Better late than never, right?!

Happy 7th Birthday Nateman!!

Last month our little guy turned seven. Wow. Such a cliche, but damn, that went fast.

Nate really isn't the birthday party kind of kiddo, so we booked up a trip to a local water park resort instead.

Nate had been home sick from school on that Friday, but he seemed to be turning the corner by Saturday so went ahead on our trip. We checked in and my monkeys immediately started jumping on beds.

Then we let Nate open some presents from family.

 

 

 

Thank you Granny E, Grandma Ding, Grammy and Grampy, Uncle Brett, and Aunt Alisha!

 

We hit the water park and had a great day. Nate loves the pool and lazy river.

We headed out for his birthday dinner later that day and I guess the day caught up with Nate. He had a fever and started going downhill rapidly at dinner. By the time we were singing him Happy Birthday over a bowl of fruit, he was done with it all. He had his head on my lap and wasn't eating...and that boy does NOT turn down food!

 

 

Aaron took Nate to bed and Grandma Ding and I took crazy pants for ice cream..

 

Things went from bad to worse that night and Aaron and I ended up at an all night Urgent Care with Nate. His asthma was out of control and his nebulizer wasn't doing the trick. SO, after a doc visit with the Asian guy from the Hangover (seriously- EXACTLY like him) , Nate had some steroids and such in him and could breathe.

So much for a birthday getaway. :(

 

Nate has come so far this year!!! Aaron and I were reflecting on how many big things he has accomplished this year...The biggest of which is NO MORE PULLUPS! That is HUGE for us. He even still goes to bed at 6:30pm, stays dry ALL NIGHT, and holds it until 6:30am. Amazing. Kids with Autism are all over the place with potty training. You hear stories in every direction with all sorts of outcomes..Nate is considered on the "severe" end so kept hoping but also prepared ourselves for a forever thing if need be. I couldn't be happier to be wrong. :)

 

Happy Birthday, Nate! We love you so much..and keep surprising us!!

 

 

This is the first day of the rest of your life...

BACK TO SCHOOL!!

We survived SUMMER..not sure how, but we did. Last week was back to school for both kiddos.

Nateman is turning seven years old next week and he started second grade. He is in a self-contained Autism class that is comprised of grades 1-3. The adjoining classroom is Autism grades 4-6, and they sort of co-teach. He has about 6 students in his class(all with Autism), his new teacher, and about 8 aides between the 2 rooms. He has a few friends he knows in his class from last year too, so that is great! First day went great for him. He is in the same elementary building this year and the same physical classroom, so I am sure all of that helped tremendously. Consistency is key!!

He joins the "typical" second grade class for specials such as Library. He has a one on one aide for his time outside his own classroom and hopefully we can increase the amount of opportunities he has with "typical" kids his age. The big problem with this is that each year, that gap between where his peers are and where Nate is keeps widening and we just can't keep up.Take music for example. Nate LOVES music. He has private music therapy once a week at a therapy center and enjoys it immensely. In school, you would think music class would be a great chance to integrate him, but not so much. Nate is still at basically a preschool-ish level as far as singing along and using bells and such...and typical second graders have moved on to actually learning about notes and such. It's not exactly the "shake your egg" sing-a-long that Nate craves and enjoys. SO, it's adapted music class for him. :)

Neve is 4 and just started all-day Kindergarten! Her birthday is in December, so we had to "test" her in. She passed and we are so glad! She is the youngest in her class.We really feel this is the best placement for her. The summer has socially changed her so much and academically, she is more than ready. She is reading...her writing is good and she loves writing stories (with spelling help!)..and she knows basic 1-10 addition and a little subtraction. After seeing the curriculum for Kindergarten, we KNOW we made the right choice!! She would have been BORED out of her mind going another year of preschool. She is a smart cookie and we aren't gonna hold her back. I would have felt like we were "red shirting" her had we waited to send her. :)

Neve gets to go to the same school as Nate again this year and she LOVES that. They are in the same wing of the building too. I like knowing they are close to each other. There are 5 Kindergarten classes at her school. She has 24 kids in her class and doesn't know a one of them! ..so this is a little rough at first. She has two bestie friends from preschool that are at her school too, they just got put in different classes. :( BUT, when she found them on the playground, they giggled and ran to each other and all was right with the world.

Nate gets dropped off in a special car loop in the back of the school where his teacher meets him..so I didn't get any pics of Nate heading in. He had no problem though and seemed happy to be there! First day was a madhouse so we walked Neve all the way to the door to see her in.

That is Neve in the ugly "Merida" from Brave backpack. hahaha..My overly pushy, although right, friend, demanded that I let her have complete choice over her backpack this year(a HUGE step for me)...and that is what she chose. It is glittery too and she LOVES it. She has seen the movie three times and can't get enough.

(Neve blowing Dad a kiss.)

...and there she went. Our little girl is officially a BIG KID.

*sigh, sniff, sigh*



Arizona Grand

Last week we took a little staycation and headed to the Arizona Grand resort here in town. Granny E (Aaron's mom) flew in from California so we could spend a few days floating and playing at the resort water park.

The lazy river is always the favorite. :)

The wave pool was tons of fun too!

We had a great time! Thanks to Granny E for coming out to see us!



The Great Escape

We stayed in Orlando for the rest of our vacation. We got to spend time with my mom's biological family (that I had never met) and had a great time. My mom (like myself) was adopted and met her biological family a few years back thanks to my super sleuthing Internet skills. :) It has been a great experience for her to meet a whole family that welcomed her with loving arms despite the "scandal" surrounding her adoption. It's a shame ALL adoption reunions can't be that way! Such is life, I suppose...

Neve got to meet her great grandmother for the first time! She is 88 years old and looks so much like my mom it was scary. My mom now has a HUGE Lebanese family she never knew before. Glad it worked out- thanks to my meddling!

Neve just wanted to hang in the pool for most of the trip from that point on. She is getting much braver in the pool and I think she'll be full on swimming in no time.

We headed to Downtown Disney on our last day and Neve wanted to go to T-Rex. It's like Rainforest Cafe (except dinosaurs) and they have a Build-A-Dino store which is like Build-A-Bear.

Neve got to build "Super Dino". :)

They also had a "dino dig" out front where the kids could dig for fossils.

After face paintings, ice cream sundaes, souvenir shopping, etc... we headed back to the airport to fly home to good ol' Arizona. Aaron and Nate had a great vacation too- just spending time together. I wished Aaron had taken some pics of Nateman while I was gone..then I realized I took all cameras as well as the ipad with us. oops. :)

Anyway, it was great to get home and see our guys. Neve gave Nate a big stuffed Shamu in the car. Gotta love it.

I loaded all of my pics onto the family page too.

Portnoy Family Shutterfly Page

Thanks, Mom, for a fantastic trip!!!!! I love how you make so many special memories with Neve. I have such great memories of my Nana, so I am glad Neve has an amazing grandma too!