Kim Jong Il's Blog

No not really, but this is still hilarious. Warning: contains minor language. Doesn't look like it's been updated since July, though. Too bad, it's awesome.

http://users.livejournal.com/kim_jong_il__/

Dental woes

I have been very fortunate that in my (almost) 29 years, I've never had a cavity (or at least, one I know about). I don't know if I have my mom to thank (as she has told me numerous times that she drank a LOT of milk during her pregnancy), good genes, or vigilant family members who constantly told me to brush my teeth. I had always hoped that my kids would be as lucky as I was. Well, not so much. Emma has had one cavity filled, and during the last couple of weeks, has been telling me that her tooth hurts. So, off we go yesterday to the dentist. I'm thinking that it's just another cavity, silently berating myself that I let her get another one. She gets an x-ray done to see how bad it is, and the nurse comes back with a shocker. She's got an infection in her tooth that's down to her nerve. The first course of action is an antibiotic regimen to get rid of the infection. After that, we could either of two things: a pulpotomy (now doesn't THAT sound fun), where they basically drill down to the nerve, and then put something in there that deadens it, and then come back on another day to get a crown put on ($$$$$), OR just pull the tooth ($24). I kid you not, it's cheaper to PULL a 7 year old's tooth, than it is to fix it. This, I just don't get. It wouldn't be a stumper for me what to do, if this were a baby tooth that was going to fall out in the next year or so. No, this is a molar, which might not fall out on its own until she's 10 or 11. Now, she's been pretty early with some of her teeth falling out (she's had 8 come out in 2 years), so in all respects, this one could be out as early as age 9, but still. That's a 2 FULL years without a tooth, and having to have a metal spacer put in to keep the space open. Call me snobby, but I'm not sure that's a stigma I want to put on my kid. Ugh, I hate parenting decisions like this. We have until the 10th of January to decide. That's when she'll go in next, after the infection's gone. I just feel so bad for her. She hates doctors/dentists already, now I get to have her freak out every time we only go for a check-up or a cleaning.

Emma's 7

Emma turned 7 years old yesterday, at 7:01am PST. She's had a busy few days celebrating. She had her special birthday snack at school on Friday. I brought in homemade cupcakes with pink frosting & sprinkles. We had a few extras so we walked around the school giving them out to specific people (the librarian, her music teacher, the principal). Her classmates sung Happy Birthday to her, and she got to wear a special birthday crown all day.
She had her party on Saturday. She wanted a slumber party. We had invited 8 girls, but only 2 were able to make it, which was fine by me. Three 6/7 years olds all running around, doped up on caffeine & sugar was enough for me. We had pizza for dinner, then Coldstone ice cream cake. We opened gifts & they played games/watched a movie/had popcorn. They were all so excited that they didn't end up falling asleep until close to midnight. The next morning we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast & then the girls' parents came & picked them up. It was nice, and I know Emma had a fun time.
We got Emma a Disney Princess remote control racecar (BIG hit), and she picked out this Glo-E Bear at the store. It lights up & has a wand so you can change the colors that the bear lights up to. It's kinda pretty. We saw that they also had a smaller one without a wand for littler kids. Might be a cool present for Sarah as a nightlight. Her little friends got her a Bratz slumber party doll (ugh, I don't like the Bratz, but whatever...) & a My Little Pony Pegasus. Another reason I was glad not too many girls came. I think Emma needs to realize that presents are NOT the reason to have a party. She needs to get out of that mentality.
Having the girls over this weekend made me realize that Emma needs to have friends over more often. I feel so bad for her sometimes. She doesn't have a BEST friend that she sees all the time. And every time she gets something that's close, something happens. She had Ryan in San Diego, and then moved to Tennessee, and while we still see them, it's only maybe twice a year. Then when we moved here, she had Morgan across the street. Well then WE moved. During Kindergarden it was Meghan S. & Rachael. Neither of them go to Morey anymore, and I somehow lost Rachael's mom's phone number (grumble). She really seems to get along nicely with a couple girls from her class, so I think we're going to make more of an effort to have them come over to play.

Report cards & potty training

Emma had her 1st semester parent/teacher conference last Friday. She's doing really well in 1st grade. Her teacher grades on a 4 point scale (1-4), with 4 being the highest. Her teacher even prefaced the conference by saying she does NOT give out many 4's because then the child wouldn't need to be in 1st grade. Emma got mostly 3's, I'd saying 97%. She had a couple 2's in reading/language arts, but her teacher said she believed this to be from Emma's speech issues that we still struggle with. She also got a couple 4's in math (she takes after her dad in this). All in all, it was great. We see the areas where we need to give her a little more extra instruction, and we'll work on that. We also got her speech eval, and she's made great progress in that. She's probably at about 75% in meeting her goals from June.
And now the potty training. Not Emma, Sarah. Little Miss Sarah-Sarah has been having a problem lately with taking off her diaper at every opportunity. She hates having a wet diaper on. Of course, she also hates having clothes on, so it could be a pattern, but anyhow. I took the cue from her and put her on the potty seat one day, to see what she would do. She didn't do anything at that time, but the next 4 times I put her on, she went. She seems to be really proud of herself (as are we, and we cheer for her when she goes) so I think this may be the start of potty training for her. We didn't expect this so early (even Emma didn't start until after she was 3), but I'm not going to knock it. I know it's a long process (I don't see how my dad potty trained all 3 of my siblings in one weekend each), but if the end result is one less child in diapers, I'm all for it.

Have kids, will travel

Jeff, the girls & I just got back from another trip to CA. It was a nice 2 weeks. Mom had been in the hospital, but was out a couple days after we got there. The girls got to go trick-or-treating with Aunti M & Uncle Mark, played their hearts out with cousin Ariel & spent WAY too much time in Nana & Papa's spa. My Aunt Judy, and my grandparents came up from Santa Barbara to see mom, and Emma spent 3 nights with them at their motel. She apparently spent her time either in the pool, or eating the motel out of house & muffins by scarfing down their "All you can eat breakfast". I seriously think she gained 10 lbs. while she was there (her brand new pants that I had bought right before we left apparently are too tight for her now...).
It's funny, we normally only see family in CA about once every year, but this is our (well, Katie, Sarah & I's) 2nd trip to CA in 2 months, and we're going again at Christmas. Oh well, you can't have too much of a good thing.

Encouraging Article

One of the Ds boards that I frequent had this posted today:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/lifestyle/orl-specialswim06oct05,0,1063971.story?track=rss

I vow to never tell Sarah, or any of my kids, that they can't do something they set their mind to.

