Doctor doctor give me the news..

I need to get on the ball and make appointments. The worst part about moving has got to be finding new health care professionals. Finding doctors I trust who can handle me dragging my little tribe with me is a daunting task. When I call for an appointment, do I lead with "can you handle me walking in with a 2, 5, and autistic 7 year old?"
We are all due for dental appointments. The boys handle the dentist surprisingly well but I dread finding a child friendly dentist who isn't going to charge an enormous fee.
Gabriel needs to get occupational therapy. Lane and Alex need eye appointments. I need two doctor appointments and a vision appointment Gabriel will be due for the cardiologist soon Throw it all together and I'm quickly overwhelmed.
Tomorrow I need to sit down with our insurance information and make appointments. I have a feeling the next few months will be busy meeting doctors and therapists
I'm adding photos of the boys from the dentist this last June. They did a great job listening and getting their teeth examined.

My horrible blogging grammar

I'm a slow, detailed reader. I notice the smallest of mistakes when I'm reading. This was such a problem in college that I circled the mistakes and sent the information to the publisher. If they charge students an enormous amount of money for a text book, the least they can do is write it correctly. (or so I thought - these errors were distracting to me!)
Now as I reread my posts, I noticed a lot of grammar and spelling errors. I consider going back to fix them. However, Andrew reminded me that we have three young children and I'm lucky to get anything posted for them. In an effort to continue to post an ongoing journal of our lives, I am going to leave these mistakes.
These mistakes still bother me and I know they are incorrect but they are me in that moment. Sometimes I'm blogging while I have children talking to me. Sometimes I'm blogging on my phone, while I'm waiting for the boys at school. These moments don't allow for grammar corrections.
Hopefully these errors won't distract you from reading about our adventures. Maybe one day I will be able to take more time to correct what I write. My quite sure my college English professor would cringe if he read this. I'm crining a little bit too.

Lane sleeps

Lane and I went on a hunt for green and red packs of paper for Alex's class. We went to a learning store and hit the jackpot. We found deals at a consignment store the same day. These deals included .68 shorts! I grabbed a bunch for this coming summer.
While we were eating lunch, Lane curled up on the bench and fell asleep. I'm positive that was a first int parenting adventures. I had another stop to make before heading home.
I carried all heavy, sleeping 30 pounds of toddler into Babies R Us and realized she was completely asleep. I was able to lay her down in the cart while shopping! I snapped this photo and had to share - she still sleeps with her arms above her head

Lane Elizabeth is 2.5

Lane turned two and a half years old yesterday. I continue to marvel at how quickly time is going with our children. I can't believe that we are headed toward age 3 now.
She is a spunky, content, sweet, and charming child. Lane is all girl. She likes to play with my makeup and play with dolls and princesses. Even though she is all girl, she can enjoys playing with her brothers and doing anything they are participating in.
She sings and dances whenever she hears music. Her coordination impressed me Lane enjoys creating artwork and she is very proud of her creations. She is also willing to help when asked which is a wonderful thing.
On Christmas Eve we took the kids out for dinner. Afterward they played in the Celebration "snow". Lane was wild - she had a great time making snow angels and sliding in the snow. An NBA player was there and Lane had him wrapped around her little finger
When we left, Lane was filthy but happy. Her once white tights were black, her hair was matted with soap and small rocks, and her shoes were sticky from the suds. Her happiness was well worth her mess

Cool Whip Eating Contest

Our friends invited us to their home for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. They are very generous to our family and set out a entire meal for all of us. Our two families together have 7 children so this can be a big undertaking.
Things can get busy while we are there with children running and having a great time. The absolute best part of our friendhsip is that they understand what it's like to have a special needs child. When our 7 year old announced his name is "Luigi" without missing a beat, our friend introduced him as Luigi. It's a sense of belonging and ease when I am with them. There is no weirdness when my children are acting like children or when autism rears its ugly head.
We aren't invited to many homes and playdates outside of a play group are rare. I don't know if this is the friends we have or because of our situation, or what but it means a lot to me to be included in a holiday celebration with another family. What an incredible extension of friendship.
The 10 year old discussed cool whip eating with me a month ago. I told him he would never be able to beat me in a cool whip eating contest. Fast forward to a month later, and I am sitting at a table participating in a cool whip eating contest with a 10 and 12 year old, both boys.
I wasn't sure if I could beat them but I had a 100 lb advantage! I shoveled it in like a champ and WON! It felt good to win but my stomach had a large ball of sugar in it afterward and I didn't feel very well. The bittersweet side of victory!

Crafts part 5 holidays 2011

In an effort to keep the children, busy I made snowflakes with them. I spraypainted craft sticks silver and used my hot glue gun to create snowflakes.
Each child was given their own glue. They had buttons, glitter, and paper shapes to create a masterpiece. And create they did. Lane was able to squeeze her glue bottle and complete everything on her own.

The Golden Lady

We went to downtown Disney for dinner. The kids still enjoy trading pins while we are there. Andrew and I enjoyed Wolfgang Pucks for dinner so we all won! Thankfully the smells in the restaurant weren't too strong for Gabriel so we were able to have dinner inside the restaurant. (note: remember to discuss any dietary or allergy concerns with the wait staff. They happily help!)
The entertainers and musicians were great Alex did some dancing for us. I hope pursues some type of lessons with his ability.
Gabriel wanted to see "the golden lady" tonight. He was so excited to go up to her and she bent down to hold him. He was over the moon. I will add photos from tonight His smile is wonderful. Alex later walked up with Gabriel and she played patty cake with them. It was adorable