To the pedi's

Today started way too early...like 5am too early. Jeff had to fly out to Cupertino, CA today for his Apple Executive briefing. He flew out of Lansing, which is an hour south of us. None of the THREE other guys who are going to this thing were on the same flight as him. Why? Because they didn't want to chance them all DYING if the plane crashed. Can we say paranoia? Anyways, his flight was "scheduled" to leave at 9am, we wanted to give him plenty of time to get checked in, so we shot to get him there at around 7:15, which puts us leaving our house at 6am. With 3 kids...one of which would need to be completely ready for school as I would be dropping her off on the way home. Oy. But, things went pretty smoothly, because, as Jeff pointed out, it was just HIM leaving, not us. It's easy to get him ready, I should know...I packed his bag. He doesn't need snot suckers, and 20 lbs of diapers/wipes, 4 changes of clothes for each day, and it doesn't take a giant backpack full of toys/paper/crayons/books/snacks/drinks/crap to keep him occupied on a plane.
But we dropped him in plenty of time...for his flight to be delayed by 90 minutes. Rofl. I had to laugh because if I didn't I would have fallen asleep at the wheel driving home. Emma got to school about 45 minutes late, and since Sarah had thrown up a bit this morning, I decided to not send her to school.
Speaking of Sarah, she's been pulling her hair out...again. She did this about two years ago. You can read a bit about it here. She's only been doing it for about 3 weeks, but I wanted to try & nip in the bud as soon as I could. She's been having not-so-nice diapers as of late & has thrown up twice since Sunday. Since it's been 2 years since her last episode, I'm not thinking she can trichotillamania, but at the same time, I do think it is something behavioral. Not sure what though. But, I was worried about her possibly having a hair-ball somewhere in her GI tract, and that could possibly kill her if it wasn't caught. So, it was off to the pedi's this afternoon.
First of all, let me say that I probably look like the world's worst parent. Here is my kid, who has a BLACK EYE from banging heads with her little sister, pulling her hair out & eating it, plus she has some weird spots on her trunk. Can we say "looks neglected"?? Ugh. The doc thinks the spots might be staph (double ugh) so he gave us some antibiotic ointment. At first he thought Sarah's BM issues might be some milk allergy. I reminded him that she's had a long history with that: breastfed, then put on whole milk, which she began having issues with, so we switched to soy, but after 18 months of that she was fine with regular milk again. So he decided to test her for celiac. Just the blood test for now. He also ordered an abdominal x-ray to make sure she didn't have a hair-ball in her GI tract somewhere. For my girl who is normally SO laid back when it comes to doctor stuff, the blood draw plus x-rays just put her over the edge. It took 2 people to hold her still enough to get 2 quasi-decent x-rays. And Katie decided she'd had enough before we even got there and was not a happy camper, and she didn't even have to get anything done!
Anyhow, I was hoping for some results of something before the end of the workday, but no such luck. What to even hope for? That she has celiac and that's the reason she's never had a normal BM? Because that would mean DRASTIC changes in the way this family consumes food. But if it's not that, what is it? Just her normal way of doing things? I don't think I'm ok with that. There has to be a better way. What about the hair thing? If there IS something in there that's causing her GI issues, that's probably going to require surgery. And even if there isn't, how do we get her to stop pulling out her hair and eating it?? Do we have to keep her hair short? I don't mind that, but I'd also like to find the root cause of the behavior, and not just the outlying problem. Ugh, just so many possibilities.
And to top off this most wonderful of days, I get a call from Jeff as I'm driving home this morning, to let me know that his flight is delayed. It left 90 minutes late, which made him miss his connection. So, I'm on the phone with United, trying to get him on another flight. But it doesn't leave until 3pm, CST, which is 5 hours after he finally got to Chicago. But, that plane has safely taken off, so he's on his way. He should be arriving in CA in about 3 hours.

Signs of Spring

After having been pelted with 6 inches of snow last week, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised to wake up this morning and see the TV say that it was 50 degrees outside...at 7am. What?! 50, as in above freezing...by a lot?? Wow. I mean, it's raining, but I can handle rain. I could actually see grass where the snow has melted away from the edge of the driveway. I sent Sarah to preschool WITHOUT her snowpants & boots on (although I did put them in her bag, just in case). Now, seeing as how it's Michigan, and the weather here is wholly unpredictable, it'll probably be snowing by the end of the day again. But that's ok. Cause it's March, and the official start of spring is only a few weeks away.


Edit: And my bubble is burst: I looked at weather.com, and the high tomorrow? 29...sigh. We'll try again next week.

More ICHCB Fun

Enter the ICHC online Poker Cats Contest!

The Mom Song

I heard this about a year ago, but it's still hilarious.

Party Time

I'm finished with both my mid-terms. I got 100% on my computer test and I should find out the results from my Special Ed mid-term sometime today. So now it's time to relax a bit, until the grind starts again in about a week. :)

Edited to add: I got a 48/50 on my Special Ed test.

One hurdle over with

We had the inspection on the house we're buying done on Saturday. I think Jeff & I both had nightmares the night before, worried that something was going to come back to make the house unsell-able, at least to us. But, our fears were for naught, as the house passed inspection with flying colors! The next step is the appraisal, which will be done tomorrow morning. We're also going to have our contractor friend look at it, too, just to be on the safe side.

Another hurdle this week has been our mid-terms. Jeff only had 1 on Monday. I had one yesterday & another one this evening. I was freaked out about my computer one, but I aced it! Now, I've been cramming for my Special Ed one, and trying to remember the differences between dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia. I think my brain's going to explode. And then it's SPRING BREAK next week, at least for CMU. And of course, the one week when we're off of school, Jeff has to fly to CA for a conference. Typical. LOL But, this might end up being a very significant trip, as it's an Apple Executive briefing, meaning reps from CMU (Jeff and a few other guys) are meeting with TOP Apple guys, and the VERY TOP Apple guy might even make an appearance to hear what CMU's been up to. But, no pressure right?? All I know is that I better get a free iPhone out of this. :P

Ok new game

I'm going to start a new tradition, well, for as long as I can remember. :P I'm addicted to this site icanhazcheezburger.com. It's hilarious. Most of its hilarity is from it's blatant misspellings but the captions make the pictures. They're mostly of cats, but there are all sorts of animals.
Anyhow, I'm going to post 1 picture each week, as to try to bring some levity to my blog. Cause ya know I'm kind of short on the laughs around here. :P

Happy 100th Day!!

Today is Emma's 100th day of school. And guess where she's spending it?? At home! Cause she has a fever, poor kid. She's spent the last 2 days at home with a low grade fever, tummy ache & headache. It's not really high enough to make it seem like she's really sick, just high enough to keep her out of school. I'm hoping that it will abate itself by tomorrow, so she can go to her friend's birthday play-date.
As for the rest of us, we're all good! Sarah doesn't have school today, due to a conference of some sort, so all 4 girls are at home, just hanging out. Emma's in her room playing on her computer, and the little ones are upstairs making a giant mess with their duplo blocks. :) But, they're playing nicely with each other & I don't hear any screaming, so this is a good thing.
I haven't updated much in the last month, so here's a general rundown:
I turned 30 on February 2. I'm officially no longer a spring chicken. LOL I had a wonderful day, with Jeff going out with all 3 girls to go get bagels and cream cheese, which he then served me in bed with coffee. Mmmmm. I have such a wonderful husband!!
I then went to go get my birthday present, which was a 60 minute massage. Again, I have such a sweet husband!! Sarah had a little incident while I was gone, and we decided against going out for dinner than night. Instead we ordered take-out Italian from one of our favorite places, and just hung out at home. It was great!!
Sarah had her frenuloplasty 2 weeks ago. That's where they clipped the underside of her tongue in order to give it more mobility. She hadn't been able to stick out her tongue much past her lips, and when she did, it curled under, like it was being pulled. She now can move her tongue a lot more freely, and is actually starting to say /l/ sounds, which is something she never really did, because of the tongue thing.
Jeff & I are still in school, and it's oh-so-fun. :) Jeff's programming class is VERY difficult. I know he will be glad when it is over. HIs other class is a class on Adolescence. I laughed when he told me that, I asked him if he was preparing for when our daughters hit puberty. He said he was going to need all the help he could get. LOL We both have mid-terms next week, so we've been studying our tails off. We also found out that CMU will likely extend the school year by 1 day in order to try to make up for all the classes that have been cancelled due to the crazy weather. Jeff's a little perturbed because it seems like classes are only cancelled on Tues/Thurs, which is NOT when he has class, lol.
So, that's pretty much what's been going on with us! Wish us luck as we continue this house buying process. We have our inspection tomorrow morning & if all goes well with that, we'll have our appraisal done next week. We're looking to close on May 1st, which may seem like a lot of time, but I basically have to go through everything in the house & determine it's value, and then pack it up or chuck it. We haven't moved in over 3 1/2 years, and we've accumulated a lot of stuff, so it should be interesting!

