Jen's Blot

On the verge of the first NY school year for the boys...

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:27:00 -0500

We're down to our last two days of summer vacation here... and Steve and I are working. We have no last hurrah, fun thing planned. But then we did our big doin's in April with the cruise and moving back to NY.

The boys have met their teachers and are excited to be going back. It's been quiet around here with very few kids their age in the immediate vicinity.

Holly starts preschool a week from today - she'd like it to have started 3 weeks ago :) to say she's ready is an understatement. She's chomping at the bit!!!

Our vacation account is growing. We've passed the $500 minimum so now we'll start to accrue interest. It'll do for now, but when we actually take the $$ out I'll probably look for a new bank to keep the account in. I'm not a fan of them charging me a fee just because I used the $$ for what it was intended.

We were invited to Florida with a friend in June '11 - which would avoid hotel charges. So I'm looking to see what the chances are of saving enough for the airfare and entertainment (tickets, food, etc). I think there's a darned good chance we'll make it!

Overall, we've spent the summer settling in. Most weekends we are here at the house instead of traveling all around. There have been showings of the house in MA and we've done some things in response to feedback. Most recently, we replaced all the carpeting, so it should show really nicely now. Now we cross our fingers!

We did manage to meet up with Holly's friend Tara at the Bronx Zoo a few weeks ago. the kids had a great time and were exhausted by the time we left.

The boys also started Karate in August and have been enjoying it. Kyle is really eating it up, and Ryan isn't complaining (he could try harder - but we're working on that).

From aug10

Holly is looking forward to starting dance lessons in the next few weeks.

From aug10

I'm looking forward to getting back into the school year routine.

Hope you all enjoyed your summer!

Argh. Tomorrow is Monday.

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 19:59:01 -0500

I am so not looking forward to work this week. I had to pull stuff together to build a presentation to show to 4 different sets of folks this week. 2 of them are just prep for showing an upper level manager, which in itself is prep for presenting to execs. Blech. Of course since my first one is at 8:30 am tomorrow, it's what's been on my mind most of the weekend (in between setting up Holly with the super duper Princess bed of course).

Weeks like this really make me yearn for non-professional employment, preferably in a school so that I can enjoy summers off... But it is what it is, and usually I enjoy it. So I will suck it up and get through this week and go back to enjoying what I do.

Hopefully.

:-)

Groceries 7/11/10

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 11:02:03 -0500

I made a 2nd grocery run today because I found a $10 off $75 in the local paper that could only be used up to today. I used the opportunity to focus on buying things only on sale. I almost did it too. I think if we include the bouncy ball I bought for Holly, I only grabbed 3 items not on sale.

At any rate - I saved $91.43 !!! And I spent out of pocket $90.96 - that's just over 50% - Woohoo Me!

Some cool matchups that I made (these are all at Shoprite) -
Several varieties of General Mills cereal are on sale at $1.99
I grabbed 2 boxes of Honey Nut Cheeries at 1.99 each
And used a $.75/2 coupon which was doubled -
total $2.48 ($1.24 ea)
I grabbed 2 boxes of Cinnamon Toast Crunch at 1.99 each
And used 2 $.60 off one coupons which are doubled!
Total $.79 each!!

Fantastik spray cleaner was on sale for $1.99
I used a .55 coupon (doubled!)
Total $.89

Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom cleaner on sale for 1.99
coupon for .55 (doubled)
Total $.89

I also popped into Rite Aid to take advantage of a possible money maker deal on Neutrogena (Thanks Mojo Savings and Kristin at Couponing To Disney !)

Sears' Kidvantage Guarantee

Thu, 8 Jul 2010 18:34:52 -0500

Do you know about Kidvantage?
First there is the spend $100 and get a coupon for 15% off which is nice.

Know what's better? Their KidVantage Guarantee. For all kids' apparal and shoes they stand behind them. If they wear out before your child outgrows the item you can bring it back with the receipt (and box if it's shoes) and they will replace it with the same item in the same size. If they no longer carry the item they will substitute something comparable in the same size up to the price you paid.

I use this for sneakers. I swear my oldest sweats acid from his feet (and I guess that's technically correct, but I mean like battery acid!). I will pay more at Sears for sneakers for him because he ends up with Sketchers and they last longer than Walmart cheapy shoes, AND when they fall apart I take them in and get a new pair. So we end up with 2 pairs for the price of one.

The cashiers don't always hold me to the size rule - it all depends who is on and what they know and how much effort they feel like putting out. Today was the first time I've had someone hold me to that. But always I try to be as pleasant as I can be. And yes, their policy clearly states the size thing, so I grabbed the smaller size and exchanged for those. And I bought the 2nd pair in the bigger size. My reasoning is that Ky can wear the smaller size now, they are just slightly snug. He'll wear them for the summer. And in September he can move to the bigger pair. If there is life left in the smaller pair they get put on the shelf until the smaller boy fits into them (and being 'blessed' with my tiny feet it will be a while!). I had a coupon for 15% of kids stuff from my previous KidVantage purchases and used that to buy the second pair and a new pair of sneaks for the girl. Of course both of those were not full retail price either ;)

What I did find today was that not all cashiers know all the policies. The first one did not know that you could even use the KidVantage Guarantee on shoes. She said 'no, not on shoes'. But I pleasantly informed her it states apparel and shoes, and that I've not had a problem in the past. She was willing to try. Ended up messing it up, and we got a manager, but again, I did so as nicely as possible. She offered and I said - I will very nicely say yes please, I'd like a manager, just to make sure. And sure enough the manager fixed it (after making me get the smaller size.. but again, no big deal there.)

Happy Shopping!!

July 5th 2010

Mon, 5 Jul 2010 09:34:17 -0500

Hope Everyone had a fun Independence Day!
We spent the afternoon/evening with good friends of ours, relaxing, eating, just enjoying the company. The kids had a blast. They are way overtired and totally at each other today - so it's nice to look at the few pictures I took and remember that a day like yesterday is worth a bit of crabby kiddos today :)

From jul10

Groceries 7/2/10

Fri, 2 Jul 2010 18:08:42 -0500

Did my dual store run. Total before savings between the 2 stores was $184.64, saved 62.18 (42.96 in coupons!) for a total out of pocket of $122.46.

Price Chopper had 3 coupons in their mailed flyer to each double a coupon valued $1 - $3, so I utilized those. I used those for a $1.00 off 4 cool whip (which was on sale for 99 cents!), $1.50 off Meow MIx, and $3.00 off 2 oxi-clean pretreat sprays - so I saved an additional $5.50 with those. The oxi clean I wouldn't normally buy, but for what comes out to 99 cents each (they were $3.99 before coupons) it will be nice to have a stain spray around, and it will get used.

I'm getting closer to my goal of only buying items on sale. I also like to add in coupons on those items. I did use some coupons on Fiber One cereal today and that was not on sale. But they expire today, and it was $.75 off one - which is doubled by the store. Not as good as it being on sale AND having a coupon, but not shabby either. And Ryan and I REALLY like it.

Kellogg's tends to have good cereal sales - but they still use high fructose corn syrup, while the General Mills cereals are made with sugar. So I just plan and save my coupons. :)

Bread, glorious, wonderful, bread!

Fri, 2 Jul 2010 09:27:50 -0500

My bread maker now has a place of it's own. In MA it was in the storage room for the 5+ years we lived there - there just wasn't any place to put it. But now I have space :) and it lives on the counter and it gets used almost every week.

Unfortunately, with the influx of fresh, hot from the oven bread - there has also been an increase in my waistline. So the next grocery trip will have a list of ingredients included for making better bread - it will at least have a higher fiber content in it! I'm also going to start playing with mixing up the flour and using lower fat fats in it (ha! that's an odd sentence).

What do you put on your fresh bread?

Compare and Contrast

Thu, 1 Jul 2010 09:28:50 -0500

Price Chopper opened recently in our town. Right across from Shoprite. So I don't have any excuse that it's 'not worth it' to make two stops if the deals are good. I really liked it when there was just one store so I didn't need to think about the possibility of more deals across the street.

So now I sit down with the flyers and I start my list. No lists. I use about a 1/2 sheet of paper held long way and start with PC on the right and Shoprite on the left. I write down the sale items I want along with their price under the appropriate store. So that when I'm in the first store I can compare the price that I wrote down for the 2nd store - just in case it's a better deal. And then I try to match up coupons with the sale items.

It's more effort, but I think when I get used to it I'll think it's worth it. :)

CVS today...

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 07:35:08 -0500

Yesterday my $10 CVS card arrived in the mail from Mypoints :) Happy Mail!

Earlier in the week I'd gotten a coupon on my receipt for $5 off $15 and a 5 ExtraBucks ticket. So I'll be visiting today - this should be fun! And it's well timed too - we're pretty short on cash until we get paid (thankfully just a few days!) so this will get me the necessities we need to make it through (bread... cereal... eggs... the important stuff!)

I'm probably hitting shoprite today too - but again it will be a very small run. I have to do some homework first to make a strict list and stick to it!

Holy Bat Batman!

Wed, 9 Jun 2010 17:50:04 -0500

I know - not the most original of titles. 3:00am this morning Steve got up to get ready for his drive to MA. He finds that leaving at 4am makes it a very peaceful, traffic-free drive. I woke up to look at him looking down at me and he says "There's a bat in the sink". "There's a bat in the sink?" I say looking for clarification? He either nodded or said yes, either way it was an affirmative. I say "you mean the flying kind?" (because obviously there might be a baseball bat hanging out in the sink that would be worth waking me up for at 3am right? but hey - I was asleep!).

So I get up and look and sure enough there's a bat in the sink. It's itty bitty talons were hooked in a washcloth I had left there. Hmmm. What to do. Normally, I'd say turn off the lights, open a window, close the door and it will get out. But it was stuck. So I told him to toss a towel over it and throw it out the window. So he grabs MY towel - NO! Not my good towel - use one of the older ones in the cabinet (because obviously we need to not use the good towels for the bat, right?). So he grabs one, opens the window, covers the bat, scoops it up and whoosh - out the window it goes.

I go back to bet and he finishes getting ready to leave. Of course it took until well after he'd left for me to get to sleep. Because there had been a BAT in my SINK! I like bats. And I know that the reason we don't have a lot of bugs is because we have a LOT of bats. They seem to like the house and the garage a lot. I'd just prefer them to not share living space with me.

When I went out later today to get the towel (I kicked it, it didn't move so I picked it up by a corner and flipped it over the gate, then dragged it to the back door. It's raining now, I'll check it again tomorrow, then wash it. A lot.) I heard a peep peep peeping. And found a teeny tiny baby bat. It didn't even have any fur. After reading about these nocturnal guys it may be that this baby had been clinging to the one that got chucked out the window and maybe fell off when it landed. I assume the adult was OK, because it's nowhere to be seen. So I called animal control and a woman came out to retrieve the baby. Adorable - No really, it was tiny - about the length of my thumb, and just totally adorable.

Later on in the day I found a guy to come out and look at our bat issue. We know there's a colony in the attic and there are babies. They all peep and squeak when we knock on the ceiling. They need to get out and it's going to cost us. Ugh. Why couldn't they nest in the garage like the other colonies??? I like bats - just not in my HOUSE!

At any rate, I also spent some time reaching out to the Environmental Health department - we were worried we might need to get rabies treatment (and I hadn't thought about it when we were tossing it out the window...). Turns out they don't consider our scenario 'contact' because we didn't wake up to a bat in our room. Steve had gotten up on his own and discovered the bat in the bathroom sink - and it probably crawled/fell out of a small hole in the ceiling directly from the attic - so very little chance of exposure.

That was our bat adventure. The hole now has a washcloth shoved into it. You'd better believe the bathroom door, the attic door and the window that has a hole in the screen will all be closed up tight tonight!!! I think all the bedroom doors too for good measure!

The Vacation Account is open!

Sun, 6 Jun 2010 11:51:05 -0500

Finally got over to the bank to deposit what had been sitting on the mantle...
I exchanged around $140 in change!!! All those coins really do add up!

From Cruise2

Initial deposit: $200

Stay tuned to watch this grow :)

Royal Carribean and Dreamworks :)

Sun, 6 Jun 2010 08:16:51 -0500

Royal Carri bean is teaming up with Dreamworks to bring animated friends to live on Allure of the Seas. Guess I know what our travel fund is targeting now ... :)

Found Money?

Sat, 5 Jun 2010 13:15:48 -0500

So I found money in my shorts pocket yesterday. Not a buck, not even $5... but $30!!! I stuck that in the Travel Fund cup :) At some point I need to open an account and deposit what we have. We're up to aroune $70 in paper money, and two plastic baggies of change...

My Shoprite matches 6/4/10

Fri, 4 Jun 2010 10:29:06 -0500

Being that I'm not the best blogger in the world, of course these SR prices are only good through tomorrow :)

All of the coupons below are currently available at www.coupons.com
(I use Mypoints or InboxDollars to print my coupons and get $.10 back for each one I use)

GM Cereal 1.99
$1 off 2
$1.49 ea ($2.98)

Betty Crocker Cake Mix and Frosting
Cake Mix 4 for $5 (MUST buy 4 or it rings up as 2 for $3)
Frosting 3 for $5

4 of these:
- $.50 of mix and frosting
- $.50 doubled
Comes out to about $.96 each

Shoprite is offering a pizza bundle
Pillsbury 8 to 13.8 oz pkg (pizza crust, breadsticks, french loaf) 2.49
Borden Shredded Cheese 1.88
Hormel Pepperoni 2.99
Cento Pizza Sauce .99
bundle will ring at $5.99 (saving 2.36)

I have a $1.00 off 3 pillsbury
$.55 off 2 hormel pepperoni (doubles)
My full cost for 3 pillsbury, 2 pepperoni, 2 cheese and 2 sauce would be 18.99
but I'll pay $12.37 (saving $6.62 total)

I could add in one more pepperoni, cheese and sauce to make one more bundle with my 3rd Pillsbury, and then pay 15.87 for all of it, but I'm already pushing the limits on storage space. And we love pepperoni, but it was on sale last week too so we've already got some!!!

My total savings of on sale items and coupons today was $117!!!
Just a touch under 40% (39.7959 says the calculator...)
About $65 of that was in coupons alone.

Comments...

Tue, 25 May 2010 17:35:28 -0500

Hmmmm I just noticed I had a bunch of comments waiting for me to approve them. Sorry folks! They are ancient too ;o) Bad, Bad blogger I am!

Recent Savings 5/25/10

Tue, 25 May 2010 16:21:00 -0500

Thought I'd mention a couple of savings wins for me :) I laugh because every time I find something really cool - like matching up some great sale with a great coupon and getting something super cheap (that I would have bought normally and paid full price for) - I brag to Steve. And he gets this look like 'she's crazy - wonder where my wife went?' LOL

So last week at shoprite I loaded up on P&G items - and for my effort ($50 spent on P&G) I received a $5.00 coupon toward my next shopping visit (expires 6/4/10). Then today my Mom handed me all her newspaper inserts and there was a P&G mail in offer in there - spend $50 on p&g and get a big old coupon book containing $100 in savings. This was totally bonus, and all I had to do was take just that one receipt from last week and circle the p&g items on it, and send it in along with the form from their offer.

Savings last week was about $70.00 in sale items and coupons- my total spent was about $250. I did spend more than usual to take advantage of some of the great offers there. (my weekly average is $150 - $175 for our family of 5)

A few weeks ago I ordered The Entertainment Book for just $7.00 (probably because the year is almost 1/2 over...) - I went through ShopAtHome and got $ back in my account there. I got the book late last week and was thrilled to find 2 $5.00 off $50.00 at Shoprite. Boom - those two coupons more than paid for the book. Yay! (again, Steve shook his head at my obvious glee)

Beyond general couponing... In Swagbucks land, I received a $50 e-giftcard to Amazon.com and have loaded that into my Amazon account where it waits for me to order the cool media rack we are looking at for the living room. You can get a $5.00 Amazon e-giftcard for just 450 swagbucks - that's what I'm working toward right now. Add them into your Amazon account and they just hang out and wait for you to use them.

Over at Mypoints I just cashed in about 1700 points for a CVS $10 gift card - this one is being sent in the mail, so I'll be sure to mention it when it actually shows up :) My points in MyPoints come from clicking the BonusMail they send me (5 points a piece for just opening most of them), and for printing and using coupons. I now go through Mypoints to get to both coupons.com and smartsource.com to print coupons - then I get 10 points a piece for each of the coupons I use.

Finally, I noticed CVS had a great deal on DiGiorno pizza last week - buy one at $6.99 and get a 2nd for a penny. I had a bunch of DiGiorno $1 off 1 coupons, so I paired those up. I ended up using 5 coupons in 2 trips (there was a limit on 4 pizzas) to get 6 pizzas for $16 (that's 2.67 each). CVS had some other penny deals last week too, but this is the one that I really took advantage of.

Did you save anything this week?

Explorer of the Sease, Bermuda and Bahamas 2010

Sun, 16 May 2010 07:39:41 -0500

So we sailed April 15th for 9 days. I cannot state loud enough how easy it is to only drive an hour to get to the port and not have to worry about any air fare. Especially when we're talking airfare for FIVE of us. The ship was just as great as we remembered, the cabin was heavenly and the service even more so.

Of course just before the cruise we moved. And while packing and stressing about moving and cruising the cat decided he needed to be on his deathbed. We've lost 3 of the 4 pets in the last year. It's been a really hard pet year in the Frisch household. So Sasquatch and I went back and forth to the vet a few times, including the day we were leaving MA. I though it was it, and I got there as prepared as I could be to lose my very last furbuddy - the forth in less than a year.

But the vet talked me out of that. I'm not ready she observed. But I didn't want to drag him on day to day just because *I'm* not ready. Oh and there's that little detail about the cruise - we'd be taking him to a brand new house and then leaving for 9 days. And it's a cruise, not something I can put off a day, or send Steve and the kids and join up with them later. Nope. We've got to make this as complicated as possible you see. Squish had not eaten anything in over a week. He'd lost 3 pounds.

So we added in prednisone and headed to NY. The morning we were sailing I spent finding the local vet and making sure they were around if needed. Miraculously, Squish started eating that morning. Seriously - after a week of nothing, he started eating the morning we sailed!! I left him in the very good hands of our neighbor and my Mom and off we went. I'll skip to the end here just to keep you all from hanging - he's fine. He ate the entire time we were gone. He's putting weight back on and is off the pred. I'm amazed, but oh so grateful that I didn't lose him. We just passed the 1 year mark from losing Sarek. So there's that :o)

The cruise. We parked, we boarded, we found our cabin. For 5 guests over 3 you must either book two cabins, or a suite. This time around we had a Grand Suite. There was plenty of room for us (though we found the drawers odd and hard to organize). And it was just amazing. Even more amazing? Concierge service :) We were spoiled rotten and we didn't take advantage of even half the bennies we could have.

We had 4 full days at sea and loved it. Kyle and Holly totally loved the kids program Ocean Adventure. Ryan tolerated it ;) We all spent a lot of time at the pool, both with and without kids. We sailed with Deanna and Mark who were kidless, and I think the only thing there we'd do different is maybe utilize the MyTime dining. The late seating is too late for our crew (though next time, maybe they'll be old enough that it won't be!) and main seating was too early for D&M. So we didn't dine together at dinner. But we did spend lots of time together otherwise.

We didn't get to take advantage of in room babysitting - they didn't have any available to us. So Steve and I alternated nights hanging out with D&M. But honestly? We were TIRED! At least 1/2 the nights we were in bed right after the kids were!

In Bermuda we went on a train tour and learned all kinds of great stuff about the islands. And we visited the glass shop again where we got a glass animal for each of the kids, and I picked up a Christmas ornament for each of them also. Always nice to have our little vacation reminders on our tree.

In Nassau, Bahamas we hit the Pirates of Nassau. It was OK, but I was glad it was only $12. The best port we stopped in was Coco Cay. Royal Carribean's private beach island. We tendered early and spent 1/2 the day there. The kids were pretty much in the water the entire time. The day was sunny and perfect, and the water beautiful and clear. I wouldn't mind a few days just at that one island!

From cruise

I'm still here... promise!

Wed, 12 May 2010 06:50:45 -0500

I owe a bunch of posts here I think. We're in the new house, the boys are enjoying school, the cruise was fabulous...

I'll get here soon and give some good updates :) In the meantime, a few pics...

From cruise

Going Home

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 11:31:48 -0500

So with just 4 weeks to go until the REALLY big day, the house has started to look like we are moving.

Steve and I have had a '2 year plan' for about 5 years now. We talked about moving back home and it seemed that about 2 years out was where it always seemed to be. Over the winter we fell over across the most perfect housing arrangement. It allows us to move out of our existing house without paying two mortgages, but only requiring a single move when we buy it later. It's big enough. It's located in the right place. It's in great condition. It could be a little further off the road, or in a more 'neighborhoody' kind of place, but we really like the charm of where it is. It's even fenced in.

Both Steve and I have had conversations at work, and this is really happening. Next week we are bringing down a truckload of stuff. We're going to spend Easter down at the 'New House'. We're leaving here on the 14th after school. On the 15th we'll sail on the cruise that we've had booked for almost 2 years, and then when we come back we will officially be in the new house.

It's exciting and scarey. We've been away now for 11 years. But we're really going home. We'll be just 10 minutes from Nanna and Poppy. We'll be within day trip distance of a wide variety of Steve's relatives. Deanna is just 40 minutes. Paul just about an hour. It's time.

The boys are getting excited - until they remember that it means leaving here. They are sad to be leaving behind their friends here, but I'm working with some of those parents to figure out a plan. Can they come visit us over the summer? The boys would love that.

So we're working hard at a big purge - there's a dumpster in the driveway and we're being heavy handed with what goes into it. And we're packing, packing, packing.

Wish us luck!!!
(and if you have any packing paper, could you drop it by?? :-) )

Saving

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:38:39 -0500

I've found myself motivated lately to try a few things to save a few dollars...

I've started 'clipping' coupons. Except I don't get a paper... So I go to www.coupons.com or www.smartsource.com or www.redplum.com and I print them. Shaw's here in MA accepts every darned coupon I give them. They never hassle me except if I inadvertantly throw 2 coupons in for the same item (oops - it's been known to happen.)

Our grocery bill was getting completely ridiculous. Hitting $300 more weeks than not... I've refocused and started actually paying attention to prices. The last few months, my weekly total before coupons has been in the $200 range. This week it was $209 actually. And then I used $40 in coupons. Yes $40. I work hard at it, but not as hard as others. I spend time printing, then I pull up the supermarket flyer - I compare... I won't buy things we won't use just because I have a coupon. I do end up throwin out some coupons, and I still read the labels - I find items a few times a month that I just won't buy because it has MSG or HFCS in it (unless it's a dessert - I do make exceptions *occassionally* for fun desserts with HFCS - since it's not an actual allergy that causes this dietary change, I have the freedom to do that :) ).

Above and beyond that $40 was another $20 in 'preferred savings' - meaning I bought the store brand. I won't always buy the store brand - but I have an open mind - again it depends on the ingredients.

So I look at the specials, then I go through and see if I have any coupons that I can pair with sale prices :) I probably spend 20 minutes printing the coupons, and then another hour planning my shopping list. I write the list on an envelope (usually just an envelope that a bill or statement arrived in) and stick my coupons in the envelope. I attempt to sort them according to the order I will arrive in the various sections of the market, but Shaw's just had some major construction and re-org, so that's been adding some time. Shaw's also doubles pretty much all of my coupons. I'm hoping that the supermarket we land with (Shoprite at the moment) when we move back to NY next month is just as great as Shaw's has been - but I'm not holding my breath.

I've also joined a few survey companies like MyPoints and InBox dollars. I don't do a lot of surveys, but occassionally I find myself stariing at my computer screen and I go out and go through a few of them. Today we actually were putting in a fairly good sized order at Newegg.com - so I used my swagbucks shopping to go through to the Newegg site so that I got 2 swagbucks for every dollar I spent. Since that was a purchase we were making anyway, I made some $$ back there. I can get actual $ in paypal, or an amazon gift cert, or other e-gift cards... they have other 'swag' available too...

I've been following Couponing To Disney - a lot of my saving goes back directly to her :) and she inspires me to save more :) I'm not necessarily saving for anything - but it sure is nice to have a smaller grocery bill!!!

Swagbucks

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:19:31 -0600

I've recently signed up at Swagbucks. I search with their site a few times a day and I'm already up to 18 swagbucks. I plan on using my swagbucks for gift certificates.

I found swagbucks through CouponingToDisney. Can't say I'm reaping tons of benefits yet, but I see the potential, with minimal effort on my part.

So I didn't want to keep it a secret ;)

Oh and if you use my link? I get referell points too :)

Happy saving!
- Jen

a mishmash - but it's a post!

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 15:28:52 -0600

Ryan recently found www.godzillathon.com - which is way cool for him. An entire site dedicated to that over grown lizard that he adores? Unfortunately it links to some movies on youtube that contain a high volume of language I'd rather they weren't listening to. When I pointed it that out the response? "It's OK. We know not to *use* those words" - hmmm....

I brought Journey for her final vet visit a week ago. On Tuesday we picked up her ashes and brought them home. The boys and I had talked about the event before hand. And they knew about the little box - we have two already after all (been a hard year on our pets). When I took the box out to put on the shelf with the others, Ky wanted to hold it. Then he handed it to Holly and asked if she wanted to hug Journey. So something I wouldn't have done - and yet... for him it made sense and he just did it. Kids follow their hearts so easily you know? Holly hugged the box and then demanded that we get Journey out of it. We talked about Journey being gone, that her spirit is gone now. Ryan mentioned that she is at the rainbow bridge and I reiterated that one. And then I mentioned that we still have Sasquatch the cat here that we can hug. She asked if kitty was at the bridge. No, Sasquatch kitty is here with us, but Snowflake kitty is at the bridge with Journey. Actually... seeing the light - Sarek is at the bridge too! And Sarek and Snowflake and Journey are all together now, dancing and having a good time together. And many, many years from now, we will go to the bridge too and see them again. She liked this. She beamed with this new information - handed me the box and went off to find Sasquatch to molest him with more hugs :)

I still think I hear her sometimes. It's weird to not have a dog in the house. People actually throw out leftovers? :)

I've been reading a ton of books. Mostly vampire romance books :) It sounds so cheesy when I say it, but I've really been enjoying them. All on my new Sony EReader of course. I don't miss holding a real book at all. Though when I finished Stephen King's Under The Dome this week it did feel weird to not have a huge book to put up on the shelf with the rest of my SK tombs.

Winter is in full swing here in MA. Our yard is buried, and will be so until probably March.

We're looking forward to our cruise in April. Looks like there are still some of the smaller cabins available if you want to come along. Let me know and I'll send you details :)

Christmas Eve, 2009

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:12:26 -0600

I couldn't get my thoughts unjumbled enough this year to get a letter out with our cards. So maybe I can sum up a bit of our year here instead (if there is anyone left reading!!!)

The year started off with the usual birthdays - Holly turned 2 in January and Ryan 7 in February. Ry had a Movie Theater party - we got the whole theater to ourselves for an hour before we watched Pink Panther :) it was a lot of fun. He requested a Diglett cake - and I was able to deliver on that. Of course come July that meant I needed to deliver on a Piplup cake for Kyle (and I did too!).

We saw some turmoil at work and said goodbye to some colleagues. I'm no longer a manager, which was a change I welcomed. There was too much new going on for me and moving back to an individual contributor role worked well for all involved I think.

Kyle turned 9 in July (9!!! my baby boy is 9!) and he's growing more and more into a middle schooler every day. He had a birthday party at Jump On In and all involved had a blast... Of course there was the Piplup cake too :)

We saw sadness this year... Steve's Grandpa passed away over Thanksgiving weekend. It was sad to say goodbye, but he's with Gram now. And I think that's all he's really wanted these last few years. So he's at peace.

The kids have all done growing and growing. Ry's in 2nd grade and improving his performance in ways that make me proud. We instituted a series of changes for him and they seem to be helping. Ry also had his tonsils and adenoids removed in September. It's the first real hospitalization for any of the 3, but the whole thing went as smooth as something like your child having surgery can go. His recovery was relatively smooth and it seems to have done the trick. He's definitely sleeping better (it was obstructive sleep apnea for those wondering) and combined with the other changes we've made, we're seeing a great improvement in school.

Kyle is growing into a little man. He's caring and just a wonderful boy. He's found a love for reading, and just wants to curl up with a book in his bed after school... I have to get him to get his homework done first, or we won't see him again until dinner! He's also discovered music - and will choose to listen to music over watching TV. He's in 3rd grade and will move to the middle school here next year.

Holly is quite the adorable little girl. Spoiled rotten as any little girl with two older brothers will be - she's got a spine though! She gives back to the boys and is a mixture of girly-girl and tomboy... She's talking a mile a minute - you just can't shut her up!! :) She knows she's cute and she plays the card well. She loves being a 'princess' - which is any time she has a dress on... she loves her friends at the center and looks forward to playing with them every day. In just a few weeks our little girl will be 3!!! And she's very excited to be having a 'Princess Party' :)

All three of the kids are full of love and hugs. No matter what happens out in the world I have a daily dose of love that reminds me life keeps on happening regardless of what has happened elsewhere. Having children has shown me that I can cry over the loss of someone we knew, and yet laugh at something my child has done - all within hours of each other.

For those that have also lost this year, I send hugs, strength, warmth and love.

I also am remembering the soldiers that are deployed this holiday season. Thank you so very much for your willingness to go into the line of fire. You stand up for my family and I love you for that. Stay safe this Christmas. Know you are appreciated and loved.

Merry Christmas.
Happy Holidays.
Seasons Greetings.

With love,
Jen

Off to Conference!

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 22:02:58 -0500

The main thing on my mind these days is Pampered Chef National Conference. I fly out to Chicago on Wednesday - leaving Steve to tend the three kiddies on his own until Saturday night. Conference is just amazing. When I went in '04 I came back so very motivated to move mountains! I came back having learned things that apply to my day job as well as to my own business.

I love working with The Pampered Chef. I do well when I get out and do shows for people. I love the products, and I love interacting around FOOD :-). But I'm not so very good at following up and getting the shows on my calendar. I'm working on that. It's easy for me to point to things (I have three kids, I work FT, etc) that interfere with this part of my business, but the fact is that it's just something I'm not very good at. Knowing that, I can take steps to correct it :-) but I need to choose to do so.

At any rate, just one more regular work day stands between me and that airplane. I'm a teensy bit excited!

... in other news...

Nothing yet from Ry's sleep study - but I really don't expect anything before the end of this week at the earliest.

Holly has done a phenominal job with potty training. Really, we put undies on her and she was there. She had an accident or two that first week - but she was all about the potty. She still is! She loves the potty. She sits on it and sings "Holly loves the potty, so do you!" Actually, she's singing about most things she does this day. "This is my friend kitty, I love my friend kitty" " I am in your room. I am in your room" and so on. Life is a song, and she is going to sing it!

Kyle is loving having our pool up - even though there hasn't been much sun to warm up the water. The last two or three days have been nice and we keep kicking them outside to enjoy it. Tomorrow the boys are going to a waterslide park for the day with their summer camp. This is one of their favorite field trips. Maybe Kyle will remember to ask about the towel he left there 2 weeks ago!!

It's a busy summer - the way we like it. Next week the boys will be at Cub Scout camp for each of the 5 days. The week ends with a family bbq on Friday. Fun! And in August the boys and I will be going to a Spinners (baseball) game - then camping in the outfield for the night with pancakes for breakfast...

Hope you're enjoying your summer as well!

Sleepless

Wed, 8 Jul 2009 14:06:20 -0500

Over the course of the last school year Ryan complained about being tired - a lot. We chalked it up to him finding a complaint that gets results. If he's really, really tired he can go lie down in the nurses office. But it persisted. So in addition to talking about the other behavior stuff with Ry when we visited his Doc in March, we mentioned his 'not sleeping' complaint. He claimed he wasn't sleeping at night. Other than chatting with Kyle for a while before drifting off, and continually getting out of bed earlier than I'd like, I wasn't seeing it. And so, didn't really believe him. But I took his plight seriously enough to chat with the doc. She was immediately concerned - she saw a link between nighttime and daytime (this is why she gets large chunks of our money and holds a medical degree - let me test my software thank you very much). She gave us some pointers on changing up our bedtime routine - and that if that didn't do it she wanted a sleep study done.

So we turned off all things with screens (TV, games, computer) at 7:30 with bedtime at 8:00. At 8:00 we actually read something (currently the 2nd Harry Potter), then we say goodnight. Most nights they are both asleep by 8:30 - sometimes they chat until 9 (after being reminded several times that they are supposed to be asleep. Ry tends to get up around 6am - sometimes much earlier.

After a week or so I also gave them 2" memory foam mattress toppers. This resolved the 'my mattress is lumpy' complaint. In fact Ryan declared for the first time ever that he slept 'GREAT' - but that was just once. Then he went right back to 'i'm not sleeping'. So I told him that if he finds himself lying awake at night, unable to get back to sleep, to come down and sleep with us. So that I know. And he did. He came down one night around 12:30 - snuggled right in. And rolled over. And snuggled in. And turned the other way. Repeat over the course of 4 hours. Yes, he really was having trouble. So I send email off to the Dr and she ordered the sleep study.

We went last night - treated it like an adventure :o) he actually enjoyed himself I think (me, not so much - lumpy foldy mattress for me combined with waking up every time the tech came in... i'm a little cranky and tired today).

From jul09

We won't get the results for a while I think. The Dr didn't actually tell us how long, but from what I'm reading I'm expecting a week, maybe two. Mostly, she's looking for Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Which is usually caused in children by abnormalities in the mouth. Like tonsils and adenoids that are too big, or swollen, or just don't fit quite right. I'm reading a lot about how this is resolved by removing this offending bits of tissue. On the one hand, if this is what is causing so much trouble at school - I would love to have an answer. On the other hand, I'm not sure I want my little guy to have surgery yet. (Even though we know several kids who have already undergone this ...) I don't know if the CPAP machine is an option for him or not. His Dr and I haven't had this part of the discussion yet. So I'll wait for the results and go from there. In the meantime I have all these wicked cute pics of him LOL

From jul09

"No Diaper Mommy!"

Sun, 31 May 2009 18:23:51 -0500

About a week ago Holly put her foot down and told me "No diaper Mommy. Undies." She was determined. But it was a Tuesday morning and I did not have the heart to drop her off with 80 changes of cloths at the center. But I did let her wear her undies over her diaper. And when she came home that night she wore undies (accident free) for just over 2 hours.

Yesterday she spent from 3:00pm until 7:30pm in undies until she went to bed. Dry.

Today I started her off in them. I reminded her to use the potty if it had been a while. We went to Target. We went to Sears. We roamed the mall. And she remained dry (and successfully used the potty all that time) until around 1:30. She's had a few accidents since we've been home, but we just handle them. "That's OK! Let's get you dry undies". She's thrilled to be a big girl. I'm hoping she remains enthusiastic at school. There's more distractions, so I figure she'll have more accidents.

I guess we'll see :o)

5 Months!

Sat, 30 May 2009 08:59:56 -0500

Gosh - it's been 5 months since I last posted. Anyone out there listening to the crickets?

Life here is happening! The boys are finishing up their final few weeks of school - that's assuming we don't close because of H1N1 - which I don't get. We don't close when there are other flu outbreaks... yes, it's very sad that so many have died in Mexico. But I feel like I need to remind people of what we are NOT seeing in the news... when I went searching I found a late April statistic from the CDC - there had been 55 Pediatric deaths from the *regular* flu this season in the US. That's just children. Just this season.

Wow - that was a tangent.

Anyway. The boys in school. Ryan is doing tremendously better this term. We've started a reward program between home and school where he gets a sticker for worksheets completed IN CLASS. Mrs C writes 'in class' across the top and he gives it to me. He just earned a brandy new game for his DS (about 80 stickers worth that was). Kyle also earned the game.

I did have Ryan evaluated by the school. I didn't think we'd come up with a disability - but I did want to know if there was anything hanging out in there that we needed to know about. Yes, he is sensory seeking. So there are recommendations from OT on sensory breaks, letting him do heavy work, maybe jumping really hard in a corner... those kinds of things. But without a disability there is nothing official. These things to not HAVE to happen. I'm slightly annoyed by this. If a child will learn better if they get the sensory input that they crave, they should be able to get it. The goal of the school is for the students to learn. My child should not need an officially labeled disability to get that.

But that's another tangent - I don't have a particular issue with the school there - just with the nature of how things are.

Holly is a jabbermouth. TalkTalkTalkTalk. It's great. She's growing up and is just adorable. I think I can find some pictures to put up here.

So sorry that I've been so absent. Mostly, I've been using my online time for game playing - like bejeweled. And I just haven't felt the need to write here ... which is obvious by the 5 month lag.

So if you are still out there - thanks!

Happy New Year!

Thu, 1 Jan 2009 08:46:20 -0600

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year...

From dec08

For lots of pictures from December you can browse our December Picassa album.

Joy joy joy

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 08:42:30 -0600

There is joy in my world.
I have been baking and loving the Christmas lights. The baking has been fun and theraputic. The boys have even joined in. Tomorrow I have the day off and I will be baking again - this time for Steve. Darling Steven will turn 40 tomorrow. 40!!! He's also taken the day off - but of course things happen. The day will be interrupted with a meeting at school. And I have to go back to the periodontist... but for the most part we can spend some quiet time together. Maybe watch a couple more episodes of Trueblood :o)

We had a nasty ice storm up in these parts last week. We were very lucky. It's strange how one area can be fine and then a mile away there are trees down all over the place! There are lots of folks in NH who won't have power back until late last week - they've been out since Friday morning. And that's only if the wires are still connected to the house. If the wires were knocked down then it will be weeks!!! Nasty, nasty stuff. Again - we're very lucky.

I have my cards ready to go, just have to address them and stick them in the mail - need stamps!

We went to Breakfast with Santa on Saturday before heading down to Grammie's for an overnite. Holly told me "no Santa" - and she meant it! We got another picture of her wailing on Santa's lap - and Ryan 3 feet away from him. Maybe next year she'll tolerate him ;o)

So we went down to RI to visit Grammie Sat/Sunday and had a very nice night. Her place there is just wonderful - right on the water.

Other than today, I have just Thursday for work, then I'm off through Jan 2 :-) I am so looking forward to the downtime. I have some odds and ends that I'll tie up, but otherwise I'm not working!!!

I also have all my shopping done!!! Woohoo! That includes gifts for 'Jay' - a little boy we 'adopted' for Christmas. I picked up a sweats set and flannel shirt, Thomas the Train sneakers, and a couple of toys for him. I'm also going to see if they'd be interested in some clothing from Ryan that's in good shape. Ryan's just grown out of Jay's size - so it's good timing.

We're spending Christmas at home this year. Then traveling down to my Mom's on the 26th. Hopefully, we'll get to spend time with friends that we don't get to see real often. And my parents haven't seen the kids in a while - Mom saw pictures of Holly from November and didn't recognize her!

Snowflake continues to act as a perfectly healthy cat completely unaware of the tumor that you can now see sticking out the side of his ribcage. He's slowed down a little, napping in the proximity of the kids more often... Sarek seems to be losing his sight a little. He's now waiting at night for Journey to go down the deck steps first - then he follows her. If she doesn't go, he just stands on the deck and barks. Poor thing. At least he has his buddy to help him. We have all 4 animals on special diet blends of food from the vet now. They are all old. We're just happy that they continue to seem comfortable without any specific interventions from us.

The boys are doing well at school. We continue to meet with the school to tweak the things we have in place to encourage them to perform well. And of course it's different for each of them! Kyle has started riding again and is really taking to it. It is so very good for him. Ryan has expressed an interest in riding as well, but wants to wait for the warm weather to come back - it's cold out there!!

That's where things are for the moment. Hope everyone is taking some time to slow down and enjoy the season!!!!

A moment of down time

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:08:27 -0600

Things have been crazy and busy around here lately. I'm still trying to get Kyle back into horseback riding. That may actually start in December (which is next week!). The year has totally gotten away from us. I've been crazy busy at work - so much so that I have over 2 weeks of vacation left to take at the end of the year! It will be some much needed down time.

Proof that the year has gotten away with us - the things we normally have done, or at least started, by now are not. I've usually done a lot of Christmas shopping by now. Once I was even done before Thanksgiving. This year we've only just started. Though now that we're focused we're making quick progress there.

Thankfully I took care of Steve's birthday present wicked early - and gave it to him LOL. There was no reason to keep it, and he got a little bit of early celebration. I'll still have to do something with the kids, but at least the gift won't be some Christmas afterthought for him (his birthday is 12/17).

Speaking of Steven ... he's hitting a milestone this year! 4 decades is a pretty long time! I'll have to make an extra special cake for him I think. We did manage to get away for a weekend without the kids - to celebrate both his and our friend Mark's birthdays. It's been so long since we've done something without the kids. It was SO nice to just do what we wanted without worrying about their schedule or if they'll eat the food... the kids stayed with 'Ms Beth' - and had a blast. She has an 8 year old boy, and the boys all played and romped and had fun. Ryan told his afterschool teacher on Monday that he had a great time and Mommy needs to go away more often :o)

Besides shopping, I haven't gotten my act together on our Christmas cards. I've made them the last several years, and while I have the stamp set I want to use, I have yet to settle on a design. AND I haven't even started our Christmas letter.

We're having a nice, quiet Thanksgiving, with Steve's Mom joining us. I'm excited to get to cook a real meal again. So I had a fun time sitting down on Saturday and planning out my menu.

Kyle's orthodontic work has been going splendidly. His upper jaw expansion is complete. He'll keep the pendex in place for another 4 - 6 months, but the Dr couldn't be happier with the progress that was made. In 6 weeks we go back and Ky will have brackets put on his 4 upper-front teeth and he'll work on straightening them. He can't go to full braces until he has lost all his baby teeth... so that's a year or so out (thankfully!). We had Ryan in for a quick consult - yes he has an bite problem (it's off center) - but he's only lost 3 teeth. Unless something happens that forces us to act sooner (like with Kyle) we'll not do anything there for a few years.

Holly is finally talking up a storm. She's still behind, but at her 6 month re-evaluation for EI she tested out. That's good! And it's not so good :( - her therapist had some other things she wanted to continue working on. Now she only has about 45 days to complete it. So I'm sure we'll be left with lots of instructions for keeping Holly improving. Most of the work stems around making her say things and try new words. She's now comfortable to attempt almost any word I ask her to and she's using a ton of words on her own now.

So much of the same around here - I hope everyone is healthy and able to have a peaceful Thanksgiving with family or friends (or both!).

Monday Morning Meanderings

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 08:32:18 -0500

Where to start, where to start... I think this will ramble with my thoughts.

A month ago I moved my home computer up to 'Holly's Old Room'. I still haven't reconnected the audio cable, but the webcam is now functional! Last night Holly sat on my lap to wave at Poppy. Though she was confused and looked around the room to see where Poppy might be hiding!

So if you have Yahoo Messenger, and maybe even MSN Live? and you'd like to 'see' the kids - let me know. I know it works with Yahoo... I'm working on what else I use that might support it. I might even venture into Skype... but without my audio cable connected (it's lying on the desk right in front of the machine - you'd think I could get around to doing this so I have sound? ) - we'll see what happens!

We had a great weekend. It was a really nice Fall weekend, with pleasant weather. Kyle had a Den meeting on Friday, then the boys had their Space Derby on Saturday, and we attended the Boy Scouts' pancake breakfast on Sunday. Sunday also included a Family Target Run and general grocery shopping for me. I made a Lemon Herb Chicken Ring for dinner too :) The grownups and Holly loved it - the boys weren't interested. Which is more the norm lately. Totally not interested in new foods. But I keep putting them in front of them! Sometimes they try them. The rule is that they have to try it. Really try it. Unfortunately, I can make them try it, but I can't really make them give it a chance if you know what I mean? When they are convinced they are going to hate it, they usually do. Every once in a while they surprise me and eat more... but if asked they'll tell you they didn't like it. Hmph!

Looks like watermelon is finally, really out of season. They were down to three mini watermelons yesterday. And when I cut open the one I got today it was 90% overripe. Argh. Very dissappointing. Especially since that's what the boys take for lunch. Fruit and a yogurt. It's what they want AND it gets a bunch of fruit servings in them. Today I sent watermelon, cucumber, carrot, celery and yogurt :o) which is actually more veggies than fruit. Not sure if they will touch the celery, and the carrot depends on their mood. We'll see...

The new barn I thought we were going to start riding at isn't working out. They can't seem to complete their scheduling - every time I talk to them I get 'we're working on it' - an the last time I left a message they never returned my call. Since it's been since June that Ky has been on a horse I restarted the search last week. I found what will hopefully be the new barn! They are responsive and have great information. They have individual and group lessons. The prices are better. They are only a 15 minute drive (probably less). I'm bringing Ky by tomorrow to look around, pet some horses, see how the place feels. They I'll sign him up for 'by the month' - which is a great deal if you are doing weekly lessons. Then I'll splurge and ride once in a while. Might even get Ryan there on occasion if he so desires. We'll see what the options are as we get into it.

Ky has been more emotional lately, and there's been a resurgence of self image/confidence problems... "I'm an idiot" - though not frequent. This had all dramatically improved when he started riding, so I'm trying to see if this is the key.

I officially started Christmas shopping! I made the very first gift purchase on Sunday :o) It felt good. Usually I've started long before now - and we pace it out over 4 or 5 months. So we'll have a compressed buying season this year ;o)

Work is crazy at the moment... we're trying to get a release out the door among the 753 distractions that hit us daily. But we'll get there!

Oh! So Steve got me a gift certificate to a local spa last Christmas. About 2 weeks ago I finally used it. I went for a Full Body 1 hour Massage. The best part? Lying there for an hour with absolutely nothing to think about. The massage was great too, but hurt - which I expected because of the problems I've had with my shoulder/neck/back. But she got the pain to go away! I was sore from the massage for a few days - but the old pain was gone. I really, really, have to work harder on strengthening my upper body. To the gym must get!!!

So those are my thoughts this Monday Morning - have a great week!

Holly's Vocabulary

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:00:34 -0500

Holly's third speech therapist came out on Friday and spent some time with us. Future visits will happen at the daycare center - which makes life easier! She asked me to start writing down the words Holly 'knows' - 'know' meaning she's used it spontaneously and appropriately more than once. The goal is to have her at 50 words with some two word combinations (like "hi mama") by 24 months old. We're almost there!

I sent the current list into the school... having written them down let's see how many I can remember...

hi, bye, sit, chair, hat, shirt, nose, ears, eyes, hair, teeth, shoes, socks, baby, mine, more, again, Nanna, Mama, Dada, on, off, up, down, please, dressed (as in to get dressed), kitty (though it doesn't sound like much of anything it's consistent always means the same thing), kiss, bye, Alba (teacher), Chelle (teacher), Danielle (teacher), thanks, no-thank-you, wee, uhoh, brush, help, book, ball, train, done 42!

hi mama, hi dada, hi *teacher*
bye Alba
my *item* (my book, my train, my ball...)

So she's quite the little chatter box these days. She's also not afraid to try out new sounds and new words. She's doing a lot more babbling than she used to. All in all we're pretty happy with where she's come. She'll be re-evaluated in November (after 6 months of services). We'll see how things go.

Weekend festivals...

Mon, 6 Oct 2008 08:40:42 -0500

Alright. I'm going to tie myself to the keyboard and not leave until I get a real post up!

Actually this should be fairly easy :)

This weekend was OctoberFest here in town. Steve went to visit friends for the weekend (left around noon on Friday) and I had the three with me at home. Friday night we made personal pizzas :) though Kyle didn't want to put any effort into. Ryan is ALL ABOUT cooking lately though and eats up (ha! no pun intended!) any opportunity to do so. So we had yummy pizzas Friday night. Tucked Holly in and called Daddy to say good night.

Ryan had a real conversation with him - and then resorted to telling knock knock jokes :o) but hey - he didn't push the phone away. This is improvement.

Saturday I got everyone up and dressed and we headed downtown for the 'Fest. We stuck Holly in her stroller and brought the Cub Scout gear so that we could do some candy selling while out. They were SO not into it - but we managed to sell ONE bar. Good thing we'd already done our part around the neighborhood!!! After 'selling' candy we hit the bounce houses. And the boys spent a few rounds on the obstacle course. As Ry came down the sliding part he was 'singing' (more like humming but singing the notes 'da da') the theme to Indiana Jones. Funny stuff.

After burning off some energy we got hot dogs all around and some fries. Holly ate the whole thing - AND the bun! I broke pieces off so she didn't have to hold the whole unweildly thing, so she had 4 mini-dogs :). Then we got the obligatory ice cream. Which I shared with Holly.

We did more walking, played some Town Trivia - both boys won prizes. They watched Animal Adventures... skunk, hedgehog, bearded dragon (Ky volunteered to be a 'rock' for this one), tarantula, corn snake, ferret, chinchilla, boa constrictor, and an alligator - Fun!

On our way out for the day we stopped at a vendor selling carved boxes. Kyle fell in love with a small pyramid and Ryan picked out a box to act as 'baby giraffey's bed'.

We went home and vegged for the rest of the afternoon (holly took a nice long nap too!).

Sunday came and we had to venture out fairly early (for a sunday). We were at the good old KMart by 10:00 - we needed to pick up a gift for a party Ky was going to at 12:30. I also grabbed some Tinkerbell undies for Holly and some diaper pins. Holly has become very interested in everyone's undies - even came out wearing a pair of Ry's so I thought she might want some of her own. We're not anywhere near officially potty training - still in the potty 'friendly' mode. Occassionally she sits on it, and even less frequently she's successful there. But she's very willing to go and sit when I ask her to. The undies go her excited. She sat on the potty and I let her wear them. Fearful of accidents I had her go back to the potty after about 7 minutes. After sitting she declared 'all done' and handed me the undies back LOL!

The pins are to keep her zipped up at night. Now that we're getting colder weather she's into zip up sleepers at night. And yesterday when I came up to get her she was naked! So we'll go back to what we did with the boys - slip a diaper pin through the top of the zipper to keep it up.

Oh! While in line at the Big K - I noticed their display of pools at the exit. They had this one for just $42.50 - so I snatched it up! Now we have a replacement pool for next summer :)

We dropped Ky off for the party and then me and the smaller two headed off for groceries. Holly took a VERY long nap and I got some cleaning and reading done. Ran out to get Ky from the party and then got dinner in the oven. Steve came home a little before dinner was ready - yay!

We found a new series of books to start reading with the boys - The Secrets of Droon. We're 4 chapters into the first one now. Looks interesting - and very much similar to the Magic Treehouse series.

That's enough for now. It's Monday and we're back at work. Have a great week!

Jen ventures into murky water.... politics (bleh)

Thu, 2 Oct 2008 19:47:57 -0500

Sarah Palin's been getting lots of attention lately. And most of it negative. Lots of comparisons on both sides between her and Obama. What they are, what they aren't. Who is better at this. Why so and so is a horrible choice.

I hate politics.

What I'd really, really like is to chat with either one of them on the sidelines of a kids' sporting event. Just the random chatter you get amongst parents. Just random chatter. About nothing. That's the part I want to hear. What do they think about when they aren't 'on'. I think it's interesting that the media has grasped the Republican candidate for VP and the Democrat's candidate for Pres to compare them. Instead of Obama to McCain. I'm sure it would be just as bad if it was office to office, but it's interesting that it's not.

I'm not sure I'm happy with any of the choices and that bugs me. I don't like the system. But that happens a lot with me and I find I have to work within what is given, so I try to make a reasonable choice. I find a reason to like one side and go with it.

Usually, this aligns mostly with Republican thinking. Now there are major holes there - there are definitely Republican stances that I do not align with. But there are more Democrat flaws here, so generally I end up voting Republican.

At first, I really thought this would be the year that changed that. I really liked Obama. But now - he's just another politician trying to get my vote. Not sure when it happened, or even why - but he's lost most of that pull. And I couldn't even really put a finger on it for you.

So there's that.

I've never been a big McCain fan, so when he pulled Palin out of his hat it made things interesting. And funny enough, the more fodder the media throws around about her, the more intrigued I am. Here's this woman... who is coming from Alaska. Who is having all of her faults pointed out relentlessly. And even some of her non-faults - that are made into VeryBadThings - because it's part of the game. It's what you do. But she's there. She's smiling and she's telling us that she's the candidate that can do this. She's stands up there even though they pull her family up there. She's got cajones. I like that.

I think an attitude like that is mandatory for someone who is going to deal in foreign policy.

Does it make me overlook all other things? No. But it's a check in the box on the pro side....

Slacker

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 13:08:39 -0500

Yeah that's me. Haven't posted anything in a month? Yikes.

At any rate - it was pointed out that I never posted pics from Ky's birthday. *oops*
I created an album of the 8 pictures I have (see why there wasn't some big picture montage?)
I'll try to get it uploaded and link to it in the near future.

We've mostly been involved in The Great Bedroom Shuffle of '08
If I ever get them clean, I'll take pictures... don't hold your breath!

Wave yeah, um, Hi!

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 21:19:42 -0500

Steve has a jeep. Not a cherokee or a liberty - a 'jeep' jeep. AKA Wrangler. Hmmm I know it's a Sahara Unlimited. Which means it has 4 doors - not the 2 you're used to seeing. Came with a soft and a hard top. Pretty cool the jeep. Oh yah - it's Jeep Green of course.

So in the last few months I've noticed something interesting.

Jeep people wave to each other.

It's pretty funny and I was glad I noticed. So that when I took it out and someone waved at me from another jeep I knew what to do and was prepared... I gave them the finger. OK no I'm just kidding - I waved back of course :o)

So now I wonder... Durango people don't wave to me. On Thursday decided I was going to do just that. Every time I see a Durango I'll wave. Easy peasy - I may get arrested for over-friendly-driving - but we'll see. Since Thursday I have noticed exacly - 0 - durangos. No that's not true - on Friday when we went out and Steve drove (in the jeep) I saw 3 durangos. But when I've been driving big Red? Zero. How am I supposed to start the Durango friendly waving craze if I don't see any.

Sheesh. I'll try to keep watching. I'm sure they're out there and sneak past when I'm lost in thought. Then I see a JEEP and remember the wave thing and I start looking again! LOL

Horsing around

Thu, 7 Aug 2008 12:40:28 -0500

The woman that Ky had been taking riding lessons from has been MIA. I managed to run into her friend/partner at the barn and chat - sounds like J was making some changes. She dropped her email and barn phones to instead use her work email and her cell phone (I have neither). I did try leaving her a couple of messages on her voicemail at work, but haven't gotten a response.

So yesterday we visited a *new* barn. This one is closer - about 20 minutes closer! It's only 5 minutes away from us. It's not someone's backyard - it's a business barn. About 15 horses in the main barn (or maybe 17?) and 4 ponies in the 'Pony Barn'. It's owned by a husband/wife. We got to meet both of them and all of the horses that they own (there are also boarders, but since they don't own them they don't vouch for them). Kyle was in love. Ryan was antsy and nervous and shy. So we walked all over and finally found the smallest pony they have - Yellow Brick Road. "Bricker" is I think less than 13 hands. She is blond and cute as a button. She stands about as tall as Kyle. Ryan was petting her and loving her and I even heard him singing to her softly.

Ryan has declared he would like to ride - as long as it's on Bricker.

Poor Mommy. I will sacrifice my own riding so that he can. I won't be able to afford all three of us! But who knows, maybe they'll have some random barn type chores I can do to bring the cost down :o)

A link to a picture of 'Bricker'

Shoe Love

Sat, 2 Aug 2008 16:28:20 -0500

So I got back to The Walking Company yesterday and came home with a pair of Unstructured shoes. The guy had me get my feet scanned...

Here is a random image of a foot scan:

Mine was red all through the areas that are orange above - showing all kinds of - well, whatever it is that these images show you ;o)

So he dissappeared and came back with 4 pairs of shoes for me to try out. I ended up liking the Unstructured best for comfort and came home with these:

Comfy comfy! And an exact exchange - they were the exact price of the sandals I was returning - bonus!

PayLess? Not so much...

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:43:56 -0500

I am not sure I will ever buy cheap shoes again.

Now that I have been introduced to the comfort of high quality shoes, I have a hard time going back. Even wearing sneakers doesn't compare.

Over the weekend I broke one of my Dansko sandals. On Sunday I made a trip back to the store - WITHOUT A RECEIPT - but I had a print out of the charge hitting my credit card. I pled my case. He took the shoes and told me he'd contact Dansko to see if maybe they would do a direct repair. Fabulous! No guarantees, but I was happy he was going to try. I figured worst case, maybe they could repair it for a charge.

He called last night - Dansko has authorized him to accept the return. RETURN! I get a brandy new pair of shoes! He doesn't have that type in my size, so I'll go on Friday and try some stuff on again. But how thrilled am I? If this was my usual $20 shoe pair I would have just thrown them out. And the number of cheap shoes laying around my house that I never wear because they aren't as comfortable as I thought they'd be? I am now committed to stocking up on a few different pairs of GOOD, QUALITY shoes instead!

Directly related to this new found happiness - www.zappos.com - WOW! If you need shoes, you need to go here. Having successfully worn my sandals for a few months now, I decided not having them was a good time to order an additional pair of non-sandals. I ordered them Monday evening. Zappos offers free shipping both ways... so I figured there was little risk involved - just inconvenience if they didn't fit. I also figured 'free' would be 'slow boat from China' kinda shipping... but OH NO was I wrong! They bumped up my regular shipping for now cost and I got them yesterday! That's overnight for those of you not wanting to do the math ;o)

Sadly, they didn't fit... but there's more happiness here. I log on to my Zappos account and click the big button 'begin return process'. They ask me why and a few other questions and give me a UPS label. I ordered a new pair in the next size up - which they again upgraded shipping on. Woohoo! Even if these don't fit, I am so very thrilled with this level of service!!!

Busy Busy

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:51:06 -0500

It's a busy home week around here. Ky's birthday is Saturday. We're having a small 'family' party Saturday, followed by his mostly-school-friends party on Sunday - swimming at the community pool. We've got to pick up all the clutter because it's probably going to rain. And we've got a new bedroom to move into.

Oh and we work too :) there's that.

At any rate, the new bed is in the house and assembled. Waiting patiently for the mattress and boxspring. Maybe we'll get them down there tonight! And then Holly HAS to sleep through the night because we'll be a floor removed LOL.

Lots to do, lots to do.

Can't believe my baby is 8!!!!

Awwww

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 06:54:18 -0500

So in looking for the 'before' picture below, I flipped through a bunch of pics we had taken while house hunting. At the time Ryan was just 2 and Kyle was 3 1/2...

Awwwww!

The floor is in!

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:24:58 -0500

So I thought I'd do a little "then and now" excercise...

Here is a picture of the room from when we were house hunting:

And here it is today - from each end of the room...
(remember the closet didn't exist at all previously...)

I'm so very happy with the floor - it's beautiful and feels great on my feet!

A birthday looms...

Tue, 8 Jul 2008 15:56:09 -0500

Ky's Birthday is coming.

And everyone asks what he wants. He's been pretty quiet on the subject. He's got a new bike from us (and he loves it!).

So I'll throw some ideas up here...
He's growing like a weed - so pants/shirts would be good for him in size 10/12
He has a great denim jacket with a fleece vest insert that he got from Grammie which is going to be too small - so a new jacket of some sort. Identical would be ideal... it kind of acts like a weighted vest for him when he wears it.

He's wearing out his sneakers again - regular boy size 3 (as opposed to 'little boy')

Decorations for their new room... wall stickers, that kind of thing. Something we can use to make it 'theirs'.

And if anyone wants the link for his Amazon wish list - just ask.

...

I booked a party for him and some friends at the local swimming pool, and we're planning a family party in just over 2 weeks. That means I have to make a cake! (and clean! LOL)

...
In other news, we finished up what we needed to and have the guy coming to measure for flooring in the new room tomorrow! Almost there! Yay!

The Room

Sat, 5 Jul 2008 09:30:06 -0500

Just a glimpse at the painted room (I think the dots are from spackle dust on the lens maybe?)

A day!

Fri, 4 Jul 2008 11:02:25 -0500

I spent most of the day yesterday painting. The painting in the new room is now done :o) We need a floor and we can move in!

In between rounds of painting, I checked email. And one of them was an inquiry by a manufacturer on a video I had posted of Ryan on YouTube. Seems they are looking into making a new commercial and wanted to check to see if I might OK the use of small pieces of this video. Hmm - doesn't sound like they are going to compensate us for anything, but it'd still be pretty neat! I'll know more on that next week.

At the end of the day, the boys and I had appointments at the chiropractor. I was greeted with "did you get my message?" - Me: dumb look... "no?" - Dr C - "you won the grill?"
I won the grill?
You won the grill!
Oh.

OK so I could have been more excited, I was absorbing the information. AND we already have a nice grill. This one is just a tiny bit nicer - it has a griddle for cooking breakfast! So I took it - it's hanging out in the back of the Durango at the moment. But now we have to find a loving family for the 'old' grill (which is still fairly new!). Maybe I'll post it on Craig's list.

So we won a grill! Isn't that cool?

Success Sunday: Friends

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 20:31:44 -0500

"It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

"I am a success today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn't have the heart to let him down..."
--Abraham Lincoln

Multiple quotes today as I reflect on a weekend spent with good friends. Our 5 went down Friday and encamped in the new home of L & P. So thank you for a fabulous weekend guys! You are surely friends that we can be stupid with, ornament our home quite nicely, and believe in us. We love you!

Find out How to Post your own Success Sunday!

Summer begins...

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 09:45:17 -0500

It's summertime!

Last week Steve and I alternated working from home since the boys were home. By Friday they were SO DONE with each other. Lots of annoying whining, they apparently lost the ability to share and neither wanted to play what the other wanted, but they both insisted they needed to play with their brother. The further into the week, the higher the amount of parental intervention that was required.

Monday morning came and I was SO happy to drop them off at the summer program! They had a great day and were both exhausted (nice!). Ky did come home with a nasty headache which caused him to throw up :-( poor guy. But he was fully recovered by bedtime. I'm pretty sure that's the first bad headache he's gotten since he's started chiropractic treatment in January.

Holly's vocabulary is zoom, zoom, zooming. And just in time for her to meet her new speech therapist this Friday ;o). She's saying 'Ry Ry' and Mama, and in the last few days has added 'off' - as in take my diaper off, take this shirt off, I want to be off of you, turn the light off. Lots of uses that 'off' has! We got her pictures back, and this round I will actually keep.

Uncle Paul came up last weekend and he and Steve finished getting the wallboard up in the 'new' room. I've started spackling and taping. It's looking like a room finally! I'm starting to get excited now - it looks like we may finish some time this year ;o)

At work, both products are shipping this week. Yay! It will be nice to experience some less stressful time over the next few weeks. It will pick back up again for sure, but it will be nice to have some down time.

We also sent away for our catepillars some time ago - they grew and grew and built their little chrysalis's and we moved them to the pavillion where they eventually emerged - all 10! On Sunday we set them free:

And Holly playing with the water bowl:

Go IBM!

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 08:58:23 -0500

IBM has broken the Petraflop barrier...

Happy Birthday Mom!

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 08:57:49 -0500

A number of years ago today (the exact number shall not be named), the woman who birthed me was born.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Some new shoes

Wed, 4 Jun 2008 13:01:02 -0500

Right around Mothers' Day we experienced a shortage in cash. Nothing alarming - just the kind of thing where you don't have extra to buy any nicities without dipping into other funding. So I told Steve to forego the traditional gifting.

A few weeks later cash-flow returned to normal. And I had chatted with the Chiropractor about shoes. He had suggested Earth Shoes - which sounded promising. So I looked around online, but didn't want to spend that kind of money without trying them on. I mentioned it to Steve and suggested this could be the Mom's Day gift he'd wanted to get me :o) So I hit The Walking Store at the mall. And I was so glad I did. The Earth Shoes were JUST as comfortable as I could hope they would be - but they were too narrow. And going up a size caused them to be ridiculously long. So I sadly decided they are not the shoe for me (maybe later after I lose some of this extra weight!). The oh-so-helpful Sales person pointed me to Dansko - a whole rack. And in the same price that I had been prepared to spend. I looked at a few and come home with these:

I love them. I have worn them daily for about 12 days now - all day. The only exception is when I wore sneakers to the gym today. I love my new Danskos. They are fabulous. And my feet are happy, happy, happy. Definitely worth the money.

For the record it was hard to work up to spending that much on shoes. Traditionally, I shop in places like PayLess for shoes. So there was some sticker shock involved. But now I'm starting to think about when I can fit the purchase of another pair into our budget!!!

Happy Anniversary, Happy Birthday!

Tue, 3 Jun 2008 10:02:04 -0500

Today is a big day! Today marks 13 years of wedded bliss for me and Steve.

OK wedded bliss is too cheesey a term for us. 13 years of him putting up with my horizontal surface challenged personality and my sarcasm :o) In 13 years I have learned that I am willing to let him put the dishes in whichever cabinet he wants to with minimal nagging (OK yes, sometimes I still nag - but there are some things I just can't overlook ALL the time... ) because he does the dishes. All the dishes. All the time.

So Happy Anniversary Honey2 ! I love you!

....

Today is a big day - it is also Grandpa Hap's birthday!!! Happy Birthday Grandpa Hap!!!!!

And today Holly is 17 months old! See? A big day indeed...

Walls!

Mon, 2 Jun 2008 21:14:51 -0500

So the wall board arrived on Saturday :o)
Saturday and Sunday I was a wall-boarding freak :o)

And look! Progress was made (Steve DID help, though I can honestly say this was mostly me)

I'm only slightly sore. This should be the hardest of it. Now around the room we go!

Holly-isms

Tue, 27 May 2008 08:37:35 -0500

OK - so first of all did anyone take note of the title? Having enough language accumulated for a title such as 'Holly-isms' is actually a pretty big deal since only 6 weeks ago she had just one word! (and a sign or two)

"Signs"
More - which she uses to also mean milk, and 'I want' or 'give me'
bye bye - not necessarily a true sign - but clearly meanful (the wave has now been expanded to include Hi! as well)
Yes and No - yes is a giant head nod, no is vigorous shaking - both very cute

words:
Hi! She says Hi alot - when she sees you, when you're playing, as a greeting, just in general... she really, really likes Hi (so did Ryan for that matter)
Dada - of course :o)
shoe - this one is new this weekend and still emerging - you wouldn't really know what it was unless you could see the object she's referring to
all done
help (sounds more like 'ep' but we know what she means... not something some random person would understand though)
up and down

The really nice part is that we can have mini conversations now - Holly, do you want to go lie down? *giant head nod* great! Get binky and pop her in the crib where she readily snoozes. Communication is nice!

Of the bunch I think the clear yes and no are the most helpful. If I can reduce something to a yes/no question that she can understand we get very far. We use this alot in response to her 'more' signing ... More what? Do you want.... milk? *giant nod* - great!

We're working hard on adding signs for Eat and Drink, and help. Though since she actually *says* help - it might not be something to focus on.
...

We had a fabulously, quiet weekend. Hope you had a nice holiday!

Where's Jen?

Wed, 21 May 2008 20:29:29 -0500

Apparently taking a blogging hiatus. Not that there's a shortage of topics... I just don't feel like writing about them :o)

Here's a few current activity blurbs

- Ryan was in his Around The World presentation tonight - his teacher told him to belt it out (Grand Ole Flag) so he did! It was great! I love that she can see past his antics to the great little guy he really is - and that she finds a place where his antics are OK :O)

- Holly had her EI eval yesterday - she qualifies for services for speech. Yay? Yes I'm happy - we knew there was a delay and help is a good thing. But the therapist wants her work to be done with a therapist, not a teacher - so we may have to wait a bit to get started

- Work is still crazy - we're at end game on two separate (and yet not) products - it's a busy time

- Ky had a 'Go See It' tonight before Ry's presentation - at the firehouse! But apparently, there was a fire - since the trucks and the men were all missing in action (but the fire house was wide open :o) )

Happy Mothers' Day!

Sun, 11 May 2008 15:22:45 -0500

It all happens at once.

Wed, 7 May 2008 20:28:07 -0500

Steve's Dad had surgery on Monday. He had 7 titanium screws put in his back (yeooow!!) - these replaced some others that were put in in the 90's... He's in pain and recovering. We're sending lots of numbing, pain-relieving thoughts that way...

My Dad had a colonoscopy yesterday. A few biopsies and some stress later and they are treating him for colitis. No cancer seen, but the biopsies will come back at some point - but the Doc doesn't see anything to worry about.

Kyle has bloodshot eyes - apparently from allergies. Allergy drops were helping dramatically, but tonight - nada. So I picked up some kids Zyrtec (now available OTC!) and we're trying that. He's also stuffed up, sneezing and coughing. Spring isn't being kind to him this year!

Work is turning up a notch as we bear down on two releases. Gives me no time to worry about other things! And no time for snacking either ;o)

Snowflake had an ultrasound yesterday. The tumor is taking up most of his liver. If they tried to remove it there wouldn't be enough liver left. So we're doing the wait and watch - Keep him comfortable routine. At the moment he's not complaining. And surprisingly, the blood work shows his liver is still functioning almost normally. When he starts to show signs of pain and/or deterioration we'll evaluate how to manage the pain, and when to let him go. I plan to sit down with the boys again this weekend.

Wednesday Bermuda, Thursday at Sea, Friday disembarkation, Saturday Home!

Fri, 2 May 2008 20:27:33 -0500

let's see if I can just push through the rest...

Wednesday in Bermuda we went down to walk around. We wandered through a craft shop, then on down the street to a little beach (snorkel park). The water was COLD! We only waded as we didn't come prepared for swimming - it was too cold anyway. The kids all had lots of fun. Then we wandered some more and stopped into a glass blowing shop. The kids could have stayed there for hours. Without us even - they were mesmerized.

On the way back Ry fell and skinned his knee. Oh the tragedy! I carried him back Piggy back because he *certainly* couldn't walk on it! The drama! I got picked for a random search getting back on the ship - goodie. Pick the Mom with the child that won't walk ;o) The grownups all got to go out again Wednesday night as it was our 2nd babysitting night. This time we found the 'club' and watched some folks look completely ridiculous (and others that were having fun without looking ridiculous).

Thursday was our last day at sea - and it was so nice and calm out. I brought Ky up to the pool again. It was cooler, and sprinkling from time to time. Oh I left out that he won a medal for participating in a poolside game! It was some sort of race - he had to waddle with a balloon then pop it, join hands with teammates and pass a hulahoop over/under to the other end of the chain, then the selected their two best swimmers to dive for a ball in the pool. Boys vs girls and the boys won. That might have been Wednesday while I was reading. Thursday we went up again and sat in the hot tubs during the belly flop competition. Ky got his last round of swimming in too.

We did some packing and checked out the formal pics we had taken. Ky and the girls got 'tattoos' ;o) and I bought new gold chains for the boys. Then we went back and packed up. Paul and Steve got to hang out this final night on their own. :o)

Friday we got up and packed up the last of the stuff - brought it all down to breakfast with us. This was the only day we hit the dining room for breakfast. Slabs of french toast - yum! Then we hung out at the aquarium lounge until we could disembark. Baggage collection seemed much more organised than last time. We grabbed a guy with a cart and piled up. He pushed the luggage AND the boys through customs and all the way to the car. Nice!

Then we went to Nanna and Poppy's - you've already seen the fire adventure story there. Saturday we got up and came home.

After all of that I do have some sad news. When we came back I noticed Snowflake - our neutered, male cat - looks like he's expecting a litter of kittens. Today I took him in for xrays and bloodwork. It's definitely a tumor - but we won't know details from the bloodwork until Monday. He's having an ultrasound on Monday as well. He's somewhere in his 14th year so he's had a decent run. At the moment he's happy as can be - just with a round ball of a belly. If there is reasonable treatment that will help him live comfortably, we'll do it. We'll know more next week. In the meantime, I sat down with the boys and read Lifetimes with them tonight. Kyle asked immediately - "why did you read this to us?" So I explained that Snowflake is old and sick. The vet says 'nursing home old' :o) I didn't want to say 70's because they have Grandparents in their 70's and we don't want comparisons. I explained that we would try to help Snowflake but that they need to remember that he's not young. And he's nearing the end of his lifetime, even if this particular ailment isn't it. They immediately asked for a snack - so I guess they are OK about it so far. Of course he doesn't *look* sick. But I wanted to make sure they had plenty of time to snuggle with him while he is still mostly healthy. We'll see how that goes. Ky was a wreck for a long time when my Mom lost her yorkie.

No cruise update today...

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:29:50 -0500

Yesterday's lack of an update was just because I was tired. Today I am taking a conscious break. And will instead tell you about the loss we felt today...

Yesterday, my Director was involved in a car accident in the UK. Sadly, he didn't make it. He leaves behind a wife and three children.

I hadn't actually met him in person yet, though we had had several phone conversations - usually me presenting something or other for approval with our product's current release. He was a good guy, though if he felt there was a flaw with something he was sure to tell you so. You always knew where you stood. And he reminded me of a bear. And when you talked to him you could hear it in his voice - he enjoyed what he was doing. He cared about the teams he managed and the products coming from those teams.

He leaves some very large shoes to fill.

My thoughts are with his family and friends today.

Monday at Sea, Tuesday: Bermuda!

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:38:31 -0500

Monday we were at sea all day. The water wasn't too bad, but it was super windy. The boat was rocking a bit. It was really funny to watch Holly try to walk around - she's still getting used to walking on land! We lost an hour to crossing a time zone, which I promptly forgot about. I signed the boys up for Adventure ocean - being the ever watchful and mindful Mom I am I remembered to add in Sensory Integration Disorder and mentioning it to the girl with the 'you probably won't even need to worry about it - but just in case' - TOTALLY forgot to add to Ry's that he was just recovering from Mono and shouldn't be running around. *sigh* - guess I miss out on the Perfect Mom of 2008 award :o)

Stopped in an hour later to check on Ry (wasn't terribly worried about Ky this time - yay for hurdles past!) and they were just getting ready to call us. Ry wasn't being horrible, just refusing to participate and demanding to sit on the rock wall - the premise for calling me being if one of the 50 kids gets away with it... well.... you see where it's going. No problem. Picked Ky up at lunch time - they never went back. That wasn't a conscious choice - I had fully intended on giving them more opportunity, they just had other things they wanted to do.

We walked around the bow of the ship - holding on to each other's hands for dear life - it was *THAT* windy!!! But it was fun. Then we wandered around a little more. I think this was the day that Ky and I went to the Adventure Beach - kid's pool. I sat in the sun and Ky swam. He tried out the water slide too, but mostly swam.

That night was Formal night and we had pictures taken before dinner. We all looked so nice! We managed to get a reasonable shot too! We had gotten a call just before dinner that we didn't get a baby sitter for that night (bummer!). Then after dinner, when Paul and Liz were getting ready to go we got a call - someone else had cancelled, would we still like a sitter? Sure! So we met Lorena and life was good. She promptly took out a bag of toys and all were happy. We didn't do much with our new found freedom - mostly hung out in one of the lounges. Where I noticed that they had barf bags even in the bathroom! The boat was pretty rocky!

We came back to Holly snuggled up on the bed and the boys totally passed out. Lorena reported that shortly after we left the boys announced they normally go to bed at 8:00 and then they went to sleep. Wow. We were impressed.

Tuesday morning Holly woke up with a very crusty eye. So I took her down to see the ship's Dr. I figured pink eye we probably shouldn't continue to spread around. He took a look and said he needed to see her officially, but to come back after the office opens at 9:30 to avoid the extra $30 fee for early service. Once back and registered he happened to hear her cough. So he did a more thorough exam - hey that's an ear infection! No WONDER she hadn't been sleeping (in our defence, she didn't complain and did not have a fever - just not sleeping well). Have to also mention that Holly's new found distrust of strangers did not apply with the Dr. He scooped her up in the waiting room and she went with him without a fuss. I figured that was a good sign.

Tuesday morning we pulled into Bermuda. Beautiful, wonderful, not rocking, Bermuda. Actually, I kinda like the rocking of the boat (as long as I'm not being thrown around). But I feel bad for the folks that really feel it. And seeing all the bags in strategic places is slightly unnerving. Makes me feel like I *should* be sick! We spent some time in the pool in the morning and then had our Glass Bottom Boat tour. We went out to a coral reef - which was grown up over a ship wreck (cool!). There was lots of coral and lots of fish. The fish all kinda looked the same :o) - the best part was feeding the fish off the side of the boat! And if you throw a whole slice of bread they fight over it! So the boys loved that. And the sunken ship sticking up. There was lots of wind - and Holly didn't enjoy not being able to wander around, but overall it was a nice trip.

I think we went back to the kids pool. That night was the midnight buffet - Liz and I got to go! There were a surprising number of kids there. And we decided that while we wouldn't hold them up for it, it would be something we might wake them for in the future. Before the buffet we had wandered around a little, hanging out in the Aquarium bar and at the pool bar before that.

Fire!

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 20:30:56 -0500

Brian over at Rossidudes posted today about a local fire.

My fire story today isn't as alarming. But that's probably because of the fast response.

While sitting down to dinner at my Mom's on Friday several fire trucks pulled up to the end of the street. When they got to the end where the woods start, the bigger trucks (tankers) backed back down and parked in the cul de sac my Mom lives in. There was a brush fire up in the woods. They waited for their nifty all terrain thingy to show up and sent it off with some guys on foot to take care of business. Mostly, they were standing around and waiting. The buggy thing was some sort of cross between an ATV, a golf cart, and a water tank. It came back 2 or 3 times to be refilled.

The view from Mom's driveway:

Ky came out with me to watch the trucks. And he was obviously worried. At one point the chief asked another of the firefighters for status... "something is on fire in the woods" - which made me laugh right out loud.

When Ky told me he was worried I asked him specifically what worried him. He said it was that the fire would come down to Nanna's house. So I pointed to the firemen - do you see all these men? They are here to make sure it doesn't happen. It has to get past them before it reaches us. AND if it does make it this far, that big tanker will just spray it with water - it can't make it up into the woods, but here on the road isn't a problem.

One of the firemen saw me talking with Ky and came over - 'wanna sit in the truck?' - Ky got a personal tour of the two big tankers at the end of Mom's driveway. Total little boy heaven!

Holly got to look too:

The fire didn't come down to the houses. There was no property damage and no injuries. Thanks in large part to the firefighters - all volunteer by the way.

A great big personal thank you goes out to the Warwick Fire Department. You guys rock. Specifically, I also need to thank Charlie and Wendel for showing my kids around :o)

Ryan chose to stay inside to tend to his skinned knee. So he missed out. Hasn't complained about it though.

Friday pre-work, Saturday at Nanna's, and Sunday at Sea!

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 10:45:08 -0500

Friday I had to bring Ryan in for his 2 week post-mono follow up. So I raced home and grabbed the dogs, then Ryan and headed out again. After declaring Ryan 'not quite over it yet' but OK to go on the cruise, we dropped the dogs off for their doggy vacation.

Steve and I finished a majority of the packing and then we went to bed. We loaded up the car Saturday morning and hit the road, arriving at Nanna and Poppy's house between 1:00 and 2:00. Traveling without the dogs is so much easier! We've been leaving them either in a kennel or with a sitter for over a year now and everyone seems happier for it. Sarek is 13 now, and I just think he's less stressed not traveling. Even if we kennel them. And he gets a vacation from the kids.

It was a beautiful day and the kids played out in the street with the girls from across the road. We chatted with their Opa for a bit. Holly had previously treated us to 3 nights of sleeping all the way through - but that was it. Saturday night was pretty darned awful. Mostly, just re-covering her and giving her binky back was good - but it was almost hourly. Ouch!

We hit the road Sunday morning and discovered that Cape Liberty is a mere hour and 15 minute drive from my Mom's. Nice! We were thinking more like 2 hours... so we had some time to kill. But where? It's Sunday and all the stores in NJ were closed. Argh. Malls closed on a Sunday? Only in NJ!!! LOL. To be fair it's not ALL of NJ with these odd blue laws - but the part we were in.

So we got to Cape Liberty MUCH too early. Very nicely situated is a strip mall right next to the port! Yay! We killed 45 minutes in Dunkin Donuts, then stopped in to the Game Spot - Pokemon Time and Pokemon Darkness were released that day - we were kinda hoping we'd get a chance to pick them up. The boys were thrilled to pieces !!!

After our snack and electronic indulgence, we popped over to the port. Where we all got to see the Statue of Liberty across the water. Yay we can check that off the list of things for the boys to see - hee hee. I HATE the craziness that happens here. Everything is rushed, and I hate that - with a passion. I'm normally a pretty even keeled kinda person, but when you rush me I get stressed. So we pull in and pull all luggage out. We label it all and off it goes... We pile back into the car and head over to long term parking. A shuttle brings us back to where we started (without the kids, we would have just walked... it wasn't exactly far).

Checkin was a breeze since we had Priority Check In with our Junior Suite reservation - yay! Cookies and juice accompanied our very short wait for the bus that brought us over to the ship. We boarded and then headed over to the Windjammer for some lunch while we waited for access to the cabins. Cabins opened up around 1:15 and we settled in. Our luggage showed up before our attendent even came to say hello - being early pays off! Paul and Liz and family arrived a little bit later and settled in to the cabin next door.

We started off with our Muster Drill at 4:30, and we wandered around and popped into the Open House for Ocean Adventures. The boys were SO excited that they'd get to go tomorrow! It was pretty windy, even just there in port, and Marissa (our attendant) warned us to not open both the slider to the balcony and the door to the hallway at the same time. Sounds like a woman broke her arm a few weeks back when the wind slammed the door on her. Ouch! At some point we all wondered how the medical setup works (and I got to visit it later in the week - but we'll talk about that later).

Dinner was 'as you are' the first night - and we got to meet our waiter and assistant waiter. The kids ate off the main menu most of the week which was wonderful. And with the main seating for dinner they didn't fall asleep during dinner like last time! After dinner the kids all passed out pretty quickly. Actually, so did we :o) Liz and I also hit up Guest Relations at some point during the day to reserve babysitting for later in the trip. Holly had another really rough night. We chalked it up to the nasty changes in routine she was experiencing...

And there you have it - we were at sea!

home, home, home

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 19:05:19 -0500

We are home.

I will write about the week, I promise. I'm gathering my thoughts. And doing laundry!
In the meantime you can see the trip in pictures (295 of them!) in my Picasa album

This sums up how I'm feeling at the moment :)

(happy and sleepy)

A series of not necessarily related thoughts...

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:29:03 -0500

Where does the time go?

Just two work days left and then we are on vacation! I hate leaving my team right now, but it's been planned for so long, and I know I need it. So we work around it. It's a bad week for Steve too - but again - we didn't know 18 months ago!

The boys are so excited. And we'll be cruising with Uncle Paul and Auntie Liz and girls. It will be way fun. We're planning on at least one night of paid babysitting and since the cabins are adjacent I'm bringing the baby monitor so we can hang out together after kiddy bedtime.

Kyle went back to ride Minnie on Sunday - he totally enjoyed it. Posting came right back to him. J was very happy with how he did after his winter break. We'll be going back again regularly after the cruise. With me joining on occassion. First I need a helmet though!

We've been encouraging Holly to talk more. Trying not to just give her what she's looking for. And this morning I caught her 'talking' to some stuffed animals. She may even have said 'bear' but I'm not certain.

The boys had haircuts on Sunday (including Steve) and all look much less shaggy now. I had my dip and clip on Saturday. So we're all nice and pretty now! I did my nails this week too - now I just have to keep them nice!

I'm probably 75% packed. Yay! I have to pack the stuff we use all the time (like the boys' undies... Steve's stuff... etc) and our dressy stuff. I put together some fun activity books for the kids too - and some goodies. Just because.

We're almost there!

The Sound of Silence

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:28:41 -0500

That's Holly I'm referring to. She doesn't talk. So when we went to see the Doc today for her 15 month visit I said "last time we were here and I told you she had 4 or 5 words? Yeah, I apparently made that all up" She says DaDa. Very well, very clear, you can totally see she means "that's my daddy right there and I love him to pieces he's the best daddy ever!". :o) But it's really all she says. She signs for 'more' which means 'I'm hungry' to her. And she gets her point across in other ways - this morning she came over and handed me her blanket. You want a nap? OK. Popped her and her blanket in the crib and left and she settled down for a nice long nap.

The daycare center sent home her 12 month evaluation in January and they noted her lack of words. She doesn't babble. Well, she babbles occassionally, but mostly she's just quiet. She hears us and clearly understands us - she'll retrieve her coat and shoes when you tell her it's time to go. When you ask her if she'd like milk or if she'd like to eat she comes running and hands you her binky in exchange. If you tell her it's time for shoes she sits down and gives you her feet. She's bright and hears us. But she's not talking. So we have a referrel for Early Intervention for a speech delay. Because hey - extra help is never a bad thing :) It could be as simple as - we respond to her actions and her 'eh' and know what she needs so she doesn't NEED to talk. But it's better to find out.

Otherwise her motor skills are excellent, and she's still growing. Everything looks great. She got 3 shots today and that was about it.

Exploring language

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 08:52:43 -0500

We're riding home in the car and Kyle asks:
"Is holding up your middle finger all by itself a swear?"

(hmmmm wonder where this is going...)

Me: Yes it is.
Ky: Which swear is it (aha! now I see where it's going...)
Me: I can't tell you because then I'd have to say it
Ky: Oh. Is it F - - K? (he spelled it perfectly, not missing a beat)
Me: Yes, actually, it is. But you aren't allowed to spell it either. Spelling it is just as bad as saying it.
Ky: Oh. OK. *pause* What are the other swears?
Me: I can't say them, they aren't OK to say.
Ky: *seems to be thinking outloud* - I know the "F" word and the "s-h" word - how do you spell the "s-h" word? *tries to work it out on his own*.

