Six Oak Street

Sewing Tuesday

2014-12-29T16:31:00.002-08:00

While she may be terrible at soccer she most definitely isn't at sewing. Over the summer we sewed every Tuesday and to say she loved it is an understatement. She sewed: a purse, blanket, a paper garland for her room, and two skirts. She and I even made our own pattern for the maxi skirt. She is such a girl. The kind who plays outside in dirt and mud always in a dress or skirt; my favorite kind.

In June we didn't wear much clothing

2014-12-28T15:03:00.001-08:00

Dear Lily,

2014-12-28T15:02:00.001-08:00

I love you--you are the best.

In other news, Lily sucks at soccer.

2014-12-28T14:53:00.001-08:00

This is how she spent her soccer season (*season was cut short due to parents unwillingness to give up sleeping in to watch child stand on a field and cry).

It should be recorded that Owen was a referee for the league and he did not stand on the field and cry.

Weekend in Sedona

2014-10-22T13:58:00.000-07:00

Sedona is like no other place, two hours from Phoenix too! Last weekend Chad and I went up leaving the kids in grandma's care we knew they'd have just about as much fun as we would. We did a ropes course that is not for the faint of heart. Picture the tallest tree you can, now put a platform around it and there you go. It was pretty sweet. It was fun most of the course, only at one point was I like 'whoa--I'm uncomfortable!' So I clamped my clips on and zip-lined down and carried on with the course. One of the obstacles was a skateboard, suspended between two trees and you had to balance as you skated between them--pretty fun.

Chad and I both love to hike and be outside, we did West fork trail, Chicken little trail and Hi-line trail. The colors were just starting to change so that made it even better. Of course we ate at the Wildflower as Sedona has squat in the way of good food. Good times!

Pat pat pat

2014-10-22T13:37:00.004-07:00

Need some reassurance? Because that is something that is totally up this dudes ally. Picture this, you see baby standing on the ground--he sees you. He throws (literally he does this) his hands open wide majestically, cocks his head to the side and runs at you with open arms. Once he reaches you he gives you the hug of a boy who is just giving it all away. It's great. Couldn't be better, but wait--you give him a casual pat. He in turns pats you over and over again. This happens forty eight times per day. It's seriously the best.

A gem of a moment

2014-09-29T15:49:00.001-07:00

Right?! I mean coloring and coloring in the nude is just tops. Working on him coloring on paper and leaving the walls along. Half the time he finds a writing implement he can manage the impulse; the other half it's like: color color color color color color color, all I do is color color color and I am an artist and this house is my canvas!

100 year rain in Phoenix!

2014-09-28T12:38:00.003-07:00

So over the past month we've had two separate days of '100 year' rainfall--shattering all records of time and eternity for the Phoenix valley. We had five different roof leaks which was fantastic. Then a few friends and I took our boards and kiddos to the park where they paddle boarded and had an awesome time.

Jack went all around with the kids and was a pro by the time we left. I brought our skim board and the boys worked on their technique; they still suck.

This is not a test.

2014-09-07T11:29:00.001-07:00

But if it were, rest assured that she would cheat. She was so proud, thinking that she had solved the problem of the ages: homework. Thursday she bopped in fresh from the 106 degree heat with a permanent grin.

"Mom!!! I have finished ALL of my homework!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I also made a new best friend. She's very good at math."

I love that she has no idea how to cover-up. She was shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, that I guessed that her new best friend (a fifth grader) had done her homework for her.

She was crushed that she had to erase all of her "new best friend's" hard word and redo it all herself. Tough luck. Got ya!

Have I ever mentioned that I'm overconfident?

2014-08-24T22:07:00.001-07:00

And in case you're wondering-it's a real thing; I suffer from the I got this mentality. This mentality sometimes gets me in a car on a highway 23 hours from home with nothing but spilled Cheerios and whining children between me and insanity. That's the razors edge of sanity if ever there was.

Here I am after 26 hours on the road with these hooligans.

