Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Influenza

It is December 27th.  Just a few days left in 2014.  As I click through the photos that captured our Christmas celebrations, I start to look back over the year.

As with any family, there are ups and down.  Triumphs and heart break.

I am going to gloss over the trials--Ellie's gastrointestinal and sleep issues, my torn hamstring and chronic back issues, my canceled trip to see my best friend, Andrew's wisdom teeth removal, my good friend's cancer diagnosis--and focus on the joys for 2014.

Nearly 1 year ago, Andrew left his long-time job at IBM to take a position with Red Hat, Inc. (I have no idea what exactly he does, but it involved tech stuff).  I was excited by the prospect of moving to the Boston area.  After all, I moved to Texas from the East coast and my best friend lived just an hour away.  Andrew was elated he found out that he could telecommute.  In mid-January, Andrew packed up his office and relocated his place of business to  . . . our dining room.  I so did not win the "let's move to Boston" argument, but Andrew is much happier now that he can roll out of bed and go to work in his PJs while working for a company that he loves and believes in.

We celebrating an early Christmas with my parents. 

Andrew also started to work on a bench to go with our kitchen table.  After 11 months, this large, gorgeous oak bench with tons of storage was finally completed and it made its home in our kitchen just 2 weeks ago.  Andrew really has a talent for architecture and wood-working.  There will be a future blog post on Andrew's DIY activities and believe me when I say you will be impressed!

The year of 2014 is the year that Ellie started to really communicate with us and all around her.  Andrew and I started to see changes in Ellie around February and since then, her communication skills have exploded.  Her signs are more fine-tuned.  She continues to make up signs, which confuses us until we finally figure them out using our powers of telepathy.  She is trying to vocalize.  In fact, with prompting, The Bear can say "I want red juice, please"!

We spent Christmas day at my BIL/SIL's new house in Celina.
For once, Ellie didn't run away from me at picture time.
To avoid the stink-eye, I tickled her.

Over the summer, The Chunky Chicken rode a horse for the very first time.  We thought that she would be scared seeing as she was petrified to go near a horse, but she was a rockstar.  Now, every Monday evening, Ellie has horse therapy.  She tells us "horse" and "key key" [donkey]. The changes that we have seen in Ellie are remarkable and I know that horse therapy is one of her favorite things to do.  Dance classes started back up this Fall and with it, Ellie's gross motor skills have progressed.  She is also imitating everything! She also has several of her own "fashion" posts--on this blog, Instagram, and Facebook.  Oh and did I mention that my BABY turned 5 years-old???

A very sleep deprived Ellie was an ornery little thing at her
classroom Holiday party.  She dumped plates of fruit onto the floor and shook her juice
onto the table.  However, when it came time for the piñata, she waited her turn!

As for me, I got my life back on track.  After years of yo-yo dieting and suffering from poor body image, I finally took control of my life and lost almost 30 lb.  In April, I participated in a 21 Day Fix challenge and I saw a significant change in not only my body, but also with my mental health, sleep, and energy levels.  I then decided to do something that was both exciting and scary--I became an Independent Beachbody Coach and run my own health challenges that focus on physical activity, clean eating, and mental health.  These past few months have been both exciting and challenging as I am now self-employed and trying to figure out the home-work-family balance.  This year, I will not be making the resolution to "loose weight", but rather focus on loving myself, becoming stronger, and creating healthier versions of my favorite foods.

Ellie was a little overwhelmed by all the presents at my in-laws' house.
She also didn't understand that some of those presents were not for her.
Well, maybe she did understand and just didn't care!

In May, our little family went to Madison, Wisconsin for a family vacation.  We stayed with my parents in a rented cabin along Lake Kegonsa.  The weather was gorgeous, the scenery was beautiful, and the company was the best.  After a week in Madison, we headed on down to Rockford, Ill where I gained a sister!  That's right, my baby brother Matt finally found a woman to put up with him.  Amber is the sister that I have always wanted and I am so happy that Matt finally got around to proposing to and then marrying her.  I would have been really unhappy if he let her "get away"!  Goal for 2015: convince the Bruns family to move to Austin.

