Merry Christmas

We have all decided that this is the best Christmas ever. We hope that it will be a great 2009. Bless all of you. Kris, Laura, Jared and Keelin send you all great wishes for a wonderful New Year.

A kiln full of stars.....

There are some really good stars in here! I fired them last night and opened up the kiln this morning. Also a prototype for a wreath and a snowflake...we'll see if they are any good. These stars are a labor of love, for sure. We'll see if I get any faster at them. I can cut and prep about 7-8 an hour-not very many if you ask me, but they are soooooooooo pretty!

Gotta run, Keelin's speech therapist is here!

Laura

Let it snow!

A pretty card from a new Etsian......you can purchase this card at http://thecardbasket.etsy.com All the items are handmade. And if you like the snowflake, let me know and I will make you one in glass!

Hope you all are well-it's lots of glasswork over here!

Laura

p.s. Keelin's speech therapy is going very well. She continues to use new words and be more understandable every day. Go Keelin!

Funny Faces.....

OK, total post and run-we are all still recovering from the stomach flu.ugh. These pics were taken Monday, pre-sickness. Keelin wanted to make all kinds of faces for the camera-here are a few of the many I took. She wanted to see each one on the monitor after I took the pic. She got a great kick out of that!

Enjoy!

A tree is born

Here is my latest endeavor, a sculptural tree....this guy is the prototype and I like it! THe tree measures a full 15" from base to top. Wood construction on the base and the tree attached with a metal rod. The glass is latticed Bullseye and Uroboros COE 90 opaques and transparents. There will only be a total of 11 in this series once all is said and done, and two to three are staying with me-it looks great on my mantle.

So 9 for sale. I am planning on doing reds, greens, oranges, and possibly some blue....will see what mood strikes me when I lay down the glass!

Happy Halloween

Oh My-the kids are getting big! Jared went with his friend Daniel to scour the neighborhood. Keelin went with me while Kris manned the posts at the house.

Jared was a sorcerer(no picture of him in costume to prove it though!). Keelin was a pumpkin princess. The witch was the witch(Sams club purchase this morning for 34.98!!! What a deal!)

Keelin really did well tonight. She got over her initial fear of all the masked people and went door to door on FOUR STREETS! Holy cow!

THis is what she said in her apraxia speak. "Happy Hadoween" "Tik oh trt"(trick or treat) and "Tayt-too"(Thank You). I asked her if she wanted to go home or do one more street and she said "wan mo teet-chokut nanyee". One more street-chocolate candy. She is trying much more these days and while not all of it is correct(ok not most of it) once we figure out what she is trying to say we can usually get it again.

Speech therapy is still twice a week and group activity once a week. She sees the eye doctor for her Amblyopia next week.

HAPPY HADOWEEN!

Seeing Stars

Per several requests, here is an example of what the stars look like. I can do them in any color you want!! I made 32 of them for my show and I have a feeling they will be popular. Several neighbors and friends have asked for me to make some for them. Which I think is wonderful! I like that people are willing to support handmade!!!

Email me at talisman@ca.rr.com with any questions, comments, tidings of comfort and joy-which is funny as it isn't even Halloween yet and I have to be in Christmas mode!
I will absolutely give a volume discount!

XO

Laura

Success!!!!!

Much to my happiness, I was able to locate MORE of these frames. I did a nationwide search through the retailer and got a total of 12 more frames of various sizes.Ask me how happy I am!

Here are the last three styles of the flowers for your viewing enjoyment. I expect that I will do well with them at the show-the response has been very positive!

XO

Laura

Alittle something....

So, I was at the outdoor mall near our house and one of the homefurnishing stores had these FABULOUS wall frames.....I saw them and immediately knew what I was going to do with them. Well almost immediately---

I thought I was going to do some glass landscape panels and affix them to the frames. I did one landscape and decided it was too busy for the frames and made some flower panels instead. I didn't post them all up, but here are two of the five I made. I am trying to get some more of these frames-they are so awesome. I LOVE THEM!!!! I think they turned out super!

I made some star ornaments which are cool too-I will have to post a pic, as well. Those are TIME CONSUMING as they involve eight cuts of glass per piece. And assembling that!

Wish me luck at my show!

Laura

It was a glass day, all day

Well-

let me start by saying hello to all. Just a quick post and run. I have been buried with work for my upcoming show Artistc License in Costa Mesa, CA. It's in two weeks and I am cranking out inventory. Bowls, plates, ornaments. The ornaments are new-I don't usually do them, but with the economy being so bad, I need to have some lower price points in stock. This is a juried show, and I did not jury with jewelry so I can't bring any of my jewelry items...... you see my problem!

I will post pictures soon!

Be good to each other!

Laura

The Childhood Apraxia of Speech Conference

Well-back to the real world! While I was gone at the conference, Keelin was sick-ugh. As in "exorcist" style barf that required our car to be steam cleaned and detailed on the inside. Kris was a real hero and survived great-but boy, was he happy to see me when I got back from the conference!

