thirty and feeling purty

For my birthday present I got a photo shoot with an amazing team of photographers in Destin and I was so excited. Taking pictures would have been fun enough, but I got my hair and make up done too, so I felt great! I got some of my preview pictures already and I am in love! ♥ 

 why yes, I did come close to losing my balance on that beam and falling in the water. :)

 Something else exciting that happened this week, is that we bought a lot! We don't have plans to build on it just yet because our current house is in walking distance of the school that Easton will go to for K-2nd grade so we want to stay here for that. But, we have had our eyes on lots in this area for a while and one finally went up for sale. We are SO excited and plan to take our time and build our dream house on it one day. In love with the lake in our back yard...Easton will get to feed the ducks and go fishing! ♥ 

 Trying to remember this today...

 Easton had speech and she recommended that we get an appointment with a neurologist. I already have our pediatrician sending a referral. She sent me the name of where we will be going and it is a pediatric neurologist that has great ratings. We just want to see if there is something else that may be holding Easton back with his speech...did his seizure cause a problem? Drake is definitely my rock through all of this.  I love these two so much! ♥

thirty

So I am still 29 and holding for a couple more days, but we celebrated my 30th last night. We had family and friends come out to the Grand Marlin on the beach and it was great. 

 We reserved an area of tables between the outside bar area and the spot where bands play, so while everyone was getting there we got to hang out and mingle. 

 Then we sat and ate dinner and just enjoyed each other. Kylie took a tip up to the band playing last night and got them to sing Happy Birthday to me. She's so sweet. 

 All of the girls. ♥ 

 Cake time!

I had a great time and it is definitely hard to believe I am turning 30. Of course I think back to my 20s and can't believe how amazing that time in my life was. I met Drake just as I turned 21, graduated from UCF, started my career teaching that I love, got married and became a mom. I'm so excited to see what God has planned for my 30s ♥ 

Girl time and good ears

Hey guys! I have had a good handful of days, wrapping up an awesome break and transitioning back to work. Over the weekend, I met up with Sydney Saturday and we spent the whole day together catching up, I haven't seen her since last summer ended so it was really nice. We sat by the pool for a few hours to start the day, went and got lunch together, stopped for pedicures, went shopping, got ready and went downtown for a bit. She told me about a job offer with a local baseball team, so she is coming back for good through this summer! :) So excited to get to hang out with her again, and have my workout buddy back! 

So yesterday it was back to the grind. :( But as hard as it is to go back, I definitely feel refreshed and motivated to tackle the last 9 weeks of school with my kids. Also, yesterday was Easton's appointment with the audiologist. It went great. We went in and got seen fast (always a plus) and then we went back to a room and they first had to stick a couple things in each ear to test his ear drums and other things that he didn't have to respond to, but he had to sit still and be quiet. He sat very still and did so good! :) After that I went into the sound booth with him and since he is so young, they talk into different speakers around the room and see if he will stop and look at them. When he did, little lights went off and Minnie and Goofy were there haha He did great and even answered her questions through the speakers when she was at a low volume, she asked things like what a pig said and he picked up the puzzle piece in front of him with the pig and snorted. 

Since he did such a good job, we went to get yogurt after. He was eating his birthday cake flavor and after every bite just started going, "mmmmm" :) 

Once we got home, I got the mail and these came! I know it's a month away but I cannot wait to see Easton's reaction when Mickey comes skating out! He is obsessed with Mickey these days. ♥ 

Have a good week! xoxo

fun in the sun

Spring Break is of course flying by but I am loving every minute. We have been very blessed with amazing sunny days and temps in the 70s. Yesterday was a much better day for me emotionally. I feel like I handle some of the tough stuff in life the same way...I have a day of being totally down, crying and throw a pity party and I get it all out. Then the following day I feel motivated to move on and look ahead and try to make things better. Yes, Easton's speech is not where it needs to be yet, but he has SO many other great things going for him that he excels at and I am so thankful for those. He has his hearing test scheduled for Monday so I will let y'all know how that goes ♥ 

We had a great afternoon at the park once Drake got off...

and today has been another great day with my best pal. :) This morning he decided to get up about 5:45 so we cuddled on the couch and watched Mickey Mouse clubhouse for a little bit until we got ready for the beach. 

 Easton is a beach baby for sure! He loves being out there and almost all of my time is spent trying to keep him from jumping face first in the water haha 

 After we left the beach we had a little bit of time before heading home for lunch and nap, so we stopped by the park and played and ran on the football field. 

It's been an awesome week hanging out with Easton. I am so thankful that my job allows me the time off that I have. When I go back to work Monday, we start our final 9 weeks of school and then it's summer break!! Life is good ♥ 

Speech update

I really haven't updated as much as I probably should, but it's because I guess not much has changed. Speech happens every Wednesday afternoon for an hour and it goes good, the therapist leaves, we work on things all week and repeat the following week. So, Easton still has his handful of words and has recently added several animal sounds and "bow" like taking a bow and "no" this week. But for most words, he will only repeat when he is prompted to do so. Some of them are spontaneous which is what we need more of- He will do "wawa" when driving over bridges, "nanny" when going into my parent's neighborhood each morning and "more" when he really wants more of something.

