Taking the Scenic Route

#154 Five Kids in the School Room

Robert & his kids came over for the afternoon and overnight.  The kids had a blast.  We made homemade pizza, played Carcassonne, and watched movies.

The princesses and their Daddys head to the store for supper ingredients.

Playing

#131 Zora and Kaz (my BFF’s son, who lives in KC area now) hit it off like they had spent a lifetime as best buds.

#128 Playing “Flux” with Robert. The Monty Python version was particularly entertaining.

#94  My favorite Spokesperson, looking like the poster boy he is.

Getting Ready to Leave for the Walk.

We meet up with Carrie & David and their doggie (I can’t remember her name). Carrie was Zane’s first SLP and they had a really special connection. We were also expecting to meet M., the friend that Zane was paired with at WSU, but she was too freaked out by the crowds to want to get out of the car. Her mom walked with us, but her dad took M. back home when she couldn’t calm down.

The crowd begins to gather. I heard there were around 900 walkers.

After Chance talked about autism a bit (he was the older spokeschild), they introduced our family as they prepared for Zane to get the race started. Susan Peters, from the local ABC news station (KAKE), was the Emcee

Zane was excited to do the “Ready, Set, GO!” to start the race.

And, the walk. We ended up having to cut through the back door of Heartspring instead of completing the race because Zach isn’t fully recovered, and the kids were pooping out (I carried Zora for a while, then Carrie gave her a piggyback ride the rest of the way)

The food was good. Old Chicago and Popeyes (and I think somebody else) provided food for the walkers.

It was a lot of fun and, despite the wind, it went a lot better than last year. They had bounce houses and were more spread out so it wasn’t as overwhelming. Zane is also getting better at crowds, so that was a major plus too.

I thought I had avoided being interviewed this year, but KFDI ended up tracking me down to talk for a while. I know I am decent at interviews, but dang I always feel stark cold fear when somebody puts a microphone towards me and I have no idea what they are going to ask me. I think in “essay”, not “sound bites”, and it really forces me to adjust quickly.

Some dear friends of mine (not using their real names in case they would prefer it that way), who supported us emotionally and helped financially during the rough time during Zora’s pregnancy, were set to give birth. In a horrible turn of events, their baby died shortly before labor. He was born still.

Like us, they had also undergone frustrating infertility. She was a nurse who worked in the NICU for years, supporting babies and their moms, and was such an incredibly valuable source of support for us when we had our own little one. She knew our needs before we did and I can’t tell you how much her support has made a difference in our lives.

I am so broken hearted for her and her husband. This is just so utterly unfair and horribly tragic.

This was her announcement at a mom’s board, where I met her.

Annoucing the passing and birth of Soren Emery…

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My heart is completely broken. My son passed away a few days ago in utero, the NST I had on Friday was picking up my heart rate, not the baby’s. It’s a really long story that I just can’t bear to type out right now.

He was 6lbs,0oz 18 inches long and had dark hair like his daddy. 10 fngers and 10 toes. And he’s left a hole in my life that I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to fix.

I know she is taking an internet break right now, and not wanting to be on the phone, but just in case she stopped by (she is a blog regular, as I am a regular to her blog), I wanted her to know that she, her dh, and beautiful Soren will remain in my prayers. I am so deeply sorry my friend. ANY TIME you want to talk, you are free to call, IM, or email me.

Robert followed Zach home from work (Robert is a contracter working on some computer stuff). He hates taking the interstate in his van, so there is usually a little lag even when they leave at the same time, so we just hung out for a few minutes while waiting for him.

I like these pictures of my wonderful husband

There is something about this one that makes him look very Italian

And the evening programming festivities commence (with Chili)

#79 One of Zane’s favorite people. He was paired with M. at ST for a few semesters. She doesn’t go there any more, but we still get the kids together when we can.

#70 Maze love

We went to meet some friends from ST at Exploration Place. When we walked into the main hall, I knew we were going to have problems getting Zane past the room into the rest of the building. The big hall was filled with mazes, Zane’s obsession for a while now. He happily traced or walked the path through every maze in the room.

Zora, my social one, made “friends” within minutes of being there.

Zane did play with Zora on the singing see-saw (it had balls in that ran through chimes as you moved the see-saw up and down)

This is a reproduction of a maze that is in his favorite book about mazes. He spent a lot of time working this one out.

Eventually Justin and Rose caught up with us. The lady in this picture (I can’t remember her name any more) was one of the counselors at Camp STARR at Heartsprings last summer and knew Zane too. Justin is about a year older than Zora and they often play together after his ST. (Zane’s session is right after Justin’s this semester)

We did make our way to a few other displays before ending up in the toddler play area.

Zane really liked the tornado booth. Figures.

I didn’t really get any photos of the play area because I was too busy keeping track of kids and talking to other parents. I did meet another mom new to the country who was wanting her son to be evaluated for autism. She was really excited to see Zane (he was looking mighty autistic that day) and quickly broached the subject, relieved to find somebody who could point her to resources. In Japan she was a SpEd teacher, but had no idea how to access resources here. Needless to say, by the time she left she had a pretty good list of resources. It made me feel like I was there for a reason.

#52 The Workers.  Zach helping Robert program.

While the older brothers play video games inside, the girls play in the backyard.