Jeff and Amanda: Homeowners

Kinda has a nice ring to it, dontcha think? Well, if all goes according to plan, on May 1, 2008, that's what we'll be!!! Our offer on a house (not the one from a previous post) was accepted. It's a great house: 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath, with a formal dining room, and a BIG fenced-in backyard. It has a huge finished basement (where one of the bedrooms are) which will be a great family room/playroom, it has a wood burning fireplace in the dining room (talk about ambiance!), and it's all one story (with the exception of the basement)! It's only down the street & around the corner from us, so we won't have to move very far. Plus, we have almost 2 1/2 months before we can move in, so we have plenty of time to purge what we don't need & pack up the rest. We will then have a month before the end of our lease here, which will give us enough time to move everything over and clean this place up, without having to stress out trying to do it all in one weekend.

This definitely means that Emma is going to be changing schools. While the school she'd be attending isn't across the street, it's still a lot closer than Morey. It's also supposed to be the best K-4 school in the district. We've talked about it and she's ok with it. She knows that she can still see her friends whenever she wants. She got really excited when I told her she would be able to ride the bus. :) She's been bugging me to do that since she rode ICTC in K. She'll be doing PEAK again this summer, and I'm going to make sure that she goes to the program where the kids from her new school will be going, so she can make some friends before school starts.

Now all we need to do is make sure we meet all of our deadlines: like having an appraisal & inspection within 10 days. So while the stress of house-hunting & offers and counter-offers are done, it's on to the next phase of stress. :)

On Pins & Needles

Right now, Jeff is over with a friend of ours, who is a general contractor, doing an inspection on a house that we're trying to buy. Generally the inspection happens after you have an agreement, but this is a foreclosure & we want to know what we're getting in to in regards to what exactly we're going to have to fix. We know about a few things: new smoke detectors, new light switch plates, new carpet, a stove & a dishwasher, new garage door openers, and new ceiling panels in the basement. But, this house is worth SO much more, that we're willing to take on the responsibilities. We've already been pre-approved for a loan, but the bank that owns the house is being picky, so we have to get all our ducks in a row first. And just praying that someone else doesn't get their paperwork in before we do.
I'm trying not to get my hopes up about this house, but it's wonderful!!! I can't wait to post & say it's ours. We told Emma that if we buy this house (but in reality, any house) that she'll be going to a new school next year. I love her school, but it's a 20 minute drive out of town. It's a Charter school that's gone through many changes in the past 3 years. It's no longer a Charter, for one. We've had 3 different Principals in 3 years, the class sizes have gone from 12 kids to 25, there was even a scare that all the Elementary kids would be put into the same area as the junior high & high school kids (it goes from DK-12th grade) to save on heating! I love the teachers, I love the support that Emma gets there (she has speech & is in the resource room for reading) but with the cost of gas going through the roof, and us still only having 1 car, it's getting progressively more difficult to have her going there. If she went to one of the local public schools she could ride the bus (which she has been bugging me to do since she did it in Kindergarten), and her day wouldn't be as long. Yes, I'm worried that her education won't be as good, but I haven't been to the local schools, so I can't say it won't be. My biggest concern for her was back before K, when she was really behind, and the K system the local schools had in place just weren't what I wanted. But we still have a lot of time to go & check out what the schools are like now. Emma's mostly upset about leaving her friends. But, I told her, we're still going to live in the same town, and her friends will be able to come over & vice versa, even if she goes to a different school. I know it sucks switching schools, I did it a ton when I was younger, but it builds character. :)

Happy Birthday Evan

Yesterday was my brother Evan's 20th birthday. Unfortunately, since we live about 2200 miles away from each other, it's hard to celebrate. Plus he's in college & has a girlfriend so that equals: we never hear from him. LOL BUT, I still wanted to wish him a happy birthday!!



This is Evan & his beautiful girlfriend Kelsey last summer at Tahoe. He's trying to act normal.



And this is his true self coming out. :) I think that's also known as the "Schmechel Stare" cause I think we all have it.

Anyhow, I hope your day was fabulous little brother!!!

Jeff & I are going to live forever

Fighting with your spouse can make you live longer: study


NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Fighting with your spouse can actually be good for your health with people who bottle it all up found to die earlier, a new study shows.

Researchers at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and its Psychology Department released preliminary findings after 17 years of following 192 couples.

The couples fell into four categories: where both partners expressed anger when they felt unfairly attacked, where neither partner expressed their anger, and one category each for where the wife suppressed her feelings and where the husband did so.

"I would say that if you don't express your feelings to your partner and tell them what the problem is when you're unfairly attacked, then you're in trouble," said Ernest Harburg, lead author of the study, in an interview.

The study found that those who kept their anger in were twice as likely to die earlier than those who don't.

There were 13 deaths in the group of 26 pairs where both partners suppressed their emotions, as opposed to only 41 deaths in the remaining 166 pairs.

"When couples get together, one of their main jobs is reconciliation about conflict," Harburg said.

"Usually nobody is trained to do this. If they have good parents, they can imitate, that's fine, but usually the couple is ignorant about the process of resolving conflict."

Harburg said resentment was the real threat -- and suppressing anger led to resentment.

He said it is the resentment that interacts with any medical vulnerabilities a person might have, increasing their chances of succumbing to that medical problem.

"It's healthy to recognize that you're being attacked unfairly and it's even more healthy to speak up and to talk about it and try to resolve the problem if you want to live longer," said Harburg.

Empathy

Ok, I haven't had to work outside the home pretty much since 2000. I did a stint when Jeff was on his second deployment but other than that, I've been extremely fortunate that we're able to make it on only 1 income. For that, I give homage to my wonderful husband who works so hard for us. :) And even when I WAS working, I only had 1 child, and it was only for 5 months. There were a couple times when I had to call in to work & say I wasn't coming in because Emma was sick, and I couldn't drop her off at daycare.

Fast forward to now, where I'm back in college, albeit only 3 days a week, and only one of those classes is during the day. NOW when one of my kids gets sick, I'm not missing work, I'm missing class. This can get complicated since one of my instructors has basically said: if you're not dying, it's not excusable. So I'm just hoping my explanation will be enough.

Sarah woke up Sunday night breathing funky. She was already congested from a cold, plus she had pink eye. Poor thing was miserable. But, this was scary, since I'd never heard her like this before, nor any of my kids. I don't have a pulse oximeter at home, so I couldn't get any readings as to whether or not she was getting enough oxygen. So, off to the ER we went, at midnight. Her O2 readings were normal, but she still sounded bad. The doc on call heard her do her weird breathing thing once & immediately said, that's stridor, she's got croup. ::sigh:: I kinda figured that's what it was, but since none of my kids had ever had that, I couldn't be sure. They give her a dose of decadron & a breathing treatment. The treatment she tolerated well, the nasty tasting medicine, not so much. They suctioned out her nose with an industrial strength snot-sucker (that thing's awesome, I want one), and said to wait & see how she reacted. We tried to rest, but something I don't think they realized (or didn't care) but both of those medications WIRE CHILDREN UP. So, instead of resting at 1am, she was all over the place, wanting to climb & explore. I was exhausted, and was trying to keep her from climbing up & grabbing the chest tubes off the shelf. I finally got her to calm down by laying down on the itty bitty ER bed with her. They decided that she sounded good, and at 2:15am we were sent home. With instructions that if she got worse, or didn't get better, to come back. Plus eye drops for her pink eye.

