Happy Halloween

My knight :)

Iron deficiency?

Tomorrow I am taking Jamie to get his blood drawn for tests to determine if he has a type of Iron deficiency. Apparently four years ago, doctors discovered a link to some cases of ADHD in which the kids were simply not processing iron thus, displaying ADHD and ODD symptoms. They treated the kids by replacing the iron in their bodies and they reported improvements and those behavior problems, well... normalized. I know this sounds like a very simple explaination to a very confusing, frustrating problem. I have a hard time swallowing it myself but a part of me needs to begin the process of elimination. Although, I terribly dread having to hold him down for the nurses to take blood... =( Always breaks my heart.

On a separate, happy note I had a family portrait session today at Point Defiance. The mother came into contact with me through Michelle's recommendation (thanks shel!) and they're such a sweet family! Their little boy is so adorable and happy! I had tons of fun taking pictures :) A mental note for next time; widen aperture. I wound up with dozens of blurry shots due to low ISO (which was intentional to preserve color and quality) and my aperture wasn't wide enough. It's all okay though. I got some really adorable shots of little C! The group portraits were the hardest with trying to get a 2 year old to look at the camera lol Needless to say, I didn't get any group shots with him and his parents looking at me at the same time. Which is fine, they turned out beautiful anyway. :) I put up a couple of sneak peeks on flickr.

Maybe tomorrow if it's nice, Jamie and I will trek a little further from home for pictures. Good night!

A place that could be called heaven: The Pumpkin Patch!

Last weekend Mike took Jamie to the pumpkin patch while I was at work and of course, it was Jamie's favorite thing in the whole world! Mike also took some pics... Enjoy!

Hey everyone! Well, I didn't win the photo contest but I wanted to thank everyone that voted for me! It was pretty exciting :)

Thanks!

Friday's window shopping wish list.

Here I go again, listing all those things I find that I want or am inspired by :)

All of which can be found at Etsy. :)

Brown Butter Plum Cake

I've recently been reading baking blogs online and saw this recipe and had to try it! Check out my photo too :) I hear it's great with ice cream!


Friends have been asking me about more food photography so here ya go. I admit, I've put the camera down for awhile. There's so much going on and I've been in a serious rut. But at least I'm baking!

Thus far...

So it is official. The White River Special Education coordinator (Mary) evaluated Jamie in his preschool and both the preschool teachers and Mary agree that the preschool is not equipped to help Jamie. Fortunately, I don't feel quite as upset over this as I did the first and second time he either got kicked out or pulled out before it got that bad. I had a hunch this was coming and I actually feel prepared, somewhat. I feel that even though the preschool (with it's 35+ years of experience in early childhood education...) does not have expereince to help Jamie in particular, I think that Mary can; or at least get him the right kind of help.
So while I hear some people say that public schools are mediocre, I don't agree. I do think that it CAN get swept up in rules and daily routines and children can tend to blend in and some forgotten but if parents are proactive about keeping in touch with the teachers and using those free services, public schools can be a valuable source of information. Of course, it might be too early yet to tell. *knocks on wood*
Tomorrow I call Mary to discuss options for Jamie because there's no way he's going to miss out on education this year and the experience that it'll bring him. I have a very strong feeling that he'll qualify for free special education services and hopefully gain a realistic goal-oriented IEP, complete with behavior/social exercises.
Because lets be honest; I can't teach him on my own. It would be impossible. I just do not have the resources he needs. I defintely can't throw him in all alone, into just any classroom either. All I can do is just be his mom that is in his corner, encouraging him in the right direction. I feel really good about this, for once.

Facebook

Since deleting my Myspace account due to some crazy-monster virus, I started a Facebook account. It takes getting used to but so far, I like it. It seems very safe and secure and that's important! Especially when you've over 10k worth of pictures on your machine ^.~ The only thing I don't like but am getting used to, is the lack of customizing your page. But oh well, I suppose you can decorate with flair if you like :)

If you've got a Facebook account and I'm not already your friend, please add me! :)

On an unrelated note, the voting ends on Wednesday for Me Ra Koh, so head on over and pick your favorite!

Retail Therapy

Boy, I'm lame. I meant to do this awhile ago but got distracted. :) Anyway, I wanted to share my latest online window shopping therapy. When I need inspiration, I turn to etsy more often than not. Check these cool finds out...

I saw this purse and said, "Ooohhh..." I'm a purse freak. Sold by Charm Design

I always come back to this necklace when I'm browsing on etsy... made by Colleen Baran. She's got tons of beautiful pieces. I wouldn't mind something like this for Christmas :)

These go with my moods lately. Offered by the Lola Collection

These would be super cute for those cold days that I want to head out for photography. Posted by Aya Omura

Well, those are my picks for today! I'm going to go and teach myself how to do watercolor pencils now.

VOTE!!!

I've been featured on the famous Me Rah Koh blog! I entered a photo contest for the theme of pets and submitted Lindy's dog, Strider. He stayed with us for a few days while she took some time off work to visit with her family. Check out the website!


And by all means VOTE FOR ME!!! WHOOOOOO!!! I'm so excited! I love what Me Rah said about my photo!

For those of you following Jamie's story lately, here's some info as of today;

A very cool lady gave me the number of a woman that works with student services with White River School District. She says I can at least request an evaluation and see what the public schools can offer in terms of free help. Since I felt like Jamie is on the verge of losing his place with his current preschool, I went ahead and gave Mary a call.
I explained his current history with the preschools this year and his experience with kindergarten and Mary said she would definitely look into talking with his teachers and finding out where the problem seems to be. I returned her phone call this morning and she relayed that she spoke with Jamie's kindergarten teacher and she pretty much said exactly what I described. Mary wanted to get the ball rolling immediately in Jamie's case and suggested we meet tomorrow morning to go over the evaluation process and make an appointment for her to visit Jamie in preschool and observe.
Last Monday I had scheduled a pediatric appointment to see what a medical doctor might suggest. She made note of Jamie's very active behavior and informed me that it was still too early to determine if Jamie has ADD or ADHD. She wanted to make a referral for a psychiatric appointment as well as a psychologist. Both are scheduled late this month and early November.

On a related note, he's really tried my patience today while we were out and about to Borders and Target. His constant need for my attention and his constant chattiness has really worn me out. I'm feeling extremely tense right now. =/ But we've got a birthday party to attend to tonight so hopefully he'll get his energy out before we head out again.

I really hope that this is a step forward in the right direction and we can hopefully get our family the help we need to be better parents and a better, more well-behaved kid. *crossing my fingers!!*