However, he says phrases. You can't actually pick out the separate words, but he can totally understand what he is saying. It's like the consonants are all in there slurred together. I won't try to write them like he says them, but his phrases are, "what's that?" "where'd Brigham go?" and "there he is!"
We are still punching away on the toy room project. It's slow progress but we have trim on the door, paint on the top half of the walls, and one sheet of bead board up. We just need to get the rest of the bead board up, baseboards, and paint. I am really happy with it. I think once the toys are in and organized so Benson has access, we'll love it even more.
oh, and I'll post pictures of the garden soon. It's so exciting watching everything grow! And we started the Summer Reading Program through the Library and have some very exciting activities coming up. And lots of reading. I read to the kids today for an hour straight. One hour. I couldn't believe it held their attention that long. Benson was distracted after about 40 minutes but continued looking at books and making up his own stories while I read to Vanessa. She hung on every word the whole time. So impressed with my kids. I am so lucky.
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