The conference was really great. It was lead by Dr. AmySkinder-Meredith who is an Apraxia heavyweight. Definitely the real deal!Great presentation skills.

The conference confirmed the validity of Keelin's diagnosis. Her huge gap between her receptive language skill(understanding) and her expressive language skills (talking) is one of the primary hallmarks of Apraxia. The language that she does have is very short in it's presentation-in that she speaks in mostly two word or single word utterances as she "breaks down" in to unintelligble sounds, also known as "glottal stopping", when she tries to put together more words. There was a parent roundtable with Dr. Skinder Meredith after the first day and it was really interesting to hear how others are coping with this diagnosis. Most of the parents had kids with additional problems-sensory issues, genetic issues. Keelin has the reflux but that's nothing compared to what some parents are dealing with.

We learned some really helpful therapy techniques that I will share with Keelin's new therapist-her old one moved out of state, which makes me sad.

The fact that floored me most about apraxia kids vs. kids with other speech issues is the amount of time it takes therapy to work. A child with a phonological delay will take an average of 29 speech therapy sessions to be understood 75% of the time by a stranger. The child with apraxia will take an average of 151 speech therapy sessions to be understood by a stranger 75% of the time. The typical therapy treatment of apraxic kids is 4 times a week for several YEARS. And Apraxic kids are at a greater risk for literacy problems, also. Dr. Skinder Meredith is conducting clinical research in this area of study, and I will be following her results, I am sure.

I know this is alot of information-and if you have read this far, bless you. We continue to work day by day with Keelin and try hard to understand her and help ease her frustrations. She is a hard worker and a sweet girl and we love her so much.

CASANA conference on Childhood Apraxia of Speech

I wrote this on my hand on the plane -a return trip from Napa and the CAS workshop...........the meaning? The folks at CASANA who run this website, http://apraxia-kids.org are here to help. To lend a hand of support to children and parents that face this challenging diagnosis. This was a fabulous workshop up in Napa-and I literally just got home, but wanted to reprt that I received some excellent information from this workshop. I will put a higlight post together later-but in the meantime, suffice it to say I learned MUCH about my daughter's condition and what we can expect over the next couple of years. We have so much to be hopeful about!

Cheers to all-

Laura

Don't you monkey with the monkies..

How is that for your obscure Peter Gabriel reference? We just got back from our 6 day vacation in San Diego. We had a wonderful time! Jared and I rented wet suits and rode our boogie boards on the beach every day. We also went to the San Diego Zoo-which was a blast, and checked out a couple of museums at Balboa Park. I leave Thursday for the Apraxia of Speech conference. And I have been making GLASS! Yes, remember glass? I have a couple of shows coming up and my inventory is sad, but I have been getting my "mojo" back, which makes me happy.
After the Keelin brain MRI in may and then my medical issues right after, I was feeling pretty drained. That's an understatement, by the way. So I am happy to b back in the saddle again and will post pics of my new work...it rocks, btw

Ciao! Laura

Clothes basket diva!

OK-so this post is a TOTAL drive by. I am surprised any of you read this, because my blogging skills have been non existant lately.
But I digress...................Keelin decided she was queen of the laundy and that our dog Skippy had to do her bidding-as in "GET IN THIS BASKET!!!!" All is sunshine and light until he decided to bolt. SHe had a few choice words for him in the second picture. I think she might be a sailor! If I could understand what she was saying.

In apraxia news, Keelin continues her speech therapy twice a week. She is trying SO MANY words, but as it is with apraxia, the more she tries, the more garbled she becomes. I ****think****I am getting a handle on some of her speech, but she is hard to understand and I am with her 24/7. I will be attending a 2 day conference in Napa for Apraxia. It is geared towards SLP's but parents are allowed to attend, and I think I know enough to get by. Plus Keelin's SLP is coming, too and will be a great filter and resource!

Cheers to all---
XOXO

Laura

Summer Fun

Well-we had some fun today! Keelin went to a "pool party"! Her little friend, Caiya turned 2 today and they had a blast playing outside and running around. I love this picture of her-it has a very "action-y" feel to it.

Just thought I would share! Cheers all!

Benignly Big Head

Well-the Brain MRI verdict is in. Keeling has enlarged anterior cortical areas and fissures consistent with a benignly large head. No water on the brain, no tumor, no cyst. We are so thankful. A;; nrain structures are normal.

We are still working through the immunology stuff and she has ANOTHER sinus infection. 8th one since November. About 2 weeks after going off antibiotics, she gets sick again. We are going to run another round of blood and see what the results bring us. I will keep you posted.

In Apraxia of Speech news, Keelin continues to do well with her Speech Therapist (SLP), Mimi and is starting to consistently use two word phrases if asked and will sometimes do so with words she knows without us providing the model for her. It's really excellent-

Thanks for all of your prayers for our family-it means alot to us.

