First Stop on Grand Canyon Trip…

…Beaver Creek. We drove over to Avondale, AZ which is right outside of Phoenix. Then went straight up Near Lake Montezuma. It was a beautiful campground at Beaver Creek. It was kind of warm when we got there so we quickly set up the tent and then went swimming in the creek. I was quite nervous about my feet touching the bottom of the creek and then another mom of four kids suggested wearing my flip flops. Thank you to her! I was able to really enjoy myself. Our sweet dog Sadie even came swimming. It was soooo cute. We have only had her since March and we have never seen her swim-she loved the water! The Munchkin preferred to sit on a rock with his feet in the water tossing rocks in. The other two boys enjoyed building up the dam with more rocks and the Princess was just enjoying the water and made a new friend as usual. We had a wonderful time.

When it was time to exit the water we started making dinner and that is when Grandma Ginger and Grandpa Johnny came. We were informed by the camp host that a mountain lion and her cub and skunks had been seen around the campsites recently and to look out for them. Well after dinner we made s’mores and were just finished brushing our teeth when Grandma walked around the car and saw a skunk. Everyone was excited and wanted to see it. Then Brad looked out a little further and saw something crouching down behind a bush like it was ready to pounce. He quickly ordered us into the tent and we watched through the windows with flashlights as skunks (3 I think) and then the mountain lion cub came nonchalantly looking for food at our campsite.

I didn’t feel afraid until I went out of the tent to grab some things we left out. Three of us went out. Grandpa, Brad and I . Brad told me to keep the light shining to the left and he would keep and light shining to the right. As I am looking to the left I turn back to look at Brad and he left me! He was across the way shining the light for Grandpa. I got so scared I quickly grabbed whatever I could and rushed back into the tent. Ummmm, thanks babe for leaving me. All night we could here animals creeping around the tent and everyone now and then one of us would sit up and shine a light out the window.  It was sure exciting and the kids thought it was awesome!! You wouldn’t believe how many pictures I tried to take of our little visitors but not even one turned out!

Our Gigantic 10 person tent we purchased at Wal-Mart for $115. Best purchase ever! Especially since Brad forgot to bring the extra tent for Grandma and Grandpa. We all wouldn’t have fit in the old tent!

The Prince jumping off the awesome rock area

Mission San Juan Capistrano

Brad and I were headed to a wedding in Mission Viejo and decided to make it a weekend trip, thanks to Grandma who watched the kids! Sunday we went to Mission San Juan Capistrano which was amazing! It would have been a bit pricey to take the whole family to but they did have an audio tour that was free. It gave us so much more  information than if we would have been just wandering around that amazing property. We looked into taking the kids to another mission; however, the one we checked out online was cheaper but didn’t have the audio tour. After we went to the Mission we ate Mexican food (all the Spanish architecture caused a craving for tacos) The we drove to Victoria Beach to see this really cool tower on the Beach. We had a great time and really want to take the kids there for a day trip.

The swallows nests. Did you know the Swallows come back to San Juan Capistrano every year on the same day? Yep, on March 19th. I had never heard that before.

 

Where the Padre slept.

Large pots for making tallow

Victoria Beach

Sea anemone in the tide pool.

Camping In Idyllwild

I know I promised to Blog about the Grand Canyon but when uploading all my pictures I realized I have a few things more to post about first. Actually more than just a few. But I am going to start with these few things and then get to the Grand Canyon pictures.

We went for a quick trip in June up to Idyllwild without a plan on where we would stay. We decided so late that we couldn’t book anything online and just had to pay when we got there. I really don’t like doing things without a plan so my husband was in charge of where we would be staying. I was in charge of food because that is something I can plan for!! Our first choice for camping was full so they sent us up a little ways to Thousand trails. It was really cool. The only drawback was there are no fires allowed. They did have a big bonfire going for a couple hours that you could roast marshmallows and make S’mores from and they had live music which was neat.  The other cool part was the trout pond. We fished and caught two fish (for $9) and cooked them when we got home that night. Another cool part was there was soap in the bathrooms. Ahhh the little things make such a difference when you are camping!! Here are some pictures from our adventure.

Up and Running

Well this is my same blog with same old posts but a new URL. I am very excited that this blog is connected to my e-mail and will streamline my blogging. Thank you to my sweet friend Jody from Blended who set everything up for me. I have been working for hours on changing the font, background, layout and adding blog rolls and info to the sidebar. So I am too tired to make a real blog post. However, I have lots of pictures from the Grand Canyon trip we took a few days ago and I am hoping to post tomorrow! Stay tuned!

