Give me a few of your...

Alright, so I'm trying to find some new interesting good blogs to read!  Every time I click that "next blog" link at the top I get some stupid blog in another language or I get an error message.

So tell me...

What are some of your favorite must read blogs???

Come on, don't be shy!

Hey It's Ok Tuesday!

I got this idea from Amber.  She has written on her blog:

I got this idea from Glamour magazine. They have a section called Hey, It’s Okay and will list a bunch of things to be okay about. I think I’m going to do this every Tuesday now. You're welcome to join in and do something like this on your diary.

So I'm doing it with her this week!

Hey It's Ok....

• To not be able to wait to get your kids off to school each morning.
  
• To not be a coffee drinker, yet when you buy a Keurig suddenly you can't stop drinking the stuff!
  
• To tell your children to go bother daddy you're on the computer!
  
• To wish it was summertime so you could send the kids off to grandmas for a few weeks
  
• To enjoy going to the gym because it gives you "me" time.
  
• To not like the show LOST even if everyone online seems to talk about it all the time.
  
• To secretly enjoy keeping up with celebrity gossip
  

Feel free to join up and participate in It's Okay Tuesday also!

A Scrapbooking Morning!

A few weeks ago I was going through my scrapbooks and realized just how far behind I had fallen.  I was so upset with myself.  I LOVE scrapbooking and can't help but smile when looking through the scrapbooks of the boys growing up and our family vacations and outings.  I vowed to start getting caught up on my scrapbooks and ran to the store that evening to get some stuff to do some pages.

Ok, ok, so that was about 2 weeks ago!  Yeah I bought the stuff and then it sat there in the bag without being touched.  I just couldn't find the time to do any scrapbooking!  Last night I decided to change that!  I'm starting with recent activities and then I'll do an old page or two inbetween all recent pages.  I will get caught up!

So here are the pages I've done between last night and tonight!

Now I'm out of paper, and have to run to the store to get more.  But I'm happy to be back in the swing of it.

I Heart Faces Week 13 (2010)

This week’s theme is Dramatic B&W. We are looking for B&W photos that are dramatic, sensational and/or moody in the way they are presented.

This picture is of my youngest son when he was about 3 months old.  Looks like he's taking out some rage on his play toys!

Head on over to iheartfaces for some more wonderfully dramatic Black and White Photos!

A lesson to always use the strap!

So this morning I was on the computer, doing my usual first thing in the morning things.  The boys were in the toy room playing on the Wii.  As I was checking emails I hear this loud "BOOM" then my oldest son let out this scream.

Of course I jump up and went running into the toy room.  All I was hearing was "I didn't mean it!" "Daddy is going to spank my butt so hard" and "It was an accident! I promise!"

I turn around in the toy room and saw .........

*gasp* *dies*

Yep that would be the wall mounted flat screen TV in the toy room!

The boys were playing Wii and Aidan wasn't using the remote "strap" and when he threw the ball "bowling" he somehow let go of the remote and it went flying straight into the TV!

I thought my husband was going to flip a lid.  He knew it was an accident though, so there wasn't to much punishment.  But omg!  Now we'll have to somehow replace that TV.

Let this be a lesson to always use the wrist strap with the wii remotes!!

*This post is linked up to Your Life, Your Blog*  Check it out!

Mama says No!

That is my youngest sons favorite saying.  Whenever he doesn't want to do something, or whenever you ask him to do something he'll say "Mama says No!"  My husband looked at me the other day and said "You really need to stop saying no!" LOL

I bring this up because my mother in law was just on the phone with my kids and on her turn talking to Avery they were talking about using the potty. This was their conversation:

MIL: "Are you using the potty yet?"
Avery: "Mama says No!"
MIL: "Mama says you can't use the potty?"
Avery: "yeah!"
MIL: "are you fibbing?"
Avery: (more forceful this time) "Mama says NO!"
MIL: "I don't think mama says you can't use the potty"
Avery: "yeah!"

I was laughing so hard!  Can you believe he's blaming me for him not using the potty?  LOL!  I told Avery to tell her how he has a potty.  He then proceeded to take the phone into his room and said "Potty see" and then put the phone in front of the potty! LOL  I told her he was showing her his potty through the phone.  He then said "Mama hold phone, I pee" and handed me the phone and sat on the potty.  I said "you have to take your diaper off first!"  He said "nooo!"  I said "well then all you're doing is peeing in your diaper!" He said "mama said no!" I said "I did not say no, I said yes!"  He repeated "Mama said no!"

*headwall*

I don't think this boy will ever use the potty!   Especially if mama keeps saying no! LOL

Letters of Intent!

Linking up with Julie again over at Foursons for this Friday's edition of Letters of Intent! Go check out more "letters of intent" by clicking the picture!

Dear 8 year old son,

I do not understand this whole getting up at 5am thing.  Sometimes you're up as early as 4:30am! This is insane.  Surely you must realize this. It also doesn't make for a very nice day for us.  By the time you get home from school you are a complete and total terror.  You spent 2 hours last night after dinner crying because it was to late for you to go to a friends house.  Towards the end of your tantrum you just kept repeating "I'm just so tired."  If you didn't get up at that god awful time in the morning you wouldn't be!  Why you feel the need to not close your eyes again once you wake up and go back to sleep is beyond me.  For the sake of my health and your life you may want to rethink this though.

Your loving mother

Dear warmer weather,

Could you please come back and grace us with your presence?  It was very rude of you to show yourself for almost a week and get everyone all excited and then disappear.  I brought out all the spring/summer clothes and everything!  Do you know how hard it to tell tell your kids they can wear shorts for a few days then tell them they must go back to jeans and long sleeves?!  Yeah, isn't very pleasant.  I realize it's only the end of March, but once you show up, you really shouldn't go away.  Mean!  Just plain mean!

Warm weather loving person.

Dear Junk Food

Why must you taste so good?  Please make yourself disgusting. 

Lady who is trying desperately not to eat you

First Dental Visit!