It was FREEZING as we were walking to the car, so before collapsing into bed when we got home, I took a sneak peek at weather.com to see what the temp was: a big fat 0, with a wind chill of -11. Welcome to Michigan. LOL

She's been doing ok this week, but this morning has a juicy cough, a nasty green nose, and was up half the night with the stridor thing again. When I got back from class, I sat with her in the steamy bathroom for about 20 minutes. Jeff was worried about her being upstairs, so we brought her down to the couch where she slept all night so we could hear her if she started to struggle again. So no school for her or me today.

So, back to the title of my post: empathy. I've always had empathy for working parents. My mother was one. And for most of my life, she was a single working parent. Which meant that when I was sick, she had to call in to work. And I remember being sick on a number of occasions. And I was only 1 kid. So with 3, when I start working, or even now while in college, this should be interesting. Definitely something new to deal with.

Let's Play a new Game

It's called: How many days in a row can we be stuck all together in the house without smacking each other with wooden spoons?? Argh, we just had a 3 day weekend, and we wake up this morning, all ready to go to school (me included), to find that 7 inches of snow fell on the ground, thus rendering the entire Mount Pleasant area unsafe. According to the schools. This is really ticking me off. Not because we end up being home together, but because this could all be avoided if the Road Commission had money. They decided this new year, that they couldn't afford to pay the people who plow the roads to work before 7am, or something like that. So, if it snows during the night, 95% of the roads don't start getting cleared until 7am. And that's only the main roads, of which there are 2 in our town. The rest are left for us to slip & slide along, and maybe by noon or 2 pm they'll have salt on them to help the snow melt. And if you're trying to get to someplace out of town (like Morey Public Academy) you're screwed. The road we travel to get there is barely plowed as it is, even if they've had all day.
I know the schools probably account for allowing a few snow days during the year, this being Michigan & all, and they're not naive. But, I think this is detrimental to our kids! If this continues, they'll be getting out of school in July. They're already in school until mid-June to begin with, as the state passed a law last year that said no publicly funded school can start until after Labor Day. They're missing school, and teachers have to jumble around their schedule to make sure they get everything in.
But the sad part is, I know that the problems with the roads aren't just during the winter: the roads themselves are a shambles. Potholes everywhere, the lines on the roads are so faded, I can barely tell where my lane ends, which is FUN when there's snow on the ground and you can't see the road anyhow. I know that reflectors on the lines aren't really viable since snowplows would scrape them up, but I also know that on Highway 50 to Lake Tahoe, they have reflectors that are embedded in the asphalt. They dug little divots in the road & stuck little reflectors in them, so the plows don't hit them. This would be great on freeways, when there's no lights along the road, and you can barely see. At least you'd be able to look at the lines in the road & know if you're in your lane or not.

For a great cause

An online friend of mine's daughter Rylee and her friend Maija have created a business, selling home-made, all-natural soaps & candles, with proceeds going towards Down syndrome awareness. Rylee's little sister Mayson, and Maija's little sister Isabella are their inspiration!! These girls are only 9 years old! Please go & check out their site & help out a great cause!!

Maybell's Soaps & Candles

Let's haze the freshman

I'm officially a college freshman...again. Only 10 years apart, but hey, what can you do? I was supposed to start my classes yesterday, but we had some severe weather on Monday night, and a bolt of lightning hit a substation that services the campus, and they had no power until 6pm last night. So, my first class will be tonight. From 7-10pm. Oh, the joys of night classes. It's an Intro to Special Education class. My major is going to be Special Ed, with a minor in Early Childhood Education.

It's kind of exciting starting classes again. It should be interesting to say the least. My other class is a Computers in Society class. Jeff took it a couple years ago; he said it was cake. The final exam is making a document in Word. But, apparently the professor I have is the "She-witch" of the campus. Not very nice, derogatory towards her students, and you have a hard time understanding her. So, we shall see how it goes. Can I hold my tongue long enough to pass the class?? I don't know if I have more "guts" than the average college freshman, but I do NOT generally stand by while someone is being rude to me. If her reputation is true, then we might end up having a few "Professor discussions". I don't know how old this woman is, but if she's the same age as me or younger...yeah I might have a problem with her attitude. Sorry, not going to sit idly by & let someone try to bully me, even if they have a freaking Master's Degree.

Thankfully since one of my classes is a weeknight, that means I only have to get childcare for about 5 1/2 hours a week. It's mostly just for Katie anyhow, since Sarah will be at preschool during 90% of my class on Tues/Thurs. Jeff has a night class this semester, too. So, we'll have to juggle our schedules a bit, but it should be exciting!

Can't wait for this book

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

2008

Well, the new year is here. It didn't come with a bang for our family, which was nice. We've had quite enough excitement around here, thank-you-very-much. Jeff & I didn't go out, we stayed in, playing Wow, because we're geeks. Emma asked if she could stay up til midnight, which has always been a goal of hers, though I don't know why. But, she did it! And she was plenty wide awake enough to give us a bit of a fight when we told her a mere 30 minutes later that she had to go to bed.

I was very happy that 2007 ended on such a quiet note. The last month or so of 2007 was enough of a whirlwind. I had started a couple posts to blog about the absurdity of our lives since Thanksgiving: having strep, twice; looong 15 hour car rides home with sick kids, having to stop every couple of hours to suck snot our of their noses so they could sleep; flight cancellations; flight delays; the 1st Class plane ride from hell; lost luggage; lost carseats; kids getting hurt at airports; not to mention the everyday puking & pooping. It was enough craziness to think that it just couldn't be real. I was almost ready to look around for hidden camera & people hiding behind bushes. I told Jeff it was like there was some huge cosmic joke being played on us, only I couldn't see the punchline.

There are so many things that have happened that I probably should have blogged about, but didn't. Not because I didn't want to, but because I was pretty wrapped up in my own despair & misery. A little girl on a DS board I go to was diagnosed with Leukemia. A mom of a little boy from the same board passed away from cancer. I'm slowly emerging from this fog that I've been in for awhile. So hopefully 2008 will bring about a resurgence of sorts for my blog.

Bah humbug

Here it is, only 5 more days until Christmas, and I could NOT be in less of a holiday mood. And I feel so guilty about it. Between my mom passing on Thanksgiving, and another wonderful woman passing from cancer last weekend (cancer SUCKS, by the way), money issues, and general blah-ness, I would rather Christmas just go take a hike.
But I have absolutely no reason to feel this way. I have my health, my family is healthy, and happy. We have a roof over our heads, we have food to eat. I'm like the "Rebel without a cause". I'm the "Scrooge without a clue". I had this wonderful plan to get DH a great Christmas present & no matter how hard I planned, I still managed to screw it up. (And yes, Jeff, I know you read this, and NO I'm not giving you any clues as to what it is. I'm sure you'll still be happy, but I'm mad at myself for screwing it up.) I'm in a funk, and I need to get out of it, but I have no clue how. I'm trying to stay positive, as it is DH's birthday on Saturday. I'm focusing on trying to help my family have the best holiday we can: together.

P.S. I'm posting this about 2 weeks late because I just now saw that I never posted it to begin with. /smacks forehead

Rest in Peace Mommy

My mother, Sonja Vanderpool, passed away yesterday, November 22, 2007 after a long hard fought battle with various forms of cancer. Although I was unable to be with her, she was surrounded by her family and she passed very peacefully. Jeff, and the girls & I will be traveling to CA for about a week. Thank you for your thoughts & prayers during this difficult time.