Then he dropped the topic. Which is good. I don't know how much longer I could have kept the chuckles in. Hopefully, Ryan wasn't listening too closely. While Kyle was just matter of fact with it and seemed to really just be looking for information, Ryan would need to actively explore them and use them and try them out on others. A lot.

Did I mention Ry now has mono? Thankfully, he should be OK before we leave on the cruise. And that's it - it's not allowed to spread to anyone else!!!

On birthdays

Fri, 4 Apr 2008 19:59:38 -0500

I don't forget my own birthday.

It's not that I forget other people's birthdays. I KNOW what day they fall on. They are numbers after all and that is how my brain works. I remember numbers. I'll remember phone numbers from my childhood and then wonder -whose was that? Was that Cathy's? Michelle's? Darnit! Do I need to call it and see if someone answers? But that's a tangent. So I remember birthdays. I do NOT, however, always remember what day we are currently on in the calendar. Not sure why it happens but I totally lose track of the calendar. I'll be thinking - Steve's Mom's birthday is in - x - days. Gotta send a card. And then the next thing I know I'm thinking "hey - Steve's Mom's birthday is in March - what day are we on? Oh crap - it was 4 days ago!". So if I've 'forgotten' your birthday - know that it's not you or your birthday I have forgotten. It's my state of being that is in a jumble. And it's been like this for a long, long time.

At any rate - yesterday was my birthday. And apparently I can no longer wear black. According to Stacey London Black after 35 just makes you look round. And since I heard this from Stacey London, it must be true, right? Liz and I figure we heard her say *after* 35 - so it doesn't hit until you're 36. Which is what I now am. Yikes. Where has the time gone? (of course Steve's going to be 40 - so I always feel better remembering that).

Then there was the conversation with Paul and Liz during Girls' weekend (why was Paul part of Girls weekend? why would it be any other way ? )
Paul commenting on a friend he's made on facebook:
P: "he's 50! That's 15 years older than us."
me: "Not YOU!!!"
(Paul is just shy of a year younger than Steve - I won't out him here - but you all can do math I assume?)

It was entertaining... :o)

So back to my birthday. It was yesterday as I've said. I worked. I came home. Me and the boys went to the chiropractor. We had Thai takeout for dinner (yay!) and there was chocolate ice cream cake. And flowers. Yay!

And Steve got me a new HD 12megapixel camera for my birthday. Woohooo! And an 8gb memory card to go with it. I'm playing with it to see what I can do and maybe I can do a little better with this one than the last. I did perfectly fine with the last one - but never managed to get good quality 8x10's out of it. That's my goal - I need to replace most professional photo sessions. I'm hoping for a nice weekend some time soon for a fun outing with the camera. Worst case it gets a great run during our cruise. Which of course I've mentioned. 2 weeks from tomorrow we'll be packed up and at Mom's house. We all can't wait!

Today I had Kyle's follow up for Mono visit. And I squeezed Ryan in too. Ryan has swollen glands and a red throat. Not tired but then Ryan doesn't ever get sick the way other people do. So the Dr agreed and felt we should screen for mono (throat culture was negative) - we're waiting for the results. Since Kyle was there to tell Ryan all about the needle they use to take blood out of your arm, the waiting for the blood test was worse than the procedure itself. Once again I am impressed with how well they deal with children. Once the needle was in he calmed down. Not completely relaxed - he definitely wanted it done, but a majority of the fear was gone. We'll probably know tomorrow. Not that it makes much difference. Ky was given the OK to go back to being his crazy old active self - YAY! He was really feeling the lack of activity (and so was I!)

Mom and Dad cancelled their trip up - again. Besides Ryan's new illness, Holly came home with a fever at lunch time. So we'll just wait and see them when we leave for the cruise. Now we have another open weekend with no big plans. Sounds like a weekend for working on the new room to me!

Hope you have a fabulous weekend :o)

18 days...

Tue, 1 Apr 2008 15:35:45 -0500

Can it be? My counter over there ==>>
tells me that in just 18 days I will be at my Mom's. I'll be trying to keep the boys from bouncing off the walls from excitement. Because the very next morning we will leave from Mom's to head to Bayonne, NJ. Where we will board the Explorer of the Seas for our 5 day cruise to Bermuda.

Sun. Water. Peace. NO BUGS. And certainly no snow.
And no work.

Yeah, I'm a little excited!

Success Sunday

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:40:58 -0500

"The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible -- and achieve it, generation after generation."
--Pearl S Buck

I was looking for something around children and success and looking at things more the way they do and their lack of fear and so forth. This is what I landed on. I try to remember as often as possible to try to see things (or not see as the case may be) from the point of view of the kids. They are in awe. Everything is something to learn.

Though today - after going to Sunday school and talking more about the resurrection - Ryan declared - "Jesus. He was a zombie!" - ummm yeah. Something like that :o)

Find out How to Post your own Success Sunday!

He's come so far...

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:18:47 -0500

Yesterday in the car we were talking about Nanna and Poppy coming up to visit. They did not visit at Easter because of Ky being newly diagnosed with Mono.

"So I'm all better now" he asked. "No, but you can just not kiss them when they hug you". "OK".

"Mommy? Can you tell them that for me? I want them to know why I won't kiss them when they hug me."

He didn't want their feelings to be hurt.
I found this incredibly perceptive - not just for a child who in the past had no clue that other people even had feelings - but for any child of 7. My Ky has come a very long way indeed.

Wiggle It - Just a Little Bit

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:53:56 -0500

Ky had his two baby molars 'wiggled' out today. I sat just behind where they were (so I couldn't see!) and he didn't make a peep. She periodically asked him if she could change the scent in the 'silly air' - from chocolate and strawberry, to just strawberry, back again... just chocolate. And she chatted with him almost non stop. I love her! So glad to have her in our back pocket for any future dental needs :o)

In two months he goes back to the orthodontist for a 'recall' - to check and see how things look. After that at some point he goes in for 'separaters' to keep the space there for the future adult teeth.

He's back at school - I thought with the exhaustion hitting last night (made a full day of school, then a Dr appointment for Ry, then a chiro appointment for the three of us) combined with the wiggles today that I might have to get him early. But it's just about 2:00 and I haven't heard from them yet. Wow. What a trooper we have!

Ryan's 6 year visit was yesterday and went well. Steve handled it for me, so I don't have my usual level of detail - but I'm thrilled to pieces that I have decided to give up a little of the control :o) It's a hard thing for me you see ... At any rate, Steve ran through the behaviour stuff and she agrees that it sounds a lot like Middle Child Syndrome ;o) and we should keep doing what we're doing.

We shall see....

Success Sunday

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 21:46:48 -0500

"If Easter says anything to us today, it says this: You can put truth in a grave, but it won't stay there. You can nail it to a cross, wrap it in winding sheets and shut it up in a tomb, but it will rise!"

-- Clarence W. Hall

Happy Easter!

Our day (after a rough Holly night) started at 5:45am when I heard Ry declare "KY-LE! I saw *easy* eggs!". I waylaid their path with a 'come here' and requested they wait for Holly. Ryan retrieved his DS and played in his room, Ky opted for breakfast. I successfully held them off til 6:30 - *phew*. Of course I was up for the day, so I got a cup of coffee and settled in.

I'm in the process of uploading videos. I think Holly thought she was 'cleaning up'. Then she discovered it was much easier to pull the eggs from the boys' baskets then look for them herself ;o)

We made it to church and the kids were mostly pretty well behaved. Ry chose to sing his own version of the hymns - but I chose to let him since no one could hear him anyway. He ended the Children's message by asking "is Jesus a girl?" Kyle was helpful with all the right answers as usual. Then we came home and I cooked up the turkey breast and 'turkey legs' - really a package of chicken legs. They LOVE chicken legs, but turkey legs, not so much. So this works. No Nanna or Poppy because of the Mono deal, but they'll visit next weekend instead.

We're going to try school for Ky tomorrow and see how he does. He's held up very well over the weekend, and his lymph nodes are almost back to normal. I think he's on his way to mending :O)

Find out How to Post your own Success Sunday!

Poly, Mono, Multi, Singly...

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 20:03:38 -0500

Tuesday night I noticed Ky sounded horse. I asked him about it and yeah, he was a little stuffy he said. Wednesday he had a sore throat, but 'just a little, Mommy'. I couldn't see anything but tongue in their ;o) so off to school with instructions to go to the nurse if he got a headache. At 12:30 I got the call - sure enough he had a headache and 'his throat looks terrible' (obviously she got a better look than I did). When I picked him up she mentioned swollen glands - 'wish I could tell' Oh I'll show you - but she didn't have to - Ky's lymph nodes are big enough to give Pluto a run for the title of moon. So we went for a culture - which was negative - what???

Zoom to Thursay morning. Glands still the size of a small moon. So I call the dr and get an appointment. I mention all the stuff and save the glands for last - 'small moons?' she asks then looks "oh yes. Small moons" - a quick blood draw and a few hours later we have a diagnosis - Mono. My big guy has mono. Poor thing. While talking to the dr it occurred to me that he had in fact been wicked tired over the last week or so. Not alarming, but enough that I'd noticed and started sheparding them to bed closer to on time. Thinking we were just getting lax about bed time.

Mono is a virus - we just wait. We kept him home today because of the exhaustion. Maybe by Monday he'll be up to go to school, but with the understanding that he comes home if he wears out and no physical activity. Yeah that should be fun. Saw his after school program teacher while picking up Ry who very nicely, and with a twinkle in her eye, asked if we could please keep him home until he could go to the gym!

...
While playing with Holly after tubby I saw a new white speck! Oh my goodness - a tooth! A tooth has broken the gum line! Wooohooo! This makes her third (finally!) and possibly explains the recent round of congestion and horrible up nights we've had. Last night was much better with her only getting up once at 3am. (once again - her wakings are simple, she wants a quick drink, then back to sleep - 10 minutes tops). We made sure to give her some tylenol before bed tonight - hope it helps (could be too little too late there too).

And here we go - Holly prefers to sit on the trains while playing with them:

Our recent round of photo sessions... trying to get a nice pre-Easter pic:

And the bunny - we usually skip the mall bunnies, but I was away for Breakfast with the Easter Bunny at the Boys & Girls club, so I figured Steve wouldn't want to brave it. Ryan was - well, Ryan. Kyle was super sweet, and Holly started screaming as soon as she saw him.

Hope you all have a Happy Easter!

Catching up...

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:17:15 -0500

Where to start?

Spent a fabulous weekend with Liz and family, and Deanna and a new friend, Elyse. I figure anyone who can shatter the bottom of the wine glass I'm holding with her knee should be called a friend ;o) We shopped, ate, stayed up too late, drank too much, and shared secrets that only girlfriends will share. :o) We most definitely need to do this more often.

So after two nights of early bed, I'm close to recovered from the lack of sleep. Maybe by Friday. But it was worth it for the down time.

...
Ky met with the Orthodontist today about the two 'wiggles' - also known as teeth that need to come out. Basically, we make an appointment with him 3 months after the 'wiggles' are done. I can handle that. He'll need spacers where the teeth are coming out, as well as a pallette expander for the top jaw. Thank goodness for insurance.

...
Still having lots of behaviour issues at school with Ry - the Asst-Principle asked if maybe there was sensory issues - it was so nice to have my suspicians shared by someone else!

...
While shopping with Liz I picked up some stuff on clearance - a new coat, a fleece jacket, two blouses. Well, I noticed the coat still had the ink tag on it - back we go to get it off. It totally slipped my mind to check the rest of the stuff! So now I have a blouse and a fleece jacket that I need to take back to Sears before I can wear them! *sigh*

...
Oh and Kate is 30! Happy Birthday Kate!

Dentist: 1 Fear: 0

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:58:25 -0500

Ky had his first appointment of what will be a series of stuff today. This was really a different matter altogether, but it paved the road for us. Besides the teeth that need to be pulled, Ky had a cavity that our regular dentist felt she didn't want to fill. The Pediatric dentist used Nitrous Oxide today and things went beyond well. I heard him (Ky) chatting away back there. Not a peep of fear. He didn't ask me why we were going, so I didn't offer anything, but I did suggest he bring one of his animal - so he brought Lucky. His new dalmation.

As we were leaving he was all smiles... did you have fun? "Yes!" would you like to do it again? "ok!" (not questions I planned on asking, but they popped out because of his happiness). Yay for good experiences.

The Doc reports that 'wiggles' are much easier than fillings. So the teeth that need to be removed should be simple. The basically don't have roots, and I'm guessing she calls them wiggles because that's effectively how she gets them out. Ky meets with the orthodontist next week to discuss these teeth and what we need to do after they come out.

-- edited to add --
When we got home tonight I prompted Ky to tell Daddy about the dentist... and I got new news....

"I got a Pirates of the Caribean filling!!!"

Who knew?

So the next time I need a filling, I want my glass of wine first AND a Pirates' filling, please.

I want my hour back!

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:39:04 -0500

Sunday dawned bright and early - about an hour earlier than Saturday as a matter of fact. Can anyone tell me just how the 14 month old knew it was her 'normal' time by the clock, even though out in the physical world it was an hour earlier? Ryan too. Up and at em!

Our food experiment may actually be working. As with many of the things of this nature, you don't notice something until it's missing (or was missing and comes back? ). So I've been focused on finding foods that are less likely to have 'hidden' MSG in them - and while I'm focused on the labels, I'm avoiding more foods with corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup. I've also switched us over to Kate's home made butter (not to be confused with Kate of course - though if you start making butter, let me know!). Short, simple ingredient lists are what I am in search of. And we've been doing OK on this. There are exceptions of course - like eating out. And the occassional forray for Chinese.

Friday we actually did Chinese take out - highly unusual around here. So we had left overs on Saturday. And then on Sunday I cheesed out and we did Ramen noodles for dinner (I threw broccoli in it, does that make it better?). Today, Kyle did not have a great day. A note about how he didn't get his class work done, and was generally not keen on following rules. Hmmmm. I wonder if there's a correlation to the lax dietary rules over the weekend? Or it could be that his 'atlas' was in need of adjustment (Chiropractor hit that one this afternoon before I read the note - atlas covers the parasympathetic system - Dr says 'should slow him down and help with focus'). Ryan also had an iffy day at the after school program. No notes from class, so I don't know about school itself - and he needed the atlas adjustment too. Interesting. Diet? Subluxation? A little of both? Maybe the hour less of weekend?

I think I need to start journaling about food, activity, and other influences.

As I type i hear the boys up in bed still chatting away.
...
Still no further progress on the 'closet project' aka 'the new room'. It's on me at the moment to find wall lights. I decided a pair of wall lights on either side of the closet door would work for the switched light in the room. Once Steve gets them in (assuming I find some of course) we can start the wall boarding. While nebbing Holly tonight I was daydreaming about getting my room back :o) it will be nice to officially have a craft room. Maybe there will be room for the sewing table my Mom has!
...
Holly picked up another cold last week. And because I had commented that we made it through the last one without wheezing, she picked up a good wheeze on this one. So we met yet another Dr in the practice. I told him it was nice to get to know all the Dr's and all, but it probably wasn't a *good* thing. Yep - she wheezed. But he didn't hear anything nasty like pneumonia or bronchitis. And he referred to it as 'breakthrough wheezing' - something not all uncommon when on pulmicort. So we changed to an oral steroid for 3 days and went back on albuterol. Today we went back to the pulmicort and are down to 2x/day on the albuterol. The wheeze is very mild now, but I still hear it.
...
This weekend I'm heading down to NJ to spend time with a couple of 'girlfriends' for a girls' weekend. It's been a long time coming - so I'm so very glad Holly's doing better. Barring any other illnesses, I am in the car on Friday!

I think that's it for now - Happy Monday!

Success Sunday - March 9, 2008

Sun, 9 Mar 2008 17:10:37 -0500

"Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get."
--Dale Carnegie

Here we go - Jen (another one!) has issued the command that we should all participate in Success Sunday. OK, not really - she *invited* her many readers to also participate. So here we go - my very first Success Sunday post. I don't have a bunch to say today, maybe my writing muse will kick in later ;-)

Find out How to Post your own Success Sunday!

Increased Responsibility

Thu, 6 Mar 2008 20:39:51 -0600

The boys have really been catching on to the whole morning routine thing. It's making life much easier in the morning. They get up, one of us gets them breakfast (usually organic Panda Puffs - the current favorite), then they go and pick out clothes and get dressed. Brush their teeth on the way back, then they can play until the 'bus alarm' goes off. (to complete the morning picture, we take turns showering, who ever isn't in the shower when Holly gets up grabs her. Holly gets a bite to eat, then gets dressed for the day. I pack lunch for the kiddos and sometimes for me - Steve generally says 'no thanks'...)

So..... today Ryan came out with a shirt with sleeves that were just a touch too short, and some nice chords on. He even remembered socks! Great! It's a great day!

- fast forward into my work day -

I come back to my desk from marathon meetings 9 - 12:00!!! to voicemail (oops left the cell phone at my desk again) - a message from the school.... could you please bring underwear in for ryan? He isn't wearing any, and is bothering his classmates by showing them.

???? OMG!

OK after the initial reaction of "I can't believe a child of mine would do that!" - It was worth quite a few chuckles (obviously NOT in front of Ry!) This is definitely one of those stories that we'll trot out for the girlfriends when he's in his teens ;o)

And now? Now there is a nice reminder list posted above his dresser. He knows to look at it so he remembers ALL the steps - 1. undies, 2. socks, 3. shirt, 4. pants. Yay. I said - "so you'll never forget your undies again, right" - "RIGHT!" and he looked very happy with the list.

We will, however, be verifying that all appropriate articles of clothing have made it onto his body for the foreseeable future.

Smelly Cat

Tue, 4 Mar 2008 16:46:28 -0600

Thanks to Kelly - this has been in my head since yesterday...

(and now I share it with you, muahaha!)

Mishmash of note worthiness...

Mon, 3 Mar 2008 09:31:42 -0600

A few things of note recently ...

Last night the boys had tubby time. After shampooing, I let them play and retreated to email downstairs. When they were done, they drained the tub, dried off and got jammies on. :o) A simple thing, but oh so nice. Where did the 15 minutes of 'please go get jammies on' go? Nice.

Holly has been asking for naps. Yesterday she started climbing up on the couch so I pulled the coffee table further out to prevent concussions and threw a blanket on the floor for extra cushion. She promptly lay down on the blanket with a big smile. I brought her into her room, laid her in her crib and walked out. Voila! Nap! Yay!

On Wednesday, the school menu declared 'beef teriyaki' - sounds good to me, but not so much to the boys. It's something I wouldn't likely attempt at home. Or at least not without the assumption that they'd be 'yogurt-ing' again. Ky came home and reported that he not only GOT the BT, but ate it and liked it! Ky got stickers for trying something new. Trying new foods is a BIG deal for Kyle. So there was major reinforcement there.

Saturday we lay low since Kyle had some sort of stomach thing Friday afternoon - could have been from 2 pieces of chocolate cake for snack followed by rigorous activity at the gym though. I'll try to make a point to mention to the after school folks that Ky generally should NOT have 2 pieces :o) I think after Friday they'll be more than willing to oblige ;o)

On Saturday Steve also wired the light in the new closet. And it worked! Always a nice thing when you do something and it works on the first try! Now he's going to figure out a main light for the room, then we can start wall-boarding. It's coming along! I was hoping it'd be done by April.... but it will be done sometime this year for sure!

What time do you go to the dentist?

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 09:04:53 -0600

"tooth hurty" :o)

---

Kyle had his consult visit with the pediatric dentist yesterday. Love her! (and then I have guilt because I love our regular dentist too!).

So his 6 year molars are growing in under the baby teeth in front of them. The baby tooth on the left is shot - the root is gone. The one on the right is well on it's way to the same fate. The prognosis? Both baby teeth need pulling :-( but if we just pull them, the molars will move there and the later molars that are *supposed* to go there will have nowhere to grow into. So we need to coordinate with the orthodontist to see if he can handle some sort of gear to keep the space, and maybe even push the 6-years back a little.

We think we can get by with this ordeal with just nitrous-oxide. Kyle was pretty easy going about the whole thing - of couse all he knows is that there is something interesting about his new back teeth that people keep wanting to look at them. And at some point we will 'fix' them. She also showed him the machine for the 'silly gas' and the scented nose cover too. He chose vanilla- because I told him it would smell like cookies :o) She said he'll be conscious and aware - just relaxed. Like an adult having a glass of wine first. Now there's a thought - next time I need to have a filling I'll just have myself a glass of wine first ;o)

Ky's appointment is in late March - unless they have a cancellation and they'll let me know if they can do it earlier. Keep your fingers crossed!

Pacharisu

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 20:45:30 -0600

The cake...

Here is the image I worked from:

First, I drew it on paper - freehand. As practice :o)
Then I 'drew' the outline and details on the cake with a toothpick and 'colored' it in with frosting - use the handy P.Chef decorator set of course! :o)

and Ry being silly at his party:

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:04:33 -0600

And I didn't post yesterday - bad Mommy.
Yesterday my 'Little Guy' turned 6. SIX! How can this be? We had a party at OneStopFun and he had a blast. 11 of his classmates joined him along with Ky and a friend for Ky. They played in the Gym Mania and then the Caterpillar moon bounce. They ate the "Yellow cake with Pumkin" that I made with Pachirisu on it (and not a shabby one at that - yes, I ate up the 'you did this yourself' comments - but hey... it's nice to be appreciated LOL)

They played some more. They got their goody bags and home they all went. I know Ry slept REALLY well. We opened gifts at home. And considering that the report from friends to parents for gift purchasing was unanimously 'pokemon' we only ended up with one duplicate - and it was a duplicate NEW item, not a dupe of something he had already - AND it was the best dupe it could have been - a pokemon set that included Torterra - Ryan is THRILLED to have TWO Torterras.

The bummer is that I couldn't find my camera before we left - so I grabbed the boys' - the lower end of the camera scale (but good enough for the under 8 crowd!) and the problem of me not normally using it led to some pretty crummy shots. But I did get one where you can *see* the cake - it's just not the best photo ever. The foil the cake was on sent the flash back at the cam - my camera would have handled it better - these not so much :( oh well. Next time, no foil!

I'm working on getting a couple pics up - will update later :o)

Holly's Baby...

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 09:43:20 -0600

For Christmas, Auntie Jen gave Holly a doll. Because we are predominantly a boy house we didn't have any! So now Holly has 'Holly's Baby' - since Holly hasn't grasped the concept of naming (or she's named it DaDa!) we just call her Holly's Baby. Holly LOVES her baby. She carries her around, wraps her up, pushes her in the stroller - and can do this for an hour - especially if Mommy or Daddy is helping.

Sunday I gave her an infant gown to put on the baby. She promptly stripped her and then used the gown as a blanket. She's got an independent streak for sure! Here you can see her wrap, unwrap, move, wrap, move, wrap, - the continual focus is fun :o)

It's that time of year...

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 16:41:24 -0600

When Sears puts their Clearance on Clearance!!!

Steve picked up a few shirts for 30% off the 50% off price :o) and a pair of boxers and comfy slippers too!
For the boys we picked up new winter coats for next year - from Land's End even - regularly $140 - but today? We paid $39.99 baby! This is my kind of sale (cuz we certainly don't approach the Land's End section any other time of year - $140 for a coat they'll wear one season? Riiiiiite). Ryan didn't actually *need* a new one for next year - but how cute will it be when they have matching coats ??? :-) And he deserves new stuff once in a while!

While the mens hit the toy store, Holly snoozed and I wandered through Payless - got a pair of wedges for the cruise - hope they're comfy! And a pair of flip flops for the 1/2 off item. We also had lunch at TGIFriday's where we had the Most UnResponsive Waitress EVER! Wow. The hostess came back to check if we'd had our drink order taken - nope. She reminded her. Then it took forever for drinks to actually come out - and the food was just as slow. Holly was SO all done. I took her out to walk up and down the hall in the mall, coming back in when I saw the food had arrived. Steve took her back out after, while we waited for the boys' ice cream (and my 'mini' dessert and coffee). I was done with the dessert and the boys half done with theirs when my coffee came. Lots of waiting. The table next to us just handed her a credit card and said 'ring us up please?' - she said she'd bring them the check to look at first - "no! *deer in headlights look on patron* we trust you!" At one point I even said that hey if she doesn't come back with the check, at least it's free right?

Tomorrow we all have off - yay! Three day weekends are nice :o) The boys will enjoy 'camp' at their regular after school program Wed - Friday as it's Winter Break this week.

Otherwise, just another lazy Sunday around here!

Home Page Updated

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 09:17:47 -0600

Yes, it's been awhile - but I just put all new pics on the homepage and created a new 'thinking of spring' background - probably makes the whole thing too busy - but it's much more Spring-like now!

Tooffs

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 10:57:42 -0600

Oh happy Day!

This morning I hear "Mommy! I was DOING something with MY tooth and it came OUT!" :o) thankfully, it was the tooth that was hanging on by a mere thread of something last night. Yay! He is SO excited. He's been wiggling and hoping for about 2 weeks!

I'll try to get a pic of his new smile tonight.

One Week?

Sat, 9 Feb 2008 19:59:05 -0600

It's been almost a week? Where have I been?

Gosh, what all has gone on around here lately? Well, skiing and snowboarding are now officially done for us for the season. Ky has requested skiing next year (sorry Uncle Dougie!). I'm going to investigate picking up some used equipment for them - should run about the same as the rental for the 6 weeks, and we don't have to pick it up and return it each week (we do, however, have to remember to BRING it ;o) ) Both boys did well - I'm proud of them for going out and trying something new (or mostly new for Ky) and having fun!

Today I talked the boys and Holly into getting dressed for pictures... they are up on Kodak - but here's a nice one:

Last weekend we had the CubScout Blue & Gold reception - there was music and limbo and fun and Chicken Dance! And some 'coke or pepsi' playing by the parents and kids. Fun!

Here's Ky with his Den Leader ;-)

And we decided at some point that we needed to have cake for Holly's birthday, so on the weekend we were supposed to have the family party - which was cancelled - I made some cake when I was feeling better:

And since it was supposed to be Ry's party too - we had cake for him too!

Holly didn't like getting her hands icky:

That's it for an update for now :o)

on promoting

Sun, 3 Feb 2008 10:20:17 -0600

In our company directory there is a field... "Is Manager" it is a boolean field - and can have a value of Y or N. As of this week, my person record has a Y in that field :o)

It's an exciting and happy thing, and a little bit scarey. I'm in a great group (group hasn't changed, just some of my role in it), and I know that my priority is still my family. And this is as it should be.

Yay Me!
- - -

I've been picking up Ry from school once a week. We spend some time together and then I work from home for the rest of the day. He's showing some other signs of needing attention. Some of the very same signs that Kyle once demonstrated - so yay for repeated territory - I know how to deal with this! :o) The extra attention is helping.

On a side note I had given Ky the opportunity to have the same kind of thing, and he declined. He would rather play with his friends after school... getting too old to hang with Mom already?? We make sure he gets attention at other times though.

Birthday cancellations...

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 09:23:12 -0600

Thursday I felt kinda blah. By the time I went to bed I had a bad case of chills. Where you CAN'T get warm. I was huddled under our nest of blankets - lots of blankets - and stole an extra from the boys' stash to wrap around me under all of ours. Still shivering. Steve was amazed. "I'm not well" was all I could tell him. He snuggled up and shared his warmth - great guy my Hubby :o) later in the night I did actually register a fever.

I spent Friday at home on the couch. I did nothing except read a little email, let the dogs in and out, and read and snooze. It was much needed. I felt better by late afternoon. Then crappy again by bedtime. We cancelled the party for the kids - but there weren't that many folks coming anyway. And then Holly started throwing up Saturday afternoon. So it was good to have cancelled.

Saturday, Ry opened the gift my parents had sent up (no, you are not late!!! his birthday is at the END of Feb - we just figured the family that normally drives up would only want to do it for one party in the course of a few weeks, so we tried to have one for both Holly and Ryan). Sunday I felt well enough for baking, so I made cupcakes and we sang to both Ry and Holly. I took pictures, being Holly's first birthday and all - but she had no idea what to do with the cake and didn't seem to like having frosting on her fingers :o)

Then we gave Holly the book that Kyle picked out from all of us. She gave it the Holly Stamp of Approval - she sat on it. I totally have to get video of this expression of love that is uniquely hers. She does it at school - she sits on her friends!!! It's a hoot. Basically, she loves you and if you are a grown up, it ends up that she sits on your lap and snuggles in. It's adorable. But the dogs don't think so. The cats agree with the dogs. Sitting on the book is just wicked cute :o)

Ryan opened gift one from us - Thomas the Train footy jammies in his size. He's in heaven :o)

Now I have to remember to schedule his party for him and his friends!

---

Our friends' daugher, L is still in the hospital - she had surgery Friday night to have a chest tube put in to drain her lung. She's doing better (yay!) and hopefully will have the tube out today.

An early birthday gift...

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 10:36:06 -0600

A package arrived for Ryan on Tuesday and the Mailman made a BIG deal about it. So there was little to no chance of holding Ryan off on opening it. We gave Grammie a quick call and had her on the phone while Ryan opened it up :o) We'll try this more and more with our long-distance friends and family - in the past Ryan has NOT been cooperative with phones, so it's only recently that we've even seriously entertained this idea.

Dis N Dat

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:29:43 -0600

The boys went back to school after four days at home. Saturday was winter lessons (Ky boarding, Ry skiing), then haircuts, then the pine wood derby. Neither Steve nor Ky brought home any trophies. But Ky recovered quickly - and we're quick to point out that he came in 1st in 2 out of his 4 heats. Not shabby, that!

After the derby Steve headed South to visit with Paul and family. Biggest thoughts and prayers being sent that way as L. was admitted Monday night for pneumonia and is still in the hospital today. A long few days for them. But before that Steve got to visit and they had a great time. Me and the kids hung out - we skipped church on Sunday, opting for the less crazy morning. Then went over for groceries. There is a reason that I go for groceries WITHOUT children. In fact there are multiple. And they reminded me of every single one of them. At least they seemed to amuse others.

Monday was MKL day and Ky spent most of that at a friend's house - yay! Just two years ago the thought of sending him off for hours without me was too much to handle! He has really come so far! I worked 1/2 days from home Monday and Tuesday (a professional day at school so no school for boys) and Ky and I spent some time learning how to play the real Pokemon Trading Card game. Wow! Each move I pick a new card, then I can add energy if I have it, AND add Basic Pokemon to my bench, AND retreat a Pokemon if I can spend the retreat cost, AND use a Pokemon power AND attack! That's a lot to remember each turn :o) we played for about 20 minutes - just long enough for it to actually start moving (you basically don't have enough of anything to do very much at first... so it builds momentum) and then Ryan got him interested in something else. Steve was very amused.

Holly has been home all week because of a fever. But she didn't pick back up today, so she should be back at school tomorrow. We had a repeat of the wheezing about a week ago and at that point we put her on Pulmicort Respules for the winter. The idea is to prevent her from having these wheezing attacks with every cold she gets - and we live in New England and it's only January - yeah, there'll be more colds!

Finally, in the Ryan and the bus department.. Ryan has decided that he can get on the bus beautifully. This morning he RAN in front of Kyle so that he got on first. Bounced into his seat and waved at me with an ear to ear toothy grin. Yay. Maybe, just maybe, we are past this hurdle. Now we can focus more solidly on school. This week is odd, so I'm going to say he had trouble transitioning after the long weekend. Both boys brought home classwork that they didn't finish in class. But the last few weeks, he's done really well the first 2 days of the week, followed by days of ups and downs. Like he runs out of steam by Wednesday? Not sure, but I'm continuing to pick him up at dismissal on Thursdays. I'll actually change our after school program's schedule so that we pay a little less for him too. Since it seems to be working. I bring him home and we play whatever he wants for 1/2 an hour. It doesn't seem like much, but I really think that JUST picking him up would do the trick. I just want to make sure there's extra value in it. Then he plays on his own while I finish up my day. It's way to early to see if it's working. I'll try to remember to report back on this at the end of next month.

Oh - speaking of February - Ryan's birthday is next month! We're getting ready for a party here on Saturday for family - for both Holly and Ryan. Ryan has requested a chocolate cake with mint icing - yum! I think I can do that ;o) and I have to plan some munchies too. Now that the threat of Holly being sick for the party is mostly past, I'm feeling better.

Dietary Changes

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 09:58:17 -0600

After my last post, I've been paying more attention to the ingredients list. Rather than carry around the LONG list of things that *definitely contain* and others that *may contain* MSG, I've looked at it repeatedly and can now remember most of the biggest offenders. My goal in ingredients has become - as few as possible, aiming for those items with the least amount of really complicated names listed. I haven't pulled everything out of the cabinet to examine it, but I am looking at each item I pull out as needed, and make a decision from there. Oh - this has glycerin in it? Hmmmm and I weigh - we've been eating it right along - should we just finish it up and then not replace it? Or ditch it right now. I'm focusing on moderation for the most part.

I did swing through Trader Joe's and then the Organic/Whole Foods section of our super market. I've found a few cereal choices that the boys like that do not contain corn syrup - yay for small wins! And I found some REALLY yummy chicken at Trader Joe's - Kyle's been asking for it repeatedly since Friday when we had it :o)

The good news is that we don't seem to have a lot of offending products :o) the corn syrup thing isn't directly related to the msg thing - I just figured it was good timing to attack that one. A major dissappointment though - while in the whole foods area I found some whole wheat ravioli (yay!) and read the ingredients - they contain one of the items from the *always contains MSG* list (boo, hiss). Back in the freezer they went!

Excito-what?

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:36:02 -0600

I've started reading some material on excitotoxins. I'm not going to go into much about them - you can Google it and get the same hits I did :o) Maybe I'll write more about them later. For now, I'm reading and digesting (ha! that wasn't a pun!) and trying to decide if there is an approach here that I want to pursue.

I'm surprised that MSG is hidden in so many ways. My mission this weekend is to go through the pantry cabinet and see what we have with 'hidden' MSG. I was already avoiding Aspartame for the boys and Holly. Mostly because it didn't feel like a good idea for their little, developing brains to be exposed to it. I'm not sure what I'll do with the stack of food I'm sure I'll accumulate. But finding them is a first step. Then I'll decide how much we can change.

The good news? The Oreos I'm about to devour have none of the suspect ingredients (they'll just kill me with fat and high fructose corn syrup). :o)

The One Year Visit

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 20:25:31 -0600

Yesterday Holly and I met with Dr T. Dr T is finally back from maternity leave - and back to her skinny 'lil self!!! She loved Holly - who complained until I put her down and let her wander around the room. She loved how she's walking AND squating to retrieve things from the floor then standing up again. Says her motor skills are that of a 15 month old.

She said to go ahead and try regular milk. That she may have outgrown it, it may not have actually been the milk in the formula but something else so going to Milk is different. So we're trying it. She's done sips of milk in a sippy for a full day now with no diaper changes (we aren't fully back to the 'plop it off the dipe into the toilet' area, but it's not really loose, multiple times a day either - so this is OK). Today I gave her 4 ounces in a bottle to see what we see with that. Oh and she had a spinach/cheese ravioli. :o) I'm SO hoping she's over this thing, or at least that it was something specific to formula and we won't hit it anymore. We'll continue with the bottled water though, since that seems to help too.

Skiing and snowboarding went well today - except we couldn't find the inners to Ky's snowboarding boots - so he's been forbidden to use them as toys! We were 15 minutes late because of the boot hunt. Ry stopped with about 15 minutes left of the lesson, and said he was done. After talking to him I let him leave. I'd rather let him come out then ruin the next 4 weeks for him. He did go up the 'magic carpet' and come down the little hill today - much fun! He's learned to make a 'pizza' to stop and 'french fries' when going foward. Ky made at least two short runs down the little hill without falling. Great job boys!

And just now Ry came down and told us "there is a new commercial!" (uh oh - Ryan is a marketer's DREAM audience!) - the first part of ths is 'Stop throwing away your money!' which didn't get recorded for some reason.... (and ignore the chaotic paper shelving behind him - that's my highly inadequate craft storage area)

Did I mention that on his report card for 'recites favorite stories, songs or poems' he only got a 2 out of 5? He is not the same child in the classroom as at home.

Dr's, Snow stuff, Teeth!

Mon, 7 Jan 2008 20:19:19 -0600

Where to start?

I guess I'll ramble and see where it takes me :o)

Friday we had another visit with Ky's psychiatrist. And I was able to tag on 5 minutes at the end to discuss Ryan and his anti-school behavior. Dr doesn't see Asperger's with Ky at all - says it's off the mark. He's doing great socially. When I mention my Dad and that I think Kyle is 'asperger-y' he mentions the 'social scale'. Something I've talked with others about before. That finding all of these disorders may not be anything more (in some cases - certainly not all) than labeling different areas of strength and weakness. In fact Ky's psychologist had started off 2 years back now with 'or he may just be an engineer' :o) So bottom line - we're probably dropping the Asperger's diagnosis. ADHD? Maybe, but he's still holding off on that - he wants more data first. Overall, he thinks Kyle is SUPER smart (which we knew but hey - we're kinda biased!) and doing well. Encouraged extra reading support at home to help with that. We're all still kinda stumped about the not getting work done at school - but I may finally be getting some ideas going here.

So with Ryan he agrees that it sounds behavioural at this point. Since I have to check back in about Kyle in a few weeks anyway, we'll touch base about Ryan at that point too and see if we need to have him seen for further evaluation - but at the moment we're holding off. In the Ryan area - we've started a sticker chart at home (for a new WebKin!!) he gets a sticker for getting stars at school - and a sticker for getting on the bus without an issue. He's now gotten on the bus all by himself, with a smile even - FOUR days in a row. Hopefully, this doesn't jinx that. If you remember, most of the time we had to actually carry him on and deposit him in the seat, crying (reports are that the crying stops before they reach the next bus stop - or we wouldn't have continued that method - always helpful to have Big Brother on the same bus!). So in addition to the stickers, I'm going to be picking him up at dismissal time once a week. We'll spend a little be of time one on one, then I'll do some work from home. LOVE that I have the flexibility to do that! That starts this week - and will hopefully add to the momentum. Of course the last time I picked him up early, he was then MAD the next day when I didn't. So this has the possibility of backfiring, but now that I know of the potential we can at least warn him of what's happening in the morning before he leaves for school.

Winter lessons started this week! Kyle is taking Snowboarding lessons! For those that have been reading - you'll remember that Uncle Dougie bought him a snowboard a few years back and we finally got him a lesson at the end of last season. This year we signed up for the 6 week plan through the town's recreation department. We have a 'local' hill - about 20 minutes away. Weee!

Along with this, Ryan is trying out skiing for the first time. He's been very excited about it. Just before Christmas we went to be fitted for boots - which he thought was FABULOUS! He had a great time and did well though he's mad that they didn't teach him to turn. We told him he needs to learn to stop first!

Here are afew pics of him:

As we've mentioned, we've had a lot of snow here. A bunch of storms all together along with low temps made for lots of snow (and ice dams too!). We got Holly out to play in it along with finally building a snowman with Ry:

Mushrooms for eyes - is that original? Mr. Snowman fell over that night - to which Ryan declared "he must have been doing what Snowmen do at night!"

Finally, I managed to get a shot of holly that shows her teeth - you may have to squint:

Don't you just love her Just Bathed Look ? :o)

And after way too long, I made it back to a chiropractor last week. This morning was my first adjustment and it was SO wonderful! The knot in my neck which I knew was because I needed an adjustment is so much better now! Now I just have to keep going! My xrays tell a story allright - but I'll let that stay with them. let's just say that I saw most of what he was going to tell me right there on the films. But it's not the worst and I should respond well :o) we shall see. Some of the things he mentioned to me related to other things that I hadn't brought up - like sinuses and exhaustion. Hmmm - be interesting to see if I end up less tired and with less allergies after a bit.

What I really wanted help with was my headaches/migraines and carpal tunnel. Apparently my CTS isn't true CTS but something called Double Crush. The injury starts at the spine and causes tingling/numbness/pain in the hands and arms - similar to CTS (and in fact can coexist with CTS - which is where the Double comes from - crushing the nerve both in the wrist and at the spine). When I had originally gone to my primary about the hand pain he didn't think it was CTS - because the wrong fingers were tingly/numb. The rheumatologist is the one that declared it CTS - and he wanted to go straight to cortisone shots in my wrists for it!!! (yikes!) so hopefully, a few adjustments will show improvement there. We shall see.

Oh! One more thing (I think I've now edited this post 3 times!) - with the sneaky veggies plan... I made ketchup last week. Yes MADE ketchup - I figure if it worked it was a great plan - they eat a LOT of the red stuff. So homemade has carrot puree in it along with tomato puree, a little salt and vinegar and garlic. And allspice? And I added some suger because it wasn't as sweet tasting as the kind in the bottle which is the kind with LOTs of HIGH sugar, and some more Not quite as high Sugar! (High fructose corn syrup AND corn syrup!). The making was funny. Steve came by and asked how it tasted. OK I said, but I don't usually eat it by itself so I can't tell if it's close enough :o) he brought over the bottle and squirted some on my finger for me :o) The big test? The boys LOVE it! All by itself this is a pretty big win. Tonight I was pretty lazy and just threw some squash into some canned ravioli (I know it's just horrible for them, but at least they got some meat and some squash in them!).

My brother had given us a gift certificate to Best Buy - so Steve picked up a small food 'chopper' - which seems like a food processor to me - and it works much better than the blender! We may be putting the blender away for now - this seems to work well. And it's small enough to reside in the place the blender lives currently :o)

Now maybe I'll try peanut butter!

My BlogYear in Review

Fri, 4 Jan 2008 10:52:13 -0600

Thanks to Amy over at Amy's Garden for reminding me of this (I also saw it somewhere last year, may even have done it last year and had since forgotton...)

My Blog Year 2007 In review via first line posted of each month...

January: Weee - tomorrow is the day!

February: While picking up Kyle last night, Ryan was demonstrating his Monkey-ness by climbing the wrong side of a stairway banister.

March: So after a while of having the house smell like a mechanic's garage every time we do laundry - we bought the new washer/dryer.

April: Happy Birthday ... to my favorite mug!

May: Holly will be 4 months old on Thursday!

June: The blog was down earlier today - not sure what was going on, though I think my bill is due sometime soon.

July: Where does the time go ?

August: Holly turned 7 months old yesterday!

September: They filled the sensory table with cooked pasta at daycare...

October: Today I agreed to be the Class Mom for Ryan's class.

November: So I sent email to the Dr on Friday to describe what we had done so far in the Holly Poop Story.

December: So Social Skills started again today for Ky. Ms D told me she worked on lots of self esteem stuff with him today.

Happy Birthday Holly

Thu, 3 Jan 2008 14:19:54 -0600

Our little girl is 1 year old Today!

Here's our year of Holly.

Deceipt and lies...

Tue, 1 Jan 2008 08:53:58 -0600

It's a continual dilemma - how do I get the kids to eat more (any??) veggies?

My Mom bought me this:

Basic premise? Spend some time up front making some veggie purees - freeze them. Add them to yummy recipes... But does it work?

Today I made pancakes. I took my same old tried and true recipe (I make them from scratch - her recipe is easier and uses any store bought mix)... today I used all water instead of milk (easier on Holly) and I substituted 1/2 whole wheat flour (which I've done before with success) and then I added pureed sweet potato. The result was a very yummy breakfast... And Steve liked that I bought *real* maple syrup too!

Kyle at 5 of them - about average for breakfast for him. He's been known to go as high as 8 or 10, but occassionally will stop at 2 as well. Ryan ate 4!! Which is high end for him - he usually stops at 2. I really like them, I did get a few bites where I distinctly picked up the sweet potato flavor - but they are sweet and it was a complimentary flavor. It didn't take away from it at all!

So I'd say they were a hit.

On a side note - the boys request 'shapes' - today Ryan wanted an 'R'. Kyle? He requested 'pi'. (no geeks here!!! lol)

I have also tried grilled cheese with squash (I liked it - the boys weren't terribly sure... ), and mozzerella sticks with cauliflour - which I didn't cook right and ended up goopy and more like fried cheese mush - but they were yummy - Ry approved!

This has potential!

Our Year...

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 13:44:44 -0600

Goodbye 2007 - you've been good to us :o)

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 09:56:16 -0600

Wow - 2007 has just 2 days remaining... time for a look back?

FamilyFrisch started off 2007 bringing Holly into the world! All 6lbs 8 ounces of her - which in this family is quite small! The boys were ecstatic to have a baby sister and have spent the entire year smothering her with love. Holly has hit several milestones this year - rolling over, sitting up, crawling, walking, teeth. She is now saying "all done" and occassionally "Hi!" We had some small worries about a defect in the wall of her atria, but it turns out to be a non-issue. The cardiologist doesn't want to see her again until she's 4 - and even then, it's really just to make sure things go the way they should :o)

Ryan started kindergarten in September - and is adjusting.... maybe :o) he's his own character, and we're working with the teacher to smooth things out a bit more. He's his own happy, silly, whacky self, and keeps us laughing even when he's getting into trouble. He did a run in gymnastics and is looking forward to skiing lessons that start next week!

Kyle - oh my Ky. His heart has grown even bigger now that his sister is here. He worries about other people. Is this the same little boy that just didn't get that other people have feelings too? Now he's concerned about everyone! He's come a long way for sure. He started horse back riding this summer and has picked up on his self confidence and esteem greatly! He still needs to work on handling disappointment and frustration - but he's aware of the need and is working on it :o) He's found that he loves to sing and is really enjoying Sunday School and Church. He's becoming obsessed with Jesus and Mary. The kiosks at the mall where they sell hand carved Nativity sets? A Kyle magnet! He's got one picked out that he drools over - to the tune of around $300!!!

What have I forgotten? I started the year in a new position and am loving it. I love the team, I love the work, I love the flexibility I have to still focus on the family as a priority. We've been batting around several possibilities for building in some extra time for the boys, I'm sure you'll see whatever the outcome is - here... sometime in early '08.

So as we wind down 2007 I can say it's been a nice year.

Happy New Year!!!

Christmas 2007

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 17:59:41 -0600

We drove. A lot. We set foot in 5 states, and visited homes in 3 of them. We lunched with my Sister-in-Law's In-Laws (:-) - couldn't resist wording it that way - it sounds ... complex). We visited a mall, had lunch out, had a fabulous Christmas Eve dinner in, let the boys run crazy while Holly perfected walking, slept in comfy beds, enjoyed a morning where the baby was whisked away and we were allowed to sleep another 2 hours, enjoyed pancakes Christmas morning, drove some more, enjoyed Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles, and visited with friends. The only down sides were the driving (a lot! - did I mention we drove through 5 states? In one day?) and that Holly's cold has turned into an ear infection and some kind of chesty thing. We're glad that we're home now so that she can recuperate faster. She visited with another Dr today and is now on some good stuff. She slept 12 hours last night, and took a 4 hour nap today!

The boys made out like bandits. And we've acquired a Wii - and the first silly injury goes to..... Me. Yes, I should know better. My micro focus abilities - means I forget that I am surrounded by stuff and I whacked the toy box - hard. Thankfully, no broken bones. But we're enjoying the Wii immensely :o)

Holly has lots of new stuff to try out (and now I have to see what old stuff we can just ditch! Or donate - just get it out! No more room!)

Home!!!

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 07:56:13 -0600

We arrived home before dinner yesterday. I have lots of pictures. We had a very nice Christmas (just wish it didn't entail so much driving!!! Can we squish up some of these states so they are closer together?)

More later!

Merry Christmas!

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 19:36:04 -0600

I hope everyone has a nice, peaceful Holiday with those you love. If you can't physically be with them, hold them in your heart - and pick up the phone ;o)

We exchanged gifts from/to each other this week... lots of fun (and less to cart around over the next 6 days!)

A cool new thing for Holly from Uncle Mark...

Holly trying to figure out this new use of paper

The long awaited pic of Jen's hair:

The boys each got a camera of their very own:

Roboreptile

Some more Holly (hey this IS her first Christmas after all...)

And some of the recent snow:

Thanks to Mother Nature we've now experienced the phenomenon of "Ice Dams" - the snow on the roof at the top gets warm and melts, but reaches the bottom at the eaves where it's colder and freezes - creating a big ole dam at the bottom that the melted snow can't get past. So it seeps through the roof. This morning we had water dripping through our bay window. So we made some calls and some guys came out to shovel and pound the ice off - it was 2 layers, the first being 5 inches thick. Eck! But now we feel fairly secure in leaving...

Merry Christmas!

Now THIS is super!

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 14:16:17 -0600

Just wanted to mention that Ky got 100% on his last spelling test!!!

(and he hasn't brought his homework home yet this week - so who knows what will happen on friday!!! )

Teefs

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 14:15:05 -0600

The boys had their bi-annual visits yesterday... Ryan's was GREAT. He was talking up a storm, loved the flavors, and she even let him do some of the polishing on his own ;o) sounds like we'll have to see about mechanical toothbrushes for them again :o)

Ky's visit itself was great. Though he got worried about Ryan - "what are they doing to my brother?" so she brought him down to see LOL. Such a big heart! He's got another cavity (ugh) but she picked up on his increased anxiety. She gets major points for noticing! His 6 year molars are coming in and they have some 'sticky grooves' that she wants to seal. So we made an appointment for that. If he's doing well, she'll go for the cavity - but if he's not... she'll pass. Then we'd visit a pediatric dentist where they can use gas. But the worst part is that his upper 6 years are coming in at an angle and basically growing right into his baby teeth. Both of the uppers do this. So she's going to see if the orthodontist we already visit wants to handle that, or if we need to go to the pediatric dentist for that anyway. It doesn't sound like anything easy - they can't just pull the baby teeth because they are placeholders for the new teeth that will eventually occupy that spot. So I'm not sure how they pull back, or redirect growth in this case. But there will certainly be more visits in our near future.

It also nudges me again to make the Psych appointment that is overdue. I want to discuss the anxiety that we're seeing. It's not an all-pervasive issue, but it comes up periodically and I wonder what tactics might be more effective... Anybody deal with what I'll call 'situational anxiety' ? Like when he had to have a throat culture and he was too scared/nervous/anxious and just cried ?

Milestones!

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 13:47:17 -0600

Holly is WALKING. Not just a step or two - but across the room. It looks just like the small steps I posted before, just going further :o) (in other words, I haven't captured it on film yet...). AND AND AND AND - she has a tooth! Actually, I think the 2nd one is right behind it. Not sure which came first, although I guess it could be premature to call the tooth a tooth - though looks to me like it's broken the gum line so that's a tooth to me!

No wonder she's crabby! She's met 2 milestones at the same time!

Today we are in Winter Wonderland. We got another 8 - 10 inches last night and today on top of the 11 or so we got on Thursday. It's deeper than the dogs now - we actually had to shovel a path for them. Dragged the boys outside where they had a blast, inspite of all the whining that they didn't want to go!!! NOT snowman snow though. Maybe now that it's raining we'll be left with some good packing snow.

I made a cake - didn't have a box either, so I made it from scratch... which wasn't a big deal once I located a recipe. Steve's BDAY is tomorrow - woohoo! Since some of us are actually working tomorrow - I had to make it today. But we have it, and there will be singing.

I'm finishing up my cards and getting them into envelopes - they should hit the post office tomorrow! If you don't get one, don't feel bad. My list seems too short for some reason, but there's too much going on to really figure out who is missing. But it does mean I don't have your address in my file - so you should send it to me ;o)

Got my hair cut yesterday. Even let her spend time drying and 'ironing' it. That wouldn't be curling because it was a press or a straight iron. The result was a very sleek look - that I'm sure I will never duplicate. Which was why I let her spend the time on it. And now I think I might even shower - wonder what my hair will look like after the 2 minutes I usually spend on it?

It's a what?

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 08:53:35 -0600

While in Kmart yesterday shopping for a Birthday gift for Daddy (he got his big gift over the summer - this was something from the boys) - Ky and I were waiting for Ryan to finish up in the bathroom. The restrooms are in the electronics department. I noticed a cdplayer/radio/turntable. Yes - turntable. I opened it to be sure it was true. And it was! Kyle asked me what it was and I told him "turntable". But he wanted to see. He asked if I could bring the cart over for him to stand on (ummm NO). So I told him that it wasn't worth it for him to look because he would have no idea what it was having never seen an actual RECORD before. The woman walking by at that moment just burst out laughing and declared "how true!"..

But it was a real turntable! I have some albums around here somewhere...

One Small Step

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 22:27:00 -0600

So walking? Or teeth? which will it be?
During dinner Holly opened wide and there is DEFINITELY a tooth just about to break free!!!! Finally! I swear this girl has been teething since I birthed her!
Tonight she took her first real steps.

So which will it be? Walking or teeth. Maybe she will celebrate her first steps with a new tooth? Or vice versa...

NT? Or not so NT?

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 14:18:38 -0600

Is that the question?

So we've been running under the assumption that Ryan is NeuroTypical. For those not immersed in Autism Spectrum Disorder Land - NeoroTypical are those children that you might be tempted to call 'normal' - except that this then implies that our wonderfully quirkie kids are NOT normal. And while sometimes I feel like that's splitting hairs... I would argue with you if you tried to tell me that Kyle is anything but Normal. Of course I could probably have the same thing with the use of 'typical' but then my brain starts to hurt. Be that as it may... NT for short- kids that develop as expected. They make friends, they do well socially, hit all the developmental milestones, don't feel the need to retreat to a dark corner when they are overstimulated... NT.

To get back to Ryan. When we met with his teacher there was one thing she said that rang like a bell. I let it be, but talked to Steve a little afterward about it. She said 'I really just want him to come out of his own little world and start to play with some of the other children'. Own little world. Ryan is in his own little world. Well yes, yes he is. And I guess it's kind of been that way all along. He doesn't have trouble *making* friends though. Lately, he's been doing things that hint at sensory stuff. His clothing preferences. I've mentioned the sweatpants thing, but now it's specific to sweatshirts too. Specifically, Hooded sweatshirts with a pouch pocket in front. And they can't be tight, they have to be a little loose. AND he has to sleep in them too. And he's got the single point of focus (OK 2 really - trains and pokemon - but ALWAYS trains.) He just doesn't have as strong a difficulty socially as Ky. And he never hit the aggression piece that Ky did. Am I surprised by all of this? No, not so much. Is he on the spectrum too? I figure there's a good chance here, though if there were a scale for these kinds of things and Kyle was what we called touched by the Asperger's Wand.... then Ry would be just barely touched by some Asperger's Dust that fell off the wand when it passed overhead ;o)

My first thought though was - let's bring him to Ms Donna :o) Ms Donna is the wonderful, fabulous, lovable woman that runs Ky's social skills group. She also has a pre-k/kindergarten group on Thursday afternoons. I ran it by her quickly and she picked up on the same sentence I did. And I said "so I thought, why not skip all this Dr stuff, and just come straight to you ;-) " She laughed.

And that's the piece I ran by Steve. The teacher and asst principle also asked if I could possibly carve out an afternoon to pick him up from school at dismissal time and spend some time just one on one with him. That he's definitely looking for attention. I haven't figured out the logistics of that yet. And I don't think we can swing both that piece AND The social skills group... but maybe I can tie them together - by picking him up a little early for the group, we can spend a bit together at Dunkin Donuts (not McDonald's where there is a play place) maybe reading, or coloring, or whatever. The DD near Donna's center is nice and quiet with the occassional Police officer or two having coffee :o)

So my brain is in overdrive this week while I try to figure out the logistics of whatever. I do think I'd like to have him try at least one afternoon with Donna - I'd love her impressions of him in her environment. NT or not, he's RyGuy and he's fabulous :o) He's a riot. He's a delight. :o) He's oh so ours hee hee.

Not quite super

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 12:23:51 -0600

Yesterday Ky brought home this:

Which is not his usual work. Every Monday he brings home his homework for the week. A Reading log, a spelling list, and his worksheets. He is to practice the spelling words (6 + 2 'challenge' words which from what I can tell are just as important as the other 6, just more difficult... ) and he has a test on Friday. The first one or two he got 7 out of 8 :o) Yay! The last few he's gotten 8/8 AND his new teacher is throwing bonus words on there that he's gotten right the last two weeks too.

So what happened this week? This was the week of the sick, remember? Ky missed Monday because of strep. So the words didn't come home until Tuesday. When Ry and Daddy were sick. Mommy was tired from cleaning up after all the sick. And Holly was still pooping her little brains out ;o) Kyle was sick again on Wednesday (or thursday? it was one of them) and he wasn't up to working on much. It was a struggle to get him to work at all last week and he fought me on the spelling. So we touched them here and there but not nearly like we have in prior weeks.

So why do I take this little note so personally? Why do I take anything like this personally? Maybe because it's there IN RED which means something is WRONG and we need to take ACTION. It's red, so it's not acceptible. Of course for all I know she just wanted a gentle reminder and happened to still have the red pen in her hand. But there it is, jumping out at me, and it makes me want to write all of the above out in a note so that she can see I am NOT a slacker Mom (at least I try not to be) and we had good ~~excuses~~ reasons for him not being where he usually is.

The big red note did give me a visual though :o) - see Kyle? this is why we need to work on your words *every* night... because when you don't work on them, you don't do well...

And even more to say...

Sun, 9 Dec 2007 20:31:32 -0600

can't shut me up today can you ? But this is really just for pics.
We went to Breakfast with Santa yesterday. Kyle warmed right up to him - got a picture of him chatting away about how he wants a WII and which games he'd like with it while holding Santa's hand. Too bad it's totally out of focus :(

Ryan wouldn't tell us what he was going to tell Santa. Turns out he just wants 'new track for my metal trains' - which I'm certain Santa can accommodate :o)

Holly - the girl that will go to ANYONE - wanted nothing to do with Santa:

I really love this picture though - I totally love the totally RYAN look on Ry's face - and I love that the only one that really, trully, wanted to sit on Santa's lap is almost as big as Santa himself ;o)

The polaroid they snapped was a little better - and I got a better second shot:

Also snapped a cute one of her and her dress :

Done!

Sun, 9 Dec 2007 16:01:09 -0600

Holly and I stopped in TJ Max today on the way home from the Dr and I finished my Christmas shopping! :o) My Dad was really holding me up - but I found something for him and something for Bro. There's a tiny bit of stuff we have to do - but we're waiting for some necessary material to arrive. Then Ky and I can assemble :o)

I do actually have to make a run out to our local winery - but I don't really consider that shopping ;o)

And I have 30 cards made! Only about 30 to go... should be done by the end of the week. I'll pick up some stamps and out they'll go! I was feeling antsy with not even being happy with my design and suddenly receiving cards from other people! Now it's under control. Phew!

At least there's that...

Sun, 9 Dec 2007 15:04:06 -0600

Holly got to see Dr C today. At this rate we're down to just 2 or 3 in the practice that we haven't seen while Dr. T is out :o) At least we'll be familiar with all of them!

The quick culture was negative. Yes, her throat is a little red, but nothing alarming. Probably viral. Tylenol, fluids, wait it out. *sigh* maybe someone would like to come have baby duty for a night ;o) I know I know - we signed up for this.

I did get a nice complement though. had to start with recent history:
"She had a stomach thing that started last Saturday"
D: Stomach thing? Like was she vomiting? Diahrea?
Me: Oh she was vomiting Saturday night, then Sunday through around yesterday it was the runs.
D: like 10 times a day? or just runny once or twice?
Me: - oh like every change. It was really nasty *smile* but she never showed any signs of distress, and she looks great, so we just waited it out.
D: I LOVE experienced Moms *smile* I think we should hire you all!

LOL. At least it's good for something :o) I did admit that the experience falls off the plate once she starts interfering with my sleep!

Ryan... already?

Sun, 9 Dec 2007 08:53:31 -0600

Friday was another half day at school. When I picked up Ry he was working quietly at a table... WRITING! He had a picture he had obviously spent time stamping (one of those pics only a parent - or teacher - could love! LOL) - and he was writing his name on it. "I'm making this for Ms Kelly" he told me. (and his teacher reported to Ms K when they dropped off that he had a FABULOUS day!!!)

Ms K reported that he had been sitting there working for about 30 minutes with her. Starting with asking her what her favorite animal is. She told him Puppy. "P" he said, and grabbed the P stamp. "P for Puppy", turns stamp over - "and then when he grows up - d for dog!". Yeah, there's a super duper brain in there alright - we just need to tap it!

Holly seems to have finally recovered from the stomach thing. But her sleep hasn't recovered. And she sounds horse. So next on my list is a call to the Dr's - gotta love Sunday hours! With strep running all over around here, both daycare and home included, I'd rather talk to them first. I don't know if they'll just culture a baby as a walk in like with kids and adults. Guess I'll find out :o)

The First Christmas Card of 2007

Thu, 6 Dec 2007 21:06:54 -0600

... received by us was from our next door neighbors - Thanks!!
And we got Auntie Deanna's today :o)

I have yet to complete assembling mine, though I have the concept down and a POC complete. The letter is written. I should start printing them... *yawn* maybe tomorrow.

Had Parent-Teacher conferences tonight. Things seem better with Ky and the new teacher. Turns out the no working thing was while she was out of the classroom and there was a regular sub in (a sub for a sub?? interesting concept) - and no one got any work done. All the other kids got caught up, but Ky didn't. Apparently, he had had a meltdown in gym playing Dr Dodgeball too. So it was probably just a set of events he couldn't recover from. We chatted - I'm pretty happy there. Liked her a LOT. (too bad she leaves in February when Mrs C comes back - Mrs C is OK, I just don't have that 'click' with her...).

Ryan's conference was more of a brainstorming session. How do we get past his block. Today Mrs. M sat with him and made a deal. First she asked him what he would really like to do in the classroom. He said play with the trains all by himself. So she said - If he wrote one short sentence and drew a picture he could have some train time on his own. He drew a green train - much more detail than anything he usually draws, and wrote a short sentence. Mrs M actually drew dots for him to trace over for all except the word 'trains' which he copied from a card. All in all a successful endeavor. However, she has 17 other kids - so this won't happen continuously... we came away with a few strategies. We all agree he's looking for attention. Feeling it as the middle child? No longer the baby? Maybe just feeling that we are split further? Who knows... but I'm going to try to work it out that I get to pick him up from school at dismissal time and spend an hour or two of 1:1 time with him once a week. Besides that, Mrs M is going to make a card with the 3 areas of concern (meeting time, table work, Specials) and will award stars for success. Success here being measured by - was he attentive? Cooperative? And She'll have the Specials teachers (gym, music, et cetera) shorten his work. For instance, they'll draw up a contract with him - if he participates and listens in gym for 20 minutes of the 45 minute class, he can then go sit in the office with Mrs B and read a book. I suggested using pictures in a reebus style chart - she liked that. I will add some stuff to our chart at home for night time to include checking for stars on his card. Stars will tie directly to DS/TV time. No stars? No DS/TV that night. I think we need to see how the card/stars actually ends up before we can assign minutes to it. I also warned her that he may start showing up for school in the same shirt repeatedly - he's developed a strong preference for 1 or 2 sweatshirts. If letting him wear them over and over again helps him in school, I can do that.

Both Mrs M and Mrs B (assist. principle) are very impressed with how he manages to pick stuff up even when you think he's not participating. Like for their assessment for special reading help, he refused to comply. But he's able to sound out 3 letter words - so Mrs M is confident on where he'd land. But on paper it isn't showing because of his non-participation.

So - we're also going to have the school counselor spend some time with him - it's a small amount and probably with a group of other kids. I'm also supposed to be setting up an appointment for him with Ky's psychiatrist - might as well get him all the help he needs. The all adore Ry by the way and think he's incredibly bright.

Catching up

Wed, 5 Dec 2007 20:13:48 -0600

I've been stock piling pictures...
Where to start - as part of Tiger Scouts 'we' participated in two parades recently.
Here we are in the Veteran's Day Parade:

Holly has really taken to drinking out of a cup - she prefers water, but also will take her formula and occasionally some V8.

And here she is bundled up for our Fall days that finally arrived (before we dove head first into winter!)

My Christmas present - I've been enjoying it way too much! (And S didn't order any decaf with it!)

Recently, Holly tried to kiss Sarek while he was guarding the food on the table :-( we're much more cautious with the two of them now.

Because of the picture fiasco at school - I snapped a few of Ky myself one morning... here's a cute one:

And the other parade 'we' were in - in this one the 'we' is our Tiger Den. Ky was just tested positive for strep, so he wasn't able to go :-( I showed up though - I figured I'm the Den Leader, I should be there.

Here's Santa arriving by helicopter and landing in the parking lot :

Here's the view ahead of us en route:

...And behind

That's it for today (I did finally get Ky's smile card btw - it IS cute and I will order pics... still annoyed that I have to do it separately AND kick in an extra $5 for the direct shipping to boot - but it's not the end of the world).

And just because we thought we were over it...

Tue, 4 Dec 2007 20:18:31 -0600

I sat down on a stool instead of the floor (which is still drying from Ryan's - ummm - output last night) to read to the boys for bedtime. Something Daddy usually does, but they requested me. I sit down, Ky asks to see the cover and 'splat', 'splat', 'splat' - Kyle is vomiting from the top bunk to the floor. Lovely. At least he missed me - mostly. Apparently the bottom of my pants weren't off scott free, but it didn't come raining down on my head - and for that I'm thankful.

I've got him camped out on the couch - I don't want him trying to come down the ladder 30 times tonight. He's got his 'bucket'. We should be good. Poor guy - I so thought he would miss this one since he's got strep again. No word from the Dr office on Ryan - which means the short test was negative. They do a full two day test too - to be sure. So we may still get a call on Thursday.

Excuse me now- I have to go flip coins with Steve for who is staying home with the diaper girl and the pukey boy tomorrow.

There was no joy in PukeVille...

Tue, 4 Dec 2007 13:00:44 -0600

Ryan's got the stomach thing. Steve's got the stomach thing. Hopefully, most of the yuck is out now. Ewwww. What a night! Kyle made it into school though.

Waiting on a call to see if Ry has strep - figured it was good to rule it out. Also chatted with the Dr covering for ours this week (she's not back from baby leave until January) re: Ryan's acting out/regression at school. Apparently there are some people that 'carry' strep - meaning they get it and carry it around without symptoms. Kinda like his stuffy nose and tiredness a few weeks back? He said wait for this result and don't let them put him on amox again if it is positive. But in addition to that, it'd be worth it to start down the road of a counselor of some sort. So I'll call and make appointments for both boys to see Dr. B - Ky's overdue for his visit anyway.

Feeling accomplished.

Mon, 3 Dec 2007 13:20:41 -0600

Saturday, one of the tasks Steve acheived was to pick up more wood for the playroom->bedroom project. So yesterday I pulled apart everything we had done already (I know! But it was worth it) and rebuild the whole front wall of the closet.

I balanced the door in it just to give a better idea of what we'll get....

Streppity Strep, Strep, Strep

Sun, 2 Dec 2007 15:59:14 -0600

Kyle got up today and sat down for cereal. Ate about 3 bites then came to me and told me his nose was running, he has a headache and his throat hurts. Ugh. He went back to bed. After about an hour and a half he got up - head feels better, still stuffy and throat still hurts. An hour after that the headache is back. *sigh* we went to get another culture. It was positive again. This poor kid - it happened this was last year too. And yes, I threw out his toothbrush last time. He's been off the kephlax (?) a little over a week... so now he's on Zithromax (or azithromycin I believe). At least he's totally awesome about taking meds ;o)

So Ky and Holly will be home tomorrow. Which should make getting Ryan on the bus very interesting - I may skip the impossible and just drop him off instead.

A Baby Tummy update

Sun, 2 Dec 2007 10:09:12 -0600

Holly is feeling much better this morning. She slept until 3:30am at which point she drank 4 ounces and went back to sleep. She threw up about 45 minutes later - but it wasn't a 'full void' or multiple heaves. It was a quiet thing, and she didn't even wake up. I pulled out the blanket that got hit a minor bit and let her sleep. There wasn't enough to wake her up for. She woke again at 6:30. She's had 4 more 4 ounce bottles and is now napping quietly. Yay! At lunch time she can have something light - but I think the tummy is OK now. It's moved lower in the digestive tract - if you get what I mean ;o)

Today Ky woke up with a headache, stuffiness, minor sore throat and a tummy ache. He went back to bed for an hour or so and now says he's just stuffy with a tiny sore throat. Hoping it's not 'Return of the Strep" ... but I let him skip Sunday School and church. We'll see how he feels at lunch - if he wants to go with me for the Christmas parade - the Cub Scouts have a 'float' (aka flat bed truck with hay bales on it).

I pulled apart the framing that we had done in the playroom->bedroom project and started putting it together better this morning. I'll try to get Steve to cut some more for me later (I have an aversion to the saw for some reason and Holly is napping right above the room - so it's not a good time for me to learn it... ) then I'll see if I can get the wall done today. I'd really, really like to get the door in sometime soon, and start wallboarding... the lack of progress is killing me.

:o)

Self Esteem, School Work, Tummy Troubles, Beef Turkey?

Sat, 1 Dec 2007 18:58:14 -0600

So Social Skills started again today for Ky. Ms D told me she worked on lots of self esteem stuff with him today. The group is 6 boys and they have some structure but pretty much spend 90 minutes playing. Ms D is there to guide, encourage, help transition, and help with any social issues. It's a learning environment - they just don't know it ;o) The boys are all boys with social difficulties - asperger's, adhd, things like that.

So yeah - he's been much more 'I can't' the last few weeks. Coincidentally, he's also missed the last 3 riding lessons. It strengthens my belief that the riding is helping significantly. Today's was cancelled due to "too darned cold!" - she offered to do it tomorrow - but with church, a puking baby, and the Christmas parade tomorrow - it just won't fit.

Ms D was appalled that his schoolwork was sent home. (I know there are teachers out there - I'm strictly relaying her gut reaction). So then I thought more - considering the new teacher wasn't given the support on her first day to make sure anyone in her class made it for makeup pictures - it won't surprise me if she doesn't yet know about Kyle having a 504 plan. Or that he has AS. Conveniently, we have a whole 15 minutes with her on Thursday for his 1st term report card pickup/parent conference. I'm thinking we may schedule more - but this is a nice place to start. Hopefully, I'll be kind. It's not her fault if they didn't share.

The one thing Ms D did say though about the work that came home - she would have had him spend 20 minutes on it, then send the rest back. "this is what we got done in 20 minutes". Except that he had his other work to complete too - so the 20 minutes probably would have been used there. So I'm thinking that something along the lines of "we weren't able to get to this because he had 20 minutes of other work remaining. Feel free to send it home tomorrow and we'll get more done then." (it's his class workbook so it had to go back).

I'm pretty sure that we can find something that works for all of us here.

So what else is going on around here - Holly and I joined a few others from our PChef cluster at our Director's home for breakfast this morning (this was much prior to the puking). I got pats on the back for my personal record breaking month- in November my *hobby* returned enough $$ for me to have covered Steve's car payment. Yay me!

After breakfast we came home for a little bit, then headed out again into the windy coldness and retrieved Kyle who Steve and Ry had dropped off. It wasn't until we were all home again that Holly decided her stomach contents needed OUT IMMEDIATELY. The first time I managed to skillfully capture it all in the dress she had on (Nice save!). The 2nd time unfortunately it was all over (blech) me. Obviously a stomach bug of some sort - she's gone twice more now (once more on me - last time into a dish). Poor thing has nothing left :-( she's happy as a clam when she's not vomitting though. Just a little extra snuggly. And I thought the last three nights of 9 hours + sleepage was because she was finally getting back on track. *sigh*.

Oh - Ryan came home and declared that he really REALLY loves 'beef turkey'. Apparently, Steve got him some beef jerky while they were purchasing lumber for the playroom->bedroom project.

Homework blues.

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 21:05:05 -0600

This week Kyle brought home his usual 2 books to read every night. And his spelling words to work on. And 2 math sheets (both sides). Besides this he has his 'extra' reading homework (he's in a phonics support group) - that was another 4 or 5 sheets due today. Today, with only 1 math sheet (front/back) left to do of all that (plus the nightly reading and spelling words practice) he brought home his reading workbook with a note that he didn't complete his school work in class and needed to do it at home. There were 5 more sheets there to do.

It's reading - so it's hard. I'm not surprised he didn't do it at school. He says the other kids were distracting him, and yeah I believe that. With reading, DUST can distract him. He HATES reading. He has a mental block and immediately starts with 'I can't'. He cries. A lot. We spent from 6:15 (when I got home with Holly, Ryan and groceries) to 7:45 on homework. With about 20 minutes on dinner. It sucked. It sucked for him (the point I believe) but it sucked for me, and for Ryan - Holly didn't really seem to care :o) I think Steve was hiding with Holly because he knew my temper was up because of pictures already :o)

I sent a note back in that said obviously if he doesn't do the work in the time allotted he should complete it on his own time. And that I hope the amount of pain experienced tonight drove that point home for him because it took all of 'our' time to do it.

Am I wrong for wanting to point that out? I feel so split about it. And it wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't been doing SO WELL on his homework all week and only had that one sheet left. It changed from something small and manageable, to something monstrous. It may have undermined what I've been working for all week. Just a little routine. But now homework is painful and tedious. Not something you do for 20 minutes while Mom gets dinner together.

-- pictures --
So school picture day - back in October. I stuck the envelope with my choices and my check in each of the boys' backpacks and sent them in to school. Kyle's came back home. Argh. No, he didn't know it was there so he only had his basic picture taken for the class picture. I get the phone number for the studio and they say that I can order what they took - which wasn't with the background or pose I wanted - but he'll get a smile saver card so I can wait, look at that then decide. Monday was makeup picture day (picture saver's didn't come home until today - and Ky didn't bring one home!). I send the envelope in again. Kyle reports that he put the envelope in his desk, then forgot about it. No picture. But now the check is missing... And we didn't get the smile saver today, though Ryan brought his home. So now, I have no idea what his first picture is like - AND if I order I have to pay an additional $5 for shipping for something I might HATE! AND he's apparently missed out on makeup day. There's a note in his backback - hopefully, just nice and explanatory. But I am SO frustrated here. I realise he needs to take responsibility - this is a theme. But for something like Pictures couldn't they have double checked? To make it worse, Ky's teacher is now out on maternity leave, so I have to establish a new relationship all over again. For 3 months.

I really do love their school. I'm just not in love with Ky's particular class at the moment!

I'm whiney - I know. But what's a blog for if I can't use it to whine?

Home. Nice.

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 12:35:31 -0600

A nice, quiet day here at FamilyFrisch. In face, Steve and I are still in our jammies!!! We had a nice trip down to NY, where we visited with M&M and their little boy. Such a cutie! They are expecting a girl in February too :o) The boys ran around like the crazies that they are, and we probably left with them teaching Garrett a thing or too (sorry Ms!). It was nice to relax and visit.

We had a nice, quiet Turkey day with Mom and Dad, and Doug made it up too. Though he's fighting a cold, so he didnt' really play with anyone :-(

Made it home early evening yesterday. Steve retrieved some 'walking' toys from the shed and we cleaned them up for Holly. She's loving it! And today I cleaned some more of the dining room and moved the table. We're on a hunt for our superduper gate so that we can gate off the kitchen. Then she'll have some reasonable play space. NO idea on where we're putting the tree this year. We may just throw it up in the middle of the living room for a week and then take it down (!!!) not what I'd like, but there really isn't any space at the moment with the project going on downstairs. Next year we get space back again.

At a little more than the 1/2 way point on the way home I took one of the pills the Dr gave me for the anxiety when Steve drives (lol) - and he drove the rest of the way. I read. I can't say I really felt any different, but maybe it made a difference. I'm too much of a wimp to try when it would really matter - raining at night - I'm afraid that having taking the drug I would be committed and if it didn't work I'd have to live with the fear/panic the rest of the drive since I can't drive after taking it!!! Though, I have to say that now having taken it, I don't think I'd be impaired - I really didn't notice any effect at all. Guess we need to run further trials...

We got Holly's school pics back - I'm not thrilled. I like the ones I snapped of her in the morning before she went in much better. Usually, I'm much happier with their work. I'm not thinking I'll be shelling anything out for these. We'll see.

Enjoy the rest of the long weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 10:16:38 -0600

Can the four of you handle one more post from me today? Too bad! :o)

Just wanted to wish everyone out there a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving. Here at FamilyFrisch we have things to be thankful for too numerous to count! We can start with what I told Kyle on Sunday - we had put together a Thanksgiving 'basket' with the Tiger Den and we were delivering it to the local food pantry. Kyle wanted to know more, so I told him that it was for families that didn't have enough food. Why? Well, some families aren't bringing home enough money to buy enough food. We are fortunate enough to not only make enough money for ourselves, but we can share with others as well. Oh! he says. And his face lit up. I reminded him (and myself) that we should be very thankful that we have never had to worry about how much food we had.

Saw another Mom I know on my way in who was there with Brownies (doing the same thing) and the Troop was getting a tour of the pantry. She said she'd stay out there because she had seen it before. Oh, I haven't. And then I said "which I should be thankful for - that I haven't needed to come here for myself in the last 4 years." The woman that organizes the food pantry and all of the Holiday meals is just a wonderful, fabulous woman. I hope every town has a Mary B.

Besides being thankful for all we have. I am thankful for our health. That even when we do fall ill, it is relatively painless and easy to remedy or wait out. We are thankful for our family and friends. For our home and our ability to make improvements to it. We're thankful that even with the skyrocketing gas prices we are able to drive down to Mom's this weekend, and then to PA in December, so that we can be with family at the holidays.

I am thankful for penicillin! And for alternatives to penicillin since Ky is allergic to the P stuff! :O) And I am thankful for the good drug makers that make the pink stuff so tasty - so that even Ryan will take it without much fuss. I'm thankful, that there is a wonderful set of people who lovingly take charge of my daughter every day while I work. No, I don't *have* to work. We could manage if we tightened the belt and reigned in our ridiculous spending habits. But I *need* to work. Which I've talked about before. And because I work, I'm a better Mom. So I'm so very thankful that I don't have to worry about Holly while she is with other folks - who incidently have become so ingrained in our lives they are like family now! Probably why we are so trusting and comfortable with them.

I am thankful for the pretty white snow we got yesterday, and even more thankful that it came yesterday and not today when we are getting ready for our long drive!

And many, many, many other blessings that surround us in our daily lives. I hope all of you can see the things that you are thankful for today. Some of us may get stuck and remain focused on the things that we don't have, or our struggles. This weekend is a good point to pause and reflect on what we DO have. :o)

Happy Thanksgiving!

The daily list...

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 09:15:07 -0600

So the boys have been using the daily list on the wall for the morning and evening stuffs. Kyle uses it, but needs lots of reminders. Funny enough Ryan has taken to it like a duck to water! He eats breakfast then goes to check the list. He's really liking the ownership part. He needs help with some things, and yesterday I added a coat, hat and mittens picture next to shoes - so they weren't sure what that meant - "we don't put those on NOW!" - no, just get them ready to go. Then Ry declared he didn't want to wear them at all, so I told him just putting them in his backpack is OK. As long as he has them with him.

So it's definitely a step in the right direction. Of course getting all the laundry done and actually put away yesterday helped too. Something about actually FINDING socks and pants makes things a little easier!

Random Ryan-ism #328

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 08:31:06 -0600

While at dinner at BugabooCreek on Saturday with Uncle Paul Ry needed to use the bathroom. Steve took him in, Ry took care of what needed to be done. He was washing his hands and announced "I only wash my hands when someone is watching". The other guy in the restroom left laughing ;o)

Ahhh - only the young can be so brutally honest and get laughter :o)

-----
It's been fairly quiet here. The kids are all still on the pink stuff - a few days left. So far, so good. We're getting ready to head to Mom's for Turkey day. While there we'll manage a visit with an old friend or two. Yay!

Holly has mastered climbing - she can climb the stairs when we let her, and can now climb on and off the ~~brick front area of the fireplace (which has a real name, but it's escaping me at the moment)~~ hearth (thanks Liz!). Still no teeth! We think at this rate she'll walk before a tooth pops through! Though I do feel *something* today - nothing is through enough to see. Hmmmmmm.....

Mommy DisOrganized

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 11:02:47 -0600

So Ky was home yesterday, and I took advantage of the one on one time to talk to him about how to get him to take ownership of things. We settled on having a place to do his work (dining room table) and that he would do his work when we get home each night. (Some nights this won't work - like Friday when we have the Cub Scout Pack meeting... but the plan will be there at least). This morning I put up a list of things they need to do in the morning. It seemed to help them - though I had to remind them that the list was there. And Ryan was home today (it's a StrepHouse - run away!!!) so it wasn't quite the full routine, but it was close. And once they are used to having the list, things may go better. And maybe while they are working on remember what comes next, I can work on trying to keep the tables a little less clutterred. (Notice that I say LESS cluttered - not clutter free... I don't set impossible goals for the kids, so I try not to do that to myself either).

Our refridgerator is very pretty now with 3 separate bottles of pink stuff. Amoxicillan for Holly and Ryan and Cepha-something (keflex?) for Ky since he's allergic to the Amox (and assumed to be to penecillan and augmentin as well). Poor Ry has been walking around with strep for who knows how long - but he never once complained about his throat. Mostly, just congested and tired. A week ago he had a fever for a day. That's it. The school nurse happened to see his throat yesterday when he took a big breath to blow his nose - and armed with the info that Ky had it, she took a closer look. Even now he says it doesn't bother him. Ky at least was easy - sore throat + headache = strep. Oh and upset stomache too - let's just say I was happy my gym clothes happened to be on the floor in my car under Ky's feet (see Steve? clutter CAN be a good thing!).

And hey - it's almost Friday! :-)

The Weight of Responsibility

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:49:59 -0600

Kyle is feeling it. Or maybe he's not - maybe that's the problem.

So here's the deal - Ky is in 1st grade. He is expected to remember to bring his homework home for his regular class and for his reading class on Monday. And a 'plastic bag book'. He needs to remember to do the homework. And then he needs to remember to bring the homework back to school along with the book on Friday. The reading homework is due on Thursday.

He's not bringing his homework home. In fact, I don't think he brought his last library book back to the library. He also doesn't want to buy lunch most of the time unless he can get pb&j - so I send him a pb&j sandwich. Once or twice a week he forgets the lunch he brought and ends up in the lunch room where he buys a lunch (pb&j!!!).

The lack of responsibility shows through in other areas. I can't just lay out clothes for him to get into in the morning. I know there are children out there that don't even need that much prompting. They select their OWN clothing, and get dressed.

His teacher tells me - me dropping off his book today is OK, but that he needs to remember to do it on his own (but I should remind him). So I'm confused. Is it his responsibility or is it mine? (it's been a long week - wait it's Monday! ack!). He's going to get a low grade for homework. Well, yeah - if he doesn't do it, how can he get a good grade? When he does bring it home, he doesn't tell me.

So I need for some things to happen. I figure I should start with the beginning of the day.

He needs to get dressed/fed/teeth brushed on his own in the morning.
He needs to locate and put on his shoes. And make sure he has a jacket/hat/mittens.
He needs to get his backpack ready and make sure he has what he needs (probably the night before).
He needs to bring his homework home.
He needs to remember to bring his lunch TO lunch.
He needs to complete his homework.
He needs to complete a daily reading log.
He needs to remember to bring back his book for the week.
He needs to remember to bring back his library book every two weeks.
He needs to be AWARE OF WHAT DAY IT IS!!!!! (this may be a large problem)

And he needs to suck it up and take all of this on while his brother does not. How is that fair? And yet real. Though I'm guessing that if we get Ky to pick up a little, Ryan will follow suit fairly quickly.

Obviously, schedules and organization would go a long way here. So how do you get his Mom - who is not a schedule or organized kinda gal - to help get this to work! Teacher said checklist for homework - I'm thinking checklist for LIFE tasks in general. But how to I get it to work??

Any thoughts out there?

Is it too much for him? Honestly, my first thought was that I couldn't believe that they were expecting this much from him. But maybe it is realistic after all. Just because *I* couldn't keep up with that list on my own.... well - you see why I have a problem with it then, don't you? Hee hee.

----- Edited to add extra info ----
Amy and Liz both have good suggestions. And good questions. So -
Kyle is a multi-sensory learner. The more senses we can incorporate the better, but largely kinesthetic. So maybe a daily reebus type chart that we talk over the night before with him laying out his clothes (to touch them!) would help with the morning routine.

The place for homework is rough. I would love to say there is a dedicated place, but the reality is that the table is usually covered in 'stuff' (I'm horizontal surface challenged).

The time of day for homework is fairly easy - we have a choice - before or after dinner. If I can get into the routine of having the two sit and do work while I get dinner together it'd be great.

Telling Ky to pick his own clothes doesn't go very well. It goes like this "Ky - go pick out pants." (I can't tell him to get it all because he'll get overwhelmed and forget them all. I can usually get him to do 2, sometimes even three. But - so he eventually hears and comprehends that I'm telling him to get dressed and he goes into his room. 10 minutes later I realize he didn't come back (in between getting Holly ready and lunches and maybe even eating my own breakfast :o) and I go to check on him to find him playing in his room with clothes completely forgotten :o)

And the biggest problem is getting him to bring his work home at all. Apparently, the teacher is completely hands off here - Kyle is just to make sure he brings home what he needs to. As a result of not bringing his reading work home last week he spent recess working on it yesterday instead. Which might drill it in a little more. Maybe :o)

---

So how do I get over the feeling that every time I talk to the teacher she's criticizing my skills? (totally not the case, but it always *feels* that way! which makes me defensive and not constructive in helping Ky)

Xrays...

