8 Years!

Happy Anniversary to my honey, 8 years married today and 11 years together. Thankful the Lord brought us together in His perfect timing.

Brielle is 2

Our life got a whole lot crazier two years ago, and our home and hearts that much more filled with love.  Our little girl is growing up quite quickly, no surprise there. Brielle Diane is two years old now, and although she's in the so called terrible twos, complete with its tantrums and meltdowns, she's a pretty easy toddler. Bri is a girly girl, obsessed with shoes, although the Okie in her never wants to wear them for longer than a minute, and very into Disney princess. On the flip side, she adores her older brother and that means she loves Jake and the Neverland Pirates and anything Wes does (in fact, she often walks around singing the them song, even though the only actually words from it she can say are "and me"). When he says lets race, she follows, and when he exclaims with arms in the air "I won" she says it, too. She's very into brushing her teeth because she sees me teaching him how to, she wants to drink in a big girl cup, after all, Wes doesn't use a sippy, and she can even make great car and dinosaur sounds. She'll grow up much faster than he did because she looks up to him so much.

She also loves mothering, she gathering quite the collection of dolls and loves to snuggle them, give them kisses, feed them and so on. So far, they're all named either Baby or Brielle. Speaking of Brielle, she just started saying her full name a week ago (an improvement from her previous answer of "B" anytime she tried to say it). And once she realized she could say it, she started saying it over and over and over. I love hearing her words, I don't think I'll ever take my kids words for granted when it took us so long to get to them with Weston.

Developmentally she seems to be right on track for everything. She weighs 31 pounds and is 35 inches tall, both at the top of the growth spectrum. With her big size and super long hair she regularly gets mistaken for older than she is. She's also got stunning blue eyes, something I get regular comments on from strangers as we run errands. She is a true delight, a great sleeper, very smiley and giggly, has a bit of a flair for the dramatic, and a great eater, oddly enough her favorite thing to eat out is chili from Wendy's, and on a more typical note she's also quite fond of pizza and french fries. I just love my little girl and am so blessed to have her in our family.

Weston is 4

Weston is four years old, such a big boy. It is truly remarkable how much he has grown and developed over the last year.  Last year at his birthday we were facing a diagnosis of autism, a list of deficits and continuing many, many hours of therapy. This year Im so thrilled to say we are enjoying a boy who has overcome the majority of his struggles and is phasing out of therapy. Im not sure what we'll do with all our time, but I am so excited to venture into this new journey.

Wes is such a sweet boy, although the typical four year old attitude often rears its ugly head, he just as often tells me how much he loves me. Last night he told me I was his "dynamite". I am cherishing his many daily hugs and kisses as I now those won't always be abundant. Not only is he a sweetie, he is also smart and funny. He loves to have fun and he is a great older brother, often engaging his sister in his many play scenarios. Right now his favorites are Jake and the Neverland Pirates (a tv show and its many accompanying toys), skating at the skate park (mostly on his knees), playing with friends, reading books, fruit snacks, and Disneyland.

Regarding development, he is just over 40 inches tall and weighs 38 pounds. Our focus as we transition out of our in home therapy will be social skills. Weston, behind in speech since 4 months, has completely caught up in his language. He talks in paragraphs and catches onto new words very quickly. He is in preschool four days a week and is transitioning from a special day class preschool to a gen ed preschool, with the plan to go there full time next year. He gets himself ready in the morning for school and learns his verses with ease each week for Awana. He will also be starting T-Ball soon, we can't wait. We are so thankful to the Lord for our boy, a blessing every day.

Typical Second Child

Poor Brielle, girl hardly ever gets things posted on here, so Im back to post a video of my sweet girl playing with her dolls. She did have them standing up and was "showing them how to dance," but by the time I got the camera that was over. This girl loves her "babies" and "Lella" (Cinderella).