Once a year the Primary (children's organization at church) puts on a program in the fall. The kids sing lots of songs, there's usually a theme and everyone has a part that they say into the mike.
Really, the parts are the best part if you're going for entertainment, especially if it's one of my kids. When Kate was four, she talked for three solid minutes. Now her actual part was maybe nine words but she took it upon herself to express herself. No one actually understood her, but she made it clear she was going to finish what she was saying.
It was great!
The twins are sunbeams this year, that's the youngest class when children graduate from the nursery. Toddlers move up the first Sunday in January after their third birthday. Since the twins were born December twenty first, boom, they were in primary the next week. Throw in their language delays then you realize what a challenge the primary workers have with the boys.
For reasons completely unclear to me, the primary rehearsed before Sacrament meeting. This means children are in their seats (except for saying parts and standing up to sing) for almost three hours when it's all said and done. That's way to much, especially for the little people. About twenty minutes before sacrament meeting started, the twins decided they were done. They hugged me, we got drinks, they hugged my in laws who came to see their grandchildren in the program.
A few minutes before starting, the Primary president came to round up the twins. Greg was up there only for a minute when an older woman (who can come across as cranky) carried Greg off the stand and delivered him to me while muttering "He can come back when he learns to control himself."
Really, there are only two choices, be upset and offended or recognize the humor at an adult being annoyed with a child for being, well, a child. I chose amusement. However I did want Greg to have the experience of saying his part, so I kept my eye out for a time to take him back up. Turns out my diligence was complete unnecessary. Greg walked up all on his own. Granted it was in the middle of Sacrament but I figured I'd cause my problems trying to catch him as he dodged young men carrying trays full of little cups of water.
Someone captured him up front and he apparently stayed amused long enough to say his part. He did fantastic! Actually all of the kids did. However Greg spent the rest of the meeting going back and forth between the stand and our row. I just let him and my MIL noted that he carefully avoided the cranky lady the rest of the service. *laugh*
The biggest surprise was Ean's absolute enthusiasm for singing! Luckily he really enjoys singing, and hopefully he can be a good influence on the men in the family that only sing "sometimes" *cough* *cough*
Yes Kent will be annoyed I called him on not singing in church but hey, it's my blog. :-)
And in all fairness, it was his mother that called him on it first today.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
The Power of LANGUAGE and the ensuing arguments
As with all of our children, speech has been a struggle. Well more acurately, speech with Jane, Kate and Ean has been a struggle. David and Greg have had language problems which due the abstract nature are much harder to understand and treat. Good clean articulation problems, man, I can do that! The language just not coming, or just not comprehending, I really have been at a loss on how to help them.
Really Jane had a bit of language too and it really impacted her learning. She still struggles with comprehension, especially when reading. She can read the words but not get a drop of meaning from a text. It makes school challenging to say the least.
I hope the twins don't have oncoming issues like Jane has but if they do, we'll do everything we can to help them, just like we do Jane.
My point in all this is to state that even though the twins are almost four language is really just emerging for them. Especially for Greg, projecting his wants and desires is a whole new world for him and it's exciting!!!
Along with the excitment is the confusion that results from two boys that don't have the best comprehesion and a limited ability to understand what's spoken to them. The results, even though it's frustrating for them, it's pretty funny for everyone else observing them. So their first big argument tackled with words and not pushing, shoving, biting or other forms of personal attack was on their names.
See, David knows his name is David and Greg knows his name is Greg. This actually was a concern for more as recent as four months ago. See they used their names interchangably not recognizing themselves as seperate individuals. Yeah, they got over that.
So much so they spent Thursday night declaring their seperate identies and getting mad their brother didn't understand. The dialog went pretty much as follows.
"NO, I DAVID!"
"NOoooo!!! I am Geg!"
"No No NO! I ih (is) David!"
Repeat repeat repeat for 10 minutes with escalating tone and anger and you pretty much get the whole picture.
*laugh*
I think it's pretty funny although I missed the exchange, it happened while I was work. The boys were kind enough to give me a private showing this am while waiting for the bus. This time instead of both stating facts they actually were fighting over seperate opinions! Cool, maybe they're evolving. :-) It was about the mini-van with one twin stating it was "Mommy's car" and the other saying it was "Daddy's car." As if the boys needed help, Ean tried to correct both of them. You know, cause there wasn't enough confusion that AM.
Of course the fun really begins now. As amusing as their exchanges are now, it won't take very long before they become very annoying. Throw in the their sibblings willingness to argue with three year olds, I'm wondering if I should buy more ear plugs.
The girls are both discharged from speech and have been for over a year but Ean is still in speech. So all three boys. Although the twin's language is challenging because language is a more difficult problem to deal with, Ean's speech teacher has a whole different problem even though his actual speech is very fixable.
She can't get him to stop talking long enough to correct what he says.
Life is fun. Kid do make it funner. lol
Really Jane had a bit of language too and it really impacted her learning. She still struggles with comprehension, especially when reading. She can read the words but not get a drop of meaning from a text. It makes school challenging to say the least.
I hope the twins don't have oncoming issues like Jane has but if they do, we'll do everything we can to help them, just like we do Jane.
My point in all this is to state that even though the twins are almost four language is really just emerging for them. Especially for Greg, projecting his wants and desires is a whole new world for him and it's exciting!!!
Along with the excitment is the confusion that results from two boys that don't have the best comprehesion and a limited ability to understand what's spoken to them. The results, even though it's frustrating for them, it's pretty funny for everyone else observing them. So their first big argument tackled with words and not pushing, shoving, biting or other forms of personal attack was on their names.
See, David knows his name is David and Greg knows his name is Greg. This actually was a concern for more as recent as four months ago. See they used their names interchangably not recognizing themselves as seperate individuals. Yeah, they got over that.
So much so they spent Thursday night declaring their seperate identies and getting mad their brother didn't understand. The dialog went pretty much as follows.
"NO, I DAVID!"
"NOoooo!!! I am Geg!"
"No No NO! I ih (is) David!"
Repeat repeat repeat for 10 minutes with escalating tone and anger and you pretty much get the whole picture.
*laugh*
I think it's pretty funny although I missed the exchange, it happened while I was work. The boys were kind enough to give me a private showing this am while waiting for the bus. This time instead of both stating facts they actually were fighting over seperate opinions! Cool, maybe they're evolving. :-) It was about the mini-van with one twin stating it was "Mommy's car" and the other saying it was "Daddy's car." As if the boys needed help, Ean tried to correct both of them. You know, cause there wasn't enough confusion that AM.
Of course the fun really begins now. As amusing as their exchanges are now, it won't take very long before they become very annoying. Throw in the their sibblings willingness to argue with three year olds, I'm wondering if I should buy more ear plugs.
The girls are both discharged from speech and have been for over a year but Ean is still in speech. So all three boys. Although the twin's language is challenging because language is a more difficult problem to deal with, Ean's speech teacher has a whole different problem even though his actual speech is very fixable.
She can't get him to stop talking long enough to correct what he says.
Life is fun. Kid do make it funner. lol
Friday, October 23, 2009
Really, why make vegetable stock in the middle of the night?
It's late, I'd rather be sleeping but I want to have some done. I'm trying a new recipe this weekend, a corn chowder that sounds just yummy but I need to have the stock done and there just won't be time tomorrow.
Oh I *could* have done it earlier, if I hadn't taken the work key to my friend, had to visit as she cleaned out her closet and I tried on clothes. What's a girl to do when a friend is willing and eager to share her wardrobe that longer fits??? And I can't be offended that they're to large for her and they fit me. See we've both been losing but since her trouble spots are different then mine, I get the clothes that no longer fit.
Then there was the trip to the store. I wanted some veggies and had brand new wic checks to use. Now I knew it'd be an experience since I haven't used the new ones yet and finally you can be fruits and veggies!! How awesome is that?! Each child is allotted six dollars per month and it has to be in one shot. No change is given, so choose wisely, any amount over needs to be paid for by the customer. So carefully picked out my veggies, with a huge pack of mixed peppers for $4.99 and a package of carrots for $.99 I figure I couldn't make it any easier. Put that on one check, and I had some grapes and a squash to put towards the other check.
Of course with the twins, I had two produce checks and planned on using them both tonight hence the careful choice of the first two veggies to simplify grocery shopping.
Well I knew checking out would be fun. Fred Meyer was swamped, lines extended well into the grocery aisles, a frantic manager trying to clear up traffic and keep the lines moving. It was really rather funny.
So I get moved into a newly opened line, I carefully put both checks down followed by my peppers and carrots, a W I D E space separating the peppers and carrots from the rest of the produce and then everything else. So the gal starts checking me out, I'm kinda spacing but then I look up and see she's run all my produce together into one order.
Okaaaaaay. I'm thinking, well that'S different but maybe you can deduct the produce from the whole order. I've never used the checks before and I flat out don't know. She then asks the neighboring cashier on what to press for the check, I'm thinking maybe she doesn't know after all? I think, well we will just have to see.
Yeah, she didn't know.
After she questions a smattering of coworkers the frantic manager comes over to help. I start to get annoyed. Not because it's crowded and she hasn't learned the ins and outs of the new check but because the checker kept saying "SHE'D like to know if SHE can run both checks through this order", like *I* was the one asking. I finally said to her "NO, Y O U are the one asking, I'm here shopping for groceries.
It's confirmed that each check needs to be it's own order (DANG, it'd be easier to subtract multiple checks!) and the manager gets a wide eyed, wild look as he tries to figure out how to fix my order. You have to keep in mind the wic check has already been processed so really the order was "set". I figure the rest of my groceries are going on food stamps anyway, so I asked for the unused check back so I can use it next week. The look of gratitude from the manager was downright embarrassing.
I did make a point of saying "Now you know you have to do each check in a separate order" while also pointing out that I had separated the veggies so she could do each check separately. She looked rather odd as she stated "that would have been easier". Really? Ya think? *laugh*
Well then there was the poor woman in the monster pick up that had stalled. She couldn't get the door open, had a child in a car seat in the car. I didn't have my phone, a nice man helped her, as we used the suburban to jump her. It didn't work and she went to find a phone to call her husband. Oh well I tried.
All this to say, yeah, fifteen minutes left to a yummy vegetable broth, that I'll still need to drain before actually getting a little shut eye. Hope this new recipe is worth it!
Oh I *could* have done it earlier, if I hadn't taken the work key to my friend, had to visit as she cleaned out her closet and I tried on clothes. What's a girl to do when a friend is willing and eager to share her wardrobe that longer fits??? And I can't be offended that they're to large for her and they fit me. See we've both been losing but since her trouble spots are different then mine, I get the clothes that no longer fit.
Then there was the trip to the store. I wanted some veggies and had brand new wic checks to use. Now I knew it'd be an experience since I haven't used the new ones yet and finally you can be fruits and veggies!! How awesome is that?! Each child is allotted six dollars per month and it has to be in one shot. No change is given, so choose wisely, any amount over needs to be paid for by the customer. So carefully picked out my veggies, with a huge pack of mixed peppers for $4.99 and a package of carrots for $.99 I figure I couldn't make it any easier. Put that on one check, and I had some grapes and a squash to put towards the other check.
Of course with the twins, I had two produce checks and planned on using them both tonight hence the careful choice of the first two veggies to simplify grocery shopping.
Well I knew checking out would be fun. Fred Meyer was swamped, lines extended well into the grocery aisles, a frantic manager trying to clear up traffic and keep the lines moving. It was really rather funny.
So I get moved into a newly opened line, I carefully put both checks down followed by my peppers and carrots, a W I D E space separating the peppers and carrots from the rest of the produce and then everything else. So the gal starts checking me out, I'm kinda spacing but then I look up and see she's run all my produce together into one order.
Okaaaaaay. I'm thinking, well that'S different but maybe you can deduct the produce from the whole order. I've never used the checks before and I flat out don't know. She then asks the neighboring cashier on what to press for the check, I'm thinking maybe she doesn't know after all? I think, well we will just have to see.
Yeah, she didn't know.
After she questions a smattering of coworkers the frantic manager comes over to help. I start to get annoyed. Not because it's crowded and she hasn't learned the ins and outs of the new check but because the checker kept saying "SHE'D like to know if SHE can run both checks through this order", like *I* was the one asking. I finally said to her "NO, Y O U are the one asking, I'm here shopping for groceries.
It's confirmed that each check needs to be it's own order (DANG, it'd be easier to subtract multiple checks!) and the manager gets a wide eyed, wild look as he tries to figure out how to fix my order. You have to keep in mind the wic check has already been processed so really the order was "set". I figure the rest of my groceries are going on food stamps anyway, so I asked for the unused check back so I can use it next week. The look of gratitude from the manager was downright embarrassing.
I did make a point of saying "Now you know you have to do each check in a separate order" while also pointing out that I had separated the veggies so she could do each check separately. She looked rather odd as she stated "that would have been easier". Really? Ya think? *laugh*
Well then there was the poor woman in the monster pick up that had stalled. She couldn't get the door open, had a child in a car seat in the car. I didn't have my phone, a nice man helped her, as we used the suburban to jump her. It didn't work and she went to find a phone to call her husband. Oh well I tried.
All this to say, yeah, fifteen minutes left to a yummy vegetable broth, that I'll still need to drain before actually getting a little shut eye. Hope this new recipe is worth it!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
One Saturday, down the tubes!
The day started out fine, we went to the model train display this am. Once a month the model train club lets the public in to see the trains and well, we have boys that adore trains! With Greg on my shoulders, occasionally grabbing my face to turn my head *was not appreciated, Greg!* if I was going the wrong direction we wandered for about forty minutes.
The kids loved it.
Then my big plans included cleaning the kitchen and some canning. I have grape jelly to do along with applesauce. I wouldn't have finished the applesauce today but I could have put a big dent in my apples. Kent planned on some smallish chores and some good TV watching, since he's still feeling puny from his cold.
I made myself lunch after the trains. A nice salad with mushrooms, garden tomato and some shredded cheese. The salad just screamed for a little extra something, I decided beans. A little healthy protein would be great so I went to the storage room, stared at the shelves debating whether I was in the mood for Garbanzo or for black beans.
Garbanzos stood out and I reached to get the can off the shelf. My ever alert self finally realized there was water dripping from somewhere close by. I looked closely, saw one of the cardboard boxes on the shelf was wet. Started moving stuff around and realized a whole lot of the shelf was wet. Finally I reached the back of the shelf and couldn't see what was leaking but it was in the back behind two huge shelves full of food storage.
Great.
I called Kent to break the news that his plans for the day had changed. He was thrilled of course!
After Kent came home the chore of emptying the storage shelves began. This already large task was make even more cumbersome with the dodging and footwork required to step over and around five children and one dog determined to see what all the action was about. Thankfully the dog was put out and the children put to work, it only took twenty minutes or so to empty the shelves. They'll be super fun to reorganize too! Please note the sarcasm there.
The pipe that was leaking was soldered on one end, meaning some serious work and Kent doesn't own anything to solder with. He called his dad who was coming back into town after a morning at the temple. He would have to change clothes before coming down. Kent turned off the water and all the kids suddenly realized they were dying of thirst. Really, any moment they were going to keel over. Ean and Kate were the most dramatic, what a shocker!
Kent and I talked and decided that since we were going to have to take that pipe apart anyway, we might as well buy a water softener to go there. The area was already set up, there had been a softener there previously when we purchased the house, however it was a rental unit and just don't believe in renting and couldn't afford our own softener, so we've dealt with seriously hard water pretty much the whole decade we've been in the house.
I'm so tired of crappy glasses, the hard water just coats our dishes. A chance to get away from that! WOOT!
So after a very long afternoon and evening with several trips for parts, really loud children fighting over a big box and pizza from Costco (cause we had not water to cook with!) it finally got installed. YAY!!!
The day wasn't a complete loss. I did pick a whole lot of apples, and had kids pick apples at Marja's old house. Not that I know when I'll get to make applesauce!!
Completely off topic, I'll throw in that you should always check your pre-schoolers hand before letting them get on the bus, especially if you shared mini Altoids earlier in the morning during a rough spot. Do this every single time, because the one time you don't your three year old will take the Altoids to school, clutched in his fist and when his teacher sees it, she just might have a mini heart attack thinking it's a pill, cause it does look like a pill.
Don't ask me how I know this.
The kids loved it.
Then my big plans included cleaning the kitchen and some canning. I have grape jelly to do along with applesauce. I wouldn't have finished the applesauce today but I could have put a big dent in my apples. Kent planned on some smallish chores and some good TV watching, since he's still feeling puny from his cold.
I made myself lunch after the trains. A nice salad with mushrooms, garden tomato and some shredded cheese. The salad just screamed for a little extra something, I decided beans. A little healthy protein would be great so I went to the storage room, stared at the shelves debating whether I was in the mood for Garbanzo or for black beans.
Garbanzos stood out and I reached to get the can off the shelf. My ever alert self finally realized there was water dripping from somewhere close by. I looked closely, saw one of the cardboard boxes on the shelf was wet. Started moving stuff around and realized a whole lot of the shelf was wet. Finally I reached the back of the shelf and couldn't see what was leaking but it was in the back behind two huge shelves full of food storage.
Great.
I called Kent to break the news that his plans for the day had changed. He was thrilled of course!
After Kent came home the chore of emptying the storage shelves began. This already large task was make even more cumbersome with the dodging and footwork required to step over and around five children and one dog determined to see what all the action was about. Thankfully the dog was put out and the children put to work, it only took twenty minutes or so to empty the shelves. They'll be super fun to reorganize too! Please note the sarcasm there.