The Scoop on Poop

:: WARNING, TMI APPROACHING, I WILL BE TALKING GRAPHICALLY ABOUT POOP::


So, little miss Sarah-Sarah has been having poop issues for a few months now. She had a bout of rotavirus back in May and after that cleared up, she started pulling out her hair and eating it. Not fun. She's basically had sub-diarhhea since the end of May, not a solid BM in nearly 3 months. I'm talking her poop is like mud and it gets EVERYWHERE. She usually goes during a nap or after she's put to bed in the evening and either Jeff or I will go upstairs and smell some awful, go in there to check, and it's like Jackson Pollack with crap in her room. Smeared everywhere, all over her, the crib/bed, her sheets/blankets....everywhere. The first time she did this, it was even IN HER MOUTH.......EWWWWWWWW. I about gagged, and not much phases me (but I was still pregnant at the time, so there you go). So, we've been dealing with this problem for quite some time. I've spoken to her pedi about it but apparently he forgot to write it down & it left his memory. Well, my mom is here this week, and it happened again on Tuesday, as I was preparing to go pick up Emma from her first day of school...If my mom hadn't been there to give Sarah a bath, I seriously don't know what I would have done. We recently put Sarah in a toddler bed...so that means she can get out of bed and walk around....you see where I'm getting with this? The poop was not relegated to her crib, like normal, it was on her toddler bed, on the sheets/blankets..and the floor. OMG, the floor. 5 BIG spots of poop on my BEIGE CARPET, in our RENTAL HOUSE. I could see it now...yeah I know we're leaving and you have our security/cleaning deposit, will it cover dying the rest of the carpets to match mud poop brown? I hear it's the new fall color. /sigh
So, I basically had to hand Sarah off to my mom, and shut the door to the "poop room" until I got back from picking up Emma.
After I got back, I started what I affectionately call the "clean-up & recovery". It was like a war zone in there, complete with the stench of death. It was awful. I spent 10 minutes just bringing out toys that had poop on them (her poor Rock 'N Play piano was viciously violated and almost had to be tossed..), I stripped her toddler bed, sanitized the (thankfully) plastic covered mattress, tried to pick up the globs of poop on the carpet and saturated the spots with OxyClean...knowing full well that wasn't going to cut it. I used a full tub of Lysol wipes on her bed & toys and then spent the next hour trying to get as much of the spots off the carpet as I could. I finally, after 2 1/2 hours of cleaning, decided I needed to call a professional. So, in comes Mark's Carpet Cleaning...
I couldn't get an appointment for 2 days, in the meantime Sarah's room was off limits to anyone under 5 ft. tall. Sarah was demoted back to her crib and the poor kid couldn't even play with her toys in there. The only reason anyone went in there was to change diapers or clothes or put Sarah to bed. I decided that there were a few other rooms in the house that desperately needed their carpets cleaned, so we did the dining room, Sarah's room, the stairs & the living room/hallway downstairs. All together $154, not bad. So, they come and I ended up having to leave in the middle to take Sarah to the doctor's re: her poop. When I come back, an hour later, it's like walking into a different house. I thought I was going to cry, the carpet's looked so good. They looked brand new. And I was mad that I didn't get the whole house done. I decided right then & there that we were no longer going to eat food anywhere other than the dining room table, which was no longer allowed on the carpet. It's in the kitchen, where it will stay until we move. The kitchen has washable floors. This carpet cleaning place has my business for life.
Ok, back to the doctor's appointment: they basically told me to suck it up. They did some blood tests & took another stool sample, but nothing came back. So, this was normal for Sarah; not exactly what I wanted to hear. Anyhow, I guess I'll have to be very diligent when I put Sarah down for a nap or to bed to make sure she doesn't play Picaso with her poop anymore....ewwwwwww.

Wake me when they're at college

Seriously, I should have listened to the people who warned me that having children was exhausting. Maybe I would have been better prepared. The drama/excitement/poopy diapers/puking/crying/picking up NEVER STOPS. I don't know if I have the stamina to do this for the next 18 years.
Not that I don't love my children, but they have more energy than a pack of sugared up howler monkeys and are just as loud at times. But they have a reason to be excited: Grammy's here. My mom flew in on Friday and is staying for over a week. Emma is in heaven. She loves Grammy. Grammy, unfortunately, due to chemo, has even less energy than me, so it's been interesting, to say the least. But, Emma's been a good sport and is helping Grammy out. Sarah has decided that she's going to start puberty early & is extremely moody lately. And Katie, well, Katie's 3 months old, and her only needs are a clean butt, a full belly & constant interaction. She LOVES it when you sit there & look her in the eyes and talk to her. She seems to thrive on it. She's giving us the biggest smiles and has the funniest expressions on her face.
Emma starts 1st grade on Tuesday, and that will help with the non-stop chaos around the house. But, then we also have soccer starting soon, which will add a whole new dimension. I think I need a nap...

Long time no see

I know I know, I'm a terrible blogger. But, I suppose I have an excuse. I give "mad props" to all those moms who have 3 or more kids. It's rough! Oh my goodness. Ever since Katie was born, I feel like I've been running a marathon...daily. I promise I will post her birth story soon, but for right now I will just update you on everything:

Emma: things are going well with Emma, she spent 6 weeks in a day camp called PEAK. She LOVED it!!! They did crafts, went on field trips, did educational stuff, and spent a ton of time outside on the playground. This child is TAN!! I don't know where she got the tan gene from but it wasn't her father or I. She starts 1st grade in one week. EEEEEKKKKK! How did I become the mom to a 1st grader?? She's so excited. We went & bought her school supplies last week, including a new backpack, and a couple new outfits, and new shoes. She also lost her 8th baby tooth while Aunt Kammie was here last week. Wow, it's crazy how fast she's growing up.

Sarah: Sarah has had some issues this summer, I'm thinking mostly due to the new baby. She started pulling out her hair, bit by bit, on the left side, until she'd managed to get out about 1/3 of her hair. She's been unofficially diagnosed with trichotillomania and we're working with her on sensory issues. We decided the easiest way to help her was to cut her hair, so now she's got a cute pixie cut!! She looks like Tinkerbell, complete with impish grin.
We also put her in a toddler bed a week ago. That's still something we're working on. Her favorite thing to do is stand at the baby gate in her doorway & chuck things out of the room, or completely empty her drawers and diaper stacker - or both. She's definitely in that "two" stage. Oh it's fun..
We're still continuing sign with her & she knows about 15-20 signs. She's still not verbalizing very well, but she definitely has inflections in her voice to denote changes in mood & intent.
She was also part of a study this summer. It was done by a doctorate student at CMU regarding kids with dev. delays and them imitating a bahavior seen on a video. She was on the young side of the spectrum, as they were looking for kids aged 2-5. I'm definitely an advocate for anything that will change how ppl view kids with dev. delays.
And then there's Katie. Wow, how time does fly. She's already almost 3 months old. She's so alert and looking all around. She follows you with you walk past her, and loves to be in the middle of everything. She's still nursing like a champ and I'll have her weighed & measured this week, so I'll update on how big she is, but I'm guessing she's probably over 12 lbs. now. She's definitely got the "Schmechel family thunder thighs", haha. This kid's got some chunky legs, that's for sure. We think she's either going through a growth spurt or teething, because the past couple of days she has been CRANKY! It wouldn't surprise me on the teeth, this is when Emma started teething, and she got her 1st 2 teeth by 4 months.
Jeff finally got his promotion from last year made official. He'd been "interim manager" since last August when his boss took another job. But, he was made permanent. Congrats Jeff!! His new official title is "Associate Director of Residences & Auxilliary Services". He's also starting the fall semester of college tomorrow. So once again, he's doing triple duty: full-time employee, half-time college student & full-time dad.
As for me, well aside from having Katie, not much else is new, lol. My mom is still planning on moving out here, and is actually going to visit us for 10 days pretty soon. We're hoping that she'll be moved out here before the end of October.
So that pretty much sums up our lives for the past 3 months. You can actually check out a whole bunch of pictures, including newborn pics of Katie, here.