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 19:08:56 -0600

So I called the Dr today to talk about the scarey breathing - and the nurse had me come in to have Holly's ears looked at. Her ears are fine of course :o) but the Doc didn't like the story I was telling, so she sent us for Xrays just in case. And hey - there's a tiny spot in one of her lungs that *could* be an infection. Small, but there. The radiologist at the hospital will have a look, and may very well call it negative, but the Dr was more comfortable treating her - especially with the funny breathing and the week and a half of cold/nose running/ coughing stuff. So we have some tasty, pink stuff that she sucked right down. Nice - at least I don't have to hold her still.

The Xray wasn't so bad. Once upon a time, Kyle had bronchialitis and had to be dropped into this plastic, medievil looking thing that held his arms straight up. This time, the tech just had me hold her (with a big ole apron over me). For the side view he had to help me hold Ms Squirmy :o) but it was all done without the torture device which remained covered in the corner. Phew!

A Baby's Guide To Scaring the Beejeebers Out Of Your Mommy

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 09:01:02 -0600

1. Go down to bed for the night. Wake up screaming. Then snuggle with Mom or Dad and pretend you are going back into a peaceful slumber. Repeat every few hours until 4am.
2. At 4am refuse to go back to sleep. Mommy will probably bring you into her bed. Convince Mommy that sleeping across her chest is the only place to be.
3. On Mommy's chest relax into a reasonable sleep. Make sure you wait until Mommy starts to snooze with the nice repetitions of your beathing. Then stop breathing. Hold it just long enough for Mommy to notice the rythm has stopped, then cough and scream like you're terrified. Repeat # 3 for good measure. Then declare you are up for the day (Mommy will be too and will be able to play with you since you've just given her a nice shot of adrenaline!)

... and so went our night. Yikes! Technically, I suppose she didn't *stop* breathing. It was more like she held her breath, then coughed and woke up screaming. Litterally. The really scarey part for me is that now I'm wondering if she does this all the time and we just don't know because she doesn't usually sleep on my chest? Though I suspect given her reaction to it, that it doesn't normally happen - she'd be screaming a lot more. I warned 'Ms Neece' at school - she declared 'not breathing' a definite daycare No NO and that Holly was NOT allowed to perform this there. I'm guessing she's done for the day anyway - but we'll see....

And obviously, if this continues we will be parking in the Dr's office!

She had a fever on Saturday, but is back to her jolly self (and was yesterday too). She's still congested, and we're wondering if maybe that onery tooth is finally tryin to make an appearance. It has to show itself at some point right?

Like a Chevy Sprint

Wed, 7 Nov 2007 10:15:25 -0600

...with only 3 cylindars... I feel like I'm running on a little bit less than everyone around me lately.

(how's that for a metaphor?? hee hee)

The brain just isn't as sharp as usual the last few weeks. Could be this cold - that took 8 days to be almost gone, then started all over again!!! (darned kids!) So there are 2 things that come to mind right away...

1. I've had a minor rash near my belly button at my waist band for weeks now. On Monday I finally figured out what it was (and no, it's not the Resistant Staph - which coincidentally seems to start with a rash JUSTLIKETHIS!) - So sitting here at my desk and wondering why on earth it was so itchy, I looked down to get a good scratch going, and hey! My belt buckle was riding up over my waist band and rubbing on the rashy spot! Now - that may not seem like much to you, but it's a cheap belt. With a metal buckle. I'm allergic to most cheap metals - nickle I think is the culprit. If it had been on my wrist where my watch is I would have known immediately what the problem was - because that's usually where I get it. So bad belt buckle!

the 2nd one ...
Yesterday I got to work and realised my purse wasn't with me. No big deal - I had cash in my pocket for a change, and figured it was at home. It wasn't. I checked the truck twice, Steve went out to check again... nada. The last time I *definitely* had it was at Target on Sunday. Ugh. So I call - ... "no, it's not in the book, and it's not in the lost and found". Argh. Cancelling all our stuff does not make my Top Ten list... So Steve says "I'll drive down and check" - no, no, I say - she looked for me. Steve says he worked in retail - he'll go down and ask in person. I'm oh so glad - because he was right and I was wrong. It was there - logged in the book and locked in the safe. Everything - even the cash - accounted for. Yay!!!

So - if you see any spare brain cells lying around somewhere - could you send them my way? I think I may have sprung a leak...

The Holly Channel...

Mon, 5 Nov 2007 19:36:53 -0600

All Holly, All The Time ;-)

And a video of Happy Holly - at the end she signs that she wants a bottle - she's made this sign up on her own :o) what smart parents we are for picking up on it!!! LOL And look! Just enough hair to put a little clip in :-)

A poop update... :-)

Mon, 5 Nov 2007 09:19:29 -0600

So I sent email to the Dr on Friday to describe what we had done so far in the Holly Poop Story. Taken out all dairy including going to Soy formula for a full week (small improvement). Switched back to Milk based formula, but kept all other dairy out, and switched to bottled water (further small improvement)... Dr said - she agrees it's been too long, and to try lactose free formula again - this time giving it 2 - 3 weeks.

So I went shopping. Instead of soy, I came home with Lactose Free Formula. And more bottled water. It seems the two are doing a good job so far. We saw improvement with her very next bowel movement. We're hoping it continues. At the moment her little bum is down to two small red spots (which were very raw on Friday- not open sores, but oh so close). So maybe this is it - we're hoping!

Today is picture day for Holly at 'school' - she's wicked cute - I snapped a few pics after I got her dressed. Maybe I'll post them later (or maybe I'll make y'all wait in suspense....)

Trick or Treat

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 20:19:32 -0500

Costumes

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 12:17:22 -0500

I hope to get some better pics of the boys at the Monster March today - but don't hold your breath.

Oh because...

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 20:03:50 -0500

O! O! O! O! It's getting close!

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 14:24:21 -0500

That time of year when we can sing the Cold Miser and Heat Miser songs :O)

At a light today whilst commuting into work I noticed in the car in front of me - this little BobbleHead:

I SO want one!

THAT, my friends, is Snow Miser. The keeper of all things cold and frozen
"They call me Snow Miser
Whatever I touch
Turns to ice in my clutch
I'm too much!"

From The Year Without A Santa Claus of course.

And of course, I'll need the matching Heat Miser:

"They call me Heat Miser
Whatever I touch
Starts to melt in my clutch
I'm too much!"

Gym revisited

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 13:51:46 -0500

Kudos to the Mgr over at Gold's Gym. Apparently, he left me a message on Sunday (and our system failed to notify me - doh!). He's doing good by me. Says the weekend kid didn't realize I wanted to work out that day, or I could have (and I'm not sure how the kid missed that intention - I was dressed for it, was all annoyed and asked 'you can't even give me a free trial or anything?' and he didn't point out the free day pass he handed to me - I didn't know it was there til I turned it over in the car. But no, I didn't actually tell him that I had wanted to work out right then. Not in those words.

At any rate - the Mgr gave me a good deal, and was sorry to hear of my troubles ;o) I'm heading over there tonight to meet him and sign up - maybe this will jumpstart losing that Holly weight!!!

Cutie!

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 11:27:25 -0500

I traded with another Mom on DiaperPin for some 'TinkleTraps' - prefolds that are cut, have elastic added, tabs extended and an extra soaker in the middle. I fasten them with a snappi, and they need a cover, but they become prefolds that Steve will use ;o)

Here Holly Models them for us:

And I have pictures of costumes... but not uploaded yet... they'll hopefully make it tonight.

No Gym For ME!

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 09:40:55 -0500

So Saturday before we had to get going, I was ready! So I took the extra time and popped over to our local Curves. Wait! What's this? It's taken me *so* long to get back here, that they aren't there anymore! Sure enough - the sign is still on the window, but no hours, the place is empty and locked up tight. Apparently, for months now. So the closest is Acton or Concord. Blech. If it's not in my backyard I won't make it there.

And I have a brainstorm - I'll just pop on over to Gold's Gym, which is NEXT DOOR to the daycare center. Incredibly convenient - I can pop in just before getting Holly, work out, then swing through the center via the back door, get Holly and head on out for the boys. Perfect solution.

So I pop over and wander in. Couple of folks on some equipment, but 90% empty. Nice. The way I like it. And all nice and shiney new! So I ask the kid at the counter - can you give me prices? I'd like to join. He says - no. That's all with the membership manager and he doesn't come in on weekends. Picture me with a completely blank look - then very perplexed. So - I can't do anything? I can't join on the weekend? "No." Can I get a free trial day or something? "No". Huh. I stared at him a full 30 seconds trying to figure out what person missed this part in Customer Service 101. But he CAN give me the card for the Mgr, and he CAN leave a message for him to call me on Monday. Oh. Thanks. Yeah let's do that. Of course I was in a fog while my brain tried to figure out why someone would set it up so that you TURN AWAY customers just because they come out on the weekend. I don't have time to *talk* during the week. I need to get in, work out, get out! I can talk on the weekend. But apparently, not here.

So Mr. Mgr got a nice email from me explaining my experience. And I suggested he might want to empower his weekend folks with at least a price sheet, and maybe a small selection of equipment that they could offer up for a 20 minute trial. Sounded good to me :o) We'll see what Mr. Mgr has to say.

Funny enough - on my way out I turned over the card. It's printed on a FREE VIP ONE DAY PASS - it's just not authorized. Talk about adding insult to injury....

Tony Knows

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 07:59:33 -0500

... That we are busy folks! But who is Tony?

Tonight we carved our pumkins :o) Those little ones? Wow! They were tough - if you squint you might be able to see how thick the actual skin is on those little things. The boys had grand plans for those little ones, and as soon as I made the first cut - those plans were changed!

For the big-uns Ry opted for 'vampire teeth!' - with fangs, and eyes and nose - as directed. Kyle drew me a 'made up pokemon' - Ditta (which is probably somehow related to Ditto) and I think it came out pretty cool (his little one is just a fancy star).

Backing up to earlier in the day - Kyle had his Space Derby for Tiger Scouts. The most important part of the day (errr week?) learning what it takes to actually build the rocket, and then all the cool things that you can do to make it go farther.

Here's Ky and his rocket 'Sweecoon' named after (you guessed it!) a Pokemon

Ky watching the races and chatting with Ms Amy:

Some Kyle singing (are the readers sick of Pokemon yet? Thank goodness there are like 73 different versions of the theme for him to learn and sing!)

After the boys went to bed, I finished up their costumes. (Yay). Ryan's is wicked heavy - I lined the fleece with a bunch of gerber cloth diapers (which aren't good for diapering so much) - so if he complains we can just take them out. I'd like to tie his multiple legs to his arms somehow so that they move when he moves his arms - but otherwise, it's all set!
(yes, I'll get pictures!)

And Ryan's version of Pokemon - I love how into everything he is - maybe we have a future performer here!

Happy Sunday everyone!

Wide-spectrum posting... work, scouts, renovations, baby-ness. Oh and poop too!

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 11:05:28 -0500

It's been busy at work and busy at home. We are finishing up one release and starting the next. That means there is planning for the new one and demonstrating success on the old. Since I know hold the Quality Lead position, it has been decided that these things should be handled by me. (and I agree) - but it means I'm preparing slide decks and have had my head down for the last week. Now things are settling with the prep and I get to look forward to (*shudder*) presenting said decks to upper management.

At home, we had our first Den meeting on Friday. We made leaf rubbings - I'll have to scan in some and post them I think. The meeting was fun. The boys all seem to know each other and get along. We're going on a nature hike on the 4th for one of our 'Go See It's' so that will be fun too!

I sent Steve out while Ky was busy falling off the pony, to get started on the New Bedroom project. He got to buy a new saw, so I think he's getting into it now. I made sure to actually tell him about the plans in my head too - sometimes I forget that he can't really see them! So we have some 2x4's and a saw. He's going to stop in to Home Depot today to pick up some wood to see how we want to box in the little footing thing that runs around the outer edges of the room (slab foundation). He also needs nails, and some water-based wood glue so that he and Ky can assemble the rocket for the Space Derby this weekend. It needs to be ready by Wednesday... vrrrrooom!!!

Last night I managed to snap some cute picks of the kids that I hope to use for Christmas cards. Shopping has started here at FamilyFrisch. And we are slowly adding to the pile. We'll be in PA for the holiday with Steve's Mom, Sister and Brother-in-Law. That should be fun, just a logistical challenge. But I'm sure we'll do fine.

Holly is gaining speed and confidence in her crawling and is now pulling up on all the furniture. I brought down a large musical thing that my parents had bought for Ryan and she's loving that. Can't remember for the life of me what it's called - I guess that needs a picture too. She's also starting to 'surf' - in small amouts. She's standing and moving from Steve's leg to the table and back - and will surf down the side of the table too. I'm sure walking is not so far off.

Last night was on the rough side for her. But I think I see a whiter area on her gums - hard to tell since if I put my finger in there she just bites. But when she's laughing or crying I try to peek and it seems like (in the nanosecond I glimpse it) it may be a tooth thinking about appearing. It's 'whitish' like the gum is stressed - maybe other moms will know what I mean there. At any rate, she had a rough night. Which meant a rough morning for us.

*poop talk alert*
I'm also on a mission to determine what's causing her - ummmm - loose poops. Ever since she stopped breastfeeding and started solids we can cound on one hand the number of 'solid' dipes we've seen. And she gets yeast infections almost immediately. Especially, with the really runny ones (yuck!). The Dr we saw for her 9 month wasn't concerned and said to keep treating the yeast the way we are. She's not our regular Dr - who is out on maternity leave (and an aside - she delivered a Full Term, beautiful girl even though she went out in pre-term labor 6 - 8 weeks early. Yay!). So the Dr wasn't concerned, but she didn't give me any real help either. Steve and I talked and we decided to try cutting out dairy for a bit. It's fairly easy right now - change to soy formula and just don't give her any milk based stuff. It's improved, as in not runny. And that improved practically immediately. I figure I'll give it at least 5 full days. My next change will be water. I'll either filter ours or buy bottled and see if that helps. But first I want to give the no-dairy a good try. If we see further improvement beyond what we've got now, then I'll skip the water and start trying to add things back in to see if we can find a trigger. Anyone out there with experience in this?
*end poop discussion*

and this is one of the days that I wish I could categorize in multiple categories....

Bad Pony!

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 17:36:38 -0500

Kyle fell off of Minnie today. He wasn't quite paying enough attention and as he walked by the 'gate' Minnie decided that she wanted a snack - so she snuck under the gate. The top wire caught Ky right across the neck and pulled him off the back of her. He's fine. His butt hurt a lot and Jocelyn and I ran to him and kept him still while J had him run through a series of things to make sure there was nothing serious going on. (and M chased down that bad Pony!) Once he got up, he got right back on and finished up his lesson. Yay Kyle!

I knew falling was going to be a part of this - I'm not sure he knew that. But there doesn't seem to be any hard feelings. He even still gave her the carrot at the end ;o) Jocelyn told him it was nothing to do with him - Minnie was just being a bratty pony. Then she told him a story of when she was a young girl and she got clotheslined... and now he has a new word in his vocabulary too! "Daddy - I was clotheslined today!" - with a smile even. Yeah, we're probably OK here :o)

Geeky Naming Comic :o)

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 09:39:02 -0500

OK only those out there with a smattering (or more) of coding experience will trully get this one. But I need to post it anyway!

What to blog about...

Fri, 5 Oct 2007 16:15:10 -0500

So there are people out there who read my blog. I know this, even though not all of them leave comments. Because they talk to me about it. The funny comment is 'I couldn't blog. I don't know what I'd write about."

When I started blogging I figured I would just throw up some pictures of the kids occassionally, with blurbs about what they were doing. And then I found that I like to write. That was weird for me. I knew I liked to talk (which I didn't discover until my college years... I was fairly quiet up til then). But writing was difficult. I liked to *type* and still do. And it gets my thoughts out much faster than writing does. Not to mention no one can read my writing!

So, I'm pretty open out here in internet-land. But do you ever wonder about the kinds of things I *don't* blog? Every day there is something. I think "wow, I'd love to blog that!" but there's something there that doesn't work and it doesn't make it. It could be because it's an interaction at work. Ever notice I don't blog negative things about any of my co-workers? Well - what if they came across my blog? Just because I feel something negative one day doesn't mean I feel that way all the time. I could just have had a run in with someone: Darnit! I couldn't stand the way that Maggie handled the PB&J meeting today. It drove me crazy!!! . . . But for someone to see that in writing - even if I didn't identify them they could probably figure it out. So I just don't do it. Though funny? If you're funny you might show up here (as maybe Maggie of course).

There's personal stuf - stuff that is beyond TMI .. because I do venture into TMI on occassion, but there's stuff that's Severely TMI and I keep that to myself. Or if it's personal for Steve. Though some of that makes it in, but it's stuff that I envision him sharing anyway. And if he ever asked me not to it wouldn't go there.

Or ... or what? What else don't I blog? Policies at work. I don't do much with them. In fact, I don't even really mention work by name. You could certainly figure out who I work for easily enough - it's out there. Oh and by the way - the opinions expressed in this blog are solely my own and should not be interpretted as belonging to the company I work for ;o).

I have pictures of Kyle's eyes that I haven't posted. Of him looking to the left so that you can clearly see what Duane's Syndrome is... but he asked me not to show anyone, so they just sit quietly on my drive. The boys rarely ask me stuff like that - they generally don't hold secrets. But when they do, I respect that.

So here you go guys - a post about what I don't blog about. How's that? Even YOU could do that I bet ;o)

Mobi-Holly

Thu, 4 Oct 2007 21:16:54 -0500

Here she is!

And for good measure:

(Holly is modeling the BumGenius 2.0 All In One Pocket Diaper in Blossom :o) )

The Social Scene

Thu, 4 Oct 2007 11:14:22 -0500

Myspace. Friendster. Facebook. Linkedin. Are you in? Are you connected? Do you have friends?

I've been on myspace for a while, though activity there seems to be slowing down quite a bit. Friendster I joined, but never did much of anything with. I've recently been playing with Facebook - I really like it. And now LinkedIn - it's business. All about building a business network. Making/getting recommendations - networking to find a new position (not me!).

How much social networking can one person do?

At any rate - in the interest of actually having a contact or 2, I uploaded my addresses from my personal book at home. And it told me how many there were - 600+!!! Wow. How on earth have I accumulated so many people? Of those only about 20 were 'LinkedIn' - so I picked 9 of those and added them in - the ones that didn't get picked are people that I only know in passing, or I didn't think would remember me. It was a place to start.

Now what do I do with it?

(on a side note, apparently my activities yesterday put me somewhere on a list - I've gotten two calls today from recruiters looking to share information about positions they are looking to fill... I'm good. I'm where I'm at. Anyone want their names? )

9 months!

Wed, 3 Oct 2007 20:42:31 -0500

Holly is 9 months old today!
And crawling. Now to have the camera near by...

She's also eating pretty much everything in site. For lunch today she chowed down a fruit cup of peaches (the dole plastic cups...) and then her teachers spaghetti too :) And she waves bye bye. To everything - people, the crib, the dog, her exersaucer... way cute.

She's saying... 'muh muh muh muh muh mmmmmm muh' a lot. It's the first consonant type sound really (which is odd because everyone warns you that da da is easier)...

This evening after getting her jammies on I sat on her floor with her and we took turns kicking our legs. She thought this was a fabulous idea! Oh and she's just under 20 pounds now. Yikes! (that goes with the eating anything she can fit in her mouth part). Her 9 mo appointment is next week.

I'd put a picture here - but my ftp client doesn't want to connect, I think it's because Steve's playing a game and hogging all the bandwidth. I'll try to remember to do it tomorrow before he starts playing ;o)

Inconceivable?

Wed, 3 Oct 2007 15:51:17 -0500

Pricess Bride the game? How cool is that?

Because I might as well keep going...

Tue, 2 Oct 2007 10:28:41 -0500

Today I agreed to be the Class Mom for Ryan's class.

I'm nuts. Just. Totally. Nuts.

Actually, since they've gone on this healthy foods thing, parties don't have food. So they have less parties. So I might organise a gift for the teacher, and maybe a phone tree. That's about it. Huh.

The busy factor, and Ky's great strides!

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 21:21:05 -0500

Wow what a week. PChef shows Monday and Friday, Ky's first Cub Scout (Tiger Scouts!) meeting Friday - Steve had to take all three kids - weeee! And a Stamping show at the daycare center that I'd said I'd go to. Oh and a Technical Symposium in Cambridge on Tuesday. Obviously I made all the WRONG sacrifices to the Traffic Gods on Monday night because it took me over TWO HOURS to drive the 27 miles in!!! Ugh!

So I was ready for the weekend. Really. Really. Ready. Except that it didn't stop there. Saturday brought the MFA's New Baby Brunch (weee! babies!) and then we went to Target to pick up a present for Chloe's party today. And I completely blanked on Ky's social skills group starting yesterday. Oops. We'll make it next week. Today the boys started off with Sunday School. I was going to just pick them up and skip service after, but they were singing in Service. Oops. So I stayed until they sang, then snuck out. Ryan didn't want to sing, so he stayed with me. But I am OHSoProud of Kyle. First - I was alone with them. And Ryan was acting up. He really wanted to sing Jingle Bells, Batman Smells. Now, I understand the humor in this. Honest I do. But there is a time and a place for songs like this - and it is NOT during our church service. So after I asked him the third time to stop, I told Kyle he was on his own for a minute and walked Ryan out to the fellowship area to discuss it with him. He understood I was mad. Really mad. And I didn't even raise my voice :o) We went back in and there were no more issues. But here I have to mention how nice it was - really, really nice - that I was able to leave Kyle in the pew on his own. ON HIS OWN!!! While I deal with my other child, who is supposedly NT (neuro-typical for those not immersed in the ASD world). Yay! Even just last year I'm not sure I could have done that. So while it's frustrating as can be to be dealing with the mischief that has crept into Ryan in the last - oh eighteen months or so - I can step back and look at what we've gained in Kyle. Wow. He's done so much all around it's just fabulous!!! And he knew it too :o) And he did a great job singing in front of the whole church too! (and me without a camera - I didn't know they were singing, remember?)

OK ... so after we snuck out of church, Ky had his riding lesson, where Jocelyn continued to ooh and ah about how he catches on so quickly (yay!) and then we had Chloe's party at OneStopFun. There's a toddler area. Holly's not a toddler, but she had fun licking all the balls from the ball crawl (yuck!). When the moved into the gym part, I put Holly down and she crawled immediately. I grabbed the cam - and she stopped! I turned to talk PChef with some folks who saw the catalog and she immediately started up again! Of course the camera was off, and she sat back up. NO ONE IS GOING TO BELIEVE ME!!!! :O)

So tomorrow it's back to work! And I have my monthly PC meeting. Tuesday is the Den Leaders' meeting for Cub Scouts. What's that? Why is that mentioned?? OOOooooh - Amy called Saturday and declared that she and Corinna were chatting at soccer and they decided I should be Den Mom (still not sure why Corinna gets a vote when she has 3 GIRLS!!!). So after some deal making and me making Amy pinky swear that she'd be my assistant and I'd lean on her heavily (she's a leader for her older son's Webolus den) I agreed. Friday is a professional day at the elementary school, and the following monday the school AND the daycare are closed for Columbus Day. Busy, busy, busy around here for sure!

So I'm going to bed now. If you see me this week... hand me a cup of coffee :-)

Not yet

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 10:45:01 -0500

no video of Holly crawling yet. Seems she tried it out, but she prefers her tried & true scoot.... which is sort of shown in the last video I posted. She drops down to the crawl postion, swings her butt around and plopps it somewhere new, then scoots back up to sit and voila! she's now about 18" from where she started! Not sure if it's because she was in a dress yesterday which made crawling more difficult... today she's in a shorter set, so maybe she'll do a little more.

She's done it!

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 11:29:06 -0500

Holly is crawling! Kyle was SO excited , and he was the one that pointed it out this morning. He was on the floor with his Pokemon card collection (a binder with trading card plastic inserts... the neighbors gave it to them a bit back) and she crawled the 3 feet across to touch them.

We HAVE to rig the gate for the stairs TONIGHT!!! :o)

I'll make sure to get the camera out tonight too.

Videos: crawling, dancing, singing - what talent!

Sat, 22 Sep 2007 21:14:01 -0500

Holly's been working hard on this crawling thing... someone requested video of her getting all mad at going backwards, but it appears we've missed our chance. She's working with the backwards thing now. Finding ways to get where she wants to be - like at Mommy's feet!

The boys were browsing the Pokemon website today and apparently were feeling very expressive. Ry broke out his dance moves for all of us (especially Holly - I love how he's focused on her the whole time!)

(yes, the table in the background is a mess - as usual!!! ignore it!)
That's Ky singing in the background.

He very nicely gave me a personal performance too:

Sometimes, I wonder...

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 13:06:48 -0500

Yahoo Messenger has evolved into my Instant Messenger of choice. You can find me signed on pretty much 23/7. The missing hour is from being disconnected, or being in meetings at work, or just forgetting to sign on at home. But I'm on almost all the time. Since the new laptop at work, I have not installed Trillian yet, and so of my miscellaneous other personalities, I have not had access. And I've been OK with that.

Today something caught my eye on my Yahoo list...

This, as I named him, is NOT Doug. As in not my brother. My brother has a yahoo ID that is SO very close to this other one, that I had originally added this guy by mistake. And he allowed it (because Yahoo sends email and inquires whether this addition to this other person's list is OK or not). And one day he asked me who I was - and I realized he was NOT Doug :o) But rather than just removing him from my list (Doug's actual ID has since been added successfully), I just named him NotDoug so that I would know who he was NOT. I still don't have a clue who he actually IS though.

This probably says something about how I work inside. I'm not sure what - but something.

Airbags and Buses

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 13:09:35 -0500

Airbags
Well, I finally got my airbag light fixed! I brought the 'Rango in for service about two weeks ago - they replaced the plastic base to my seat (it had cracked) and found out the reason my airbag light is on was the clock spring. Whatever that is. So they ordered me a new one. It came in last week and I got over there this morning to have it put in.

The one tiny thing they do there that I love? They wash my car. With every service. No charge. Nice. Of course it's pouring outsdide, so you can't tell. They also vacuumed the floor that they could find. They didn't shovel out the back seats to get to the floor there though. :o)

But the airbag light isn't on anymore. So my very obscure fear of the airbag suddenly inflating while I'm driving along can go away now. Yes - this was the sporadic vision that the light was causing. Not going to happen - logically I know this - but the thought/vision snuck in every once in a while. To which I usually laughed.

They also untwisted my seatbelt - which had gotten twisted when they replaced the seat base.

On buses
Ryan declared yesterday that he wanted to try driving into school instead of taking the bus. He was determined. He melted down. I had to pick him up and drag him on the bus. It was kind of comical in a very removed way. I also knew he'd be fine in about 2 minutes - once we were out of site. I made Kyle sit with him (much to Kyle's dislike). Kyle reported that the crying had stopped by the next bus stop. Ryan pulled the same thing this morning, though it was with less fight that I was able to get him on the bus. The bus driver was all smiles - I'm sure this isn't the first time she's seen this. But we'll be working to find a way to get over this one. I've been looking at it as the same way I would have handled separation at daycare - occassionally he'd have a 'hard time' with drop off. He'd cry. I'd give him a hug and a kiss, and reassurances that he'll have a great day - make sure he's in the care of someone who knows what's going on, and I leave. Usually, I huddle out of site outside the class to see if he calms down - and yes. He does. So I'm not terribly worried, but we'd like the morning to go a little easier.

So, I plan on working out a deal with him. And we'll see how that goes. If he'll get on the bus tomorrow and thursday - on his own - then Friday I'll drive him to school.

He says the bus is too loud - and it is very loud. He's got a big point there. Lots of kids, all excited and animated and talking/shouting to be heard over each other. Very. Loud. But I can't do anything about that.

Laser tag, drilling

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 11:56:04 -0500

Yesterday, Steve took Kyle to two separate birthday parties - one right after the other. At the first Kyle got to play laser tag for the first time. Steve reports that Ky really caught on quick and had a lot of fun.

While they were gone and Holly napped (Ryan wanted to do some things on the computer) - I drilled holes. You see when they 'finished' the playroom they ran the electrical for the outlets but just stapled the cable to the studs instead of running them through holes in the studs. Which we found when we took the paneling down. So I drilled all but three of the 'straight run' holes. The outlet to outlet runs. The rest we have to think about and plan for - but these were straight forward, so I was able to get it done. The battery died when I had three left to drill - so maybe I'll do some more some night this week. If I've caught up on all the sleep I missed out on Friday night.

An interesting trend... Mommy tatoos...

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 09:00:39 -0500

Article on Babycenter

Hmmmm. I honestly hadn't thought about this. I recently told someone that I don't have any tatoos... only partly because of the pain (they asked how I could be afraid of the pain when I've birthed three children...) - but mostly because I could never think of anything I'd want *permanently* adorned on me. Now I have food for thought.

... But I won't be off in the tatoo chair today - no worries!

I love comments like these

Sat, 8 Sep 2007 20:19:28 -0500

From Kyle's riding instructor today:

"Kyle is the easiest boy I've ever taught"

Apparently, in general, boys just don't 'get' the body positioning. They are stiff and don't get what she's trying to show them about moving when and where and what-not. Kyle 'gets' it and did from the first lesson. She needs to remind him and help him adjust, but he's not stiff. She said she's usually all stressed after a boys' lesson, but feels pretty good after Kyle's.

Sounds like we may have found his 'thing' :-)

This little chat occurred at the end of his lesson while he was wandering around the ring on Minnie just taking her whereever. He stopped her a few times, took her in a few circles and over a few 'jumps' (poles laying on the ground that she steps over). He came back and declared "Minnie stopped. So I said 'let's go Minnie!' and she started again!" - very proud of himself today. I love it!

What? A Date?

Sat, 8 Sep 2007 09:42:39 -0500

Steve and I went OUT last night! Our friend Pete plays in a band - Still Aggravated. They were playing somewhere reasonably local, so we popped out to see them and have a night out. Julie and her sister came too.

We stayed for the whole darned thing! So we got home at 2:30am - yikes! I don't remember the last time I was even awake at 2am, much less not home yet!

Here's a small snip for those that are interested - I don't think there's any seriously questionable in the video, beyond seeing a beer or two - but if you focus on the band instead of the peripheral stuff you'll be OK :o)

Reading, friendly competition

Fri, 7 Sep 2007 09:06:14 -0500

So with Ry in Kindergarten I think Kyle is feeling more challenged. Ryan brought home his first weekly reader yesterday. All Wet - 6 - 7 pages with one word on each except for the last which has 2 - "All Wet". He pointed and 'read' right through it. This of course was after the 'but I can't read' response to my 'come read with me, Ry..'. Then he saw the book and said "oh! I can read *that* book!". Kyle watched him breeze through the book and went and got one that was more challenging. Of course once he had to sound out the first word, he declared it too difficult. And I won't push him - Steve offered to have that be the bedtime book instead, and so it was :o) But it was nice to see that Ry's abilities and Ky's awareness of them are kicking Ky into gear a little - not totally. He completely has the ability to get through what he declared too hard. But that's something we're working on.

Right now Ky's class is working on numbers 1 - 12 and graphing. Basically, complete review for him so he's flying through it. I don't know if it's intentional or not, but it has the effect of giving him confidence that he KNOWS what do do and can handle it easily.

Last night both boys started gymnastics again. And both boys did splendidly!!! I didn't lecture them too much beforehand. I told Ryan that I expected him to try everything, even if he needed help (he tends to find one item in each station and just stay there). And I grabbed a second with Kyle and said "Do you know what I'd like to say when you come back out?" and He said he didn't know... "I would love to say 'You did a fabulous job Kyle! I am so very proud of you!". And I made sure I was able to say that too! He did great. He's now part of 'GymBoys' - 7 and 8 year old boys. And they spent their hour in the area of the parallel bars. Lots of work on arm strength. Some rings, climbing the rope. He got distracted once, but the teacher managed to get him right back on task. Not to mention that this teacher is just MADE for teaching active boys!!! I did tell Ky that I'd like to see him go through all of the equipment- he did too much picking and choosing instead of going through all the stations. He especially skipped something if there was someone already waiting for it. But overall, I couldn't have been happier with how both of them did. Yay! So much better than the last time he tried it! My little boy is growing up!

We're settling into what passes for normal around here. I'm even hitting the road by just after 8am, so mornings are going well. Soon, I hope to be able to have everyone ready and me on the road by 7:30 - we shall see.

Added another show to my calendar yesterday - in October. With the standing show I have in November, it's shaping up to be a very nice fall indeed!

Ry's First Day, Hanging Out, Practicing

Tue, 4 Sep 2007 20:47:09 -0500

So Ry's first day of school was Wednesday - his second day was today. He'll go 4 full days this week. Of course at the end of today he had another bloody nose. From the reports it seems like he probably had an itch from the scabbing from last night and rubbed it which started things up again. Hopefully, that's the end of it.

On the way to the bus on his first day... it was bright and sunny!

Hanging out and waiting

The bus is coming!

up the stairs!!

And off he goes!

...we like that the buses are named after Auntie Deanna ;-) ...

Saturday, we had some folks over for a little get together thingamabob... didn't take too many pictures but I did get Holly and Pete being cool:

Holly has discovered that she needs to be working on her crawling... you can see she's thinking about it.

First put her on the floor somewhere with toys out of reach where she immediatly turns to get one leg behind her:

Next, she'll put her hands down and lean on them:

...closer...

if I could just crawl...

oh I'll just roll!!!

OK enough - someone pick me up!

Besides the get together I also did some work in Holly's room this weekend. I pulled out the clothes and diapers that don't fit anymore so you can actually see her dresser. Then I put in a shelf over the changing table. We've had the shelf for months - it's waited very patiently.

I also put up the Pooh sticky wallies things. These went much better than the bugs in the boys room - probabaly because I didn't need a stool to do these:

Holly has been eating lots of finger foods... cheerios, crackers, greenbeans, yum!

And this is just the lazy cat hanging out in the sun:

Bleeder -

Tue, 4 Sep 2007 09:02:12 -0500

Ry had another nosebleed last night... I heard a bump a little bit beforehand, then a while later he decided to 'visit' Kyle who noticed the blood and brought him to me... sounds like he bumped the back of his head. I thought it kind of odd to trigger a nosebleed, but then I found this site - which has a method for stopping it with pressure to two spots at the back of the head. My guess is he hit one of those spots... I mean if you can stop the bleeding with pressure there, a good bump would probably start it too... right?

At any rate - at the bottom of the site are some warnings... including this one:
Try to prevent from eating food that makes your blood stream go faster. (Example: Chocolate, Coffee, Turtle, etc.)

Turtle? Who'da thunk that eating turtle would cause a nosebleed to get worse.....

What a Noodle!!!

Mon, 3 Sep 2007 08:53:18 -0500

They filled the sensory table with cooked pasta at daycare...

They said it was much easier to clean up the babies than the carpet :o)

Re-active!

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 10:10:11 -0500

Recently, Kate started her own Arbonne business. She's already promoted to District Manager (yay Kate!).

In support of a friend as well as a fellow Direct Sales/Network Marketing business person... I went and listened to her presentation. And love the products. The side affect of this though, was the focus it put on the business I already have and was doing nothing with. I've been inactive as a PChef consultant now since November. So I ordered up some catalogs, tapped my customer base who hadn't heard from me since we had Holly, and threw together a show - I am active again! yay me! Now the challenge is staying that way. I'm happy to report that I have 2 shows scheduled in September. With people that are outside my usual circle of friends. I love the products, and the people, and the act of going out to do shows... so I'm going to try to keep 2 shows in each month. It's not huge - in fact it's well below what most consultants target. But it's what will work for our family and me.

I happen to love my FT office job and have no intention of leaving any time soon to pursue PChef full time. But there's no reason I can't continue in my hobbyist fashion.... As I've said before - it supports my habit :o) just the two shows a month will allow me to continue to buy the products I desire and leave some left over for some other things. Nice. Now I just have to keep my motivation up - :-)

So Thank You Kate for the nudge I needed!

And the walls came down around us...

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:18:37 -0500

The playroom is almost completely torn out. Torn out? Can't say torn down, because the walls are still framed - they hold up the rooms above it. But the paneling is almost down - about 75% down. One short wall and one panel left. Have to move the TV for that and Steve needed a heave-ho break. The carpet and padding is up and out. The ceiling is down except for the long supports that run the length of the room. There are a few electrical cables that we need to think about when we put the wallboard up. These people did NOT hire anyone to do the work, that's a given. Not sure if we want to tackle rerouting the cables the right way (through the studs) or not. We have to think on this.

The remaining paneling will come down over the next couple of nights so that I can call the Junk guy ("Just call John, it will be Gone!") and have them take the pile of debris away before Kyle does something silly - like spinning and falling on it. Hmmm no link in my blog for that? Apparently, my blog started in October - Ky would have had his stitches in like August of '04.

At any rate - maybe we can get to The Place of All Good Things (AKA Home Depot or Lowes ) this weekend and pick up the 2x4's and other stuff. We shall see...

My first sewn diaper attempt

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 11:45:13 -0500

from the bum view...

And onto the bus he goes...

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 11:21:18 -0500

smiling, smiling, smiling.

Yesterday we had a Meet & Greet and both boys got to meet their teachers. Kyle took on the role of tour guide and showed Ryan where his class would be, where the library, art room, gym and music rooms are. I showed him the cafeteria.

Kyle's first day is today. His teacher is young and cute and fresh - and pregnant :o) which is wonderful for her and her family - but translates to a known interruption for Ky. However, since we all know the interruption is coming, and it's coming for the whole class, I'm confident we can work with this :o) Kyle has a lot more friends in his class from the after school program. And he's thrilled to pieces about it. I think the nerves about First Grade are all gone.

Here he is ready to go this morning:

Ryan starts tomorrow. Then doesn't go back again until Tuesday next week. I told him today that for hot lunch he gets to *choose* - talk about excited!!! "Do they have tuna fish?" hmmmm not sure on that one.

Sometimes the unthinkable happens....

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:39:04 -0500

Andre is a 10 year old boy here in our town. He was supposed to be entering 5th grade tomorrow. Instead, he's in Spaulding Rehab center learning how to walk and speak again.

A Day For Andre

If you could send a prayer his way, the family would appreciate it. If you are so moved to donate, they'd appreciate that too. After spending a bit reading through the site and viewing the pictures (some are really tough) - I need to go hug my kids again.

Hang tough Andre - you're doing great!

Playroom...

Sat, 25 Aug 2007 09:05:43 -0500

Since this pic was taken I have pried off most of the little cross boards (the boards that the paneling was nailed to). There are a few left because they are currently supporting the only usable light in the room...

Now we have to shuffle stuff around so we can get at the rest of the room...

Kid Fun

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 20:32:04 -0500

The boys were playing with their Rocket Blaster - Holly was very entertained...

Project Playroom-Bedroom has begun!

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 09:53:17 -0500

I'll have to take a 'before picture - but it will be partially 'demo-ed'... We started tearing up the carpet and padding and tearing down the paneling in the playroom. This is the 'add a closet' project that sounds so simple - and yet isn't.

To put in the closet we have to pull back the carpet. Check.
We have to pull down the paneling on the walls. Check.
Oh - and we have to take down the drop ceiling. Yikes!

Then frame the closet, hang doors, sheet rock/wall board the entire room, put in some sort of ceiling... paint, and put in flooring.

BUT. Then we have a new - bigger - master bedroom. We gain almost 6 feet in length! It's about the same width as our current room. The master plan is for the boys to occupy the current master bedroom. We get back a guest room - Holly will eventually more into the bigger room that the boys are in now, but maybe not until we move her out of her crib.

We'll see how it goes!

Boots...

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 09:14:03 -0500

Saturday, during Ky's riding lesson, J mentioned that his sneakers don't let his feet slip on the stirups enough. She suggested stopping in Payless to see if they have anything (cheap) with a smooth sole.

On explaining this to Kyle he internalized and processed the information and came out with "so can I get cowboy boots?"

:-)

We're adding them to his Christmas list of course.

... (I did manage to find some Vans-style sneaks with an 'almost' smooth bottom - we'll try these first.)

back, back, back...

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 20:57:06 -0500

Ahhhhh..... home :o) I really missed the fam. Everyone was mostly well behaved for Steve :o) Holly did give him one hard night, but then slept 7:30 - 5:30 the next night .. weee!

I got lots of snuggles and hugs and kisses yesterday. And the boys' class assignemnts for this year too! Ryan didn't end up in either of the two K classes Kyle had been in... And there aren't any names I know in his class either. Ky landed with 3 kids from his class last year, and one more that I know. He probably knows more just from recess and what - not - I just don't know them

Today we ran out for some back to school shopping... Ry's mostly OK (I made him try on a pile o'clothes today) - but Ky needed some pants and shirts. The growing weed that he is... he ALWAYS needs clothes ;o)

Class was great. Really, really great. My brain is full to bursting !!! Oh, my stomache too... they weren't kidding about the food! And a bar/lounge right there too?? I didn't make it to the gym after all, but I did walk a little. So I'm only up about 3.5 lbs after the whole feeding thing...

That's it for now :o)

Off I go...

Sun, 12 Aug 2007 16:51:56 -0500

OK I'm mostly packed. I'm ready for my week of learning! I'm only a tiny bit antsy about leaving Steve alone with the kiddies for 4 nights... and it's mostly 'will he stay sane?' - but since I just did it, I'm sure he'll do even better than me. This is the first time for me to be away from the kids since May '06 - and that was just a weekend! (and I'm not counting the hospital stay to have Holly!).

Still to pack is my current knitting project, and all of the stuff I use in the morning - toothbrush, skincare, hair stuffs... that kind of thing.

I hear the food is really good. And I'm actually staying On Site - the learning center is complete with a hotel. So there is no commute. What will I do with all my non-learning time? I'm bringing my Charmed DVD's :o) and my knitting, and two books that I have yet to read (yes, the knitting is interfering with my reading! Books sitting in my house UNread??? unheard of!!!). Plus there is a gym, that I must visit to work off all that really good food - that they feed us 5 times a day!

Lookee Lookee what I made!!!

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 21:32:15 -0500

Yeah, yeah she's cute and all - but we all know we made *her*... It's the 'soaker' she's wearing that I'm talking about... My first knitting project - weeee!!! And it's night worthy.

Oh. That's right. Lots of the 4 of you out there might not know what a soaker is... so wool is super absorbant... and it's also got natural antibacterial qualities, and it doesn't wick like other fibers... so it makes a great diaper cover. I'm now working on a pair of longies for her for the cool weather... longies are just like soaker - but with legs. So they replace the diaper cover AND the jammy bottoms - or pants! Weee!!!

and yes, that's dinner still around her mouth :o) *oops*

Last day!

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 09:27:43 -0500

Steve comes home today!

He missed Kyle's 1st bee sting and Ryan's 1st bloody nose! Yep - the boys were in our bed this morning and Kyle bumped Ry's nose... it was a gusher. So I had to spend some time in the hallway cleaning it up! Good thing blood doesn't bother me :o) He was really funny about it too - he was slightly upset about the blood, and said it hurt, but not a single tear... that's Ry the brute! He did walk all bent over though so that it dripped all the way down the hallway and onto the stairs - wee. I sent him to the kitchen and got him plugged up.

I warned his teachers about it - that if he were to get bumped again, it will probably start all over again.

Actually, I take it back - I don't think this was his first nose bleed - he had one at school about 6 months ago... Oh well. Steve's missed both of them now.

He comes back at lunchtime today. Yay!

blech...

Wed, 8 Aug 2007 18:51:16 -0500

A few days ago there was a squeaking noise coming from our office/computer room. It was the rock tumbler. The little nut that holds the top on the cylinder had fallen off and the machine was trying to rotate the cylinder anyway. Steve put the nut back on.

Apparently, the nut fell off again. This time the top and the piece inside that seals the cylinder came off too. Yuck!!! Mucky watery goo has dribbled out on the shelf and dripped over everything below it! I cleaned up the pieces, washing the pieces that meet in the cylinder to insure a good seal, added water back in and screwed it all back together nice and tight. We'll see how well it does.

...

Kyle had a good day today - yay! I spent some time with him last night rounding up some pokemon, and had him help me with the dishwasher. Little things, but sometimes it's all it takes. Plus he wasn't able to go on a field trip today - so he would have been around a lot less kids. That may have helped as well.

Just the four of us...

Wed, 8 Aug 2007 09:41:40 -0500

Steve is in Texas. We've now managed to make it through two nights and are starting the 3rd day :o) The kids are reasonably clean, have appropriate clothes on, and have lunch. I think we're having a reasonable amount of success!!!

Yesterday Ky got sent home for pretty much losing it. He didn't want to go in and read at quiet time - he was crying, hitting, kicking, stomping... yep - I had forgotten to warn them that Daddy was away. It doesn't make his behaviour OK at all - but if they had known ahead of time, they might have seen it coming a little sooner ... but they know now. And they know that next week will be tough on him too - next week I'm gone all week. I've noticed he's quicker to get frustrated and melt down since Steve's been gone. I'm trying to talk to him about it - but he doesn't really seem to know. I'm thinking it's just a generally stressed feeling... something he doesn't necessarily recognise as even there, but it's taking some of his energy away from what he would need to stay calm and make better choices.

In Holly ...
*edit*
hmmmm this seems to have been cut off... what it should have said:
...
In Holly news... she pulled herself up on the little 'ballet bar' that they have in the infant room. She didn't make it to a stand - but with her feet planted against the wall it was very much a WaterSki-ing position :o) very cute.
We are SO. NOT. READY. for her to be mobile!

She's one of them...

Sun, 5 Aug 2007 16:32:11 -0500

Holly that is. She's one of the FrischKids for sure...

I think she looks like both of them. Just all mixed up :o) Ry's are from October '02, Ky's from late-March 01 - puts them both around the 7 month mark. (so nice to have an archive of pictures to just pull from when I want to :o) )

Horsing around...

Sun, 5 Aug 2007 07:37:27 -0500

I had a bunch of videos from yesterday.... I had to pull out the best parts, moosh them together, and of course add music. Then I had to convert it to something smaller so that it wasn't 26mb anymore ;o) - finished product isn't what I'd like it to be... I'd like the song to start further in, and end just after the chorus, but I don't feel like spending my weekend trying to tweek it !!!

7 months! Rocks and Horses

Sat, 4 Aug 2007 15:46:44 -0500

Holly turned 7 months old yesterday!
She's sitting up perfectly - and sits in groups with her friends at school to 'play' - errr... steal toys from unsuspecting passersby ;o) she's eating little stars and wagon wheels and cheerios. Last night she had a little rice at the daycare center birthday bash, and this morning she had some of my waffle and a little banana when we went out for breakfast. Still no teeth though!

This morning we took the rocks out of the tumbler, cleaned everything up and set them back up for Stage 2.

Here are what they look like 'before' and 'after'

and Ky with his newly tumbled stage 1 rocks before putting them back in...

In you go!

And today Ky had his first Riding lesson... he met Minnie the Pony, brushed her and learned to lead her while walking.

He learned how to start and stop, and did some trotting too :o) he said his favorite part was the trotting and wants to know when he can ride a 'big horse' :o)

He had a fabulous time - we'll be going back for more!

Kyle and Bible reading

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 13:43:06 -0500

So Ky and I read the rest of the story of Noah and the ark. Then we started to read about Abram - who became Abraham and his wife Sarai, who became Sarah. And their travel around the desert. We stopped at the point just before the story of Abraham offering his only son Isaac. I checked in with Mom on this after Ky had gone to bed, then moved the bookmark to the chapter after this. I feel kinda funny skipping it - but I'm just not sure Kyle can understand sacrifice, what it means, and he might get really caught up in it. I think I may try to find a way to come back to it later - after talking about how it ends first :o) but for now we're going to skip it and come back later.

In the meantime, Kyle was very interested in Communion on Sunday. Asking what we were doing and why. So we may skip WAY ahead to read about the last supper - but this doesn't even really answer the questions he's going to have. He's going to want to know HOW the bread is Jesus' body and the wine his blood. I need to find some age appropriate way to talk about this I think.

Baptisms and Birthdays

Sun, 29 Jul 2007 18:13:49 -0500

Today was a busy, busy day.

First, we baptized Holly - we don't have a ton of pics - we were too busy!!! But my brother got this one of us:

And we have this one of Holly and Pastor Moyo:

In the morning the boys were being very silly - I requested them to 'stop acting like Uncle Dougie' - which got a nice chuckle from my Dad who was walking by...

And we had Cake!!
First we had cake at the church - Marilyn, the church Secretary *made* this one (and she complained that the roses aren't as good as she used to make them!!!)

Then we had a cross cake for holly:

And Kyle's Pikachu cake - before frosting:

and after:

The party was a success even though I still felt unprepared 1/2 way through it...
There was swimming:

There was bouncing - but I didn't get a picture of that.

There was more cake. There was ice cream, lots of food and lots of pizza. And watermelon...
Mostly, there was the company good friends and family celebrating two important events.

We ended the day opening the remaining presents:

Holly with her new Pooh:

And some silly time with Uncle Dougie:

Then some 'downtime' as Daddy got Kyle started on his new game for his DS (Pokemon Ranger)

..
Kyle also received his very first Webkin from his friend, Andrea.

A great choice! We love Pandas (and most other fuzzy animals, or animals that swim, or crawl, or - well - breath) !!!
We're exhausted and would love to spend the next week sleeping - but that just isn't to be.

Somehow I totally neglected to get a picture of Holly with her GodParents - we'll have to setup a visit to rectify that (thankfully, they live fairly close to each other - just not to us!) - maybe we could plan a visit to one of your places of residence, and we could be so bold as to invite the other family over!!! :o) (also, thankfully, they like each other!!!)

Birthdays Come, Birthdays Go

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 12:03:35 -0500

Kyle had a great Birthday. Of course the big party isn't here yet. But on the actual day - he got to go on a field trip to one of his favorite places... the Breezy Picnic Grounds and Waterslides. There's a lake for regular swimming - and of course the waterslides. And he's a 'swimmer' so he gets to go down alone - weeee! He had a fabulous day. A few sad moments when I told him we weren't going to swimming lessons (they came back too late from the field trip), but then he rallied again when we went to the grocery store. We stopped in the dollar store to order balloons - and he got his annual 'special balloon' - this year he chose a huge dolphin!

At the grocery store we picked up a chicken for dinner (yum! love grocery store rotisserie chicken!) and a Carvel cake for the family. And of course he got to open gifts from us :o)

Steve had gotten him a special Transformer - a "JetFire like Daddy's - this is a shelf toy".

Ryan got him Pokemon Red something something for his Nintendo DS, and we all got him a rock tumbler - with all the fixings to tumble some great rocks.

The tumbler was set up last night - and in 7 more days we will open it up, wash everything up, take a look and oooh and aaah, then packe them back in with 'stage 2' for another 8 days. Repeat for stages 3 and 4. Kyle chose some of the rocks that we had ordered with the tumbler, and added some from his own collection as well. It will be neat to see what we get!

The tumbler is downstairs - it is actually pretty quiet considering it's rolling rocks around in there!

There was a minor mishap with the candle when I pressed too hard into the ice cream cake - and it snapped at the joint of the 7.. thankfully, candles are wax and easily melty to fuse back together. Funny enough - the wick does not extend down into the break - a very short wick. But I supposed it would be useless once you can't tell it's a 7 any longer - but then, couldn't I use it as a '1' ?

Me? I've never been so unprepared for a party. I keep reminding myself that I have more done than I think I do - the cakes are mostly ready - they just need frosting the morning of. I even have most of a plan for food. We decided to order pizza, but I've made some ice cream (vanilla, and mint-chip) and I have a selection of other things I'll have out. We still need drinks, but that's just a grocery run. What I don't have are the favor type things. I'm thinking something more along the lines of a 'gifty' type thing - maybe shirts - but ummmm Idon't have time left! So we'll see what Walmart has in store for me. In the past this is something I've taken care of weeks in advance. Maybe this is my Inner Aries showing through :o)

...
Holly really liked the balloon too (balloon not pictured here):

7 years

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 08:46:11 -0500

7 Years ago today - I became a Mom :o)

Happy Birthday Big Guy!!!!

Cake, Fevers, Bible-reading

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 10:09:23 -0500

It's a busy week this week. Getting ready for the party on Sunday - there will be a Pikachu cake...

This is not the actual cake - ours is currently assembled, covered in a layer of raspberry jam, and a layer of chocolate ganache, and hanging out in the freezer. I'm thinking a 2nd layer of ganache is in order (you *can't* have too much chocolate!) then it will be ready for the yellow frosting come Sunday morning.

To complicate the week Holly has been home with a fever. She picked up a cold on Sunday - sniffly type stuff - and Monday was sent home from the center with a 101 fever. She's mostly happy anyway, when the fever starts creeping up she gets crabby. I leave her be until she's really crabby then she gets tylenol which knocks it back down and puts a smile on her face again. But overall it's not so bad. Yesterday she seemed to be tugging her ear just slightly more than usual (aren't ears playthings??) so we visited the Dr for a looksee. There we found out that the ears are A-OK and that her pediatrician has gone into labor (we saw another partner). Dr T isn't due until September, so this is 6 - 8 weeks early for her - all prayers and good thoughts for a healthy baby there are appreciated.

Her fever hit 102.5 yesterday, but is down at 100.4 today. Which is only barely a fever. She's also 'normal' - she's bouncey and happy. So I'm thinking she'll be fine - if not by this evening then most definitely tomorrow. Phew!

The side benefit of having to be home with her is that I've gotten some laundry done and some extra cleaning so that it won't be the awful can't-get-everything-done-in-time rush that we would have had on Saturday. Yay for someone looking out for me!

Yesterday in the car on the way to swimming Kyle asked me "Mommy, is everything in the Bible true?". Which threw me. It wasn't something I expected, and generally these questions are lead in to something 'bigger'. So I said Yes. (The keep it simple approach). And asked why he was asking that particular question. He didn't want to tell me. OK. A few seconds later he said he was ready to tell me... "my friend, R, said that it says in the Bible that in 5 years we are all going to die" (!!!! - nice friend). So I say "Sweetie, you don't have to worry becaue the Bible most definitely does NOT say that" - 'you've read the Bible?' (add appropriate level of surprise tone to that)... Yes. And if you would like to read the Bible so that you know what it really says, I have a Children's Bible that we can start reading together.

He did not forget. He came to me last night and reminded me. So I took out the old book - it's a book of 'Children's Bible Stories' which is the story of two children that visit their Aunt and learn the stories of the Bible. Last night we read the story of The Beautiful Garden (which was kind of scary in that Adam and Eve disobeyed God and he was angry and banished them from the garden - but Ky didn't seemed phased). He's looking forward to reading about Noah and the Ark tonight. The book belonged to either my Mom or my Dad - and the binding is falling apart. I have a feeling it may have been given to them by a former owner as well. It happened to surface last week while I was cleaning my dresser looking for my Mommy bracelet...

Sealie

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 15:57:15 -0500

In '05 we went out to California. During that visit we stopped in at the LA Zoo. We had fun and all got very, very tired. On the way out we stopped in the gift shop - and Grandpa Hap and Grammy Carol bought each boy an animal. Ry got a snake and Ky got 'Baby Sealie" who is really a Sea Lion - but who can correct a 5 year old on these things?

Baby Snakey was played with and carried here and there for a while. Then Ryan developed a new favorite. Snakey comes out periodically and is instantly a favorite again, but never irreplacable it seems. Ryan's interests change from time to time.

Not so with Ky - Sealie is THE toy of toys. In fact, she has shrunk a little from being washed. When it became obvious how important the Seal was (she was misplaced for a few days) - we made the call and requested a few more as 'backup'. At one point Ky misplaced her and she had been missing for about 3 days. Steve and I debated - should we give him a new one? Would it be the same? We can't just pretend she's the same because these are fluffy and new and 'normal sized' not well loved and worn and shrunken. So during a sad moment, I asked him - "Ky - I happen to have another Sealie. I know it's not the same as Baby Sealie, but would you like to have her? Would it help?" and his eyes lit up. So I retrieved a 'spare' and he was thrilled to pieces. He named this one Water (not sure why) and life was good. A few days later The Original Baby Sealie reappeared and wow - Kyle was so excited to have not one but TWO!!!.

Then we came to the cruise time last year. Hmmm Ky wanted to take Sealie. I decided that wasn't the best idea - but Hey! We have another spare. How about if you take this 'extra' Sealie that Mommy has and leave Baby Sealie here at home where she is safe. Then if something happens you know your Baby Sealie is still safe at home. Phew This was good thinking. He lost her on the ship! We were walking from the cabin to lunch and somewhere along the way he dropped her. Never to be seen again. We checked repeatedly with Guest Servies but she didn't turn up. We found a lovely stuffed Dolphin in St Thomas that got him through the cruise and he was very happy that Baby Sealie was safe and sound at home.

Now he has requested that Holly have a baby sealie - so another came out (yes, at some point I found someone online that sells them so I bought 5 more!). Sealie is far from baby-safe - with whiskers and eyes that can come off, so she doesn't actually get to play with her much, but it's hers all the same.

He has 2 sealies now - though they are Baby Sealie 1 and Baby Sealie 2 - 'Water' dissappeared at some point and hasn't resurfaced.

But I totally understand - I had 'blankie' . And though it's folded neatly on the shelf in Holly's room, it's really mine. I can pick it up and snuggle it and smell it and my childhood comes running back at me. And it just makes me feel ... secure? (ie 'security blanket' I suppose). :-)

This story - which I found through another link on another blog - brought this up for me. Funny how as parents we share so many similar things...

Peaceful Slumber

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 10:56:26 -0500

It's been 4 nights now that Holly has slept all the way through :) 10 - 11 hours!!! Last night she was too tired to make it to bedtime, and was down for the count on the couch by 7pm. Normally, this is just a quick nap and something happens to wake her up. At 8:15 or so I brought her to her room to change her. I had the old dipe off and was working on the new dipe (still sound asleep) when Kyle asked something loudly in the hall and woke her. Otherwise, she probably would have just slept through the whole change!

I finished up and snuggled with her and the bunny, but she settled right back down. No reading for us last night! Didn't hear from her until 6am this morning. Nice. This makes a happy Mommy.

...

Shortly after Holly woke up and came in with us, Ry knocked on our door - 'It's MORning! I don't want to sleep!' :o)

Bedtimes

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 20:23:45 -0500

At bedtime each night Steve reads two chapters of our current The Magic Treehouse book - apparently, we're down to the last 3 published - so if anyone has suggestions on the next set of chapter books in a series that we can read it's appreciated.

Last night I was about to rock Holly (yes, most nights I nurse/rock her to sleep - still. Mostly, because I *can*)... and I heard them reading. So I 'wrapped' her up, designated a pink bunny as 'Bedtime Bunny' and wandered in to grab some age appropriate books for her reading pleasure. I rocked and read her two stories, then snuggled with her and BB for a minute or two until she curled into me all snuggly-like. Then eased her into her crib and popped in the 'binky'. "Goodnight sweetie, I love you. Goodnight Bunny" - and out I went. She never made a peep. Tonight was an almost identical repeat. Yay! Routines are good - we just have to keep up our end of the bargain....

In other sleeping news - besides the sleep routine we're 'officially' starting - she slept from 8pm until 6am this morning!!! Or closer to 6:30 actually. It's been a while since she's slept through the night - she had been doing a 6 hour stretch, which according to the books is 'through the night' but in reality it was only 8 - 2!!! That's not through MY night :o) so this is much better. I may have contributed to this - last week and over the weekend I let her go to sleep at 7:30 - 8pm, but then woke her at 9:30ish or 10 to change and nurse again. She'd go right back to sleep, but then the 6 hours was 10 to 4 instead :o) Sunday night we didn't wake her and she slept from 8 to 4 - which was super nice... then last night the 10 hours... so maybe I contributed to this new pattern... either way, I LIKE it!

Time will tell

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 11:36:59 -0500

Today is apparently a day for little blog updates...

Kyle has recently absorbed that a minute is 60 seconds. He 'knew' this before, but couldn't put it into practice. Over the weekend he would ask how long something would be...
"if it's more than 5 minutes I won't count, but if it's less than that I will"
And he counts to 60 for each minute.

I think it's time to make him wear a watch!

Other pics

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 10:02:35 -0500

Here's Holly modeling a Drybees Pocket dipe :o)

Kyle looking thoughtful

Holly's hair:

20 years!

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 09:32:40 -0500

This weekend we attended Steve's 20th reunion. We had fun and ate and drank with folks we haven't seen in 10 years - and in some cases more...

Apparently my brother has less patience with a camera than I do...

The Week of the Dr. . .

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 12:58:08 -0500

This was Dr Week :o) Holly and Kyle had their regular appointments on Monday. Kyle had Orthodontist yesterday and Holly had a follow up with a cardiologist today...

First - cardiologist because it's a scarey word :o) - she's fine and we are to completely forget that we were there until she turns four - when he wants to see her again. Basically - all babies are born with a small hole in the wall between the Atria (two upper chambers). 80% of these close by the time they grow to adulthood. Holly's hasn't closed. Right now - no big deal. Down the road - say 30 years... it *may* have a correlation to early stroke. *MAY* they totally aren't sure. So they check when she turns four so that we know if it's still there before she starts school - at which point it's just knowledge, and we still do nothing. But they may know more about it by then. Later in life we may wish to correct it - as they do with the folks that have had strokes who still have the little hole. But for now we are to consider her perfectly healthy.

Monday's visit - the rash is yeast and once we added anti-fungal stuff to the mix it's diminished to one stubborn tiny can't even be painful spot. Smaller than 1/2 a dime. She's got a tiny birthmark on her ankle that I thought was a scratch that never heals - which I realised when I pointed it out to the Dr. :o) No teeth yet. She's 17lbs 11 oz. And the Dr just loves her. Dr is very pregnant herself and may go with cloth :o) I gave her some pointers.

Kyle is 65 lbs!!! 4'2". He tensed up for shots so it really hurt - poor guy. But he's a picture of health - very boring :o) At the orthodontist we discovered he does not actually have an underbite but something the dr calls 'interference' - his 'fang' teeth are taller and his jaws line up so that the fangs hit each other - preventing the rest of the teeth from meeting - so he moves his jaw to compensate for it which gives the appearance of the underbite. He ground down some of 3 of his baby fangs so that they are not so tall. This 'helps' but isn't perfect. We go back in 6 months. His upper jaw is smallish - so he'll probably need some sort of something there, but not until he has more permanent teeth in.

How's that for a quick update :o)

I finished the invites last night for the upcoming party and have to pick up stamps to get them out today. Tomorrow we hit the road for my Mom's so that we can attend Steve's 20th reunion. Weee!!!

We ordered a bounce house and it came this week - why you ask? because for only $50 more than it would cost to rent one we could buy it. So if we use it twice, it's paid for itself pretty much. It's not the commercial grade or size - but we should be able to get 4 or 5 kids in there without a problem. We're bringing it with us to Mom's to test it out! Hee hee!

I don't think there is any other terribly interesting news. Oh - if you were planning on breaking into our house over the weekend while we are gone (since I so very nicely just broadcast that fact a few sentences back...) - don't bother. There will be someone here with the dogs LOL. The dogs like it much better that way - and so do we. They are older now and don't travel quite as well. And with the extra space in the Durango that we free up without the doggie crates we can fit more fun things - like a bounce house! :o) Weee!

Once Bitten...

Sun, 8 Jul 2007 09:29:47 -0500

We've heard that along with 'Don't Bite Me' - 4 or 5 times this week. I'm not sure if it's because Holly is teething, or if she's just not interested in nursing and has found a new way to tell me so. My yelling (it hurts!!!) scares her, so she starts crying and then I soothe. Bad cycle! I've learned not to nurse if she doesn't seem interested.

I stopped pumping at work a little over a week ago - so now we're almost 50/50 on formula/breastmilk, with B-milk winning out because of Holly's nighttime hunger. She spent two nights this week waking up WAYTOOMUCH - but is back to twice a night as of last night. Prior to that she had developed a sleep for 6 hour stretch - wake to nurse, back down until 6am routine. Which I'm fine with. Hoping we get back there again quickly!

We're waiting for a tooth to show itself - she's obviously hurting. The cold chewy things really help and she's suddenly interested in a pacifier at home (always was at daycare, but not usually for me - sometimes for Steve).

And the poor thing has a wicked diaper rash right now. Not sure what's going on there - but it really started yesterday. And it's bad - she's got a couple raw spots and the regular wipes sting. So we're down to just water for wiping and lots of air time. Cornstarch too. Looks like my Mom may have cursed us ;o) when we were down there last she said 'just wait - it's in her genes you know!' - My brother had rash so bad that he'd bleed at each change. No matter what my Mom did. Tomorrow we have the 6 month visit - so it's on the list - especially if she's still so raw! (with her lesser rashes, just using cloth, and more air time usually do the trick).

Kyle's annual visit is tomorrow too! My little guy is going to be 7!!!! Wow - he's come so far. I am so proud of my guy :o)

Yesterday I took Ky an Holly outside for a 'photo shoot' - have a look. One of these should make it into the invite for the Baptism/Bday party if things go as planned.

Lost n Found in the Washer

Fri, 6 Jul 2007 13:50:47 -0500

Why can't it just be change like normal families???

Interesting read on cloth diapering...

Fri, 6 Jul 2007 12:48:28 -0500

Came across this article today. The whole article is pretty interesting - regardless of your stance or how 'green' or 'crunchy' you are.

The last page is where you'll find her information on landfills and what-not. She mentions the recommendation that fecal matter and urine not be disposed of in landfills... something I briefly touched on once before...

Now, I've been told that our town sends the trash to an incinerator - so no landfill gets the few disposables that we do use (that was NOT the case for the first child, and most of the 2nd's time in diapers)... but aren't some of these things then released into our air? I really don't know - I don't know much about incineration - maybe I should go find out :o)

All your base are...

Fri, 6 Jul 2007 09:48:26 -0500

... belong to us!

A couple more pics...

Thu, 5 Jul 2007 21:06:42 -0500

Holly hanging out on the couch:

Kyle the 'Boppy Head' :o) :

The boys and the girl:

Holly sitting some more:

Oh Happy Bum

Thu, 5 Jul 2007 14:15:14 -0500

I just got a call from the daycare center. They are OK with us using cloth on Holly there. Yay!!! We'll supply a diaper genie for them to deposit the soiled dipes in an we'll empty it each night. Oh Holly's bum will be so happy!!!

We all Scream!!!

Thu, 5 Jul 2007 10:26:16 -0500

... for ice cream ...

Last weekend, something jogged my memory and I pulled out the ice cream maker. Of course ice cream 'maker' is a misnomer - it doesn't actually create anything - it just mixes and freezes what you put in there. So last weekend we made Chocolate ice cream from a very simple recipe (the 'Quick' one). Yesterday I picked up ingredients to make Mint Chip and Strawberry. They both came out really good! There's something really satisfying about eating your own ice cream - and the mint chip has a simple ingredients list: Milk, sugar, heavy cream, pepperment extract and chocalte chips. The strawberry is custard-based - so it has egg yolks, milk, sugar, strawberries, heavy cream, vanilla and salt. We added green food color to the mint and a little red to the strawberry to brighten it up. I voted for purple - but neither of the boys would allow me to do that. Maybe I can make my own version this weekend :o)

A Half Birthday!

Tue, 3 Jul 2007 11:45:54 -0500

Holly is 6 months old today!

She is sitting up very well now - only toppling over if someone brushes by (like crawling friends in the infant room, or over-loving brothers). She's working her legs up under her and pushing her chest up to something that resembles a crawl position - but I think it's a ways off yet. She can roll over from tummy to back and back to tummy - but she doesn't do it often. It was like "hey Mommy watch me do this so the Dr can check it off the list, then I don't feel like it any more!"

She's started a funny 'scoot'. From sitting she throws herself backwards so she's on her back (we tend to keep a pillow behind her if the carpet she's on isn't soft) - then she works her feet in a frenzy pushing so that she 'scoot's backwards upside down. She doesn't go far - but it's far enough that I can see she's moved.

She's also really started moving around her crib using this technique - she's usually backwards in the morning when we get her - but still doesn't roll over. Funny.

She's as happy as can be - though I suspect teeth are looming just under the surface. She's complaining a bit more (hardly any!) and last night wasn't too pleased with my groping her gums to see if I could feel anything.

She's even getting a tiny bit more hair! When we let it stay 'dirty' - usually from sunscreen, you can see it more clearly since most of it is a very light blonde.

Happy Half Birthday Peanut!

That big party looming in the future

Mon, 2 Jul 2007 09:47:23 -0500

So we're Baptising Holly this month - and there's a certain 6 year old that will be turning 7 this month. So we're having a big party to celebrate both. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate.

For those that get an invite - and even those that don't get the 'official invite' but would still like to come by :o) - neither child *needs* a gift. Honest. BUT given that they are children - I understand that we, as adults, generally have a *need* to give them something. First - if you are coming for the Birthday, don't worry about Holly. If you are coming for the Baptism, don't worry about Ky.

I'm working on a list of things that would work for Ky - his two big interests at the moment are Pokemon and Rocks. We're getting him a rock tumbler - so books that are age appropriate and focus on rocks, gems, or minerals are perfect! Or you could get 'rough stones' from any of a number of suppliers that we've found online. I'm working on a better list and I'll post a link to it from here for sure. In the meantime you can check out the books I've added to his . For a cheap, easy, sure to please gift - Pokemon Trading cards are way to go! :-)

As for Holly - are clothes appropriate for a Baptism? Are there guidelines here? You got me... If we go based solely on what she could use - Fall clothes in the 9 - 12 month size would be ideal. And she needs shoes - but I don't know what size yet - I'll work on that. Oh - and diapers! :-) we'll be needing more in the next size up... I'll figure out where I need to update her wishlist and make sure the links are updated. My Cottonbabies registry is completely out of date. I'll see what I can come up with. But BumGenious All-In-Ones in Medium would be great! It's getting wicked hard to squeeze her chubby little thighs into the smalls!

Now - having said all this - again - neither child needs ANYTHING. This is not a plea for gifts - but I won't go so far as to declare no gifts either... I'll work on the lists - I promise. Oh gee - I guess it's time for Holly's very own ---> - it's empty at this very moment, but maybe there will be an item or two by the time it gets it's first click.

Happy Monday!

--
I've added a registry at Wildflower Diapers for anyone interested in browsing what we'll be needing... search for 'holly'
---

I've added a short list of ideas for Kyle...

Another weekend come and gone...

Sun, 1 Jul 2007 18:25:34 -0500

Where does the time go ? This weekend was an 'at home' weekend. Saturday was Ry's last gymnastics class until September. Later on in the day we ventured out to the mall - Steve had come across a really cool deal at Linens N Things that I had to take advantage of - and I chose to pick it up at the store. So we hit Sears and the Game Spot because the boys were ready to spend their allowance on a new game. We had dinner at TGIFriday's and everyone was happy.

Today we started off with Church - where Pastor was fired up! LOL - he even let out a 'Wooo!' :o) Holly tried her best to participate in the hymns and chattered a lot. Ryan tried to take over the chidren's message time to talk about his adorable sister Holly - Pastor had started with talking about the 'Holli-day' - he has a sing-songy accent so the first part sounded like Holly. Ryan heard just that and decided they had something in common! We had special music today with two Flute and Piano pieces - Holly LOVED them. Big smiles - lots of open mouth open vowel sounds... And she was making huge smiles at the organist the whole time.

Kyle had a play date - which when I was a kid translated to 'Kyle went over the Chris's house to play today' :o) which left us with Holly and Ry. Holly took a nice nap and Ry jumped in the pool. I was able to get some tomatos and cucumbers planted and found all the pieces to our big canopy. We're slowing getting ready for our party at the end of the month. Oh yes, and I spent some time on the invitations too.

Kyle's back now, Ryan's dried off, and Holly is clamoring for dinner (the rest of us had grilled hot dogs - yum!). I'm catching up on laundry - but trying to remember I can spend time on it on Wednesday too. A holiday in the middle of the week - nice.

Happy Fourth ofJuly everyone! We probably won't be going to fireworks unless I can find some that are A: on Tuesday instead of Wednesday night - and B: we can see them from far enough away that they don't make Kyle cry. We'll see what's around. Have a good one!

Nature Lovers

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 11:01:55 -0500

Kyle has developed an intense love of nature. While Ryan runs around stomping on ants ("kill the ants, I'll stomp on them hurry! hurry!") Kyle hurries to protect them ("no! they are nature! let them be!"). While at my Mom's we rescued a Daddy Longlegs and a moth from sure death within the house and set them free outside :o) phew! (thankfully, he wasn't there for the black spider that was surely 3 feet across that was walking across my shoulders... ok maybe half an inch ).

While at Nikki's graduation the boys found a beetle. Kyle very delicately picked it up from the walking area and moved it toward the fence. I told him to just let it free by the fence, surely it would be OK there. But the boys are boys and they picked it up a bunch more times. Poor beetle was on it's way out. Ry came to me crying (yes it was Ry not Ky this time) - the beetle - we can't save him! Total melt down. I soothed him and explained that they had done their very best. That sometimes things are beyond what we can do to help. And he was just at the end of his lifetime (thanks Auntie Chelle for the Lifetimes books - I refer to it often!). Eventually he calmed down and then he discovered the beetle was gone! Where did he go? Ry thinks he flew back to Maynard ;o) thanks, we have enough bugs already!

** I couldn't find a picture of the beetle in question - so Ladybugs are better for sure - and I'll actually touch them too! **

Graduation Weekend - major pic post

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 20:49:28 -0500

This year my GodDaughter, Nikki, graduated from High School. Yikes!!! So we went down to NY for this occassion. As it so happened, the local annual Fireman's Carnival was that week. Weee!

Kyle and Ryan first went on a roller coaster:

And Holly watched

After which Ryan declared it was too fast. They went in the 'fun house' which was more like an obstacle course - and Ryan declared the slide too fast. Then he wouldn't go on any more rides. Kyle was more than happy to use all the tickets. He went on the 'big' bumper cars too:

Kyle and I had played the water squirting race thingy during a busy time and I won him a puppy:

And on the way out Kyle threw some darts and won Ry a green lobster:

We had lots of time on Saturday - so we went to the park again. We love the park. I remember my grandparents taking me to this park when they came to visit us. The trees are much bigger now though:

But the stream still runs through it and there is a new bridge - I seem to remember the old one was getting rather decrepit... The boys like to look at the fish in the stream:

And here we have Ry who looks like he's jumping in....

He wasn't - just running along the water.

Here's a random pic of Nanna with Holly

And Holly's first Big Girl swinging :

At some point over the weekend the boys enjoyed the hippoty hop and hoppity horse. Fun!

Finally, it was time for graduation. My class had around 160 people in it - same HS... 17 years ago. Nik's class had almost 400!!!

Here's Nik walking along:

Yayyyyy!!!! Nikki!!!!

And here she is after being declared a graduate:

Holly watched here too:

We had cake afterward at Poppa's (Nik's grandfather - not to be confused with Poppy - my Dad). And Sunday we got up to get ready to go home.

I had a rare Missy sighting - we never see this cat and I tease my Mom that she doesn't really exist:

We finally got home and we enjoyed the remainder of the afternoon outside... Holly in her walker where she has learned to scoot backwards:

And demonstrating her newest skill:

Finally, the ice cream truck came by - here the boys are flagging it down...

On Losing Dotti

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 13:32:17 -0500

Kate wrote Monday about the passing of a friend. I knew Dotti - not as well as Kate, but I certainly feel the loss. Anyone who knew Dotti will feel this. When I picture her - she's smiling. Always smiling - even if she was complaining she was smiling. She's one of those people who are just inherently good. I had only learned she was sick a week ago. So I'm still getting used to both pieces of news.

Working in one company for 10 years you work alongside of a lot of people. And my work family has grown tremendously over the years - between co-workers, people that I 'supported' as deskside, peers in other teams. We've shared loss before , and it's never easy. I could sit and count the number of work-folks that I've known who have passed on - but what would be the point? I believe that they have left behind pieces of themselves. They have touched my life and many others - and there is a ripple of impact. Dottie leaves behind her family - and many many friends.

Rest in peace my friend. You will not be forgotten.

It's back, it's back, it's back!

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 14:05:39 -0500

And I have things to write about - and pictures to upload.

Many thanks to Bryan from TitaniumServers for getting me back up and running today in spite of their servers really not liking my email address :o)

Big grins, class projects, food

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 19:49:09 -0500

Holly's walker hangs out in our computer room - so that she can watch her Daddy play all kinds of crazy stuff ;o)

Kyle's 'Eric Carle' Butterfly (pretty cool) :

My Holy Mole Flank Steak (yummm) :

I need to make a what?

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 09:36:03 -0500

Leafmon:

The boys have fallen into the world of Pokemon and Digimon. Yesterday morning Leafmon made an appearance on Digimon... he hatched from an egg. He's extremely cute - but apparently Ry had a meltdown during dropoff that he wanted a Leafmon. ??? huh? So Steve asked me if I could make one. Ummmmm.... I'll add that to my list. Somewhere in the middle of the Seal Costume and the Spider Costume - speaking of... have I mentioned the Seal costume?

A few months ago Ky announced that he wanted to be a Seal for Halloween. I looked at him and said Thank you - you have given me so much time I think I can handle that request. So I googled... and came up with lots of 'seal' mascot costumes - to the tune of around $750 !!!! Thankfully, I was already planning on making it. So I have a picture in my head and I'm working on it. i've got the top mostly done and the bottom mostly done. We're actually working on more of a Sea Lion than a seal - it will look similar to the infamous 'Baby Sealie' who is actually a Sea Lion. I have to tackle the head - but I have an idea of what i want to do there - it will be hoodie style with a 'face' stuck up on top where a visor would go - so no mask to cover his face... we can paint it brown if he'd like to match the fabric and stand out less... we'll see.

And of course while working on the seal Ry requested a Spider costume. This should be even easier and I've promised to start working on it when I'm done with the seal.

We'll probably BUY something for Holly - or see if we have anything already that will fit her... maybe the Bee costume :o)

My Buddy Sarek

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 15:29:31 -0500

Sarek is our male schipperke - he's working toward his 13th birthday. Way back when .... when we still lived in NY... Sarek had a seizure. It was scarey - Steve woke me up "there's something wrong with the dog!" - I came out of my sleeping stupor, saw Sarek and screamed "Oh My God there's something wrong with the dog!!!" (which is of course redundant - but hey - I was sleeping! We can talk about other interesting sleep-conversations later). That one was a classic seizure. Once the scarey part was over we knew what it was.

About a year later - he had a 2nd one. And so it was for a few years - he had an 'annual' seizure. None of the vets we took him to were terribly concerned - they didn't last long and he recovered fairly quickly afterward. And they were incredibly infrequent.

When we moved to MA things changed up on us - he had a weird episode that I later decided was also a seizure - but it wasn't like a typical seizure. And he started spacing them out further - more like every other year. I think it's now been 3 years since his last one - pretty sure since it was the summer we moved to this house. Well, until today... I was working on the back deck while Ky was in the pool (love wireless!!!) and I saw Sarek dragging his rear half of his body past the door. As if he had suddenly become paralyzed from the waste down. I recognized it immediately for what it was - because it's what he did last time. In the 15 seconds it took me to get him all 4 legs were affected. So I picked him up, noted the pee spot on the floor for cleaning later, snuggled him and promised I wasn't mad about the pee ;o) - after about 2 minutes things started coming back to normal. He could sort of stand, but wobbled over. By 5 minutes he was completely normal again. He never lost consciousness - but I found this video of a Chinook having a seizure much like Sarek's.

Poor guy - it really upsets him. But now he's fine again. We suspect it's heat related - he's always had them in the summer. Hopefully that's it for another 3 years!!!

---
Trivia:
What is the origin of Sarek's name? Come on - I know there's a few of you out there!

Father's Day

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 09:33:32 -0500

This weekend was mostly for relaxing. Other than gymnastics for Ry on Saturday we didn't have any plans. I picked up a little cake and we sang 'Happy Father's Day to You' to Steve Saturday night (can't have cake in the house and expect to not eat it can you?). Kyle spent most of the weekend going in and out of the pool. We also had Holly in for her first swimg - errr - float :o) as you can see in the previous post. We went for a walk/ride (grownups walking, Holly riding in stroller and boys on bikes) and stopped at a friends house for chatting. Then spent a leisurely evening at home.

The lawn got mowed - Steve spent some time working on the tractor... it's been out of commission for about 3 weeks. He finally got it to a point where he could jump it from the battery. That's an improvement at least (wasn't starting at all before). So he didn't have to beat the lawn down with a stick - which is a method almost preferrable to using the push mower we have... the blade is about 8 years old and doesn't do much more than the stick method - and it requires fuel to do it. So our clover and dandelions and crab grass are all an acceptable height again :o)

Sunday we spent time cutting up boxes for recycling... we tend to just throw them in a pile in the garage... now if we would do this every other week in time for recycling we'd only have to do a handful instead of 30!!! But we procrastinate a lot around here.

For dinner I made the Holy Mole Flank Steak that I had assembled on Thursday. The deck smelled incredible while it was grilling!!! And it was SO good. I caught Steve going back for seconds even. Even better is that there is enough left for another dinner tonight. Weee! The boys wouldn't even taste it - though Ky says he did, I'm not sure on that one. Tonight they will have chicken nuggets instead. I took a picture since I had put together a 'full meal' - I served it with asparagus and brown rice.

I have a picture of the butterfly Kyle made in school a few weeks ago too - it's made Eric Carle style :o) very cool. These and more are still on my camera - I brought it down *TO* my computer but then some shiney thing caught my eye and the pictures never made it up.

This Friday we have vacation days and are headed down for Nikki's graduation from High School - YAY NIKKI!

Videos...

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 11:24:29 -0500

Holly swimming with her big brother... see her feet going? And that laugh?

Kyle reading "How To Take Care of a Baby" - his contribution to the class book.

So much, so little time!

Sat, 16 Jun 2007 11:07:52 -0500

First- uploaded a new album for late Spring. It encompasses just after Easter through this morning :o)

Ryan's Kindergarten class at Daycare 'graduated' last week - think of it as 'advanced pre-k' - technically, if he had been old enough for Kindergarten it would count... but he's not, so he goes to public Kindergarten next year...

Ry had obviously taken Silly Pills earlier in the day - then was too tired to participate much...

Kyle with his 'published' book from class this year... Kyle in soccer.... Kyle with Holly...

All of Ry's Girlfriends:

The three:

Holly with her new hat:

Geeky Holly:

Holly on our bed:

Ky's feet with Holly's feet:

phew!
Those were my 45 seconds free - gotta run!

Dinner is served!

Fri, 15 Jun 2007 08:57:54 -0500

Back at the end of March we attended an auction to benefit the PTO for Kyle's school (they raised $30k!!!) - at said auction I 'won' a gift certificate to The Gathering Kitchen. I finally got around to booking my session and I went last night. I 'assembled' 6 entrees - well 5 entrees with doubling up on one of them. Holy Mole Flank Steak, 5 Star Pot Roast, Mrs. V's Pulled Pork, Greek Isle Pasta, and 2 of Shrimp Scampi Skewers. Since I was there without friends, I didn't chat and was all business. Everything was prepped at each of the stations and I just moved from recipe to recipe and put everything together. I seal them in big ziploc bags and label them with cooking directions. Into my freezer they go. So now I have 6 home cooked entrees waiting for me to defrost and cook - each serves 4 - 6 people. I loved it (and it only took me 45 minutes!!!). Oh, and no clean up??? It was so worth it. Especially the way I've been feeling about cooking lately.

So tonight we will have shrimp kebabs - I will let you know how they are - maybe even take a picture!

So, in the future if anyone has any reason to get me a gift - gift certificates are a good choice LOL!!!

I'm thinking this might be something Steve and I can do together - while not a cook, assembling a bunch of ingredients is OK for him. Me? I enjoy the whole thing - the textures and smells of everything. The colors. How things change when you mix them together (cocoa on a steak? can you do that??? )

But the next time I book a session I'll be sure to try to get more folks I know to go - and bring some wine! :-)

The Milk Memos

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 10:40:16 -0500

I so need to get this book...

And you can read a review here...

Written by two women working at IBM at the time who used the lactation room. And communicated via notebook. Why didn't I think of that???

Not a typist am I

Fri, 8 Jun 2007 11:59:15 -0500

Kate posted this.

I tried it the other night - I did it again on my laptop and scored better. It's a neat test for checking, but in reality I do better than my score suggests. The one word at a time is too hard for me - I tend to read a full sentence (or have it in my head) - I made much higher rate of mistakes because it doesn't let you continue if you miss a letter, it waits for you to hit it. So of course I've typed the entire rest of the word before I realise it's waiting for me to hit the letter I missed in the first place... If the test were to give me a paragraph, then just collect my mistakes and let me continue on - summarizing the total at the end, I would score higher.

The individual letters flying at me I totally sucked at. Down around 20wpm for them. Sheesh. (and I kept thinking the lower case L's were capital i's. And the right hand only and left hand only tests I didn't do as well on - I guess my hands are team :-) and my left hand is better coordinated than my right (yet I'm right handed - go figure).

But - still a neat thing. Thanks Kate!

He drives how?

Fri, 8 Jun 2007 10:52:22 -0500

For as long as I can remember I have been anxious about riding as a passenger in a car. Even while riding with my best friend while in High School (she's 3 years older) she would pick on me - "you're going to push your foot through the floor, Jen" as I unconsciously press my foot on the imaginary break pedal.

Years later, I can cope with almost anyone driving - taxi drivers still give me lots of stress, but I've learned to sit in the back and focus on something else and all is good. I've learned over the years to accept that Steve is not going to drive us off the road :o) I'm most comfortable with Steve - which makes sense. He's the main other person that I would be in a car with.

