My Trip To Alabama.

For those of you who don't know I was born in Alabama and moved to Oregon with my Mom when I was 6 1/2. Well at the end of June I received an invitation to my cousins wedding! He lives in Alabama as I'm pretty sure you have guessed by now :) So I immediently put into motion a plan to see if I could go and it turned out I could!! By the time the day came to leave I had found out that my Uncle had been diagnosed with Liver cancer. He too lives in AL. I was really glad that I was already heading down there because now I could see him too! It also made it a lot easier to get on those planes! So on August 1st 2am our time I boarded a plane in route to AL via Atlanta. My plane was originally scheduled to leave at 10:30pm on the 31st but was delayed. Yay for spending way to much time being stuck in an airport!! Luckily I had things to keep me occupied! When I arrived in AL my cousin Dawn and cousin Jason and his family were there to greet me :) When we were out in the parking garage that is when Michelle (Jason's wife) told me that my Uncles chances were not that great. Which in turn made me a big ball of emotions. I couldn't help it I just let it out. I figured better in front of them than in front of him. I mean this was the man who I chose to walk me down the aisle!! He means SO much to me and is one of my favorite people ever! I couldn't imagine loosing him, I just couldn't! Luckily he is now on medication that will buy him a few years versus months.
I managed to pull myself together (or maybe I was in shock) to have a good time at my cousins wedding that was that night. I got to see all of my dads side of the family in one spot. I hadn't seen them in 14 years. So needless to say we had a lot of catching up to do. It also helped (my nerves that is) that the hotel where the reception was had a fully stocked bar :)
Well I could be on here forever talking about all the events that occurred during that trip but I will leave with this...It was a short trip but within that time I caught up with my family, met some new family members and all in all had a great trip. I also realized I need to visit way more often! Next time bringing MY family for sure!!

Here are some photos from the trip:

One Proud Mama!

I have come to the realization that I have written a lot about my Son on here but not much about my Daughter Makiya! So I thought I would start :) She is going on 5 1/2 years old and she is starting to read!! I am SO proud of her!! It all started when I talked to a local kindergarten teacher and I asked what she would need to know before starting kindergarten (she starts Fall of 09 because of a late bday). One of the things she needed to know and didn't at the time was the sounds letters make! So we started working with her on that. Mind you this all started about 5 months ago! It then turned into her starting to write her own words. She started this all on her own! Now we are reading together every night before bed. The book we are reading has several paragraphs on every other page (leaving room for pictures of course). We both take turns reading a page :) She loves it!! She is doing so well with this!! There are some pretty big words in this book! I usually help her with them once sometimes twice and then she knows them the next time she sees them! I know there are probably lots of other kids doing this same thing but I'm just so PROUD of her that I just had to share!!!

A D.A.N Doctor Has Been Approved!!

So I haven't wrote in a while so I thought I would update. My son has been approved to see a D.A.N doctor! This is very exciting!! A D.A.N (Defeating Autism Now) doctor is a doctor who believes in treating Autism with diet changes and vitamin supplements. I'm really excited to give this a try. I have always been one to avoid medications. Not that anyone is trying to force any down Isaac's throat but, them wanting to has been a concern of mine. After reading many stories in Jenny McCarthy's book Isaac doesn't seem to be too bad off. So our hopes for him are high. His teachers say he improves with everyday he goes to school. He is making eye contact more frequently and has even responded to his name! He does great at communicating his needs when before he would just scream. So needless to say we are very proud of his accomplishments thus far and have high hopes for his future!

Mother Warriors Unite!!

I just have to write about this!! I'm so excited!! I was at the mall today with my kids and something told me to go into Barnes&Noble and look for this book! So I did! I had to really search for it because it kinda blended in. Well I eventually did just to realize it was bargained priced for $4.98!!!! Normally this book goes for $24.95!!!! Everyone has told me that this book is a must read and now I see why, I'm just barely into the first chapter and I'm already hooked! Jenny McCarthy is such an inspiration...who knew lol! But no, seriously her devotion to her child is just breath taking! I was already going to kick this autism label in the butt, this book has just made me that more fired up about it!! Rusty and I are going to do whats best for our child no matter what anyone tells us!

Jen's Birthday Dinner!

So on the 26th it was my sister's actual birthday! So we decided to have her over for dinner and cake! My husband cooked the dinner (meat loaf and mashed potatoes, that's what she picked) and I made the cake :) Her present was a bag full of goodies from Victoria Secrets and Bath And Body Works :) They had some awesome deals at the beginning of Jan. so I was able to get her some good stuff!!

Had a emotional bomb land on me today!

Well six months ago today I took my son in to be evaluated. I just knew he wasn't communicating the way he should! I was finally able to get his doctor on board and he referred us to the Neurodevelopmental center for children. They told us then that he had a severe communication delay. So in September he started speech therapy! He went twice a week for three months. He has within the past couple of months started having occupational therapy. This has helped a lot!
So this leads us to today! We met back up with the behavioral developmental pediatrician. She had me fill out this questionnaire while she observed him. She feels after scoring the questionnaire that he has...Autism! She also came to this conclusion by observing him. So now we have to start a whole other game plan. It seems, right now, like such a huge hill to climb and I'll be honest a little over whelming! I know that God picked Rusty and I to be his parents. He wouldn't give us anything we couldn't handle. All we can do is take it one step at a time and gain as many tools as possible so we can help him overcome this.
So to any who read this...if you have any helpful advise or any good books to read please let us know!!! We really want to educate ourselves to better help our son!!

My Sister's Birthday Celebration!!

So yesterday I wrote saying that that night I was going to go out with my sister and some of her friends to celebrate her birthday. Well we had a blast!!! We started out at Joe's. It's a bar not too far from my house. We had some drinks and a few of us teamed up and played some pool! Then Jen decided that we needed to go over to Dominic's to liven things up a bit. Had a lot of fun there as well! They had a band playing that we (on the way there) thought we would be able to get away from, so we could hear each other talk. But that wasn't the case. We ended up finding a table big enough for all of us but it was pretty close to the band. Not that big of a deal still had a lot of fun! I even got my sister out to the dance floor!!!!! Big deal people!!!! She NEVER dances!!! So after a while most of her friends had to head home, so that left four of us. My sister, Stephanie, Lindsey and I. So off to Foxy's we go to play a little video poker! Well actually it was just my Sister and Lindsey that played but they actually faired pretty good! Lindsey kicked butt! She turned $1 into $30! Not too bad! Then my sister had some good luck of her own and turned $5 into $40!!! All in all it was a good night for us all!!!


Our Idol!! This lady was "older" and still rockin it lol!

Jen and her friend Sarah

Jen, Stephanie and Lindsey winning some $$$$

Me and my bff Stephanie from junior high!! LOL!!