Gratitude

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Gratitude, it’s not happiness that brings us gratitude, it’s gratitude that brings us happiness – Unknown.

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated this blog so this will be a very long one…so brace yourselves haha.  For Halloween I made Lily a Wonder Woman dress along with the leggings, arm bracelets, and a shield!  Lily likes wearing her dress to school and going out and just for any ordinary day and it makes me happy that she loves it so much!  She tells her teachers and that I made her dress for her and she just has such a big smile on her face too, it makes me feel happy that she’s so proud of my work for her.  I made a cape for Leo to be Captain Underpants but it was way too cold for that costume, so He was a last minute Batman Pumpkinpants haha.  Lily loved her costume and I bought her some Wonder Woman books before hand and so she loves the story of the amazing amazonian princess and brought the book while wearing her costume for her literary parade at school!  Lily also had her first field trip at Quail Summit to the Santa Ana Zoo.  She loved seeing all the animals and she said her favorite were the butterflies and monkeys.  Lily really likes going to school, morning care and after care (aka Fun Club) and she’ll complain sometimes that I pick her up too early (5pm isn’t really that early…).  I’m glad she gets so stimulated at school and is making friends with kids of all ages!  Every time I come to pick her up, all the big kids know her name and always run to give her a hug before we leave.  That’s so sweet and heart warming!

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I had the honor of having our family photos taken by the super amazingly talented, and kind soul, Lisa Holloway.  Here are some of the many favorites from that session.  I will cherish these memories and I am so grateful to have these beautiful kids to call mine.

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Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. – William Arthur Ward

Lily really enjoys all her extracurricular activities after school.  She has Jazz Dance, Baton Twirlin & Pom Pom, and Tennis.  Her absolute favorite is tennis and she always ask if she can do it everyday!  At least she gets to do it twice a week whereas all the other classes are just once a week.  I’m more burnt out taking Lily to all those classes than Lily is haha!  I’m very impressed with Lily on how quickly she learns and picks up choreography as well.  She only attending 3 classes to learn her choreography for her Jazz Dance Recital, her normal weekly classes are just for learning techniques of dance.  From just those 3 classes alone and lots of practice, she was able to dance through the whole routine for the recital and wasn’t even one bit stage fright or nervous!!  She’s so great and better than I’ll ever be!! =)  She also remembered her entire routine for her baton twirling parade and did so amazing well too!  I’m so proud of her and all of her accomplishments!  Leo is getting better at eating purees but he will still have days where he just doesn’t want to eat.  He expresses lots of interest in music.  He really likes the piano and likes playing with my keyboard and banging on drums.  He has a special technique where he uses his mouth to play the keys at the same time as his cute little fingers too.  The look of focus and concentration on his face when he plays the keys are just too cute and priceless.  Every time I try to play on the piano, he usually comes zooming over and pushes me aside and takes over haha.  He is signing more and more each day.  He’s really good at clapping his hands for “good job”, he knows “open” and “close” really well, and understands “more” and “head/hat” as well.  He’s getting better at waving bye more consistently too.  He is a super fast crawler, and he loves to climb all over the place now.  He likes to climb and sit on top of the kid’s table, on top of the couch, on top of anything he can climb onto really.  He loves stairs and even though he doesn’t know how to climb down, he is fearless.  He is able to take 3-4 steps on his own when you prop him up, and he is getting really good at walking while holding 1 of his hand.  I really feel that the hippotherapy is helping him a great deal with his core strength and balance and over confidence in himself and his physical abilities.

It was so windy! This was the best selfie I can get of the three of us!!

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Thankful for my two joys of my life!LilyLeoThanksgiving2017

Christmas blessings with my loves!  Lily is understanding more the joys of Christmas and really enjoys getting into the holiday spirit.  Lily got to go shopping at her school Santa’s Workshop for a whole week and she had a blast buying fun little toys for herself and Leo and even aunty Leilani!  She has a lot of fun picking out gifts for her teachers and friends and she even said she forgot to buy me something and has the saddest look on her face.  I told her it’s sweet of her to want to get me something but I told her all I need is her and Leo =).  Leo loves playing with Leo and he seeing her playing the iPad and would like to imitate her tapping on the screen.  He’ll see me working on my laptop and would come over and tap on the keyboard too.  He’s so cute and is trying to imitate us and it’s great to see him observing and developing mentally like that.  Leo is always so super happy, and Lily is the best person to make him laugh.  He loves being thrown in the air, looking at silly faces, and is strangely amused with the window blinds haha.  He also likes crawling into tunnels and small enclosed spaces, maybe it’s just safe and cozy in there for him, but he likes sitting in closets and the princess tent as well.  He doesn’t like wearing socks for some reason so they don’t stay on his feet very long, the only way to keep them on is to put shoes on him.  Apparently, he feels that socks should go in his mouth, not on his feet… Leo is super social and loves being held by anyone and everyone!  Leo recently had a hearing test again and they couldn’t get any concrete readings on his hearing, but they did say both ear drums weren’t responsive, so we will have to take him to an ENT for further investigation.  He also had a GI appt at Choc and for now, we just have to keep trying to feed him solids, there’s not much else we can do except continuing with therapy.  He’s gained 1 pound in the last 3 months so at least he’s still growing and that’s the important thing.  Lily loves to be a helper when Leo’s teachers come over for his therapy sessions, and she really pays attention to everything Leo can do, and likes to tell me all his developments with such pride!  I’m so happy to see them together and so happy.  My heart is and full and warm because of them.  I’m so grateful for my greatest gifts in the world, I would not be the person I am without them.  I try to give them the best love and care I possible can give them, to show them how much they mean to me, and I hope the feel my heart.  I love you Lily, Leo and my angels!!!  Can’t wait to see what 2018 adventures awaits us!

Gratitude is not only the greatest virtues, but the parent of all others. – Cicero.

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Enjoy these videos of the kiddies!!  They are growing up so fast, I’m glad I’m able to have these videos to look back on and relive those memories!!












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