Avery had his first dental visit this morning.  When I called to make his appointment I called the pediatric dentist my older two boys see.  I told them that Avery has been diagnosed with severe speech apraxia, sensory integration, and motor planning with some possible low tone in his face.  I asked if they would be able to see him or if I should call someplace else.  They assured me that they would be able to deal with him and said it would be best to bring him in to the office first thing in the morning as that is their least busy time and the office is quieter.  I told them I would bring him as soon as I dropped the older boys off at school.

This morning Avery woke up in a foul mood.  I immediately thought this was not going to be pretty.  When I told him we were going to the dentist he started yelling "Noooooo!"  When we dropped the boys off at school and didn't head back towards the house he started yelling "Nooooo!" again.  The closer we got to the dental office the less he started fighting me.

We pulled into the parking lot and he jumped out of the car and headed inside without any problem.  He went right into the office and I checked him in while he played at the toys.  When we were called back he started grabbing at my legs saying "mama eww" (mama you). I told him I would go with him and we walked to the back.  He climbed into the chair and the hygienist came in.  She was so good to Avery, even while he turned his head to pretend she wasn't there.  She had him pick out a toothbrush by showing him the ones they had and letting him point to which he wanted since he can't tell her.  She turned on the movie Cars for him to watch while he was there.  She explained everything she was doing and showed him everything on his hand (which he tolerated really well) before she did anything.  He did so so so good.  I was so proud of him.

He let her brush his teeth with the toothbrush he chose. 

Since he handled that so well she decided to try x rays on him.

He handled the x rays just as perfectly as he did the brushing.  At that point the dentist came in to check out his teeth.

Again I was so proud of him.  He tolerated her fingers in his mouth, and all the instruments without any problem.  The dentist took me out of the room and told me how well he was doing and had basically asked if I was sure the diagnosis was correct LOL.  She told me how when they hear a child has a diagnosis of sensory integration they kind of do some special preparations of deep breaths and stuff before taking him back.  I said "oh deep breaths so you don't want to strangle him?"  We both laughed, and then I told her how I was completely and totally expecting nothing to get done and him to have a complete meltdown.  I explained how I have been told a lot of his sensory issues and other things are due to the Apraxia.  He can't control his speech, so he tries to control his environment because it's something he can control.

His front two top teeth need crowns (he broke them at some point, so they have a small chip missing.) but other than those he has absolutely no other problems.  Because of his issues and age the only way to do the work would be to put him under general anesthesia at the hospital and do the work.  The dentist said it was completely up to me, but she didn't feel we should put him through something so traumatic unless we really had to.  I completely agreed.  She prescribed him some MI paste which I have to put on his top two teeth twice a day.  He is also going to be going back every 3 months for a fluoride varnish treatment.  We are hoping that these things will prevent any cavities from forming and slow down the progress of anything that has already started.  Should there come a time when we have to do something then we'll go the hospital route.  If this stuff works then hopefully it will hold us off long enough until he can tolerate having the work done in the office.

So yay for a good first dental appt!!

What's Meant to Be...

I received an email yesterday from the company I had the interview with.  The email said they would not be offering me a position.  This irked me for a few reasons.

1.  Are you really going to tell me no in an email?  I think that's kind of rude!  I mean I took the time to talk to you on the phone for over 30 minutes, and went in the same day for an interview.  Then I get a "no thanks" in an email?
2.  Why not?!  You sure made it sound like it was almost a sure thing while I was talking to you, and even told me about how the next step would be a shadow shift.  Why tell me that, and act like that and then tell me you aren't going to hire me?  You could at least give me a reason!  To say in the email "we were very impressed with your skills and experience." and then to say "unfortunately we aren't going to be offering you a position." is like saying "you're perfect, but no."  It just doesn't make sense.

But I guess it's meant to be.  Just means I'll have more time this summer for the pool and fun.  I was concerned about how I would do everything anyway, so this just means it's for the best.

I went to the gym last night and did my 20 minutes on the elliptical, then did the weight machines and then another 20 minutes on the bike.  I was so proud of myself.  I really could have stayed longer, but I knew I had to get home since it was already just about 10pm and I knew hubby had to go to bed. When I walked through the door I told my husband how I had added 20 minutes on the bike to my workout.  You want to know his response?

"I probably still burned more calories then you."  He then proceeded to show me "before" and "after" pics of him.

I seriously almost started crying.  The tears welled up in my eyes and I held them back.  Yes he has lost more weight then me.  But he isn't eating!  He's seriously taking in maybe 1100 calories a day.  He has a fruit smoothie for breakfast, a protein shake for lunch, and then he has dinner (which usually consists of a small piece of chicken or meat, and a cup or two of a veggie.)  I keep telling him that yeah, he's lost more weight then me, but as soon as he starts actually eating again it will all come right back.  Still doesn't make it hurt any less with the lack of support I'm getting and the comments he's making.  I mean seriously, how hard would it have been to say "great job!" or "that's awesome!" when I told him about adding an extra workout in?  So thanks dear.  Thanks a lot for the support.

So as you can tell yesterday wasn't a very good day for me! LOL  Here's to hoping today is better!

So excited! Thank you!

One of my best blogging buddies gave me this award!  Please go check out MommyLovesStillettos.  She's an awesome mom and and even better person.  Go check her out, I promise you'll love her just like me!

The rules that go along with this award are that I have to tell you seven things about me and pass this on to seven Beautiful Bloggers!  So here we go...seven random facts about me :)

1.  I have a bagel and fat free cottage cheese every morning without fail.  It is my must have to start my day right!

2.  I adore being outside when the weather is nice.  I'll take the kids to the park, shopping, the lake, etc just to have an excuse to be outside.

3.  I really want a Keurig! I had a cup of french vanilla coffee out of my son's speech therapists office last week and since then, I've been lusting for one.  And I don't even drink coffee!

4.  I really dislike people who always have to "one up" you.  If we're talking about my workout at the gym and they say how they did 15 min more than me, or they burned however many more calories then me.  It's the quickest way to have me avoid you at all costs!

5.  I'm always the youngest mom at school functions.  It makes me feel like all the other moms are looking at me as that "teen mom" which I so am not!

