September Already?

Where did the summer go?

Alivia, contrary to all my fears, absolutely LOVES school! She hasn't cried one single day at this school, and she cried EVERY day when I took her to daycare. It's a nice change! She's also getting chattier every day and mastering new skills, too! She's even started singing along with the music in the car! (I've been trying to get her to do that for months!)

I'm busier than a postman at Christmas these days--I'm teaching three classes (with a fourth to be added in November) in addition to my regular 9-5 stuff. Plus there's all the post-storm cleanup and the storms just seem to keep coming and coming. Thankfully Hanna has stayed off shore, but Ike looks rather threatening at the moment. And I'm hoping the storms will die down by the time of our cruise in just one month.

These lovely photos were taken by my friend Justin at different times over the last few months. The one on the train is from July 4th when we went downtown to see the fireworks. The others are from a few weeks ago at the zoo. If it's nice enough this weekend I'm going to try to take Livi to the zoo again. She loves it there! The last couple days have been a little more pleasant with comfortable temps and only a little rain. Here's hoping that holds for a few more days.

Mom and I have already figured out Livi's Halloween costume for this year. She's going to be a ballerina. She has the cutest little tutu outfit. We also picked up a Princess Belle (Disney's Beauty and the Beast) gown for her, but it's a bit too big. It should do well next year, though! Of course, by then I hope to have a few other Disney costumes for her, too. Playing dress up is so much fun!

~ Jeana

First Day of School

Today was Alivia's first day of school! Granted, she's in a Pre-K3 program, but it is at the regular elementary school with kids all the way to 5th grade! She's probably the tiniest student at the school. We took the obligatory first day of school photo--Livi wasn't too excited about having her picture taken first thing in the morning... Dropping her off for the first day was a lot harder on me than on her, too. She seemed enthralled with the new sights and people. Gran and Papa picked her up after school and said she was happy to see them (translation--she was more than ready to go HOME.) We'll see how she acts when I drop her off tomorrow... I have a feeling it won't go quite as smoothly as today did.

Here's another photo from our trip to St. Louis last month. Livi was in her element playing tea party! I think purple is a pretty good color for her, too... In other news, Livi had eye surgery last week. It went pretty well results-wise, but she's been very "needy" ever since. Or maybe she's just coming in to the terrible 2s-3s. It's hard to tell.

Only 7 more weeks until our cruise... Can't wait!

~ Jeana

The CHI Annual Picnic Weekend

Alivia and I made it home late this afternoon after a long and exciting weekend in St. Louis with our friends Christy, Cindy, Katie, Kelly and Grace. We had a fantastic time and I've got a lot of pictures to upload, but I'm going to have to do a quick drive by post now with just a few and catch up with details and more pics later. I'm exhausted! So... please enjoy these few while I recover... The one of the three girls all dressed up is from our tea party on Monday. The other two are at the CHI picnic when Livi and Grace couldn't resist joining in with the dancers. Too cute! Enjoy!

~ Jeana

Happy Birthday, Dear Livi...

Saturday was Alivia's 3rd birthday! We celebrated on Friday with Livi's first fireworks outing. She thought riding the train (the elevated railway that runs around downtown Jacksonville) was the best thing she'd ever done. It was all she could talk about the rest of the night... She enjoyed the fireworks, as well, but the train was the best!

Saturday we both slept in and then spent the late morning and early afternoon running around town looking for Blue's Clues items for her birthday celebration. The Party City near us has quit carrying them, and we had to go to two other stores before we found any. Fortunately they did have the main thing I wanted--handy, dandy notebooks! We also got a bobble-head blue for her cake topper. After we finished our shopping we went the long way home and stopped at a park we had passed on our way to one of the shops. I wish I'd had my camera there--it's a great park and Livi had a blast. The whole thing is castle-themed--you enter through the castle gates and it's divided into several courtyard areas--each with swings, slides, climbing equipment, etc. There were several families there, but it felt like we had the place to ourselves the way everything was arranged. Really cool!

After Livi's nap we headed over to Gran's and Papa's house for her birthday celebration. We cooked hot dogs on the grill and had ice cream cake. Livi really liked her new car--although she kept trying to drive it Fred Flintstone style instead of using the pedals. Too cute! She also loved the card Gran gave her--a musical one that played "Dancing in the Streets." She played it over and over again.

Overall, a nice birthday weekend for my little girl!

~ Jeana

My Little Gymnast

Livi is now taking gymnastics classes. It's a parent-child class that allows me to work with her as she is not yet ready for an independent class. It's a lot of fun for both of us. If I could just get her to quit pulling the other kids' hair, it would be great! Surprisingly, for a kid who has balance issues, Livi does really well on the balance beam. She just trots from one end to the other, turns and trots right back. She is great with the tumbling activities, too. She has significant upper body strength, but tends to let go of the bar when we try to turn her over on the parallels, but I have no doubt she'll do well with those, too, once she realizes she needs to hold on.

