Quote of the Week: Childhood

"Childhood is one of life's most beautiful seasons."

- Unknown

(Photo: Me and my Daddy making pancakes together when I was a little girl.)

Weekend Wonders: The One with Spring Stuff

Spring is almost upon us and find myself wanting to decorate for Spring so I have been browsing blogs and Pinterest looking for some spring projects. Below are some of my favorites. 

Cherry Blossom Wall Art

I love this cherry blossom wall art created with an empty soda bottle over at Alpha Mom. 

Spring Printable

I love printables. You just print them, pop them in a frame, and you have easy art to display in your home. This spring printable by Landee See, Landee Do features a fun spring quote.

Spring Button Art 

This button art at The Freckled Nest is adorable. 

Spring Egg Art

I'm digging this egg art over at Thrifty Parsonage Living.

Spring Art

This spring art at Jessica's Paper Petals is just beautiful. I love the nest with the tiny eggs and butterfly. 

Grow Banner

This "grow" banner at My Blessed Nest is cute for spring.

Spring Banner

Nanny Goat shares  how to make this cute spring banner.

Have you seen anything super cute for spring or have you created anything for spring yet? Leave me a link so I can check it out. 

Five Minute Friday: A Mother's Ache

It’s Friday – the day where I join other bloggers and take five short minutes to just write from the heart. Five Minute Friday is hosted by Gypsy Mama and this week’s prompt is ACHE. 

Like every Mother (I think) I often ache for Noah to be little again. I miss the days when he was a baby or a toddler or even six or seven. But I think my reasons for that ache are more complicated than most Mothers. I ache for him to be smaller again because life was so much simpler.

When he was smaller we didn’t have to worry so much about packing up the wheelchair and taking it everywhere. He’d easily fit in a shopping cart. I didn’t have near as much back pain because he easily fit on my hip. There weren't as many stares in public because as a baby you couldn't really tell that he had Cerebral Palsy and I barely even knew what autism was then.

I sometimes also ache for more normalcy and I feel like a little bit like a bad Mom typing that. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Noah with my whole heart and soul just the way he is but I do wish that I would be taking him to the DMV next year on his 16th birthday to get his license or that I’d be helping him with college applications in a few years instead of thinking about Hoyer lifts, wheelchair vans, and Personal Care Aides.

But for now, I’m just going to breathe deeply and enjoy life with Noah because I’m sure things will get more difficult as he grows and things like lifting him and transporting him become more challenging and then I’ll ache for these days again.

Feb OLW Layouts and Blog Hop

The assignment for February in the One Little Word class I am taking at Big Picture Classes was to photograph our word in our everyday lives and plug those into the provided template as well as take one photograph and journal over it.

My word for 2012 is breathe and at first, this was hard for me but then I stopped thinking of it so literally, I noticed that I had pictures of things I turned to when I was stressed and needed to breathe so I continued on with that theme. And I’m really pleased with how it turned out.

I'm also participating in the OLW Blog Hop this month so if you popped over because of that, your next stop will be Melissa C.'s blog, Smudges in Time.

Picking Out his Tie

Tomorrow night Noah will be attending PROM! I know, it seems early for prom not only in early in the year as most proms are usually in April or May but also early age wise since technically he is only a freshmen but this is a special prom. It is called JOY Prom and is a community wide prom for special needs high school age students and young adults with special needs. Each child has a "date" who is a college aged trained volunteer.  There will be hair & make up for the ladies, shoe shines for the guys, a red carpet, and more. I have been looking at other JOY Proms across the country from previous years and they really seem to go all out for these kids! 

I had already signed him up to go and was talking to my Mom about everything when she reminded me that my brother didn’t want to go to his prom so I got a little worried because I realized I didn’t really give Noah a choice. (Bad Momma moment, I know!) So I asked him and he definitely wanted to go! He loves the school dances he has attended thus far and as I explained Prom is a fancier version of the dances so he is pretty excited to go.

Originally we were going to borrow a suit from a friend for Noah to wear but when that fell through we decided to just rent a suit. We wanted to save the tux for his senior year. So we went and had him fitted for the suit and will pick it up later today. 

We let Noah choose the tie

and you won’t be surprised to know that he chose an orange one! 

He’s going to look so handsome in his suit! 

(And yes, I’ll post some pictures sometime after!)