6.  I'm completely addicted to Diet Pepsi. Diet Coke could never compare.

7.  I haven't spoken to my mom in almost 3 years, and although I personally don't care anymore, part of me really wishes she would just be involved in my kids lives.  The other part of me thinks they're better off without her.

Giving this award to only 7 bloggers is hard!  Everyone I read is just so great.
Now the 7 bloggers I give this award to are:

• Airing My dirty Laundry one sock at a time 
• Foursons
• Live. Laugh. Pull your hair out
• Mommy Madness
• Rachel's Ramblings
• The Chronicles of a Veteran Kindergarten Teacher
• Wolfe Lair Tales

Go check them all out! They're great!

The Interview

A week or two ago I applied at a local urgent care facility for a position as a receptionist.  I wasn't really expecting to hear anything since I've been a stay at home mom for 9 years now.  I mean it's hard enough to get a job for people with experience and college degrees.  Who's gonna hire someone who has been in the workforce for almost a decade?!  I received a message on my home machine last wednesday from a lady who said she was with the HR department at the urgent care and would like to speak to me regarding the position I applied for.

After hearing the message I started thinking.  Do I really want to get a job?  I have 3 "young" boys at home, one of which has weekly therapy and is about to start preschool.  My husband makes decent money.  I mean yeah we struggle sometimes, but who doesn't right?!  Getting a job will most likely throw my husband and I into a higher tax bracket.  Paying more taxes is something I really don't want to do (who does?!).  I decided I would not call back right away, and think more about it.  I had put my availability down for evenings so it would keep me from having to pay childcare, I would still be here to get the boys off to school and able to take my youngest son to therapy appts. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do it.  I could definitely use a break from the kids a couple nights a week.  I could use some money that is "mine".  Getting a job now would make it a lot easier then saying I'd been out of the workforce for 10, 15, 18 years.  I'd get my foot in the door in a medical setting, and be able to pay for the classes to move up in the actual field I'm looking to get into.

Thursday afternoon I called her back.  I was told by the lady that answered that she was on the other line. She took a message for her and said she would give her the message and call me back.  I didn't get a phone call thursday.  Friday morning I figured she would call and I waited on her call.  When she hadn't called by 3pm I decided to try her again.  This time she answered the phone and I told her I was returning her call.  She said "Oh yeah! Unfortunately I can't talk right now." and then either we got disconnected or she hung up on me!  I told my husband I would not be calling her back.  I said to myself obviously it wasn't meant to be.

This morning I got a phone call and saw the number on the caller ID was hers.  I answered the phone and she apologized for not calling back friday and said she was really busy.  She spoke with me for a while and when she asked about my previous experience she said "I see you've been doing the most important job in the world for the last 9 years or so."  The way she said it made me feel really good.  I felt like she wasn't looking down on me for being out of the workforce for so long!  We spoke for a while and then Avery started acting up. She said "I hear your little boo bear in the background, he reminds me of mine."  I laughed and then she asked if I could go in for an interview this afternoon.  I was like "This afternoon? Uh ok,"  She said "ok show up in business attire at 4pm."

After hanging up I called hubby and said how I had an interview this afternoon and could he make sure he was home on time.  Then as I was thinking about it I said "Business attire?? I don't have any of that!"  I mean a stay at home mom doesn't have any of that!"  I immediately ran to Target and got a long dress and a sweater type cover up for the shoulders.  Then realized "uhh I need shoes to go with this!"  So of course I had to stop and get some heels.  I came home and got in the shower and got ready to go.  As I walked out the door for my interview I thought to myself "It's been so long since I've worn heels I'm either going to fall flat on my face or I'm going to break my ankle!"

The interview went really well.  He seemed really nice, and didn't mention anything negative about me not working for the last 9 years.  He said the next step in the process would be a shadow shift, where I would show up for a shift and just shadow someone all night.  After that I would have another interview and then that would be that.  He said I should hear something by Wednesday if they decide to have me do a shadow shift.

I left feeling pretty good about it.  I guess we'll see.

Here's to my first interview in almost 15 years!  And here's to me not crying if I get the job and I have to leave the kids each night.

I heart Faces - Week 12 (2010)

Another week of entering the I ♥ Faces theme!  The theme this week is "angles". 


For this week's photo challenge, we are focusing on unusual angles. Stand higher than your subject, lay on the ground, move to the side, tilt your camera while you are shooting...do what you need to do to give your photo a uniqueness of it's own. A unique angle is what this week is all about.

Here is my entry for this week.  I was standing above my son as he was jumping onto a tube that my dad was holding in the river.  I love this photo.

Be sure to check out IheartFaces and see all the incredible angles used in photos!

My Model Apraxic Kid

My youngest son has speech therapy on Friday mornings.  Yesterday we decided to try a new way of therapy and have me stay out of the room while he was getting his speech therapy. His therapist and I had been talking and we felt that he kind of uses me as his "safety".  I am the one who understands him, I know what he wants, I am the one who tells other people what he is trying to say when they don't understand him.  Because of this whenever she would ask him to do something that was hard for him, or that he couldn't do he would cry "no! mama!" and come over to me.  If she was asking him to attempt a word he could refuse and just climb up on my lap.  If she didn't understand what he was saying, instead of trying again to say it, he would look at me.  Because of all these reasons (and the fact that it's SO hard for me to watch him struggle the way he does with his Apraxia we decided maybe if I stay out of the room there would be less crying, less meltdowns, less tantrums.  If it didn't work we would re-evaluate.

So yesterday we got to the therapists office and I walked Avery back into the room and then after a minute I told Avery "I'll be right back baby, I'm going to be right out there." and the therapist said to him "mommy is going to step out for a minute."  I was totally expecting Avery to meltdown and refuse to stay without me there, but he did great with me leaving!  I walked out to the waiting room and made myself a cup of coffee and pulled out my iphone and started playing bejeweled and checking my facebook.  I texted with my sister a little bit and as I was doing all that I was listening to them in the room.  They were laughing and playing and all I heard was giggles and play going on.  No crying, no tantrums, not even a single scream of "NO!"