The pipe that was leaking was soldered on one end, meaning some serious work and Kent doesn't own anything to solder with. He called his dad who was coming back into town after a morning at the temple. He would have to change clothes before coming down. Kent turned off the water and all the kids suddenly realized they were dying of thirst. Really, any moment they were going to keel over. Ean and Kate were the most dramatic, what a shocker!
Kent and I talked and decided that since we were going to have to take that pipe apart anyway, we might as well buy a water softener to go there. The area was already set up, there had been a softener there previously when we purchased the house, however it was a rental unit and just don't believe in renting and couldn't afford our own softener, so we've dealt with seriously hard water pretty much the whole decade we've been in the house.
I'm so tired of crappy glasses, the hard water just coats our dishes. A chance to get away from that! WOOT!
So after a very long afternoon and evening with several trips for parts, really loud children fighting over a big box and pizza from Costco (cause we had not water to cook with!) it finally got installed. YAY!!!
The day wasn't a complete loss. I did pick a whole lot of apples, and had kids pick apples at Marja's old house. Not that I know when I'll get to make applesauce!!
Completely off topic, I'll throw in that you should always check your pre-schoolers hand before letting them get on the bus, especially if you shared mini Altoids earlier in the morning during a rough spot. Do this every single time, because the one time you don't your three year old will take the Altoids to school, clutched in his fist and when his teacher sees it, she just might have a mini heart attack thinking it's a pill, cause it does look like a pill.
Don't ask me how I know this.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Yeah I know
I keep switching stuff around on the page. Notice I made nice easy to read fonts, this change was made assuming everyone reads blogs when I do, in the middle of night. This was also done assuming everyone else also has hideously poor eye sight.
But when I feel like I have no control over my life, I have to have control over *exaggerated motion with my hands* something. Changing the font and the background is also fun.
Since Kent is sick and has gone to bed, leaving me to entertain myself, I think I'll share a post I wrote on my diaper board (cloth dipes, more natural living, lovely group of individuals).
Prayer is always included in major decisions. At the same time I believe that God gave us brains to think and expects us to use our heads, so even while praying, options need to be considered, we need to educate ourselves on our choices, we need to know the pros and cons before deciding.
I had some really rough social times as well. Middle school is brutal. Just brutal.
I have a certain amount of resolve that I want to teach my children to handle the bad stuff, because bad stuff happens in real life, cushioning kids, trying to alleviate disappointment, pain, sorrow and such does a great disservice to our children. They need to know how to cope and I hope I'm teaching them those coping skills.
At the same time, there's a point where the negatives just beat a kid down and while I want growing up to be realistic, I want to intervene long before any one of beautiful children loses their sense of self worth.
Jane could easily be beaten down. Easily. I see that clearly. That's why we're doing everything we can for her (and have for a number of years, like the six years of taekwondo) to help her grow into her potential. I see that potential and it's beautiful. She's immensely kind. She's fiercely loyal. She loves people. She shows concern for others even those she barely knows. She has an interest in art, a love for music, enjoys creating, enjoys making others smile.
In that awful age of "tween", her peers don't see these wonderful qualities. They only see the awkward girl that doesn't fit in. That laughs a little to loud, finds odd things funny, doesn't always follow the conversation.
*sigh*
I had a very strong impression when pregnant that this child would have challenges and honestly I wouldn't have ever put my finger that they'd be this non-descript and yet so painfully real.
Please note it starts off in the middle of a sentence, out of context because I've only included the information pertinent to my family. It was a discussion on switching schools for Jane, a suggestion given to us by her grandmother. It's not something I believe would be in Jane's best interest but the suggestion did evoke a lot of thought on my part on how to continue to help her.
Jane is currently reconnecting with a friend she's having over in the form of a sleepover. A sweet and gentle girl being raised in awful circumstances. We would never allow Jane to spend the night over there, so I was thrilled that she called to ask if she could come here.
In other Hill news, Ean spent the morning with my mother. Apparently he now knows the contents of her every closet. I cannot seem to get it drilled into his head that's it's not appropriate to snoop!! At least it was my mom, who has a sense of humor about his curious nature. Ean has also discovered the amazing technology known as a GPS. He drove around town with my mom using it, had to go to Kent's store to show his daddy. Pretty funny!
Ean's IEP had him getting special services into Kindergarten. They've realized really quickly that he is not resource room material. After a terrible morning yesterday of never finding his shoes (I'm almost prophetic in Wednesday night's posting) I went to his school with a new pair of shoes after a quick run to Walmart. He was being tested and the teacher said to me "He's really smart." Why yes, yes he is.
She looks at me "No REALLY, he's VERY smart." Apparently Ean was telling her that N O spells NO while O N spells ON. Keep in mind the child is only into his second month of Kindergarten. Oh my, the challenges with this one are so very different then the challenges I had with his sisters!
I don't know what the twins will do, it's to early to tell, we still have to many struggles with language. David I suspect will be more like Ean, just taking off in school. Greg has some more struggles. His comprehension is very poor right now and he still gets so frustrated when he thinks you don't understand him because you're telling him no on something. It's still very early in the year for Greg, there's plenty of time for him to do amazing things!
Kate, what can I say on Kate. Really who wants to know the world almost ended because she didn't get to play with a friend today? Seriously, I have got to figure out how to get the girl to talk in a regular voice without. the. whine. She's terrible about whining!!!! I've never allowed it, we've always stopped her and made her talk normal but she still does it! FRUSTRATING!!!
She's matured in so many other ways. However, this one issue, we're really going to have to ride her about it. I may go crazy otherwise!
So that's us, new format, new background, new font a little updating as well.
But when I feel like I have no control over my life, I have to have control over *exaggerated motion with my hands* something. Changing the font and the background is also fun.
Since Kent is sick and has gone to bed, leaving me to entertain myself, I think I'll share a post I wrote on my diaper board (cloth dipes, more natural living, lovely group of individuals).
Prayer is always included in major decisions. At the same time I believe that God gave us brains to think and expects us to use our heads, so even while praying, options need to be considered, we need to educate ourselves on our choices, we need to know the pros and cons before deciding.
I had some really rough social times as well. Middle school is brutal. Just brutal.
I have a certain amount of resolve that I want to teach my children to handle the bad stuff, because bad stuff happens in real life, cushioning kids, trying to alleviate disappointment, pain, sorrow and such does a great disservice to our children. They need to know how to cope and I hope I'm teaching them those coping skills.
At the same time, there's a point where the negatives just beat a kid down and while I want growing up to be realistic, I want to intervene long before any one of beautiful children loses their sense of self worth.
Jane could easily be beaten down. Easily. I see that clearly. That's why we're doing everything we can for her (and have for a number of years, like the six years of taekwondo) to help her grow into her potential. I see that potential and it's beautiful. She's immensely kind. She's fiercely loyal. She loves people. She shows concern for others even those she barely knows. She has an interest in art, a love for music, enjoys creating, enjoys making others smile.
In that awful age of "tween", her peers don't see these wonderful qualities. They only see the awkward girl that doesn't fit in. That laughs a little to loud, finds odd things funny, doesn't always follow the conversation.
*sigh*
I had a very strong impression when pregnant that this child would have challenges and honestly I wouldn't have ever put my finger that they'd be this non-descript and yet so painfully real.
Please note it starts off in the middle of a sentence, out of context because I've only included the information pertinent to my family. It was a discussion on switching schools for Jane, a suggestion given to us by her grandmother. It's not something I believe would be in Jane's best interest but the suggestion did evoke a lot of thought on my part on how to continue to help her.
Jane is currently reconnecting with a friend she's having over in the form of a sleepover. A sweet and gentle girl being raised in awful circumstances. We would never allow Jane to spend the night over there, so I was thrilled that she called to ask if she could come here.
In other Hill news, Ean spent the morning with my mother. Apparently he now knows the contents of her every closet. I cannot seem to get it drilled into his head that's it's not appropriate to snoop!! At least it was my mom, who has a sense of humor about his curious nature. Ean has also discovered the amazing technology known as a GPS. He drove around town with my mom using it, had to go to Kent's store to show his daddy. Pretty funny!
Ean's IEP had him getting special services into Kindergarten. They've realized really quickly that he is not resource room material. After a terrible morning yesterday of never finding his shoes (I'm almost prophetic in Wednesday night's posting) I went to his school with a new pair of shoes after a quick run to Walmart. He was being tested and the teacher said to me "He's really smart." Why yes, yes he is.
She looks at me "No REALLY, he's VERY smart." Apparently Ean was telling her that N O spells NO while O N spells ON. Keep in mind the child is only into his second month of Kindergarten. Oh my, the challenges with this one are so very different then the challenges I had with his sisters!
I don't know what the twins will do, it's to early to tell, we still have to many struggles with language. David I suspect will be more like Ean, just taking off in school. Greg has some more struggles. His comprehension is very poor right now and he still gets so frustrated when he thinks you don't understand him because you're telling him no on something. It's still very early in the year for Greg, there's plenty of time for him to do amazing things!
Kate, what can I say on Kate. Really who wants to know the world almost ended because she didn't get to play with a friend today? Seriously, I have got to figure out how to get the girl to talk in a regular voice without. the. whine. She's terrible about whining!!!! I've never allowed it, we've always stopped her and made her talk normal but she still does it! FRUSTRATING!!!
She's matured in so many other ways. However, this one issue, we're really going to have to ride her about it. I may go crazy otherwise!
So that's us, new format, new background, new font a little updating as well.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Questions I'd like to ask.
I work a part time job (janitorial) four nights a week, three of those nights are late so sometimes I come home and everyone is in bed soooooo family, some answers please.
Why is the dirty bowl (from tonights dinner) that had mashed potatoes whipped in on the dryer?
Even more puzzling, is there a reason there is a pair of dirty undies inside that bowl?
Why we're talking about misplaced items, is there a reason Ean's toothbrush is being stored on the kitchen counter?
Jane, when you went to the gym with Daphne when did raquetball and basketball turn into "hide and go seek" and the perrinal favorite "shut our friend in the gym locker" game?
Kate how was dinner?
Kate did you eat dinner?
Kate if you knew I put onion powder in the mashed potatoes, would that have decreased their ediblility? This of course is assuming you deemed them edible at all!
Ean did you put your shoes on the shoe rack?
How about near the shoe rack?
How about in the front room? Kitchen? Under your bed? Daddy's side of our bed? My side? Under my bed? Bathroom? Twinsroom? Backyard?????? Son, they're here somewhere!!
Oh yeah, I'll get to have *T*H*A*T* conversation with Ean in the morning before sending him off to school. I'm fairly certain that if I walked around my house I could find more puzzling things but I need to go to bed. Morning comes way to early, and I need my energy to find Ean's shoes.
Why is the dirty bowl (from tonights dinner) that had mashed potatoes whipped in on the dryer?
Even more puzzling, is there a reason there is a pair of dirty undies inside that bowl?
Why we're talking about misplaced items, is there a reason Ean's toothbrush is being stored on the kitchen counter?
Jane, when you went to the gym with Daphne when did raquetball and basketball turn into "hide and go seek" and the perrinal favorite "shut our friend in the gym locker" game?
Kate how was dinner?
Kate did you eat dinner?
Kate if you knew I put onion powder in the mashed potatoes, would that have decreased their ediblility? This of course is assuming you deemed them edible at all!
Ean did you put your shoes on the shoe rack?
How about near the shoe rack?
How about in the front room? Kitchen? Under your bed? Daddy's side of our bed? My side? Under my bed? Bathroom? Twinsroom? Backyard?????? Son, they're here somewhere!!
Oh yeah, I'll get to have *T*H*A*T* conversation with Ean in the morning before sending him off to school. I'm fairly certain that if I walked around my house I could find more puzzling things but I need to go to bed. Morning comes way to early, and I need my energy to find Ean's shoes.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
We're considering home schooling Jane
Not anyone else. The destructo genius boy and his whiney pink clad cohort would continue in public school. Those two need someone else to be the bad guy.
So far Kent and I have discussed this with each other and discussed this with Jane. I've also checked out resources and found a great online program that I believe Jane would enjoy that be an excellent supplement program to anything we did but no decision has been made yet. Of course there is nothing that says we have to make a decision quickly. More important is helping Jane understand that there is another option out there.
Last month when we started talking about homeschooling, i was thinking that we'd have to wait until she was in seventh grade. With Ean's rotating day schedule and the twins both in head start requiring a lot of volunteer time, I just couldn't see how we could pull off having her home this year. However I talked with my mom and she said she could help, either by providing her home like a "study hall" if Jane needed some quite time and I had one or three of the boys home or taking Ean so I could work with Jane.
It would be a huge help this year, if we decide to pull her. I couldn't even consider pulling her without knowing that kind of help would be available. Actually my mom said "that would be fun!" I love my mom!!!!
Jane's two biggest concerns are not having access to the school's library. Kent assured her that the library is an easy obsticle to overcome. He told her about he public library and we talked about taking regular trips (my children lose or destroy everything, so I am admittedly bad at the library right now) She asked if the public library has Harry Potter. Why yes Jane it does.
I admit to rolling my eyes when she asked, you see, I own the complete collection but she prefers to read the books from the Library, apparently the series is more fun if it's a library book!
Her other concern is friends, which Kent validated and then we talked about who she could get together with and when we could arrange play dates.
I think at this point it's best not to think in terms of are we going to or not but just provide Jane with support and love her as we help her through this difficult time.
So far Kent and I have discussed this with each other and discussed this with Jane. I've also checked out resources and found a great online program that I believe Jane would enjoy that be an excellent supplement program to anything we did but no decision has been made yet. Of course there is nothing that says we have to make a decision quickly. More important is helping Jane understand that there is another option out there.
Last month when we started talking about homeschooling, i was thinking that we'd have to wait until she was in seventh grade. With Ean's rotating day schedule and the twins both in head start requiring a lot of volunteer time, I just couldn't see how we could pull off having her home this year. However I talked with my mom and she said she could help, either by providing her home like a "study hall" if Jane needed some quite time and I had one or three of the boys home or taking Ean so I could work with Jane.
It would be a huge help this year, if we decide to pull her. I couldn't even consider pulling her without knowing that kind of help would be available. Actually my mom said "that would be fun!" I love my mom!!!!
Jane's two biggest concerns are not having access to the school's library. Kent assured her that the library is an easy obsticle to overcome. He told her about he public library and we talked about taking regular trips (my children lose or destroy everything, so I am admittedly bad at the library right now) She asked if the public library has Harry Potter. Why yes Jane it does.
I admit to rolling my eyes when she asked, you see, I own the complete collection but she prefers to read the books from the Library, apparently the series is more fun if it's a library book!
Her other concern is friends, which Kent validated and then we talked about who she could get together with and when we could arrange play dates.
I think at this point it's best not to think in terms of are we going to or not but just provide Jane with support and love her as we help her through this difficult time.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Growing pains
My eleven year old's best friend since first grade has declared she no longer wants to be Jane's friend.
Why are kids so mean?
Jane is the kindest, sweetest kid around and she's loyal. She will stand by her friends and support them through anything, that's just the kind of person she is. But she's not cool. She's socially awkward. She has a hard time staying in regular conversations. She's a little slow to figure out new things.
But where it counts, she's the best type of person imaginable.
I actually went over to talk to this girl. She was so closed down. She wouldn't look at me. I think she knows how incredibly crappy she's being to Jane. However Jane's been a friend of convenence for a while. She calls when she's bored, wants Jane to spend the night and then runs away from her so she doesn't have to walk home from school with her.
It's crappy all around.
I let this girl know that I was disappointed in her. I let her know that good friends are hard to come by. I don't know how much what I said sunk in, but I said a lot.
Then I had to talk to Jane, see this girls birthday is in a week and a half and Jane wants to buy her a present.
Bless my child's giving heart.
I told her that if she did indeed get a present for this girl it has to be without expectations. She would need to get something without expecting anything in return. Buying a present wouldn't make this girl be nice, wouldn't make them friends. I also told her that I wanted her to wait a week before deciding. If this girl was mean this week, she just might not want to do anything for her.
I brought up her good friends and told her that we could make sure that we remembered their birthdays.
I reminded Jane several times how to act around this girl. Be nice, be kind but don't stick around. Say hi, and then go about your business. I don't know how well my advice sunk in, Jane's so over eager at times but I tried. I suspect we'll have a lot of these talks over the coming years.
My hell it's been a hard day to be a mother. Girls are especially nasty and I remember sixth, seventh and eighth grade being particularly bad.
Why are kids so mean?
Jane is the kindest, sweetest kid around and she's loyal. She will stand by her friends and support them through anything, that's just the kind of person she is. But she's not cool. She's socially awkward. She has a hard time staying in regular conversations. She's a little slow to figure out new things.
But where it counts, she's the best type of person imaginable.
I actually went over to talk to this girl. She was so closed down. She wouldn't look at me. I think she knows how incredibly crappy she's being to Jane. However Jane's been a friend of convenence for a while. She calls when she's bored, wants Jane to spend the night and then runs away from her so she doesn't have to walk home from school with her.
It's crappy all around.
I let this girl know that I was disappointed in her. I let her know that good friends are hard to come by. I don't know how much what I said sunk in, but I said a lot.
Then I had to talk to Jane, see this girls birthday is in a week and a half and Jane wants to buy her a present.
Bless my child's giving heart.
I told her that if she did indeed get a present for this girl it has to be without expectations. She would need to get something without expecting anything in return. Buying a present wouldn't make this girl be nice, wouldn't make them friends. I also told her that I wanted her to wait a week before deciding. If this girl was mean this week, she just might not want to do anything for her.
I brought up her good friends and told her that we could make sure that we remembered their birthdays.