Interestingly, tonight the US gymnastics trials were on television. Livi was riveted! Every flip got an exclamation of "Oh, gosh!" (Where she got that from, I haven't a clue!) When they would pause and throw up their arms, she would throw up hers. At the end of each routine she'd jump up and start doing tumbles across the floor. She was so excited by it and literally followed every move they made. It was incredible to watch.

Later this week Livi and I are driving up to Atlanta. Livi is going to stay with my aunt there while I audition for Who Wants to be a Millionaire. It would be so cool to get on that show and win some money! Wish me luck!

Livi also starts back at daycare this week... My mother is having surgery on her hand and won't be able to watch her for about a month. Livi's not going to like it, but it's got to be done. Thankfully, because of other things we have going on, she'll only be there three days each week.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

~ Jeana

Rain Rain Go Away...

The weather has been simply awful lately! If it's not so bleeping hot and humid that we can hardly stand to go outside, it's pouring rain! I know we need the rain, but why can't it rain late at night and give us the evening to enjoy the pool and the slide? Grrrrr!!!!!

Livi had an appointment today with a genetics doctor. She agrees with us that Livi is most likely an FAS child. She is going to test for some other things, too, though. The appointment went well--I like this doctor and she talked to me like an equal, which was nice. Yesterday we had an appointment with Livi's developmental specialist. He was very encouraging this time--said he could see that Livi had made a lot of progress since he saw her in October. That was great to hear. I mean, we know she has made considerable progress, but it was really nice to hear his professional confirmation of it.

This weekend Livi will be starting gymnastics and dance lessons. It's a program that was designed for the developmentally challenged child and focuses on building confidence and ability. They also say they can help improve her attention, listening skills, and ability to follow instructions. We'll see how *that* goes!

I'm taking lots of photos lately--trying to get a few good ones to send in with her post placement report. I thought these were really cute! Livi was trying out her princess look and her glam rocker look. She's such a little cutie!

~ Jeana

Summer of Insanity

So far this is looking to be one heck of a summer! Livi and I have been extraordinarily busy lately and it doesn't look to be slowing down any time soon. In the past month we have had Livi tested for school (cognitive, psychological, speech, occupational and physical evaluations), we have enclosed part of the backyard to make a play area for Livi, terraced that area so we could put up a swimming pool, pulled up a couple rows of hedges (roots and all!), planted several new flower beds, taken a long weekend vacation in Georgia to visit family, went to Canaveral to see the space shuttle launch, rebuilt the deck, and killed the front lawn (we're getting ready to put in a sprinkler system and resod...)

Livi actually is a pretty good "helper". She loves to get right in the middle of whatever it is I'm working on, but can be entertained well enough with simple tasks to keep her from slowing me down too much. She loves to "clean up" after mommy and has her own Livi-sized broom and everything. I'm going to try to get some more pictures of her this weekend to post here--I need them for our post placement report anyway. We just had our visit from the social worker this past week and will be sending that off soon. It's hard to believe that our two year anniversary is coming up!

I had, after much searching as reported in a previous post, decided on a private pre-school for Livi. Then I started debating whether to send her to school this year at all. She's not potty trained and has no interest in it at all and she loves the time with my mother and is thriving there. Livi is still receiving therapies (OT, PT, speech and early intervention services) from Early Steps until the end of this month, though, and they asked if we would consider having her tested by ChildFind to see if she qualifies for the State's ESE (special education) program. I agreed and she was tested and has qualified for their full program which will enable us to receive speech, OT and PT for as long as she needs it at no charge while she is in the school system here. So... now it looks like Livi will be going to pre-school in the Fall--and at one of the State's "A" schools (top-rated by the State and by the parents.)

I have a meeting with ChildFind in a few weeks to go over all the details, but I'm very pleased with what I know so far. It will be a M-F 8:30-3:00 program with a max of 6 children per teacher. They will work on all the usual pre-school stuff, but also provide her with the OT, PT and speech therapies she needs. They will also work on special skills like potty training, dressing herself, and otherwise helping her become more self-sufficient. The goal is to have her ready to go to kindergarten with her peers with the option of continuing any therapies she may still need. I'm hopeful that they will help us come up with a sensory diet that works for her and that her socialization skills will improve, as well.


On a lighter note, Livi and I had a fun day today (I'm off on Fridays in the summer and we try to make the most of all those three day weekends.) We lazed around the house in the morning, but this afternoon we went to the park and fed a huge flock of ducks and geese, played on the swings, and just enjoyed being outside. Tomorrow I plan for us to do a little shopping and then go swimming in the afternoon. Maybe a visit to the zoo next weekend...

I hope everyone else is enjoying their summer as much as we are!

~Jeana