At one point Avery and the therapist came out and I heard her say "there's the potty, hold on I'll go get mommy."  When she told me "he said he has to go potty" I told her "He's a liar! He doesn't use the potty!" LOL  I asked him if he peed in his diaper and he said "no", I asked if he pooped, and he said "no!"  I looked at the therapist and said "see, he's a liar!  He just wanted to see if I was still out here!" LOL

After the hour long session, the therapist came back out and told me to come back to the room.  When we got into the room she looked at me and said "What a difference!"  She told me there were no tantrums, no screaming, no crying."  I told her how I didn't hear any and how happy I was.  She told me he was the perfect kid without me in the room.  I told her obviously that's just what we're going to have to do from now on.  Obviously having me in the room is more of a hinderence then a help for him.  He's using me instead of trying to do the exercises and therapy.

I then asked her for her opinion on the preschool situation. I asked whether she thought he should go to the developmental delayed preschool or whether I should put him in a normal "typical" preschool.  She told me that she feels Avery would do very well in a normal preschool.  She said he is very smart, and he plays so well in a sharing way.  She told me that you can tell he has older brothers and that his play skills are very much developmentally on schedule. She told me that it would really depend on which preschool the county places him in as to whether he should go there or to a normal preschool.  She told me that the county would place him based on where he falls with the evaluations and assessments they did.  She told me that when we get his placement I should ask to see the classroom and the children in the class.

"You'll know just walking into that classroom if that's where he belongs, or if that is not the right place for him" she told me.

She told me "Avery is the model apraxic child!" She went on to say that she is amazed at him in the fact that he is only apraxic. She told me that there is nothing wrong with Avery, he just has Apraxia. She said his receptive language is so on target and he really gets his point across with what he wants non-verbally.  If you don't understand him he points, acts out what he's trying to say, shows by pictures, etc, until you know what he is trying to say.

I asked her about Augmentive Communication Systems and if she thought it would be something to look into for him.  She said she believes he would do very well with a communication system and she really feels it would facilitate his speech.  Although, she doesn't think it is something to look into for home right now.  These systems are thousands of dollars and she feels that we shouldn't be spending that kind of money on something for the house right now.  She said once he gets into preschool she would work with the preschool to get him one he can use while at school.  She said that maybe one of the cheap systems (like the tap to talk for the nintendo DS, or proloque2go for the iphone) would be ok for him for the house or for like when he goes to grandmas.  But she thinks it would be easier to get the school system to agree to one for the school then it would be for the insurance to cover one for the house.

So his speech appt went very well yesterday!  Now I don't know if him being a "model apraxic child" is a good thing or a bad thing LOL, but I can't imagine my life without him!

GMYBS- Give Me Your Best Shot!

Give Me Your Best Shot  is simply a fun way to share your favorite shot from the week. What has inspired you? Made you smile? What emotions, personalities, and details have you caught? It is not a photo contest or critique, but a way to look back on your week with a few friends.

My best "Shot" for the week is this one of my son Avery trying so hard to blow a bubble.  He has Speech Apraxia, so it's difficult for him to move his lips, tongue, etc in the correct way to actually "blow".  Most of the time he ends up "blowing" up my face, but that doesn't stop him from trying!!

Perfection!

I have another photo that I took this week that I really like also.  This picture is of my niece and my son Avery at the park.  They are 3 months apart (Avery is older) and they really are best friends :)

So what was your Best "shot" this week?!

Head on over to Better In Bulk to see more shots this week!

Just another manic.....Wednesday?!

I had a really hard time sleeping last night.  I really don't know why.  I guess I just couldn't shut my brain off cause I finally went upstairs to bed around midnight, but didn't actually fall asleep until almost 2am!  When I finally did fall asleep Aidan came into my room saying he had a nightmare.  I told him to go back to bed and just as I started to drift off again Avery woke up.  Gave him a drink, and tried yet again to go back to sleep.  Austin woke me up at 7am.  So totally not enough sleep for this mama!

The boys are all decked out in green today.  I remember last year on St. Patrick's Day I tinted their milk in their cereal green with food coloring.  Learned my lesson cause they wouldn't touch the stuff!  I made them green scrambled eggs too.  Again wouldn't eat!  So this year I didn't do anything! What sour sports they are! I surprised them today when I got out of the shower and put on a green shirt too.  I got a huge *gasp* and a "Mom's wearing green too?!?!"  Guess I should start wearing colors more often huh?! LOL

I think I'm going to spend today going through the boys clothes and switching out their winter clothes to their spring/summer stuff.  I also need to go up a size for Austin and Avery.  That should take all day!  Other than that I have some cleaning to do.  Tomorrow is grocery shopping day, and I'm supposed to be meeting up with  my sister and niece for lunch and a park play date with our youngests.  I'm excited about that. It's been a while since we've met up, and it's long overdue!

Remember that giveaway I mentioned in the last entry?!  I got another email last night confirming that it is going to happen and the item is on it's way to me!  So make sure you're following me so you don't miss out!! Just click that "follow" over there on the right hand side at the top!

I'm thinking my arms may just fall off

Last night I decided to hit the gym after the boys went to bed.  It's been about 2 weeks or so since I've gone and I knew it was time to get back up on that horse and continue with the "Blubber butt be gone".  My boys go to bed anywhere between 8pm and 8:30pm, and I got them off to bed and headed out the door.  Don't worry I didn't leave them alone, hubby did stay with them (although that's kinda like leaving them alone!).

I got to the gym and as I wondering again (each time I go I say the same thing) "why is there a million steps up to the doors of the gym?"  I mean seriously, by the time I get to the top I already can't breathe, so how is that supposed to make me want to go inside and work out?!  And then once I leave my legs are like jello and I'm scared to death that I'm going to fall all the way down those steps trying to get back to my car!

