Enchanted Forest

On July 31st we went to the Enchanted Forest for the day.  It was so much fun and such a better trip than last year.  What a difference a year makes (along with Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy and preschool).  Last year Michael wouldn't even go near the rides but this year he rode almost of them.  The log ride was a little scary for him & he wasn't quite tall enough anyway.  He had so much fun and now we are SO excited to go to Disneyland, knowing he likes the rides.  He asks at least once a day to go back to the Enchanted Forest (he's asking right now since he's looking at the pics-lol) so hopefully we'll get a chance to go again before it closes for the year.

 

in the crooked house 

outside the Haunted House, no he didn't go in : )

I love that smile!

Cap'n Michael

riding the ferris wheel

the frog hopper

 

All aboard!

he loved all the slides!

Our happy family

Blast from the past

Today I got together with childhood friends I haven't seen since high school.  We met at the Gilbert House and had lunch and played.  We were there for about 3 and a half hours which is by far the longest we've ever been there!  Michael usually breezes thru all the rooms fairly quickly since he goes there pretty regularly but Deb & Em's kids don't go very often so they stayed in every room for awhile.  Poor Michael was getting bored but he did pretty good at being patient.  It was great to see Debbie & Emily again.

Michael wanted to take a picture

Sisters

Emily's youngest daughter Dylan

Emily & her girls

5 of Debbie's kids and all 3 of Emily's girls

Debbie

Emily

The three of us (& Michael)

Bubble Room!

trying to hula hoop

Ruby Mae is here!

On July 20 my cousin Karrie gave birth to her second daughter Ruby Mae!  We went to the hospital to see them and took a couple of pics.  We actually didn't get a good one of Ruby but believe me she is beautiful.  She looks like Karrie which is nice for her since Abby looks a little more like Daniel.

feeling my uterus doing flip flops! lol

Awwww 

Pretty Mama

Big Sister Abby

Congratulations Brown Family, We Love You all!

Crazy couple of weeks

On July 6th my Dad underwent surgery on his kidney to remove a growth that turned out to be cancer (they were 85% sure before surgery), the surgery went well but while he was in recovery he suffered a heart attack and actually DIED in the recovery room for a few seconds.  They did CPR and used the paddles to shock him back to life.  It was very scary to hear them call a code blue and know it's for your dad.  Turns out he has a bunch of blockages and has had a heart attack before but it was a silent (painless) heart attack.  This one was too but since he was hooked up to all the machines they knew what was going on.  He's still sore from the CPR and said that he remembers being shocked and that those paddles kick your ass!  Now he will have to have heart surgery some time in the near future but he's home now and has been since last Wednesday.  He still has a long road ahead but I know he will make it.  One good thing that has come out of this is he's not smoking anymore!  I didn't think he'd ever stop. 

On July 12th we took Michael back up to OHSU to be reevaluated.  The doctors were thrilled and amazed at all the progress he's made!  He's now been diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder.  Unfortunately I haven't researched it enough yet to even try to explain it here.  It's still on the Autism Spectrum but it's a step in the right direction.  We are so proud of our little man!

June recap

I suck at blogging!  Hopefully it won't be another month before I post again.  Here are some pictures of June.

Fun in the sprinklers

Goofy boy!

Michael loves taking pictures

Here are some pictures from the Gilbert House (local children's museum)  Michael loves this place!

in a dinosaur chair

Michael's in a bubble!

Sensitive ears

doing some gardening

milking the cow

He looks so big!

We went to the World Beat Festival the last weekend of June.  We had never been before & didn't get to see much because Michael never wants to stop & look at anything.  We have to keep going-lol.  I did get a couple of pictures though.

enjoying an ice cream cone

he liked playing the drums

 

We didn't do anything for the 4th because Michael doesn't like loud noises and we have animals that aren't big fans of the fireworks either.  The county fair is later this week so hopefully I will take Michael and blog about it before next month!

Haircuts, Chuck E Cheese & no more nite nites!

Michael HATES to get a haircut (most autistic kids do) so we bribe him with a trip to Chuck E Cheese for every haircut.  Lately we've been going every couple of weeks & Michael's been tolerating haircuts so YAY!  Probably not the best parenting but oh well.  Rick's wonderful cousin Dina comes over to our house & cuts his hair for us so that is so nice.  He's gone to the salon where I go too but lately he wants Dina to cut it which is usually easier anyway.

Our wonderful cousin Dina

Michael has finally given up the pacifier (he called them his nite nites).  He didn't really use them they were just a security thing.  Most kids get attached to a blanket or stuffed animal but Michael got attached to his nite nites and it's been hard for him to give them up.  My cousin Karrie is having a baby in July (thanks for having a baby to help me out Karrie-LOL) so I've been telling Michael for months that he has to give his nite nites to his baby cousin Ruby.  A few weeks ago he said out of the blue that he didn't need them which was shocking but exciting, the next night however he wanted them again. : (  I told him I would only give him one (he usually gets two) & he started telling me he needed two but I told him it was one or none & he chose none!  He's so stubborn & this time it worked against him.  Ha ha  Anyways he's been nite nite free ever since and I'm just a little excited!