Hello Summer!!

School is out for the summer!!

I can't believe how fast this year went.

Christopher was so excited for summer break.

His class did a little end of the school year musical, "The Little Red Hen", and it was adorable.

Christopher was a cowboy.

Sorry no pictures, only video.

They gave out awards afterward to a few parents who were the most involved during the school year.

I was shocked when they called my name.  Me?  Most involved?

I guess when your kid's uncertain future depends on YOU you have to be involved.  Ha ha. 
I am grateful that he has made me an involved parent even if it can be overwhelming. 
What a great, growing year it has been for him. 
He is totally worth it.

I thought it would be a hard transition for Chris to say goodbye to kindergarten, but I think he had an easier time with it than I did.

He said goodbye to his wonderful teacher, told her he would miss her and that he would come say hi to her and give her a hug every day next year.

We headed to grandma's house for a sleepover which was what he wanted to do to celebrate (Daddy was on a trip to NYC).

That's when my body said -Phew! This stressful school year is over and you can get deathly ill now.

I had a cold, horrible horrible cough, fever, chills, and even woke up with my eyes swollen shut.  ALLLL while 8 months pregnant. 

My heavens!! 

I am still in recovery mode.

However, even through all that yucky sickness I had to smile at my beautiful boys, finally reunited after a long school year, and tons of therapy.  They are glued together and couldn't be happier.  Andy is in heaven and is so worn out from all the playing. 

Can't wait to tell you about all our summer adventures! 

What are your plans?

Things We Love Lately

This has been such a busy month. 

School is over this week and I finally have everything set up for next year for Christopher.  Ha ha.

Meetings are done, all the paperwork is in order, 504 plan is ready,  new teacher has been hand picked, and we are ready :)

I got a new calling in my church.  I am now in the Young Women's Presidency which means I get to work with the young women in our church, which means BUSY! 

Baby Garlick #3 is getting soooo big.  I really feel like I am going to pop and I still have about a month and a half left.  Yikes.

As this month flashed before my eyes, I did notice some things that we loved :

I loved my Mother's Day.

I always do.

I have such beautiful children that bless my life in sooo many ways.

My wonderful husband got me some beautiful flowers.

So lovely.

I love that  the baby's room is coming along!!

I got practically everything at the thrift store and if not at the thrift store - on sale!

It's been fun.

I love that my sister in law is having her baby at the same time as me.  So fun!

 We threw her a baby shower. 

It turned out so cute and hopefully she had fun.

I have THE best sister in laws in the world.

I am so lucky.

Congrats Shawn and Anna!  Can't wait to meet my new niece.

Davin and I have love love love loved the Sherlock Series on PBS.

We just finished the last episode of this season.

We looked up when the next season will start and it may not be for a whole year!!!

I think we both almost started crying.

It is such a fabulous, well done show.

In love!!

What are you loving lately??

You know you're a mom when . . . . . . .

Ohhhh, I am so excited!

So excited!

Andy is going on the potty.

I know.  I know.  It's a miracle!!!

Andy is 3 1/2 and as stubborn as they come.

We have been trying to potty train this boy for months and months and months.

I've tried everything.  Stickers, charts, candy, a new car, all the ponies in the world if he would just go on the potty.

He knew what was going on and he did not like it one little bit.

One night Davin tried to get him to go while I was at the store.

He told him he could have ice cream if he went.

Hello!!  I offer him this everyday.

That is not going to work.

Well, apparently coming from Daddy it meant a lot.

He went.

I brought home ice cream from the store.

He was starting to get it.

On the way home from Grandma's yesterday we heard a cute little voice from the back say "Mommy, I need to go potty."

Davin and I both whipped our heads around  "You need to go potty!!!!  You need to go POTTY!!!!"

We took him home and he went.

Hallelujah!!!!!!!

He woke up dry this morning and went on the potty.

Okay, he had a little trouble and mostly went all over the potty and all over the floor.