I reminded Jane several times how to act around this girl. Be nice, be kind but don't stick around. Say hi, and then go about your business. I don't know how well my advice sunk in, Jane's so over eager at times but I tried. I suspect we'll have a lot of these talks over the coming years.
My hell it's been a hard day to be a mother. Girls are especially nasty and I remember sixth, seventh and eighth grade being particularly bad.
Yeah, you're in the right place.
I changed the pictures to more recent stuff. Actually the yellowstone pictures at the side are all from our trip about 10 days ago, sooooooo pretty recent. The boys snoozing in the car may be almost a year old, I can't remember, but it's dang cute!
I was torn on keeping the mud picture of David up top. I mean really, nothing depicted our lives better then that picture. In the end I decided that we must evolve, and that includes blog pictures too.
So there you have it. The kids, a bit more recent. *smile*
I was torn on keeping the mud picture of David up top. I mean really, nothing depicted our lives better then that picture. In the end I decided that we must evolve, and that includes blog pictures too.
So there you have it. The kids, a bit more recent. *smile*
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Update on school for the kids.
We'll just go from top to bottom on this.
Jane-the sixth grader was moved to middle school as part of a plan by the school district to make room in over crowded elementary schools. Originally we were promised by the middle school that sixth graders would not be switching classes like the seventh and eighth graders. They would have a sixth grade curriculum. They would make it work.
Then the middle schools decided to do whatever they wanted and made schedules with class periods just like the upper grades. Throw in the four solid weeks we spent trying to track down who to get help from for this kid that has spent her entire school career in resource room. I felt like they were throwing her to the wolves with material that she'd never seen before, she still wasn't at grade level with.
I contacted her math teacher, explained she'd been a resource room kid and bless this wonderful teachers heart, she said she'd help her after school for 20 minutes or so when needed. It really was helping Jane. Also Jane had this fantastic science teacher that she adored and was having a blast in science.
Well the school figures out that they weren't fulfilling the states requirements for sixth graders, you know, the requirements the teachers would have done if the kids had been placed in regular classrooms instead of putting them in periods. Soooooo the school in it's infinite wisdom switched the sixth graders schedules. Four weeks into school Jane had new teachers, all new with the exception of one. Yes, that's ONE teacher. She's lost the science teacher she adored, the math teacher that was willing to help her after school.
SUCK!!!
Our good news, Jane is finally (long exaggerated sigh) getting help in the resource room.
Her report card, five A's, two C's and one F. The F is in homeroom, which is really a study hall type of class for the kids to do homework and stuff. I asked her how she got an F and she said she didn't know, so I told her she better ask so she can change that.
The C's are in science and math of course.
So that's Jane.
Now I just had parent teacher conference for Kate and surprise! Kate is a joy to have a class. Kate is a model student. Well, if we could get the girls reading up to grade and her spelling grade up, she'd be a model student!
She always tries, she takes part in discussions, she's a joy to be around (obviously this is because you don't have to fold laundry at school).
Kate does need to put in a bit more effort with her RA goals, she hasn't tried at all and heavens that girl has a 57% in spelling, so yes we must work on that but everything else is dynomite.
Ean Ean Ean. What to say on Ean. The standard for counting at the end of the school year is 31, Ean currently counts to 49. To be profficient in reading students must recognize 11 letters in a minute, Ean recognizes 17 in a minute but he knows all 26 capitals and 18 lower case letters.
Ean's biggest problem is blowing in his friends faces during circle time. Maturity is obviously a development that he's a little behind on. We'll have to work on it.
There's not much to say on the twins. They're loving head start, it does wear them out, see blog post on "Fred and George?" to fully appreciate their minds. Communication is getting better, we'll just keep working on it.
Not very exciting material but I wanted to document what the kids are doing in school.
Jane-the sixth grader was moved to middle school as part of a plan by the school district to make room in over crowded elementary schools. Originally we were promised by the middle school that sixth graders would not be switching classes like the seventh and eighth graders. They would have a sixth grade curriculum. They would make it work.
Then the middle schools decided to do whatever they wanted and made schedules with class periods just like the upper grades. Throw in the four solid weeks we spent trying to track down who to get help from for this kid that has spent her entire school career in resource room. I felt like they were throwing her to the wolves with material that she'd never seen before, she still wasn't at grade level with.
I contacted her math teacher, explained she'd been a resource room kid and bless this wonderful teachers heart, she said she'd help her after school for 20 minutes or so when needed. It really was helping Jane. Also Jane had this fantastic science teacher that she adored and was having a blast in science.
Well the school figures out that they weren't fulfilling the states requirements for sixth graders, you know, the requirements the teachers would have done if the kids had been placed in regular classrooms instead of putting them in periods. Soooooo the school in it's infinite wisdom switched the sixth graders schedules. Four weeks into school Jane had new teachers, all new with the exception of one. Yes, that's ONE teacher. She's lost the science teacher she adored, the math teacher that was willing to help her after school.
SUCK!!!
Our good news, Jane is finally (long exaggerated sigh) getting help in the resource room.
Her report card, five A's, two C's and one F. The F is in homeroom, which is really a study hall type of class for the kids to do homework and stuff. I asked her how she got an F and she said she didn't know, so I told her she better ask so she can change that.
The C's are in science and math of course.
So that's Jane.
Now I just had parent teacher conference for Kate and surprise! Kate is a joy to have a class. Kate is a model student. Well, if we could get the girls reading up to grade and her spelling grade up, she'd be a model student!
She always tries, she takes part in discussions, she's a joy to be around (obviously this is because you don't have to fold laundry at school).
Kate does need to put in a bit more effort with her RA goals, she hasn't tried at all and heavens that girl has a 57% in spelling, so yes we must work on that but everything else is dynomite.
Ean Ean Ean. What to say on Ean. The standard for counting at the end of the school year is 31, Ean currently counts to 49. To be profficient in reading students must recognize 11 letters in a minute, Ean recognizes 17 in a minute but he knows all 26 capitals and 18 lower case letters.
Ean's biggest problem is blowing in his friends faces during circle time. Maturity is obviously a development that he's a little behind on. We'll have to work on it.
There's not much to say on the twins. They're loving head start, it does wear them out, see blog post on "Fred and George?" to fully appreciate their minds. Communication is getting better, we'll just keep working on it.
Not very exciting material but I wanted to document what the kids are doing in school.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Fred and George?
Our son Ean has flaming red hair. From the moment he came out we swore his hair couldn't get any redder and. yet. it. did. So while pregnant with the twins we joked that if we had identical red headed twin boys we'd name then Fred and George, in reference to the magical identical jokesters in "Harry Potter", one of our most favorite book series.
At 19 weeks we confirmed they were boys and we knew they were identical, due to the specific pregnancy syndrome caused only by a shared placenta. Fred and George seemed destined to be.
Then they came out, in their red headed glory and really, we knew their names weren't Fred and George. Great joke that it was, these boys had different names, names chosen from deceased family members that we loved and respected. In retrospect we may have been wrong on their names. Really, maybe they should have been Fred and George.
The humor of these too is amazing. Even with the language delays, they manage to crack us up, often. On a recent trip to Yellowstone, we stopped along a river to watch a beautiful herd of elk just on the other side. The twins both admired the animals while Ean chose to be antisocial in the car. Eventually however Greg grew bored and "fell" down a slight slope.
He was very dramatic as he called for help. "OH NO, HELP ME" It was hysterical. Just when we thought the show wouldn't amount to much, David ran over "I HELP YOU GEG!!!" Dave then proceeded to lean forward and grab Greg's hand and he "saved" him!
Oh, I have picture proof.
So was saving your brother from a steep precipice enough drama when your a three year old red headed identical twin? Hardly!
The guys switched places on their head start teachers. What? Oh yes, they
switched places on their teachers.
You see, the guys go to different classes at head start. This is intentional, Greg's language delay is greater then his brothers and when together Greg doesn't talk as much because Dave talks for him. This does cause confusion when they're both in lunch and I've put them in the same shirts because their classmates see the twin and think someone was naughty and left.
Well a three year old mixing up the guys in the cafeteria while all the classes are having lunch is one thing. The twins trading backpacks on the bus, and then running to the wrong teachers during line up is another matter entirely.
And the teachers are busy, there are multiple buses with a few kids from every class on every bus. It's a little chaotic to say the least. So when the boys ran to the teachers, the teachers assumed they had the right kids plus both teachers looked at their backpacks to confirm they had the right kids. Little devils almost pulled it off but Greg's teacher said to Dave "HI Greg" and Dave looked up at her and smiled with his lips glued shut.
You see, Greg is missing a front tooth. He bumped it at about a year and it went bad and had to be pulled. We always tell people, use that missing tooth to be sure. David hiding his teeth so his teacher wouldn't see? A devious little detail I hadn't realized David had put together.
Who woulda thunk the three year old monkey knew that people could tell them apart from their smiles?????
Pam wasn't born yesterday, she knew from that tight lipped smile that it was David and that he was trying to pull a fast one on her. So Pam told Dawn (David's teacher) that the guys had switched places and the teachers switched them back.
I'd be impressed with any three year old identicals putting it together that they could switch but with the guys language delays, I'm completely bowled over! Holy cow, are we in trouble or what?
I am also highly amused.
Until they do it again, that is. :-)
At 19 weeks we confirmed they were boys and we knew they were identical, due to the specific pregnancy syndrome caused only by a shared placenta. Fred and George seemed destined to be.
Then they came out, in their red headed glory and really, we knew their names weren't Fred and George. Great joke that it was, these boys had different names, names chosen from deceased family members that we loved and respected. In retrospect we may have been wrong on their names. Really, maybe they should have been Fred and George.
The humor of these too is amazing. Even with the language delays, they manage to crack us up, often. On a recent trip to Yellowstone, we stopped along a river to watch a beautiful herd of elk just on the other side. The twins both admired the animals while Ean chose to be antisocial in the car. Eventually however Greg grew bored and "fell" down a slight slope.
He was very dramatic as he called for help. "OH NO, HELP ME" It was hysterical. Just when we thought the show wouldn't amount to much, David ran over "I HELP YOU GEG!!!" Dave then proceeded to lean forward and grab Greg's hand and he "saved" him!
Oh, I have picture proof.
So was saving your brother from a steep precipice enough drama when your a three year old red headed identical twin? Hardly!
The guys switched places on their head start teachers. What? Oh yes, they
switched places on their teachers.
You see, the guys go to different classes at head start. This is intentional, Greg's language delay is greater then his brothers and when together Greg doesn't talk as much because Dave talks for him. This does cause confusion when they're both in lunch and I've put them in the same shirts because their classmates see the twin and think someone was naughty and left.
Well a three year old mixing up the guys in the cafeteria while all the classes are having lunch is one thing. The twins trading backpacks on the bus, and then running to the wrong teachers during line up is another matter entirely.
And the teachers are busy, there are multiple buses with a few kids from every class on every bus. It's a little chaotic to say the least. So when the boys ran to the teachers, the teachers assumed they had the right kids plus both teachers looked at their backpacks to confirm they had the right kids. Little devils almost pulled it off but Greg's teacher said to Dave "HI Greg" and Dave looked up at her and smiled with his lips glued shut.
You see, Greg is missing a front tooth. He bumped it at about a year and it went bad and had to be pulled. We always tell people, use that missing tooth to be sure. David hiding his teeth so his teacher wouldn't see? A devious little detail I hadn't realized David had put together.
Who woulda thunk the three year old monkey knew that people could tell them apart from their smiles?????
Pam wasn't born yesterday, she knew from that tight lipped smile that it was David and that he was trying to pull a fast one on her. So Pam told Dawn (David's teacher) that the guys had switched places and the teachers switched them back.
I'd be impressed with any three year old identicals putting it together that they could switch but with the guys language delays, I'm completely bowled over! Holy cow, are we in trouble or what?
I am also highly amused.
Until they do it again, that is. :-)
Monday, July 27, 2009
I went shopping today.
School supplies you know, it's that time of year.
I didn't even bring a list, or try to find a list. I went to Office Max, Staples and Shopko and bought all their sales. You can't beat ten cents a pad of paper (limit 18) and ninety nine cents for crayola markers, water color paints, colored pencils, throw in a tub of erasures for twenty cents and glue for twenty five cents and more more more of the same, I think I made out pretty good.
My big splurge for the kids, not knowing what Jane will need makes it really hard to buy for her. With the sixth graders switch to jr. high, I really am at a loss at what she needs. The floor the sixth graders will occupy wasn't even cleared for them when school ended eight weeks ago. They weren't even sure how they would split the classes, change the workload, ect. So, I found a binder with a ton of pockets. For my disorganized girl, it just might be what she needs to oraganize her. We'll see.
I also bought something for myself. Shopko has cookware on sale at 50% off. I bought a set of Hard Anodized cookware. It's non-stick but without teflon. It's sturdy, really looks like it's made to last. I cannot begin to describe how excited I am. It's almost indecent. ;-)
Now, to train my family to take care of them!
I didn't even bring a list, or try to find a list. I went to Office Max, Staples and Shopko and bought all their sales. You can't beat ten cents a pad of paper (limit 18) and ninety nine cents for crayola markers, water color paints, colored pencils, throw in a tub of erasures for twenty cents and glue for twenty five cents and more more more of the same, I think I made out pretty good.
My big splurge for the kids, not knowing what Jane will need makes it really hard to buy for her. With the sixth graders switch to jr. high, I really am at a loss at what she needs. The floor the sixth graders will occupy wasn't even cleared for them when school ended eight weeks ago. They weren't even sure how they would split the classes, change the workload, ect. So, I found a binder with a ton of pockets. For my disorganized girl, it just might be what she needs to oraganize her. We'll see.
I also bought something for myself. Shopko has cookware on sale at 50% off. I bought a set of Hard Anodized cookware. It's non-stick but without teflon. It's sturdy, really looks like it's made to last. I cannot begin to describe how excited I am. It's almost indecent. ;-)
Now, to train my family to take care of them!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Oh gosh, how could I not mention Greg's fingers?????
Egads, what a nightmare!
Ever since David had gotton hurt, he's been mean, just mean to his twin. On a mission to make his twins life miserable, in whatever manner he could. Well he succeeded Sunday after church. Little **** slammed the door on his brothers hand. And the door latched.
Poor Greg was in so much pain, just so much pain all he could do was scream and kick his legs in frustration while flapping his injured hand. I thought he had broken his middle finger, it was an ugly maroon color, there was plenty of blood. Oh it was gruesome.
Conviently I had codiene on hand and knew the correct dosage for the little boy. It thankfully knocked him out allowing him to just relax. He really needed that.
He lost one nail completely and that finger was/is still a scabbed mess. The other nail is obviously damaged and he'll lose that nail too. We spent four solid days with little boys with bandaged fingers blowing through a rediculous amount of tubular gauze. Finally Thursday, after I got David's stitches off (I do amazing things when children sleep *laugh), I lifted the twins water ban. In celebration they swam the irrigation ditch at the park.
Not my idea of fun but then again I'm not a three year old deprived of water for a solid week.
I let them.
Hopefully we can enjoy the rest of the summer. Even if the cherries are gone, much to the twins dissapointment. :-)
Ever since David had gotton hurt, he's been mean, just mean to his twin. On a mission to make his twins life miserable, in whatever manner he could. Well he succeeded Sunday after church. Little **** slammed the door on his brothers hand. And the door latched.
Poor Greg was in so much pain, just so much pain all he could do was scream and kick his legs in frustration while flapping his injured hand. I thought he had broken his middle finger, it was an ugly maroon color, there was plenty of blood. Oh it was gruesome.
Conviently I had codiene on hand and knew the correct dosage for the little boy. It thankfully knocked him out allowing him to just relax. He really needed that.
He lost one nail completely and that finger was/is still a scabbed mess. The other nail is obviously damaged and he'll lose that nail too. We spent four solid days with little boys with bandaged fingers blowing through a rediculous amount of tubular gauze. Finally Thursday, after I got David's stitches off (I do amazing things when children sleep *laugh), I lifted the twins water ban. In celebration they swam the irrigation ditch at the park.
Not my idea of fun but then again I'm not a three year old deprived of water for a solid week.
I let them.
Hopefully we can enjoy the rest of the summer. Even if the cherries are gone, much to the twins dissapointment. :-)
Friday, July 17, 2009
Just a quick update
David got his wounds redressed. I could go into great detail about soaking his thumb and having to "help" the dressing off, but lets leave it at, there was blood when they were done.
The nurses felt so bad, they gave him enough stickers, they had a paperclip to keep them all together.
I'm suppose to keep it dry and bandaged until the stitches come out. I can't keep one boy dry and let the others get wet. I'm going to have really REALLY stinky boys.
On another note, Ean has a birthday party this afternoon. Boy, is he excited! lol
Also, the child is obsessed with pitting cherries. Really.
The nurses felt so bad, they gave him enough stickers, they had a paperclip to keep them all together.
I'm suppose to keep it dry and bandaged until the stitches come out. I can't keep one boy dry and let the others get wet. I'm going to have really REALLY stinky boys.
On another note, Ean has a birthday party this afternoon. Boy, is he excited! lol
Also, the child is obsessed with pitting cherries. Really.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Dave's no good, bad day
Yesterday.
Yesterday I got to experience that heart stopping adrenalin that we mom's dread. You know, the one that comes a split second after your child wails and you know something is dreadfully wrong.
Heaven knows my children wail a lot. Sometimes between Kate and Ean, my desire to plug my mp3 player into my ears and drown them out is enormous. But the wail I heard yesterday wasn't either one of them. It wasn't Jane nor was it Greg. It was my little Dave.
