life with 4 kiddos

Max

2011-11-19T16:40:00.002-06:00

We had our meeting at school regarding Max. So far we have not gotten far. We had another meeting with the principal last week and he's 'working on it.' We will have another meeting within a few weeks. I know you all are so jealous, right?

Surgery... Max had 2 new tubes placed on October 21. Instead of the quick 15 minute surgery it took about 50 minutes! The ENT came out and told me Max had lots of thick mucus behind his eardrums. He also had a big infection in his left ear. The ENT cleaned it all out, which is what took SO long, but wasn't sure the left tube would stay due to the infection. I did the dreaded ear drops for almost a week, 2 times a day. Max hates them!

We went for a follow-up about 2 1/2 weeks later. Right tube looked great. Left tube not so much. :( Not only did the tube not stay, he already had fluid behind the eardrum. The ENT said he needed another surgery. grrr

The kids had their 6 month check ups with the dentist about a week or 2 ago. Max, like always, refused to get ANYTHING done. Max has a shark thing going on though. His adult front tooth is already at least 1/2 way in but the baby tooth is still there, barely loose. I'm pretty sure he needs it pulled. He will not even let the dentist touch it. The only thing he did was open his mouth while on the way out so the dentist could LOOK in his mouth. That is it. The dentist said he should see a pedo dentist that could help us. She also went on about how he really should have lost his front bottom teeth around 5 or 6 years of age. blah-blah-blah. Everyone looses teeth a bit different. I told her that he got his teeth in late, in an 'out-of-order' way and that is was a common thing with Down syndrome. Yes, Max is 10 and has only lost 1 tooth. Sam started loosing her teeth after she turned 7. Joe is 6 and shows no loose teeth. I'm guessing our kids loose their teeth late.

I sent out a 'plea' to our local Ds Group for a good recommendation for a pedo dentist. I got several. Love that! One kept coming up though so I called and made an appointment. They offer sedation in the office by gas and IV and will do day surgery if needed at the children's hospital. That appointment is December 1st. I was hoping to get it really fast to see if Max would need surgery for that tooth as well.

Since that appointment was not within a week or 2 I went ahead and called the ENT to schedule surgery for his tube before the end of the year. The ENT books out about a month in advance. Our insurance has a $500 deductible plus 20% copay for surgery. So instead of getting hit with another $500 deductible I wanted to get surgery done before the new year. IF Max needs surgery to remove the tooth I am really hoping the 2 doctors can get it worked out before 2012.

I think that is is for now. Max is busy with appointments. I feel like he is missing school at least every week for some appointment.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

School issues

2011-10-17T22:37:00.002-05:00

Last post I mentioned school was not going too well for Max so far this year. The year started out fine. The 2 paras that worked with him last year though did not return this year. One of them was hired when Max was in 1st grade, just for Max. She was awesome and the best para. Max loved her. He was a little upset that she was not there on the first day. He got mad at me when I told him he would be with a different para. It is one he knows and works with some. This para was his first para in kindergarten but it just didn't work out!

The year was going OK. Max was in general ed classroom for about half the day and the other half in resource. I love our resource teacher so I was OK with that. However, this year I keep getting calls about Max is doing this, or Max did that, or Max won't do this, blah, blah, blah. Basically Max pushed somebody, or Max got mad when told to sit in the time out spot and knocked things off the shelve and now he won't pick it up. The latest... He touch a girl inappropriately! Yeah, he is in 4th grade. He has NO idea what inappropriately might be. He hugged a girl and, oh no, touched her chest. Yeah, on a pre-puberty girl. Then somehow his head ended up in her crotch. Yeah, what?? There was a HUGE deal about this. The girls parents threatened to press legal issues against the school. However, nothing was said to the resource teacher, the principal or me about this on that day. The following day the principal wanted to talk to me about an 'incident' that happened at school. I asked the resource teacher for a heads up and she was rather mad about the whole thing. Nobody told her anything until that day.

I go into school to talk with the principal. The whole meeting was less than 5 minutes long. The head in the crotch thing.... what a joke! The kids had been playing some old-fashion freeze tag to celebrate Kansas. To unfreeze someone you had to crawl between their legs. So when recess was over and the kids all got inside Max continued to play the game. Oh my gosh!! Maybe a little back ground to HOW Max's head got into a girls crotch before making a huge deal about it?! Seriously, just crazy.

Max also has chosen to only listen to a few people this year at school. In his defense though, right now he can barely hear a thing due to fluid in his ears. Trust me, I'm sure my neighbors will be glad when Max can hear the TV again!! (he is getting another set if tubes this Friday). So I have to wonder if they are really talking so he can hear them. Are they giving him time to respond? who knows. Is he just being stubborn? Very likely.

I'm pretty sure the principal is calling me to tell me about every little thing Max does wrong just to drive me crazy. Why would he want to drive me crazy you might ask? Because he wants Max gone. About 3-4 weeks ago we had a "team" meeting at school about Max's placement. They increased resource to all day except for specials, lunch, and recess. They suggested Life Skill classes though. Life skills is at another school. There are several in our distract so they choose which one is closest and has openings. I told them fine about resource (stupid now that i look back at that) and that I would go obverse life skills and go from there.

I observed life skill. Well, kinda. The teacher had all her students go outside for snack before I got there. So it was her tell me (and the lady from school who went with me) about how the day goes and what they do. I admit it is something Max might like. I'm sure it is something i might like too. So I thought it over. But change is hard and i figured maybe after Christmas or later in the year. Maybe next year even. Pete was more for next year if at all.

I called a few people and thought more about it. We have decided that, No, we do not want Max in life skills at this time. However, the principal is rather adamant he wants Max gone. The resource teacher told me that if I didn't make up my mind soon about life skills that the principal wanted another meeting. This was before we were sure BTW. I asked what the meeting would be about. She said the principal would say the placement where Max is currently is not fitting his needs, therefor trying to force him out.

We have a "team" meeting Thursday night. We will go in and tell them NO to life skills. We will tell them we want him back in the general ed classroom at least half a day. We will tell them we want speech increased. I will suggest some awesome seminars by our local Down syndrome guild. I will offer someone from the Ds Guild to come and obverse Max (and teachers) at school to offer suggestions. I will ask about a different behavior specialist to obverse if necessary. Our directer to the Ds Guild had offered to come with us to the meeting but it just so happens her kids conferences are on that same night. I have called the directer of special ed for our district. She acted as though there was more we could try or do before something so drastic. She also let me know the school canNOT force a move like that. Pete and I would have to agree, being part of the 'team' and all. Another higher up lady should be at the meeting, somewhat on our behalf. She does work for the school district and all. The directer said with my OK she would give the school a heads up that we do not feel comfortable with life skills at this time. School knows I have contacted the higher ups. They better not think their way is the only way! I did inform the resource teacher that we will not be doing life skills but we are going to ask for changes. I left it at that.

So why are we against life skills right now? First off we want Max around typical kids. How else is he going to see what is appropriate and what's not? Life skills classes are going to have lower standards. The behaviors he has is going to be somewhat excepted in that class. If we want Max to grow up and be around other adults who are 'typical' why not have him around them as a kid at school too? I'm not saying being in a life skills class is bad but it is not what we want at this time in Max's life.

Wish us a whole lotta luck Thursday night. And pray for Max on Friday, when he will be getting his umpteenth millionth pair of tubes!!

Down syndrome awareness month

2011-10-12T12:00:00.004-05:00

It's already October! I am SOOOO behind in blogging.

Since my last posts were about Max's and Joe's birthdays I should probably do Sam's and Ike's too, right?

Sam turned 8 years old Aug 29. and Ike turned 4 Aug 23.

The day my baby Ike was born...

And 4 years later

The Birthday of my only daughter..

My princess 8 years later..

For her 8th birthday she got a BB gun as a present from the grandparents.
Here is grandpa showing her how to use it and giving her lots of safety tips.
She also got her ears pierced. You can notice in her 8 year old picture up there.

School for Sam is going great. Joe is doing pretty well this year as well. A different teacher can make a world of difference! Max, well, right now not so well. Ike is still hanging out with Sam and I enjoying being a 4 year old.

I'll write more about school and Max when I get some time. I promise to try to get it done before 2 months is up!!

For now hope everyone is enjoying Down syndrome awareness month!!

catch up

2011-08-02T15:20:00.002-05:00

I cannot believe school starts in less than 2 weeks!! August 15th is the first day. It is a half day. Sam and I will start that week... probably the 16 or 17th. I have all the stuff I need (except our spelling... it is in the mail though!). However, I am not ready yet. Hopefully it won't take me long to get all set up and ready to go.

Getting up early is going to kill us! Joe and Ike have been staying up till around 3 am and sleeping in until around 1. They are training early for their teenage years! HA!! They will not go to sleep earlier even as hard as I try. So what to do? I'll have to start waking them up early so they will be tired earlier. It is so hard to wake a sleeping child when all is peaceful and you know they will be cranky all day. I plan on staring that tomorrow...

The rest of us aren't that bad but getting up around 7 is going to be torture on me! Getting up around 7:30 will be pure torture on 3 of my kids as well! Ike is still the lucky one and gets to sleep in.

Max sees OT every 2 weeks for feeding therapy. He's not eating new food yet but he is taking bites (for sticker rewards) of new foods. It is going very slowly but at least it's going. I didn't expect it to be fast.

A few weekends ago we went to Springfield, MO to hang out with grandparents and swim. Joe stayed with Pete's parents all by himself for about 3 days. On Wednesday of that week the other 3 kids and I went back down. Joe did awesome. He told me he was going to live there now. I asked him, "what if we miss you though?" He replied, "you guys can come visit." Thanks Joe! On Sunday of that week Sam went with Pete's parents to Chicago to visit cousins (and aunt and uncle). The 3 boys and I still hung out for a few days at my parents house. We came home Tuesday afternoon and Sam got back home late Weds. evening.

While in Springfield I got another tattoo. Pete and I keep talking about getting more but we just haven't. So I got a big ladybug on my left foot. It has been 1 week and 1 day so far. It is still healing and doesn't look that great yet so in a few weeks I'll try to post a picture. Yes, it hurt but it wasn't that bad. I was prepared. I know foot tats are supposed to hurt a lot. I handled it fine. My other tattoo I got when I was 19 years old. It is a cute little (maybe 1- 1.5 inches) yellow frog on my lower side back.

I passed my intro karate class so I am now officially a white belt. yay! I have not yet made it to a class wearing my gi top or belt. Thursday hopefully though. Pete and I will be attending classes together so we had to find babysitters. That took some time but we now have a couple of sisters lined up. I hope they work out after school starts and aren't too busy.

I haven't bought any school supplies yet. I ordered 2 backpacks from LL Bean and that is it so far. Anybody have them? Do you love them? Hope so. They are guaranteed to last so I'm hopeful they will last a long time. Even when they do wear out I can get it replaced for free. How cool is that?! I'm just not in the school mode yet.

Hope everyone had a great summer (or is having a great one!!).

doule digits

2011-07-02T08:29:00.006-05:00

There is no way my baby can be double digits! Max turned 10 years old June 29. 10! It does not feel that long.

Birthday10 years later! My baby growing up.
Since he doesn't eat cake we had candles in a pizza for him!!

However, I don't recommend that! The candles were melting from the hot pizza. I had to grab a towel and dab out some of the melting wax.

Happy birthday to my 1st baby. Stop growing up so fast!!

6 years old

2011-06-25T15:20:00.002-05:00

I'm a couple days late getting this up...

On June 23, 2005 my sweet little Joe was born...

On Thursday he turned 6 years old!
By mid day he was saying this was the worst birthday ever. The boys and I went to the grocery store while Sam was in swimming lessons. Why do I always fall for the whole car cart thing? I must be a slow learner. They always want those darn things but I can't stand them. Anyway, Joe and Ike talked me into one. mistake! So of course, they had to fight the entire time. Screaming, biting, spitting, pinching and crying. I'm sure the store loved us. By the time our very quick trip to the store was done both little boys would have to go their room when we got home.

That evening though I took Joe back to the store and let him pick out a cake. We wanted all pink. They didn't have any. He settled for a decorated greenish colored cake. I bought pink icing and put "Joe" on the cake for him. He picked out 'trick' candles. I'm not that impressed by them. I remember when I was a kid those things worked well. Now? Not that great. He opened presents and had cake. I think it turned into an OK day!

So even though I am late posting this....

Happy 6th birthday to Joe.

Mr dress up

2011-06-22T08:44:00.000-05:00

Also known as Ike..

Ike is ALL about dressing up. I guess when you're 3 years old it is all about imagination!

Check out some of Ike's other personalities...

He can be Spider-man
Or Woody (I don't seem to have him dressed up as Buzz, but trust me, he does!)
Mario is also still a favorite

He can be decked out in camo

Or save the day being a fireman (with or...

...without the mustache)

What's a fireman without his pack?

He can be a pirate, complete with parrot (He does have a bandanna for his head, a hook for his hand and a sword for the other) but this must be a friendly pirate as he is wearing sock monkey slippers!

He calls this his safari gear

Ho, Ho, Ho!
Ike is Santa at the park. Notice he had to be dressed in all red with black boots.

Last but not least,
Ike was a cheerleader (with binoculars) who had to sit it out on the steps but fell asleep.

This is just a glimpse into Ike's dress up craze. He can be anything he sets his mind to!

Tooth fairy Finally visits

2011-06-21T08:30:00.002-05:00

Is that just a sweet picture of Max? OK, I may be biased. But he Looks so innocent there.

Back in February Max started to get a loose tooth. His first one. I took a picture so we could remember those sweet little baby teeth..

Finally, roughly 3 weeks before his 10th birthday he lost it!
I was prepping him up for loosing his tooth. I wasn't sure if he would freak out or what. I did think he would manage to swallow it. Everyday (well, several times a day) I would check out his tooth, or he would come shoe me how loose it was. I acted very excited and informed him once he lost it the tooth fairy would bring him $5. He would get very happy about that!

So one evening Max came to me pointing to his mouth. I said something like, "yeah, I know, your tooth is really loose." Then he opened his hand and Ta-Da there was his tooth. I wish I could have seen his face when he pulled it out. However, he was in a room by himself.

He is still pretty excited about loosing his tooth. The new tooth is just peeking through the gum. I don't think he has any more loose teeth right now. It felt like it took forever for that tooth to fall out. I mean, I noticed it was loose 4 months ago!

So at the ripe age of (almost) 10, Max lost his 1st baby tooth. Heck, at this rate he may have his baby teeth for years and years to come!

dreaded appointment update and sick kids

2011-06-17T20:09:00.002-05:00

Yeah, I know the appointment was about a week and a half ago. The appointment went much better than I excepted. As you can see in my last blog post I wasn't looking forward to this appointment!

We got there and they had a regular parking area (not covered) and I got the only spot open at the time. They seemed OK with the fact that I brought 3 additional tag-alongs. Not only that, they even took all 4 kids to an "activity room" while I talked to all the different people. Imagine, quiet time while trying to talk to a kids doctor. Pretty much unheard of.

I saw all the people at the same time, which is very smart if you ask me. There was an MD, OT, dietitian, psychologist, and a nurse practitioner. They asked lots of questions and all jotted down their own notes. I felt kinda like an interview!

The OT wanted me to bring foods Max likes and some he doesn't like. I did that. She played "food scientist" with him. They had a piece of paper listing their assignment (so to speak) and were supposed to use the senses to discover the food. First they looked at the food and noted what it looked like (shape or color or whatever), then smell, touch, TASTE and what sound it made while being eaten. Max was NOT going for that trick. No way, no how! So the OT and dietitian got to see his reaction to that experiment. I am supposed to that 5 times a week. I have to admit I have not followed through with that yet. I know, I know! We need to at least try.

The dietitian said she really wanted him to take a Flintstones Complete vitamin. The last dietitian told us that has well. He will take the gummy bear vitamins but that is it. After the last lady recommended them (Flintstones) to us I bought a bottle to try. Max will not even touch them. My other kids don't like them either. To me they are very sweet and have a strong iron taste. So yeah, not very yummy compared to a gummy vitamin! This lady recommended crushing one up and mixing it with applesauce. Maybe even try to mix only 1/2 a pill to start with. I have to say that has been successful... so yay! That was most important to start with from the dietitians viewpoint. Have I done it every day? no, but it's a start. I even do a full pill. I mixed with applesauce, and tried one night using apple juice. Didn't work that well with juice. It didn't dissolve but he still drank it and even asked to get it refilled once. Which is good since there were still chunks in the bottom! Today I mixed with yogurt and it was all good.

Another suggestion is the 'just noticeable difference' to preferred foods. I really was not sure about that one. Max refuses anything that LOOKS different. Take chocolate for example... he likes Hersey bars, kisses and chocolate eggs. But NO other chocolate (Easter bunny or any other shaped chocolate) he also doesn't like the mini Hersey bars. They look too different I guess. They suggested maybe change his bagel type. Max eats 1/2 a toasted onion bagel for breakfast, usually every morning. At least during the school year... (summer changes to whatever!). They recommended sesame seed but nothing with chunks (like blueberry). I wasn't so sure. So one morning a fixed a sesame seed bagel but it was the bottom half.. the side with very few seeds. But the taste would be different. He ate it with no complaints. So the next day I gave him an onion one again then the day after I braved it and fixed the top half of that sesame seed bagel. I tired to brush off a few of the seeds but not very many came off. I gave it him and acted no different. I watched from a distance out of the corner of my eye. He ate the whole thing!! I know, one bagel type to another seems like no big deal. I see it as a step though. Baby steps, right?

I still need to mix it up more for him. The store has hot pockets on sale this week. He will not eat them and I really don't even buy them b/c it is not very healthy food. However, the people at the clinic suggested other pizza type foods that are different to him. They asked about hot pockets and kinda suggested trying them. I had Max help me pick a few out. One is a cheese stuffed crust pizza type of thing. Not sure he knew we was picking them out for himself yet. I still need to try them. You know the picture always looks SO much different than the actual product. I will have to have him agree to try what is ON the box and have him help fix it since it will look different. Hopefully that works. Not that I want him eating Hot pockets but it is something different. Something to hopefully expand on.

The OT there said every one of her patients have started eating new foods but one. I should have asked if that one had Down syndrome!!

Another suggestion was to not offer the same foods at the same time of day for 2 days in a row. I told them I don't think that would matter. As long as a food is on HIS approved list he will eat whatever at anytime of day. They suggested yogurt one day for breakfast but the next day be something different like a bagel. I told them he asks for pizza every day for breakfast, he just doesn't get it! Really, he fine eating bagels for breakfast or dinner or snack or whenever. Same with pizza, spaghetti and other foods on HIS list!

We follow up August 1st with that clinic. However, he now has an OT appointment to work with food at a closer children's mercy clinic... On Monday. My husband says I shouldn't go, that it is a waste of time and money. They aren't going to do anything I can't do. I still plan on going. Pete says just fix one meal for everyone and everyone has to eat the same thing. After a few days they will all be eating it with no problems. I don't think that would work, and well, I'm not going to try it. Max will just eat something else later that he wants. yeah, I know, don't let him. But to make it short.. It's not going to happen. If you know of any study done to try and prove MY point, please do share!! I just don't think some major change like that would work.

The clinic we went to has a certain criteria they use to screen out patients. First it is called the Special Needs Weight Management Clinic. So, obviously they have to have some type of special needs. Second they have to have a BMI of 95% or above. I guess at the last dietitian place his BMI was 95%. Which just seems like such a crock to me. His BMI is 21, well within the normal limit. OK, so yeah, he is a little chunk and possibly a little over weight but his BMI is normal people. However, compared to other 9 1/2 year old boys, who are generally tall and skinny, he has a high BMI. At this appointment though his BMI went down. Apparently he grow an inch or 2 and has maintained the same weight. He no longer qualifies for this clinic. Which I see as a good thing personally.