But I got inside the gym and caught my breath and then go on the dreaded elliptical.  After 20 minutes of pure hell I got off the elliptical dripping sweat and decided to also hit the weight machines.  I mean I was already dying so why not finish myself off right? After that I did the treadmill for a little longer and headed home.  When I pulled into the driveway and got out of the car I heard Avery (my youngest son) absolutely wailing.  I got to the front door and could hear him crying his poor heart out.  I opened the door and yelled for my husband.  He responded from the basement (playing the new final fantasy 13 game I agreed he could get) and I asked "did you not hear Avery screaming?" As I ran up the stairs to Avery's room. 

Avery was soaked in tears and immediately jumped into my arms.  I rocked him a little bit and gave him some juice and he laid back down in his bed. My husband came up and was like "no I didn't hear him."  Of course you didn't hear him, I mean I could hear him from the driveway, but noooo you couldn't hear him inside the house!  It reminded me why it's been 2 weeks since I went to the gym!

Now today my arms feel like they may fall off.  They are SO heavy and sore! LOL  I'm having myself a nice salad with a side of fruit for lunch and Avery is in the toy room watching Dora.  It's finally sunny outside and nice again (after 4 days of rain!) and I'm looking forward to walking up to get the boys from school and hitting the park for a little bit.

I was contacted by a company this morning wanting me to review their product and have a giveaway on my blog!  It took me by surprise but I'm really excited about it!  So make sure to follow my blog for your chance to win!  Just click that little "follow me" on the right side of the blog towards the top!

I heart Faces- Week 11 (2010)

I decided to do the I ♥ faces theme this week!  The theme this week is "Bundled Up" This week's photo should be all about snow, the cold, being bundled up, etc. Any way that you can show off the concept of cold and being "bundled up" will work for us.

Being that we just came out of "The Blizzard of 2010" recently I think it's the perfect time for this theme!

Today I'm entering a photo of my son Austin who was so bundled up during the snow that you couldn't even see his eyes! This photo was taken with my Sony point and shoot.  I'm dying for an SLR though!

 

Be sure to go by iheartfaces and check out more "bundled up" pictures!

Maybe I should start dressing my 8 year old!

Today my two older boys had dental appts.  My Oldest, Aidan was getting sealants put on his molars, and my middle son Austin was getting two little spots that are missing the enamel fixed.  Because of this dental appt they didn't go to school at their usual time this morning.

When we got to the dentist, we climbed out of the car and as we walked into the office building I noticed something that made me take a double take.  My oldest son was walking in front of me and in a quick look I saw that I could see his entire socks.  Not only could I see his socks, but I could see part of his legs above his socks.  It took a second for me to realize that he was wearing Austin's pants!!  I said to him "Aidan why are you in Austin's pants?" and he responded "They fit."  I said "They may fit, but the come halfway up your calfs!"  He shrugged his shoulders and I was kicking myself for not looking at him earlier before we left the house.  I mean do I REALLY need to help my 8 year old son get dressed??  Just as we were sitting in the dentists waiting room and I was saying to myself "I can NOT let him go to school like that! I'm going to have to take him home for him to change his pants." I noticed something else.

Do you see that??  Those are the shoes he decided to wear with those 3 sizes to small pants!  What in the world is wrong with my kid?!?! LOL  Now I just wanted to melt into the floor.  How embarrassing! People are going to think we're so poor we can't afford shoes or pants for him!  Gah!  I said to him "OMG Aidan what in the world are you wearing on your feet?"  His response (with a big smile) "My shoes."  I said "I can't believe you would wear those shoes out in public!  Your toes are completely out of the front of them!"  He shrugged and said "they're comfortable."  Sometimes I really wonder what my boys are thinking!

They did really well at the dentist and both boys got their work done with no issues whatsoever.  When we left the dentist I ran by the McDonalds to get the boys some lunch before taking them to school.  After getting them some lunch we ran by the house so Aidan could change his pants AND shoes!  And those shoes went right in the trash when I got home too!  While we were in here with Aidan changing the phone rang.  The lady said she was from the "Safe to School" line at the boys elementary school and she wanted to make sure I knew that Aidan and Austin were absent today and wanted to see if they were sick.  I told her "actually they are on their way to school right now! They had dental appts today."  She laughed and said she was glad to hear they weren't sick and I thanked her for calling to check in on them.

The older boys are now at school and I'm eating some subway before heading out to buy Aidan another pair of shoes so he has a spare.

*shakes head*   Crazy kids!

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

It's been raining here since early Friday morning. I do not like rain. It makes me really really lazy and doesn't give the boys any time outside to run any energy out. And being it's rained all weekend it basically means we've been stuck in the house all weekend.

So because of the boring circumstances LOL I'm posting pictures!  We went Roller Skating 2 weekends ago and the kids had a blast!

BTW, before looking at my pics, go on over to MommyLovesStilettos  and enter her giveaway!! Who couldn't use $50.00 in free stuff!

Avery in his skates!

Grandma and my sister Yvonne helping Avery skate

Look how tiny Avery's skates were!

My sister Yvonne, Austin, Avery, and Aidan taking a break from skating.

Yvonne and Aidan skating (sorry for the quality these are cell phone pics)

Austin and Daddy skating

Roller Skating graphic I had made.

Letters of Intent

This idea was brought to you by Julie it's Letters of Intent!

Dear Speech Therapist:
I don't care how many times you tell me it's ok.  I will never think it's ok to hold my son in a tight bear hug until he says "All done."  He has Apraxia.  He can't say "all done!"  Holding him in a bear hug while he's screaming and crying and flipping out isn't going to help him.  I'm sure it doesn't make him want to come back to you either.  Can you please just help him learn to talk without tramatizing him (and me)?

Thanks!

Signed
Lady who would love her son to be able to tell you "All Done"

Dear Hubby,
Get off your butt and spend some time with the boys.  They want to play basketball with YOU not me!  Here it is 11am on Saturday morning and everyone is awake but you.  What makes you think that you can sleep the day away while I deal with the boys?  Instead of sleeping you could be out doing something with the boys and spending time with them.  When they become dads (hopefully not for a LONG LONG time) I want them to actually want to spend time with their kids and do things as a family.  With you as a role model I don't think that's going to happen.  Family time isn't going to kill you.  I promise.