Tomorrow's the day

Well, after seeing my doc this afternoon, the decision has been made to induce me tomorrow morning at 9am. We're going the Cervidil route, which isn't as bad as Pitocin, so I'm still hoping for an epidural free delivery. But, whatever way and with whatever interventions that happen, the only thing that matters is Katie arriving into this world safely. June 8th, 2006. Sounds like a good day to have a baby. It'll stick with our tradition of all even numbered birthdates. With the exception of Emma's birth year ('99), ALL of us have all even numbers in our birthdates.
At first they said that they might not be able to fit me in tomorrow morning, and I was going to have to wait until 9pm tomorrow night. I wasn't happy about that. But Labor & Delivery called me this evening and said to come on in, unless told otherwise. Now I just have to hope & pray that I don't get bumped. I can imagine getting there & them telling me, opps, we're full, go home. I'd be less than pleased.
So once she's here, well, depending on the time of day, lol, Jeff will be back home to post some pictures on our Photobucket page. That can be found here. Wish us luck!!

Still here, still pregnant

I'm 2 days past my due date, and I'm cranky. I wanted this baby out about a week ago, sigh. But, apparently she's just like her father & is a complete stubborn mule. I even had decent, regular, albeit Braxton-Hicks, contractions last night for about 2 hours. Then I go to bed & they stop. As of Monday's appointment, I was 1-2cm, 50% effaced. Which means nothing to me, because I was that way for the last 4 weeks before having Sarah. Tonight is Emma's Kindergarten graduation, so I'm hoping maybe afterwards something will happen. This is the event that I was most worried about missing. Even though it's going to suck that my aunt & sister will have almost no time with us after the baby's born (they're leaving on Monday afternoon), I'm glad I won't be missing this very important event. She's also getting an award on Friday (the last day of school) and I would love to be able to go to that, too, this is the biggie for a Kindergartener. So, I'm not trying to bargain with God or anything, but anytime after the graduation tonight, but BEFORE, say, Friday, would be great. But, as I'm learning, nothing is certain in life, not even the timely birth of a child. Even your 3rd.
But, this is making worry just a bit that the baby is just too big and won't descend, thus forcing me to have a c-section. Which I'll take, as long as it means having a healthy baby, but it also means that Jeff wins in our "who gets to be snipped" bet. If I have a normal delivery, Jeff's promised to get the big "V", and I told him the only way I'd get my tubes tied was if I had a c-section. So, we'll see how things go. I'm not too worried...yet.
So, for all the family members who are wondering, no we haven't had the baby yet, and yes I'm doing pretty much everything I can think of to get things going: walking, housework, shopping, carrying a 20 lb. Sarah up & down the stairs, doing my elliptical trainer. I've tried it all, but she'll arrive when she feels like it & not a moment sooner, unfortunately. And trust me, we'll let you know.

Sigh of relief

Well, my aunt & sister have arrived in town, so I've given my body permission to go into labor whenever. I have the carseat/stroller, we have a bed for her to sleep in, clothes for her to wear, and people to watch our kids. We're all set.
We seriously thought I might be starting labor last night, but it was just the baby poking at my cervix, nice feeling. But, we're going to be walking a lot & I'm no longer trying to "take it easy". I'm not over-doing it, but I'm also not walking on eggshells. Plus, if I go into labor while doing dishes, I think that's probably a card I could use for awhile.
Sarah's having fun with my sister, as is Emma. Jeff, unfortunately, has to work until the baby actually arrives, so he's missing out on the fun during the day, but he'll be off this weekend.
Emma has a birthday party to attend this Saturday. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. There's supposed to be a thunderstorm tonight (typical summer Michigan weather). But, it's warm, which only means one thing: humidity. Joy. I will be so glad when this baby is out & I can have my normal temperature range back.

Preggy pics

So, after much questioning by my friends as to when I was going to post some pregnant pictures of myself, we went out today to try & take some decent ones. It was really windy, but the first real nice day in about 2 weeks. It's been raining on & off for what seems like forever, but today was beautiful, if not blustery.

Here's me & my Sarah-bug. She was just too enthralled with the grass, and would barely sit still on my lap. Our friend Amanda made the girls matching shirts/onsies that say "Big Sister", "Middle Sister", and "Little Sister".

This is Emma with her new haircut. Since chopping a bunch off her hair this week, she needed it a bit evened out. We ended up taking about 2 1/2 inches off the ends.

Here are my two beauties! Sarah wouldn't keep her glasses on, and again, just wanted to play on the grass.

I think we may try again another day to go out & take a few more pictures. When it's not so windy and the ground isn't saturated with rain water.

Fun with scissors

I'm sure you're probably thinking, wait a minute, that title doesn't sound very good. You're right, there is really no fun to be had with scissors in the hands of a 6 year who has time to kill. After Emma got home from school yesterday, I told her she needed to clean her room. She went upstairs and proceeded to slowly clean her room. After Jeff got home about an hour later, I was talking to her & noticed her bangs where a little uneven. The I saw that the hair by the side of her face was, too. So, I asked her if she had cut her hair. She feigned ignorance (a favorite past time of hers lately) and said, I don't remember. I'd already not had a happy afternoon, due to issues completely unrelated, so I was not in the mood to play games. I asked her again, and told her if she wanted to still go to her friend's birthday party, she would tell me the truth. She said yes, she cut her hair. I tried very hard not to get angry, and in fact, Jeff & I just had to laugh to ourselves, because the timing could not have been more perfect, in order to help get us out of our funk. So, she can still go to her friend's party, but she's grounded from TV until this weekend.
As for her hair, it's not completely messed up, so I suppose it'll have to wait until this weekend to be fixed as well. She basically just took the top layer of her bangs & cut them about an inch or so shorter than the rest. The sides do look a little funny, so she'll be having her hair up for the rest of the week. I'd take a picture, but my digital camera battery is dead, and I think we left the charger in Detroit. So, I had to order a new one & it hasn't come in yet. I love my children, they keep my life interesting.

Emma's first party

Emma got invited to her first school age birthday party!! She's very excited about it, insisting this morning that she needed to make her friend a birthday card right now! That party is NEXT Saturday, lol. So I told her we had a little time, and that if she did it this morning, the bus might come while she was working on it, and that would interrupt her. I told her she would have plenty of time to do it this weekend.
With it being May and all, I'm really surprised this is the first party she's been invited to. I know her other little friends have had birthdays (they're on our snack calendar) but no invites. I'm not foolish enough to think that my kid should be invited to every party that occurs, but some of these kids were her friend, or so I thought. Oh well, she's going to this one, by hook or by crook! And if I go into labor, SOMEONE will take her. By that time, Judy & Tracey will be here, or I could get one of our friends who are going to watch the girls take her. She is going to this party if it kills me.
Speaking of the baby, I'm 1cm dilated, but that's nothing to get excited about. I was 1-2cm dilated for the last 3 weeks of my pregnancy with Sarah, and I had her the day after her due date. Things are still going on as usual: Sarah has therapy, Emma has school, Jeff has work, and I have housecleaning, fun fun. :)

IEP's, and other acronyms

I have so many acronyms running around in my head every day, you'd think I was trying to communicate in some abbreviated form of English. IEP, PT, OT, ST, DT, DS, ugh. It just doesn't end.
Sarah had her annual IEP today. That's basically where all her therapists get together, discuss with me how she did this year, whether or not she's met her goals that they set last year, and determine if she still qualifies for services. They also tend to throw out age ranges that describe, to what extent, her delays are. For example, her Infant Teacher (the DT in the list above) said her cognitive skills were roughly in the 12-15 month range. That's actually not that bad, but it's still such a solid number, on paper, in triplicate. That goes in her permanent record. At 2 years of age, Sarah has the cognitive abilities of a 1 year old. It's hard for me to grasp this, as I just see her as Sarah, not a number or a description. But, for all the pencil pushers in the Special Ed sector, they need these numbers in order to determine who qualifies for what services.
The good thing is that she's finally going to get Speech Therapy. I've been pushing for this for almost a year. But, was told that Early On in this area didn't offer ST until age 2. I probably could have gone through a private ST, but I don't know if it would have been covered by insurance. She, of course, still qualifies for all her services, and will receive summer services from the Infant Teacher & PT. So, next fall, she'll have 4 therapists working with her. In addition to going to playgroup once a week. We're also planning on her going to preschool (!) next January. There are a couple different classrooms she could go to, but I'm going to push for the one at CMU. They have full time ST, PT, & OT, plus students who are working on getting their degrees in these areas. It's 5 days a week, 2 1/2 hours a day. I'm sure it'll be an adjustment, not just for her :( , but it'll definitely be something to look forward to.

