Happy weekend

The kids think it is too funny when I put a t-shirt on Baby....

I don't think Baby was a fan.

Have a great weekend.

Baby bunnies... again

Rabbits must like our yard.  We do have bird feeders out and don't mind when the squirrels and rabbits visit.  In fact, I throw veggies and fruits out there for them.We love watching all our "wild life."  Which is just birds, squirrels and rabbits by the way. :)

Baby is too old to go down steps anymore so she never goes out in the back yard to stink it up like dog.  Here is baby on her 19th (yes 19th!) birthday.

Well she never uses her dog house anymore so something else decided to.  I was going to clean it all out and move it to the deck for Baby.  I pop open the lid/top and find a freshly made nest.  Itty bitty baby bunnies were in it.  They were just born too!  I didn't take pictures like the last time.  I took pictures one day, when they were about 13 days old.  I knew it would not be long and the cute little things would be gone.

 

I know, so cute, right?  Well about 3 days later or so they left the nest. We did see one 2 days later hiding out under some over grown lettuce.

The kids LOVED checking on the babies everyday.  I am hoping the bunnies decide to hang around our yard and come visit our feeders.

First post of photo overload :)

Lots of stuff has gone on since I really have posted anything on here.  If you're on Facebook I more than likely see you there. This post will be a general overview of the last few months and about me.


Remember I said I got a lady bug tattoo at the end of last summer? It didn't heal correctly, well at least not evenly.  Here it is on day 2. Super red and puffy.  I could feel my foot jiggle as I walked... yuck! 

 

 So after it completely healed (which felt like it took forever) I had it touched up.  OUCH!!  The touch up hurt so much more.  I think because I wasn't all super excited about it.  But my lady bug was all spotty and missing the 'grippers' on its legs plus a couple of the legs were faded.  Here it is right before my touch up.

 

I don't have any after pictures. sorry.  But it looks the same without being so spotty.  The legs look better and I'm happy with it.  My friend decided to get a foot tat as well after seeing how cool mine was ;)  She got a  butterfly. I went with her and I think she would agree that foot tattoos hurt like heck!  I think hers turned out really well.

It has been one year since I started MMA.  I love doing it.  Pete and I do the karate class together twice a week and I do the jujitsu class by myself ( well, w/o Pete) twice a week.  On Saturdays is a mixed class with kids and adults.  So Sam, Joe and I sometimes do that together.  Joe just doesn't have his heart in it yet.  Sam also loves taking the classes.  Even after a year of taking classes I feel like I barely know anything.  There is just SO much to learn.  There are lots of Japanese terms used during class so I have also learned some of that as well.  Sam has too but I still try to study those with her during our schooling. 

See this lovely bruise?

That was my thigh around Christmas time.  We do different types of conditioning.  This one was from Sensei's shin.  No, he wasn't trying to bruise me up, I just bruise rather easily.  And trust me, this picture does not do it justice!

Really though, the classes are fun and the teacher is awesome. Great teachers make all the difference in the world.

Speaking of teachers... I finished up homeschooling Sam for grade 3.  Next year I will be homeschooling her for 4th grade, Joe for 2nd grade and Ike for Kindergarten.  However, Ike will be enrolled in the K12 program so it is considered public school but at home.  Teaching reading and all the basic stuff kindergartners learn these days kinda scared me.  So I'm trying this out.  Everyone I know that is enrolled in it really like it.  We'll see.  I may love the structure or I may hate it since I am used to doing my own thing with Sam.

At Joe's parent teacher conference back on October the teacher asked me how I felt about keeping Joe in 1st grade again.  I told her probably not.  He is very smart but just a little immature.  He is one of the youngest in his class if not the youngest. He was struggling with reading and writing. Spelling and Math he is awesome at and it seems to just come naturally to him.  So fast forward to the last month of school....

The speech therapist had been seeing Joe most the year but unoffically... as in he did not have an IEP.  The SLP decided speech would be good for him.  So with about a week and a half left of school I had an IEP meeting for Joe.  School did not know at the time that Joe would not be returning next year.  I didn't want to be screwed out of speech time he would be getting.  For district testing at the end of the year Joe had a 95% in Math, 91% in spelling and reading above grade level.  And they wanted to hold him back?  Could you imagine how bored Joe would have been?  Joe would act out in class the way it was (which is why they wanted to hold him back).  Could you think about how bored he would be and how much more acting out he could do?!  However, after I told them no at the conference they never brought it back up with me.  I loved his teacher but we'll do something different next year.

In July we are going to Alaska.  The kids are really looking forward to this.  I get asked every single day if we are going on the plane 'this' day.  Pete's parents drove their RV up there and staying the summer.  The kids and I will be flying out in July and staying for 2 weeks.  I think it will be super fun.  I am dreading flying with 4 kids by myself with all our luggage.  Pete's parents got each kid their own carry on bag for Christmas  in attempt to make it easier and cheaper to fly out there.

I feel like I have written A LOT already.  Be on the look out for more pictures to come.

preparing for photo overlaod

I know this blog has been severely neglected!  So I have been getting some pictures ready to post.  Now I have to get the time to get ON my blog.  To tide you over I have a funny one I'll post right now...

I'm not sure what Joe was doing here.  But it looks like he is peeing like a dog!  More than likely that is what he was trying to do.  Goof-Ball!!

Sam-AKA- my accident waiting to happen child

Sam really is my accident proned child! Last week, on Monday, we were playing in the back yard. Ike and Sam were swinging. Sam was swinging high and then would jump out of the swing. You know, like every kid does! Well at 12:30 she swinging very high and jumped out, landed, fell over and rolled. I saw the whole thing. I knew instantly her arm was broken. So I called to her not to move. I helped her put her arm across her stomach and told her to hold onto her wrist. The break was right above the elbow. I called Pete at work and asked if he could come home. He works very close by. We went to our doctor office since they can do broken bones and that way we aren't paying the insanely high priced co-pay. They said they could fix her up unless it was in a certain spot (sub something or other... technical name :)) So they took Xrays of her arm and shoulder (she said her shoulder hurt too). Unfortunately the break was in that one spot that would require hardware. We then had to go to Downtown Children's Mercy hospital. The doctor had called ahead and they were concerned about vascular problems. That is why we couldn't go to a closer place.

So we get checked in and then she gets an IV and start getting pain meds. Finally she gets surgery along with 3 pins. She got to go home that same night. It was still a LONG day. we got home about 9 that night.




She requested a red cast. She got it but they then wrapped it in that blue stretching bandage stuff. They split the cast on both sides to allow for swelling (which I'm thankful for... and wish she had that done 5 years ago when she broke her arm). Yesterday we went for her first follow-up. The Xray looked fine. The bone still wasn't straight but the dr said it looked good. I'll take her word for it. We go back in 3 weeks to get the pins out. It sounds rather easy... we'll see! At the ER/OR they said they take the cast off, pull the pins out and recast it. However, yesterday the Dr said they take it all off and leave it off. No more cast. They want her moving her arm as much as possible. So she will have her cast on for only 1 month! It was a rather bad break even. They called it a class or grade 3. Something like that. it was scale of 1-3. 3 meaning it was far from where the bone should be. By the time she finally was going back to surgery you could see where the bone was wanting to poke through her skin. It was getting bruised pretty good as well.

It hasn't slowed her down too much though. Except she had to stop martial arts (karate/judo/ju jutsu), gymnastics and piano for a little bit. Also not so much fun at the park where only climbing and swinging toys are available.


She lost a tooth the day after she broke her arm.. it was pretty loose.

Max

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

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

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

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

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!!