A Couple Busy Weeks!

The week following Easter was a slightly busier than normal week. Monday was preschool/school, Tuesday was school and the kids classes in the evening, Wednesday was again preschool/school, then just before lunch I dropped Elizabeth off with her lunch at my cousin Mary's house while I took Devin up to Primaries to meet with Dr. O'Gorman in their Disphaysia Clinic, she's a GI specialist for kids with feeding problems...that appointment did not go at all as I had hoped it would. She essentially told me that everything she could think of and offer to help Devin with his feeding issues has already been done and so there's nothing she can do for him except put a g-tube in his stomach to hydrate him so he's not living in a constant state of dehydration and get some extra Pediasure in  him when it's needed. But she didn't foresee him eating normally anytime soon if ever. I left feeling so deflated and defeated and hopeless and helpless, it was not at all what I expected to hear. So now we have lots to think about and to consider...but there are no easy simple answers to this one. Thursday was school and that afternoon it was Devin's turn to play with Mary while I took Elizabeth to see Dr. Goldsmith her child psychologist. This appointment went better. I told him about her pediatrician's concern about anxiety and he did say he'd noted some symptoms in their previous visits but he's not one to rush into labeling children with things they don't need to be labeled with, but since her pediatrician and I both had concerns as well he did an evaluation for an anxiety disorder and the results were...I'd like to say shocking, but honestly they were just what I thought they'd be. Elizabeth's scores showed she had extreme Generalized Anxiety Disorder...and I mean EXTREME! He told me that even though her anxiety was super high that he also doesn't believe in medicated children unless they absolutely need it after every other attempt has fallen short, so we talked about some behavior modifications to use to help her and we're going that route first. He also suggested I see about getting her into some OT as well, as they can see her more frequently and work on more nitpicky things. The visit with him seemed to go much smoother when we were working towards a common goal. And I must admit it was kinda nice to know I'm not crazy, something really was up with my gorgeous girl, but something I can do a lot about! Elizabeth was super crushed that we weren't going to get home in time for Girl Scouts so to make up for it we went to Sihls Cafe again for dinner, they were super busy for some reason that night, but the food was delicious as always! Friday was just a lazy day. Saturday we went to a couple home improvement stores to finish up some final organizational things in the kids rooms, which Tony prompty came home and did! Then in the afternoon My Mom Liz and I went to my cousin Sarah's baby shower and spent a few hours there visiting. Elizabeth loved being a part of it! Sunday evening was a birthday dinner for Tony's mom.
The next week was crazy busy! Monday was typical, Tuesday I took the kids to the dentist, which is quite the feat with an Autistic three year old and an extremely anxious five year old...Devin just wanted to watch the show on the ceiling but didn't was the hygienist to touch his mouth, and Elizabeth kept squirming down the chair and trying to keep the hygienists' hands out of her mouth, it took over ten minutes of coaxing to get her to let them use the cleaning tools on her, but we convinced her and she actually did it! YAY victory!! Devin looked terrified the entire time but did eventually get his teeth cleaned as well. They both got X-rays and the dentist came and reported that their teeth look fantastic, no cavities super strong and good to go! Elizabeth does have one of her permanent teeth that is growing in kinda crooked but he said that's completely normal as there isn't much room for the bigger teeth to come into, and it usually corrects itself overtime and if it doesn't she'll need spacers and such to correct her crossbite in a couple years anyway.  That night was the kids classes. Wednesday was a typical morning, and in the afternoon Mary came up and watched the kiddos while I went to my ENT once again. I finally got pretty good news this time, no infections in either ear and my eardrums even showed improved movement, yay! So I don't have to go back to him for another year or until the next ear infection whichever comes first!(hopefully the year!) They were running pretty far behind though so that took longer than usual. The kids didn't complain though, they loved playing with Mary! Thursday afternoon I put Tony's birthday present(a GPS)to good use as it led me to Tony's dad's work where we picked him up and he drove us to an America First in Kearns where we met Tony and his mom, his parents then took our van and kids to their house and let them play while Tony and I met with a financial adviser to help us stay on track and answer some questions we had. It was a great visit. We had dinner with his parents then came home. Friday morning my mom graciously watched the kids for me while I went to an end of year meeting with Devin's preschool teachers which went well...he is much better behaved for them than he is for me, but they think it's only a matter of time until he feels comfortable enough to let his true colors show.  After that I came home and packed us all up for our weekend at Jordanelle State Park!
My parents, my kids and I loaded up in the motorhome and set out about 2 o'clock, and arrived about 45 minutes later and got set up. The kids had sooooo much fun playing outside! Somehow my camera didn't manage to make it out of the bag so you'll just have to imagine them playing wonderfully happy on a grassy hill with a square sand plot at the top they called their secret sandbox! Devin didn't last as long as Elizabeth but she was out there for hours, just having endless fun! Devin enjoyed both playing outside and inside the motorhome. Tony picked up Domino's pizza for dinner on his way up, after dinner we got the kids ready for bed and called it a day! Saturday Tony made breakfast burritos, then we got ready and My parents and I went to the Tanger Outlets, while Tony stayed back with the kids, it was a very nice break for me! I got the kids some cute summer clothes and some super yummy treats at Harry and David's. And had lots of fun just looking through the other stores and helping my mom find some nice new clothes. They treated me to lunch at Arby's while we had a nice chat then it was back to shopping, we ended up spending pretty much the whole day there! It was very nice! Perfect weather, not at all crowded. The kids reported having lots of fun with daddy and daddy reported that they were pretty good for him too! Tony cooked hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner then it was wind down and off to bed. Sunday was a fantastic lazy lounge around day. The kids got to watch a couple movies in Devin's bunk, while we visited and just took it easy. About one we finished getting ready and I took the kids outside to play for a bit while my parents and Tony got the motorhome ready to go, and we left right at checkout at two. Then we came home bathed the kiddos and unloaded. It was a great weekend!

Tony at least got these pictures with his phone of they went down to the lake Saturday.