Lost in Translation: Katie Edition

It can be hard to understand what your child is saying, when they're not even 18 months old. Especially in this family. We don't exactly have a good history of intelligible speech: Emma's been in ST since she was 2, but needed it about 6 months before then. By 18 months of age, Emma had 1 word we could understand: dad. She wasn't trying to imitate any words we said to her. So a ST was needed. With Sarah, I know many kids with T21 who have very good speech. Sarah isn't one of them. At 3 1/2, again, there are very few words we understand. BUT, the plus side is, she will try her very best to repeat a word when you say it to her. And when she signs, she tries to say the word as well. So, we're making progress there. With Katie, I have to say my biggest wish for her was that she would progress "typically" in the area of speech & language. I know this will probably sound petty & uppity to some people, but when you've got 2 kids who it seems you need a translator for, it's right up there with the "10 fingers & 10 toes" part. Not that I'm trying to belittle my 2 kids who have issues in the speech area. Quite the opposite. I know Katie will have her struggles, in whatever area they present themselves. I was just hoping that speech wouldn't be one of them. Well, she isn't spouting poetry on a daily basis, but I think she's progressing quite nicely. She's learning some signs, and has a few words. Mostly "dada", "mama", "Emma" (or what sounds like it), "ball", and "shoe". This last one brings up the title of this blog. I WISH I could record her saying the word "shoe". And that I could post it here, because every time I hear it, I think she's cussing me out. It sounds exactly like the word "sh*t". And it makes me laugh every time. She will toddle on over to the shoe rack, which sits right in front of the door, and she will take all the shoes down, saying the word "shoe" for each one. So, you can imagine, as a parent, going about your daily work, and all of a sudden, from the corner of the room, you hear this little angelic voice, saying what sounds to you like, "Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t, sh*t." And I will look over at her, and she'll catch my eye, proudly hold up the little white Gerber walker she has in her hand, and say "Sh*t". And I'll smile & tell her "Good job, Katie!, Yes, that's a shoe". Then she'll toddle off again on her new found walking legs and go play. And I'll think to myself, maybe I should get that ST on the phone now...

I may have bitten off more than I could chew

A few weeks ago, a notice came home with Emma from school. Someone was trying to get a little "pom-pom" team together to cheer at the boy's & girl's middle school basketball games. It was for girls from 1st-5th grade. I asked Emma if she was interested, and she said yes. Soccer was over and she didn't have any other extracurricular plans. So, we signed her up. Hoo-boy.

She had her first practice yesterday. The girls & I were late getting there to watch because of a car malfunction (i.e. complete & total dead battery=not so fun time with 2 small kids) so I only got to watch the last half hour of practice. They are doing the "Cha-Cha Slide". By the time the practice ended, Emma was asking if they could do something else, because apparently, she no longer likes that song after practicing to it for 90 minutes. After practice was over, we got the schedule. And what a schedule. The games are almost every week, with there being 2 games a night most times, because the girls play first, then the boys. We're talking from 5:30pm to almost 9, each time they have a home game. Until February. Ok, now I get why my mom didn't want me to be a cheerleader. Wow. This is a pretty heavy schedule for a 2nd grader. And this is in addition to having practice 3 days a week? A part of me says to quit now, while there hasn't been any monetary investment in it, but another part of me says,"Oh it'll be so cute!!!" She IS going to get some sort of uniform (probably a Morey t-shirt & a homemade skort, with some Dollar store pom-poms) and she'll be making friends. This is a good thing, right?? Please someone convince me this is a good thing.

I showed Jeff the schedule last night & he laughed at me, making sure he pointed out that I would be going to these events by myself. Such love.

Parent-Teacher Conference

It's that time of year again! We had Emma's quarterly conference with her teacher last night. Overall, she's doing very well. Still having issues with spelling, but again, we think that there's a correlation between her speech & her spelling. So, we're going to continue working on both those areas.

Her teacher had nothing but good things to say about Emma in regards to her work ethic & her attitude towards the other students. She said that Emma sometimes finds it distressing, when she's been at speech or in the resource room, to come back to class & find that she's missed a Center. She wants so badly to make it up. Her teacher also said that, if Emma IS gone, and the kids in the meantime have been working on something, 9 times out of 10, Emma will come back from wherever it is she's been at, and complete the task that the rest of the kids have been working on, first. For bringing us to conferences, Emma received a "Free Homework Pass", where, if she decided one day she really didn't want to do her homework, she could use that 1 time pass. Emma kinda gave her a look like, why would I want to NOT do my homework? Oh, I love my girl. :) The same thing happened last year, she got a "Free Centers Pass", where she could skip a center. She never used that either.

They're still not using letter grades, but instead using the 1-4 scaling system. She got all 3's & 4's, which is nice. There are a couple math areas that she showed not enough improvement, which was a bit shocking, seeing as how Math has always been her strong point. But, it might have been one of those times where she wasn't feeling in the "math mood". That's the problem with tests like that. Sometimes you're just not in the mood.

I'm glad we're getting her glasses at around the beginning of the quarter, so hopefully we'll be able to see a BIG difference in her performance by the end of the semester. It says on her Resource Room eval that the goal is to get her up to Reading Level K, which is "End of 1st/beginning of 2nd" average level. She's on G right now. So, 4 levels below. I plan on working hard with her to help her reach it. :)

New specs

Emma has been telling me for awhile now that her eyes hurt when she reads & it gives her headaches. Now, this kid loves books, but with her reading being a little bit behind, I was thinking she just didn't want to, because she wasn't doing it as well as her friends. She's in Speech (which she has been since she was 2) and is now going to the Resource Room every day to get extra help with reading. Th consensus between her teacher last year & her ST was that her speech was affecting her reading. She spells words the way she says them, which is Phonics, but she says them incorrectly, which is Phonics gone horribly wrong.

So we took her to the Pedi about a month ago, and they did the old fashioned eye chart test. She said that she thought she was slightly near-sighted, but it was only 20/40, which isn't that bad. But she recommended we take her to the ophthalmologist to make sure. We went on Tuesday. I'd been telling her that she might not end up needing glasses, and to try not to be too disappointed, because she'd been telling everyone she saw that she was getting glasses. Her little boyfriend Adam just got his this week, and apparently a few other kids in her class are getting them, in addition to the few that already do. In second grade, getting glasses is the "en vogue" thing apparently.

At first, I thought she was doing pretty well reading the eye chart. But then the 2 little ones decided that being cramped in a small dimly lit room where they're strapped to the "instrument of torture" (i.e. the double stroller) was too much for them, and they started throwing hissy fits. So, we went out to the waiting area, much to the relief of the doctor. I vainly tried to entertain them while we waited. When Emma came out, she yelled, "I have to get glasses". I'd never heard that phrase said with such joy. The doctor said that yes, she seemed to be slightly nearsighted (only about a -1) but she wanted to dilate her eyes just to take away her focusing ability and re-check. They said that we would have to wait about 20 minutes before the dilation drops were in full effect. In the mean time, Sarah & Katie were in complete mutiny, running opposite ways around the lobby, and completely driving me mad. So, I strapped them back into the stroller, told Emma to wait there & play until the doctor came for her, and I went outside with the babies. It was cold, like really cold, so I was hoping the exposure to the elements would calm my kids into some sort of complicity and we could go back into the office & wait patiently. Nuh-uh. They weren't having any of that. I stayed outside for maybe 10 minutes, went back inside, to find Emma still sitting there. They were good for about 2 minutes and then we were back outside again. By this time, it was raining, I was cold, and I was ready to accept the glares & chagrins of the office staff & patrons from my screaming children. We go back in & Emma's not there. Oh good, we're almost out of here. By that time, we'd been there for over an hour & a half.

