two more days until we move in!

Max started Physical Therapy about 2 weeks ago with Michael Workman. We meet at different parks that have terrain that suits PT. basically PT without Max knowing it which is GREAT! We REALLY like Michael a LOT and he was so great with Max. He loved playing soccer with Michael and walking up and down the hills at the park, going up and down the slide, up and down little steps. You name it - it was covered - and if Max showed any sign of being over it Michael would just move on to another type of play so that Max never got bored. I'm SO glad we found him. Here is his website:
http://www.professionaltherapies.com/

On Mother's Day we went to the Grand America Hotel for the most extravegant buffet I have ever seen! I took photos but I have so many photos to share I'll just list what I remember:
Crab legs, shrimp, oysters, crepes, omelets, waffles, bananas foster made to order, chocolate fountain with marshmallows and fruit, carving stations of turkey, steak and  salmon, asian dishes, sushi, bacon, sausage, cesar salad bar, lox, 15 different cakes, an entire wall dedicated to a candy bar, blintzes, fruit parfait in martini glasses, Mud pie, eggs benedict, and on and on. Since I've been playing the Game On Diet for the past 2 weeks I had very little of this - but must say I felt GREAT saying NO to all that sugar and fat and animal product. I've had my share of it since moving to Utah and my body felt worn down. But this place was incredible!!!! The hotel looks like it's from Europe. Gorgeous. Here is my Mother in law, My sister-in-law Sandy and her husband Chris and their three kids Stephen, Tim and Sean and of course the three of us just outside in the courtyard.

Wow - the sun came out! It's a festivus miracle! We ran over to Red Butte Gardens and played with Max and his soccer ball out on a flat area of grass. It was fun until he fell on the cement and scraped his nose - hard to see it here but clearly he recovered! ( we got tickets to see Pink Martini at their outdoor stage in July! Cannot wait to see them live again! )

jerry boght me these gorgeous Tulips for Mother's Day. LOVE them! He also bought me a necklace that hasn't arrived yet - I cannot WAIT to get it and wear it! Here is a sneak peek. Love Tiny Devotions

ok folks the moment we had been waiting for! We got to sign the Escrow papers and PICK UP THE KEYS TO OUR NEW HOUSE! Here is the past owner Tracy - handing me the KEY!

I bought this Jade plant for Jerry as a house warming gift. It is the first thing I put in the new house when I picked up the keys. Its in the kitchen at the window you can see it when you come in the front door. I wanted to buy him one of these because he had one in Los Angeles that he basically brought back from close to death and it grew to be a gorgeous plant. He really liked it so much. We gave it to one of his friends before we moved since we flew to Utah and put everything in storage - plants weren't an option. So here is a new start with a new plant.

The first week with the house keys we hired painters to paint the upstairs bedrooms. This one will be Max's room. It used to be the color that you see in the closet. Now it's a soft green color - we are keeping the closet blue - we took off the doors to the closet ( they were broken ) and replacing them with some fabric instead that hangs from a poll inside the closet. Haven't found the fabric or drapes yet....

This is the Master bedroom. yep - One wall is BLUE! It's called Venezuelan Sea. I LOVE that color. Especially up against our bedding which is rust and off white. Something about reds and blues together make me so happy - I wanted the entire room that color - but Jerry was afraid he would feel suffocated by blue! So we compromised.

Ok this is the office and you cannot tell what color it is from this photo. The paint color is London Fog. It's a very pale grey. And it's the most soothing room upstairs. I might sleep in there! Jerry picked the color and I'm so glad he did! I would have painted it all DARK BLUE!

The room where we will watch tv has a very odd shape to fit a sofa in. What I mean is - we don't want any furniture in the middle of the room right now while Max is still needing room to play so we want our sofa to be up against a wall. The one the last owners had in the room was bigger than the wall length so it stuck out right in front of about 3 inches of the backdoor - so you had to sort of move your hand around the back side of the couch to get to the door handle. We looked HIGH AND LOW for a couch that wouldn't do that. Guess what? Unless we custom make it - they all are that length. Boo. So we opted for smaller furniture for now. a love seat and chair. The Soho Collection from Gallerie Z is just what we were looking for. We picked this in a dark gray color. It will arrive in 6-8 weeks. The photo above is the sofa and chair I found and fell in love with. When he gets older we will consider putting a larger sofa in the middle of the room - but for now? We will snuggle on the love seat!