In recent years my anxiety has gotten worse (about all kinds of things - getting old and decrepit is one of them, but that's a total tangent). It doesn't consume me, and I do what I call 'beat it down with a stick and shove it back in it's box' - basically it's an internal dialog based on logic. I'm mostly a logical person, and this works for me. Mostly. But I have to be awake for that to work... huh? You may be wondering what sleeping would have to do with this....

Our family travels back and forth to our home town many times a year. A chunk of our family and our friends are there. It's a 4 hour drive if we don't stop. As long as I'm awake and functional (and it's not raining - rain is another factor) I'm fine with Steve driving. As soon as I start to drift off though I am just *Positive* that he's falling asleep at the wheel and what is normally just an anxious feeling immediately escalates into panic. Why? I'm thinking it's because I'm in that in between state of mind and I can't control the feeling the way I normally would. But in my mind we are drifting into other lanes, driving off the road, crashing. Is it worse because we have children now? Maybe.

Either way - today I had my physical and I raised this concern to the Dr (a new, young female who just joined the practice that I think I'm really going to like)... She summarized it as 'Your husband's driving makes you anxious?' Hee hee. In a simplistic way - sure. But really it would be whoever was driving at that point. She's prescribing a 'calming medication' for me. Of course I can't take it and breastfeed - but we're not going down again for another few weeks. Worst case, I discard the milk if I take it. But things have been slowing down in that area - so we may not even have to deal with it. We'll see what happens. (don't worry, I don't have plans of discontinuing breastfeeding just so that I can take this medication). But if I can function with Steve driving the long distance, then I don't have to do the whole drive - both ways. Which has been my 'big hammer' approach to coping with it.

so into my file the notation is made 'prescribed xx medication for anxiety with husband's driving' :o) (poor steve)

Classroom News

Tue, 5 Jun 2007 14:45:14 -0500

So I was in the classroom for the last time this year today. And I was there for 'news' - she goes around to each kid and they get to share some piece of 'news' - some were around the topic just discussed (attending various weddings - how fun!), some were based on current events ("daddy is going out to get the tv for the toy room today" - a new addition on the house), and then there was Kyle.... "soon it will be Holly's Half Birthday" - Kyle's world is HollyCentric to be sure! And yes - in just under a month, our baby girl will be 6 months old! How 6 of Kyle to remember the Half Birthday :o)

Mon, 4 Jun 2007 20:37:52 -0500

The blog was down earlier today - not sure what was going on, though I think my bill is due sometime soon. It came back without doing anything though - so maybe Titanium was just having trouble.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Hap!!! (yesterday)

Saturday we got a sitter and Steve and I went to see a MOVIE! In the theatre! I can't remember the last non-G rated film I saw at the theatre. The $$ rack up quick when you add up the cost of going plus the sitter... so it's a rare outing for the two of us. I got to pick the flick and I had narrowed it down based on what was showing - to either Knocked Up or Mr. Brooks. Mr. Brooks won out when I saw the casting... A very weird movie to be sure. I can't get into the weirdness factor without giving anything away so I pretty much will stop here. But weirdness aside, we both enjoyed it. It was just weird.

After the movie we stopped into TGIFriday's for a drink and desert - I had a blueberry mango marguerita... yuum!!! And a brownie obsession that I couldn't even finish because it was too rich.

Everyone was asleep when we came back. Yay!

Sunday was for church, where the Sunday School kids all got certificates. The first ones they gave were for two children who don't actually attend Sunday School, but they do come to church and participate in the Children's message, and Cynthia said 'help me out' :o) (Cynthia is our Lay Leader and she is the one who delivers the Children's message each week) - she then presented the two certificates and two plants to Kyle and Ryan - Ryan claimed his plant and was just beaming with pride. In the fall I hope to have my act together enough to have them actually in the Sunday School. It helps that there is a little boy there from Kyle's current kindergarten class too :o) After service I thanked Cynthia for including them and she said well what is Sunday School but learning about God? And isn't that what the children's message is about too? So there we go. I was going to plant the two plants (begonias by the way) yesterday, but was waylaid by rain.

Later in the afternoon I ventured out to Holden to pick up a set of chairs that I bought via craigslist. I was actually searching for a bike rack, but came across a set of chairs at the price I wanted to pay. At some point I may get the dining room clean enough to get a decent picture - we'll see. On my way back I stopped in at Sears and picked up a dress for Holly's baptism :o) yay. I was hoping for a dressy, white dress that was not quite the formal christening gowns, but had to settle for a 'short' christening dress. It's a little more formal than I was hoping for, but that's OK. She won't mind. I picked up a few more outfits for her - Carter's was 50% off - woohoo!!! And I ordered the replacement A/C unit for the living room (he had just sold the last in-stock one that morning - *sigh*)...

So there was our weekend. Wasn't that exciting?

Oh - and Sunday Holly turned 5 months old! I believe I have pictures somewhere...

How I get the boys to eat...

Thu, 31 May 2007 20:06:38 -0500

Meatimals!
That's a spider on the left with pretzel legs, and a seal on the right :-)

And yes, it worked.

Thu, 31 May 2007 20:01:28 -0500

Blogging whilst I moo -

Wed, 30 May 2007 12:13:03 -0500

so I have a few minutes - and just a few today! I have to get something up here. I owe pictures. We had a very nice weekend in NY/NJ. There was the BBQ at Denise's where Ry really wanted to play 'sink or float' - argh. At some point something will click with him right. Maybe I'll share the story later- at least we gave George an interesting story for the next party!

We met Michelle for breakfast, then went to the local playground/park. Got some nice pics of the boys by the stream, and a video of Holly's latest achievement. (I'll post it soon I promise).

Kyle lost his 2nd top-front tooth just before we went down a-visiting.

Hmmmm anything else? Holly finally got back to getting up just once overnight last night! Phew! It'd been a few weeks now. She's eating a little more at dinner now - and then a little more interested in nursing after. She's been on a 'snacking' binge where she's only interested in slacking her thirst - taking the full hour on a 5 oz bottle at the daycare center as well. She's taking it in, just not with her usual gusto.

Met with a psychiatrist for Kyle and Kyle will meet with him next week.

Steve's Mom is moving today and tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Hap this Sunday - as well as Happy Anniversary to us :o)

I think that's it for blurbs for the moment...

Old what?

Fri, 25 May 2007 12:59:40 -0500

So someone gave Steve a bag of whole bean coffee. And when we went down to Mom's last weekend I noticed a bag at her house as well - though the one there is named 'Doug E Fresh - as fresh as the man it's named after' - a gift I assume for my brother, who we used to call Dougie Fresh (hey, it was the 80's ok?). They don't have a coffee grinder. We have a coffee grinder. In fact we have two! However, they are still in boxes in the attic. That's what happens when you move from a house with a huuuuuge kitchen - of the 18' x 12' variety, down to a not-so-huge kitchen - like 11' x 12'... things get packed away... and not necessarily things you would think.

So today I ventured up into the attic. I did not find the coffee grinders - but there are several kitchen boxes I couldn't get to. I did find a box of summer shirts for me, the walker for Holly along with a cool lion/musicy thing on it, my meat grinder, and my missing cookie cutters.

While in the attic one of the boxes was labeled 'old cat5' - but the 5 was written more like an 's' - I was thrown for a second while I pondered what we could have possibly packed in a box labeled 'old cats' ;o)

Sometimes I just have to...

Wed, 23 May 2007 17:29:55 -0500

Yesterday morning Steve said 'We are out of book'. We are out of book? How can we be out of book? Have you looked downstairs - there's a gazillion of the things... oooooooooooOOOHHHHH . Out. Of. Book. I understand now. Steve reads two chapters each night from the Magic Tree House series with the boys. What he was saying was that he finished the last one we have and now we are 'out of book'. I get it now. Luckily (or not?) there was a book fair at Ky's school - where there was a plethora of choices starring the beloved Jack and Annie, along with dozens of other chapter books just waiting for little hands. It was a hard trip - Ryan declared he wanted his Gross Out! and Freak Out! books again because he can't find his, and he melted down. And by can't find he means that at this moment he doesn't know exactly where they are, but he hasn't looked for them either. Hasn't even thought of them until just now while he's looking at the shiney new copies. I eventually got him interested in other books. I picked up the next 8 of the Tree House books - 4 hardcover, and let each boy pick one more book.... and when she told me the total I almost passed out. I repeated it back to her and she nodded. The hard covers are $12 each. My face must have given me away - "would you like to put some back" she asked.... no, no . I just need to get used to it before I write that number down on this check :o) it's books. And 25% goes back to the school. I'm OK with that. It's not like I was buying candy or something. And these are books that they will pick up and read on their own later - when they do that sort of thing. So I'm really OK - it was just the shock.

Steve made sure to point out this morning that the hardcovers went to bed with the boys - like well-loved, cherished things, - and they were the first things that they took out of their rooms to the living room this morning.

Yes, I'm OK with that. :o)

Congrats Uncle Dougie!!

Sun, 20 May 2007 09:49:49 -0500

It's been a long road for him, but he did it!!!

Uncle Dougie now holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from NJIT.
The ceremony was LOOOOOONG!!! And at the Meadowlands arena - now the Continental Airlines Arena, but anyone from the area will always know it as the Meadowlands.

And because of that it was hard to get pictures...

Congrats Doug!!! This is well earned!

(fixed to change to BS I'm the one with a BA!!!)

Journey's Journey

Wed, 16 May 2007 10:06:23 -0500

So Journey - our 10+ year old female schipperke - is terrified of thunder storms. So much so that we have drugs to give her when they occur. Last night I woke up to thunder, and Journey pacing in the hallway, then climbing to the tippy-top of the rocker inthe living room. She had peed in the boys' room. And she wanted to go outside!!! Errrrgh. So I let her out back and cleaned up the spot. Then went back to let her in. She wasn't there. SHE WASN'T THERE!!!!! Somehow she had gotten out of the fenced yard. In the 900+ days we've lived here she hasn't done that. So I got in the car (it was midnight) and drove in the direction she usually heads. I didn't find her. I came home feeling guilty and tried to sleep. When the thunder stopped I was able to sleep a little better - at least she wouldn't be tortured while she wandered.

I woke up and went through the morning routine - and printed up posters. I told the boys what happened and sent Ry in with a poster to put up at school. And I got in the car and left for work. Just after pulling out of our 'neighborhood' I saw her running down the sidewalk!!! I zipped into a side street and parked (very crooked), jumped out and took chase. I followed her through all kinds of yards, and about 1/4 mile further down. Eventually she actually heard my whistle and cocked her ears at me as if to say 'oh. I know you. you're not just chasing me' - she started to come toward me, but then spooked and took off again. Then she headed back toward the 'main' road. Argh. I got her attention again, then walked away from her a few steps. She took a few steps toward me. I ran a few away from her (toward the car) and she jogged a little. So I started a light jog back and she followed. I got to the car and opened the door and she jumped right in. Phew!

She's safe at home now, probably sleeping. She needs a bath, but appears OK. I left her with plenty of water and two very large biscuits to eat when she feels up to it.

And thus started my day. How's your day going?

Rocks

Mon, 14 May 2007 18:41:57 -0500

Kyle loves rocks. He'll stop from a full run to pick up a rock that has caught his eye. His pockets *always* have some loved stone in them. I pulled 5 out of the washer/dryer this weekend!

Today as I was getting the 3 of the settled in the car after picking Ky up Ryan announced "Mommy! I have a ROCK in my SHOE!" (the caps are to emphasize where he does...) - without missing a beat Ky chimes in - "can I have it?" :-)

Mother's Day

Sun, 13 May 2007 09:38:25 -0500

Today is a good day to reflect. I'm so very thankful for my children. I do still remember not having children - and how much I wanted that to change. For those that don't know, or maybe just don't remember - we had a hard time getting here. At first. Kyle is a result of not 1, but 2 In Vitro attempts. . . And here we are. Who'da thunk :o)

So today I bring you my very first day as a Mom... :o) All three of my children are special. And loved more than I ever thought possible. But Kyle is my first, so he holds a place the other two do not (though they each have their own spot as well... Ry's is hard to define but has a lot to do with his cuddly nature... and Holly's - well she's the girl! And the third. Most likely the last.)

Happy Mother's Day out there to all Moms and MomsToBe. Hug your Mom today if you can. If you're not there, make sure you call her - she's important.

Holly Eating

Sat, 12 May 2007 06:40:46 -0500

The Movie you've all been waiting for anxiously, I'm sure...

No haircuts for boys :-( the guy didn't wait for us like he said he would. Argh.

Quick, quick

Fri, 11 May 2007 09:00:24 -0500

Finally, all tummies seem to be settled here in the Frisch household. Phew!

The puffballs - errr - I mean boys - are getting haircuts tonight, finally!

Holly has taken to eating like her brother Ryan!!! (Ky never cared for baby food) - She loves bananas and peas. She loves pears too, but we stopped after the first night since she developed a rash the next day. Turns out the rash is probably more related to the roseola that was going through the center - she had a fever first, then the rash. We originally thought the fever was from her shots... But since the rash is last and it faded so fast (before I picked her up in fact) there was no reason to do anything about it. Even so, we've moved pears to the bottom of the list. We'll get there again eventually. Peas is on the menu again for tonight and tomorrow. Sunday she gets to try something else new! I have some video of her eating, I'm sure her adoring fans just can't wait ;o)

Kyle's been doing OK in soccer - last week he got to play goalie and he made two saves! Ryan started gymnastics again last week, though he wasn't feeling 100% so he didn't participate a whole lot. I'm hoping he'll do better tomorrow.

School is winding down. Kyle is excited but nervous about first grade - as is his Mommy. But first a summer of fun and field trips!!!

We're heading down to see Uncle Dougie graduate from NJIT on Thursday. Yay Uncle Dougie!

Yep, I think that's about it from here.

some random pics

Tue, 8 May 2007 14:39:57 -0500

The trees in our front yard bloomed - and then lost all their flowers. Anyone know what they are? I still think magnolias, but I've been told they aren't. But who knows. . .

Holly is full of smiles lately...

Her eyes are still really blue - much like Kyles. I'm wondering if they'll stay... Ry's were always an in between color (and still kinda are!)

And look how much she's grown!!!
Her first model of the puppy diaper:

And now:

Sick House

Fri, 4 May 2007 08:36:49 -0500

Last Wednesday Kyle got in my car and announced that he didn't want to go to Peter Pan Center, he wanted to go home because his tummy hurt. I turned the car around. Not fast enough - He promptly puked all over the back seat (and himself). I felt just awful for him. I got him home, stuck him in the shower and his clothes in the washer. I happened to wash him in the shower downstairs so he noticed that his sneakers - which have lights on them - were lighting up in the washer (a front loader). So I turned out the lights and we watched the show for a minute :o)

Steve came home with the same bug that night. Steve was OK in the morning, though drained. Kyle had one more round. Over the weekend Ky picked up something else and has been running to the toilet a LOT ever since. Poor guy. He's missing school again today for it. When I went to get Ryan last night I learned that he had thrown up 3 times in the last 30 minutes or so. We got home and he vegged on the couch. He eventually got up to use the toilet... he's got both ends wreaking havok on him :-(

To round it off - Steve woke up sick this morning too. Now that's against the rules - he only just *HAD* this bug!!! he wasn't supposed to get it again! But that's the nature of a virus I suppose, they change and reinvade or something.

Ry is back to being bouncy this morning. Kyle just took him outside - yes, please, go breathe the nice, fresh air!!! Steve's in bed. Holly is at daycare with the healthy folks.

I'm going to have a cup of coffee now.

-----
The throwing up at school has become something Ry is proud of - in a way that only small children can display pride in feats like this:
"First I frew up outside. DEN I frew up in da book area. And DEN I frew up aGAIN in da kitchen!!!" all said with a smile - now that he's feeling better.

Tagged - sorta

Thu, 3 May 2007 19:54:32 -0500

funny - this showed up in my reader as a new post, and I failed to check the date when I read it. So this post here is in response to something MOM-NOS posted LAST year :o)

in response to MOM-NOS

I asked Kyle the questions - these are his answers.

5 things in the refrigerator:
1. milk
2. juice
3. orange juice
4. strawberries
5. apples

5 things in the closet:
1. clothes
2. toys
3. shoes
4. games

5 things in your bag ("could be your suitcase, or your backpack, or any bag"):
(ky asked if it could be in his sleeping bag - I said sure)
1. toys
2. blanket
3. pillow

5 things in the car
1. trash (geez must be my car )
2. seats (he means the kid's seats)
3. people
4. backpacks
5. blankets
6. TV

4 months! A diaper update . . .

Thu, 3 May 2007 14:04:19 -0500

Now that Holly is 4 months old, it�s time for another Cloth Diaper Update�

Fuzzi Bunz - pocket
This is what most of our supply is and what we usually use. They are great for daytime, and now that she�s in Mediums there is less bulk since we don�t have to fold down the insert to shorten it. With Holly they have about a 3 hour limit. For nighttime I add a doubler and she usually makes it all night. Last night I added a doubler and a cloth, bamboo wipe for a tiny bit more absorpancy and she was dry at 7am when she woke up (that�s about 12 hours of diaper time right there). The FB�s hold in her infant/breastmilk explosive poop very well. When they leak, it�s only fluid � none of the yogurty looking yellow matter.

Happy Heiny's � pocket
I had 3 smalls, and I have 1 or 2 mediums. I love the fleece in these � they are so soft! I find that these only make it about 2 hours with her. I don�t know if these time spans are because she�s a heavy wetter, or if they are normal � I do know I like to change her every 2 � 3 hours anyway, and knowing which diapers she has on keeps me honest, or I get wet! They perform about the same with the explosive pooping sessions as the FB�s. Works great at night with a doubler too!

DryBees� pocket
- pretty much the same thing as the Happy Heiny�s. In fact, I generally have to look at the label to figure out which it is

BumGenious 2.0 AIO
These are cute and easy, but also have the 2 hour limit � the cloth on the tabs tends to wick moisture out after that. As long as I remember she�s in it and change her accordingly we do fine. These are nice and trim, just a little bulkier than a disposable. It�s this one (in pink) that she had on the day I changed her at daycare and all the teachers ooh�d and ahh�ed over it. Also great at night (w/ doubler of course)

BumGenious 2.0 One Size pocket
My opinion here is the same as the AIO above � it just uses an insert instead of having it built in. And there are snaps to change the �rise� of the diaper in the front. I thought it might make the diaper bulkier, but it doesn�t seem to affect it at all.

Kissaluvs Contours w/ covers
I still love the kissaloves with a snappi under a Velcro closing wrap/cover � but it gets to be more work (entirely perception), and Steve won�t work with them. He�ll take one off, but he�ll put on one of the others. So they are my �backup� diapers. When I end up with all the others either in the wash and not dry yet, or dirty, I fall back on these.

prefolds w/ coversThese work great, I�m just not patient enough to fold them. When I do I use a snappi like with the kissaluvs. I�m always amazed at how well they hold everything in.

The famous Puppy Diaper (starbunz) AIO
What can I say? It�s fabulous. It holds in everything. It keeps her dry. It�s SOOOO soft and comfy. And it�s adorable too. The inner padding is two strips that flap out and are only secured on one end, so they dry much faster than other all-in-ones. And it�s just stinking cute! I�m always bummed when I have to take it off.

Bumkins � AIO
These I�m not in love with. They work OK, probably comparable to the Heiny�s, but I don�t like the outer layer. They are cute as can be � I have a Dr Seuss print and another one that I don�t remember. It�s got a nylon/plasticy feel to it, and when all the other ones feel so nice on the outside I just don�t like it. The Velcro is also much stiffer and I feel like if it rubs against her legs she�ll get scratched.

I�m guessing I�ll have more to say next month � once the newly added food starts to take affect!!!

And the doctor says...

Wed, 2 May 2007 13:59:51 -0500

That Holly is beautiful. But we knew that :o)

Holly measured in today at just over 75th percentile for head circumference, at 75% for weight, and just under 75% for height - that's our perfectly proportional girl!!

She looks great - Doc says she loves to see big babies. And she's happy with all the things Holly is doing: reaching for things, 'talking' - making lots of sounds, kicking and wiggling... acting like she might start to think about rolling over soon. The white, hard thing on her gums is not a tooth. It's something else that I've never heard from - basically it's a medical term for a hard little bump that lots of infants get. I knew it was in an odd spot, but she's totally acting like she's teething - so maybe I'm missing something else. She was happy to hear how Holly has taken to rice cereal (1/4 cup last night!) and we can go ahead and start adding new foods. She reminded me to introduce only 1 new one every 4 days or so... this is so that if there is a reaction we know what it was to. Introducing 5 new foods and then having a baby with hives (or worse) makes it really hard to figure out. So we'll try bananas tonight I think :o)

She asked about breastfeeding and is amused by Holly's attitude toward bottles. They are just fine at daycare. She'll even take a bottle at home from anyone, including me. BUT if I am in the house - she needs to nurse after the bottle anyway. If I'm not in the house, she demands to nurse shortly after I come back - even if it was just before I got there that she had the bottle. Funny stuff - so it's pretty pointless for her to have a bottle when I'm around. As far as breastfeeding goes - I've met my 'tiny' goal of 4 months. She's now getting about 4 ounces of formula a day - because I don't pump quite enough for her. If I'm with her, she can nurse exclusively and she's OK. She just does a better job than the pump I suppose. My 'medium' goal is 6 months. Ultimately, I plan to breastfeed as long as it works. Since pumping is going OK at work, life is pretty good. I still have a strong letdown - consider it a strong tingly, not quite burning, sensation. It's not quite painful anymore... certainly tolerable.

That's it for now :o)

A baby update. . .

Tue, 1 May 2007 11:04:41 -0500

Holly will be 4 months old on Thursday! She'll have her 4 month well visit tomorrow - our scale reports she's up to 14 lbs 2 ounces! She's certainly growing.

Around here there are lots of smiles. She loves to look at everyone's face - especially her brothers. And they are loving that she responds to them now. "She smiled at me! She smiled at me!" It's a world of love around here :o) She's moving around a lot more - kicking her feet when she's on her back and twisting her body, she often ends up rotated on her play mat - sometimes getting stuck in a corner. If she's been awake and playing in her crib, she'll have kicked off her blankets and turned about 90 degrees so that she is sideways. She's reaching for things, and actually grabbing them now - usually pulling them into her mouth immediately. And with a tooth trying to break free, it's no wonder. She's not that fussy about it, but when I rub her gums with the pad of my thumb, she grabs it and immediatly chews on it. Obviously, it's soothing.

We're still giving her rice cereal - we'll add something else after tomorrow's visit. Not sure if it will be oatmeal, or if we'll start with veggies.. we have both in house - I've been checking for sales and stocking up in anticipation.

I've just moved her into the next size in our cloth diapers - which gives us slightly less bulk since the inserts in the smalls are folded over - and they are not folded for the mediums. She's wearing disposables at daycare - and I haven't yet had the conversation with the director - about how much better the cloth dipes appear to contain her 'blowouts'. We actually rarely have anything creep out of the cloth diapers, even when it's a super duper bm. They leak when she has these - but it's just fluid, nothing that stains. The disposables just don't handle these 'event's as well... we never got a real answer from corporate on whether we could do cloth at the center - we all assumed that meant they didn't know how to nicely tell us no. But I'll certainly make sure to mention it.

The other thing the cloth dipes handle well is diaper rash. If Holly starts to get a rash during the week, I don't do anything special for her over the weekend - just make sure she gets lots of 'air time' and keep her as dry as possible. I have never used any diaper rash cream - and she's usually cleared up by the time she returns to the center on Monday. And they change dipes there every two hours, so it's not a matter of keeping a diaper on too long (they also change sooner if she obviously needs it - like if she poops). We love the center, and I have no problem supplying the disposables.. the other two did just fine with them :o) who knows, maybe I'll talk them into it eventually...

Finally - I was reading another Mom's blog about Elimination Communication. In a severely paraphrased nutshell - you watch and learn your baby's signals that they have to go - and use a toilet, potty chair, bowl, whatever - for them to go in. Instead of teaching them to go in their clothing, then re-teaching them later that this isn't really the right way, you're basically teaching them to use a toilet from the beginning... of course most of the ownness is on the parent. So in my own meager way, I decided it was worth a small amount of effort. And I can't stress how small my effort really is. I pulled out a potty (since we have several!) and made room for it on her dresser. When I change her diaper I hold her on the potty for a few minutes. We have had several 'successes' (ok more like coincidental occurences) with urinating, and one poop on the potty. I also take the opportunity to tell her that she's on the potty, and make lots of great sounds and encouragement when something happens - even if it's just gas :o) I've also started showing her the sign for 'toilet' - which is the American Sign Language sign for 'T' then rocking your hand back and forth. And I tell her 'potty' when I do this. She probably won't be able to actually make the sign for ages, but maybe she'll come up with her own version. Ryan picked up signs when he was less than a year old - he spent lunch time in a high chair next to a baby who was deaf - so Ry picked up 'Eat', 'more', and 'please' all just by sitting next to Andrew. Once his teachers saw him doing them, they encouraged it - and told me... of course we encouraged it as well... it was fun AND helpful. But that's a tangent - at any rate... Holly sitting on the potty makes for interesting conversation - with a 5 and a 6 year old in the house there are no secrets!

Kyle shared during 'News' at school last week that his baby sister sat on the potty. I was told he did a great job sharing the news - and their faces when I said 'ha! and it's true' were just priceless. So of course I had to share what we've been doing.

Again - I'm not following anything to the letter at all. I'm simply popping her on the potty when it's convenient. If she starts to show awareness of what's going on, I'll certainly encourage it - who wouldn't ? As it is, we've had one less poopy diaper because of it :o)

---
And congrats to my GodDaughter Nik and her cheer team - National Champs!!! Woohooooo!

A moment, a day, reflection

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 09:05:39 -0500

Yay!

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 19:47:16 -0500

I fixed it. Thank goodness for backups...

once said in a former life to someone who had just lost their hard drive:
me: "do you back up your data"
him: "no"
me: "bet you will now"

... not my finest example of compassion to be sure... hey - it was a bad day.

format almost back!

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 14:07:31 -0500

Found the problem with my formatting - my skins directory was hosed... go figure.
I'll copy it back tonight - in the meantime, it's fixed with an old backup of the css file :o)

---
Last few days have been eventful - Steve and Ky were both attacked by a very vengeful stomache bug (yuck!). We seem to be past it now, and Ky is back at school.

Yesterday was Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day - I volunteered. Next year I might be able to bring Kyle :o) he'll finally be old enough to participate. It was fun, but I came home with an awful migraine. Today my head is tired - but OK.

I'm sure there's a ton more to update on - like Holly starting to reach for things and possibly getting a tooth! But this shall all have to wait. . .

Look Ma! No Wheels!

Sun, 22 Apr 2007 19:46:37 -0500

Saturday, Kyle had his first day of Soccer this season... after soccer, we spent more time outside, then went for a walk. We stopped at his friend's house where she demonstrated her new skill - riding a two wheeler without training wheels... wow. Later one we were sitting outside our house and I asked him if he'd like to try - "sure" he said. So we popped them off. I got him started, and let go - ran next to him down to the corner and told him how to stop. He fell when he turned around, and landed with his butt on the corner of the seat! Ow! But I made him get back on, and we went back down to the house again.

I thought he might take some coercing to get him back on - I was SO wrong.

Today, Ryan had a bday party to go to... a friend came to spend time with Holly and I was planning to bribe Kyle with a trip to the park - but we had to ride there. While getting ready, Steve came in and said "I don't think you'll have to bribe him - he's ready to go. He's riding around the house now!" - Sure enough, he's up and at it. We rode to the park, played a little, then rode back. Later on he wanted to go for another ride so we all went - I walked pushing Holly and he and Steve 'lapped' me and ry :o) he's a little speed demon!! He won't be allowed to ride without someone more grown up with him until he can control himself better - and he needs reminders about staying to the side when a car comes... not just moving over, then moving back! But he's doing awesome -

See for yourself :o)

Happy Anniversary

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 19:55:06 -0500

To Deanna and Mark - 11 years - wooohoooo!!!!!

--
on a side note - I have no idea what happened to my formatting... I've changed nothing. Odd.

Happy Birthday Nikki!!!

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 19:49:45 -0500

My GodDaughter is 18 today! Yikes!!!!
Happy Birthday Nik!

Autism Awareness

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 10:48:35 -0500

April is Autism Awareness month...

Teddy Willis has Asperger's Syndrome - as does my Ky. Teddy wants to tell people what it's like to have Asperger's - will you listen?

-- -- -- --

Apparently, Teddy's school has reconsidered their original stand - well done :o)
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/111-04182007-1332295.html

Virginia Tech. . .

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 09:05:42 -0500

With the news on last night I felt like I should post something - and yet I didn't. The news continued this morning, and I still feel driven to put something up here. Some sort of tribute maybe, but I don't know where to start. My heart is twisted in a knot over the events of yesterday. It drags out the fear that I keep locked away so carefully. I looked at Steve last night and said - "So after 6th grade, we'll just home school. There will be no college." He knew exactly what I was saying - which was not that I would actually pull my children from school... but he saw the fear.

My heart aches for all of the students, the faculty and staff, the parents, friends, extended families. And for people like me - I don't know anybody there. Though I will probably know someone who does - that's how this works. Degrees of separation and all that. MOM-NOS has a much better written post than anything I could put here, and yet I'm driven to type away. But the people like me, who watch from a distance, and feel it anyway.

I'm working on controlling my fear. But should I? Maybe that's what we need - more fear. Though if I let this out, it threatens to have me locked in my house with my children, not allowing them to do anything - and that's not healthy either.

So for now - I continue on... as always the sun came up today - or at least it's behind all those clouds somewhere. So the earth still spins, the sun comes up, and we venture on with our daily lives. Life doesn't stop for horrible events like this. But doesn't it feel like it should? For a moment? And yet, maybe that's what we need to understand. Horrible things happen. They happen to other people and they happen closer to home. They affect us directly or they don't. But they happen - and yet life continues on.

I wish strength to those directly affected yesterday - strength to get through the next few days, then weeks, months, years. I wish peace too, but I don't think that's something I would feel any time in the near future.

We interrupt this Nor'Easter. . .

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 13:27:46 -0500

To bring you a cute Ky-ism...
No school for Ky this week - he'll be in the school program the rest of the week, but today is a holiday in New England. . . I'm working from home, and we're playing candyland - the regular board game version... Kyle had to use the bathroom...
"I have to go potty, can you pause it please?"

:-)

---
Just occurred to me that I should clarify - the board is next to me, and I take a minute from what I'm doing, reach over and take my turn, then continue whatever I'm doing while Kyle takes his :-) - so yes - mostly still working

Slow weekend... pictures!

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 09:05:25 -0500

March/April pictures... - Many have been here, but now in a collection!!

Not much went on this weekend.. we had pictures of the kids done at JCPenney on Saturday - I'll be sure to post once we have them. Sunday Steve and Ry went to see Meet the Robinsons (Kyle didn't want to go). It's dreary and rainy and windy... but it's not snowing!!

I Wanna Be A Rockstar

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 09:30:46 -0500

And really - doesn't everyone? I've recently added a new skill to my repertoire as a Mommy of little boys - I now can play a pretty mean air guitar. Now this is something my parents didn't do :o) Actually, as a kid I don't remember every playing air guitar. My brother certainly did - and later a real one... but I don't remember ever being so moved. Belt out favorite songs at the top of my lungs? sure... Steve asked if I ever did the tennis racket guitar thing - and that's a maybe. I feel like there might be a memory there at the edge of the brain, but I can't pull it up. So I guess that's close.

I've been thinking about Ryan's new ambitions lately - as I drive into work in the morning with my Big 80's station up nice and loud, yes singing along when so moved - which is often when I'm submersed in 80's-land. And I day dream a touch about what it might be like if my voice could actually hit all the notes in any one song... I'm very stuck in mid range - no high notes for me, and no very low ones either. So the stage is probably not for me... and yet a part of me that was long locked away... the part that surprisingly seeks to be the center of attention - so NOT the little mouse that tried to blend into the walls in high school... that part wants to be on that stage... funny how we find these things in our 30's...

And yet, what would I do with it? Find some band that would let me belt out a tune or two? Ha.... I have no such delusions... I'm happy in my car, with no audience except sometimes the kids..

Which reminds me ... my kids have a totally different type of exposure to music than I did. When I was the boys' age the family car was a '66 mustang - a car purchased new by my Mom when she was single. The radio never worked that I remember... but I do remember Dad singing... Ba Ba Ba - Ba Ba Baran (or BarbaraAnn as written I suppose, but that was how he sang it).... BarbaraA-Aaa-Annn - TaaaAAAKKE my haaa-aa-aand... :o) ahhh fond memories. Some of my favorites actually. And it instilled an intense preference for the Beach Boys in me.

My boys are constantly bombared with the likes of Blondie, Billy Joel, George Michael, etc... and in Steve's car they get more of Nikelback, Korn and lots of Classical music from the classical station.

It's not unusual for Kyle to get out of the car singing 'CALL ME!!! call me..." or Ryan humming some symphony or another. Maybe we're teaching them a broad spectrum... who knows? I know it would be really neat if they grew up to like the Beach Boys as a third generation of appreciation...

Of course Kyle has his own spin on things - he wants to be a Rockstar/Astronaut... hmmmm

Some fun...

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 11:00:15 -0500

Create your own Friend Quiz here

Hopping Easter

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 09:13:51 -0500

Easter morning was actually pretty low key. We leave plastic eggs out for the Bunny to hide (our bunny believes in the three R's - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle LOL - this was what I explained to Kyle). He also comes earlier in the night to our house, since we have plastic eggs, so they can stay out longer. He goes to the houses with 'real' eggs, closer to morning so that they are still good. :o) We have a smart bunny you see.

Bionicle: Axxonn helps out by holding an egg

The bunny also puts stuff inside the plastic eggs - usually coins and candy. Yummm! (ok not the coins...) And he leaves a basket for each of the kids. Holly woke me up right around 6am, so I just brought her out to the living room to wait with the camera for the boys. They came out (forgetting to wake up Mommy and Daddy first, as requested - but they did see the kitchen light on), and calmly checked out what was there - eventually turning the light on, after I prompted them. Once Steve came out, I allowed them to search for eggs - I had to send Kyle away at first because he was 'finding' them all - "there's one! oh! another there!' and Ry was just looking around, not sure what he should do. Ry still needs a little help, and the bunny seems to know that, so most eggs are right out in the open. Next year, the bunny may have to find a bigger room to hide them in... maybe the playroom?

How many can you find?

After finding all the eggs (OK all but 1 - and that still hasn't turned up... good thing they weren't real ey?) - we had breakfast and got ready to head out. This is our last year on the Newport Easter Train with Grammie, and it was just as enjoyable as every year we've done it. First, it's a TRAIN - so it's a winner with Ryan. Then the food is good, the wait service is good, and the view is ever changing. We go out of Newport through the Navy base, right up next to the Saratoga and the other retired aircraft carrier that I can't remember, through Middletown all the way into Portsmouth RI, then back again. About 3 hours total.

We headed over to Grammie's house for a little bit to sing Happy Birthday to Us - Grammie's going to be missing more birthdays since she's moving, so she wanted to have a celebration for all of us :o) I thought it was a great idea.

We came home, all exhausted, relaxed, ate some more candy, and went to bed. Ms Holly decided she's had this cold long enough, so she woke up with pinkeye - which of course prompted the call to the Dr that just a stuffy nose wouldn't do. But, the cold is just a cold - she said 'you're not a bad Mom - just experienced' - she would have sent me home with nothing for just the cold. So Holly stayed home with me with her gucky eyes yesterday and I got lots of drops in them. I cheat - I put her on her changing table and start her animals mobile - which she stares at with fully open wide eyes... then I sneak the drops in. No fighting!!! She's looking much better today and is back at school.

Of course I have pictures from Sunday - I will update later, once I get a chance to resize and upload them.

Holly wasn't in the mood for pictures

- - -

Last week we started something new with the boys - allowance. We had read a couple articles on the subject and came to a decision on how to go about it. It's not just allowance, but a whole plan of action. The boys need to be better about picking up their things. Steve can't stand to have them out, so he picks them up at night which I insist is 'enabling' and causing a cycle. The boys don't pick up because the toys magically get put away each night. But I hate how it gets, and I hated how hard it was getting to get them to do it - So we've come to a compromise - Toy Jail. The boys are still responsible for picking up their own stuff (it's our job to make sure everything has a home to begin with) - if something is left out and a grownup picks it up - it goes to Toy Jail. It costs $0.25 to get toys out of toy jail. They have needed small reminders, but overall the living room has been much better (though it's hard to believe when you see the Easter video - we really do have too much stuff!!!). They now get a weekly allowance which we pay them Sunday night - but they are also now responsible for purchasing their own toys (other than special occassions) - to get rid of the Gimme's every time we go to a store (again, we enabled this - they are spoiled rotten!!! We're just trying to make it a little more responsible and a learning experience). So they have to remember to bring their money with them if we go out, and then they can only spend what they have - no loans. Saturday was the first venture out, and I think both of them got a nice sense of satisfaction in picking out their own things and paying with their own money.

It'd be a great smile shot if her hand wasn't in the way

I think that's it from here for now - stay posted... I'll probably stick pics into the approrpriate places in this post once I get around to it!

Kyle shows his newly decorated marshmallow bunny head (edible markers - neat!)

Sweet:

Easter Morning (yes, the house has too much 'stuff' in it!! and Kyle loves his teddy bear jammies with pink trim... even though they are much too small for him :o) -

Dear Building Management

Fri, 6 Apr 2007 13:59:31 -0500

First, I need to tell you how nice it is to have a lactation room. Of course it's actually labeled lactation room, so there's no doubt about what one might be doing upon entering said room... but it's there and has a comfy recliner even, and that makes me happy. But I do need to draw your attention to one minor detail... temperature. You see the girls REALLY do not like it when it is cold. Really. It's inherent whether you have given birth to a child who clamps down on them or not. They just do not like cold. So when it's actually several degrees cooler in this wonderful room of yours than in the rest of the building, it's a littler uncomfortable. Forget the fact that I have to overcome the idea of the girls coming out in the building I WORK in in the first place. But now it's cold too!!!!

OK I think I made my point. :o)

Kyle's new skill...

Thu, 5 Apr 2007 15:37:12 -0500

A post of pictures...

Thu, 5 Apr 2007 14:42:12 -0500

I owe pictures... hang on, here we go!

While we were down in NY a few weeks ago, Steve and Ry went shopping for Holly - she had no 'hanging' toys... so they came home with this:

Which is actively enjoyed by all three:

A while back, Kyle created a Bionicle with 6 arms... he requested I take a picture of it so that he'd always have it...

Here are the beauteous flowers for my birthday:

Ryan being really cute with Holly

The kids with the bunny (Holly's in there.. I promise)

Holly with her first bites of cereal:

All three beautiful kids o' mine (and Steve's)

Holly lifting her head - a while back now... don't remember when I took this

...or maybe resting her head after holding it up is more accurate.

Kyle's new toothless grin

... Did I just cut Holly out of a picture? Oh my goodness!! :-)

Finishing off the day

Wed, 4 Apr 2007 09:55:46 -0500

Well, I worked from home in the morning, volunteered at Kyle's school, then went to the office for a meeting. Went home after that where Steve had flowers and Birthday Brownies for me (yum!). We had leftover pizza for dinner (Kyle decided he'd make a pb&j sandwich for himself instead), then we had ice cream cake and a round of Happy Birthday to Mommy and Holly (who was 3 months old as of yesterday). I had Kyle blow out the candles, since he is the least sick of all of us (I didn't think my blowing all over the cake was conducive to healthy children), and then we all had cake! OK everyone but Holly - Holly had her own celebration with rice cereal - and boy did she love it! I was planning to wait until closer to 4 months, but I swear she was actually drooling while watching us eat the cake... so I decided I'd try it and see what she did with it :o)

I pulled down the box of 9 - 12 month clothes since she's now fully in 3 - 6 month... I wanted to do inventory to see what we'd need now that I know what season she'll probably be in. And don't you know it most of it was turtle necks and sweaters!!! So for those of you that have been just dying to buy her something wicked cute 9-12 month in summer stuff is the way to go ;o) I'm guessing she'll start moving into that size around July...

We've got some family events coming up... Uncle Dougie is scheduled to graduate from NJIT in May, and Nikki is graduating from High School in June!!! At some point we'll squeeze in a Baptism for Holly too!!! Then there is Ky's birthday in July... busy, busy, busy!!! It must be Spring (and today we have sleet - Spring in New England!)

Happy Birthday

Tue, 3 Apr 2007 07:21:14 -0500

... to my favorite mug!

Given to me 10 years ago by my GodDaughter, Nikki

While, it most likely wasn't actually made on this very day, this is the day it would have been given to me, and so it's new life as 'Jen's favorite mug' began!

Sunday the boys and Steve loaded me up with presents. I got a shiney new pink phone (and we all know how I like shiney things...), a new video card so that I can actually play games - like the one they got for me!!! Command & Conquer Tiberium Wars :o) (yes, I am a game player.... now I just have to find some time.). The bestest gift hasn't actually come yet, but Steve put a picture of it in a DVD case.... Seasons 1 - 7 of Charmed - which I became addicted to while home with Holly for all those weeks. Now I can watch them to my heart's delight!

In other news... Kyle lost (and yet again swallowed) another tooth yesterday. He drew a picture and wrote a letter to the Tooth Fairy. Now he's missing his two bottom I-teeth and the top fronts are loose too. Pretty soon we'll have to puree everything for him!

Ryan has his Kindergarten evaluation on Thursday. He's getting more and more excited about going to 'Kyle's School' in September!

We all went to have breakfast with the Easter Bunny on Saturday - and we got a picture which I'll post eventually. Poor bunny didn't seem to know how to hold a baby though - so Holly's face isn't really visible, but it works. Ryan announced that it's just a costume :-( I'm not ready for them to give up these childhood dreams yet!

Last week I went into CVS for something and realised that I hadn't picked up anything for Holly for Easter - not even a basket!!! The boys would have been devastated if the Bunny forgot their Holly... She's all set now though.

Holly is smiling and cooing and giggling. She's lifting her head and shoulders really well and can 'sit' if I provide the balance for her (hands on either side) - she can't stay up, but she can hold the position. She's starting to use the exersaucer in small increments of time at school and occassionally here at home.

Work is going really well. I'm really enjoying the new team, and I have surrounded myself with supportive folks that I can grab when I get stuck on something. The team seems to like having me too - which is a plus for sure!

OK off to get everyone out of the house!

Ky's boarding video

Sun, 25 Mar 2007 17:24:59 -0500

End of season snow.. .

Sat, 24 Mar 2007 13:25:34 -0500

We are at my Mom's today - heading home tomorrow... Kyle had his first (and 2nd) snowboarding lesson today! He did great, though he still has trouble with confidence and thinks he didn't do well. He did some turns and learned how to strap the board on and take it off again. Next year we'll probably invest in the 'local' lessons that Maynard Recreation offers :o)

I took lots of pics and video - I don't have my little do-dad here to transfer the pics up, but will do it when we get home - stay tuned!

Holly has been doing great at daycare, lots of suggles... but she's very happy to see me at the end of the day. She's doing well with bottles, but still prefers milk straight from the tap so to speak.

Ryan will have his Kindergarten assessment on the 5th - yikes. But when he moves up into the public school, it will be just like getting a raise!

Work has been going well - though I left the little tiny pieces from my pump home the other day, so it was useless. I ran down to the corner and purchases a manual pump from Walgreens!!! Since I've never used a manual pump, it leaked all over my pants - lovely. But it got the job done!

Well, off to see if Kyle will go rest with me - we have a date with friends for dinner, and resting would be a good idea!

Re-writing history...

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 18:36:58 -0500

Kyle was working on the Presidents last month... he brought home this sentence:

"Lincoln freed the 16th president"

Friday, Friday, Friday

Fri, 9 Mar 2007 18:36:59 -0600

My first week back at work is complete :o) Also my first week with the new team, and my first week as a Lead. Lots of firsts around here! It was pointed out to me that while I do update on how the boys and Holly are adjusting, I didn't mention how I'M adjusting... so here you go:

I'm good.

There, that about sums it up I think! No, really. I happen to feel pretty comfortable with this - mostly because I've gone through it twice before. But, I also am familiar with the center she'll be in next week, and love the folks that will have her. It doesn't mean I won't miss her - but I miss the boys too. So we'll leave it at that. I'm good.

Starting with the new team has been fun. After a day to settle in, I was thrown right into the mix with our first dart throwing... errrr... schedule planning session :o) and now I'm ready for the weekend. Migraine and all - I think maybe my head didn't like the congestion mixed with the airborne and the decongestent... whamo - migraine city. It's day 3 of FirstMigraineAfterHolly, and I'm not happy. Excedrin keeps it down to a functional level of pain, but it doesn't go away. And I end up feeling drugged even though it's only aspirin, ibuprofen and cafeine. So, the plan is to get all three critters squared away for the night, then I get to soak in a tub and relax for a bit... yay.

Working Girl, pics

Wed, 7 Mar 2007 21:06:17 -0600

OK I've survived two days back at work!!

Actually, being around grownups again is nice. And having gone through this twice before, it's not as hard. Especially, since she is with Steve this week anyway. Yesterday I picked up the boys and got home around 5:30. Ms Holly was very happy to see me :o) She had only had about 6 ounces all day... but that's not too bad - the first few days that Kyle was without me he only drank 2 ounces!!! Today, Kyle had his social skills group so Steve dropped him off and I stayed a little later at work and picked him up. Put us at home around 6:20ish... she was very upset that I was this late. Of course that's prime witching hour for her to begin with. Not to mention that one of our petri dishes - also known as a preschooler:

brought home a nasty cold last week. He's still suffering, Kyle is starting to sound congested, I definitely have a good cold going on, and it seems like Holly may pick this one up too. She's sneezing a lot more and spitting up a ton!!!! probably from nasal drip we're guessing. It was bound to happen sooner or later with the two boys bringing all kinds of fun things home to share... but no fever, and nothing else alarming... just the bare minimum of a cold. Hopefully, this is as bad as it gets, I guess we'll see.

I have more pictures... I snapped the one above and these below yesterday before I left for my first day back. I printed them so I could have 'current' pics up at my new desk...

I have to say that the 'lactation room' - yes, it's labeled 'lactation room' - is very comfy considering it's an office environment. There's a lock on the door (yes, I've pumped in unlockable locations - eek!!), a comfy, upholstered rocking/recliner. A big table, a small side-table and a small fridge. And a phone, should I be so inclined as to call into a meeting whilst mooing. So far, I'm still pumping more than she's using - this is good!!! It's only a few extra ounces a day, but they add up over the long haul!!!

And back to Ryan... he had his McDonald's party on Saturday and had a blast!!! Happy Meals, RoboSapien toys, cake,ice cream and PlayPlace... what 5 year old could ask for more ???

Oh, I knew I had more to share... Mom says holding Holly is like looking at me (since I've never held babyMe, I couldn't really say)... what do you think?

I'll see if I can find a better pic of straight on her face... and obviously I had more hair. What hits me about me is how much I look like my Dad!! And my Mom says when each of the three of us was born we were all his spitting image. Someone (can't remember if it was my grandmother or a family friend) comments "there's another Orv!"

Quick!

Wed, 7 Mar 2007 10:01:14 -0600

Just a quick - during the workday - post...

Holly slept ALL NIGHT!!! That's 8:30pm to 6pm...

Dual doctoring

Mon, 5 Mar 2007 12:08:56 -0600

Today was Holly's 2 month visit and Ry's 5 year visit. Both look great - Ryan is hanging out in the 15th percentile for height and around 50th for weight - pretty much where he's been the last two years. He's gained 5 lbs and 2.5 inches since last year. Holly is growing, growing, growing!!!

Both needed vaccinations - we had Ryan go next door with the nurse for his vision screening and other games while we took care of Holly's first. I didn't want him to be upset about hers when he got his. Then he and the nurse came back and the Doc and the nurse double teamed him - two in each arm. He was upset, but didn't cry. And now he has a bunch of new bandaids to show off to his friends. Next year he'll need just one - then he's done for a while.

So now Ryan is all set for kindergarten in the fall, and Holly is set for daycare next week! I go back to work tomorrow. I'm very ready to be around grownups again... but if I could keep her with me I'd be very happy!! Steve's home the rest of this week - some quality Daddy-Holly time. He went over and volunteered in Kyle's class today too :o)

Prayers for Ethan

Sun, 4 Mar 2007 07:55:20 -0600

Our friends Brian, Carolyn and Ethan - could use prayers, good thoughts, general good energy focused in their direction... Ethan will celebrate 2 years post bone marrow transplant this month after a leukemia diagnosis at 6 months old. ... and they just got some disturbing blood work... more details are provided on their site. Our family is praying for strength for their family through the anticipation and waiting for more tests - and of course for positive outcomes.

friends...

Sat, 3 Mar 2007 08:34:53 -0600

In high school and college, friendship was easy. We were thrown together with dozens (or even hundreds) of other kids. It was almost impossible to not come out of there withat least one friend. And in my life, the 'click' doesn't happen often- that feeling you get when you develop a real, true, friendship - one that withstands months on end without contact. The kind that when you say 'I'm your friend and I'll support you' - you mean it - even if it means supporting a decision you don't agree with. The BIG friendship.

Now, I know a fair amount of people. But finding true friends like that is HARD! It's very rare for me to find that 'click'. Before we moved from the blue house as the boys called it, to the green house - almost an hour away... there were a few folks there that I was close to hearing that click. Or maybe 'hear' isn't right since it's more of a feeling. Then we moved, and one of them moved too - much farther even. Distance is hard on budding friendship. If the click isn't there yet, then you can drift.

But the good, close, friends that I do have - are from childhood and college. Michelle and Deanna... The two that I could say anything to. Cathy is up there too, but that's a funny friendship that had a big pause in the middle - maybe a story for another day. Or maybe not... I have yet to find that up here in MA. I miss them dearly (I'm sure they know that). And I don't mean to give my other friends the short end of the stick here (like Liz!!! but I think I'll talk more about you in a minute). And I find that without thedynamics that existed back then - where we are not constantly together, so finding someone with the potential for a click is hard. I was only just getting there in the town we moved from, and we had been there for 4 years. It's something that can't be pushed, but if you don't push yourself you won't find it.

And not everyone is like me, I'm sure. There are folks around here that I am friendly with, thatprobably have that click potential. But I don't make the effort. And I think it's my inner selfprotecting me. What if we move again? Where will that leave me? I'm perfectly happy to chat with other Moms at the bus stop, or at school functions, or birthday parties. And I really, trully,
like a lot of them. But I stop there. I don't extend myself to make a phone call. Or send an email. I just stop. Of course part of that is just my dislike of the phone. Weird, I know, but I hate to call people. Once I'm on the phone I can gab with the best of them, but dialing that numberis painful. Even if it's Michelle or Deanna on the other end. Go figure.

I figure I have a touch of Kyle in me. Asperger's - and it makes sense. Dad clearly has it, and it definitely has a genetic link. But that's not where I'm going with this.

Steve doesn't have a lot of friends either. There is Paul of course. There has always been Paul :-) Can I name anyone else that he has that click with? Not offhand. Though I'd venture to say he probably has it with Mark. Mark was inherited. Married to one of my closest friends, it's natural for a relationship to develop between the guys. Hey, that brings me back to Liz. I think that click is there - haven't quite heard it yet but I'm close. (hmmm am I weirding you out Liz?) In the beginning the effort was there simply because she was the other half of Paul. But after time and outings, and kids, and all kinds of things, I think I'm starting to hear it. But it's been, what 10 years? And again, I'm not saying I don't like her - I love both of them like family!!! It's that 'let's you and I go out drinking and tell each other our inner most secrets' kind of thing I'm looking for.

And again, Steve has more friends - mostly at work where that immersion happens. You're with people every day for 8+ hours, you're bound to find someone there that you get along with.

This whole friendship thing has been on my mind for a day or so. Wondering why it's so hard for me to make that initial effort. But then there is ongoing effort. While the friends that have clicked don't necessarily require a lot of maintainence, it takes effort to get there. I'm not
depressed, or down, or sad about this. I'm really just wondering why I find it so hard to do.

Ryan's birthday party is today at McDonald's :o) an easy reason to get some Mom's together without making any effort on behalf of me. And maybe that's it... I'm not high on my list of priorities.I'll take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves, but extend something just for me?
*shiver*

We have a 'date night' coming up. Maybe I'll invite some friends to come along...

Check out that moon!

Fri, 2 Mar 2007 12:58:40 -0600

OK. So Kyle and Ryan were having some sort of disagreement - in fact, it's a common theme lately, due I'm sure to the major change in family dynamics. Or maybe just because they are brothers and it's nature who knows? But Kyle came out and complained that Ryan had yelled at him. When pushed he fessed up to messing up Ryan's trains, and something else Ryan had done 'first'. So I have them both come to me (in the midst of all this Holly is busy nursing away of course)... And I tell them that they are obviously having trouble being kind to each other - so I have them face each other, and I have Kyle say "I'm Sorry, Ryan. You're my brother and I love you" - which he does. Then I repeat it to Ryan. Who turns around and moons us...

No really - full moon out there guys.

It took every ounce of parental control that I've ever had to keep my face straight. He was reprimanded and sent to bed (he came back out later and asked if he could be good.... )

I succombed to the laughter after they had gone to bed.

Clean

Thu, 1 Mar 2007 14:06:42 -0600

So after a while of having the house smell like a mechanic's garage every time we do laundry - we bought the new washer/dryer. With the stackable units I get some space back, though the cats lost their dining area - we had to dig out an old table to correct that :o)

Sleep = Good

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 08:15:33 -0600

Just felt the need to report in - Holly was fed at 8pm last night, then went to Steve (I got to go to bed at 8:30 - yay) - Steve reports she went to sleep around 9:30 (after watching most of SG1 with him). She slept until 1am. That's a 5 hour stretch from feeding to feeding in case you're counting. She didn't get up again until 5am. That's almost morning around here :o) Yay for sleep!

Happy Anniversary to me :o)

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 15:45:47 -0600

I just celebrated my 10 year anniversary. At work :o) In the last 10 years I have worked in the same company where my dear Dad retired from in 1987. I have worked in 5 locations, occupying 12 offices/cubes, soon to be 13 as of next week. I've worked for 8 different managers (again soon to be 9). I can say that I love my job and the work I do. I feel that I make a significant contribution to our products... OK I'm QE, I'm not writing code, but I do help to make the code that is written better.

In honor of 10 years, I was able to select a gift (yay for gifts!). It arrived the other day...

I already had a nice knife set. But Steve offered up the idea of it being neat if I selected something that I would use every day - so there you go. Knives it was. Or I could have had a really nice crystal lamp - but no where to display it. And with the boys, and a baby that will grow into a crawling then walking toddler... I figured this was better.

So Happy Anniversary to Me!

A Vast New World

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 13:15:22 -0600

Or at least slightly more vast than where Holly was sleeping before... Holly slept in her crib last night - in her very own room. Successfully, I might add. With a 4 hour, then a 5 hour stretch. There was no major reasoning in popping her in there last night, and no real plan other than 'sometime soon we should try it'... But when I changed her last night in an attempt to wake her up for an 8pm feeding (ha!) it just seemed like the right place to put her. This means we can take the bassinet out of our room - and I won't have to kick it anymore. Yay!

I also started tracking her 'schedule' during the day yesterday. And so far today, it looks like she actually is working into a routine of sorts. It doesn't feel like it when you're caught up in it, but looking at the two days on paper I can see she's actually got something fairly regular. We'll see how the next few days go...

A mishmosh of pictures of the boys and Holly here...

randomness

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 18:57:27 -0600

It's really thursday already?

We took a long weekend and went down to my Mom and Dad's Friday and stayed til Monday evening. Saturday we got together with Deanna & Mark and kids, and Paul & Liz and kids and my brother for some bowling for Ry's birthday (we're also having cake on Saturday - the big day, and a McDonald's bday party for his local friends next week - 3 weeks of birthday? sweet!)... we had dinner and cake after bowling at a local restaurant. Sunday we got to visit with one of Steve's cousins on his Dad's side and her family. We love Denise and fam (course we love all our relatives, so that's kind of like stating the obvious) - and it was a great time. Monday we stopped in with Michelle, Nikki and Poppa and their guinea pigs... I have a pic or two from the weekend and will get them up at somepoint. I haven't been spending time on my personal machine lately - I've been working from my work machine in the living room. Our computer room is COLD and my desk is a mess!!! And it's not on my short list for attention.. oh well. The driving was uneventful - there weren't any flying mattresses, or other traffic problems. I do think this is the first time ever that we haven't run into construction on route 84 in CT!!!

Yesterday Kyle and Holly and I stopped in the local appliance store to check on washer and dryer combos... :-) They have what I want - along with free delivery and installation. Kyle's been home all week on Winter break. And he's bored. Yesterday he had his annual eye exam. I found a place with a pediatric section that accepts our insurance. We were very happy with them too. So yes, the Duane's Syndrome is still there (no, it doesn't go away - but he verified that this is what it is), and his right eye is slightly stronger than his left, but not enough to get glasses. I suppose if he actually complains about his vision at some point we'd go ahead and get the glasses. On the way home I gave Steve a call and we popped over to his office for lunch.
Then we stopped at home to feed and change Holly, and off again to get Ryan. He was sound asleep while the other 14 children in the room screamed and ran around and hollered and laughed. Yep - that's our boys... and Steve too - Ryan has actually climbed over Steve to get into our bed and Steve doesn't wake up!

Holly is 7 weeks old (yesterday) and is approaching 11 lbs (around 10 lbs 11 oz I think). She's been blessing us with lots of smiles, and we even got a small giggle the other day! The traveling really messed with what little of a schedule we had, but we're getting back to where we were now. She's settled back into her weird clustering in the evening.. along with some crabbiness for good measure. She's making it 4 to 4.5 hours in her first stretch at night (from feeding to feeding) , then 3 or 3.5 the other stretches...

I only have one more week at home and then I'm back at work. I do really miss working, but I'm going to miss having her with me all day too. But as I've said before, I'm not cut out to stay home full time. And I've got that fun new position waiting for me!!

Ryan's been very sensitive lately - we're thinking it may be subconscious 'displacement' feelings on not being the baby anymore. We also have to revisit the 'rules' around here. Both boys are having trouble remembering what is and isn't OK

Guess that's it for now - off to finish watching Curious George with my guys!

baby faces

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 11:04:20 -0600

I was just comparing faces...

Kyle @ 8 weeks:

Ryan @ 8 weeks:

Holly @ 6 weeks:

Personally, I think she resembles Ry more than Ky, but since the boys do look enough alike that people know they are brothers, that doesn't mean she doesn't look like Kyle :o)

It's Snowing!

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 11:09:18 -0600

and Happy Valentine's Day!!!

This is only the 2nd time we'll have had to shovel this year - very Non-New England... so this is feeling more normal. We should get almost 5 or 6 inches - possibly more - before it's done. Kyle's school is closed - OOPS!! I forgot to call Ryan's!! Even Steve stayed home on this snowy/sleety day!

The boys got all bundled up and went out to play - they lasted about 10 minutes.

In the breastfeeding arena - the pain isn't completely gone, but much better now. In researching the type of pain it sounds like it was some sort of 'forceful letdown' - basically, lots of milk, a very strong letdown reflex releasing lots of the lots of milk all at once, and add in a baby with a strong sucking action - you get pain. Everything I found said it would get better with time - and at it's worst, I had a hard time believing that... but there were no signs of infection or yeast, or clogged ducts, so I continued and waited it out. Now I still have a strong letdown, but it's not the cringing, piercing pain that it was before. 'Discomfort' I can handle! And from experience, I know that this will get better too. I've been focusing on improving Holly's latch as well, so I'm sure that has helped.

While at the Dr the last time for a jaundice check, we talked about breastfeeding and sleeping - Holly was only doing 2.5 to 3 hour stretches if you recall? We were discussing the possibility of switching to formula for a few days to definitely determine that this is 'breastmilk jaundice' while pumping to keep up the milk supply... (turned out not to be necessary) - and I made the comment 'maybe she'd sleep longer!'. So the Dr mentioned that since we are planning to use formula eventually anyway, adding a bottle of formula a day now doesn't hurt anything... specifically she said "breastfeeding is great! but so is sleep" :o) So we introduced a bottle of formula at the 8pm feeding for a few nights... last night she only drank about 1 oz of formula after nursing with me... and she made it almost 5 hours for that first stretch (ahhhh! sleep - I'd almost forgotten), the 2nd stretch she did 3.5 and by the time she got up the last time, it was time for us to get up in the morning anyway. Hopefully, this trend continues.

Speaking of Holly - she is 6 weeks old today! Wow time flies. It also means that my paid time home ends officially tomorrow. I'm taking 2 additional weeks as vacation - and 2 extra days as well. Then Steve will stay home for a week... then she will start up over at the 'school' - everyone there is eagerly awaiting her!!

Mommies Visit

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 13:57:51 -0600

My friend Kate came by today with Mikey :o)
She was bearing gifts!!!

Hat and booties are knit by Ms Kate herself !! Thank you so much!
Closer pics:

The outfit above was sent by Auntie Jenn and Uncle Eric - along with this one:

Mike and Chris came by over the weekend as well :o) they brought coffee and donuts! oh, and some things for Holly too :o)

And sadly, on both occassions I did not have the camera out!!! Bad Mommy!!!

Thank you to all parties mentioned above - for the gifts certainly, but more so for the visiting!!! It's winter with a newborn - I don't get to see a ton of people!

And another hat picture - but it was cute:

Washer Woes

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 09:21:16 -0600

So I had diapers done, the boys lights in the dryer and ours in the washer... Steve says 'what on earth did you put in the wash? Do you smell that?'

*sigh*

Long story short - seems some sort of plug popped out of a gear box in the washing machine, spewing grease/oil type stuff all over the bottom of the washer (not the inside where the clothes are thankfully!!)... and it smelled like a garage !!!

Steve managed to get the plug back in and the washer is 'usable' - hopefully it will hold on for a few weeks... Of course this means I get to get my new washer :-) I just wasn't planning on that this year... it trumps some other things in our list... oh well, that's the way things work around here!

Holly weeks 2 - 5

Fri, 9 Feb 2007 14:05:19 -0600

New pics here

It's not easy being green...

Fri, 9 Feb 2007 00:25:21 -0600

It's not that easy being green;
Having to spend each day the color of the leaves.
When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold...
or something much more colorful like that.

Holly would like to report that yellow ain't so easy either...
We had a third blood draw yesterday. Good news though - her bili level has dropped again, and the Dr feels we are good now and don't have to go back.

YAY!

5 weeks old today!

Wed, 7 Feb 2007 12:20:18 -0600

Picture from Sunday:

She's still only doing 3 hour stretches at night - sometimes only 2!!! But the sleep is sound and she seems to be getting the day/night thing. She's just HUNGRY. We actually tried putting her back in disposables last night in case it was being wet that was waking her up - she really doesn't like being wet or dirty (not that we'd consciously leave her dirty!!! )

She's around 9.5 lbs now - I'll be bathing her shortly and will weigh her then. She's got her little Pooh dress on today - for the last time. I had to stretch the bodysuit to snap it. Her cheeks and nose are still yellow, but most of it is gone elsewhere now.

All three bambinos here... note that Ryan has a perpetual dirty face. I swear I clean it and he manages to get food all over it in just 10 minutes. He also had some trouble last week with a bloody nose ... sorry :o( but otherwise a cute pic if they were clean!!!

---

weight check shows her at exactly 9lb 8oz :-)

If only Sarek had been better in obedience...

Tue, 6 Feb 2007 12:18:18 -0600

Though I don't think it would be the same with a Schipperke... the sizing isn't right
(we won't even talk about the likelihood of getting me to dance in front of a stadium like that...)

Thanks to Kelly for posting it on her blog!!!

Why I didn't keep my maiden name...

Sun, 4 Feb 2007 21:18:32 -0600

There are just too many of us...
According to HowManyOfMe there are 14,062 Jennifer Smith's in the US.

Interesting to note that it finds exactly ZERO Frischknechts in the database... that's me - two extremes!

HowManyOfMe.com

There are:
14,062
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

9.1.1.

Thu, 1 Feb 2007 13:26:24 -0600

While picking up Kyle last night, Ryan was demonstrating his Monkey-ness by climbing the wrong side of a stairway banister. One of the school employees gently suggested to Ry that this wasn't a good idea - which I backed up immediately. With my usual 'I really don't want to go to the hospital tonight, Ry' - the school worker added 'And I don't know the number for 911'.

Ry's response?

It'a a 9, and then 2 1's!

Wow. I didn't even know he really knew :o)

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 14:15:18 -0600

Holly is 4 weeks old today!!! Wow, where has the month gone? As of yesterday she weighed in at 8lb 11oz... She's stretching her 'newborn' size clothes now, and I'm guessing in the next few days she won't fit in them at all. The 0 - 3 stuff is fitting nicely now and I've even had her in some 3 - 6 month stuff without it hanging hugely off her.

I made arrangements for Ry to go back to the daycare center for a short day 2 days a week for the next few weeks. He's really feeling being cooped up and he's looking forward to going back. He starts back tomorrow!!

Lincoln-Sudbury stabbing

Sun, 28 Jan 2007 08:01:51 -0600

There was a fatal stabbing a week ago in a neighboring town's high school. It's awful and tragic. A 16 year old boy stabbed a 15 year old boy - who was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

What really stands out for us is that the attacker's attorney has come out and said that he has Asperger Syndrome and a history of hyperactivity dysfunction. That "What is clear is John has a serious disability". I'm not sure what his point was supposed to be here, but I know that to me it sounds as if he is drawing a connecting line directly between the disability and the action.

Now, Kyle has had trouble in the past with acting out - he's show aggression to other students sure. But it's spontaneous, in the heat of the moment. And he's 6. When you talk to him about it - he KNOWS what he should and shouldn't do. But when the frustration is high he has trouble stopping his immediate reaction. Bringing a knife to school doesn't fit with that. I'm not judging the boy in question - that's certainly not up to me. But to have the attorney come out and make a leading statement like that has the potential of creating even more stress for these special kids that are on the spectrum. It's good to increase knowledge of the spectrum disorders - but not necessarily like this.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this. My heart goes out to the families involved and to all the students there. Your biggest problem in high school should be in figuring out if Jimmy in history class likes you. You shouldn't have to worry about safety.

bunz and bums, growing up, service (a mish mosh post)

Tue, 23 Jan 2007 19:16:51 -0600

Holly weighed in yesterday at bath time at around 7lbs 10oz :o) getting closer to that 8lb mark. I weighed her on our scale - which my Dad was weighed on :o) so it's kinda old for a scale... but it's always been right on.

At any rate - over the last few days we've used the Fuzzi Bunz, BumGenius, and Happy Heiny's all with much success. I have a large supply of the Bunz since I purchased them off another Mom I know. So let's see - I find I do have to use the full, cotton insert that comes with the Fuzzi Bunz from Cotton Babies- just using a doubler, as some of the sites suggest for newborns, doesn't cut it for her. Maybe she's what they call a 'heavy wetter'. But with the full insert, they work just fine. And now that she's filling out a little more, they don't look *as* ridiculously large on her as they did. From a washing standpoint I prefer the bunz and the Happy Heiny's - both pocket diapers. Because the absorbent part is separate, they dry faster. I put the terry insert in the dryer, and the diapers hang dry. The BumGenius is an all in one - so it's super thick (and super absorbant) in the middle. It takes 2 dryer cycles to dry!!! But from an ease of use standpoint, I'm totally loving the all in one. So it becomes a matter of which matters more to me - do I trade putting the diapers together for fast dry time? Or extra dryer cycles (and more electricity) for not having to 'assemble' them. So I think I end up leaning toward the pockets... of course there are all in ones out there - like the puppy diaper - where the core isn't completely sewn in and 'flops' out ... only one end is sewn, or like in the Kissaluvs, they are just sewn down the center to 'anchor' it - this way there is more surface area in the dryer and they dry faster.

Over all - I'm still finding this cloth diapering just as easy as disposables... I'm trading an extra load or two of washing (probably 2 1/2 each week just for diapers - very small loads) - for lower garbage... and no stink. At least not yet. I'll be sure to report on the stink factor once we introduce formula and/or solids.

So with this - if anyone wants to know more about cloth... just ask. I'm more than happy to share my findings...

I must say, the extra benefit is that I don't ever have to run out for an emergency diaper run (wipes too since I'm using cloth wipes!) I have my prefolds, and kissaluvs with covers if I run out of pockets - so I can use them while I wash up a new load - but usually, the pail is overflowing long before then, so I get the load done earlier. I'm running a load about every other day. We have a small pail that I picked up in Target.

---------
In other news, I registered Ryan for Kindergarten today!!! It's a very bittersweet thing for me - on the one hand my little guy is growing up! And we'll get a 'raise' when we don't have to pay for daycare for him any more... on the other hand, my little guy is growing up!!! And to commemerate the occassion, he somehow managed to walk/fall/bump the hand rail on the stairs - and he'll have a nice shiner by tomorrow. It took a long time for me to get out of him what happened - I was on the couch feeding Holly when I heard him coming up, pause, then wimper, then finish coming up the stairs wimpering some more - he doesn't usually complain about pain either. I got him ice, but he refused to hold it on or to let me hold it - even with the boo boo bunny!

And my right wrist has really been acting up again - it's got to do with holding Holly and trying to nurse her in the middle of the night. It screams when it takes 15 minutes to get her to latch on. She's been doing much better the last few days. And her weight reflects that she's obviously getting enough to eat.
----
One more thing in this mish mosh of a post - I recently had two positive customer service experiences... since I have a service background, I tend to cringe when calling for service... of course most of my bad experience is with Technical things (like my awful call to HP...)... but I was still pleasantly suprised...

1. my medela pump - the new one that arrived the day after Christmas - broke one of the ports off the face plate. I called, explained what was broken and she sent me a new faceplate via priority mail. She didn't make me feel like a moron, and I didn't need to jump through hoops. She did give me suggestions for preventing it from breaking again - but in a good way that didn't make me feel like a moron.

2. Friday - when I opened our lazy susan cabinet, one of the hinges snapped... so I called Lowe's to find out how I should reach Shenendoah to get it replaced... he took my info and called them for me- they are sending it directly to us. Again, no justification necessary... yay!!! I wonder if I'll get a third? And what could possibly break now???

YouTube Video Views...

Sat, 20 Jan 2007 09:37:26 -0600

Some of my videos on You Tube have a high number of views. . . I'm assuming it's related to the tags I select... but I'm curious - this one, for instance, has well over 100 views - even if our family is watching it a LOT, I would only expect 50 or so...

Maybe Ryan's just popular :o)

--- update ---
from YouTube's help on sharing:
Can I embed or share a private video?
Yes. You can embed a private video on your website by copying the embed code on the 'Edit Video' page for that video and pasting it into your website. To share it, just click the 'Share Video' link under the video and send it to whoever you like. In order to view the video, the person coming to your website must be logged into YouTube, and be part of the list you shared the video with (i.e. Friends or Family). If they are not, the video will display "Loading," but the video will not load.
---
So far I haven't changed any to private - I'm not getting any perverse or negative comments... I'm not terribly worried - as I said in my comment the soccer video has high views too - and there are others.. so I don't know what brings people to them, but they aren't moved to say they were there... hmmmm. But I will still watch and see.

Church goers

Sat, 20 Jan 2007 08:13:45 -0600

We finally made it back to church last week. I've missed it. My faith isn't as strong as it could be I suppose, but I haven't found the way to get it there either. I believe that I can't force myself to have strong faith. My faith is there, and it shows up in my life in very 'me' ways. So getting myself to church is a start.

At any rate - church is something Steve will do totally just because I want it to be a family thing. It's not a lack of belief exactly, more of a dislike - maybe more of a discomfort - for organized religion in general. Our church is small - located in the middle of Maynard. When we walked in on Sunday I was greeted by the Pastor with a big bear hug - he remembered! It had been over a year, and we hadn't attended for very long. We showed off the baby of course, but it just felt good to be back.

In college I used to attend Mass with Firefighter Father Cookie John - of course then he was 'just' John - and we used to have some great conversations around God and church in general. He's the one that would tell me God doesn't care what you wear. He totally understood that I would go just because I felt like a better person while I was there and after the service. This is still true - I always feel better afterward.

So we made it to church and the boys were fairly well behaved - after the Children's message they get to go down to the nursery to play, so they were happy. Pastor included us in the Joys and Concerns portion - happy that we had returned and thankful that we had brought our new baby with us. Then we stayed for the fellowship coffee they have afterward (showing off the baby some more of course - this isn't something we TRY to do, it's just natural when you bring a newborn into a group of people).

I left feeling pretty good. They are going to transfer our membership for us from our old church (it's been 2 1/2 years.. it's about time!)... and in a few weeks we'll probably talk about baptism for Holly. I promised we'd be back, but warned that we probably wouldn't make it every week.

A-visiting we will go...

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 11:27:21 -0600

We've been out and about the last two days - today is for resting (and watching the snow - yes SNOW!! we have normal temps and the frozen stuff on the ground for a change!! it actually feels like New England again)...

We had Holly's 2 week visit on Wed, followed by a quick trip to my office to drop off the key (they are moving me closer to the new team). Ryan demonstrated all the different things one can do with a cardboard box and a sprinkle of imagination for my team... Holly weighed in at 7lbs 2 oz - so things are going well in the feeding department apparently. Her yellowness is improving, but she wants to see us in two weeks just to be sure.

Yesterday we stopped in to see Steve's team and they surprised us with a bounty of gifts!!! This is one of them:

The crying is not related to the outfit - roughly translated I believe she's declaring: "Enough with the pictures already, we already know I'm the princess here and darned cute! Would you please feed me already???"

The list of what they gave us is long - but it is all very much appreciated guys!!! Thank you!

Ryan had a blast visiting as well - drawing Godzilla monsters on the white board with Pete - Steve needs to supply the picture we took... it's on his phone.

And when we got home the mailman came by with a box for Holly... I couldn't believe it!!!

It's a bit big for here yet as they don't make a small size - so this was on just long enough for the picture. She promptly christened it with the first poop - so I guess she approves :-)

Thank you to Auntie Liz and Uncle Paul for this incredibly cute addition to her diapering supply - it will get a ton of use because it's just wicked cute!

Transformers, spoons, and diapers

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 12:52:26 -0600

Steve and Kyle confer on the proper way to combine Optimus Prime and Wing Saber :

Ryan selects a spoon for yogurt...
"I'm waiting for the idea to pop into my head - then I'll know which spoon!"

Holly models the BumGenius 2.0 in 'Blossom'

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 15:41:31 -0600

Steve went back to work yesterday - and it was Martin Luther King Day - so I had all three home with me :o) If the sun were out it wouldn't have been as bad - but I decided that the house would just be a mess and I tried to understand that the little boys were going crazy being house bound. I'd take them out somewhere, but couldn't think of anything fun that wouldn't subject Holly to an awful amount of germs... Today is better. They are being much nicer to each other (today is a 'professional Day' at Kyle's school), and I shoo'ed them outside for a brief amount of time- it's chilly and it didn't last long without me out there to cheer on their bike riding. But they were good and listened and stayed right in front of the house where I could see them.

Holly is now 13 days old!!! Today is also my due date... for whatever that's worth. I've made it through the first growth spurt - almost without noticing it.. I've been pumping off the extra milk I'm making and freezing it for later, so when she hit the spurt, she just took a little more than usual, and I didn't have any catch up work to do. She's still not a pro at this whole latching on thing - there are times it takes 20 minutes to get her on right. But then she has trouble using a bottle too - so we'll talk to the Dr to see if I can help her out at all. I went through some very painful engorgement on one side, and then what was probably clogged ducts on that same side. Heat, heat, more heat, lots of feeding and lots of pumping, and about 3 days worth of patience, and life was much better.

I was surprised at the amount of pain I've gone through here - With Kyle there was significant pain while I got used to feeding him. With Ry, there wasn't much at all - but there was only about 15 months from when I stopped feeding one to starting the next. There's been over 4 years between these last two, and it seems that I've had to 'toughen up' all over again. Thankfully, I know from experience that the pain ends and it's worth it, and that's made it easier as she clamps down and pain shoots through me.... And most of the pain is gone now. I've been experiencing some intense pain with letdown lately, and I think it's probably because of the amount of milk possibly combined with the ducts constricting. It's with letdown itself - and it's a piercing pain, that lets up probably after 30 seconds or so, though it feels like minutes... I think her latch is OK, and it happens with pumping too... I *think* it's getting better, but since I try to block it from memory it's hard to tell. At least I don't show any signs of infection :o)

Nursing and pumping with two very curious boys in the house is very interesting. Kyle thought that I was pumping the milk INTO me for the baby. And Ryan still thinks the baby is drinking from my belly. I'm treating it all just very matter of factly, answering their questions, but trying not to give them too much information.

She's sleeping well for a not-quite 2 week old baby - between 3 and 4 hour stretches at night - so if I manage to line the feedings up right, that's only twice in the middle of the night - and if she latches on quickly it's only a 20 - 30 minute sleep interruption.

She also looks less yellow to me - still lots of yellow, just less than before. Her arms and legs seem better, and her face seems a little less bright. She's starting to stay awake for longer periods of time and she loves to watch her brothers. Ryan likes her, but doesn't seem to want to do much with her beyond acknowledge that she's cute... Kyle is bordering on smothering her!!! Kisses, hugs, holding, hovering :o) he's totally smitten. I finally had to give him specific rules - only 2 kisses a day - one in the morning and one at night. Otherwise, he's constantly kissing her. I'm trying to find a good balance for him with holding and hugging too, but I'm not sure how to address it - I don't want to have him think she's off limits.

For those that knew about the heart murmur that the Dr heard before we left the hospital - she couldn't hear it last week, and the EKG didn't find anything related to a murmur. So we've called it a 'phantom' murmur :o) We figure she's just prepping us for keeping us on our toes... what will she have in store for us next???

Tagged!!!

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 08:18:35 -0600

I've been tagged by Maureen to post 5 things most folks don't know about me. This should be a lesson in thinking for me, since I am pretty open and like to talk - a combination that doesn't leave many secrets. . .

1. Growing up I was fairly shy and withdrawn. It was a smallish town in 'lower' NY (still 'upstate' to Long Island folks though) and there were 160 or so in my graduating class. I didn't fit in to any of the 'cliques' but I got along with most. I loved science and math, but didn't like the reading - thank goodness for my good photo-memory... not quite photographic, but I am pretty good at bringing back to mind a picture of what I've seen - in class I could argue a point and page through the book to find the right spot - by how it looked. My bio teacher loved me!

2. I got married at 18 to someone I really had no business marrying... but I was headstrong and nothing was going to stop me (and Steve seemed to be gone, so who was left?). He left for sea almost immediately and I left for college where there was an ample supply of *gulp* BOYS!!! Eventually, Steve and I caught back up and life was put back on the right tracks... they were just bumpy and windy to get there.

3. Growing up I always wanted to work for the company my Dad worked for - Dad worked there almost 30 years and retired an 'expert programmer' - now I do not have the desire to seriously code, so where does that leave me? Hmmm I've found my way into testing software, a nice complement to him (who incidently was also held some sort of 'debugger' title at one point) - and at what company? Why the very same one dear Dad retired from in 1987 :o) (and now Steve works here too!)

4. My first car was a Suzuki Sidekick, mostly bought for me by my Dad - it was 'used' with 2500 miles on it. My Senior year at Marist I slammed into the back of an SUV and my sidekick accordianed up like it's supposed to. When I called Steve to come get me I was so shaken I could only tell him 'Big Boom' ;o) he pulled that line on me a year or so later when he needed me to get him from a similar scenario - They fixed it - but Spencer was never the same. I traded him for a Saturn. (yep my car was a 'he' - it just seemed right)

5. Kyle was conceived via IVF after almost 5 years of trying. Ryan was 'natural' after only 2 months - Holly... ahhh Holly - I like to say we were in the 'thinking about it stage' and we apparently thought about it a little too hard!!!

OK now I'm supposed to tag 5 people - and of course I don't know 5 people that blog that haven't been tagged yet. I'll start with Kate (who is on a cruise and not likely to be blogging while cruising with BNL), Brian and Beth and see where that goes.

Holly - 10 Days

Sat, 13 Jan 2007 16:36:56 -0600

Another diaper update...

Sat, 13 Jan 2007 11:58:01 -0600

So yesterday I tried the Fuzzi Bunz - again, she's smaller than the small size (starts at 8lbs) so I was prepared for what happened - they leaked. Poor thing was saturated and did not like it one bit! We'll revisit the 'bunz in a few weeks when she's within the size range.

So far the Kissaluvs and the plain white prefolds are doing great!!! I currently have my 2nd ever diaper load in the wash. The washing hasn't been terrible at all. The pail has not been smelly. I have a pail liner (2 actually) - I take it out and carry the whole bag down to the wash where I could technically just dump them into the washer without touching them, but being me - I take them all apart (there are wipes - also cloth - tucked into most of them) and I pull out the stuffing from the pocket diapers... the pail liner goes right into the wash along with the diapers and I put the 2nd one (clean) into the pail. Even the diapers where I haven't used the flushable liner and she's pooped right into them seem to be coming nice and clean. I follow the recommendations I've found online - thank God for people that know what they are doing and have been successful and put the info out there for us!!! I fill the washer with hot water while I put the diapers in, then run a rinse cycle (my pre-wash since my washer doesn't have that setting) - once that's done, I add 1/2 the recommended detergent for that size load, and run a full wash. The Kissaluvs and the Prefolds I toss in the dryer without a dryer sheet - the pockets I hang dry... I ordered a telescoping drying rack to attach to the wall over the dryer just for this purpose - it's not up yet though.

..update - I've just put the diapers in the dryer- looks like the prefolds stained with her yellow poop, but the others did not... interesting. I will try the 'sun' technique and see if they go away.. personally, I don't care if the prefolds stain.

The only drawback to the kissaluvs and the prefolds right now is that they are really bulky. If I had ordered premie prefolds it would be much better bulkwise I think, but she gets them really wet - so I don't know if there's a real way around that. Or maybe I could have used a smaller prefold with a doubler in it as well... The Kissaluvs are less bulky, but still pretty big - but they seem to be more absorbant. Though, truth be told, I did NOT wash the prefolds 10 times beforehand - to 'fluff' them up. I washed them 3 or 4 times though. So maybe the more I use them, the better they'll get absorbancy wise.

Still hoping someone with money to throw away will buy one of these:

But I just can't see spending $30 for ONE diaper - no matter how cute they are. Maybe some craftsie person out there will make one ;o) LOL.

Veggies

Fri, 12 Jan 2007 11:33:45 -0600

Ryan told Steve this morning:
"I am really lucky - because I have Mommy and Daddy"

We took a page from MOM-NOS this week and started a sticker chart for veggies. Getting Kyle to taste new things can be painful at best... so we found something they both really want (Omega Supreme) and got it (it arrived yesterday and was promptly hidden away). The boys have a sheet with a picture of their goal on it, and they get one sticker for each vegatable they try at dinner. 'Try' is a bite with some chewing... I stress that I really want them to swallow it, but I take pity on them if I get the horrified look that I associate with my dislike for shredded coconut. If they finish their 'serving' of a given veggie they get 2 stickers. And in the case of the first night where Ryan requested a second serving - I gave him an extra one for requesting AND finishing that 2nd serving (I think he even asked for a 3rd). We're starting off easy - we ordered salads with dinner last night... Kyle likes lettuce (who'da thought?) an they both like cucumbers, Ryan LOVES tomatoes, and he devoured the green peppers too. They both tasted the onions... (both hated them!) all told they both got 6 stickers last night!!! It's a team chart, so it should go quickly, and we're hoping it will also prompt them to encourage each other to try new things. We'll see. They have 16 stickers now - the goal is 75. Yes, we set it high, but with the two of them it should come down quickly... this should get me and Steve to eat more veggies too - since I make us eat whatever we set out for them. Setting a good example and all that...

A few new pics...

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 16:50:55 -0600

Nesting at it's finest:

A surprisingly clear shot of how yellow Holly's face is - but notice her hands are nice and 'white' ? This is good.

"Tubby" time - OK it's really 'sponge bath' time... maybe tomorrow she'll get a real bath if her belly button has finished drying out...

Here Holly models the Kissaluvs cloth diaper fastened with a Snappi.

We didn't have any super-small cloth diapers, so I waited for her cord stump to fall off before I started playing with them. I'm limited to what I can use from my arsenal as she's so small. So far we've tried the Kissaluvs (pictured) with a Bummis wrap, the Happy Heiny's and a plain old white Chinese Prefold with the Bummis wrap. Of these, the Heiny's leaked - but that's probably because she's not big enough yet - we'll try them again when she gains a pound or so. I'm happy with both the Kissaluvs and the Prefolds (prefolds are the standard white rectangle diapers you remember). The kissaluvs are cute and colorful - they also make a 'fitted' with snaps so I wouldn't need the snappi, but the snappi works just fine, and I'm not limited to a predefined size that way. I love how soft and fleecy they are!!! I'm using a flushable liner that I - well - flush :o) so far her breastfed, tiny poops pretty much stick to the liner and off it goes. We have used disposables for the night time, but it's only been two days :o) I'm kinda out of it at 3am, and I might do something silly like not put a cover on her.

A very cute Kyle-ism

Tue, 9 Jan 2007 11:32:46 -0600

Just in case you folks doubt that the boys are in love...

As Kyle was walking off to bed the other night, I was feeding Holly. Kyle said goodnight to me and then:
"thank you, Mommy, for making a baby"

I adore my children :o)

6 days!

