Speech apraxia, a wordless world. My beautiful boy.

We put on our costumes for trick-or-treat, took pictures, bags in hand, super excited. Ava a Princess, Graham a dragon & Cash a monster. We began our door to door candy begging. Graham was over the moon about the whole experience and in my opinion, the cutest little dragon and just so sweet to watch. Half way down the first street we came up to a house and the one thing I was dreading happened....the person passing out candy said "you have to say trick-or-treat to get a piece of candy". Hurriedly I said "Trick-or-treat!", reluctantly the person put a piece of candy in his bag and we shuffled along to the next house. I quickly studied Graham's face to see if there was a reaction and of course, he was just joyful to be getting candy he didn't seem scathed. Moments like that make me catch my breath and my heart hurts a little. Doesn't phase Graham, hurts momma.

Graham has Developmental Childhood Speech Apraxia. Basically this means that his brain isn't making the connection to his mouth to tell it how to form words. It's definitely correctable with therapy, thank you Lord. The thing with apraxia is that it's a long learning road. He will gain words slllloooowwwllyyy, and after he's gained a word he could lose it for awhile. He's not dumb (actually, he's quite genius). He doesn't have a mental disability. He's not contagious. He's not diseased. He's normal. He's beautiful. He loves trucks, trains, tractors, superheroes....anything boy. He's fearless (which scares me because he will jump off of anything!).

Graham does have a handful of words.....he's says "No!" like a professional:) And a couple months ago he said "mom", lost it for a month or so but has started saying it again! It makes my heart sing😊 And he does make a grunting sound when he has something he wants to "say". God put on my heart to write this blog post to tell ya'll about my precious boy because I've been feeling the weight of others' comments and judgements. He is setting me free of that and maybe our story will help someone or our testimony. It hurts my heart when people stare at him like there's something wrong with him, make judgmental comments, or even comment about our parenting. The good news? God
made Graham. God loves Graham more than we do. It's amazing me how He is putting everything into place so that Graham will get everything he needs to be successful. I Praise Him daily for this! Graham is so intelligent and I can't wait to see what he's going to do for the Kingdom of God!
I am so excited to listen to him....I'll hang on every word:)



Love and blessings to you all!
Abbey

P.S. I'm kinda hoping for a British accent when he does begin speaking. Wouldn't that be awesome?!! :D

Mommy, does Heaven have a slide?

Since we have a precious angel in Heaven, our niece Vera, Heaven is a hot topic in our house. We strive for it, long for it, imagine what's going to be there, & mostly wonder about it (lots of questions).

Almost never do my husband or I bring up the topic, it's always Ava or our nephew Jaxson when he's here. I absolutely love the heart of a child, the topic of Heaven included. They always inquire with happy hearts & are excited to get to Heaven. One day while Jax was here & we were all sitting down to lunch Ava asked
"Mommy, does Heaven have a slide?"
Me: "I would think it does. Heaven has all kinds of fun stuff!"

Just yesterday Ava asked "Mommy, how do you get to go to Heaven?". There it was, the ultimate question as a Christian parent I've been waiting for.
Me: "All you have to do is follow Jesus."
Ava: "We do that! I love Jesus!"
Me: "Yes you do."
Ava: "Well sometimes we do bad stuff. And you get mad at us and put us in the corner."
Me: "Yes, sometimes I need to discipline you so that it teaches you the right thing to do because I love you."
Ava: "Well dults (adults) don't get in trouble."
Me: "Actually, adults need to be disciplined too because even adults are sinners. God disciplines adults but He loves us so he disciplines with love just like mommy & daddy do for you and your brothers."
Ava: "Yeah. I bet Vera's going down that big huge slide in Heaven. I can't wait to go down it!"

I just love her heart:)I told her she will be very old when she gets to go to Heaven & that concerns her because "old people don't go down slides". I explained that even old people go down the Heavenly slide:)

Happy Sunday ya'll:)
Go down a slide with your kids or grand kids today to get a small taste of what  Heaven is going to be like:)
Love,
Abbey

That's me, Mommy genius.

Bare with me people, this post might seem a little scattered on my thoughts but such is my life.:) Every time I give Ava any food today (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack etc) she says:
"Mommy, you're a genius!"

I know she's heard it somewhere and is just repeating. I'm just afraid she's going to actually learn what it means & stop saying it! Ha! A couple weeks ago she referred to me as 'Your Majesty' for a couple days. I dug it.

You know those long periods of quiet time you get with God to just "listen"?
Yeah me either.
I was actually laughing about it with God as I was attempting some quiet time in the shower when one of his beautiful creations came in to tell me about Doc McStuffins who had just fixed a robot & then another one came in to so politely demand I get him more milk...right this second...soaking wet and all. I used to feel like I was letting Him down by not allotting specific time to spend with Him. God wants us.... all of us. And He wants time alone with us. But He also gave me this life. He knows what's going on every second and He loves me for all my attempts to get to know Him in this season even when I'm stirring dinner, filling a sippy with milk, and reading my bible study all at the same time. So be encouraged Mommas,  God will help you get some quiet time. I crave it, seek it, long for it. I also know that, right now in this season, my quiet time has to look a little differently than I first imagined it. Like right now, I just turned on Max & Ruby because everyone decided they are on strike against naps today, the new puppy (oh yes, I'm pretty sure I'm crazy but this is a whole other blog post topic) is sleeping in her crate, & the youngest is playing with a plastic box for this second so I'm going to read a couple sentences:)

Happy Chaos all you Geniuses or Your Majesties:D
Love,
Abbey aka Mommy Genius

Let me reintroduce myself....

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted anything! Life has been crazy, blessed & crazy. A lot of you have encouraged me to write a blog, mainly about the hilarious things my daughter Ava says so I'm gonna do it here. I might post once a week, I might post 3x we'll see how the weeks go:) (As I was just typing that my son Cash puked on my bed ha!)

As an introduction to the hilarious things Ava says I'll share my all-time favorite Ava-ism:
Ava: "Mommy (everything she says starts with 'Mommy') I have 1, 2, boo-boos."
Me: "yes you do."
Ava: "So since I have 2 boo-boos we call them boobies now."

I will also post more about my (our) walk with Christ. Testimonies are ever-changing & I find it incredibly encouraging when I read other peoples' testimonies that they share along the way. So as God lays it on my heart, I will lay it on a post:)

I hope you enjoy the laughter that comes from our home & the love:D If I can pray for something specific for you don't hesitate to message me!

Love & laughter to you all!
Abbey

P.S. Today, Ava is telling me I'm a genius every time I give her something to eat. The girl has wisdom:)