Oma's Visit

My brother-in-law, Ryan, had to have major surgery at the end of October and after his mom left, my mom went out to help Teresa take care of the kids and Ryan. After a couple of weeks and Michigan, she  came to visit us in Minnesota.  She just couldn't get enough of the Midwest....mainly because her girls and grandkids are out here.  :-)  We loved having her here.

For Halloween at my sister's house she dressed up like a clown and wore these glasses.  Alex loves glasses to start with, but oversized ones?  What could be better!  

I've started teaching a sewing class on Saturdays for the ladies in our ward.  It was fun to have my mom get to see the class I'm teaching.  She said she even learned a few things herself! I'm having a lot of fun sharing this skill with these ladies.

One of our big adventures of her trip was our quest to find Alex a big boy bed.  :-)  We found a great deal at IKEA on a bed frame and a great sale on bedding in what else....Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  :-)  Our adventure turned into a long one, and Alex was such a trooper.  We had found a great deal on a mattress at Costco...which is literally 2 minutes from our house. Unfortunately they were all out at that one but said there were some in Anoka. With the weather supposedly turning bad later in the week, we decided we'd hit IKEA first and then go up to Anoka for the mattress. Well the whole trip was supposed to take like 2 hours but when we left IKEA we not only hit rush-hour traffic, but it started raining.  And to make things worse....my mom's GPS (which I affectionately named Beula) couldn't quite figure out how to navigate Minneapolis. She kept telling us to merge and then exit and merge....crazy thing!  I think  she got a little overwhelmed trying to navigate, avoid traffic, and find the shortest path....She did redeem herself later...

By the time we got to Costco in Anoka, Alex was overjoyed to get out of the car.  He started giggling and waving to everyone as he got out of the car.  We had discovered these horses the previous day at the other Costco and Alex fell in love. He has his mommy's love for horses.  He would hug it, pat it, and try to imitate the neigh sound.

We found our mattress, but unfortunately this Costco didn't have the same rebate every other one had gotten.  No wonder they had so many in stock!!!  We decided it was wroth it anyway, strapped it to the roof and headed home.  This is where Beula redeemed herself.  So, before we left the house I had printed out directions off of how to get home from Anoka.  Well I didn't read over them, and when the time came and they said head south...I had no idea which way south was.  You have to realize that my mom and I are directionally challenged in the flat midwest.  In California, the Mountains are east, the coast is west and you can figure out the rest.  So there we are in Anoka, in the dark, with a hungry/sick-of-of-the-car toddler, not knowing which way was south.  We did a couple of circles before we gave in a listened to Beula.  We did make it home and what a story it was.

Alex helped put together his bed....he made sure the cardboard stayed put and waved to us. :-)  Waving is one of his favorite things to do right now.

His Mickey Mouse bedding is a hit.  

His favorite way to sleep...

Thanks Grandpappy & Oma for the early Christmas & Birthday Present!  Alex loves it! ....So do mommy and daddy  :-) better night sleep for who ever gets up with him in the night.

My mom also got to meet Alex's therapists. I had to go to a presidency meeting, and she filled in while the ladies from the White Bear School District came over.  They worked on feeding.  I'd say from the pictures he did an awesome job!

Before her trip out to the Midwest, my family had hosted the Green Valley Ward's harvest festival. My dad had a terrible bizarre, accident and fell of a ladder.  It was a brand new ladder and totally stabilized, but his fall blew out his elbow.  He was really lucky that that's all it was, and we're so glad he's ok. A few days later my mom stepped funny on a rock and fell as well.  She thought she had just sprained it really bad, but we've since found out that it is indeed broken.  We didn't know this on the trip and so this was a common sight at the end of the day.  Can you believe all the things she was able to do on a broken foot!?  Talk about high pain tolerance!  My goodness!

Alex likes to explore textures.  Here he's "helping" me get the rice ready to cook.  Don't worry, I rinse it before we cook it.

With his pillowcase getting so worn out, he can see though it and thinks it's really funny to go around the house with it over his head...he even does this when I'm out shopping and he's had enough.  Silly boy!

On our trip out to Super Walmart in Stillwater, we went a little further to see the St. Croix river.  It was beautiful at sunset! Definitely want to explore it some more.  We also crossed over the border and went into Wisconsin. We enjoyed downtown Stillwater too!  It's a cute little old town that'll need more exploring on future trips.  It was fun to have my mom here to go exploring with me and Alex.  I remember when we first moved to northern California that was what my mom would do with Teresa and I after school.  Exploring new places expands your feeling of home, and I feel a little more at home here in Minnesota.

The week my mom was here, they decided to start working on Emotional regulation with Alex.  This means Alex having his therapy sessions by himself.  You can imagine there was a lot of screaming associated with this.  He's doing great now, but this first week was really hard for both of us.  It took everything in me to refrain from running in an rescuing him.  I'm glad my mom was there to support me during this hard transition.

Since Alex was still recovering from surgery on Halloween, we didn't do much this year. My mom found this pumpkin costume and decided to do a little photoshoot.  Alex wasn't too thrilled about it being on his head,  :-)  but he made a cute pumpkin.

While my mom was watching Alex for us, he decided to walk!!  So glad she got it on camera. The camera is set up on his walker (that's what keeps saying "let's go! 1...2....")

Another place we explored a little was White Bear Lake.  Loved it there! It was starting to get cold and Alex wasn't to excited about having to wear his jacket and shoes.  :-) He's gonna have to get used to it.

I also took my mom to see the Minneapolis/St. Paul temple.  Thanks for watching Alex so Steve and I could go together while you were here!

On her last day we took Steve to work, and she got to see the event center.  Steve LOVES his job! We are so blessed!

We then took her to Alex's favorite park, Roseville Central Park.  Alex showed her his favorite tunnel and we tried out the slide.

First time was a little scary, but he loved it after that!

This is the first time we've caught it on camera.  When Alex gets really excited about something, his whole body shakes!  :-) Steve did this a a kid too.