You know you are a mom (maybe a very desperate mom) when you are more than happy, maybe even excited to clean pee up off the floor.

Congratulations Big Boy!!!

Awareness Month

April is almost over.

These months are flying by, which means summer vacation will be here before you know it, which means baby will be here before you know it!  Uh oh.

Before this month ends I feel like I have to do my part.

It is Autism Awareness Month.

I know I share a lot on this subject, but I feel it is soooo important.

I knew pretty much NOTHING about autism before my boy. 

I thought I knew, but I didn't.

If I can help at least ONE more person to understand something important about this disorder than I feel like I have done my part.

The thing that has been plaguing me lately is the fact that my son's autism is what I call "subtle autism."

There is no arm flapping, rocking, sitting alone in a corner.

I have more respect than you can imagine for parents with severely autistic children.

I in no way wish to take away from the things they are going through.

I would only like to share my experience with Asperger's and the difficulties it also brings.

 Asperger's Syndrome can be devastating in its' subtlety.

Everyday, I get the comment "He can't have autism!  He talks!"

I get people trying to comfort me by telling me that he will do fine in school, that we all have something quirky about us.

Yes, agreed.  We ALL have something quirky about us.

Even though it is frustrating, I appreciate their willingness to comfort and to be supportive.  I was completely ignorant when we first heard that my boy might be autistic.  Christopher was 3 and we were living in Oregon.  At a normal well check, the doctor suggested that my son may have high functioning autism.  Family and friends were shocked (as was I) and we were angry that this doctor had even suggested such a thing.  Christopher was a talkative, bright, beautiful boy.  We said "He can't have autism!  He loves to talk!"

My boy does not arm flap, rock, or sit alone in a corner.

My boy was the infant who could go a whole night without sleeping.

My boy was the toddler who couldn't go to sleep at night unless all his toys were lined up in his bed beside him.

My boy is the one who will rip up papers and scream at school because he can't stand writing while everyone is quietly whispering.

My boy is the one who cannot coordinate his legs to ride a bike,  his hands to catch a ball or color a picture.

My boy is the one who can only function with medicine I never would have believed I would give to my child.

You would think I would be happy to hear people say, "He can't have autism!  He talks!

In some ways it feels quite the opposite. 

It almost feels like someone you love has died and after you have finally accepted that fact someone says "He's not dead!!  He looks so alive!"

It is an emotional rollercoaster.  You start to feel like you are crazy!!  Do I not know my own child?

I relish in the times I get to speak with Christopher's therapists and special doctors. 

They understand the seriousness of his disorder.  They snap me back to reality and into "supermom" mode and give me the courage to get Christopher the help he needs.

Christopher's disorder has taught me to never minimize others problems. 

We can give a listening ear and offer our help.

Let's all be that for somebody.

I have wonderful family and friends who are there for me and I love them all for that.

I loooove my boy.

He is an extraordinary person. 

Autistic people are amazing.

Happy Autism Awareness Month! 

A break for spring . . . .

Wow.

What a couple weeks this has been.

This was my first spring break with a kid in school and it was so much fun!

It was so nice to have Christopher home for the week.

I thought it might get difficult just because he was out of his routine, but his anxiety level stayed pretty low almost the whole week.

The weather was pretty nice and we spent some time outside.

Daddy even came home early enough one night to play outside before the boys went to bed.

What a treat for these boys!

Thankfully, we are pretty much DONE with tax season and our Daddy comes home at a reasonable hour! Yay!

The boys dyed easter eggs at Grandma's house this year and Christopher could not get enough of it.

He begged and begged me to do more.

We already had a fridge overflowing with dyed eggs so I suggested we paint some pictures of eggs.

They loved it

and Christopher did so well with the painting.

Normally this would have put him over the edge, but thanks to all his therapy he is doing pretty well.

We decided to make a card for Camp Hippo (his therapy place) as a thank you to celebrate his beautiful egg paintings.

We had a great Easter!

The boys baskets were a little silly this year.