I know, I know, David and Greg are the same size but there's something about David, the tone of his voice, the way he moves, that just makes calling him "little Dave" seem natural. Blame my mom, she started it. *laugh*
I did say, six kids, didn't I? I had my niece Sarah on loan. We had invited her to the movies to see "Madagascar 2" with popcorn. Sarah's mom had dropped her off, my mom had arrived to come with us. After unlocking the suburban door, I started around to the other side, the twins seats are behind the driver, and middle, so that's where I buckle them. I made it to the very back of the car, so only two or three seconds from when I unlocked the door when the wail happened.
My mom yelled for me, and turned around and ran around the car. My mom was holding Davids wrist tightly, applying pressure. There was blood gushing. I grabbed the child and ran into the house and started the faucet. I couldn't even see where to apply pressure. I figured out quickly it was his thumb, took his hand out of the water, and mom handed me paper towels, we quickly soaked what we had and got new ones.
While trying to hold on the paper towels with a frantically crying boy at my feet, mom and I exchanged keys and I gave her the movie tickets. The movie was paid for, there was no reason for the other kids to not go and mom was a complete sport taking five children to the movies.
I got Ean's booster, safety out the window, I wasn't going to take the time to move a proper car seat. Conveniently there's an urgent care just outside our neighborhood, so I didn't have to go far. They got us right in and the nurse smeared Dave's thumb with numbing stuff.
He just sobbed, for a very long time.
Since it was a crushing injury (car door) the doctor ordered x-rays.
Three were taken and poor David just hated having to put his thumb down but he did really well. Very soon he figured out what was expected and when one of the shots needed to be redone, he held his hand very still with no prompting for the final x-ray.
It was confirmed that his bone was chipped. Once they started cleanup we realized he'd also lost his nail, both of these on top of a pretty ugly laceration. The Novocaine was the worst part, I had to hold him down for that but he was very cooperative once his thumb was numb. The laceration required three stitches. It runs almost the whole length of his thumb. The stitches look funny because the cut is jagged. It's actually not very big, but his thumb is so little, it looks much bigger then it is.
I requested Tylenol with codeine for the guy. He was being so brave but at the same time, the chipped bone, the lost nail along with the stitches, just makes you cringe. It makes me cringe!
Apparently codeine doesn't make David sleepy. He's got to be the only person in the world, but he was wired last night. Kent called me from work to let me know that he'd heard crying and noise from the bedroom. Worried about David's thumb, he opened the door. David was standing on Greg's chest jumping up and down.
We know the Codeine relieved pain, cause he was a stinker to his twin! Poor Greg!! His brother gets hurt and he suffers!
Tomorrow I take him in to change the dressing, we'll see if they say anything about the cherry stains on it. Actually I had to put it back on multiple times today, but it was still dry, so I didn't take him in. Hopefully it's all healing the way it should be.
All together now... POOR DAVID!!!!
Yesterday I got to experience that heart stopping adrenalin that we mom's dread. You know, the one that comes a split second after your child wails and you know something is dreadfully wrong.
Heaven knows my children wail a lot. Sometimes between Kate and Ean, my desire to plug my mp3 player into my ears and drown them out is enormous. But the wail I heard yesterday wasn't either one of them. It wasn't Jane nor was it Greg. It was my little Dave.
I know, I know, David and Greg are the same size but there's something about David, the tone of his voice, the way he moves, that just makes calling him "little Dave" seem natural. Blame my mom, she started it. *laugh*
I did say, six kids, didn't I? I had my niece Sarah on loan. We had invited her to the movies to see "Madagascar 2" with popcorn. Sarah's mom had dropped her off, my mom had arrived to come with us. After unlocking the suburban door, I started around to the other side, the twins seats are behind the driver, and middle, so that's where I buckle them. I made it to the very back of the car, so only two or three seconds from when I unlocked the door when the wail happened.
My mom yelled for me, and turned around and ran around the car. My mom was holding Davids wrist tightly, applying pressure. There was blood gushing. I grabbed the child and ran into the house and started the faucet. I couldn't even see where to apply pressure. I figured out quickly it was his thumb, took his hand out of the water, and mom handed me paper towels, we quickly soaked what we had and got new ones.
While trying to hold on the paper towels with a frantically crying boy at my feet, mom and I exchanged keys and I gave her the movie tickets. The movie was paid for, there was no reason for the other kids to not go and mom was a complete sport taking five children to the movies.
I got Ean's booster, safety out the window, I wasn't going to take the time to move a proper car seat. Conveniently there's an urgent care just outside our neighborhood, so I didn't have to go far. They got us right in and the nurse smeared Dave's thumb with numbing stuff.
He just sobbed, for a very long time.
Since it was a crushing injury (car door) the doctor ordered x-rays.
Three were taken and poor David just hated having to put his thumb down but he did really well. Very soon he figured out what was expected and when one of the shots needed to be redone, he held his hand very still with no prompting for the final x-ray.
It was confirmed that his bone was chipped. Once they started cleanup we realized he'd also lost his nail, both of these on top of a pretty ugly laceration. The Novocaine was the worst part, I had to hold him down for that but he was very cooperative once his thumb was numb. The laceration required three stitches. It runs almost the whole length of his thumb. The stitches look funny because the cut is jagged. It's actually not very big, but his thumb is so little, it looks much bigger then it is.
I requested Tylenol with codeine for the guy. He was being so brave but at the same time, the chipped bone, the lost nail along with the stitches, just makes you cringe. It makes me cringe!
Apparently codeine doesn't make David sleepy. He's got to be the only person in the world, but he was wired last night. Kent called me from work to let me know that he'd heard crying and noise from the bedroom. Worried about David's thumb, he opened the door. David was standing on Greg's chest jumping up and down.
We know the Codeine relieved pain, cause he was a stinker to his twin! Poor Greg!! His brother gets hurt and he suffers!
Tomorrow I take him in to change the dressing, we'll see if they say anything about the cherry stains on it. Actually I had to put it back on multiple times today, but it was still dry, so I didn't take him in. Hopefully it's all healing the way it should be.
All together now... POOR DAVID!!!!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Is it the kids or summer that makes life crazy?
Or maybe a good combination of both?
Really it's been never ending. Ean got spanked by the neighbor yesterday. He just let himself in and gave himself a tour of their house. Really, I'm confused, where on the world did he even think that was OK? He really struggles with boundaries, always in his siblings stuff, always in my stuff. In whatever he wants to and I'm not sure how to address it.
He's painted the bathroom sink with nail polish, painted the downstairs couch with nail polish, he's swiped every type of food he could from the kitchen and hidden it in his room. I mean multiple containers of yogurt, pancakes, oh gosh I don't know what all. This type of behavior you'd expect from a foster kid that thought he'd be starved but Ean? He's never been deprived. Sure we don't have treats every day and mama doesn't buy junk, but I bake goodies, we have Popsicles for the summer. It's not like they never have sugar, I personally think they still have way to much.
But it's not just food, he steals whatever catches his eye, whether or not he knows what it actually is. I had one perfume that I liked and occasionally lightly used. One. One. Normally perfume bothers my allergies but this was a very light scent that I could get away with. Haiku Awakenings from Avon. I got it oh, maybe five or six years ago. Yeah, it's gone. My son used it all. My son......
There's dangerous stuff too. He's swiping meds. I had to tell him over and over that medication will make you so sick you'll go to the hospital, it could kill you. I made him cry. But if my words aren't strong, he completely blows me off? How do I deal with that?
The kids had swim lessons last month, a friend told me I could split up a private lesson, I asked one of the teachers, he said, yes you could. I asked again, he said yes you could. I said really? I can take all the kids, pay for a half hour and get them all in? He said sure you can, I'll do it.
SO the kids had one private lesson, the neighbor doesn't know how to swim, I arranged for her to come along and for two teachers. The other teacher was prepared to go for an hour an half with each kid having their own half hour. Said I could go shorter but I'd have to pay for each. child. no. matter. what.
Wait.
That doesn't compute.
It's not like I didn't ask five or six times, check and double check. And if I'm willing to pay for their time, why shouldn't I have a say in how that time is used? It makes them more money in the end because I can't afford to pay for each child. I was more then a bit frustrated, so Kent and I are going to take the kids swimming Saturday, see how much work we can do on our own.
I wish I had access to a private pool. There's a woman that taught the girls, she was awesome. So incredibly good. I'd love for her to teach them but she's not affiliated with the gym anymore. *sigh*
Lets see, what else. Oh the forth! I ended up with an abscessed tooth and a sprained ankle. The kids had a great time. I ended up on the phone with the dentist's office at the parade getting a stronger prescription of antibiotics. That was Saturday, when I went into the dentist on Monday, I found out there was no hope for that tooth, it was pulled.
That's the third tooth I've had pulled and I'm not even forty yet. I'm kissing forty, but I'm not forty yet.
I know in my head my teeth do not reflect what I'm worth as a person but I still feel like less of a person. While getting numbed, I had tears just rolling down my face. It's humbling. It's embarrassing.
To top it all off is the question of money. We can't afford the dental work and I feel so damn guilty for causing more stress on our already stretched to the hilt finances.
It doesn't help that I could have used something heavier then the Tylenol and ibuprofen I was taking the first couple of days but I didn't dare with a kid in the house that I know (somehow) swiped meds. We have locks on everything, and he still manages to get in.
ARG!
Kate is being the laziest butt this summer, not responding to me over and over again.
I don't know, I'm frustrated.
Really it's been never ending. Ean got spanked by the neighbor yesterday. He just let himself in and gave himself a tour of their house. Really, I'm confused, where on the world did he even think that was OK? He really struggles with boundaries, always in his siblings stuff, always in my stuff. In whatever he wants to and I'm not sure how to address it.
He's painted the bathroom sink with nail polish, painted the downstairs couch with nail polish, he's swiped every type of food he could from the kitchen and hidden it in his room. I mean multiple containers of yogurt, pancakes, oh gosh I don't know what all. This type of behavior you'd expect from a foster kid that thought he'd be starved but Ean? He's never been deprived. Sure we don't have treats every day and mama doesn't buy junk, but I bake goodies, we have Popsicles for the summer. It's not like they never have sugar, I personally think they still have way to much.
But it's not just food, he steals whatever catches his eye, whether or not he knows what it actually is. I had one perfume that I liked and occasionally lightly used. One. One. Normally perfume bothers my allergies but this was a very light scent that I could get away with. Haiku Awakenings from Avon. I got it oh, maybe five or six years ago. Yeah, it's gone. My son used it all. My son......
There's dangerous stuff too. He's swiping meds. I had to tell him over and over that medication will make you so sick you'll go to the hospital, it could kill you. I made him cry. But if my words aren't strong, he completely blows me off? How do I deal with that?
The kids had swim lessons last month, a friend told me I could split up a private lesson, I asked one of the teachers, he said, yes you could. I asked again, he said yes you could. I said really? I can take all the kids, pay for a half hour and get them all in? He said sure you can, I'll do it.
SO the kids had one private lesson, the neighbor doesn't know how to swim, I arranged for her to come along and for two teachers. The other teacher was prepared to go for an hour an half with each kid having their own half hour. Said I could go shorter but I'd have to pay for each. child. no. matter. what.
Wait.
That doesn't compute.
It's not like I didn't ask five or six times, check and double check. And if I'm willing to pay for their time, why shouldn't I have a say in how that time is used? It makes them more money in the end because I can't afford to pay for each child. I was more then a bit frustrated, so Kent and I are going to take the kids swimming Saturday, see how much work we can do on our own.
I wish I had access to a private pool. There's a woman that taught the girls, she was awesome. So incredibly good. I'd love for her to teach them but she's not affiliated with the gym anymore. *sigh*
Lets see, what else. Oh the forth! I ended up with an abscessed tooth and a sprained ankle. The kids had a great time. I ended up on the phone with the dentist's office at the parade getting a stronger prescription of antibiotics. That was Saturday, when I went into the dentist on Monday, I found out there was no hope for that tooth, it was pulled.
That's the third tooth I've had pulled and I'm not even forty yet. I'm kissing forty, but I'm not forty yet.
I know in my head my teeth do not reflect what I'm worth as a person but I still feel like less of a person. While getting numbed, I had tears just rolling down my face. It's humbling. It's embarrassing.
To top it all off is the question of money. We can't afford the dental work and I feel so damn guilty for causing more stress on our already stretched to the hilt finances.
It doesn't help that I could have used something heavier then the Tylenol and ibuprofen I was taking the first couple of days but I didn't dare with a kid in the house that I know (somehow) swiped meds. We have locks on everything, and he still manages to get in.
ARG!
Kate is being the laziest butt this summer, not responding to me over and over again.
I don't know, I'm frustrated.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Alright already, get off my case!!!
Yes I realize I've sorely neglected my blog. It's bad enough to get nagged by my husband but sheesh, Internet friends that I've never met in real life make a point of mentioning I need a new entry, I get the point already!!!
Summer is almost here. The kids are so excited. I however am a teensy bit terrified. Five children, long summer days, no.breaks.whatsoever. Why oh why would that make me nervous? *smile*
Some things that will make it easier, the twins have gained some GREAT language skills. They're still very delayed, they'll go to early intervention next year with the same teachers they had winter semester, so that's all good. Having them hit their third birthday and still not having any real language skills was very hard emotionally for me. It's frustrating for me, for them, for everyone. Greg had resorted to banging his head on the ground out of sheer frustration from no being able to tell me what he wanted. It was a difficult period and we're not out of the woods yet. Conversations about food are OK, like color, yummy, and such. Trains are always good for a conversation. Family, siblings all that is good but if you go to far out of that realm, they easily lose you.
Also, when I say conversation, I mean repeat the same half dozen sentences over and over again.
Harder stuff for summer, we're tackling the potty! We have a very sordid history of potty training so I'll save the enthusiasm. I don't know how ready they are but for my own sanity, *I* need them to use the potty. Heaven knows our budget could sure use the boost of not buying diapers.
The biggest news around here, the absolute biggest news, my mom
*wait for it*
My mom bought a house and moved to Pocatello.
Yes, forty years after leaving she's come back. My brother Malcolm wants to know how I twisted her arm, which I find just hysterical since she made the decision before she ever even told me!!!
OK, backtrack. In March she came out for Kate's baptism. She also went house hunting. I made a joke the week before about buying the neighbors house and she looked it up on the Internet and said it was to expensive, she'd have to hunt when she came out.
My jaw hit the floor.
For my entire life she's swore up and down she'd never live in Idaho again. NEVER. That's all I've heard. But she's been lonely and she realized while visiting Malcolm in Japan that the distance has put a huge wedge in her relationship with her grandchildren. She also realized after having close friendships during her mission, she was lonely in Vermont. So she came out and bought a house.
My older brother will be moved out here eventually but there's a lot of red tape to cut through first. He's in the system in Vermont, and all his information has to be approved by Idaho health and welfare to get him in the Idaho system. Then they can decide how to best place him and there's probably a waiting list for a group home or group/supervised apartment.
Really it was a leap of faith.
Mom's Vermont house needs to sell fast so she pay off the mortgage on the Idaho house. There's one lady that keeps coming back but has serious misgivings about the basement and sump pump (it was built next to a lake). *eye roll* Buy it or not but it is what it is, a house with a sump pump.
I'm still working. Kent's still working. We're all working except the kids who think they have some kind of special exemption from chores. Uh, yeah, it's going to be a long summer if that's what they think cause they are wrong!
We're working on our garden, building a built up bed for raspberries, since the one's we planted a few years ago left our yard for greener pastures in the neighbor's yard who apparently is much better at watering.
Traitors.
We're also down a pine tree, it died so we have a whole new corner of the yard to try to build another garden spot. The grapes are all growing, the established vine came back of course and the two new vines are both coming back. The three year old saplings survived the winter and I've spent the past two weeks plucking off flowers, much to children's dismay. I keep explaining, we want the little trees to grow roots not fruit but they still don't understand.
We're going to be replacing the apricot with something not as finicky. It's required way to much maintenance and it attracts earwigs. *shudder* The Cherry out front has been so much nicer, aphids are quickly taken care of with diluted dish detergent and if we wrap the tree, there's plenty of cherries for us and the birds.
I think I started off with dealing with kids during the summer. Swim lessons should help. Although Ean's already announced he doesn't know how to swim so he can't have swim lessons! He's decided since this morning maybe it won't be so bad. The twins will have lessons too although the expense of five kiddos in lessons, yuck!
We're also doing the weekly movie. Can't beat the price and it's a nice treat during the hot summer months. My mom will go with us too. Of course we have summer lunches starting January first. That will help the kids burn off steam as well.
I need to take out stock in sunscreen this summer. I've already bought a good $30 worth of sunscreen for those red headed boys that just fry. It'll be a battle for sure.
So there you go, a blog entry. I don't want anymore complaints ya'all. *sticks out tongue*
Summer is almost here. The kids are so excited. I however am a teensy bit terrified. Five children, long summer days, no.breaks.whatsoever. Why oh why would that make me nervous? *smile*
Some things that will make it easier, the twins have gained some GREAT language skills. They're still very delayed, they'll go to early intervention next year with the same teachers they had winter semester, so that's all good. Having them hit their third birthday and still not having any real language skills was very hard emotionally for me. It's frustrating for me, for them, for everyone. Greg had resorted to banging his head on the ground out of sheer frustration from no being able to tell me what he wanted. It was a difficult period and we're not out of the woods yet. Conversations about food are OK, like color, yummy, and such. Trains are always good for a conversation. Family, siblings all that is good but if you go to far out of that realm, they easily lose you.
Also, when I say conversation, I mean repeat the same half dozen sentences over and over again.