Whew, that was long!

On another note, my kids are all battling some virus or something! Ike started with a high fever spike Weds evening. By Thursday he seemed better. Sam and Joe then spiked fevers. Whatever it is must take a high temp to kill it off. Joe's fever was around 103 and Sam's was 103 -105. I alternated Tylenol and ibuprofen for her. First time I have ever done that for any of my kids by the way. I'm sure Pete would have freaked out if he knew her temp was that high. He tends to freak about things like that. Whereas I know the fever is killing off the bad guys and the body can take care of itself. What would the doctors do? Well at the ER take my $200 and then send me home telling me to rotate the meds (like I was doing). Today (Friday) she was still sick but her fevers were lower, maybe 102-103. Same with Joe, a little better. Sam said her throat hurt (so did Joe but he acted pretty much fine). So I made an appointment with the doctor at 3:30. This was to see if maybe it was strep. Max and I were fine but we both have no tonsils! Around 2:00 Sam started acted like herself again. Max then took a turn for the worse and sat on my lap with his head down. I had him go lay down. He did for a few minutes but came back out and sat in a computer/desk chair. he was falling asleep while sitting there so I went and laid down with him for a few minutes (after giving him meds). Sam didn't want to go the doctor to get a swab crammed down her throat, hmm, I wonder why? Plus she acted fine so I canceled the appointment around 2:30. Around 4 or a little after Sam was acting sick again. And still is (at 9:30 at night). Joe acts fine but still has a fever. Max... well, Max is back to himself again, picking on siblings and scaring the crap out of the cat. Ike has acted fine all day but feels a little warm and fell asleep in the late afternoon (and still sleeping)

Whatever it is, I hope it all disappears by tomorrow!

dreaded appointment

2011-06-06T10:54:00.002-05:00

Max has an appointment this afternoon that I am dreading!

I was told to allow 2 hours for the appointment. 2 hours!! If it was just Max and I, I think I could handle it better. However, Pete started a new job...today. The neighbor had plans for the day so I am stuck taking all 4 kids with me. grrr. Pete said I should have asked his parents to come up. I probably should have. But it's too late now.

The appointment is at the Weight Management for Special Needs. It is in downtown Kansas City. It is part of the Children's Mercy Hospital but not IN the hospital just right next to it. I hate driving down there. I'm not that familiar with the area to be driving around trying to find my way. I am hoping the GPS helps out a little. Another reason I hate driving to the unknown building is parking. The hospital itself has covered parking. We have a conversion van with a high top. It is too tall to fit in parking garages. So at the hospital they have me park in a special spot. They have about 8 or so special spots for high/big vehicles. I am not sure about the clinic I am going too. They do have a covered parking I know. I told them on the phone I drive a tall vehicle. I guess I'll find out when I get there!

The paperwork says, "please make arrangements for other children in your care while you attend this appointment." Well, I already talked about that. I hope my other 3 behave and have patience. Lots of patience! Same for me.

I am also supposed to take 2 food items that Max will eat and 2 he will not eat. This should be fun! Actually that is about the only reason I am going. He is SO darn picky. I am hoping someone there has some magic power to have him eat something new and different.

The reason for this appointment all came from his high cholesterol from last year. I had it re-tested 6 months later but it was still high. I know this is all from Pete and I. But I don't think the doctors care. From there we saw the nutritionist. I am pretty sure I blogged about that but right now I can't find it. I think Blogger ate it! She was no help. So this place is our 2nd place to visit. Max didn't qualify for the eating/feeding clinic. Which really is my main concern.

I keep thinking he has to outgrow this. He will want to try different things. But really, I'm not too sure. I asked a friend about her son who also is a picky eater and went through feeding therapy. News did not sound good. She even met someone that has a son (adult son) who only eats like 3 things.... and that is it!

Oh Max, oh Max, why do you have to be SO stubborn and picky??

Where does the time go?

2011-05-14T18:03:00.003-05:00

It's already been over 2 weeks since I posted. So maybe I should just consider myself a radium blogger!

Last week Sam and I made some 'blobber' for science.

It was SO easy to make. It is really cool stuff too. It is almost like silly putty.

Different colors have different stiffness to them so we could see what solution would be better at different activities (bouncing, blowing bubble, etc..)

The yellow was the best for bubble blowing...

I'm sure you're all dying for the recipe, right? In case you didn't see it on my Facebook, I'll post it here too.

Blobber:
1 Tablespoon white glue
1/2 teaspoon borax
1/2 cup water
food coloring (optional)
2 paper/plastic cups

1. Dissolve the borax in the water.
2. pour the white glue into another cup. If you would like, add about 4 drops of food coloring.
3. add 1tablespoon of the borax solution to the glue and stir with a stick or spoon.
4. take the mixture out of the cup and knead it with your hands for several minutes.

Easy peasy. I made double patches. 2 tablespoons of glue then added 2 tablespoons of the water borax mix.

To test the blobber with different solutions try adding different amounts of borax to the water....

red... 1 tsp
blue... 1/2 tsp
yellow... 1/4 tsp

Have fun!

She is now an adult

2011-04-28T09:26:00.003-05:00

Today, April 28, is my dog's, Baby, 18th birthday. Joe said that she is now an adult!
18 years old! wow, she is old. She can barely hear, not sure she can see a thing and she sleeps all day. I'm sure this is her last birthday. However, I say that all the time... this is her last Thanksgiving, last Christmas, etc... but she's still kicking. You can tell she is one very old dog though! And you know what, she used to be completely black back in her prime.

Happy 18th birthday to Baby!

swings...

2011-04-27T18:46:00.002-05:00

we finally got our swings pretty much done for the kids

We put 2 swings in. We are still looking for the perfect connector for the swing to chain. The ones we want we can't seem to find that are big enough for the swing but small enough for the chain link. What we have right now works but we just want to find a replacement for them. Then we also will cut off the extra chain. We left extra chain until we knew that the length was all good.
With the swings being SO high, you can really get some height...
We have one more spot for something. Another swing, climbing rope/wall or if Ike gets his wish a fireman pole!!

Now if the weather in Kansas would warm up just a tad bit we could enjoy them a little more.

kids will be kids

2011-04-22T08:53:00.003-05:00

The kids thought it would be fun to stamp their feet and hand prints on paper and display them on the wall....

My hallway looks like that. The entire wall is filled with their masterpieces (well, as high as they can reach!). They slowly get ripped down. Don't worry they will all be replaced with new masterpieces.

Kids are messy, we all know that. My kids, I believe, are some the messiest around. At least 3 of them, Max is rather tidy. Except for one thing....

I wonder if they ever get that toothpaste ON their toothbrushes. They get it everywhere! And I actually wonder why I am buying toothpaste for the kids all the time!

I found Max had claimed this pile for himself awhile back...

The kids laptop, their netbook/mini laptop and a DSi XL. Max is all into electronic things. If he could play with all things electronic at one time he would! He will often times play DS while watching TV or the computer. We tell him one thing at a time.

Back in November I won an Ipod touch from Saving Lera. I received it about a month ago. My kids LOVE it. So Max has added that to his pile he claims as his. It is fun to play with. We did not have an Itouch before (or even an Iphone, I know, :gasp:). I have an Ipod from about 3 1/2 years ago that Pete got me for Christmas. It is an ipod video and has 32 GB. It still works perfectly (knock on wood) and I use every time I am in the car, when I run (jog, really), and just whenever. It has had lots and lots of use. Pete had bought the 3 year warranty for it but we never needed it. I am hoping the Itouch is made just as well.

Hope everyone has a fun-filled Easter weekend.

sole puke picker upper

2011-04-21T09:14:00.003-05:00

edited to add-- yes, I really do know how to spell puke! (I had the title wrong)

Apparently that is what I am in this household. BTW, this post is about puke. Just letting you know!

Last night I got to sleep around 1:30. I went to sleep in Max's bed. Many reasons but the main reason... I pick the bed with fewest bodies! All 3 boys tend to find me during the night. If Sam and Pete are sleeping in our bed and I join in, that is 3. However, Ike usually goes to bed with the last person awake so last night that was me. He would have made 4. Then sometime during the night Max comes up....up to 5. Although I love my kids, I also love my sleep!

A little after an hour of sleep, Pete wakes me up and says Sam is puking all over the place upstairs. You do know dads are clueless when it comes to puke, right? I get up and grab some towels. Pete said, "you need more than that. It's on the carpet. You'll need carpet cleaner too." So I grab the spray bottle of carpet cleaner. Pete said, "no, the big carpet cleaner..... you'll see." I just look at him like, yeah, I'm not cleaning carpets at 3 am. I make it upstairs. My side of the bed has got puke on it. Sam also just hung her head off the bed to avoid puking on the bed. Thanks Sam! There was lots of puke on the floor there as well. I'm guessing at that time Pete was yelling at her to run to the bathroom. Unfortunately, my side of the bed is the furtherest from the bathroom. So at about the 1/2 way mark all the way to the toilet there is a nice trail of puke. The bathroom floor is sprayed with puke as well as the whole toilet.

Sam was laying in the floor on a rug, with a towel nearby. OK, so Pete was right. Wait, what did I just say?! I needed the big guns, even at 3am. I drag out the carpet cleaner and start cleaning. It came up without any problems. I guess fresh puke makes a difference!

Back to bed and so far so good. No more puke yet. I am letting her sleep in this morning and hoping nobody else gets it!

school projects

2011-04-20T18:35:00.000-05:00

Before spring break Max and Joe both had a project due at school. Max a solar system and Joe a leprechaun trap.

For Max his solar system could be just about anything. I stuck with a simple poster type display.

I had Max fill in the blanks for length of day and year and how many moons each planet had. He glued everything on (with help). You can't see it in the photo but we do have an asteroid belt on there. We made it out of pea gravel and clear beads that looked like ice. The background is covered with (lots of) glitter. All the kids had to help with that, of course! He was proud of it and got an A.

Joe had to make a leprechaun trap. Could be anything. Apparently leprechauns like gold. When I mentioned to Pete Joe needed to make a leprechaun trap he suggested a plant like a Venus fly trap. Joe liked it so we went with it. Joe and I had green hands for a few days. We used paper mache that I dyed green (in hopes to skip painting it). However, we still had to paint the thing. It was messy but turned out better than I was expecting.
Here is Joe with his Venus Leprechaun trap!Joe hid one piece of gold behind a spike to really lure the leprechaun in....

His teacher said it looked just like the plant off of Little Shops of Horrors.

Style... Ike has it!

2011-04-19T18:49:00.002-05:00

This is Ike all decked out... wearing snow boots, shorts, long sleeve tee carrying a flag and a balloon. What else could a boy need?

We were actually leaving at the time but I told him he had to changed shoes. The flag and balloon had to come though.

He is SO into dress up. I have a post I need to get ready for that (so watch out). Yesterday he was a pirate. Mean old mom told him he wasn't going to wal-mart all decked out. So he put clothes on top of his outfit and kept the hook with him. Many people in wal-mart said, "argh" to him!

really, it's been almost a month?

2011-04-18T20:09:00.003-05:00

OK, So it's been awhile since I posted. I'm not that good at keeping up I guess.

The weather is getting nicer and nicer. I love spring! I'm outside just as much as I can be. I have planted several veggie plants so far and more berry bushes. Fingers cross they all spread like crazy! The rabbits were enjoying my blueberry bushes way too much so I had to make a 'rabbit fence' around all my berry plants in that area (blueberry, blackberry and raspberry). Now, I noticed my strawberry plants are slowly but surely getting eaten up. SO I need to make another trip to the hardware store. I feed the birds along with the rabbits and squirrels in hopes they would leave my other stuff alone. no such luck. However, they have not found my cabbage or parsley yet. Apparently they do not like rosemary or mint (or maybe haven't noticed it yet?).
Today though I felt sorry for the poor little rabbits.

As I walked out on the deck this morning I heard this awful, loud squeaky noise. This huge black bird had a baby rabbit in his beak sitting on the fence. Poor baby was yelling for his momma! 2 rabbits were in the yard that he pulled it from. I could see the rabbits nest was torn apart. fur everywhere. I think the rabbits moved the rest of the babies as the hole was empty a short while later (I checked). Either that or I figured the bird had eaten them all up. However, a couple hours later, I again step out on the deck and a big black bird is flying over our deck with a mouth full of baby rabbit, kicking and screaming. Poor bunnies.

Last fall I re-did a flower bed by our mailbox. I only put tulips and lilies in it. Plus one mum, which I was kinda hoping would die over winter (it didn't) plus the 'fancy' grass in one corner. Happy to say the tulips all looked great this spring!
I have tons to blog about and hoping I can play catch up for awhile but we'll see how that goes...

celebrate

2011-03-21T08:56:00.002-05:00

happy world down syndrome day everyone!!

If you decide not to have a good WDSD, well then, Max may come after you with a shovel!!! Just ask Pete! (It really was an accident)

spring break

2011-03-12T21:23:00.003-06:00

Ok, so my blog very neglected these days. It just happens!

We are currently in South Padre Island for spring break. It is nice to be somewhere warm and on a beach. Even if the water is too cold to truly swim in. The kids don't seem to know the water is chilly. They love the beach. Max hates sunblock with a passion!! He's the one who burns very easily (he's like his momma) so he gets is slathered on (or sprayed on) anyway through his screams and tantrums.

Hope everyone has a fun spring break!!

Fastest ER visit ever

2011-02-20T09:42:00.002-06:00

30 minutes. We checked into the ER and were discharged 30 minutes later. I seriously wish doctor offices were that fast. Too bad ER visits cost almost 8 times as much money!

Sam was having a sleep over.... I know, right now you are thinking... Of course it was Sam that had the ER visit. Sam, her friend and the boys were all playing and horsing around. I was not in the same room but I could hear everything and see most of it. I was keeping an eye on them because Max can be a little rough and not know when enough is enough. And Sam's friend will fight back. I'm glad she does but I think she is probably stronger than he is. She also goes to Tae Kwon Do classes.... and likes to say (threaten), "I know tae kwon do" and "don't make me use tae kwon do on you."

Anyway, Sam's friend was, I guess, practicing a kick or showing off a kick, I'm really not sure, when supposedly Sam walked INTO the kick. Sam started crying. So we call her up and then sent her to lay on the couch. Then Pete sent her to her bed b/c she would not stop crying. Sam's friend continued to play with the boys. Sam carried on for about 30 minutes. crying and saying her stomach hurt. She would double over acting like she was in a lot of pain. So Pete decided if she was really hurt that bad then she needed to go to the doctor. Sam's friend Really did not want to go home. She kept trying to bargain with me. She said she could just wait for Sam to come back, She said she has her sleeping bag so she could still sleep over here, she was thinking of anything she may think would work. Finally Pete chimed in and told her, "Sam is going to the doctor. Get your stuff so you can go home." No more arguments. Why do kids always listen to the dad?! Grrr

I could tell she was nervous while we stood on her porch waiting for her parents to answer the door. I didn't make a big deal out of it. I'm sure she got at least a good talking to though.

So now Sam and I go on to the ER. Check in, go back to a room and then the doctor comes in. I recognize this doctor and really don't have a lot of faith in him. He is the same guy I saw 4 years ago. We very rarely go to the ER. What are the chances of getting this guy 4 years later? He listens to her stomach with his stethoscope and then feels around. Ask her where it hurts then has her jump up five times. He says he thinks she is fine she is going to make it. That was it. I really was expecting something more than that. He said her bowel sounded fine, sometimes when in a bad car wreck the bowel can get a laceration but hers didn't sound like that. Um, OK, what about the other organs? He thinks it is just sore muscles and will just be sore for a few days. Then we checked out, paid a hefty fee, and went home. First words out of Sam's mouth this morning was, "my stomach hurts." I guess I have never been kicked in the stomach that hard. At least I don't remember being in that much pain after being hit or kicked in the stomach, not that it really ever happens though.

Back to that ER doctor. 4 years ago I went in to the ER because my chest hurt really bad. It hurt to breathe. The pain woke me up or never really let me get to sleep (I don't remember for sure). I was about 7-10 weeks pregnant with Ike. I waited for a long time before going to the ER. The pain wasn't going away though so I finally went in. He chalked it up to indigestion due to pregnancy. Never have I had indigestion when barely pregnant. I never had pain like that due to pregnancy. Later in pregnancy my throat would burn from, I'm guessing, acid reflux. That same chest pain is the kind I have had a few times in life. Not often though. The last time was about a year ago, a couple weeks before having my gallbladder removed. The pain was caused from gallstones. Being an ER doctor, why didn't he pick up on that? It was my mom that called what it was. It was because of her I had it checked out further. She convinced me it was my gallbladder. She was right. It was one year ago I had that thing removed! I have not had that pain since. Though I very rarely had that pain to begin with. Those stones were huge. 1 1/2 inches and another just over an inch. The doctor had to make the incision bigger just to get them out.

Anyway, turns out Sam is apparently fine. I guess I will believe that doctor in a few days when Sam gets better.

C'mon, pick your nose

2011-02-09T09:48:00.003-06:00

I, er, I mean Santa, got each kid a big nose filled with slime. You then have to dig in, or pick it if you will, to find the treasure. It was a hit. Except with Max. His is still untouched. The other kids are dying to open the thing. Even Sam's friends try to get into it.
That is one of the treasures. It is a sticky, stretchy wall climber thingy. I'm sure you know exactly what I'm talking about, right?! Throw it on the window and watch it roll down. Or if you are my kids, splat it as hard as you can up to the ceiling and wait for days to see when it will fall down.

More Christmas pictures

2011-01-26T17:55:00.003-06:00

OK, like I said, I wasn't going to post tons of Christmas pictures. This will be the last of them.

Ike

JoeSam

Max

Really, who needs clothes in the winter??

Each kid got a pillowpet. Joe wanted the ladybug.

It's Woody! I wasn't sure if the kids would like this but Ike Loves him.

Sam wanted the unicorn pillowpet. OK, really she wants all of them. Has anyone seen the Valentine's pillowpet? It is a dog.

Max (and Ike) got dog pillowpets

Max is the best person watching him open gifts. He is SO excited about every single thing he opens. He usually says, "WOW!" every time he opens something. It is pretty funny. However, Max is not the type of kid who really 'plays' that much. Most of his presents are still untouched. He liked his electronic ATM piggy bank and a DS game case I got him. Some of the other stuff I opened just because the other kids were dying to play with it. I made them wait for a few days to see if Max would ever show interest but he never really does. In fact, most of his stocking stuffers are still sitting on the fireplace where he opened them at. Oh well, he was happy when he opened them!

About a month ago...

2011-01-22T10:25:00.002-06:00

...We celebrated Christmas at my parents house. Yeah, I may be a tad bit late getting Christmas pictures up! I won't post too many. Promise!

My sweeties...

Ike got some hex bugs. They are kinda neat. However, they do not turn off by themselves if left on, in case anyone is wondering! One bug already had a dead battery by the next weekend. And for some reason I hate buying those batteries. They are the little watch/button/cell battery. Plus they are usually expensive batteries. I have tried once at Target but nobody ever came to the counter so I said screw it. It's on my list of items to buy.

We got hit with a ton of snow Weds. afternoon and night. Snow day on Thursday! I did have the dog and cats yearly appointment at the vet Thursday. We all went. The roads were all clear but ours. And ours was deep! They finally plowed it Thursday late afternoon and then again during the night. Which means we then had a huge mountain on snow at the end of our driveway. I was just out there this morning moving some of that snow. The sun is out today and it really does not feel that cold out. I just looked it up, it's 30.8 degrees with a windchill of 22. Maybe is sounds cold but really compared to what it has been, it feels nice out there! The downside of all this snow? It is too fluffy and dry to build snowmen. Maybe the sun will melt it just enough.