One of the amazing events for me with this new house is going to Anthropologie to pick out light switch face plates and little door knobs for the closets. Yes - amazing. I LOVE anthropologie. Clothing and home furnishing. This was my first experience looking through their amazing collection of doorknobs and it was divine! Above are my choices for the Master bedroom.

Same design but different hue for the Office

One choice for the hallway closet

Another choice for the hallway - I'm going to try both ans see which looks better. And below is the light switch face plate for Max's room. He doesn't have closet doors - But when I was at anthropologie I was dreaming of having 16 different closet doors and all the door knobs we could have through out the house. Yep. Obsessing!

 

So the rooms are painted - the carpets were all professionally cleaned yesterday - the professional cleaners come to clean the entire house and then....we move in! We are still scheduling the movers because the weather is TERRIBLE this week and we are waiting to find a window of sunshine or at least a window when it's not raining so that when we ( the movers I mean ) take everything we own out of storage and load it into the moving truck they aren't drenched - our things aren't drenched and it's a better situation all around. My parents fly in this Friday to help with Max and to help unpack and figure out where everything goes. YAY FOR PARENTS! Can't wait to see them. 

We are SO SO SO Excited to move. The other day I went over to the new house and put Max in the stroller and walked from the house up to the post office, then over to the library and then to whole foods and home. It was a 4 mile walk and was SO PRETTY! I rarely walked around our neighborhood in LA. It was safe - but just not pretty, trash, dog poop, lots of traffic, yuck. I didn't see ONE piece of trash, Not one pile of dog poop, not even in the grass along the pretty sidewalk! The view of the mountains was incredible! YAY for pretty neighborhoods that I feel inspired to walk in with my son! Plus Whole foods is only half a mile from home. So is Super Target, World Market, Home Depot and other places that I can get to easily. And from our street you would think we live in the country. No signs of these businesses. It's quiet and peaceful. I'm pinching myself.

And Just one more thing about Max - we started him in Speech therapy and I might have mentioned it before but didn't have a link about the therapist. Here it is. Her name is Monica Ferguson. Marty my mother-in-law found her for us. Max loves her and yes - I already talked about it so I will check in as we have more sessions with her and let you know how things go.

And if you want to hear some amazing news - a family we met here is adopting a child in Europe right now who has Down syndrome. A lot of families are doing this - it tugs at my heart. If you want to read about it she is posting about her journey at this website. Kareen's Journey Home.

Nap Tiiiiiiiiiiiime

Max has been transitioning from 2 naps a day to one nap a day - this has been going on for about a year. Everyone told us that as soon as they start to walk they tend to give up one nap. Well? Max started walking around 12 months old.....now Max is 2 and seems pretty tired around 10:30 and then again around 2pm. But lately - we've seen consistency in Max just taking one nap from about 11am until about 1 or 1:30 - sometimes until 2pm.  Everyone told me to nap when he naps. I rarely do because it's my chance to eat, catch up on e-mails, veg out, watch tv, talk on the phone with friends, read ( read facebook that is ! ), and pretend to clean ( haha! ). But - since Max sleeps in our bed I lay  with him and read him a book and then we snuggle as he falls to sleep. I've decided this past week to stay and nap with him and ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh the joys of NAPPING! I've been taking photos just as he falls asleep. Here is one of the two of us from yesterday. Oh the snuggling! So precious. He loves to put his hand on my face or tug on my ear when he is falling asleep. I love how affectionate he is. I don't want nap time to ever end! But I hear at some point these moments will all just be memories and my little guy will be a big guy and demand more play time and not nap again! Until then - I think I'm going to nap with him more, take more photos of the two of us snuggling and try to stay in the moment and not worry so much about checking my e-mails or chatting with my friends on facebook...I cannot believe that he is TWO and I hear that our babies just grow up so fast you barely have time to notice and then it's over and they are asking for the car keys. oh god!
On that note -
it's nap tiiiiiiiiiiiiime!

Happy Spring, Easter and Passover!