Harder stuff for summer, we're tackling the potty! We have a very sordid history of potty training so I'll save the enthusiasm. I don't know how ready they are but for my own sanity, *I* need them to use the potty. Heaven knows our budget could sure use the boost of not buying diapers.
The biggest news around here, the absolute biggest news, my mom
*wait for it*
My mom bought a house and moved to Pocatello.
Yes, forty years after leaving she's come back. My brother Malcolm wants to know how I twisted her arm, which I find just hysterical since she made the decision before she ever even told me!!!
OK, backtrack. In March she came out for Kate's baptism. She also went house hunting. I made a joke the week before about buying the neighbors house and she looked it up on the Internet and said it was to expensive, she'd have to hunt when she came out.
My jaw hit the floor.
For my entire life she's swore up and down she'd never live in Idaho again. NEVER. That's all I've heard. But she's been lonely and she realized while visiting Malcolm in Japan that the distance has put a huge wedge in her relationship with her grandchildren. She also realized after having close friendships during her mission, she was lonely in Vermont. So she came out and bought a house.
My older brother will be moved out here eventually but there's a lot of red tape to cut through first. He's in the system in Vermont, and all his information has to be approved by Idaho health and welfare to get him in the Idaho system. Then they can decide how to best place him and there's probably a waiting list for a group home or group/supervised apartment.
Really it was a leap of faith.
Mom's Vermont house needs to sell fast so she pay off the mortgage on the Idaho house. There's one lady that keeps coming back but has serious misgivings about the basement and sump pump (it was built next to a lake). *eye roll* Buy it or not but it is what it is, a house with a sump pump.
I'm still working. Kent's still working. We're all working except the kids who think they have some kind of special exemption from chores. Uh, yeah, it's going to be a long summer if that's what they think cause they are wrong!
We're working on our garden, building a built up bed for raspberries, since the one's we planted a few years ago left our yard for greener pastures in the neighbor's yard who apparently is much better at watering.
Traitors.
We're also down a pine tree, it died so we have a whole new corner of the yard to try to build another garden spot. The grapes are all growing, the established vine came back of course and the two new vines are both coming back. The three year old saplings survived the winter and I've spent the past two weeks plucking off flowers, much to children's dismay. I keep explaining, we want the little trees to grow roots not fruit but they still don't understand.
We're going to be replacing the apricot with something not as finicky. It's required way to much maintenance and it attracts earwigs. *shudder* The Cherry out front has been so much nicer, aphids are quickly taken care of with diluted dish detergent and if we wrap the tree, there's plenty of cherries for us and the birds.
I think I started off with dealing with kids during the summer. Swim lessons should help. Although Ean's already announced he doesn't know how to swim so he can't have swim lessons! He's decided since this morning maybe it won't be so bad. The twins will have lessons too although the expense of five kiddos in lessons, yuck!
We're also doing the weekly movie. Can't beat the price and it's a nice treat during the hot summer months. My mom will go with us too. Of course we have summer lunches starting January first. That will help the kids burn off steam as well.
I need to take out stock in sunscreen this summer. I've already bought a good $30 worth of sunscreen for those red headed boys that just fry. It'll be a battle for sure.
So there you go, a blog entry. I don't want anymore complaints ya'all. *sticks out tongue*
Friday, January 2, 2009
I remember the day I met Kent.
I had escaped Provo for the weekend to visit family in Idaho. Pocatello to be exact. I was spending the night at my aunt and uncles, specifically I was going to check on/visit my grandfather, still grieving my grandmothers death from the month before.
I had no idea while packing that I'd meet someone so special. My grandfather was a chain smoker, so I always packed a weeks worth of clothes for the weekend to change out of smokey stuff and yet I managed to not put a single date worthy outfit in my suitcase. That would be fate because as soon as I saw my aunt, she just knew she had the perfect guy to set me up with. She asked if I would object to being set up, I figured I had nothing to lose, so my aunt called Pat.
Pat is the mom, my now mother in law. See, Kent still lived at home, at age 24, in the basement. Oh he paid rent, he worked, went to church, he just happened to live at home. Well ok, he was a bit of a mamas boy but when we met, he was so mesmerized by my good looks and personality, he cut the apron strings as soon as he said good night on that first date.
Pat went to ask Kent how he felt about a date and Kent, figuring he had a *cough* year long dry spell, thought going out with a girl might not be such a bad idea. Kent called my aunts house to officially ask me out.
That phone call was weird. Not because I was being asked out on a date, but because Kent's voice was eerily similar to an old flames. While dating, I had to pause for a few seconds and listen hard to figure out who I was talking to. ANYWAY, the man asked me out for Mexican and a movie, actually The Lion King. I didn't mention that Mexican wasn't my favorite and hung up the phone realizing I literally had nothing, I mean nothing to wear on a date. I had my weekend slouch clothes, half of which were in a garbage bag reeking of cigarette smoke from visiting my grandpa.
I managed to find a clean sweatshirt without holes and jeans that were only mildly worn in the knees. I did have my make-up and curling iron and went to town. I spent an hour putting myself to together. When we talked in later years, Kent recalled that I took his breath away when I answered the door but he had no idea that I'd worked so hard on my hair or my face.
Right before he came my aunt panicked, starting mumbling out loud that she didn't' really know him and what if he was a serial killer???!!!!! When Kent drove up with his rig, outfitted with half a dozen cellular antennas and HAM radio antennas, Nancy's face immediately brightened as she announced that if I disappeared, at least his vehicle would be easy to describe to the police. I rolled my eyes as I reminded her that this was her idea.
The doorbell rang.
I answered the door and there stood a man, blond, straight hair, receding hairline, glasses. I can't say I was blown away but he gave off a very nice vibe, sincere, kind, genuine. I remember smiling shyly and then he spoke, and I felt so at ease with him. We started talking about missions and conversation never stopped. We didn't have awkward pauses, it wasn't like we'd just met, it was like we were old friends.
Our second date, Kent confided to me that he had been always painfully shy around women. Dating was a challenge, he never knew what to say. Actually everyone told me how quiet he was. Never spoke unless he was with friends and as our relationship progressed it was assumed that *I* did all the talking. This wasn't the case. It wasn't the case at all. Kent told me that just a few days before he had prayed, prayed that when he met the right woman, he'd know because he'd be able to talk to her.
See, I never met the shy man. From the moment we met, he was at ease with me. He was soft spoken yet energetic. He sold cell phones, volunteered for the local Search and Rescue, served an LDS mission in Jacksonville Florida. *smile* We started talking about missions, sci-fi, families, fathers, just everything. It was all so natural. I had the distinct impression that this was someone I could marry. I knew our personalities, goals and desires were compatible. Of course, I thought he was enjoying our date but I didn't know if he felt the same way that I did.
It wasn't until years later that I found out that Kent was determined to marry someone that loved Mexican, so he always took dates out for Mexican, if they didn't like it, then he wouldn't take them out again. I tease him sometimes on missing out on me if I'd spoken up. *laugh* Seriously, out of all the things to look at in a spouse, this one point was non-negotiable for him. Lucky for him I'm polite, he would have missed out all for the love of Mexican food.
We went to the movies after dinner. Really, movies are such an awful place to take a date, especially a first date. You can't snuggle, hold hands, you just sit in the dark next to each other. Luckily I had already seen the movie, oh the previous weekend because I had trouble paying attention. I kept thinking about dinner, replaying our conversation in my head. It had been a very long time since I'd gone on such a nice date. I wouldn't say it was "magical" or even "perfect" but it was fun, lots of fun and I craved to just go out and have a good time on a date. No expectations, just relax and have a good time. That's what happened. It was exactly what I needed.
After taking me home, we had a few awkward moments at the doorstep. No kisses, but neither one of us knew what to do, since it was the only awkward moment of the night, it was easily moved past I think. There was a quick squeeze and then Kent asked me to go to church with him the next day, at his singles ward.
You have to understand the typical Latter Day Saint Singles ward to understand what an incredibly bold move this was for him to make. To bring a single woman to church with him is rumor mill fodder and dating death because you're labeled as taken and written off. Singles wards can be cruel but I don't' think the man cared. He just wanted to spend time with me. And I wasn't about to say no.
The next day it was easy to get doled up. I of course had brought church clothes. Re-did hair and make-up, not realizing that I shouldn't have gone to all the trouble, he didn't notice anyway. We said goodbye after church and my heart beat a little faster every time I thought of him.
I opted to spend the night again at my aunts and drive back to school in the morning at four am. Yes I was a little crazy, yes I made it and as soon as I was at my apartment I woke up my roommate to tell her about my date. I was bursting with excitement to tell *exasperated hand gesture* someone about my date. She laughed at me, as I giggled like a school girl.
I didn't hear from Kent for another two weeks. I thought about him but I didn't hear from him. Well, I had moved apartments about a month before and *laugh* sorta forgot to give my family my new phone number. So Kent called my aunt in Pocatello, got a number it didn't work. Called my aunt in Salt Lake, she didn't have my new number either. He got my parents number in Vermont, called and got my brother Malcolm who helpfully supplied that he didn't care what my new phone number was. The man called all over the US trying to find out how to reach me.
He finally resorted to calling my job. I was teaching Swedish at the MTC (Missionary Training Center), as one of six teachers, it was pretty easy to track me down. He actually called the MTC, left a message that made it's way to my supervisor and I got it that night. Oh my, I got the message at the start of my shift and I was very distracted during my shift.
I will admit that as far as being a teacher goes, I was a mediocre teacher at best however the Lord works in mysterious ways and when I was called and asked if I wanted to interview (they were desperate for a Swedish teacher), I received a very strong impression that I was being given that job for a reason. I struggled and really had to exercise some serious faith to help do what I struggled with. I
found myself feeling very close to the Lord which I think helped me be where I needed to be to recognize Kent's worth.
I called Kent and we arranged to meet in Salt Lake the next day. While visiting and walking together, at one point our hands swung and touched, next thing we were holding hands. The sparks just flew. Kent swears up and down that I grabbed his hand but that's not what happened. And he enjoyed it as much as I did. *laugh*
We had a dumb little thing we did as roommates where if you held hands you owed everyone m&m's, if you kissed you owed everyone ice cream. I bought m&m's on the way home and threw them at my roommates. I was so excited.
Now that Kent had my phone number we were able to talk and we did, daily, for hours. My roommates loved me. Well, I don't think I was to bad because we talked late at night and I always surrendered the phone at the drop of a hat. Kent came down a month later, we officially had known each other six weeks and had gone on three dates. We went up the canyon and stood under bridal veil falls watching the water. It was fall and it was closed so we were just past the parking lot but we were alone and we snuggled and talked.
Finally Kent held me tight and told me that he'd understand if I needed time but he knew he wanted to marry me, to spend eternity with me. I looked up into his beautiful eyes and told him that I already knew it was right and said we probably should get a ring then.
I freaked out my roommates, my best friend especially. One roommate was sure for the next couple of weeks I was playing an elaborate joke because surely I wasn't really getting married. Most of my roommates knew I was serious. My best friend was sure I'd gone off the deep end.
I was one hundred percent at peace with my decision to marry Kent. If I had any doubts, was nervous even, felt any negative feelings in the least, I could not have married him.
I dated a man on and off for five years before Kent. Whenever marriage came up, I was a wreck, an absolutely wreck. It felt wrong, it was a relief to put it on the back burner. With Kent, complete opposite. I was so at peace. I knew it was right. Kent did too, although Kent did have a major panic attack the day after he proposed, poor guy.
We had a very short six week engagement and married exactly three months after we met. So much joy, so much happiness in holding the hand of my sweetheart while making promises to God and to each other.
And to think, it all started with a blind date.
I had no idea while packing that I'd meet someone so special. My grandfather was a chain smoker, so I always packed a weeks worth of clothes for the weekend to change out of smokey stuff and yet I managed to not put a single date worthy outfit in my suitcase. That would be fate because as soon as I saw my aunt, she just knew she had the perfect guy to set me up with. She asked if I would object to being set up, I figured I had nothing to lose, so my aunt called Pat.
Pat is the mom, my now mother in law. See, Kent still lived at home, at age 24, in the basement. Oh he paid rent, he worked, went to church, he just happened to live at home. Well ok, he was a bit of a mamas boy but when we met, he was so mesmerized by my good looks and personality, he cut the apron strings as soon as he said good night on that first date.
Pat went to ask Kent how he felt about a date and Kent, figuring he had a *cough* year long dry spell, thought going out with a girl might not be such a bad idea. Kent called my aunts house to officially ask me out.
That phone call was weird. Not because I was being asked out on a date, but because Kent's voice was eerily similar to an old flames. While dating, I had to pause for a few seconds and listen hard to figure out who I was talking to. ANYWAY, the man asked me out for Mexican and a movie, actually The Lion King. I didn't mention that Mexican wasn't my favorite and hung up the phone realizing I literally had nothing, I mean nothing to wear on a date. I had my weekend slouch clothes, half of which were in a garbage bag reeking of cigarette smoke from visiting my grandpa.
I managed to find a clean sweatshirt without holes and jeans that were only mildly worn in the knees. I did have my make-up and curling iron and went to town. I spent an hour putting myself to together. When we talked in later years, Kent recalled that I took his breath away when I answered the door but he had no idea that I'd worked so hard on my hair or my face.
Right before he came my aunt panicked, starting mumbling out loud that she didn't' really know him and what if he was a serial killer???!!!!! When Kent drove up with his rig, outfitted with half a dozen cellular antennas and HAM radio antennas, Nancy's face immediately brightened as she announced that if I disappeared, at least his vehicle would be easy to describe to the police. I rolled my eyes as I reminded her that this was her idea.
The doorbell rang.
I answered the door and there stood a man, blond, straight hair, receding hairline, glasses. I can't say I was blown away but he gave off a very nice vibe, sincere, kind, genuine. I remember smiling shyly and then he spoke, and I felt so at ease with him. We started talking about missions and conversation never stopped. We didn't have awkward pauses, it wasn't like we'd just met, it was like we were old friends.
Our second date, Kent confided to me that he had been always painfully shy around women. Dating was a challenge, he never knew what to say. Actually everyone told me how quiet he was. Never spoke unless he was with friends and as our relationship progressed it was assumed that *I* did all the talking. This wasn't the case. It wasn't the case at all. Kent told me that just a few days before he had prayed, prayed that when he met the right woman, he'd know because he'd be able to talk to her.
See, I never met the shy man. From the moment we met, he was at ease with me. He was soft spoken yet energetic. He sold cell phones, volunteered for the local Search and Rescue, served an LDS mission in Jacksonville Florida. *smile* We started talking about missions, sci-fi, families, fathers, just everything. It was all so natural. I had the distinct impression that this was someone I could marry. I knew our personalities, goals and desires were compatible. Of course, I thought he was enjoying our date but I didn't know if he felt the same way that I did.
It wasn't until years later that I found out that Kent was determined to marry someone that loved Mexican, so he always took dates out for Mexican, if they didn't like it, then he wouldn't take them out again. I tease him sometimes on missing out on me if I'd spoken up. *laugh* Seriously, out of all the things to look at in a spouse, this one point was non-negotiable for him. Lucky for him I'm polite, he would have missed out all for the love of Mexican food.
We went to the movies after dinner. Really, movies are such an awful place to take a date, especially a first date. You can't snuggle, hold hands, you just sit in the dark next to each other. Luckily I had already seen the movie, oh the previous weekend because I had trouble paying attention. I kept thinking about dinner, replaying our conversation in my head. It had been a very long time since I'd gone on such a nice date. I wouldn't say it was "magical" or even "perfect" but it was fun, lots of fun and I craved to just go out and have a good time on a date. No expectations, just relax and have a good time. That's what happened. It was exactly what I needed.
After taking me home, we had a few awkward moments at the doorstep. No kisses, but neither one of us knew what to do, since it was the only awkward moment of the night, it was easily moved past I think. There was a quick squeeze and then Kent asked me to go to church with him the next day, at his singles ward.
You have to understand the typical Latter Day Saint Singles ward to understand what an incredibly bold move this was for him to make. To bring a single woman to church with him is rumor mill fodder and dating death because you're labeled as taken and written off. Singles wards can be cruel but I don't' think the man cared. He just wanted to spend time with me. And I wasn't about to say no.
The next day it was easy to get doled up. I of course had brought church clothes. Re-did hair and make-up, not realizing that I shouldn't have gone to all the trouble, he didn't notice anyway. We said goodbye after church and my heart beat a little faster every time I thought of him.
I opted to spend the night again at my aunts and drive back to school in the morning at four am. Yes I was a little crazy, yes I made it and as soon as I was at my apartment I woke up my roommate to tell her about my date. I was bursting with excitement to tell *exasperated hand gesture* someone about my date. She laughed at me, as I giggled like a school girl.
I didn't hear from Kent for another two weeks. I thought about him but I didn't hear from him. Well, I had moved apartments about a month before and *laugh* sorta forgot to give my family my new phone number. So Kent called my aunt in Pocatello, got a number it didn't work. Called my aunt in Salt Lake, she didn't have my new number either. He got my parents number in Vermont, called and got my brother Malcolm who helpfully supplied that he didn't care what my new phone number was. The man called all over the US trying to find out how to reach me.
He finally resorted to calling my job. I was teaching Swedish at the MTC (Missionary Training Center), as one of six teachers, it was pretty easy to track me down. He actually called the MTC, left a message that made it's way to my supervisor and I got it that night. Oh my, I got the message at the start of my shift and I was very distracted during my shift.
