Wordless Weds: More Outdoor Snow Fun

February 10, 2010



























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Update on Little Miss Asia

February 8, 2010



I can hardly believe it.. My little Miss Asia Doodle is 18 months old! She is a year and a half already! where has the time gone. In just the past few months she has grown up so much before my eyes. She continues to learn on a daily basis and everyone is always commenting on how bright she is. Asia is such a truly amazing blessing and I am so lucky to call her mine.


She has been a parrot lately repeating every word possible that comes out of your mouth. Her favorites of lately are :

Coco, Cracker.. Car.. and the all time favorite.. COOKIE! you can often find her asking for something food related. She is a little piglet! *L*


Her vocabulary is slowly passing that of her older brother. While it is sad to a point that my 18 month old has more words then my almost 4 year old son, it is also amazing how quickly Asia picks up and amazes me on how much of a chatter box she truly is. She is even trying to put more the one word together to form little sentences such as Asia bye bye.. or me oh cookie...


The Doodle Bug loves to go places and gets angry if she does not get to go with. Every morning when the other two are getting ready to head out for the bus Asia grabs her coat too and anyones hat she can find and quickly puts them on as she too wants to get out the door. And when you tell her she can not go.. be prepared to see a fit! I swear one of her favorite things to do in the whole world is going bye bye.. and trust me.. she will tell you exactly when she wants to go.. as she will walk right up to you with her coat and hat and scream bye bye at you!
Asia had her 18 month well check a little late.. (about a few weeks...) . Her well check was last week and went for the most part pretty well. The doctor was happy with her growth, although she is still on the little side. Asia is 20 lbs and 10 oz and around 2 foot 6 inches. The doctor was quite impressed with her vocabulary skills and also her singing skills.. *L*
The doctor refered us to the allergy department for more testing dealing with her egg allergy and also to test for other foods she may be allergic too. He also mentioned on how he may want her to see a cardiologist around her second birthday in July due to her heart murmor. While her heart murmor is a mild one.. he just wanted it double checked just to make 100% sure it will not cause her any problems in the near future.
We saw the allergy doctor last week on Thrus. They got us in quickly and I was quite happy with how well Asia did durring the testing. Poor thing had allergy tests done all the way up and down her back (due to the fact her arms were just too little). I got to hold her while the doctor placed the tests on her.. and she could look out the window at the passing cars. She did not even cry! she was such a brave little girl. And 10 mins later.. it was fully confirmed..
ASIA IS ALLERGIC TO EGGS. Both the egg whites and yolks came up with slight positive tests. The Egg whites more then the yolks, which the doctor told me was quite odd... but could happen.
Asia's allergy is slight.. meaning she still can eat things with eggs in them such as some noodles, cakes and so forth. As long as they were not too eggy. And we were to watch for food reactions.. such as some brands of egg noodles.. and such and just stay away from them. The good news was her allergy was not too bad so if some does get into her food she is not likely to have that bad of reaction.

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Asia had learned to really groove! she loves dancing in the morning to Mickey Mouse Club house! and even sings along to the "Hot Dog Song"..."hot dog.. hot dog.. diggy dog..".. it is way too cute for words!
she is also a fan of Handy Manny just like her big brother!

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Her pretend play is very advanced for her age. She loves to crawl around on the ground and pretend she is a dog.. or cook dinners for her siblings in the toy kitchen.. or even rock her baby and tuck it into the "crib"...

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Asia has also picked up on a few new games such as PEEK-a-BOO and Patty Cake and plays both games quite well.

We are currently working on sharing skills.. with her siblings.. as she is not much into sharing her toys.. and DOES NOT Like them taken away from her.

Did I mention that she can stick up for herself in a fight now? This girl amazes me.. but she will wrestle alongside Kai on any given day and has been known to actually win in a fight or two! She can get REAL mean.. if you push her!
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Almost Wordless Weds-> Snow Fun

February 3, 2010



























Kai and Bianca playing in the Snow, Jan. 2009
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Kai Speech/School

February 2, 2010

For the past few weeks at School Kai has been in Dino heaven. The class has had a large dinosaur unit which Kai has loved. His days have been filled with catching dinosaurs by riding scooter boards in PE class, learning to rawr and crawl like a dino, making dino bones (pretzels)...yum! ... feeding special "dino bags" dino colored treats (matching colors), digging for dino bones in the sand pit.. and Kai's all time favorite.. breaking open the dino egg to find out what was inside! .. along with many other fun activities dealing with dinosaurs.