On July 2, 2014, in classic Jamie style, I decided at 9:00 a.m. to go ahead and leave that same afternoon, rather than the next day, as planned. We headed for St. George, UT where we stayed at my Aunt's vacation home. After a mere 8 hours on the road I was seriously considering heading South back to Arizona, calling it good. We ended up staying there for two days and heading North to Salt Lake where we picked up Grandma at the airport. (Everything is better with her around!)

The hardest part of all the driving I did over the month of July was those first eight hours; especially the part where Jack cried for three hours straight and I had to drive with one hand while holding his hand with the other. On a positive note, he got it all out of his system in one fell swoop; deciding that three hours of uninterrupted crying was enough even for him.

We detoured through Idaho Falls attending a Peterson family reunion. We saw grandma Peterson--she's 96--and it was great to see her. The ranch looked beautiful and it was really fun to see all my cousins all grown up with their own families. That night we stayed in the world's worst hotel! Thankfully, the next day we were bound for grandma's house in Washington (lice free!).

A quick nine hours later Jack and Lily were ecstatic to be in Grandma's bathtub. Every time I come home I'm blown away by my parent's yard, everything just grows and grows. It's so beautiful! Shortly after arriving, I took refuge on the porch swing--my sanity hanging in the balance--while the kids soaked up the glorious Wi-Fi. Who knew Wi-Fi was so important? Kidding (not really).

Wi-Fi is everything--everyone knows that. Reconnect to the internet, sanity returned to all. We forgot about the trials of road and we all lived happily ever after. Please don't make me recount the return trip to you. Agh! *drool runs from my cross-eyed face*

I come by it honestly.

2014-08-24T21:46:00.002-07:00

Look at these two handsome devils! Behold my mom and dad's college pictures! The two hardest working people on the planet found each other at BYU about forty years ago and decided to make a life together. Would it be filled with lazy beach days? I have first hand experience with them on beaches and let's just say there is about zero laying about going on. They both love to work and are such dreamers! I just love that about both of them. Have I ever mention that my dad got a book series on how to build a house and thought, 'I can do that' . . .and he, ahem, WE, build my childhood house together.

One would think that you'd start simple and small for your initial foray into carpentry and home-building. WEAK SAUCE! Nope, they bought two acres and designed a two-story house with a walk out basement and soaring ceilings that is over five thousand square feet. I like them. Let me paint you a mental image; I was about 12, Jason-14, Jay-10 and Josh-8. . .on the second story holding the exterior walls while my dad was nailing them in. Yup. There is no photo for the TWO acres of grass we planted but the memory is forever burned into the retina of my mind. The area where immense torture and pain is stored. It was heat wave in Washington--perfect time to:

level two acres
rake two acres
evenly spread topsoil on two acres
evenly spread seed onto two acres
evenly spread MANURE on two acres

All without the use of heavy equipment--I mean why rent equipment when you have so so many able-bodied children. They probably won't need their arms for anything in the future. I'm not bitter or anything. Don't even ask me about the mowing. . .oh, the mowing! They purchased a riding lawn mower while I was in college. Yes, college. I've never mowed it on the riding lawn mower but I can painfully recall how I did it with the push mower.

It took years to finish building the house. Every day after school and all day Saturday during my youth we (my five brothers and I) pretty much cursed our parents. But looking at this feat now with mature eyes I see what a gift it was to all of us. Not just the house, but the lessons. Building that house taught us perseverance, hard work, determination, rebounding from failure, triumphs, grit. It's extraordinary to fathom how immensely difficult it would be to build a house with children as your laborers.

just look at that grass, single tear. . .

See the rose bushes that Lily is standing next to? There are about one twenty hundred rose bushes; why have five or six when you can have ONE HUNDRED and TWENTY, give or take a few. Ha--their optimism just kills me.

So that's my tree and I'm the apple. Often I find myself way in over my head but, I kinda love that about me too.

What do you want to be?