Images of Spring I took a few days ago. ( 50mm lens open to f/1.8 with a 4x close up filter on. )

Mama and Max napping ( I took this with my iphone just before Max woke up )

Max fell deeply in love with matzah on Passover this year. Look at him. He looks like he is yelling out for more. or saying " Don't you dare take away my matzah ! "

Spent Passover at David and Ann Asner's house. David taught Jerry how to play drums in High School! Ann and I met a few years ago on one of my visits to Salt Lake City and that is their son Aaron. It was fun to visit with them and celebrate Passover. The food was incredible but the entertainment of that family just being themselves - was what made it so much fun for all of us. They are warm, easy going, full of fun stories from their past and so loving.

I'm checking out books on decorating ideas for the new house ( Escrow closes May 11th - crossing fingers ) Max clearly has some ideas he wants to research for his bedroom.

Max visited the Pediatrician here. He is 25 pounds but we couldn't get his height - too wiggly. Blood test for thyroid function came back Normal. Dr. suggested we switch to Skim milk because Kids with Ds can tend to get overweight easily. Haven't made the switch yet. He is still on formula because we've had a hard time introducing him to lots of nutritious food. Now he is eating hotdogs, string cheese, graham crackers, teething crackers, wheat free cereal, yo baby yogurt, danables yogurt with a straw, cottage cheese, french fries, sweet potato fries, chips ( when we go to Mexican food ), Mexican rice ( when at restaurant ), All melons, bananas sometimes, grapes, apples, pears....I think that's it. He still has pureed baby food and that is where we are getting him to eat veggies hidden in fruits. he doesn't like bread, or melted cheese, or pasta, or any of the other foods you think toddlers may want....yet.

He has more sign language today than he did last week. he signs "baby" now which we saw him do very clearly for the first time today. He also signs house, flower, home, tree, stop. I'm sure there are more. I've written out the list of words a few weeks ago - I think he is up to about 40 signs now.

We hired a Physical Therapist named Michael Workman this past week. We will schedule him to start in a week or so. He is really amazing and we are really looking forward to getting started with him.

Marty ( Max's Grandma ) found one of the top Speech Therapists in the state of Utah and we are starting with her TOMORROW! Hooray!! Her name is Monica Ferguson. Tomorrow is a phone consultation and then we start one on one next week.

She has a recommendation for an Occupational Therapist as well so it looks like Max is hooked up!
He hasn't had any therapy since about January so it will be GREAT to get him back into the swing.
These are all therapists that we will pay for out of pocket as they are not offered through the state. We will also be seeing someone 3 times per month from DDI Vantage ( which is like the Regional Center in Los Angeles only you do have to pay a small fee for this which is strange ) who is called a " Child Development Specialist". Don't get me started on that one. Basically they give you the least expensive ( ie: least trained ) therapist first.

anyhow - we will keep the DDI Vantage therapist because I do like her and Max seemed comfortable with her and I am sure she has strengths that can benefit Max in some way. I'm just THRILLED that Max will have actual PT, OT and Speech from qualified and highly regarded therapists now. Sigh of relief for me. And thank you to all of you out there who gave us tips on where to find therapy! It has been a bit daunting for me to figure this part of Max's life out here in SLC.

In other news - the house we are buying is still moving forward! We had the inspection - and now we have to wait until May 11th - which is the Escrow Closing Date! ( knock on wood )

Jerry and I are looking at paint colors, and thinking about the things we want to do before we move in - like buy baby gates for the stairs! etc...

We are COUNTING THE DAYS!

We hope you had a lovely Passover or Easter or Both! This year we celebrated Easter with Grandma Marty, Aunty Sandy, Uncle Chris and 2 of their 3 kids, Sean and Tim. LOTS of yummy food! Tim made Crepes! Grandma Made "brunch" which is a baked dish with white bread, eggs, butter, cheese and bacon, fruit salad, bacon, Sausage...did I miss anything?

Max missed out on TWO Easter Egg Hunts because he was NAPPING through both of them this week so he still hasn't experienced that yet - but I'm sure there will be plenty of them in the years to come.

