Merry Christmas!

We finally got our tree up and decorated on Christmas Eve.  It is turning into a tradition that we all decorate together the night before Christmas.  We were pretty behind this year with lots going on with the kids, especially James, so we got our nativity scene, stockings, and rest of our decorations out that night as well.  We had a great time listening to Bing Crosby sing Christmas songs (that's what my family always had on while we decorated our tree) and spend time together.  James enjoyed the tree, but wasn't super into decorating.  The kids had to go to bed before were we all done.  They were pooped!

His "James" ornament.

The kids woke up really early Christmas morning so we went to early Mass (which was awesome because it was nowhere close to full) and took a drive.  They both LOVE riding in the car and it gave Rita the chance to take a good nap.  They looked so cute in their Christmas outfits:

He is good about kissing her after he hits her.  :P

Discussing the essence of ball.

Handsome boy on his 4th Christmas.

James didn't enjoy opening presents.  He was really content playing with his books and wasn't happy when we tried to refocus his attention.  He still doesn't understand the concept of presents.  I keep hoping each year will be different, but I guess that's me trying to impose the excitement on my children.  :p  Rita, on the other hand, loved it!  

James got into a present he made for us while we were making breakfast.

He did like pulling things out of his stocking.

They received sensory balls.  We saved those for last; we knew there would be no focusing after that.

Their big present was a ball pit.  It was awesomely easy: a clearance inflatable pool with all the balls they have plus one bag of ball pit balls.  We may fill it more eventually, but they love it as is and a sparse ball population makes it easier for them to move around.  They both loved it!  We all had a blast sitting in the pool throwing balls at each other.  :D  I love having things like this we can all do together.

Merry Christmas to all!

With love.

Next Steps

James is doing a lot of work and having a lot of fun. Not only does he have three outpatient therapies and three inpatient therapies, but he is on his way to independent feeding. Yesterday, we went to the feeding clinic at UVA for pre-program evals. James had fun during OT and PT, but he didn't do well when the ST was more demanding of him. It was nice to have someone else take control and push James to help himself, not backing down with his fits. I am pretty nervous because it will be an intensive program, but it is what we need. The whole process is going to be much quicker than I expected so I hope he will be feeding himself and chewing by the spring. 

James likes waving at the cars that drove by below the waiting room. 

It really is a beautiful place. 

With love. 

Frozen at the North Pole

Yesterday we took James and Rita to see Santa with my family.  The line to wait was super fun because it was Frozen-themed.  Once we waited twenty minutes we walked into the Frozen snow globe, a dome with the songs from the movie and snow falling from the ceiling.  The kids were enamored by the falling rice-mixture.  I'm sure people thought we had terrible dandruff for the rest of the night, but it was really neat.

He doesn't like having his picture taken anymore.

Then, James enjoyed making faces with Grandmom and throwing snow at Aunt Becky.

Hugs!

Great bunch, huh?

With love.

The End of Fall

We had a great time yesterday at the playground on the last warm day of the year. James loved the slide and throwing mulch but wasn't too fond of the swing. Rita, on the other hand, loved it. She sat in the swing watching him throw the mulch and they were both really happy. Rita tried the slide a few times and enjoyed it too. We're sad to see the end of Fall, but looking forward to the calm of winter.

The swing made a good chew toy for our teething daughter.

He has a good follow-through when he throws.

With love. 

Huge Speech Milestone

James just signed and said a two word phrase without prompting!  When we were reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom this morning he asked for Daddy and I told him, "Daddy is working."  Half an hour later, while eating breakfast, James said, while signing, "Dad work."  I have never seen or heard him put together a sentence on his own!  It was fantastic!

Apple Picking

I've been so overwhelmed by the amount of pictures of the kids that I haven't known where to start with a post.  So, I will just start throwing things up here.

