September
Claire
I kept telling the kids that they couldn't pick her up and walk around with her, as I was afraid they would trip, but Lily couldn't help herself. I just thought the pair of them looked so cute.
September started at a high point with our sweet baby girl making her debut. I had been preparing everything for the past month and a half that our life plowed forward without a hitch. The kids continued doing their home school routines, complete with daily chores and -amazingly- minimal coaxing. I had loads of food in the freezer and was still trying to make more, because I didn’t feel exhausted, yet. I tried to sleep when the baby slept, but that was pretty hard because someone had to keep an eye on Luke. Baby Claire was a pretty good sleeper from the get go. That was a major blessing.
Car Crash
On the 8th of September, I got a phone call from my neighbor saying that a different neighbor was bringing my kids home (they had been at church). I asked if he knew why Adam had to stay behind at church, and he said Adam wasn't at church, had been in a car accident and 'was dealing with a guy'. My anxiety went through the roof. I tried to call Adam but his phone had been jammed as he called 911 after it happened.
So, to start from the beginning:Adam was driving the four older kids home from church when a privately contracted delivery truck rammed into him at a four way stop. Unbelievably, no on stopped to be a witness, though ironically, several ward members stopped within a minute later to help at the scene, but none witnessed it. The witness was key because both Adam and the other driver claimed they stopped. Therefore they were both considered at fault. Our kids even said that they guy didn’t stop at the stop sign. Sadly, kids don’t count as witnesses. In Elliott’s precious words “mom, that guys’ brakes didn’t work. He just kept coming...”. All the side curtain airbags deployed. Adam had a pretty bad headache and kids had some whip lash. Mercifully, the baby and I weren’t in the car. Adam was an emotional wreck for almost 3 weeks. He couldn’t believe that someone would lie, and others wouldn’t stop to witness. He had stopped to be a witness or help in an accident many, many times and felt the universe was against him. He tried many avenues to prove he wasn’t at fault but none of them came to fruition. It was so hard to watch him be upset. I know how violating it feels when someone lies and you take the blame. It’s plain unfair. We were then left trying to figure out a car rental while going through the other driver’s insurance and then our own to assess damage and what not. I was just sad because I really, really loved my van. It had every cushy feature. It was reliable. I was paid off. I planned to drive that thing into the ground. It was declared totaled. Thankfully we received the max payout amount. We started car shopping. We drove a new odyssey, sienna and Pacifica. I didn’t want to drive anything other than another odyssey, but Adam talked me into trying the other two, especially the Pacifica. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the Pacifica. It was definitely the most technologically up to date. After doing a couple more test drives we finally settled on the Pacifica. Adam and I said that we’d never ever buy a new car.... We couldn’t buy a used Pacifica because they had only come out the year prior. The only thing going for us was that it was the end of September and 2019 cars were already on the lot and therefore we got a pretty good discount on a brand new 2018, as they were trying to get them off the lot.
So here we were, with a new to us truck in August and a brand new Pacifica in September. *sigh*.
Alex Soccer
Alex had been asking me for years that he wanted to try soccer. I wanted him to play, but he also always wanted to play baseball. I told him he had to pick between the two and he finally settled on soccer this fall. It was a steep learning curve for him,trying to stay on his side of the field, not be off sides, properly throw in the ball and pass to team members. All together though, he really enjoyed it. I loved seeing him run around. I even coached a few of his games, as his coach had to be out of town because we had many games rescheduled because of rain.
Elliott Baseball
Homeschool Classes
In an effort to make sure the kids were getting some sort of input, I signed them up for several classes or activities. I had no idea what my energy level would be with 5 kids and this was my insurance that they would be learning something. I signed all three kids up for a science class up at the Heard Museum in McKinney, and an art class just 5 minutes from our house. Alex was taking piano lessons, a science class and scouts. Lily and Elliott were signed up for a gymnastics class at an overlapping time as Alex’s science course. And finally, Alex and Lily were singing with MCO (millennial choirs and orchestras). It was a lot of driving. The structure was helpful, but I learned what my limits were in terms of driving and how far I was willing to drive for activities. I tried to use the waiting time in the car to do therapy activities with Luke. I had some success with that.