I will admit that as far as being a teacher goes, I was a mediocre teacher at best however the Lord works in mysterious ways and when I was called and asked if I wanted to interview (they were desperate for a Swedish teacher), I received a very strong impression that I was being given that job for a reason. I struggled and really had to exercise some serious faith to help do what I struggled with. I
found myself feeling very close to the Lord which I think helped me be where I needed to be to recognize Kent's worth.
I called Kent and we arranged to meet in Salt Lake the next day. While visiting and walking together, at one point our hands swung and touched, next thing we were holding hands. The sparks just flew. Kent swears up and down that I grabbed his hand but that's not what happened. And he enjoyed it as much as I did. *laugh*
We had a dumb little thing we did as roommates where if you held hands you owed everyone m&m's, if you kissed you owed everyone ice cream. I bought m&m's on the way home and threw them at my roommates. I was so excited.
Now that Kent had my phone number we were able to talk and we did, daily, for hours. My roommates loved me. Well, I don't think I was to bad because we talked late at night and I always surrendered the phone at the drop of a hat. Kent came down a month later, we officially had known each other six weeks and had gone on three dates. We went up the canyon and stood under bridal veil falls watching the water. It was fall and it was closed so we were just past the parking lot but we were alone and we snuggled and talked.
Finally Kent held me tight and told me that he'd understand if I needed time but he knew he wanted to marry me, to spend eternity with me. I looked up into his beautiful eyes and told him that I already knew it was right and said we probably should get a ring then.
I freaked out my roommates, my best friend especially. One roommate was sure for the next couple of weeks I was playing an elaborate joke because surely I wasn't really getting married. Most of my roommates knew I was serious. My best friend was sure I'd gone off the deep end.
I was one hundred percent at peace with my decision to marry Kent. If I had any doubts, was nervous even, felt any negative feelings in the least, I could not have married him.
I dated a man on and off for five years before Kent. Whenever marriage came up, I was a wreck, an absolutely wreck. It felt wrong, it was a relief to put it on the back burner. With Kent, complete opposite. I was so at peace. I knew it was right. Kent did too, although Kent did have a major panic attack the day after he proposed, poor guy.
We had a very short six week engagement and married exactly three months after we met. So much joy, so much happiness in holding the hand of my sweetheart while making promises to God and to each other.
And to think, it all started with a blind date.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Three out of five Birthdays within a week of Christmas.
The twins were born on the twenty-first with Kate born on the twenty-seventh. It's been suggested to me, that I was somehow being responsible for this phenomena planned poorly on the births of my children. I have to laugh since the twins were actually due on Valentines day. Since we fought to keep them in as long as possible, personally I take great pride of them baking until almost Christmas. We could have had them two months earlier, and had micro-preemies.
Well, Kate, Kate we left entirely up to the Lord. My cycles being extremely erratic, at least during this point of time they were, other then charting, there wasn't much we could do. And I stink at charting.
I was actually due January ninth with Kate. However she came when she was suppose too, so two days after Christmas it was.
Of course the end result is a very busy week with Christmas sandwiched in the middle. So I thought I'd focus on Birthdays and tackle Christmas in it's own entry.
The twins turned three. Of course turning three means nothing to them. They've hit this huge milestone and all they know is, they got to eat cake. That and everyone kept saying Happy Birthday, so much so they often repeated it at random, not grasping that it specifically meant something for them.
The twenty-first was on Sunday, which was highlighted by the Christmas program at church. Personally the Christmas program is the highlight of the year for me. The focus on spiritual music that focuses so much on Christ's birth just leaves me feeling so full, so uplifted. Actually when I had the twins, I was released from the hospital on Christmas Eve and that Sunday there was only Sacrament meeting with the Christmas program. I went and sat and enjoyed every second of the program. My friends thought I was nuts, sitting through a meeting four entire days after my c-section, but after three months (that's worth repeating) three months of bedrest and isolation, I NEEDED that program.
In some ways I needed that program this year. Sacrament meeting is so hard for us and I've struggled with staying when it's such a battle with the kids to keep them reverent. Hell, reverent is the wrong word. To keep them from shouting/fight/killing each other would be more accurate some Sundays. We do have some basic quidelines that help. Kate isn't allowed to sit next to me, she gets physical with any sibbling that touches me when she's laid claim to me. We sit in a long middle bench taking up the entire space in case Ean should want to lay down, because he'll kick a sister or brother if he feels crowded.
We just don't have enough hands and some Sundays go ok, some we fight through and some we give up.
I had high hopes for the Christmas program since I know my children all love music. The twins are now singing at the drop of a hat. Both of them. We understand less from Greg, but when he rattled off Eh moo moo moo moo moo, Eh moo moo moo moo moo moo, Eh E I E I Oooohhh It was very obvious he was singing "Old McDonald had a farm".
My hopes were stymied by Sister Bunce in the row behind us. Sister Bunce an eccentric older woman with very strong ideas on pretty much everything. For reasons I cannot fathom, Sister Bunce sat behind us with a lap full of candy shooting daggers at my 36 month old boys when they tried to beg for some. Greg's world ended several times.
I am not saying someone should give my children what they have at church. Nor am I saying that for whatever reason, Sister Bunce shouldn't have had her candy, but to sit in a family ward with small children and not even *exasperated hand motion* try to be discreet, but scowl at the small children you've put in an uproar... Well lets just leave it at, we left early, so much for the Christmas program.
The clueless boys were happier when we got home. I made dinner, home made mac and cheese, which was wolfed down by everyone except the twins. Apparently this was their day to be picky. Per my husbands request because he's announced he'd rather eat a box cake mix then my homemade cake crazy man, I made pumpkin bars for dessert. We took the kids to Kent's parents so they could share the great blowing out of candles. The twins still couldn't figure out this was actually their day. You can tell this from the pictures.
This pretty much captures the evening. What? Is something going on?? This is what happens when you celebrate with language delayed kids that have no clue what you're talking about.
However, they did decide the candles were a good thing.
David understood candles are to be "blown out" and started on his the very second we started singing. Ean was very prompt to go and chew David out the very second "Happy Birthday" was over for doing it wrong! I had to let Ean know it really was alright. Greg on the other hand, had a hard time getting his out. Of course he was kind leaned W A Y back and blowing very softly. It reminded me a little bit of how my older brother use to blow out candles. Greg finally got it, and just seconds before three older sibblings were about to jump in and do it for him. Dessert was a hit and of course the consumption of dessert meant it was now time for presents.
I had gone shopping about a week before. I had held off, not quite sure what to get them. I had long ago with Kate decided to do everything in my power to separate Christmas presents from Birthday presents. I make sure there's not themes or stuff that goes together. It seems kind of odd but I feel better knowing we're not just clumping everthing together.
You know, I felt Kate was hard to make sure she felt special on her birthday, the twins are worse. Not only is there the challenge of making sure their birthday is seperate from Christmas but twins struggle with naturally being grouped together. Everything is always the same for both. Some people struggle with referring to them as single individuals lazily choosing to refer to them as a unit. So making each individual feel special is my new challenge. Luckily they're still young. This will get harder as they get older.
I don't know when the time for individual gifts will become appropriate but for now, double is easier because of the non-stop fighting due to their age. I'll try to take cues from them as they grow and mature. I felt pretty safe this time around going shopping at Cal-Ranch down the John Deere isle. I bought these cute sets with animals, tractor, combine, fencing. Way cute!
Here they are opening them.
They slept with their tractors until the Christmas presents showed up. *laugh*
Poor Ean really struggled. His Birthday isn't until May and it's hard to understand why everyone gets presents except him. As he matures he'll appreciate his birthday a whole lot more.
Except for Sister Bunce, the twins enjoyed their day even if they didn't understand it.
Fast forward to today, and Kate the Great turning Eight. The big eight, KATE knew what was going on, lol. We took Kate sledding with a friend. We actually went on Kent's parents road. It's a gentle slope and since we have so many teeny guys, it gave the option of actually going inside if anyone got to cold. Kate's guest left her gloves at our house, so I lent her mine. I didn't actually go sledding. Without gloves, I ended up running inside and out with the camera to get pictures of the kids.
Greg loved sledding!!! He stayed out there for a very long time sledding over and over with his daddy. The big girls lasted the longest, David lasted the shortest. David went on two runs and decided cars at grandmas sounded like more fun.
I brought the ugliest cake up. It was heart shaped, the top uneven, roughly shaped with the pinkest icing that I lost control of all over the cake. Uh, yeah, I'm not winning any cake decorating awards. Of course Kate had to go in and tell her grandma "hey look, I have THE ugliest birthday cake EVER!"
*blush*
Thanks for sharing that tidbit with your grandma Kate!
I haven't downloaded pictures of Kate from today, I'll have to do that another time. Kate seemed to be quite pleased with her dress, dolly, poster and Hannah Montanna game. It's really getting hard to shop for these bigger girls. It'll be interesting to see how their tastes evolve as they get bigger.
Surely it can't get worse then Hannah Montana!
Well, Kate, Kate we left entirely up to the Lord. My cycles being extremely erratic, at least during this point of time they were, other then charting, there wasn't much we could do. And I stink at charting.
I was actually due January ninth with Kate. However she came when she was suppose too, so two days after Christmas it was.
Of course the end result is a very busy week with Christmas sandwiched in the middle. So I thought I'd focus on Birthdays and tackle Christmas in it's own entry.
The twins turned three. Of course turning three means nothing to them. They've hit this huge milestone and all they know is, they got to eat cake. That and everyone kept saying Happy Birthday, so much so they often repeated it at random, not grasping that it specifically meant something for them.
The twenty-first was on Sunday, which was highlighted by the Christmas program at church. Personally the Christmas program is the highlight of the year for me. The focus on spiritual music that focuses so much on Christ's birth just leaves me feeling so full, so uplifted. Actually when I had the twins, I was released from the hospital on Christmas Eve and that Sunday there was only Sacrament meeting with the Christmas program. I went and sat and enjoyed every second of the program. My friends thought I was nuts, sitting through a meeting four entire days after my c-section, but after three months (that's worth repeating) three months of bedrest and isolation, I NEEDED that program.
In some ways I needed that program this year. Sacrament meeting is so hard for us and I've struggled with staying when it's such a battle with the kids to keep them reverent. Hell, reverent is the wrong word. To keep them from shouting/fight/killing each other would be more accurate some Sundays. We do have some basic quidelines that help. Kate isn't allowed to sit next to me, she gets physical with any sibbling that touches me when she's laid claim to me. We sit in a long middle bench taking up the entire space in case Ean should want to lay down, because he'll kick a sister or brother if he feels crowded.
We just don't have enough hands and some Sundays go ok, some we fight through and some we give up.
I had high hopes for the Christmas program since I know my children all love music. The twins are now singing at the drop of a hat. Both of them. We understand less from Greg, but when he rattled off Eh moo moo moo moo moo, Eh moo moo moo moo moo moo, Eh E I E I Oooohhh It was very obvious he was singing "Old McDonald had a farm".
My hopes were stymied by Sister Bunce in the row behind us. Sister Bunce an eccentric older woman with very strong ideas on pretty much everything. For reasons I cannot fathom, Sister Bunce sat behind us with a lap full of candy shooting daggers at my 36 month old boys when they tried to beg for some. Greg's world ended several times.
I am not saying someone should give my children what they have at church. Nor am I saying that for whatever reason, Sister Bunce shouldn't have had her candy, but to sit in a family ward with small children and not even *exasperated hand motion* try to be discreet, but scowl at the small children you've put in an uproar... Well lets just leave it at, we left early, so much for the Christmas program.
The clueless boys were happier when we got home. I made dinner, home made mac and cheese, which was wolfed down by everyone except the twins. Apparently this was their day to be picky. Per my husbands request because he's announced he'd rather eat a box cake mix then my homemade cake crazy man, I made pumpkin bars for dessert. We took the kids to Kent's parents so they could share the great blowing out of candles. The twins still couldn't figure out this was actually their day. You can tell this from the pictures.
This pretty much captures the evening. What? Is something going on?? This is what happens when you celebrate with language delayed kids that have no clue what you're talking about.
However, they did decide the candles were a good thing.
David understood candles are to be "blown out" and started on his the very second we started singing. Ean was very prompt to go and chew David out the very second "Happy Birthday" was over for doing it wrong! I had to let Ean know it really was alright. Greg on the other hand, had a hard time getting his out. Of course he was kind leaned W A Y back and blowing very softly. It reminded me a little bit of how my older brother use to blow out candles. Greg finally got it, and just seconds before three older sibblings were about to jump in and do it for him. Dessert was a hit and of course the consumption of dessert meant it was now time for presents.
I had gone shopping about a week before. I had held off, not quite sure what to get them. I had long ago with Kate decided to do everything in my power to separate Christmas presents from Birthday presents. I make sure there's not themes or stuff that goes together. It seems kind of odd but I feel better knowing we're not just clumping everthing together.
You know, I felt Kate was hard to make sure she felt special on her birthday, the twins are worse. Not only is there the challenge of making sure their birthday is seperate from Christmas but twins struggle with naturally being grouped together. Everything is always the same for both. Some people struggle with referring to them as single individuals lazily choosing to refer to them as a unit. So making each individual feel special is my new challenge. Luckily they're still young. This will get harder as they get older.
I don't know when the time for individual gifts will become appropriate but for now, double is easier because of the non-stop fighting due to their age. I'll try to take cues from them as they grow and mature. I felt pretty safe this time around going shopping at Cal-Ranch down the John Deere isle. I bought these cute sets with animals, tractor, combine, fencing. Way cute!
Here they are opening them.
They slept with their tractors until the Christmas presents showed up. *laugh*
Poor Ean really struggled. His Birthday isn't until May and it's hard to understand why everyone gets presents except him. As he matures he'll appreciate his birthday a whole lot more.
Except for Sister Bunce, the twins enjoyed their day even if they didn't understand it.
Fast forward to today, and Kate the Great turning Eight. The big eight, KATE knew what was going on, lol. We took Kate sledding with a friend. We actually went on Kent's parents road. It's a gentle slope and since we have so many teeny guys, it gave the option of actually going inside if anyone got to cold. Kate's guest left her gloves at our house, so I lent her mine. I didn't actually go sledding. Without gloves, I ended up running inside and out with the camera to get pictures of the kids.
Greg loved sledding!!! He stayed out there for a very long time sledding over and over with his daddy. The big girls lasted the longest, David lasted the shortest. David went on two runs and decided cars at grandmas sounded like more fun.
I brought the ugliest cake up. It was heart shaped, the top uneven, roughly shaped with the pinkest icing that I lost control of all over the cake. Uh, yeah, I'm not winning any cake decorating awards. Of course Kate had to go in and tell her grandma "hey look, I have THE ugliest birthday cake EVER!"
*blush*
Thanks for sharing that tidbit with your grandma Kate!
I haven't downloaded pictures of Kate from today, I'll have to do that another time. Kate seemed to be quite pleased with her dress, dolly, poster and Hannah Montanna game. It's really getting hard to shop for these bigger girls. It'll be interesting to see how their tastes evolve as they get bigger.
Surely it can't get worse then Hannah Montana!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
The big exciting weekend (and inevitable tree destructions)
After much debate, we decided to have a tree this year. Friday we hauled out one of the store's old beater trees and put it together as a family. Or rather, I hollered at little boys running around with tree parts as Kent did whatever the heck he was doing and the girls danced excitedly and my friend Kim helped where ever it was needed.
This included letting me know where I was confused on how to set up the tree.
Luckily Kent had multiple trees because the first box I opened was missing part of the stand. I had the tree branches sorted, the box was empty and there were only two parts of the stand. Lovely. So out came the other tree and we combined the two for one frankentree. It didn't look bad.
Kent proceeded to drag out some lights, I found some garland and with my helpers pulling and tugging, I wrapped white lights around the whole tree and with the one colored strand, loosely zig zagged it up the front. The effect was charming. A white lighted background with sporadic dots of color. I really liked it. Of course there was one corner segment that was blinking. The kids liked that... *laugh*
Then I took out my garland, white with silver dots, and wrapped the whole tree. The effect went from charming to stunning. Suddenly our tree looked as if it was covered in snow with lights peaking out from behind. I finally took my Swedish flag garland that I'd made four or five years ago and put that on. It really didn't fit but I wanted something personal on the tree. We were not digging our keepsake ornaments out. Absolutely not. I want to keep those as long as possible and well, I know my boys.
Kent moved the kitchen tv and dvd player into the front room and we watched Kim's copy of Wall-E, while constantly reminding Kate that if she made "Wall-E" noises, she'd get sent to bed. Well almost everyone watched. Greg was asleep on the floor and I went for a walk. My legs were itching for movement and I had to spend a little time away from my children. I love them dearly but it had been a long day.
I came back before the movie was over, changed Greg while Kent informed me I was a miracle worker because I got him ready for bed including teeth being brushed without him getting ticked at being disturbed. I think Kent was just buttering me up so he won't have to do it next time. Finally some very tired kiddo's went to bed.
Saturday was a big day. We were having a big girls day out at the local rotary club's sponsoring of the nutcracker. Kate's a wanna be ballerina so this was a very big deal for her. Marja, her daughter Maryah, Marja's friend Melonie and Melonie's two children along with Kim and my girls all sat together to watch the performance. We sat far left right in front of the stage. The bad, we weren't able to see the footwork in the last 2/3rds of the stage however we did get to see expressions as the performance progressed and that was amazing. Also, we were five feet away from the Rat King coming out of the stage. Talk about children with big eyes!!!! There was smoke blowing towards us and he towered right above us before starting in his part. I loved it. *smile*
By the time the Sugar Plum Fairy came on, Kate was whispering a wardrobe wish list. She had at least a half dozen dance costumes on her list, hopefully when she had her recital in January, her costume is uber girlie and pink, being pink would help.