Signed
Your loving wife


Dear IEP team:

My son's first IEP meeting is coming up and I'm scared to death.  All I've heard is horror stories about IEP meetings.  Can you please be easy on me?  I'm not really sure what to expect and not really sure what I can and can not demand.  I'd just like my son to get the services he desperately needs with his diagnosis's.  I'm sure we can all get along and do what is best for my son.

Signed
A mom who only wants what's best for her son.

Dearest Oldest Son:

Can you PLEASE stop being so mouthy? I really don't appreciate it.  There is no reason to be so nasty and mean towards me.  I didn't do anything but ask you to stop punching your brother.  Next time you decide to backtalk me you may find a backhand across your mouth.  I'm sick of it and not sure how much more of it I'm going to allow before showing you just how serious I am.

I love you and realize you're 8 years old and think the world revolves around you, but soon you're going to revolve around the world if you keep it up.

Love
Your sick of the mouth mother.

The Midnight Urgent Care Visit

Last night before Austin went to bed he started complaining about his belly hurting.  I chalked it up to him trying to make an excuse not to go to bed.  I gave him a dose of Tylenol and put him to bed.  Around 10:15pm I went upstairs when I heard Austin crying.  By the time I made it to his room he was full fledged wailing in a fetal position.  I brought him a heating pad and laid in his bed cuddling with him for a few minutes.  He was crying so hard that I didn't want him waking Aidan (they share a room), so I took him into my room.  Hubby was already asleep, but woke up when we got in bed.  Austin was still screaming and in a fetal position. I asked him where his belly hurt and he pointed to the lower belly (below the belly button).   I asked him if it was an "I need to go to the bathroom" hurt or a "I'm going to throw up" hurt.  He said he didn't know.

After another few minutes of him screaming at the top of his lungs I went to pick him up to hold him in my lap.  The minute I moved him he screamed so loud I was literally deaf for a min.  I asked Roy what I should do and he talked about how if I went to the hospital they would have me there all night.  I said that I wasn't really thinking about the hospital but more along the lines of the Urgent Care that is open until midnight.  The reason I was so concerned is because when Austin was 6 months old he was hospitalized for 2 weeks with salmonella poisoning and seriously almost died.  So it really scared me the way he was screaming about his belly hurting.

I could tell Austin was bothering my husband since he was trying to sleep (oh poor guy!) so I took Austin downstairs to the family room.  He again screamed bloody murder as I moved him.  I asked if he wanted to go to the doctor and he said "maybe tomorrow." After a few more minutes of him crying he said "take me to the doctor"  So I ran upstairs and got my slippers and told Roy I was taking him.


At this point it was 11:15pm and I loaded Austin in the car and headed to the urgent care 5 minutes away.  When we pulled into the parking lot Austin was back to acting fine.  I asked him if his belly still hurt and he said "yes but not as bad."  UGH!  I was kinda irked that now that we were at the urgent care that he was better, but I took him inside anyway.


At 11:30 we were taken into a back room.  The nurse came in and took Austin's vitals and turned on The Little Mermaid on the little TV in the room.  Austin was watching the movie and eating a pedialyte popscicle that the nurse had given him.  The doctor didn't come into the room till 12:10am!!!  I was really getting mad at that point.  I kept thinking "This place closes at midnight. You'd think they would want to get us out of here!"


The doctor came in and asked a bunch of questions.  All of which the answer was "no."
"is he vomiting?"
"does he have diarreah?"
"any fever?"


He looked in Austin's eyes, ears, mouth etc, and then had him lay down and was feeling his belly.  Austin wasn't even moving or flinching.  I said to Austin "earlier you wouldn't even let me move or touch you, but now you're letting him press on your belly with no problem!"  The doctor told me Austin was constipated. I said "Is that what is causing the stomach pain?" and he said "oh yeah, I can feel it right here in his belly."  He then told me he wanted to do a rectal exam on Austin to make sure there wasn't a blockage or something that was causing the constipation.

Austin did really well during the exam and everything checked out normal.  We left the urgent care at 12:40am and came home.  When we got home I gave Austin some Miralax (on advice by the doctor) and then Austin climbed into my bed and we fell sleep not long afterwards.

This morning Austin woke up feeling fine.  He went to school like normal and has been fine ever since. Such a wasted trip that I'll get a nice little bill for soon.

The Preschool Dilemma

I've been really spending a lot of time thinking about the whole preschool thing for Avery.  After he phased out of Early Intervention we were forced to get the evaluations through the school system for therapy for him.  That's where the 4 hours of evaluations came in.  They've been testing his expressive and receptive language and giving him an educational assessment along with an Occupational therapy valuation and Physical therapy evaluation.  During all these tests and evaluations I've been thinking a LOT.

Is the developmental delay preschool right for him?
Should I put him in a "typical" regular preschool?
Should I look into a specialized language preschool for him?

One of the big reasons for this huge dilemma is the fact that I believe he's just as smart as a normal 3 year old.  I think intelligence wise regular preschool is the way to go.  It's the Apraxia that is holding him back.  But just because he can't communicate should we put him in a "slower" class?  Isn't that doing a disservice to him?  I want him to be just as challenged as any regular 3 year old. I don't feel like he should be held back because of his communication.

My fear though is putting him in a regular preschool will do him harm though too.  I'm afraid that if he isn't understood and isn't vocal with the teachers they will just push him aside and forget about him and let him just fall through the cracks.

But putting him in the developmental delayed preschool will expose him to children that are worse developmentally then him and hinder him instead of help him.  And what if the class doesn't challenge him enough and he ends up being bored and acting out?

I'm probably really over thinking it right?!  But I can't help it.  I don't know the right decision to make and I want to make the right decision.

Is there a right decision?

I asked my husband tonight "at what point during his IEP meeting do I say, "you know what, you can give him therapy but he isn't going to go to the preschool" or at what point do I say that the preschool is what he needs?"  The only response I got from him was "just do what you feel is right."  That's just it. I don't KNOW what is right!

Can I have someone make the decision for me?  It would really be so much easier.

