A "Mommy" For 16 Hours...

Yesterday evening we headed to the lake to let Joshua run off some excess energy. Well, we didn't quite make it to the lake, we actually made it half way down the block right before you turn to go down to the road that goes to the lake, and we had to make a U-turn. My mom noticed a baby bird dancing in the center line of Pinetree Blvd, and the traffic was pretty because it was about 7pm, and everyone was getting off work and headed out for dinner. Joshua had a meltdown in the backseat of course, but we just couldn't let this little bird get ran over. As soon as we turned to go back, the baby bird flopped right towards the tire of a big SUV, and missed it by less than an inch. I could have swore he actually went under the tire, but when we parked in the middle of the road, the baby was still flopping around. I waited for traffic to pass on my side of the truck, and soon as I had the chance, I jumped out and ran towards the helpless creature in the middle of this busy road. I scooped him up, and walked back to the truck. I got several strange glances by people passing by and I had one nice man ask, if we had broke down. When I got back in, we headed to the house to get something to put the lil' one down in, and I got one of Joshua's old shoe boxes that had a fold over lid, and stuck my well worn shirt that I've had since I was 7 in the box to keep him warm and cozy. I've always used that shirt to sleep in and it's had it's wear and tear, and was definately time to retire the shirt, my mom joked about it being like a "staple in my life", but it's just one I've never tossed out. We went back into town and tried both pet stores, which was no success because they both were closed when we got to them, so we headed to Wal-Mart to see if we could find something that would improvise til' we could get him to someone who knew what they were doing or until we could get to an actual pet store with baby bird food. Blood worms(dehydrated), bird vitamins, a couple drops of milk, a pair of tweezers and an eyedropper later, the baby bird got his first meal before we settled him down for the night. He spent the night inside the shoebox in my t-shirt drawer, so that no one (Joshua or one of the cats) could get to him, plus it's nice and warm inside the drawer which is good for baby birds who are supposed to be kept at temps around 86*F. He got another couple of meals this morning, when we got the call from a lady who works along side Clanton's Veterinary Hospital to take the baby and drop him/she off. I'm really glad that we were able to find someone to take the bird that does that kind of thing for a living because I don't know how well I could hold up having to feed it every 3 to 4 hours (except from midnight to about 5am when they sleep), and having Joshua jumping around constantly. Joshua doesn't understand he has to be gentle around tiny animal babies. All in all, it was a good 16 hour experience. We saved a life, and hopefully the bird will stay away from roads when he is released back into the wild.

*On The Way To It's New Home*

Short Update...

The last couple of weeks have been slow, but I figured I'd update on what little bit has been going on. Easter was fun, Joshua and I spent it with Jodie and his family. Joshua is an Easter egg hunt pro this year. He found over 40 eggs out of about 135. I was suprised that he needed little assistance this year; the only help he really needed was when his bucket got to heavy for him to carry. We let everyone else have his boiled eggs because Joshua will not eat them, and I really don't have much room in the fridge for deviled eggs. He racked up though, and he even received a basket from Brady & Luke with a cute lil' bunny in it.

The past few weeks my mom has been looking at buying a house with acreage, and we've found one, but we're waiting on approval from the city to put the horses on the land before she jumps into a contract with them. The house is beautiful, but it needs some work (mostly cosmetic work), and it was built in 1922. We're really hoping no one makes an offer on the house before the city's next meeting at the beginning of May because we really love the house and it has plenty of space and plenty of room for the horses (if we're granted permission to have them on the land). We've been looking around at Home Depot and Lowe's to get ideas for the house, and we've gotten some, but we haven't made any purchases yet incase we don't get the house.

