Tobin is grounded!!!

Yesterday while Jonah was at preschool, i decided to do a little christmas shopping with Tobin. We were in the store just browsing around and after about 20 minutes in the shopping cart, Tobin started to get cranky (he hates shopping). I decided to take Tobin out of the cart and let him wander a bit to get his wiggles out. So for the next 10 minutes i was following him around the store not getting much christmas shopping done when something that i needed caught my eye. i stopped and looked at it for about 15 seconds (a long time when you count it out) then looked up to see that Tobin was gone (not really surprising). So i continued to wander to find him, but he wasnt anywhere. I started running up and down every isle around us shouting his name and asking anyone i saw if they had seen him. Nothing. Major panic settled in as i searched the entire store with no success; Thoughts started rolling through my head and i didnt even want to think about what might have happened to him. I ran to the front of the store to tell them that i lost my little boy when i noticed Tobin sitting in someones shopping cart at the front desk. i ran over to him and grabbed him into a bear hug while the woman asked if i was his mother. i told her i was and she told me that she found Tobin wandering around in the......PARKING LOT!!!! I started to cry. She told me that Tobin had walked up to her with his arms held out and she took him and brought him in the store hoping to find his mom. I thanked her a million times and held Tobin so tight that i was surprised he wasnt protesting. Of course Tobin gave me a look like, "hey mom, what's up". It took forever for my racing heart to calm down. I learned several good lessons yesterday. Especially that automatic doors WILL open for a little one year old body.

All the Utah Cousins

Left to Right: Claire, Abe, Henry, Jonah, Tobin, Lance, and Reese. We're just missin' those three fauchier beauties!

A monkey and a horse

The kids had a blast this halloween. Both of them loved wearing their costumes. Jake took them trick-or-treating to a few homes in the neighborhood while i passed out candy and then we visited some friends and family. The weather was great! It was so nice to not have to worry about the kids getting cold-they actually got hot. Tobin's costume was great. Whenever he fell or ran into something, he was padded enough that he barely noticed. Maybe i will put him in his costume more often!

Loving the park

The weather has been so great this week that we have gone to the park almost everyday. Jonah loves looking at the ducks (of course) and Tobin loves to walk around on bridge and in the leaves. He will just go keep walking back and forth until we leave. And they both throw fits when its time to go home. Here's a million pictures of our kids in the park.

Look at how blonde he is getting!

Update on Jonah

So as many of you know, we have changed Jonah's diet to see if it improves his ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), PDD-NOS. We have put him on a dairy free (casien free), wheat free, gluten free diet. I heard about the diet several weeks ago. Here's my little story. My mom gave me an artical entitled "kids who dont fit in" (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20657188/site/newsweek/page/0/). Reading it brought me some comfort in knowing that i will probably always have a boy that is a little different and that it is ok, but i still wondered if there was something i could do to help Jonah more. So i decided to do some google searches about ASD's and what can be done to help improve them. I ran across a bunch of website about GFCF (gluten free casien free) diets and how much they improve ASD's. i hemmed and hawed about trying it for a few days and within those few days several people had mentioned to me the whole Oprah show with Jenny McCarthy and how she did this same diet with her son. I looked up some info on the show and while i think Jenny seemed to give parents of ASD children false hope about practically curing autism (all of our children would improve if we could afford $10K of full-time therapy a month and expensive specialty food), i have to admit that i was a little intrigued by the idea that the diet worked so well for her son. Jonah's symptoms arent nearly as severe as Jenny's son, but i figured it might be worth a shot. I did a little more reasearch and decided the the diet would be expensive and a bit stressful to figure out (Jonah practically lived off of dairy and carbs). After talking it over with the hubbie, we decided we should definately try it. It has been 3 weeks into the diet. Jonah has been talking more at home and at school, seems to understand what we are saying better, and he's now started to show more interest and participate in all the activites at school rather than wandering off or sitting a few of them out. I'm reluctant to give instant credit to this diet; maybe Jonah is improving because of the examples of his peers or maybe he is just finally "getting it". It will take a couple of more months to really be able to tell. Either way, his symptoms are getting less severe and we're seeing improvements. Jonah had no problem switching the diet-he barely seemed to notice. I cut him cold turkey off of dairy and gluten in one day (and then read it was better to "ween" them off--oops!). Thank heavens for Soy ice cream, and fruit snacks. We may not have been able to survive without them. The nice thing is, i seem to buy and bake less sweets (who wants to bake a batch of cookies and not share them with your kids) and buy more fruits and veggies, so its good for us all. And since i have finally figured out what he does and doesnt like, the diet isnt so hard anymore. We'll track his progress for several more weeks and see what other improvements he'll make. I've always silently mocked the Wild Oats shoppers for their natural organic hippy style. But now i'm enjoying all the gluten free organic products they offer, and becoming a regular shopper. I'm even growing out my armpit hair. Ha ha ha.

Cousins, Pumpkins, and more!

We have been having a lot of fun getting ready for the fall holidays. We've been making halloween cookies, playing at Cornbelly days at Thanksgiving Point, seeing witches and pumpkins at Garnder Village, roaming in pumpkin patches and corn mazes, and i'm sure the list will continue to go on and on. Here are a few pictures of the fun!

Showing off our best decorated cookies.

They did have fun even though they dont look too happy.

Just some fun pictures.

Aunt Anna

We love you Aunt Anna !! Thanks for coming to see us!

Tobin's first birthday!!!

It was a fun party. Tobin was a little sick during his birthday party so he doesnt look like he enjoyed his party much--i now realize that he didnt smile in any of his pictures. I'm sure he was just overwhelmed with all the people and kids "helping" him open his presents. He made out like a bandit with all the presenst everyone gave him and loves playing with his toys. The cookie monster cake and balloons were a hit with the kids (of course) and it was great having everyone cram into our small casa for a little celebration! We even got Grannie, Grandpa, and Great Grannie to come in from California for the party (well, to visit family too i guess).