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Paleontologist Kai digs for some dino bones!

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Kai learns to walk backwards in Adapted PE class with Miss Lisa!!! way to go Kai

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Kai takes a swing at the Dino Egg.. wonder what is inside?

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Kai's friend Reece broke open the dino egg!!! see all the baby dinos and candy that were inside?

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Kai goes in for his share of the dino loot


Other news:

Kai's speech is greatly improving since our last update. Kai has a few new words including "TOASTER" and "Alicia" (my cousin). He is also saying a lot more sounds and trying very hard to prounce more words! We are so proud of him!

Kai's class at school has grown in size. Kai's class now has 7 special needs students, most with Autism, but a few with other special needs. With the new students is TWO girls! which is a new thing to Kai since before his class was only boys! At first he did not know what to think of the new girls in his class.. calling them "yucky ewww..".. but he is slowly learning to adapt to having them as new friends. And he gets a long pretty good with them.

Kai's teacher is amazed and has commented on how well Kai has taken on a few of the new students and shown them the ropes of the class. He has been a great mentor to one little boy in the room and has made a new friend quite quickly.

We got a phone call about a week and a half ago from Kai's teacher. She said she just had to tell me this story. Kai and his classmates went into the bathroom one day for a potty break.. and one of the sinks was slightly leaking. Well the next day durring potty break, Kai had stored one of the toy wrenches in his back pocket and while the teacher was helping another student in the bathroom Kai crawled under the leaking sink and was "fixing it" with his wrench. The teacher was amazed that he knew what to do.. and what tool was needed and remembered from the day before that the sink was leaking! It took a lot of Planning on Kai's part! To make a long story short.. Kai would not leave the bathroom till the teacher called the school's helper/fixer to come fix the leaking pipe. and he knew it wasn't leaking anymore!
That's my Handy Kai! :P

I been massively fighting with insurance to cover more speech theraphy for Kai. The teacher at his school thinks he will benifit from more one on one speech .. daily or at least every other day. The problem is the hospital where we go (and get our insurance through) does not offer privite speech. We would have to enroll Kai at the other hospital in our area.. and well.. it is considered out of district for our insurance company (since it is a competing hospital..) and they do not want to cover Kai's speech. It has been a pretty long battle.. but they are slowly agreeing to allowing it.. with of course referals from not only Kai's doctors, but school also.

I also enrolled Kai into a state program for more aid. It is a medicare program for children with special needs and with this Kai will get a lot more services that will be helpful to him in the long run. But there is a 6 month waiting list just to get him evaluated.. and another 6 months to a year wait to be approved. So we are most likely looking at a year to a year and a half before Kai will be fully covered, which majorly sucks because he could use a lot of those services now. And I been on the phone trying to get the process speeded up a little faster, but since it is through the state.. I am dealing with someone about 2 hours away in Madison who has never met my son.. and has 100 other people on the list also. *long sigh*

Why does it have to be so hard? to get things that my son can use NOW!???

Kai had another "party/get to-gether" at his friend Eli's this past Sunday. Eli's father likes to have parties for his son at least 4 times a year for the social skills. Kai was the only boy that showed up.. but that was ok. The boys got along really well and Kai truly enjoyed himself at Eli's house. The boys got a lot of engery out by wrestling eachother.. and watching movies. The boys also had a blast jumping on Eli's bed.. and making birdfeeder houses with tons of sticky peanut butter and bird seed. Now let me tell you this, Kai's all time favorite food is peanutbutter.. so you can only imagine what he looked like making his bird feeder.. more peanut butter was on his face and hands then on the "house" itself!

We have a yearly IEP meeting for Kai coming up next week on the 11th. I have to make a list of things I want changed and added to his IEP. I am taking along my husband to the meeting and also a fellow worker from the county to help get Kai more services that may be available to him. We are hoping that he will continue to grow in the following years at school.. and maybe even be mainstreamed with a AID into Pre-K next fall.. or spring.
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Short and Sweet Update

Welcome to a new year and a new look for my blog. Things around here have been extremly crazy not only with my family, but also my health. I am so sorry for leaving you all out of the loop for the past few months but we have had some extremly personal family issues going on and I needed a short break and time to get my mind back and set. I plan on starting up my blog again shortly with new updates on us and more reviews and giveaways for all my followers so please stay tuned.
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Want to win some Babylegs???