2014-06-29T22:33:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, Chad and I were watching a YouTube clip from rabbi Joseph Tulushkin, he noted that most parents assume that their kids know that they want them to be good, but also noted that parent's reserve most of their praise for athletics, academics or other accomplishments (things kids should be praised for). He said that this assumption can be tested by asking our kids "What do you think we (your parents) most want to you to be: (1) happy; (2) successful; (3) smart; or (4) good?"

He went on to say that the other traits are only praiseworthy if we put goodness as our highest priority, noting that these traits are not intrinsically valuable if a person isn't good (Germany, for example, didn't start the holocaust because it lacked enough intelligent people, but because it lacked enough good people). It was a thought provoking talk and ended with the challenge to ask your children the same question.

The rabbi guessed that the majority of our children would not get the answer correct (and he was right in our kids case (though Luke got it right)). Goodness doesn't seem like a worthy enough goal if kids aren't praised enough for it. Kids will strive to accomplish the things we praise them for. If we want our kids to be good but we don't emphasize it greatly enough with our praise, then we may not get the results we want. So, our highest praise should be reserved for acts of kindness, generosity, charity and humanity.

While we may want them to in fact be good; we need to do better communicating that desire.

Gilbert Temple open house February 2014

A lot of times I feel like that I'm letting great be an enemy to good. I have good kids. Often I'm so focused on what they could be doing better that I lose sight of just how good they already are. It's easy to see how anyone could be doing better, myself included. A few months ago Chad and I joined an organization called the National Association of Child Development. As part of being accepted into that organization you had to listen to six parenting CD's. The CDs advocate a 4:1 ratio of praise or positive teaching experiences for every one negative experience or criticism. In this way you can most influence your child.

Well! Occasionally, I'll fall into a rut and will be more negative with the kids. It's amazing how quickly the vicious cycle begins of criticism/acting out. I've gotten better at catching myself and saying, "wow, I'm feeling bad, let's start the day over and forget about _______." When I'm doing the 4:1 ratio it becomes easier to do it and it has a real snowball effect. When I build them up, as I see them doing good things, they want to do more good things for the positive attention. This is probably the simplest parenting thing I've done with the biggest results.

Anyway, I'm not preaching, but the rabbi's observation and the 4:1 ratio both seem self-evidently true and by implementing those things in my parenting, I'm happier, my kids are happier, and we're all becoming better people. Heck, one day we may even become great, but being good is okay too.

The things that define us.

2014-06-22T22:20:00.002-07:00

Last Sunday before bed Chad and I were laying on our magnificent bed (it's the best bed! (it was the first thing we bought after Chad graduated from law school. If you haven't got a good bed, then you have nothing. NOTHING!)) chatting about our children and what an awesome responsibility it all is. I mean parenthood is just so all encompassing; you get these little humans and you have the opportunity to influence how they will view the world and themselves. Some of the major things we considered:

what are our priorities?
what characteristics do we want to engender?
what do we spend our time doing?
how can we influence them?
how can we help them overcome individual weaknesses?
what does it mean to be a Mead?

I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty deep stuff. Hours later we'd covered each child's individual needs. We talked about how to compensate for weakness and how to help them develop a strong identity.

Some of the obvious answers to our questions are to pray with them and read scriptures together, etc. We do these things but we can always do better. When I look around and see families that are raising great kids--full of values and just plain goodness--I see the same patterns. Here's a few of them:

Time--There's no substitute for spending time together. We like to play games, read, walk, hike, chat poolside (see above), play tennis. Do whatever you like and do loads and loads of it. (I'm writing these more to memorialize my thoughts than to instruct you the reader. These are the things that we want to do more consistently.)
Traditions--having family rituals seems important. These are the things that seem like "our" things--the things our family does because it's "us." Some of them are the Friday Night movie night, the Saturday morning breakfast, Sunday walks, family reading time, special family places, ongoing activities (Lily and I are currently sewing together every week and she dies of happiness over it. Chad takes the boys to play chess and to the movies (he's taking the kids to the circus next week (some sacrifices are required to be a good parent)).
Sayings--when Chad and I were dating we often say it was "it's you and me against the world!" I have no idea why we came up with this but it stuck and has been something that we say to each other every so often. It reminds us that we're in this together. A few years ago we started saying "consider the happy state of those who keep the commandments" to our kids; a scripture from the Book of Mormon.
Work--Good kids work. A LOT. Work is something families should do together, every day yard work, house work, school work are all required for the kids' well-being and to help others. We knew a great family that scheduled their boys' Saturdays for them (you've got to mow the Meads' lawn at 8:00 and pull weeds at the Johnsons at 9:30, etc.). These boys saved a lot by doing this, they learned a number of handy skills and were terrific boys, every single one.
Example--the parents that I see raising great kids walk the walk. They are the people that they want their children to be. Being is so much more powerful than saying or seeming to be. This one is a real struggle; not that Chad and I are struggling with huge demons, but we may have let inappropriate movies or music slide in the past, thinking that the kids wouldn't notice. Two things, one, if these things are inappropriate, then we suffer the ill-effects even if the kids don't actually see us doing the bad thing. Two, the kids are old enough to notice. Recently we heard someone talk euphemistically about sex in front of their kids, thinking that the kids wouldn't pick up on it. I think it's best to assume that your kids will pick up on subtle things; I certainly did at their age.

Chad observed that we need to ingrain our values deeply into our kids so that when they're alone in the world and faced with a bad choice--they will appreciate the consequences of that choice. If we've instilled pride in being a Mead (for whatever reason), and they know that Mead's don't do X or Mead's do do Y, then we increase the chances of them staying on the right path. I guess we're just reminding ourselves of the proverb: "train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old he will not depart from it."

One of the best parts of marriage is having a partner who cares about the same things you do (and just as much as you do). For example, it's deeply satisfying to reflect together on when a certain little boy refused to eat by his mouth as a three-year-old and drooled so much that you had to change his sopping wet shirt at 10 in the morning and contrasting it with how he's making eggs and toast for the family and managing not have a single bit of saliva out of place. All of our kids have overcome obstacles that were once difficult. Chad feels the greatest of these victories as much as I do and knows that in the remaining time we have with them, there's so much left to do. We can accomplish great things together, producing strong, capable, kind, Christlike adults that make their world and the people they come into contact with better. Our above reflections of these issues helps us clarify what we are trying to accomplish, how important it is, and how we're going to get there. This isn't the whole list, but it's a good start.

A Sunday night tradition--walking

2014-06-15T20:17:00.001-07:00

On Sunday evening, after dinner; we walk. It's usually the same route, occasionally we go different way and sometimes everyone walks, other times some are on bikes. We usually push Jack and then on a certain street we set him free and he walks up and down, up and down. Often we stick around and see the sunset over the valley. We chat about our day, the week, life. It's a little thing but also something everyone looks forward to and enjoys.

I'm going to take that as a yes

2014-06-15T20:15:00.003-07:00

This is Lily's new favorite phrase and it makes me laugh every single time (on the inside (I have to maintain some authority)). How it goes is she that will ask you for something or ask a question about an outing or a request for a "best friend" to come play. Then 2.4 seconds after asking (about the same time as it takes you to process the first five words of her sentence) she'll follow up with, "I'm going to take that as a yes."

It's just so Lily and it kills me. These days she's demanding, loud, rambunctious, fast, willful adventurous and wild. Wrap all of that up into a little girl who has a ZEST for living that is unparalleled. Raising a child with this much joy for life is challenging but I absolutely love who she is and wouldn't change a hair on her beautiful head.

**It was very sad this past week when she got food poisoning from eating undercooked bacon. She was so so sick (like projectile vomiting for eight hours straight sick)! It took her two full days after to recover and everyone felt just plain awful for her! I found a few photos of her from over the past few years that I love and are little snippets of this awesome girl.

Becoming bold.

