Visit with Family from CA

About a week before Christmas, my Aunt and Uncle and 2 cousins came to visit. We had a big family dinner with everyone who lives in Salt Lake area and them at my parents house. Carissa and Gabe had lots of fun playing with Kailee. And Carissa and Kailee even got to have a sleep over together before they left.

Kira updates

This year for Christmas we decided to get Kira an exersaucer. Only problem was that we didn't have anywhere to hide/store it until Christmas so we let her have it early. Besides, she doesn't know about Christmas and presents yet anyway. We've been using it for a few weeks now, and she is figuring out how to work the toys. She seems to like it. Kira has a little frog/blankie/lovie and she will cuddle with it and rub it when she goes to sleep. Also, she will take and likes a pacifier. It is so nice. Gabe and Carissa never would take a paifier, and I tried every version there is with them. Last update for the day is that since Kira is now 4 months old we gave her rice cereal for the first time today. She had a lot of it come back out, but she seemed to like it. She would open her mouth for bites and even leaned forward to get a bite. I think that she liked finally getting to try something other than milk.

New haircuts

Today, Carissa and Gabe both got new haircuts. Carissa wanted her hair cut short, to her chin. Gabe wanted a Mohawk or fauxhawk. Carissa's hair was probably half way down her back before it was cut, and I was kind of sad to see it go. But, it is her hair and it will grow back. They were both very excited and happy with their hair cuts.

Christmas tree

This weekend we finally got our tree up and the kids decorated it. I guess at this point it is kind of a family tradition now. The kids decorated the tree all on their own again. They use the step stool to reach the higher places, and the only thing that either Ben or I do is put the star on top of the tree. They love doing it, and I think they do a pretty good job.

Kira's hair

Kira has so much hair and I love it. At 1 year old Carissa didn't have as much hair as Kira at 3 1/2 months old. Well, Kira's hair finally got to where it was in her eyes so I gave her a little trim.
Before


After


Also, I love her curls.

Skiing

I finally got a chance to watch Carissa ski, and she is doing a great job. I guess Gabe kind of forgot how to ski over the summer, so he is going to take another ski lesson sometime this year. Gabe really wants to ski though. Carissa actually went down a black diamond on her second time out this year, so I guess she didn't forget how to ski over the summer.

Gabe's evaluation

So, we took Gabe in for an evaluation about 2 years ago when he was 3, because of the problems I was having with him. At that time he was diagnosed as "most likely ADHD." We did some counseling and a parenting class and it helped a lot. Then the last few months things have been getting worse at home and with him in kindergarten. So, we went for an evaluation the week before Thanksgiving, and got some questionnaires for Ben and I, and for Gabe's teacher. When I looked over the one that the teacher filled out it made me really sad, and Ben got kind of defensive. I guess things are worse at school than we thought. And I'm glad I've had some time to get to know Gabe's teacher before this or I might feel that she was "out to get him."

Then we had a meeting on Monday the week of Thanksgiving to go over the questionnaires. And, it seems pretty certain between both appointments that Gabe does have ADHD. We started going to a weekly peer interaction group to help Gabe interact with his peers. And, we will be finding out what the school has available to help him as well as soon as we can. So far, Gabe is really liking the peer interaction group and they have a group for the parents at the same time to help us with information and such.