By the time Emma came out, I had been forced to make Figure 8's around the lobby with the stroller, and calmly talking to the kids to keep them from screaming & grabbing the $200 pairs of frames that were everywhere. The eye doc said that she was still near-sighted, but she also had issues with focusing close up. HUH? So, my almost 8 year old is getting bi-focals. Of course, why not? It's not like we could have had something easy. Oy vey. I asked about those famous "no line" bi-focals, but she shot those down, saying it was too hard for little kids to be able to find where they need to look through without the obvious line in the lens. So, Emma tried on some frames, picked out a very cute pair of satin pink, cat eye shaped ones, and we did all the paperwork. Thankfully insurance covered a big portion of the whole affair, but our out of pocket bill is still $140. I told Emma that if she wasn't careful with these things, she would have to wear them covered in black electrical tape if they broke. O.o I only half jest. LOL But I did stress that she needed to take care of them and be careful. No wrestling with them on & try not to pick any fights.

So, only 2 hours after we walked in, we walked out, completely exhausted. Needless to say, we ordered out for dinner that night. But, Emma got her glasses. She's very excited. And she was completely bummed that she had to wait a week for them to come in. I can only hope that she'll be this excited when it comes time for her to get braces, because you KNOW she'll have to get those. Of course she will. She's our kid.

Now is the winter of our discontent

So, the cold & frosty season is officially upon us: it snowed last night & this morning. Not much, maybe an inch or so, and it will most likely be melted by the end of the day. But, still, it's here. You would have thought we'd had a blizzard the way Emma got dressed this morning to take Jeff to work. Her snow jacket, hat, scarf, gloves, and boots...over her night gown. So her legs were virtually all exposed. And this was just to go into the car & drive somewhere. Did I mention that Emma loves winter? Until about February & then she gets tired of it, and joins the rest of us who've hated it since December.

So now with the first snows of the season, I realized: OH CRAP! Christmas is 7 weeks away. Emma is "this close" (imagine fingers not very far apart) to the whole "Santa" expose', but not quite. I'm not going to ruin it for her. But, I have a feeling it will be soon. Possibly before this Christmas, but we'll see. I have started referring to getting her gifts, not from Santa, but from Mommy & Daddy. I'm not going to use the term "what do you want from Santa". Besides, Santa doesn't get her the boring gifts like mom & dad. We give her things like a new comforter set, and socks. Santa gets her something pink & fluffy & altogether useless.

December is a hard month anyhow. We have 2 birthdays, plus Christmas. And no matter how I think I'll be prepared, it always sneaks up on me. Then, before I know it, it' Christmas Eve & I'm at Wal-Mart digging through the $9 movies, telling myself, Of course Sarah wants "Die-Hard 2" in her stocking...

That was just a joke....maybe.

Out of the mouths of babes

Well, I guess Emma isn't a "babe", more like a tween, even though she's not even 8 yet. But she still comes up with good ones.

Our kids are old enough now where we have to really watch what we say in front of them. There have been times when one of us has let a curse word loose once or twice (or 12) and it's come around to bite us in the butt when Emma has repeated it. This also applies to when we talk about "alone time". That's pretty much what we refer to it as in front of the kids. We thought our ruse was working fairly well, until last night.

After dinner, as we were relaxing as a family: I was reading, Emma was eating a couple pieces of Halloween candy, and the babies were watching "The Goodnight Show", Jeff said something about spending some "alone time" with me later. Emma, ever the intent listener to things she shouldn't be, said,"Dad you just wanna kiss her." I about died laughing. She's not a dim bulb.

So, add "alone time" to the list of "No-no words in front of the children".

The Muppets Rock

My kids watch a fair amount of TV. Probably about the same as the average kid. I'm not bragging, I'm not always happy about how much TV my kids watch, but hey, I have to get housework done sometime, and my kids aren't really old enough to entertain themselves for longer than 10 minutes.

Anyhow, the girls watch a lot of Disney movies, and, back when we had cable, they watched other things like Sesame Street, Dora, Clifford, and the Doodlebops (not my personal fave, but I have a musical preschooler). Last Christmas, either Santa or us (can't remember which) got the girls the 1st season of "The Muppet Show". This is the OLD Muppet Show, from the late 70's/early 80's. They had people on there I'd never heard of (who the heck is Paul Williams?). But, the girls LOVED it. For Sarah, it took a little while to get used to the theme song. But, now she can't get enough. We bought the 2nd season over the weekend. By this morning, Emma was asking me why Elton John was dressed in feathers....I told her that conversation would have to wait until she got older.

But, they're getting exposed to a type of entertainment that really isn't around anymore. Kind of like the old Bugs Bunny shorts: animation/puppets (for the kids) but sometimes with themes & jokes that only adults could get. Everyone could watch it together and be equally entertained. Of course, watching it I sometimes wonder if skits like these are the reason our generation is like it is:



So, my kids are getting an education in what TV was like when Mom & Dad were younger. Emma even recognized one of the songs that Elton John sang...from "Chicken Little". It took a bit for her to realize that the song came BEFORE the movie.



I mean, where can you find a show like this nowadays??

Welcome home...now do the laundry

Yeah, that was pretty much how I was welcomed home after being in CA for 4 days. As this was Jeff's first foray into being alone with the children for longer than 4 hours, he did very well. In truth, I wasn't expecting the house to be clean, not even remotely. So, I wasn't too disappointed when the first things out of his mouth were, "I have no clean pants & there's no coffee." Well, maybe I was a little, at least about the coffee.

There were only a few minor incidents regarding shoes, soccer socks & a forgotten lunch box. But all were taken care of, and the children all came out unscathed.

My plane got in pretty late, so Jeff left the girls asleep at home with Steph and came by himself to pick me up. When I got up the next morning, and walked into Sarah & Katie's room, it was so cute: Katie just looked at me, smiled and said "HI!!!" really loud. Sarah just ran to me & hugged my legs and said "Mama!" I think they were happy to see me.

Emma had been telling her friend's mom that I needed to come home soon. When she asked why, Emma told her that there were no clean dishes, there was laundry everywhere, and there was no food in the house. And apparently Daddy couldn't amend these issues, so therefore I was the only one who could.

Emma has welcomed me home in her own little way: by getting pink eye. Her friend Adam had it on Tuesday, and Emma came home early from school with it yesterday. She now has it is both eyes because she won't stop rubbing them. I'm about to put her in a straight jacket. The pedi we saw gave us a sample bottle so we could start treatment right away, as well as treat anyone else who happened to come down with it. I'm hoping to avoid that but we share germs in this house like we share hugs. Which is to say, a lot. Kinda hard to avoid when you've got 3 kids. The germs, I mean, not the hugs. LOL And I think I jinxed myself when I was in CA, as I had just been telling my aunt that we'd been lucky to not have any illnesses since the beginning of school a month ago. /smacks forehead I need to keep my big mouth shut.

Out of Town

Im leaving Friday to fly to Sacramento for 4-5 days. My mom is not doing well, and I need to go spend some time with her. Will write more when I get back.

Words, Words, Everywhere

It seems we've been having a speech & language explosion over here. In the past week, I've heard 2 new words from Sarah, and Katie has learned 3 signs. Sarah has learned "book" (pronounced boop) and "bubble", which she said very clearly this morning while watching Dora. Katie now knows "mommy", "daddy" and "eat".
I saw Sarah's preschool teacher at the soccer games on Sunday and she really thinks that Sarah's on the verge of a really big speech development. And since this woman was a Speech Pathologist before she was a teacher, I'll take her at her word. It's not like Sarah was silent this whole time, but we really couldn't understand much of what she was saying, which I'm sure frustrates the heck out of her, because she KNOWS what she's saying and is mad we can't understand her.
But we are slowly making strides. I guess it's a good thing the girls both love Signing Time. :)

Update:

Katie's surgery went well. I was told repeatedly that the wait to be called back was going to take longer than the actual surgery. They were right. We got there at 7:30 and did the initial pre-surgery questions. We then sat there until about 8:15 and we called back, where we were asked another series of questions (all repeated by 3-4 people). I changed her into her little hospital gown & hospital pants and then they took her back right at 8:30. I went out to the waiting room, put on my iPod and started doing a Sudoku puzzle. No joke, less than 15 minutes later they're calling me to speak with the ENT. He came in & said everything went well, gave me some drops to put in her ears, and said she'd be out in a few. 10 minutes later, I got called back again, because she was waking up. She was still groggy & crying, so I sat with her in a comfy chair & tried to comfort her. This, of course, is the kid who cried for over an hour after she was born. It takes a lot to comfort her. After a bit, they asked if she wanted something to drink. They filled her sippy cup with some apple juice and got her some graham crackers. She was instantly content, lol. I offered her a cracker and the poor thing was still so groggy that she's not really able to take a bite. It's like her mouth forgot how to bite & chew. It was so cute. After about 15 minutes, she was wide awake & happily eating all the crackers & sucking down the juice. Then the nurses wrote up her discharge papers & we were outta there! Less than 2 hours.