2014-05-25T22:28:00.000-07:00

This year alone I have (1) killed an eight foot rattle snake, (2) turned off an exploding gas water heater, (3) caught and killed a mouse in my living room, (4) shooed out five birds from my living room, (5) captured a lizard next to my bed and released it into the wild, (5) killed four ten inch lizards, (6) killed far too many scorpions, (7) hiked for eight hours up a river with four children and (8) told off a woman who was rude to my children.

During the situations involving wild animals especially I am usually crying and shouting, "where's your dad?!?!" but, nonetheless, I handle them like a boss. I was daydreaming at church today (during my calling in Primary (I was obviously very naughty in the preexistence)) thinking about some of these situations and how being responsible for other peoples well-being can make you bold--better than you are without that responsibility. That sometimes you face horrible, terrifying situations because you know nobody else can, or will, and it must be done.

Take that flipping snake for instance. Rattlesnakes are territorial and I knew that if I didn't kill it--it may very well have come back tomorrow to bite my Jackie. So shooing it away was not an option--it needed to die and, at the time, I was the only one around to do it. So like a boss--in shorts and flip flops--I took its head off with a shovel.

It's been about twelve years since I became a mother and it's really only in looking back that I see how far I have come. I'm happy with the things I've accomplished; proud of where I am in this moment, which isn't to say I'm where I'd like to be, but I've grown. I'm content with the progression. It's reflections like these where I wax serious and feel the urgency to teach my children: courage, strength, independence, wisdom, compassion, charity, kindness, even. . . thriftiness (my enemy). I know that the best lessons aren't taught but rather seen. So I carry on everyday, more committed to trying to be these things than I was yesterday.

I'm a bad blogger (and possbily mother, wife, friend, daughter). . .

2014-05-13T13:18:00.000-07:00

Nah: I'm awesome at that stuff--but a bad blogger for sure.

Things have been good lately, lots of paddle boarding and stripes apparently. Kids are getting out of school in about a week and I'm SO ready to not be waking up and making lunches at the butt crack of dawn (7am). Have I ever mentioned that I'm not a morning person? Ugh--me and Garfield--hate them.

What else? Lily still loves TY and is convinced she will marry him and may or may not have children--this is dependent on if I have yelled at her that day. If yes then no--"being a mommy is too hard" and if no yelling then she will have "maybe two. . .kids are just a lot of work". Luke is doing much better with school and emotionally--we've been doing a program twice daily (kill me now) and have seen good results.

Owie is his usual great self; Chad pointed out to me that on Clash of the Clans people often ask for troops to help when they are invaded and their teammates can decide to ignore their calls for help or send troops (you just got dumber simply by reading that). Well, there is a score keeping page where you can see everybody stats, etc. and Owen had sent like 1,000 x's what the average player sends. Just sums him up--such a great kid, wants to help.

Jackie is babbling away and listening intently on conversations then piping in with a string of undecipherable sounds and noises--we basically love it. He's also running everywhere, jumping (on our new trampoline!---only took 12 years to wear Chad down on that one) and demanding yogurt every thirty-eight minutes.

It was definetly for real.

2014-03-06T20:35:00.001-08:00

Every so often one of these children of mine say something utterly hilarious, ridiculous or bizarre. Occasionally it will be all three: "UGH!!! I just threw up. . .for real."

In case you can't already tell this is her wedding veil that she will marry when she marries either Garron or Ty--girl's got options ya know!

Want more Lily'ism's? Let me set the stage: Jack has just spilled about four hundred cheerios on the floor, Lily is walking by when she notices and remarks, "it's stuff like this that makes me think. . .nah better to be a POP star." (instead of a mom)

---who can argue with this logic.

Welcome to my new place. . .

2014-02-23T10:47:00.000-08:00

If you're reading this then my directions got you here, congratulations on being good with directions! I've been meaning to blog more and add my design ideas to my person blog so I thought it time for a move from Texasmeads to a place where all my thoughts, rants and ideas could co-mingle.