They got a toy whale and an octopus that grows. The boys are very interested in ocean creatures lately. Okay, Christopher is very interested in ocean creatures and Andy loves to play anything with his brother. The octopi are sitting on my kitchen counter.

Very appetizing as I prepare dinner :)

I teach young children at my church and I was asking them what they got from the Easter Bunny. Their loot was impressive - roller skates, big pink bunnies, someone even got a new bike. Christopher was so excited to share - "I got a whale! It's really cool!" The kids just stared. The other and teacher and I tried so hard not to laugh.

I got my very own Easter surprise.

My wonderful husband got me an Easter gift.

We NEVER get each other gifts, so this was a big surprise.

He bought me this book -

Sooooo good.

He knew I enjoyed her blog and I had been wondering whether I would like the book.

I do.

It's excellent.

I hung the lanterns in the baby room.

I decided to do it by myself and, believe me, I'm surprised a few of those lanterns were not ripped to shreds because of my frustration. I did it though and I really like it. Now I am just terrified a huge paper lantern will fall on the baby while he is sleeping. Ha ha.

All in all, we had a great break and it was sad to send my boy back to school.

Did you have spring break? How was your Easter?

It's a first . . . .

While I was at a meeting last night I got a text from Davin - "Christopher lost a tooth!"

I immediately thought - What did he do to knock his tooth out!!!?

Christopher has been SOOOOO anxious to lose a tooth. He feels like EVERYONE at school has lost one except for him :)

So, I was surprised that he didn't even realize his tooth was loose?

A mystery.

Anyways, he was chewing on a plastic sword (very strange) and it popped out.

He is over the moon with excitement and wanted to take a lot of pictures to remember.

He, of course, had to take some with his star glasses which he calls "so stylish and cool".

We are excited to have our first missing tooth!

Congratulations to Christopher!

Hello there . . . .

Hello, Blog!

I have neglected you!

I figured it would happen sooner or later. Life is getting too busy.

Here is what we have been up to . . . . .

Davin has been busy slaving away at the office.


Busy season is almost over!!! Only a couple more weeks.
I can't believe it.
We survived another one.

I have been busy growing a baby.

This one has been hard work, let me tell ya. Sick sick sick, horrible Braxton Hicks contractions, anemia (happens with all my babies), and really sore hips (anyone else have that problem?). I can't complain too much though. I find pregnancy to be such a miracle I can't help but be fascinated by the whole process.

I have finally gotten over the fact that we are NOT having a girl and have shoved all of those dreams of pink dresses and a pink room out of my head :) Luckily my little brother and his wife are adding a girl to the mix. Yippee!
I've started on our little guy's room and I am having tons of fun with it. My mom has been a HUGE help and I thought I would show you how it is coming along. I've gotten most of my ideas from pinterest and I am actually DOING them. Has anyone else had that problem with pinterest? You pin an enormous amount of fun things to do . . . . . and you don't do a single one. Not this time!! I'm very proud of myself.

I took the baby's old, cheap cheap cheapo dresser (this thing is practically cardboard) and painted it to look like this one I found on pinterest.

Pinterest on left


I really think it turned out cute!!

I painted baby's wall with white and yellow stripes.


Pinterest on left


His room will be yellow and teal. I usually hate yellow, but I think it makes it so cheerful.

I bought these paper lanterns to make a huge mobile for above his bed.


Pinterest on top


I will show you again when they are actually hanging up. :)

I have found a lot of cool things at the thrift store, including this huge mirror for $10.

Can't beat that.

I have lots of other projects under way for his room and I will show you as I get them completed.

The boys and I have been enjoying some warm spring weather.

They also got their dusty bikes out of the garage and took a spin.

Last year Christopher could barely move the pedals on his bike (Asperger kids are notorious for not being able to ride a bike).

This year he was able to pedal!! Just goes to show what two years of therapy can accomplish!! Sheesh.
It's slow going but we LOVE seeing his progress.

What have you been up to??