The last snow we got was the same way. There was only one good day to build with it. On Saturday. We were all busy that day. I knew it was good because while we waited for everyone to get ready and out to the car I made one big huge ball of snow within a minute. It was gonna be for our snowman. We got back late in the afternoon and it was getting too cold by that time so our poor snowman never got built. The kids are really, really wanting to build one. Just need the snow to cooperate with me!

More Christmas pics to come.

our week in review and homeschooling

2011-01-07T18:52:00.003-06:00

This week went fast. Wednesday was back to school for us. We enjoyed our long Christmas break. We were staying up very late (OK, Pete, me and the 2 little boys do this anyway) and getting to sleep in. There were days I got to sleep in till 10:30, I think once it was even 11!! It was very nice. But the harsh world of bedtimes and alarms hit us this week. And in reality it went much smoother than I thought it would.

Wednesday also marked my first day of homeschooling Sam. It went pretty smoothly really. On Wednesday we did all our work then met Pete for lunch and did a couple errands before picking up Max and Joe from school. Thursday took longer but it was still smooth. Friday took even longer. I forgot to give Sam her medicine for her attentive deficit with breakfast. I could really tell! Thankfully, it didn't take me long to realize this and I gave it to her right away. Things got better after that. But she still wasn't really into sitting around and writing anything today. So we worked on the white board and verbally did work, at least on most of it.

I am starting at a level I believe is right below her level to hopefully build her confidence and to make sure she really knows this stuff. So far it's been smooth sailing and we double up on some of the lessons. We are using All About Spelling (AAS) (level 1) for her spelling and although the beginning of this curriculum is fairly easy it does get harder. Spelling is a struggle for her. I tested her spelling with about the first 30 spelling words about a month ago (because she wanted a spelling test) and got all those right. However, I gave her a few words randomly yesterday and she struggled with some of those. The beginning of AAS focuses on sounds. She knows those, as those are all taught in Kindergarten. However, she does not know all the vowels proficiently. Today we reviewed short sounds of the vowels. I admit I suck at vowel sounds! I'm glad AAS came with a CD that produces all sounds. I personally don't hear a difference between some of them, especially short e and i. So that makes it hard to 'quiz' Sam on those sounds. My mom was told when I was little I would never talk correctly and that I don't hear certain sounds correctly. I DO talk just fine but I guess the person was right about me now hearing different sounds! I stink at spelling by the way. Thank goodness for spell check! I hope to really focus on the rules of spelling (which AAS does) and go faster once we establish those. I don't think it will be much of a problem to move quickly once she really understands some of the rules.

I bought 2 of the chapter books from AAS and have her read those to me. They really don't start reading with AAS yet but since she is above this level of spelling I have started it already. Plus she really needs to work on reading. I like the books. The stories are short and simple. They get harder as they go along. We have read the first 6-7 stories already. Today was the first day I really saw her struggling with some of the words, and trust me they were pretty simple ones.

Other stuff... Sam's ankle is now fine. Yay! Max's cholesterol is still high. 215. Should be under 200. I'm almost positive this is all hereditary. Mine was really high, and yes I mean that!! In the 400's. The meds I am on have bought that down to around 200. That was only after a short period of time. I am hoping it is even lower now. I am also on a low dose. Pete also had high cholesterol prior to medicines. My mom has high cholesterol and so does both my father-in-law and mother-in-law. My doctor told me I was just born to the wrong parents! Anyway, back to Max... The Dr office gave me a number to the nutritionist. I asked if they had an eating specialist since Max is SO insanely picky. She said they do have a separate clinic for feeding issues and just to let them know what is going on and hopefully they can choose which would be best for him to see. I have not called yet though. Mainly because I am dreading this appointment. Why? Because I am pretty sure it will entitle change for Max. I see some struggles ahead with food. Hopefully I am seeing the struggles all wrong and everything will go smoothly.

Joe refused to go to school Wednesday. First words out of his mouth Wednesday morning were, "I don't want to go to school!" Sorry Joe, you're going! Once it was time to go he wouldn't go out to the van. I had to carry him out there and buckle him up. Then at school he would not get out. We sat there for over 5 minutes. He would not get out no matter what. I got him out but he got right back in. I got him out again and walked (as in holding his arm and marching him) up to the doors. Opened the doors, pushed him in and held the door shut. I am sure the office thinks highly of me! Once I moved my foot he tired escaping. So I held the door again and at that time one of the office ladies grabbed him and told him it was time for school. He was screaming and crying. I told him bye and left, thinking he would calm down after I left.

I called the principal later that afternoon. Told him Joe does not like school and talked about some other stuff (don't want to get into details just by the slight chance the teacher hears/reads this). The principal told me it took about an hour to get Joe to class! An HOUR!! The teacher told me it took about 30 minutes (she didn't know I had talked to principal at this point). So either way you look at it, it took a long time. I let the principal know Joe thinks school is boring. We were trying to think of something that would let Joe want to come to school. I had already came up with an idea but just had to make a call still. Joe really likes a girl down 2 houses from us who is in his class. Joe calls her his girlfriend! I called and talked to her mom about carpooling. The girl rides a bus Monday and Tuesday b/c she is in a daycare on those days. But Wednesday-Friday would work. So Thursday and Friday Joe rode with them to school. Joe and his 'girlfriend' walked up to school and to class holding hands the whole way, with NO problems. Next week will be my turn to take them. Monday and Tuesday I am guessing will be a struggle again. Wednesday I am hoping goes smooth. I hope he wants to get out of the car with her and walk up.

Still, what the heck is going on? Why does he hate school SO much? I haven't figured it out yet. I have a few ideas. If things don't improve soon I think I will ask for a meeting with school. Not just the teacher but other officials as well. Get more people involved so hopefully someone can figure it out.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Max, just because

2011-01-06T07:30:00.000-06:00

I feel like I have not talked a lot about Max lately. So here he is....

He is doing great. His ears were clear at the ENT appointment a couple weeks ago. His hearing was normal or at least close to it. He still only has 1 tube. So that is great news! Clear ears in the winter? A first for him I think.

His eyes still doing fine as well.

I am trying to get his cholesterol re-checked since it was high 6 months ago.

He is a big pain in the butt to his siblings but isn't that what big brothers do?

Reindeer hat

2011-01-05T08:10:00.000-06:00

These lovely reindeer hat caused much drama. This is Joe at his class party (separate from the gingerbread house party). It was on Friday, before school got out for Christmas. It was also Sam's last day. I went to Sam's party first, hung out, helped, etc... Then hopped across the hall to peek in Max's class. I didn't see him but planned on coming back after I visited Joe. Max saw me because as I was walking down the hall Max went to his door, yelled my name and waved for me to come back. I went and visited him for only a couple minutes. I feel bad because I never did make it back to his class. I went to Joe's class and never made it back out! Nothing big, just got busy helping and such.

I had told Sam's teacher I would come to her class after school to help pack her stuff up. However, ALL her stuff was already packed up before the parties. I did leave my stuff and Ike's coat in her classroom because I still planned on helping her carry her stuff and making sure she got everything.

So school was over. Max was already in Joe's class with me (dropped off by his para). We were getting packed up in Joe's room and started walking towards Sam's class. We met her and her friend half way there. Her friend carried all my stuff (it was stuff for their party and never got around to using). I asked them if they grabbed Ike's coat. No. At that time, Joe announced he forgot his reindeer hat. Instead of dragging 4 kids and ALL of our stuff down the hall to Sam's class, fighting the huge crowds, then turning around and going back to Joe's class I came up with a plan. Sam could grab Ike's coat for me, Joe could go grab his reindeer hat while me, Max and Ike waited in the middle. They went on their ways. Sam got back first. We waited on Joe. He wasn't coming.

I looked down the hall for Joe but did not see him walking down. I decided we would walk on down to his class. I had all his stuff (coat, backpack, craft and goodies, etc). We walk into his class but there was no Joe. I am wondering if it was possible to have missed him in the hall. We step back out and here comes his teacher, holding his hand, coming in from outside. She walked other kids outside to meet their parents. She decided she would take Joe for some reason. I have NO idea why. It was cold and I had his coat. She knew I had him and we were good to go.

So here she comes holding onto Joe with a death grip because he was kicking at her, screaming, falling to ground, anything trying to get away from her. She hands him over to me and then asks, "is there anything I can do to help?" Oh my goodness I was pissed. Joe was just fine by himself. I sent him to get his hat and that was it. Joe is capable of getting his hat and walking down the hallway by himself!! He was fine, he was happy, just missing his reindeer hat.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" I replied, "no, I'm guessing Joe is mad because I sent him to get his reindeer hat and then come back to me but I'm guessing somebody grabbed him and wouldn't let him do it!" She was quite. Joe was pissed. He was now in a huge fit. He didn't want to walk, stand up, or do ANYTHING! "Well, let me know if there is anything I can help with." We all start walking towards the door. Joe wasn't moving. However, I had my hands completely full of stuff so he was going to have to walk out by himself. We all go outside while Joe lays on the floor. He finally gets up and follows. We get to the car and he would not get in. He would not talk to me either. I was asking him what happened, why did his teacher have him, etc.. nothing. The same time Sam remembers something she forgot. She went back in to get it. Joe still trowing a huge fit. I decide to ignore him since trying to talk to him was getting me nowhere. Sam gets back and I am still waiting on Joe to get in the car. I finally get him in and buckled but he was SO not happy!

I never found out what happened. All I know is that the reindeer hat ended up causing a lot of drama. This is the teacher we are having issues with this year. I don't think I ever blogged this but one day she came out with the students, and handed me Joe. She said, in front of the other kiddos as well, "today was a good day. He only did a few of his little quirks. But then I told him how odd he was being and made him cry." Seriously, you are telling me it was a good day because you made my child cry!? I asked Joe about it later. He said another boy blamed him for something he did not do and that is why he cried. I will never know the straight story. I did talk to the principal about it though.

It all makes me wonder, is this just the teacher or is there seriously something different about Joe? She has told me all year long about how "atypical" and "odd" he is for being a 5 year old. I can't say I see it. I'm I letting her get to me? Is there something going on? I guess only time will tell.

Tough guys

2011-01-04T07:59:00.001-06:00

Remember Ike vs the glass coffee table? He fell asleep on our way to get ice cream. I blogged while he slept. I never got this picture up so I decided to go ahead and do it now. I saved his ice cream for him and this is what he looked like after he woke up...
a little beat up!! However, by the next day he looked fine.

The day of our Gingerbread House Party at school the 2 little boys wanted mohawks. I was fine with it because they both had some serious bed head hair.

I'd think sporting the tough guy mohawks, all would be good. Apparently not when your 3 and 5 and something doesn't go your way. I don't even remember why they were crying. I think this was the day they were fighting over who got to push the button to open the garage vs who got to close it once in the car. Anyway, here are my 2 tough little guys....

Gingerbread houses and goose eggs

2011-01-03T09:28:00.004-06:00

Every year in Kindergarten the kids have made gingerbread houses. The parents/siblings are invited in to help their child. When it was Max's turn to make a gingerbread house Sam got to join in. If I remember correctly, Sam made her own. I let them keep them for a little while. I get pictures but they end up in the trash eventually. Joe got to make one when Sam was in Kindergarten and now that is was Joe's turn, Ike also made one.

However, this year Joe got cheated. The gingerbread house party lasts for one hour. He only got to stay for about 30 minutes. Max had an ENT appointment making us leave early from school that day. Ike threw a fit the entire 30 minutes. Why? Because he is 3 and he was mad because mean mommy put icing on the house to hep him build it. So I gathered a few of the different candies when it was time to go. They finished them at home later on. SO much more peaceful!!

I still have the gingerbread houses but they are about a day from the trash can. The kids have been ripping into them over the weekend.

We all know the best part of making a gingerbread house is the frosting....

Joe with his creation

Ike and his creation

Sam and her friend saw these lovely houses and decided they want to attempt to make a "bread house." "All we need is some bread and peanut better!" I'm a sucker and let them try it out. It failed. That and they realized we had graham crackers and frosting. So they attempted another house. I should also say, they told me they were going to eat their creation when done.

They used about 2 packages of graham crackers, all the frosting we had left and a lot of peanut butter. It looked nothing like a house. It was more like graham cracker stacked on graham cracker with frosting or peanut butter between them. Needless to say they never ate it. I threw it out without even getting pictures.

Speaking of Sam, my ever so graceful child.... she ran right into a wall yesterday. She is now sporting a nice bruised goose egg on her forehead. She also had a bloody nose. How fast was she going to hit the wall that hard?? Pete is teasing her and asking if she thought she had super powers and could run right through the walls! She has her follow up for her broken ankle this afternoon. Hopefully she is good to go, considering she has been going without her boot almost the entire time these last 2 weeks!

Reece's Rainbow Christmas Angel Tree

2010-12-31T07:35:00.000-06:00

Final day of Reece's Rainbow Christmas Angel Tree !!!

Please consider checking out all these precious Children and donating towards their grant funds.

Reece's Rainbow is a wonderful organization that helps find children born with Down syndrome (and other special needs) in other countries families. These other countries don't think being 'different' is acceptable.

Look at these precious faces....

Tristan

an updated photo of TristanTristan has over $3,000 in his Christmas Tree fund and $705 in his everyday grant (meaning the money he already had in his grant before the Christmas Tree project started. They will be combined after the new year.)

Yegor

Yegor has $790 in his Christmas Tree Fund and $300 in his other fund.

Cliff

Cliff has about $8,000 in his Christmas Tree Fund and $40 in his other fund.

Artem

Artem has about $600 in his Christmas Tree Fund and $1,215 in his other fund.

Charity

Charity has a family committed to adopt her but why not help her (and her family) out?

She has $550 in her Christmas Tree Fund and only $10 in her other fund.

To learn more about these precious little faces, just click on their names or check out Reece's Rainbow.

Happy New Year everyone!!

Oh My Gosh.... wall art

2010-12-30T08:15:00.000-06:00

Does anyone remember my picture of my sweet, innocent, little Max and Sam cleaning their wall art? ...........

I had flash backs the other day...

"There is nothing to see behind here momma"
Joe's wall and ceiling above his (top bunk) bed.

Little Monkey Ike climbing the beds. Do you notice the marker behind the door and on the other wall as well?
They had a lot of scrubbing to do. Thankfully, most of it came off without much problems. They decorated their room, the hallway and the bathroom.

Speaking of wall art, I found this note attached to the wall a couple weeks ago...
This is proof of Sam's awful handwriting and spelling. What? You can't read it??!!

Translated it says, "Please watch out for cats If you find a wild cat call 901011" Then has 'tear away' tabs with the number on it.

It may appear...

2010-12-29T18:14:00.005-06:00

... as that I have fallen off the face of the Earth. But really, I am still here! Not sure how it has been so long since I posted. Oh well. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and got to enjoy it with family or people you love.

I have been somewhat playing catch up reading other blogs. Not quite there yet.

Sam did get glasses. Her vision was 20/50 without them. She wears them some. I'm sure it takes awhile getting used to them.
They look good on her though.

Her foot... Sam broke her ankle and has had to get it X-rayed several times. 2 weeks ago we had it X-rayed. The lady we saw thought it looked healed enough and that Sam could go without her boot unless it started bothering her. So she got to wear her new glasses and go without her boot on her last day of school. We went to my parents house for that weekend to celebrate Christmas and she did not have to wear her boot.

Monday afternoon I got a call from the doctors office. The radiologist thought Sam should wear her boot for another 2 weeks and then again have it re-X-rayed. I guess the expert thought her foot was not quite ready to go without that support. Nice. We got used to going without for 3-4 days and Sam did just fine. Now I was being told she needs to wear it again! grrr! Truthfully, Sam has worn it about 2 times since then. I know, I know! She has been fine though. Even the last week (or 2) while she was wearing it she only had to wear it at school or during the day. In the evening she could take it off and help strengthen it. Honestly, it should have probably been the other way around! It is at home when she does all her crazy stunts not at school.

Remember last time I blogged I said it looked pretty bruised? This is a picture 2 weeks after she hurt it. A full 2 weeks! It was also still swollen at that point. I know a little hard to see bruising in a picture...

I have tons to blog about but not tons of time. I will try to get some post up in the next few days.

Sam's last week at school

2010-12-12T12:12:00.003-06:00

This following week will be Sam's last week in public school. Starting January I will be homeschooling her. I don't think she is really that excited about it. I am though. I hope we find our groove quickly and she excels in her academic work. Partly to feel like "Ha- I told you so" towards some people but mostly just for Sam. I want her to feel confident in whatever she does and actually know the stuff she is working on.

Friday are the school's "winter" parties. I think Friday may be a hard day for Sam. Hopefully she gets over it fast though.

The school nurse said Sam failed her vision test twice and that she should be seen by the eye doctor. I took her and Joe in on Friday. Joe's vision was fine. Sam was a little nearsighted but not too bad. The Dr left it up to me if I wanted to get glasses for her. She said Sam would definitely see better with them. So we picked some out and should have them within a week or 2. I think Sam is excited. We got home and Pete asked what her vision was. I think the Dr said 20/30. To which Pete said Sam does not need glasses for that. If her vision is really 20/30 he wants me to cancel the order. Maybe the dr said 20/50? I'm not sure, I'll call them Monday. But really I think we will be getting them anyway. With insurance they only cost $20. That's it, $20. Not bad! Mine cost way more than that with our insurance. Even Max's cost more. His are bi-focal though. Speaking of which, Max goes to his eye dr in about 2 weeks. I think he needs new glasses. His seem way too small for his face.

Today we actually have snow on the ground. Not much but enough for the kids to want to go play outside. I bundled them up and sent them out. It is very cold out there today. They had fun, even if it's not enough to even do anything with!

Anna

2010-12-07T10:15:00.004-06:00

I love that so many families decide to adopt little cuties with Down syndrome.
With Reece's Rainbow Angel tree project running right now it's easy to go over and check out those sweet faces all in one place. Reece's Rainbow Angel Tree. As of right now, 20 kids have found families! 20!!

Right now there is a family trying to adopt a little girl named Anna. She is not from the tree, so to speak, they had already committed to her before that.
Right now they are trying to raise money like crazy. They are hosting a drawing give away of a 16gb IPad with wifi of anyone who donates to their chip in.

So I encourgare you to go read about and donate to the Williams family.

The post explaining about the Ipad is HERE. The family blog is HERE. Either one will get you to their chip-in, which is on the right side of their blog.

Isn't she adorable?!

1 week follow up

2010-12-02T19:13:00.003-06:00

It has been 1 week and 1 day since Sam's lovely attack on her ankle. Last week they could not tell if it was broken or not. However, the huge amount of swelling could be seen on the X-ray and they said that is not good. Sam did pretty well with her walking cast this past week.

Tonight I took her back in for her 1 week post accident. They did another X-ray to take a look. Her foot is actually still pretty swollen. Nothing like before but it is noticeable. I was actually shocked the first time I took her cast and wrap off her foot a few days ago. It is really bruised up. So the verdict for her ankle? She did in fact break it. I was told it was healing nicely though. We will be going back in 2 weeks again. She is allowed to take her cast off in the evening, along as she is not walking a lot and it doesn't hurt. It is not a weight-baring bone. I forgot to ask which one it was.

Just like a real cast, that thing can stink!! yuck!

Updating on Sam and her meds for ADHD-inattentive type... The smallest dose did nothing for her so it was up'd some. Honestly I don't see much difference with this dose either. I need to ask her teacher if she notices anything.