Here I will continue to opine about my life, motherhood, the outdoors but I'm also going to share more of my design ideas, projects and hopefully use this blog as a means to get design work! I love projects and am often asked by friends and friends of friends for help with their homes and am trying to make the transition more official by adding my services tab for those interested in working with moi!

Mostly I plan on working in the Phoenix area but who knows--maybe they're be a demand for me in North Dakota? For this I have my E-design services. I'm excited about this new venture doing what I'm truly passionate about.

Sometimes we blow it.

2014-02-16T19:10:00.000-08:00

Growing up is a hard, messy business; filled with do-overs, amazing triumphs, and regrets over how we wish we would have acted. Friday was such a day for Owen.

Owen, Luke, Lily and Garron (Owens' friend) were all walking home from the bus stop after school on Friday when some older kids who live in our neighborhood started picking on Luke. One of these kids, Justin, reached in and took half of Luke's Valentine's Day candy. Then Shaddy, another older kid, called Luke a gaywod. Justin shoved Luke so that he tripped and fell. Then, Shaddy laughed in Luke's face.

Owen walking behind, witnessing all of this.

Justin pushed Luke again and they both continued ridiculing and taunting Luke. Finally, Garron told them to leave Luke alone and got pushed for his trouble (way to be Garron!). Luke ran home and buried his head in his pillow, sobbing.

Moments later, Owen walked in and saw me with Luke. He tried to pretend that he didn't know what was going on. After I finished comforting Luke, I took Owen aside and told him that this is the most disappointed that I have ever been in him. I teared up a bit and told him that he blew it back there, royally. One of the most important things you can do in your life is to have the courage to stick up for your family, even if you're scared.

Owen was sobbing at this point and pounded his fists against the wall saying, "I'm just so mad at myself! I kept thinking while it was happening, 'if Justin does one more thing, I'll step in,' but I didn't and now I can't take it back. UGH, I'm just SO sorry! I didn't want to get into a fist fight with Justin and I knew that if I said something we would, so I didn't. I know that I should of, but I didn't and now I'm so mad at myself!!" he wailed.

We went and sat down in another room. I told Owen that sometimes we totally blow it when it counts, and today that happened to him. Luke needed his big brother--who is WAY bigger than either of those boys--to stick up for him and show those kids that the Meads stick together. That even if you get the crap kicked outta you--you stand up for your people when they get picked on. (Later, I did just this thing; retrieving the candy and an apology from the offending boys.)

I told Owen that at these moments we show what we're all about. Yes, it's hard sometimes and yes, it's going to be embarrassing or unpopular sometimes, but that's when it matters most. We hugged and the last thing I told him was to use this experience--how badly he felt right then--to make sure that the next time--there will certainly be a next time--to do what's right.

Let's aim to be courageous, not cowardly.

Conversations and insights:

2013-11-24T08:20:00.000-08:00

Friday night, Chad and I were talking about families and kids with friends. Sometimes we can't believe that we of all people have four kids! We're both pretty impatient--not touchy, feel-y types--and we both have just enough selfishness to make it a battle between doing what the kids needs vs. what we want to be doing. And we both love us some freaking peace and quiet! Impossible with four little ones about.

Chad made a passing comment that resonated with me and I couldn't believe that I had never put words to it, he said, "yea, I don't really feel like we have four kids though; it seems closer to three. We have the older three but Jack, well it feels like he's all of ours."

And it's so true; he is all of ours, and it's more than the baby of the family feeling too.

We simply adore him; his victories are our victories because he is ours. He learns how to give five? Well, that boy is giving fives out like it's going out of style, yesterday Lily said to a stranger, "hey, if you hold your hand out my little brother will give you five!"

When Owen's friends come over to play, Jack is in the mix the entire time. All of Owen's friends love Buster (why Buster? well, because he busts things, of course!). He cries for something and Garron or Eli will pick him up and soothe him all on their own; he belongs to a lot of people. It's an interesting insight into our family dynamic that I hadn't quite pinpointed yet. An insight that, as a mother to a child with down syndrome (and all the uncertainty that comes with that)--is calming. Fears of who's going to take care of Jackie when we are gone? melt away into the backdrop of three small faces who are pulling for our boy.

