Speech

Last week Asher had his first speech therapy appointment.  I was a little nervous because I wasn't sure what to expect, but the girl that comes over is very nice and I knew she'd be good for Asher.  As soon as she walked in, Asher immediately sat on the rug and kept telling us to sit.  I guess he was excited!  It was interesting to see how she handled getting Asher to speak.  There was a lot of repeating words and trying to get Asher to at least attempt to say it.  Asher was surprisingly cooperative and did his best to say the words.  It's hard to watch him struggle, but he's doing so well!  He did really good at matching colors and picked up on the few signs she was trying to teach him.  I have been curious about learning a little sign language, so it's been kind of fun for me to help Asher learn signs!  So far I know help, please, again, all done, more, mother, and father.  Asher doesn't do the sign unless I make him, but I do see how much it encourages him to talk.  His next appointment isn't for 2 more weeks because it's really up to the parents to work with the kids.  It is tedious, but I know it will be worth it in the end.

After speech therapy we went up to Rexburg!  We were going to pick something up, but that didn't really pan out...so instead we just had a 2 day long party!  We had cousin time, played lots of games, let grandpa babysit, went sledding, and much more!  It was a great weekend!

Waiting for Grandma to get home...

My dad babysat Asher while I went to visit my Grandma.  We came back (at 9:30...) and Asher looked very taken care of!

Winchester Mansion

Update from last post: Asher's service coordinator and speech therapist came by today to fill out his IFSP (Individual Family Service Plan).  This is different from an IEP (Individualized Education Program).  An IFSP is for children less than 3 years old and it's called a family service plan because families are usually the most stable thing in a child's life.  Once the kids get old enough for school, the focus is on the child's individual education.  Asher's first session will be next friday and will continue twice a month until he turns 3.

So that's the newest and most exciting thing going on for us these days!  Something else I've been getting into lately is listening to podcasts.  I was listening to one today about the Winchester Mansion.  This really caught my attention because awhile ago my mom told me about a trip her aunt took her on to the San Fransisco area.  As part of that trip they went to visit that same mansion and my mom told me how amazing it was!  I love hearing stories of my mom's life.  I don't know if she's just seen so much more than me or if she's just lived longer so she's had more time to have experiences, but she just has so many awesome stories!  After hearing her talk about this place, it makes me really want to visit!  It's definitely on my bucket list.

The Winchester Mansion was built by Sarah Winchester.  She married William Winchester, of the Winchester rifle company.  She had a very tragic life that left her somewhat paranoid.  She had one daughter who died a few weeks after she was born from a disease that causes severe malnutrition.  In 1880, her father-in-law died and the following year her husband died from tuberculosis.  After their deaths she inherited $20.5 million and received 50% stock in the Winchester company which made her income about $1,000 a day (equivalent to about $23,000 today).  To say she was rich is a bit of an understatement.  

After her husband's death, she supposedly went to a medium who told her that her husband wanted her to move from Connecticut and go out west where she was to start building a house.  She thought she was cursed and the souls of those who were killed by Winchester rifles were coming after her.  She bought land in the Santa Clara Valley and started building.  And building.  And building.  She started by working with an architect, but eventually got rid of him.  She regularly used Mediums to get direction from the "spirits" about how she should continue building.  She would build all sorts of oddities into the house to try to trick the spirits so they couldn't find her, things like stairs and doors leading nowhere, rooms with windows looking into other rooms, cabinets that are only a few inches deep, sliding wall panels, etc.  She also slept in a different room every night to confuse the spirits.  The house contains roughly 160 rooms, 40 bedrooms, 2 ballrooms (one completed and one unfinished), 47 fireplaces, 10,000 panes of glass, 17 chimneys, 2 basements, and 3 elevators. The house was originally 7 stories high, but an earthquake in the early 1900's caused the top 3 layers to collapse.  

There is so much more to read about and get information on, so I think you should all look it up!  Most of it was conjecture because Sarah never kept any diaries and didn't do any interviews so most of what we know comes from her mediums and construction crews.  Here are a few shots of the house, hopefully one day I'll be able to see it for myself!

We Must Be Family

First thing, I wanted to give a quick update about Asher's evaluation.  The nurse came by and said Asher is a perfectly healthy little boy!  His hearing and vision are great and wouldn't cause any problems with his speech.  She also said he was so cooperative and made the evaluation really easy.  I know these people usually deal with kids with a lot worse problems than Asher's slight speech issues, so I know in comparison he is a lot easier to handle, but it's so nice to have people tell me what a delightful and cute little boy I have!  The girl that will be doing his speech therapy also came by that same day and we went over Asher's daily schedule.  I was surprised at how exhausting it can be to account for every second of our day.  And I know they need to have this information to help, but it's a hard to tell a stranger a lot of personal information.  That same girl will be coming back along with the coordinator (the lady that did his evaluation) on Thursday to fill out his IFSP.  I'll give another update after that!

Next I would like to share something that proved to me that introversion is a family trait!  I found an article that I shared with my mom and sisters on facebook.  The article was How an Introvert Makes a Phone Call.  It tells all about how introverts will do anything to avoid making phone calls and have all sorts of anxiety about it.  It is essentially how I handle making phone calls.

The article was hilarious, but what was even better was the comments my family gave!