Tue, 9 Jan 2007 08:52:46 -0600

Today Holly is 6 days old (OK in about 14 more hours). Last night Steve took her for a bit and I got a 4 hour night time break. And then after that feeding she slept on her own for another 4. Nice! She's decided that the early part of the night - 10 - 12ish - is a good time to be awake.

Yesterday we had a minor jaundice scare - she's very yellow and I just didn't see it. But the Dr did! (this is why they have medical degrees and I do not). I see it now... we had blood work and she's fine. She's now doing everything she's supposed to do... nice yellow poops now - getting rid of all that bilirubin :o) so now that I DO see it, I'm to watch her and it should progressively lesson. If it gets worse (her feet are still white - worse would be if they turn yellow) or doesn't start to improve, I bring her back in.

For your viewing pleasure - I've added an album of Holly's first days... I'm sure there will be more in the near future!

A better Birthing summary...

Sat, 6 Jan 2007 16:39:14 -0600

OK now that I've had a reasonable amount of sleep maybe I can give a better recap...

A warning shouldn't be necessary - once you've read the subject you should know:
There May Be Too Much Info Here for Some... you've been warned ;o)

We were scheduled to be induced, so we arrived at 7am. I changed into a hospital gown and they started an IV, then we got comfy and waited for the Dr. Oh and we filled out paperwork too :o)

Once the Dr arrived, they added the pitocin to get things started.. they give me one 500 unit bag (I can't remember what the unit was - ml? maybe - probably) and in that bag is 3 units of the pit. That's for the entire show... so they start off at a setting of 2 - which I think is 2 units/minute. VERY slow. And every 15 minutes the nurse comes in to increase it. We got up to 24 when I said yeah, they are starting to be uncomfortable (contractions started around 12 or 14 I think and were every 3 minutes pretty much). So they put me in line for my epidural. The anesthesiologist came in about an hour later (he was in the OR with a c-section), and we got my epi in. It was really nice to not have the hip pain any longer.

Just as my friend the anesthesiologist was leaving, I got light headed and mentioned it to the nurse. It progressed very quickly to the clammy, gross feeling I get when I'm about to pass out (happens a lot when I give blood and forget to tell them to put my feet up and head down) - this was when my blood pressure shot down. Mr. Anesthesiologist came right back, and we had at least 2 other nurses plus the Dr in there getting me stabilized.. kinda scary, but they knew what they were doing. He gave me ephedrine to get my blood pressure back up, which gave me the shakes, but I could deal with that. But everything had stopped - they had stopped the pit and increased the fluids while this was going on... so they started me back up at 10.

At that point I had my first exam of the day - and was a little more than I was the day before.. she called it '2 - 3' cm. She also couldn't break my water at that point - there was a corner and the little hook they use is straight. We bumped the pit back up ('we' as if I had anything to do with it!!!). And eventually she got my water broken... around 8:45pm. Around 10pm I was dialatd up to a solid 5cm, but I was also 100% effaced which was great.

At around 10:45 or so the nurse checked me and I was almost there - just a 'ridge' of cervix left - yay! Dr came by a bit later and they started getting ready - when she checked, I was golden!!! It was almost 11:30pm at that point so she asked 'do you have a preference on date?' - a cute question - and no, we just wanted that baby!!! So just after 11:35ish I started pushing, and at 11:43 little Holly was here! And the pushing wasn't bad either - I don't even know if I was breathing hard? It didn't seem like effort, just slow and easy. I still say Holly is so sleepy because she did all the work!

Here the Dr offered something we weren't offered with the boys - once her head and shoulders were clear, she had me and Steve reach down and grab her under the arms - and pull her out onto my belly... this sounds really gross - but it was really awesome. Steve cut the cord - this time prepared for how tough they are. Oh!!! one of the most intersting things this child has done - she had a complete knot tied in her cord. So at some point when she was teeney tiny, she did some sort of loop-d-loop in there and tied a knot. It's tough enough that it never affected her, but it was neat to see. And no, we didn't get a picture - though I considered it, briefly.

So it was a long time to get things going - if we hadn't induced, and just waited to be surprised, then things would have seemed much quicker, but it seemed so long because we started from 0. With Ry my water broke at home, and it was about 5.5 hours later that he was born. This one was around 3 hours from the same point.

She was cleaned up a little and we got her back. I nursed her a bit - and then they sent her off to the nursery for a full bath and to check her out a little more. She was 'mewing' instead of crying, and the nurse was the tiniest bit concerned that maybe she was a touch earlier than we thought. Steve wandered over to be with her for a bit, and then came back. Once I could get up, they moved us to our postpartum room and she was delivered to us shortly after that - given a clean bill of health too. And after that initial feeding, she waited until she was around 24 hours old to nurse again.

As I said - she's a tiny little thing... about a pound and 3/4 smaller than either of the boys at birth. Even the 'newborn' size outfits my mom found (fits up to 8 lbs) are roomy. Everyone has been calling her Peanut - so this may stick. It will be funny to see her get Steve's 6 foot frame and we'll still be calling her 'peanut' - but I don't want to think that far out - I'm enjoying my baby. She's getting a ton of snuggles, and I swear Steve can't put her down :o) The boys are totally in love too.

We're home!

Fri, 5 Jan 2007 20:22:35 -0600

Things took longer to get going than we expected... and I had a not-so-great reaction to the epidural... my blood pressure plummetted, but they fixed me up and all was good again. Once they broke my water things sky rocketed.

10 minutes of pushing, and we had a baby girl!

Holly Christine
January 3, 2007 @ 11:43pm
6lbs 8oz, 19.5 inches

The boys have fallen in love (and I swear they each grew to twice their size while I was gone!)

Holly is a very sleepy thing. She refused to nurse for almost 24 hours - even the lactation consultant couldn't wake her up!!! Last night I pumped about an ounce out and they got it down her in the nursery (it was approaching 24 hours and they were nervous)... at the next feeding she latched on and all is good! She's setting her own terms.. I can't take advantage of yawns or cries like I could with the boys ;-) We're working to find what works. She's still a sleepy thing too!

My Mom and Dad were here for the time we were at the hospital - and it's greatly appreciated. They did morning prep and school dropoff/pickup for the boys. They're going home again tomorrow...

And now I'm off to get some rest!

It's Baby Day!

Wed, 3 Jan 2007 04:48:35 -0600

And I was up at what time? Yes - 4am. Overall I slept pretty darned well - with only one middle of the night potty trip. My usual wakeups to roll over - about 302 of them! But if I don't have to get UP I don't count it as much. But at 4 I hit a 'nope, not going back to sleep for an hour' stretch, and at 4:20 the baby decided calistenics were in order. So I got up and made coffee and here I sit (I made a comment in a bug at work too - shhhh!). This may just be my body's way of making me take my time this morning, instead of rushing.... we are leaving the house at 6:30!!!

As soon as there is news and I'm comfortable, we'll get something up here for sure!

B-Day, Ryan's 'Tightness', Cleaning... all together

Tue, 2 Jan 2007 11:16:11 -0600

Weee - tomorrow is the day! I've increased to 2cm dialated and 80% effaced... progress is a good thing. We check in at the hospital tomorrow at 7am... hopefully we'll have news and/or pictures by the afternoon! Nanna and Poppy are arriving today to handle the boys while we are occupied with BabyFrisch.

Let's see... Ryan has recently developed a severe dislike to things 'tight'. He's been demanding that the button on his jeans be left open (but not his newest, biggest pairs apparently), last week when he put on one of his newer pair of undies he declared them too tight and started crying... we switched to a well-worn pair of the same size... he declared this 'just a little tight, but OK'. And over the weekend apparently both the shoes he's been wearing and his brand new Thomas shoes are too tight. He went to school in his snow boots today. We tried a pair of Kyle's old sneaks - literally fell off of one of his feet they were that big - and he said these were tight too... We've wondered if he would show any signs of SI or Asperger's as he grew - since we have such strong sensory things going on with Kyle. It's OK - we know how to deal with these things now!!! I just totally thought it would show up sooner. He'll be 5 in February. We're not sure what this is all about - his jeans this morning were too tight, and he cried... so I had him take them off and go get a new pair of pants - he came back with sweatpants (now that sounds familiar) and was a happy boy. Of course, he's just only decided to embark on the terrible two's too - so who knows what this is. It could all be just a need for attention with all the baby stuff going on... or maybe he's just growing! Now there's a thought LOL. We'll watch and see for sure.

In the interest of cutting back expenses I have decided to go without my bi-weekly cleaning and am trying to do it myself. So I took a page out of Beth's book and setup a cleaning schedule. So I spread out regular laundry, and diaper laundry throughout the week, then divied up the various things I need to do in the house... vaccuum upstairs, clean kitchen counters, sink, stove, clean kitchen floor, main bath, 2nd bath, etc - across the week and posted it in the kitchen. So far I'm doing OK with it. I imagine the next few days things will get dropped - but hopefully by next week I'll have the hang of it... then I'll just have to shift the work to night time after work when I head back. Again - we'll see :o)

Oh yes - my Year in Review video finally finished processing - I know so many of you were dying in anticipation ;-)

My BlotYear in Review

Sun, 31 Dec 2006 09:04:54 -0600

Following Mom-NOS's example... you take the first sentence of the first post of each month, and you have the year in review... hmmm this could be interesting - or completely boring.

January: I'm building an Amazon Wishlist for Ry's birthday...
February: With Ryan, we live in the world of trains.
March: It's something that comes up from time to time.
April: A beautiful day today!
May: Here I am!
June: Happy Birthday Grandpa Hap!!!
July: Hey - can it be?
August: Our friend, Carolyn, is walking (ok, wheeling) In the MS Challenge Walk.
September: So Uncle Paul takes karate with his oldest daughter.
October: If anyone wishes to purchase some of these for us - by all means :o) please do!
November: The alarms went off.
December: Steve went out to pick up a rental carpet shampooer yesterday.

Nope - not very exciting. Obviously, I did not major in anything related to writing... big ole geeky me. Or my introductory sentences would have more punch! So much for 'College Writing' :o)

Happy New Year fellow Bloggers!

Happy New Year!!!! ... ok almost ...

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 18:05:40 -0600

Here's our family recap... January was cold, Ryan turned 4 in February and had a Snake party complete with the animals from Animal Adventures. March was still cold. April brought Easter and Spring and our first cruise - which was wonderful. By the end of May we got the pool up and fun was to be had. In June Grandpa Hap came to visit for a week!!!! And the boys got to jump in puddles. School let out in June too for Kyle's first ever summer break. July had Kyle turning 6 with a party at OneStopFun and a family gathering at the house. August... hmmmm it was hot? And the last week of August put Kyle back in school with his new teacher and all the wonderful progress he's made there. September and October brought fall and Mommy's tummy was bigger. November - we had Thanksgiving and we took it easy. December held Christmas, but was mostly warm hanging around in the 50's and sometimes 60's all month! Until yesterday and today - it snowed today! We have a dusting.

Frischknecht 2006 in Review:
(video warning - it's about 8MB ... so dialup people may not be able to be patient enough to view it.. or maybe they will)

A very Happy New Year from our family to yours - we wish everyone Peace, Love, Happiness, and heck - good fortune too!!!
- Jen, Steve, Kyle, Ryan, BabyFrisch and the FurryGuys (oh and Fish too!)

and here I am...

Fri, 29 Dec 2006 15:42:55 -0600

OK we've been extremely negligent in posting any pictures of me... so we remembered yesterday to snap one...
Here you go:

I've searched all over my machine and can't find any comparable from the previous two pregnancies... I'll work on that.
:-)

It's still Christmas...

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 17:37:13 -0600

OK first the baby update. She's not here yet :-) as if you couldn't guess. We are still scheduled for Wednesday. On Tuesday at my appointment I wasn't any more dialated - in fact he said the previous Dr had writting 1/2 cm not 1 cm... but really, when it's that little, does it matter anyway? Cervix is as soft as it's going to get he said. About 75% effaced (shortening), and her head is 'as low as it's going to get before full labor sets in'. I'm missing one of the 5 things they look at - maybe the position of the cervix? Probably because he didn't mention it. At any rate, progress is being made... he's guessing that once my water breaks I will fly through labor - he's not expecting 1cm an hour kind of thing, but rapid progress.

Mom and Dad went home Tuesday afternoon, with plans to come back next Tuesday so that they can do BoysDuty while we're doing the baby thing. Of course we have backup plans, and backup-backup plans if something goes not according to plan ;o)

Now onto the Still Christmas part - the boys recieved some money for Christmas... some is cash, some is checks. The checks I let them spend, but then I deposit them in their accounts anyway.. kind of like 'matching gifts' from a parental viewpoint. In total they each had $35 to spend - so off to Target we went. Ryan found Crazy Croc and was done ($10!!!). Steve brought him through the video section then and he found a Thomas the Tank Engine DVD with a train, and a 2nd one as well (without the train). He also picked out a matchbox car to go with Crazy Croc. Kyle is more scattered - he wanted everything! He came home with 2 power ranger figures, a 3-pack of 'Magna Warriors', a mega-blocs Spiderman spaceship, and a Superman costume. Not too shabby!!!

Above and beyond this, they still have gift certificates at Amazon to use too! We're giving them another day or so, then we'll sit down with them to see what else they'd like to order.

Yesterday, I did a final 'shoveling' of the baby's room and moved the bassinet into our room. We'll pull the swing out to the living room once she's here, and then she'll have her own room for real. I had been using it as my card-making station for Christmas Cards :o) so I had to put all my stamping stuff away again. We really REALLY need 3 more rooms in this house! But I'm ready now. I can't say that nesting has kicked in, because I've been nesting all along! My Accupuncture guy hit some points to 'encourage' things along today as well. This was my last appiontment before the big day. I view what he did as I view pretty much everything else - if the body is ready it can 'encourage' things along. If the body is not ready - well, it's not ready. And nothing will happen. Now if I could just get one good night's sleep.....

Christmas with the Frisch's

Mon, 25 Dec 2006 17:29:54 -0600

The boys were up at 6am - normal for a non-school day (school days they sleep later and we have to wake them up - go figure!).. They started off calm, and even allowed me to go upstairs first...

They stopped after each gift and requested it be 'opened' (the packaging) so that they could play with it. We try to find a happy medium here, having Steve open them while the boys hand out gifts to others... otherwise we'd be there all day!

It was a nice relaxing day - and I'm exhausted.

More Pictures and videos....

It's here! It's here!

Sun, 24 Dec 2006 11:43:56 -0600

Wow! Holy Smokes! It's Christmas Eve!!!

I had Friday off, and will not be going back to the office now until after the baby. Assuming she waits to come until the 3rd when we are scheduled (just 10 days for those keeping track...), then I plan to do some small work on the 2nd, but from home. This week is vacation. Ahhhh.

Mom and Dad and Doug are all coming today. Which meant creative shuffling for sleeping arrangements. Friday, though, I mostly rested. It was strange for me to spend a day just lounging around. I did some laundry, but that was about it. Saturday was for cleaning!!! I attacked my baker's rack and hutch in the dining room and got rid of the piles that were there. They could still use some work, but at least they are more presentable now. Then I tackled the kitchen and dining room tables. Now we'll have somewhere to eat. I also made up our Nanny's Homemade Mac n Cheese and the raisin sauce (also Nanny's) yesterday and stuck them in the fridge. I just have to back the mac along with the ham and sweet potatoes, and I'm throwing together a green bean casserole too. Oh and some kind of bread... maybe beer bread ;-)

The boys opened their gift from Uncle Paul and Auntie Liz on Friday. I try to get these individual ones out ahead of time so that they realise not EVERYTHING comes from Santa... Auntie Deanna's they opened earlier in the week. Cards came from Grandpa Hap and Grammy Carol on Friday too (THANK YOU!!!), as well as my Aunt Sandy. Last night we let them give gifts to each other - Kyle gave Ry Nemisis Breaker (a transformer), and Ry gave Ky the Matchbox Snow Rig something er other... Both big hits. This morning we gave them one from us - a 5 disc collection of Godzilla movies!!! (yes, we are strange parents sometimes) - so today it's been a Godzilla fest... and they LOVE it... it's hysterical. Steve got The Neverending Stroy last week as part of a birthday gift, and Kyle found parts of that too scarey - but Godzilla he just LovES!!!

I'll try to post more video of the gift openings a bit later...

In the meantime, have a happy, peaceful holiday, no matter which one you celebrate. Merry Christmas to all!!!!

MoonSand!!!

Sat, 23 Dec 2006 10:42:54 -0600

The boys open their gift from Uncle Paul and Auntie Liz:

Birthday activities...

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 18:33:41 -0600

So Saturday Kyle asked me if we could make gingerbread men... hmmmm.... sure! Why not? But by the time we got back from 'malling' I was too beat... I made it a point to follow up with it on Sunday though. I stopped at the store quickly first to pick up a non-Christmas cake for Steve. Birthdays MUST be celebrated with cake - right? I figured he wouldn't feel slighted that I didn't makeit - he'd pass on it if I asked if he wanted one... so I picked up a decadent, Mocha Truffle cake - ooooooh it's heavenly. And we sang of course.

So back to the little, edible, men. Seems I haven't come across all my old cookie cutters yet.... I imagine they are in a box in the attic somewhere. At any rate, I couldn't find a 'man' cutter. But I did have a ghost! Cut the ghost, trim the side, cut out a bit so that he has legs, and voila! A Gingerbread Man:

And the boys love them... and decorating is even better!:

And just because.... Birthday Napping:

A real countdown!!!

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 12:32:35 -0600

We had an ultrasound along with my 35 week appointment today - officially I am 35 weeks, 7 days.

Ultrasound went as well as anything that requires me to lay on my back for any length of time... and BabyFrisch apparently gets a kick out of pushing against the ultrsound wand-thing... push from within, push from outside = pain.

Looks like she's 6lbs 1 ounce at the moment.

*INFORMATION ALERT*
(as in, possible TMI)
My first exam reveals that the cervix is very soft, and I'm about a centimater dialated. With Kyle, things stayed closed up tight right up until we were admitted - even then, after 10 hours of good contraction activity at home, I was only 1/2 centimeter when we got there. With Ryan, things started sooner, but only the week before he arrived if I remember correctly. Dr thinks I should be OK until 38 weeks... which brings me to - we have a date!!! As long as BabyFrisch doesn't have other plans, we are scheduled for January 3rd - mark your calendars ;o)

Happy Birthday Steven

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 11:13:17 -0600

Today Steve is 38! When I asked Ry what we should get Daddy for his birthday he replied 'Star Wars - Daddy *loves* Star Wars'. Our travels brought us to the mall yesterday and I managed to remember this while standing in front of the Star Wars toys, so Ry picked something out :o) Kyle picked out a gift card in Best Buy. And a week ago or so, Steve ordered his new Leatherman utility thingamabob... :o)

Happy Birthday Honey!!! We love you!

Parties, presents, trains and such

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 14:28:00 -0600

We finally decorated the tree over the weekend. After it was done, I asked Ryan to bring up some track and one of his 'gobyitself trains' (aka battery operated) - so now we have a train around the tree too. We have a VERY happy Ryan with this:

On Tuesday, the folks at work took me and a co-worker out for a Baby/Wedding/Housewarming Lunch :o) For the baby, they gave us a Diaper cake, a bag of goodies, and a gift certificate to Babies R Us - wooohooo!!! Shopping :o) Phyllis also made a blanket for me/baby, and Azi gave me a teddybear with a picture frame. I love my team! (and I sure will miss them!)

Tuesday was a hectic day for me - Ky was sent home on Monday for spitting at another boy, so I had to bring him in first thing for a 'reentry' meeting (where the Asst Principle then talked to me about how WELL he's doing, and how far he's come!!! - not the usual disciplinary meeting for sure!!), then I had a meeting I was going to call into from the car, but I left my phone on the kitchen counter, so I went home... Steve and Ry were just leaving, and I managed to slip on a patch of ice as I got out of my car... my legs took the brunt of it, and I mostly caught myself on the door - so no damage done... but my legs feel it still... I got the phone, and some orange juice for my never-ending thirst, and don't you know I hit that same darned patch of ice and spilled the juice all over the driver's seat??? Go me! So I had to clean that up too... Thankfully the seats are leather, so I just cleaned and dried and voila - I can sit again...

Christmas Songs

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 10:10:28 -0600

Susan's blog has her top 5 Christmas songs... while I wasn't tagged, I thought it would be nice to share...

My favorites and why:

These actually will vary according to who the vocalist is, and how the music is...
And most are based on a simlple human element - how they make me feel.

Silent Night - Always one of my favorites, and the first I learned to play on the ancient organ that came from my Nanny Smith's house (nothing special in playing, just the basic tune).

O Holy Night - same reason as above - more powerful by someone with a special voice... Carmen from SouthPark is good for a chuckle, but not up there in my favorites ;o)

Deck the Halls by TransSiberian Orchestra - actually almost anything by them. It's just powerful... I have to turn it up and just *experience* it - Manheim Steamroller is up there too... (then I go off looking for Convoy by the same folks in Manheim Steamroller -Hee hee!!)

Little Drummer Boy - "I have no gift to bring" " shall I play for you" - a simple act, giving all he had. The basic nature of the holiday. Coincidently, this happens to be the one song Kyle will ask me to turn up when he hears it in the car...

Away in a Manger - the simple story.

OK, yeah, I could keep going. I recently came across a Country Chrismas station (Sirius satellite radio channel 62 - my free year)... And wow - Christmas songs were MADE for country I think. Not all of the country artists do them justice, but the first one I heard was someone big - like maybe Reba :o) I don't usually listen to country, so I can't quite place who it was. But it was mostly vocals, and wow her voice. The emotion just poured out of the radio. Which is what music should do to you in my opinion.

And of course, any Christmas Hymn at church - us and the organ. It's not only OK for me to sing outloud there - but it's expected :o) and my voice is not singled out, so no one will know if I'm awful... usually it's just me and the car that know these things ;o)

Activities abound!!!

Sat, 9 Dec 2006 14:47:17 -0600

Last night Steve and I got out for a rare evening without boys! We attended the Gold Ribbon Reception for Andrew's Helpful Hands. With 100% of the ticket price going to help a family with a child going through bone marrow transplant, how could we go wrong? We sat with Brian and Carolyn of Rossidudes (and Carolyn's parents, and a pair of sisters that are longtime friends of Brian's)... Ethan was there too! We had a nice time even though I didn't give in and drink a bottle of wine ;o) craving alcohol is so very odd for me. Of all things to crave!!! At least with ice cream, I'd only feel guilty about the weight... so no wine for me. But the food was good, the company better.

Then we got up early today for Breakfast with Santa - where Ryan was at his bouncy-happy-best... he appears to feel inspired by the previews for Happy Feet we keep seeing:

Santa was late, and we had Sibling Prep Class at Emerson at 9am, so we told the folks we'd be back and zoomed off...
I didn't have the camera in hand when Ryan snuggled the 'baby' and sang Rockabye baby... but I did get these:

Back to see Santa after the class and tour... nice to see there's free wireless at the hospital too!

Craziness!!!!

Thu, 7 Dec 2006 09:28:06 -0600

Swimming lessons registration opened online at 9am today. So at 8:55am I had the site up and ready. At 9:00am sharp, it was enabled. Yay! I was thrilled that the form remembered my info from last time - it pulled Kyle right up! I added in my credit card, printed the receipt, click here, click there, change Kyle to Ryan and change the birthday, add credit card info again and click OK!!! (whole process was bout 2 minutes total from when it opened)... CLASS FULL!!!! WHAT??? What about my Ry?

Ack - I zoom over and change to Sunday's class, and pop him in to be sure he has a spot. Then I call to find out about moving Kyle from Saturday to Sunday - Sure, but register for him NOW before I drop him from Saturday... quick quick, more typing, get Kyle in - Phew! What a crazy 10 minutes of my day!!!!!

But they are registered now - early on Sundays... should be fun! LOL.

hey what's that green stuff?

Mon, 4 Dec 2006 15:30:07 -0600

It's my counter!!!!

This is my present this year - guaranteed to get more use than the gift I so desired last year... though in a few months, that too will probably be seeing more use again (treadmill). Steve spent a bit of time getting my new, shiney, microhood installed last night and I just love it :o) I have counter space!!! Counter space is at a premium here... and with needing to find some sort of storage for bottles, I figured I just had to go with the 'hood.

You may notice that it does not match the stove. But we had a white fridge, so we already had mismatched appliances, and I don't think it's a horribly mismatch... not like it's the mustard color my Mom had, mixed with avocado from the same time frame ;o) THAT would be bad. It seems they are 'phasing out' bisque as a color though, so it made more sense to go with white.

Now to keep the tables clean for the next few weeks... riiiiiiiight.

***
And the pic I owed of the boys' room... the 'bugs' are not all actually affixed yet - these things are a pain! I would have been better off painting them by hand I swear!

Christmas Cleaning

Sun, 3 Dec 2006 09:52:12 -0600

Steve went out to pick up a rental carpet shampooer yesterday... The night before, I used the 'watering can' method of dousing the playroom carpet with Simple Solution. This is our problem area with the pets - seemingly all of them. At least they mostly limit it to one room. *sigh* So after letting the solution sit and the enzymes work for 24 hours or so, I shampooed the room yesterday. And this morning did the dining room, living room and hallway (minus the dousing... no need up there).

Today I can go in and sit on the floor in the playroom and it just smells.... clean. Nice. We needed it sleepable for Christmas!

At any rate, along with the shampooer thing, Steve walked in with a brown paper bag...

me: Is that.... alcohol?
S: *grins* ... yep!
me: wine?
S: nope
me: pucker?
S: nope

- takes it out, it's a bottle of peach schnapps of all things. I don't know what motivated him to pick it up... but wow. Opening it and smelling it brought me zoooooming back to younger years - mostly college, but some high school too. Smells, tastes, music - they all do that to me. There are certain ones that are just completely associated with an event, or a time. The smell and the peachy flavor (yes, I allowed myself a small amount to sip - how could I not???) - each sip brought images of my long lost college friends (and some not lost - like Deanna!)... Mike, John, Colleen, the guys 'downstairs' of which Mike and John were a part. The various rooms we all lived in while we were there.... Ahhhhh - sometimes I really miss the Marist Years. Last I saw John, Mike and Colleen was at John's Ordination. Yep - he's Firefighter Father Cookie John now :O) and I miss his cookies too! But mostly just him. I miss all those guys - but mostly John. He's moved to his own Parish since then, and we've lost touch - but every once in a while we touch base...

-----

So let's see, with the rugs nice and sparkly, it was time to bring down the tree. Yeah, yeah, it's not a *real* tree. Two years ago I broke down and we went out and bought one that is PRE-LIGHTED... can't beat that! So we'll put it up today and then spend the next week bending the branches here and there until I like it. Then we'll bring down ornaments next weekend. We'll also work on outdoor stuff today - we picked up a lighted raindeer and a flat lighted Rudolph figure thing last year at like 75% off :o) The boys were incredibly excited to see them! We'll get them outside today, and maybe some lights on our shrubs... we'll see how motivated we are. But first, off to the mall (on a saturday! blech!) - We need to see if we can find me a Christmas present, and I still have some shopping to finish up...

Teeth - maintaining and using

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 17:48:45 -0600

Kyle had another dentist appointment today. I specifically did NOT blog about the small cavity found at the last appointment because I was instructed to not talk to him about it, and just bring him in as usual. NOT my usual methods of dealing with Ky for sure.. .there's all kinds of stuff that could freak him out there - and DO freak me out - still. But the hygenist was reassuring - the Dentist would explain everything to him and she would make decisions about , say local anesthesia, while talking to him... to figure out what was best.

So - this was the first time that I sat out in the waiting room and sent him in... trusting. So trusting, my Ky. I felt like I was sending him out to the wolves... BUT... there was no crying. There were not screams. I did hear the dentist counting at one point... and maybe 15 minutes later, he came back out all smiles. She said he wasn't thrilled getting the local (and who is???) and that she was very impressed with how he handled it all... I'm thinking a lot of that impression reflects directly back on her. He didn't leave there afraid of the dentist, or cowering in pain. So Yay!

So that's the maintaining piece... now the using piece. I setup the slow cooker today - Bratwurst and Saurkraut.... yum! Can you believe that with our extremely German last name, Steve had never had bratwurst until I made it for him? The boys generally really like it... they like all those sausage type things - bratwurst, kielbasa... etc. (but they won't touch turkey - go figure!) - so the Saurkraut has some applesauce in it, and I threw in some potatoes and a can of 'baby corn'... to round it out. The house smells heavenly :o) - Ryan came up a little while ago:

R: What's that I smell?!
Me: Bratwurst and Saurkraut
R: Really?!?! It's making me want to come closer to it!
Me: yes, really, and this time we'll be able to eat it ... //last time there was a disasterous discovery that the 'fresh' bratwurst I had bought instead of getting precooked, didn't cook through...
R: OH! Thank you! For making this! For me!

My little German guy right there ;O)

Oooooo My Dad Will Be So Proud...

Sat, 25 Nov 2006 16:55:58 -0600

I'm a Chevrolet Corvette!

You're a classic - powerful, athletic, and competitive. You're all about winning the race and getting the job done. While you have a practical everyday side, you get wild when anyone pushes your pedal. You hate to lose, but you hardly ever do.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

How I Spent my Thanksgiving Vacation . . .

Sat, 25 Nov 2006 16:45:37 -0600

It's been a productive couple of days here - we got both the Baby's room and the boys' room painted! Yay! Basically, since we were painting the baby's room, I felt guilty that we still hadn't done the boys' room yet - after 2+ years here. And all the baby has to do is exist? So I assisted the boys in a color selection (Ships Ahoy!), and they recipricotated by assisting in the actual painting:

The baby's room - a nice 'purple' color. I'll have to look to see what the name is again. But I think it works nicely with the Pooh curtains... (a shower curtain that I cut in half and sewed to make a pair of panels...).

No pics of the boys' room yet. We have to put the furniture back first. The boys will be camping out tonight in the living room :o) weee! That means one of us will be too!

Kyle had a hard time focusing on painting. He wanted to play with the roller, and write his name on the wall and fun stuff like that (who can blame him?) - Ryan showed a much higher level of patience with it than I thought he would - perfectly happy with the up and down, up and down rhythm of the roller... :o)

Turkey day pics

Thu, 23 Nov 2006 17:34:03 -0600

Not too many - it was rainy and cold. Not a lot of opportunity.

Gobble Gobble

Thu, 23 Nov 2006 09:12:56 -0600

Happy Thanksgiving!

My parents have headed out to Harrisburg, PA to visit with extended family - My Mother's in-laws pretty much. With losing my Uncle this year, it was important for her to get out there to see them. Steve's Mom is down in PA as well, but in Philly with Jen and Eric. So that leaves us with no desire to travel - driving to work is getting painful and that's only 25 minutes! And of course Steve's Dad is in CA :o) we're certainly not driving there! Flying isn't the most desirable activity at the moment either ;o)

So.... I could cook my heart out and only have one person enjoy the meal - Steve. Well, I would eat all the fixings, just not much turkey... I'm still in the weird, I-don't-like-most-meat phase. The boys won't touch turkey. So I made reservations at the Colonial Inn in Concord, MA. Yum. The boys will be dressed up :o) Kyle chose vests over sweaters - he loves his 'handsome clothes'... Ryan didn't have a preference when I asked, so Kyle's choice sticks. You have to speak up around here!

Steve will probably dress 'nice' - like for work. But I told him he's not allowed to roll up his sleeves!!! LOL. Maybe I can get him to wear a sweater - we'll see. I have a few dresses I can choose from. My friends here were all so wonderful with sharing their maternity clothes! I hope I can find someone to pass them on to after the baby arrives. These are all too nice to sit around somewhere.

I'll get pics - promise.

Things I'm Thankful For

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 14:44:12 -0600

1. My family - immediate and extended. My boys are beautiful, my husband is wonderful (though cooking would be a bonus ;o) ), our baby is doing nicely and I'm not in too much pain while carrying this little girl. My parents are in decent health and doing fairly well. My brother - well, he's my brother ;o), Steve's Mom is healthy, and Steve's Dad and Carol are doing well as well (though we hope the hip pain is resolved quickly, I certainly sympathize there!!! at least mine is temporary). And Steve's Sister and hubby seem to be fairing rather well as well. Of course our friends... Paul and Liz, Deanna and Mark, Michelle and Nikki... and everyone else too! We love you guys!

2. Kyle's continuing progress across the board... OK I have to fess up, we got a behavior report yesterday for an incident last week in Music. But overall, that only makes 4 this year ( I think he got 4 in the first few weeks last year), and NONE of these incidents has been enough to call me to discuss or pick him up. He's come a really long way. I'm also thankful for how things lined up for him and he landed with a teacher that just seems to be made for him. Her style is designed to address lots of different learning styles - which is good because it hits multiple senses at once. So without doing anything different, she's making a huge difference with him.

3. Our health - yes, Kyle just had two rounds of strep, and a lovely round of hives from the amoxicillin, but overall can I complain? We've all continued to be mostly healthy. For this I feel blessed for sure!

4. My doctors - for answering all the questions I have, and alleviating my minor worry about actually losing a pound this visit. (I thought it was really weird to go down at this point, but she reassured me). They are great, reassuring (yes even the third time you have worries), and easy going. They listen when I have ideas - like when I suggested Metformin for my PCO, Dr T didn't just shut me down. We discussed it and went that route...

5. Other people's blogs - OK I get so much out of reading other folks' blogs... especially those of Parents of children on the Autism spectrum. It's a way of sharing, networking, learning... and appreciating our guys and gals. And I get a lot out of non ASD blogs too - keep posting folks!

6. Entertainment systems disguised as 4 year old little boys. Ryan had an 'All together lunch' today that I attended, then he came home with me. He's racing around the house with a push along popper thing - the kind with the balls that pop up when you push it. Designed for the 12 - 24 month age group I think... this toy has recently surfaced, and become a favorite. I could use some ear plugs... it seems a little louder than I remember, but that's probably more related to the 4 year old racing up and down the hall with it.

7. Flexible work environments - the ability to work from home twice a week is priceless at the moment. To know that I can do more if I need to is even better. I can actually lie on my side in bed and get work done... this helps the hips SOOO much!!!

8. Chicken nuggets. Frozen and fast nuggets of meat - and the boys will eat them. Very helpful when I'm not in a cooking or even thinking about dinner mood.

Mish mash of stuff...

Sun, 19 Nov 2006 19:29:31 -0600

Ahhhhh..... I finally am relaxing on the couch today. Today started with Ky's last swim lesson of this session - he's got lots of checkmarks!! Doing great - he's got some skills to master still, so he'll be in level 2 again next session - with Ryan! Lots of laundry today, so I've been up and down the stairs a ton, and putting it all away. And then we got the boys outside to ride their bikes. I have to post pics of this - we bought them each a new bike in October.. Kyle had outgrown his, and Ryan deserved something of his own for a change. Having his own bike has really made a difference! So Steve and I walked around the long circle (a country block) - with the boys zooming ahead, then stopping to wait for us. We came back and I put together a cabinet we picked up yesterday for the bathroom - which we're having difficulty mounting on the wall... we'll try again tomorrow maybe. And then I got some dinner ready. So now I'm relaxing while the boys are in the tub. Oh - Kyle requested The Year Without A Santa Clause - normally we wait til after Thanksgiving to break out the Christmas movies, but since he requested it, Steve obliged... I love Heat Miser and Cold Miser :o) I think this is my favorite of the Christmas movies....

Normally I get the laundry done on Friday while I'm working at home - a few minutes here and there to shuffle from washer to dryer, and then fold and put it away at the end of the day. But Thursday and Friday my hips decided that they needed to overtake my tailbone in the race to be the most painful part of the body. Tylenol of course does nothing. Lying on my side helps - but how much can I do that??? Walking sort of helps - to a point. But if I over do it I pay for it too... so I just accept it mostly, and try not to do things to aggravate it. It goes away once the baby's here, so I'm not too upset... Overall I have it pretty easy! My neighbor - who is due in December - managed to crack a rib about a week ago when she was coughing... Argh - and she is scheduled to be induced in two weeks... the rib will take 2 - 6 weeks to heal. I feel REALLY bad for her!

So next week I will be thankful that I don't have a rash of pregnancy side effects and that it's going rather smoothly for me :)

"Gay Penguin" book shakes up school...

Fri, 17 Nov 2006 13:46:46 -0600

The article is here...

And Tango Makes Three

It's a book about two male penguins that adopt a fertilized egg and raise the chick as their own. Based on true events... apparently, it's causing quite the ruckus out there.

Parents are afraid it's exposing their children to topics they aren't mature enough to handle.

So, what will you do, I ask, when you daughter befriends someone in kindergarten who has two mommies? Will you ignore it? Personally, I think the book is probably ridiculously innocent... I plan to look for it on my next trip to the library :o) - it's got penguins in it. That works for me!

I have actually had conversations with both Ky and ry about different types of families. Usually whenever one of them makes a comment like 'everyone has a mommy and a daddy' - so then I talk about how not everyone's family is the same. Some kids live with their grandparents, or aunts and uncles. Some children have two mommies, or two daddies. But it is still their family, and all that matters is that they are happy and love each other. I don't think this book would cause any questions beyond what they've already asked me.

I'd be more concerned about some of the other books out there... last week when I picked up Ry he asked if he could stay until the teacher was done reading. I don't know the name of the book, but it was sing songy in a Dr Suess way... and she very smoothly edited out the parts that referred to the man in the woods chasing the cow - he had a gun and the cow was afraid he was going to kill her. The teacher managed to just say something along the lines of 'there's a man in the woods and he's chasing me' (the book was a series of animals each chasing the other)- it wasn't perfect by any means, but with a group of 3 - 5 year olds.. it didn't matter. They were there for the story. .. and do they really need to hear about a man with a gun and killing? But rather than get rid of the book, she just made it work for them. Voila! problem solved.

O.J. to discuss 'how he would have done it'

Wed, 15 Nov 2006 15:22:30 -0600

... if he had commited the murders

OK. So ummmm, why exactly would you do this? "I didn't kill these people, but if I had I would have done it in this manner". I don't understand the need for this interview. This is just media sensationalism.

These two were murdered quite a long time ago. This interview does nothing to bring their murderer to justice (whether it's some unknown person, or OJ himself... ) - it just brings it all out again. Can't we just let them be?

The Truth

Sun, 12 Nov 2006 14:44:23 -0600

I just saw this ad on TV - wow! I think this is the most effective anti-tobacco ad I've ever seen.

Yikes!

Sun, 12 Nov 2006 12:54:56 -0600

Maybe it's the Year of The Germ here...

So Kyle picked up a fever around lunchtime yesterday, along with a headache and a sore throat - sound familiar? This morning, the fever was higher, and he only ate ONE pancake - with me coaxing him. He usually eats 6 - 8 pancakes (seriously! the kid LOVES breakfast!). I took a peek, it was redder than yesterday, and I thought I could see some white spots... Yep - he's got strep again! Poor kiddo!

They're calling a prescription in for keflex, it's in the cephalo-somethingorother family - that's the family that's a 'distant cousin' to penicillin, amoxicillin, and augmentin. She made sure to warn us that if we see any signs of difficulty breathing or swelling of the lips we call 911 and give him benedryl... we should be OK, she was just prepping me. We'll ditch all the toothbrushes this time (last time we ditched just the one he had been using most recently... the boys like to have a selection).

Hopefully, this kicks it for good this time!

An article on Asperger's

Wed, 8 Nov 2006 20:06:13 -0600

from my Hometown paper...

Sneaky grief... and things remembered.

Wed, 8 Nov 2006 17:00:34 -0600

I was standing in line today waiting patiently to pay for my piece of pizza for lunch. And I looked up across the cashier and saw the people there, and honestly expected to see Art there. See - Art usually got a couple of slices of pizza for lunch. Usually around the same time I end up down there, so our paths crossed there often. We would say hello and chat a bit while waiting... sometimes about the food, sometimes kids - though his are older, he certainly remembered the younger days too. And sometimes about particular bugs we were working on in our product - he the developer and me the tester. It took a moment before it clicked who I was looking for and why I wouldn't see him there.

And I thought about it a bit today - this is how grief is with me. When something happens, like when we lost my Uncle over the summer - I'm sad, sure. But the real grief is sneaky. It's quiet and I don't always see it coming. Usually, when the 'something' happens, there are other things to deal with... services, trying to figure out logistics... other things that capture my focus. And then over time, a little at a time, I grieve. In the little things - like seeing someone else sit in Art's office (not at his desk - that's still empty). And it keeps sneaking - even years later. I Still have moments where the loss of my grandparents drives me to tears. These are usually quiet, reflective moments - when I'm alone. My Nanny and Poppop have been gone a very long time now. And that may be part of it - so many of my friends have one or two of their own grandparents around that can spend time with their kids... and I feel the loss of my children not knowing mine.

Kyle holds onto things for a long time too. He mentioned Neal again today - Neal was the boy next door to us before we moved. And today I remembered something from when I was Ky's age - when I was in kindergarten I remember breaking down and crying - big, inconsoloble wails... I was sent to the nurse who got out of me that I was crying because my sister had died. My Mother was called, and I think she was even given a hard time about sending me to school when something so temendous had happened at home - to which my Mom replied 'yes, but it was THREE YEARS ago'. As a child, that overwhelming sense of loss was not controllable. As an adult, I can control it to the point where I can take it out at a less public time. But remembering that single instance put me in a different stance on Kyle. Maybe it's this same type of thing with him.

Having Kyle has certainly been a challenge, but it's a challenge I would take on over and over again to have a little boy just like him. He is perfect to me. And the more I learn about his world - the more I seem to learn about my own.

Pictures

Mon, 6 Nov 2006 19:38:05 -0600

The boys were full of mischeif, yet I tried anyway....

I think this is my favorite...

I love the first one too - I just wish Ry wasn't crouched down so far...

Mon, 6 Nov 2006 17:10:35 -0600

Hmmmm what did we do this weekend?

Friday I actually had a Pampered Chef show! I've certainly been lax in that area, but the rest of the folks on that team know my reasons and understand. It was nice to get out though :o)

Saturday was mostly for laying around the house. Nice and lazy. Then in the afternoon me and the boys had haircuts - so now we're all spiffy :o) Ryan had school pics today - and he didn't have 'spikey hair' anymore, so we had to fix that. Of course I had grand plans of getting Kyle over there after school to get a brothers pic, but she left around 1pm!!! Argh. So I'll put their shirts on in a bit and snap a few on my own. Keep my dollars in my own pocket then!

After haircuts, we popped across the street for lunch. And then we went back home.

Ho hum. No excitement or drama. But both boys were wicked cute at the salon ;o)

Sunday, we all went to Kyle's swimming lesson :o) Ryan is getting excited about starting in the winter session. And then when Steve went out to the pool to retrieve Ky, Ryan went with him and promptly stuck his fingers in the door jam as it was closing!!! Ouch! I have to talk him into taking the bandaid off to look again, but last night it was OK. Just slightly swollen, and not even discolored. He can bend them all fine - and while it pulled some skin loose on top, it wasn't enough to bleed. Phew!

From swimming we headed out to the movies where we met a friend and his boys. We watched Flushed Away - and it was fun! This was the first Movie Theatre trip since our experience with Cars . Not only was Kyle not even worried, he didn't have any issues. Unfortunately, our friend's boy didn't like it at all! He was very upset and they ended up leaving - but given our experience with Cars - we certainly understood!! We had lunch at TGIFriday's (it was a weekend for lunching out). And then a quick Target run :o)

And that was it. Not much in the weekend around here...

Today I volunteered in Ky's class - I got to read with each of the kids. Weee!!!! Ky loved having me there, and it was awesome to see him moving around the class, getting things done. His teacher is really on the ball - she does little things to keep him focused. She sets a timer for him when he's at the writing center - and he finishes usually before the timer goes off. And this last week homework started. He brings home a book which he reads to us each night. Then he has a page to complete - he has to write his name, the title, two assigned words 3 times each, then he has to answer three questions - each with a full sentence. He's really come a long way. In fact, as recently as June and July it was a fight to get him to read anything. Now he sees signs and random words and tries to sound them out. Writing is a little harder, but he's doing great there too.

And a quck funny from last night - but first some background. Steve is not the world's best speller. It's not the end of the world, but I often refer to me as being his personal dictionary. It's not unusual for him to send me an instant message to ask me how to spell some word (because spell check can't figure out what he's looking for). Sometimes he's so far off that I have to ask him to use it in a sentence so that I know what he's looking for - I don't think this is a secret, and I'm certainly not harrassing him for it... and hey - I'm glad I can provide assistance. So last night Kyle asked Steve how to spell 'star' - and Steve supplied the spelling... I was reading, and listening to this with half an ear. Then Ky asks how to spell what sounded like 'scream' (ok here he was looking for how to spell Star Scream - one of his transformers - but he was really asking for 'screen' - because that's how he says it... but we heard 'scream' ) - and I hear Steve spell it, and I wonder if I heard it right. Then Kyle asked him to repeat it, so Steve does "s-c-r-e-a-m-e" - and I look at him. "There's no 'e' at the end, Honey". And we both chuckled, and acknowledged the humour in Kyle asking Daddy to spell things for him :o)

A Spot of an Update

Thu, 2 Nov 2006 10:28:46 -0600

Kyle's hives are greatly improved today. He reports that they don't itch much at all anymore. His chest, neck, arms and back are all so faint that you wouldn't notice them if you didn't know they are there. His legs are still bright enough to draw attention, but they are lighter than they were yesterday. I've spoken to his teacher so she's not alarmed if she happens to notice them. And I've updated the school nurse with his new allergy info.

So Steve's first question in all of this was - but Ky has had amoxicillin before... why now? And my first thinking was that it's been 5 years since Ky has had an antibiotic of any kind (knock on wood here) - and even then I think he's only had 2 rounds of anything. One of which was amoxicillin. Or maybe it was Augmentin. It was 5 years ago - I really don't remember. But... then Auntie Liz informed me that the first time you ingest something that the body is allergic too, you don't react. It instead Primes the body. So the next time, you have the reaction. Very interesting. And it means we'll be staring at Ryan a lot the next time he has anything, since he's only EVER had an antibiotic just once.

Thankfully, with drug alergies he is unlikely to come into contact with it again. The allergy will get plastered everywhere - and already it's all over his file at the pediatrician, and I asked CVS to update their records, and now the school Nurse is updating theirs. It's certainly not like a food allergy - where you have to be on alert all the time every where you go. So we count our blessings.

Holy Red Spots Batman!!!

Wed, 1 Nov 2006 10:49:46 -0600

The alarms went off. We dragged our butts out of bed. Fed ourselves and the boys. And I cleaned off the kitchen table so the woman that cleans for me can get to the surface. Somewhere about half way through my coffee I realised the boys weren't dressed yet (it was that kind of a morning). So I grabbed some clothes and sat down to help Ky. I unzipped his jammies - and hey look at all these spots!!!

Off to the Dr - who declared them hives. Kyle is allergic to amoxicillin, penicillin, and augmentin. About 10 % of the folks that fall into this are also allergic to their distant cousins - some complicated name I can't remember but it included Zithromax. Since his reaction was hives, we only rule out the first three. If the reaction was worse, we'd go on the safe side and declare all distant cousins off limits. He has two days left of amoxicillin - so we're picking up two days worth of Zithromax to finish that off and make sure our good buddy Strep doesn't come back.

In the meantime, it's lots of benadryl for Ky -

baby stuff

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 13:42:44 -0600

So, they cancelled my appointment on Friday - *JUST* in time. I was about to start my lovely glucose drink when the phone rang. And we rescheduled for Today. So it was really a 28weekand6Day appiontment - or the NotQuite29 week appointment :o) I drank the drink - kind of like coolaid, but with so much sugar it's actually slightly thickened... bleh. If they find anything alarming (they tested my glucose tolerance and for anemia) then they will call tomorrow. Otherwise, all is good.

Saw the 'token male' Dr in the group. And I love him - I know I've said this before, but I just have to reiterate it. He's a doll! When I complained about my tailbone he asked what I'm taking for it. I told him mostly, I'm ignoring it, but occassionally take tylenol. He acknowledged that tylenol would pretty much do nothing for it (and he's right)... he said 'motrin would work, but I can't have you take that'. But he sympathised. And he had all the right answers for me today :o)

He actually measured my belly today - that's the first time for this baby. With Ky and Ry I was measured every visit. He commented on my weight - said I was 'model' and it was nice to not have to yell at me for snacking on the halloween candy (of course he doesn't know about the early on gain, but hey I'm doing good now, right?).

I'm all stuffed up today - it started yesterday. No sore throat though, so hopefully this is just a cold. I can live with that. We'll pass on the strep thank you very much.

Finally, Congratulations to my Manager Karen and her family - they welcomed a little girl, Emma, into their family on Friday :o)

Hot Pota- Pumpkin!!!!

Sun, 29 Oct 2006 06:48:56 -0600

Gestational Update

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 11:24:23 -0500

Since I am blotting, and BabyFrisch is working on her dance routine again, I figured I'd update you'all in Blot-land :o)

I hit 28 weeks yesterday, and go for my 28 week visit on Friday. This will include the OhSoYummy (major sarcasm) Orange drink for the glucose test. I'm at low risk for gestational diabetes, but it's always good to be sure.

The baby has been working on her dance routine as I've been mentioned. Any quiet moment she is wiggling and kicking and twirling. It's going to be some show! Yesterday, I think she snuck a partner in there - how else could there be that much activity? She's starting to run out of room now.. bumping into major organs more and more (the bladder is of course her favorite). It's really cool to feel, and I love to watch the movement as she rolls something across my belly.

I continue to feel pretty good overall. My hips and my tailbone are both fighting to see who can cause the most pain. The tailbone is entirely new to me. The hips bothered me with both Ky and Ry - much moreso with Ky. Sitting for any length of time causes the tailbone to ache. And of course I sit all day long. I've managed to take a 2nd day from home where I can lay on the couch on my side and that helps. That leaves 3 days at work. I bring a boppy pillow with me to sit on, but it seems to be the act of sitting that bothers me and not the cushion-factor. Standing too long aggravates the hips - mostly the right one. The hip thing seems to be because my joints loosening up. Anything that causes further relaxing causes the pain to increase - so heat is almost unbearable. Hot baths are out. Laying on my back aggravates it, but laying on my side helps. In the world of pregnancy, it's not the worst thing ever... I certainly had a tougher time with Ky's, I just have a lower tolerance now!

The headaches have been gone for a while. Just a random one about a week ago. And the nasty round ligament pain is gone too (thankfully!). The accupuncturist works on my tailbone for me. And it helps some. But of course I have to sit in the car as soon as I leave there. Last night I actually tried laying on my side for the treatment and it was the most relaxing visit yet. I even almost snoozed (I often hear other folks snoring away while I'm there - I've had no such luck). I think I didn't drift off because once again BabyFrisch decided it was time to work on that dance routine. This time with some flips and something that felt like an ice skating triple axle followed by a spin.

But overall, I'm enjoying this. My energy could be higher, but I expect it to only drop from here :o) I'm officially in my third trimester now. Just 12 weeks until my due date! The boys are scheduled for a sibling prep class in December and we'll work out a birthing center tour at some point too. I guess we just have to call Lisa over there and tell her when we want to come by. It will be different going from a city/teaching hospital to a community hospital. We'll be in a semi-private room after delivery, where we had a private suite before. But with a little luck, there won't be a lot of births while we're there so we get privacy anyway.

I've got the baby's room mostly set, but I'd really like to get it painted. Then I have some cute Pooh Wallies stick ons that we can put up. I've got some other things to clean still, but we're in good shape. I wanted to get all the cleaning/sorting done before I was too tired!

A name?

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 10:44:38 -0500

Just for those that are wondering :o)

Steve and I think we have found a name we *both* like - and it's not Jordan LOL. We figured we needed to decide sometime soon so that we can 'desensitize' Ryan on the name thing. So we are referring to the baby as 'your baby sister M' (substituting M for the chosen name) at random times a few days a week to get him used to hearing a nonJordan name ;o) the first day he objected each time. But he's letting it go more and more. Our next step will be to get him to actually use the name - but we have lots of time for that. We just didn't want him to get any more settled on Jordan than he was. And him calling the baby Jordan wouldn't be a horrible thing - mostly cute. I just don't want him to not like the baby because she has the wrong name!

another first for Ky...

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 16:03:55 -0500

but this one isn't anything to celebrate - Kyle has strep throat. :-(

After staying home yesterday - with a fever and 'neck pain' and a headache. His temp was down to 100.2 today. Technically, not a fever, though higher than usual. (100.4 is usually considered a fever). When he didn't finish his waffles (he WANTED to eat! it was exciting!) because it hurt to swallow, I decided I should take a look. Sure enough, bright red and swollen with white pustule thingies. Off for the culture which was positive. But I kinda figured after the look I had gotten.

Hopefully, it doesn't reach Ry or me. Though they tell me if I do get it, it's fairly easy to treat. We don't need to over worry on it. So he gets to stay home a third day. He's been bored today - I can only imagine tomorrow! I did get him to drink some of a smoothie I made for him though. That's a start.

A Playdate!

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 16:42:16 -0500

I should have posted this sooner... Kyle went on a playdate on Thursday. OK, so he's been on playdates before, but I've always gone with him. I don't like setting him up for failure, and it just wasn't the right mix before now. Ky's friend from last year's class wanted him to come over, and his Mom offered to pick him up. I'm comfortable with her, and she has a daughter with severe ADHD (her older daughter) and we've talked about Kyle before. When she offered to pick him up from school and have them until I got home from work, I didn't even hesitate.

And he had a great time AND was well behaved. Life is good. So Kudos to Ky for coming this far and Kudos to ME for being able to let him go!

Pumpkins, Apples, The Dark Side

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 10:07:00 -0500

Let's see - this weekend. It involved shots, lots of pumpkin, some apples, a scarey Darth Ryan, and Chinese food?

Saturday the boys and I had our appointment for flu shots - I have to say the clinic was run incredibly smoothly. We were in and out in 13 minutes - and 10 of that was us waiting for 10 minutes AFTER shots to make sure the boys didn't react to it - they haven't had it before. Then we hit KMART because the boys were very brave and got to pick out something fun (and hey, we love to spoil them rotten - we just need another excuse). Ryan swooped in on a small section of Godzilla toys - and picked the golden three headed dragon. He walked around hugging it next to his cheek as if it were a stuffed animal - funny. Yep we have boys! Kyle picked a MagnaWarrior to go along with his magnetics and MagnaMen. But he thinks we should now begin to collect the rest of the Godzilla toys.

In the afternoon, Ryan had a birthday party to go to - so he dressed in his 'evil wizard gown' from last year, and let me paint his face - add a light saber and you have Darth Ryan!

We grabbed the gift and drove across town, only to find no one there. Hmmmm. Oh. I wrote it down a week early! That means we get to do it again next Saturday! Ryan was mildly dissappointed, but I promised Chinese for dinner and all was well. We went home and made pumpkin pie together. And then I made apple tartlets since I still have too many apples from apple picking two weeks ago!!! The apples are getting a bit mealy, but usable for pie for sure! (Chinese was yummy as always! )

Sunday started with Ky's swimming lesson - he worked on backstroke, and using some barbell type things to float while practicing kicking. He did GREAT of course ;o) - then we went home and the boys got to play with Chris (Ky's friend who's grandparents live next door).

And you can see from my post from yesterday that we carved the pumpkins :o) Not too bad I must say. When I sat down to start the dragonfly I worried that my wrist wouldn't hold up to all that cutting. But it's only mildly sore today.

Then Ky kind of crashed - wasn't interested in eating, and was acting up a bit too... turns out he's picked up the cold that Steve's had for the last week. He's home with me today, but looking a little better now.

Punky!!!!

Sun, 22 Oct 2006 16:12:47 -0500

Yay Comments are back!

Sat, 21 Oct 2006 12:09:21 -0500

Have at it! :o)
(and go me for fixing it! LOL)

A dog at my desk?

Sat, 21 Oct 2006 08:22:07 -0500

Meet Bristol:

As part of our annual campaign at work for donating via our paychecks (we get to choose from over 4000 agencies, or add our own, or choose to not do anything), we participated in Dogs At Your Desk in support of NEADS - an organization that trains assistance dogs for Deaf and Disabled Americans. They range from hearing dogs, to assisting folks in wheel chairs, to assisting Autistic Children. Most of their early training is done in our prisons - the inmates have to 'give back' as part of their incarceration, and this is one of the most sought after programs. The inmates love it. The dogs love it. NEADS loves it :o) but, it limits the exposure of the dogs to pretty much everything - the inmates don't even have trash cans I'm told. So with programs like Pups on Parole (foster family take a pup for a weekend, or even just a day) and Dogs at Your Desk - the dogs are socialized and experience more of the things they are likely to encounter.

Bristol was with me for 3 hours yesterday. He is a beautiful smooth-coated collie, and he'll be graduating next week - going home with his new owner.

no comments again...

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 09:09:03 -0500

I thought there were no comments because I got overzealous in adding the strings to check for in my anti-spam utility... but it looks like it is bigger than that. Last weekend I found hacked files in my blog, and I've been trying to figure out how compromised the site is... my guestbook from the main site is totally gone - but that's ok, no one used it anyway ;o)

More naming fun

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 13:31:59 -0500

So Ryan has named the baby. Well, he thinks he has anyway. He's been declaring for over a month that the baby's name is Jordan. In fact he drew a family tree last week and said 'there are 5 people in my family. Me, my brother, my mommy and daddy and my baby sister who is coming in January. Her name is Jordan.'

Not that we have anything against Jordan - it just wasn't what we had in mind. So after the family tree, we decided it was beyond cute, and we needed to levelset dear RyGuy.

Mommy: You know Ry, Mommy and Daddy might not name the baby Jordan
Ryan: The baby's name is Jordan!
Mommy: Mommy and Daddy will pick out a name just for her, but you can always call her Jordan if you want - it can be your special name for her.
Ryan: No! I want her FIRST name to be Jordan!

and on it goes.
So we're mentioning it periodically, though hopefully not enough to get him too upset.

Funny enough - Jordan is growing on me now :o)

Get your magazines here!!!

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 06:46:57 -0500

Kyle brought home all the stuff for his first ever Magazine Drive. So if anyone out there is looking to order or renew a subscription to something, let me know and I'll hook you up. His school gets 40%!!!

Sat, 14 Oct 2006 16:03:04 -0500

It's cold today!

Not much going on - we actually went out last night - yep just the two of us. Got a head start on Christmas shopping for the boys. We got about 70% of what we wanted for them :o) Toys R Us is fun without them! Then I limped through Target quickly. We picked up some bins for storing all the clothes that Jen brought over. All the ones we won't need right away. Lets just say that when BabyFrisch hits the 24month size in clothes she'll be able to wear a different outfit each day of the month! Probably longer! Steve asked if her girls ever wore an outfit more than once ;o) Looks like I'm good on 0 - 3m stuff. I don't expect her to be in it long anyway. Kyle was born in 3 - 6, and Ry only wore the little stuff a few weeks. 3 - 6 and 6 - 9 I've got a good start on, and we've got a bunch of 12 month and 18 month too! Weee! Even snowsuits and dresses in 12m and up!

We picked up a carseat (the convertible kind) because it was marked down, out of box and I had a coupon for 20% off red ticket items. Turns out we didn't have a red ticket 'clearance' item, it was a 'Director's Markdown', but she said 'but it IS red, so I'll honor it' - and I didn't even have give her a hard time. Big kudos to Steph over at Toys R Us in Natick! I saw her all over the store while we were there doing happy customer service type stuff and all with a smile!

We also picked up an air compressor at Target for just $17!!! And it's on wheels too! Now we just need a real air mattress - like the Aerobed kind so my Mom has somewhere to sleep and we'll be in good shape (of course those inflate themselves don't they?).

Today is for clothes sorting, pellet stove cleaning and air conditioner removing. Steve's busy busy. He gets all the heavy work. Guess I'll go try to help :o)

Apples, Pumpkins, and kids - oh my!

Mon, 9 Oct 2006 17:23:01 -0500

We're back home after a long weekend home. Now there's a sentence. Yes, we have two homes. Home where my parents - and a good portion of our friends live. And home where we live. We went down to NY on Friday.. Saturday was for picking apples. We spent time with Uncle Paul and family and had a great day. We picked apples, and a leaf (Ry insisted it was for the catepillar he was going to find - don't you know Ky found on for him yesterday in the road?). The boys took pony rides and we shared donuts from Auntie Liz (thank you again - yummm!).

Sunday was for Pumpkins. We met Auntie Deanna and family and headed out to a different farm (Warwick is 'Apple Country' don't you know - we have 8 or so farms right IN Warwick!!!). We took a hayride to the patch and selected pumpkins. The boys made good choices and I shall carve them maybe next week. Have to see what they want to do this year... one year I did a spider for Ry :-)

(These are not actually the ones they picked - just good picture material - OK except for the mud!)

After pumpkins we had lunch, and then hit a local playground for an hour of play while Mommy and Daddy got to spend time with friends. We haven't seen Mark and Deanna since our cruise in April - so it's nice to catch up!

So what to you do with a HUGE bag of apples? Make pies! I made one Saturday night at Mom's - which is gone now. And my 2nd just came out of the oven... Yummmm! I love apple pie! I think we're going to have Apple pie for dinner!!!

Reflections

Sat, 7 Oct 2006 07:17:37 -0500

Brian tends to post some interesting and thought provoking stuff. Actually, lots of folks I read post much more interesting things than I do. So in the nature of his site this week - reflecting on his child. I thought I might take a trip down memory lane for y'all ;o) bare with me (Kyle is 6 remember?).

So we have to zoom back to NY in 1995. That's when Steve and I stopped the back and forth, on again off again roller coaster that passed for a relationship and we got married. OK we really stopped the coaster a year before, but the ceremony made it official. We had our three cats, and then we got a dog (just before the wedding). We moved into our new house in January of '96 (actually closed on it February 8th).

I had a large paragraph here detailing my ectopic experience and decided the details don't matter. Let's say there was a lot of pain. One tube was removed and it was a long 6 weeks of recovery. And then we figured since we weren't even officially TRYING that it should be a breeze to have a baby. Ha! Several months later I called the doctor. I know they normally won't do anything until a year of trying, but my cycles had gone from 30-something days, to 54, to 80+ and counting! So she sent me for the most painful procedure I've ever had - with the Dr that I hated from my ectopic experience - the HSG. That showed my remaining tube clear, so she put me on chlomid. We tried 6 rounds? of chlomid I think. All to no avail. So off I went to a specialist, who looked at the pics from the HSG and declared surgery was required. Why? Well there was a septum in my uterus which in effect, divided it in half. It could have contributed to the ectopic, and it most certainly can interfere with implantation. So off for more surgery. Then more recovery. This one was only a day surgery at least.

Then we started IUI - lots of trips for bloodwork, then Steve stopping by in the morning to drop off his portion before I came in an hour later for the deposit. Two cycles later - still no baby. And in NY we were lucky that we had insurance that offered some infertility coverage - it's not mandatory like in MA. Oh so then Steve was laid off and we moved. We're in 1999 now - yes 3 years since that ectopic and still no baby.

I find some great Doctors in MA and we start IUI again but with Follistim instead of Humegon. The biggest difference for me - I could do the shots myself and I didn't hate Steve anymore (pain transferrence...) and apparently my body liked it too! Something like 13 eggs developed!!! Way too many to do IUI - too high of a risk for multiples - so we change to IVF, but without the drugs that prevent ovulation that are used in the beginning of IVF we started to ovulate spontaneously, and we trashed the cycle. I was crushed. But then we moved fully into IVF for the next cycle. Minor surgery to retrieve the eggs and they had two good embryos to put back... wait and wait and wait... and negative! argh this is rough.

We took a break there and a vacation - spend a few days in the Bahamas... came back and tried again. October, 1999. This time the test was POSITIVE! That first image of Kyle was just incredible. Our little spec of life in there - that resembled a snowman... I'll post a picture once I'm home - I'm at my Mom's for the weekend.

But just wow.

And then when he was finally here - and looking back I didn't have the easiest pregnancy, but it certainly wasn't the worst either. Migraines, surgery to remove my gallbladder at 20 weeks, horrible hip pain so that Steve actually had to drag me to the end of the bed to get me up in the morning... but again, not the worst. And I loved it all. I was there, we had acheived it. And when I held him it was magical. None of the pain, or the waiting, or the sadness was there anymore. He was here and all was right with the world again. I remember holding him and just crying. It was too much to love someone as much as I loved him.

Ryan wasn't In Vitro - Ryan was conceived the good old fashioned way. We were hoping, but it still surprised us. I look over at the two of them now and see them squished into a chair together, side by side, lost in some imaginary world where they take turns declaring 'pretend that you were a puppy and were looking for a mouse!' ... My heart swells to watch them. they are playing so well together lately it's wonderful. And to think, in a few more months we'll have another one here.

Just Wow.

Clothing Mountain

Thu, 5 Oct 2006 09:09:55 -0500

Big Thanks to my friend Jen - she cleared out her attic and brought over bags and bags of girl cloths. She had a TON of 12m through 2T and there is now a Mountain in our living room (which Ryan immediately set out to climb this morning). I have to take a picture of it before I put it away I think.

She also had several bags and a bin of smaller stuff - mostly neutrals - a bunch of old cloth diapers (used as burp clothes) which I can use as stuffers for our dipes - or even as diapers themselves if I use one of the doublers I think. And lots and lots of receiving blankets. Even a new package!

I've started the laundering process for the smaller stuff - need to get it put away! It certainly can't live in the living room. Then the bigger stuff will just go in our attic until we're ready for it.

Apparently, I have admirers ;o)

Sun, 1 Oct 2006 18:06:00 -0500

Thanks to Kate and her wonderful camera, we see that I have followers in Orlando... Kate captured this sky-written masterpiece:

"Praise JF"

Fun with diapers...

Sun, 1 Oct 2006 09:09:51 -0500

If anyone wishes to purchase some of these for us - by all means :o) please do! Wicked cute! I'm not ready to drop $30 on ONE diaper when it isn't even a One Size! Yikes! But I might do it as a gift for a friend. If I knew anyone interested in cloth that is.

Phonetics, reading, open houses, plans, progress... all good :o)

Fri, 29 Sep 2006 08:38:23 -0500

Let's see - a few things on the Kyle front that I really want to share..

Sunday there were two things - he was on the floor playing with K'Nex and Sarek wanted to go out. So I asked Ky "Kyle - will you please let Sarek out" and he acknowledged me, stopped playing, and went to let Sarek out. Not one to miss an opportunity to 'catch him doing good' I made sure to tell him how happy it made me that he acted the first time I asked him something :o)

The other part of Sunday was when he took the K'Nex out to play. The box says K'NEX in embossed letters on the front. Kyle sat down pointed to the K "kuh", then the N "nnn", the E "eh", and the X "X, X, X, Mommy what does X Make". I filled in the missing X sound (how do you spell X phonetically? maybe 'ex') "Oh. Like Alex!" and he repeated: "kuh, nnnn, eh, ex" he needed a little help actually putting them together - probably because it's not really a word in the first place. But this was the first time HE initiated reading something. I was thrilled to pieces. Apparently, somebody found the 'I want to read' switch and now it's on :o) He's also learned how to 'tap' words. Which is something I think I need to video - but basically you take a word: "cat" and tap out the sounds with your right hand across your chest. So tap your left shoulder with "kuh", then slide and tap to the right with 'at' and do it faster until you have the whole word. This was the first I'd heard of tapping, but he enjoyed it. He also loves the actions and sounds Mrs. S puts with each letter ... V is va-va-va-voooom! with a finger tracing the v then racing away.

Last night was the Open House at school. We got to see the classroom and our kids showed us around. We also got to see the library and art room, and a book fair in the gym. On the wall in Ky's class are quotes from each of the kids about what they want to learn in Kindergarten. Kyle's says "I want to learn how to write". !!! Wow. For someone who fought writing with tears last year, this is big. And in the Art room the other Mrs S volunteered "Ky is doing a great job this year " with a big smile. We had had a conversation last year about how to get him to focus more and be less disruptive, so I knew the underlying message there was positive without her having to go into detail.

Ky's teacher also feels he's doing great. She mentioned that she hasn't even need to do most of the things on his 504 plan... things like sensory breaks, letting him get up and move around. She said she'll do them if he needs them, but so far he hasn't. And that's better anyway. He still goes for OT once a week, but at the moment that might be it. Oh, and I think he meets with the Autism/Asperger's coordinator too - but I wasn't clear on that since it actually wasn't part of the plan. It just came up after his diagnosis (which was just after we put the plan in place of course). We all came away from the Open House feeling really positive and I made sure to pass on all the good messages too. Both boys were exhausted when we got home, though Ryan really wanted to read the new book he got, so I read the first 'chapter'.

Oh! I almost forgot - the other great part about the Open House was the number of "Hi Kyle!" and "KYLE!!!" 's that were abounding all around us by all of the kids. Almost all of the teacher-type (I still don't know them all so I don't know if they are all actually teachers) great him by name and with a genuine smile. We feared last year that with the behaviour problems he would develop a rep, and then be automatically blamed when things happen, regardless of his involvement. It doesn't appear to be a real worry :o) but the kids that were genuinely happy to see Ky there was wonderful - it means he's making progress in the social area!!!

'Maginaries

Tue, 26 Sep 2006 17:37:17 -0500

Ryan brought home a friend last week. But he was too big to fit in the car so he had to swim next to it. Yes, swim. 'Hair' is Ryan's new imaginary shark friend. He takes him with him on a leash (which is also imaginary). Hair is an entirely new creation - of his own. His previous 'friends' were based on Kyle's - dinosaurs. So it's neat to see him develop his own now.

Today in the car while Hair was swimming along side of us, Kyle declared "Hi Big Blue Dinosaur!". Apparently, BBD has returned from his extended vacation. Kyle reports that BBD did not have any fun on his cruise as there were no beds for him and no Dinosaur playground. There also weren't any other Dinos there. Hmmm sounds like a dud of a dino cruise to me and BBD should find a better travel agent ;O)

10 answers

Sun, 24 Sep 2006 17:41:18 -0500

My answers to the Bernard Pivot questionnaire that James Lipton gives his celebrity guests during their appearances on Inside the Actor's Studio.
In response to MOM-NOS and Susan Senator.

1. What is your favorite word?
probiscus - this is only because Ryan and I were watching bees (the last of the season I suppose) and Ry asked how the bees get the nectar. I explained that they used their probiscus. Made him say it. I'm hoping he repeats it tomorrow at school - I love when little ones throw around big words!

2. What is your least favorite word?
hate

3. What turns you on? (creatively, spiritually, or emotionally? i.e. not sexually)
sitting outside in the morning with a cup of coffee, good music - any kind, just strong... and food. Always food.

4. What turns you off? (also creatively, spiritually, or emotionally, i.e., not sexually)
Smells - bad smells for obvious reasons, but a woman getting onto an elevator that smells like she bathed in Chanel just really rolls me...

5. What is your favorite curse word?
crap

6. What sound or noise do you love?
Ryan and Kyle laughing together

7. What sound or noise do you hate?
crashing, followed by the loud wail that could only mean we have boys and are headed to the ER - again.

8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
Artist - painter, sculptor

9. What profession would you not like to do?
The guys that clean out the septic tanks

10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
Welcome Your sister is over here with your grandparents. You've made them proud.

Apparently, I'm supposed to tag some folks now to post their own answers - so in the spirit of it all - Kate, Deanna (who doesn't have a blog but really should), and Mel - who maybe will post it in MySpace or here in comments.

Naming

Sat, 23 Sep 2006 16:31:16 -0500

So the phone rang about a week ago. It was a wrong number. No biggie. But the name that popped up on caller ID was a girl's name. And I liked it. It's been bouncing around in my brain since then and I believe it has nudged out Hanna as the main contender. Steve's response is 'it's a possibility' ;o) which is the strongest he's indicated toward anything besides Samantha.

I'm going to let it rattle around in there a bit more - then maybe we'll share ;o)

The Art of Art

Mon, 18 Sep 2006 13:18:45 -0500

We lost a co-worker over the weekend. Our friend and co-worker, Art, passed away Saturday while biking with a friend of his. Apparently, from a heart attack. Art had had his 3rd attack about a month ago, and had come home with new stents and a new round of energy. Since then he was working hard on improving his health. Biking is something he loved, and we all take comfort that at least he was doing something he loved when the time came.

Art was a mere 60 years young. He leaves his ex-wife, and two children - a daughter and a son. I know his daughter is in college. I'm not sure on his son. I'm sure they are all feeling the pain of this loss.

Art leaves a hole here. He was a gruff man, that came off as not very approachable, but underneath that he was a wonderful, funny man that cared about those around him and the product he was working on.

We'll miss you Art.

Swimming

Sun, 17 Sep 2006 15:32:35 -0500

Today Kyle started his first ever official swimming lessons. We started him off at Level 2 since he already goes under water without a problem and will let you hold him up while floating (along with just jumping in with reckless abandon).

They did some work with floating:

And some kicking:

Holding onto the side and moving around that way (really, this was not a posed shot - how happy does he look?):

"swimming" to the rope and back - where Ky declared "I can do this by myself" - and he could:

And good old, jumping in:

He loved it and can't wait for next week!!!

We knew he loved water, so I knew swimming would be a good thing. And hey, it's got all over the body sensory input :o) what sensory seeking child wouldn't like it?? (yikes, I'm kidding - water could have gone either way with him... we're thrilled he loves it).

The noise level at the pool worried me a touch, there was diving practice going on and some lap swimmers too - lots of extra noise. But it didn't phase him. Yay!

---
I take it back - this wasn't his first lesson... he took a round of lessons when just before he turned 2 - got him in the water and used to it kind of thing, holding onto me the whole time.
---

Kyle 'graduates' ?

Wed, 13 Sep 2006 11:22:05 -0500

So Ky had his first fall appointment with his psychologist on Monday. Dr. Steve was just as impressed with Ky's summer growth as we have been. He is pleased with how he has improved with his interactive playtime with Ryan (and others), and they Ky and Dr Steve played almost a whole game of Sorry in the office. That alone was worth applauding. I explained that we've been working on games in general. We have a new card game Kaboodle :o) which is lots of fun because you get to yell 'k'bam!' and 'k'bosh!' and steal other players' cards... but we've also been working on chess. Increasing the amount of time that he can focus on them too.

So we still aren't sure where the sensory portion drops off and the adhd kicks in... but we still think they are both there. We didn't actually talk about the Asperger's this time... I'll revisit it at some point later. In the meantime, he doesn't want to see him again until November :o)

And a funny Ry quote... overheard while Ky and Ry were playing in some imaginary world that was comprised of transformers, a stuffed spider and a baby seal 'Baby Sealie' and Ryan declares:
"Ugly is as ugly does Baby Sealie!!!"

Straight from the Transformers movie apparently... but I just about fell over I was laughing so hard :O)

Thoughts for Mom, Uncle Paul...

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 08:47:06 -0500

Today, Mom goes in for day surgery. And she may come home with a pace maker. Can you believe it? Getting a pace maker is now day surgery. Wow. But I guess in the Cardiac world, this is small potatos. At any rate, thoughts for a smooth procedure regardless of what she has done, and a smooth/quick recovery are appreciated.

Tomorrow, Uncle Paul has his shoulder surgery. He'll be out of work for 8 weeks! Yikes! So more thoughts for easy procedure, and smooth/quick recovery, with notsomuch pain here too!!!

We're thinking of you guys!

attitudes

Fri, 8 Sep 2006 11:47:34 -0500

So yesterday, I had accupuncture, and then picked up Kyle before getting the RyGuy. That put me at later than usual, but still plenty of time to get in and out before the 6pm deadline when they start charging late fees... but there is limited - extremely limited - parking available and I had forgotten until I was committed to turning into the lot. Normally, I would have parked across the street when it is this busy, and just walked down.. so I ended up about 4 cars back in line waiting for a spot to free up. When we got down to just one in front of me, someone came in from the other direction and pulled right into the next spot that opened. Besides me, there were 3 more behind me. There happened to be two other spots freeing up at that moment, so it didn't affect me.

The driver - a Mom going into the center - was leaving her car and heading for the door as I got there. So I mentioned "did you know there were like 4 other cars waiting on the hill?" "yeah, but it's been done to me before" "!!!!!"

Ummmm is that what she teaches her kids? It's OK, Janey - you can kick this little boy because someone kicked you once. There's something terribly wrong with this logic!

Sheesh!

Kyle's Self Image

Wed, 6 Sep 2006 15:24:53 -0500

Kyle has trouble with his self image. It had taken a break for a while, but snuck back in last night. He had made a couple not-so-great choices, but minor in the grand scheme of things. So minor, that I don't recall what they were - only that they involved Ryan.

K was on the couch and muttered "I'm *SO* StuPID!!" - to which I respond with my "why do you say that, Ky?" - and he replied with the not-so-great choices that he had made. "Ky, those are just bad choices, everyone makes bad choices sometimes - even Mommy. That doesn't make you stupid." After a bit, he gave it up and he was off again. I'm wondering if this is the 'i'm still in kindergarten and all my friends are in first grade" thing coming through. But it is an old song around here - he's used it before. I'm stupid, nobody likes me, nobody wants to be my friend. All of which we can argue and demonstrate the opposite is in fact true, but it's his perception.

Or maybe just something that he knows gets attention.

I'd love a new approach on this one. I've tried "I don't like when you talk about people I love that way" - which worked the first time... and never again. The 'why would you say that' approach makes him think about it. He has to come up with a reason, which I can then argue down. Seems to help, but doesn't resolve it.

A weekend of fun

Tue, 5 Sep 2006 15:47:36 -0500

This weekend I wanted to just do some fun stuff with the boys. I'm hoping to do more like this between now and January when the baby comes (was in fact, just pricing airfare to Orlando - shhhh don't tell Steve! ha! but that probably won't happen anyway)..

At any rate - Saturday we went to Chuck E. Cheese's :o) we haven't been there in ages and the boys had a blast. We spent a few hours there, then hit Babies R Us to pick up some things I was needing and then home again.

Sunday the boys were invited to OneStopFun with Ky's friend Chris to celebrate a birthday. They played - Hard - for about 3 hours. Ahhhh. Nice.

Monday I declared Park Day, and I packed them up and some lunch and we went over to the local playground. Another 2+ hours playing. The boys were drained last night... but they had a good time all weekend. And that was the goal.

I did get some video of a little hornet type thing that was digging furiously in the sand, though not seeming to make any progress. I'll try to remember to upload that tonight... It fascinated me.

Uncle Paul, Karate Master.... maybe not so much ;o)

Sat, 2 Sep 2006 07:37:46 -0500

So Uncle Paul takes karate with his oldest daughter. Seems he did some sort of rolling-tumble thing over some mats and landed wrong. He's separated his shoulder and will go for surgery next week.

At least you get two weeks off out of the deal Uncle Paul!!! ;-)

First Day of School

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 19:08:31 -0500

Today was Kyle's First Day of School!!!
Of course it started off with Ryan throwing a full blown temper tantrum because I dropped him off instead of Daddy. He screamed. He jumped up and down. He cried crocodile tears. And in the end I could hear him wailing as I walked down the hall back to my car. I left them with instructions to call if he didn't settle down. I knew he would, I knew they would if he didn't. And when my phone didn't ring during Kyle's orientative type stuff at his school, I knew all was well again in Ry's little world.

I have great feelings about Ky's teacher. We loved Mrs. M. last year And I think we will love Mrs. S just as much! She immediately asked him if he would be her leader today, because he knew where everything was already. He had a good day, and loved being back at the after school program. Life is good.

And Ry came home with a notice that he'll be moving up to the Kindergarten room at the daycare center. He's excited because he knows this is the last step before he moves up to the school where Ky is. A year from now, but to him it's next, so it must be soon :o) It was nice to get something exciting for Ry today when we were making such a fuss over Kyle. I'm sure that had to do with the nasty dropoff this morning.

What's in a name?

Fri, 25 Aug 2006 17:44:44 -0500

So of course now that we have the 'girl' ruling, we are more focused on naming the new critter... And it's harder than it was for the boys. Mostly, because Steve has just one. Samantha. Samantha Frischknecht? That's an awful lot of letters!!! Take it from someone who can't have her whole name on an American Express card because they don't have enough characters alloted!!! And Jennifer isn't that long! LOL.

So I figure I would throw out some names into cyberspace and see if all three of you have something to say ;o) - and maybe the 2 or three lurkers out there will chime in too! Ha!!!

So we have Samantha - of course.
My personal favorite is Hanna - it just goes really nicely and sounds German, though the books declare it Hebrew in origins. I guess that could make sense. And it's the one that's really sticking with me.
I like Anna - Steve's Grandmother
Jeanne - Steve's other Grandmother
Jenna - combining Steve's two Grandmothers, as well as sort of passing on my name too
Cora - my Great Granny Shinaberry was Cora - it's old fashioned, but it doesn't feel *OLD* like some other older names out there (which I won't actually list in case there's someone who might take offense!!! LOL) - though my Grandmother was named Gertrude and she HATED it. She went by her middle name and signed all important things as G. Estelle Secor. I know she'd never forgive me if I passed on Gertrude to the little girl.
Christine - my sister.. but not as a first name - we're venturing into the long name thing there again, so a middle name would be good.
Grace - my other Grandmother

So if we give Steve the middle name... we have a lot of names ending in 'a' already. Anna Samantha - I don't know... it's almost sing-songy. Hanna Samantha. Grace Samantha kinda works. And by giving the middle name I lose out on Christine. But I think I'm OK with that. Or we just really throw a tag on the poor child - Hanna Christine Samantha Frischknecht. How's that ;o)

Kyle's name we came up with on our own - Steve was flipping through names on our way out from the 'it's a boy' ultrasound and he just hit on it. Voila, he had a name. Ryan was a suggestion by a friend, and it just fit. So a name can come from anywhere :o)

Any suggestions?

--
Just to clarify - Steve's statement is "I really like Samantha, but I'm flexible too" :-)

Soccer pics and video...

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 19:14:42 -0500

Kyle running on the left
Ryan sitting on the right - both in green

Kyle left (blue/white)
Ryan right (blue) with ball in the air

Ryan loved his coaches!!!

Ryan (in green) starts off on the left by the girl in pink, Kyle is up front on right (in green) with the ball on his head.

Heat = Goooood

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 11:21:41 -0500

Today I am a new woman! The heating pad is a modern miracle to be sure! I snuggled with it over a nice, squishy pillow, up against the belly where the pain was. I put it on low and slept with it, changing the location every time I roll over (which is extrememly frequent!). By the time I got up to pee at midnight I had enjoyed some nice sleep AND it wasn't agony to get out of bed! By morning I was almost normal. The pain creeps back in, but slowly. I have some Therma things on to help, but I think tomorrow I'll just bring the pad with me! Or better yet, maybe i'll have no pain tomorrow ;o)

We got GREAT feedback on Kyle yesterday from the daycare director. He was the most well behaved boy in the class!!! I got all teary. She told him what a great job he did. He said 'Thanks Ms Maureen!' she said 'for what?' - "well, I did a good job and you told me so". He's really, really come SO very far in such a short time!

The boys had a great time in soccer yesterday. They are both in a youth soccer 'camp' - 5 - 6:30 every night this week. Monday Ryan didn't want to run and participated for about half. Last night he participated for the whole thing with some extra breaks for water and a snuggle break. Kyle had a bad few moments when he didn't end up on Katerina's team at the end, but the coach handled it very well, and promised that he could be with Katerina tomorrow :o) points for the coach! The coaches are 'imports' - young guys that come from all over the place - Ireland, Australia, etc... so maybe in the 19 - 24 year old bracket... I'm thinking probably closer to the high end, but still young. Lots of energy, and they really relate with the kids. I've offered to Kyle to sign him up for the fall soccer program (soccer is BIG in Maynard), but he said no. I'll ask him again when it's a quiet moment.

I do have pics and video, but the camera is still in the car. So maybe tonight they'll get posted. I have to say it's awesome to see Ky participate in a team type thing! :o) This is Ry's first team sport - so Monday's behavior wasn't unexpected. Hopefully, he'll continue his trend to participate more each night continues!

Round Ligament Pain anyone?

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 12:29:50 -0500

So I heard back from the Nurse and my pain has been declared Round Ligament Pain. I am incredibly uncomfortable, but glad to hear this should clear up after a week. Yes a whole week. I'm exhausted from my restless night. So after I talk to my manager later, I'll head home to rest for a big before I have to cart the boys over for soccer. I'll stop and pick up a heating pad on the way too. I know we had one at some point, but I have no idea where it might be.

The baby has been a little more active today. Still tiny movements as far as I can feel. Though if I lie on my side, she pushes up to the top, far part of my belly and I can tell she's there. Certainly is nice to refer to her as a she too! Just knowing is so much nicer for us - I've never been one to hold out for surprises :o)

So for the next week - no excercise, limit my walking, work is OK since I have a desk job but avoid the stairs. And have someone else do things like the shopping. Heat or ice is good and lots of rest.

Brotherly love

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 10:14:33 -0500

Yesterday I told Kyle that the baby now has functioning ears and can hear him if he talks to her. So he snuggled up on the couch and put his head on my belly and told her a short, 3 sentence story about his Baby Sealie. Then he sang her a song about Baby Sealie. Then he said "I want to tell her about my family" OK go ahead:

I'm going to tell her about Mommy. *leans into belly again* Mommy's name is Jen. She's the one you're going to come out of.
Daddy is our Daddy. He really likes sounds.
Ryan is my brother. He *LOVES* trains.
Me. I'm Kyle. I like soccer and sleeping. I really love sleep. And transformers too.

Very, very cute.
I've been very sore the last two days (called today to check on it) - so Kyle told the baby this morning to try not to stretch too much, Mommy is really sore :o)
He's got such a huge heart in there, I love my little guy!