Sam is a type of child that takes forever to fall asleep at night. Just like her dad. He takes melatonin every night. I saw on Sam's report from the ADHD clinic (that was 4 or 5 pages long BTW) they would suggest melatonin next time we visit if she still takes awhile to fall asleep. Meds for ADHD can have that side effect as well. Last night I decided to give it a go. Oh my gosh what a difference!! I will be trying again tonight. I am not sure if last night was a fluke or what. Usually it takes her about an hour to fall asleep. Here lately I have been trying to get her to bed about an hour earlier to see if I notice a difference in the morning. getting to bed early is not easy. Last night she never came out of her room saying she couldn't sleep, no calls out for one more hug/kiss, nothing! Usually she does anything to get out of bed. If melatonin can help with that then I think I love it!

I am not the type of person who likes pills. Having one of my kids on pills almost makes me cringe. BUT if they work and make life easier for her, then it is worth it. Also, not being a pill type of person I can not swallow pills. I can do a small pill and can take my nightly zocor 20 mg without any problems. But a regular size tylenol I can not do. Sam is a champ... She can swallow her pills with no problem. She rocks!

I have not really researched a lot on ADHD. However, it seems Sam fits right into a lot of the 'signs' with the stuff I have read.

It's bedtime for a certain little girl so I will update again soon.

How's your day?

2010-11-24T17:59:00.003-06:00

Around noon today Sam hurt her ankle. Not the same one she hurt back in May parachuting down the steps with a plastic bag. It did involve the same steps though. She left a hard hat (dress up) at the bottom of the stairs. She must have just been wearing it b/c it wasn't there much before this happened. She somehow tripped on it and then her foot hit it. She was screaming/crying. I actually thought it was Ike with that much whiney cry going on. I was in the kitchen making something when this all went down. I carried her to the couch and told her to just relax. She can be somewhat dramatic. I wasn't sure if it was 'real' or not. I waited a bit to see if she would walk on it. She didn't. She did crawl around and hop on one foot. I called my doctor around 1. My doctor has an in-house Xray where hers does not. We had a 2:30 appointment time.

As we are driving over there I can tell my car is acting weird. I'm trying to decide if it's just me or maybe the car is just cold still or if something really is wrong with it. Then my 'check engine soon' light comes on. I was guessing it was a cylinder ignition coil. They go out ALL the stickin'e time so I can tell what it feels like. I called the car mechanic and asked if I could come by around 3:30ish.

At the doctors office the kids all act like they are wild animals. Fighting, screaming, hitting, pushing, crying, etc... an X-ray later we are told Sam probably has a hairline fracture. But it was hard to tell so they will try a walking cast for a week and then re-X-ray it. From there she may be fine or she may need more orthopedics. To get the cast we have to go else where. They aren't that close so I was trying to figure out what to do. I called the ortho place that took care of her arm back when she broke that. They did not have what we needed but their other store did. 2 stores have it but both are about the same distance. About that time Pete called and said he was about to leave work. I filled him in at that time.

I went ahead and went to the car place. Pete came by and picked up Sam. They went and took care of the cast while me and the boys waited on the car. I was right, ignition coil, cylinder 1. Gosh, I'm good! It took about 1 1/2 hours. I think it may be record. While paying for the car Ike and Max kept fighting over the water fountain. Max was picking on Ike and pushing him away from it every time he tried to get a drink. Did I forget to mention the kids acted like wild animals there as well? Well, they did!

Max pushed a little too hard and Ike flung into the corner of the glass coffee table they have there. Ike had blood around his nose and mouth. Poor Ike. His lip was getting bigger by the second. Ike said, "it hurts really bad!" I only could see a cut on his outer lip and nothing too bad. However, I know there is another cut somewhere with the blood involved. Poor little Ike. We left and headed to McDonald's to get an ice cream cone for him. He fell asleep before we got there. He is still sleeping and I haven't got a good look into his mouth yet. I am really hoping an ER visit is not in our plans for the evening. I'll check him out better once he wakes up and give him his ice cream cone, which is waiting in the freezer for him.

The car... Just Sunday afternoon we had to get the alternator and battery replaced on the way home from St. Louis. That was fun too. I'll write about that later on.

For now.... Happy Thanksgiving Everyone. Enjoy your Turkey day with friends and family.

Lera and Reece's Rainbow

2010-11-23T18:20:00.004-06:00

There is a sweet little girl who has lost her forever family a couple times. Her name is Lera. Right now her new family is trying to raise money to get her home. They will be doing a drawing, giving away an Ipod Touch to the lucky winner, for anyone who donates to their chip-in.

Click HERE to see the details.

Also....

Don't forget about the Reece's Rainbow Christmas Angel Tree.

ADHD

2010-11-15T21:21:00.003-06:00

As most of you know, by reading my blog, that homework is a huge struggle with Sam. I started to question Attention Deficit Disorder last school year. Some people agreed with me and others not so much.

At Sam's 7 year check-up with the pediatrician I brought the subject up. It helped that Sam refused to do ANYTHING the nurses or doctor wanted her to do. It is hard to explain but she gets in these fits, so to speak, where she just flat out refuses to do something. It has happened at the doctors office a few times and while getting her pictures taken a few times. I have no idea what causes this. Anxiety? I don't know, but she acts like a 2 year old. The doctor agreed, she needed to see somebody! She referred us to the ADHD clinic of Children's Mercy Hospital.

The clinic sent us a ton of paperwork to fill out, by each parent and by the teacher. I took her into her first appointment. They collected a ton more info to make sure she would fit the criteria. I was told it looks like she could have ADHD. So we got the second appointment. That was supposed to be 2 hours long! It was rescheduled 3 times by them. I had it worked out so the grandparents could be here to watch Joe and Ike.... for the first scheduled appointment. The final appointment date the grandparents were gonna be traveling so I took Ike along with me. It worked out so that Joe was at school. Before we had the appointment though, we had 2 tons of paperwork to fill out! Every single detail since her conception, I think! The appointment itself was not that bad and wasn't even 2 hours long.

We left that appointment with a "I do believe she has ADHD, the inattentive type" and a prescription for some medicine. They recommend I also get further testing, as in an IQ test. Which I had asked for last year but the school did not recommend it.

I started her meds over the weekend to make sure there was not any crazy side effects. I didn't notice a difference at all. It is a low dose and we weren't working on homework. But doing homework tonight I noticed no difference either. So more than likely, her dose will get increased.

So here comes some fun stuff. I plan on homeschooling Sam after Christmas. Schools take forever to get anything done, as far as meetings and testing. I emailed Max's awesome resource teacher with several questions. That was on a Thursday I think. She had a meeting set up for us on Monday! That was fast! She knows I want this to go fast since Sam will not be there much longer. She is the best teacher ever.

I have unofficially told school my plans on homeschooling after Christmas. Only because Sam shares the news with anyone that will listen. So instead of it being rumors I at least let them know. I have not registered my school yet only because Kansas requires a school name. Yes, it can be generic and just the last name or anything you want it to be. However, Pete is rather creative with names so I asked for suggestions. We are still working on it. He came up with some huge, long name that involved Steven Hawkins institute. I will pass on that one!! I do have all my curriculum though. Some days Sam looks forward to it and others she does not. She loves social activities.

OK, back on track here... So we had our meeting today to get everything started for IQ testing and whatever testing we deemed appropriate. The school psychologist was going on about how this time of year stuff doesn't move that fast (due to holidays and parties and such). The resource teacher stressed that we needed to do it quickly since Sam would not be there in January. Hopefully we can get the ball rolling on it. They said they think they can do but we may have to meet after Christmas to discuss results if that was OK with me. Fine with me. The principal was in the meeting as well as the classroom teacher (who is a long term sub and has been there maybe a month), and the school counselor. And then of course the resource teacher and school psychologist were there too. I got asked a few questions about homeschooling. What if the tests shows she does have a learning disability? Would I still plan on homeschooling? The principal also asked questions like this but finally added that he really wants her to stay AT school. He asked if I would keep an open mind depending on the test results. I said, of course. However, I'm pretty sure he meant for me to keep her there if the tests shows learning disability and I meant I will keep an open mind about options to help her besides homeschooling... but whatever. I do have an open mind but my mind is pretty set on homeschooling her for awhile. He said we would have a serious talk depending on what the tests show. He seemed pretty anti-homeschooling. I can understand that. After all, he is a principal of a public school. If everyone homeschooled he would have no job.

Right now, I truly believe homeschooling Sam will help her academically. She struggles SO much. She can't keep up with her peers in class. Why keep her there and hurt her self-confidence? Some of the core curriculum I bought is below her level. This is because I want to, 1, build her confidence back up and 2, to make sure she knows the basic stuff. I plan on moving through those parts rather quickly....as long as she knows the stuff!

Last week I got a call from the schools music teacher. I don't recall this teacher ever saying anything to me for the last 6 years the school has been open. We have emailed a couple times just because I would have a question regarding the talent show. So she called me up saying how Sam had told her she was not returning after Christmas. The 2nd grade musical is in February. She asked if I would reconsider keeping Sam at school at least until the 2nd week in February. Too funny. Forget the fact that Sam can barely read but as long as she can be in the musical that's all that counts right?! I told her my plans and if school would allow Sam to be in the musical then that would be fine with me but that I doubt school would agree with it. She said she would ask and I haven't heard back. She did try some serious convincing though, for Sam to stay at school until the musical.

I am somewhat surprised at peoples reactions to homeschooling. Family I have talked to about homeschooling have all been supportive. That was even before my final decision. Just when I would mention the idea of it they would chime in and say how they think I would do great job at homeschooling. Last year my mom had even suggested it to me. She thought I would be really good at it. My mother in law has always said she thinks I would make an excellent teacher. But some people in public/doctors offices really seem to not be all for it. Not that they say anything but I can just tell from body language. Which is fine, we are all entitled to our own opinions, I am just a little surprised at the reactions.

Edited to add: maybe some family members aren't so supportive! Just sayin'

capturing that smile.

2010-11-11T08:00:00.001-06:00

Trying to get a good picture can be tricky. It usually only happens by chance. I keep trying though!

Here is my sweetie eating one of the few items he will eat. An onion bagel.

Too bad his head is so turned to one side.

Chunky bagel smile, anyone?
Oh, maybe you want a bite? Well too bad. I was just showing it to you. I'm not sharing my food!

Here is one of max's favorite poses. Sticking his tongue out. Food and all!

attempting to receive a diagnose

2010-11-10T09:15:00.000-06:00

Today Sam has an appointment. It is her second appointment with the ADHD clinic of Children's Mercy Hospital. This appointment is supposed to take 2 hours. It will give the doctors involved more time to observe and talk with her. The first appointment I was told that it does look like she more than likely has ADD. I'm pretty sure she has it. Trying to do homework with her is torture. Trying to have her get ready in the morning sounds like a broken record... Have you combed your hair yet? Get your shoes and socks on your feet. Comb your hair. Get your reading folder. Didn't I already tell you to comb your hair? Brush your teeth. Shoes & Socks! Why have you not combed your hair?? repeat any one of those lines and chances are I say it about 50 times each morning.

I started a list for her and Max a few weeks ago. It has roughly 7 things on the list. It is even laminated so they can't throw them away to easily! It is what they must do each morning. As in, get dressed, use the bathroom, (brush hair-- for Sam), eat, brush teeth, shoes & socks, reading folder (for Sam)/get glasses (for Max). Max did great on this list... for about 3 days! He would even be ready early. Sam never liked it. Now neither one will really use it. I thought it would help for them to have their lists and not have to listen to me say the same things over and over everyday.

Sam has been making us late to school lately because she will not comb her hair or get her shoes on. So last week I started a new rule. If she makes us late she has to clean a room after school. That may sound harsh but seriously, all the stuff is hers! She is SO messy. Even trying to get her to clean after school takes 1-2 hours because she messes around so much. It drives me crazy. Yesterday she had the dining room floor to clean. She made a "bed" the other day in the floor and it still was there. It included blankets and pillows. Then since she claimed this as "her bed" she figured she could leave it as messy as she wanted. She had tons of artwork on top of this pile along with card making materials, jewelry, markers, paper, yarn, even crayons shavings from sharpening crayons on it. Then scattered around the table she had 2 pairs of shoes, socks, pants, towels, trash, and plenty of toys. It drives me crazy at times!

OK, back to ADD. what will it mean if she is diagnosed? Probably not much. First things that are tried are behavior modification techniques. From there meds are tried. A friend told me her daughter tried several different meds before they found one that worked. She also said a lot of them made things worse!!

Some big news to share about Sam.... After Christmas she will be homeschooled. I'm only homeschooling her, not Max or Joe. Pray for it to work smoothly and give me lots and lots of patience!! I'm told I'm such an easy going patient person but Lord help me when I have to repeat myself a thousand times before something gets done!! Seriously though, I am hoping the one-on-one will help her tremendously.

Fall school pictures

2010-11-09T17:58:00.002-06:00

Usually for school pictures Sam has given me a gem! This year she did much better! However, I think Joe got the memo to make some goofy face. Now his is not that bad but that is not his smile!

Here are the Fall 2010 school pictures.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-06T11:21:00.003-05:00

Halloween this year....

The Mario gang

We have Princess Peach (bundled in a coat!), Luigi, Toad and Mario

We went trick-or-treating this year. It was kinda cold. Sam was the smart one to be bundled in a coat! I forgot to put Luigi's gloves on and forgot to put the mustaches on Mario and Luigi. Oh well. They still looked cute!

I had to make Sam's dress. I have since found out why you do not wash prom dresses! They come out really wrinkled and not so pretty. I did wait though until after halloween to try this. It didn't really matter at this point b/c it is now just for dress up fun. I also made Luigi, Mario, and Toad's hats as well has Toad's vest.

The kids all loved their costumes.

Princess Peach digging into her goodies

Toad about to check his out.
Mario fall asleep on the way home. Daddy was carrying him and they went straight home while the rest of us stopped at a friends house. By the time we got home Mario was up and half way undressed. But here is Mario checking out his goodies.
Luigi and his loot.... And his beloved DS!!

Fall time

2010-11-05T16:28:00.002-05:00

So a few weeks ago the weather got cooler. My veggie plants did not get the memo. Which is fine with me!! here are some tomatoes from last week....
The tomato plants do not look pretty but they still have tomatoes on them. The pepper plants, last week, were still nice and green, bushy and loaded with peppers.

Even the ones I had planted in a planter on the deck were doing good.
I did cover them one night because it was going to be close to 31 degrees.

Last night I read the weather at about 11 or 12 and noticed the low was 29! So I quickly went out and covered my 2 pepper plant areas. It did get down to at least 29 last night. Some of my other plants show this today! The peppers are still kickin'. The tops of the big one don't look that great but I think the rest of the plant is fine. Tonight the same thing-- it's gonna be cold. But after that it should warm back up just a little.

I think this is the longest I have had veggie plants live. The pepper plants are still loaded! I hate thinking they will all die. I plan on picking them all within a few days.... And hope they are all OK after the cold weather. The tomatoes I think are done. I did pick all the red and orange ones this afternoon. There are still plenty of green ones but sadly, they will not make it.

This year as been a great tomato and pepper year. Hopefully next year will be the same.

life

2010-11-02T13:12:00.002-05:00

Joe and Sam go through A LOT of paper doing 'artwork.' They leave this paper everywhere. Every room in the house has paper, I'm pretty sure.

On Saturday Max saw me picking up these mountains of papers off the dining room floor and figured I must be getting ready to vacuum. I really wasn't but whatever. Max quickly picked up everything out of the floor and laid it on the table. He got the vacuum, plugged it in and starting working. Gosh, I love him! Max kept vacuuming over one little spot that was under "his" computer area. It was not coming up. He got me to show this spot to me. I told him that the spot is something that would not vacuum up, and to not worry about it. Oh but no, He was stuck on it. Why? Not sure. The spot was very little. Maybe about 1/4 of an inch. Why was he not concerned about the huge ketchup stain in the living room floor? He turned the vacuum off and got the steam vac out.

He drug the steam vac up the stairs and plugged it in. Seriously, Max, I don't want to clean the carpets because of that itty bitty spot you found. Max was not happy. So I finally got the steam vac ready for him. He really likes using the attachment hose. I handed it over and he got busy. Once that spot was gone he moved on and starting working on the rest of room.

I finished it up and decided since it's out I'll tackle that huge ketchup spot. It came out no problems, By the way. I went ahead and cleaned the living room floor while I was at it.

Today is day 4 that the carpet was cleaned. So far it has had a puddle of pee on it (nobody claimed it!), more ketchup (oh yay!), someone's dirty butt that was not wiped too good, (top of stairs skidmark... you know, sit down to put on clean undies and leave evidence!), fruit punch, Dr. Pepper, dog poop, and puke. I am so glad I just cleaned the carpets!

Saturday afternoon we went to Boo at the Zoo at the Kansas City zoo. Afterwords we went to eat dinner. We generally go out to eat after the zoo. We went to Fazoli's. That is the first time we have ever gone there as a family. I used to go there when I lived in Springfield and worked close to them. Pete has been there as well. This Summer I took the kids there a couple times. However, we have never ALL gone together.

Monday morning (well noonish), I went to get my coupon book. I noticed my purse was missing and wondered where the heck it could be. The last place I remember it was at Fazoli's. I called them up and sure enough it was there. It only took my 2 days to realize my purse was gone! At least it was there and everything was still in it. They said they were wondering when I would call for it!

Last night while doing homework with Sam she told me that she didn't want to go the school the next day. She said she told on 3 boys for bothering her and they got in trouble. One of the boys is our neighbor. Her and him get along just fine. Yesteday after school the neighbor boy told her that one of the boys planned on "paying her back" the next day. Homework took forever last night by the way.

Next morning Sam didn't want to go to school. She claimed her stomach hurt. Yeah, nice try. Get up! After much nagging from me she got up. She ate about 2 bites. She wanted me to take her temperature. It was about 99.5. I went ahead and told her to go back to bed but if she was up running around she was going to school the same time Joe was. About an hour later she was sitting at the table. Then all of sudden she puked all over the carpet! (hence the puke on the carpet from up above). She pretty much acts fine though.

Isn't the little things in life fun??!!

It's over

2010-11-01T09:28:00.002-05:00

October is over and I didn't get to post on the last day of the month. Oh well, that's life!

Here is one last picture for Down syndrome awareness month. A self-portrait of my mister Max

I know, cute as can be!

I do have Halloween pics but will post those later. For now, I wanted to remind everyone that today is November 1st. Which means Reece's Rainbow Angel Tree starts today. It goes through December. Take a look at all these precious little kiddos with Down syndrome that need to be adopted. If you are not looking to adopt, please consider donating to one (or more!) of these sweeties. The money you donate will help another family out when they are in process of adopting their child (or children).

Reece's Rainbow
Reece's Rainbow Angel Tree

Pumpkin time

2010-10-30T19:29:00.006-05:00

Friday night we hacked into our pumpkins. Every year it goes like this... Kids super excited, "yay! lets carve our pumpkins!" We start, Kids start to loose interest, "mom can you help me?" Later, "I'm going to go play. I don't want to do pumpkins anymore." So it turns out to be starting off with me and all the kids but ends up with generally only me! This year was a little better. Max still will not touch the guts though! If you would like to see him freak out just a little, just flip some pumpkin guts onto his leg!

Lets get started...

Max stabbing away
Joe stabbing away
Is this how we do it?
Cleaning the "lid"
I think he liked this knife!
GUTS!

Did you notice anything? You mean your kids don't all sit around and carve pumpkins in their undies??!! Ike was the smart one.. he stayed dressed.