Don't mess with a special needs momma

Someone on one of my Ds boards got arrested this past week. Not for drugs or alcohol or shoplifting. Not for child abuse or domestic violence. She was arrested, booked, strip searched, and had to post bail to get out, over Down syndrome.
She was dining with her family at a restaurant (with the initials IHOP) and there were 3 teenagers sitting behind her. They started making imitations of mentally retarded people and generally making a$$es of themselves. Yelling things like,"I isss hungyyyyy" and pounding their fists on their chests like monkeys. One of the boys said to the other,"Your mom should have aborted you, re*%^d." The woman and her husband, who are embarrassed & angry, tried to go on with their meal, but the kids just didn't stop. She doesn't think they saw her son with Ds sitting there, so at least it wasn't a personal thing. She turned around & politely asked them to stop, that she had a son with Ds, and she thought that was the end of it. Well, then they started singing a "new" version of "The Addams Family", called "The Re*&#ded Family". The woman got up to do speak to the manager, and the boys kept right on going with the imitations & derogatory speech. Well, that was it for the woman, and she slapped one of the boys on the forehead with her open palm, knocking him out of the booth he was sitting in.
The manager put the restaurant in lockdown, like she'd threatened the whole place, and the cops were there within minutes. She was arrested and because she has a blackbelt in karate, she was treated like common criminal. Her family had to post $500 bail, after she was told she might not even be allowed to get out.
Well, after being told to contact the media (because basically what these kids did constituted hate speech) things are starting to heat up a bit. The boys ended up being 17 & 18 (she slapped the 18 yr. old), and the girl who was with them said that they were intoxicated. They were also regulars of the restaurant, and that it seems like the manager was showing preferential treatment by not stopping the harassment sooner. The whole restaurant could hear them, but no one said a thing. The 18 yr old is pressing charges, but the 17 yr old's parents were appalled at their child's behavior, sent an apology, and aren't doing anything.
So, the moral of this story, as of right now, is, don't mess with a special needs momma. I'm very fortunate not to have been put into a situation like this before. If someone says the "R" word around me, I gently try to explain why I don't like it & ask that they choose a different word. I don't advocate violence in any form but, if I were to have been put in this same scenario, I can't guarantee that I wouldn't have done the same, or worse. Nobody messes with my kids. If you do, you risk unleashing the momma bear.

Where do they pick up this stuff???

Ok, about a week & a half ago, Sarah had a huge blow out in her diaper. Actually, she then proceeded to take OFF her diaper & spread the lovliness all over her crib & self. Not fun, for either of us. Two days later, Emma started throwing up, no other symptoms, just projectile vomiting every once in awhile. Four days go by, nothing out of the ordinary. Then, BOTH of them started throwing up. Tuesday night alone, I think I changed about 4 sets of sheets. So, I kept Emma home from school the next day (to her utter distraughtness) and took them to the Pedi's. Sarah had already been scheduled for her 2 year well baby, so it was easy to just add Emma to the agenda. The pedi didn't know what was up, but suggested that they be put on the BRAT (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast) diet after 24 hours of clear liquids (jello, gatorade). That lasted all of 36 hours, due to the fact that it's hard to keep kids happy on that diet. So, on Friday, Sarah had an AWFUL diaper. Poor kid was miserable. That night, more puking, 3 times in about 30 minutes. I decided that was enough, and took her to the ER. Someone had mentioned to me, after telling them her symptoms, that she might have rotavirus. Ugh, the one thing I hadn't thought of. So, off we go (it was after midnight, so Jeff stayed home with a sleeping Emma) and after examining her, and hearing what she'd been through in the past week, the PA on call said it was most likely rotavirus. And that Emma probably had it, too, but was able to fight it off easier than Sarah. So, after getting poked in the finger for blood (which, surprisingly she didn't even flinch at), and getting x-rays taken (to make sure she hadn't punctured her bowels), and then getting an IV in her foot (cause her arm wouldn't cooperate) to get some fluids, we were finally allowed to go home (with instructions to do the BRAT diet again, only NO applesauce or bananas) at 5:30am. So, poor Sarah's been having very boring & bland foods since Saturday. No juice, no milk, only Pedialyte, which is EXPENSIVE! And pretty much nothing else but toast, bread, dry cereal, and cooked veggies. I took a chance & gave her some cut up hotdog last night, but she wasn't interested. She only wanted to dip her bun in Emma's ketchup, lol.
So, I've got 5 more weeks left of this pregnancy, if she holds out that long. My aunt & sister are coming out on the 24th of May for 3 weeks!! I'm very excited, and so is Emma. Something tells me Tracey will be sick of being an aunt by the time she leaves; Emma will probably attach herself to Tracey's hip as soon as she gets here. My sister's 20 & goes to school in San Diego at Point Loma Nazarene college. She's never seen a baby born before, so it should be interesting for her, to say the least. She may never want children after this trip, lol.

Easter at the Wilson's

If you're expecting some grandiose blog. filled with exciting tidbits, well, go read another blog. Our Easter was fun, to be sure, but nothing to write home about...wait, I guess I AM writing about it, lol.
It all started on Saturday evening, after realizing that we had no food in the house, that I trekked over to the store. We also needed some Easter Bunny supplies, but like most places on the eve of Easter, there were practically none to be had. There were no baskets, no eggs, barely any candy. Jeffrey, in his infinite wisdom, had thrown away the girls' baskets from last year just last week. :\ Thankfully we still had our cache of plastic eggs. But, what to put them in. So, after spending nearly 3 hours at the grocery store, I went to Wal-Mart after the girls were in bed. They had a fewbaskets left, so I picked a couple of really cute ones: a purple wire one with wire flowers & butterflies on it for Emma, and a plush ladybug one for Sarah. The Easter Bunny also got the girls each a book and a toy (Emma got a hula-hoop and Sarah a plush ducky).
Before going to bed, Emma had insisted that we make the Easter Bunny a plate (just like we do with Santa) of something yummy. So, we made a little serving of cut up carrots for him. And a glass of water with ice (because he'll be thirsty mom).
So, after the girls were asleep, Jeff & I had the fun job of "helping" the Easter Bunny fill up the eggs with candy, getting together their baskets, and setting everything up. The eggs were "hidden" around the house for the girls to find in the morning.
Emma was up, bright & early, at 7am. Sarah wasn't far behind. Emma found most of the eggs, but let Sarah find a few, too. After getting everyone washed & dressed, we went out to brunch. Emma had been asking us for a week to be able to fly her kite, so we decided to go to the park for a little while. We also brought her bike. After 5 minutes of flying the kite, Emma decided she was bored. So, it was off to play on the playground equipment. Apparently my huge belly belies my condition, as she was requesting that I play hide and seek with her. I told her that the only place I would be able to hide was inside the slides, and that I would most likely get stuck, so no thanks. So then it was off to ride her bike for a little while, and then home. Sarah must have been worn out because she went down for a 3 hour nap. Then we had dinner, and after watching a movie, the kids went to bed. So, all in all, it was a nice holiday. Nothing too spectacular, but hey, it was fun.