Lisa - "Oh man, this is SO me. I actually have to put things like "return voicemail" on my to do list so that I will eventually do it. I get genuinely upset at Tyler when he asks me to call someone."

Joni - "I have to remind myself that i will probably not die if i have to make a.phone call."

Mom - "I pretend I didn't get a voicemail asking me to call them back."

I guess we are family after all!  

Christmas Break

The last few weeks have been very busy!  I know the holiday season is busy for most families, and we are no exception, especially because we had to travel.  Here's a little run-down of the end of December!

Dec 17 - I've been concerned about Asher's speech for awhile so I finally got him evaluated.  The program in Utah is called Kids on the Move, although every state has a similar program.  He qualified for therapy so that will start this month.  They will have a nurse come by this Wednesday to check his hearing and his other physical development.  I have to say, I'm not super excited about this.  But since we're so poor, it isn't going to cost us anything!

Dec 19 - My Mom came to visit!  She got some tickets for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert and she also wanted to see our new place, so she made the drive down here and we had a girls night out.  I miss living by my family so it was so great to have her come to us and be the first person to stay with us!  I had so much fun talking and laughing with her, getting stuck in traffic, and enjoying the concert.  She stayed with us Saturday night and was able to see...

Dec 20 - Our ward Christmas program!  I accompanied the choir on my violin for one song, David played a solo and he also got roped into singing with the choir.  He had only been through the songs once with them, but he really is such a great musician that he picked up on them really fast.  Asher loves loves loves his grandma and had a lot of fun sitting with her during church while we were performing.

Dec 23 - We were a little worried about the weather, but decided to make a break for it and packed all 4 of us (David, Abby, Asher, and Millie) into our car and drove to Idaho.  The drive wasn't too bad for the most part.  Asher was soooo excited when we got to Grandma's house and soon after we got there some cousins showed up and it got very crazy.

Dec 23-26 - There wasn't any big things going on, just lots of hanging out and letting the kids wear each other out!  Asher loves seeing all his cousins, but he doesn't love sleeping in a bed that isn't his own.  Needless to say, he and I didn't get very much sleep while we were there.  But we had fun all the same!  On Christmas my parents paid for all of us adults to go to the new Star Wars movie and they would babysit.  I love going to Idaho because my parents always insist on babysitting so we can go out and do stuff.  I loved the movie!  I'm a sci-fi nerd so that was right up my alley. 

Dec 27 - My parents have 1:00 church, which I really hate taking a toddler to.  So when we to go Rexburg I usually go to my sisters ward, which meets at 8:30.  My sister-in-law thought that sounded like a better idea as well (she has a toddler too) and my mom just wanted to come watch the craziness, so we all went to Joni's ward!  It was quite the party, especially during Relief Society when they ended up bringing all 3 toddlers back to us at one point or another.  Later that night we had dinner and played a lot of games.  It's very chill at my parents house and we all enjoy being able to just hang out with each other.

Dec 28 - I finally got to order my new phone!  David was trying to convince me to get a $100 phone, but I didn't want to spend that much.  When we got there, we found out it was half off!  So my mom and I ended up both getting that phone.  And I was able to pass my old phone on to Joni, whose toddler had sent her phone through the wash.  A couple hours later, in the brisk 10 degree heat, we attempted to do family pictures.  My mom likes to have recent family photos so she hired a photographer to take pictures of all 5 families.  Asher hated it and all the kids were freezing and had red noses the whole time, but I think it went as well as it could have.  At the end my mom wanted a picture with her and my dad and all the grandkids.  All the children were done by that point so it ended up being a picture of lots of crying toddlers and babies and my mom laughing really hard.  I'm excited to see how it turned out! 

Dec 29 - We packed ourselves up and made it home in one piece!  Asher and I slept almost the entire 4 hours, we were both so exhausted.  It was nice to be able to sleep in our own beds again.  But I do miss being able to go to lunch or have Sunday dinner with everyone!

Today David went back to school (which he was not excited about having to wake up at 6am again) and Asher, Millie, and I are getting back into our routine.  Asher is much happier now that he is getting more sleep.  I want everyone in Rexburg to know that Asher really isn't as grumpy as he seems when we're on vacation!  Most of the time he's in a really good mood!  He just loves being able to sleep in his own bed and have a "home base".  I don't know when we'll be back in Rexburg or visiting any other family again, but I always love it when we get a chance.  Maybe I'll have to start doing dessert nights and have Brian and Brittany over once in awhile.  They do live right down the street so it wouldn't be too difficult...but I love having that strong family connection!  Maybe I'll make that one of my resolutions.  Right after my first resolution, which is to not move at all this year!  Here's to another year! 

David is Asher's favorite person in the world right now!  He likes to climb up on David and get this close to his face and tell him fantastic stories.  It makes me laugh really hard.

Asher's Christmas present from Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell!  He loves it.  I'm shocked we were able to fit it in our car.

He's a cutie.

Grandma left a toy for Asher after she left.  He thinks it hilarious when I clip it in his hair.

Millie loves the snow.  And chasing David around in the snow.  And eating the snow.

We all got microwavable heat packs from my parents for Christmas.  I'm teaching Asher how awesome they are.

Asher's buddies!  He loves chasing Ledger around and tries really hard to say London's name whenever we see her.  Now they just need to come visit us!