I need to keep a running tally. . .

2013-11-17T17:02:00.000-08:00

of things to teach each differnt child:

Lily--when wearing a dress keep your knees together.

Luke--when taking photos, smile and open your eyes.

Jack--keep being darling.

Owen--you too.

They're a pretty cute bunch, even if their mother is sometimes derelict in her duties.

We did stuff in Mexico.

2013-11-10T08:06:00.000-08:00

We struggle with family photos--it's hard being a family at times.

Someone got to the bag of granola bars and was outraged to discover that things like this exist.

September took us to Mexico twice; we just couldn't get enough. First we went with our friends and neighbors to their house in Rocky Point and then Cabo as you will probably recall. When driving into a foreign country (especially when it's freaking Mexico) it is best to:

a) know where you are going (directions such as turn right after you see a house with a darkened sign that if it were light you could see it says, Buen Viaje will not be accepted)
b) not be going in the dark of night
c) not driving through a freak storm where the crappy Mexican roads are washed out from a flash flood and you have to decide whether to sit on the side of the "road" or go through the river that is flowing through aforementioned "road"
d) wear long sleeve shirt if driving so passenger doesn't claw your forearm when you decide 38 years is a pretty good run.

"When I get older and get me a kid, I'm going to name him Kevin."--Owen 8/6/13

2013-11-03T08:18:00.000-08:00

Life is a blur. It's going a hundred miles per hour and I want to slow down and just enjoy for a moment but don't because there's so much to do! This blog is nice because it allows me to take a moment, look at pictures and events from our lives and see how much is changing. Hopefully it also means that I slow down a tiny bit when I can...

Owen is ten. He started insulin about a year ago and has gradually had to take more and more shots. Towards the end he was taking about six shots per day--that's alot of pokes! This past week he got his first diabetic pump, The Omnipod. So far it's been great, one poke every three days! Had some lower blood sugars and 1am checks but that's just par for the course.

Owen is such a great first child, he's my right hand man. Always there to help and trying to see how he can make things better:

mom shouting? --clean the kitchen.
mom rushing around trying to get out the door?--get Jack dressed.
mom demanding quiet? take all the kids to the furthest room in the house and play.
mom exasperated about messy house?--organize Luke and Lily and start a cleaning team.
mom looking frustrated?--give her a hug and tell her something nice.

He is just such a great kid. A friend to everyone, life of the party and doesn't let the trials of his life get him down. Last Monday we were driving to the hospital to start his insulin pump and I was looking at him thinking how fast he's growing up. That just yesterday he was the fat little baby who was afraid to swallow food so he would chew it up and then spit it into a napkin. I was telling him how much I love him and how proud of him I am and I started to cry a bit. As I was talking I saw him wiping away little tears; he's still my little boy. He may have his first crush (Tatum Pile) and have plans for what he's going to name his children (Kevin?-really??) and maybe I have to drop him off at parties and pretend we don't know each other (Oakland party--Halloween 2013) but he's still mine.

Stepping up and revelations

2013-11-03T07:46:00.000-08:00

Last month we participated in the Step up for Down Syndrome parade for ASU Homecoming (that school looks like a par-tay!). This is the third time we've done the parade and the first time Jackie was able to walk it! Walking in the proper direction will be reserved for next year..

When a break was necessary either for his own tiredness or for us wanting a break from going the wrong direction he rode on Chad's shoulders and would high five people cheering; that was pretty darn cute!

Now for the revelations portion of this post; Jackie had his first milkshake after the parade. Flavor-chocolate, location-In-and-Out Burgers, result-a life long love affair. Later in the afternoon he asked for some milk (by screaming and crying) and when we gave him his once loved milk he took one sip and looked at us like, "Hey?--holding out on me?"