happy st. patty's sunday!

we decided to be ultra festive today and deck ourselves out in all shades of green.

 time for some sunday picture-taking shenanigans!

 aubrey had her pinchers out in full force today......connor isn't pleased because he knows he's wearing green.... what's the big idea, sissy??

he looks shocked. :)

here come the kisses.....

no one escapes kisses in this house.

pure shenanigans. 

how is it that i just love them so much more every single day?

my little man.  he struggled a bit at church today, in the last hour.  he had one of his whimper/cry/painful face/jerking episodes.  :(

it always breaks my heart when i see tears come down his face, those silent tears that flow without ever really 'crying'. 

  i love my beautiful boy.

so much.

<3

my favorite time is time with my babies.

tonight we went to Sonic for a little treat.

connor was checking out the menu, trying to help sissy decide what to get.

mommy has placed the order.......now we wait.

it's here!  woohoo!  aubrey got a vanilla shake.  my favorite flavor too :)

i love this little girl.

and i love that they have a little playground so aubrey can play while connor and i sit close by in the van.

ahhh!  refreshing.

i was happy i got to sit and admire my beautiful boy in his fancy new seat.  

i am so crazy in love with my kids. 

with a cherry on top.

<3

Connor's car seat!!!!!

today is a GREAT day!!  do you want to know why??  connor's special needs car seat came today!!!!  WOOOOHOOOOO!!!! YIPPEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!   i wasn't even sure if it had been ordered and i definitely didn't expect it to get here so soon so i was shocked and so excited when the doorbell rang and this was waiting for me on the doorstep!

i couldn't believe it!!

 i may or may not have done a happy dance at this point.....(i totally did:)

i was so excited i documented the opening of the box......ah, but this is just a teaser.  first let me pay respects to his old car seat and show you some pictures of it so you'll be able to tell what a difference his new one makes.

 this is his old 'infant' car seat.  he's had it since he was about 1.   it's been seating my sweet boy for over 4 years now.

obviously, it is too small for my super tall boy.  his shoulders do not fit under the straps and his body doesn't fit well inside.

see?  he does not look too pleased. :)

but it has served us well and i thought it necessary to say goodbye.  so goodbye old seat! 

and hello...........new seat!

it had that new car (seat) smell right out of the box!

it's so pretty!  (in a masculine way of course)  really it is similar to his old one, just a bigger, better version.

here comes the real test.........does he like it??

well i think he does!  he fell right asleep seconds after i got him situated.

he looks like such a big boy.  my little man.

<3

finally, he woke up to model his new seat:)

i think he loves it!!

there's a cool feature on the seat i discovered----it has built in sound in the headrest you can hook up to music so he can listen to his favorite tunes while driving!  (he already requested Pearl Jam..... my boy's got great taste:)

i am so happy and so grateful to Angel Hands Foundation for getting this seat for my beautiful boy!  they are such a great, generous organization and it blows my mind that people are willing to do things like this.  i can't say thank you enough.  go check out their website and see all the amazing things they do for so many special kids.  my heart is full of love and thanks.  and to the therapists at connor's school that helped facilitate all this, for them i am so grateful.  it is such a huge relief to me that my sweet boy will be comfortable and safe when we drive!  such a burden has been lifted because of this gift.  

plus, he can ride in style now........something i'm sure he's excited about.

yay for today!!!!

<3

 connor has been struggling again today:(  he's been super agitated and uncomfortable all day long.  so it was a great surprise and much needed boost of happiness when the wonderful woman who sent connor his tiny super hero cape wrote to me to say connor's post is up on her blog!  it's so beautifully written, i am so in awe of the what she does and what she did for my sweet boy.  here is the blog post link: Super Connor — TinySuperheroes
 i have probably read it a million times already today......and i've already read about all the other tiny superheroes, too.  they are all so amazing!  i love that there are such good people in this world, people that do so much to help others.  i hope one day i can do something so awesome.
i love the TinySuperheroes blog.  and i love my tiny superhero.  yay for super people!!

today has been a good day.  connor did a little better at staying awake at school, so that was a huge relief.   then, this afternoon i got to go to the Salt Lake Temple to see two of my favorite friends sealed together.  it was the first time i'd been inside that temple and it was so beautiful.  

 i'm so glad i got to go and see my friends on their special day.  it's so peaceful and nice in the temple.  most of my worries are put on hold while i'm inside.  i say most because i'm still worried about connor when i have to leave him anywhere...it's always a worry when he's not right by my side.  but he did great, so it all worked out:)

i love my friend Christa.  she's helped me so much in my life and befriended me when i really needed a friend in my life.  she is an amazing person, friend, and mother.  i'm so glad she wanted me there today.  (makes me a little less mad at her for moving away soon)  at least she's not going too far...

i drove to the temple today with another great friend, also one of my very favorite people.  and we had some great conversation, the deep kind you can only share with a good friend.  

so today i am grateful for friends.  

i've got some really good ones.

<3

connor was a sleepy boy again today at school.  he hasn't had this hard of a time staying awake in a long time. :(  makes me worry about my sweet boy.

i worry when things change all of a sudden for no apparent reason.  he isn't sick i don't think.  maybe he has some sinus or allergy stuff going on, but no fevers.  so that's a good thing.  but he just seems more tired and has to use more and more energy to just be.  

i worry so much about him.  but i try not to let the worry consume me.  i try to use all possible energy to just love.  i just love him so much.

it's hard because i want to know what to expect or what worries i need to focus on, but i have no sense of control over any of that.  i don't know what to expect for our future.  sometimes i just want to know so i can prepare myself for whatever is to come, but then again it's easier to not know so i don't have to think about it.  i try not to think too far ahead because that's just too hard for me.  

 i just don't want to be totally blindsided by whatever the future holds.  but i guess that's the struggle with life.  no one ever knows what to expect.  we are just the same as everyone else in that respect.

so today i'll just be grateful that at least when he's sleeping there seems to be some sense of peace and comfort......

 and we'll take peace and comfort any way we can find it.

<3

connor was a sleepy boy at school today.  he must have had a case of the Mondays..... they said he slept a lot, but he did do some good work too.  he made a book all about shapes.  they have an adaptive tool he uses on his hand so he can color 'on his own'.  so he got to color all the different shapes in his book.  he did a great job of staying in the lines.  sissy must've taught him that:)  

and his physical/occupational therapist that has been working with us to get his car seat said that she has actual confirmation that the seat is being ordered......WOOOHOOOO!  she told me that she feels that we can actually start getting excited about it now.  i'm still crossing my fingers, but definitely getting super excited for my sweet boy.  i can't say enough how grateful i am for the wonderful people that work with my son at his school, and especially for a foundation that is willing to help us get something so expensive yet so necessary for daily life.  

and they've been working with connor at school with the different technologies and adaptive equipment we talked about at his last meeting with the Augmentative team.  i'm excited to see what works and what doesn't so i can get a feel for what might be best to purchase for him here at home.  if only i could buy something to help him be more comfortable in general.....i'd give all my money for something like that.  

 instead i will just keep suctioning (and suctioning) and holding him tight.  and i'm perfectly alright with that.

<3