On Days Like Today...

...I kind of wonder why I insisted that I'd drive Elijah to preschool instead of having him take the bus.

Or why I live in Minnesota for that matter. 

I have to say though, it was a beautiful day. I think I need a cup of hot chocolate. Drink one with me, will you?

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Up and Running

I can't believe I haven't written this update yet...we're back up and running in terms of ABA therapy!

That means Elijah was out of therapy for a total of three weeks due to our insurance snafu (we started up again last week with three half days).

I have to say, I'm pretty proud of Andy. He was the one who made all the right phone calls and talked to the right people. Without him, who knows how long we would've been out of therapy.  It turns out our insurance does indeed cover ABA therapy after all.

And get this: Andy actually got a phone message from someone at our insurance company with a apology and an admittance that our case had been mishandled. How often do you think that happens?  It pays to be persistent, I'd say.

I'm sure some of you have been wondering and praying for us and for that we are so grateful.

So, there you have it - we're up and running again.  Yet another thing for which we are definitely thankful.

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Oh, and the pictures? They're snowmen made by Andy and me. My mom asked in a comment if Andy finished the snowman he was making in the Snow Day 2010 post.  Yes, he did. And I made one too.  I'll let you decide which snowman was made by Andy and which one was made by me. ;)

I love this picture of my favorite man :)

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Blessed

We're counting our blessings and giving thanks.

Oh, and eating a lot.

And definitely having fun.

Happy Thanksgiving people! I'm thankful for each and every one of you who come to Elijahland to check on us.

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Tortellini

Ellen over at Love That Max is hosting a blog carnival where we share a favorite photo of our child. Go check out all the cute kiddos!

I honestly don't have a favorite photo of Elijah. If you haven't noticed, I have taken a lot of pictures of our little boy over the last 3+ years. 

This is one of my favorites...

Taken at our dinner table, Elijah was 7 months old in this picture. That night we were having tortellini and Elijah could not stop giggling. He wasn't eating pasta at that age, of course, but he thought the word tortellini sounded hilarious.

Oh, the toothless grin, the rosy cheeks that were surely a sign of his food allergies, the hair standing straight up, the drool and spit-up soaked shirt, the dimples, his head ridge that I blissfully tried to ignore, his perfect little eyebrows - it's all an accurate representation of a happy night.  Our lives back then were constantly filled with worry about what Elijah's future would hold, but on nights such as this we knew (one way or another) everything was going to be all right. 

Time and perspective tells me that things are all right. We're one happy tortellini family - except we can't eat tortellini. ;) No worries - we still giggle at the dinner table. 

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Snow Day 2010

We had our first snowfall of the season this past weekend. It was glorious.

Elijah really wanted to go outside, so out we went.

This year's first snow of the season? I think it was my favorite ever.  It was so beautiful and we had so much fun together as a family.  Plus, I think Elijah invented a new sport - extreme swinging (I was kind of surprised he still fit in his swing with his snowsuit on!). 

Right now I'm loving snow. Ask me how I feel about it in February - unfortunately I'm sure love and snow will not be in the same sentence when you ask me then.

Anyway, our Snow Day 2010 will go down in history as a really good day (it was the conclusion of A Day in Our Life).

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Want a blast from the past? Check out our first snow from last year.

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A Day in Our Life

This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

What a wonderful Sabbath we're having. Last night I made spinach dip.

Elijah, otherwise known as dimple face, consumed his first ever appetizer and he approved.

Then we had lasagna!

And hot apple cider.

After dinner, we enjoyed a fire in our fireplace (I love how this setting on my camera made Eli transparent).

Even though he'd already had some, Elijah tried to steal his dad's cider.

This morning, I decided it was probably time to pack away my fall candles (even though I love them so!)...

...because we woke up to this...

Elijah really enjoyed watching the snow fall.

Andy made these amazing cinnamon roll biscuits for breakfast.  The three of us gobbled them all up. Yum!

Did any of this seem strange to you? Did you remember that Elijah has pretty severe food allergies to egg, dairy and nuts? All of the food in this post was Elijah-safe. Yes, we made spinach dip, lasagna and cinnamon rolls without dairy or eggs!  What a joy to give our boy yummy foods that we can all eat together. I can't tell you how excited I was to feed Elijah lasagna (one of my favorite foods).

Then we went outside and played in the snow (more pictures to come).

There you have it - a day in our allergy-safe Sabbath life.

The end. :)

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If you're interested-

The Spinach dip and Cinnamon biscuits are from the book What's to Eat?

The lasagna from The Marketing Mama blog.

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In Which Elijah has a Temper Tantrum in a Store - and That's a Good Thing

The other day Elijah and I went to our closest food co-op; it's the best place to buy fun allergy-safe items for Elijah.

The little dude was sitting in the cart when I showed him what I was buying him - some animal cookies.

When I put it in the cart basket behind him, he freaked out.  He wanted some of those animal cookies and he wanted them NOW.  We walked to the next aisle and I showed him the coconut milk I was buying him. Anything I picked up, he wanted. Mac n' "chreese" - he wanted it. Cereal - he wanted it. Coconut yogurt - he wanted it.  These were things I was already buying him - the point is that he saw that I was holding food and he wanted to eat it. Why, oh why, was I showing him things and then not feeding them to him?