Where did the time go??

Sarah, my little bundle of joy & energy & spunk, is turning 2 next week. ACK!!! How did this happen??? Here we were, just plugging along with our life, and she goes in turns into a full blown toddler. And toddling, she is. She's WALKING!!!!! Only about 5-8 steps at a time, but it's a start. She's also standing up on her own in the middle of the room. Her favorite mode of transportation is still bear crawling, which she can do at lightning speed, but walking is coming along.

Her little personality is also coming out. She definitely knows what she wants & doesn't want. She instinctively starts fussing every time I carry her to her room, because she thinks she's being put to bed, lol. She's also starting to NOT like being carried at all. She'll put her feet up against my side and push away, making it very hard to hold her. She's still a chow hound, eating practically everything you put in front of her (although she recently told us she doesn't like cantelope or broccoli). Her reflux is starting to rear it's ugly head again, so it might be time to go back on the Prevacid. Either that or her sensativity to milk products is getting worse.
She's still in adoration with her big sister. I think it's really helped Sarah have a big sister to role-model and play with her. Pretty soon Emma will have TWO little girls who love her & follow her around, isn't she lucky??
Sarah's signing is coming along nicely. It's kinda taken a back seat to her gross motor surge lately, but she hasn't forgotten them completely. She has a speech eval coming up, so I'm really hoping she now qualifies for services. I know, especially with our experience with Emma, that speech can be such a fickle thing. I really truly blame Emma's numerous ear infections when she was younger for her speech issues. And I know Sarah has the propensity for speech issues, as well, with having Down syndrome. And even if she is in speech until she's 18, it won't matter to me, but I want to give her the best shot I can at being able to speak clearly.

I'm not cranky, I'm teething

This is probably what Sarah would have told us this week, as she went 3 days in a row with little to no nap, and 3 nights in a row of not falling asleep until 10:30pm or later, and then being up, bright-eyed & bushy-tailed at 7am. This is what she would have told us, if she could articulate those words. But, instead, it came out, "I'm crying, and I don't know why, I won't sleep, I refuse to be still, and I'm generally not a happy camper. " And, she had every right to be cranky. This kid got 3 of her 4 two-year molars this week. Ouch. No wonder she's been a crab apple. But, she seems to be doing better this weekend, although she did go until about 11 pm last night before finally falling asleep (but I think part of that had to do with having a nasty diaper). Here we were, stars in our eyes, thinking that for her birthday (in a week and half), we'd make the big-girl jump to a toddler bed. I still want to try it, and see how it goes, but I'm thinking in the back of my mind that she's still going to be in her crib when the baby comes. I don't want to push her into something she's not ready for, but at the same time, I really don't want to buy a $200 crib so that each kid can have their own. The new baby will be in the bassinette for a few months, and that might buy us some time, but I worry that Sarah will regress a little bit and might fight us on the change. We shall see. I figured we could give it a try before the baby comes & if it works, great. If not, then at least it's there for when she IS ready. Emma didn't switch to a twin bed until she was over 3, but that's mostly because I was lazy & didn't push it. I KNOW Sarah's too small for the extra twin bed we have. But a toddler bed uses a crib mattress, and is only about 5-7 inches off the ground. So, in case (or WHEN) she falls out, it won't be a terrible fall. I can just imagine though, with this kid being a night owl lately & waking up at 7am on the dot every morning, that we will need to either keep her door closed, or put a baby gate up. Otherwise, she'll be in the kitchen, getting into the trash & the bathtub, all the while we're sleeping downstairs. Or, she'll go into Emma's room & wake her up. Well...considering that's what Emma does to US the on weekends, maybe it's not a terrible thing for her to experience it a bit, lol.

Another Mania

Ok, so I'm a 28 year old SAHM who loves Harry Potter. I also play video games, as in, "I'm the one online til midnight playing World of Warcraft with my husband cause we just gotta kill Rag in MC" type of gamer. Now there's another game out to take away any semblence of an outside life I had. Add "Kingdom Hearts" to my list of mania's. "Kingdom Hearts 2" just came out last week, and while we haven't been playing non-stop, it pretty much took up our Saturday & Sunday. We've been playing as a family, because it's got Disney characters in it, which Emma loves. We've already gone through the Beauty & the Beast world, and Mulan's world. We're halfway through the Hercules world. We let her play when the bad guys are easy, which makes her feel a part of it. And, she's surprisingly very good. Well I guess I shouldn't say "surprisingly", the kid's been playing video games since she was 3. But, even I find it hard to manipulate the PS2 controller every once in awhile and she's pretty good at it.
Don't worry, we don't just let her play "fun" games, we also make sure she plays some education games as well. The problem is, she goes through these in about an hour. We bought 2 (a math one & reading one) before K started. She's been through those at least once every two weeks since the beginning of school. I think I need to find something a bit more challenging. We may need to get her a bigger place to keep all her games. She's got a CD case that holds about 12 CD's and it's almost full.

Spring is here!

Though by the temperatures outside, you probably wouldn't be able to tell. It's still in the 30's here, with periodic chances of snow, but I think it's supposed to be in the 40's this weekend & more of same next week! So, we're headed in the right direction.
We have been the "sick-house" again this past week or so. After mom & Rhonda left, I was just down for the count. I could barely get off the couch. Poor Jeff had to take a day off work to take care of us. Emma was also home sick, but she had a fever & a cough. I started a cough on Friday that did not sound good. After 2 days of hacking up kittens, I finally went to the doctor. What do you know, flu and bronchitis. Yay. Now I knew why I felt so cruddy. I haven't had the flu in years, seriously. Bronchitis, eh I had that when I was pregnant with Sarah. Sarah was the only fortunate one this year to get a flu shot (cause I'm a bad mommy, and Emma hates shots) but thankfully it seems only Jeff caught my flu. Emma seems to be doing fine. At least now I have most of my voice back, and the kittens have been thoroughly discharged from my lungs. Now I just have a lingering cough and a runny/stuffy nose. But, most of my energy is back, which is a good thing, because the house was starting to look like a tornado had blown through.
Emma has Spring break next week, and although I wish we could do something as a family, Jeff has a training conference in Detroit next week. Bummer. I don't relish the idea of staying at home for a week with 2 bored children, but I'll try to figure out something to do.
Emma has spring pictures today. We went out last night to Wal-Mart to get her a cute new outfit. It's a little Bohemian style, but she liked it. It's a blue mid calf length skirt with little mirrors on it, with a shirt that has lots of little crocheted flowers on it. Add a necklace of mini shells and some sunglasses, and you'd think we were back in San Diego, lol.
Sarah's 2nd birthday is in a little under a month, and I have no clue what we're going to do. Since there's no Chuck E. Cheese around here, and the weather isn't nice enough to do anything outside, I guess I'll have to figure out something.

