Inbetween Therapies

In between therapies (4 last week- yikes!) & a sick baby (sick for 4 days- poor baby!) & life in general... we've found a few hours for fun lately-

We swam a few days ago - a cool front has come to Texas (highs of 87!) but I'm not willing to say we're done swimming yet for the year.

When R was out of town last week, the kids & I & Lovie & Cookie headed to the county fair.

Will & Ellie are such daredevils-

(doing his "motorcycle man" impression he developed a skill for as a toddler- still cracks us up)

Will is on the far right - 

smallest kid on this ride - it drops & then slowly climbs back up before a terrifying drop-

and he LOVED it!

He would get a look of fear and then a smile and like he was having the time of his life.

He does not get this from me.

(Confession - as a teenager, when I went with friends to theme parks, I used to sit at the bench at the end of all the roller coasters - I was way too scared to ride them!)

Ellie loved the flying elephants

Eventually, we left the "kiddieland" rides as Will wanted to try some of the bigger rides.

I rode the swings with him - & was a wreck.  Seriously, I was begging God to let it end quickly as I hated seeing my child so high above the ground.  Of course, he enjoyed it.

He also rode a super fast spinning ride with his Lovie but neither of us was willing to ride the big time roller coasters with him.  I did ride a few of the kiddie versions - I was a wreck.  He was laughing with delight the whole time & he gripped my hand (I was screaming in fear) and said, "It's okay, Mommy.  You're safe.  I'm right here."

Sweet boy.  Poor mama.

Ellie will now drink milk from a cup!  She will drink it from a straw cup without a valve or a regular cup.

She has now tasted cow's milk but still is nursing 4-5 times a day and sometimes I let her have pumped milk in a cup.

She tried a gait trainer recently.  She wasn't a huge fan.

If we end up with one of these, I'll have to make it pink.

We played at a fun park before soccer practice one evening.  Ellie rode a slide independently (sort of) for the first time.

And loved it.

(look at that love look she is giving her big brother - she adores him)

There's a beautiful children's park in our town.  I've never been there although I've read their newsletter.  It was founded by mothers who have lost children- either through miscarriage or in infancy or in early childhood.  Their children's brief lives are forever remembered with their names inscribed in stones along the pathways or on plaques by trees.  I love this idea.  I remember thinking about planting a tree in our yard when we miscarried but I hated the idea of someday moving from that house (we knew it wasn't our forever home) & leaving the tree.  Here, families can plant a tree and know they can always return.

Friday was our only day without any therapies or appointments and it was glorious to not have a plan or somewhere to be.

So, we packed a picnic lunch and headed to the Children's park to explore.

I love seasonal books.  I love that when I unpack our holiday decorations and I pull out a stack of books he hasn't seen in a year, it's so exciting!  

Lots of Halloween and autumn reading at our house this week.

Even in a full week of therapies, I like to find time to just play - to just be a mommy and two kids.

We made some good memories last week for sure.