He started screaming and crying and biting himself. The biting himself part isn't so great, but the part about being upset that I wouldn't give those things to him? AWESOME.

I know this is a common occurrence for most parents - the whole tug of war in stores over what's going to be purchased and kids having temper tantrums over the things on the shelves.  It's probably very annoying (and legitimately so). But, for us, this whole acting up over something Elijah sees is pretty amazing.

You have to understand that for the past three years Elijah hasn't always shown awareness of his surroundings.  The reason for this is multifaceted, of course. Recently, however, I feel like he is taking in more of his surroundings.  He's noticing things he never noticed before. Being able to recognize and see familiar packaging in a store is a pretty amazing feat for a little guy who just so happens to have Cortical Visual Impairment.  For a kid with CVI, it's hard to filter out all of the clutter. It's not that he can't see, it's that sometimes seeing is just so overwhelming.

He's also noticing what we're eating or drinking and is no longer content with what's on his plate.  He has the whole, "I'll have what she's having" mentality. He's noticing the world around him more.

So when my kid has a temper tantrum over a snack in my hand in the store, I get kind of excited. He doesn't know it, of course. I try to get him to calm down, but inside I'm glowing.  So if you see a crazy lady at the store smirking while her kid his trying to bang his head on the cart while biting his hand, it just might be me. Hi!

Next up, I hoping for a temper tantrum over something that he notices on the shelf instead of in my hand.  Yep, I hoping for more temper tantrums (preferably the-non-hand-biting kind, please), because behind all of the screaming is a pretty amazing accomplishment.

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Cupcake Face

Speaking of cupcakes...

...Elijah likes them. :)

And is it just me or is he looking more boy than toddler these days? I guess technically he's a preschooler (still trying to wrap my mind around that one). Whatever we call him, he's just looking so much more grown-up. The kid seriously kills me with his cuteness - even more-so with chocolate cupcake all over his face. 

Now what are you waiting for? Go turn yourself into a cupcake face.

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Our New Diet?

Andy and I have been trying to take better care of ourselves.  We're exercising five days a week and trying to eat well. For the most part anyway...

But, we have a new solution!

Yesterday Andy sent me an email about a new diet we could try.  Go read it.

I think this means I can eat these allergy-safe cupcakes (that I technically made for Elijah) every day right?

Mmmm, cupcakes

Seriously, though, what I take from this professor's experiment is that portion size is essential - something that tends to be difficult for me. It's fascinating that he was able to eat unhealthy and the data showed that he was healthy. Personally I think eating horrible will catch up with you, but in moderation it's probably fine. I just found this so interesting - it just goes against everything that we're told about health. 

Don't worry, I'm not going on the twinkie diet.  

What do you guys think? 

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Can I Just Say?

I DO NOT like Daylight Savings Time. I do not like it Sam-I-am.

I do not like it here or there, I do not like it anywhere.

We tried to keep Elijah up later last night so that he'd get adjusted to the new DST schedule.  We generally go cold turkey when it comes to time change. I don't prepare ahead of time, slowly trying to get my child accustomed (mostly because DST sneaks up on me). Instead of conking out when we did put Elijah to bed, he was up until 9:30 and up at 5:30.  I guess that technically is eight hours of sleep, but a little dude needs more than that.  And this mom (who never goes to sleep when her boy does) needs more than that.

Can't say I've ever liked DST, but ever since becoming a mom I've loathed it. I mean, you get your child in a schedule finally and then it gets all messed up. Woohoo, time to fall back? Another hour of sleep? Um, no. Nobody tells a baby or toddler to sleep according to the clock.

I'm awake, really!

I don't like it Sam-I-am. I'm tired.

Are you with me moms? Dads? Anyone? How do you feel about DST? Please tell me someone is as loopy as me this morning (I mean, I am posting sleepy pictures of myself on the internet, if thats not loopy I don't know what is.)

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Navigating

I know it's been pretty silent in Elijahland for almost three weeks. Three weeks!

A lot has been going on in our household and I want to fill you all in, but for now just this short update...

Insurance is a pain in the bum. 

Yep, I think that pretty much sums things up.

After (about) three months of ABA therapy, we got a call this past Sunday night and were told that our insurance has started to deny claims and that our service was being suspended until we can get it all figured out. We've had no ABA services this week. None.

Our new normal of constant therapy, the normal I felt like I was finally getting accustomed to, is gone.  Elijah is bored, honestly.

Corn or insurance, Andy is an excellent maze navigator

So, now we're navigating this maze, trying to figure out how we're going to finance this therapy that has been so beneficial to Elijah.  There are other options, other routes we can take.  I just wish things weren't so complicated, you know? And I'm thankful for Andy, he's the kind of guy who gets things done.  He's become a good navigator in the past three years.

The most frustrating thing is that our little boy is the one caught in the middle. He's the one whose life gets turned upside down as a result.  And that, folks, just isn't right.

We'll figure it out.

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