Life...

I am going to attempt to catch you all up on the current happenings in the Shellenberger world.

Well Miss Karly first...since the blog is named after her...she has blossomed in to such a little person lately. She is into EVERYTHING. I know I have said that before but it has taken on a whole new meaning. In her new wheelchair she can reach just about anything she wants, nothing is safe from her. She is in control when she is in her wheelchair. She LOVES to run into people; we don't love it as much as she does. She has even received a "time out" at school for trying to run over the little kids.

Her vocabulary has taken off, big time. Tonight at Target she felt the need to let everyone know that KJ was her's. (KJ is my best friend and Karly refers to her as "My KJ"~ just a bit possessive). She also said "bye" to just about everyone she saw. Now remember this is my daughter who is non-verbal according to the doctors. Trust me, she is verbal. Another favorite of her's is brother, it's not always a very clear brother but we all know who she is talking about for sure. She loves her big brother to death.

She has learned to shake her head no and does it a lot. You ask her any question and it is an immediate shake of the head no. Especially if her hair down because she likes to feel it fling back and forth on her face.

Her OT has had to come up with all completely new goals because the ones that she had been working on for about 7 months she all of sudden can do them with out any hesitation. She has mastered most of her PT goals and speech is coming along too.

Her weight continues to slowly increase. She has been hanging around 34-35 lbs. Depends on what she ate for dinner Sunday night (she gets weighed every Monday morning.) She is growing tall like a weed though. She is now in a solid children's size 5. We are out of toddler clothes. It's so crazy how she doesn't grow for so long and now every time I try to put an outfit on her it's too small. I am not complaining about it, in fact I love it!

As for the rest of the family... Ethan is doing wonderful as always. He just finished up travel basketball. They had a great season but I think the whole family is happy to be done with it (except Karly who LOVES to watch basketball...hours and hours of it). Baseball is starting to gear up for Ethan and soccer will follow in the next few weeks. Doesn't ever end, that's ok though Ethan loves his sports. He turns 10 in a few weeks. I can not believe he's going to be 10!!! Of course he is super excited for his birthday. He's got his birthday wish list started.

Jim is busy with tax season. He is either at work or at home having dinner before heading back to work. :( Only a few more weeks, thank goodness. Me? well... I have made some major changes in my career. I have accepted a position with my company's sister company and I will now be working out of my home and doing some travel. (about a 2 hour radius, not too bad) I am very excited, nervous and a little freaked out by the change but I know it's the right thing for me and for the family. I will miss my friends at the office, I have been there 9 years and have some really great friends there. But they will be my friends no matter where my office is. Step one of this new opportunity is a week long trip to Des Moines, Iowa. I leave this Sunday and I am looking forward to it. Of course I will miss the kids and Jim, however the thought of a lot of "me" time is exciting.

When I get home on Friday, Jim and I and our best friends are leaving for a weekend in the Finger Lakes in NY. (I will wake up in Iowa, Fly to Detroit, Fly to PA and then drive to NY...Yes I am insane.) I am really looking forward to this weekend. We are going to visit wineries all day Saturday and just have a great time. But I will miss my local WHS families that are getting together that weekend :( Next time guys!

Ok so now you are updated on all four of our lives...Hope everyone is well.

Some of my favorites...

I have been sitting here reading some other WHS mom's blogs and really want to post but I got nothing left tonight...so I decided to post some of my favorites pictures of the kids from the past year...enjoy!

Karly riding rides at Hershey Park this past summer

(Hershey, PA~Home of the 2014 4P- Support Group National Conference!!! )

Family Time at PENN STATE!

2010 Halloween (Ethan was Drew Brees and Karly was a fairy!)

Karly hanging out (in matching outfits) with her BFF Ashley.

Karly with her 2nd Mom, Miss KJ. Picking pumpkins in the fall.

Miss Karly playing at the Pumpkin Patch in the box of corn. She loved it!

Karly taking a ride on Daddy's shoulders at Shippensburg's Homecoming.

Mom and the kids tailgaiting before kickoff at SHIP's Homecoming. It was a lot of fun to take the kids on campus and show them around.

Karly and her loving big brother at the corn maze. He is so good with her.

Christmas Morning! No need to say anymore.

Beach Trip 2010.

Our little fish...she LOVES the water.

One of the things she does best...watching Ethan play sports.

Yeah I know it's been a long time....

OK so it's been awhile...We are still here. Everyone is doing fine. We survived the holidays with no major incidents. Although I was a nervous wreck on Christmas Eve; I did not want a repeat of last year. (Spent in the ER with seizures)

As for Miss Karly, well, she has really been growing. Growing physically and developmentally. She is really taking off. As of Monday, she weighs 34.8 lbs. She's very tall and skinny. She has grown 3 clothing sizes in the past year. I love it! She is now in girls size 4, no more toddler clothes.

Developmentally...well holy cow! She now has several words she uses, she signs "more" all the time, she is standing on her own for a brief periods of time, she is pushing herself independently in her wheelchair, she is walking all around using a walker... the list goes on. Her favorite word is "snack". Which is very fitting because the girls loves to eat. And my goodness the girl can eat, she would eat for hours if we let her.

We have signed her up for kindergarten. Yes, I know I can't believe it either. She turned 5 in November and is eligible for kindergarten in the fall. I am happy that she will have class 5 days a week. She currently only gets 3 days a week. We are still working out all the details of her transition but I am very excited for the next step for her.

One of the best things that Karly has started to do more of lately is that she actually plays with you. She loves to play with her brother. She follows him around and tries to do what he does. It cracks me up to watch the two of them play together. He is obsessed with sports and he has her throwing the ball to him as he is running different football plays in the living room. (I think he thinks he can get away with more if he involves her, and he loves her to pieces!) She has given high fives for awhile but now Ethan has taught her to give pounds. He is so proud that he taught her (as he should be!) Although you need to be prepared or she tends to punch you in the face if you aren't paying attention to her.

Well that's the quick and dirty version. I will try to be more regular with the blog posts!