Finding a Maps Doctor
A week or so before baby Claire arrived, I reintroduced rice back into our diet and GF oatmeal. We saw Luke make some major strides in July but he started to fade again in August. I felt frustrated as I had put in so much work and was feeling helpless as the baby was to arrive any day and I needed to put things on pause. When Claire was 2 weeks old, I felt the distinct impression to find a ‘MAPS’ doctor or 'Medical Academy for Pediatric Special Needs' doctor. It’s a holistic doctor who specializes in examining the entire body using and interpreting lab results to get to he bottom of your health picture. Long story short, I felt spiritual promptings and guidance the entire time. I found a doctor, who happened to be local, highly recommended (people fly in to see her) and she miraculously had an opening the following week to see us, when normally she has a waiting period. I had to fill out a huge 20 page medical history form on Luke. Those are always hard because I have to scrape my brain for every little detail that could be pertinent to the doctor. I felt good about her and what she was going to do for Luke, but we wouldn’t be committing to anything until 2 weeks later, in October. I was glad for the waiting period so I could do further research and prayer for my decision. It was so important because 1) I didn’t want to waste any more time to treat Luke’s body and 2) we had to pay for her services up front and they weren’t covered by insurance. $$$
Like the rest of my life these days, September was here and gone in a flash. I was grateful for all the inspiration I received and that I felt we were being carefully watched over. I only wish I wasn’t such a stressed mom for my kids. Poor Alex always takes the brunt of things. All my kids strong kids. I’m so blessed. It’s why I don’t give up trying to be better.
Claire's first bath! She was so good and didn't cry.
This picture is significant because when Claire was born, Elliott had a cough. I wouldn't let him touch her for almost two weeks. Sounds harsh, but I didn't want to have a sick newborn. This picture is Elliott's first time holding Claire and you can see just how happy he is. 💗💗
September started at a high point with our sweet baby girl making her debut. I had been preparing everything for the past month and a half that our life plowed forward without a hitch. The kids continued doing their home school routines, complete with daily chores and -amazingly- minimal coaxing. I had loads of food in the freezer and was still trying to make more, because I didn’t feel exhausted, yet. I tried to sleep when the baby slept, but that was pretty hard because someone had to keep an eye on Luke. Baby Claire was a pretty good sleeper from the get go. That was a major blessing.
Car Crash
You can see the bash a little better on this side.
On the 8th of September, I got a phone call from my neighbor saying that a different neighbor was bringing my kids home (they had been at church). I asked if he knew why Adam had to stay behind at church, and he said Adam wasn't at church, had been in a car accident and 'was dealing with a guy'. My anxiety went through the roof. I tried to call Adam but his phone had been jammed as he called 911 after it happened.
So, to start from the beginning:Adam was driving the four older kids home from church when a privately contracted delivery truck rammed into him at a four way stop. Unbelievably, no on stopped to be a witness, though ironically, several ward members stopped within a minute later to help at the scene, but none witnessed it. The witness was key because both Adam and the other driver claimed they stopped. Therefore they were both considered at fault. Our kids even said that they guy didn’t stop at the stop sign. Sadly, kids don’t count as witnesses. In Elliott’s precious words “mom, that guys’ brakes didn’t work. He just kept coming...”. All the side curtain airbags deployed. Adam had a pretty bad headache and kids had some whip lash. Mercifully, the baby and I weren’t in the car. Adam was an emotional wreck for almost 3 weeks. He couldn’t believe that someone would lie, and others wouldn’t stop to witness. He had stopped to be a witness or help in an accident many, many times and felt the universe was against him. He tried many avenues to prove he wasn’t at fault but none of them came to fruition. It was so hard to watch him be upset. I know how violating it feels when someone lies and you take the blame. It’s plain unfair. We were then left trying to figure out a car rental while going through the other driver’s insurance and then our own to assess damage and what not. I was just sad because I really, really loved my van. It had every cushy feature. It was reliable. I was paid off. I planned to drive that thing into the ground. It was declared totaled. Thankfully we received the max payout amount. We started car shopping. We drove a new odyssey, sienna and Pacifica. I didn’t want to drive anything other than another odyssey, but Adam talked me into trying the other two, especially the Pacifica. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the Pacifica. It was definitely the most technologically up to date. After doing a couple more test drives we finally settled on the Pacifica. Adam and I said that we’d never ever buy a new car.... We couldn’t buy a used Pacifica because they had only come out the year prior. The only thing going for us was that it was the end of September and 2019 cars were already on the lot and therefore we got a pretty good discount on a brand new 2018, as they were trying to get them off the lot.
