1.  Hey Photogs, is anyone going to Imaging USA?  I will be at the expo on Monday and I’d love to meet up and say hi!  I’m super excited about the fact that I might finally get to meet THE Erin Cobb!  I’ve been hoping for our paths to cross for years!

2.  I am thinking about opening up a few mini sessions on January 29th or February 5th – just in time for Valentines Day.  Any takers?  Email me at lstradtner@mac.com for details!

3.  I feel like I owe a bit of an explanation about my poor fell asleep on the kitchen counter hubby.  He really was asleep like that and I was shocked to find him that way.  I was hanging out with Marti last night so he was putting the kids down and he fell asleep laying down with Teagan.  When Marti left I went to go wake him up and he said as he was walking through the house to his desk he stopped and thought that was a good place to rest for a minute.  All I can say to that is I’ve never been that tired that I thought the kitchen counter looked comfy.  I did tap him on the head 3 times before I decided that since he didn’t wake up he was then fair game for photographin’.  I have a feeling his loosing battle with fighting cedar pollen has something to do with it.  He’s been miserable since last Thursday, poor guy.  Poor, funny, guy.

4.  Speaking of men who don’t handle being sick well, have you seen this.  Brilliant I tell ya, brilliant.  If you have spare cash laying around, invest, you’ll be so rich you won’t know what to do with yourself.  But you will know what to do with your sick husband!  Click on the link in that post to view the video, hysterical! I laugh because I can relate 😉

5. Today Teagan and I started going to a new playgroup.  This is a big step, emotionally and physically.  With exposure to a whole lot of new germs we’re going to see what his immune system can do.  I was very nervous about it but it seriously could not have gone any better today.  He declared on the way there that he was not going to play with anyone except me.  I told him that was ok, it was his decision but that I was really looking forward to making a new friend or two myself.  We go there and he did good, he LOVED it and so did I!  It was so interesting to see him in the group setting and immediately dive in to the activities that are most like the time he spent in OT and with Marti.  He was a huge fan of the mini trampoline, the padded sphere and the sensory table that was filled with pretend snow and snowflakes.  He got to check out a book and a toy from the lending library and as we left he waved goodbye, said thank you and declared he wants to go back tomorrow.  Big success!

6.  We also took the big step of signing him up for a teacher taught / parent led pre-k program.  The director is wonderful and probably should have given up on us a few months ago but I think she knew we’d need this when he was finally ready.  There is a waiting list but thankfully it is short and we are only 3 families down.  I think this will be perfect for him.  Our initial intention was to start him in a MDO / Pre-K program at the beginning of this year but he just wasn’t ready.  We’ve had some challenges and while we don’t consider him special needs, nor does he need services, ECI or an IEP at this point, he’s not ready for a traditional pre-k yet.  This program is the perfect in between step until he is and I’m so excited to get that call that he can start.  He can go at age 3 and 4 so there is really no rush for him to get to it this year if we don’t make it to the top of the list.  We’re not in any big hurry, especially since there is a great playgroup to start working on those social skills.  The playgroup setup is absolutely amazing, very creative, very encouraging to development and play and movement and learning and sharing and interacting.  We can go to playgroup up to 10 hours per week even.  I couldn’t be more excited about it for him.

7.  Today in the car on the way home from carpool I was calling out math problems to Taryn.  I said 3+3 and she said 6.  I said 3+4 and while she paused to count Teagan yelled out “7!!!!!”  I was shocked.  Of course he knew what came after 6 but it was just so funny to see Taryn’s face in the rear view mirror as she realized he was right!

8.  Taryn wrote her first short story this past week.  Crazy!  It was about her and Abby playing on the playground.  I’ve also been throwing out words for her to sound out and spell while driving, cooking dinner, cleaning up.  I’m amazed at how many she gets right.  That kid is a sponge!

9.  Anyone need a pinterest invite?  I can send out a few.  Post in the comments and I’ll send them out until it won’t let me anymore!

10.  If you made it to 10 you get a fun little heads up.  Giveaway.  A big one.  With a fun opportunity….coming tomorrow!