And then maybe I wouldn't be sitting here thinking about it over and over, wondering if I'll ever make a decision and if that decision will be the right one.

It's begining to look a lot like SPRING!

I've been spending a lot of time at the park with the boys lately.  LOVING the fabulous weather we've been having!

4 hours worth of Evaluations

Avery has started having an evaluation for the school system to come up with an IEP for him.  We went to a first evaluation 2 weeks ago and the assessments and evaluation took 2 HOURS!  Anyone who has a 3 year old knows that there is no 3 year old in the world that will sit still for 2 hours while people ask questions and test them.  After about an hour and 20 min or so Avery stopped cooperating with them and we had to schedule a second testing day for them to continue.  Today was the day we went back.

We dropped the older boys off at school this morning and headed to the other elementary school (where the have the RECC (Regional Early Childhood Center) preschool).  This is the preschool that has the children with developmental delays and also your "typical" children.  We got to the school and signed in then had a seat in the office and waited.  After a few minutes we were taken back to the assessment room.  In this room the lady had Avery doing things that I guess somehow test where he is at educational wise.  Or how "smart" he is LOL.  She put 2 plastic cups on the table and then put a ball under one of the cups.  She then "switched" the spots the cups were in and asked him where the ball was.  He got it right probably 4 out of 6 times.  She then did an activity that reminded me of those "hidden picture" things.  She had a picture of some sort of "scene" and then pulled out some flash cards.  She then asked Avery to find the objects on the flashcards.  He had to search the picture scene and find a ball, bird, squirrel, ice cream cone, and teddy bear.  He spent a LONG time searching that picture scene and did find ALL of the objects!  She then did another activity where she took a little figurine and then put a napkin over it.  I guess to see if Avery would pull the napkin off to find the figurine (which he did!).  She hid the figurine in one hand then put the hands behind her back then brought them back out front and asked which hand it was in.  Avery got that wrong almost every time.

He was able to match objects (she held up a red square and asked him to point to what she had on the paper and he pointed to the red square).  He did it again with a blue triangle and yellow circle.  Although when she asked colors he got them wrong.  She put 3 objects on the desk (a shoe, a spoon, and a dog figurine) and then covered them and took one away.  She then asked him which one was missing. He got that right.
It was then that things started kind of going downhill.  We had already been there for an hour at that point sitting at a desk answering questions.  Then they started asking him "what is that" and holding up a picture of a dog.  Well I KNOW they wanted him to say "dog" but he's never said "dog" he's always just done a growl for dog.  He would growl and she would say "yes a he does bark, but what is he?" and he would growl again.  After a few times of asking he started getting mad at her and just started responding with "no!"  She held up a picture of a monkey and then said "can you say monkey?" and he said "ooo ooo eee ee" and she said "yeah, can you say monkey" and he yelled "NO!"  Then he kept wanting to climb in my lap and started to not cooperate anymore.  I told her that if he can't say the word he gets upset if he's asked over and over to do it.  I told her that he's never said "dog, monkey, car, cat, etc" and always just made the noise it makes.
They did more of the showing 4 pictures and asking "which picture has a boy waiting for a girl to come down the slide?"  "which picture has something you do at night?" "which picture has a boy with shoes on?" "which picture is something that flys?"  I kept telling Avery "we'll leave as soon as you answer this question!" and "ok just tell her which one flies".  Avery was SO done at that point.  We had been in the room for almost 2 hours at that point without a break and I said to the lady "can he take a break or something?" And she said we could go to the gross motor room (the OT room) and he could play while they finished asking me a few questions.  So we did that and he used the swing, and the ball pit, and the trampoline, etc, etc while they asked me questions.  "Does he ask for help when he needs it?"  "does he ask you questions?"  I told her "well he does, but it isn't like a full sentance.  It's more of a "juice?" or "outside?" and things like that.  So it's one word, but it's a question."  She asked me if he tells me what he wants.  I told her he does, but it's non verbally.  She asked if he has any seperation anxiety.  I said "Oh yes".

After the questions she told me that they were done, and the next time we saw each other it would be for the IEP meeting and that the meeting would be held soon because it had to be done by April 11th.  She said the meeting would be on a Wednesday or Thursday.  I told her that I was free anytime so just schedule it and let me know.

We left and got some lunch and now we're home.  A total of 4 hours worth of assessments and evaluations to get this IEP so that Avery can start at the preschool.
A preschool I STILL am going back and forth with on whether I want him going. *sigh*.

About My Boys!

Aidan:

Aidan turned 8 on February 15th. It's hard to believe that he's 8 already! I think back to when he was first born and back then I never would have guessed what he would be like at 8. He's so smart, and I'm being serious when I say that each and every paper he brings home from school says "wonderful" or "awesome" or is a perfect score. And still each and every time he whips it out of his backpack and says "100% mom!". It's getting really hard to keep being so excited about it! LOL I'm always like "woohoo!! Great Job Aidan!! That is so awesome!" and I wonder if he can tell that I am starting to force that excitement LOL. It's just I expect nothing less! LOL

We've started letting him stay up till 9:30pm now. He still has to go in his room with Austin at 8pm, but once Austin is asleep he can come back out if he wants to till 9:30. He does really well with it though and doesn't throw a fit when it's time for him to go to bed at 9:30. And even if we aren't paying attention to the clock right around 9:30 he'll say "alright I'm going to bed mom!"

The one "bad" thing I can think of with Aidan is his MOUTH! OMG the mouth on that boy is incredible! He is SO mouthy and it drives me INSANE! The other morning he was being really mean to Austin and I was telling him that he needed to stop and he turned towards me and with this nasty look on his face he said "You need to stop talking to me, cause I am NOT talking to you!" it seriously took everything in me not to smack him right across the mouth. I got up and told him he will NEVER talk to me like that again and sent him to his room. Roy then also yelled at him that he isn't to speak to me like that. He's just really got a mouth on him. I keep telling myself "it's his age" but boy he better grow out of it soon if he wants to live to see 9!

