TGIF

It's Friday!!! That means 5 more days before we hit the beach! We're passing some time right now while John Brady is at OT - we dropped him off because he does better without the distraction of his brother and sister. If you've never heard me rave about his OT, her name is Stefanie and she's the greatest! She has been such a blessing to us. She's partly so great because she had a wonderful instructor, Melissa, who also happens to be a friend and who specializes in Sensory Integration (which if you didn't know is John Brady's current "diagnosis").
Anyway, we have been so blessed through ARCO - Stefanie is just one of our precious connections. Right now I have a feeling they're doing some therapy with paint,water and bare feet! Yes, believe it or not being barefoot is a major thing for John Brady. Miraculously he's been hanging out on the grass lately without shoes - if he gets distracted into something else. But he may end up coming in looking for shoes. I try not to give them to him, though so he'll have to feel the different textures on his feet. The other day he was determined he wasn't getting back into the grass, he went into the closet and got his dad's smelly yard-mowing tennis shoes. I looked up and he was out in the yard with those big things on - no offense honey but I would have preferred the grass to those smelly shoes.
So I am anxious to see how he's going to handle the beach! The last time we went he was 2 and sick with a stomach bug, so I am not sure we even tried to take him down to the beach? That trip was such a nightmare God has graced me with forgetting a lot of it. We'll know in a few days whether he'll take to it better than Yancey Jr did the first time he went. We went on vacation with some friends and he screamed if we got near the sand! He loves it now, though, so we're good. Nancy Claire, well I guess we'll see about her too! It should be a fun and interesting trip because not only is my mom there but my sister and her six children will all be down there too. So they'll have lots of playmates - maybe I'll actually make it through reading an entire book, listening to some music and enjoying some quiet time on the beach. Actually the thing I am looking forward to the most is sitting under the umbrella with my mom and my husband and just talking. For some reason it's the greatest communication time. Countless major conversations have happened under an umbrella on that very beach - it's a very special place to all of us. My dad never really did like the beach, we would stay for almost one month and dad would just drive down on the weekends. And the most embarassing part, he would wear his swim trunks and either dress socks or bright white knee-socks onto the beach!!!! He always got a sunburn right there at his sock-line too! I am praying this is the first of many trips our family can take down there and make some memories. I am hoping we all get a good beach picture too!
Okay, time to get a little done before we go get John Brady! I have to get dressed for a baby shower tonight, too!