Calm Down...this should not be expected

Hello blogging world!
in short this is what has happened since the last time I blogged.  Forgive me for the incomplete sentences as that would take too long and it is obvious that my patience for blogging is limited:

Connor had surgery which turned ugly and he was in a coma for 4 days...doing great now!

Sadie started competitive cheerleading- yes I can sense all you smirkers smirking away right now,but she loves it!

I completed my teachers ed coursework...that's right I AM AN OFFICIAL TEACHER!

I did my internship in 3rd grade and also HS English where I had 3 9th grade classes and 2 11/12th grade classes. I absolutely loved it and was made keenly aware that not all women are meant to be stay at hom moms (bless those that are!)

Travis is Head coach for the McQueen Bandits (kadens team) and much to my chagrin he is in heaven

We got a new house which we love

I have become well acquianted with saran wrap

We got news that through a study they have directly related speech inabilities to connor's syndrome so it looks like this lady will be learning sign language with my 2 year old...he's actually pretty amazing at it and has a coach that works with him every week :)

Can that really be all that happened in almost a year? I guess my life is more boring than I thought.... Here are some pics for your personal enjoyment (or rather mine as one day I plan to print this whole freakin thing off and pawn it off as my scrapbook :) )



Coma Connor (sorry the alliteration seemed fun while inappropriate)

 Kaden football

 Jesse aka Sadie

 Sadie's cheer buds

Some of the best students ever!!!

 My Juniors and Seniors saran wrapped my car and wrote sweet notes all over it

 Connor with his Daddy

I'm Baaaack!

I know many of you may have believed that I was dead or missing, but alas I have just been extremely busy! This Summer has been pretty crazy. I was in charge of my ward's girls camp, 2 of my nieces came and stayed with me, we went to Utah and Lagoo, Kaden started football, and Sadie started cheerleading! I never knew my life could actually be this busy. Kaden's football is the REAL deal. He practices in pads and a helmet and now that school has started he only practices T-Th for just 2 hours now (heavy sarcasm). His league - SYFL - plays for the high school they are zoned for, so in Kaden's case, he is a McQueen Lancer and on Saturday he played against Wooster. I loved this picture that one of the mom's took.

Sadie has started on a competitive cheer team called Reno Elite. She is LOVING it. Yesterday they performed at the Reno Ace's game (our baseball team) and it was pretty cute not to mention a very fun time. Here is a video of her performance.

And last but certainly not least, poor little Connor has to have surgery...again! On the 28th of this month he will be getting his tonsils, adenoids, and tubes put in his ears. The ENT said his tonsils are HUGE! his also snores really bad and stops breathing while he sleeps which is not worrisome at all. Hopefully this will help him not only sleep but finally be able to start eating without constantly choking. My life has definitely become a new normal.

Well, I hope that I will be able to stay on top of my blog for at least of few months before I fall off the face of the planet again. Here are a few more pictures of our happenings this Summer :)

Hunger Games Begins Casting

I am posting this because I am curious what everyone thinks of who was just cast as Katniss Everdeen for the Hunger Games movie. If you don't know it's Jennifer Lawrence. I decided (after seeing the casting for Twilight)that I shouldn't get to invested in who plays who. Although at first I didn't think it was a good fit, I'm starting to like it. What do you guys think???

Since I have been the world's worst blogger as of late, I have decided to make it up to all my friends and blog stalkers by posting some videos of the man that I have recently decided to leave Travis for...enjoy!





And my personal favorite...Skippy!

I Am A Mean Mom (Episode 1)

For those of you who know me well, probably know that I like to semi-torture my children as long as I am able to get enjoyment out of it. This may sound cruel but a stay-at-home mom has got to do what she's got to do to stay entertained. Exhibit A: Connor gets stuck in the most random places and can't move. So when he started crying right next to me I looked down and saw he tried climbing over a stool and got stuck. So I did the obvious answer, I yelled for Travie to go and get a camera. (Don't worry though...I rubbed his back very lovingly while he was stuck)

5p what?

So even as I am writing this right now I feel nervous about doing it. I'm a pretty private person and I have a deep need to shelter anyone that is really close to me, so since this is about my own child I feel that my whole system is shouting "Warning" at me. But I have thought about this for months now and at first was determined to keep it to myself, but I hope that by talking about it someone else who may be going through something similar will feel like they are not alone.
As all of you know when Connor was first born he went through a myriad of tests. He was also given a genetic test that came back normal. One of the main reasons I haven't really talked about this is because I didn't want people analyzing my child for things that looked different. Anyway, as time went on and he still wasn't progressing we knew something was up. Since Reno has NO geneticist, we had to wait for a doctor who only comes to Reno twice a year, lucky for us she happened to be coming a month after we met with a pediatric specialist. For anyone who has gone through this process knows it is pretty crazy! They ask every possible question and take every possible measurement of Connor possible. The blood work takes forever so we finally met with the geneticist again at the beginning of November and we were finally given an answer. Connor was diagnosed with 5p Duplication Syndrome. If you're thinking "Huh?" welcome to the club. Basically it is a really rare syndrome that can only recently be diagnosed as the technology is only about 3 years old. Unfortunately since the technology is so new the only information she was able to give us was based on 5 people who are worst case scenarios. Some of the affects of this syndrome is hypotonia (extremely low muscle tone - Connor's is pretty severe), sleep abnormalities (which is why he STILL doesn't sleep through the night), and varying degrees of mental retardation. Every parent wants their child to be perfect and I guess to be as "normal" as possible, so the initial shock of realizing your child will struggle is hard. On a more positive note the future is still so vague for what awaits Connor. Since they were able to diagnose so early he will be one of the first to get early intervention, which we know can only help. I still feel confused about alot but here is what I know for sure:
-It could be sooo much worse. I have so much respect for parents with children who are severely disabled.
-Going to the physical therapist, occupational therapist, nutrionist, pediatric specialist, and pediatrician on a regular basis WILL pay off (he is crawling now and starting to pull him self up!!!) :)
-Connor is special. There is something about him that sets him apart.
-Everything happens for a reason and I know it is by no accident he was sent to our family.
-It is good to talk about what you are going through because you never know who it might help or who might be able to help you in return.
I have developed a deeper understanding of the love our Heavenly Father has for us, and it is for that reason that I have faith that everything will work out the way it's suppose to.
Besides...who couldn't love a baby in a basket?

To me...a perfect moment