Linked to 5 Minutes for Special Needs

Mamarazzi Defined

I always get a good chuckle when people tell me not to forget pictures when something big or semi-big is going to be happening. I chuckle because I take my camera almost everywhere with me. Seriously, I think it drives J nuts sometimes! My camera even has a name. (It’s Sonia in case you were wondering.) And sometimes I even have two cameras with me!

My Dad has calls me the Mamarazzi. When he sees me walking towards him and Noah with my camera, he’ll say “Noah, here comes the mamarazzi!”

If you have never heard of a Mamarazzi, quite simply it’s the Mom version of the paparazzi.  Quite simply it is the Mom version of paparazzi.

I love the Urban Dictionary’s definition of Mamarazzi.

1. Mothers who constantly follow their children around with several cameras snapping photos at each turn and documenting each milestone or event with at least two dozen photos.
2. Groups of aforementioned mothers
3. When referring to yourself as described above 

Yep, sounds like me!

Quote of the Week: Joy

"Joy is a flower that blooms when you do."

- Unknown

Weekend Wonders: The One with Wreaths

I need an everyday in between seasons type wreath because it was definitely time to take down the hearts but feels to early for Easter so I was looking at some wreaths that would work for any season. My faves are below. 

Owl Wreath

I love this little owl wreath from Love People Like Things and although she calls it a fall wreath, I think you could get away with it in the in between seasons like now too! 

Chevron Door Hanging

So this isn't technically a wreath I guess but I love different things for front doors. I love this bright and cheery "welcome" door hanging with the Chevron print made by Jen at Tatertots and Jello. 

Damask Wreath

You know I have a weakness for damask prints so it's no surprise that this damask wreath from The Patriotic Peacock instantly had my attention. I love the pop of color the pink flowers give. 

Letter in a Frame Door Hanging

I love this initial door hanging created by Maybe Matilda. 

Monochromatic Wreath

I love this monochromatic wreath over at Fiskars.

Button Wreath

Got lots of buttons? This wreath would use 'em up! Head on over to Bacon Time with the Hungry Hypo for a how to.

So, what do you hang on your door during the "off seasons"?

Special Testimony

I think that sometimes society over looks special needs children and adults and forgets that they have things to contribute, talents to share, and stories to tell.  

But God doesn't! God sees their talents and puts them to use.

The video below is the perfect example of that. God used this young man to give hope to others. 

Beautiful.

Quote of the Week: Reminder

"Sometimes you need to step outside, get some air, and remind yourself of who you are and where you want to be." 

- Unknown

Weekend Wonders: For the Walls

I've been looking at different things for my walls this weekend. Some of my favorite finds are below.

Established Canvas Wall Hanging

I love this canvas wall hanging for wedding photos from Treasury of Memories.

Easy to Change Frames

These frames Shanty 2 Chic are bright and colorful. The clip makes it super easy to change out the photo on a regular basis.

Hanging Silhouettes

I love the classic look of silhouettes. Love Never Fails shares how she made her own silhouettes of her children.

Inexpensive Giant Picture

Sugar Bee Crafts shares how she created this large picture for her daughter's room for under 15 dollars. 

DIY Photo on Canvas

See Vanessa Craft shares how she made her own photo canvas.

Photo Frame Placement

Unsure of how to arrange your photos? Ann Beck Photography shares tons of examples of photo placement. 

She's not Bad

In one of the follow up posts about Noah’s grand mal seizure I mentioned that since the seizure Noah had been blurting out some words. This has slowly continued. It is not consistent by any means but hey, we’ll take what we can get and are overjoyed at anything that comes out of his mouth.

Yesterday morning while I was getting Noah ready for school, I had let his puppy Paisley outside to take care of business and she began barking. Paisley rarely barks so I went to check on her and let her inside. She ran into Noah and was still barking and I said, “Paisley, stop barking. You are being a bad girl!”

Noah looks at me and says, “She’s not bad.” It was a little slurred together. I stopped and said “Did you just say she’s not bad.” He signed yes. Then he said “Nana, Nana.” (That’s not a new word, that’s one of the few words he’s consistently said for years now.”

After a minute, it dawned on me. Once when I had told Paisley she was a bad girl in front of my Mom, she said, “Paisley is not a bad girl, she is just behaving badly.” THAT is what we he was trying to tell me by saying “She’s not bad.”

I don’t know if/how long/how much will come of Noah’s talking, but I’m treasuring every single word and the deeper glimpses I’m getting of my son’s personality through his words.