Home ownership blues

Argh, I seriously hate the process of buying a house. All I want is a small piece of drywall & flooring to call my own so I don't have to keep paying someone I don't like all that much money every month, and not be able to do anything to it. We've been renting for our WHOLE MARRIAGE, first it started with the Navy, and now it's been in Michigan for 2 1/2 years. Jeff & I will be married for 9 years in June. 9 years, that's a LONG time. And I've never been able to paint a wall or take out a nasty aluminum sink in favor of a porcelain one. I've been subject to bland colors and crappy cabinets because I've been at the mercy of a higher entity (AKA the government). So, we've been looking at houses to buy and I think we've found one. It's duplex that we're going to go in on with my mom. She's moving out here, well, because I'm her only child, and the girls are her only grandkids. And flying 2500 miles once a year to see them isn't working. Plus, as much as I'm sure you're saying to yourself, why would you want your mother (or in Jeff's case, MIL) living right next door. Because I've never had that with the kids. Going to see Grammy has always been a long, tiring ordeal (to see ANYONE in our family), but now all Emma has to do to see her is walk next door.

On another front, there is a nasty bug running through our house. My mom & aunt were here for a few days (house stuff) and they, along with Jeff & Sarah, did not have a good Saturday/Sunday. Emma had something up with her on Friday, but she was over it by the time it hit everyone the next day. Jeff blamed it on bad McDonald's, but Emma & I were ok. Jeff stayed home from work yesterday, and still felt crappy when he left for work this morning, after Sarah had puked after she woke up. Joy. Mom & Aunt Rhonda were ok (I think) by the time they left for home yesterday. They just had to deal with their plane getting re-routed to Detroit instead of Chicago and apparently being on the puddle-jumper plane from he*&. She called me & said they were being sent to LAX and then to Sacramento, but they didn't have a confirmed ticket, it was handwritten & given to them in Detroit...not exactly the best scenario. I haven't heard from her this morning, so, to be honest, I don't know if they got home last night or not, lol.

I had my Gestational diabetes test yesterday, the one where you drink that orange soda with almost no carbonation & then wait an hour to get your blood drawn. I was already shaky to begin with, then you throw a buttload of sugar on top of that...not fun. I don't think I have GD, but I know something's up. I get weak first thing in the morning, even if I eat, and it lasts all day, regardless of what I do. My blood pressure's a little low (think it was 102/52) but no one's saying that's a problem. When I'm not pregnant I have mild hypoglycemia, and this is how I'm feeling, like I haven't eaten, when I have. Oh the joys of pregnancy.

I love Harry Potter

No, this is not a love letter to a fictional character. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire came out on DVD yesterday, and Jeff went out and got it for me. I love my husband. He indulges my fanaticism with HP, like when I wentout at midnight last summer to buy book 6. I'm sure he'll be glad when all this nonsense is over, but alas, we're only on the 4th movie, so he has a ways to go.
Anyways, the movie is awesome. It's so hard to continue to stay true to the books, and this movie does sway a bit from it, but the heart of it all is still there.
I read somewhere that they've started filming the 5th movie already. I can't wait. This was the book I struggled with most. Ask Jeff, through the whole book, I kept saying, "Why am I reading this, I don't like how this is going, it isn't fair, blah, blah, blah." The attitude towards harry irked me the whole time I was reading it. Don't even get me started on Umbridge. But, as sado-masochistic as this sounds, I can't wait to see it on film. I really am hoping they can capture the squirmy-worminess I felt while reading it. There are quite a few other characters that I'm anxious to see portrayed in real life. Tonks, for one, should be interesting, as well as Kreecher, the Black family's muggle-hating house-elf. And when book 7 inevitably comes out, you'll once again find me at Meijer, at midnight, in a line of about 350 people.

Daddy-Daughter Date Night

At the end of January, our small town holds a 3 day Daddy-daughter date night. Jeff & Emma were able to go this year, and they had a blast! Here they are getting ready to leave for their "big date", lol.

Bath time!!

Well, after a small stint with hating the bathtub, Sarah's back to her normal self. She loves playing with the water coming out of the faucet, and sneaking a drink when she can.

Ice storm 2006

This is the weather that welcomed the girls & I home to Michigan. As much as I wanted to extend my trip out there, I'm SO glad I didn't have to travel in this.

It's been awhile...

How many times have I said that while writing this blog?? Too many. But, I seriously have a valid excuse. The girls & I flew to California at the beginning of February to be with my mom, who was having surgery. We we there for a week, and it was kinda hectic. The girls were able to get some quality time with Grammy, Nana, & Papa, along with seeing their cousin Ariel for the first time in over a year. The girls all got their pictures taken together, so I'll post that when I get my package from my mother-in-law.
Ever since we got back, it's been school/skating/therapy/housecleaning/trying to relax. Thus, the no posts. And unfortunately things aren't going to be slowing down anytime soon. We're in the process of buying a house, we've been pre-approved, we just need to make sure all our ducks are in a row, and all that jazz. It's a duplex, and my mom is buying the other side, so we also need to wait for her to get her house together & sold. I don't relish the idea of moving before the baby's born, but then again, I'd rather do it now, than right after. Either way, I'm not going to be able to do much in the way of helping, except maybe packing up a bit & unpacking a bit.
But, my mom & Aunt Rhonda are coming to visit & look at the house for a few days, so that will be nice. Hopefully the weather will hold up. I think even Emma's getting tired of winter. We ALL got spoiled by the nice weather in CA while we were there. No heavy coats, no gloves, no frozen pink noses & ears. Spring, hurry up!!!

Last one I promise

This one I just thought was too funny. Her little hand is up by her forehead, she's already pulling a Scarlet O'Hara!!

Another U/S pic

This is a 3D pic that they took. It's the baby's hands right up in her face!!

Meet Baby Wilson!!

We had our Level II Ultrasound yesterday. Everything looked good, the doctor was able to see all the organs and he said they all looked great! The doctor doing the ultrasound has a 29 year daughter with Down syndrome, so it was nice to get some perspective as to what life might hold in store for Sarah as she gets older. He said based on the fact that we already have a child with Down syndrome, our risk for having another is about 1/100. But, with all the measurements he took yesterday and finding no soft markers, he was able to push that to 1/200. It made us feel a little relieved, but I also know that U/S's and blood tests aren't fool-proof, so we'll still prepare ourselves for whatever lies ahead. The odds are that this baby doesn't have that extra chromosome, but if it does, we'll be prepared. Oh, I guess you'd like to know what we're having huh? It's a GIRL!!! Yep, 3rd girl and Jeff's screwed. He's got a harem on his hands, and the fact that they'll ALL be teenagers at the same time....well let's just say he's going to have a mid-life crisis on his hands. It should be funny to watch.

School? What's that?