On Halloween we went apple picking with Aunt Becky and Aunt Laura.  James enjoyed himself, especially because he was able to carry a chocolate bar all over the orchard.  The orchard was giving out Halloween candy and I grabbed him a chocolate bar.  He really enjoys food covered with sealed plastic wrap and I figured, if he did decide to eat it, that would be the only candy he could handle.  And he does really enjoy chocolate.  So we ventured all around looking for Fuji's.  Either we couldn't read the map or someone misspoke about there being plenty of Fujis.  It was really fun walking the bumpy rows with two strollers.  Rita loves bumpy rides in the stroller so at least she enjoyed it and it put her to sleep.  We did find some awesome apples and James enjoyed putting them in the bags.  While I was focusing on filling our bushel the aunties gave him the chocolate and he ate it!  He licked it until only half of it was left.  He thoroughly enjoyed himself as you can see from this picture:

He fell asleep soon after he finished his bar.  I'm not certain, but I think he had a pretty bad stomach ache the next day and the chocolate is the likely culprit.

He also got to drive the "tractor" and really loved it.

With love.

WARF

James had a week off from pool therapy so we took a fun trip to our closest "accessible" playground.  Accessible playgrounds have equipment for children of all ability levels.  This playground has mostly ramps (instead of stairs), lots of equipment on the "ground floor" and a large handicap swing.  We really enjoy this playground which is at the WARF in Warrenton.  James had a great time on the slides and loved crawling all over the spongy ground watching the other kids and checking out the equipment.

First swing!

James had the confidence to crawl through the tunnel this time.

With love.

#MCM

This weekend we cheered Aunt Allison, several of my uncles, one of my aunts, and one of my cousins through the Marine Corps Marathon.  The kids really enjoyed themselves.  It was a beautiful day and all the walking, cheering fans, and music was super fun.  It sure is hard to spot people as they ran by, but we were able to catch a few of the fam. 

James enjoyed waving at Allison as she ran past.

We had a fun brunch at Allison's after the race and the kids enjoyed hanging out in her new digs. 

Congrats to all the finishers: Uncle Jerry, Katie and Jon, Aunt Allison, Aunt Colleen, and Uncle John. 

With love. 

Fall!!!

We finally got to enjoy fall!!!  Between Daddy's crazy schedule, James' school and therapies, Mom's new work schedule, and trying to get some sleep we haven't been able to do a whole lot.  But, we were able to enjoy a day at the pumpkin patch with the VA family.  It was super fun, the kids had a blast, and we were able to stay for quite a while!

James LOVED the slides.  He went down with me a couple times, raced Grand mom, and then Granddad.  Afterwards, however, he only wanted Aunt Allison's roommate, Kateri, to take him on the slide.  They had an awesome time:

Grandmom took James down the slide while everyone else got their faces painted.  James crawled through this long, dark tunnel to get to the slide.

Look at how much he loved it!

Super-dad took care of BOTH kids at once.  Rita loved her carrier, which was a first, and slept for a long time on Daddy's back.

We knew James wouldn't want to get his face painted, even if everyone else did, so we got him his first balloon animal (a frog) and he loved it!

We went on a"hay" ride with Grandmom and Granddad and all the aunts and uncle.  James' isn't a huge fan of the hay ride, but Rita really enjoyed it.  She likes bumpy rides.

Rita LOVED the mechanical horse.  James wasn't a fan.

By this point James was falling asleep...

Meanwhile, Rita was still having a blast.

But soon James was ready to make funny faces again.

Rita had never seen a pumpkin before.  Oh! Pumpkin!

The Boak clan after a fun trip:

With love.

Lunch Bunch

Rita started eating purees so my kids are lunch buddies.  It has been really difficult spoon-feeding two kids at once, but Rita is now in the high chair so things are getting a bit easier.  Now, they can chat with each other and Rita encourages James to eat more.

We FINALLY have the playroom finished.  Soon after we moved in we wanted to knock down the wall in the basement so we had a large room instead of a small room and a hallway.  When the hot water heater flooded in May the flooring was ruined and we had to rip it up.  So, in the process, Mark took down the wall as well.  We hit a flooring snag so the room was put on hold until we finally hired a contractor to finish it.  James really likes his new room, he enjoys the quiet time to play with his favorite dinosaur toy.  It also gives us more room in the upstairs living room so we have a fun space to play.  He's been hanging out there more and Rita enjoyed playing with him today.

He is waaaay too flexible.

With love.