Fun with Photo Booth

1st Production Block for EFTV

Production started for exceptionalfamilytv a couple of weeks ago and we are so excited.  Here are just a few pictures of the time the production crew was here.  

We are making so many new friends and getting to see old ones we had not seen in a while! We are so happy to share in this venture with so many people.

www.exceptionalfamilytv.com

www.exceptionalfamilytv.com

I don't even know how to put into words what I want to say about this new adventure our family is on...but I will try.

I am so excited about www.exceptionalfamilytv.com. It makes me so happy to finally connect with other families who understand and are going through the same things we do everyday - to no longer feel alone in this journey.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all the moms I have connected with so far. You have been awesome and I can't wait to connect with so many more.

I have spent so much time in the past wishing I had just one other person (besides Nathan) to connect with.

So I am thinking of getting honest here but not sure if I should...
I guess, ah, oh no, here I go.

In the past I have been so desperate and longed so much for connection that I believe I started to see things in other people just weren't there.  I started seeing things in other friends' kiddos that were NOT there just thinking "maybe" I could really connect with someone... anyone!!!!

I never, ever wanted anything to be "wrong" with my friends' kids. I would never wish the struggles on them that we have been through, but my heart had just been aching for so long for some kind of connection.

I thank God every day for the opportunity given to our family.  I will continue to pray it grows in many ways so maybe just one other person can feel the connection I have.

How have you connected with others?  Have you longed to connect and just don't know how?

30 days, here we go!

30 days, we'll see!
Here's the plan.
1. Eat at least 4 times a day, as healthy as possible
2. Follow Jillians 30 day work out plan

I have worked my butt off and on and off and on the past 3 years since Zach was born to lose weight and I finally found something that works for me.  The only problem is the diet that works for me is not so good to help tone (because you can't workout while on it), so this is where Jillian is coming in.

I am going to spend the next 30 days committed to her workouts and see what happens.  I have spent so much time working on losing the pounds. I am not completely committed to the diet but we will see how the workouts go for my body.

So many of my friends and family say that I am "always on a diet" and I am tired of that. I just want to reach a place where I am happy with how I look and feel. 

I know that so many moms struggle with weight after having a baby and the stress that comes with having a special needs baby can make it even harder for many reasons.  My doctor told me the stress from everything we had been through was keeping my hormones out of whack and she didn't really have a solution.  Another reason is time, time, time. How do we find the time between doctors appointments, therapy appointments, working with our kiddos at home and just plain being tired?!?!

How do you eat healthy when at times food seems to be the only thing that makes you feel calm even if just for a moment (the guilt always comes later). 

I was wondering what has worked, or not worked, for you when it comes to weight loss and healthy living?

My Ever Changing Perspective.

It's kind of funny how your perspective can change so quickly when things change in your life.

I love how I can now look at Zach and the things that are different about him are the things I find so cute.  The way his arms get so stiff when he gets excited, the way his head tilts to the left so often, the faces he makes when he is trying so hard to accomplish a task and just the way he looks sitting in his wheelchair. 

These have become the things I now find so adorable in other kiddos as well; when I see another child with stiff little limbs or a tilted head because they don't have the strength to keep it up, or watching the face of a child who is trying with everything they've got in them just to turn the page in a book or push a button on a toy.  I now smile every time I see someone in a wheelchair. This is not because I am happy they have to be in a wheelchair or happy they have to try harder to do things that are so easy for everyone else; it's because, in a small little way, it reminds me Zach and our family are not the only ones whose life looks a little different from the majority.

Without these things that make Zach so different, our life would not be the way it is and, yeah, some might think it would be easier, but then we wouldn't have the adventure in our life right now that is so much fun.

There was NO MISTAKE!!!

 

 God saw that you will always have the strength, with His help, to create you just the way you are. There was NO MISTAKE!!!

How I will explain to Zach why he is different from other people? Why God made him the way He did?  All the “whys” that I know will come up as he gets older just scare me.
When I think about these things, I keep coming back to what people love to say to us as parents going through a tough time, “God gave Zach to us because He knew we could handle it and we would take care of him, because we are such great parents.” And it just reminds me it really is the same for Zach; this will only make him stronger and allow his character to grow.

It is not always about the little things in our life. It is about the “bigger picture”. It is about how we can help and be there for others. We are all here for a purpose and nothing is an accident. If Zach was not supposed to have CP, then he wouldn’t. If Zach is supposed to walk and talk one day, then he will.

I don’t know why I worry so often about the unknowns. It’s not so much the unknowns as the knowing how to respond, what to say or what to do when hard things happen. All I can do is pray for guidance and strength through it all just like any other parent dealing with the things that scare them.

Happy Valentines Day

After being married for a while life seems to get a bit boring or at least you think so.  I just love looking back at all the good, fun times we have had together.  I feel so lucky to have married such an awesome, loving man.  I love you babe and can't wait for all the amazing adventures that are in our future together as a family.  See, the few years of boringness we had when we first got married will be totally worth it!!  I just can't believe all the adventure God is giving us right now, I love it and I know you do too.  Happy Valentines Day!

Friends

It is so nice to reconnect with friends that have always been there but you had just neglected to put time and effort into getting together.

We had so much fun the other night hanging out with friends and playing games, next time I will actually take pictures of everyone, but here are some of Zach and Elijah.
Just reminds me for all the friends that may come and go there are always true and genuine friends right there, you just have to open your eyes and look.

I think we sometimes put so much time and effort into one or two people/families that when they are gone you think you don't have anyone left.  This is just not true, we go through so many different "seasons" in our life and we are just in a new one now and hope to focus on where God has us and not where we thought we would be a week, a month or a year ago.

"When you are content where you are you can be content anywhere"

Haircuts are PAINFUL!!

Here are some pictures of Zach's last haircut.  He hates haircuts more than anything, more than therapy, more than noodles, more than the vacuum, he just plane HATES them. We have tried everything, suckers, cookies, singing and even letting him watch his favorite video and still NO LOVE.