A few weeks ago, my parents came to visit our little Austinite family for a week.  Mom and I got to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra, which was full of complicated guitar and electric violin rifts, amazing vocals, pyrotechnics, laser lights, and creative stage scenery.  I do hope that we can make Trans-Siberian Orchestra a tradition.  Of course we did our usual baking cookies with my mom, dining at Z-Tejas, and visiting Santa Claus.

Andrew, Ellie, Sophie Dog, and I made the drive up to Plano, TX to visit Drew's side of the family for Christmas.  The car ride up there was very difficult since I haven't been able to drive more than 20 minutes due to my back, but Ellie was very chill in the back seat.  As opposed to her usually screaming after 2 hours in the car.  We had a really nice visit with my in-laws complete with Dunja's awesome cooking, Charles delicious pies, and movies!  We finally saw Gone Girl.  Mama Dunja and I had a hard time holding it all in since Drew and Papa Charles didn't read the book. We also got to see most of my nieces and nephews and one of my great-nephews!  The drive back was excruciating and required frequents stops and limping (sciatica sucks), but I do not regret making the trip.  In the Theurer household, nothing is more important that spending time with family.

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in Plano.  Ellie got a kick out of
Grandma Dunja  showing her the camera.

True to Ellie Bear form, 2014 is ending with a BANG!  Ellie was just diagnosed a few hours ago with Influenza A and an ear infection.  Girlfriend certainly knows how to ring in the New Year!

*The photos in this post are from: Breakfast with Santa at North Austin Mother's club, Holiday Party at Ellie's school, Lakeline Mall Santa, Christmas with my parents, and Christmas with Andrew's mom and step-father, et al.



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Head Bonk + Sexy Husband = DIY Oak Table

Valentine's Day 2013 did not go as planned.  Not that we really had any plans, but hanging out in an ambulance followed by an evening in the ER is not my idea of romance (especially seeing we did not even have a hot EMT).  Oh those gurneys are just so sexy.  Hospital bracelets are a girl's dream for jewelry.

February 14, 2013

Anyway, February 14th was when my precocious little monkey decided to practice her gymnastics by catapulting herself off of the kitchen chair during an ABA therapy session.  She proceed to turn purple, stop breathing, and have a grand map seizure (I may have gotten the order of that wrong).  Ellie Bear is okay and I would like to say that she learned her lesson, but no.  Girlfriend likes to live on the edge.  What does this have to do with a oak table, you ask?

I am getting to that.

You see, our kitchen table is counter height.  As such, our chairs, which the Bear sky-dived off of are atypically high.  I exclaimed to my husband after the head bonk accident "we ARE getting a traditional kitchen table!" since I knew Ellie would continue her climbing escapades.  Andrew agreed. . .

Case Made: Wild Child on the table

. . . only he insisted on making the kitchen table himself.

Now, for those of you who know my blonde hair, blue-eyed husband with buns of steel, he is Mr. DIY Procrastinator.  Yeah, sure, make the kitchen table.  I have no doubt of his carpenter abilities.  I do doubt his ability to finish the project completely and in a timely manner (let's review to Andrew's solution to the mold in our master bath).  Andrew's definition of timely is quite different than my definition.

So, here we are just shy of 11 months later and I present the kitchen table!

Oh wait, first I need to show the progress.  You see, he had to build a work bench before he could make the table.  Apparently, this work bench was imperative to constructing the table.  Okay.  I don't do DIY wood work.  I cannot be trusted with a saw or a hammer or a screw driver.  Yet, I trusted his whole "I need to make a work bench so I can make the table" thing.  There had to be room for clamps and tracks and cords, and other manly sounding carpenter accessories.

The work bench took a while, but then he constructed this table in 10 seconds flat.  Well, more like 10 days, BUT it didn't take months or years.  Plus, I got to pick out each piece of oak paneling used in this table.  Oooh la la. Now Mr. Toolbelt needs to get cracking on the bench that is going to accompany this table.

