Update

First, I should update everyone on Jon's mom in case you aren't on Jon's Facebook. One week ago, Colleen went to the hospital because she had been coughing blood (this has been going on for several months, and the doctors couldn't figure out the cause; last week was worse than usual). They admitted her to the cardiac ICU, where she spent 5 days while they ran tests and tried to figure out what was wrong. They identified the issue (a fungal infection in her lungs caused by one of a possible 200 molds), began treating that, and continued monitoring her. While they did find a possible thyroid issue, they still were able to release Colleen from ICU to a regular room on Wednesday, and then they released her from the hospital to go home on Thursday. I haven't seen her since she went home, but in the hospital she did look stronger and better each day. We're all praying the medication for the infection does the trick and she'll be fully healed!

Today is Nate's last day of school at La Tierra. I'm excited to say he's finished with special ed forever! :)

He will go for two weeks of Living Word's Monday-Wednesday-Friday summer session beginning next week. I think it'll be good for him to meet the teachers and be with some of the other kids before starting "real" school on August 30.

The kids and I had a fun day playing with friends yesterday. They were entertained for a long time with a kiddie pool in a back yard and homemade ice cream sandwiches. I love summer!

Pictures for my Etsy shop

I have been so excited to receive these pictures. Several weeks ago, I contacted Katie Moss at Peekaboo Photos (if you visit the blog you might just spend an hour looking at her gorgeous newborn pictures!) to ask if she wanted to do a trade. She was so nice about it. I made one of each of my patterns and sent them to her for her daughters, and she photographed them. She sent me the pictures last night. Now I have pretty professional pictures for my little shop!

A new recipe: GFCFSF peanut butter fudge

I saw this recipe and could barely wait to try it. I made some alterations so that it is now GFCFSF! Coconut oil in its solid form can be used as a straight substitution for butter, and it's also extremely healthy. And instead of milk, I used almond milk, which I thought would work OK since this is a nut butter recipe anyway. (Oh, and I definitely can't take credit for the picture. It's from Julie at Joy's Hope.)

The verdict after we all tried the fudge tonight after dinner: it's a little too coconutty. If I make it again, I'll cut the coconut oil (maybe to 4 T) and add more peanut butter, and hopefully that won't mess up the consistency too much.

Ingredients
3-½ cups powdered sugar
6 Tablespoons coconut oil
2 cups brown sugar
½ cup almond milk
¾ cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pour the powdered sugar into a large bowl & set aside.

Melt coconut oil in saucepan over medium-high heat.

Add in brown sugar and almond milk; stir to combine.

Bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes, stirring the whole time.

Remove from heat and stir in the peanut butter & vanilla extract.

Pour the hot, peanut butter mixture over the powdered sugar.

Beat until smooth.

Pour into an 8×8″ dish and put in the fridge for at least 5 minutes to firm.

Once it's cool, cut it into squares. Enjoy!

Here's Nate with the beater:

Nate's swimming lessons

Nate was so excited to start his swim lessons last week (2 weeks of lessons, 4 days a week). I was surprised at how afraid he was during his first lesson. He usually loves the water, but then I realized he loves the water only when he can touch the bottom.

Here he is at his first lesson:



After the first two days, though, he got more comfortable and now is able to back float alone and jump in and float. He still has trouble doing a forward "glide," but I figure I can work with him on that--he just needs to keep his face down and kick.

Today was the last lesson. They have the kids come with clothes on to the last lesson so they can practice jumping/"falling" in and floating on their backs with clothes on.



Pictures from today and one more video:

Levi "jumping"

Going for a ride

Fun for the whole family

It's the little, random things that end up being the most fun.

4th of July dress

I put this dress together using a white turtleneck shirt and a 4th of July dress from 2 years ago. I loved the little belt!

Levi last night

Frisbee & fun

We've been enjoying throwing (or sort-of-throwing) the frisbee in the grass next to the house.

Nate modeling his sock/no-sock style (he had a small cut on the bottom of the socked foot):



Some frisbee throwing (ignore my silly cheers):



Here are all the pictures I took trying to get Levi to stand still and look at the camera.

Great info for parents suspecting autism

I was pointed to this blog post with some great information for parents on what to look for regarding "normal development" of babies.

Here's a pertinent excerpt:

Baby B.L.I.S.S.*
For our purposes, I have developed an easy way to remember the signs to look for as your young child is developing. When making a diagnosis, my colleagues and I focus on a baby being able to do several early developmental skills around social interactions and play. I have also created some short video clips showing these skills as they begin to develop. The video shows what your baby should be doing by their first birthday for each part of the acronym: B.L.I.S.S.
B = Babbling- your baby should be playing with vocal sounds a lot, making a variety of vowel and first consonant sounds such as b, d, and m – think mama, dada, baba, etc.
L = Looking – this involves your baby looking at you when you talk, looking back at you when they are playing to “check in”, and looking at something you point to, to see what it is.
I= Imitating – your baby should imitate your basic play actions such as clapping hands, waving bye-bye, blowing kisses, or banging blocks together, etc.
S= Sharing – your baby should share enjoyment with you by laughing and giggling for familiar games such as peak-a-boo, or “Sooo big”.
S = Showing – your baby should hold objects up to you to “show” them to you. They often won’t let go of the item, but they want to get your interest in what is interesting them. If they are walking, they may “bring” it to you to show you.
So this is the new kind of baby B.L.I.S.S. I hope every parent becomes aware of and I want you to remember it for yourselves and for all of your friends. Remember, if your friends or family have concerns, by just starting with these questions, you will know almost immediately if you should have an autism specialist take a look. It is important to note, this is by no means a diagnosis, it is just a way to be aware of the early signs so that if this is what it is, the correct course of action can be taken and a diagnostic assessment can be done as soon and as early as possible.

Summer session

Nate's first day of summer session at La Tierra began today. This month's setup is 5 days/week, 9:00-11:00. I love the shortened schedule, because it means Nate can still participate in any fun summer stuff we do. July will be his last month at La Tierra, where he has attended for two years. Then he'll go to 6 days of a Monday-Wednesday-Friday summer session at his new school, Living Word. Then we'll have the rest of August off before he starts kindergarten in September.

Also in August, we will be going on our first family camping trip. I'm sort of looking forward to it and sort of dreading it. :)

VBS recap

We had a really great week of VBS. This is the first year I haven't spent much of each day worrying about one of my children. (Last year, I worried about Levi spending so much time in the nursery AND about Nate being a behavior problem in the preschool class!) Every time I checked in on Levi in the nursery this week, he was happy and playing, and Nate and Lucy both did well in their class/crew. Nate loved being in a crew with various-aged children. Two older boys befriended him; on Thursday night at bedtime, Nate prayed to thank God for Isaac and Jason (so cute). Each day, when I asked Lucy what she did in her preschool VBS class, the first description out of her mouth was what snack they had eaten. I didn't take any pictures during the week, but here are some from the VBS photographer guy.