The Munchkins Amazing Progress

We recently had an MRI for the Munchkin because his eye doctor was noticing some vertical drifting of his eyes. The doctor has always noticed that he had the horizontal drifting but the presence of vertical drifting at this age was alarming. There were two possibilities of what it could be. One is that it was always there and they just never noticed it because he would never cooperate for his appointments. He would scream and wiggle and they would be forced to do their testing quickly to get it over with. The other possibility is that some thing is attacking the 4th nerve in the brain causing this. I was told that whatever is attacking it would most likely be benign. Not exactly what a mother wants to hear about her child.

We went for the MRI in Loma Linda. He had to be sedated for it. After it was over we went over to recovery. It was a long day! We left our house at 7:45 and didn’t return until 4:00. His doctor called me the next day with the good news. “There is no new damage and no changes. The only damage is what he has had since birth from being premature.” This is what we were praying for that the problem or 4th nerve palsy was always there. However, I was reminded of what a precious miracle this child is. The damage that has been there since birth is that when he had a stroke in the womb, 60% of his right parietal lobe didn’t form. There is fluid in it’s place. There was a time when we didn’t think he would or they (his twin) would even make it out of my body alive. Then when they came out and spent 75 days and 105 days in the NICU, they struggled daily to survive. Then as the Munchkin got older and we got the diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy and they told us “He might be able to walk one day”. We have been to more therapy appointments than I wish to count but he is doing amazing!

Two years ago the Munchkin fell from his booster chair at the table and had to have a CT scan. The doctor was surprised to find what we already knew was going on in his brain. And was excited to inform us that his left brain was enlarged because it was compensating for what was missing. The doctor said “If he continues at this pace, in 15 years you won’t even be able to tell he ever had anything wrong with him.” This child is a miracle!

He used to have to use a gait trainer to help him learn to walk. He hated it! When he got his new hinged AFO’s (leg braces) he started walking. That was October of 2009- he was 3 years-old. A couple weeks ago he has begun actually pedaling his bike. He never could before because he couldn’t get his left foot to cooperate. He can also ride his sister’s scooter!

On Monday we are going to Loma Linda so the Munchkin can have a Botox injection in his left leg. The muscles are so tight and it hurts him so badly when we stretch him. The Botox will relax the muscle so we will be able to stretch him and he can put the left foot flat on the ground. Yeah! Having the injection will ward off having to have surgery until he is older. If he doesn’t have the injections or surgery, the muscle is so tight that his leg can’t grow properly. I am excited for his leg to relax!

Updates on the Twins

I realize it has been a very long time since I have updated everyone on the status of my twins. They just turned 4 in September which is incredibly unbelievable! The munchkin stopped drinking his super high calorie formula from a bottle in July and his growth has been amazing. He had been throwing up a lot because the formula would fill his tummy too much. Then he wouldn’t eat real food. The GI doctor is the one who wanted him on it for so long but I am glad we finally stopped giving it to him. He now weighs 22 pounds! he has gained 2 pounds since stopping the formula. It is so very exciting to see him sitting at the table devouring a grilled cheese sandwich. Some days he is our best eater!

The bulldozer has some news of his own. We have been really noticing since about a year ago that he has some serious behavior issues that he wasn’t growing out of like we had hoped. He would almost go in waves behaviorally. He will be great, kind and helpful and then for the next week terrible spurts of screaming and being unable to make his bed or put on his clothes. I am sad to say that for a while we would get angry with him. Thinking he was just being stubborn or lazy, after all he could do these things yesterday. We took him to Mental Health Services and after much evaluation they diagnosed him with PDD-NOS which is on the autism spectrum. We don’t know a whole lot right now but we are learning. Especially we are learning to approach him differently. He has some fears and terrible nail biting to where he hardly has any fingernails at all. I called Loma Linda University today to see if we can get an appointment with them.

All in all both boys are doing well. We got new glasses for the munchkin and they are already scratched. If anyone knows us we always have trouble with glasses for that boy! I will have to drive out to riverside and order new lenses to fit his glasses. There is some news about our oldest the prince but I will update everyone on that in another post.  Thanks for joining me in my journey to being a better blogger!

Sick, Sick, Sick!

Someone has been sick in our house since November 29th. First the prince, on his birthday he had pneumonia. Then 2 weeks later the prince again and then me and now daddy. Daddy and I had Bronchitis which is so fun. Also there is some coughing going on with the smaller children but I am praying that I can boost up their immunity and they can fight it.

I feel like I don’t ever blog because there is too much to blog about so I don’t even try. My goal for 2011 is to fight the urge to feel overwhelmed by my life and by extension my blog and just choose something to blog about. I will try, cheer me on, pray for whatever you think will work. Actually don’t waste your prayers on that I am sure I will need prayer for something more serious later