To end on a good note I will say that it really melts my heart to watch Aidan and Avery together. Aidan is SO protective of Avery and he really tries to play with Avery and just is such a great big brother to him. It really amazes me how I thought that Aidan and Austin being not even 2 years apart would be close, but that is SO not the case. Aidan and Austin can't get along to save their lives. They can't spend 5 min together before punches are being thrown. But Aidan and Avery where there is 5 years between them are just almost glued together. Aidan always makes sure Avery is included and honestly wants Avery around. Austin could care less about Avery and isn't very nice to him. So glad Avery has a brother like Aidan. I have a feeling he'll need him later in life.



Austin:

*sigh* What can I say about Austin?! He turned 6 on January 26th. He is SO typically your "middle child". Everything he does screams "middle kid". He's always complaining that Aidan got more than him of something, or that either Aidan or Avery is getting more attention, or is more loved or whatever. He tries SO hard to do anything and everything that Aidan does, and follows him around and wants to do anything Aidan does. But then when he gets in trouble for something it's either "but you let Aidan do it!" or "it wasn't me it was Avery!"

At the same time Austin is SUCH a cuddlebug. He'll climb up in my lap and just sit there for hours. I'm always cuddling with him when I'm sitting downstairs and it's kinda chilly and I tell him he's like a nice warm Aussie burrito and that he's keeping me warm. He's just such a cuddly, warm kid and I LOVE that about him. I just wish he was less "oh whoa is me no one loves me" and realized just how special he is just for being him!

In school we always thought Austin would be just the typical "average" student. Not exceptional, not poor, just average. And he's far from it! At his conferences we were told he's pretty much above grade level. He's doing really REALLY well in school! So proud of him for that!

I try to make time for each boy to go somewhere one on one with me or Roy, but it doesn't always work out so well. I need to work harder on that.



Avery:

Avery turned 3 on January 18th. Turning 3 made him "phase out" of Early Intervention and "phase in" to the school system. Which means we are now going through all these evaluations again for him to get services through the school system. He has his final "educational assessment" and the end of his speech assessment next wednesday the 10th of March.

So far we've gotten diagnosis's of "Severe speech apraxia, sensory integration dysfunction, motor planning problems, and low tone"

I've been thinking of trying to get him into Kennedy Krieger Institute with a developmental pediatrician down there to see if we can come up with a better way of treating him. But I just don't want him to be evaluated anymore. The poor boy has been evaluated to no end! I'm sure he now thinks anytime someone says to him "want to come play?" they are going to be testing him. It really makes me feel bad for him, and I wish it wasn't like this for him.

I've been thinking about getting Avery an AAC device (Augmentive Alternative Communcation device) Which is basically like a small hand held machine with pictures that he would press and it would say the word (or phrase). I really think it would help him be understood by strangers and especially if he starts at the preschool. We've been using the PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) for a few weeks now and he's doing really well with it! I just want something for when he's out and about with strangers and other children really.

We've started him on carnation instant breakfast once a day for his nutritional supplementation. With the little amount he eats the doctor wants to make sure he's getting all the vitamins and minerals he needs. Not that he's malnurished or anything LOL. Not at almost 41 pounds and 41 1/2 inches tall!

I guess we'll see how things progress.

An Introduction!

Hello. My name is Heather. In all honesty my legal name is Denise, but when I was born my mom and dad felt I looked more like a Heather so they called me by my middle name and have never used my first name. If you call me Denise I won't answer you. I've even told people who call on the phone and ask for Denise that they have the wrong number.

I'm an old 29 years of age. I can't remember my age most of the time and if asked it may take me a minute to tell you my age. I guess once you are older and birthdays aren't that important you really don't remember them.

My parents got divorced when I was ....wow...I don't even remember. I was young though, probably a young tween (11-13 years old) It was a very very nasty divorce. Complete with custody battles and everything. I still remember my dad waking me up in the middle of the night shoving a picture of a man in my face asking if I wanted to see my mom's new boyfriend. *shakes head* Real nasty divorce. I've survived though.
I have 3 true sisters. Then I have a 1/2 sister by my mom and stepdad and a 1/2 sister by my dad and stepmom. I also have a 1/2 brother by my mom and stepdad. I have 2 nephews and a niece thanks to my older sister. When the whole family gets together we have to rent out a restaurant practically!
I've lived in Maryland all of my life (save for a few short months (weeks?) that I lived in FL when my dad moved us there trying to take us away from my mom. I lived in PA for 5 years and am now back down in MD near where I grew up.  I'd love to completely move away one day, but I fear I'd miss my family something terrible.
My mom was never really the best mom. Don't get me wrong, she wasn't horrible, but she wasn't very responsible. She'd let us stay home from school whenever we wanted, didn't really care what we did or where we went. Just as long as we were home by curfew. I semi blame her for not graduating high school with my class. I had to take a class in summer school in order to graduate. Yes it was my fault, but what kid would go to school if they weren't forced to?!
I had a lot of fun in high school and miss it sometimes. Not necessarily the going to school part....just the fun I used to have while in high school.
I was a dental assistant/receptionist for 5 years before getting pregnant with my first son Aidan. I was 20 years old when that happened. I spent my 21st birthday pregnant and not able to drink (legally). I married my then boyfriend and Aidan's father when I was 3 months pregnant. I mean it was the right thing to do right?! Since then we've had 2 more boys. Yes that makes 3 boys total.
It really makes me mad the comments I can get when out in public with the kids. "Are they all yours?" uhh yeah, what do you think I did just picked up some random kids somewhere? "all boys huh?" what was your first clue? "Don't you want a girl?" Remind me next time to make sure I choose the right one at the store. I think the comment from my mom after my niece was born really topped the cake for me. I asked her why she went to see my neice but never came to see my youngest son. Her response? "he's just another boy...nothing special about him." Gee thanks mom.
I've been married for 9 years this June. It really doesn't seem like that long.
I've always written at another blog site. I've been blogging for almost 9 years, and in those 9 years I've met some awesome people. I wouldn't change that for the world. It's what keeps me around there really. I've had a bunch of friends move here though so I decided to give it a whirl.