WAY back on the 24th of July we took the kids to the carnival in Spanish Fork. Nate and Eva both loved the train - I know you can really tell by looking at the solemn pictures, but you'll just have to take my word for it!


At the ferris wheel we were surprised when Nate pointed and asked over and over to go for a ride. At first we just laughed, but then we saw that there is a special bar for younger kids. We're big believers in letting Nate do everything other kids his age can do, even though he is small, and so as soon as we knew it was safe for him to go, Ben was in line and Nate was ecstatic!


Over the holiday weekend the kids were able to go up Payson canyon with their cousins and Chris and Kate and had a lot of fun throwing rocks in the stream, walking across logs, and playing in the dirt.


So, to close, here are my favorite moments from the last couple of days:

On Thursday Nate didn’t feel very well and was lying on the floor watching “Diego.” One of the complications of Nate's imperforate anus repair is that he sometimes gets constipated. Nate tells us when he has stomach cramps by saying, 'Help! Poop!' Eva was wandering around being a nurse and giving Nate toys, patting him and saying “honey” and “don’t cry.” Nate had already moved on and was engrossed in his show. After a minute of being ignored, Eva laid on the floor next to Nathan, started groaning dramatically, and yelled "POOP! Poooop!"

Yesterday I started looking at Halloween costumes online because last year I waited too long and the costume I wanted for Eva was out of stock. I explained to Nate, “For Halloween you get to dress up like a shark or a monkey and say, ‘trick or treat’ and then people will give you candy!” Nate stared at me like I was crazy so I started to tell him he could be a lion, but Nate gave me an even dirtier look, threw his hands in the air, and said, “NO! Tiger!” Apparently he already has big plans.

Lately we have been teaching Eva to say her own prayers. Today when the sacrament prayer began Eva folded her arms, bowed far over so her head was in her feet, and started mimicking each line of the prayer until halfway through when she called out, "AMEN!"

Trip to the Reservoir

Today we went up to the Spanish Fork Reservoir with Grandmpa and Grandpa Lehnhof. Nate and Eva had a lot of fun playing in the water and sand with their cousins Dylan and Colin. Eva kept saying, "Dylan, Colin," over and over again. I am sure KATE can describe the Spanish Fork Reservoir in a very witty, enlightening manner - there were a few interesting people there. Yet, I will definitely be going back frequently - it is free, nearby, the kids love it, and as much as I love going to a really great pool with a slide, sometimes in the summer it is better to get outside in a lake! Plus, I fit right in with "interesting."

I just have to say, it was really fun to take pictures of Colin!



Eva really liked it when Ben buried her legs in the sand. Eva is our little fish - Ben took her out in the deeper water by the hands and she just started kicking on her own. She was laughing hysterically!


Dylan in the oldest cousin and Nate and Eva really like to copy him!

PARENTING 101:
Sometimes it is hard to not laugh at Nate when he is being "naughty." Today he was throwing sand towards the other kids, so we went and sat on the concrete and I demonstrated how to play with the sand and then had him show me so I knew he understood.

I confirmed, "You understand we don't throw sand at people?"
Nate's reply: "NOPE!"
So I tried, "Do we throw sand?" thinking maybe he misunderstood the question - since he just demonstrated to me how to play with the sand nicely.
"Yep!"
"So you understand what will happen if you keep throwing sand?" (no treat on the way home since we were on our second time out for this offense)
"Yep!"
We practiced a few times, but throwing sand is just so tempting and it satisfies such curiosity! Nate was very sad when he lost his treat, so I knew it was just the right consequence . . .

The moral of the story is to remember when you are at Dairy Queen that you told your little boy he couldn't have a treat. I remembered that SMALL detail a little late when I was uploading this picture! Hmm . . . seems like I taught this concept recently . . .

Great Deal

I LOVE these new pictures of Nate in the shopping bag! Nate must just understand we really got a great deal when we ended up with him!



Not to be outdone, Eva had an adventure today, too, but it was a little messier:

Eva slides . . .


Eva sits daintily . . .


Eva dances . . .


Nate likes the hose . . .


Nate really likes
the hose . . .


Nate really,
REALLY likes the hose . . .

