Wednesday, April 25, 2007
We had the most glorious 3 days (Saturday, Sunday & Monday) weather wise. 70-80 degrees with a great breeze and just wonderful after enduring the massive Noreaster at the beginning of the week. The kids really enjoyed playing outside and we snapped quite a few photos to prove it! Lexi's in the purple and Maddie's in blue. Oh and the first photo is of our first baby sunbathing on the driveway.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
It's Finally Finished!!
Well, we're finished! After several months and tons of hard work, we've finished the basement. We're having a dumpster delivered on Wednesday so that we can start going through all the boxes that are currently sitting in Joe's workshop portion of the basement. We're going to be adding a few more wall cabinets for storage but other than that, we're done! Here are the finished photos...don't mind the mess. Not much we can do with all that until the dumpster is here!!
This is the entryway. The treadmill is staying there but in the other corner, we're going to be putting a chair and a small table, to make a small sitting area. 
This is a small little nook that we're still not 100% sure what we're going to do with. We stuck the refrigerator there for now but not sure if it will stay or not. We may end up using it as storage.
This is my scrapbooking area. And the double doors lead into the kids playroom.
A closeup of my desk!
The view from my area down to Joe's area.
A closeup of Joe's desk, littered with tools until we clean out his shop enough to put them away!
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
The Woman Who Thinks Like A Cow
I first heard the name Temple Grandin a few months ago. I frequent an Autism support message board and someone mentioned her name. I had never heard of her before, so I googled the name. I've been hooked since. I can't seem to read enough about her, her amazing life and all that she's accomplished.
I'll start by giving a short run down of her accomplishments; her resume in short.
- A designer of livestock handling facilities
- A professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University
- B.A. from Franklin Pierce College (less than an hour from where I live), M.S. from Arizona State University and Ph. D. from University of Illinois
- Featured in Time Magazine, People Magazine, New York Times, Forbes and US News among others
- Featured on 20/20, 48 Hours, CNN's Larry King Live, Primetime Live and the Today Show
- Written hundreds of articles featured in journals and other publications
- Written several books
And most astounding, she's autistic. Temple Grandin was diagnosed with severe autism by the age of 3. Her entire life story has really intrigued me, touched me and given me even more hope for Nathaniel.
I recently read her book, Emergence: Labeled Autistic and it was superb. If you have a couple of hours to spare, it's worth the read. She describes in detail what it was like for her as a child to have autism. And how she learned to deal with the world around her.
To continue with my Autism awareness, I thought I would post this wonderful BBC show Horizons, that featured a story about Temple. It's in 5, 10-minute pieces and very interesting.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Easter Eve in the Ledvina House
This was the first year of dying Easter eggs with all 3 kids and what a fun time! None of them understood the "drop it gently" concept so we ended up with blue dye on our kitchen table. (***NOTE*** Mr. Clean Magic Erasers take blue dye off of kitchen tables) They had a good time though! Check it out.
Watching Daddy in amazement! Lexi's in the brown, Maddie in pink.
PLOP! Maddie dying her first egg!
Nate waiting patiently for his egg to finish!
Lexi just hangin' out!
Watching as daddy takes the egg out. You can see how excited Nathaniel is as his hands are flapping (a common trait of autistic children). He only does it when he's very excited!
Nate & Maddie reaching for the eggs while daddy fervently tries to get the blue dye off the table with a Magic Eraser!
The end result!
Mr. Nate sitting by mommy while she takes egg pictures.
Mr. Nate being sneaky! CAUGHT!
Friday, April 06, 2007
In the Spirit...April is Autism Awareness Month
For those of you who are unaware, April is Autism Awareness Month. Over the course of the next few weeks, I plan on making several new entries with information about Autism or in some way relates to Autism.
I'll start it off by giving some basic information via links. I think it's important for everyone who has young children (ages 3 and under) or who plan on having children to know what the signs/symptoms are. If you do end up having a child with Autism, the earlier it's detected, the earlier you can get some Early Intervention help.
This website not only gives a definition of Autism but also a list of symptoms as well as a list of other more common Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).
This is a detailed description of the symptoms plus some of the tests that you can expect throughout the evaluation process.
From the same website, a list of treatments available. I just want to make it known that no two cases of Autism are identical. They may share some of the same symptoms but what will work with one child, may not work with the next.
I mentioned early that Early Intervention is vital to children with Autism. Here's a very simplified definition of what EI is.
One of the most effective treatments (with scientific evidence to back it up) is ABA therapy or Applied Behavioral Analysis. This website describes what that is.
I'll close with a video taken of Nathaniel when he was about 4-5 months old.
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