Sam kept flipping pumpkin guts everywhere. If some got on her hand she would fling it. We had pumpkin guts everywhere. The floor, the cabinets, the dishwasher.... anything within distance of her. I will probably find pumpkin guts stuck to something in like 3 months from now!

Pumpkins
Ike's, Max's, Joe's and Sam's
I am the one who cut the faces. I tried to stay as close as possible to the faces they drew on the pumpkins. Max made a huge mouth but no eyes so I made some up for him.

Happy Halloween everyone!!

Halloween parties 2010

2010-10-29T18:15:00.003-05:00

Today school had their Halloween parade and parties.

My kids were the Mario crew.

We Have Mario and Luigi
Princess Peach and Mario
Princess Peach
Toad (with his Sheep!)
Max and a cat, ur... I mean Luigi and a black cat!
Peach and Mario
Mario with his spider cookie he made
Toad and the spider cookie he made
Toad playing games with a princess (or butterfly)... She lives 2 houses down from us.

The kids had fun. Parties are always crazy! Little Mario had had enough before the parties were over. He fell asleep in about 3 minutes after being in the car. We live about 2 minutes away from school but he was so close to sleep I unloaded everything else first and poof-- he was sleeping!

Is that Mario?

2010-10-28T21:42:00.002-05:00

OK, So by now you should know Ike is going as Mario for this Halloween. He has been wearing this outfit for about a month now. Tomorrow school is having their Halloween parties and I know Ike is going to LOVE that he will be allowed to wear his Mario out in public.

Why, yes that is his Volcano shirt under those Mario overalls! He will be wearing red when he really dresses up though. Or at least that is my plan... remember he is 3!

The kids made some birthday cards the other day for friends so Ike wanted to join in. He made the card for himself. He carried it around for 3 days. Here is his card that he is very proud of.

And since it is Down syndrome awareness month here is a picture of Max 4 years ago. Yikes- that makes him sound old! Max in 2006....

I know, he is so cute!

Another blogger

2010-10-26T18:03:00.002-05:00

Today I wanted to post about how much Ike LOVES his volcano shirt.
One might think the boy only has 1 shirt. He wants to wear it ALL the time. And yes, it does wear it even as Mario.
Funny picture! He was really just dancing around but he looks like he is doing some karate move.

And Max also likes his grumpy gus shirt....

He was playing frisbee at the time so not a great picture. All the teachers from school also loved it.

So where did I get these cool shirts? The Rocking Pony of course! She is a mom to 4 and also has a blog HERE. Her blog is sure to make you laugh or say "awe" when you see her cute kiddos!

I'm not 9, I'm 1!

2010-10-25T19:02:00.002-05:00

The other day at the park we went on a walk. Max kept saying,"UP!" But hello, he weighs 70ish pounds! And he could really use the exercise!

After awhile I finally said, "Max you are 9 years old now. You are a big boy!" His reply, he said No and signed the number 1. I asked if he was only 1 year old. He said yes. A couple minutes later I picked him up and he acted as if he was a baby and started snoring! He is such a goof ball and will do anything to get carried!

Max and Tinkerbell

2010-10-24T19:04:00.004-05:00

The other day we were getting ready to go to the park. I told all the kids to get ready if they wanted to go. You know, clothes, shoes, bathroom... All that good stuff.

They were doing pretty well getting ready quickly. Then Max, for some reason, decided to capture something. He was rather proud of himself. He carried his catch up the stairs.

Look what I caught mom!!

He had corner the cat, Tinkerbell, in the laundry and somehow got her in her carrier.

He decided to tease her, I think, by acting as if he was going to let her out into her favorite spot... under the couch.
HA! But not really. He wanted to torture her some more.
Finally he let her go so we could leave for the park.

Hummm, I wonder why Tinkerbell runs for her life when she sees him coming!?

Parent teacher conferences part 2

2010-10-21T20:22:00.002-05:00

Today was busy.

I had Sam's pictures scheduled at 12:40 (yeah I'm only about 2 months behind getting them done for her birthday) then since we had it them done at Target we went to pick up a couple things there. We then had lunch at target! I needed to drop of Sam's forms (questionnaires) to the ADHD clinic to be prepared for her appointment next week so we did that next. Then we went to Toys R Us. Sam had her $3 gift card from the TRU birthday card she received that has been burning a hole in her pocket! We spent about 2 hours there!! usually that would be a stressful trip but they all did great. The boys had to play with the wooden train set they have set up in the store for the kids. They did that for a long time. We checked out Halloween goodies, and explored several isles! Finally when Sam decided what she wanted we went home and ate. I had Max's parent teacher conference at 6 tonight.

His conference went smooth. I love his resource teacher so that is always a big plus. She seems to have MAX's best interest in her decisions. His behavior, they say, is improving at school. That is always good to hear. His speech teacher wants someone else to come in and observe Max. She has tried so many different things and he still just doesn't do a lot of talking. She wants a new set of ears to see if they have any more suggestions for her. So that is also good.

Starting next week all of 3rd grade will have homework binders to do every night. Oh joy! His resource teacher is modifying all of Max's stuff. So we brainstormed some ideas for that tonight.

That is about it. Overall good day with school being out.

Parent teacher conferences

2010-10-20T17:49:00.003-05:00

(picture from 2006)

Parent teacher conferences were today and continuing tomorrow. Today I had Joe's. Tomorrow I have Max's. I was also supposed to have Sam's but her teacher is on bed rest now and the sub has just not been there long enough to know the children that well yet.

So let's talk about Joe's, shall we?

He has the same teacher Max and Sam had. With Max there were some issues with her and Max, but seriously, Max comes with his own issues. With Sam she was fine. No issues. However, she finally told me she thought Sam was falling behind in reading towards the end of the year. Yes, reading in Kindergarten. My how times have changed!

This year with Joe there are issues. I see Joe as a typical 5 year old boy. Full of energy and craziness. She, however, does not. She thinks his behavior is "atypical," "odd for his age group," and just not normal. Whatever! He is a very smart boy. He is going to feed on annoying the heck outta someone if he knows he can. Now, I know some of these behaviors she is talking about are not things to annoy her.

Behaviors she sees are the following (or so she says)....
flapping his hands/arms
spinning in circles
hissing
hissing while waving his hand at someone
some posture thing
and some tongue thrust thing.

I have seen the hissing and hissing with him waving his hands. Flapping and spinning? Not so much. Yeah, I'll see him flap his arms if he is about to 'take off' or something similar. I don't see this as "atypical" though. Not sure about the tongue thing or the posture thing. She also says he just will flat out refuse to do somethings. Yup, that is Joe. And yup, that is ALL my kids. If they don't want to do something, well good luck getting it done!

She asked if I wanted her to wait it out or go to the next step. I told her I think she could wait it out b/c I really don't see him act so oddly at home, but if she thinks we should move to the next step, go for it. So we are waiting. Then she asked me, "what about at the end of year when these things are still going on or his learning is behind?" Me, "well is he behind right now?" Her, "no. He is doing great." Um, OK.

By the end of the year kindergartners are supossed to know 50 sight words. As of now he already knows 29. That is over half and we just finished up 1st quarter. He is great at mathematical things and pretty good at counting. He counts to 100 except he leaves 2 of the teen numbers out. He has NO problems with patterens. Personal safety stuff he is doing well in. That is first and last name, parents names, phone number with area code and address. I have not started on teaching him the address yet because we focused on phone number first. He now knows that with no problem. I will start with his address now and I am guessing it won't be long before he knows that as well.

She just could not stress enough on how "atypical" and "odd" his behavior was. While I was somewhat venting/gossiping with Max's resource teacher afterward, the Spanish teacher walked in to say Hi to Joe. He invited me to his room. He told me what all he does for the grade levels and just some basic info. I thought it was kinda odd but maybe he was bored! He said he never has visitors in his room so he was happy to share. Since I was there I asked for his observation. I asked if Joe acted odd or different in his class. He said Joe is an excellent student. Nothing odd at all. He said Joe is so quiet and does everything he is asked to do. Good to know. Now I think I will email a couple of the "specials" teachers and ask if they see anything odd. I mean really, if Joe is SO atypical, then surely other teachers see it as well, right?

People at school I talk to about this always say, "well SHE is the odd one!"

Seriously, am I going to have 3 for 3? 3 kids with issues in school. urgh!

How long?

2010-10-19T18:14:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I called Max's eye doctor to get an appointment. I also called my eye doctor to get my appointment scheduled.

So I already knew Max's doc takes forever to get appointments made. I called October 18th. Guess when his appointment will be? December 23rd! 2 months away!! My doctored, that I called the same day, could get me in tomorrow. It was 2 days compared to 2 months. Irritates me to death. However, Max's doctor is a really good doctor. The wait time used to be very long when she was at a different practice but she has moved since then. The wait time is not that bad anymore. Once we are seen she is pretty quick.

Max enjoying some yummy twizzlers.

So I was reading a....Hey look, a squirrel!

2010-10-18T20:18:00.003-05:00

That is what it is like doing homework with Sam at times. Tonight she was to read a very short, simple story then write what it was about.

This is how one page went....
Sam: "This is a picture of Earth from space." I want to be an astronaut when I grow up.
me: OK
Sam: Did you know that in the musical I get to dress up as whatever I want to be when I grow up.
(the school musical for 2nd grade is in February. It is "When I grow up.")
me: OK
Sam: So I want to dress up as...... oooooohhh, I see Trix! You bought Trix cereal?

Focus!! She went from reading about a space picture to Trix.

I am all the time saying, "focus!" Her attention is all over the place.

What a shirt!

2010-10-18T08:15:00.000-05:00

I was looking for Down syndrome awareness items at CafePress. I saw a shirt that said this...

Wow!! I would consider that shirt rather offensive myself. Kinda misses the point about not using the R word in the wrong manner. The shirt is here.

What do you think?

Can you guess?

2010-10-17T11:01:00.003-05:00

Can you guess what my 4 kids are going to be for Halloween? The princess crown is not the one that will be worn on Halloween because, surprise, Sam didn't know where she left it. So this is a stand in.

Sam and her 2nd tooth lost

2010-10-16T17:14:00.001-05:00

The other day Sam lost her 2nd tooth at school.

The first night she lost her lost tooth so the tooth fairy did not make it over. She knows the tooth is not real so no biggie.
The 2nd night she had her tooth under the pillow. The "tooth fairy" came and took her tooth leaving her a dollar bill in it's place.

(ignore the oreo cookies all over her teeth here...)

The next morning she was not that happy. She demanded her tooth back. She was unimpressed by a 1 dollar bill. So after a little bit we exchanged back. I have the $1 and she has her tooth. Spoiled girl!

I'm sure she will change her mind at some point.

Her replacement tooth is already in, as you can kinda see in this picture. Not the most flattering picture but you get the point.

oldies

2010-10-15T20:49:00.003-05:00

The day is almost done. I better hurry and get something up!

For this post I looked back at some pictures from 2006.

Here is my Mr Max in October of 2006
My miss SamAnd my cutie pie Joe

Here is another one for the Halloween theme... Max at the pumpkin patch in 2006. (the sign in the background says, "Don't climb on Pumpkins".... oops!)
They grow way too fast!

Thursday, day 14 of Down syndrome awareness month

2010-10-14T16:22:00.002-05:00

It's too nice outside to not be out there right now. So this post will be quick.

Today Joe went on a field trip with all the Kindergartners. He is used to half days... Afternoon time. He doesn't go to sleep till 12-1 am. Knowing he would be getting up early I tired to get him to bed early last night. It wasn't happening. And it didn't. He went to sleep around 1. However, he had no problems getting up this morning and getting ready. He must have been excited.

He got out of school an hour early compared to the rest of the school. When the bus arrived and all the kids got out, Joe was fast asleep in his teachers arms. I figured he would fall asleep on the bus. Max has always done that for field trips as well.

Last night Sam cried and cried because she lost her lost tooth. She could not even focus on homework because of her tooth. So I just sent her to bed after about an hour of crying and mumbling while she was supposed to be reading to me. She thought she lost her tooth (in a baggie) up stairs in our bedroom. I looked last night after sending her to bed but I never found it. This morning while getting breakfast and lunches ready guess what was sitting on the stove? Yeah, her tooth in her baggie. She can't keep up with anything! Tooth fairy did not visit last night. I guess tonight she will. Hopefully a lesson in not losing important things. I seriously doubt it though!

Ike is obsessed with wearing his Halloween costume... ALL day long, every day. I'll share more about what he will be later on. I need to get pictures of something first.

Max is doing just fine. He is such a couch potato though. While me and all the other kids are outside, max is inside sitting on his booty most times. If we go to the park he is fine playing and running around. But seriously, I'm not going to the park every single day.

I am loving this fall weather we are having. I have been outside a lot lately. I couple weekends ago I re-did one of our flower beds completely. The back of me legs were sore from digging so much. This week I trimmed a lot of our tree in the backyard. (much to Pete's disapprovment!) Today my upper back and arms are a little sore. I did lots of sawing, with a hand saw. I think it looks much better. The thing was hanging down so low I could barely mow under it. Pete was not too happy that I chopped off so much and did it while the season is still early. Oh well, the tree will live.

I have also extended my strawberry patch this year so hopefully next year I will have tons of strawberries. I also put in a raspberry, blueberry and blackberry patch. The raspberries were free from my in-laws rental property they were clearing out. I have tried raspberries several times but they never make it. Cross your fingers these make it. About half look like they will do fine but the other half, not so much. I am hoping they spread next Spring. I saw blueberries at Lowes so I am trying those for the first time. I only have 2 bushes so I'll see how they do. I was told the soil around here is not acidic enough for them to do well. The blackberries I ordered off Ebay and actually look really good. I ordered 3 but got 5. score! I got those planted last night. I have one more spot I want to do something with in the back yard. I am really thinking about a fruit cocktail tree. It has plums, peaches, nectarines and apricots all in one. I have found a couple online. I would rather buy it locally. Home depot did not have any. I have not checked elsewhere yet. It may have to wait until Spring. One article I read said Spring was the time to transplant them. Still deciding on that.

OK, maybe not such a short blog post.

Max, Sam and Joe have their dentist appointments tomorrow. pray for us! Sometimes it goes great and others, not so much!

Pictures of Max for Down syndrome awareness month

2010-10-13T15:59:00.002-05:00

Remember I said my brother got married a few weeks ago? Well he did. The wedding was outside and it was HOT that day. Joe was a ring-barrier and had to wear a tux. He didn't stay in it long. I'll have more pictures but for now here is Max.

Remember he likes to do goofy things as the camera flashes!

However, he saw me about to take his picture with his baby cousin and he smiled pretty. That is, of course, after he picked up his baby cousin to pose for the picture! Max LOVES babies.

He also likes tissue paper. So while a couple of my nephews were rocking the house with their dance moves Max was watching his tissue paper twirl in the breeze.

Sam come out of school with a lost tooth today. This time she had the tooth though! Man, that thing is tiny. And I have NO cash right now. I guess I'll have to go by the bank or borrow from a piggy bank! Her 2nd tooth lost. She already knows the tooth fairy is not real. She plays along though. I'll have pictures of that soon, hopefully.

First day of school pictures

2010-10-12T09:13:00.003-05:00

I am running out pictures for Down syndrome awareness month! I need to get some more ready.

My camera died a few months ago. I know which one I think I will replace it with but was waiting closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas because of sales... and I'm still thinking about it. So recently I have been borrowing Max's. He is OK with that sometimes! However, his USB cable stopped working when I plugged it into my computer. I tried the card reader on my computer. It does not work because the driver is not installed. I found the driver on Dell website and scored. It worked. Once. Then it acted like I never installed the driver. Irritating to say the least. So now to get pictures from Max's camera to my computer I have to give the SD card to Pete. He then either puts the files in a "share" file over our network or loads them on a portable drive for me. I can't just go take some pictures and quickly download them to my computer. Yeah, I should probably check Ebay for the USB cable for his camera.

Max can be a tricky guy to photograph. If you can get "the" shot then he looks great! Most times though, he will smile until he knows the camera is about to take his picture then make a silly face. On the first day of school he kept doing some weird hand thing while I was trying to get his picture.He is a goof ball!

Then there is goof ball number 2!
Sam insisted on this umbrella. And no, it was not raining!

And my little Joe. Ready for his first day of school. Apparently Max and Sam forget to tell him he needed to make a crazy face, carry something silly or to include hands in his picture!

School has been going on for a couple months now but I never shared the pictures. In fact, this week is the last of first quarter. The kids all get Friday off for teacher work day. Next week they get a 4 day weekend and lucky duck Joe gets a 5 day weekend. It is for Parent teacher conferences.

Enjoy your day!

Our pumpkins

2010-10-11T06:55:00.000-05:00

This weekend we went to a pumpkin patch. It is the 1st year it has been open but it is only about 2-3 miles from our house. Much closer than any of the others. The place is really a vineyard/winery. It is pretty new to this location. The pumpkin patch wasn't great but it was OK. I hate that pumpkin patches are so expensive. Most the ones around here have tons of activities and could be an all day thing. This one had pumpkins in the field, but all the vines were already cleared out. It also had 2 inflatables, which cost $ and face painting, also $. However, they were also gearing this towards adults so they had hors d'oeuvres and wine.

We went, picked out our pumpkins and left. I could have gotten 4 big pumpkins from WalMart for cheaper but hey, it's the pumpkin patch. Like I said, pumpkin patches are expensive.

The fun part is decorating them. We will carve them out shortly before Halloween. At least, that is the plan.

I did not get a good one with Sam and her pumpkin
Here she is acting like it's a baby and she's punching it. Isn't that nice??!

Working hard on getting the pumpkins just right.

Perfect...

(Sam's pumpkin is 2 sided, BTW)

Ike did a lot of this...

All because Max got the red nose piece. Oh my gosh- end of the world!

While decorating our lovely pumpkins a big Monarch butterfly came to visit our sunflowers.

funny picture

2010-10-10T14:46:00.000-05:00

For Down syndrome awareness month I am posting about Max and all the fun things he does.

My brother got married a few weeks ago. I'll have more pictures to post soon of that. However, all the kids were taking pictures while we were there. I think it was Joe that caught this funny little picture. Could have been Sam...

Oh yes, he is trying to lick me! Silly boy. I thought it was a pretty funny picture though!

touching bugs

2010-10-09T14:30:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I posted Max won't touch bugs. He is getting braver in this area. He does want to hold the bugs but then chickens out right as the bug is being placed in his hand. During our bug collection days he did hold this little caterpillar. For a long time. He even carried him a ways with a stick he had. I finally told him we had to let him go.
The other day at the park he even held and carried a little frog. No pictures though.

Coolest bug collection ever

2010-10-08T17:11:00.004-05:00

Remember a few weeks ago I talked about Max having a bug collection project due? We got lots of bugs. We went to my parents house a couple times, who live in the country, and got some good bugs. We went to a couple different parks a few times as well. As I mentioned before I wasn't much of a bug killer. I did 'sacrifice' a few bugs but others were found dead, or dying.

Max would not touch any of the bugs. So collection was mainly my part. One trip to the park I just took pictures of the bugs we found and planned on using those but we ended up with a lot of bugs so I didn't even need them. I did use one picture of a praying mantis that we found because he was cool.

I found a piece of (ugly) art at Salvation Army and thought it would be a cool case for the bugs. I bought that for around $2, foam poster board for $1 and had Max help construct it. I did paint the frame with the help of 2 little boys. Max wasn't interested for some reason. We hot glued it all together and then glued all the bugs down. I made labels for the bugs and Max cut and glued those. He then picked the colored stickers for his name.

On the due day I carried it in for him. I got a note saying Max seemed very proud of his collection and was interested in the other kids collections as well.