So here we were, with a new to us truck in August and a brand new Pacifica in September. *sigh*.
Alex Soccer
Alex had been asking me for years that he wanted to try soccer. I wanted him to play, but he also always wanted to play baseball. I told him he had to pick between the two and he finally settled on soccer this fall. It was a steep learning curve for him,trying to stay on his side of the field, not be off sides, properly throw in the ball and pass to team members. All together though, he really enjoyed it. I loved seeing him run around. I even coached a few of his games, as his coach had to be out of town because we had many games rescheduled because of rain.
Elliott Baseball
Elliott this past spring was hilariously scouted out to be on a Tball team for the fall. The games were all on Sundays, and we told the coach that he wouldn’t be playing games, but the coach still wanted him to play practices, so we said “why not?”. Elliott was ecstatic to finally get to play a sport. He’d been a spectator his whole life, now it was his turn. He always looked so small out on the field. When he was paying attention, he was pretty good. Otherwise he was jumping up and down, turning in place or talking to his neighbor. Typical 5 year old stuff. He actually got to play in one game because it got rescheduled to during the week. He got all the way around the bases too. His face was priceless.
Homeschool Classes
In an effort to make sure the kids were getting some sort of input, I signed them up for several classes or activities. I had no idea what my energy level would be with 5 kids and this was my insurance that they would be learning something. I signed all three kids up for a science class up at the Heard Museum in McKinney, and an art class just 5 minutes from our house. Alex was taking piano lessons, a science class and scouts. Lily and Elliott were signed up for a gymnastics class at an overlapping time as Alex’s science course. And finally, Alex and Lily were singing with MCO (millennial choirs and orchestras). It was a lot of driving. The structure was helpful, but I learned what my limits were in terms of driving and how far I was willing to drive for activities. I tried to use the waiting time in the car to do therapy activities with Luke. I had some success with that.
Lily in her MCO jumper
Alex in his MCO attire
Finding a Maps Doctor
A week or so before baby Claire arrived, I reintroduced rice back into our diet and GF oatmeal. We saw Luke make some major strides in July but he started to fade again in August. I felt frustrated as I had put in so much work and was feeling helpless as the baby was to arrive any day and I needed to put things on pause. When Claire was 2 weeks old, I felt the distinct impression to find a ‘MAPS’ doctor or 'Medical Academy for Pediatric Special Needs' doctor. It’s a holistic doctor who specializes in examining the entire body using and interpreting lab results to get to he bottom of your health picture. Long story short, I felt spiritual promptings and guidance the entire time. I found a doctor, who happened to be local, highly recommended (people fly in to see her) and she miraculously had an opening the following week to see us, when normally she has a waiting period. I had to fill out a huge 20 page medical history form on Luke. Those are always hard because I have to scrape my brain for every little detail that could be pertinent to the doctor. I felt good about her and what she was going to do for Luke, but we wouldn’t be committing to anything until 2 weeks later, in October. I was glad for the waiting period so I could do further research and prayer for my decision. It was so important because 1) I didn’t want to waste any more time to treat Luke’s body and 2) we had to pay for her services up front and they weren’t covered by insurance. $$$
Like the rest of my life these days, September was here and gone in a flash. I was grateful for all the inspiration I received and that I felt we were being carefully watched over. I only wish I wasn’t such a stressed mom for my kids. Poor Alex always takes the brunt of things. All my kids strong kids. I’m so blessed. It’s why I don’t give up trying to be better.
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