Did I mention that he needs to modify the workbench before he can built the seating bench?  Fortunately, we bought some chairs to tie us over in the mean time.

Look!  We are eating at the table.  Look!  My little vegetarian is eating a rib!

Progress

Back around Easter time, I shared with you a photo taken by my husband.  I was in St. Louis with Ellie visiting my parents while Andrew toiled at home.  He happily informed me that he "made a dent" in our master bathroom mold problem.

Here was the picture from early April:

April 2012

Now, 1.5 months later, check out the progress!

May 29, 2012

The bathtub is clean.

To be fair, we have shopped for tile and we have the cement board in our garage.

Random Ellie photo.

Disaster House

Ellie and I made it safely back to Austin today and I had big plans edit all 167 Easter photos and to revel you with a witty post jam-packed with lovely photos of my ever-so-precious & ever-so-spoiled daughter.  However, when I walked into the door after getting up at 4:00am to drag a protesting toddler halfway across the country, I was welcomed to this:

And this:

It was all, mostly, somewhat, a little bit created by Andrew.  However, I was also greeted by this:

Oh yes, my friends.  New carpet!  Freshly scraped and painted ceilings!   A new ceiling fan!


The house looks fabulous and I am so grateful for Andrew spending his time away from us wisely (aka doing his highly technical day job and then moving all of our crap furniture and belongings to safer locations).

Thankfully, Andrew moved our dresser back to its rightful location.

Now I can enjoy lots of dust, plaster, carpet fibers, and paint fumes!


As for this, I am not sure what happened here.  Andrew mentioned making a "dent" in our bathroom mold problem.  Me thinks he got a bit over zealous with the sledge hammer.

Until I can get the house functional again (which will hopefully be soon!), I shall leave you all with a little sneak peek of little Miss Ellie Bear.

A special thank you to my father who captured this hilarious photo of Ellie.

The Turtle Sandbox

Back in mid-February, I wrote about how sand provides great sensory input and then said we were getting Ellie a turtle sandbox.  Over a month later, I am happy to report that we finally got around to getting the sandbox. . .

Then getting the actual sand. . .

The reason the lid to the sandbox is propped up is because we are trying to block the sun.  We are too cheap/lazy to buy an umbrella so we had to get innovative. 

Then getting some sandbox essentials (shovel and bucket courtesy of a kid's birthday party favor) . . .

Hey, it only took us a little over a month.  Right now, Mr. Hotty DIY is working on framing the windows in our kitchen.  These would be the windows that we (aka Andrew) installed during our DIY kitchen remodel back in 2007.

Die Die! and Lights

There Ellie and I were at Quizno's with my girlfriend Jess and her daughter Grace.  Ellie started frantically screaming "DIE  DIE!" at every patron.  Rather than being mortified, I was chuckling.  Okay, howling with laughter.  The customers turn to look at this little banshee-screaming toddler telling them to "die" only to see Ellie smiling and waving.  They quickly understood that Ellie was exclaiming "bye-bye".

As you can see, we have been working on Ellie's "D"s and "B"s.  Clearly we need to work more on refining those sounds.

On another note, it has been a while since I last documented Andrew's DIY endeavors.  Oh yes, he is still incompletely doing things around the house/yard.  Our house was build in the late 1970's, back when these light fixtures were considered extremely fashionable.

This antique is in not one, but TWO bathrooms.

Jealous?  Yeah, you should be.  Look at that fancy chain holding up that pendulum.  Look at the beauty of that crinkled glass.  Check out the rust, it is so in right now. You're right.  Blah!  After YEARS of saying he was going to replace those bad boys, Andrew finally on a whim bought new light fixtures.

Check out the totally awesome wallpaper that refuses to be removed no matter what I do.  It is stubborn.  More so than Ellie.

There.  Much better.  Much brighter.

Die-Die

Spreading the Bear Love: Vote for Ellie

Oh yes, I am always trying to get you all to vote for The Chronicles.