Joshua racked up on some more Thomas gear. We found him another set of pj's at Target, and a magazine and a large puzzle floor mat at Lowe's. We've definately decided that his room will have a Train theme, not really focused on Thomas because he will probably grow out of him eventually. We're still working on potty training. It's still tough, and he doesn't go unless he's bottomless, except for yesterday when we were at Captain D's and you could just see the look on his face that he had to GO! And he went!!! Yay!!! I e-mailed both the city and the county special needs directors in the preschools about a week ago, and so far only the county has answered my message. I asked about the potty training issues we were having with Joshua, and if it would affect his ability to attend the school because I have heard so many times that the preschools would not allow a child to attend the school unless they were fully potty trained. Well, Hand-In-Hand's special needs director told me that it would not be a problem for him to attend because they work with them on that, and to go ahead and register him so they can do an assessment on where they think he would fit in best at the school (basicly, if he would need to be just in special needs classes or he could be in an intergrated classroom). I don't want to go ahead and sign him up because I want to chose the BEST school that would attend to Joshua's needs and make sure he gets the help he needs to succeed. That's why I've asked his therapists to ask around for me and talk to the schools to see what each has to offer. One of his therapists actually knows one of the special needs teachers at Hand In Hand and said she would talk to her. I really want everyone's opinion on the schools, you know the pros and cons of each. I need insight from the parents who know what I mean. A school can sugarcoat something to make it seem better than it is, and that's why I want to know from those of you who know best! So please hit me up on Facebook or on here!!

Well, that's about all for now! Hope I'll get some feedback about the preschools soon!

Just Rambling...

I'm going to start from well, from about Friday, March, 19th, and continue from there...

March 19th... We had a fun day at the lake, and then we went to Tractor Supply to see the baby ducklings and chicks. So very sweet. I just wanted to take them all home with me. We went to wal-mart, and hung around til' the New Moon release at 12:01 AM, March 20th. I went to get in like about 5 minutes after they started letting the movies go. There was a line literally from the register in electronics all the way along the back wall through the toy section. & guess what?! I did NOT have to wait a single minute in that crazy line! & No I did not have a reserved copy. I saw one of the workers putting the movie up on another shelf, on the opposite end that the line was, and asked him if I could go ahead and get a copy, and sure enough he handed right to me!!! YAY!!! The only waiting I did was at the check-out line in the front of the store because they only had 3 lines open, and 2 of the 3 were those 20 items or less, and like usual, we had more than 20 items because we went in for groceries. I don't know what Wal-Mart was thinking, 3 lines... and there were at least a hundred people waiting in these ridiculous lines. I got home at 12:30 though, so I guess it wasn't too bad.

My lil' boo found him a plush duck that night too, and he's been sleeping with it ever since *he requires it to go to bed with him*. I also picked him out a shirt that says "Irish Girls Love Me". It's so cute. Really wish I could find him one that says "Asian Women Love Me". lol



This past Saturday, the 27th, Jodie, Joshua, & I went to Tallahasse, mainly to just get out of the house, and for Jodie to get a couple new handles for his Stiletto hammer (which only a FEW select stores in a hundred mile radius carry them, I think we figured about 3!). We went to Lake Ella and ate lunch, let Joshua play, and we took a stroll around the lake. After we left, we went to Chucky Cheese, which was a nightmare on Saturday afternoon because it was packed, but we made it work. Joshua had a great time, which is what mattered most. Sunday, we went and spent the day with Jodie's mom, and step-sis & step-bro, and we had fun. Jodie gave his grandma the book he bought her at Books-A-Million the day before. It was a pretty good weekend, but it seemed just too short. As of Sunday, it is only 2 more months 'til our 4 year anniversary! YAY!

Today, we went out to Ochlocknee to see our horses, and the NEW baby that was born at 2 am. We've never seen a newborn baby horse before. And she is so darn cute!!! The lady who gives Joshua riding lessons said that her name was probably going to be "Spice Girl", but would probably call her "Spicy". The new baby is Expresso's half-sister; they share the same dad, Starbuck. I just can't believe how soft her fur is, it feels like silk. And of course all the horses were jealous because everyone was focused on HER and not them. It's amazing how small she is compared to her parents and all the other horses, but I guess all babies are like that.

*Not Even A Day Old*

Joshua is still working on Potty Training. He still hasn't gotten the whole idea, of not going in his pants, so we still have to let him run around without bottoms during the day at the house, but he's definately doing so much better that he has been. He even stood up to pee one day like a big boy! I'm so proud of him, and I know he's proud of himself too! Joshua is also doing REALLY well with spelling, you can give him each letter of the alphabet and he can spell out & say each word without looking at ANYTHING!!! It's really amazing. ELEPHANT, ORANGE, & XYLOPHONE are 3 of his favorite words to spell. His therapists say that it's an autistic thing. Children with autism tend to read and spell a lot sooner than other children because it's concrete thinking, but they have trouble naming objects if the word is not spelled out for them. I'm just glad he's enjoying what he's doing, and I can't wait to see what else he's going to suprise me with!

*Joshua in his NEW Thomas pjs he got tonight*

Making Progress To Better Things!