Laura

Into the unknown

Well-long time no post....we got kind of thrown for a loop at Keelin's two year check up. Keelin has ALWAYS had a large head. When she had her brain MRI at 2.5 months we were told her head was larger than usual with enlarged anterior cortical areas consistent with "benign head enlargement" but we needed to keep an eye on it. So far her head has been off the charts but developing at the same curve as the rest of her. That was until April 29th, 4 days after her birthday. We went in for her well-check and her head has deviated substantially from her growth curve. Keelin will be having another brain MRI this Tuesday to see what's going on. This will be under general anesthesia (her 6th general in her short life). We are hoping for nothing scary. Her doctor want to know why her head has taken such a big jump. I hope it goes well.

Unfortunately, Keelin is also seeing a pediatric allergist/immunologist. She keeps getting sinus infections and when he ran her blood work he did titers on some of her things she had been immunized against via vaccine. She is not developing appropriate antibody levels at all. We have more blood work in about 3 weeks and then we go from there depending upon what the bloodwork shows.

In Apraxia news, Keelin is doing great. She is still seeing "miss Mimi" 2x aweek and making progress. She can use some simple two word phrases if they are modeled for her. Her ability to repeat is getting better and she is starting to try new sound combos. Her vocabulary is still pretty liited but she really wants to tell us what's going on. Sign language is slow going but she has learned some new things.

In glass news.............well there is no glass news> When do I have time to make glass? In my dreams.

In Jared news-his baseball team is going to win the division They are 13-1-1. Wow! He is really doing well as the starting pitcher. His team mates are all good kids.

That's the update-

XOXO

Laura

HAPPY SECOND BIRTHDAY, Keelin!

My little girl turned two today!!! I am so behind in posting-there is SOOOOOO much going on. I am a bad blogger these fays. Too much real life infringeing on my virtual blogging life. WHATEVER!

She had a fun day and she is too cute! We love you, miss Keelin!

Has it REALLY been that long? YIKES!!!

I didn't realize I hadn't posted in ages! OK-so a quick update-the day of my last post, Keelin ended up in the Emergency ROom with a dislocated elbow. She was just walking along holding my hand and fell down. She put no resistance in her muscles and I heard her elbow go "pop". She screamed bloody murder and I knew we were on our wayto the e/r. Apparently her low muscle tone leaves her prone to these types of injuries. Great..........

In apraxia news, Keelin's SLP has decided that Keelin would benefit greatly from learning sign language. Keelin's brain keeps learning new things, but her ability to communicate these new things is still waaaay behind. She is becoming very frustrated so we need to find a way to help her "speak" to us. In therapy land, this is called AAC (augmentive and/or alternate communication). So we are ordering some Signing Times DVDs and flash cards. I will let you know how it goes. She is also sick with a sinus infection that turns out is resistant to the antibiotic she was on. So she started a new one and we will see how it goes. Cultures from her sinus will be back on Monday. She also has her Gastric Endoscopy this coming Friday at CHOC. It's a general anesthesia procedure so wish us luck!

In Baseball news, Jared's team is 4-0. He is their starting pitcher and he is a rock star! Incredibly athletic and talented. He has a big game against the Yankees tonight.

In glass news....I haven't had alot of time to do glass or update my website. I am working on a large custom order currently. That's always nice-I like those. I am leaving after Keelin's procedure on Friday for a glass and bead expo in Las Vegas. Two days with my glass friend Jen. No hsuband, no kids. Me, glass and gambling! OMG!!!!!!!! ummmmm WOW!!!! I am really looking forward to the break. It's been a long time!

That's all the news that's fit to print. Be good people!

CIAO!

Entirely gorgeous!!!

OK-so Keelin has been a mess today. Speech therapy for her Apraxia was a mess, she was very whiney and not herself. I guess everyone has one of those days..........Mondays-Argh.
These are the pictures from the five good minutes she had today. She NEVER lets me do her hair, but I caught her in a distracted mood and put a super style on her! A bow in her hair and everything!

Then, I got out the camera and caught some amazing candid shots. I love these pics. Star quality for sure. My totally biased opinion!!!

Of course, the hairstyle lasted about three minutes before she asked me to take it down-you know-by yanking it out and grunting at me (uh-uh-uh!). A very insestent grunt. So while my attempt at Keelin Super Model was short lived, I got some great memories!

Everyone, have a super day

Laura

What's happening?

Well-here's a quick update from our incredibly busy lives. Keelin had a CT scan last week, no anesthesia and no restraints. She did it like a big girl and even though she was scared, she stayed still while I sang twinkle, twinkle little star to her. I was SO PROUD of her!

This Tuesday, Keelin has a visit with Dr. Tournay-the pediatric neurologist. We need an update on her head size(as it is too large in comparison to the rest of her) and need to discuss her apraxia dx. Don't know if she will order a repeat MRI. I was surfing the web and ran across a study indicating that large cortical areas are a sign of apraxia. Don't know if it's causal, but if I recall from Keelin's Brain MRI at two months-she had very large cortical areas noted as abnormality by the radiologist. Tournay has the records.

Jared is rocking it out in baseball, He is the starting pitcher and they are 2-0. GO Angels!!!!!!

Keelin's having a cow so that's all for now!

Toooooo Cute

ok-love this picture and blogger lost my original post about it. Damn you Blogger!