January 19, 2010

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Thrus. Tutorial: Handprint Santas

December 17, 2009

These are adorable Ornaments to use as keep sakes. We made them when Kai was really young and then again this year with Asia included. They would be easiest to create every year and watch your child's hand print grow...as the years pass..

First you have to create your dough

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup water

Mix together the dry ingredients. Mix constantly while adding the water slowly. You may not need all the water. The mixture should not be sticky.
Knead 10 minutes until the dough is firm.

Roll out the dough to about ¼ inch thickness ... trace your child's hand in the dough and cut away using a knife. (if you have a REALLY young and wiggly child, you can trace their hand on paper first and then cut it out and trace the stencil onto the dough as it may be easier to do..)

Lightly carve your child's name and year on the hand (don't press too hard)

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Bake on a foil covered cookie sheet for about 30 minutes or until light brown. (you have to watch because you do not want it burning!)

Now, take your baked hand and turn it upside down so the fingers are pointing downwards. The top (which is the base of your child’s hand and thumb) you paint red with white fur lining and a white ball on the thumb tip for his hat. Paint the palm for his face. Paint the fingers white for his beard. We attached cotton to his beard to give it a more realistic look.. with our glue gun.

NOTES:
Store extra in a plastic bag for up to 3 weeks. (if you do not use it all right away!)

You can also create Reindeer Feet by tracing your child's foot.. and Painting the foot light brown for the face, and the toes dark brown for the antlers. Paint a large red nose in the heel of the foot and eyes in the ball of the foot.

Or.. Reindeer Body hands.. paint the whole hand brown and then make it look more like a reindeer by hot glue gunning a red pom-pom ball to the thumb of your child's hand.. and one google eye to the thumb .. then on palm right above the pinky finger.. attach one white pom-pom ball for the tail. :) Attach a pipe clearner antler on the palm of the hand near the google eye.. and there you go.. :)
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Thrus. Tutorial: Cute Mice Ornaments

December 10, 2009

These little Mice Ornaments are just so darn right cute. A friend of mine made them for the kids to hang on the tree and after I saw them, I just had to make a bunch more. Not only are they simply adorable but real easy to create too!





Needed:

Hershey's Kisses
Pink felt
Scissors
Double-sided carpet tape
Fishing line or another thin string
Self-adhesive googly eyes
Curling ribbon

CREATE:

1: Remove the tags from two Hershey's Kisses. Cut out mouse ears from pink felt, about 3/8-inch high. Using double-sided carpet tape, affix the bottoms of the ears to the flat side of one of the Kisses

2. Tape an 8-inch loop of fishing line behind the ears to form a hanger.

3. With more double-sided carpet tape, join together the two flat sides of the Hershey's Kisses, with the mouse ears and fishing line loop pointing up.
Add a pair of self-adhesive googly eyes.

4. Slip a tail -- a 4-inch piece of curling ribbon -- under the foil. Now, see how they run (or disappear) from your tree!
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Happy Holidays from the Smith Clan

December 6, 2009

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/enUwfZ2IOCljNV6t?cmpid=ey_fb_self

(You have to watch this it is more then funny..)

Kai can really break a move.. can't he.. and look at Miss Asia go! :) and OMG Bianca too...
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Straight From the Mouth of Kids-->> Rudolph

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I thought I would start this new meme .....Straight from the mouths of kids Sundays....I know my kids are always saying the most funny things that just crack me up.. and I know others must have the same experince with funny things their kids say so I thought it would be fun for everyone to share those!So every Sunday from now on.. everyone can share something STRAIGHT from the Mouths of Kids... :) with us and link it back here!

We had just finished watching Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer all together as a family.. and Bianca's little wheels are a turning, you could tell....

She looks at me with a huge smile on her face and says..

"Mommy.. I been doing a lot of thinking.. and I really think it is true..
Kai is a lot like Rudolph.. all the other kids may make fun of him all the
time.. but in the end Santa likes him best of all...".
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Scrappin' Sat.

December 5, 2009




































CLICK On the layout to see it in full view!


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