She's taking a nap now, but doesn't seem to be in any pain, which is good. Now we just have to be careful with not letting water get into her ears. So this means that we have to put plugs in her ears when she gets a bath. That should be interesting.

Katie's Surgery

Katie's having tubes put in her ears tomorrow. I just called the hospital to confirm what time we have to be there. They moved her surgery from 9:30 to 8:30, so we have to be there at 7:30am. They said the actual surgery only takes about 30 minutes, and once she wakes up from the anesthesia and she's coherant & drinking something, they'll let us go home. So hopefully we'll only be gone a couple hours.

So, no food or drink (even water) for Miss Katie-baby after midnight. She's gonna be one cranky kid tomorrow. This kid loves her food & juice lately. But, thank goodness the surgery is early in the day. Now let's hope they don't get backed up for some reason.

Baby Speak

I think we can officially say that Katie has 2 words: mama & bye. She pronouces bye "a-bai" which is so cute with her dainty little voice. She babbles all the time, and I think I'm hearing snippets of other words, but I can't say for sure. I've heard "dada" & "Sa-wah", but I can't get her to repeat those to me. It's so cool listening to her speech slowly develop. I think that Katie's still at that age where she & Sarah can understand each other. It's neat to watch them play & interact with one another. They have such a fun time.

SIDE NOTE: After I put Katie down for a nap today, Sarah & I came downstairs. She wanted to watch a movie. I already knew it would be a VeggielTales one, as they are her favorite. So, I layed them all out for her to ponder, and she picked "Lyle the Kindly Viking". She very clearly said "Eye-al" when she pointed. So we're making speech strides every where we turn!!

Prepping for Halloween

Yes, I know it's not even October yet, but when you have a picky 7 year old, you learn to get things done early.

Back during the summer, Emma told me she already knew what she wanted to be for Halloween. Seeing as how it was 90 degrees outside with 90% humidity, Halloween was the last thing on my mind. But, she was insistant. She wanted to be the pink chick from "Power Rangers Mystic Force". That's all fine & good, but SHE HAS NEVER SEEN THIS SHOW. We haven't had cable for a few months, and I KNOW she never watched it before then. Where in the world did she come up with this?? I can only guess that it was something she got from her friends at day camp. I would catch little snippets about her day that had something to do with Power rangers. What's sad is she KNEW which one it was, so it's not like I could just buy any old pink Power Ranger-ish looking thing & say "Here you go!" No, of course not. I started looking on eBay and I said, ok how's this one? She frowned and said, No mom, that mask doesn't have a butterfly on it. I said, but it's PINK, and it says right here "POWER RANGER". She says, NO mom, that's a different show. That's not Mystic Force. ????? How would she know?? So I add "Mystic Force" to my search and there we go! The delux pink Power Rangers Mystic Force costume, complete with the butterfly mask.

So, I checked back for the cheapest ones over the next week or so, and I finally got a good deal. The original price for retail was supposed to be $39, and I got it for $28 (that included S & H), so not bad. It arrived in the mail yesterday, and Emma got a nice surprise when she came home from school. She, of course, wanted to wear it immediately. I told her she could try it on to make sure it fit, but afterwards it was going in the closet until Halloween.

Now my mission, if I choose to accept it, is to find a toddler sized, non-gawdy, Little Bo Peep costume for Sarah. Again, you'd think this would be easy, but people want $50 for a costume!! Uh, no thanks. Not for something that's going to get dirty, possibly ripped, and covered in candy. Katie's costume is easy. She's going to be the sheep for Bo Peep. We already have that costume in the closet. It's Sarah's old one. Speaking of which, I should probably have her try it on, otherwise I might be scouring eBay for a "sheep" costume at the last minute.

UPDATE: Sheep costume fits Katie, but just barely, lol. Good thing Halloween isn't in December, otherwise we might not be so lucky.

Under Construction

I just recently changed my blogger background, and I'm not sure I like it. :\ I love Monet and I think the colors are beautiful, but I don't like how the pictures I post are translucent, and the background shows through them. Makes them look weird. If I'm doing something wrong, and there is a way to make pictures and other images I post completely solid, please let me know. Otherwise, I'll be on the hunt for a new blogger layout....

The beauty of sleep

I have stayed up WAY too late for the past 4 or 5 days, barely getting 6 hours of sleep at night. When you're by yourself, with 3 kids, doing everything alone, that's not nearly enough. Last night the fatigue hit me like a truck. I came downstairs to read a book with Sarah before her bedtime and after we were done, I reclined the chair I was in and almost fell asleep instantly. 20 minutes went by & I realized it was past Sarah's bedtime, so I put her to bed. I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open. So, at 9pm, when Emma went to bed, I did, too. I slept from 9pm until 6:30am. It was awesome! I only had a few interruptions (such as Sarah having a nightmare at 1am and coming to sleep in my bed, and the times when Sarah would toss & turn and kick me in the head). I still felt when I woke up that I could use another nap, but thank goodness today's Friday so we don't have the morning rush tomorrow. Now if I could just get Katie to sleep past 7am.

Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to the ENT we go

Soooo, after thinking I had Katie's fever/crankiness/rash figured out, she threw me another curveball last night and spiked an 102 degree temp. /sigh I took her to the Pedi this morning, HOPING that something was actually wrong so we could get it fixed. I know that's probably terrible, but when your child is miserable & there's no known cause, it can get extremely frustrating. Anyhow, good news: she's gaining weight! Not much, but it's a little. Bad news: another ear infection. 5th one since the end of April. Almost all in the left ear. So we're having a pattern. We're being referred to the local ENT, whom I'm assuming will probably recommend putting tubes in. I just don't want what happened to Emma to happen to Katie. I want to nip this in the bud right now. She also thought that Katie didn't have roseola, but another random virus that's going around, which would explain the fever AFTER the rash appeared. So we're on Omnicef for 10 days (I think), along with Tylenol/Motrin and Benadryl. Call me Mrs. Pharmacutical.

Sigh...sick kid #2

The nurse at Emma's school called me about 9:30 this morning, telling me that Emma had come in, looking very pale, complaining that she hurt all over, but mostly her stomach. By the time she had gotten ahold of me, the nurse said she looked better. So I asked Emma if she could try to stick it out. She said she would. But, right after Sarah got home from preschool, I got another call. So, I went & picked her up. She doesn't have a fever, but isn't feeling good. She's now cuddled up on the couch watching "The Little Mermaid".

How to get a 3 year old to take a nap

Send her to preschool for 2 1/2 hours.



This kid almost never naps. But since she started preschool last week, she's taken a small cat-nap almost every day. Thank you Preschool Teachers!!

The mystery of illness

Don't you just love how your child(ren) can pick up every bug that seems to be floating around? Katie has had a fever for 5 days. We took her in, thinking it might be another ear infection, or strep again. Nope, everything came back fine, they even did a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia. They said it was probably just a virus and would have to work itself out. Well, this fever didn't want to go away. It ranged from 99-almost 102. The poor kiddo was miserable. Well, this morning I noticed she had broken out in a nice little rash.




Ok, now I get it. Roseola. That weird, freakish bug that shows up out of nowhere and leaves you wondering "Where the heck did THIS come from?". So, while she didn't have the "normal" roseola cycle, I'm pretty sure that's what this is. The fever seems to be gone (thank goodness) and the spots will soon be gone. Just in time for one of my other kids to get this.



Yeah, she looks sick, doesn't she?