It's A.....

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 12:24:29 -0500

Ultrasound was today - we all squeezed in there. And it's a GIRL! I can't believe it. I was just totally overwhelmed. Steve looked slightly shocked too :o)

Ryan went into school armed with a picture of his baby sister - Kyle chose to leave his in the car. I don't know why exactly, but he's 6 so who knows what's in his little head!

2 weeks

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 06:49:08 -0500

Kyle starts Kindergarten in just 2 weeks from today. It's an odd schedule - 1st and up starts school on Tuesday. Half of Kindergarten goes in on Wed, and the other half goes Thursday. School is closed Friday. Then closed Monday for Labor Day! So Kyle's first week is just one day. This will be interesting - even though he was in K last year, he didn't have a 'first day' - we moved him after Thanksgiving when everyone else was established already.

We still don't know his class or teacher - they post them on Friday and send home letters. So Friday is a big day around here - our ultrasound to hopefully do some baby gender peeking, and Kyle finds out his classroom assignment AND it's his last day in the summer program.

Yesterday when I picked him up a teacher relayed:
she was 'working in the closet, but like a 1 armed coat hanger trying to hang coats!' and Kyle came in with his hands full. He was looking for something, but stopped when he saw her and asked "could you use some help?".
Wow. Just wow. She was impressed with his perception. I'm impressed that he asked!!! Maybe, just maybe, he really has matured in leaps and bounds this summer and an extra year really was all he needed. Just maybe. We're still prepared for not - but if the Asperger's label drops, we wouldn't exactly be sad :o)

a Happy RyGuy makes a Happy Me

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 14:22:38 -0500

OK happy boys in general make a happy me.
Ryan practically didn't acknowledge me leaving yesterday when I dropped him off. And today he was smiles and ran off to play for Steve. Yay. Little things can do SO much! And all he's doing is starting his day in 'the 5's room' as he calls it.

a follow up on Ry's sad dropoffs

Sat, 12 Aug 2006 08:08:56 -0500

I called the daycare yesterday and chatted with the Director (who I love!). We decided that when the 'big kids' leave the mixed morning group (preschool, preK and kindergarten start off together, then Kind splits off first - followed by preK later) - Ry will go with the kindergarten class and join up with PreK later. I mentioned we think he might be bored, so she mentioned moving him up to kindergarten early - I suggested just visiting might do the trick. So we agreed on visiting and if he does really well there, we'll just move him :o) sounds like a plan.

This is why I love her. She listens, and comes up with something doable. Granted, we don't have the same challenges with Ry that we did with Ky while he was there, but even when Kyle spends a week there the new Director listens to me and is happy to work with him so that he has an enjoyable week.

Kickin' Cancer on the Common

Sat, 12 Aug 2006 07:58:01 -0500

The Rossidudes are holding their 2nd Kickin Cancer on the Common. Check out this article in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

my RyGuy

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 09:18:21 -0500

Ryan's been giving Steve a hard time at dropoff at the daycare center lately. Granted, I haven't done it in quite a while, but when I do it tends to be easier. Maybe I'll swap with him next week and see what happens. Today Ry had a total and complete meltdown. Much more than the whiney 'Daddy don't go - stay and play with me' that is usual. This was high pitched, full fledged wailing. Why do I know? Steve called me - Ryan was only saying that he wanted to be with Mommy. So Steve though maybe talking to me would help. I tried. But the crying didn't cease. I told Steve to just bring him home to me (I'm working at home today). It's not the best way to deal with it for sure - but I'll see if I can catch his teachers and the director next week and chat about Ry. Maybe we can get a clue as to what's going on. Ry isn't helping - when I asked if there was something he didn't like about his class he told me there was something dangerous in his classroom. Huh?

He also said he wants to go to a new school. *sigh* We'll have to explore this. Hopefully, he'll be able to move up to the 'kindergarten' room soon - once the oldest kids there actually start Kindergarten in September. I'm not sure how old he has to be to move up - it might be October or November. But maybe we can setup some visits or something. A new school would be rough. We're planning on putting the baby in the school he's in now - I know all the teachers, and adore the director and the Infant lead. We just can't handle 3 different schools - so that means his only option would be the public preschool (same school as Ky). And they are only 4 days - and they get out at 2:30. So unless the afterschool program adds preschool to their coverage, it really won't work.

It's not Ryan to be so unhappy. - which was really why I had Steve bring him home. He's happy as can be now, playing Thomas on his computer :o) Maybe he just needs a 'down' day ... I can relate to that!

Summer is dwindling...

Wed, 9 Aug 2006 12:26:46 -0500

Kyle only has next week left in his summer program. Then a week and a few days at Ry's school. Then back to school begins!

In chatting with another Mom whose son is starting kindergarten she mentioned that K doesn't actually start on the first day with everyone else... um say again? So instead of starting on the 29th with the rest of the school, kindergarten starts on the 30th or the 31st depending which part of the alphabet you fall into. This placement will be sent out with the class placement letters which will be sent on the 18th. What? Why didn't I know - so I call the school :o)

I get the super nice front office woman on the phone and she confirms all of the above info. And she says "well, it's just like last year" - so I remind her that Kyle actually started in Nov/Dec and missed this mess :o) Oh. I think I managed to relay my irratation at discovering this so late - without harrassing her, since she's the messenger :o)

Kyle is also still convinced - in his very literal world, which is apparently par for kids with Asperger's - that by going into Kindergarten again means it's exactly the same. Same teacher, room, other kids. I've had this conversation with him a few times now, reminding him that we don't know who his teacher will be yet, or which room. That there are other teachers besides Mrs. M. and that most of the kids from his class will actually be going up to first grade, though he has friends from elsewhere coming into K.

He's spending the afternoon today at OneStopFun - in their gym, then in the pool - with his summer program. Friday they go bowling for their last time, and next friday a pizza party to say goodbye (sort of - then he goes back for the afternoon program). Yikes - his very first summer vacation is almost over!!!!

And he has had a fabulous summer, I hope his comfort level stays with him into the school year, but we'll see. Once he's back in a classroom with structure and has to sit for periods of time - well, who knows.. we'll all do our best!

Stuff retrieved. Ahhhhh. I feel better

Mon, 7 Aug 2006 06:37:40 -0500

Yes, I was antsy. I needed stuff. And if it didn't show up soon, I was going to go buy it all LOL. That wouldn't go well for saving for my leave (though short as it will be). So after the stuff retrieval from Rossidudes, I met Norma yesterday in Lexington and we transferred. Ry came along to keep me company - just ask him to do anything with 'baby' in the sentence - he's *THAT* excited :o)

So we put the crib together - and we're only missing one tiny piece. I have to see if I can get a replacement. If not, we should just be able to use a longer/wider wood screw and we'll be all set. I took apart the changing table and wiped it all down with bleach - since I was cleaning... then I wrapped the shelves with a marble patterned contact paper. Came out really nice. Maybe I'll take pics if I can clean the room out again. It really looks like a baby room now :o)

It's gonna be a loooong 6 months!

Hmmmm do YOU flush your baby's poo?

Sun, 6 Aug 2006 09:53:28 -0500

While browsing some cloth diapering products this morning I was reading a product description for disposable liners - for those not in the know, these are a paper product that you can use in a cloth diaper (or disposable for that matter) - when the baby poops on it, it is easier to pull the liner out (with attached poop) and flush! Voila! No big poop mess for the pail. In the description it says:

Also, suggest these to your disposable diapering friends to help them obey the law. It is illegal to put poop in the garbage pursuant to US Code Title 42 Chapter 82. It even says to put contents of soiled diapers in the toilet right on disposable diaper packaging. No kidding! Plus, flushable liners also keep the chemicals in the disposables one more layer away from baby.

Steve and I had never noticed the message on the package before - so I dug up a store brand package that we have hanging around from those days and sure enough it says:

IMPORTANT: Please be considerate and sanitary when disposing of soiled diapers. Rinse or shake baby soil into the toilet. .. .

But no mention of laws... And I couldn't find anything when I googled, so it's not a very well known law at least.

So now I need to ask - how many have noticed this message before???

Pictures finally...

Fri, 4 Aug 2006 20:32:21 -0500

and yeah, it requires flash ;o)
Kyle's bday pictures

Hap-py BIRTH-DAY dear Ky- Le......

Fri, 4 Aug 2006 18:17:13 -0500

Rockets, nesting, goodbyes

Fri, 4 Aug 2006 15:39:11 -0500

I know, I know, I'm slackin - I still haven't done much about the pics I have from the birthday weekend.
I do have this though:

I picked up the stickers to ditch the mattress and boxspring from the 'guest' room. They are now leaning up against the wall so that I could get a look at the carpet - surprisingly enough, no pee marks!! (Mom's dogs stay in there with her when she's here, so it's like an intense pee magnet for our animals when she's not here... ugh!). So I'll make Steve drag them down to the garage until we can put them out for pickup on wednesday.

Then we have pickup of stuff galore weekend - ok maybe that exaggeration! I'm picking up stuff from Brian and Carolyn on Saturday (thanks Guys!!!) and then Sunday I'm retrieving the things I lent to Stacy. So the room will be full full full! The basinet is still up in the attic and looks to be in good shape. And the crib mattress is hanging out up there too. When it cools down some, I'll go up and actually poke around to see what we have for bedding and what not - but that's all in boxes and it's too hot to stay up there for more than a minute! Besides, we'll *hopefully* know the boy/girl status on the 18th - so then I'll know if I'm looking to see what boy things I can use on a girl, or just what boy things I can use again!

We went to Mulberry's birthday bash last night - each year the daycare center has a party :o) Ryan sat down on the floor with 'Baby Jack' - maybe 5 months old? And he read to him, and asked Mom all kinds of questions - she looked at me and said 'He's sure ready, isn't he ?' Then he was insisting that she take the book home with them "you take the book home and read it to him at bed time. Then you bring it back!" very cute.

Both boys had a blast with Mr. DJ - jumping, dancing, limbo, they were tired and sweaty when we got home. Kyle hasn't been eating a whole lot - I'm thinking it's mostly because he's afraid it will upset his tummy again. But this morning he promised me that if I made him pb and fluff for lunch he would eat it - so we'll see.

I did hear sad news this morning. A girl I grew up with died last week - apparently from cancer. Erica moved to our town while we were in middle school. She was the only person I ever punched - hope she doesn't hold a grudge ;o) - nah - we just really pushed each other's buttons those days. She graduated with my brother and was 32.

Attack of the Giant Humidity Sponge

Wed, 2 Aug 2006 11:24:14 -0500

At least that's what it felt like when I opened the door yesterday to let the dogs out. I was home with Kyle and we had the AC on - though our living room AC isn't big enough, so it crept up over 80 degrees eventually, but still better than the 94+ (well over 100 for a heat index when you factor in the humidity) that was outside. The little time I spent outside was pretty bad, though thankfully brief.

The short time I spent on my feet to get the boys some dinner resulted in some nice swollen feet - which left quickly once I sat down and elevated them.

Today was my 16 week visit. The baby played hide and seek again and the Dr apologised for taking so long. Apparently, instead of hanging out in the low-center of my belly, he/she is in the upper/left. Probably due to the septum in my uterus (which was removed - the septum, not the uterus ;o) - , but had reformed at last check, prior to conceiving Kyle).

My excruciating back pain, mostly in the rib area and just below my left shoulder is probably due to my ribs shifting. Lovely. A chiropractor maybe helpful. tylenol certainly isn't - this started yesterday. Ouch!

2.5 weeks til our ultrasound!

Support Carolyn!!!

Tue, 1 Aug 2006 19:12:57 -0500

Our friend, Carolyn, is walking (ok, wheeling) In the MS Challenge Walk. Stop by her site - she's determined to make it as far as she can. Contribute if you can - it's certainly a worthy cause!

sooooo tired

Sun, 30 Jul 2006 20:54:28 -0500

The pool party yesterday, a small bbq today. I'm wiped out. The boys went to bed without a peep!

Maybe more tomorrow...

The weekend of parties begins....

Sat, 29 Jul 2006 08:08:31 -0500

So today is Kyle's pool party over at OneStopFun. They have a really cool pool. This is for all his friends. Tomorrow we're having a small BBQ with family and some friends that either don't have children, or their children were too young for the pool.

I put together the Goodie Cups for the party today:

Yep Monkey cups and Monkey Pops :-)
The really aren't as sparse as they look! There's temp tatoos inside too... but they didn't turn out as well as my vision had them... oh well.

And on Wednesday, his actual birthday, Kyle got to open presents from us and from Ry:

Look a smile! It really does happen!!! :-)

Fri, 28 Jul 2006 14:26:57 -0500

I came across this article today:
'Breast' Cover Gets Mixed Reaction

Now, this isn't People, or Newsweek, or PC Gamers Weekly or anything. This is Babytalk magazine. A FREE magazine that targets expectant parents and parents of babies. And breastfeeding is probably a topic of interest amongst that group of folks, yes?

So the reactions boggle me. So I went out to www.babytalk.com hoping for a pic of their cover - and there it was:

Honestly? I see nothing wrong with this. I have no problem with my boys seeing this. You can see more on your visit to a beach, or while watching a half time show (ok bad humour). We DID see more on our cruise in April.

I find it very interesting that the readers of Babytalk are so up in arms about this that it actually got news coverage. Interesting indeed.

Now, I was one to feed my boys when they were hungry. If it happened to be somewhere public and there was no where for me to go, I'd go for it, but I'd do my best to be discreet and keep it quiet and private. I also dressed with that in mind - minimize exposure so to speak Basically, no one ever got flashed by me, and I choose a private setting over a busy restaurant if I can... "whipping it out" is not my style for sure. I'm looking forward to nursing this new baby, and have started discussions with the boys about it.

Hmmmmm. Anyone else have an opinion?

Happy Birthday to my Snowman

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 12:19:37 -0500

The first ultrasound we had for Kyle was very early - around 7 weeks I think. The printout resembled two white dots, one on top of the other. A snowman. And thus, his very first nickname was born.

Now, it's 6 years and 9 months later. He's a big boy. My sweetie. He has his challenges and we're all helping him learn to work around and with them. But he's still my sweet, wonderful baby.

Happy 6th Birthday Kyle!!!

The criminals get off easy

Tue, 25 Jul 2006 14:47:42 -0500

Well, I did go up to a court room, but they settled on a jury before they got to me. I went back in the 'pool' - we were sent for lunch, then when we got back we were released!

So I popped into Borders in the Cambridgeside Galleria and picked up some book/cassette combos for Kyle and the Pirateology book for Ryan to give to Ky for the big day. And now I'm home - posting here, then trying to get some work done. And laundry - yeah I don't think Kyle has any clean shorts for tomorrow, so I guess I need to be a little domestic today too :o)

I'm all set for Saturday - I just have to put the Goodie Cups together. I'll have to take a picture of the lollipops going into them for Kate - they are Monkey pops :o)

For Sunday - well... I'm not so prepared. I have to go shopping. I was good about getting the soda ahead of time - I just added one each trip for the last month. But I need the burgers, dogs, rolls, salads... yeah - everything but soda pretty much :o)

cakes...

Mon, 24 Jul 2006 20:56:11 -0500

It's hot. It's too hot to make a cake! So I called Shaw's to order a Cars cake - but they just ran out!!! No, they don't have a Herbie cake, and they haven't had Power Rangers in months. At the end of my list, I had to bring Kyle in to look at the book.

He picked out his two cakes - for Saturday a Dinosaur cake that kinda looks like this one:

For Sunday a Pirates of the Caribbean cake - similar to this one:

I have Jury Duty tomorrow. Bleh. So I have to be in Cambridge by 8am. And I have no idea what traffic is like these days with numerous Boston tunnels closed... argh argh argh. So I guess I'll be leaving bright and early.

Silly Putty Mation

Mon, 24 Jul 2006 14:19:42 -0500

This is right up Kyle's alley...

From another blog I read

Just one more today...

Sun, 23 Jul 2006 20:48:45 -0500

I put this together for Ky, since I did one for Ry...

Park Pictures

Sun, 23 Jul 2006 18:11:52 -0500

As promised... the pics...

The big plane:

General size of the small park:

Spinnie Thing:

Kyle on the jungle gym and the monkey bars:

Ry sliding and on a duck:

Dinner at Gasho:

Happy 39 years Nanna and Poppy:

And the belly - Kyle wanted to take this one:

Fishes in the Gasho gardens:

MOVIES
Does anyone know the actual purpose for tires in the dirt? I've seen them before... maybe they are just 'fun' :o)

Kyle demonstrates his Monkey-ness - the video slowed down when I converted it, so it looks slow motion - kinda cute :o)

And an update on the gross kid alert from earlier...
apparently Ry's tummy was still slightly unsettled. After stopping for some strawberry milk, then some lunch at Arby's, Ry announced "I think I'm going to throw up" - we were about 1/2 way between my Mom's and home. I was in the left lane and had a nice clear path across the other two, but Steve couldn't get out of the car in time, and a mess was made. Guess the truck's been 'christened' now. An advantage with leather seats at least - we just had to wipe them down when we got home :o) Ry received a whole new outfit on the shoulder of 84East... we cleaned up best we could and Kyle moved ALL of his things to wedge them between him and the door instead of stacking it all in the middle as usual. I considered having Steve take a picture of that - but neglected to do so. Sure was cute though!

Frisch in the News :o)

Sun, 23 Jul 2006 16:28:58 -0500

Last week our New Library opened - to celebrate they had a parade - in 95 degree weather! Kyle marched in the parade with EXCEL - his summer and after school program.

Scanned from my copy of the Beacon-Villager, July 20th 2006

Sadness, Happiness, showers and such

Sun, 23 Jul 2006 09:42:32 -0500

We've been at my Mom's for the last few days. We came down Thursday afternoon so that we could go down to Long Island for the funeral for Liz's Mom. It was a very touching service - the priest a nephew of Marilyn's (Liz's cousin - who also married Paul and Liz in that same church). After the service we all had popped over to the firehouse for a luncheon. Then Steve and I went back to the house to visit some more with Paul and Liz and Liz's sisters.

It's such a small thing for us - us being there. Important to us, but it didn't take a lot of effort or anything. It was good to see that we could do something that made a difference. I came away from there feeling as though we helped. Even by just being there. Talking, even laughing a little :O)

My parents watched the boys all day on Friday so that we could go down and not worry about them (Thanks Mom and Dad!!!).

On Saturday we needed to get the boys out of the house. It had rained all day Friday, and was dreary Saturday. We were taking my parents out for dinner later too so we needed the boys to burn off some energy. So what do we do? We went to target!!! I hadn't brought any pants to wear - just a dress for the funeral and shorts for the rest of the time. Since my warddrobe at the moment is limited to begin with, I figured I'd pick up a pair of pants. We grabbed an EZSet type Gazebo too - complete with screens... They actuallhy had them AND at the price I was willing to pay. :o) bonus! It should fit on our deck to help with shade and even rainy days, but we can also use it next week at the bbq we're having.

After we left target we noticed it wasn't raining. So we zoomed over to the little park in Monroe. The boys had a blast - yes I took pictures. I'll post them tonight maybe when I'm home. There is a fighter (bomber? I have to ask steve) plane there that has been there FOREVER! Seriously - we used to go there as kids and there was a ladder you could climb and then sit inthe cockpit :o) - the ladder is gone now and the cockpit is filled with concrete. But the boys were able to climb all over the wings... they also enjoyed the jungle gym and the spinnie things - not sure what they are called but you run around them and then jump on and spin!!!! Kyle displayed his fine mastery of the monkey bars as well. It was a nice difference to have the 'old style' playground equipment for them to play on, rather than all the plastic stuff they put up these days - also nice and probaby more safety featured... but it's nice to see the kids play on the same things we did.

Then the skies opened up, so we went back to Nanna's :o) - Dinner was at Gasho. Nice! Our chef was apparently very new though, so we didn't get much of a show. But the food was great. Ryan ate and ate and ate! Kyle ate a few pieces of steak and chicken and most of my shrimp - next time he says he'll order the shrimp. He was very good about tasting almost everything and ate a reasonable amount.

**gross child output alert**
Apparently Ryan ate too much of something. At 4am he came in with his undies at his ankles. 'I need you to help me with the accidents' uh oh. Poor Ry had had diarhea - but he made it to the potty. His problem was that he had to get off the potty to wipe, so I had some minor cleaning to do. Cleaned him and the floor and popped him back into bed. Seems OK this morning - so we're all agreeing it was probably just too much of a good thing :-)
**end gross alert**

Steve's in the shower. We're packing up to head home. Wednesday Kyle is 6! Yikes! His two parties are this weekend... fun fun. Pictures? Of course!

An end to the heat?

Tue, 18 Jul 2006 15:29:43 -0500

Oh happy day! Massive thunder storms tonight followed by a high tomorrow of 82!!!!
Oh yeah!

Storm your heart out tonight, I'm thrilled with temps < 90!!!

More Sad News

Mon, 17 Jul 2006 19:07:59 -0500

We received word today that our Auntie Liz's Mom passed away suddenly today. Marilyn certainly wasn't old, though a Grandmother to 4 with another on the way. She was vibrant and lively and you just loved her right away when you met her. I am in a state of shock and still trying to grasp the idea of her being gone.

Liz and family - our hearts go out to you. I wish I could reach out and take away some of the pain that this leaves.

Marilyn - you were a wonderful woman and you will be missed by many.

Canobie Adventures, grill shopping, assembly required

Sun, 16 Jul 2006 17:15:31 -0500

Yesterday was Canobie Lake Park day for us. We arrived just after noon, picked up tickets for the kids (I had discounted tickets for us but the kid price is still better!), headed in and had lunch. Yeah, yeah, not great planning - totally should have brought something to eat before going in the park, but we enjoyed it anyway. The boys could see the Corkscrew in the distance and Ryan declared he wanted to go on that one! Eeek. I'm not ready for them going on those - and thankfully, they are too small anyway :o)

After lunch we aimed toward a bathroom and hit a small ride on the way there - the two seater cars for the kids.They waited in line almost patiently even. There are a quite a few rides available for the under 48" crew - of course Kyle won't be able to ride most of them next year... he's pushing 48" now. Next year will be a challenge with Ky going on more of the bigger rides and Ry still not meeting the height requirement. But for this year there was plenty that they could do together.

They hit most of the 'kiddie' rides then we worked over toward the Dragon coaster and the Jungle bounce. On the way we stopped for a round of a cute fishing game - Ry was content just 'fishing' and not trying to catch anything, and ended up jamming the 'pond' !!! Oops. Once fixed, I helped him 'win' and the boys both got cheesy Dr Seuss Hat keychains... as if they have keys? Then they waited in line with Steve for the Dragon coaster. Ry was thrilled to pieces that he got to go on a coaster even though it wasn't the BIG one :o) The Jungle Bounce was even more of a thrill:

Check out that grin!!! And yes, it's the same picture from the post below...

We spent an hour in Castaway Island - the water slide thing... lots of slides and lots of water. I went down once too :o) Steve managed to avoid going down any. We were all nice and cooled off by the time we got dressed and left the mini water park. Then we found the train station and took a ride across the park. Stopped for dinner in an italian place. Stopped for ice cream and fried dough and then we came home.

About 6 hours all told. Not shabby. Today they are slightly more high strung than usual - though Steve doesn't agree so maybe I'm just more worn out than usual.

Today we hit Lowes and picked up a new grill - our Normal grill is useless with more rust than metal left now. And our 'little' grill is great for small stuff, but if we want to cook a lot, or something really drippy, it isn't really worth it. So we finally broke down and now we have a nice shiney new grill. I had 'pool duty' with the kids while Steve assembled it - yes they offer free assembly, but Steve didn't think we could fit the assembled version in the back of the 'truck'.

Now the kids are inside - Ryan declared that his tummy wanted to get out of the pool and go inside because it was hungry. But then he forgot that he was hungry :o) Steve is weed whacking. I'm hoping that's all he decides to do today - it's tooo hot! It was 96 when we pulled in from Lowes... yuck!

Does anyone have a use for a several year old grill that has it's grates and burners all rusted out? Free to good home, you just have to pick it up :o)

... wiped out ...

Sat, 15 Jul 2006 20:04:10 -0500

Pictures from today's venture to Canobie Lake Park are here.

I know their clothes don't really match - yellow shirt with red shorts?? They dressed themselves, it was weather appropriate - it worked for me :o)

Mostly Kyle and some Reunion stuff :o)

Sat, 15 Jul 2006 09:44:22 -0500

Not much going on here this week. I got a lot of work done for work - it was definitely a productive week there. Friday I met with the Special Ed contact at Ky's school to go over where we are at and the consideration of an IEP. Right now he's got a 504 in place. It was nice, painless and simple. She explained that the 504 is just as legal as an IEP. Because the 504 is governed by the Civil Rights department, if the school were to violate it, they would violate the child's civil rights - not a good thing for a school to do :o) She assured me that as long as he's getting what he needs, that's what I should focus on, and I agree. Someone told me yesterday to trust my feelings and instincts. I (we) know him best. And yes, I write in the first person but everything is discussed between Steve and I - and when appropriate - with Kyle too. Like the decision to repeat Kindergarten - the final part of the decision was to run it by Ky.

At any rate - while we have a disibility now (one of the requirements for an IEP) we still don't have a 'failure to progress because of that disability'. Basically, since he started in the school so late in the year the majority feels that this was the biggest factor in not progressing. Since he'll get the OT and the support necessary through the 504 I'm OK with watching him for a few weeks in September to see how he does - well actually it will be a few months. Our SPED contact is also the (head?) of the program there for Autistic children - including Asperger's. So he'll be getting some of her time and services specifically as well. Overall, we thing we have a nicely rounded plan going into the Fall. Now we just need to find out who his teacher is!!! (3rd week in august).

Today - I'm off for a hair appointment. Then all of us are headed up to Canobie Lake Park - weeee! We're in the middle of a 'heat wave' so we'll make sure to get into their water park!

Let's see - oh - some of Steve's 2nd Cousins have started initial plans for a Frischknecht Family Reunion. Of course I jumped right in and setup a site :o) All three of us actually have space, but I had the best Domain name :o) There's not much up there yet, but there should be shortly. So if you happen across my blog and are a Frischknecht in some way - check it out!

A Kyle comment :o)

Sat, 8 Jul 2006 19:28:32 -0500

So at the party today they had a sprinkler - and Kyle came home as dry as when he left. So I asked if he went in? He said no. I asked Why? He said he didn't want to show his belly button - that all the other kids had belly buttons that stuck out and his doesn't!!! LOL - so today Kyle learned about innies and outies :o) I showed him mine and told him Ry and Daddy are both innies too - but to check out Uncle Dougie next time... last I remember it was kinda half innie and half outie !!! This amused him thoroughly.

Saturday, Park, Diapers, Parties

Sat, 8 Jul 2006 13:37:16 -0500

Today Kyle and Steve are off to a party for 6 year old twins - Happy Birthday D and S!!! To make up for Ry not going to a party we went to the park! Weeeee!!

"yo! yo! yo!
My Name is Ry and I like Apple Pie
Hey there's a plane up there in the sky!
I wear velcro cuz I don't know how to tie!"

Then we went to meet someone who was selling me her size small Fuzzi Bunz :o) The ultimate in caring for the envrinment - not only are we using cloth, but we are REusing too LOL... I didn't think they were discolored at all - maybe just the way a white tshirt may 'dull' after washing a bunch of times, but that's it. At any rate - she did suggest using cloth wipes too - because it makes changing easier... jsut stick the wipe in the dipe and drop in the diaper bucket - no separating the paper wipes out for the trash - something to think on for sure...

So I came home with 18 diapers - with the 3 Happy Heiny's on order, that brings us to 21. I think I want to be at 24 - 30 for the size small... She has mediums too - and is holding them for me. As we get closer to needing them I'll let her know (or if we decide to stop... but so far I'm feeling good about this).

So Mr. Bear got to try one out - he had to sub since we have no chidren this small around:

I've managed to move most of my stamping stuff out of the 3rd bedroom. There's still my sewing machine - which will probably live in the storage room for the time being, and the closet needs to be emptied. And of course the bed - before we can actually start setting up the room, the bed has to go. That's on the agenda for August I think.

So my stamping stuff is now sharing space with the computer room - Steve's starting to really feel cramped I think - in Douglas, he used to have his own space... before I encroached on it... who knows, maybe we'll win the lottery and we can build an addition - then he really wins... a two car garage AND his own space.. he wouldn't know what to do with himself ;o)

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Kyle had a great time at the party and Steve stayed an extra hour afterward. Guess he was shy for the first part of the party. We don't get to see Spence and Dash often, and he wouldn't have known anyone else there - but big kudos to Ky for behaving well... :o)

Ky checking out the gift we brought - or is he trying to hold him up? -

Talk about Super Parents ;o) (Barry is the Hulk if you need help on that one...)

Rollen A Secor

Fri, 7 Jul 2006 19:21:33 -0500

Sunny Friday Ramblings

Fri, 7 Jul 2006 14:19:54 -0500

It's Friday! Not much going on for the weekend - the way we like it! Kyle and Steve are off to a birthday party tomorrow at lunchtime, so me and Ry will be chilling together. Maybe we'll go to the park.

Today, New England Aquarium is visiting Ry's school, and Kyle is going bowling - in fact he should be there now. They go bowling almost every week over the summer. Yesterday Ky got to go out to Beaverbrook reservation - they have spray pools there. He didn't come back as excited as I thought he would. We'll see how he is next week when they visit the waterslides!!! :o) A summer of field trips for my KyBoy!!!

I've been going for accupuncture for 4 weeks now. No more headaches (yay!) but yesterday was the first time I felt anything immediately. When I got there I told him how much my wrist has been bothering me for the last week - it's the carpal tunnel, and I knew it would probably get worse with the whole pregnancy thing, but it's really annoying. So he jabbed me right below my left knee and wiggled it. It hurt! Usually, they don't hurt - usually I only barely feel them at all. After my yelp, he asked how my wrist felt, so I flexed it - hey! that's pretty cool. There was still pain, but it was dramatically better... he stuck a few in my right foot (top) and the pain was diminished even more. A few more in my right wrist and forearm and the pain was just a memory - a shadow. When I left, if I really moved my wrist at extreme angles I could feel a twinge - but that was it. It was awesome! :o) Today the pain is sneaking back, but slowly - it's still not nearly what it was before my appointment yesterday - so I'm a happy camper.

I ordered some Happy Heiny's diapers yesterday :o) not that I have a baby to put them on yet, but they are one of the highest rated cloth dipes - those and fuzzy bunz. And I'm hopefully picking up some fuzzy bunz this weekend. So I can compare them and see which way I want to go. Happy Heiny's have a bunch of patterns too - makes them wicked cute.

12 weeks and a day

Wed, 5 Jul 2006 12:37:45 -0500

I officially reached 12 weeks yesterday, and had my 12 week visit today. I saw the 'token male' Dr in the practice - the one I had been seeing for my PCOS related stuff. I adore him. He's funny, and relaxed, and informative... answers everything and listens if I have ideas too. And he's kinda cute too which never hurts :o) I'll get to see each of the other Doctors in the practice over the next few months, so that the baby is not delivered by a stranger. But Dr T is my favorite.

So today we listened to the heartbeat and talked about test results. I am not a carrier for cystic fibrosis - so I will never have a child with it (it requires both parents to pass on the gene.. chromosone? whichever.). We don't know about Steve, so in theory he could be a carrier - then we would have 25% chance of each child being a carrier. Let's see - I'm immune to Fifth's Disease. So I've probably had it in the past... it runs through day care centers on occassion, so it's good to know if I'm immune, so if we hear it running through the school I don't have to panic. And I am NOT immune to toxoplasmosis... so Steve is still on kittylitter duty.

Officially, I won't be in my 2nd trimester for another 2 weeks according to Dr T... so I can only expect to feel better!!! And then right around my 18 week ultrasound is when he expects to have me have my energy back - for a little bit at least. I won't be 35 until April, so I won't need an amnio unless something else comes up to warrant it.

So we scheduled the ultrasound for my Brother's birthday - August 18th. Yes, if the baby is willing we'll find out the gender! Yay. Only 6 weeks away! But it's good to know that if we were that impatient, we could drop $275 to have dna testing to find out the gender now.

We're going to be ditching the bed that we have in the 3rd bedroom now.. but after my parents come up for Kyle's party at the end of this month (invites going out today!). Then we can really start on the baby's room in earnest! And tomorrow I should be making plans to retrieve a bunch of stuff that I had lent out, including our crib. But I don't expect all of the pieces to have made it. Apparently, we had given her all this stuff and a friend had stored it for her temporarily. In the meantime, her family stepped up and bought her all kinds of new stuff, so she ended up not needing ours. So I know that at least a few pieces were found after I had given her the crib and I dropped them off to her. I don't know if they ever made it to where the crib is. So we may or may not have a crib. We don't have a dresser - so we'll be looking around. Carolyn and Brian still have our changing table and she's made sure that I know to get it back when I'm ready :o)

And of course I have to start purchasing all the stuff I'll need for the cloth diapering bit. Hopefully, I'll be able to purchase small amounts at a time over the next few months so it's not just one big expense, and we'll be in good shape.

I'll be delivering at Emerson. It's only 15 minutes away - much better than the 30+ drive we had with both boys. We haven't visited the Birthing Center there yet, but I hear good things from those that have delivered there.

Amazon and BabiesRUs

Tue, 4 Jul 2006 18:56:29 -0500

As I mentioned before, our registry was moved... and here's a look at why:

"In March 2006, the Chancery Court division of the Superior Court of New Jersey issued a decision severing the agreement between Toysrus.com and Amazon.com."

Makes more sense now - but they still could have sent us an email! Humph!

Happy 4th!!! Weekend Sun and Fun!!!

Tue, 4 Jul 2006 09:06:03 -0500

We had Sun, Sun and more sun this weekend. On a weekend where Saturday was supposed to be sunny surrounded by rain we took advantage. The boys went on a 'Car Adventure' in their little jeeps tooling around the yard and Steve mowed the lawn. Kyle and Ryan also harvested some of the pretty purple flowers that grow when the lawn gets too long :o)

Then we went to Target and got rollerblades and a full set of pads for Kyle - the most important being wrist guards. In checking with his Doctor about pads, the only concern she had was that he definitely wear wrist guards. They actually do help prevent wrist fractures because they keep the wrist from flipping backwards when they land on them. I also convinced him that he'll fall a lot more on the roller blades and he'll want all the pads on, unlike his scooter where he only falls when he's being reckless. Now I have to find a way to build up some more confidence in him... very nicely Child magazine had a short article on teaching your child to rollerblade. No, I didn't take pictures of that one.

Sunday was more sun! So we went outside and had more car adventures. I ran for groceries and Kyle took a dip in the pool.

Monday the boys and I spent time in the pool, more tme outside with the cars, and then we hit the Lexington Carnival and fireworks. The boys had a blast on the rip-off rides, and I even went down the big potato sack slide with Ryan (who looked at the steps up and started crying for me) - they went on a dragon rollercoaster on their own and were MegaProud of themselves. They also went on a tugboat kind of thing... again - I forgot the camera... bad me.

After 20 minutes of scared/worried children they thoroughly enjoyed the 10 minute display (followed by a 10 minute technical difficulty break) and then 5 more minutes from the car. It was a letdown for us grownups, but it was actually the perfect length for the boys. Ky had Steve's chainsaw headgear to protect his ears and I held Ry in my lap and covered his hands with mine over his ears. It worked OK. They enjoyed them much more from the car where the booms were dulled significantly. I'm thinking earplugs maybe next year.

- the only picture I got from fireworks - taken with my phone :o)

Today: another day with no plans. Yay! So far it's sunny, with possible showers later. We'll go outside for sure!!! Then hopefully, they'll pass out for naps, but I won't hold my breath. Certainly early to bed tonight though. Kyle is a bear this morning! He threw a full blown tantrum (first in a while) because I wouldn't let him make the juice his way. *sigh* But he's tired - he'll get over it.

Have a very happy Fourth of July!!

oh... Amazon has apparently lost it's contract with BabiesRUs and ToysRUs... as a result our baby registry has moved to the BabiesRUs site... I updated the link to the right. You'd think they would have sent us email or something - nope, I found out when I clicked on it and got a 'registry not found'... hmmmm...

OWWW! My eyes! My eyes!!!

Sat, 1 Jul 2006 08:55:17 -0500

Hey - can it be? It's Saturday AND the sun is out?

We're going outside!!!

Have the conversation...

Fri, 30 Jun 2006 09:10:09 -0500

Along the lines of my last depressing topics on a Friday - I figured I'd mention this.

Talk to your loved ones about your desires on buriel vs cremation. Have the conversation. Do you want a memorial service? Do you want to donate your organs? If burial - where do you want to be buried. Some families, for some reason or other, already have cemetary plots in their names. If this is the case, do the people closest to you know this?

It sounds like something you don't want to talk about. Nobody wants to think about dying. But this last week we had my Aunt, who the day her husband passed away, was asking his sister (my Mom) if she knew what he would want. They hadn't had that conversation. It makes the loved ones left behind second guess. Am I doing the right thing? Would he really want this? And in the midst of the grief that comes when we lose someone, it isn't something they need to worry about.

So have the conversation. It can be just a couple short sentences while you're in the car on the way to somewhere fun. It doesn't have to be depressing, just matter of fact. Hey, you know, when it's my time - I'd like it if you could bury me in the cemetary where..... and hey - when you think about memorials... remember that they aren't really for the deceased. They are for the living. For remembering and closure.

And on the other side of that coin - if someone passes and their family carries out what they say are the deceased wishes - it isn't the time to disagree.

There is a memorial for my Uncle tomorrow, and I'm sad that I won't be there. But when I'm gone, I hope my loved ones are able to come together and find support with each other. And grieve. Find closure. I'll be gone... at that point it won't matter to me what nice or funny things are said about me - but take care of each other. It's the people that remain here in the living world that are affected the most by death.

And with that, I'm hoping this is my last 'down' topic for a while.

Uncle Rollen

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 18:36:09 -0500

My uncle passed away at 3:30am this morning. Thanks everyone for keeping him in your thoughts and prayers. If you could spare a few for his wife, Sandy, and my Mom, Joyce as they make it through the next few days I'd appreciate it.

I am thankful that when the time came, this went quickly.

And Indian prayer once shared with me by someone else...

Do not stand beside my grave and weep,
For I am not there, I do not sleep,
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond's glint on snow,
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn's rain.

When you awaken in morning's hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush,
of quiet birds in circle flight,
I am soft stars that shine at night,
Do not stand beside my grave and cry,
I am not there. I did not die

My Uncle Rollen :-(

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 07:17:34 -0500

You may remember me asking for thoughts and prayers for my Uncle when he was diagnosed with Acute Myloblastic Leukemia a few months ago. He's since gone through two rounds of chemo and did remarkably well through them. He and his wife were planning a trip to the north (an annual venture) next month which would include a visit with my parents.

I received news this morning that Uncle Rollen has developed septicemia . He's now back in the hospital and not recognising his wife. He's not expected to recover.

My Uncle is a Doctor. He's always been extremely health conscious (except for smoking these yucky looking cigarillo type things), he's been active and loves being around people. He sings and plays with his church and another orchestra I believe. I don't recall him every ever having anything worse than a cold. Not even a broken bone. It's very hard for me to picture him in this condition.

Sadly, the last time we were able to get together was the Christmas after Kyle was born.

The Countdown

Thu, 22 Jun 2006 20:22:35 -0500

Kyle will be 6 in just over a month! I booked his party at OneStopFun . They'll get an hour in the pool, 15 minutes to change, then 45 minutes in the 'party room' for cake, ice cream and presents. Then we'll have a 2nd party for the "Folks without kids and the folks with kids that just aren't old enough for the pool party and miscellany family types" here at the house. That one will hopefully be less crazy. Invitation are in the making! They'll be out in early July....

The boys have TOO MANY toys! I've been slowly culling out some of the less popular toys and stuff them in the attic, but invariably about a week later one of them will ask for whatever it was I shoved up there! So far I've managed to redirect the interest. We'll see. Oh, so on the TOO MANY toys thing .... yeah, I'd love to say 'don't buy anything for Kyle' - but realistically he's 6. So for those that want to spoil him even further (as if that's possible... I think we've done a fair job of that already)... and you want ideas - I've put up a wishlist on Amazon for him.

On the simple side - nice little early readers with cassettes, so that he can listen and read along with it are perfect. Which is also why I added a cassette walkman and a personal cd player up there for him. All kinds of good stuff up there - should get the thoughts going!

And the fineprint - this is not a request for gifts. Honestly. He'll get plenty. But I know how fun it is for him to get them, and I personally LOVE to see him open them. So I won't take it away from him. But darn it's tempting!!! This is strictly a 'hey if you want to get him something and are about to ask me what he wants - click the link' message :o)

Little things that grow

Wed, 21 Jun 2006 20:26:18 -0500

A few weeks ago Ryan had an orange at school. He had just finished up learning about seeds and plants and demanded that one of his orange seeds be saved :o) Steve came home with an orange seed wrapped in a napkin - "to plant". So plant it I did, like the good Mom I am, but I warned him it probably wouldn't do anything. "Why?" - hmmmm that's a tough one, but I'm game to try, so I water it every time I see it drying out. In the meantime I manage to kill off the plants that both he and Kyle brought home for me, AND my baby tomato plants AND my forgetmenots - I'm NOT a growing from seed kind of person. There are a couple green-leafy things doing really well in my house right now, and this is apparently Year of the Rose - my roses (ha - like I planted them? they were here) are growing like crazy!!! Lots of flowers...

At any rate - one day I noticed a sprout! Son of a gun - it's growing!!!!

Morning's here :-)

Wed, 21 Jun 2006 07:16:18 -0500

And it's a whole new day - Kyle's down to 99.6 - which is normal for him. Pretty much anything below 100 is normal for him and Ry. Steve got up and looked fairly human :o) Yay! Hey, if we have to get hit with bugs, let them be of the 24 hour variety!!!

Ky and I slept in the living room on the couches - I didn't want him to have to climb down from his bunk if he needed anything, and I wanted him to know someone was right there with him - so we used the couches. Great for him... OK for me. I'll probably be taking a nap today! LOL

I'm home with Ky today - working, but home. Of course he's fine today, just can't go back to school til tomorrow because of the fever, so he'll be bouncy and looking for things to do. Maybe I'll sit outside and utilize my wireless access while he swims in the pool :o) And maybe the new software I ordered from Scholastic will come (probably not) - we ordered a few reading games, a very cool math game set and something else that slips my memory at the moment. Got to keep his brain going, and hopefully build his reading level up a little more. Kyle's a lot like me when it comes to math - he's gone all the way up to division in the computer game at school... but he has some trouble still with number recognition and other basics. The way I always looked at it - I could handle algebra and calculus just fine, it was the lower math - simple addition - that always got me. Thank goodness for having to show your work! So I'd only lose a few points on a problem for taking 4 + 6 and coming up with 24 ;o) but the way I laid out the problem and completed the complicated stuff was dead on ... all my teachers were amused by this. Where was I going with that? Oh - so we're hoping that the 2nd year in kindergarten will fill that in for him - especially since he missed the first 12 weeks or so this last year - when they were doing all that important stuff :)

Off to make coffee so that I can have my daily allottment of caffeine (a whole cup!).

Family Ills

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 11:23:56 -0500

Ry was sick on Friday. It only slowed him down a little :-) daycare called with a fever of 102-ish so I went to get him, I was at home anyway, so it was easy enough. My thinking with fevers and my kids is that I'd rather let the fever do it's job. So I watch them. If they complain of other things or are just really miserable they get tylenol or motrin, or if the fever goes really really high then they get it - and sometimes both (but that's a rarity in this house). Ry's hit 103.1 Friday and then came back down. Was 101.5 when he went to bed, when I did finally give him a dose of Motrin to help with sleeping. He was all clear by the morning. That is illness with Ry :o) colds can linger, but fevers don't stay long. Ryan with a fever for more than one day is unusual, and usually prompts a call to the doctor just because it's not him, but honestly I don't remember the last time that happened.

Today is Ky's turn. Daycare (he's in daycare with Ry this week and the last week in August) called with 101.5 so off I go to get him. He was sound asleep on a mat when I got there, and very shakey and not himself when I woke him up. Certainly not the same child we dropped off this morning. At home he's checking in at 102.2 and he's miserable - says his head hurts and he just looks awful. Plus he WANTS to sleep. So he got motrin :o)

Steven should be home shortly too as he has this bug too. I'm just going to play 'dodge the germies' and see if I can keep the preggie lady fever-free. We can hope.

Kyle is asleep right now. Today was Tie Dye day at the center, so I asked if Ry could make one for him and hopefully that will happen. The poor thing was really looking forward to this week with his 'old' friends too. And now he'll miss tomorrow as well - they can't return till they've been fever-free for 24 hours.

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Steve came home and slept for 4 hours. He's really not feeling well :-( Ky took a 2 hour nap, played for a while then napped again, then threw up. The throwing up isn't unusual with the headache - we suspect he inherited the migraine gene :-( Ryan's home and bouncy, Ky's vegging on the couch and I think Steve just ventured down to his computer...

Kyle visits the doctor...

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 12:23:56 -0500

This was a nice, normal, annual physical. He was weighed and measured (75% for height and 90% for weight - similar to last year). He measured in at 55.6 lbs and 3' 11" tall :-) It was uneventful as far as the physical went. It was, however, the first time that I've used the full 30 minutes of an appointment there... we chatted about progress and diagnosis. She agrees with Asperger's - so we'll call it Asperger's. And she reinforced that it will probably be re-evaluated and changed later on. Possibly dropped down to just Sensory Integration Disorder/Dysfunction later on. Since the sensory issues are primary, we're really focusing on them, and helping Kyle learn how to recognise when he needs help. She loved that he was able to tell me the movie was too loud and scarey and that there was no questioning, I just took him out. We're hoping to go to the fireworks this year - Steve has offered up his Chainsaw ear covers - this may be the solution we need.

To put sounds in perspective - it seems that car noises to really bother him... but not necessarliy ALL loud noises. He can handle most loud movies, but while walking along the road yesterday a car went by and he covered his ears. Again, we're going to help him learn what he needs. Some of the sensory diet he gets with the OT may include de-sensitization, but most of it is how to learn how to handle the world around him, and how to process things better.

She fully supported our 'we're not ready yet' stance on meds. She feels that where we've made quite a bit of progress already without them, it's better to see where we can go without them. Basically, how we feel. Again - we're not opposed to meds. They make a remarkable difference in the children that really need that help. I just don't think Kyle is there. At least not yet. Once he's in 1st or 2nd grade, it may change - but for now he's OK.

Basically, I love our pediatrician :-) and so does Kyle - who was incredibly patient while we chatted :-) we both made sure to recognise that.

Miss me?

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 06:39:40 -0500

Yeah, yeah, yeah... it WAS that I didn't pay the bill - but it wasn't intentional I swear! And then it took a few days for the payment to clear, but we're all good now for another 6 months!

We celebrated Father's Day, and on Saturday we all surprised Uncle Mike with a party for his big birthday (coming in November).

We've also shared our latest news with most folks that need to know - if I missed you, please don't be annoyed that you're finding out here:

Yes, that's Baby3!!! At some point we should at least have a nickname for the poor thing. I'm 9 weeks and 6 days pregnant today. Which means I'm just a few weeks away from my 2nd Trimester. I had lots of quesiness for a couple weeks, but I seem to be coming out of that now and just have tons of heartburn. Tums are my best friend. Due date is January 16th - we'll see how that goes.

Kyle and Ryan are both very excited :-) Ryan greets me in the morning with 'where's the baby NOW?'. Of course we've got work to do to make room for the little one. And I've got to figure out what kind of stuff I still have.

Just dying to buy us something? ;-) There's a baby registry in my name at www.babiesrus.com (aka amazon).

We're also considering the cloth diaper route for this one. I know, I know, I sound crazy don't I? But the more I talk to people who have done it, the better I feel about it. Baby would still need disposables for daycare though. And the cloth dipes they make these days are wicked cute!!!

The deal is we'll try it and see how it goes. It's not the changing that will do us in, but the laundry - so as long as I can figure out a good system, we'll be in good shape. And no, even if we wanted to use a service, we don't have any that service our area.

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update: if interested in assisting in our pursuit of cloth diapering, I've sent in my registry request to www.cottonbabies.com - they update manually, so it may take a few days. At that point I'll be listed as Jennifer F., Maynard, MA in the registries list... if you happen to place an order for us, be sure to add a comment in the order that it is from the registry so that they know to update it... :-)

Animal School

Wed, 14 Jun 2006 15:17:23 -0500

Long, but worthwhile... a nice 'story' about learning.

...after cars...

Wed, 14 Jun 2006 11:35:01 -0500

Kyle had an appointment with Dr. Steve last night. And both Steve and I went this time. This will be our last visit until September - so that Kyle can be Kyle and enjoy the summer.

After Dr. Steve, Kyle and I picked up Ryan and then met Steve at McDonald's for dinner. We ran into a friend of Kyle's from school and they all played in the 'Tree House' after eating for about 45 minutes. On the way to pick up Ryan, Kyle said to me "I'm going to ask Ryan if Lightening McQueen made it to California for the big race - then I'll tell you so that you know too" - because of course we didn't get to see the ending on Friday when we saw the movie... there were no tears in this statement, just a matter of fact resolution to something he wanted to know. And when he remembered, he DID ask Ryan who filled in that small piece for him.

As Kyle grows he'll be able to voice and understand what bothers him and what motivates him better. The more we can help him do this, the better we'll all be for it.

We also met to write up his 504 plan yesterday. So he will have sensory breaks and be allowed to leave the classroom. He'll see the OT once a week. And he'll be allowed a 'fidgit toy' - something to touch - available to him. Normally something like a stress ball is used, but with Kyle these tend to become flying toys rather than fidget toys, so I'm trying to come up with something he can wear. His teacher mentioned having a vest previously - a sweater vest with lots of large buttons sewn on with dental floss. I'm working on something in my head now. I may come up with a Tshirt and a vest - one for summer and one for winter. Dr Steve even gave me a mini-stressball - I'll see if I can get a needle all the way through it to attach it to a shirt. Beyond this, Steve and I made sure they understood that sound is an issue with him too - so in situations like when recess is in the gym - he needs to be able to leave if he has too. And the better we can help him with identifying how it feels and that it's OK to ask to leave, the better he'll be.

He has only 3 days left of school!!! Wow time sure has flown by...

Pin Cushions

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 21:09:01 -0500

Today I had my very first every Accupuncture visit. I've dealt with migraines since high school - probably earlier... just didn't know what they were beyond "nasty headaches" before that. I don't get them often, thankfully, but when I do they last for 3, 4, 5 days and sometimes longer. I can actually usually combat them effectively with Excedrin (Regular, Migraine, Tension - all the same - take a look at the active ingredients... acetominiphene, aspirin, caffeine). Sometimes it's not enough. In the interest of not resorting to heavy duty drugs all the time, my Dr's office suggested I try Accupuncture and recommended someone for me.

So he stuck my feet (tops), calves, lower arms, wrists, tops of the hands, one finger on each hand, my forehead, and one on either side of my neck up near my ears. Probably close to 20 needles all told. It was pretty neat. I got to just lay there and relax with nice music. It would have been better if I wasn't stressing out about picking up the boys in time, but overall a decent experience. We'll try it for a few weeks and see if it helps.

This practice is a husband/wife team. Hubby worked on me. The Mrs is a licensed Occupational Therapist and works a lot with Childhood development (things always work out in mysterious ways methinks) - so I plan to talk to her to see if she thinks Accupuncture would be beneficial to Kyle. I'm willing to try it over the summer, if he can tolerate it, since not much else will be happening until September when school opens again. I'm not sure how his Sensory stuff will tolerate needles. But they were painless. Only a few of them felt like tiny pinches. Certainly not anywhere near what I felt when I had the EMG for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (which he is also working on for me - yay!).

I go back Thursday - I hope to be able to relax a little more this time :-)

Ry's Camera Rampage

Sun, 11 Jun 2006 19:20:37 -0500

What happens when I leave the camera where Ryan can get it?
He took almost 50 pictures... here are a few

Showing that both my boys have photo potential ;-)

A trip to the movies...

Sat, 10 Jun 2006 13:48:39 -0500

After the boys got out of school yesterday, we ventured out to see a movie. Having a child with Sensory issues, I've always marveled that the loud movie theatre doesn't bother Kyle. Until yesterday.

We went to see Cars - a Disney Pixar film. And it looked really cute - the first half that I got to see anyway. About half way into the movie Kyle looked up at me crying and said he was scared. I pulled him into my lap and asked if it was too loud and he said yes. I asked if he wanted to leave, and again it was yes.

I took him outside the theatre and sat on the floor and held and reassured him until he was OK again. Did he want to go back in? No. OK, let's walk around. So we went out to the snack area and had a lemonade and waited. I let him know that this meant he wouldn't see the end of the movie, and he said that's OK.

Kyle's had odd reactions to music in movies before - strange parts that aren't scarey at all he declares are 'Too Scarey' and he won't watch them. But he's never had a problem in the theatre before. And here I have to mention that the old Godzilla movies are NOT too scarey. So it's not the content, but something else. We had narrowed it down to music, but weren't sure exactly how it worked with him.

Now my thinking is that it's not just music but sounds in general. And how they make him feel. Because he doesn't process sounds in the same way we do, it probably makes him uneasy and that he translates as 'scarey'. The part in the movie where he got upset was where the main character, Lightening McQueen, raced down a road - a very deep, reverberating, bass-filled, and LOUD rumble. The kind that you feel throughout your body. So yea, I can see where he would find that scarey.

So far, he's only associating this with this one movie. And we've seen a few movies in the theatre in our time to know that he's OK a lot of the time. So we'll try again with some other movie that catches our interest. In the meantime, we'll have to rent Cars when it comes out so that Ky and I can see the ending :o)

2nd school meeting...

Fri, 9 Jun 2006 11:19:29 -0500

and a third one in the works... Kyle qualifies for a 504 behavioral plan because of his sensory challenges. The school's OT wants to meet with him once a week and get him started on a sensory diet. With only a week left of school, we're pushing to get the 504 plan written (it enables us to get any support he needs in the classroom that might not be there normally - basically a contract between the school and us) next week so that the OT can start with him right away when she comes back in September. We won't know who his teacher is for next year until August, but we were assured that there will be plenty of conversation and sharing of information between Mrs M and whoever the new teacher is. Now to get him through the next few transitions of summer....

Yummy eats

Thu, 8 Jun 2006 15:36:56 -0500

Sunday night we went up with Grandpa Hap to meet Grammy Carol's nephew Kevin for dinner. We tried out Takumi since we had heard good things. It was the first time for Japanese for the boys, and on Sunday kids eat free - what better way to try it! It wasn't at the high level of Gasho, back home, but it was good and entertaining. And I wasn't stuffed to the gills - which is good.

Monday night I made Shrimp and Linguine (though it was spaghetti) and it was YUMMY. Then Tuesday we went over to Bugaboo Creek. We had the BBQ Chicken Nachos... which meant I barely touched my dinner. But the nachos were worth it. Next time, I'll just order a soup and a side after the nachos!

A Jeepin' Movie

Wed, 7 Jun 2006 16:53:36 -0500

A composite of the boys and their jeeps **7MB** have patience :-)

Grandpa Hap's visit ... continues...

Tue, 6 Jun 2006 14:36:31 -0500

So yesterday while the little boys were at school, the big boys ran a few errands. They picked up a new exhaust fan for the bathroom (this wasn't my idea - I swear! but it WAS something that's needed doing for a while now), and brought Ry's FreeJeep over to Pop's Garage for an engine overhaul (ie. new batteries). Ry is thrilled with the zoomy results:

While the big boys oohed and ahhhed over Ry's Ride, Ky was busy watching the grass grow ;o)

"FreeJeep" = a jeep found at the end of a driveway with a 'free' sign on it. It ran us $60 for the batteries and run just as nicely as the one we got for Kyle, if not better. Ky's we picked up used a few years ago from Pop's Garage for around $100 - a very special deal. New these guys run over $200.... but who needs shiney paint when they are crashing into each other and scratching them all up in the first place???

Da Plane! Da Plane!

Sun, 4 Jun 2006 11:17:33 -0500

A small break in the relentless weekend rain allowed us to venture out and try the remote control plane that Grandpa Hap brought with him...

Happy Celebrations

Sat, 3 Jun 2006 08:20:41 -0500

Happy Birthday Grandpa Hap!!! And he's here so we can celebrate right!

And Happy Anniversary to Me and Steve!!! 11 years - yikes!

And Happy Birthday to Carolyn over at RossiDudes!!! :o)

And Congratulations to Auntie Liz's cousin who is getting married today. It's a good day to get married ;o) Of course up here it's raining buckets - but maybe the weather is better in VA.

What's currently working...

Tue, 30 May 2006 12:11:34 -0500

Yesterday Kyle received his 6th sticker for a good day... in a row. At the beginning of last week, well actually the weekend prior to that - the boys and Steve had picked up some Transformers MiniCons... little, matchbox sized transformers - in a two pack. Each boy got one. The one Ky got matches up with two others to form a sword that will fit in one of the Deluxe models hands. Kyle was excited and of course wanted the other two. Steve made a deal - if Kyle could make a whole lot of good choices in a row he could get the two minicons... When I came back from my weekend away we discussed it and came up with 5 'good days' in a row would earn the minicons...

He had a good day Monday and we put a sticker on the calendar. Tuesday he was sent to the office twice, so his count was 'reset'. Wednesday through Sunday he did great - and he got them Sunday night as promised. This, AND what's going on at school... which includes him knowing that if he acts up in school I pick him up early and he misses the after school program. Always more than one 'attack' ;o) and we always have to watch for when it's stopped working. At the moment this is working well. Tuesday, he didn't get a sticker, and his 'count' was reset.. So later in the week he would say 'I'm going to have a good day because I don't want to have to start over...'

Yesterday we agreed on reaching 7 sticker days in a row to get his next goal. Today he declared he'd rather do 10. I made sure to explain that the count starts fresh with yesterday... even though he has 6 in a row on the calendar, it is only 1 in this new cycle... We put a big '1' on the day so that he remembers. As long as this continues to help him, we'll continue it - with it going out longer each stretch.

We've tried the sticker approach before, and it usually only works for a little while. But right now it's going strong. He loves to go over and count how many he has on the calendar.

We're also basing 'good' vs 'not so good' on what he tells us... First - I know that if anything significant happens, I'll know. Like if I have to pick him up from school. Tuesday, he had a 'conduct notice' sent home - so even if he didn't tell me about it I would have known. But the goal is that he tells us in his words about his day.

Prayers for Maddy

Sun, 28 May 2006 12:35:20 -0500

Maddy is a little girl - I think 6 - who lives near Uncle Paul. A few months ago they discovered a growth in her neck. A biopsy last week has diagnosed it as a Chordoma. It's very serious, and very dangerous. She is scheduled for surgery on Thursday - the surgery itself sounds like multiple surgeries and very difficult since the tumor is on her spine in her neck area.

All prayers, thoughts, good wishes, for Maddy and her family are appreciated.

weekend stuff

Sun, 28 May 2006 12:32:13 -0500

Let's see... we pulled the pool out and I spent an hour or so scrubbing it before setting it up and starting to fill it. Kyle - the fish - has spent quite a bit of time in the VeryCold water!!! He stays in until he's shivering and I make him get out.

Kyle did AWESOME at gymnastics yesterday. He stayed fairly focused, and didn't run around at all!!! Could be because he was the only boy in his class - but he did great even during warmup when there are 3 classes combined.

Sadly, Pretty (renamed yesterday to Rainbow), was found floating in the tank late yesterday. We held a brief fairwell. Kyle was sad, Ryan was stoic. Today Ry said 'it's too bad my fishy died'. Now they are sharing Abby. If she (he? how do you tell??) survives maybe we'll get a 2nd one.

Today Kyle's friend, Chris came over and they spent a lot of time together - at the moment they are next door having lunch. Later on we have a birthday party for 3 year old twin girls!!! What fun! I had fun making cards for them today and wrapping their presents. I'll try to remember to snap some pics of the cards later - since I forgot earlier. The cards are pretty simple - just an empty inside with grass, sun and clouds - a background for them to play with the paper dolls I made ;o) simple, but cute. And more fun than an average card maybe? For the gifts I picked up two playdough kits - Doggy Doctor and some fridge food thing. Very fun.

No plans for tomorrow :o) except maybe seeing if we can find the parade!

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update - my brain has failed me again. the party was last night!!! argh. C and I have made plans to get together soon - and I invited them over for a small cookout tomorrow. Don't know if it will work out yet though. In the meantime, I have these cutely wrapped gifts to get to the girls!!!

82!

Fri, 26 May 2006 08:26:42 -0500

Yep.. we hit 82 degrees yesterday. Now that's more like expected weather for late May.... not rain, rain, rain and 50 - 60's all the time.

I worked at home yesterday... so my stepping suffered. Which was interesting - I kinda thought the number of times I run up and down the stairs doing laundry when I'm home would add up to more... so I picked up Ry and let him and Kyle play on the playground at Ky's school for almost 1/2 hour, then we went home and went for a walk/ride ... Kyle on his scooter, Ry on the trike, and me walking. We did good, adding about 1500 steps to my day, but I still only finished up around 5000 steps... Bah! Of course moving the furniture around in the guest room didn't count as steps... so I was more active than this thing thinks I was ;o) and I was wiped out last night.

For a point of reference on the stepping, I finished up my Wednesday at 9000 :o) I was seriously short when bringing Ky to the social skills playgroup he goes to, so a couple of us moms walked around the building for 45 minutes :o)

Grandpa Hap will be here in less than a week! Besides the presentation we'll go to by Ky's class on the continents on the 2nd... on the 8th Ky's class will present their class play The Little Red Hen with a reception after.... and then that night Ry's school is having a family night. So we'll keep Grandpa Hap busy for sure :o)

Stepping...

Tue, 23 May 2006 19:28:03 -0500

Today I have taken 6454 steps since I stepped into the kitchen after my shower. I may hit 7000 before I go to bed - we'll see. See, I have this new, nifty pedometer. I joined the '10k per day' club at work and they gave me the pedometer to keep track. Today I didn't go out of my way to do any extra... I wanted to see what I do on a 'normal' day. Well, OK, I parked a little further away than usual, but that was it. It was neat to see how many steps I take... and to see that while making coffee and getting a bowl of cereal in the kitchen I accumulate over 100 steps! Apparently, I move a lot :o) So tomorrow I'll try harder to hit my 10k steps!

Weekend break...

Sun, 21 May 2006 13:41:04 -0500

This weekend I took a rare break - Steve stayed home with the boys and I went down to the NY/NJ area on my own. First - WOW it's incredibly easy to travel all by myself. Just one bag (well 2 - I had my laptop since I left from work), and I was able to unload at Mom's in about 5 seconds!

I finally got together with Michelle (yay!) and we got a chance to catch up. We experienced some horrible service at Friendly's - but as I said last time... you don't really choose Friendly's for the service. There was a table next to us with two women, a baby and two older girls... maybe 10 years old? They had a DVD player on the table and were watching a movie. Ummmmmmm.... I found this not only annoying, since they kept turning up the volumn and we had to talk over it to be heard by each other, but also incredibly disrespectful. I found that it was worse that talking on a cell phone in a restaurant. It just really irked me. Now, we have a DVD player in the new truck (wow! I just mentioned the new truck!) but there's a rule - it's not to be used for just running around town. There are rare exceptions... if it's going to be a 20 minute ride, we do occassionally use it as incentive - ie. if you guys can make good choices at gymnastics and listen to your teachers you can watch a movie on our way to BJ's... that kind of thing. But that's not in a restaurant either!!! So I was wondering if I was overreacting and asked Michelle - she echoed my feelings. I also asked a few other folks just to get more input... I feel better that I am good company.

So Saturday I went shopping with Liz - who needed something to wear to a wedding in June (next month! already?) and I picked up something for a birthday party we are going to next weekend - twin 3 year old girls - totally stinking cute!!! We all hung out at Paul and Liz's with their daughters for the afternoon/evening and we had a very yummy roast chicken dinner. I contributed the gravy and Paul was pleased ;o) See Mom? The occassional cooking lesson does come right back out :-) I think I even imparted the incredibly simple recipe to Paul and Liz so that they can reproduce it on their own.

Then back to Mom's and I left this morning first thing. You'd think I could sleep in, but no - the body was up at 7am! So I got up and made coffee, then showered. Enjoyed some cheerios and the coffee, threw my bag in the truck, along with the powerwheels jeep that my dad picked up FREE!!! It seems to need new batteries, but otherwise is working pretty well. For something that was hanging out at the end of someone's driveway with a free sign on it.

I left Mom's at 8am and got home before Noon. Very nice - again, very easy to travel without anyone else! I'll do it again for sure! I took a trip last year, but that was for National Conference for The Pampered Chef - so that was a 'work' trip and not the same at all. Steve's gone down to NJ a couple times on his own... so we'll both make sure we get to do these little breaks more often.

I have to finish straightening up the guest room for Grandpa Hap - he'll be here on the 1st for 10 days!!! Or is it 10 nights and 11 days... well from the 1st to the 11th at any rate.

That's it for now... we had some nice sunshine today, but looks like rain is emminent. Happy Sunday!

More Dr. Steve

Tue, 16 May 2006 20:16:40 -0500

Kyle had another appointment with Dr Steve today. Not much new here, mostly getting to know Kyle. Working with him one on one. He sees lots of age-appropriate activity and inquisitiveness, it's the ability to put that into practice in a group (school) which is a summary of his problems. When I mentioned Ky was sent home on Thursday because of an incident at recess he asked if it was in or outdoors. I wasn't sure so I asked Kyle who reported it was inside... no surprise there - it's been raining for a week! So that triggered the 'too much noise' thought. They were in the gym so it had to be loud... yeah - a kid with sensory issues in a gymnasium full of screamin' meme's ... doesn't make his behavior OK, just gives us more insight as to why.

Since we don't have the OT eval yet, we're really in a gathering mode still. Dr Steve apologised for not getting an appointment with Ky's school counselor - he thought he had, but it wasn't on his calendar... so that's a todo for him. I think he's going to try to reach the OT at the school too. Once we have the OT report and see where the sensory stuff fits in we can start to work around that with the other pieces.

Kyle very nicely, and unconsciously, demonstrated a rocking that I've noticed lately. When he's sitting on his knees and focused on something he rocks... not alarming or anything, but it triggered my memory to point it out. It's something that is very common in kids with Autistic Spectrum Disorders... but just one thing doesn't mean anything. Dr Steve asked me what I thought - and I was honest... while I still don't think it's true Asperger's, every once in a while he does something like this which is very Asperger's-Like. He's very hesitant to throw a label like that on him, so we're not going down that road yet, but we're all keeping it out there just the same.

The goal for the end of the year (school year) is to get the OT report in and a good understanding of what makes Ky himself. Then a diagnosis, but more importantly a plan of action.

So that's where we're at - yes it's slow going, but I knew it would be. If we just jumped at the attentional symptoms in the beginning and said 'oh it's ADHD all the way' then we'd have missed the sensory stuff. And I think that's a big deal. Better to go slow and get a bigger picture... though slow can be frustrating for sure!

Oh and the SUN came out! The boys went out and jumped in puddles :-)

And the rain, rain, rain, came down, down, down...

Mon, 15 May 2006 10:31:16 -0500

It's raining in New England. Still. I don't remember when it wasn't raining - I think maybe it was Tuesday. Our yard is a big puddle. Thankfully, our house is technically built on a slab which sits at ground level. So the driveway would have to fill up, then the garage, before we flood. Or so we think :o)

Many aren't so lucky. There are roads closed and towns under water. People are evacuating. There is a sewer line that has opened and is spilling into the river - I think that's in Peabody. Peabody isn't very far from Waltham - where Steve works. They show cars under water and people walking across streets in water up to their mid-thigh to waist. Yikes!

And it gets better. More rain tomorrow. A break on Wednesday! BUT then more rain on Thursday. There were 90 schools closed in the MA and NH area today (but not ours!). Yikes. What's with the weather these days???

-----------------------------------------
And a week straight of rain is not kind on the psyche of a small child. Kyle's teacher wasn't in today. Kyle has a harder time when his teacher isn't there. So he ended up spending the day in the office. I picked him up at the end of the day - to miss the afterschool program. Please Sun - Mr. Golden Sun, please shine down on me?

A nice surprise....

Sat, 13 May 2006 18:41:55 -0500

There was a surprise for me in my paycheck - a small award in appreciation for some extra work I've done (I was co-chair for our location's Take Our Daughters and Sons To Work Day - which is a big event for us). So it was a happy day. And while not enough to make the mortgage payment ;-) it was enough to warrant a trip to BestBuy to finally replace our poor, tired, living room TV. Steve's had the tired TV since he was 18 and it's now cutting off the top and bottom 3 inches of picture. People look funny without the tops of their heads, and it was useless for school closings when it snowed (all the info runs across the bottom). It's a 24" Insignia - a brand we haven't heard of, but they had a lot of them. It probably won't last as long as the comparable Toshiba, but it was $100 less too. And it's not our primary TV. Or at least it's not *supposed* to be. The primary functions of this TV are cartoons, and News.

We decided to actually buy a TV stand to put it on instead of the table it resided on previously, but we didn't like any at BestBuy, so we visited Target. And we even found one that matched the super wonderfully large cabinet/display cases we have - so that was a bonus. Of course when in Target, you have to browse, so I picked up curtains for the boys room too (we had the Dinosaur Valances, but the blue curtains are new).

And I found some plastic wine goblets. Steve will now retire his plastic cups for drinking wine... ;o) I told him if he must use plastic, at least I can tolerate these ;o)

Our final purchase of the day are Abby and Pretty. Two goldfish who are taking up residence in the aquarium that was left empty when our final crab turned up all his legs while we were at my Mom's last month. Abby is the solid orange and is Kyle's. Pretty is the orange/white one. Susposedly they can live for 6 years or more and get as big as a tennis ball. Ha! In this house? We'll see.

1st of 2 school meetings...

Fri, 12 May 2006 14:23:54 -0500

We met with the team for Kyle at school today. We still don't have the OT evaluation complete, so we'll meet again in about a month. At this point - he scores very high in Speech (the Speech therapist was thrilled to have someone score so high) and is not showing any learning disabilities. None of us felt at this point that there was a disability that Special Ed services could help with. This doesn't mean they drop him. We spent some time (Special Ed contact, Speech Therapist, Psychologist, Teacher, Counselor, Behavior Consultant, and me and Steve) deciding on a course of action. He'll meet with the counselor a bit more, and the Behavior Consultant will spend more time in the classroom and working with the Teacher. That's a synopsis at any rate. We'll reconvene when the OT is in, and we hopefully will have a better picture at that point. In the meantime, Ky will have more support to help him with his behavior.

Mrs. M., his teacher, did request that it be put right into his report that he NOT be sent home from school :o) This made both me and Steve happy, as it doesn't resolve anything. I suggested that missing the after school program had a more significant affect - he loves the program and gets mad if I even pick him up an hour early. They asked if I would support using that as a 'reinforcer' - in other words - taking it away when he's acting out. It would mean I'd have to go get him, but that's what I have to do when he's sent home anyway - so yeah. I can support that.

It was nice to hear about how bright and intelligent he is - the psychologist commented that he's one of the brightest students he's had the pleasure of working with.

So to answer the question - we are still keeping him in Kindergarten next year. All things considered, if we give everything else a chance to catch up with his brainpower he'll be in a better place for success. It took me a while to be OK with that, but I am now. When he was born I was asked 'will you start him in Kindergarten late?' - because he's a late summer baby, and the cutoff here is Sept 1st, so he's one of the youngest in his class - my answer was always 'we'll put him in Kindergarten and then see how he is' - so now we're at that point. And after taking in the big picture and then talking with him, HE wants to stay in Kindergarten too.

We'll be doing some other things over the summer to see if we can work on the self-esteem issues too.

In just over 2 months

Thu, 11 May 2006 20:52:27 -0500

... Kyle will turn 6!!!

Yep - I've had to start thinking about his party and gifts and what we're doing around the two. We've settled on a cool pool party at OneStopFun in Westford for the kids. An hour in the pool, change, then 45 minutes in the party room for cake, ice cream and drinks and presents. Works for me :o)

Kyle has asked for a White Ranger cake. This should be interesting. At least I won't be making a pinata again!!! (they don't allow them). So I have to start planning how I'll make the invites. In the meantime, I've setup his Birthday Wishlist at Amazon.

We'll probably have some sort of small, family + extended folks type of gathering at home as well.

What is Sensory Integration Disorder/Dysfunction?

Wed, 10 May 2006 11:01:04 -0500

I came across this blog entry by a Mom of 2 children with SI - as well as her husband. Keeping in mind that Kyle has yet to be officially diagnosed with anything - that is some time out yet... we are still in the weeding out, separating symptoms and behaviors stage... this is what I suspect makes up a large part of his difficulties...

Tooth Kharma?

Tue, 9 May 2006 20:05:04 -0500

Kyle lost his second tooth yesterday! No he LOST it - it fell out, then he lost it. *sigh* So I guess it came out in class and they gave him a cool plastic tooth to hold it in. He carried this around like a trophy and in the after-school program. He carried it out to the playground and then *poof* he only had the little plastic holder.

He was devastated - but wrote a letter to the Tooth Fairy. She was very understanding, left him $1 for his tooth and an extra 50 cents for his adventure ;o) - AND left him his plastic tooth holder thing too! (he was worried - he wanted to keep it).

I was at the Dentist this morning and relayed this adventure - she told me that next time, bring him to her and she'll pull it so he doesn't lose it LOL. I ran this buy him and he says as long as she gives him medicine so that it doesn't hurt - he's OK with having it taken out by her next time! Too smart this kid!

Security Minded???

Tue, 9 May 2006 14:27:45 -0500

I'm on some list at Microsoft because I hold an MSDN license. I get a lot of email from them that I generally ignore... this subject line caught my eye:
"Make your code-and your business-more secure."
Oh boy - this should be good. So I open and read:

"We know you want to make your applications more secure. But who has the time to track down all the resources you need to help make it happen?

With the new Microsoft� Developer Security Resource Kit, you don't have to. This DVD, available FREE for a limited time (plus shipping and handling), brings together a host of valuable resources you can use right away to develop more secure applications."

And when I think Security I think of Microsoft because why exactly? Oh yes - because they are so good at patching their vulnerabilities that they've released in their software - and then patch their patches. So maybe it's a 'Lessons Learned' kind of DVD. Or maybe they want to show me how to write vulnerabilities into my code and how to patch them?

Sheesh. I totally thought it was a joke ;o)

Don't be the Pew Lady

Mon, 8 May 2006 15:30:59 -0500

I came across this while looking for a description of 'hand flapping' for Steve:
Don't be the Pew Lady

It's well written and raises a reminder for us all - don't make assumptions about people.

(hand flapping is one of the many compulsive behaviours that many folks with Asperger's and other Autistic Spectrum Disorders exibit)

Summer?

Sat, 6 May 2006 19:50:11 -0500

It's certainly been a reminder the last few days that it WILL get warmer :o) I left work a touch earlier than usual and got the boys some extra outside time at home. And Chris came over for a little scooter riding with Kyle. Ryan helped us 'herd' Adam.

Today we had gymnastics in the morning, then we ran out to BJ's to get our membership cards made. Picked up a bunch of stuff too - because we were there and all.

Can't believe we've only been home a week. Seems soooo far away now.

I posted some Miscellaneous Weekend pictures.

Tomorrow Kyle actually has a playdate :o) He's a little boy that we've met in Kyle's 'Friendship Group' (also called a Social Skills program). It's nice to meet parents of 'like-minded' children. As much as I love my friends with the calm more-obedient children, it's hard to not compare, and it's hard on Kyle too. He's bright, and he sees the difference. He sees the diffence just between him and Ryan... So having him interact with others that are more like him... it's good for both of us :o)

Service vs Dev

Fri, 5 May 2006 10:37:08 -0500

About a year and a half ago I left a service position - in which I had worked in some capacity for 8 years - and jumped feet first into a dev organisation within the same corporation - as a Software Tester (also Quality Assurance or Quality Engineer). I had never been a tester before so there was risk on my part, as well as the management team that brought me on. I have never regretted the switch and am just loving the change. (though I do still miss you guys! I don't miss the hum drum of the actual work I was doing)

So today I have one of the miscellaneous perks of working in a Dev org as opposed to a Service org:

I have flipflops on today :o)

Yep that's it - but it kinda sums it up too. 'Business Casual' takes on a whole new meaning here. In Service you have to dress at the high-mid to top of the Business Casual scale. It's important because when you are a Cost center everything is looked at. Are you professional? Do you look it?

I tend not to wear shorts here, because with the AC I get cold :o) Not because I can't. It's also a big change for me.

Funny poop and new twists

Thu, 4 May 2006 14:25:38 -0500

So I volunteered at the school today - my weekly visit. It's fun! I spend two hours with the kids and I make a difference. It may be as small as pulling pages out of workbooks and collating them - but then Mrs. M doesn't have to stay til 6 to do it, so she's better for it, which means the kids benefit :o) It's important to always know why you do something...

At any rate - Kyle's week has been difficult, though he's hanging in there. Mrs. M is taking a 'flow with it' approach since she expected it. She had two specific things for me today though.

First, earlier in the week she had asked the kids to draw a picture of someone they care about. Kyle was wound up and laughing so she went to see him. He had drawn a stick figure with a lot of round things clumped together between his legs. "what's this" she asked, and K replied "someone on the potty making poopie". She remind him of the request to draw someone he cares about and ask if he cares about poop. He said no. So she asked why he drew it and he replied 'poop is funny'.

*sigh*

In a nice, simplistic view he has a point - poop *is* funny :o) but funny and appropriate are often completely different. So I'll be asking him pretty much the same question after showing him the picture - reinforcing that it's not appropriate. I'll probably use the 'private' argument. We'll see how that goes.

The other 'thing' isn't an object but information. This week Kyle has started declaring 'Mommy says I'm stupid'. OK I think everyone who reads this blog regularly would know that there is no way that would ever come out of my mouth. Not only is it just not true - he's actually incredibly bright - but my saying something like that would completely undermine all of the work we are doing with him in the first place. Thankfully, the school folks know this. She just wanted to pass it on, especially since he repeated it to other adults - who then asked her about it. sheesh Kyle, you know how to rock the boat! :o)

We knew he had the makings of a problem with self image. He started several months ago with 'Ryan is a better person than me. He doesn't get into trouble'. And last week was really rough when he couldn't participate as much as we'd have liked in the kids program - the tirade of 'I'm dumb, nobody likes me, I'm a bad kid, I'm boring' was turned up to full volume and frequency and it hasn't let up. I took the approach last week of - you are saying things that aren't nice about someone I love and it makes me sad. How would you feel if someone said these things about me to you? It seems to make the point, but it hasn't helped much. With ADD/ADHD there is an elevated risk of depression which is directly tied back to self image. I managed to chat briefly with our special ed contact on my way out of the school and she mentioned this again. We still don't have a diagnosis. Once I have the evaluations, I'll be putting in for an appointment with Kyle's pediatrician. Or maybe just touch base with her - she was going to talk to his Psychologist...

Next week is the first of probably 2 meetings at the school. This is where we determine if Kyle will need special services. We'll see how that plays out.

Vacation update #2

Thu, 4 May 2006 12:46:48 -0500

Dinner the first night was at 9pm, with food not arriving til later that that. Both boys passed out in their chairs (we napped them on each successive day to avoid this problem). And the food was great. Just wonderful!

Our first full day was spent at sea. Kyle and Ry spent some time in Aquanots and had a blast then went back to take naps. Kyle slept for 4 hours! I went out to the pool with Deanna and we had a nice time too. There was a lot of relaxing by the pool to be done.

Steve and Mark met up and ventured into the arcade I think. At some point we had lunch - oh, Kyle and Steve didn't because Ky slept through lunch. So we all went up for a snack. One thing you can count on - if you're hungry, there's no excuse! There's always something to eat!

Dinner was better that night in that the kids were awake for it ;o) they enjoyed their meals and dessert - this was also our first formal night... the boys in their little suits are just way too cute!

The third day we arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Given the feedback we had gotten about it, we chose to stay on the ship for the day. We had hte boys in aquanots again for a good chunk of time and enjoyed the time 'off'. or maybe it wasn't that day - they kind of all run together.

So after that we stopped in St Thomas - here we did some shopping. Kyle picked out a cuddly, pink dolphin who he named Cuddly, and ryan picked out a black VW bug with a surfboard on it - dubbed 'Herbie' by Ry. I picked up a cute yellow dress for $8.

Next day was St Maarten and we did the semi-submarine outing. A 20 minute bus ride from Dutch side to French side along with narration by the driver. We ended up with basically a tour of the island. The boat was fun, though crowded down underneath - quite clostraphobic if you ask me. But we saw some great fish, a sea tortoise, and some starfish. I even peeped an eel - but I think the boys missed it.

We had another day at see, and then docked in Nassau Bahamas on our last day. We ventured down the pier (all the outings were sold out!) and walked down to the shops a little, but then turned back. We got a nice pic of the boys on the pier with Atlantis in the background though.

Saturday was disembarking, getting luggage, finding our cab, and waiting at the airport - and waiting and waiting and waiting! We were REALLY early. The flight home wasn't awful, but we did hit turbulance. Kyle ended up getting sick in the bathroom - but 1 - he MADE it to the toilet (yay!) and 2 - he felt fine once it was out. Then we had landing, getting our luggage again, waiting for the bus, calling Mary to pick us up and driving home with Mary.

Sunday was trully a day of rest here at Family Frisch. In fact, it would have been nice to have Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday as rest days too!

We'll do it again, but we think it will be 2 years before we bring the boys again. We'll see what the future holds.

this should be it for updates unless I completely left something out -
oh wait! Deanna and Mark's ceremony!!!
It was beautiful and sappy and sweet and perfect. Little Mark walked Deanna down the isle and their vows were incredibly sweet. Steve and I may do something for our 15. Who knows. I still think we need to have a few formal parties so we can wear all our cool clothes again!

Guess The Kid

Wed, 3 May 2006 19:51:41 -0500

I had to find a baby picture of Ry to send into Daycare for next week's theme... so I started browsing of course. Now you get to play 'guess the kid' - is it Kyle? or is it Ryan? I picked pictures that were early enough so that eye color wouldn't give them away quickly LOL - I also specifically left out leg shots.. that would be a dead give away so early.

A.

B.

C.

D.

Vacation update #1

Wed, 3 May 2006 08:43:44 -0500

So more about the vacation... it will probably be more than one post...
So we all got up early on Friday the 21st and our very-nice-neighbor, Mary, drove us to the Framingham Logan Express terminal. From there we hopped a bus to Logan Airport. We were a little early, but not bad. We used the self-service bag check in at Jet Blue. Here I need to say a bit about Jet Blue. I LOVE them. First - they have TV's at EVERY seat. With 36 channels of DirectTV. With complimentary, cheesy, headphones - or - you can upgrade to ear buds for just $1. Next time we use the ear buds... the cheesy headphones were pretty cheesy :o) but hey - they were free. And second - FREE snacks!!! And as much as you want! American gave us drinks and I think maybe a bag of chips, but it was whatever they had. Or you could buy a snack box or lunch I think... on JetBlue we had a choice of all kinds of things :o) and you could get more! Very nice. And all the seats are leather - there is no First or Business class.

The flight was just over 3 hours and not too bumpy. And with Nickelodean and Cartoons the boys were happy happy happy.

We landed in Fort Lauderdale, got our bags and found the car service with no problem - about 30 minutes to the hotel and we were all set. The Hotel seemed to exist solely for Cruise passengers. I'm sure there were other guest there, but it didn't seem like it. We spent some time in the pool, then had dinner in the restaurant. The boys slept til 7 so we got up and had breakfast (kids eat free and we got a $5 discount for being Priority Club members). Then more pool :o)

At 11 we checked out and stowed our bags in storage then went across to the market to wander around. Kyle got to hold a Parrot - sorry no pictures... we weren't allowed to take any, and the 4x6 they wanted to sell us wa $20!!! I couldn't do it. He also held a small snake. We had lunch of chicken and hush puppies and me and Steve had pizza which wasn't great. Then back to the hotel, pick up bags and taxi to the ship. We saw Angela and Mama in the terminal(pronounced Muhmuh ;o) - Hungarian for Grandmother I believe, but maybe Deanna will post a comment to correct me... ) - we had a little wait since I had forgotten to check in online, then we were on board and eating lunch! And so started our Cruise Day 1.

OK that's enough for now - more later :O)

Back to work

Mon, 1 May 2006 14:03:17 -0500

Here I am! I'm so sleepy! I think I've gotten some work done, but I'm not so sure :o) I'm leaving a touch early to attend the end of Kyle's last Spanish class for the year - I think they're going to sing and stuff for us. Then off for groceries since I wasn't motivated for that yesterday. Not that I'm any more motivated today, but I think we ate the rest of anything that can pass for breakfast this morning. And I'm not going to buy hot lunch for Ry all week at $5 a day! :o)

Ever notice I'm kinda funny about money? Some things I can't justify spending. It's not that we can't afford it, it just goes against my grain to spend it there. So how can I drop a big chunk of change on a new car, but I can't spring for hot lunch for Ryan? Ryan doesn't like it. He won't eat it every day - so I can't sign him up for the weekly plan (which brings the cost down to $3-ish per day). Kyle gets hot lunch for $2 ... that's a $15 per week difference. And again - Ry doesn't like getting it that much. He'd rather have some chicken nuggets, a piece of fruit and something chewy. But I've noticed I'm funny about money too. I have a hard time spending money on clothes for myself ("ha!" i hear both my readers say when they know all about my recent shopping sprees for cruise-prep but I swear this was an isolated incident!!). I think this mindset comes from growing up. Dad supported us and we had everything we *needed*. But knowing what he made and looking at our family of 4, I can't imagine how he did it! Kudos to Dad and Mom for great money management I guess :o) At any rate, I was brought up watching money. I was never very good at it, but it shows up in certain areas from time to time - like clothes shopping :O)

Where am I meandering to on this? I have no idea. It was there and it popped right out of my fingers and on to the screen! Ha! Maybe I'll wander off and get more caffeine now...