So this week before she left, we kind of started talking like, what's next? We are stuck in this painful stage of waiting and not knowing and unfortunately at his age it is so hard to know what it going on. I really like our speech therapist, she has been doing it for 30 years and said that Easton is very unique in that he may show signs of one thing but other things that lead her away from it. He will sit and play with her and is just so quiet. The apraxia word was brought back up tonight, but she said most kids who have that tend to get frustrated and clearly he is not...bless his little heart, he is such a sweet kid. ♥ Kids that she started working with about the same time as Easton are for the most part advancing in their language and Easton is still having a hard time.

I mentioned something about having his hearing checked and she was surprised, because she was thinking it had already been checked, so I will be calling first thing in the morning to schedule that. That could be a huge factor she said, but at the same time, he responds to us and does commands just fine, so who knows. If that checks out okay we will continue speech and then in the near future if he is still not progressing in certain areas, she said she was going to refer us to a neurologist to see what they have to say.

I'm having one of those nights. I think I have been fine, because I avoid thinking about it, so tonight having a serious conversation about it again just brought up all of the emotions. I am just frustrated. Sad for Easton. He is the sweetest baby and I hate to see him trying so hard and just not getting it. So, I guess in a nutshell nothing has changed, it is a mystery still to all of us why he is having a hard time, with the hope that this all turns out to be a language delay that he is able to move forward with.

Thanks to those of you that say an extra prayer for him. ♥

Spring Break!

Hooray for Spring Break! We actually had work Monday as one of our make up days for the 3 days we missed during the ice storm :( Ugh that was painful. You can only imagine how many high school students came to school that day. So I guess yesterday was the official start to a short but still very exciting break. 

 I love my one on one time with this guy ♥ 

 We have been on the go...yesterday we went to feed ducks, went to the park (twice) and played all day. Today we went to Target, met up with my cousin Taylor for brunch, went to see daddy at work and came home for nap time. I think Easton finally fell asleep, it was sounding like we might not have a nap today. BUT since he is napping, I think I am about to take the baby monitor on the back porch and lay out :) 

Loving Spring Break!!

Hump Day

This week is dragging because I know Spring Break is next week! So excited :) Gymnastics went much better yesterday...here is Easton on the balance beam. Aunt Rose and Georgia came to watch and Easton had a great time. Ready for this week to be over...lots to do and ready for time with my boy next week. ♥ 

2.5

Easton you are 2 1/2 today :) Just wanted to write a quick update at what your life is like these days. You love to jump and flip on everything! Jumping on the bed, flipping all over the couch, or just holding your body in a weird balanced position that takes a lot of coordination to do. You just love anything that involves your motor skills. Outside is your favorite place to be and we are definitely there if the weather is nice, You are very intrigued by your shadow.  You are just not that into your toys, but out of your stuff you usually like to do puzzles. Your favorite things to watch are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Daniel Tiger's neighborhood. You are compassionate and like to tuck your stuffed animals into bed. 

You are making some progress in your speech, baby steps, but that's okay. You are making more animal sounds and doing so much better at mimicking our movements. I know you will be talking soon and we can't wait to hear everything you have to say. ♥ You like pointing out things when we drive, especially all the "wa wa" You are still obsessed with your strawberries and also love ice cream. You are still shy at first around people and then silly once you are comfortable. You have been closing your eyes when you get shy thinking that no one can see you if you can't see them :) 

You are wearing 4T and some 4 size clothes. Size 9 shoes. You weigh 37 pounds and are 3'3'' tall. You're the coolest kid ever and we love you so much ♥ 

Gymnastics

So yesterday was Easton's first day of gymnastics haha He won't be able to do any sports until this fall I believe when soccer starts for his age group, so we signed up for gymnastics to get him into something with structure to it. 

 I'm SO glad we are doing it! It is an 8 week program and Easton loves the activities...

 BUT let's just say he is obviously the new kid. haha There are 3 other kids in the class, 2 of which are returners and know the routine. So, we start out great doing stretches and rotations in a couple small rooms with just our group. After that we had a couple minutes left and ended in the HUGE room with a million people doing gymnastics and got to do trampoline time. Easton has done it before at kidnasium, where it is an open gym and you do whatever you want, so he didn't understand the concept of sitting and waiting his turn. (oh boy) Drake and I kept sitting him back down and feeling embarrassed that he was the kid not following directions. He wasn't bad or throwing a fit, he was just pointing at all of the stuff he wanted to do and trying to get to it. 

It's finally his turn and he is supposed to jump with legs out and in, out and in...well he takes off jumping with a huge smile, gets his air and dive bombs face first cracking up. Oops. Parent fail. I'm so glad we are doing it so that he can learn what he needs to do in a class type situation. Here is a video at the beginning when we were in the small rooms. We went through rotations and then they had to go one at a time and demonstrate their favorite thing. He kept stopping on the way through waiting for everyone to clap :)

Day in Paradise

Days like today make me pause and truly realize how awesome life is. There are hard days and struggles along the way, but I would not trade my life for a million bucks. I just feel so re-energized and happy today. Thankful for our jobs, the time we get together, family, our friends and where we live. 

 We got up and already had plans to go to the beach. We decided to go to the new red fish blue fish restaurant on the beach. It was such an amazing set up. Very laid back with a great view. 

 My parents called while we were there and decided to stop by. If it is nice and the weekend, there is about a 95% chance that we will all be out at the beach at some point during the day. :)

 ♥ 

 SO ready for summer! It's going to be a fun one! 

 Love this place. 

After the beach, I went to do a photo shoot while Easton napped and then we went over to the Otts house with the gang for dinner while the kids played. Such a great day. xoxo