Much love,
*c

I love you through and through

Aunt Cathy and Uncle Ralph bought Max the book " I love you through and through" a long time ago and now Max is doing sign language with the book. It's so super cute that we videotaped it twice. One with papa reading it and one with mama reading it. He signs different things in each one so it felt important to show both... Plus viewing more cuteness is never a bad thing!
here you go!


Untitled from Catherine Just on Vimeo.







Untitled from Catherine Just on Vimeo.






Have a great weekend everyone!
We are so thrilled that the weather is climbing up to 60 degrees today.
We can't wait to get outside!!!!!!
xoxoxo

WOW! thank you Kristin!

wow! It's working! I'm learning from my friend Kristin how to make my images larger on my blog...
how about some more.....( and that's my papa from his recent trip to visit us last weekend - handsome yes?! )

 bathtiiiiiiiime

 my parents from last weekend. We had a lot of fun. We visiting the house we are buying and my mom measured the entire house and is making us some architectural plans so we have an idea of where to put things and how large or small things need to be - THANK YOU MAMA!

 While my mom was doing all the measuring, Max and my papa watching Signing Time together.

 One of Max's favorite toys. Oh I so love my 50 lens at 1.8. Yep photo geek.

 We wait too long in between haircuts and now you know why. He is completely traumatized. Screams the entire time and we have to hold him steady because he is strong and wants to pull himself away. Grandma Marty was there and she was in complete shock because she's never heard Max cry! She thought Max was just always happy. Well - no and here is the proof. Not happy. at. all. I HATE watching him scream and cry like this. It rips my heart out. I get pissy, controlling ( ok MORE controlling ) and my heart races. This was the BEST haircut he's had ever. Thank goodness for a patient gal who knows how to keep on cutting and get it RIGHT. He usually ends up with a crooked haircut from all the squirming and screaming.

 Phew - back to our happy little fella with less hair in the eyes.

 Playing with his camera toy while his cousin Stephen and his Grandpa hang out with him at the new house.

 Yep - me and my mama. I think this was taken at Oasis Cafe which is one of my favorite places to go in Salt Lake City. My mom and I sort of went CRAZY and ate everything in sight all weekend. One thing I highly recommend while eating all the bad foods on the menu....try this "pancake". You won't be dissappointed but you won't be able to put on your skinny jeans the next day. swe all shared it and still felt like we gained a thousand pounds. We also went to Eggs in the City which we all REALLY liked a lot, Z Tejas  BEST guacamole I've had in Salt Lake City. The one where they make it at the table for you. Ohhhh yes. Rumbi Grill had great fish tacos, and Finns ohhh the omelet with baby shrimp, capers and havarti cheese.... We met with Jerry's family at Tres Hombres, my parents really liked the shrimp fajitas. And we also went to one of my regular places ( I go here once a week! ) Vertical Diner. Thank God for their Taco Salad!....SO much food. They came to visit Max and instead got a tour of all of our favorite restaurants. Well Max was with us. We just haven't really been into using the kitchen much at the condo we are subletting. It's small, we don't have our kitchen supplies here and well....Max is still at an age where we can take him with us without it causing a loud, screaming, running around the place scene.

 Kristin's son Max turned TWO last week and we went along with them to celebrate at Wheeler Farm. Here are a few photos. That's her daughter Piper with the fellas. She is GREAT! She loves my Max. And I love HER!

 Piper and Max - looks like they are screaming at each other.

Everyone is feeding the ducks, and Max is looking at the other geese and ducks walking past them

And of course - some total Cuteness. He loves to watch his shadow and he looks down a lot while he is walking. He he still holds his hands up like that to help him with his balance. He is wearing that Superman shirt he wore on the day of his eye surgery. That feels so long ago. I love this scenery in Salt Lake City. I am LOVING the friends I am meeting here, the AA meetings are GREAT here, The Down syndrome community is so warm and inviting, the city is easy to navigate and and well you can see these mountains as they surround the city. It's incredible. I haven't even started to dive into the photo community or art scene here yet. I'm too busy figuring out these other interests right now and finding Max's therapists and well, buying a HOUSE! that's still moving forward and we are so excited.

Y.E.S!!!!!!!!!!!