We rounded out the performance with ice cream at Farr's. I know, snow on the ground, bitter wind but I suggested ice cream. All those fun flavors at only a buck a cone, it's hard to turn it down. I went ahead and treated everyone. Not that we're swimming in the dough but I seldom get to "do" nice things for my friends and this seemed like a great opportunity. Not to mention I actually had money in my wallet and it was burning a hole in my pocket.
When we arrived home, I noticed that the garland on the tree looked a little rough. Sure enough, the tree had taken four headers while we were gone. Kent, of course, had to grab the camera.
You may notice the tree is actually facing different directions in several pictures, it's as if the boys tried to "steer" the tree. Also, Jesse looks pretty desperate trying to say Honest, it wasn't me. *laugh* Here we have proof why we didn't go all out. We knew, KNEW this would happen. Maybe next year we can put the pretty tree and decorations up again. We'll have to see.
The other big happening while we were at the Nutcracker. Poor Ean thought it was incredibly unfair that he was left out. Kent said he cried for a half hour, how sad is that???? So Kent in his infinite daddy wisdom, took the tops off two broken VCRs and let Ean go to town. Kent said he was at it for five hours at least.
Does that boy's daddy understand his son or what?? *laugh*
The weekend finished off with sending Kim on her way, and going up to Kent's parents where Jane occupied herself by making a fifteen foot paper chain for the Christmas tree.
I'm not making any bets if it'll survive until Christmas.
This included letting me know where I was confused on how to set up the tree.
Luckily Kent had multiple trees because the first box I opened was missing part of the stand. I had the tree branches sorted, the box was empty and there were only two parts of the stand. Lovely. So out came the other tree and we combined the two for one frankentree. It didn't look bad.
Kent proceeded to drag out some lights, I found some garland and with my helpers pulling and tugging, I wrapped white lights around the whole tree and with the one colored strand, loosely zig zagged it up the front. The effect was charming. A white lighted background with sporadic dots of color. I really liked it. Of course there was one corner segment that was blinking. The kids liked that... *laugh*
Then I took out my garland, white with silver dots, and wrapped the whole tree. The effect went from charming to stunning. Suddenly our tree looked as if it was covered in snow with lights peaking out from behind. I finally took my Swedish flag garland that I'd made four or five years ago and put that on. It really didn't fit but I wanted something personal on the tree. We were not digging our keepsake ornaments out. Absolutely not. I want to keep those as long as possible and well, I know my boys.
Kent moved the kitchen tv and dvd player into the front room and we watched Kim's copy of Wall-E, while constantly reminding Kate that if she made "Wall-E" noises, she'd get sent to bed. Well almost everyone watched. Greg was asleep on the floor and I went for a walk. My legs were itching for movement and I had to spend a little time away from my children. I love them dearly but it had been a long day.
I came back before the movie was over, changed Greg while Kent informed me I was a miracle worker because I got him ready for bed including teeth being brushed without him getting ticked at being disturbed. I think Kent was just buttering me up so he won't have to do it next time. Finally some very tired kiddo's went to bed.
Saturday was a big day. We were having a big girls day out at the local rotary club's sponsoring of the nutcracker. Kate's a wanna be ballerina so this was a very big deal for her. Marja, her daughter Maryah, Marja's friend Melonie and Melonie's two children along with Kim and my girls all sat together to watch the performance. We sat far left right in front of the stage. The bad, we weren't able to see the footwork in the last 2/3rds of the stage however we did get to see expressions as the performance progressed and that was amazing. Also, we were five feet away from the Rat King coming out of the stage. Talk about children with big eyes!!!! There was smoke blowing towards us and he towered right above us before starting in his part. I loved it. *smile*
By the time the Sugar Plum Fairy came on, Kate was whispering a wardrobe wish list. She had at least a half dozen dance costumes on her list, hopefully when she had her recital in January, her costume is uber girlie and pink, being pink would help.
We rounded out the performance with ice cream at Farr's. I know, snow on the ground, bitter wind but I suggested ice cream. All those fun flavors at only a buck a cone, it's hard to turn it down. I went ahead and treated everyone. Not that we're swimming in the dough but I seldom get to "do" nice things for my friends and this seemed like a great opportunity. Not to mention I actually had money in my wallet and it was burning a hole in my pocket.
When we arrived home, I noticed that the garland on the tree looked a little rough. Sure enough, the tree had taken four headers while we were gone. Kent, of course, had to grab the camera.
You may notice the tree is actually facing different directions in several pictures, it's as if the boys tried to "steer" the tree. Also, Jesse looks pretty desperate trying to say Honest, it wasn't me. *laugh* Here we have proof why we didn't go all out. We knew, KNEW this would happen. Maybe next year we can put the pretty tree and decorations up again. We'll have to see.
The other big happening while we were at the Nutcracker. Poor Ean thought it was incredibly unfair that he was left out. Kent said he cried for a half hour, how sad is that???? So Kent in his infinite daddy wisdom, took the tops off two broken VCRs and let Ean go to town. Kent said he was at it for five hours at least.
Does that boy's daddy understand his son or what?? *laugh*
The weekend finished off with sending Kim on her way, and going up to Kent's parents where Jane occupied herself by making a fifteen foot paper chain for the Christmas tree.
I'm not making any bets if it'll survive until Christmas.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Playing catch up, This, That and Everything.
My friend Kim is visiting until Sunday, as always it's wonderful to see her. We've been friends for a very long time. Actually we met when we were twelve at girls camp. Through church activities over the teenage years we kept in touch. We've cried through many bad men experiences and during my mission I broke the rules and arranged a fifty minute phone call because going a year and a half without talking was to much to bear.
Kim is single, has never been married, has no children and has always desired a life exactly opposite of what she has. She's grown to embrace the hand given to her but her biological clock is ticking and it pains me to see her realize that biological children may not happen.
I think that's why she enjoys coming here so much. She loves my children dearly and with the exception of Kate (who would not be charmed by Kimmy's energetic and fun nature as a baby, she did eventually warm up and now adores Kim.) all the others have warmed up fairly quickly to her visits. This time round Greg and David played shy for only 20 minutes or so before realizing what an inviting lap Kim has and that she'll gladly sing and play at the drop of a hat. She charms the little people and most certainly has charmed mine.
Kim will cheerfully change diapers, help someone with homework and load my dishwasher.
More important, she's there, no matter what. I know I can call, gripe, cry (and we have a long history of very good cries *laugh*) and she'll love me unconditionally.
In observing my children, Kim's commented on the boys delays, observing that they are extremely behind in speech. She commented looking at Greg that it'd sure be nice to know what was going on in your head. I would have to agree.
Speaking of speech, the boys will start Early Intervention January sixth. That's a Tuesday, they'll go Tuesday and Thursday from 8:00 am until 10:30 am. They can ride the bus both ways, the school district is legally obligated to provide transportation but due to the early hour, and the school being a whole five minutes away, Kent will drop the boys off to school and they will ride the bus home afterwards.
I have agreed to having the twins in separate classrooms. Apparently there's strong ideas on whether twins should be together or apart in school. Personally I feel it depends on the twins. No decision should be made without knowing the children involved. For my twins, being apart feels like the right decision. My boys do not suffer any anxiety from being apart and with Greg being less verbal with David, I want Greg to get more stimulation then he gets with his twin. David of course understands him perfectly, through whatever unseen twin connection they share. Being with others will hopefully give Greg a greater desire to communicate.
Ean was in early intervention and thrived there, easily testing out of the program by the end of the year (he still has an IEP for speech). I strongly suspect that Dave will do the same. Not the end of the this semester, that's only four months of school but by the end of next year.
I'll put in applications for head start in the spring. Who knows, maybe the boys will do both. I'm willing to wait and see.
Ean will start Kindergarten in the fall. I can't believe how grown up he's getting. Still have times when I can't understand him, but he is getting very grown up.
While blogging Greg decided to perform some kind of experiment involving dehydrated carrots, baking powder and my hot air popcorn popper. Not wanting to waste I just spent fifteen minutes sifting the carrots out of the baking powder. I wonder if Greg's mischievous nature comes from not being able to communicate, and the boredom that follows.
Anyway, it's cleaned up, I've updated the boys, Kim's loading my dishwasher and I have to take Ean to school. Kent picked him up and forgot his backpack. Head Start won't allow kids on the bus without their head start backpacks.
Dumbest rule ever!
Kim is single, has never been married, has no children and has always desired a life exactly opposite of what she has. She's grown to embrace the hand given to her but her biological clock is ticking and it pains me to see her realize that biological children may not happen.
I think that's why she enjoys coming here so much. She loves my children dearly and with the exception of Kate (who would not be charmed by Kimmy's energetic and fun nature as a baby, she did eventually warm up and now adores Kim.) all the others have warmed up fairly quickly to her visits. This time round Greg and David played shy for only 20 minutes or so before realizing what an inviting lap Kim has and that she'll gladly sing and play at the drop of a hat. She charms the little people and most certainly has charmed mine.
Kim will cheerfully change diapers, help someone with homework and load my dishwasher.
More important, she's there, no matter what. I know I can call, gripe, cry (and we have a long history of very good cries *laugh*) and she'll love me unconditionally.
In observing my children, Kim's commented on the boys delays, observing that they are extremely behind in speech. She commented looking at Greg that it'd sure be nice to know what was going on in your head. I would have to agree.
Speaking of speech, the boys will start Early Intervention January sixth. That's a Tuesday, they'll go Tuesday and Thursday from 8:00 am until 10:30 am. They can ride the bus both ways, the school district is legally obligated to provide transportation but due to the early hour, and the school being a whole five minutes away, Kent will drop the boys off to school and they will ride the bus home afterwards.
I have agreed to having the twins in separate classrooms. Apparently there's strong ideas on whether twins should be together or apart in school. Personally I feel it depends on the twins. No decision should be made without knowing the children involved. For my twins, being apart feels like the right decision. My boys do not suffer any anxiety from being apart and with Greg being less verbal with David, I want Greg to get more stimulation then he gets with his twin. David of course understands him perfectly, through whatever unseen twin connection they share. Being with others will hopefully give Greg a greater desire to communicate.
Ean was in early intervention and thrived there, easily testing out of the program by the end of the year (he still has an IEP for speech). I strongly suspect that Dave will do the same. Not the end of the this semester, that's only four months of school but by the end of next year.
I'll put in applications for head start in the spring. Who knows, maybe the boys will do both. I'm willing to wait and see.
Ean will start Kindergarten in the fall. I can't believe how grown up he's getting. Still have times when I can't understand him, but he is getting very grown up.
While blogging Greg decided to perform some kind of experiment involving dehydrated carrots, baking powder and my hot air popcorn popper. Not wanting to waste I just spent fifteen minutes sifting the carrots out of the baking powder. I wonder if Greg's mischievous nature comes from not being able to communicate, and the boredom that follows.
Anyway, it's cleaned up, I've updated the boys, Kim's loading my dishwasher and I have to take Ean to school. Kent picked him up and forgot his backpack. Head Start won't allow kids on the bus without their head start backpacks.
Dumbest rule ever!
Sunday, December 7, 2008
For prosperities sake, the tale of Kate's eye infection.
Kate's eye infection actually happened two years ago however since I wasn't blogging at the time, the story has not been recorded. No better time then the present to fix that.
Kate was in Kindergarten, she actually was in full time (we have part time here) because she qualified for needing her help in her reading. I believe this occurred in February, but I may be off. I do however have the year right. The twins were here and just over a year. I remember how stressed I felt about needing to be able to nurse them. With David's vomiting, he still depended heavily on nursing.
Anyhoo, Kate came home from school and she acted tired. I noticed her eye was red and thought, dang, she's getting pink eye. It was a Thursday so I was relieved we were going into the weekend so it wouldn't go interfere with school to much. I sent the tired girl to bed and she woke up two hours later feeling slightly warm to the touch and her eye was really red. She went right to bed and in the morning she looked like this.
Holy wow! That was NOT pink eye. She obviously had an infection and she was very warm to the touch. I called the doctor and was able to get her in right after lunch.
Unfortunately since it was Friday, she wasn't able to see her regular doctor. She saw the other doctor in the practice. He prescribed an oral dose of amoxicillin, that I had filled immediately and given Kate her first dose by 2:00 pm. Kate was so sleepy, she went right to bed and didn't wake up until just after 7:00pm. The swelling was twice as big and she obviously was extremely sick. Kent was able to get to the immediate care center before closing and she received a shot of antibiotics and was sent home.
Once again exhausted, she fell asleep for the night and by morning, this is what we saw.
The poor child was unable to open her eye it was so swollen. It looked so painful and Kate, bless her heart, she pitches a fit at every little bump or bruise but when the painful stuff hit, she handled it like a trooper.
Kent's dad came over to help Kent give her a blessing. To say he was worried when he saw her would be an extreme understatement. After she had some breakfast, I do believe we allowed her to eat ice cream that am, her daddy took her to the emergency room. It was extremely obvious that the infection was immune to the types of antibiotics she'd already received within twenty-four hours.
I do have to throw in that Ean had this same type of eye infection the previous year but his responded extremely well to really brood range type antibiotic. The rate of growth that Kate was experiencing scared the crap out of me.
I found it frustrating to be at home when my instinct screamed to be with my obviously sick little girl but with four other children, two of which were extremely needy infants, I sat impatiently waiting at home.
When I called for reports, Kent filled me in but it wasn't the same as being there. After a few hours, there was talk about putting in an IV line and allowing Kate to come home, returning twice a day for IV antibiotics. However this no longer became an option when Kate received a CAT scan and it was confirmed that the infection had spread into her actual eye socket. Extremely dangerous because of the chance of the infection traveling along the optic nerve into the brain, Kate's only option was to be admitted for observation and aggressive IV therapy.
Kent was kind enough to share that Kate was charming the pants off the nurses and anyone else that came in to work on her. Kent's dad generously offered to spend the night at the hospital to make sure someone was there to be an advocate for Kate. With all the other kiddo's we took him up on that. Kate was admitted to the largest pediatric room I'd ever seen. For some reason there was one room at the end of the whole, bigger then my kitchen, that's where Kate was.
I was able to sneak away from home for a bit as she was admitted. She was the most cheerful child on the floor. All giggles and smiles, thrilled that I brought her favorite movies up. Oh and the gifts she was getting. Great fun, great fun! Getting blood samples taken only spoiled her mood for five minutes or so. The IV line was in, all they had to do was hook it up, so that didn't phase her and the wrap on her line was pink! She loved that!
Of course how dangerous this infection could be was beyond her comprehension and we didn't want to scare her. Actually, we didn't want to scare Kent's parents either, we planned on keeping the details to ourselves. Kent's parents tend to really panic and I mean really really panic. Unfortunately one of my in laws neighbors was a nurse on the peds floor and she filled Kent's mom in on the danger of the infection traveling through the optic nerve to the brain.
*Shaking head*
As predicted, they panicked.
Kate received six doses of IV antibiotics in twenty-four hours. Amazingly enough once Kate started to respond, her healing was extremely fast. About eighteen hours after her admittance, Kate was able to open her eye. We were thrilled!
During her time there, she saw a steady stream of doctors, all for different things. She saw an optomologist in case there was any damage to her eye. She saw an oral surgeon in case there was a need to lance and drain the infection site. There was at least three other separate doctors but for the life of me, I can't remember why they were involved.
Kate was released after about twenty-six hours in the hospital. Here she is after another day's mending.
She ended taking oral antibiotics for another two weeks after being released to make sure the infection was taken care of. The optomologist following her case was amazed that she suffered no ill effects and we skipped the follow-up appointment with the oral surgeon. We could hear the cha-ching of money slipping out of our wallet straight to all the outreached medical branches that needed payment.
It could have been so much worse.
Kate was in Kindergarten, she actually was in full time (we have part time here) because she qualified for needing her help in her reading. I believe this occurred in February, but I may be off. I do however have the year right. The twins were here and just over a year. I remember how stressed I felt about needing to be able to nurse them. With David's vomiting, he still depended heavily on nursing.
Anyhoo, Kate came home from school and she acted tired. I noticed her eye was red and thought, dang, she's getting pink eye. It was a Thursday so I was relieved we were going into the weekend so it wouldn't go interfere with school to much. I sent the tired girl to bed and she woke up two hours later feeling slightly warm to the touch and her eye was really red. She went right to bed and in the morning she looked like this.
Holy wow! That was NOT pink eye. She obviously had an infection and she was very warm to the touch. I called the doctor and was able to get her in right after lunch.
Unfortunately since it was Friday, she wasn't able to see her regular doctor. She saw the other doctor in the practice. He prescribed an oral dose of amoxicillin, that I had filled immediately and given Kate her first dose by 2:00 pm. Kate was so sleepy, she went right to bed and didn't wake up until just after 7:00pm. The swelling was twice as big and she obviously was extremely sick. Kent was able to get to the immediate care center before closing and she received a shot of antibiotics and was sent home.
Once again exhausted, she fell asleep for the night and by morning, this is what we saw.
The poor child was unable to open her eye it was so swollen. It looked so painful and Kate, bless her heart, she pitches a fit at every little bump or bruise but when the painful stuff hit, she handled it like a trooper.
Kent's dad came over to help Kent give her a blessing. To say he was worried when he saw her would be an extreme understatement. After she had some breakfast, I do believe we allowed her to eat ice cream that am, her daddy took her to the emergency room. It was extremely obvious that the infection was immune to the types of antibiotics she'd already received within twenty-four hours.
I do have to throw in that Ean had this same type of eye infection the previous year but his responded extremely well to really brood range type antibiotic. The rate of growth that Kate was experiencing scared the crap out of me.