I was expecting these 3rd graders to have super cool displays. I think I over estimated 3rd graders. Not that they weren't cool. But the few I did see weren't anything fancy like I expected. The minimum number of bugs to have was 6. I noticed most kids only had about that number. His teacher told me Max had the most bugs.

I had fun helping Max with this project. I think he enjoyed it too.

Max the pirate

2010-10-07T21:31:00.003-05:00

My last post was my 300th post! Wow.... that's a lot for me.

Max had his 3rd grade musical tonight. It was pirate themed. He was gone from school for 3 days. 3 days, I'm sure, that they all practiced. He did a good job considering he had to play catch-up in learning the moves. He was about a step behind in all moves. But that's alright he was super cute anyways.

Max, my pirate....

(his pants are rolled up. The boys could either cut or roll up their pants to look like pirates)

Not a lot to say

2010-10-05T18:17:00.002-05:00

OK, today I don't feel too good. It must be some good ol kid germs from the doctors office visits yesterday.

I kept Max home again today. He acts fine. He was even ready for school this morning. I had his lunch packed, wrote in his communication notebook and everything. I dosed him up on his liquid meds then went to give him his ear and eye drops. I noticed his face was still snotty, eyes were still red and watery and his ears had some nasty stuff coming out. So he got to stay home. Thursday he has a musical at school. I am sure they have been practicing tons but he is missing it all. Oh well, I'm sure he will do just fine.

The day of crying

2010-10-04T20:12:00.003-05:00

Today was busy! Friday Max got sent home from school because he had lots of snot and his eyes were red, watery and kinda crusty. I figured he would be sent home. I even wrote a note telling them if they were thinking about it to please do it before the afternoon because Ike and I had dentist appointments. He acts just fine. Except during the night while sleeping. He tosses around more than usual because he is so stuffed up.

This morning his eyes were still red and watery and he had his fair share of snot and then some. I decided to keep him home to save myself a trip back up to school to pick him back up! He was up this morning with no problems. I woke up Sam and then the day really started.

Sam would not get up. Or rather, out of bed. She cried and screamed and carried on that she wanted me to put her clothes on her bed. I told her she needed to get up, go to the bathroom and then I would help her get dress. Nope, she was not going to it. I counted down for her... 20 minutes until he need to leave, 10 minutes, 5 minutes. Pete heard the racket and came down, told Sam she better get out of bed, get ready and never yell at mom again! She got up, dressed, ate and finished getting ready. Not without foot stomping and crying though. We left later than I wanted to, but that is like most days!

The drop off car lane was really long this morning so I parked to walk her up. She would not walk up towards school. I walked her all the way to the door. The school counselor is generally there holding the door and greeting the students. She took Sam's hand and held on to her while I made my escape. I did tell the counselor that it was a rough morning. Sam was still crying when I left. Her teacher told me she calmed down when she found out her morning job was the calender. Very uncompliant morning.

Call the doctor for Max. 10:15 appointment. I had to wake up Ike to leave. We were 5 minutes late. Max now has 3 meds. Eye drops, ear drops, antibiotic. We decided to throw in a flu shot since we were there. Fighting, crying, screaming. I take the band-aid off Max's leg and he was all better. Just like magic. We go home and chill for a very short time. We take Joe to school around 12:20. Then straight to Walmart to drop off scripts. They said about 40 minutes. That would work. I had some shopping to do while I waited. We get our stuff and make our way back to the pharmacy about 50 minutes later. They said about 5-10 more minutes. We wait and wait. Then I decided to go check out and come back. Still was not ready. We wait some more. Finally about 2 hours after I dropped them off they were ready. Grrr- I hate Walmart pharmacy. Why do I keep going there?? By that time we only had a short amount of time before we had to get the kids from school. We stop by Subway on the way out to get some late lunch. That also took forever. I drop of my frozen foods at home then go get the kids from school.

Joe's class is usually the last of the kindergartners to come out. They were about 10 minutes later than let out time. I quickly got the car loaded and drove my neighbors boys home. Sam and Ike has their yearly check up at the doctors office at 3:45 today. I dropped off my neighbors boys around 3:45! doh! I figured I would be about 5 minutes late anyway. With K letting out so late it threw us even later. To top it off the street I was on had construction so lanes were closed. And that street was opened early in the day, BTW. We arrive VERY late. 20 minutes late. Oh well. They still saw us.

Sam would not do a thing. She would not stand on the scale, get her height checked, nothing. It was a fight to get her to do anything. We heard lots of "no" and her just generally misbehaving. She did the same thing last year at her appointment. I'm not sure what is up with her.

I did ask the doctor about ADD (attention deficit disorder) and she agrees that we should look into it. We now have a referral to a childrens hospital that does testing and such with ADD/ADHD. They should be calling us to set up an appointment. We should be seen within a couple of weeks. At least that is what the doctor said.

Ike got 2 shots and cried but it was short lived. Sam got her flu shot and cried and carried on forever. Joe did the same thing. Joe claimed he couldn't walk. Ike was running up and down the hall. By this time nobody was left in the office but a couple of employees.

On the drive home I got to hear lots of crying, complaining and whining. Once home, Sam and Joe had to go lay in bed because they were obviously very tired. Sam was in trouble from her behavior from the day.

So today all 4 kids have cried. They all got shots. Max was pretty concerned about his siblings when it was their turn for shots. He covered his ears to mask all the crying as well.

I am tired and starting to feel sick (sore throat and achy body). I am hoping it's just from the day and I'm not really getting sick.

Tomorrow has to be better, right?

down syndrome awareness month

2010-10-03T07:30:00.000-05:00

Ok, Not off to a great start.....

The Kansas city Step Up for Down Syndrome Walk was at the end of September. The weather was great. Everyone had fun.

So to start the month with a picture (only a couple days late)....
Max with the best seat in the world.

Happy Down syndrome month

2010-10-01T08:47:00.002-05:00

OK, so I am way behind in blogging. I don't have a post set up for today to kick off Down syndrome awareness month. I hope to sometime today. However, today is a busy day so we'll see if I can get it up.

Thanks to all my bloggy friends that also write about their child with Down syndrome. I love reading about what others are up to.

Happy Down syndrome awareness month everybody!

the meeting

2010-09-13T21:07:00.003-05:00

So I had my meeting with Joe's teacher this afternoon. My neighbor watched the kids so I actually did go by myself. The plan? Every time Joe hits, kicks, etc.... he will be sent to the office/principals office. I will be notified. I have a feeling Joe will be visiting the office a lot. I know he should not be doing this at school, however, he weighs like 30 pounds (OK, maybe 35) and is tiny. His blows are barely noticeable. I know, I know... it's the principle.

He even got sent there today. I was not notified but maybe that is b/c I was coming in. He wouldn't talk to the principal so he went to the counselors office. Finally he opened up and calmed down some.

Another problem the teacher is having with Joe? He hisses. A pretty simple problem in my opinion. Ignore it or just say, "I can't understand you. Use your words." He started hissing over the summer and I believe it's a phase. He really does not do it much at home. But according to the teacher he does it a lot there. I know where it's from. A cartoon. He hisses and says,"get out of my dumpster!" Apparently at school he just does the hissing. The teacher stated several times how this was odd behavior for a 5 year old. She wants him to stop before it becomes a habit and interfere with him making and keeping friends.

I talked to another teacher later about the whole meeting and her son is in 1st grade and he hisses as well. This other teacher said it would be best to ignore it, not focus on the negative and that it is not that odd.

I'm I worried about Joe hissing? Not at all. Do I think he will be hissing when he's 10? No. In a year? I would say not unless he gets so much freakin' attention over it!

I kind of feel like it is a mole-hill being made into a mountain.

Oh and she is not doing the step up walk for Down syndrome this year b/c her college aged step-son has something she was going to.

school drama

2010-09-10T16:17:00.003-05:00

The drama of school is enough to make me want to scoop up my kids, run away and never look back. This will be a rant if your wondering!

Let me start by saying I love the kids school. Better yet, I love the resource teacher and Max's para. They are awesome.

Max is in 3rd grade this year (can you believe it?!), Sam is in 2nd and Joe started half day Kindergarten. Joe has the same teacher that Max and Sam had. She is the only one that does PM kindergarten. Sam has a teacher that seems to be great. However, she is about to have twins. She is due in October, I believe. Side note, she is so small... you'd never know there were 2 little babies in there kicking around. Max's teacher, I'm not sure about yet. Her minor is in sp. ed. so I figured she would be great for him and maybe know how to 'deal' with the behaviors.

Last year Max's teacher didn't want him in the class. No, she never said this, I just gathered it. The resource teacher I so dearly love also was booted to half time last year so he got stuck with a different one. She was not so great. I could tell some of the teachers and other people wanted her out of there. I personally had no problems with her but I don't think she really worked with Max nor knew HOW to work with Max.

In a scheme, a few of them came up with, was far from stellar. I'm pretty sure they were trying to overwhelm her. They decided it was best (you know, in Max's best interest) to pull him out of the classroom with all his peers and stick him in resource for almost the entire day. He still had specials, lunch and recess with his peers. That was it. I did fight them in this meeting about that decision. However, it became apparent to me the classroom teacher loved this idea. So I stopped fighting it. Why would I want him in a class where the teacher truly does not want him in there?

After all was said and done Max would be with his para or resource teacher most of the day. In January the resource teacher left the school, shortly after all these changes took place. I'm guessing there may have been some cheering. Now the resource teacher I loved came back full time to our school. YAY. Now Max would be with someone who cares about him, makes him work and tries to always do what is best for Max. She wanted him back with his peers more, where she think he belongs. He can do the stuff they do in a (major) modified way.

This year, I'm still not sure exactly what his schedule is. I saw it at school but have not received a copy of it. I believe he is in the class during the morning then after lunch he's in the resource room.

Sam.... She still struggles. I had a meeting yesterday at school regarding her. They will modify some of her stuff and also pull her out around 20 minutes a day for one-on-one reading. We will re-meet in about 6 weeks to see how it's going. I love the fact her teacher does not send home so much stinking homework.

Joe... Here comes the drama that is driving me crazy. Kindergarten gets out 10 minutes earlier than the rest of school. However, if students have a Kindergarten sibling they may walk down to their class and walk out with them. Love this. We get out of there generally before the whole after school craziness happens. Last week I could tell there was something going on with Joe's teacher and Max's resource teacher. I don't know what but I have a feeling there are some disagreements going on about other things.

I take home my neighbors 2 boys from school and they also come out early, with kindergarten. I am sure it is crazy inside school at dismissal time and having 4 extra kids come to get 1 student is like a parade. So, a couple days ago the kids came out with Max's speech therapist. The K teacher told her that Joe does not want Max walking out with them. OK. I am guessing Max is mauling Joe because he is happy to see his little brother. I'm not sure of this. So the K teacher was telling Max, "just keep walking Max. Keep going." The next day when they all came out Max's para walked them out and said the K teacher no longer wants the other kids to pick up Joe and that the resource teacher would be talking to me about this. Whatever. I have not talked to her yet about this.

Joe has nothing good to say about school. Everything so far has been negative. But I also know he is lying to me about most of this. Another teacher asked me if the K teacher had talked to me about Joe yet. No, why? She seemed to observe the K teacher is somewhat babying Joe. Always holding his hand and such. I have no idea if this is true. Finally a couple days ago I emailed the teacher. Joe seemed to have a bad day at school and said everyone kicked and punched him. I know this did not happen but I wanted the teachers point of view of how school was going for Joe. I told her the things he says about school. She replied back saying the exact opposite is true. The other kids adore Joe and the girls try to 'mother' him even. She was worried about him saying these things and wanted to maybe talk about it. I told her that was fine but if we meet after school I would have not only my 4 but 2 tag-a-longs with me. She didn't reply with any time. I also told her we may want to wait a couple weeks to see if Joe stops saying all these negative things.

Today at school pick-up Joe came out with his class, holding the teachers hand. He tried to come to me but she held him back. I figured this meant she wanted to talk to me. She did. She looked a little stressed! She said "what a day!" Joe kicked and punched her today and that we need to talk. Is Monday after school good? yeah, that works. Then asked if I could come by myself!! I laughed and said, probably not!

I do like this teacher but since this drama has been going on about pick-up and since I emailed her she seems different. She does not take stress well. She doesn't hide it. Her and Max had their differences... lots of differences. I heard stories from other moms about how she treated Max. I never heard any of this stuff from school. Just this week I was talking to a mom that has a girl in Max's class. They were also in kindergarten together. She told me her daughter would come home several times very upset by the way the teacher treated Max. This girl has an uncle with special needs. This teacher seems to not like differences. It's her way or they may be problems. But, she has always signed up for our Buddy walk/step up and even donated extra money as well. This year she has not. Which is fine but it's odd she has never said a word about it or why she is not going.

Monday's meeting should be fun...not. She even said, "this must be going on at home as well, right?" I thought about it and said, I guess maybe he does it to Ike. I know what she was implying ... That Max beats him up and now Joe is doing this. At least that is how I took it.

I have been thinking about home-schooling for a while. Then when I found out Sam was struggling so much I thought even harder about it. I love the idea of homeschooling but could I do it? Would the kids listen to me? What would I do with interruptions from a needy 3 year old while trying to focus on something else? Could I keep up with the amount of work homeschooling requires? Would I still have my 'down' ME time? I do enjoy the break I get during the day, I must admit. I would rather go to the store/go shopping with 1 kid than 4 kids. Doesn't that sound awful?! What about social time? I love the fact that my kids can interact with so many other kids at school to learn those skills needed to socialize and gain friends. Yes, I know there are groups that do this for homeschooling as well, but how do you find them? How do you pick what materials to use? What about Max? How would I know what to use? He uses Edmark at school for reading and I love this! It costs a whole lot of money though. My questions are endless. I'm not sure if I will home-school some day or not but the thought is there. I also heard from another mom with a son that has Ds (in our school district) that I could even choose half public/half home schooling or whatever combination I wanted. That way the public school is still involved for some of the programs they do at the end of high school. The school is responsible until the age of 21 to 'educate.'

The school drama is driving me crazy at the moment. I'm sure it will be fine shortly. However, if you have any insight you would like to share about homeschooling, please do so! Here or email me (email link is in my profile page).

Where was Mr Sandman?

2010-09-04T19:13:00.002-05:00

Sam wanted to have a friend party this year for her birthday. we have never done this before. I think it's because I have never been brave enough! She kept wanting a party at Chuck-e cheese. I thought about just taking the girls there and playing games but not an official party. Then I thought about what my kids go through at the end of the game playing... the picking of the prize. NO way did I want to do that with a bunch of little girls. So I veto'd that idea. Sam instead wanted a sleep over. I thought about it and figured I could handle it. She has had sleep overs before and everything has gone OK. Except the girls never want to sleep. But that is part of a sleep over, right?

So on a very short notice I invited 4 of Sam's friends over. I was really wanting an even number of girls to avoid a third-wheel so to speak. However, Sam just wanted to invite 4. Including Sam that would have been 5 girls.

One friend could not make the party has she was going to be out of town. So I was back to my even number of girls idea. One girl could come Friday night, leave that evening and then come back in the morning. She would be here for everything but the sleeping business. One girl could make the sleepover but would have to leave before our pizza and cupcake lunch on Saturday. The other girl would be here for the whole thing and then some. She is the one I refer to as my 5th child!

Friday evening, 6 PM the party starts. My 5th child arrives 45 minutes early. Which was fine. Sam could barely wait. The same for the other girl, her real mom said. 2 more girls showed up a little later and they all had a blast! There was dress up time, arts and craft time, pillow fights, ice cream and just plain girly fun. The girl that had to leave left at 9. She did not want to leave, nor did the other girls want her to leave. The girl that had to leave early Saturday was ready for bed at 9 I'm pretty sure. She kept asking what time was bedtime.

So around 10 this little girl called lights out and they all laid down in Sam's room. My 5th child only lasted about 1 minute because she had been saying all night she was not going to sleep. A little bit later Sam came out, leaving the other girl in there. I figured she was asleep. About 30 minutes later she came out. She tried to convince the girls to come back to no avail. So they set up camp in the living room. This other little girl would go back and forth a little. Finally around 11PM the girl had had enough.

Around 11 the little girl came out crying to me saying she wanted to go home and that she didn't feel good. I could tell she was very tired. I offered to lay with her and have Sam come back too. I told her it was very late and I'm not sure her parents would still be up. She said she thought her dad might be. But we laid down and she looked like she was asleep within minutes. She wasn't. She starts crying more and wanted to go home again. I let her think about it for a few minutes. We had lots of fun stuff going on the next day. She eventually decided she did want to go home. So around 11:30 I called her house. Her mom talked to her then came to pick her up. Her mom said that she is just a homebody and a mommy's girl. I think she might be an only child and more than likely had never had a sleep over before. She got ready and I collected her stuff (art work, goody bag, etc) and packed her a cupcake.

That left Sam and my 5th child along with my 3 boys all wide awake still. I could tell Max was tired. He was tired around 8:30 but he just would not go to bed. Finally somewhere between 1:30 and 2:30 I tell the kids I was going to bed and to turn out all lights before they went to bed. I laid in Max's bed with him and he was out in about 5 seconds. Sam was quickly behind him. So the 3 of us were in that bed trying to sleep. My 5th child and my 2 younger boys were still partin' it up. I got up a few times to check on them. Mainly because every 5 minutes my 5th child was in there to tell me something.

I got up at one point and every single light they could have on was on! They some how manged to also get a ball and a shoe up on our 'cat walk' ledge. Not sure what they really are called. It is like a shelve 8 feet up the wall. They wanted me to get them. Not happening in the middle of the night. Around 3ish she came told me some story that Joe had rug burn on his knee and needed a band-aid. "Ok, I'll check on him in a little bit" She keeps coming in. Around 3:30 I got up to check on Joe and his wounded knee.

He was hopping down the hall on one foot. I see red on his knee. I walk past him to get a band-aid. He wobbles to me. I get a band aid and look at his knee. He, or someone, had used a red marker and made a very good rug burn like mark on his knee. I humor them and stick a band-aid on anyway. Back to bed. Ike joined me. I could still hear the other 2 at 4 AM. That was the last I heard of them until 7:30.

At 7:30 my 5th child wakes me up to tell me something. Seriously, did she ever sleep??!! Joe was sleeping in Sam's bed. My 5th child said she slept there too. I guess she slept from 4ish until 7:30. Next time she is over for a sleepover and says she is not going to sleep but staying up all night.. I'll take her more seriously!! She has slept over before but they were asleep before 2.

A little before 8 my 5th child asks, "it is 7:54, why are they not up yet?" Well, maybe that is because you guys were up so insanely late! They eventually woke up...all but Joe. He slept until 12. The other girl that was coming back arrived at 9:30 and my other 3 kids were all already up.

More fun. More arts, donuts, pizza, cupcakes, giggles, screaming, pillow fights, and so on. With only 3 girls here though there was a little girl drama going on. Which is why I didn't want an odd number of girls. The party was over at 2. My table looks like an art studio, the playroom looks like a twister hit it.

At around 2:30 my 5th childs older sister comes to retrieve her. Sam follows them down to their house. Less than 2 hours later the dad walks Sam back and says his daughter is napping.

I am tired!! I did sneak in a little nap today. Maybe and hour or so. Ike was also napping. I have decided any parent that makes it through a slumber party deserves an award!! It was crazy and fun. I do not plan on doing another one for a long time! Whew!

More of Sam

2010-08-31T06:41:00.000-05:00

Sam is by far my messiest child. Ike is a close 2nd. Sam is also a very sweet child and very helpful.

Sam, me and her American Doll

Now on to the messes....

Not only is this a messy one but this is also an ornery one. She dumped the art feathers out, was cutting them up into little specs and decided to try and cut the dogs hair as well.