The paperwork is all signed and in and the house is now looking like it's OURS!
Of course we still have an inspection to do - and all that other stuff that goes with buying a house. You know - like testing for lead paint and radon gas - and um......looking for cute bird feeders for the backyard ( hee heee heee )
ok - I can't really do that until May 11th. That's the closing date. That's when we will REALLY know that the house is REALLY ours. They will give us the KEYS!!!

But this first stage was really nerve wracking - just finding out if WE were the ones or if someone else would get an offer in before us - or if we could get all of our "ducks" in a row for the sellers in time to meet their deadlines. Phew.

This weekend my parents are coming for their first visit to Salt Lake City! I'm SO excited to see them again and I know they are thrilled to get an opportunity to see Max again. Maybe my dad and Max will go on a walk together while they are here - like they did when dad was recovering from his heart surgery. I'm excited to show them around - take them to our favorite restaurants and we scheduled another walk through of the house while they are here so they can get a look at it as well. We are bringing our tape measure to make sure any furniture we find will FIT and it comes in handy that my mom was an award winning interior designer ( before hanging up her wallpaper samples to become a marriage and family counselor ). I just LOVE that way the current owners have it decorated and I love their furniture choices - so I am going to take TONS of photos so we can look for similar things.

Thank you to everyone for crossing your fingers and toes for so long! I know how difficult it was to get things done when your feet and hands are all twisted up like that. You can release them now! IT WORKED!!!!

In other news - Max started his Music Together class yesterday. It's the 4th time we've taken it - but first time in Salt Lake City - and Grandma Marty came along with us. It took Max a little while to get used to the new crowd but by the end he was doing his usual walking around the circle and finding the mirror so he could entertain himself in it. Marty took some video that I will try to post here.....it's after music class and Max sat down with the other kids to try to play the instrument. He's the one facing away from us with the brown pants and white socks on. Next time I'll bring my video camera too so we can do double duty!






watching the music teacher play her instrument - what is that thing called?



not wanting to leave class

yep....a delay

Book time with papa - just before bed time
evidence of Spring.


Ok - So everyone has been crossing their fingers and toes and Monday was suppose to be the day we got the final Acceptance letter from the sellers. Everything is in place. They had already accepted our counter offer and everyone had the paperwork that they needed to move forward....

But Monday came - and we didn't hear a peep. Until 5pm when we found out that someone on the financial end of it never returned a phone call to the sellers so they couldn't do anything until that happened.

augh...............

So this morning we are getting that phone call to happen, making sure our ducks are all in a row before the end of the day today so that the Sellers have nothing else to do but to SIGN and Send it back to us.

I've never purchased a house before - and this is not that unusual from what I've been hearing from those out there who are more seasoned at this than I am. But it doesn't make the process any easier for me.

So.................I'm still crossing my fingers and toes and will keep you all posted!

Buying a house is like a roller coaster ride. And I HATE roller coasters!

The suspense is killing me people! So what's a girl to do who is feeling powerlessness?

I breathe - write to you all out there - feed my son lunch - read a book - get out in the sunshine - drink water - hug and Kiss Max - watch Sesame Street with him - Take a few photos - remember to stay in the moment - make a few phone calls - buy myself a new beautiful green purse! - remember that I am not in charge - take a nice bubble bath - and Let it all go...

ok and then I take it all back and stress out - until I remember again to let it go!

As my cousin Sloan said at her wedding

" Tick Tock People! "

That's my new saying these days with this process!

xoxoxooxox
*c

House in Cottonwood Heights...an update (!!!!)

I couldn't resist posting this photo that Jerry took of us last night before sleepy time. This is what it always looks like when it's time to go to bed. Lots of snuggling and sweetness. oh he is delicious!!

AND ....OK! Here are the photos of the house! And the reason I am sharing all of them with you is because the sellers came back with a counter offer today! So - we are MOVING FORWARD!
ohhhhhhh how we love this house! They didn't even take photos of the 3 other bedrooms. This house is really amazing. I think I'm dreaming. Of course we are at the very beginning of this process so anything can happen between here and the closing dates and I will keep you all posted as we go along. But right now we were thrilled to know that no one else got a bid in before us and that the counter offer is workable.
















and tonight is DATE night ! It's a great day in Salt Lake City !