Sun, 30 Apr 2006 12:50:19 -0500

So we're back from the cruise. We had a wonderful time. We're tired and full and ready for another one! (ok AFTER I lose the 5.5 lbs from this one!!! LOL). The food was incredible - the service was even better. Royal Caribbean takes their Gold Anchor Service seriously! I saw someone on a video yesterday while waiting to depart the ship who commented that it seemed that the 'my pleasure' response on behalf of the crew was sincere EVERY time it was uttered - and I agree! (which was in response to every request :o) ).

Kyle and Ryan didn't spend a lot of time in the kids program. We all know my kids are rambunctious and High Energy. And it requires a lot of energy to keep up with them. With only 2 or 3 counselors and 25+ kids in the 3 - 5 program, it just wasn't a good match. I did get to chat with one of the counselors on Friday, who mentioned that the In Port days were better and we should have tried that, but sadly, we didn't have that conversation early enough to take advantage of it. We did get part of an evening alone to enjoy martini's with Deanna, Mark et al. My first Martini I might add - and no, it wasn't a classic... I did a Limon Cham Cham.. I don't remember what was in it, but it was yummy!

We drank, we laughed, we ate, and ate some more. We swam and tanned and just relaxed. It was a wonderful week and we'll do it again. Any takers to babysit for a week?

I've posted about 1/4 of the 400+ pictures I took. Enjoy!

Home!!!!! Brrrr!!!

Sat, 29 Apr 2006 22:22:41 -0500

We're home. Back to 50's from 95 in the Bahamas yesterday - brrrrr!!! big difference!

Pictures soon - sleep first ;o)

T Minus 2 Sleeps and counting

Wed, 19 Apr 2006 16:20:17 -0500

Two sleeps! Just two more sleeps! The method in which we teach the boys to count down days to something is in the number of times we go to bed for the night. By defining a day in that way it gives them a concrete thing to see to move to the next day. This is not our original idea - we borrowed it from a previous co-worker of Steve's :o) So we are down to just two sleeps. I am finishing up my work for today and am working at home again tomorrow. I am 99% packed. What?? I really am 99% packed :o) wow. I went down my checklist again a little while ago - and I may add some things, but all the major stuff is there.

Yesterday, Steve sent me a link to a cool discount from Dell on digital cameras... being that we LOVE to spend money (ha!) we bought one. I paid the extra $ (which was reasonable) for overnite shipping and it came today! Wow! Dell gets points for shipping for sure!

It is a Kodak EasyShare V570 - it's little and cute, and even better it does all kinds of stuff. So now we have two cameras. The plan is that we may actually take more video now - I'm always afraid of missing out on stills while I'm in video mode - and the stills I get from the video are much lower quality. So now we can do both!

You can follow these links for examples from the new cam:

Hyacinth and Crocuses
Flower on the tree out front
Journey and Sarek
Sarek and Journey

Chilly, Sunny, Productive day!

Tue, 18 Apr 2006 08:35:04 -0500

Yesterday was Patriot's Day. So here in New Englad lots of stuff was closed - including Kyle's vacation program (it's Spring Break, so he's going to a Vacation school program kinda thing - mostly field trips). Ryan's school was open, so I had just Kyle and I worked from home. I had planned to sit outside if it was nice and just keep him where I can supervise... but we got a phonecall from next door instead. Chris and his little brother were at their Grandparents' house for the day. Would Kyle like to play? (this is next door). So Kyle went out with them from 10 - 12. At 12 the two big boys came back to our place while Adam took a nap. It was chilly, but nice and sunny so the boys went back outside on the swingset. Then Carol came back and brought them back out front for more bike/scooter riding, then back to their place for a movie and juice boxes. The boys spent almost 8 hours together and only had 1 minor problem (around sharing Kyle's favorite transformer) and even that was resolved quickly.

The bonus was I got lots of time to actually get work done. Even with Chris over, they were more focused on each other than me. I just stayed nearby so I could assist if needed. It's NOT the same when it's Kyle and Ryan - then they both want ME!

Kyle and Chris have declared themselves Best Friends. I just wish Chris was in our Schools!!! :o)

Comparisons

Mon, 17 Apr 2006 19:53:36 -0500

I've had my 2nd digital camera for a few years now. It's a Canon Powershot s45 and I love it. At 3 megapixels it's certainly behind the times these days, but it does nicely for us. Except for the battery chargers... My first digital cam was a Kodak 210+ - and it ran on AA batteries. We started going through them incredibly rapidly and it became ridiculous. Even with recharables, I could only use a set for a short time. So we upgraded to the Canon. Looks like it was May of '03 that we made the change. The charger that came with it lasted about a year. Then it stopped charging. So I picked up a cheap non-OEM charger from ebay - where you can get ANYTHING! And that has recently started charging funny - or not as well would be more accurate. I had two batteries - we had picked up a second from Radio Shack at one point when I thought I had left ours home (it was in a sneaker!). And both batteries were behaving very shortlived. So I decided it was either the charger or both batteries. Chances were better for the charger. Off to ebay again and I ordered a charger with a battery. It came today - with a bonus! - a car adapter :o) So I had my battery charged in the old charger and took 11 pictures before the low battery flashed at me. I popped the battery in the new charger and waited. In less than an hour I had a green light (wow! quick!) - I popped the battery in and took 30 pictures - about 20 needing flash, and was still going strong. Yay! I have since charged my 2nd and the new, 3rd batteries - so we are all charged up for Cruising!!!

OK.. the 2nd in my comparisons is in our family - take a look at these two pics... Even Steve looks better now! :o)
2004

and 2006

Trains, bunnies, hair, pictures, pants :o)

Sun, 16 Apr 2006 19:36:20 -0500

Guess I'll start with the Easter Train - excellent food! Good service! Wicked Funny Bunny ;o) We love the Newport Easter Train...

More Easter Pictures...

What else - yesterday we hit Target for some last minute things I needed for the packing for the cruise (5 days til vacation! 6 til cruise!!!). We were looking to get a couple disposable cameras for Kyle and maybe Ryan to take their own pics. We came across a cheap, cheap - did I mention it was cheap? - digital camera. For $20 it holds 26 pictures and runs on 2 AA batteries. Some drawbacks - no flash and if the batteries die or are removed all the pictures are lost. But for Kyle, it's heaven :o) As soon as Steve transfers the pics, I'll post some. He carried it around with him all day today :o) He's totally loving it. We asked Ry if he wanted one - and he said no. So we just made Ky promise to share if Ryan asks. But it fits - Kyle is the one that always wants to use my camera. Ryan not so much.

His biggest problem is impatience. When he's calm and takes his time he takes nice pictures like this:

But he's not patient, and likes to click, so we get a lot of this:

But to show what this tiny thing can do - Steve took this one (we stopped at the beach briefly for a quick runaround):

The other thing we found was an 'As Seen On TV' trimmer. Very cute. $10. You'll notice in the pictures from yesterday and today that the boys are sporting new buzzed cuts :o) That's my $10 trimmer ;o) It's taking practice, and if Ryan doesn't stop whipping his head around, he'll end up more bald than not, but it works, so it's cool!

I'm working from home tomorrow. Kyle's on Spring break this week - he'll be in the childcare program that the school runs tues- thursday, but tomorrow is Patriots Day. For those NOT in New England - it's a holiday up here :o) Well, sorta. Not for me at any rate. Ryan's school is open, which is why I have a chance to get some stuff done.

Today for Easter Kyle got to wear one of the new pairs of suit pants I had bought him from Sears. I had only bought two pairs as they were almost $20 each, and I don't expect him to need to wear them often. Turns out he LOVES them. When we came home he wanted to play outside - needing them in good condition for the cruise next week I asked that he please come in and put sweatpants on then he can play. So he came in with me and then asked "if I stay inside to play can I keep these pants on?". We've found a gem I think. So they are more expensive than what we normally spend for Kyle - more than what I spend for me for that matter ;o) but Sears has a Kidvantage thing and a cool guarantee - if they wear out, they'll replace them. We just have to keep tags or receipts. Of course I have neither for the two pairs we have now, but I'm thinking we may have to go buy a few more pairs.

FamilyFrisch Easter

Sun, 16 Apr 2006 07:55:22 -0500

OK, so we really need to make sure the Bunny knows to hide the eggs better next year. Kyle is super speedy now.
We're chilling out, then getting ready to head to Newport! Yay!

The movies are DIVX format:
Egg Hunting
Notice the complete difference in styles between the boys? True to form as always...

And Ry makes up a Happy Easter Song.

Happy Easter!!!

Sat, 15 Apr 2006 19:51:35 -0500

Well, tomorrow is Easter! Wow!
We had an absolutely wonderful day today, so we colored our eggs outside:

Tomorrow is the hunt for the plastic eggs, then the Newport Easter Train with Grammy. I'm sure there will be pictures taken :o)

Goodbye Brian :-(

Fri, 14 Apr 2006 13:33:59 -0500

"My" developer, Brian, has left our team. My officemate and I took him out for lunch today - his last day. Darnit! Now we have to break someone new in!

Goodluck in your new ventures Brian! You'll certainly be missed here :o)

----
One week!!!!

Interesting revelation

Fri, 14 Apr 2006 08:12:24 -0500

I met with a therapist yesterday - for me. I've been very down for a few weeks now... Prior to that I had my normal state of mind - which may or may not be 'normal' for others ;o) ... with my mini-anxiety/panic attacks. Apparently, I am really afraid of my own mortality. Growing old and dying terrifies me - sort of. I don't know that I'm necessarily afraid of the old or dying part... it's the getting there. The Decrepit part ;o) - it's usually moments when things really sink in - quiet, reflective type times. Oh my God, I'm 30-something, a Mom of two who will grow up into teenagers. My own parents are not young and some day I'll lose them... and this spirals quickly into a panicky/scared feeling that I visualize grouping into a physical thing and jumping on until it goes away (visualization is a wonderful thing!). So why post this? Because it's background....

So these have been there for a while, and I have my 'sad' times, as I'm sure most everybody has, but I can usually shake it quickly and move on to life again. The last few weeks have left me feeling very down and depressed. Extremely tired. I don't want to do things like cook, or make cards, or work on my scrapbooks... so it's border line as far as 'clinical' depression. But I was so down on my Birthday that I decided it was ridiculous. So I called and made an appointment. Do I think a therapist will magically make the depression go away? Nope. But I was hoping for insight and a 'safe' place to talk about stuff that can really scare me sometimes. Yes, I talk to Steve about them, but he's there to love and protect me. He's not necessarily objective ;o)

So, the sadness is seeming to cycle somewhat. I've had two bad Mondays now, and it seems to lift a little during the week. This wednesday was a really good day... At any rate - I was there talking to her yesterday. Explaining what's going on with Kyle - and yes, I totally think this is directly related. Whether it's just stress of the whole evaluation and decisions we're making regarding him, or if it's guilt, I'm not sure yet. I suspect it's both. So I fill her in about Kyle and then the usual 'what were you like as a child' comes up. Well, in filling in my childhood there is a single event that seriously defines my entire being (as I'm sure it does my brother as well). My older sister, Christine, was diagnosed with Leukemia at around 2.5 - 3 years old. Just before I was born. We lost her just before her 6th birthday, when I was 2. My brother was born shortly after that.

So with this detail, the therapist looks straight at me and says 'There you go'. I hadn't made the connection before, and wow it was powerful. But not everyone is going to be ready to make a connection like this, so again I have to state that what happened with my sister is something I carry with me every day. Losing a child in any manner is something that then affects not only the parents and other children, but how the family reacts, and how the family is defined.

So here I have my own 5 year old. My first born. He is having a really hard time and is going through a series of appointments with various professional-type people. You have to pull back to look at the similarities here... yes they ARE entirely different. Kyle is not ill, does not have a life threatening disease - I am not directly linking that... the therapist went so far as to say that even the word 'diagnose' starts with 'die'. By going through what we are with Kyle, we are being faced with the fact that our child is not perfect - because lets face it, we all expect our children to be what we were not, right? Or at least, what we are and making it better. And so, in facing this, there is a feeling of loss. While not actually losing a child, I may feel as though I am losing a dream, or a piece. or possibly just potential.

So it was powerful suggestion. That I am bringing up the feelings of loss that I harbor for Christine - and will always have - and adding them to what I would naturally feel over what we have going on with Kyle. Kind of puts my current slump in a new light.

See ? No magic dust, no drugs... just a new perspective. I may not have felt any less sad when I left last night, but I did have a new way of looking at things and examining myself.

She's going to get ahold of some checklists for me for ADHD - at this point it's more curiousity, though if I can figure out how to get past the focus problems I have at work, that would be great. She nodded a lot when I explained the traits that I see in myself. My biggest problem in my personal life? The mess-factor. I've held my own for 2 years now... not a perfectly clean house by any means, but passable. These last few weeks I've let the house just fall apart... ugh. And that makes it harder to pick up.

Small children and food preferences

Tue, 11 Apr 2006 11:36:32 -0500

Ryan - my guy that will eat and eat and eat - pretty much the rule with him has been: If someone else is eating it, he will too. The boy lives to eat!

Recently he has decided that if his food has 'black things' on it, he doesn't like it. Black things can be - flakes of oregano or parsley. Pepper. Something that got cooked too long. It means he won't eat his FAVORITES!!! Pasta with sauce, or meatballs - unless it's a very plain, bland sauce with no 'black things'. I have no idea where he got this idea from - I figure it was either something he picked up at school, or he managed to take a bite of something with a black thing on it that really turned him off.

Watching me wipe off individual ravioli with a napkin in a restaurant so that he'll eat it is pretty funny. Just scraping with a fork isn't good enough "there's still black things!" he wails... so out comes the napkin. At least he's still eating pretty much everything that does NOT have black things...

--

10 days left! And it's going to be 79 - 80 in Florida for the next 10 days (some rain too) yay for warmth!

11 days

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 11:23:30 -0500

and counting! April 21st we pack up and fly out to Florida! We spend a night in a hotel there, then head over Saturday afternoon to board Navigator of the Seas. A whole week away - and with built in activities for the kids! It will be late nights for the boys with our dinner at the 8pm sitting, but it's vacation!!! With a little luck they'll sleep in (probably not so much). Worst case, we drop them off on the kids' deck then head back for naps!!! LOL

Back to work...

Sun, 9 Apr 2006 20:37:40 -0500

After a nice weekend (OK lots of rain, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless) - which ended with a beautiful day here in MA! We are home again - boys are in bed, washed with homework done. And for the first time in over a year I really really don't feel like going to work tomorrow! I'll suck it up and go anyway, but this is odd for me. I have trully enjoyed what I've been doing since jumping to the software side. And I still enjoy it - I'm just in this mental slump. I'll get out of it. But until then it sure makes working tough! LOL.

I posted some new pics on the main site. And a big WAHOOO to Uncle Paul for meeting his goal for fundraising for Team In Training! Just because he's at goal - don't think you can't still support him! They're doing good work out there. And now we have another reason to support him with the diagnosis of my Uncle. I don't have details on his treatment. I'm assuming (as is my Mom) that this 4 week hospital stay is the initial induction of chemotherapy.

While I'm asking for prayers from folks - please include my Mom? This is bound to be really rough on her. While he's my Uncle and it hurts me to think of him suffering at all - he's her brother. She grew up with him. And she's lost a daughter to Leukemia already. I can only hope that I can be what she needs, when she needs it.

Prayers and thoughts for my Uncle Rollen please

Sat, 8 Apr 2006 18:36:36 -0500

My Mother got a call from her brother today - he's been diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. He'll be in the hospital for 4 weeks, but is still planning on traveling to Greece this summer, and then visiting NY again in July. Uncle Rollen is an MD so he is fully versed in what he's about to undertake. Please keep him and his wife, my Aunt Sandy in your thoughts and prayers. They sure could use them.

A lost tooth

Sat, 8 Apr 2006 11:10:45 -0500

Kyle lost his first tooth! And it's really lost. We think he swallowed it :o) While at Uncle Paul's house yesterday we had ice cream pie on oreos (thank you Liz!!!!)... it was right after this that Kyle showed me the hole. But no tooth. We thoroughly checked, but couldn't find it. Kyle drew a picture and wrote a letter to the tooth fairy to let her know about it and left those under the pillow. He was rewarded with TWO DOLLARS!!! Wow! We made sure to explain that future teeth may not receive such high returns ;O) but the first one is extra special!

Yes, his face needs washing :o) those are Oreo crumbs... stuck nicely with the ice cream.

away away away

Fri, 7 Apr 2006 08:55:17 -0500

We are at my Mom's for a long weekend :o) Yay for mini vacations! Last night we were supposed to meet Auntie Michelle and Nikki for dinner along with Uncle Dougie, but M and N cancelled!!! Are we *ever* going to connect guys ? ;o) So the five of us (familyfrisch + Uncle Dougie) went to Friendly's anyway. And standing in line is Mommy's friend Justin who she graduated High School with! Along with Justin was his fiance, Dana (hi Dana!) and who I think was Dana's Mom... but we didn't actually get that far. We ended up sitting right behind them. Thankfully, Justin has kids ;o) At any rate it was great to see you!

Let's see, Kyle and I explored the stream yesterday that runs next to Nanna's house. We were lifting rocks and checking out the salamanders. Then I walked across the stream on a flat rock and told Kyle he could too. He chose to jump rather than step, and *SPLOOOSH* he tried to be a salamander! So we came in for dry clothes :o)

We also brought a picture circa 1969 or so across the street to the first house my parents lived in (yes in 1972 they moved across the street). The 'new' (about 5 years I think) owners were amazed at the difference in the house. And it was fun to chat with them. I know their names are Nick and Jen, but the last name is escaping me at the moment. But they went to our HS... I believe in between the years my Brother and I graduated.

Today we are venturing out to buy new sneaks for Kyle - once again he's worn out another pair. Or to use the word I used yesterday 'funcifying them'. They are structrually sound, but so nasty I can't bring myself to put them on his feet anymore. And with only one pair of wearable sneaks, he has nothing to wear when he plays 'salamander' and gets his sneaks all wet! LOL - then we are off to Uncle Paul's house. Today was supposed to be Zoo day, but with rain forcast for all of hte afternoon, that's not likely. Instead we'll visit and BBQ and have fun, then tomorrow we'll all go bowling in the afternoon! Yay!

Have a great weekend!

if you are driving in Wayne, NJ....

Mon, 3 Apr 2006 06:27:03 -0500

Pay attention to the bill boards...
This is the daughter of good friends of ours:

As you head west bound on route 46 and get onto 80 west. Look up; you will see a billboard with a girl dressed in a communion outfit. It�s an advertisement for A Portrait Studio.

Great job Marissa!!! :o)

--
And Happy Birthday to Me! :o)

Ahhhhhh Spring!

Sun, 2 Apr 2006 18:13:59 -0500

A beautiful day today! It's cooling off a little now, so we're back inside... yesterday we picked up a steam cleaner from the grocery store and did the boys' carpet. I picked up some pheremone spray today to hopefully help eliminate the problem we have in there. Why do the cats pick the boys' bedroom??? So I got a tip from a vet that happened to be in the pet supply store today to try lemon air fresheners... of course Shaw's doesn't have LEMON anything! But I found some citrus... hopefully that has enough lemon in it.

Today I did the carpet in the playroom - that was also nasty, and I didn't have that one done when we had the house professionally done in July because I figured I'd be replacing it. Actually, I kind of like it now that it's clean :o) We hit the mall yesterday too - the last part of the present from Uncle Mike (gift cert to amazon!) hadn't come yet, so we hit the Lego store to pick up 'Lego James'. Ryan is thrilled to pieces now. And hey - having a birthday last over 2 months is pretty cool isn't it?? Ha! We had lunch in Bertucci's yummm.

And we hit Target on the way home - I wasn't feeling great after Bertucci's, so we were only there long enough for me to grab what I need for Easter. Just two weeks!!!!! Steve and I were supposed to go to the Spring Auction for Kyle's PTA but between not finding a sitter, and me not feeling great, we skipped it. I figure at least the cost of the tickets went to good! I hope someone is enjoying the things I didn't get to big on ;o)

Today we went out for my Birthday lunch. Yes, it's tomorrow - but I have a meeting tomorrow, so we went out today. We went to Firefly's - yum yum yum! Then we came home, hit the grocery store, and the boys played outside for most of the afternoon. Nice, nice.

Short week this week - we leave Thursday morning for NY - thursday pm we meet Auntie Michelle and Nikki for dinner along with Uncle Dougie... Friday morning we are chilling then in the afternoon we'll spring Uncle Paul out from work and we're all going to the Bronx Zoo (assuming it's not raining - forecast isn't promising at the moment). Saturday there is an Easter Egg hunt, then we go to BBQ with Uncle Paul, Auntie Liz and the girls. Sunday we come back home.

I made sure to pick up lots of food from the Core list today. I've got a beef roast in the oven right now :o) yummmm! Shaw's is starting to carry some more alternative type foods.... though that's the wrong word... they now carry ground buffalo, and I found frozen sweet potato fries (just sweet potatos and soybean oil listed as ingredients)... YUM! I *so* love food! Which is of course why I struggle to keep the weight off once I lose it in the first place!

In Kyle news, Dr Steve did talk to Mrs M at school - and he relayed that after the conversation he sees things a little differently and wants to see the outcome of the eval's. The feeling from the school is still that K is enough behind socially and emotionally that he should repeat Kindergarten. I've said right along, if he's going to repeat somewhere - I want it to be Kindergarten. He's got friends coming up into Kindergarten next year, and we can put a positive spin on it :o) better than pushing him up and then deciding in like 4th grade to hold him back - and as I've said before... he's a *young* kindergartener. At the end of July he's one of the youngest in the class. He may even BE the youngest - I haven't asked ;o) so with his other quirks he may be there again. But that's yet another decision that does not have to be made today. Thankfully. Of course, as his Mom, now I'm stressing out about it. But that's just me :o)

OK off to get a head start on packing for thursday's trip. We hope to hit the road fairly early - though not early enough to catch rush hour in Hartford!!!

Happy Happy Birthday Ethan!!!

Fri, 31 Mar 2006 11:00:43 -0600

Tomorrow is Ethan's birthday. Just wow. Words can't express how I feel about this little guy. He's just special. He's super loved by everyone. And tomorrow he celebrates his 2nd birthday. Just weeks after celebrating his 1 year post bone marrow transplant.

Have a very happy Birthday Mr E! And enjoy your party! Wahoooo!

spoke to school...

Fri, 31 Mar 2006 10:19:40 -0600

And they scored points today. Yes, the sensory screening came back with several areas of concern, and we are going forward with a full OT (occupational therapy) evaluation. She made sure to point out that while the OT eval was not in the original plan (these were things that came up after the process was started) - as soon as she pulled him she would have added it. I'm glad she told me that, because I really needed to hear that. So the OT eval will not be completed when all the other evals are - we can either meet when these first evals are done, or we can postpone. We can always meet twice, but it's not a decision we have to make until the evaluations are in and we've had a chance to read them. All of the other evaluations are valid - this is good. But it was also good to hear that I am not imagining what I'm seeing.

She also liked the way that we've started approaching the redirection. "Kyle, if you need to touch things, these are OK to touch, and these other things are not" - she said it provides him with guidelines and rules (the china is off limits, but the stuffies on the couch are fine) and reinforces them while allowing him to experience the world in the way that he needs to.

Phew!

Treatment for SI is something I haven't explored much so I asked. There is the drugs approach - much like ADD drug therapy - and then there is OT. And some kids need both. But we aren't there yet - let the OT eval happen first. In the meantime, I'll see what I can find on treatment options...

sensory...

Thu, 30 Mar 2006 19:01:14 -0600

So we met with Dr. Steve again today. He's feeling (and I agree) that we need to sort out the sensory issues before we move forward with anything else. The Attention problems we are seeing *could* turn out to be ADD/ADHD, or they could just be caused by Kyle looking for sensory interaction. The things that hold his attention for any length of time are all tactile - transformers, legos, playdough, silly puddy, - things that involve touch and lots of it. Since I've been watching him with this different perspective I'm seeing more too - he's sensitive to sunlight (hard to figure out in Winter! thank goodness Spring is almost here) - he closes his eyes... and the first time he didn't tell me, so he fell off the curb when I thought he would see to walk off it nicely. Now we'll be carrying his sunglasses with us. )When he got his haircut last week he covered his ears because the noise of the water when she washed his hair bothered him. The noise of the buzzers/clippers bothered him too. The severe preference for sweatpants - and now moving into requesting a sweatshirt every morning... and he'd much prefer to sleep in a full sweatsuit than jammies. He takes his shoes off every chance he gets (nothing on it's own, but when you add it to the above list it becomes meaningful) AND he won't wear new sneakers. He really wants the old ones.

He's not as bad as some can get. Some SI kids can't stand the way socks feel - or tags on their skin. There's all kinds of info on SI out there (also called SID, but that tends to get confused with SIDS), to sum it up, SI kids have a hard time making sense of of their input. They may be over or under sensitive to light/sound/touch/taste/smells or a combination of both. And I suspect that Kyle is that combo. While he is sensitive to some things, he also seeks out excessive sensation. There was the day he tried to fly off of Kate's stairs for instance ;o) - basically, the swings don't go high enough, he can't ride his bike fast enough... he's always looking for more. This worries me as he gets older - I wonder what he'll experiment with to get that 'more' - but that's a long way off, and hopefully we can figure out how to work with it before then.

Our school contact and I have been playing tag regarding Kyle's SI screening. I'm afraid that they'll report that there is no evidence supporting SI issues... I've heard stories lately of public schools not having enough funding to go around for special ed kids, so the 'borderline' or 'not so needy' kids don't get what they need. I agree that he needs a full OT eval. I'll see what the OT has to say from the school - if we can ever both be at our phones at the same time ;o)

More interesting news from the world...

Wed, 29 Mar 2006 11:24:18 -0600

hmmmm.... if you are running from the cops on drug charges, it's probably not a good idea to be rescued from the snow and gain National news coverage ;o)

Couple Whose Family Was Stranded Arrested

The world is a very strange place...

Tue, 28 Mar 2006 15:41:52 -0600

Village elders ordered a Muslim man in eastern India to leave his wife after he accidentally divorced her in his sleep, a news report said Tuesday

Ummmm.... let's just say that I'm glad I don't have charges pressed against me for things that occur in my dreams ;o)

ahhhhh home :o)

Sun, 26 Mar 2006 16:27:10 -0600

We made it home from Mom's (aka Nanna and Poppy's) in about 4.5 hours which included one stop for lunch at Friendly's - yum! This trip, we were not attacked by any flying mattresses - phew!

We had a great time at Leah's birthday party yesterday, then staying afterward to enjoy dinner and more playtime with Uncle Paul and family. Thanks again guys!

Kyle and Ryan, but most especially Kyle, behaved WONDERFULLY!!! I made sure to tell them how proud I was of their behavior. That's not saying they were perfect by any means, but I'm not either ;o) And I do have to place some credit with both me and Steve for adjusting our parenting/displinarian styles to fit out kids. The more we learn with Kyle, the better we can help him. This included redirection from the Dining room - "Kyle, I know you really need to touch things, so lets go into the living room where you can touch all you want" ;o) this got him away from the small fish bowls that he was just dying to put his hands all over !!! So instead of 'don't touch! don't touch! don't touch that either!' I sent him to where he was free to do so :o) Lots of little things like that are helping us all get along much better. He still gets the point that the fish bowl isn't a good thing for children to touch, but he's not completely denied either. And it helped that Uncle Paul moved the two bowls together so the two fish puffed up all angry like! (Japanese Fighting Fish I think?)

All in all a good weekend!

Here the kids show us how to gain perspective:

It's almost friday...

Thu, 23 Mar 2006 14:29:47 -0600

Let's see - I volunteered at the school this morning, then stopped to get a new inspection sticker... I'm working at home today. Have an appointment later for tanning (weee!), then haircuts for all of us starting at 6pm.

Tomorrow I'm at an alternate site for an all day training thing. I'll come home and pull in the driveway, grab kids, dogs, steve and off we go to NY. Saturday is Leah's Birthday party (though I believe Friday is the big day! Happy Birthday Leah!). So we'll be there for the festivities, then heading back home on Sunday.

We got our cruise documents!!! We fly out April 21st, and the ship departs April 22nd. We'll come home April 29th. It's less than a month away!!! We're excited :o)

Kyle's doing much better at school. His teacher mentioned that it's been about 13 weeks - pretty much what it took the other kids to adjust when they started in september. She's making sure some specifics get added to his behavior plan - like specifying that he needs to be warned 5 minutes in advance of transitions (getting ready for recess/lunch, etc) and then warned again as the time limit approaches. She's also encouraging him to touch things when he has to (but not other children!) - like they started working with coins today, and she asked him to count some. She made sure he knew it was ok to touch them each when counting. This goes straight back to the SI (sensory integration) issues we think he has.

And Ryan put all of his clothes on all by himself today! We've known he CAN, he just doesn't like to put out the effort. So I made sure to hand him each piece, but made him put them on, on his own today! :o) Yay for Ryan!

food, glorious food

Tue, 21 Mar 2006 20:19:14 -0600

Just for kicks I figured I'd document what I ate today:
breakfast: 1 serving Cream of Wheat, made with skim milk and splenda for sweetening (yum!)
coffee, with drop of skim milk

misc snacks: banana, grapes, WW Smoothie shake thing - chocolate

Lunch: A portabello mushroom heated with bbq sauce
Very small baby greens salad with fat free honey mustard dressing (very small because I'm not fond of salad)
Au Bon Pan's Old Fashioned Tomato Soup (yum!)
I was still hungry so I went back for the 2nd soup option today:
Au Bon Pan's Vegatable Beef Barley soup

Dinner: Mashed potatoes made with skim milk, water, a tiny bit of smart balance light margerine, added smart balance spray margerine and salt to them
Pork roast, peas, carrots and asparagus that had been in the slow cooker all day.

small glass of Wine - (Steven's contribution)

I excercised today, so I earned 2 activity points.
The dressing, the bbq sauce and the wine cost me from my points.. but with the 2 activity points, and very small amounts of eachI only used those 2 activity points and didn't dip into the 'bank' :o) Yay! We'll see how I manage to keep it up.

...core...

Tue, 21 Mar 2006 08:42:36 -0600

Yesterday I switched plans on Weight Watchers. I had been following the Flexible points plan... except I really wasn't ;o) I've slacked off tremendously in the last few months, and each attempt at refocusing has not gone well. I'm good for about a day.... then I slack again.

So to change things up I've switched to the Core plan. Now i have a list of foods that I can pick from and eat without tracking points... just eat whatever I want to feel full from that list. It's a pretty good list - like lean chicken, lean beef (7% fat or less) fat free dairy products, hot cereals without sugars... cold cereal without sugar... lots of good choices that are pulled from across all the food groups (OK except ice cream... but they account for that too!) - beyond the core list, I have 35 points each week that I can spend how I want to. So a small dish of my favorite light, double churned ice cream will run me about 2 points. Bread costs me, but pretty much all fruits/veggies are Core. We'll see how it goes. I figured I'd give it at least a week to see how I do on it.

We're traveling to NY this weekend for Leah's birthday party. So that will be a challenge.. but I should be OK. One day of eating everything in sight shouldn't be *too* bad LOL.

Between a small weight gain and the new scale, I'm still showing that I'm up 4 lbs... but I think 3 of it is from the new scale. (and I'm down from yesterday... but day to day goes soooo wildly!!!! yeah, yeah, I'm only supposed to check once a week - I know.) At some point I'll probably just suck it up and add the extra 3 pounds in... I've been procrastinating!

Fat Cat

Tue, 21 Mar 2006 08:17:55 -0600

I noticed that Snowflake's belly was bigger and firmer than usual about 2 weeks ago. Since then I've been watching him. Friday - Saturday I noticed that it looked even bigger. So I called an made an appointment. We opted out of the emergency visit since he wasn't complaining about being poked, mushed, carried, or groped. In the course of waiting for Monday to roll around I remembered that we had moved the cats' food. They 'free feed' but previously had had to walk past the dogs in their crates to get to it. We moved the food station just after Christmas to the little bathroom downstairs. Now it's stress free eating :o) So that could have accounted for it.

Mr Vet couldn't feel anything alarming. No blockages, no tumors, kidneys didn't feel too large or too small. Heard happy gurgling sounds which indicate that things are moving in the digestive area... again - indicates no blockage. Was happy with how he was acting, both there in the office and from my reports of home. He said that other than gaining over a pound in the last year, he seemed in good shape. Considering he's 12 now - a pound is a significant gain... it's more like an 75 year old man gaining 15... he also mentioned that he'll age faster now... once they are this old, it's more like a year a month, rather than the 7 yrs/year we've previously believed... that whole new strange chart that I've seen from time to time.

Bottom line - he's due for his distemper next month. So rather than stress out the cat by giving it to him today, we made an appointment for April 13th so that he can have another look. In the meantime my homework is to try to determine how much food and water he's consuming - this means rigging something up to separate him from the other animals for a day... should prove to be a challange !

Oh yeah... when I got him out of the crate the tech started laughing... she hadn't met us before and only had his name 'Snowflake' - she totally was expecting a white cat. Not a mostly black tuxedo kitty!!! LOL

Happy Birthday Kate!

Sun, 19 Mar 2006 07:45:41 -0600

Yeah, I forgot to put it up yesterday - bad friend!
So have a very very happy DayAfterYourBirthday Kate!!!

hee hee!

Sat, 18 Mar 2006 16:12:53 -0600

I was rummaging through some pictures since I'm motivated to do some scrapbooking today and came across pictures of Kyle's Baptism.. which mean pictures of Uncle Paul from THIS century ;o)

With Auntie Michelle (GodMommy and GodDaddy)

With Auntie Liz :o)

And Look!!! FamilyFrisch all Young and Fresh! LOL

Star Trek .... lyrics???

Fri, 17 Mar 2006 15:09:39 -0600

Yes, the Theme to Star Trek had lyrics!!!
Thank you snopes!

Beyond
The rim of the star-light
My love
Is wand'ring in star-flight
I know
He'll find in star-clustered reaches
Love,
Strange love a star woman teaches.
I know
His journey ends never
His star trek
Will go on forever.
But tell him
While he wanders his starry sea
Remember, remember me.

Kyle meets Dr Steve...

Tue, 14 Mar 2006 06:59:50 -0600

Yes Dr 'Steve' - now I knew his name was Steven, but of course I call him Dr. Michaelson ;-) . When he came out and introduced himself to Kyle as Dr Steve it was pretty funny. Kyle did a double take... 'whose name is that?' 'Daddy's!!!' - Kyle was sad when I picked him up from school (about missing the afternoon program) and was very quiet for the drive and the wait. So the Dr's name perked him up again. We went into his office and Kyle immediately started moving around the room.

If there were to be a 'poster child' for ADD - in that first 15 minutes it would be Kyle :-) . He started with a little slidy-puzzle of a tarantula, passed it to me, checked out the lego creations of other kids on the shelf, asked questions, touched, touched, touched, took out other toys, checked out the poker chips, the Battleship game, the Connect Four game... picture a pinball - *bing* spider puzzle - *bing* paper and markers for coloring *bing* something else, *bing* something else. There was a total lack of ability to focus on any one thing for more than 30 seconds. The 30 second stretch was the lego bin. But he was gentle with the things already made - repeatedly asked about the high shelf which had been proclaimed 'for 8 year olds only' - verifying that the rule was still in place 5 minutes later - and then 5 minutes after that. The gentle factor showed the Dr that he was not as impulsive as we believed. He said most kids would have crushed it ( a little spacy ship kind of thing). Kyle was very gentle, just explored it and played with it. Then asked if he could take out a 2nd - if that was OK. He used incredible manners - Please, Thank You, and a very polite Excuse Me when he needed to ask something. The Please and Thank you have been there for a while - something we instilled early. But the excuse me is something we've been working on and even when I get it, it's usually the impatient EXCUSE ME MOMMY!!!!

Dr. Steve now feels we're mostly looking at ADD with some Sensory Integration issues - he's not aware of his own space. The need to touch everything. Those are Sensory - which was what I felt too. His biggest problem is lack of focus. It was extreme in the office because there was a lot of stuff there - a huge amount of stimulation, and it was all new. Not even the legos held him - and that's unusual. He does NOT feel it's Asperger's at this point, but he acknowledged that there could be a touch of it somewhere. He's NOT labeling him - these are strickly impressions from yesterdays meeting. We have two more appointments on the book right now. I assume we'll be going for some time. Kyle goes back on the 30th - and he'll try to see him without me this time.

In the meantime, Kyle is going to a new playgroup tomorrow night with 3 other boys who have 'rigid agendas' like Kyle does :o) though Dr Steve now feels that the behavior issues really stem from his lack of awareness of space and his lack of focus... but the playgroup in a controlled environment is still a good thing. So we'll do it. The cost for that should be reimbursed from our flex spending account...

There is probably more that I don't remember from yesterday - the big thing is that we do NOT have a diagnosis even though he has feelings.... they are just that at this point.

Key to helping him at home will be to try to reduce our clutter of toys... even when the rooms are 'clean' they are visible... lots of distraction. We're to focus on one thing out, then put it away - instead of tear the room apart and pick it all up at once :) that's good for me too.... clutter is a very large Adult ADD problem - as I'm reading to decide if perhaps I do fall into the same category... well Kyle and I can explore it together.

Rossidude Rides for a Cure for Carolyn!

Mon, 13 Mar 2006 10:37:55 -0600

Our friend Brian, of Rossidudes , is riding in the MS Bike Tour in June. Brian's wife, Carolyn (also a friend), has MS. Visit Brian's page - make a pledge. Every dollar helps!

Uncle Paul's Running!!!

Sun, 12 Mar 2006 10:42:37 -0600

Don't forget to support Uncle Paul if you can! He's running a half-marathon (what my brother refers to as a 'mara') in April - That's next month!!! He's training with the Team in Training working toward "raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives".

Super Sunny Saturday

Sun, 12 Mar 2006 08:32:04 -0600

What a nice day! I hope today is a repeat...
We started with a stop by Dodge to take a look at an '05 Durango they picked up from auction. It's got almost all the bells and whistles that the '06 has... minus some desirable ones... it doesn't have the Nav system (no big, we can add it, but it increases the cost - Steve has recently developed an aversion to paper maps... pretty funny - he's soooo spoiled with his car!), it seats 7 not 8 (but the 06 is a 'skinny' 8). It's missing the power liftgate, and the MDS on the hemi (the ability to shut down 4 cylinders when not in use - so mpg will be lower). I'm sure there was more... it's on the table for discussion - we still have time :o) we always have time! We're comparing the two right now - at first look there is a significant diff in price... but then when we did some quick guestimating math, with the lack of MDS we lose mpg rating so we'll use more gas. Over several years this adds up... all kinds of variables so it really IS a guess... but it brings the prices closer together. And while the things that are missing aren't necessarily important - they are totally extras, when the price diff gets smaller, well - the extras mean more. Ya know? At any rate we're thinking on it more.

OK so after that... we went for lunch - Steve suggested Bugaboo Creek, so we ventured out to Framingham and actually found it! Lunch was yuuuummmy and there was so much there for the kids to look at that we didn't have ANY trouble with them at all! They even waited patiently, coloring, while we finished our really big Bananas Mountain Foster (yummmm!).

Then we hit WalMart because the one near us pretty much sucks. And I broke my scale yesterday (yeah I hear the jokes already...) I snapped the contact for the batteries right off when taking the batteries out (they were dead). Found a good new one - but it's weighing me about 2 - 3 lbs heavier. *sigh*...

This Walmoart was much better - we picked up a ton of flourescent little bulbs at $0.74/each... and some other things... and a pair of jeans for me in size...... 8!!!!!! go me! go me! Yeah that was exciting! And HOW HARD is it to find 'normal jeans' anymore! I don't want LowCut so my butt hangs out, or boot cut (I don't wear boots) or stretch (too tight fitting), or little jewels encrusted on them... I just want a nice pair of relaxed fit jeans!!!! Finally, WalMart had them! Of course we got a ton of other stuff in WalMart because you can't possibly get just one or two things :o)

Then we came back home and the kids played hide and seek in the driveway. Pretty funny when there really is only two places to hide there - but the grass is tooooooo wet and mucky to play in. I was OK with them getting wet and muchky, but it really annoys Ry - and we would have had to change him repeatedly. As it was he fell once and immediately insisted on new pants! LOL

Time for breakfast! I think I'll make waffles today :o) with mini chocolate chips in them... yummmmmmmm then we're headed outside for a walk - gotta burn off that dessert from yesterday!

Oh yeah - Steve and I caught a repeat of this week's The Unit last night (thanks for the tip, Paul!). I think we just added it to our weekly watchlist :o)

New Spam Tool Added and Notification

Sat, 11 Mar 2006 10:43:46 -0600

OK I added some stuff to help with the spam I've been hit with later... it's looking for 'phrases' so if you suddenly find that it's taking an extraordinarily long time to post your comment - most likely you inadvertantly hit one of the phrases I'm screening for. Most of you folks who actually post comments shouldn't have any problems. Unless you're comment is going to detail the trip you just took to a casino, maybe a list of rx drugs you're taking and where you order them from... that kind of thing ;o)

If you do hit a problem, you can always throw me a note.

---
I also added a notification tool - if you want to be notified when a particular subject has comments added you can select 'notify me...' kind of thing - BUT you have to be a member and logged in to do that. I just realised there is no 'register' link here, and I'm not sure why... for the time being, shoot me a note if you want a 'member login' and I'll create one for you.

Mommyhood and Working and Feminism

Sat, 11 Mar 2006 09:12:29 -0600

In response to J's comment... (hi J!!!) I get to blather on some more about working and Mommyhood ;o) Yay for my blather!

OK so I read this and this. Both interesting pieces in themselves... I actually do enjoy reading the various arguements in these areas. The first is a response of a sort on the 2nd. Most of my comments come from the 2nd. And believe it or not, I really don't agree with her (the 2nd).

Mostly, my thinking lines up with the author of the first piece... working or not is a choice. Whether you have children or not. Period, end of discussion :o) But - you don't really expect me to stop there do you ? Hee hee.

OK, so on to Hirschman's piece...

First, I think you have to understand Hirschman's view. She is looking to break down barriers. Feminism at it's finist. Let's show how equal women really are! Let's put them in the highest level careers with higher salaries. There isn't any reason women can't do the same work as men (or even better!). Right? And I agree here. As long as it is the CHOICE of the woman to pursue that path. Hirschman is dismayed at what statistics are showing - more and more educated women - with the potential to help break down those barriers - are choosing to stay home instead of pursuing those paths. And even more women are choosing part time work - which dramatically slows down their path...

OK so here we have:
"In interviews, women with enough money to quit work say they are �choosing� to opt out. Their words conceal a crucial reality: the belief that women are responsible for child-rearing and homemaking was largely untouched by decades of workplace feminism."
Women think differently from men. It's a fact. You can't dispute it. There are a bajillion books out there on the subject (start with Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus - go on from there). We are the gender that are physically designed to 'grow' then give birth to our little ones. Beyond that, we are also equipped to provide all their nutritional needs for the first year (no, I didn't make it that long ;o) they get teeth!). And I don't think you actually have to go through this process for the internal wiring to cause whatever it is to happen in your brain that makes you Mom. No matter how you acquire your child - whether it's through the little spermies making their way to the egg within your own womb - or if this was done in someone else's womb and then you met your child later in life (or in Kyle's case, Mr Sperm met Ms Egg in a petri dish and then were introduced back to Ms Uterus a few days later...). You are still a female of the species and you were built - more or less - the same as all of the other female's. The wiring is there. So is it any wonder that when we bring home these little humans we want to stay there with them? I was planning on going out and finding some nice study about why women tend to stay home more then men - but I got lazy. Maybe I'll look later. But hey - Men DO stay home too! Something to remember ;o)

OK let's go on ...
"If my interviewees are working, they work largely part time, and their part-time careers are not putting them in the executive suite."
Why should this matter? If it's not my desire to BE in the executive suite why does it matter about my career path? Personally, I'm happy where I am at work. Maybe someday I'll take a lower level Management position, but that's pretty much it for me. I don't have high aims. So even THIS educated woman who is still in the FT workforce in a position that CAN line me up for the executive path isn't helping Hirschman ;o)

Data from 2002 census (provided by Hirschman):
"When their children are infants (under a year), 54 percent of females with graduate or professional degrees are not working full time (18 percent are working part time and 36 percent are not working at all). Even among those who have children who are not infants, 41 percent are not working full time (18 percent are working part time and 23 percent are not working at all)."
And here - Go US! This is where the comments from the first link above come into play. Isn't the heart of feminism the ability to make a CHOICE about what I do as a woman? These statistics show that we are making choices! Yes, there are still glass ceilings, and there are still gender biases and there are still walls to break down - but they don't exist everywhere. Hmmmm maybe I can compare it a different way. If I were in the grouping of GLBT... and I was looking at the possibility of a career in two companies. Both are well known. Company A seems to not have the best environment for GLBT folks. Company B has a great non-discrimination policy that includes GLBT specifically. There are GLBT folks in high ranking positions. Benefits that include Domestic Partners. There are GLBT focus groups... which one do you think I would choose to work at? Now... Isn't it the same for women? If I have a choice of two companies and I know that one holds biases toward women (no matter how they work around it in this day and age) and the other has much more potential - where would I choose to work? I'm not sure where I was going with this one ... hmmmm... maybe I'll just leave it for now :o)

This one is along the lines of statistics of students graduating from law school, and the percentage that make it into firms:
"Law schools have been graduating classes around 40-percent female for decades -- decades during which both schools and firms experienced enormous growth."... "in 2003, the major law firms had only 16-percent female partners, according to the American Bar Association"
I was going to comment on this to say that not all women opt out of law-careers for children - my SIL recently received her law degree (in '05 I believe) and what is she doing? She's a pastry chef. I haven't talked to her about the reasoning - she does not have children and her husband is a Lawyer in a large firm in PA... I suspect she's a pastry chef because she likes it ;o) - However... Hirschman went on to acknowledge this possibility:
"If firms had hired every childless woman lawyer available, that alone would have been enough to raise the percentage of female law partners above 16 percent in 30 years. It is also possible that women are voluntarily taking themselves out of the elite job competition for lower status and lower-paying jobs."
So it comes down to - we change our minds. We make a choice. It's allowed ;o)

Now after all that - would I stay home if Steve was suddenly making twice his salary? Maybe. I had a chat with a coworker about staying home - she has older children and would LOVE to stay home. Do the volunteer thing. In fact she DID do this for a year. She's working now to cover some extra things that they choose to pay for... private schools... extracurricular stuff. Things like that. Now... would *I* stay home and volunteer my heart out? Well, right now that would require me to put Ryan into Daycare anyway so that I could volunteer ;o) ummm then I would have to work to pay for daycare - see where that's going? It's something that is in my long range view. Something I'll consider if the lines and dots line up in the right way. Right now I really do REALLY love what I'm doing. When I didn't love what I was doing, I had dropped to the three day schedule I've mentioned previously. I really did have a plan in place to stay home full time - but it worried both of us. Could I REALLY stay home? Would the house survive it?

So there you have it J ;o) It's something I can probably talk about - and it's various tangents - for a while. Feel free to comment more! I love comments!

RyGuy update

Thu, 9 Mar 2006 20:36:47 -0600

Most of the day today, his temp fluctuated between 100.5 and 102.2 - just before bed it was at 100.0 :o) much better! I didn't give him anything all day - letting the fever do it's job. He's less energetic for sure, but was playful and had a better Ryguy look to him just before bed. I'm thinking he'll be back to his bouncy self in the morning - but he could surprise me. Most likely, this is the same bug that Kyle had in february... veeery similar.

Loose Tooth!

Thu, 9 Mar 2006 10:04:28 -0600

A nice, normal, milestone for Kyle. He has his first loose tooth! It's one of the lower, front teeth. He complained that his tooth hurt, so I asked him to show me and I can wiggle it :o) Just enough to see that it really does move. I think the 'normal' age for reaching this milestone is 6 - so he's only slightly early. But then he got his teeth kinda early to begin with.

Needless to say, this made his day. I'm sure he'll be showing everyone at school tomorrow :o) Although, being one of the youngest in the class, it certainly isn't anything new to them!

Kyle's at home with me and Ry - Ry is still sporting a fever (101.1 last check - much better than 104!!) and is much less energetic than usual. Kyle was sent home yesterday for threatening another child. While I agree that it's not good to threaten, there's the other part of me that acknowledges that he used WORDS and did not get physical when things did not go his way. It's hard to find a good way to treat this. He still broke school rules, so we have to follow policy there - and policy dictates that he be suspended today. So we talked about better ways he could have handled it.

I met with Kyle's new therapist today. Love him!!! Maybe I'll write something out soon about decision making, putting in the effort, having faith, and things working out. It's too much for here though.

At any rate - I had the appointment down for yesterday, and he was surprised to see me yesterday. We figured out that it was indeed for today. So after brief intros he asks me "do YOU have ADD?" - it was a general question, based on obversations - the mis-calendaring, along with my forgetfulness in bringing Kyle's medical card. I had Steve's - and all of the info is the same, so it's no big deal. But still a detail I missed, and I hate that. When I explained that while I do see some tendencies in myself that lean toward ADD, I have never seen anyone for it, nor been diagnosed. He gently mentioned that I may find my life gets easier if I look into getting a diagnosis, with possible treatment... that's it - then we got into Kyle :o)

Most of this session was background gathering. Me talking, him writing. He sees some things, and agrees with my suspician of SI (Sensory Integration) issues - the most significant being Kyle's extreme preference for sweat pants. He sees lots of other queues, but while sharing his 'hunches' with me today, he is not going to really focus on anything other than getting a clear picture of Kyle. He asked that I have patience. He also shared his view on meds - they basically align with ours. They are good to have when they will significantly improve the quality of life for the child. He doesn't jump to them, and would rather have a full picture of the child first. He made it clear that he's not opposed to them, but he needs to feel that they really will help the situation first. This is exactly how we feel about them - so it's a good fit. Kyle meets with him for the first time next week. He'll also meet with Steve at some point.

He did admire my ability to handle the situation. He said I am extemely calm and accepting of this, even when my calendar was wrong and I showed up on the wrong day. So we talked about how I've learned to lable things worthy of BIG worries, and things that aren't. And even when I have big ticket items, I then tend to box them up and put them away. I do deal with them, but in my own time, in my own way.

So I ended with asking him what I would need to do if I wanted to follow up on my own diagnosis... he said it would be as simple as him giving me some forms to complete. If we ended up wanted to persue medication, there was someone at the center he could pair me up with. Easy enough.

Happy Thursday!

RyGuy sick :o(

Wed, 8 Mar 2006 13:29:17 -0600

Ryan's NEVER sick! In 2 years @ Mulberry he's only been sent home once that I remember. They sent him home today with a fever of 104.9 (yikes!) - Steve got him, and his temp at home was only (only?) 103.8. Better. He's got motrin in him now and is playing quietly. Steve will recheck shortly to verify that the fever came down. He's finally eating something - his lack of interest in food was also concerning. So maybe the motrin is working.

He has the most awesome immune system! Let's hope this is short lived!

one less thing to do...

Tue, 7 Mar 2006 20:59:06 -0600

I paid Uncle Sam! Of course the Commonwealth owes us $ back. How unbalanced! We're in process of adjusting our withholding to make up for the diff with the Feds. It wasn't the end of the world to have to pay - but it's annoying after paying all year long.

That's it - no long-winded post tonight! Cya!

Steve's 'Feel Good' story of the day

Mon, 6 Mar 2006 11:55:38 -0600

Video thanks to Google - story of an Autistic boy and his Basketball team ;o)

driving

Sat, 4 Mar 2006 17:33:26 -0600

We went out to the mall to catch Doogal :o) Very cute - the boys loved it. Picked up a present for little Leah's birthday. Weee! I love shopping for little girls!

On our way to the mall we stopped at Dodge first to drive this:

They have a great deal on it, and we get an Affiliate's discount which makes it a little greater. We're going to look at finances, and see what we can do to make it affordable for us. I'm all MommyVaned out :o) I'm ready for a new thing. Have to say the folks at Great Road Dodge, here in Maynard are great! I was there for service about a week ago and spent some time in the showroom waiting - and oohing and ahhing over the Durango there. Gabbed with Frank for awhile about total non-car stuff. Then asked about the deal :o) he never once pressured me for anything - but did send a nice Thanks note after. So I brought Steve and boys in today to have a looksee and a drive. It's bigger - more truck-like - so I needed to make sure I could handle it. We brought it over to the daycare center and I backed into one of their tiny spaces. I did just as well as I do with the van (which doesn't necessarily say much LOL). So we all love it (the boys are enamored with the DVD system) and Ryan walked over to get back in when we left. He was sad we didn't take it with us. But we have other things to iron out. Must say that never once was I pressured to make a decision then and there. He gave me the numbers and then said 'no - these are for you to take home!'. Much better than when we bought the van.

The bonus would be that the towing capacity of the Durango (with Hemi! we'd be a Hemi family! LOL) - is more than ample to tow the trailer should we choose to do so. It's a bonus at any rate. We'll see where we end up with this...

** edit to add**

The color we're looking at is Inferno Red - I believe the picture above is Flame Red - while still red, it's a nicer one:

And besides being nice all around and no pressure, I have to say that Frank gets points for talking directly to me as well. Occassionally, we run into salesfolks who feel that even though I'm the one answering all the questions, Steve should be the primary decision maker because he's the man. Frank recognised right away that it would be my vehicle, and other than a quick check to see if Steve wanted to be included, proceeded to break down the financials for me directly. And the kids were completely welcomed into the showroom. This is also not always the case, but it's kinda hard to shop for a family vehicle, without the family ;o) And the Service department was great when I went there too. I didn't go there for anything major - but they treated me the right way. And that counts for quite a bit.

OK I think that's it on the car-front until we actually make a decision. Either way, we can't do it until the end of the month, when the bonus checks come :o) So if we decide it's a go, I'll make a call and see if they can hold it for me with a deposit... we shall see how this goes!

...on working...

Fri, 3 Mar 2006 10:59:01 -0600

It's something that comes up from time to time. The discussion varies depending on the opinions held by the other participants in the conversation. There are those that have the opinion that Mom should be at home no matter what. There are those that feel whatever works for the family is what's best for the family. There are those that don't understand how a Mom can be content to stay at home. And it depends on the strength of those opinions. I am a Mom. And I work. I happen to love my job. Not too long ago I didn't love my job so much - and I was miserable, but I couldn't imagine staying home full time either.

After Ry was born, I changed my schedule to work PartTime- home two days a week with my boys. I broke a lot of stuff that winter ;o) Staying home is HARD and I will never EVER say that Stay at Home Mom's have it easy. Nope - you won't hear that from me. Going to work when you love what you do? That's not easy when you have to drop off your kids with someone else to take care of - but it's getting less heart breaking. Seeing how much fun they both have in their respective schools - Kyle in Kindergarten and Ry in Daycare/Preschool... that makes it easier. There is the occassional day where there is a sad drop off. And it's usually Steve that gets the brunt of that since he does the daycare dropoff with Ry. Kyle gets the bus now - and is usually bounding up the steps to go no matter how sad his morning may have been.

So I thought I'd write a post about working. And living. And family. And trying to find a workable balance. With both of us in not just jobs, but careers - it takes some creativity and often a lot of takeout to make the family unit work. I love to cook, hate to clean, and I'm not thrilled with grocery shopping. So I struggle through the shopping on the weekends. Manage to get laundry in during my work-at-home day, and hire someone to do a full cleaning every other week. I cook during the week on occassion... and try to cook or go out for nice meals on the weekends. And there's usually a real nice, home-cooked breakfast at least once a weekend. Because I can.

Cell phones are required by both Steve and I. If we get stuck at the office, or in traffic, we need to be able to reach the other to say 'i'm stuck - you're on for pickup'. And text messaging is my new found friend. While I wasn't a fan when this rage hit the market, it came in handy this week. I had an end of day meeting that was scheduled to end at 4:30. Given I'd want to stay for a bit to chat, if I left at 5pm that left me plenty of time. But at 4:45 they were still presenting! Ack! So I texted Steve to find out his status. He's stuck on the phone is the reply. It'll be tight. Can you get one? I send back? Sure! Cool. Problem solved. All without making a peep, or leaving the room. And done while Steve was on a ConCall. Technology is a great thing.

A lot of the kid responsibilities seem to naturally fall on me. My position is more flexible than Steve's. I can work from home and be fully functional. In fact, lately, I'm MORE functional at home. It's easier for me to stay home when the kids are sick. And easier for me to leave in the middle of the day if I need to pick someone up early for whatever reason. Most of the Dr appointments are handled by me for the same reasons. Steve ends up picking up a lot at home. He handles the kitchen cleaning and dishes. Does the nightly toypickup. Handles most, if not all, of the outdoor tending. Feeds the dogs and cats. So he certainly carries his share of responsibility. Would I just LOVE it if he cooked me dinner one night (and not pb&j or mac n cheese...) absolutely! But this would be out of character for him - though a pleasant surprise for sure! Maybe he'll see this and make it happen ;o) and maybe not. But it's not mandatory, and not what I was writing about anyway.

So.. what I usually end up saying to people - those who understand what I mean, and those who don't... I am a better Mom because I work. The time that I do have with my boys is more valuable because it's limited. Does that make me any better or worse of a mother than my friends that stay home? I don't think it does. It works for me, therefore it's what's best for this family. Am I missing out? Maybe. But I still manage to volunteer for Kyle's school - one day a week for two hours. When I stay home, I drive the kids crazy and they drive me crazy. I do not take them out to do fun or educational things - or at least rarely. I become a hermit. When I work I try harder to be a better Mom. And I get what I need from working. I need the interaction, and the brain challenges that working - really working - gives me. And I feel better about spending money - because I make a sizable contribution to the household income.

But this is what works for me. I have many friends that stay home full time - and that is what works for them. There is no big Cookie Cutter in the sky making 'Mom' cookies :O)

I will still come across people who just don't get it. Those that think I am crazy for working. Those that think the only right choice for anyone is to be at home with the kids. And those folks, I do not aim to correct. They have their opinions and they are entitled to them. But it's not what works for me.

traveling man

Tue, 28 Feb 2006 18:55:54 -0600

...And woman and boys... Our passports came today. Just 4 weeks and 2 days after sending them off. Yay! Now we can board for our cruise in April. Where are we going? I have no idea - somewhere in the Caribbean LOL. Deanna booked them for their 10th anniversary - I just tagged onto hers ;) I think we're hitting Nassau in the Bahamas, maybe St Martin? and Kay - Cocokay? or maybe that's Disney's kay... something like that. It's with Royal Carribean on Navigator of the Seas. Funny, it's the same cruise that the consultants from Pampered Chef earned if they earned Level 3 this year. So I'm sure to see at least one or two that I recognise.

RyGuy Weighs In

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 12:05:27 -0600

Ry had his 4 year checkup today. Dr T is VERY entertained by him. She was laughing the entire visit. Says he's very cute and extremely entertaining. I tend to agree :o) She's pleased with where he's at. His height/weight is 50% - nice and average of him don't you think? (Kyle is 90% for height and 75% for weight - 10 % of kids his age are taller than him...). According to Babycenter's height predictory, Ry will be 5'9" - not shabby. It's not Steve's 6', but it's considerably taller than my 5'3.5" ;o) - Kyle comes out a little better at 5'11" - so he might hit the 6' mark. I guess we have to wait and see.

Ry also got his MMR shot today - he was EXTREMELY upset by it, which is unlike him. And then he didn't want to do any of the vision test - so that will happen next year instead. She wasn't concerned about his speech. Yay. Maybe I've done some good with him, or maybe it's just not as bad as I think it is. Either way, she didn't hear anything to be concerned about and suggested I give it another year - when he's closer to starting school.

The exibitionist that he is, decided to 'take it out' to play - he accepted my 'Ry you're not in private' with good graces and didn't do so again - what are you gonna do when you're sitting there in your undies right? He *is* a guy after all ;o) And then when she checked to make sure both testicles were there - she counted them for him. And he declared - 'only ONE Dinky!' - we laughed. Yes Ry - that's how many you're supposed to have.

One more cute Ry story... So Friday the kids at school sang to him with their 'create a cookie' snack that I sent in. Then we sang over cake at home. Then Uncle Paul and family called to sing 'Happy Birthday'. And then Grandpa Hap and Grammy Carol called to sing too. His response to this last rendition was an annoyed "It's the *same*" ;o) Only my Ry... LOL

...and pictures...

Sat, 25 Feb 2006 19:21:48 -0600

of course I took a ton...

Aftermath...

Sat, 25 Feb 2006 18:42:09 -0600

We survived another party... Animal Adventures was wonderful as usual. The guests were great and my cake came out CUTE! The pinata held up so well that *I* had to take 4 or 5 good whacks at it to break it open :o) Go Mommy! Pictures forthcoming. Right now it's me and a glass of wine..... ahhhhh.

Oh and Kyle did WONDERFUL considering the hard time he had last night with Ryan getting presents and not him ;o)

Happy Birthday Ryan!!!

Fri, 24 Feb 2006 10:50:16 -0600

Ryan is 4 Today!

Busy, Busy, Poppy

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 20:37:56 -0600

My Dad has been a scanning maniac - he sent pictures I haven't seen before.

Hey look - my dad was cute! (considering he's my Dad and all...):

His Mom (my Nanny-Smith) and his Dad (sadly, my would be Poppop-Smith died when my Dad was still fairly young - I never met him)

My Smith-side grandparents before they were married:

My sister, Christine and I:

And a picture from what is obviously Christine's birthday :o) - with my Dad, and Nanny-Smith and little ole me:

And my Nanny and Poppop with Christine and I
(Christine had Leukemia - the veryshort hair would be from the chemo)

Dad said he also found a picture of my Uncle that looks like Kyle. I'm hoping to get ahold of this one too - since Kyle looks so much like Steve, it would be cute to have a pic from my side like that :o)

More memories...

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 19:10:43 -0600

My Dad sent these pics :o)
Wow. I really miss them.

My Grandparents... "Nanny" and "Poppop"

Funny enough - in the full pic I have, I recognise some of the ornaments on that tree - they are in a box in my attic :o) Next year they will get a special place on the tree.. I had no idea they were from that far back.

4 Generations.... Granny, Nanny, My Mom and my sister, Christine

My Poppop with his bestest dog, Lil:

And both of them with my sister:

Service, flats, old memories

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 10:15:13 -0600

So I went out to start my car this morning and saw my tire was finally flat. Guess today's the day! Starts a complicated morning... Steve finds our rechargable air do-dad and is has enough charge to put enough air for me to get into town on it. (yeah, we could put the spare on, but that's more effort and it's COLD out there). I call Dodge and ask if they can fix it for me - sure come on it. Oh it has fix a flat in it... "oh, god" was the response :o) If you want to be your tire repair-person's friend - DON'T use fix a flat! :o) It's gunky and sticks to the inside of the tire AND it's flamable. So if they were plugging the tire and there was fixaflat in it and they happened to hit the rim and cause a spark - boom! bad things happen.

At any rate, I asked if they could work in an oil change too - I'm so over due... and he did! Then I walked next door to Kyle's school where I met Steve who was dropping off Kyle. And missed his lunch. Kyle made it just in time for the BOWLING field trip (and yes, he appears fine today! thank goodness). He's excited about bowling this morning. Then some Armory thing in the afternoon. I told you it was a week of field trips ;o) So Steve and I drop off Ry, then he drops me off, picks up Kyle's lunch to drop off at the school. I'm working, working, and ring, ring. Hey it's Dodge - it's only 9:30 (I dropped off at 8am) and my car is ready! Really? Even the oil change? Even the oil change. Wow! And when I asked if they could come get me - they did! OK, I'll use them again for sure.

The guy that picked me up was an older, grandfatherly gentlemen. With the smile of a man with no teeth. You know what I mean - the way their lips fold back because there's nothing to hold them up? This is the smile of my Grandfather - Poppop. So I'm overwhelmed in the car with a big sense of lonliness. I really miss my Poppop. Of course yesterday, I was fielding Kyle's 30,000 questions - one of which was 'where do Mommies come from?' and I explained that Mommies have their own Mommies - like Nanna is my Mommy. But where did Nanna come from? From here Mommy - my Nanny. *You* have a Nanny? But I haven't met her. No, her lifetime ended a long time ago - before you were born. But she would have been very proud of you. He gets really sad at this. REALLY sad. Because she's gone and he never met her. We got over it - and I explained that there are many, many people that he hadn't met because his lifetime didn't happen when theirs did. This seemed to help. But I'm not sure. In the meantime, I am now charged with finding pictures of my grandparents. So I'm off to send email to my Dad - I'm sure he can find one for me :o)

Sickie Kyle update

Wed, 22 Feb 2006 14:16:37 -0600

He's still asleep - this is a 2+ hour nap. Something Kyle does not do most of the time - nap. Much less for over 2 hours. He's cooking... last check he was at 101.2. Right now I'm letting the fever just do it's job. If he's miserable when he gets up, or complains of a headache again I'll give him something. Otherwise, it's low enough to just keep an eye on it. He'll be home with me again tomorrow - tomorrow being Thursday, my regular Work at Home day :o) - so it's no impact to me. Unless he's feeling A-OK and bouncing off the walls! Which is what usually happens on day 2. But with a fever this late in the day, I can't send him in. Technically, he needs to be fever-free for 24 hours to go back in.

He had a GREAT day at 'camp' yesterday by the way. So he got a sticker for his efforts :) He's definitely bringing home a significantly larger number of good reports than not-so-good ones. Right now he's looking forward to Friday. He bought a big transformer - Galvatron - for Ry's birthday and got to pick up Megatron for himself - but he can't have it until Friday. So he's counting down the days :o) And of course Nanna and Poppy are coming on Friday! Last count we were up to 8 kids for Ry's party on Saturday :o) A good showing. Probably 12 adults or so. A reasonable 'party in the house in the winter' kind of kids party :o). While waiting for stuff to happen on my 'puter I threw cookies in the oven, and managed to get Ry's cake (or at least the prmary piece of) baked. Cookies (snakes, stars and some small flower type things) are in the freezer. Cake will follow suit, to be taken out Friday night to thaw for decorating Saturday morning. And now you know my secret :o)

Oooooooh - this makes more sense...

Wed, 22 Feb 2006 06:47:59 -0600

So Kyle's behavior Monday afternoon may have had a trigger... When we got up yesterday he complained of a headache. Being the good Mom I am ;o) I gave him motrin and off to 'camp' he went. When I was on my way to pick him up I got a call - he's got a headache and is very warm. When I got him home I checked his temp - 101.0... OK things make more sense now. More Motrin, then he slept for about 2 hours, then got up to play for an hour and then back to bed. He got up at 3am with the fever back - I managed to find tylenol in my sleepiness. He'll be home today. I'm hoping it doesn't hang around long - he's going to be upset about missing all the field trips during camp week :o(

We haven't had a fever here in quiet a while. At least he'll be over it before Ry's party. Hopefully, Ry won't pick it up!

The Sssnake Pinata

Tue, 21 Feb 2006 20:23:27 -0600

Rough day in the Frisch household...

Tue, 21 Feb 2006 09:09:24 -0600

In the grand scheme of things, if this is the worst we have to deal with - we're coasting! But on the smaller scale of daily FamilyFrisch life... yesterday afternoon was hard!

Usually, Kyle and Ryan get along fairly well - at least since Ryan turned 3 anyway. Once he was able to fight back and actually voice his feelings they became more like playmates. So yesterday we went back to Target to pick up another set of bins for the living room - we're now resigned to the fact that the living room will always have lots of toys in it - but it doesn't mean they have to be scattered all over the room! The bins were on clearance and when we saw how nicely they worked, we wanted a second set. So I picked up some other stuff while we were there - of course.. and we got home around 3pm I think - though maybe a little earlier. At this point it seemed that the kids developed some serious over-tiredness combined with cabin fever - at only 18 degrees they haven't been outside for much this weekend. They were downright unruly. They both got sent to separate rooms, then I had to pull them back because they were screaming from room to room. I finally got them to behave like human children instead of banshees and I set to work on dinner. I was putting together on of our new PC recipes for home made gnocchi (very yummy by the way!). And I can see the kids from the kitchen, though I wasn't focused on them.

Oh wait - backstep a little while... about an hour earlier, they had been playing in the box from the bins. Ryan was in the box apparently, and Kyle lifted it up. Ryan was upset (probably about being upside down - ya think?) and Kyle brought him back down, but dropped the box - No, I was not in the room... we wouldn't have actually let that happen.. At least I would have been hands on if I was there so that the box didn't end up with Ry upside down, AND it wouldn't have fallen on the return to horizontal... Needless to say, Ry was upset and Kyle got to spend more time in his room...

OK back to dinner prep time. So I hear a Thwack! OW!!! *crying* and Kyle "imsorryimsorryimsorryRYAN" and I could see his hand with something in it up at Ry's face.... *sigh* Kyle got screamed at, and sent to his room - again. Ryan got lots of hugs and ice. Kyle had been playing with a rescue hero - it's a firefighter and has a water 'bullet' which spring loads into the water 'gun'. It is not a weapon, therefore he's allowed to have it... here is our gray area by the way. We are not anti-gun or anti-weapon people. But we've had to learn to limit Kyle's access to anything that might promote aggression... guns mean you'll shoot people (things, animals, enemies, whatever), so we'd rather not set him up to look for a target :o) - he's got lots of guns anyway, but they usually aren't our first choice. Where was I ? Oh - so the water thing. Rescue Heroes are really cool - they are all good :o) no bad guys, so not fighting. They fight the elements... natural disasters like fire, volcanoes, huricanes... floods, those kinds of things. A note here about how tired he was - I heard him cry in his room for just a few minutes... then nothing. He was sound asleep and slept for an hour. I let him sleep through dinner and got him a plate when he got up - completely refreshed.. a totally new child. The Banshee was gone for the night. Ahhhhhhhh, peace.

Needless to say Kyle did not get a sticker on his calendar for yesterday - though the other two days this weekend were sticker days! I'm hoping he's gotten it all out of his system now so that he has a good week at 'camp'. Today they are going to a Castle-themed play of somesort :o) It's a week of field trips and he's very excited.

Ryan's excited about his birthday. Nanna and Poppy are coming up Friday. He's bringing cookes and frosting and decorations for the kids at school to celebrate his birthday and we'll have cake friday night. Then Saturday is the party! I finished the pinata over the weekend. I took pics, but don't have them here - I'll post them later. And I got most of the goody bags ready :) Oriental Trading was a big hit... I've got a nice sized, plush, snake (about 24" long and 3" diameter?), two plastic 'wiggle snakes', two animal stampers, and 3 dinosaur eggs :) Plus they'll get loot from the pinata. Nice nice. And I've mostly solidified my idea for his snake cake for Saturday too. Weeeee!

I also found out yesterday that size 8 shorts from Target fit nicely, and that means I'll probably be exchanging the 2 pairs of size 10's that are coming from Kohl's. They arrived last night apparently (they were on the porch this morning) so I'll try them on tonight and see. What fun!!!
- The Incredible Shrinking Me -

Productivity Day :o)

Sun, 19 Feb 2006 16:01:32 -0600

I survived a day of Mall Shopping!

And we were very successful. First we found out that lots of what Eddie Bauer carries looks AWFUL on me ;o) After trying on almost all of their current merchandise, I left with 2 tops. Yikes. We ventured into Victoria's Secret and I tried not to get carried away. Then on to Filene's... they had a much better dress selection today and at better prices (ok well HALF of them were better prices...). I picked up three new dresses, which should complete the dress shopping portion for our trip.

One was this one in Coral
(left is a better pic, right is the actual dress)
.

I picked up a lavender/purpleish floor-length for 50% off it's clearance price, and a brown Liz Claiborne mid-calf one too.

.

I found a pair o strappy sandals with a moderate heel in Payless of all places, and grabbed new sneaks since they are having buy one get one half off deal... And then the best part of the day was the skirt in the Limited - a size SIX!!!! For the record, I don't remember EVER wearing a size 6 in anything. Ahhhh that felt good.

If I feel like trying it all on again, maybe Steven will take some more pics... but I really do need a tan :) - in the meantime, the shapeless hanger pics will have to do.

And since I was in the mall I got new batteries in all my watches (after about 4 years of not wearing one) and new bands for two of them. Now I can tell time without using my phone :)

RyGuy = BigGuy

Fri, 17 Feb 2006 15:31:35 -0600

With everything going on with Kyle, Ryan has gotten the short end of the stick again... I forgot to mention....

Ryan - moved to the Pre-K room at the center. This is big news for him! His 'transition' was to start on Monday - usually they give the kids 2 weeks to adjust to the new room. They go to the new room for a little while, test the waters, get used to it kind of thing. Ryan? We've transitioned him before :o) when I dropped him off on Monday I asked - I know transitioning usually takes time... this is Ryan. We know he'll be fine the first 2 minutes he's there. So we dropped his stuff off in pre-k and I walked around the room with him and showed him his new cubby. All is well - he's having a BLAST! I just have to find out about ShowNTell - I know they have it, just don't know when. This is new for him :o) He'll be 'just like Kyle' !!!

Ry will be 4 next Friday! Wow. His party is that Saturday. Weee!

We have a busy weekend coming - we have a party to go to on Saturday that I have to run out in the morning to get a gift for... we have to get the gift that Kyle wants to give Ry for his birthday. Sunday I have shopping with Lynne! Yay! New clothes. I've never done a full wardrobe spree before. In fact - i've never shopped unless I had to before. This will be fun! I did order a few things from Kohl's the other day- couple of Tanks, two shirts for Steve, a pair of heely sandals for me, and a swim suit. It's so fun to try stuff on now that I'm actually happy with how I look! Monday we may stop by the Chrysler dealership - they're having some event type thing that they sent me an invite too... something about super duper tradeins and getting an 06 for about the same as i'm paying now, with little or no out of pocket. Ha. We'll see... in the meantime, looking at new cars is always fun. ;o)

Finally...

Fri, 17 Feb 2006 13:12:30 -0600

an appointment! I finally - after 2 weeks of calls, messages, some callbacks but not many, and ONE Live Person who answered her OWN phone (wow!) - remembered that the first In Network Dr I called had availability, but it was out a few weeks and I had wanted to try to get something closer in. So I called back and got Kyle 3 appointments 2 weeks apart beginning mid-March. Yay! Now I have some extra leg work to do - call the Ins. Co and get authorization, then call the first Dr I visited and arrange for her to talk to NewDr to relay her notes and impressions. But this is all do-able. A little more control is gained, and I feel a little better.

Maybe the appointment for myself isn't such a bad idea ...

Progess...

Thu, 16 Feb 2006 14:28:48 -0600

All progress is good. I just spoke to Kyle's teacher - who called because she forgot to tell me that the pre-meeting they had, turned into the full-fledged discussion to determine what course to take with Kyle. She apologized profusely for forgetting to call to let me know it had happened, but I think I can understand that. I have trouble remembering to call pretty much everyone :o) for anything! So I assured her that I am also human :o) - beyond that... they are going to proceed with in-school behavioral testing. They do NOT diagnose within the school - we'll still need to go outside for that - but at least we can build a behavioral support plan and get moving on things. Not to mention that we'll be able to provide all additional information to whatever Dr we end up going to with him.

Beyond that - Kyle has been doing MUCH better since our meeting at the school. The checklist combined with computer time if he has a good recess/lunchtime is doing wonders. He's only had 2 playground incidents since then. And she said that she's heard from three other teachers in the school how much he's improved. So progress is being made. We agree that we will still see days where they aren't as good (today is a really UP day she reports) but we're seeing decent progress and this is good.

Next week should be interesting - it's February vacation and he'll be in the 'after school program' - all day for 4 days. They're very good as far as an after school program - but they aren't his Teacher :O) she's the best! So we'll see how we do.

Happy Valentine's Day

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 13:28:43 -0600

Hope yours is sickly sweet - as they should be :o)

Kyle came down this morning and told me that I needed to come upstairs to open my Valentine. Oooooh.
"Kyle" I say "tonight we should make a card for Daddy".
Kyle: It's not a card *big grin*
Me: Oh? *raised eyebrow* - is it candy?
Kyle: *giggle*
Me: Could it be..... choooocolate?
Kyle: *bigger giggle*
Me: I'll have to go get it then
Kyle: It's too much I think
Me: Then I'll have to share it
Kyle: *face lights up*

:o) A nice way to start my morning. And yes, it was Ghirardelli squares and two cards from the boys that love me.

A Goal Acheived....

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 06:52:28 -0600

And it feels REALLY GOOD!

This morning I weighed in at 1/2 pound LOWER than my 'pre-Kyle' weight. Which is what I weighed prior to conceiving Kyle. At that time I had just lost 25 lbs (and I contribute part of our success at IVF to the weight loss too). Unfortunately, I really don't like the clothes I have remaining in this size. This weekend is Shop Til We Drop with Lynne! Yay! (look out checkbook!!!)

So a major goal accomplished here. I have a bit to go to acheive my ultimate goal. But I'm confident! I'm sure the weight was contributing to the pluthera of other problems I was experiencing not so long ago. Maybe not the main cause, but certainly not helping. By losing the weight AND treating the problems, we saw great results. ***feminine information alert*** this last cycle was only 31 days! Yup - that's pretty darn normal for someone who wasn't even completing a cycle! The Metformin can be rough some days, but now that I am on the ER it's significantly better. My wrists are doing great too - I haven't even slept with my braces the last few nights. So I should be able to cut back to just a few nights a week with the right hand - and I may not even need one for the left anymore... we'll see. And my feet? They haven't peeped in ages. Happy to be Healthy! It's wonderful!!!

Yeah - I'm a little high on this goal-acheived business LOL.

Mental Health Profession

Mon, 13 Feb 2006 14:42:48 -0600

Talk about frustration. I am STILL trying to find a Psychologist with a Child/Latency specialization that can see Kyle. I called the first three that our Pedi had given us. One of those was able to squeeze us in, but she's not in our plan. I called two more who ARE in our plan, but they aren't available any time soon. I have two more calls out - one on Thursday and one on Friday to which I haven't received a response yet. It's 2:36 on Monday afternoon. In fact, the last message even indicated that I was sorry if I left out detail or included too much as I had left the same message repeatedly over the last few weeks while trying to find someone for my son to see. But no call back.

And these are Mental Health Professionals - I'm sure they can hear the stress factor in my voice while I'm leaving the 75th message on the topic this week... and if not, surely, they've dealt with parents going through this unknown portion - where we know something's going on with Kyle, but he's not quite in the right place for a diagnosis yet - surely they know this is stressful on the parents?

On the other hand, the Dr I went to see over a week ago now, has called back to check in twice. The first time, sure I owed her money, so it wasn't surprising I'd be on her follow up list ;o) - but the 2nd time, she was just being a good Dr. So frustrating that she's not in plan - she's everything I want for Kyle. Unfortunately, the financial difference between In and Out of Plan is astronomical. In Plan we're completely covered. Out of plan they only cover 50% of their 'fair and usual charges' which really works out to about 30% of what the Dr charges. And they only cover 40 visits Out of Network.

So I trudge through my list... leave messages, wait for calls. Leave more messages. Hope that he does OK in school today. And just for the record he had a totally, terrific weekend with his brother (and Uncle Paul too!). He even accepted Ryan taking apart one of his Lego masterpieces with a shrug and an 'it's OK Ryan, we can make a new one together and it will be even better!' - Now THAT's my boy!

hmmmm - hey, look, a shiney thing!

Mon, 13 Feb 2006 13:37:26 -0600

From our Mental Health Plan's website, center for ADHD:
Many adults do not realize that they have ADHD until their children are diagnosed and they begin to recognize their own symptoms. Adults with ADHD may find it hard to focus, organize, and finish tasks. They are often forgetful and absent-minded. Some adults with ADHD learn to manage their lives and find careers in which they can use their strengths�intellectual curiosity and creativity�to their advantage.

Why am I reading up on ADHD? Because it was mentioned in the same sentence with Kyle's name from the Psychologist that I met with. Information is power, right? So I found this piece interesting. Recently, my Dad's VA Doctor decided my father probably has ADD. (Difference... ADD - attention deficit disorder... ADHD - attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder - or something like that). After their conversation, my Dad then decided that most likely HIS father (my Grandpa whom I never had the opportunity to meet) also had ADD.

So - given that I (along with other non-medical people that I have discussed this with in the past) believe that practically all technical people have some form of ADD - what we call Shiney Thing Syndrome. If you've known me for any length of time, you know what I'm talking about. My ability to be completely thrown off of whatever I was doing by something else that catches my attention - the 'shiney thing'. And let's face it - I see it in my daily life. I start cleaning the kitchen - come across a bottle of shampoo that hasn't been put away from grocery shopping and bring it into the bathroom, where I see that I really need to clean the sink, so I put away all of the stuff off the cabinet, then pick up the clothes that are still on the floor and bring them to the hamper in the boys room, where I notice the closet is still open so I hang up some of the clothes that have fallen off the hangars and remember that I haven't fed the crabbies yet, so I go back to the kitchen to get the food for the crabbies and see that not only have I gotten distracted from cleaning the kitchen, but I forgot that I had just poured myself a cup of coffee before the cleaning bug bit me, but it's cold now, and I hate cold coffee, so I clean the mug and refill it... and so goes my life :o)

ADD? ADHD? perhaps - but it doesn't really interfere with my life, or if it does, I've adjusted fairly well I think. But... now that we are establishing a hereditary pattern, it causes me to pause a little more in thinking this through. Three weeks ago when asked if I thought Kyle had ADHD I said No. It was quick and decisive. Then I added, at least not full-fledged, possibly borderline. Now? Ask me again - the answer may be different...

Nor 'Easter Cookies

Sun, 12 Feb 2006 11:21:40 -0600

Pillsbury now sells sheets of sugar cookie dough. So if you're really lazy, you don't even need to roll it out! Today seemed like a good day for cookie "making". Here I should note that I do love to trully bake cookies - from scratch. They are the best, and nothing can beat them. But there is a major convenience factor in pre-rolled cookie sheets... so sometimes I go that route :o)

Today we have Hearts and Snakes:

Yes, in this house they really to go together :o)

And the boys loved them:

The sad remains of a Snakey prior to Ryan finishing him off:

...

Uncle Paul came up Friday for a visit. The boys ran him ragged :o) then the adults stayed up to watch Shawn of the Dead. I have vague memories - drank too much. Silly lightweight me :o) But fun was had! The Big Boys stayed up much later than me, enjoying the time that they don't often get to just hangout. Yesterday, the Big Boys went Malling ;o) then we ordered pizza. Uncle Paul left after dinner to avoid the Nor'Easter we are being pummelled with today. You'd think this was New England or something!

So thanks for the visit Uncle Paul! It was nice having you - hope we can do it again soon!

Speaking of... we don't have any pics of Uncle Paul. Well... as he said - nothing from this decade :) So I worked hard and came up with this one:

Misc Misc Misc - my favorite thing lately

Tue, 7 Feb 2006 15:47:54 -0600

I'm off shortly to pick up Ry for his weekly gymnastics class :o) Weee! I've been perusing all online dress catalogs with Deanna and I came across this one:

I just need to point out that this is from the Designer's PROM 2006 collection. That would be 17 and 18 year old girls. In fact, in our good old hometown of Warwick, NY they now have a Freshman Formal - those girls will look at Prom dresses for their gowns. Hey - how would you like your 14 year old daughter in that? Yikes. There's just so much wrong with this image.

In other areas - I stopped in JC Penny and picked up two dresses for myself for the cruise. I have a ton more shopping to do there! In the meantime, you can check me out ;o) now I need a tan:

Kyle's been doing well with the changes we made - checklist at school, talking about the day. All progress is good progress. I'm still playing tag with a new therapist - we'll get there.

That's it for now - I'm too tired. Oh - we watched Surface last night - the 'Final Episode' - apparently NBC will review it in May to see if they want to continue it. Bummer if they drop it. And awesome cliffhanger too.

psych 101

Thu, 2 Feb 2006 16:17:08 -0600

I met with what I hope will be Kyle's new Therapist today. Loved her! It was just her and me for this visit - I brought a copy of the evaluation from his previous testing (in January of '04) and I answered her questions. Bottom line - she sees some red flags, and some value to having him fully tested outside of the school system if possible. In the meantime, she's given me some suggestions to run by the school counselor - which may or may not be included in the testing he'll receive after the referrel from STAT. She asked if I had any feelings on what Kyle may be dealing with and I shared that after reading on the various and sundry disorders out there, Sensory Integration Disorder sounds like my Kyle. This is without a degree - so just take it as a Mom with some information :o) But she agreed that there was enough in what I was telling her to feel that it could be part of what's contributing here. The key is to find out what - then we can treat it - or work around it.

Now the bad news - she's 'out of network'. After making the phonecalls, we do have out of network coverage - but it's not nearly what we would get in network. I've never used the Mental Health benefit before, so we weren't aware of what we needed to do. And it was majorly confusing because apparently, no one ever goes to an out of network doctor... So I've left her a message with the 2 other names that our Ins Co gave me that are near enough to go to. And apparently, there are not a lot of pediatrac psychologists that participate in our plan ... *just got return call* - she feels it's worthwhile to try to get in to see either of the two that are In Network. So I left a message for #1.