Which also leads us to her accident proneness.

Broken arm

and 7 stitches neededAlso had a sprained ankle but no pictures of that right now.

Just some random cuteness...

First day of K!!
I love you Sam, even if you are a messy, crazy little girl!!

The art of Sam

2010-08-30T06:23:00.000-05:00

Looking through my pictures I found so many I wanted to share. I barely looked at them and still founds lots.

Sam is an 'artist' and has her own style.... clothing and artwork....

a few to share...

Her Kindergarten picture

Body jewelry

Her "cleaning" outfit

Sam loves body art

Her makeup with markers

Art work on walls

Different art work on walls (same wall different time!)

And lets not forget the time she cut her own hair...
Really this is nothing compared to how much "style" Sam as. But it is a glimpse through the years.

More to come.

Seven already

2010-08-29T07:30:00.000-05:00

7 years ago today I became the mommy of a special little girl....

Right after Sam was born...

Max loved Sam.

Maybe a little TOO much at times
Sam was a baby would liked to cry. But she also liked the swing
Pretty little girl

Sam was an early walker. Around 9 months old she wanted to explore the world on feet instead of hands and knees.
Sam is a drama queen... big time.

Sam, the princess, at her 1st birthday party.

Sam and Joe
Sam is 23 months here.

Almost 2 years Around 3 1/2 years

4 years
5 years
6 years

almost 7 years
Looking through photos of Sam, I found way too many for one blog post. I will do a couple more post to celebrate life with Sam. She is a handful!
Happy 7th birthday sweet Sam!

week in review

2010-08-27T19:14:00.003-05:00

This week went by fast.

My parents came up Monday (Ike's birthday) and stayed until Wednesday. It was nice to have them here to visit. I think Ike loved it! My mom would play with him the whole day while the other kiddos were at school. Joe sleeps until I wake him up around 11:15. So Ike had lots and lots of books read to him, played just about every game in the house (even if he had no idea how to play it) and just soaked up grandma as much as possible.

Max and Sam are starting to get into the early to bed, early to rise mode. Not that they like it or anything though. Max gets up about half the time before I go to wake him up. Long, long ago he used to be an early bird. Right before he started K he started sleeping in more. He was my alarm clock. Even when we had to be in Pre-K in the AM, he was the alarm. I never set it. Max was always up around 6. Times change though! Thankfully.

Joe still goes to sleep very, very late and sleeps in. Even when I try to get him to bed earlier it just doesn't work. He is a night owl. Next year will be shocking to his system!! "what, there is an 11 AM???"

Ike has a personal alarm of "mommy got up, I better go find her." He generally sleeps with us (along with Joe). He senses when I get out of bed and comes to find me. There are nights I lay him in his bed and he stays the whole night. Some days he is up early and others he sleeps in. If he is up early he gets cranky and takes a nap later on.

Sam is a night owl by nature. It takes her awhile to get to sleep and awhile to wake up. But we are doing it.

Max will have an insect collection project due next month. This week I have been looking for insects. I did see a locus on the window but can't bring myself to kill it. I will just watch for a dead one. I'm not one to kill bugs. I will kill ants (if in my house!), roaches, brown recluses (found at my parents house) and mosquitoes. That is about it. I let spiders live and would rather take other bugs outside and release them than to kill them. I did get a big black cricket today and stuck him in the freezer. I felt bad for the guy (well, actually I think it was female). I like bugs. I think I will have more fun with this project than Max will! I am hoping this weekend we can find some cool bugs.

This weekend we are going to the grandparents house to celebrates Ike, Sam and my nephews birthdays. My parents have a pool which collects tons of bugs. I am hoping to find a few that are not water-logged yet. Dragonflies love the pool.

Sam's b-day is Sunday. I will (hopefully) be posting pictures of her that day, like I did for Ike.

Have a fun weekend everybody!!

3 years, really??

2010-08-23T06:40:00.000-05:00

Three years ago today I was getting ready to have my forth child. My second daughter. I looked like this...

I go into the hospital to be induced. For some reason my kids do not like to enter the world on their own. Well, maybe if i waited long enough they would but I'd rather not be pregnant forever! Joe was about 2 weeks after my due date. I had mentioned to my OB that we were hoping for August 23rd. We had a June 23rd baby plus a June 29 and August 29. August 23 would fit perfectly. And 2 June boys and 2 August girls was even more perfect, right? My OB said she thinks she can make it happen. I didn't mention it to her because I wanted to be induced but I was good with it! My due date was the 27th (same as Sam's due date).

We go the hospital, actually having a name picked out for this child. Which was a first for us! Granted, we had just picked it out. We were prepared. I had all my girly baby clothes out and the pink bedding, etc. I get pitocin and get the show on the road. Around 4:30 that afternoon, my smallest baby, weighing 7 pounds 14 ounces, was born. My daughter.... until I saw she had boy parts!! The first thing out of my mouth was, "It's a BOY!" Just a little shocked! We love him just as much though.

But since it normally took us the entire pregnancy plus a day or two to come up with a name, we had our work cut out for us! We wanted a name that had a 3 letter nickname. we could not come up with that name so IKE it was.

My little guy right after he was born.
Max was instantly in love

I think Sam was somewhat disappointed in being scammed out of that sister she expected but loved him anyway!
Joe finally decided to check out this new baby taking his throne away.

Ike is all boy. He is messy...

He climbs

He loves snakes (and worms)
My big 1 year old.
He is somewhat a drama-king
Not a daddy's boy
Unless daddy might be carrying him up high!
My handsome little guy at 2 years old
And now closer to 3 years old. He's still messy!And still a daredevil

But he is ever so cute!
Happy 3rd birthday Ike!

That dreaded R word again

2010-08-21T06:20:00.001-05:00

Why do some of my favorite actors/actress' have to use the R word? It drives me crazy. It seems like I have been hearing it more on TV recently.

Here is one right now that is going around....

Take the Pledge to end the word.

I like to watch Top Chef. I DVR it and watch it later, when I get a chance. Last weeks or maybe more like a week and a half ago, I was watching it and someone said, "that looks retarded." Yeah, talking about food. Not sure how food can be "retarded" but whatever. I am usually shocked when I hear that word being used. I rewind it and put on closed captioning. Sure enough, that is what he said. I turned the show off.

We happen to be part of a large ratings group, to which I cannot share details about here, so what I watch really does count. It counts for millions. The DVR stuff counts towards rating but only for 1 or 2 weeks. I plan on finishing the show well after the ratings will record. I do this with almost every show I hear that word used. I usually don't watch it anymore though.

The roast of David Hasslehoff had something real similar. My hubby DVR'd it so I watch about 10 mintues of it. The host, talking about someone else, said, "sometimes he acts like he has an extra chromosome." Or something close to that. I turned it off.

It makes me mad to hear it on TV. Our kids watch TV and I don't want my kids ever using that word. It is one thing to say it but then for the editors and producers to actually air it is another.

It was also used on The first 48 (the murder solving show). But in this case it just made the killer look more guilty and stupid, in my opinion. The killer, not knowing what else to say, called the detective Retarded over and over.

When will people learn the word is not nice to those who really are mentally retarded or mentally challenged or have intellectual disabilities (take your pick)? Pick another word people!! Or better yet, keep your mouth closed.

hungry?

2010-08-20T16:00:00.001-05:00

Why must I tell Joe not to eat the nunchuck?? There seems to be a little chunk missing off the Wii nunchuck.

Silly boy!

pros/cons of school

2010-08-20T09:05:00.000-05:00

There are pros and cons for starting school.

The bad.... Getting up early!!
early bedtimes
homework (although not yet) ... fingers crossed there won't be much this year
The daily schedule
remembering who has what that day (PE, library, all that good stuff)
getting snacks, lunches and water bottles ready every morning
waiting for the kids to come out of school... Joe gets out at 3:30 and Max and Sam at 3:40 at different doors and with a ton of people everywhere. (although, I think this will get better as the weeks go on)
Trying to rush Max to get ready in the morning..... He has one speed.. Max speed, and it ain't fast!
Hounding the kids to brush their teeth, go the bathroom, find their shoes, etc. every morning
Missing them during the day
waking up Joe so he has time to get ready for school that starts at 12:30!

The good...
the daily routine (yes, that is bad and good!)
going shopping with only 1 child in tow
Kids aren't here to to trash the house in 2 seconds flat (although, I can give Ike credit here and say I have faith he can do it!)
No fighting all day long (but they do make up for it around 4:00)
early bedtimes
knowing they are learning more things every day

Fun with webcam

2010-08-19T10:54:00.005-05:00

My laptop is Dell (in case anyone has missed me complaining about their customer service!) and has a webcam with some special little features. They are fun to mess around with. The kids love it. Ike was having fun doing this and Sam did too.

Although, Ike was getting mad at me because i was putting the "wrong" stuff on him so he is frowning in a few...

Ike with an army helmet on...

If Ike were to grow out his hair, and bleach it, he may look like this...
Or he could go for a good fro...
Ike with some shades....
He liked the dark night ones...

Sam has some crazy hair now...
What was I doing during all this? I was surfing of course!

Sam and School

2010-08-10T14:32:00.003-05:00

Remember the end of last school year that Sam was struggling? We had a meeting at school and the resource teacher (special ed) thought the whole thing was kinda crazy since Sam got a 80% and a 90% on her year-end tests. I do know she is behind regarding peers though. She will be going into 2nd grade this year. We are supposed to meet sometime after school starts to see how things are going. I feel she will be behind again.

Since school has been out I have worked a lot with her. She had weekly spelling words and tests, she had math she continued to work on from school and math I gave her as well, and reading from books she had already read from. I ordered several books from Amazon that are the same ones they used in 1st grade. I had her pick out a story a week and if she did very well then we moved to another one. I also had her working on Explode the Code books. She wasn't a big fan of those. I had handwriting tied into those books and with spelling. I would have her write sentences using her spelling words. I had 3 different 3-ring binder full of work plus more.
During our time at the grandparents we did not work as much as I wanted. Really we did almost nothing. The beginning of the Summer we started off strong and now at the end of Summer I would say not so strong.

Today Sam was having a friend over. She was going to be over at 1:00. Sam asked me all morning, "How much longer?" and "How many more minutes?" I finally told her to go see what time it was and figure it out. I knew it was somewhere around 12 or after. She came back and said, "it's 11:17 or 11:18." First I'm thinking, really, she could even read the clock? So I asked her which clock she read. It was a digital one and yes it does have the right time. I have no idea how she came up with 11 anything! I went along with it and asked her how much longer. She lost interest.

I few minutes later I came in from watering my plants and it was 12:30. I told Sam it was 12:30 and asked how much longer until 1:00. She had no idea. We got the clock out that she made at school (you know a paper plate with 'hands' on it). I had her put 12:30 on the clock and try to figure out how much longer.

She almost acted like she had no idea how to use a clock. (yes, we worked on time during the summer but it has been a few weeks) After she guessed 1 hour and 7 minutes I gave her the simple rules of time. It took her over 15 minutes to figure this out. Oh My Gosh! Does she really not know--has she forgotten this already? Or does she just not care? She was doing pretty well with time before. Same with money. It's been a few weeks and I have a hunch she will be clueless again when I make her work on that later.

I do think she has improved in Math. She is stuck right now at a certain level of "Rocket Math" but I know she can get past it. Spelling is so-so. Basically the same as what she did at school. She can remember them short term. But later on she will miss them again. This week her spelling words are 10 of the color words (blue, purple, red, etc..). She is working very hard on them because there is a new zhu zhu pet just waiting to be played with. This new little pet came out last night to sit and 'play' with her other one but she was not allowed to play with it yet. She took about 5 or 6 test yesterday trying to get a 100% The best she got was 70%.

Here is something interesting though. Yesterday Sam had a friend over (different friend). All her friends are almost a year older than her. Remember Sam is the youngest in her class. This friend was telling me she got a new bike- a 2 wheeled bike. She just learned to ride it. Sam had that mastered before 1st grade and is now riding a bike with gears. This same friend also said she just learned to tie her shoes. Sam did that during the first few weeks/months of Kindergarten. I know several of her friends that are just now (or very recently) learning to do both of those things. So Sam might be behind academically but in other areas she has been well past them. I of course acted excited for the friend that was telling me the new things she learned. On a side note, Max can't do either of those. I try to always get him velcro shoes so he can have independence.

I hope it all just 'clicks' for Sam and she gets this stuff figured out. And if not, I hope she can get help at school, one-on-one. One reason I dread school this year, besides having to wake up so early, is all the stinkin' homework. Sam had SO much work last year. I am so hoping this year is better. It's hard to add extra stuff (to either introduce it or reinforce it) when she works on homework ALL evening.

One more week from today....

tomatoes

2010-08-10T09:25:00.000-05:00

While gone visiting the grandparents Pete was in charge of my tomato plants. He does well with this. He, for whatever reason though, does not pick the ripe ones. I'm not sure why because he does like tomatoes.

Here is just one bowl of tomatoes. I had another one as well. Plus a couple peppers.

The last week

2010-08-09T08:25:00.000-05:00

The title that goes both ways! This is our last full week of Summer break. And this post is to tell you about our past week.

We went to visit the grandparents for a little over a week for the 2nd time this Summer. We had fun and it was great to spend time with family before school starts back up. Pete came down for a long weekend then went back home. His parents were out of town the first half of our stay.

The kids and I hang out at my parents house, swam and went shopping. The kids have all turned into fish this summer. Joe and Sam had swimming lessons right after school got out but not sure they did anything. They may have helped Sam some. But since Joe did not want to go the last week and they could barely get him IN the water, I'm guessing they did nothing for him!

The first time to my parents pool this year Joe and Ike held on with death grips to Pete or I. Not anymore!! Max is the only one that doesn't go jumping in under the water.

My parents pool--nothing too fancy but it sure is fun!
It is not too deep so Max and Sam can touch. Joe cannot.

My jumping daredevils.. Sam and Ike.

Joe also was doing this but at the time did not have his arm floaties on so he was hanging out with Pete staying safe!
Ike--- not afraid anymore!

Sam and Ike going back up to jump in

My sweetie pie Max

Hanging out at the grandparents also means they get to overload on cheese-balls...

The kids (except Max) love those huge barrels of cheese-balls from Sam's club. They ask me to buy them when we are shopping there and my answer is always, "NO!" Those are special for grandma and grandpa's house.

They also got to eat chocolate donuts at grandmas house.

Here is my goof ball Max...He is the one who took those last few photos. I am borrowing his camera because mine has died. Which he lets you know in this video of Sam and Ike jumping into the pool....

And one with Joe joining Sam and Ike...

And one with Sam and Ike jumping in together....

(it was getting foggy because I just brought the camera out to the very HOT air from being inside the nice cool air conditioned house)

Sunday evening Pete, me and the kids went to fair. It was fun but expensive! By the time we got there the animals were all gone. We saw sheep but that was about it. I asked a fair worker about it and was told most the animals leave Sunday night and a new group comes in on Monday.
So we looked around and then rode the Farris wheel. The Farris wheel for the 6 of us cost $30. Yeah, $30 for a few minutes of riding a big wheel around! I told you, expensive! We then let the kids each pick one more ride a piece. They all liked their rides they picked. We shared a funnel cake and the kids scarfed it down. We even made Max try a teeny tiny bite. It was torture but he finally did it.

Once my in-laws got back to town my sister-in-law came into town with her 2 girls. They are Max's and Sam's age. The kids LOVE hanging out with them.

The first day they were there we went to the fair. This time we got to see animals. Plus being at the fair always bring out some very freaky people! The kids all got to pick a ride. Found out Sam does NOT like roller coasters. She came off crying. She went with her cousin, who did fine. Max picked a spooky house ride. I went with him. Glad I did because he may have freaked out at the darkness and very loud buzzes they try to scare you with. He did fine though with me. We got ice cream and called it a night.

The next day was a big day. We were going to see Peter Pan in Branson. Branson is only about 45 minutes away from Springfield (where the grandparents live). While there we also planned to hit one of the outlet malls. I got plenty of stuff to prove it. I just love Ralph Lauren and Gap outlet stores. Also hit Old Navy, which sadly did not have much I thought I couldn't live without, Stride Rite and a couple others. I could have gone into a few more but it was starting to get late. You know, because the kids closets aren't already stuffed enough!!

Peter Pan was very neat. The kids all really liked it.

Next day the kids helped grandma make applesauce from all her apples from her tree and just played. They didn't want to leave. We went back to my parents house, swam, ate dinner and got going. It takes about 2 1/2 -3 hours to drive home. We got back home around 10:30 that night.

It was a fast, but fun week. Now we have to try and adjust our sleeping schedules to school time. Lord help me! We generally go to bed between 12 and 2 then sleep in. But very shortly bedtime will be 9 and Max and Sam will be getting up shortly after 7 am!! I dread it. Joe will be going to afternoon Kindergarten so it won't effect him as much. But it will help if it's up before the time school will be starting!

My sweetie

2010-08-08T15:21:00.002-05:00

Max trying to get a photo of me and him so I helped him out. He's my sweetie!

A Horror Story

2010-07-30T06:00:00.000-05:00

Oh My Gosh! This story gets gross so if reading about poop grosses you out. Don't read!

I took my van in to get new tires. They told me it would be around 2 hours. Their shop is by a strip mall that has a Kmart, pet store and several other stores plus a Burger King in that same lot. I figured we would hit Kmart to return something, maybe the pet store and then off to BK to play and hit while we wait.

Last week we were at Kmart because they had some cool shirts in their ad for $4. The shirts were Mario! They had other character shirts as well. So we go buy several $4 shirts plus some some shorts for Max. The shorts were $6 so not a huge sale but he is kinda hard to buy shorts/pants for so I got a few. Well some did not fit him so I returned those that day. But the fun had not even started yet....

Max decided he was way too cool to be seen with us and decided to run off. He used to be the worst at running off but really doesn't do it anymore. And even when he does run off now he stays close and keeps an eye out for me. He tries to guess what isle I will go down then run down another isle trying to beat me to the end. Today we was all over the place. He wasn't staying that close. I needed some light bulbs so went there first. Max never found us there. The light bulbs are kinda stuck back in a far corner. I kinda think "screw it, he will find us" and go towards the underwear section. I'm looking at undies when Max reappears. He pokes his head around the corner and smiles as if to say, "HA! I found you!" I inform him he is now in trouble and will be spending time in his room once we get home and that he is to stay by my side the rest of the trip.

Sam and Joe are peeking around at him and then say, "what smells like poop!?" Then Joe announces Max has poop on his leg. WHAT? Oh my goodness, does he ever! I look at him and about die. He has been running around Kmart for people to see and he has poop ALL over his leg. Not just a little poop either. He obviously had diarrhea and it was ALL over the back of him, down his shorts leg, down his leg and on both shoes! The smell could have knocked someone over. I think about what the heck I'm gonna do. I'm in Kmart, my car is across a parking lot (well, more like behind Kmart), I have no extra clothes with me and I have a child covered in poop.

I do keep extra clothes in the car for each child. However I used Max's last week b/c the car ride to Columbia to visit my sister and a large soda from McD don't mix too well for Max. Once there I realized his extra clothes were a tad bit small anyway. I had to use lots of muscle to get those shorts up!