A Glimpse from CA

Jeff sent me this picture in an e-mail earlier today. When he left he didn't have a camera phone. But he does now. In the form of an iPhone. This is his brother & his girlfriend.

Girl Power

Jeff is gone to CA for the next week, so it's just me & my girls. I can already see the difference in not having daddy around, and he only left yesterday morning. I love a clean house as much as the next person, but I also only have so much energy and patience. When Jeff isn't around to help me, my standards definitely get lowered for a few days. For example, I don't care if the kids stay in their pj's all day, as long as it's not a school day; dinners are low-key and not always healthy (we had leftover pizza last night); and if I don't have anywhere to be, I probably won't shower until I have to go somewhere. Not that I don't like to be clean, it's just that I can't always find a good time, aside from midnight, when all the children are finally asleep. It's not helping that we are all feeling a bit icky. Katie's had a fever for 3 days. I would have been willing to put money on it being an ear infection, but I took her in Friday night, and they couldn't find anything. They even did a chest x-ray to check for pneumonia, and that came back clear. So, apparently it's just a viral thing that has to work itself out. Sure, tell that to the miserable baby.
I'm still fighting off a cold/sinus infection/nastiness. I've been coughing up things that look like they belong in a biology lab. Sarah has a runny nose & Emma had a cough. If we're all sick, it must be Tuesday. I swear this family has waves of illnesses. I'm going to work very hard not to have the flu/bronchitis epidemic we had last year.
But, I know that in a couple days I'll get back on track & clean the house. You can only trip over clothes & toys for so long before it gets annoying.

Cell phone picture

My cell phone that I'd had for almost 2 years died on me in June. Well, actually, it got dropped one too many times on the concrete, if you want to get technical. Thank you kids, lol. Anyhow, I got a new cell phone. It's still a basic phone, but it has a camera on it. It takes decent pictures, not the best quality. Emma LOVES to take pictures with it. But, I end up with 50 pictures of the TV, the back of the seat in the car, and close-ups of everyone's noses. So, every couple of days, I go through & delete all the weird random ones. But, every once in awhile, I come across a really good one. Emma took this of her & Sarah.



It looks very dreamy, I just love it!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Does anyone remember that Staples (I think it was Staples) commercial about 10 years ago? They played that song (which envokes thoughts of Christmas) and showed a grown man dancing through the school supply aisle at the store, while his children drug their feet behind him & looked solemn. It was an hilarious commercial. I can now completely relate to it. Emma started 2nd grade on Tuesday and Sarah started Preschool yesterday. Yes, I was sad because each "1st day of school" is one less "first" that we have with our kids. But, they also drive me up the wall when they're home for days on end & are bored to tears so they invent new games to slowly push me toward the padded room that they have on hold for me somewhere. Both Emma & Sarah LOVE school & were excited to go back. That being said, I'm now kinda spooked at the quiet that has engulfed my house in the last 2 days.

Emma's first day went great. There's only 1 2nd grade class this year, so she's back together with all her friends from K & 1st grade. It's a bigger class than she's used to: 23 kids. Her K class had 12, and her 1st grade class had 17. But, she's sitting next to one of her best friends, and they all have their lockers next to each other. They're "The Emma's", Emma F.. Emma K. and Emma W. Yes, they've all been in the same class, for 3 years.

Sarah was sooo sad when she couldn't join Emma in her class when we dropped her off the first day. So, the next day when it was HER first day of school, she was off & running. She wouldn't even let me take very many pictures of her because she just wanted to get in there & have fun. She hugged her teacher and then she had to explore. This is the same teacher, with mostly the same aids as last year, but it's in a new place. There are also a few new kids in her class. This is technically the "Special Needs" class, so there are a couple kids with Autism and one other child who has T21 (he's 6 months older than Sarah). It's on the university campus, so they have access to a lot of help from students who are getting ECE degrees, as well as going into a form of therapy (PT, ST, OT). They also have their own playground, which is gated (Sarah's a runner, lol), and they also have their own transportation, which we will be utilizing. Sarah actually took the bus this morning. At first she was all for it. She let the aid buckle her into the seat (specially made for the busses) and then she realized I wasn't coming with her. I had to get off the bus before I snagged her out of the seat & took her back into the house, lol. They said she did fine once she got to school. When she got home, I think it hit her, ok this is how it works. We'll see how she does tomorrow.

Houston, we have a problem

When I put my two youngest children to bed, I have been safe in the knowledge that they will STAY in their room until such time (i.e. a decent hour in the preferably late morning) as we determine they will be let loose. :P Until today. Today, is a day that will forever be etched in my mind as the day that "safe haven" of their room became known as "Alcatraz" and they are prisoners who are on a mission to escape. Today, Sarah learned how to open her door.
Yes, I will wait for the full impact of that sentance to hit you before I continue....are you calm enough now? Ok, I'll explain.
Sarah, being of slightly shorter stature than most 3 1/2 year olds, has not been able to, until today, completely turn the doorknob enough to actually open it. I don't know if it's because of a slight delay in manual dexterity, or simply because she didn't feel the need to. She, in fact, just became TALL enough to actually reach the doorknob in the last 2 months or so. She could wiggle the knob, but not actually open it. I completely blame her Magnadoodle. She played with that thing for hours yesterday & must have suddenly, overnight, gotten the hand strength in order to turn the handle on the door. This is OT gone bad, horribly horribly bad.
I was sitting at the table, doing a Sudoku puzzle, and Sarah and Katie were happily playing in their room. I heard the door jiggle, but knew in my heart of hearts that I wouldn't hear it open, because, of course, my child can't do that yet. I think I even chuckled and thought to myself, how lucky I was that I was able to put my kids in a safe environment that didn't involve a cage. Imagine my surprise when, a matter of 2 seconds later, I feel a tiny hand patting on my leg. I look down, and LO & BEHOLD! Sarah's beautiful little face is smiling up at me. After my moment of "oh crap" passed, I celebrated this victory with her! I cheered her & told her way to go!!! And then I went online & shopped for those rubberized door covers.

In Memory of Gabi

A sweet little girl named Gabi got her wings this morning. I will never understand why some parents are chosen to outlive their children. Please join me in prayers for healing/strength/peace for her family.

Gabi, like Sarah, was also blessed with a little something extra. She will be terribly missed.

Sisters

My girls love each other very much. I'm not just talking about the assumed love that all relatives have. I mean, really, truly, they love each other. They care about each other's feelings & enjoy being together. I can especially see that bond between Sarah & Katie. Yesterday after lunch & baths, Sarah, Katie & I spent some time playing around on the floor. I was the "Mommy junglegym" and the girls had a blast crawling around & laughing like hyenas. Sarah thoroughly enjoys using Katie as a rug, climbing on top of her & lying on her. Katie, for the most part, accepts this and doesn't get too upset.
They both look up to Emma. She is their most celebrated heroine. When Emma plays with them, they just light up. All the girls love music, and Katie & Sarah love it when Emma sings to them. It calms them down when they're cranky & upset.
The unfortunate thing is because they share such a strong bond & want to emulate each other, that means they also tend to pick up each other's bad habits. For example, Emma has this ritual with her Papa, where they scream in each other's faces. It's cute, if not loud. :P Sarah has decided that this is an acceptable way of communicating, even when she's not talking to Papa. So she will intermittingly yell at the top of her little lungs, directly in your face. Not to say that Sarah doesn't have her own bad habits to share. When she's sitting at the table, she will throw everything on the floor: her cup, her plate, food, other people's food/cups/plates. Today she decided to pull the tablecloth off the table. Which wouldn't have been so bad, if there hadn't been a GLASS on the table, full of water. ::sigh:: So, I got to clean up, not only water spilled all over the floor, but big & little chunks of glass, one of which decided being stuck in my finger was the most awesome place to be. OUCH. I have to laugh (now, although then not so much) because this is just a string of things Sarah has done in the past 3 days. First, she got ahold of an ink pen & scribbled all over our couch, then she got ahold of Emma's color markers and scribbled all over the Pergo floor (what is it with my kid & writing instruments??), and now today, the tablecloth thing. Oh I can't wait to see what she has in store for me tomorrow!! (Can you sense the sarcasm?? LOL)

First word?