That's what I'm fearing Emma will say once she has to go back after 2 straight "Snow days". Well, yesterday wasn't technically a "snow day", it was more of an "ice day", as we had freezing rain. Joy. Last time I checked, frozen rain was "snow". But apparently, here in the Midwest, they have another whole category of precipitation that we native Californians are not aware of. But, then again, I wish I could feel ok with complaining about the weather, but in all honesty, this winter really hasn't been that had so far. It's barely snowed at all since Christmas (with the exception of last night, thus causing the 2nd day in a row of Emma having school cancelled), and what snow we did have melted in the week of abnormally high temps (ok, it was in the upper 30's & lower 40's, but that's abnormal) we had for about 2 weeks. But, I'm expecting it to start up again here soon. Usually what happens is we have snow on & off from the middle of November to January, which melts and re-accumulates. Then, in January, it snows really big, and it stays until the end of March/beginning of April. And as weird as this sounds, I'm actually hoping it'll snow enough to cover the ground for awhile. The grass is all yellow & dead looking, and I'd rather have snow on the ground to make it look pretty than have to stare at that. I know, what's becoming of me? Not that I love the cold weather, I just would rather have snow than dead grass.
So, an "ice day" yesterday & a "snow day" today. Today was supposed to be Emma's snack day. I bought vanilla wafers & cheese sticks. I don't know if I should keep them, or let the kids eat them. I'm thinking that because every child in the class has been assigned a snack day, that probably means Emma won't get to "make up" her snack day. She'll just have to wait until next time, which will be in about a month. So I'm thinking, let the kids eat it. I know Sarah will be happy, she loves vanilla wafers. And as picky as Emma is, she actually likes cheese sticks. But, she won't eat a slice of cheese from the block. Strange.
I'm getting impatient for my U/S in 2 1/2 weeks. I really want to find out what we're having. I still have my suspicions that it's a boy, but then again, I thought Sarah was a boy. We've been having a rash of ppl we know who have 3 of the same sex. It's not a good omen, lol. But, then again, I believe genetics has more influence than trends. And according to my family, you have 2 girls and then a boy (or two boys, but I doubt that will happen). My grandmother did it, as did my dad. My aunt started the trend, but stopped after having my two cousins (both girls). So I'm still holding out hope for a boy. Even though, if it ends up being a girl, I won't be disappointed, and I won't have to buy much, lol. But, I think Jeff's craving a bit of testosterone in the house. He feels like he's living in a harem, and everyone's having PMS. Too much estrogen. It's like that song in "Annie", "Little Girls". Not the homicidal inuendos, but I think you get what I mean. I'm anxious to find out the sex, not only because of the family dynamic implications, but also because I want to start picking a name. Jeff isn't even interested in discussing it because he feels, why should be agonize over a name, only to have 1/2 of the selections tossed out. He feels we should just wait until we know, and then we'll only have half the book to ponder over. I suppose it's a good point.

Sure, why not?

I swear, the list of crap that happens to my family is growing ever larger, and I really don't know what to think of it. First, Sarah's hearing eval. She developed a fever the night before...greaaaat. I wasn't sure if they'd go ahead & perform the test, and I couldn't call them when they opened, because I needed to be there at that time, and it's an hour and a half long drive. So, I doped her up on Motrin and Tylenol, thought the fever was gone in the morning, put her in the car, and went. By the time I got there, the fever was back, sigh. I told the nurse about it, she took her temp, 100.5. Not bad, but she wanted to check with the sedation meds guy (not a real anesthesiologist, but something similar). He said she would probably be fine, but because of the Ds to make sure her airway was completely clear when she was asleep. So, we gave her the meds, and she fell asleep about 10-15 minutes later. They started hooking her up to everything, and commenced with the test. It took about 90 minutes, during which time I read a little, and then stared at the monitors, and listened to the idle chat between the hearting test guy, and the Outpatient Nurse who was overseeing Sarah. By the time the test was over, it was about 12pm. She woke up when the guy tried to do a tympanogram on her. He couldn't get a reading on her right ear, but was able to on her left. He said that was normal. He then proceeds to tell me that Sarah tested as having a 30% hearing loss in her left ear, which I don't quite understand. She's never had any ear infections, and she passed her newborn hearing screen. So, I'm not sure what's happened since then to cause the hearing loss. She has no fluid, so it can't be that. Oh well another mystery to be solved.
So, back to the fever. It continued until Saturday, and then that night, I was putting her pj's on and noticed Sarah had a light rash on her chest and belly. The next morning it was almost covered in this red rash. Sigh, roseola. It explains the fever. Oh well, one more thing for Sarah to put in her baby book. She got roseola, just like her big sister.

Can you hear me?

That's not really an issue with Sarah, I know she "hears" just fine. It's whether or not she's hearing well enough to imitate the sounds she's hearing into intelligible words in the future, which was a problem with Emma when she was a toddler. She had so many ear infections, that it affected her speech, and here we are with her, 4 years later, still dealing with ST. I'm not under the false hope that having Sarah's hearing professionally tested that it will make her speech perfect in the future. All I'm hoping to avoid is having to go back & re-teach her how to speak, after having learned how NOT to do it. She's thankfully never had a diagnosed ear infection, but there can be fluid with no infection. She's always grabbed at her ears, chewed on her fingers, all of that. The local ENT can't get a good seal on her tiny ear canals to be able to test her, so we're off to Lansing on Thursday to get a sedated ABR. Sedated, as in, they're putting my 20 month old to sleep. I'm not looking forward to this. They had to do the same thing to Emma when she was 3. I had all sorts of horrible visions in my head about Sarah thrashing around while they tried to insert a needle into her hand to administer the drugs to knock her out. But, the office called me yesterday with their list of demands (no food after midnight, no drinks after blah blah) and questions. They told me they give her an oral sedation med. Made me feel a lot better. Now the only problem is that I can't feed her until after I get home. That's going to suck. We're leaving the house at 6:30am, to get there by 8, the test is at 10, it takes about 2 hours, then we need to wait for her to wake up, and be drinking clear fluids for at least 30 minutes before we begin our hour & 15 minute drive home. I'm expecting that she won't be able to eat until at least 2:30pm. I'm counting on a very unhappy baby by the time we get home. I would cheat and feed her right away, but I don't know how she's going to react once awakening from the sedation, and I really don't want to deal with a pukey baby when I still have another 45 minutes to go on the drive home. So, I'm going to bite the bullet and just wait. I'll bring little things that hopefully won't upset her little tummy, like saltines and apple juice, just in case she gets really unruly, but I'm hoping that won't be necessary. I doubt she'll sleep on the way home, as she'll have just woken up from a very restful 2 hour nap.
In other news, I forgot to say that we found out that a bid has been accepted on our house. Which means, we're moving...again. Sigh. I hate this. This is the second house we've lived in since moving to MI 2 year ago, and it's the 2nd house that's been sold out from under us. I'm really tired of dealing with this. So, we've decided to buy. Bite the bullet and just get out from under someone else's thumb. We've already spent one Saturday looking at houses and we're planning on the doing the same thing for the next few Saturdays. Fun fun.

Wonder

A very good online friend of mine has this song's lyrics posted on her daughter's webpage. Her daughter, Emma Jayne, has T21, just like Sarah, and is about 2 months older. The song is "Wonder" by Natalie Merchant. I've always loved that song, even though it came out 10 years ago, and I thought, after seeing it on EJ's page, about how it really encompasses all that our kids are about.
Well, during my daily perusing of my favorite message boards yesterday, I saw a post about how Natalie Merchant had been on VH1's Storytellers (probably a long time ago, as I don't even think that show is still in production) and had told the story of "Wonder". It IS about kids with Down syndrome, and other disabilities. I was so excited! It makes that song mean so much more to me, and I tear up every time I hear it. Here are the lyrics:

doctors have come from distant cities just to see me
stand over my bed disbelieving what they're seeing
they say I must be one of the wonders of god's own creation
and as far as they can see they can offer no explanation

newspapers ask intimate questions want confessions
they reach into my head to steal the glory of my story
they say I must be one of the wonders of god's own creation
and as far as they can see they can offer no explanation

o, I believe
fate smiled and destiny
laughed as she came to my cradle know this child will be able
laughed as my body she lifted know this child will be gifted
with love, with patience and with faith she'll make her way

people see me I'm a challenge to your balance
I'm over your heads how I confound you and astound you to know
I must be one of the wonders of god's own creation
and as far as you can see you can offer me no explanation

o, I believe
fate smiled and destiny
laughed as she came to my cradle know this child will be able
laughed as she came to my mother know this child will not suffer
laughed as my body she lifted know this child will be gifted
with love, with patience and with faith she'll make her way