If any of you noticed my feed yesterday on Facebook, you will know that Joshua has opened his eyes up to a whole light about the POTTY! I have been waiting so very long for him to get interested, and I've tried several times with no luck. I've tried everything I could think of to get him to learn to use the potty like a big boy, and finally I saw where one of my friend's had a hard time getting her little boy to use the potty, which resulted in her keeping him bottomless thanks to some of her friends' advice. I figured that if she had luck, may be I would get lucky too, and sure enough Joshua used the potty everytime yesterday while he was bottomless. It started Tuesday night when we were at my grandparents' house, and Joshua had somehow poked a hole into the pull-up that he was wearing and the jelly bead things had started falling out of it. (For those of you who have been wondering what that jelly beady stuff is, I found out on an episode of "Weather Proof" on the Weather Channel, and it is the exact same gel as they spray on houses to prevent them from being badly damaged during wild fires. I thought that was pretty interesting.) Anywho, back to what I was saying, I had to take his pull-up off and leave him with nothing while I ran out to the truck to get him another one. When I came back in, he was holding himself and saying, "Uh oh! Uh oh!", so I ran him to the bathroom figuring that may be this was his chance to catch on, and sure enough he did. He was so excited and began cheering, "YAY! Good job!", so very cute. That night I decided that this was the best time to start him on the bottomless idea, so the next day, St. Patrick's Day, he went without bottoms all day except for when he had to eat (I'd hate for him to have an accident while he's trying to eat). Let me tell you, he had ZERO accidents the whole time he went without bottoms. He still hasn't gotten the whole, don't go in your pull-up yet, but he is definately doing a lot better, and he's been enthusiastic about being a big boy!

*It's Potty Time!*

As for me, I've put myself on a diet. Basicly, it's eatting healthier and portion control. I started this about this time last week, and I have since then lost 4 lb., and as soon as it dries up outside, I'm going to start walking for atleast a hour every morning. I've got a large amount of weight that I'm hoping to lose, and hopefully it will be gone by the end of this year. I'm really crossing my fingers because I want to be happy with my body again, and be comfortable in it. It's just gonna be a long road getting to the finish line.

* The First Time He Has Actually Shown Interest In Swinging By Himself!*

*His FAVORITE Thing In The World!*

Before Joshua was even born, and only a baby inside my belly, I have been telling him that I love him and of how much love that I have for him. I have been dreaming of the day that Joshua would say it back, and just last week I finally heard those two sweet little words come from his lips. "Love you", which comes out as "Lub you", and it is the sweetest thing I ever heard. I was so happy and I am so glad to hear it every single day since then! One of the best days ever since I became a mommy!

Since then, he spilled out his first sentence, to an unexpecting girl at the grocery store, last Friday, "Hey! How are you?", unfortunately I did not witness this statement because I was shopping for groceries, and Jodie and Joshua were roaming around the store. Jodie thought it was the cutest and funniest thing ever. I did not get to hear Joshua's statement, until a few days ago. It was the first thing he said when I went to wake him up Monday morning. Awww!!!

Also, last Wednesday night, we were sitting in my mom's room settling down for bed. Joshua had his teddy bear that says each letter of the alphabet, and after each letter Joshua would say a word that began with each letter WITHOUT looking at anything. He has trouble with Xylophone, but we know that is what he is trying to say. He has learned ALOT of new words from his new V-Tech laptop that he got for his birthday, and he can even SPELL them!!! Amazing!

Some of you who don't know what's been going on with Joshua would not see these things as important as we do. The fact Joshua is even talking as much as he is lately is by no less a miracle in my eyes. Some children with Autism go YEARS without speaking, and I am so blessed that Joshua is not one of those children, he's high=functioning autistic. He has his days where he will not speak a word still, but not as bad as it has been in the past.

We went to Panacea a couple of weekends ago to celebrate my grandmother's belated 68th birthday. We've been going there for years for great seafood at The Coastal Restraunt. It doesn't look like much from the outside, but the food is excellent. Joshua put away more food than anyone at the table. I swear he turns into a blackhole sometimes the way he eats. I really do not know where he puts it all. He's such a picky eater (one of the issues he has because of his autism), but when he gets something he absolutely LOVES there usually isn't much of a worry of whether he will eat or not. My family used to go there years before I was born, my great-grandmother even had some property in Panacea years ago, and I have been going down there since I was a little girl, and Joshua had his first trip down there and camping trip when he was 3 1/2 months old.

