Good McLean Fun

You know how they tell you time goes by faster when your older? It's totally true. I turned 33 last week. Days melt into weeks, weeks into months, and suddenly I have a 9 year old, I'm in the PTA, and I found a shiny thing on my head the other day that I'm told is called a gray hair. Days into weeks, weeks into months, and suddenly I'm 30freaking3. I know you guys read this looking for just a quick glimpse into what's going on with us, but it's so hard to condense everything into a snapshot. I need to write more often. I need to do a recap of my sister Julie's wedding weekend, but jumping back into my blog after MONTHS of being away, I feel ill-equiped. Tonight I just have so much on my brain-- I think I'll start small. I'll start with just a recap of today. 5am: Levi (19months) wakes up (crib still in our bedroom) and I bring him into bed to nurse and perhaps buy myself some more time in bed. *he only nurses morning and before bed... I am a...

Summer is here! Five children home and accounted for! Did I mention having twins is challenging? Did I mention having twins on the autism spectrum is even more challenging? Did I tell you we finally got brave and removed their crib rails? So they can roam about the room freely? Dumping drawers of toys and jumping on each other and removing mattresses and slamming doors? :) Did I mention potty training ASD twins is really super fun? AND REALLY GROSS?? Well just in case I didnt....it is. IT IS! I will try to sum up our summer so far but I will tell you right now, this post will not read smoothly. My mind is as jumbled up as our calendar. We finished up a great school year, Luke is changing from adorable to handsome before my eyes. He's smart and funny, albeit easily distracted and many times unfocused.   We really wanted to get the kids involved in some activities this summer, and because my Jamberry biz has been such a blessing, it's given us enough money each month to c...

So many things.   Where to begin?  First me. :) I’m keeping my schedule busy, because that’s what Parkers do. I joined 3 different bible studies and after I drop the kiddos off at school, Levi and I head off to a different study on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. I am loving singing in church choir and on the praise team, which rehearses Wednesday nights and now Saturday mornings getting ready for Easter.   I’m signed up to teach the preschool music for VBS this summer, I serve on my sorority alumnae chapter’s exec board (although admittedly do next to nothing in my ‘office’), and I’ve recently told the PTA at the kids’ school that I can serve on the board if needed.   I’ll attend next Monday’s meeting to check it out.   J FUN! I don’t know why. I just see a vacancy in my calendar and I want to fill it! I just enjoy being busy, I don’t like empty calendars. Ryan is the exact opposite, he does not want to see a busy schedule. So we compromise. I don’t...

It would come as no surprise to me if every single person reading this has more knowledge about using essential oils than I do at this moment. But for the sake of those less informed than I am, I will tell you what I know. I know my family never used any oils for anything other than on baked potatoes and frying steaks up until 3 months ago. When we received our Starter Kit from Young Living, I admit to casually looking through the contents and pretty colorful glass bottles, then putting them back in their box and tucking it out of sight. But within just a week I had cause to crack it open. My mom was visiting, and she was complaining of leg pain, which she usually gets from being on her feet too much during the day after having been in a terrible car accident years ago. I looked through my manual and found that something in my kit called PanAway might do something. So I jokingly applied some to her legs. But within moments she claimed relief from the pain, she was giggling with ...

We go to school! And we dont hate it! The twins have been in school for little over a month. I know they like it. Not because they say so, but because they don't cry when we pull up to the parking lot, and they allow me to put their tiny backpacks on them, and they walk with me (pushing Levi in the stroller) to the front office, through the school, and to their classroom door.   They are always compliant when walking into school,  and if you know them, you know that says it all. First day could have been hard for me. I totally forgot I was supposed to be taking pictures and documenting their first day, because frankly I was just so unnerved by the whole thing, it felt so surreal, I wasn't thinking about a camera. When we got to the door, they walked right in. Their teacher greeted them warmly, excitedly, and helped them hang up their backpacks. I wasn't sure if I should stay for a few minutes to make sure they were ok, or dip out quickly to make it easier on t...

The ADOS-2, in a nutshell: We (one twin on one day, the other on the next) went into an unremarkable room with a small table and two chairs. The child psychologist and speech pathologist administered the test. The twins 35 months, two weeks old, at the time of eval. They brought out various objects and waited to see how he would interact with them.  They asked him to point to his shoes, show where his hair is, point to his nose, etc. For the most part neither boy complied with these requests. They called the name from across the room but neither boy turned to ever recognize the person calling their name. They asked ME to call their names, and they looked immediately. They brought out a balloon, blew it up, let it go, and clapped. They waited to see if he would request for the balloon to be blown up again, but both boys just stared and waited for them to blow it up. They did not say "more", or "again", or "balloon", or anything to indicate what they wan...

9.12.14 I am writing just to write. I have to get my thoughts out of my head and onto "paper". I realize it will be a little while before I actually bring myself to sharing this post. Jack & Link are just 24 hours from turning 3! Is that possible?! I don't know why I feel like I have to update the www when our family has any developments. I think it's because motherhood is isolating, and it's like the tree that falls in the middle of the forest. If no one knows what's going on in my world, maybe it's so insignificant it isn't worth knowing about. But when others know, when you know what's happening with me, with us, it somehow brings a little validity to it all. And I think it's because I've been so forthcoming with so much of my heart on my blog, it feels odd to carry any substantial news to myself without blogging about it. So the update is that the twins are almost 3, and they are delayed in their language by about 1.5 years. ...