Long update

I apologize for not posting very recently. The last few weeks of the year I was sick, and then the whole fam came down with something. It was pretty hectic with trying to get ready for Christmas.
Things are going pretty well here, both the girls had a great holiday, with lots of presents from Santa and all their grandparents. Emma got us up at the fabulous hour of 5 AM on Christmas day. Argh. So, needless to say, all the gifts were opened by about 6:15am, and by 7am, I was passed out on the couch while Jeff was watching his Blue Man Group DVD and the girls were playing with their toys. I was still sick with a monster cold & sore throat, so I had to sleep in order to muster up enough energy to cook dinner.
We had decided that I would get the quad screen done, take make Jeff feel more at ease, and so I could get a Level II U/S. I got my results back and they were within normal ranges. So, we're looking forward to hopefully finding out what this little jumping bean will be on February 3rd. It will be a belated birthday present for me, lol.
Jeff got me an Eliptical Machine for Christmas (don't write him & tell him he's a chauvenist, I asked for it), so now I'll be able to work out regularly, and hopefully be in a little better shape when this baby's born. Mt. Pleasant has a lack of gyms, the only ones around are at the SAC on campus (too expensive) and at Wellness Central (no childcare). So, working out at home was the only logical choice.
Sarah has been exploring her world, and it's about to give me a heart attack. About 2 weeks ago, she wanted to climb the stairs, and me, being the kind of mom I am, indulged her. I stood right behind her the whole way, cheering her on, until she got to the top. Her PT said that it would help her with mobility & walking. Well, she apparently took the liberty I gave her to heart, because last week, she climbed the whole stairs, by herself, when no one was watching. I was reading a book, Jeff was upstairs on the phone, and he calls down to me, "Amanda, uh, Sarah's at the top of the stairs, and no one's with her." I about died. She's since done it once more, when it was just me at home. Ok, so the barracades go up at the bottom of the stairs when we're all down in the living room. The way this house is built, there's no wall on one side of the bottom of the stairs, so putting up a gate isn't possible. So, I drag the Pack 'N Play in front of the stairs to make a wall that she can't get past.
And for someone who can't walk yet, she's lightning quick. Earlier this week, I was preparing dinner and Sarah managed, in the space of abou 10 seconds, to crawl from the other side of the kitchen, over to the cabinets, reach up & grab the cord to the crock pot that was soaking on the counter, and pull it down on her head. The edge of the crock hit her squarely in the middle of her forehead, by her hairline. Instant goose egg, not to mention being soaked by cold soapy water. No broken skin, no bleeding, but off to the ER we go. After a head x-ray, they said she had no cracks or fractures (thank goodness). So, while I get it's true that babies are made of rubber, I'm really hoping she doesn't keep testing this theory. Because I'm about to have a stroke. Maybe it's because Emma was my first child and therefore I was free enough to keep ALL my attention on her ALL the time, but I seriously don't remember Emma being this adventurous or getting into this much trouble. As you get older, and have more responsibilities, you get less time to pay attention to everything all at once. My eyes are constantly darting around to make sure there's nothing in Sarah's path that can hurt her, but she still manages to get into something that she probably shouldn't. All this while still trying to take care of the house, not to mention 2 (and soon to be 3) other people. Oh, and myself; I always forget to take care of myself. That's why sometimes it's 3pm and I still haven't taken a shower. Emma's getting easier to take care of as she gets older. She's able to give herself a bath (she doesn't like showers, it's the water hitting her head or something), dress herself, take care of her bathroom necessities, clean her room (although this takes an act of Congress to actually get it done), etc. And not that's Sarah's hard to take care of, she's actually quite a pleasant baby/toddler. She doesn't get upset easily, is a good eater, and most of the time will sleep pretty well. She's just animated and has a ton of energy, which is hard to keep up with sometimes. She's doing really well with her gross motor skills, she's cruising along the furniture and bear crawling everywhere (that's where her legs are straight, with her hands & feet on the ground). She's also starting to sign more. She got the "Baby Signing Time" DVD's for Christmas, and has already learned "please" and "more". She's got "mommy" and "daddy" more sporadically. They're really cute videos. And one of the kids from the Trisomy21online.com website is in the video! His name is Brady. He's the only kid with special needs in the whole line of videos (I believe). She's also (finally) getting bigger. She's up to 18 lbs. and is in 12 month clothes now. We have her spitting up pretty much under control, and we discovered that she's sensative to liquid milk, so we've put her on soy, and she's taken to it pretty well. She can have other dairy products (cheese, ice cream) but in moderation.
In medical news, Sarah has a sedated ABR (basically a more advanced hearing test) next week. I'm not looking forward to them putting my baby under general anesthesia. I was freaking out when they had to do it to Emma when she had Bell's Palsy at age 3. Sarah's not even 2. And I have to deal with it by myself. Jeff starts his spring semester this week, and really can't take time off. And of course, it's in Lansing, so it's going to be a long day. But, they really can't do any diagnostic tests at her ENT's office here. They just don't have the equipment small enough for her tiny ears. She's never had an actual diagnosed ear infection, but she could have fluid in there, which would affect her hearing, and in turn, her speech. I dealt with that with Emma, and Sarah's already at a disadvantage for speech issues because of having Down syndrome. I want to circumvent that if at all possible.
Emma is doing wonderfully in Kindergarden. She loves school, loves her friends and her teachers. She's losing more teeth than I think should be allowed. Poor kid looks like she got into a losing fight. She has 4 spaces, her two top ones, and 2 on the bottom. She's also growing like a weed. She's so tall! She's definitely got genes from both Jeff & I. She's got long legs and a long torso. She's also so dark. Her hair has gotten very brown, and I think she's got more color in her skin than I do. She still has Jeff's bright blue eyes and she's got a smattering of cute little freckles on her nose & cheeks. She reminds me of me, when I was her age. I look at report cards from K & 1st grade, and they all say that I was very sociable with a lot of friends. That is Emma to a "T". She actually had to stay inside for 2 minutes of recess the first day back from Winter break because she was too busy talking to her friends, lol.
And Jeff, oh Jeff. He finished his fall semester with straight A's. I'm very proud of him. He works so hard for this family, I don't know how he does it sometimes. He was recently told (hush hush) that his Interim posistion of Manager will be made permanent sometime soon. He's only had the temporary position since August, and was told that they'd make a decision in about a year. But, the people in power decided that they'd seen enough of what he could do to make him permanent sooner. They still have to go through the interview process, as this is technically a state government job, because it's a state college. But, unless something drastic happens, he's going to get the job.
As for me, I'm doing well. Finally over all the virus and stuff that had invaded my body for weeks. I'm almost 19 weeks, next week will be halfway! That's actually scary to think about. Doesn't feel like I've been pregnant for 4 1/2 months. Jeff & I have been discussing baby names, and of course, we can't agree on anything we like. Plus, he's of the mindset, why not wait until we know what we're having, then we'll have less options to choose from. Because 1/2 of this arguement is going to be moot once we find out if we're having a girl or boy. Whatever.
Ok, so I think that covers everything that's happened in the last month or so. Hopefully it won't be another month before I can post again.