Catch up.......

What's up world? I'm not going to lie, I completely forgot about my blog for a whole month.  I feel like I stay so busy that something is bound to fall through the cracks........*cough...stupid blog.

This summer has been pretty good so far.  Travis planned an awesome birthday for me complete with Kneaders french toast (mmmmm), cupcakes, Stewart falls hike, the Foundry Grill at Sundance and glitter toes.  It was epic (other than we had a pipe burst and flood our front yard.....on my birthday.  Thank goodness for sprinkler repair people huh?).  Good times. 

Bryant Update for people who care :)  

Bryant is doing well lately!  He hardly ever covers his ears anymore and loves his gymnastics class and therapist Brittney, although he still hates going to school (stupid school).  He is way more flexible with play and his toys!  He is starting to start conversations with random people that he sees (he rode down the street on his bike just to say hi to our neighbor).  He is very playful and is describing things a lot more instead of just asking questions all of the time (although he still does that when he gets anxious).  

He is still struggling with responding to questions that strangers ask him.  He will sometimes just stare blankly at them.  I'm hoping as his confidence builds that he will be able to respond faster and genuinely, without being prompted.  

He still has a lot of fear of loud noises (the Subaru, lawn mower, sprinklers, loud music, I'm guessing fireworks soon, movies, laughter.....).  Hopefully the more he gets exposed to them the easier it will get.  

I feel like he has bad days and good days.  Sometimes I feel disappointed with his progress and other days he looks like a normal little kid.  He just looks ANXIOUS a lot.  Blah.

Love my kid.  Sweetest little boy ever.  :) 

The end 

St. George....

So at the very last minute last wednesday we decided to head down to St. George for the weekend and memorial day.  I LOVE St. George.  We always hit up our favorite restaurants, go swimming, eat lots and lots, and hang out around a fire at night.  It was Epic :) Bryant was so happy to finally see his dad (who is gone A LOT for school/work/church stuff).  Nat invited her boss and his wife down for the weekend too and they brought model airplanes.  Bryant was in heaven :)

Ps.  Ignore the ugly picture of me up there.  My hair is in the ugly grow out phase where it hits my shoulders and starts to flip out (9th grade style).  It's pretty awesome.  I'm torn whether I want to cut it again or grow it out.  decisions decisions.  Ok off to red box to rent stupid movies for the night.  woot woot.

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Blog slacker...

We've been super busy around here with the Autism conference, Church, Symphony night out, play time with friends, and the dreaded Dentist (which he did SO GOOD at. Yeah for social stories) . Plus preschool and therapy every day.  I tend to fall into my bed every night exhausted.  

Bryant has been doing well in his therapy. I try and do 3 hrs a day with him and then we have a therapist that comes on Wednesdays.  He plays with several different kids every week and seems to be doing better with people coming to our house (although this is still his biggest struggle).  This seriously makes me extremely happy.  I had a moment with him at the park today where he started talking to a 5 yr old boy.  It may seem like such a little thing to all of you moms with typical kids out there, but I couldn't stop grinning when Bryant told the kid his name, how old he was and proceeded to ask the kid what he was eating.  Happiness.  Now I just wish I could find a better way for him to get used to groups of laughing people.  Sound sensitivity is horrible my friends. Horrible.

Anyway, that's all :)  Hope everyone is having a good week!

Grateful...

Today I am feeling so grateful for family and friends who are in Bryant's life. It is such a huge blessing to have friends that understand Bryant and create time in their busy schedules for us to come to their house for play dates.  It has been so helpful for Bryant, and he has started to WANT to play with other kids (although if he doesn't know who you are he will still bolt ha).  

My sister-in-law posted this blog article on my facebook wall.  I love how this mother describes Autism.  So many things hit home to me (especially Bryant's ear covering when he walks into a situation he doesn't know). I'm at this point where I still think, with therapy, that Bryant can overcome a lot of his anxieties, but it was interesting to see an older kid with autism and how his mom deals with it. Who knows if this is our future or not, but I really respect this mom for dealing with it in such a positive way. Thank goodness Bryant doesn't do any scripting, that would be difficult I think. 

 If you have the time to read it (it's pretty short), I definitely think you should.  Your (future) kids will most likely be going to school with kids just like Bryant and it is good to have an understanding of  how their minds work. :)

http://momnos.blogspot.com/2010/03/on-being-hair-dryer-kid-in-toaster.html

Happenings....

Here is our life lately in pictures (although if you follow me on instagram, then you might just want to ignore this post.)

Yahtzee night with our friends Jessica and Elliot. I love grown up time when our kids are asleep.  

I've been working out at the gym a lot.  It sucks and my butt is still huge. Go figure.

Visiting Nat once a week in Sugarhouse.  Oh how I love riding bikes and feeding ducks.  It is the highlight of my week.  Thank goodness for a twin sister :)

I bought a big plastic bin and filled it with painting and craft supplies.  I was so sick of cars and trains that I went a little crazy at the store.   Hooray for paints!

Travis' boss decided to buy us a nice dinner out on the town.  This was hands down the most expensive dinner I have ever had.  Really delicious though. I'm still dreaming about the ravioli. Mmmmm.

Eating dinner.  Cute Husband.

I couldn't wait for dinner to be over so we could go see the Hunger Games (which was really good).  I love date nights. sigh.

Hanging out with Bryant ALL DAY LONG. ha.  

He's so cute I just can't stand it.  Look at that face.  

In other news, we started Bryant's new therapy.  We had his evaluation with his new therapist last week and it was pretty intense.  The therapist recorded Travis and me playing with Bryant separately for a long time, and then we were evaluated on how we could change our communication with him.  Very nerve racking for a perfectionist guilt prone person like me, but it turned out to be pretty interesting.  For instance (interesting fact), a lot of kids on the autism spectrum ask questions over and over again that they already know the answer to. We learn as parents of these awesome special kids that the best way to get a response is to ask a lot of questions, instead of just describing things around us.  It is a little bit of a catch 22, because these kids learn how to speak well, but end up asking questions over and over and OVER. They find it comforting. Bryant does this a lot.  Good to know :)  

Overall, the things I'm working on this week with Bryant are: Describing exactly what I am thinking all the time, instead of asking questions.  Keeping calm when he freaks out and trying to slow down my speech.  Giving Bryant a "role" in our play so he is more interested in a give and take social play, and letting him calm down by himself more so he can learn how to self soothe in anxious situations.  The last one is really hard for me because he cries so loud when people come over that sometimes it is really difficult to take more of a back seat role.  Hopefully I can help him overcome some anxiety.  

Anyway, probably way too much information, but hey this is my life :)

Ps.  I know this song has been EVERYWHERE lately, but I can't stop listening to it.  It's awesome.

Family pictures...

Here are a few favorites from my family pictures :) 

 Uploading pictures to blogger makes me swear. Piece of crap.

            

Spring clothes wish list.....

 

Dear jcrew, Zara, Nordstrom, and Madewell: Oh how I love your clothes.  I wish I could buy ALL of these.