Right now we are sitting at #17 on Top Mommy Blogs under the Special Needs section.

We are hanging steady at #23 on Parent's Magazine Top Special Needs Blogs.  Their site seems to crash alot so please be patient.  Grrrr.

She is climbing through the coffee table to get to Amelie kitty.

Why do I ask for your support?  Eh, it is me wanting the popularity that I never received in high school, middle school, or even elementary school.

Seriously, I want people to not be afraid of raising a child with Down syndrome . Or living with a husband who destroys the house, I mean does DIY home improvements.  I also enjoy sharing tips on incorporating sensory integration.  Not to mention, so many families are working hard to adopt children with special needs from Eastern Europe.  The more people who read this blog, the higher the chance is that someone (or lots of someones) will contribute to their funds spread the word. Plus, I just really want to share the Bear's cuteness with all of you. So there you have it.

Latest DIY Project

Looks like our "newish" door is malfunctioning.  It likes to remainder locked even when the dead bolt is turned.  Andrew and little Ellie found this out the hard way when they got trapped outside in 100+ degree heat.  Do not ask about the plywood--that is Andrew's area of expertise.

And in case you missed it:

Many Faces of Ellie: Tuti Fruiti Tutu and Converse

This has nothing to do with the sock snake

The Sock Snake--because this one is just plain funny

The Answer: Hornet Patrol

To Miss Tiffany--you get the virtual cyber cookie for guessing bee suit :)

We have/had a hornet problem.  Every year, these vicious little buggers infiltrate our backyard making it impossible for us to go out back.  Every. Single. Year.

Hornet

Looks kind of like a bee, right?  Yep, I thought the same thing my 2nd summer in Austin.

  

Honey Bee-dies after sting

We were working on our media room and did not have light-switch plate covers on yet.  I kept finding what I thought were dead bees in that area of the house.  Then, three live ones hovering by the ceiling fan lights.  One pesky (evil) little creature got itself caught between my eyebrow and my glasses.  It stung.  And stung. And stung.  And stung.  And I screamed.

Yes, they sting MULTIPLE times, unlike bees who only sting once.  I have since learned two things:

1. Hornets are a part of the wasp family, the genus Vespa  to be exact

2. I am very allergic to hornets and must thus walk around with an epi-pen = potential death due to hornet sting

That brings me to this---I am DEATHLY AFRAID of these vile insects.

See, look at the evil look it is giving us!

Apparently, these hornets decided to make a little home in well, our home.  There was a small hole in the mortar between the limestone exterior of our house.  They were getting into our house through the light switch.  We also had a rather large nest in the ground out back. 

Hornets often make their nests in the ground, but we have some unique ones.  Last year, they preferred the wind chimes and the patio light.  This year-the rafters of the garage.

Hornet Nest, courtesy of Wikipedia--seriously, I am not getting that close to a nest

Have I mentioned that they are evil?

Have I mentioned that they take over our backyard throughout the summer?  Every summer?

Do I need to tell you that it gets a bit pricey to hire someone to come on out each time?

Baby Drews is Mr. DIY.  He takes care of the wasp nests that spring up all around the house.

These cans spray far.  Really far.  He can stand around the corner of the house and spray the wasp nests.

Paper Wasp

Hornets, they are feisty and we needed a cheap, but safe solution as multiple stings from several hornets (ie a hornet attack from a nest) can lead to death--too much toxin.  I love Andrew, I do not want him to die.

Introducing, the bee suit.

Andrew goofing off--his "baseball" pose

Still goofing off--"football" pose

This had to be timed just right.  The hornets are in their nest at a certain time.

Guess who had to help suit him up?

the glare is created by the window--I was shooting pics from the inside of the house.

Need I mention that I was getting really grossed out and nauseous just posting the pics of those wasps?  Need I also mention that they are actually an important part of our ecosystem?  Nope, I do not feel sorry for them.

Reference:
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/bugs/hornet/
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/636580/wasp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Characteristics_of_common_wasps_and_bees
Yes, I used wikipedia, which I know is not the most accurate source of information :)