Nate and Eva

I keep thinking I should wait to post because what is another post without pictures, but I kept having problems with our photo software and Ben assured me it was something I was doing . . . until our hard drive started to have problems! Of course, being a genius computer science major, Ben caught the problem just in time and backed everything up, and had a new hard drive installed in no time, but now we have to load all of our music, pictures, and everything else back onto the computer.

So, I give up and will eventually post pictures, and in the meantime here are ALL of the adorable things our adorable kids are doing to entertain us!

Nate blows us away every day with all of the new things he is learning. It is amazing to see him so happy and active. Today I heard little noises from behind the sofa and when I looked over it I realized Nathan was "reading" a book out loud. My heart just about stopped - seeing Nathan do such simple kids things is just such a huge deal to me!

Nate loves to go 'side to play in the sunshine and with the hose and balls. The balls frequently roll into the future flower beds, which are lined with rocks, and Nate says, "stuck!" about every five seconds. I take about ten balls outside to keep him busy so I don't have to run after the ball the whole time, but he tends to prefer his "Cars" and "Backyardigans" balls - he is very particular.

Last month Nate had his annual speech evaluation, but since we moved the new therapist came anyway to do a brief assessment and said that his scores show significant improvement in such a short amount of time. Of course, we already know that because Nate is saying Diego, poop, and chips - all of the important words, of course.

Another relief is that we found out yesterday that Nate has a pretty strong UTI, but we really caught it just on instinct - he really didn't have obvious symptoms. Of course, there is a little concern that his body is adapting, but I think right now it is outweighed by the fact that for the first time he has a more serious infection and he is still eating and playing, he isn't in the hospital, he isn't throwing up and losing weight, and his kidney fuction is really minimally higher than his baseline. Even with this infection we haven't had to use his GJ feeding tube to give him overnight feeds in over a month. Nate has a new pediatrician because of the move, and we went to meet him on Monday, only to discover that his name didn't just sound familiar - he has treated Nate many times at PCMC. Just two days later we noticed Nate's subtle symptoms, and we knew he would listen to us when we said something was wrong because so few doctors can see the whole picture with Nate. The specialists all have their niche, and with the exception of a pediatrician here and there, a different doctor treats him each time he is hospitalized because there are just so many doctors in and out of PCMC.

EVA is still our little performer. This morning she threw a fit for about fifteen minutes because immediately after breakfast she wanted a sippy cup with milk. Eva was told that if she decided to calm down she could have grapes and water. Eva did stop crying for about a minute to ask for candy, but when she was shown the water and grapes again, there were a few more minutes of Eva throwing herself around the kitchen. Ben and I are holding strong using our fabulous training from dealing with tantruming teenage girls, and we know it will be a few times before she learns that the screaming won't get her what she wants, but her voice is really shrill! It is definitely easier to hold out when it is other people's kids!

We like it better when our sweet Eva sings us songs and dances! In contrast with Nate, who loves TV just a little too much, Eva could care less. The only show she watches is "Baby Signing Times," and let me tell you, it is real entertainment to watch her dance around and sing "Baby time, shoe, shoe, shoe!"

Eva is our little helper, too. Whenever she sees us sweeping she goes into the pantry to get the dustpan and holds it for us to fill and then takes it carefully to the trash can to throw it away. If I ask Nate to clean something up, Eva runs past him to do it herself and gives me a big smile! Eva is also Nate's biggest fan - every time she sees him she says, "Hi, Nate!" and whenever she leaves a room she says, "Bye, Nate!" Eva also sweetly gives Nate kisses on the forehead. We think it is adorable, but sadly, Nate isn't thrilled. This morning Eva gave Nate a nice kiss and then Nate started whining and pointing at his head where she kissed him just like he does when he has an 'ouchie!'

Our cute kids are just going a million miles a minute, and I could write so much more, but Ben wants to get on the computer so he is telling me I can post later with pictures :) You can thank Ben for stopping me now, because if you thought this was long, just know I could go on a lot longer!