Think. Go pick out new shorts, pay for them then hit the bathroom. Max waddles over with me to get shorts. I try to hide his shame by walking behind him and staying far away from people. Guess what? The shorts I bought last week for $6 are now on sale and cost less than $3. I pick out 2 pairs and he waddles back towards the bathroom. I tell him to go in there and wait for me, "do not touch anything!" I pay for 1 pair of shorts at electronics, which is right outside the bathrooms. $2.60 later I open the bathroom door. Max has taken his clothes off, thrown them in the floor, sitting on the toilet with poop everywhere and the bathroom stall door opened. If anyone would have opened the bathroom door they would have gone running and screaming away in horror. I attempt to clean max up. It was a very messy job! Luckily (if that's what you want to call it!) for me, there was a huge roll of bathroom paper towels sitting in there. I was able to use lots of those and got most of him cleaned up. Never have a wanted a shower stall so badly!

We finish up in Kmart and finally leave an hour after we arrived! We go visit the pet store. The kids LOVE this pet store. They got to hold all sorts of pets. We spent another hour in there. Yes, an hour! The mechanic called and said my car was done. We walked back over paid and left. They kids still wanted to play in BK so we went there to eat and play.

We order, sit down, take Ike to the bathroom, play. Max played for less than 5 minutes and guess what? he crapped himself again. This time he was commando though. BUT, nothing fell out, thank God! It was more of a squirt. I know, you're glad I shared that. I tell the other kids to start finding their shoes. We were the only ones there by the way. I am glad I picked out 2 shorts at Kmart though!

When we finally get home he goes straight to the shower. He stank! Then went to his room for running off at the store. Where he fell asleep.

What a "stinky" kind of day!

A funny

2010-07-29T07:00:00.000-05:00

OK, so being a mom you hear and say some crazy things. Like "don't eat your foot" is one I can think of. Max will gnaw on his toes and it drives me crazy after awhile.

But the one I thought you might find funny is this one....

Joe was playing the Wii while I was getting dinner started one night. Joe starts yelling "MOM".... Which the kids do ALL THE TIME. Joe asks for help a lot while playing games. So this time I think the same thing. I yell for him to come to me if he needs me for something. I few minutes later he comes to the kitchen with only a shirt on. "Mom, I need help wiping my bottom." Nice!

1 year ago

2010-07-28T06:00:00.000-05:00

One year ago I was having surgery getting my tonsils and adenoids removed. It seems like forever ago.

I am SO glad I had it done. Given a choice between strep throat or a tonsillectomy, I would SO pick the tonsillectomy in a heart beat. I hate Strep throat that much. Plus my tonsillectomy was pretty easy.

Guess what most of my Google searches are that reach my blog.... Pictures of my throat after my tonsillectomy. You can find those HERE and HERE.

I have had a couple sore throats within the last year but nothing too bad. Nothing I ever went to the doctor for and nothing that kept me from doing my daily things.

So happy my tonsillectomy went smoothly and I no longer suffer with Strep throat!

Ike and his cute lips

2010-07-27T09:10:00.000-05:00

Ike has a thing about injuring his lips. He has poked his tooth/teeth through his lips at least 2 times. I think 3 times. The last time was on a vacation and I didn't look too close. I knew he would be fine and well, the blood kinda grosses me out. He is all the time hurting his lips. They are cute and pouty.

His teeth take a beating as well. He still has all his teeth and has no chips that I know of. However, several weeks ago he was jumping on the bed and Max's foot somewhere ending up hitting Ike's mouth. I almost want to say this was on purpose but I don't know. He did cut his lips...as always. But within a couple of days I noticed Ike's tooth was turning colors. It was dying. So now his front bottom tooth is darker in color. Not too noticeable but I notice it. It is very noticeable from the inside of his mouth. As in, the back side of his teeth.

Ike loves to jump off our bed and onto our couch, which is right in front of the foot of our bed. He hits his head All the time but still he does this. So the other night he was doing this while I was sitting on the couch watching TV. Then I hear a loud bang and Ike starts crying. Nothing new! I scoop him up and he of course has blood coming from his lip area. His bottom front teeth looked a little further out than normal but I didn't want to look too close yet. Remember blood grosses me out. It makes me all queasy and light headed. I hate that I can't handle blood. I take him to the bathroom and start getting him cleaned up with a cold wet washcloth. I have him sit on my lap for a little bit and he whimpers for awhile.

I finally look at a his lips and teeth. I never could find a real cut on his lips. Maybe a small one but it was too much blood for that little cut. I should also mention he already had good size bruise/ blood spot on his upper lip before this even took place. I have no idea how he go it either. The blood was coming from his teeth. He somehow hit his 2 bottom teeth and pulled them forward just a little bit. Not much but enough to make them bleed and feel wiggly. He had a blood line around his teeth. I know they will tighten back up. He didn't hit them THAT hard. But now I wait and see if his other bottom front tooth will die and match the other one.

That boy is hard on his face! Will my kids ever learn to not jump on beds? Broken bones and so many bloody lips I can't even count.

The count down is about to start

2010-07-26T21:00:00.002-05:00

I can barely believe Summer is almost over. Already? My kids go back August 17 and Joe starts Kindergarten August 18. Way too soon. Tuesday is registration day at school. We go fill out forms and pay money. I know, sounds like fun. I also get to pick up the yearbook from last school year that was NOT ready before school got out. They did have a meet up a few weeks after school got out up at the playground to pick them up but I missed that.

Summer has flown by. June we stayed home. We did swimming and soccer and just hung out enjoying the school break. July we have gone to the grandparents for a little over a week to hang out. It was fun. We are doing it again at the end of this week. Last week we went to visit my sister for a few days and we hung out there and had fun. She has 3 boys. The oldest was gone at a camp for the week, the middle was there to entertain my kids and the baby was also there to entertain my kids! Max and Sam love helping out with the baby.

We are going to visit the grandparents again but this will be a little different. The last half of our stay my sister in law and 2 nieces will be there as well. The girls are Max's and Sam's age. They LOVE hanging out together. They live in Chicago so we don't get to see them as much as we would like to.

Summer is busy and fun. Not lots of time for blogging.... as you can tell! Maybe once school starts back up I'll post more regularly.

3 weeks left of Summer break....

Summer Fun and Step Up walk

2010-07-15T09:08:00.002-05:00

I've been absent from posting anything for awhile. The kids and I went to visit the grandparents. Still visiting. We have been here for a week already. We plan on heading home tomorrow though.

We have been having lots of fun. Over the weekend Pete came down and we did the Step Up for Down syndrome walk in Springfield, MO. After the walk was a baseball game with the Springfield's minor league team, the Cardinals. It was all fun. I expected it to be small scale. We live in the Kansas City area and that is the biggest walk in the country I believe. Springfield's goal was to have 1000 walkers. Not sure they met that goal or not but it was close. They did meet and exceed the $ goal. So that is good.

During the days we have been hanging out, relaxing. We have gone swimming every single day. We will go back home a couple shades darker. My parents have a pool in their backyard which is nice because we can go out and come back in for food or whatever we want. My inlaws have a neighborhood pool which we visit with them. It is also nice but different since you have a life guard watching your every move. Still fun though.

We have gone to Chuck E Cheese, I know your are all jealous, and gone out for ice cream plus went shopping at Toys R Us. I don't have many pictures as I have just been enjoying the kids. I do have a couple pictures from the Step up walk but they are still on my camera.

We plan on doing this again in a couple weeks. It has been fun. Hope everyone is enjoying their summers before it's over!

couple of pictures

2010-07-06T23:10:00.001-05:00

A silly picture of the June birthday boys.....
And a picture of all 4 kiddos together loving on each other....

The lovin' is only for the picture; Don't be mistaken!

Seriously

2010-07-02T10:58:00.004-05:00

Ok, so I had the dirty work done of getting Max's blood draw just a couple days ago. Yesterday I got a message that I needed to call the phone nurse in the morning. It was after 5 when I got the call.

The kids and I saw Toy Story 3 yesterday. That is when they called. So I obviously didn't answer the phone.

So Friday morning I get another message (around the crack of dawn). Well, around here the crack of dawn is a little later than most people's houses! I call back and we play phone tag.

I really didn't think too much about it. Then laying in bed this morning I start thinking, "what if it's about his CBC and not cholesterol?"

She called me back pretty shortly. She said Max has high Cholesterol. His total level was 145 and it should be 110. I am to monitor his diet and retest in 6 months. If I want a nutritionist recommended, they can do so. Isn't that nice. Well, Max is one of the pickiest eaters I know. He lives on pizza. He eats no meat. He does like yogurt, pastas, fruits (although some of those must be canned) and breads. He drinks Orange juice, watered down some. He will drink chocolate milk but I rarely serve it to him for some reason.

OK, I know he has a horrible diet. No need to see a nutritionist to tell me that. I'm sure her recommendation would be a different diet, after her shock wore off! So I'm think what I can do to change his diet. I already limit his pizza intake per day. I can try to cut it back even more and also make our own with fat free cheese. I could give him more yogurt and fruits.

So after thinking about it I decide to google kids cholesterol levels. According to several sites, including American Heart Association, levels in children should be 170 or lower. High levels start at 200. Max's was 145. Why is his considered high? It is within normal limits. Is there a Down syndrome factor that I am unaware of? I doubt it. I need to call them back to talk about it.

Re-testing in 6 months? God, I hope not. I hope the doctors tell me he is good to go and no need to re-test.

EDITED to add....
I called them up and they said his total was 217 and LDL was 145. So then, yes, he has high cholesterol. I guess that means in 6 months he will go through torture again. Poor baby! I am guessing this is heridtiy though and not dietary. That stinks!! I will still try to modify his diet some and see where we get. Now I'll have to ask to get Sam's tested at her 7 year appointment. That should be just as fun!!

Help Zhora (and Charlie) get home

2010-07-01T14:02:00.002-05:00

OK, well if you were reading my blog around Christmas time you know I was closely watching Joseph and Charlie from Reece's Rainbow. I am happy to say Joseph is close to getting home. His parents are also adopting a little girl named Zoya. She is also adorable. You can follow that family here. Their parents have been over in Ukraine now for several weeks trying to get it all worked out.

Then there is Charlie. The other half of that incredibly cute duo. He also has a family coming for him really soon. That family has also decided to adopt another cutie pie-- Zhora.

So these 2 cute boys have saved 2 other cuties. If they were adopted together what are the chances Zoya or Zhora would have been adopted as well? So it will all work out.

Anyway, the family that is adopting Charlie and Zhora (will be going by the name Levi) is SO close to finishing up their fund-raising.

Lisa, another mom, fell in love with Zhora and has been working hard trying to find a family for Levi and trying to raise lots of money for him. So once again she has bought an Ipod touch to give away in a drawing. To enter click on these button...

Click here for more
details!!

All donations are tax deductible through Reece's Rainbow.

Each $10 donation will enter you one time in the drawing for the iPod Touch.

$20 enters you twice and $25 enters you 3 times in the drawing.

All donations go directly to Zhora's grant fund.
Ends July 24th.

You can follow Charlie and Levi's adoption blog HERE.

I can't wait to see all these kids with their new mommy's and daddy's at HOME!

Dirty work is done

2010-06-30T17:15:00.001-05:00

I hate having to get Max's blood drawn, even more than getting my own done. So he got to skip it last week but Wednesday was the day to have it done. It was a fasting blood draw. Not really a big deal for Max as he can go hours before eating anything after waking up. I set the appointment for 10:30. Then we could get to swimming at 11:15.

I have to say 11:15 swimming time is killing me. I usually have to wake at least one child to get ready before we leave. So 10:30 was gonna be work!

I planned on trying to get them to bed earlier. However, at around 6:30 Joe and Max got in trouble for fighting over the Wii so they got sent to their rooms by Pete. Ike and I were outside cleaning up Moon Sand (I will not allow that awful stuff indoors!) and when we came back in it was quiet. I figured the boys were downstairs playing peacefully after getting in trouble. Ike fell asleep throwing a fit on the floor a few minutes later. Sam was at a friends house. All was quiet. Sam and her friend (my 5th child!) came back here to wish Max a Happy Birthday, dressed up as Mario and Luigi. I look for Max. He was not playing Wii. I check beds and find Joe and Max both sleeping in their beds. I transfer Ike to bed. 3 boys sleeping at 7:00ish. Hum, maybe I should rethink my plan on going to bed early!

I wasn't sure what I was gonna do. I could act like we were all getting ready for bed when they started to wake up and hope they lay back down. I tried it. It didn't work that well. So at 12:00 or 1:00 we all go to bed but Joe. He was playing Wii, I think. He came up a little later and laid on top of me. All 6 of us in one bed. fun. At 2:30 I tell Joe to go downstairs and I would go sleep with him. Joe was still awake by the way. I carry Ike to his bed and then Joe and I lay in Max's bed (it's a full where Joe's is only a twin). A few minutes later Ike finds me. We go to sleep --finally! Max got up kinda early which lead to the other 2 boys getting up too. Max came to find me and he isn't the quiet child when others are sleeping. I did have to wake up Sam.

I fed them all but Max. He didn't even seem to notice he did not get fed. I fixed his food and drink to take with me. I had mentioned to Max he had a doctors appointment for his blood draw the night before and briefly the morning of. I didn't make a big deal about it because then he may not have gotten out of the car!

We arrive at the office (about 5 minutes late!) and Max goes right in. He has NO idea. They call us back and Max is 'on to us' when we are going to the lab instead of a room. He refused to go in. We get to visit a room after I told them that Max usually has to be held down my several nurses. I pick him up to lay him on the table. Let the battle begin!

He immediately starts kicking, crying and screaming. Poor baby. We get him on the table with a nurse on his legs. Well, that sounds bad.... He lays on a table with is legs bent over the edge. The nurse leans on them to keep them down and that way has control of his legs and can help with the upper torso. I get his head, his arm and the upper part of his violated arm. Another nurse gets the lower part of that arm and holds on to it with all her might to keep it straight. Then the sticking can be begin. I think this guy was newer... I have never seen him there before. The guy we usually get is awesome at doing it. Max is a hard stick. So this guys sticks Max. Nothing, so he digs around. Poor Max is screaming and crying. The guy gives up and Max thinks he is free. Only to find out the guy will be sticking him again. He tries lower on his arm, actually on his hand. Thankfully he got it first try with that spot. Max is sweating and the nurse holding his arm says her hands are slipping. But she held on long enough. Once the needle was out she lost control of his arm. He had blood all over his arm and hand. I was trying to not let him see it. So I got him cleaned up. They offered a band-aid but to Max those are just as bad as a shot.

We go to collect our stickers and get on our way. We make it to swimming right on time.

I think Max will have bruising from all of this. Not only from the needle but also from the nurse holding his arm SO tight. Poor Max. We should be free and clear until his next birthday. It will be interesting to see his cholesterol levels. I don't expect it to be high. I hope I'm not surprised!

Nine

2010-06-29T08:35:00.003-05:00

Today is Max's 9th birthday! I can't believe my baby is 9 years old already! The last year of single digits.

Remember me saying how badly he wanted Super Mario Galaxy 2?? I gave it to him and Joe to share on Joe's birthday. Here is a video of him opening it...

It is very funny (and very short! 16 seconds) He was about that excited every time he opened one of his presents at his birthday party a couple weeks ago... he got several new DS games.

Speaking of birthdays... it is so unfair kids/adults with Ds need to get their blood drawn every year. I understand why and the importance of it but I HATE having to put Max through it. We had his appointment last week. He lucked out of it that day. I asked if he should also have his cholesterol checked (since both parents have high cholesterol w/o meds) and well, he isn't the skinniest kid around. She said that would be a good idea but we should do a fasting blood draw. So some time this week (hopefully) I can get that taken care of. It is a huge Battle to get it done...trust me!

Max stuck up for Joe before Joe got his shots the other day. Joe kept saying how he didn't want shots. When the nurses came in to do the dirty work, Max stood up, shook his finger at them and kept telling them "NO!" Joe survived but I heard about how his legs were "broken" the rest of the day.

Whew, birthday month is pretty much over for us now. We have 3 birthdays within 6 days of each other. (June 23, 26 and 29) as well as several other family members.

Happy birthday to my big guy Max!

Double jinx

2010-06-27T20:49:00.002-05:00

I just had to say our air conditioner had no problems. Sunday morning I could tell something was up, just 2 weeks after having some control board replaced on it. It was HOT outside but our house was also pretty warm. I checked the thermostat and it read 81. The air was on but no cold air was coming out, just air. The unit itself (outside) was on but the fan was not spinning.

I tried a few things and figured it was the fan motor. I did some goggling and found out it could be the fan motor or the capacitor. The capacitor is cheaper to replace. Fingers crossed that is what it was.

I call our AC guy up. It's Sunday afternoon. He of course charges extra. But we are hot and know it will only get much hotter by night time. I personally could have suffered a day and had him come on Monday. I'm cheap like that. Plus the guy was giving me somewhat of a pity party. Pete wanted if fixed though today, if possible. So I told the guy come on out and we'll pay you extra.

He came out and also figured it was the capacitor. No such luck. It was the fan motor. But he had one on his truck so he fixed it up for us. Another roughly $500 for the AC in 2 weeks time.

The AC guy is a good guy though. He did give me a discount (about $70). He is very nice and is always the one that comes when I call. A few years ago when one of our control boards went bad it was, of course, about a month after the warranty was up. He replaced it for free and said he could get the warranty stuff taken care of. He just charged us the service call that day.

When he was leaving today I told him I hope to NOT see him for awhile! He said, "yeah, me too. For your sake, not mine though!"

I hate the DMV

2010-06-26T19:06:00.001-05:00

I dread going to the DMV. Who doesn't?? They are the slowest place to go and require so much stuff.

We are lucky in the way that we can just mail in our form to get our new sticker for our license plates every year. They used to charge an extra 50 cents handling fee. I'd be willing to pay MUCH more. 50 cents is a bargain. I don't think they even charge extra for that any more. So our tags expire this month. With Pete getting a new car we would have to visit the DMV.

Pete got it inspected and then it was up to me to get it transferred to us. Pete came home early a little over a week ago so I decided I would attempt to go the DMV without 4 kids. What was I thinking? I had 3 tag-a-longs. I went to the DMV right after lunch time. I figured the 12-1 hour was very busy but after lunch maybe it would die down some. So we get there at about 1:15. I go in, push the button on the screen to get a ticket. The wait time is 1 hour and 23 minutes. We walk back out!

DMV take 2.... they open up at 7:30. I wake up at the crack of down to get down there to hopefully be one of the first people in, and out, of there. I arrived there at 7:15. There was a long line already. I decide to wait anyway. I had about an hour and a half before Pete had to leave for work. I was number 20 in line!

I wait. Finally my number is called. I got my license renewed but could not complete the transfer of the car to our names. Or our Trust name actually. I needed a Power of Attorney since Pete's name was on the title as 'sold to'. grrr. Fine. I get the needed paper work and leave.

DMV take 3 ... Next day I wake up at the crack of dawn again. Get there at the same time and was number 23 in line. At least I was prepared and stole Max's DS before I left so I played on that while I waited. Go in, wait. I was called up and got it all taken care. I had every thing I needed. YAY!! Not as bad as I expected.

When I got my van transferred (about 3 years ago) to our names it took me 3 or 4 tries. They were picky about every single detail. The insurance cards I brought in started the end of that month (they were our new cards) so they would not count those. I had to get our current cards even though they expired within a week or so. It was such a pain. SO this time I had our old cards, new cards and a letter from insurance stated it was covered. I also had our trust paper work with the trust name on it. I forgot to check to see if they had that right... I guess I better go check and hope I don't have a 4th DMV visit. I had the title, the inspection sheet, our renewal notice for the old car and my check.

But I am done with the DMV for now. And I am glad I only have to deal with them when we buy new cars. I'm lucky I could go before Pete left for work and didn't have to drag 4 kids in with me to wait, wait and wait. I'm sure we would all be frazzled if I had to do that!

BTW-- Today is Pete's birthday!! Happy 21st Birthday to him.....Ha Ha Ha!