I found it frustrating to be at home when my instinct screamed to be with my obviously sick little girl but with four other children, two of which were extremely needy infants, I sat impatiently waiting at home.
When I called for reports, Kent filled me in but it wasn't the same as being there. After a few hours, there was talk about putting in an IV line and allowing Kate to come home, returning twice a day for IV antibiotics. However this no longer became an option when Kate received a CAT scan and it was confirmed that the infection had spread into her actual eye socket. Extremely dangerous because of the chance of the infection traveling along the optic nerve into the brain, Kate's only option was to be admitted for observation and aggressive IV therapy.
Kent was kind enough to share that Kate was charming the pants off the nurses and anyone else that came in to work on her. Kent's dad generously offered to spend the night at the hospital to make sure someone was there to be an advocate for Kate. With all the other kiddo's we took him up on that. Kate was admitted to the largest pediatric room I'd ever seen. For some reason there was one room at the end of the whole, bigger then my kitchen, that's where Kate was.
I was able to sneak away from home for a bit as she was admitted. She was the most cheerful child on the floor. All giggles and smiles, thrilled that I brought her favorite movies up. Oh and the gifts she was getting. Great fun, great fun! Getting blood samples taken only spoiled her mood for five minutes or so. The IV line was in, all they had to do was hook it up, so that didn't phase her and the wrap on her line was pink! She loved that!
Of course how dangerous this infection could be was beyond her comprehension and we didn't want to scare her. Actually, we didn't want to scare Kent's parents either, we planned on keeping the details to ourselves. Kent's parents tend to really panic and I mean really really panic. Unfortunately one of my in laws neighbors was a nurse on the peds floor and she filled Kent's mom in on the danger of the infection traveling through the optic nerve to the brain.
*Shaking head*
As predicted, they panicked.
Kate received six doses of IV antibiotics in twenty-four hours. Amazingly enough once Kate started to respond, her healing was extremely fast. About eighteen hours after her admittance, Kate was able to open her eye. We were thrilled!
During her time there, she saw a steady stream of doctors, all for different things. She saw an optomologist in case there was any damage to her eye. She saw an oral surgeon in case there was a need to lance and drain the infection site. There was at least three other separate doctors but for the life of me, I can't remember why they were involved.
Kate was released after about twenty-six hours in the hospital. Here she is after another day's mending.
She ended taking oral antibiotics for another two weeks after being released to make sure the infection was taken care of. The optomologist following her case was amazed that she suffered no ill effects and we skipped the follow-up appointment with the oral surgeon. We could hear the cha-ching of money slipping out of our wallet straight to all the outreached medical branches that needed payment.
It could have been so much worse.
I wonder if I should put a tree up this year.
We skipped last year. The year before, the tree was demolished. Wait, I do have pictures, *laugh*
First, there were only edible decorations on the tree. Asking for trouble? Maybe. But I sure wasn't putting my keepsake ornaments on with one year old twins and Ean, the destructo two year old.
Ean started by knocking the tree over, please note, most of the edible decorations had been digested the previous day. Ean is proudly holding part of the Christmas tree stand there.
Then the twins got into the act. Please note since the twins weren't walking, they greatly appreciated the tree being brought to their level. This was right before their first birthday. That's popcorn they're eating.
It was purely by chance the twins are festively dressed in green and red. It goes well in the pictures of the decimated tree though. Looking at those pictures, it's easy to see why last year we just never got around to putting the tree up. Last year on Christmas eve, we have a bright red crocheted blanket with holly on the corners (it was a wedding present, get married the sixteenth of December you get LOTS of Christmas-y sort of presents, *laugh*) We spread the blanket in the middle of the floor and piled presents on top. It actually looked kinda cool.
This year we are again facing the Christmas tree question. Should we even bother? The twins are another year older. At almost three, you'd think we'd have a decent chance of tree survival, ornaments are another story but maybe a tree alone could survive. We have to keep in mind that communication is a problem. With the comprehension delays on the boys, they (especially Greg) act more like and early two then an almost three.
A friend did suggest that we could hang a tree upside down from the ceiling. That's a great idea! The twins could swing from the tree, like red-headed tarzans!!! We are talking boys that scale shelves and move chairs to reach pretty much everything under the sun.
Holding off until the last minute was another suggestion. Personally I think it hardly seems worth the effort.
I guess we'll play it by ear. Really whats the worse that could happen? We could get even better pictures then the ones shown! WOOT!
First, there were only edible decorations on the tree. Asking for trouble? Maybe. But I sure wasn't putting my keepsake ornaments on with one year old twins and Ean, the destructo two year old.
Ean started by knocking the tree over, please note, most of the edible decorations had been digested the previous day. Ean is proudly holding part of the Christmas tree stand there.
Then the twins got into the act. Please note since the twins weren't walking, they greatly appreciated the tree being brought to their level. This was right before their first birthday. That's popcorn they're eating.
It was purely by chance the twins are festively dressed in green and red. It goes well in the pictures of the decimated tree though. Looking at those pictures, it's easy to see why last year we just never got around to putting the tree up. Last year on Christmas eve, we have a bright red crocheted blanket with holly on the corners (it was a wedding present, get married the sixteenth of December you get LOTS of Christmas-y sort of presents, *laugh*) We spread the blanket in the middle of the floor and piled presents on top. It actually looked kinda cool.
This year we are again facing the Christmas tree question. Should we even bother? The twins are another year older. At almost three, you'd think we'd have a decent chance of tree survival, ornaments are another story but maybe a tree alone could survive. We have to keep in mind that communication is a problem. With the comprehension delays on the boys, they (especially Greg) act more like and early two then an almost three.
A friend did suggest that we could hang a tree upside down from the ceiling. That's a great idea! The twins could swing from the tree, like red-headed tarzans!!! We are talking boys that scale shelves and move chairs to reach pretty much everything under the sun.
Holding off until the last minute was another suggestion. Personally I think it hardly seems worth the effort.
I guess we'll play it by ear. Really whats the worse that could happen? We could get even better pictures then the ones shown! WOOT!
Friday, December 5, 2008
Egads, I hate shopping
Some folks are natural shoppers. The thrill of finding a bargain. Browsing along isles, just to see what they have. Envisioning future purchases while feeling the edge of the credit card in your purse.
Oh yeah, that's so not me.
Shopping makes me grouchy. I find what I want as fast as I can and book it out of the store. Or at least that's how it would be if I didn't have to drag anywhere from one to five children along. And today, I had two. The youngest two. The two that are language delayed, low comprehension, act very immature. The ones I have to restrain from running into traffic, as they split in different directions. Just thinking about taking them to the store gives me an instant headache. Makes my legs hurt from the fatigue I know I'll feel when I'm done.
Today was no different.
I did have enough sense to put Ean on the bus first. I could have gone with all three boys. I've done it before. I've nearly always regretted it or at least came home with a few dozen more grey hairs but this time, I thought, I'd make it easy on myself.
HA
Boy am I foolish.
I should have realized how things were going to go when Ean announced he had to pee while waiting for the bus. Now the bus is very particular. Head start demands that the child be waiting at the curb, with their head start back pack when the bus arrives. The parent must be there with the child. Their game, their rules, so I follow the rules. Now Ean's bus had been coming late the past few weeks. Anywhere from five minutes to 25 minutes (the bus did break down and they had to get another bus on Tuesday). Oh not to today, today the bus was right on time, I saw it coming down the road the very second I allowed Ean to run in to pee.
I was talking with my mom on the phone when I started to yell Ean, QUICK, the bus is HERE!!!!
My mom quickly said to goodbye as I grabbed Eans hand, said a prayer he would make it to school and ran to the curb to meet the bus. At this point the bus was inching towards our house. For some odd reason the bus driver was leery of parking to let Ean on. Two year olds running loose on the sidewalk made him a little jumpy.
Now don't get me wrong, i appreciate his caution, it was just my day to be annoyed with every little thing and well, that annoyed me.
Got Ean on the bus, and rushed the twins to the suburban. I don't know why but David started to cry as soon as I buckled him in. We were going. He wanted to go. Buckling in is never optional for my children, I don't know why he was upset. Again feeling mildly irritated, I wished the child could just tell me what the problem was.
You know, I never had a problem with the other kids not communicating at thirty five months. Now I did have a problem understanding the older three, but never with them not comprehending, or speaking to me.
Dave cried the whole way to Wal-mart. Thankfully it's only a five minute drive and he perked up as soon as we got there. Actually both boys walking in the parking lot were extremely cheerful. Now they were both trying to escape so they could run free dodging the speeding junkers and souped up trucks, but they were cheerful while I dragged them along, only objecting every now and then.
It doesn't help that they're so short I have to stoop to hold their hands. Really, I'm 5'3'' and I have to stoop? Basketball players they won't be. I'm afraid they take after my dad.
We found a cart and they road the rest of the way into the store. From that point on the fun never stopped. There was climbing in and out of carts. Actually I turned my back at one point to get some juice on the very back of the shelf and when I turned around this woman was making sure Greg didn't crack his head open climbing out of the cart. Who ever you are, thank you! I wonder if I could have paid her to just follow me around helping the boys in and out of the cart...
While the boys exercised, I looked at the WIC checks and realized they were going to expire in three days. I had three checks, I needed to use them all. That meant three dozen eggs this trip. Well we were out of eggs, that's not a bad thing but, with the twins all over the cart there literally was no place to put the eggs where they would be safe. I opted for the seat and spent the rest of the trip keeping David from climbing in on top of them.
I had to open seven cartons before I found a carton without any broken eggs in it. Sheesh and I hadn't even let the boys near the eggs, it really looked like their work too. Like a twenty eight pound kid had climbed up and elbowed and kneed every other carton. I swear they were in the cart. And after all that hard work to find the cartons, I wasn't going to allow a child to break the ones I had.
Getting the last few items, Greg climbed out of the cart again and ran around me. Literally around me. That is until he saw apples and ran to grab one. I had to leave David in the cart with the eggs unsupervised while running after Greg. I reached him just as his teeth penetrated the apple skin.
Uh, guess I was buying a few apples today. Why a few? Because honestly I couldn't buy one apple with two boys. That wouldn't work at all. Greg's day was ruined when i wouldn't allow him to eat his prize then and there, choosing instead to make him wait while I paid for the apples.
I put Greg back in the cart, picked a check out lane and didn't realize the gal in front of me was letting her little girl eat saltines.
Great.
Just what I needed.
With a cry of COOKIE Dave let half the store know HE was being starved. While working on Dave I failed to see that Greg was within a centimeter from actually scoring a candy bar. Luckily I spotted him before he scaled the cart to grab more booty. At this point I still hadn't paid for his previous ill gotten game.
The six minutes we waited in line felt three times as long, as David noticed there was candy and I had to continuously block escape attempts. Good gravy, I could barely keep up!
The gal in front of us took pity and gave me a package of saltines to feed the boys. I could've kissed her! That was incredibly nice and it did help the boys settle down while I checked out.
Keep in mind I needed to check out four times. I had three WIC checks and some other groceries as well.
I gave the boys their apples, said a little prayer they wouldn't get sick and discovered that my groceries didn't fit back in my cart. I'm serious. You know how a cat can lay in the center of a queen sized bed and leave no room for you to actually lay down? Well that's the twins were like in the cart. Even though every grocery I had before had been in the cart, for the life of me, I couldn't seem to fit it back in. I finally resorted to standing the boys up, praying they wouldn't throw apples at anyone or try to climb out with their hands full and stacked stuff around them.
We made it out of the store and I needed a nap later to recover. I keep telling myself this stage is only temporary but it's not working. I still get depressed thinking about going back to the store.
On the lighter side, the twins both have a new word. When looking at Christmas lights tonight both boys exclaimed AWESOME everytime they were impressed. Which was often. *laugh* Greg was as nearly as impressed with Santa earlier.
*shrug*
Oh well, I wasn't impressed with Santa either at that age and my mom has the picture to prove it.
Oh yeah, that's so not me.
Shopping makes me grouchy. I find what I want as fast as I can and book it out of the store. Or at least that's how it would be if I didn't have to drag anywhere from one to five children along. And today, I had two. The youngest two. The two that are language delayed, low comprehension, act very immature. The ones I have to restrain from running into traffic, as they split in different directions. Just thinking about taking them to the store gives me an instant headache. Makes my legs hurt from the fatigue I know I'll feel when I'm done.
Today was no different.
I did have enough sense to put Ean on the bus first. I could have gone with all three boys. I've done it before. I've nearly always regretted it or at least came home with a few dozen more grey hairs but this time, I thought, I'd make it easy on myself.
HA
Boy am I foolish.
I should have realized how things were going to go when Ean announced he had to pee while waiting for the bus. Now the bus is very particular. Head start demands that the child be waiting at the curb, with their head start back pack when the bus arrives. The parent must be there with the child. Their game, their rules, so I follow the rules. Now Ean's bus had been coming late the past few weeks. Anywhere from five minutes to 25 minutes (the bus did break down and they had to get another bus on Tuesday). Oh not to today, today the bus was right on time, I saw it coming down the road the very second I allowed Ean to run in to pee.
I was talking with my mom on the phone when I started to yell Ean, QUICK, the bus is HERE!!!!
My mom quickly said to goodbye as I grabbed Eans hand, said a prayer he would make it to school and ran to the curb to meet the bus. At this point the bus was inching towards our house. For some odd reason the bus driver was leery of parking to let Ean on. Two year olds running loose on the sidewalk made him a little jumpy.
Now don't get me wrong, i appreciate his caution, it was just my day to be annoyed with every little thing and well, that annoyed me.
Got Ean on the bus, and rushed the twins to the suburban. I don't know why but David started to cry as soon as I buckled him in. We were going. He wanted to go. Buckling in is never optional for my children, I don't know why he was upset. Again feeling mildly irritated, I wished the child could just tell me what the problem was.
You know, I never had a problem with the other kids not communicating at thirty five months. Now I did have a problem understanding the older three, but never with them not comprehending, or speaking to me.
Dave cried the whole way to Wal-mart. Thankfully it's only a five minute drive and he perked up as soon as we got there. Actually both boys walking in the parking lot were extremely cheerful. Now they were both trying to escape so they could run free dodging the speeding junkers and souped up trucks, but they were cheerful while I dragged them along, only objecting every now and then.
It doesn't help that they're so short I have to stoop to hold their hands. Really, I'm 5'3'' and I have to stoop? Basketball players they won't be. I'm afraid they take after my dad.
We found a cart and they road the rest of the way into the store. From that point on the fun never stopped. There was climbing in and out of carts. Actually I turned my back at one point to get some juice on the very back of the shelf and when I turned around this woman was making sure Greg didn't crack his head open climbing out of the cart. Who ever you are, thank you! I wonder if I could have paid her to just follow me around helping the boys in and out of the cart...
While the boys exercised, I looked at the WIC checks and realized they were going to expire in three days. I had three checks, I needed to use them all. That meant three dozen eggs this trip. Well we were out of eggs, that's not a bad thing but, with the twins all over the cart there literally was no place to put the eggs where they would be safe. I opted for the seat and spent the rest of the trip keeping David from climbing in on top of them.
I had to open seven cartons before I found a carton without any broken eggs in it. Sheesh and I hadn't even let the boys near the eggs, it really looked like their work too. Like a twenty eight pound kid had climbed up and elbowed and kneed every other carton. I swear they were in the cart. And after all that hard work to find the cartons, I wasn't going to allow a child to break the ones I had.
Getting the last few items, Greg climbed out of the cart again and ran around me. Literally around me. That is until he saw apples and ran to grab one. I had to leave David in the cart with the eggs unsupervised while running after Greg. I reached him just as his teeth penetrated the apple skin.
Uh, guess I was buying a few apples today. Why a few? Because honestly I couldn't buy one apple with two boys. That wouldn't work at all. Greg's day was ruined when i wouldn't allow him to eat his prize then and there, choosing instead to make him wait while I paid for the apples.
I put Greg back in the cart, picked a check out lane and didn't realize the gal in front of me was letting her little girl eat saltines.
Great.
Just what I needed.
With a cry of COOKIE Dave let half the store know HE was being starved. While working on Dave I failed to see that Greg was within a centimeter from actually scoring a candy bar. Luckily I spotted him before he scaled the cart to grab more booty. At this point I still hadn't paid for his previous ill gotten game.
The six minutes we waited in line felt three times as long, as David noticed there was candy and I had to continuously block escape attempts. Good gravy, I could barely keep up!
The gal in front of us took pity and gave me a package of saltines to feed the boys. I could've kissed her! That was incredibly nice and it did help the boys settle down while I checked out.
Keep in mind I needed to check out four times. I had three WIC checks and some other groceries as well.
I gave the boys their apples, said a little prayer they wouldn't get sick and discovered that my groceries didn't fit back in my cart. I'm serious. You know how a cat can lay in the center of a queen sized bed and leave no room for you to actually lay down? Well that's the twins were like in the cart. Even though every grocery I had before had been in the cart, for the life of me, I couldn't seem to fit it back in. I finally resorted to standing the boys up, praying they wouldn't throw apples at anyone or try to climb out with their hands full and stacked stuff around them.
We made it out of the store and I needed a nap later to recover. I keep telling myself this stage is only temporary but it's not working. I still get depressed thinking about going back to the store.
On the lighter side, the twins both have a new word. When looking at Christmas lights tonight both boys exclaimed AWESOME everytime they were impressed. Which was often. *laugh* Greg was as nearly as impressed with Santa earlier.
*shrug*
Oh well, I wasn't impressed with Santa either at that age and my mom has the picture to prove it.
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