Update

In case you were wondering (because I know you all fervently read our spellbinding blog), our family has been in the process of transitioning out of the group home as I move on to a new position intervening in troubled families within their own homes and Ben returns to school. We have mixed feelings because the last three years have been a wonderful experience for us, but we really intended to stay at this job for just a year or two, and so it is good for us to move on. I took Eva to work with me for the last time this weekend and after all of the peace and quiet and individual attention Eva has received during our move it was exhausting to be reminded of how overstimulated she is around ten teenage girls competing for attention! On the other hand, it was sad when it was time for the girls to say goodbye, probably more so for me than for Eva or the girls! So, in the midst of a mixed up time, here are the highlights of the last month or two:

Nate has made tremendous strides recently. He is walking steadily and jabbering away. Nate has also started really eating which is a huge step because we anticipated that it would take several years for him to really learn to eat well and we would have to spend a lot of time coaching him because of the problems with his esophagus. Nate is a little miracle kid with all that he has faced and overcome already! He has really figured out on his own how to drink with his food and cough after he eats to clear the sounds of his Striders. The other day I gave the kids tiny cubes of cut up carrots and Nate swallowed one of the cubes with a swig of water just like he was taking a pill! We are crossing our fingers that it won't be long until his G-tube is a thing of the past. It is such a change to see Nathan play so much! In the past because he was so tired all he wanted to do was watch movies. Now he wants down off of the sofa so he can horeseplay with his dad, run around, and play with his dinosaurs (Nate's newest obsession besides Fritos and Shrek).

Eva's vocabulary is growing daily as well. My kids are so different from each other that I feel like Eva is really another first child. It is amazing to watch her copy our words and to see her building language and understanding. Eva is a blessing in many ways, but she has a special role in Nathan's life as he watches her form words and copy the sounds she makes. Both of the kids started saying "mine" recently, which is shocking, I know, since this fall Eva will be two and Nate will be three. Eva is sweetly mischievious, and it is hard not to laugh when she is sneaky. Eva has starting hiding when she has something she knows she is not supposed to play with, and if she is cornered by a parent asking for the object she'll throw it as far as she can and then run away. The other day Eva was banging her cup at dinner and I asked her to stop, and she did right away. I told her she did a great job listening. Then Eva banged her cup twice on the table, stopped, and with a proud smile said, "Good girl!" Demonstrating that Eva knows both what she is not supposed to do and how to stop is a frequent occurance.

Both of the kids love the cat at Grandma and Grandpa Lehnhof's house and chase it around saying, "kitty, kitty." They also love Salem Pond and feeding the ducks! And it is amazing to me that somehow my kids have a sixth sense for permanent markers - you'd think I leave them all over the place, but somehow they found the huge marker I have been using to label moving boxes in my purse and decorated the sheets on Nathan's bed in record time. I am so grateful that the Pottery Barn Kids duvet covers I adore and saved up for were spared!

Ben is back in school taking 19 credits and working hard. If you heard that Ben was a notorious underachiever, times have changed. Ben breezed his way through his first years at BYU with little studying and neglected homework, but now he is a serious student and studies every night. He started the semester a week late and caught up and even worked ahead in most of his classes. Ben went to school to take a math test and found out that the class was behind the syllabus and that he completed hours of extra math homework! I am confident that he is now going to graduate at the top of his class in no time!

I am just enjoying the time with my kids and with Ben. It is amazing that even though I have been working 40-50 hours a week, I have spent more quality time with my family than I did working from home 50-60 hours a week. I am grateful for the blessings associated with our mission of sorts for the last few years, but I am cherishing new experiences, such as our first homemade family dinner with the kids less ten girls a few weeks ago. I forgot how easy it is to cook for just a couple of people and I might actually start experimenting again! Although I'll never be able to top Ben's talent in the kitchen, so I hope he is able to squeeze in a few dinners for me every once in a while!

Believe it or not, that's the short version of a busy couple of months! Later I'll post some cute new pictures of the kids.

Nate Walks!

Today Nate took his first steps without his walker! We tried to get pictures, but by the time we thought of it he was pretty worn out from us making him do it over and over again to show everyone in the house!

Nathan started working with a specialist to help him walk and crawl right before he turned a year old. After a few months we switched specialists and started taking Nathan up to the Primary Children's Rehab Center in Bountiful. They are so great with Nathan! Nate is also in speech therapy there, so we drove up twice a week for a year. In December at Nate's progress review he met all of his goals for the year, which included cruising and crawling, and walking with his walker. Nate's new goals are to stand confidently without his walker and take some steps without his walker in the next six months. I think we are on our way!