Overheard: Sabrina was singing I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus, but this is how it went: I'm trying to be like Jesus....but I can't. Especially when you have a little brother that you love/hate!

Brianna Gets Her Ears Pierced!

Okay, here is the start of a long story about this event that began many, many years ago! My mom never pierced her ears and wasn't going to allow us to pierce our ears either. She would use the daughters of Zion scriptures in Isaiah as proof that ear piercing was not a good thing! When I was fourteen, I finally convinced my Mom that ear piercing was not inherently a bad thing, that the earrings talked of with the daughters of Zion were descriptors, rather than a statement of the evils of ear piercing! My mom relented with that argument and I, and all my sisters, except for Deborah, who was five, got our ears pierced at the same time. I was vindicated in my argument when Pres. Hinckley said that one pair of earrings was attractive and feminine.

When I became a parent, Curtis and I determined for our family, that we had enough things that would be definite no(s) or definite "have to wait fors" i.e. no dances until 14, no dating until 16, no steady dating until you can consider marriage, keeping the sabbath day holy every single week, the word of wisdom along with strong discouragement about caffeinated drinks and other possibly addictive substances, bathing suits that have coverage, and the list goes on....that ear piercing would not be in that list. We also didn't want it to become a huge deal, because of some teen-age age limit imposed, when there were so many more important and eternal issues we wanted our children to take seriously. When our girls wanted to pierce their ears, and had shown they were mature enough to be responsible for it, it would be fine. I also found out that if you want to minimize the possible side-effect of keloid formation that there was significantly less risk in studies if ear piercing was done before the age of 11, or the beginning of puberty.

Brianna has wanted earrings for a while, and had shown that she was mature enough to be responsible for it, but she was afraid of the process of getting her ears pierced. Her friend Grace got her ears pierced years ago and it was so cute. She would ask us to describe how much it hurt over and over again. Her courage and desire increased when we went camping with Curtis' family and her cousin Emily had just pierced her ears. Finally, over the weekend, Brianna decided to take the plunge. We all trekked to the University Mall (where they do it a lot) and we were quite the troupe. My sisters Elizabeth and Deborah who are home for the summer, Curtis who is off work, and my sister Rachael who was over at our house, all came along. We chose some pretty pink sparkly daisies. She was a little freaked out but they pierced them at the same time so it wouldn't be as "traumatic" and now she is so proud of herself for going through with it. She loves her new earrings and she looks so feminine with them. She immediately told me that I just had to blog about it.....So, here's Brianna with her "new" look!

The Miracle Swimming Suit

We have been trying to potty train Sabrina for about a year now. At first, we had some success. She recognized when she needed to go the the bathroom, but as far as actually choosing to go to the bathroom, well...we'll just say that we have lots of underwear, and even then I would realize that Sabrina had no clean underwear left. We tried to threaten her that girls who wet their pants could not go to ballet, but we really couldn't follow through on the threats since she has a rehearsal in June and we had paid all the fees and had the costume. She would promise that she would go to the bathroom and then it was all the same story again.

Well, last Saturday we were at Old Navy for the amazing $1 flip flop sale and Sabrina saw a swimming suit that she absolutely loved. It wasn't my first choice, but I had no modesty complaints about her selection and I thought that I needed to let her make some choices in that category. Sabrina has worn the swimming suit every day. And she loves it so much that she actually goes to the bathroom! Sabrina is now officially potty trained with no accidents because of the miracle swimming suit cure!

Our Concert Adventures

About three times a school year the kids and I go to Curtis concerts. I know that I could probably stay home, and that it might be easier, but I also feel that it's important to show family support. I'm trying to teach my children the lesson that when family members have events that we will support them. As a result my children have been attending Curtis' concerts since they were babies. I have the snacks to bribe them and now both Jeffrey and Brianna have very good concert etiquette. We are still working on Sabrina and Cameron. So, here are some rules to help me get through concerts without too much fallout.

1) Place Jeffrey on the outside of the aisle so that he can create a barricade with his legs whenever Cameron tries to escape
2) Have lots of different treats for bribing

Both of these rules worked quite well. Jeffrey would put up the double-leg barricade as soon as Cameron bee-lined it towards the aisle. The only problem was that there was a white helium balloon that was touching the ceiling. Cameron was sure that I could get him the balloon and so he was fixated on getting out so that he could get that balloon! A funny thing happened when Sabrina announced that she had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the song. I determined that that was an emergency worthy of leaving in the middle of a song, so I rushed her to the bathroom. When we came back, it was also during the middle of a song, so I waited in order to walk back to my seat after the song had ended. Cameron started down the aisle, and then realized that I was not following, so he came back to me. What a good boy! Then he got behind me and started pushing on my legs with all his might so that I would start moving the direction that he wanted me to go.

