Itches and Scratches...: I've got an itch!

This was one of my first blog posts in 2007. Since then we have learned a lot more about why our Ellie girl had so many "itches". In 2009 Ellie was evaluated and diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder. In 2011 Ellie was diagnosed with Asperger's, an Autism Spectrum Disorder. It sure explains a lot of things as we look back! I continue to document our journey, with her and our other two children, on my little blog. Sometimes it's more of a personal journal, sometimes I hope and pray someone will be helped by it, but always I love having it to record my thoughts, my pictures, and our crazy/blessed life.

OK, for my first "official" post, I thought I'd explain my title. During phase 3 of a girls night out last Friday, we (my friends and I) exchanged funny stories about our darling children. Which is what inspired me to start this blog! This was one of my stories:

We had Easter pictures taken about 2 months ago. Now, I realize that to most people, taking pictures is not that big of a deal.

To us, it is.

My mother shops for the "perfect" dresses for the girls for several weeks in advance every year. This year she had to coordinate the girls dresses with the new baby boy's outfit, so as you can imagine it was quite the ordeal to get the perfect outfits! We arrive at the photo session, me, my mom, my dad, and all 3 kids (Jason was at work, blissfully unaware!). We have one bag of stuff per child, each bag containing shoes, socks, diapers, diaper cover or shorts, hair accessories and fixins, hats, and the outfit. So, I load up the double stroller and in we go. We manage to dress and accessorize each child with minimal chaos and we're ready! We got some really cute pictures of each child by themselves. They had live bunnies, (thank you God!) so the girls were So excited they forgot to misbehave, for awhile. Then it came time to attempt a picture of all 3 kids together. After all, this is why we shopped and shopped, so they would all coordinate! We began by placing the 5 year old where we wanted her, then the 2 year old...but no! The 2 year old doesn't want to sit there, so she jumps up immediately. OK, lets put the baby with the 5 year old and try to bribe the 2 year old to be where we need her. Good! Just when we get the 2 year old where we need her, the baby slips out of the 5 year olds' hand, and bonks his head. We calm the baby down and try again. The 2 year old is still sitting where she's been bribed to sit so she can have some candy...now where is that 5 year old. Ah, she's playing with the bunnies. OK, so let's round her up again, but wait! She wants to take a picture with the new bunny she's found, so we switch bunnies, and get everyone posed and. . . almost there, mommy steps out of the way just in time for the perfect picture to be captured and . . ."I'VE GOT AN ITCH!!!!" The 5 year old jumps up, drops the bunny, and proceeds to yank her dress up and scratch her bottom! In the meantime, the baby fell over again, and the 2 year old took off after the bunny. My mom, bless her heart, tried to gather the kids back together, but it was fruitless. A bit of background...My 5 year old is kind of known for her, well, quirks. She often stops in the middle of things to fix her clothes, or scratch an itch. She's always Very dramatic about it too. Lovely, I know. Added at a later date...When I started this little blog, I named it "I've Got an Itch!" Since then, I've modified it to "Itches and Scratches", because I think it fits better. We have lots of itches and scratches around here. Real, and metaphoric! Ellie still has lots of "Itches" all the time, and I kind of feel like I've got the "Itch" of blogging, and find myself needing to "Scratch" it a lot! We never got the perfect picture. Or did we? You decide! Here are some samples of that picture session...

There she is, scratching one itch! And the baby eating his toes...