*Joshua At One Of The Beaches In Panacea*

*My Grandparents At The Coastal*

*Waiting On Some Great Seafood*

Joshua doesn't know it yet, but we're planning on a trip to North Carolina at the end of July as we have been doing for the last 3 years, and a certain somebody, named Thomas, is coming to Bryson City, NC while we're up there on the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad. So we are crossing our fingers that nothing will interfere with our plans, so Joshua will finally be able to see Thomas the Tank Engine in person. He won't be coming to the Sam Shortline Railroad in Albany, GA 'til late October, so we have been looking for a sooner date. Six Flags actually has a Thomas theme park with their own Thomas train, but that is about all Joshua could enjoy there because of height limitations on the other rides, so Six Flags is out. So Bryson City it is unless, like I said, something comes up that will prevent us from going. : ) I can't wait to see the look on Joshua's face!! YAY!

Shake... Rattle... & Roll!

Today we took Joshua to see his pony, Phoenix, and let him ride. We walked several times around the fenced in area which is basicly a back yard & a driveway. The wind was blowing really hard out in the open, and with it being so cold, it felt like it the wind was cutting right through you at times. Everytime we go out to ride when it is cold outside, the horses seem be extra frisky and energized, it's probably because the weather feels much more comfortable to them than us, but it's just funny watching them having a really good day.

Well, Joshua was riding Phoenix, and I was pulling the lead rope, when suddenly, Pheonix shook out his fur really hard (like dogs do, if you never have been around a horse to know they do the exact same thing). I turned around right as he started to shake and the saddle(which isn't quite big enough for Phoenix) started moving back and forth real hard, and out comes Joshua rolling forward off the saddle, doing a complete flip in the air and lands flat on this butt before I could get ahold of him to keep him from diving off the saddle. Let me tell you, he was not a happy camper, he didn't get hurt, but it scared the crap out of him and he let out a blood curdling scream and began to cry. I had to pick him up and comfort him, and while I did that, I had to comfort Phoenix as well because he was worried about Joshua. Phoenix looked so upset about having Joshua fall off of him, and was all nuzzled up to Joshua and sniffing him trying to see if he was alright. It was so sweet. So we walked back down the lane and tied Phoenix to a post and gave him some hay, so Joshua could walk off his tears & fears, and we went into the barn and we got Phoenix some treats. Joshua fed Phoenix treats for the first time ever, and he was so happy when he realized Phoenix wasn't trying to be mean. They made up, and they went for another ride shortly there after.

It could have been much worse, Joshua could have gotten hurt, or even gained a fear of horses, but thankfully got right back up in the saddle when he calmed down. Phoenix and Joshua are so great together, I wish you guys could see them. I'm crossing my fingers that we can have Phoenix reign trained by Joshua 5th birthday next year, so I can bring him to Joshua's party and show him off, and may be give some pony rides. : )

4 Years With Joshua

As most of you know, Joshua turned 4 this past Sunday and we had a birthday party for him. I am so happy the day went like it should, even though some of you could not make it. The day did not start out that great though, there was a lot of stress in the air because Jodie did not get Joshua all he wished he could, but now that we look back, Joshua got PLENTY! It really does not seem like it has been four whole years since Joshua was born, it really seems surreal. Four years just flew by in a blink of an eye. I sit back and realize how crazy my life was before I found out I was pregnant with Joshua, and how my life is now so much greater because of him. Life was meaningless without him, and now he makes everyday better with his beautiful smile. I could not imagine a day with out him. He went from a beautiful green-eyed baby with peach fuzz for hair to a gorgeous greenish/brown-eyed little boy with beautiful blond curls in just a few short years. We've had a few issues along the way, from being born with clubbed-feet and year with casts & two foot correctional surgeries and a pin removal surgery, to a diagnosis of Autism which has explained his being behind in speech, social skills, and psychological skills. We may have had these problems along the way, but they were the best four years so far in my life.

The Most Beautiful Person I Have Ever Seen!

My Little Soldier After 2 Surgeries At 8 Months

Celebrating One Year With My Little Man!!!

Time For The Terrible Two's Already?!

Can It Be? He Is Three!!!
My Gorgeous 4 Year Old & His Cake!
He racked up on several new toys, books, & even a few new outfits this year!