This concludes the great concert adventures for the school year. If nothing else, they give me good laughing material

Happy Birthday Brianna

I can't believe how fast the time has flown. I remember the day that Brianna was born so clearly. It seems like yesterday. We were living in a two-bedroom apartment that felt like a palace since we had just moved from a small studio apartment that we had lived in for three years. Brianna was due on May 2 and Jeffrey had been born about 10 days early. Spring break for Curtis was about that time, so it would have been perfect, but she didn't come. We did buy a new bed though. The week before Brianna was born, it was crazy. Curtis had a million things to do that week that he couldn't get out of. Friday night was the last have-to for Curtis and after that was over, was when she decided to come. Fifteen hours later she was born April 27, 2001 at 11:50 a.m. She had masses of dark hair and weighed a whopping 7 lbs. 15 oz. She still holds that record in our family. When I think back to those times, I'm reminded that it's not money and things that make you happy. Happiness is in relationships, children, service, faith etc. Those eight years have flown by, and I can't believe that Brianna is eight. Happy Birthday Brianna. We love you so much.

Brianna's Vision Therapy

I know that I have been really bad about blogging on anything. Partially this is because I am so busy with appointments and lessons all week long. Soon some of that will hopefully be a little less crazy. Right now we are especially crazy because in addition to tae kwon do and ballet we are doing vision therapy with Brianna twice a week. How did we get here, you ask?

Well, some of you know that reading has been a struggle for her. We would go over it again and again and the improvement in reading speed and visual memory was just not happening. I was frustrated and she felt stupid. I knew that her intelligence levels were high but I didn't know how to reconcile the two issues.

Well, one day I was reading the paper and there was an article on a condition called convergence insufficiency, where the brain does not use the eye muscles correctly for close up work. Many kids are actually diagnosed with learning disabilities due to slowness in reading as well as terrible visual memory and comprehension because of the effort to read in the first place. The National Institutes of Health found that 70% of kids markedly improved that had been given a learning disabilities diagnosis in a recent study. I also read a letter to the editor from on optometrist who has been doing vision therapy in his practice and has seen the improvements first hand that the study proved. Most people don't realize that while we get tested for distance vision we are rarely tested for convergence or perception issues having to do with how our eyes and our brain relate to one another.

I decided, what the heck, I might as well take her in for a vision evaluation. As I already knew her distance vision is perfect. However, as he started doing the perception and convergence testing I watched as one of her eyes would literally just check out after a few seconds. Yes, she had it. After I knew how you preliminary test for it, I checked out my Dad and Curtis who have it, so I should not be surprised that she inherited this. Now she is doing vision therapy twice a week where they literally train the brain and the eyes to work together. She also does vision homework that we bring home. In the two months that we have done it her reading has improved exponentially and her confidence is so much greater. She doesn't cry over reading and that she is just too tired to read any more. Her visual memory is kicking in and her comprehension is there. She actually remembered that the dark ages in Britain are named such because we don't have written records from that time period. That was a first, so some of her attention issues are actually improving with the therapy as well, either through greater confidence in the scholastic area or that her brain is also making other connections as well.

Overall, the time that we are putting into this is completely worth it and I am so thankful to have found out about it and found Dr. Price and his office. It has made a world of difference. Many times children with CI are diagnosed as having learning disabilities or ADD. They will complain about doing close work and many times suffer from unexplained headaches. Insurance companies are starting to take note and many cover the therapy. It takes a combination of in- office therapy and take home exercises. The time and money invested is completely worth it though when your child suddenly just takes off and starts meeting the potential that you know they've always had, but just couldn't meet before.

Well, the utopia of the Christmas break is over. It was so wonderful. We actually got some organization done. We just spent a lot of time together as a family. Now the New Year has started and I am actually motivated to get more done. We are currently being snowed in, in a large winter storm. The snow in our yard is knee deep and we are really thankful for the water since we live in the high desert. Here are some highlights of our vacation.

We got the Wii Fit for Christmas and it is so fun! There are balance games on it, which are a blast. My Dad hogs the Wii for the ski jumping game. Currently he is the champion, but Jeffrey is knocking on the door in second place. Surprisingly, the step aerobics actually works you out more when you get -perfect- think dance, dance revolution, but it's aerobics.

We have a lot of birthdays to celebrate this time of year. My Mom and Dad's anniversary, on which they like to have a nice candlelit dinner with all of their posterity, is on December 27. Sabrina's birthday is on December 28. Brielle, my niece, has her birthday on January 2, my Dad is on January 5, Elizabeth, my sister, is January 19, and Jeffrey is January 26. Needless to say, it really doesn't slow down until February!! We seem to have birthdays in clusters in our family.

My friend Rachel, taught me a little about photography and I was able to practice on her camera a few days ago with her backdrop. Now, my appetite for an SLR has really been whetted! I'll start saving. Here is a picture of Brianna....