I think we might have heard Katie's first word this morning. She has this (annoying) toy that has a little steering wheel & horn & all sorts of buttons on it that make a lot of noise. One of them says "bye-bye". She was crawling away from the toy earlier today and the button that says "bye-bye" got pushed. Well she turned towards the toy, gave a little wave and said very softly "bye". Mom & I looked at each other and were wondering if it was deliberate. It certainly seemed like it.

This makes perfect sense

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West   Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
The Midland
Boston
North Central
Philadelphia
The Northeast
The Inland North
The South
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

I'm a true Californian, vague accent & all.

Now is the winter of my discontent

That pretty much describes how I felt about winter this year. It was dismal, depression, and way too long. Add to that the germs & virus that had infiltrated our cozy little home since January. That being said, can you tell I'm excited about SPRING finally being here??!! I can breathe! I don't feel like I'm trapped indoors, and my kids can go outside & play! What a novel concept! Of course, this really only applies to Emma, as she's the only one I trust to be outside alone, seeing as how we live on a very busy street, on a corner no less, and we have no fences. So, poor Sarah has been relegated to the balcony patio if she wants some fresh air. In theory I should go outside with them, but it just seems like there hasn't been a long enough expanse of time in order to do anything. Sarah's got preschool now in the mornings, Mon-Wed, during which time, Katie takes a nap. Then we go to pick up Sarah, and then it's lunch time, and then Sarah takes a nap. By the time everyone's awake, it's either time to go pick up Emma from school, or wait for her to be dropped off by someone else. Then it's dinner prep time, and then baths & bedtime. Sure, there's time for playing in between, some 20 minute intervals, but not enough to warrant packing both kids, the stroller & a diaper bag with snacks & drinks, into the van and drive 2 miles to the closest park, only to be able to play for 10 minutes & then drive home. SAHM's have a lot of free time, my foot. In between the feeding, bathing, sleeping & driving, there's still housework to be done, none of which ever seems to be completely finished. I don't think my hallway has been without dirty laundry for 4 months. I think the bathrooms were cleaned last week? But don't quote me on that. OH! And doctor's appointments, the ever present medical staff that are entwined into our daily lives. Last week, all FIVE of us were on some sort of medication, all at once. Let me give you a rundown of what types of sicknesses have been in the Wilson household in the past 4 months: 5 cases of strep (by only 3 people, you do the math), 2 cases of bronchitis, 2 cases of a sinus infection, 4 colds, and 1 case of pink eye. I've been threatening the family with baths in antiseptic wash. I was about ready to call in the federal government & ask that our house be declared a hazardous area & to be hit with a "clean bomb". It would kill any living organism and sterilize the entire area. Of course, then we'd probably have a new species of strep germ that survived this micro-organism holocaust & kill us all.
Anyhow, spring is here, and the birds are chirping, and while there's still no leaves on the trees (that will probably happen in May) I can sense the change, and I'm so glad it's here. I no longer have to bundle my children up like Eskimos to go out to the car. And sandals!!! Oh the footwear!! No more snow boots! My pasty white feet can actually get some sun. Of course this means I'll have to start shaving my legs again, but it's worth the hassle to be able to liberate my lower limbs from their winter prison garb.

Yay!!!

Katie slept for 12 whole hours, straight through, no waking up to nurse, YEAH!!!!!

Too good to be true?

Well, Katie again slept about 8 hours last night, straight through. I'm really hoping this will stick. She's taking good naps at around the same times (the afternoon one is coinciding with Sarah's, YAY!) and she's also starting to like baby food. She's kinda gotten the idea that you OPEN your mouth to get the food in there, rather than have mommy shove it in there with a spoon. So far she's tried sweet potatos, carrots, peas, green beans, applesauce & pears. They're all mostly hits, although she was really digging the sweet potatos last night. That was Sarah's favorite, too.
As for Sarah, she's again showing interest in the potty. I was really exhausted yesterday morning & actually fell asleep during her PT appointment (bad mommy, I know) and while I was passed out on the couch, she went into the bathroom and got her PT to put her on there. She did that again this morning to me. She's starting to thumb her nose at diapers, so I will probably start buying pull-ups for her, although I have a feeling they're going to be too big.

Houston, we have sleep

After only 2 nights in her new crib, in a different room, sharing a room with a sister who's been on a sleeping strike lately, we officially have a new record for Katie sleeping during the night: she woke up about 10:30 pm last night, nursed, and then didn't wake up again until 7:15am!!! WOOHOO!!!! It's probably from lack of sleep & my body was just grateful to get some straight solid hours of it, but I didn't wake up in a panic. In fact, I almost didn't wake up at all: for some reason our alarm clock has been acting funky, and not going off. So, for the past few mornings we've been doing the hustle to get ready due to us accidently sleeping later than she we should be.

1st night in her new room

Tonight will be Katie's first night in her crib. She's sharing a room with Sarah, so we'll see how this goes. I'm really hoping that Katie will love the freedom of the crib & in turn will sleep better. I know: I'm dreaming right? This could go a few ways: 1) Katie could love it, and sleep through the night; 2) Katie could hate it & wake up even more frequently than she is now; 3) Katie & Sarah could keep each other up all night. I'd put money on the 3rd option, if I were a betting woman.

Dental visit

I had Emma's dentist push up her appointment because it seemed like her cavity/infection in her gums was not getting better. So, we went this morning & had them pull her tooth. It's her first molar on the bottom lefthand side. She did remarkably well. I was going to push for them to put her under, but they said they don't do that, and the places that DO, won't let me be back with her. So, she needs to learn that although getting your teeth worked on sucks, it's not terrible. I guess I should learn this lesson, too, as it's been over 3 years since I had my teeth cleaned. I'm a horrible example, I know. But between either being pregnant or breastfeeding for the better part of 4 years, it's been hard to find a good time to go. I hate that Emma has to have so much work done as such a young age, but hopefully this will get us all into the mode of protecting our teeth, and she'll be more diligent about cleaning them as her permanent ones come in. I was so hung up on having it pulled, but I know plenty of people who've had to have teeth pulled, and at this age, all the teeth are coming out, coming in & generally just all over the place anyhow, so I don't think it'll be a big deal. Plus, this just means the Tooth Fairy gets to come early for this one.

Happy New Year

Hello everyone!!! Happy 2007!!! I can't believe another year has come & gone. The end of 2006 was spent with family & friends in CA. We flew out to Sac on the 21st & got back very early yesterday morning. It was a very nice trip, as we were able to see family & friends that we haven't seen in years. My dad, step-mom, sister & two brothers drove up from Ventura to see my mom & us. I hadn't seen my dad in 2 years. We also saw our friend Margaret whom I hadn't seen since July of 2003. She'd never met Sarah or Katie.
We were able to spend some good quality time with my mom, as well as Jeff's family. The only marr to our trip was that Emma & Sarah both got sick. For Emma it was a minor intestinal bug, but for Sarah it developed into a little case of rotavirus. Poor kiddo. She had that before, last May. It's not a fun thing. She also was accidently given regular cow's milk, and we saw the repercussions of that with 2 days of projectile vomiting. I'm guessing she's not over her liquid milk allergy.
The girls had a lot of fun playing with their cousin Ariel, and she & Emma even went to see "The Nutcracker" ballet with Auntie M & Aunt Kammie. Katie is now completely sitting up on her own, and can sit there for a good long time. She also got one of her top teeth (finally). The other one shouldn't be far behind. They all were thoroughly spoiled by all their relatives (and Santa, too) and had a lot of fun. These trips to California would be almost perfect, if it weren't for Northwest's nagging little habits of a) losing our luggage, b) cancelling/delaying our flights or c) breaking our belongings they aren't losing. It's official: we are NEVER EVER EVER EVER flying Northwest again.

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.