So I'm frustrated that I'll have to meet another therapist, but feeling good that something is happening :o) In the meantime, Kyle has had more good moments than bad at school. I saw the Principal today in the hallway, and she commented on the improvement. I agreed. It's nice to see success - but it's also necessary to HAVE succes, so that you can then reinforce it.

**edited to add**
When I spoke to the Dr about calling the InNetwork Docs, she mentioned that they both have experience in ADD areas - so that's a bit of a clue eh? We may not be dealing with ADD (or ADHD) per se - but something related... we shall see....

2 Ways to make a difference...

Wed, 1 Feb 2006 18:11:54 -0600

Ethan has a hero. You could be a hero... for someone like Emily.

Register in the Bone Marrow Donor Registry. Emily's page has a list of upcoming drives. Registering doesn't mean you'll match someone - but what if you ARE a perfect match? It's folks like us - run of the mill, average folks - that make a difference to people like Emily and Ethan. And even if you are a match, you can back out later. Of course, we'd rather you didn't. But it is entirely voluntary. Visit Ethan's site and Emily's page there. Learn about the process. Make an informed decision.

Want to do more? Our Uncle Paul is running a half-marathon with the Team in Training to raise funds and awareness for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Every penny helps - You can make a donation by visition Uncle Paul's Team in Training Page. It's funding like this that has allowed medicine to come as far as it has.

Yes, this is something that is important to me. I do not know Emily personally, and I may not ever meet her - but she deserves a chance at life. Don't you think?

chugga chugga choo choo

Wed, 1 Feb 2006 06:46:27 -0600

With Ryan, we live in the world of trains. And now it appears Mikey may be destined to join us ;) with a train named for him.

Sickie-braindead-me, appointments, various childhood lessons

Tue, 31 Jan 2006 15:32:16 -0600

I'm feeling a little better today - sorta. Sore throat is gone, and I slept well, so that's a huge improvement. But I'm all kinds of congested, and just wiped out. So I stayed home - sent out a note to the team that I'd be working at home ("still sick, but functional"- which got a laugh). Found that I really shouldn't touch our money when I'm feeling like this. Signed onto our account and said 'hey, I'll just pay the mortgate... oh crap - I pay the mortgage in the *middle* of the month!" so I had to make some phonecalls to the super nice Credit Union people who reversed the transaction for me. Phew! Would have had some other unhappy bill collectors!

Therapist #2 called back today and she setup an appointment to talk to me alone first on Thursday. Then we'll meet with me and Kyle (and Steve if he can make it), then we'll work on a plan from there. Maybe more work with us on ideas for improving behavior, maybe a recommendation for testing - will see how the two first appointments go.

I promised him that if he can bring home 3 days of 5 or more checkmarks, I'd take him snowboarding this weekend. I tried to make it easy to acheive, yet a real goal. I really want to take him! Ryan piped up with 'what about me?' so I told him we could try him out on a pair of skis if he'd like - he's THRILLED! I remember how much I loved ski classes - but I was a little older. I think I was 3rd grade when I started - putting my brother in 1st grade, only a year older than Kyle is now. Ry is young - but does well in a lesson type environment - like gymnastics. Kyle will have less maneuverability (ha - that's not a word is it?) on a snowboard, so hopefully the running around won't be an issue there. Wachusett has a 1/2 day lesson program that's 2.5 hours. That might work out well for them.

It's snowing now - has been for about an hour or so, though it started off with a snowy, wet, sleety, mix kind of thing. So we should have fun walking down our sidewalk ;o) I imagine it only served to increase the layer of ice that was out there this morning.

I'm off soon to pick up Ry for gymnastics. He had a blast last week and did better without Kyle there. As I've told other people, they really are two totally different children. But Ryan will do what Kyle does. Without Kyle as an instigator, he is better behaved. Not that Kyle is the worst child ever, but I think you get what I mean by now...

Kyle was supposed to start Spanish yesterday, but since he was home sick he missed his first day :-( I imagine he can catch up next week. He's excited and proudly showing off the Spanish words he already knows.

Mon, 30 Jan 2006 16:17:04 -0600

bleh. time for my winter cold. I only hope it doesn't hit me as hard as last year... I have a vague memory of being huddled down in the couch watching the superbowl and having trouble breathing because I was too congested. Right now it's just a nasty sore throat and nasal congestion along with the achiness 'don't touch me' feeling that I get when I'm sick. Kyle's been coughing pretty hard, so I kept him home with me. They may or may not have been wise - if he doesn't have what I have, he probably will soon.... argh.

Steve found this quote on his Google home page today:

A family is a unit composed not only of children but of men, women, an occasional animal, and the common cold.

Very fitting for us today.

therapy, cleaning, party stuff

Sun, 29 Jan 2006 20:52:07 -0600

Therapist #3 in the list of 3 that Kyle's doc had given me called a little while ago. Sadly, her calendar is booked solid too. BUT, Therapist #2 on the list who works out of the same office as #3 has decided that she'll find a way to work him in and will call me tomorrow. I'm not sure what this was prepping me for, but it certainly was an effort (though I didn't do much but make phone calls, it was frustrating nonetheless).

Kyle had a good school-day on Friday, earning 10 checks out of 12! Which was great! And then he started off well in the after school program, but then something happened and his world fell apart. I was called at 4:00 to come get him :o( He got his computer time, but no dessert - sound silly and backwards? He met his end of the deal - acheive 4 or 5 checkmarks in a day (I'm thinking we're going with 5 now - since he's bringing home so many, and we'll increase it periodically, ultimately it needs to be habit. So, if he's meeting his requirement, he should get what he was expecting ... BUT I won't let the behavior just go unchecked either. He wasn't allowed anything extra on Friday. And he really didn't like the no dessert thing :o)

We had a nice weekend - 40's both days. We built a snowman yesterday, which has listed and lost it's head today. Probably be reduced much further by tomorrow since it was raining when I came in from groceries.

I got bit by the Domestic Bug again - cleaned the downstairs bathroom, then went on a rampage. Sorted ALL of the boys' toys from the playroom and those out in the garage. Now they might be able to find things. I packed up all the stuff that is below their level and that's out in the garage. Maybe a garage sale in the spring is a good idea. We'll have to pull down the 2 trash bags and box of stuffies that are in the attic too... no spoiled children here ey? ;-)

Slowly getting things together for Ry's party - still have almost a month :o) so nice to have so much done already. And I'm in process of attempting to get him a Batman inflatable chair on Ebay - Kyle has a Spongebob chair that found it's way into our living room this weekend, which promptly triggered a fight for possession. After I took it away last night, they calmed down and today they were OK about it. Sheesh! So it'll make a nice gift for the RyGuy. Besides his transformers, Thomas Sneaks and Thomas Slippers :o) Mom and Dad got him Batman jersey sheets :) they'll coordinate with Ky's Spiderman flannel ones - or something.

Duane who?

Thu, 26 Jan 2006 16:26:21 -0600

Kyle had his eye exam today and he did awesome! I just loved the office folks too, including the Dr. They obviously work with kids quite a bit (thus the 'pediatric' specialization LOL). So we have a name for what Kyle's eye is doing - Duane's Retraction Syndrome. A 'miswiring' of the nerves that help to move his eye. Treatment? Nada. As long as it's not interefering with anything, they leave it be. Apparently, if it gets worse, or his auto-correction (he tilts his head to adjust for it) causes emotional distress, then there is corrective action we can take, but we didn't discuss it further since his is minor, and he adjusts automatically for it. It's congenital - so he was born with it. Apparently, this affects 0.1 percent of the population, and usually girls. Does this mean we join Uncle Paul's family for rare and unusual health things? Hmmmm. Methinks ours isn't as worrisome as Leah's was, so I won't make light of it too much ;o)

In other Kyle news - I spoke with his Pedi today and she referred us to a therapist so that we can work on that angle while waiting for the STAT and testing to begin at school. Otherwise, she feels it's the right direction to go in. Mostly, we all felt that it was a discussion we needed to have. I probably should have talked to her beyond the 'kyle has some behavior issues' that I've told her previously - much earlier. But I didn't feel like I had a good basis, and was always thinking that this thing that we're doing now will give us something to pursue.

That's it for now! Happy Thursday.

more Kyle...

Wed, 25 Jan 2006 06:57:01 -0600

*sigh*
Kyle had another incident at school yesterday. Rather then send him home, the kept him in the office, then sent him to the after school program where he punched another kid. Bad day for Ky.

I *adore* my children. Kyle is the sweetest little boy ever. But he gets in this state... now all children learn and grow and test limits. But when Kyle gets angry, it's like his angry button gets stuck. I can help him calm down and have even received compliments on it in a store once! LOL that was cute and not a story for now I guess.

At any rate, Steve and I are meeting with the Principal and Ky's teacher this morning. We need to figure this out and help him get past this. He's going to create a reputation for himself, and the other kids will avoid him, which starts a spiral. He's not a bully, but I can totally see how the kids could see him that way right now.

In searching on aggression in children I come up with an array of disorders out there. The one that really strikes a cord right now is Sensory Integration Disorder. The description of kids that are Under Sensitive to touch really sounds like a lot of what Kyle does. He also has his eye exam tomorrow, so that may give us answers, or more questions. I need to follow up with his Pediatrician and get her input, but I think we may want to see what the eye exam reveals, if anything. If he's having trouble seeing, in addition to knowing he's behind in class, trying to learn to read, trying to make new friends and learn new rules and deal with a handful of little transitions a day... well yeah - that would stress a 5 year old out.

If there happens to be anyone out there with a child like Kyle - or has some expertise in the area - I'd love all the input I can get. Someone told me yesterday that they've been worried about him for awhile, and it sounded like he wasn't sure how I'd take it :o) - I'm OK with people voicing concerns. I might get defensive, but that's because he's my Kyboy! Even if I get defensive, I keep an open mind - honest! And I listen and take it out to examine and then search and read to see what else I can find. Information/observations are always welcome!

more pictures of RyGuy...

Sun, 22 Jan 2006 15:22:04 -0600

Rather than drop $100 or so in pictures like we normally do, and since I was so happy with our family picture from Christmas, I decided to see what I could come up with for pictures of Ry on my own... being that his birthday is next month and all..

Have a look

bubbles and eggs... what?

Fri, 20 Jan 2006 09:14:45 -0600

On Monday I was home with Kyle. I was working, but Kyle had no school for Martin Luther King Day. Early in the day Kyle asked "Mommy, how do babies get out of their Mommy's belly?" and I didn't know how to respond. He repeated the question. Never one to discourage Kyle in his never-ending quest for information, I consulted the internet ;o) - sadly my searches on 'how babies are born' did not result in any cutsy pictures of a woman's anatomy - which was what I was hoping for. I tried the "well, with Ryan I went to the hospital and the Doctor helped me get him out" - Kyle responded "yes, Mommy, but *HOW* did he come out?". So I looked him in the eye and said "you really want to know?" and he said Yes. So I tried searching some more (yes, I'm a chicken - but he's only 5! how much info do you arm a 5 year old with...).

So, in the process of hunting down information, we come across a book on Amazon that happens to have the cool 'preview' feature where you can view several of the pages. Bummer - no birth pictures or diagrams... in fact it seems like there's all kinds of detail out there regarding how babies are *made* but not how they are actually born. At any rate this book had pictures of sperm and egg seperately, then another pic of the sperm surrounding the egg, then one of the little embryo, then a more recognizable fetus in the womb. Kyle wanted to know what the big ball was :O) - of course he did!

"That's an egg. These little tadpoley looking things are sperm. The egg is from the Mommy and the sperm is from the daddy and when one of the Daddy's sperm makes it's way into the egg, they make a baby - see? (show him pictures of embryo and fetus)" Kyle is fascinated. Absorbs the whole thing. Seems to drop it (ha! I should know better). He turns on the tv which was on TLC... and it's "A Baby Story" !!! A baby had just been born - I suggested he watch the next episode, that it might answer his questions (he LOVES watching this show... it's hysterical how much- but when it's on, I keep an eye on it and distract him if needed....). But, alas, no easy way out for me, he doesn't want to watch it. And repeats "but HOW do they come out, Mommy?". So I ventured into other areas "you know, Kyle, sometimes, a baby can't get out of Mommy's belly the usual way and the Doctor has to cut her belly open - that's called a c-section" - his eyes get big - "really? does it hurt". So I tell him, "not really, remember when you had stitches and the Doctor put some stuff on you so you didn't feel the stitches? (he nods head) It's like that" - "ooooh " - he's now completely enlightened and thus armed is happy to face the world again. I did finally settle on "all mommies have a special place where the baby comes out" and he was happy with this - for now....

~fast forward from Monday to yesterday~

We're pulling in the driveway last night after retrieving the boys from their respective schools (so it's me and the boys in the van) and Kyle announces "when the bubbles from the dad and the egg from the mom get together they make a baby!" - So, OK, the little spermies did kind of look like bubbles with tails. But wow - he really did absorb that. I hope his teacher remembers to pass on any interesting conversations she has with him because of this!!! LOL

Support Uncle Paul!

Thu, 19 Jan 2006 15:25:25 -0600

Kyle's GodFather - Uncle Paul - will be running a 1/2 marathon in April with the Team in Training, raising money to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. Those close to us know that I lost my sister to Leukemia in the 70's. Research has come so far now that children like Ethan have a fighting chance against these diseases! Please consider supporting our Uncle Paul in this endurance event. With your help, a cure CAN be found.

Uncle Paul's Team In Training Web Site

coming soon to a mailbox near you

Wed, 18 Jan 2006 19:00:57 -0600

Ry's invites...
I tried to stay simple :o)

And the pinata-in-progress...

Have to use your imagination on this one... the little unfinished thing will be the head, but first I have to fill the pinata with all the good stuff that goes in a pinata :o) Right now it's just balanced up there for the picture. To help with the imagination-vision type stuff - the snake is green with red/black stripes :o) I figure if nothing else, it's a pretty ball - it's going to be whacked with a stick and broken to smithereens anyway - so I'm not too concerned LOL

aggression, aches, gymnastics, birthday prep :-)

Wed, 18 Jan 2006 09:57:12 -0600

This morning I had to drive Kyle to school to meet with the Vice Principal - Steve met us there after dropping off Ry. This is because of an incident on Friday which escalated and he was 'suspended for the remainder of the afternoon' because he was showing agression, acting disrespectful and threatened an adult in authority. Basically, he hit another child while in line, then spit at the V. Principal when she spoke to him. After being taken to the office and spoken to, he threatened her. It was the threatening part that caused him to be sent home. The idea here is to address it in this nice, simple manner now - if he continues this behavior in Middle School, it receives a mandatory 10 day psych evaluation. So I picked him up Friday and finished my day from home. We've restricted TV and movies to 'nice' ones - aka not Power Rangers, or Dragons, or anything that has any kind of fighting or antagonizm in it. We talked about threatening and why you can't do it. Reversing the situation so that he would think about how he would feel if someone threatened him. And we talked about being safe. We hit on it pretty much every day over the weekend and Monday and Tuesday (school closed both days... Martin Luther King, and a professional day). He's been sad 'about Neal' again - the little boy that lived next door to us before we moved here. I made sure to mention it to the VP - and she's made a suggestion that he see their 'adjustment counselor' - and I'm all for it. All the help we can get right? Kyle really is an incredibly sweet little boy - who has these moments where he acts without thought. He feels guilty and sad about it after he calms down, but the calming down is sometimes hard too.

Today my right arm aches almost all the way to my elbow. I've got my regular brace on because of it. Thinking it might be the weather - it's a little warmer, and rainy and muggy out. That might be the culprit. Or maybe I just slept on it :o)

Kyle attended his last gymnastics class for a while - he'll start Spanish "play and learn' clases after school on the 30th - almost an hour once a week. I wasn't going to pay for both. Ry will stay in gymnastics. He has better focus and the potential to do well as long as he continues to enjoy it. Ryan got to do some cute bar excercises yesterday - they had a bar level to an inclined mat. They held the bar and put their feet on it at the top of the mat in a straddle, then fell backwards while holding the bar so that they were sitting in a straddle with their feet still on the bar - prep for later bar work :o) Ry is super cute when he's concentrating on these things.

I've gotten quite a bit of Ry's pinata done - I have a round ball-ish shape with a green snakish thing with red and black stripes wrapped around it - without a head. I have to leave it open until I fill it, so the head will be done sometime in February - I have a small piece I'm slowly building to make into the head - but again, I don't want to fill it just yet. So it will have to wait. I have 23 invitations made now too - and I think I only need 19 so this is good. Maybe I'll put up pics of both some time soon.

...wow...

Sun, 15 Jan 2006 11:27:04 -0600

So while cleaning the office, I happened across our attempt at a professional family picture from last year (2004 - Christmas). It was one of the last times we attempted to use The Picture People for photos. (Last one was Ryan 3rd birthday - with better results).

Here it is - why didn't anyone tell me how round I was looking???

Not only was I much heavier - but they put me in the most awful pose, making the most of my roundness!!! Ugh. Note Ry's extremely happy expression (ok not so much) - this was the only picture from that session they even showed us - out of 4 or 5 I think. The session was just awful, awful, awful. We find they are just too busy anymore to allow for the boys to get a decent job. Even with an appointment, we end up waiting so long that the boys can't sit still and are rowdy, and crabby. Not good for picture taking...

This year I did our own - in the set the timer-run to the group and smile method...

And overall - I'm much happier with this (and with the cost too! LOL)

Time to venture out into our snowy Sunday to get the groceries :o)

Volunteering and stuff

Fri, 13 Jan 2006 11:02:16 -0600

So I spent 2 hours with the kids in Kyle's class yesterday. A brief pause here to mention how much I LOVE the flexibility in my current position! I was able to schedule to work from home on Thursdays so that I can volunteer at Kyle's school for two hours each week. It's good for me AND good for the school too!

At any rate.. so first I sat with each of 8 or 9 kids individually, and helped them complete a few sheets in a packet they are creating to help with their Everyone is Different disscussion. So we wrote names, counted letters, colored hair and eyes and wrote the colors. Some of these kids are really ahead with reading too! One little girl just rode right over me and read the pages herself :O) Kyle had a harder time with the task than the others, but it was more related to working with Mom, than the activity. Once we were done with that, I assisted a small group with measuring and comparing weight and length. We compared little bears to big clips to see which were longer and how many of each to balance. Then I took 1/2 the class to the Nurse's office and helped her weigh and measure them. Then we swapped class halves. After retrieving the sheet of measurements, we returned and I assisted a few stragglers with getting winter clothes on for recess. A very full 2 hours!

While there, Kyle's teacher gave me the form I needed to complete to start the discussion on keeping him back. So he's on the list - but it doesn't mean he WILL be left back - just that at this point in time, he's on the list. As I said to Steve - better to have him on the list and work with him and get him extra help, than to just brush it aside and worry about it at the end of the year. Next step is a meeting with all concerned. We see where we go from there. Either way - I'm HUGELY impressed with how he's been doing. Extra help is a good thing though - we won't turn it down.

In crabbie news - we're down to 2 now. I had done some research, and we need to add salt to the water... they are 'brackish' but since Michelle hadn't told me I wasn't sure it was necessary (she has experience with them - I don't). But she forgot! What? She's human???? Sheesh! LOL So hopefully, I'll be able to pick some up on the way home tonight- I'm hoping that they have fish there too - I'd like to add 2 mollies to the tank. Apparently they can be acclimated to full marine salt levels - and we're just adding a tiny bit of salt, so they should be fine.

Happy Birthday Dad of LSD!

Tue, 10 Jan 2006 15:36:05 -0600

The Scientist who discovered LSD turned 100! Happy Birthday!

closer to 'normal'

Tue, 10 Jan 2006 13:20:44 -0600

PCOS related - my standard warning here: if female cyclical issues bother you - go here instead.

Yay for me! Something is happening. This is my 3rd cycle in a row that has not needed to be 'forced' with progesterone (provera). AND, even better, the cycles are getting shorter. I've gone from -not happening- to 74 days, to 54 days, to 41 days! 41 is a pretty good number - because, lets face it - we don't really LIKE to get it right? But it's one of those pre-reqs should we decide to try for baby #3...

I'm down to my pre-holiday weight now! Yay. And I'm back on track with eating and excercise this week - so I should see more progress there. I really hope to reach my goal before the cruise in April. Ideally, I'll be down at least 5 more before I go shopping with Lynne! I don't want to shrink out of all the stuff I buy! If I'm not where I want to be, then I'll have to remember to keep receipts and not take off tags until I actually wear the stuff :o) just in case. As it is, I have to box up a ton of stuff for Big Brothers Big Sisters - we get a card every few months that they are going to drive by and do pickups. We just have to have the stuff at the curb labeled for them by 7:30 that morning. So I have to get it boxed and ready :o) and OUT OUT OUT!!!

I think that's it for now. Happy Tuesday!

Ry is almost 4...

Mon, 9 Jan 2006 20:02:48 -0600

wow. Four years of RyGuy...

Misc Saturday Ramblings...

Sat, 7 Jan 2006 19:21:25 -0600

Part 2 of the Amazon order that resulted from Gift certificates from Ryan's GodFather arrived today. There's just a game still on it's way - Lucky Ducks:

It wasn't available the day I placed the rest of the order, but suddenly was available a few days later - go figure. So having the boys open the box today, was like making Christmas last a little longer :o)

Which was nice, since I took all the ornaments off the tree today. We're at 2 1/5 boxes of ornaments now - more or less. But we don't use them all. There were a whole bunch I was afraid to put up from when my Mom was in her own apartment - they're not replacable so I waited to see how the boys did with the tree this year. Next year, I'll probably put at least some of them on.

Let's see... I made another 10 of Ryan's birthday invitations... and I started work on his pinata. Just can't find a snake pinata anywhere... and it doesn't seem hard to make them. Blow up balloon... wrap strips of newspaper soaked in flour/water pastey mix and let dry. Pop and remove balloon... decorate and fill pinata with good stuff. Close it and hang it on something - voila! Right now, it's just a big ball of wet newspaper... I have to pick up some tissue paper to make the snake... it should be fun at least. I've decided to not have a meal for his party - just 'munchies, cake & ice cream too!' - so sayeth the invites :o) I can't believe my little guy is almost 4!

Oh yes - my delivery from Victoria's Secret came today :o) New undies are always fun too! LOL

For the coffee-addicts

Wed, 4 Jan 2006 15:52:35 -0600

Apparently, the best beans are found where?

Ryan's Birthday Wishlist

Mon, 2 Jan 2006 08:43:08 -0600

I'm building an Amazon Wishlist for Ry's birthday... those that have used them for the boys before know that we don't expect you to run out an buy a gift for Ry, but that most folks like having an idea of what he'd like to get. If you do happen to buy something from the list and not from Amazon, could you let me know so I can take it off? Thanks!

"lights out! uh huh!"

Sat, 31 Dec 2005 19:55:20 -0600

And in the mall?? We ran to the mall for people watching today. Started off nice enough - Kyle picked out something in the Lego Store and Ryan fell in love with a large stuffed shark from Nemo in the Disney store. We promised both that we would stop back on our way out to pick them up. Yes - spoiled rotten - I know this. We just can't help it... ("why does mommy work? to buy toys...") Any way - we're completing the upper level return pass and are in the cute learning toy store when the power goes off. Hmmm. No biggie - we can see. We start back down, planning to pick up the kids promised items and head out. Lego store - no problem - but we were the last ones to be able to make a purchase... then they closed. The Disney Store? No luck. They had closed the doors already. *sigh* We half carried the screaming Ryan back to Sears where they wouldn't let us in - we park outside Sears. So back to the next main entrance and walk across the lot to the car and of course there's absolutely NO WAY we're getting out of the parking lot in the next hour. So we sit in the car for a bit, then I venture over and queue up to leave the lot (I'm assuming the traffic lights were out too - we heard rumours that it went all the way to RI, but we haven't seen a news item on it yet, so it's doubtful it was that big). We finally pull out into the road that rings around the mall (Ryan is still screaming) and we notice the power is back! So we zoom back over and I send Steve in. Phone rings after a few minutes - power is on in about half the mall - not the Disney store. OK - we'll come in and walk around, maybe get some food. By the time we meet up with Steve he's seen the store Manager who had asked the security guy about the remaining power - Steve tried pleading with the woman, but there was no winning there. The shark was not to be had yet. So off to TGIFriday's for dinner. Nice and quiet since everyone went home! By the time we're done, power is fully restored and and we venture down to get the shark - ACK! Disney is locked up tight. They went home. Argh! Argh! Argh! So we hit the Lego Store again and Ry picked out a Duplo Dragon thing. But still cried about the shark. We hit Target on the way home on the off chance they had a shark and he found a little dog and a little cat that he said were better than the shark - mission complete! Phew that was painful! LOL. In the meantime, I hit up the Christmas section again :o) It's all 75% off now hee hee.

So I added these:

Oh - and I made this one the other day... nothing too special:

Happy New Year again!

Happy New Year's! (almost...)

Sat, 31 Dec 2005 08:58:09 -0600

So we had our Christmas visit with Steve's Mom yesterday. We had a nice visit, lunch, gifts. We don't actually buy gifts for each other - though I usually manage to find something small to give to her and she just buys for the boys. This year I had made pocket calendars for the Grandparents...

The backgrounds were finger painted by the boys, and I stamped the flowers using the Stampin Up set Roses in Winter - my current favorite set :o) So Steve's Mom got a calendar, my Mom and Dad got a calendar, and Steve's Dad and Step-Mom got a calendar. Steve's Mom also got a set of coasters made by my friend Jen (also my Stampin Up demonstrator) which were just beautiful and she loved them. Hap and Carol got a set of note cards made by me (again with the Roses in Winter -told you it was my current fav didn't I??). My Mom only got the calendar, but she also got a gift certificate to contribute toward the new stovetop she wants - so that makes up for it. We actually do still exchange gifts with them... not a lot, but it's fun.

The platter that I had made went to Michelle and Nik, though we never got to really visit with them. We just dropped it off at their door on our way home from our NY visit. Hope you guys got it OK and it didn't mysteriously walk off!!! ;o)

Oh. So back to yesterday. So I made Cranberry Baked Brie (yummm!), and little pigs in the blanket for an appetizer. Then Skinny Chicken Stroganoff and Easy Corn Chowder for lunch. I ate too much brie and wasn't hungry for lunch!! LOL - but we had a smorgasboard for dessert... I had made mini cheesecakes (which I still haven't tasted... I'll get to that today I think), and picked up Tirimisu pieces and Napoleans from Shaw's (very yummy), and Steve's Mom brought some Gingerbread Men and other cookies from a bakery too.

Grammy and the Boys:

After Grammy left we all went for a walk around the big 'block'. Kyle took his scooter and Ry took his 3-wheeler Rock, Roll n Ride ;o) - it was a little chillier than I thought, but the boys were happy. Then they spent some time on the frozen part of the yard where the water sits. The benefits of living on a filled in marshy place LOL

Still no big plans for tonight. I'll make Tangy Bacon Rollups for us to munch on and I picked up some champagne yesterday too. I actually bought Cook's this year and not Friexenet - we usually buy the latter because of the name - it's so much like ours !!! But we don't really like it. The guy in the liquor store chuckled when I explained why we continue to buy something we don't really like.. and suggested Cook's Brut. So we'll see how that is.

That's it for now unless something interesting happens during the day
Oh... if you haven't been to the homepage... I posted a video (you'll need the divx player) of the year in review :o) Enjoy!

...and More Good News....

Fri, 30 Dec 2005 17:44:27 -0600

Leah came home today! The report is that she's doing well and will need to rest for a few days, with a few months of aspirin therapy.

Good news!

Fri, 30 Dec 2005 07:36:21 -0600

For little Leah - while she's still in the hospital, word has it that she seems to be responding well to treatment! I don't know what the plan is for her length of stay there - maybe we'll hear something about it today :o)

Always In Threes of course...

Thu, 29 Dec 2005 06:31:16 -0600

So Grammy Carol was telling me about her brother, Jess, who went into the hospital on Tuesday before Christmas. Looks like he's had a stroke. He seems to be improving, but will need some long term care. His wife suffers vertigo and can't be left alone either - he was primary caregiver. So Grammy Carol is feeling that they will both move into long term care. She's very upset and worried - understandably so.

Grammy Carol also has a good friend suffering with Lymphoma. I don't have a lot of detail here, but it certainly didn't make for a happy holiday week for Grammy and Grandpa Hap.

Finally, yesterday Uncle Paul let us know that his younger daughter was admitted to the hospital. She's had a high fever since last Thursday, and developed a rash and an infected lymph node. Looks like they think it's Kawasaki Disease. From what I read, it looks like it's completely treatable if started within 10 - 14 days... which this is. Otherwise, there could be heart complications. She's just a little thing - 2 1/2.

All of these folks could use all the good thoughts and prayers that you could send their way.

Ryan and the Snowman

Wed, 28 Dec 2005 12:05:15 -0600

So while my brother was up, we ventured out and built a snowman with Ryan. The snow was GREAT. And we needed both of us, AND Steve to lift the middle. We're either incredibly out of shape, or it was just really dense, wet, snow!!!

At any rate - here is a picture of Ryan with the dude:

Why does he look frustrated??? Well... his first comment was "He's not moving!" followed by "I did it wrong!" - he was seriously dismayed that the snowman did not come to life. Now he was afraid he would melt. Hiding the laughter (how entertaining are 3 year olds!!!) - I explained that Frosty was only on the TV and was pretend. That real snowmen do not come to life - we do not have a magic hat for him. But that when it snowed again we could certainly build another one. He seems OK since then... but he's been watching the thing shrivel away with the rain we've had. He comments on the melting factor and I remind him that we can build another next time. He's doing OK so far :o)

Captcha really gone now... I think - and random woes update

Wed, 28 Dec 2005 10:08:57 -0600

OK - sorry to those of you out there that still couldn't comment because Captcha apparently came back???? Odd. It was gone - I promise. Now it is gone again. We'll see what happens with comments now...

I figured I haven't updated anyone on my list of medical woes lately - so why not today? :o)

Feet - my feet have been GREAT! Practically pain free for several weeks now - unless I stand for a long time, then they ache a little, but much more normal.

Carpal Tunnel - After my EMG I picked up a pair of wrist braces (the kind with the strip of metal in them) from Brooks - I wore them as much as possible for the first week or two, and now wear them at night. I have another pair of supports that are really just a supportive, stretchy thing, that I wear during the day if they feel 'tired'. My hands no longer ache constantly :O) They do get tired after a full day at the computer, and faster if I'm not using a regular keyboard/mouse and am using the laptop's trackpoint... but overall, progress is being made. A beautiful thing indeed :O)

PCOS - Yep... still working on this one. I've been on Metformin and Spironalactone for a few months now. My cycles have gone from 84+ days, to 74, to 54. I'm hoping to see something any day now... but I won't know until it happens. The drugs have been very harsh on my system. I'm experimenting with how and when I take them to see if I can reduce the side effects. They are improving certainly... but I'd really like to get rid of them entirely. Apparently, I wasn't being very fair to the Metformin - it was receiving all of the fault for the side effects. Now I find that it seems to be much worse when I take the Spiro with the Met. So I'm trying to figure out how I can manage to take the Spiro at lunchtime (requires me to remember to carry it - that's the hard part) - and then the Met with Breakfast and Dinner.

In the weight arena - I've lost 23 pounds!!! (yes that includes my 2.5 gain over christmas!!!). I'm feeling absolutely awesome, and hope to continue on to reach my ultimate goal. As it is, I'm in better shape than I've been in years. I'm still seeing Armand, but only once every three weeks now. Which means I'm supposed to do more on my own - and I've been slacking. Now that I'm back at work I'm going to try to refocus and get to the gym here more often. My friend, Lynne has agreed to go shopping with me over the next few months. Nobody can beat Lynne's sense of style!!! ;o) And I'm finding that I just don't know what to buy. I really don't feel like trying on everything in the store either. So we'll make a date and meet up - hopefully kid free even. And I'll boost my wardrobe for the cruise in April.

In memory of James

Tue, 27 Dec 2005 08:51:47 -0600

Just one more sad note - James, a little boy who's family is a friend of the Rossidudes, has lost his fight with leukemia and gotten his wings. Our hearts go out to his family. I never had the privelidge of meeting James, and yet feel a deep sadness when I think of this loss. Rest easy James. May your family find peace in their Faith, and in knowing that you are no longer in pain. As always, it is those of us that are left here that feel the pain when a loved one passes. There are no words that I can give to take the pain away, but I hope that my thoughts, my words, somehow make your pain a little easier to bear.

Back to work...

Tue, 27 Dec 2005 08:51:11 -0600

... at least it's a light week. Almost the whole team is off this week! I decided to work at home today - there is nothing exciting going on, and I'll have some nice quiet time here to get some stuf done for the next release cycle.

Kyle is at Mulberry today - and excited about it. He'll be there tomorrow and Wednesday too. Friday, Steve and I are taking vacation days, so the boys can stay home with us. We have no plans yet - we'll have to fix that and go do something fun. Nashoba Ski area is open - maybe we can venture out there for the day. Or an afternoon. Or something.

Well, I weighed in today. I've been on and off the scale over the last few weeks but haven't logged my weight... today I decided to take ownership again and logged it. I'm only up 2.5 pounds though. Not bad considering the past two food-filled weeks! I have to make it through a lunch thing with Steve's Mom, then New Year's Eve. But we don't actually have plans for New Year's - anyone out there want to come over?? Hee hee. Most likely we'll celebrate like last year. The boys can stay up a little later than usual... Steve and I will watch the ball drop, drink some wine, eat some munchies, and go to bed .. LOL.

Time to relax...

Sun, 25 Dec 2005 18:45:49 -0600

We had our big dinner last night - yum, yum. Kyle invited his previous teacher from Mulberry to join us - and she did! So we had a full 8 around the table last night. This morning the boys seemed to heed my warning to not get out of bed until the sun was up. They didn't get down until 7am :o) Yay! They ooohed and aaaahed appropriately about all presents - so much so that I had to keep steering them back to the task at hand. I was very torn. I loved that they took the time to inspect each gift, and were genuinely thrilled with each. They had to open and play with them. I had to stop them and direct them back to opening so that we could get through it!!! I've posted pictures from Christmas of course...

Ryan was the best: "Ohhh! I LOVE it! It's my favorite! Thank you SOOO much!" - this was in response to pretty much everything! The best was that he really meant it each time too.

So, I hadn't planned anything for lunch or dinner today. I reheated munchies from yesterday and made a quick spinach thing for lunch. For dinner we ventured out for Chinese Buffet :o) And it was soooooo yummy! I think it ended up perfect.

Hope your Christmas was nice too!

It's here! It's here!

Sat, 24 Dec 2005 14:09:11 -0600

The boys are Wicked Excited today. They know Santa is coming tonight! My parents are on their way. I *think* my brother is coming - but I'm not really sure... true to his nature at least ;o) I've got Tangy Bacon rollups ready and an apricot baked brie in the oven. Twice baked potatoes ready for the 'twice' part. I've got to stick the ham in the oven and make our raisin sauce (my Nanny's recipe), and broil the asparagus. And we're having squash too - but the frozen variety. I also made a Mexican Chocolate Pie for desert. Well my variation anyway - there wasn't nearly enough chocolate in the recipe, so I substitued oreo cookie crust for the pie crust :o) should be super yummy. I picked up some peperment and dark chocolate Pepperidge Farms cookies and some Dark Chocolate Enrobed Milanos. Yummm. And some crackers and snacking pumpernickle to go with the brie. I think I might have some chips somewhere I can put out too.

Kyle invited Ms Valerie to dinner and she said yes - so we'll be a full 8 at the table. I'm sure I've forgotten something - but who knows. It will be yummy!!! And with family - who could ask for better!

I hope everyone out there has a Merry Christmas - even if you don't happen to celebrate - I hope it's Peaceful and Loving and full of Light.

Enjoy!

Fri, 23 Dec 2005 08:19:59 -0600

Only 2 more days!

We have all but a small few gifts wrapped and stuffed away. We actually didn't go overboard this year. Good for us! It helps that the boys really only requested 1 thing each. I think I'll make some cookies today after my volunteer time at Kyle's School. I volunteered for 2 hours yesterday and am doing it again today. Part of the time today will include a Holiday SingALong :o) I'm hoping to be able to volunteer on a regular basis - it will involve working at home in the morning in order to get to the school and not destroy my work day - but we'll see. I'll run it by my Manager once we're all back - I kinda think she'll be OK with it.

Yesterday Steve and I wandered out to Lowes to pick up some shelves for my new stereo:

While in the area we stopped in Bob's Furniture Outlet to check out his scratch n dent stuff - but didn't find anything we liked enough to buy. Then we hit the dollar store! Wow - it's the biggest one I've ever seen. We were looking for 100 piece puzzles for Kyle's Teacher's gift and they had a whole isle! So we picked up 3 for her. And I grabbed some decorations for my wreath too. It was looking very sad. I can't find the artificial wreath I have, so I picked up a plain, undecorated one from Shaw's and had stuck a bell and a few red ornaments on it. It looked very sad. Now it looks much better:

Not much else going on... with the kids excitement, Kyle is not making the best choices at home. He's not listening, and acting 'crazy' which doesn't sound bad until you experience it. I can't stand it. Hopefully, that gets better after the big day! He's doing really well at school though, so I can't complain too much.

All for now! Happy Friday!!!

Holy Mattress Batman!

Wed, 21 Dec 2005 18:03:11 -0600

So we were buzzing along route 84 yesterday afternoon... humming along with traffic on our way back from NY. Traffic wasn't bad, it was heavy, but moving at a good clip - around 75 or so. When all of a sudden I see this large rectangular object flying through the air toward me!!! It was a mattress!!! A mattress? Apparently, someone was so excited to be getting their new mattress home that they didn't realize they probably shouldn't be in the left most lane moving about 75+ mph with a mattress on top of their van.

I braked! I swerved! My heart raced! And I missed it!!! Somehow. We just squeaked between the mattress and the guide rail without scratching anything. The pickup behind me ran straight over the middle of it though. Then I was able to calm down - A mattress on your windsheild is not desirable when moving at high rates of speed. In fact, I can't really think of a GOOD time to have a mattress on your windsheild ;o)

Weekend, friends, "pets", and home

Wed, 21 Dec 2005 08:45:53 -0600

We had a great weekend+ down in NY visiting with friends and staying with my Mom and Dad. The boys did a little sledding, got to see Kyle's GodFather and GodMommy - though way too briefly, and made a new friend. We met up with my friend Mel from Myspace - we met her and her family (hubby Steve, son Khairi) at Chuck E Cheese's in Wayne, NJ. The boys hit it off immediately, as children will. Loved Mel and Steve - we spotted them right off and it was great. It was so nice to finally meet her - as we've been talking on MySpace and keeping with each other's blogs. Sadly, we hit bedtime and we had to leave.

While we were out, Auntie Chelle dropped off our new pets - Fiddler Crabs. The boys are fascinated. We have the new aquarium (starter goldfish set) setup in their room and are just letting the chlorine evaporate so we can transfer them tonight. They have plants to climb on and a lily pad to float on.

Here are three of the guys ... :O)

We went out for a child-free dinner with Paul and Liz for Steven's birthday and they came out to sing for him :o) Hopefully things workout at some point and they end up closer to us. But who knows what will happen, right? We're hoping to get a weekend away with them in the new year. It's well deserved all around ;o)

Today, Kyle is back at Kindergarten with a field trip to Sony Imax to see The Polar Express!!! Wow. Wish I was in kindergarten ;o) And Ryan is back at Mulberry. We're off for the rest of the week. Have a lot of wrapping to do, cleaning, planning for our small Christmas gathering (that would be very small - us + my parents and Unka Duggie). And some baking hopefully, so that I can drop off cookies at the Daycare. Also have to pickup a present for Kyle's teacher... we're getting items off her list for the classroom - puzzles and shower curtains. Quite the combo don't you think?

Have a happy Wednesday - are you done shopping yet? Just 4 days left!!!

Happy Day After Birthday To Steven!!!

Sun, 18 Dec 2005 08:21:39 -0600

He picks up my socks, washes the dishes, cleans the kitchen and the litter box too!!! A wonderful father and husband...

Happy 37 years Steven!!!

Snow, slush, home, doggie injuries

Fri, 16 Dec 2005 08:25:22 -0600

So we're supposed to travel down to NY later today - like 4ish. And it's kinda raining, kinda snowing - more like slush is just falling down right now. Should make for wonderful driving.

I had planned to work from home today - it lets me get the other stuff done - like laundry :o) and I can pack while I wait for my machine to do things... but Kyle has a 'snow day' so I'm not sure how far I'll get. Steve has the day off, so maybe he'll take Kyle out for a while... We shall see. I had to cook the plate I stamped to seal in the paint - now it's dishwasher safe - yay :o) It's a gift, but we won't say for who yet...

Sarek has been gimpier than usual. It seemed that it was his annual leg injury that he gets when it starts to get cold and snowy. In years past, he's recovered in a few days with extra attention and some rimadyl. This year, the rimadyl definitely helps, but he's still gimpy. And on days like yesterday ( -5 degrees when we got up ) he's worse. So he's been wearing the doggy sweater that I have - and is mortified LOL. I ordered a new sweater for him, since it looks like this might be a permanent thing - and some cushy pads for their crates with Thinsulate. Since they spend a large chunk of time in their crates, I figured this was the best place for it. I'm looking into ordering a bed/cushion for him, but I know if I do it'll be the cats that claim it! Isn't that just always the way? So I'd need to order 3!!! And that gets expensive - not to mention there's no room for three cushy doggy beds in our room.

That's it for now - have to see what's in store for me today! And tomorrow... GASHO!!! Yummmm!

Look what I can do :-)

Wed, 14 Dec 2005 21:13:01 -0600

Posted partly for Kate, who until recently thought stamps were 'gay' ;o)

Dead drives, customer service...

Wed, 14 Dec 2005 16:36:36 -0600

I'm sitting here waiting for chkdsk to run on my primary machine. It's slow going. I suspect the drive may have jumped off the cliff... but I'm not sure yet. It's been groaning about it's terrible life.... I spin up... I read, I save, I delete... I spin down. Repeat a lot. No fun! ... so it's been complaining and today it froze solid for no apparent reason. I thought maybe I jostled the dock, but no, really no kb response or mouse. Crap. Shut down, back up... login to windows.... and Blamo! freeze. Repeat sequence with same results. Bummer. Maybe today is the day. I backed up vital stuff last week, so it's not the end of the world - easy enough to get it back. It's the building it back to where I like it piece that is a pain. I have a drive utility to run after this to see what it tells me, then probably on the phone with support - we shall see.

Speaking of support... I hate calling support for anything. Specifically first line support for anything. And I had reason to do so today. We use Vonage for our phone access. For those unfamiliar - it's a phone that works over our high speed internet connection. (and if you don't understand that? well... maybe if you buy me some chocolate and a bottle of wine, I'll tutor you). So today I needed to listen to a message that was hanging out in our voicemail from a few days ago from my cousin, Milton. He needed my address. But I couldn't find his home number, so I login to good old vonage to playback his message again (yes it took me 2 full days to call him back - I'm such a great cousin aren't I?) And hey! There's a new message from a number I recognize. It's the Room Parent from Kyle's new class - and I was expecting her to call with the teacher's wish list so I wanted to hear it. I click on the button that says 'new' and it churns and churns and then I get a nice generic 'there has been an error' very MicroSoftish in nature. So I logout, login, click voicemail - and the message is gone. Gone? Gone. Where did it go? A few minutes later I get the email that I get when I have new voicemail. Still no message in the box. Ugh. So I call vonage - I get someone with a thick accent. And it's really thick. I asked him to repeat a lot of what he said. This is not necessarily a bad thing - but when you combine it with the fact that he wasn't listening to me... it was bad. So I tell him that I click on new and I get the error then it's gone. And he tells me after putting me on hold twice to confer with his supervisor, that in the future I should save the message to my machine before playing it - so that I have it saved. Um... did you hear the part about when I clicked on it to get it I got the error and then it was gone? I didn't get far enough to save it. "oh" he says. So we logout, login, logout, login - each time telling me it will be there this time. Then he says, no it's there, it just doesn't say 'new' anymore. And I look again to make sure I haven't lost it yet - then tell him "no. the first message in my list is from 12/12... which is not today - the message from today is still not there". So he sends me to the next level of support - yay! Except that the pause was way to short... which you would think a good thing, except that it means it was a 'cold' transfer and he didn't brief the next support rep. So I get him and say 'so are we starting over or did he fill you in?" He laughs and asks for my info so he can look and see if there are any notes. Nope, no notes - now we can start over. I clue him in that I am former tech support myself... so I understand ;o) and bring him up to where we're at. He's honest with me - says he's never seen this happen before. Fair enough. Owns up to web problems earlier in the day which might have played into it. Oh have you called from a phone to check to see if it's there? Nope... he looks up a local number for me and I call and hey! it's there! So I'm happy - unless it happens again... but for now I'm OK with 'fluke' status.

Bottom line though - Vonage customer service pretty much sucks. I love the phone service .. it's fairly reliable and we can call other Vonage customers without using our minutes up - like 'In Network' calling on the Verizon Wireless plans... so it's a good thing as long as you don't value customer service too much ;o)

I'll have to see if I can find my writeup of my HP Support experience. Now that's worth reposting ;o)

Let's see - if you were randomly tossed into the 5 or 6 cards that didn't get out with the main bunch of Christmas cards - they hit the mail yesterday - with cute Christmas Santa Ornament stamps even. Awwww. And while buying the stamps I had someone point out my tire - which was practically flat. I knew this - was in fact looking for 'free' air on the way into work. Found some. Then tried to get it repaired... oh - had to mention there was fixaflat in it. Did you know that fixaflat is flamable? And that if it's in the tire, they can't just do the quickie repair deal, they have to remove all the gunk, then clean the tire, and then repair it. Not the end of the world, but more annoying than a quick fix - something to keep in the back of my head for next time. I'm hoping we can get it fixed on Friday.... oh back to getting it fixed... they drove me back to the office which was nice - but then never got to my tire. Guess the machine was broken. And is still broken today. Bad news for Mr Tire. It's holding the air so far - but last time it only made it a week, which is significantly less than the time before that. And we're driving to NY on Friday...

I guess that's it for now. :o) Happy Hump Day!

Spam?

Wed, 14 Dec 2005 13:23:29 -0600

So I tried to reinstall Captcha - and now instead of not allowing comments to go in because the graphic was broken, it's decided to just not show up period. And in the process I broke my comment moderator too. Oh Joy. A drastic reminder that this is not my trade, but a mere hobby... So I've installed a thingamabob that will hopefully keep the bots at bay. We shall see. So far, so good - but it's only been 15 hours or so...

Spam Spam Spam Spam

Tue, 13 Dec 2005 08:59:24 -0600

Not so wonderful Spam...
I had an all time high of 16 spam comments to deny this morning. Maybe it's time to reinvestigate why Captcha doesn't work for me anymore...

On Fertility drugs...

Mon, 12 Dec 2005 13:20:00 -0600

So when I went to find the links for the rambling post earlier today, I hit the sites for Follistim, and then a technical site for Humegon. First I had to be very impressed by the new pen for Follistim. No more drawing your own injections - now you have a handy pen and cartridge. Anything to make these things easier.

Now I know that there are people out there that have it worse that that. Folks that have to take multiple injections a week or even daily for a variety of diseases out there. And having been in the injection world for a short time - I totally sympathize with you. Yes the situations are completely different - so I figure I've experienced the low-end of the spectrum. I can tell you that when we used the Humegon - an IM injection (intramuscular - yep - in my tuckus). The stab itself wasn't great - and Steve had the honors.. but the med itself STUNG big time. So I started dredding the daily injection, and then transferring that to Steve. It got ugly. We used the humegon for 2 cycles while we were in NY. When we moved to MA, the Dr put me on Follistim. Follistim was a sub-cutaneous injetion and I could do it on my own, in my abdominal area (the nurse instructed: "since these are gonadotropins, we inject them as close to the gonads as possible" - gonads in women referring to ovaries... it got a chuckle). The drug hurt less (practically not at all), we had less to inject, and I could do it myself. The world was suddenly a better place!

So back to the drugs and my reading today - beyond the 'Wow! That's cool!' factor on the pen. The technical page for humegon states where it is derived from... And this is taken directly from the site:
Humegon� (menotropins for injection, USP) is a purified preparation of gonadotropins. Menotropins are extracted from the urine of postmenopausal females and possess follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) activity. The ratio of FSH bioactivity and LH bioactivity in menotropins is adjusted to approximate unity by the addition of human chorionic gonadotropin purified from the urine of pregnant women.
I'm sure i knew this at the time (over 6 years ago now) but I probably just pushed it way down to the farthest reaches of my subconscious. Because who really wants to think about injection themselves with something that was taken from post-menopausal and pregnant women's urine? Now there's a thought for today.

Snow, weekends, blood, shopping

Mon, 12 Dec 2005 12:55:34 -0600

Happy Monday! Now what can I ramble on about today... First a snow update - we got hit with a big storm on Friday. Kyle's first official 'snow day' at Green Meadow. We've got somewhere between 15 - 18 inches! It just kept coming down and down and down. I thought about shoveling, then thought about the snow blower and decided to give it a whirl. It didn't seem to be running really well, and wasn't 'throwing' the snow - more like just a gentle toss - but it worked. When I put it away I realised what I did wrong - I forgot to take the choke off!!! The 2nd pass I did much better. But even though I went out twice and did the full driveway/walkway/sidewalk - Steve still couldn't pull in the driveway just 2 hours later. I tell ya - it was coming down!

The boys had a blast Saturday and Sunday in the Snow :O)

Friday night it stopped in time for us to keep our planned shopping outing. What a nice night to hit the mall! The place was empty :o) So we picked up a missing gift or two. I ordered the last gift certificate today, and I have one platter to make this week. Then I am officially DONE with shopping :o) Yay! All but 5 of my cards went out on Saturday - I ran out of stamps!!! Bad me! As it is, half the people got valentine heart stamps :o) you use what you have right? Oh, I picked up a skirt at JCPenney for $3.77 !!! How could you not buy it at that price?? And it happened to fit. Did I mention it was a size 8? ;-) Go me! It's new for me to have to try things on though... makes shopping harder, and yet more fun at the same time!

Saturday, besides the snow, we had Zoe's 5th birthday party to attend. It was a great time all around. I found that my favorite brand of wine (Yellow Tail) also makes a Chiraz (red) that I like. And I usually don't care for red. So that was exciting. And I got a quick video of Kyle telling Zoe she's beautiful - of course you can't understand him, but I know what he's saying ;o)

Friday we head down to NY - dinner with the DiGiorgio's on Saturday. We'll work in a visit with Michelle and NIk ,and my new MySpace friend Melanie and family. She's good people!

We have next week off - so I'll be wrapping gifts, and volunteering at Green Meadow in Kyle's class.

Today I gave blood in the Red Cross Bus. They bring their bus and park it out back - it's a fully self-contained DonationMobile. I noticed that Gonadotropins from Human Pituitary gland are on the Drug Defer list (if you've taken them, they defer you - maybe you can come back next time). Since I've taken Follistim and Humegon I felt I needed to share this. But I didn't know if they were from human or synthetic. This caused extra processing. You'd think they would just have a list of 'OK' and 'NOT OK' drugs - but they don't. So they called into the main office and got the OK. Yay! Then my iron was good too - I was kinda figuring that after all that ruckus my iron would end up low. So off to the chair - a stick and 7 minutes later my bag is full!!! I think this was the fastest ever for me. And certainly better than last time when there ended up with some tissue in the needle that corked it. We eventually gave up - and they couldn't use what they got. Ugh. But this time was good. So I've done a nice thing today - And I enjoyed every last one of my cookies after too!

That's it for now - I think I've rambled enough...

Santa!

Sat, 10 Dec 2005 13:42:32 -0600

We went for Breakfast with Santa today - at the Boys and Girls Club here in Maynard. Not the best Santa I've ever seen - but with a better beard, he'd have been pretty good. The boys were thrilled and promptly declared their hearts' desires:
Ryan: I want the SHEDS!!!
Kyle: I want StarScream!

That's it - just one each. They don't ask for much. Santa declared they would be getting them (!!!) - butI have it on good authority that they really will :o)

And a random picture of Kyle as what Steve refers to as Pharoah Kyle:

"Christmas, Christmas time is near..."

Thu, 8 Dec 2005 10:10:35 -0600

And the Neville's get the prize for first Card of the year at FamilyFrisch! I'm waiting for pics to come to stick in mine - then off they go!

Steve gave me my 'surprize' present last night. Too cool... it's a digital photo album... definite must-have for all GeekyMoms like me! I was caught last week at a luncheon without pictures!!! What a bad Mom. Well, never again! I can now carry 52 - yes, that's fifty-two, tiny pictures with me on my keychain! Woohooo!

~News Flash~

Wed, 7 Dec 2005 15:52:23 -0600

If you are in an airport, or on a plane, and CLAIM TO HAVE A BOMB - you will be shot. There is no joking about these things. Don't be stupid.

To smile...

Wed, 7 Dec 2005 12:54:36 -0600

Steve came across this picture and emailed it to me. From when Kyle's favorite place was his 'toy cabinet' in the TV cabinet...

I love Saturday

Sat, 3 Dec 2005 17:06:34 -0600

Always nice when Steve lets me sleep in :o) - a good way to start the weekend. I suppose I should return the favor tommorrow, eh?

So we lazed around all morning. Then I remembered that we needed a family pic for Christmas cards... so we all got dudded up and snapped a few off... This is what we came up with.

I finished tying ribbons on the bookmarks that I made for Kyle's School's Holiday Shoppe - they get donations from the parents then hold a shop for the kids for 3 days. With items from 25 cents to $3 - the kids can purchase items for themselves or gifts. The money goes to the PTA, but they don't really make much. It's really an excercise in decision making and money management for the kids :o)

Kyle finished his first week at Green Meadow and we're pleased with how he's doing. I also let him ride the bus home yesterday too since I was working from home. I was at my former manager's retirement luncheon... and it ran later than expected. Totally forgot about the bus!!!! BAD MOM! I zoomed out of there, and sped home. Got Steve to call the neighbor and she went out to meet Kyle. Thank God for neighbors!!! Their kids are older, so either of the older two can get Kyle if I run into that again! But I felt awful. I just kept picturing Kyle on his first trip home on the bus, being taken back to the school because I wasn't there for him to get off! Sheesh.

We ran out to Target today. Seems like a weekly thing these days. We needed a birthday gift for Zoe, one of Kyle's friends. Her party is next Saturday. And I got a ton of other stuff as usual. Some extra little things for the boys for that holiday coming up, some pants for Ry that were on clearance for under $3 each! And some sweat pants for Kyle because he grew and all of his now more resemble tights than sweats :o) Some misc other things too.

We hung most of the lights outside. We have to do the icicles on the bedroom side of the house. And I promised Kyle he could help me put some ornaments on the tree today. The tree went up last weekend. We spend the first week adjusting all the limbs :o) Now that most of the holes are filled in, we'll get started.

I wasn't able to find anything to wear at Target that I liked for when we go out for Steve's Birthday. We're meeting up with Paul and Liz (Paul is Steve's best friend ever - yes, sometimes guys have those... ) down in NY and going to our FAV restaurant down there - Gasho of Japan. We really miss it. Even Sakura Tokyo doesn't quite meet the same level - and that's saying quite a lot! So besides a new set of something to wear, I apparently need to buy shoes too. Along with the 23+ lbs I've lost, my feet have shrunk. And now the really comfy shoes I loved don't fit anymore... and I mean - fall off when I walk. Not cool. Oh well, there are worse things in life - like being 23 pounds heavier right? Am I bragging too much? Do I sound full of myself? I'm just so darned proud!!!

I chatted briefly with Deanna today - now SHE'S doing awesome. She's lost a ton of weight, as has her hubby Mark. She showed me their Christmas photo - which is of course what reminded me that we needed ours... and their family is just gorgeous!

OK enough rambling for now. Have a Happy Saturday Night!

PCOS update...

Thu, 1 Dec 2005 11:31:55 -0600

This update will definitely be in the rhealm of too much info for some :o) If you shiver at the thought of hearing about female cyclical issues - stop now. Go to www.nbc.com/Surface instead. :o)

To review past posts... Way back when - like when I hit puberty ;o) - I was incredibly irregular. Apparently, so was my Mom (I'm sure she's thrilled that I just shared that factoid). I went on the pill fairly early in life, and was able to regulate things nicely. Years pass, Steve and I get married and we want to have kids... but hey! Nothing's happening... cycles get longer and longer. We tried Clomid. Then we moved to IUI. Then we physically moved to MA. Up here we tried two rounds of IVF. Kyle was conceived during this second attempt. Yay! (and yes, that was 5 years summed up in 3 sentences ;o) ) Ryan was conceived with no medical intervention - but it was within the first year after having Kyle. After having Ry - I was on BC again... first the pill, then the patch, then NuvaRing... then last October when I was gaining weight at an enormous rate - I decided that it was the BC making me eat all things that were slow enough to catch. And then slowly my cycles got longer and longer. At 80+ days, the Dr had me use Provera for a few months - and I started losing some of the weight. When the Provera stopped and things didn't get going again we chatted further and I started Metformin. It's been used for Insulin Resistance which has been linked to PCOS. So that's where I was about 2 months ago.

Happy to report that cycle was 74 days (the one just before starting Metformin). And this one (the one immediately following that, and the first post-Metformin cycle) was 54 days. Definite progress!!!! Now... is it the Metformin? Is it the loss of the extra poundage? I'm down 23 lbs now - so it could be either or both. But I'm happy that things are going in the right direction.

Kyle 1st Day pictures

Wed, 30 Nov 2005 07:16:06 -0600

Here you go!!! Enjoy the pics... Not too many - I mean realistically, it's the same Kyle as the day before, right? And I couldn't follow him around all day, as much as I wanted to ;o)

Successful First Day

Mon, 28 Nov 2005 16:41:15 -0600

So, I dropped off Kyle this morning in the office and managed to let them take him away and down the hall. "just keep breathing - oh hey what's this?" I still had his lunch! So they promised to get it to him. And they did. I went back at 2:30 to meet his teacher. I love her already. She's open, and happy, and active and loves Kyle. What more could I ask for? She assured me that there was probably nothing Kyle's doing that she hasn't seen before (she did acknowledge that there was a small chance for him to surprize her... but she felt it unlikely ;o) ) - he had a GREAT first day. And there's a little girl in his class from his pre-K class last year. She asked if Kyle could be in line next to her. Yay for small coincidences. To make it even better, there are two more little girls from his pre-K class in his after-school class. One of them came running over and gave me a big, all-the-way-around-the-legs, I-love-you-where-have-you-been? kind of hugs :) she's a sweetie, and I love her Mom too - they happen to only live about 2 blocks from us too. So we'll have to work out play dates there.

Kyle didn't want to go home - which was a good sign. I'm hearing really good things about the after school program - all the way around. And it seemed to be run well. Honestly, it's just the independence that the kids get that makes me nervous ;o) and it shouldn't - it's just going back to him growing up and I really don't want him to :o)

So our neighbor popped into his class to say hello "hey! I know you!!" - so he's excited all around. I'm glad he had a great first day. Tomorrow is the bus :O) I'm sure that will go well.

In the bonus-land - they are getting ready for their first field trip... to see The Polar Express in IMAX at Jordan's Furniture (yes, for those of you NOT from MA, there is a very-large furniture store here that has an IMAX theatre ) - so I volunteered to chaparone :o)

So let's see what I remember - Monday is 'Sharing Day', Tuesday and alternate Wednesdays they have GYM, they get 'homework' on Mondays and some Thursdays. And we have a parent-teacher conference on December 8th. He won't actually get a report card... she's going to wait until he's settled to evaluate him. But we agreed the conference would be a good thing at that point :o)

I'll post pictures tomorrow - and I'll make sure to get some of him getting on the bus.

"We wish you.... "

Sun, 27 Nov 2005 21:03:09 -0600

A Merry Christmas...

And: "I pledge allegiance, to the flag ... "

(oh yeah, he was playing with my wrist braces - his arms are fine, I swear!)

Nervous Mommy

Sun, 27 Nov 2005 15:48:17 -0600

Wow - didn't think I'd be nervous about Kyle's 'first day' at Green Meadow, yet here I am :) Mostly, it's the usual 'what if's' attacking me: what if he hates it, what if he doesn't adjust well, what if his teacher doesn't work well with him, what if he won't eat, what if he gets in a fight, what if he beats the crap out of everyone, what if he can't stand the bus, what if, what if, what if.
All squashed down immediately of course. Logic stands to reason here that he'll do fine in the new school. The teachers are equipped to handle 'exuberient' children ;) and have seen many that are far worse than Kyle. And if he doesn't eat lunch, he'll eat more for dinner. Won't kill him. But it's his FIRST day of school!!!! Surely something major should happen in the world to commemorate it right? I mean, wasn't it only yesterday that I was walking laps around the house trying to get through the nightly bewitching hour? When he decided that dinner time (whether 5pm or 7pm) was when he needed to be fed too? And he didn't want the bottle when he went to daycare and refused to eat for them, so I stopped by daily at lunch time? And only just the day before that that we found out we were pregnant? Gosh... he's 5! FIVE! OK, he's been 5 since July... but he was technically still in Daycare and I was able to push off all this 'my baby is going into the real world' crap until next year... So the truth comes out, at the heart of it, it was ME that didn't want to move him ;o) I'll be a nervous wreck on Tuesday when he takes the bus in for the first time ;o) I am just going to have to repeat the mantra "if anything happened they would have called me if anything happened they would have called me if anything ... " and so on. This too shall pass... And then it will be something else...

In the meantime, I posted the boys' school pics.

Turkey day pics...

Fri, 25 Nov 2005 12:37:25 -0600

You can find these at the FAMILYFRISCH home page as well:

And a video of 'family snoozing..."

Ahhhh.... Full...

Thu, 24 Nov 2005 20:14:03 -0600

So the meal was yummy. The company great - and the kids behaved. AND had a nice snow storm to go out and play in. What could be better?

The Turkey was Perfect! And I got to play with all my new kitchen toys too!!! The stuffing was really yummy, the cranberries were a nice add to it, just a tiny hint of sweet/tart. And the mushrooms came out ooooh so yummy. In fact, the mushrooms, since they are stuffed with carrots, onions, brocolli, mushroom stems, some croutons and some margerine... are a very good selection for a low-pointage snack. I'll be making them again. I did get a picture of my Turkey - both the cooked one and the Flower one. I may post them later. Along with the movie clip of everyone sleeping in the living room - I'm sorry... 'digesting' ;o)

Then we had pumpkin and apple pies (Grammie), a nice selection of cookies (Nanna), and lemon tartlets (me) for dessert. Yum yum yum!

Oh!! I forgot... since we ate at 2pm, I set out munchies around Noon... this included an Apple/Cranberry Baked Brie. Steve's Mom asked for 2nds ;o) Oh yeah - I am not a big brie fan... until recently - I love this baked stuff!!! Basically, it's crescent roll dough wrapped around a 4" circle of brie (including rind) with a topping on top of the brie (under the top of the crescent...) - the topping can be: apple/cranberry, almond/apricot, things like that. Flexible, easy, yummy, and pretty too. Get lots of ooohs and ahhhs ;o)

Happy ThanksGiving!!!!!

Thu, 24 Nov 2005 09:56:46 -0600

Enjoy

Feeling Lazy

Wed, 23 Nov 2005 09:50:41 -0600

So part of the deal of going back to FT work (Steve's request - I do too much damage at home LOL) - was that I could hire cleaners to do the housework twice a month. They were supposed to come yesterday, and didn't show. Apparently they had trouble driving and then didn't call in to the office to let them know. So the Co-Owner of the company is here cleaning today. And I'm here too. I'm working at home today. See, a string of people are out of the office today for various reasons... we have my manager who is finishing up maternity leave, my direct Team Lead was in charge, but she left last week on vacation, leaving our other Team Lead in charge, and she in turn is on vacation today. She chose me to hold down the fort.

So, since I'm in charge I asked me if I could work at home today, and I said 'sure'. So here I am LOL (OK, in all honesty it would have been a yes answer anyway, but it reads funnier this way... or something).

So here I sit - obviously so busy that I can squeeze in this little update on my blog :o) And the woman is cleaning my house. I feel like a lazy slob. OK I will actually get to work in a few minutes. I have to document my 'results' for the year for my annual review... against the committments that I made in the beginning of the year. One of which was to contribute to a project that never got off the ground... Hmmmm I think I'll just skip that one.

At any rate - Mom and Dad and my brother are all driving up today. Supposed to get some snow/rain stuff tomorrow, so they want to avoid it if they can. Then Grammie comes up for 'dinner' tomorrow.

Today is Kyle's last day at the Daycare center. He's sad, but thrilled to pieces that he got to bring in ice cream today :O) and even more thrilled that he'll be riding the bus next week!!! I feel a little guilty that I jipped him out of his official First Day of School - but we'll make a big deal out of it, and take pictures, and he won't know the difference, right?

Ryan hasn't really made the connection that Kyle won't be at the same school as him next week. I'm wondering how he'll take Kyle getting on the bus... but this is just another piece of being the little brother. He's got another full year before he hits Kindergarten...

Which I think is the perfect time to have another baby - don't you think? With both boys in real school, we'll have a nice amount of $$ left to put another in DayCare LOL. And it's our goal in life to single handedly support those teachers. My overall plan is to try after we come back from the cruise in April - but we know all to well how these things work. Plans are nice and all, but my body has it's own destination in mind.

And I *think* I have Steve mostly agreeing to number 3. At least, he's OK with the possibility that it CAN happen. If he flat out said "NO" it would really throw me for a loop at this point.

And how spoiled would #3 be in this house? With two older brothers... Ryan would be almost 5 years older, and Kyle at least 6 years older... yeah - spoiled. And protected :O) We'll see where life brings us on this one.

On one hand I feel selfish for even wanting a third. But when I sit down in the quiet and I think about, it just feels right. I've always thought of us as having 3. It just feels like what I'm supposed to do or something. Maybe they'll turn out to be someone important ;o) Who knows.

At any rate.. off to get some work done. And some laundry. And some cooking... At least the cleaning is almost done ;o) Thanks Rachel!

Gobble Gobble

Mon, 21 Nov 2005 11:14:34 -0600

Turkey Day is almost here, and that means big grocery bills, lots of food, family coming up, ... and the neighbors stringing Christmas lights already? Yikes! I had noticed someone on my way home from work last week that had lawn ornaments LIT UP for Christmas already, and I was shocked. Why do we rush these things. Now for the neihbor's benefit - it was beautiful out yesterday. A good day to take advantage and get out there on the ladder. Rather than wait for snow. I was not so motivated. Instead I watched the kids pedal around the driveway and Steve started up the snowblower to make sure it was working. And moved it to the garage for easy access when we need it.

I hold as many holiday meals as I can at our place. I don't mind the cooking, and it's easier to have both sides of the family come to me, than for us to choose which side we'll be visiting. I figure it's a fair trade... So we'll have my parents and my brother (Nanna , Poppy, Unka Duggie) and Steve's Mom (Grammie). Besides the required large fowl that will be on our table (and homemade gravy of course), I'm planning mashed sweet potatos, stuffed mushrooms, cranberry herbed stuffing. Since we're eating at 2, I'm planning a Cranberry Baked Brie, some fruit, veggies and crackers for pre-dinner munchies. Grammie is bringing pumpkin pies, and I'll be adding some lemon tartlets for dessert. Yummm.

Most of all, we will remember to be Thankful. For each other, for our health, for the realitive ease that we have in coming together to celebrate. I'm also thankful for my friends - without family and friends my life would mean much less. I try to not take things for granted, but I really am fairly selfish and self-centered by nature , so I try to be aware of it and work toward being more appreciative. Instead of feeling stressed out and hassled by moving Kyle from one school to another, I'll be Thankful that I have these options available to me to take advantage of.

Life Insurance, Burial, Depressing topics for a Friday afternoon

Fri, 18 Nov 2005 15:21:33 -0600

So I posted earlier about the horrible leaf-accident (below). And it makes me think about how quickly things in life can change. There is so much that we are not in control of. And normally, I try hard not to think about these things - these 'what if's' - because I start this spiraling-panic thing. I can usually squash the feeling back down. Panicing about the possibility of someone snatching one of my children, or being afflicted with some illness doesn't get me anywhere. I may not be able to control a lot in my life, but I can usually control my reaction to them. So I try.

At any rate... the other day at my monthly Pampered Chef team meeting, one of my team mates was talking about how how her family has no family in the local area. They moved down from Nova Scotia. Her entire family is back there. So they've been here for 9 years now... and she asks her husband... if something happened to the children what would we do? Would we bury them here with the possibility of moving back home? Would we bring them back to Nova Scotia but then leave them there while we continue living here? These are major questions - and while morbid, and hard to think about, it's a good thing to consider while life is GOOD and normal and you still feel fairly safe. If you have a plan for 'if disaster strikes' then you can just follow the plan in the event that the worst does indeed happen. Better than having to make the same decisions while your entire world has collapsed around you.

This is why we have life insurance policies on the boys. When first suggested, I shivered and said NO! How awful! And then my Mom had a talk with me. I am one of three children. My older sister, Christine, suffered and lost a battle with Leukemia. She passed away shortly before my brother was born. Why does this relate to my children and life insurance? My Father, the only working adult in the family, had to return to work just 2 weeks after losing his oldest daughter to a devasting struggle with an awful disease. Having a life insurance policy on your children does NOT lesson the pain. It will not bring them back. BUT it will allow you time to mourn without the burden of bills, and without the pressure for returning to the workforce.

The burial piece I had not considered before. But you better believe it will be a discussion that Steve and I have in the near future. With no other family here in Massachusetts - it's a serious consideration. As well as, what if something happens to one of us. So we will have some quiet time some time soon, and discuss this 'what ifs'.

Wow - I'm in a funk today. Time to go read some happiness somewhere :O)

Sad and Scary Leaf Dangers

Fri, 18 Nov 2005 06:28:22 -0600

I was reading the local Beacon-Villager that came yesterday and there was a little story about the dangers of Fall. Apparently, there was a 10 year old girl killed, and her friend seriously injured when her Dad ran over them. They were hiding in a pile of leaves. He didn't know they were there until he heard his daughter say 'Daddy, I can't breath'. Awful, awful. I really hate stories like this. So now I've shared it out there with you. Have a happy Friday.

Bag, Borrow or Steal?

Fri, 18 Nov 2005 06:25:02 -0600

OK, I can't understand this, because it's just not a need in my life to carry/wear the 'IN' stuff... But I do know people that do ;o) so I'm sure there really is a market for it. Just wish *I* had thought of it!!!

A video treat

Thu, 17 Nov 2005 19:34:26 -0600

The boys have picked up this thing... it's mostly just chanting: 'oh yeah, uh huh, oh yeah, uh huh'

Enjoy :o)

Sun, 13 Nov 2005 20:13:01 -0600

I love listening to the boys play when they don't know I'm listening. At 5 and 3-1/2 now they interact with each other in an imaginary world and do a wonderful job. A little while ago I was listening to them play while in the tub:
Kyle "pretend that the hero babies are scared. pretend that there is thunder - the hero babies are scared of thunder and they are scared because it's a thunder day outside"

Ryan's aren't as planned out - usually it's more along the lines of "help! help me!" or "here I come, catch the rope!" - mostly resonding to the scene that Kyle has laid out. All very entertaining - and another reminder of how fast they are growing up.

Ryan is now officially "potty trained" - he did have an accident both yesterday and today, but beyond those, he had been dry for almost two weeks. It is SO nice to skip the diaper section!!!

I had a Pampered Chef show to do today. Certainly can't complain there - I get to go out, cook something and tell people how I'm doing it, talk about products that I love and use anyway... and get a nice paycheck to go with it ;) Not a bad hobby if you ask me! At the show I made Warm Apple Almond Pastry. It came out really pretty and delicious too! Then when I got home, I made Mole Chicken Pizza for us. Yummm - who came up with mixing barbeque sauce, chocolate chips, peanut butter and chili powder? Makes a gooooood sauce!

For those in New England - how gorgeous was today! So glad that Steve got the boys outside for a bit while I was at the show. It was cool, but not cold and a little breezy. Nice and sunny. Perfect Fall Day!

Last night we went out with friends of ours from town - without kids! A nice time was had by all. We all agreed that it was strange to not have to chase, wipe, cut food for, quiet down, or otherwise pay attention to our kiddies. We promised to do it more often.

And Next week we'll be going to the MFA Holiday Shopping thing that they have at Solomon Pond mall. We pay $10 each and the money gets donated back to the organisations... we get to go in after hours and from 7 - 10 Sunday night we get special deals and things - and a nice dent on our Holiday Shopping! Go us!

OK - I'm wiped out. Time to go veg a little while the boys go to bed. Good night and Happy Sunday!

bad news in the birth control world...

Fri, 11 Nov 2005 12:38:07 -0600

Does the convenience of the patch out weigh the higher risk of blood clots?

Glad I don't have to worry about that anymore..

Kyle goes to Kindergarten... again :O)

Thu, 10 Nov 2005 11:03:46 -0600

It's official - Kyle is registered to start public Kindergarten on 11/28 - the Monday after Thanksgiving. He's going to be sad to leave his current teacher, and his friends at the daycare center - but the center just doesn't work for him anymore. And for the amount I pay for him to go there, it needs to WORK!!! :o)

Thankfully, he has friends in Kindergarten at the new school already - from his class last year. And our neighbor is an Assistent with the Kindergarten - so even if she's not in his room, he'll see her around. And let's not forget he gets to ride the BUS! This is a big acheivement. He'll be in the after school program in the afternoons... and I hear nothing but good things about it. So I think overall this is a good thing for him.

Keep your fingers crossed!

IKEA of Stoughton!!!

Wed, 9 Nov 2005 19:50:27 -0600

And the world is a better place to live in.

What? Pirates?

Tue, 8 Nov 2005 14:17:57 -0600

If my fear of flying in my old age isn't bad enough, now I have to worry about pirates on our cruise in April? Hope our ship has a cool sonic weapon too!

Monday, Monday, La La, La, La-La

Mon, 7 Nov 2005 10:04:42 -0600

Another nice, slow weekend. These are the best. Saturday was beautiful outside so we all played for a while. Ryan decided to try the Monkey-bars without a spotter and fell off. But since apparently my boys are one part Monkey, one part rubber - he did OK. I think that was the extent of Saturday too. Sunday included grocery shopping, a liquer store stop, and a birthday party. I'm liking that the liquer store is open on Sunday now. When we first moved up here, we continually forgot that we had to think about it being closed on Sunday. In NY you just couldn't buy it before Noon on Sunday - so we were continually having things happen - like the cashier at the grocery store getting confused when the wine coolers wouldn't ring up - yep: Sunday. Sheesh. Ryan went with me - to hunt for Cookie Crisp - and the lady in the liquer store laughed as we walked through the door and I declared "DON'T touch anything" to which he responded "I WILL!" ;) That's my Ry.

We were successful in acquiring the Cookie Crisp, and kept away from the fox (I have no idea about the fox - but Ryan kept warning me that we had to watch out for him, so I complied). Then I went with Kyle to Caitlyn's birthday Spooky Party - this was exciting because he got to wear his costume again. His other friend Zoe was there, and the two of them were inseperable for the next hour. Watching the two of them had Zoe's Mom and Me thoroughly entertained. So we had laughs, we sang, ate chips, ice cream and cake, and came home. Somehow I kept Kyle from eating too much and he didn't get sick! Yay :o) another small feat accomplished in the daily lives of FamilyFrisch.

We had Tacos for dinner and both boys each ate TWO!!! This is almost a historic moment. Topping it off that I used MorningStar Grillers Crumbles instead of beef - it was shocking that Kyle touched it... and he ate TWO?? Wow. Of course we can't count on it happening again - but who knows. Maybe it will.

I've been wearing my new braces as much as possible. Even now I have one on. It's annoying that I have to explain to everyone - no nothing happened. It's the same arm it was 3 months ago with the same pain. I'm just doing something about it. I'm really NOT looking for sympathy. The Dr encouraged me to wear them as much as I can tolerate. So I'm trying. And they feel better in the braces - usually. Reading is kinda hard though - when it's from a book anyway.

And I pulled some pants out of my closet that I haven't seen in over a year. And they fit! Hurray! I didn't want to buy a whole lot of new stuff yet - I have high hopes for losing another size. So this should keep me clothed for the winter.

So same old boring stuff here :)

Halloween

Wed, 2 Nov 2005 06:55:58 -0600

For those that only come to my blog and not our main site:
The Boys' Halloween

Happy Birthday Auntie Michelle!!!

Tue, 1 Nov 2005 07:42:57 -0600

The Boys wanted to sing :o)

EMG

Mon, 31 Oct 2005 11:29:27 -0600

So I had my EMG today - we tested both arms. Overall, it wasn't awful.
First, he tested the nerves themselves - this is with little zaps of current. He referred to it as a sting, but it really wasn't a sting, it was more a zap ;o) Some were unpleasant, but most were just there, and nothing made me wimper. After a few minutes of this on the right arm, he changed to testing the muscles. This is with a needle stuck into the muscle, starting at the top of my arm near the shoulder. Sticks the needle in, wiggles it and messes with the machine, then has me push against his hand. The machine made staticy noises, and I felt something where the needle was and where I had to push from, but the first one was practically nothing. He worked down my arm like this, ending with 3 in my hand - 1 on the back side of my thumb, then on the underside, toward the joint of my thumb, and then more toward my wrist. Some of these hurt, and had more pressure than others, and I think I flinched once. Overall not a bad test.
So I asked if he could tell anything off the bat - since he's a Dr not a tech, I figured chances were good. And it's always nice to get an extra opinion. He said he didn't see much of anything in my left hand. He did see something with the Carpal Tunnel in my right, but the 2nd study didn't show it. He felt that most likely I do have Carpal Tunnel, but a mild case, and since I've been getting better in the last week, he feels I can probably completely recover either without doing much of anything, or just picking up a pair of splints to sleep in. I'll follow up with my Dr in a few days and see what his thoughts are - in the meantime it won't hurt to price out the splints, and pick them up if they aren't bad.

- Tongiht is take2 for the stove installation :o) we'll see...
- Happy Halloween!!! Our Ninja and Evil Wizard will be hitting the neighborhood in the vicinity of 6ish methinks. I'll get pictures.

- Some stuff going on recently with the Center the boys go to for daycare. I'm not to the point where I want to post about it, but I'm sure I'll do something soon...

Going to hell???

Fri, 28 Oct 2005 15:29:50 -0500

Just for fun:
http://www.toilette-humor.com/hell-test.html

Our new stove is in... ...sort of

Fri, 28 Oct 2005 14:35:02 -0500

So the guy comes out to install our new Pellet Stove last night. And it's in - in the house that is. Installed? Well that's another issue. Apparently, the guy that took our order, is worse than clueless. A few weeks ago he called me and left a message regarding the dimensions for our hearth pad - the thing we need to put under the stove. I called back, but he told me he had it all straightened out. Great! I think :o) Oh, so NOT great. Apparently, he told the guys that asked the initial question that we took the pad home with us. Which is so not the case. So now there is no hearth pad - no hearth pad, no stove. *MAYBE* we'll get it installed on Sunday. We'll see. We told the installer that we're happy with any pad comparable to what we paid :o)

If the pumpkins haven't burst open yet in Steve's trunk - we'll be carving them this weekend. We invited one of the boys from Kyle's class to bring one over and join us. This is always fun. And trick or treating downtown was fun too - Steve missed out since he was waiting for the Stove guy - who was LATE!!! But the boys had fun and brought home a ton of loot! Cavity city - good thing someone was giving out toothbrushes!

CTS

Wed, 26 Oct 2005 10:22:50 -0500

Met with the Rheumatologist yesterday. He asked a ton of questions, had me do a couple basic excercises including touchng my thumb to my fingers as rapidly as I can. And has decided I have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Certainly would be better without this, but it's not nearly as bad as some of the things that cause hand pain and numbness (things like Lupus and MS). He gave me a few options - I can go for an EMG. It doesn't sound like it will be a pleasant experience. The idea of little needle/electrodes being inserted in my muscles, with electric current being sent through my arm... but I get to put off treatment a little and think about my options.. the other option was to just jump into treatment - if we get good results, then that's a diagnosis in itself... the options are:
- cortisone injections in my wrists - benefit of immediate results, but limited in number of treatments
- occupational therapy - combined with changing things at work, maybe using braces, massage
- surgery - this is a last resort, but an option

Overall, it's not awful. Though there are some days that it's pretty bad. Since I'm losing weight, and I've started a diuretic, the pain has been better the last week. I chose the EMG first because I like to KNOW - so I go on the 31st. I'm a hypochondriac by nature and with some other pretty nasty things out there that can cause these types of things, I'd really rather just know that this is what it is. Otherwise, I'll have to inspect every little thing... "woah - I got dizzy today when I stood up, isn't that a symptom of... " kind of thing. Yep - awful that I do that, but it's part of being me. So I'll suck it up and go through the test :o) Then I'm leaning toward the therapy approach , rather than the cortisone. I'd rather use cortisone as a 'big gun' - if I need it. No sense to jump straight to it unless I have to. And maybe braces. Depends - if they really help, then I'm open to wearing them. If they interfere more than they help, then it's not a good choice.

Kickin Cancer... and some other stuff thrown in

Fri, 21 Oct 2005 12:38:52 -0500

Just another plug for Ethan's Kickin' Cancer on the Common
I'll be there for most of the day tomorrow - volunteering. Don't know what they'll have me doing - but I warned that unless they really only want cat whiskers and polka dots to keep me away from the face painting. Oh - I guess I do a passable spidey too..
Steve should be bringing the boys down to have some fun too. Hope we get a nice day. And hope it's not too cold!

..
I called the rheumotologist today about my hands. Have an appointment for next week. We'll see what he thinks... I'm not sure I've described what's happening here - and if so, well just skip the next few sentences :o)
I have pain in both hands. For a while it was constant, just getting worse, or improving some. It's an inner ache. Doesn't feel like muscle, and if pushed for detail I'd say it feels like an ache along the lines over the top of my wrist, toward the inside, up into my hand, focused mainly in my first two fingers (pointer and middle). It's more painful in my right than my left. Both heat and ice help, but heat does a better job. I'm finding I have 'reduced feeling' - which doesn't accurately describe it - it's really more like a stiffness, or maybe just the very outer most parts of my skin isn't sensitive? When I touch something I feel it, but it's muted? If that makes any sense at all. And I'm having a REALLY hard time with shirt buttons. I don't notice often, since I don't wear a lot of buttons, and neither do the boys - but I actually tried to unbutton Steve's shirt about a week ago - and couldn't do it. Very frustrating.
So today they are what I would call moderate - the ache is there, but it's not the worst it's been, and it's not interfering with my typing. At it's worst - I have a harder time with typeing -and anyone who's seen me type could tell you that I type pretty well. I averaged around 60 wpm in high school, but figure I'm more like 50 now. Still reasonable. My officemate says she hasn't noticed, but I feel like I'm making a lot more mistakes. And my fingers get all jumbled up from time to time, like they just don't go where they were supposed to.

So my primary doc ran some bloodwork including a test for arthritis and it all came back OK. It's not carpal tunnel - it's on the top of the hand instead of the underside. He said it really sounded more like a pinched nerve, but didn't think that felt right since I have it in both hands. So off to the rheumotologist for another opinion. Haven't had an xray yet, but I'm not sure what it would find anyway. Nothing is broken :o) Mostly it's a major annoyance and I've let it go for about 6 months now I think. So time tofind out. The weight loss hasn't helped, and I really thought that would be a factor. Who knows?

In other news, apparently my brother has started seeing someone. This is goodness :o) Now we just have to meet her - apparently my Mom and Dad have already.

Not much else going on at the moment. Lots of work - which is still lots of fun. And that's about it I think. :o) for now at least...

Armand Reassessment...

Thu, 20 Oct 2005 13:47:05 -0500

Armand is my Personal Trainer. I see him every other week now. Yesterday we did a physical reassessment - basically, a bunch of things that he tests me on and we compared them to my initial assessment from the end of May.

So in the last 5 months...
I have:
lost 21 lbs (by his scale, WW is somewhat less.)
lost 6 inches in my waist, and 1 in my hips
can now do:
60 situps in a minute (30 in May)
32 pushups in minute (16 in May)
And my flexibility has increased somewhat...

So I had an idea that all of these things were happening - but it is good to have it quantified on paper.

We set a goal to lose another 15 lbs in the next 5 months. Certainly doable.

headaches....

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 11:49:20 -0500

*gross alert*

Looks like Kyle may be taking after me and Steve in more ways than we'd like him to. Teacher called me around 3pm yesterday, just to let me know that he was complaining about a headache - 'all over my head' - and he just didn't seem like him. 99.7 F was his temp - so not an official fever - and when asked if he'd slept the answer was 'no' - so it's a normal, sleepy temp for him. (He, Ry and Steve all generate LOTS of heat when they are tired and sleeping). He came home and told me about the headache, then puked up some green mucousy stuff with little flecks of green in it. Looked like pickles. Funny enough - I had sent dill pickles with his lunch. Didn't bother me or Ry - but they could have bothered him. He reports he ate them first - and I beleive this - pickles are a FAVORITE of the boys' - then he ate his yogurt and cheese crackers - skipped the sandwich. I don't know if he ate the afternoon snack or not - forgot to ask. So I found it interesting that he only brought up the pickles, and none of the other stuff. So maybe the pickles didn't sit right. There were a brand new jar, and a new brand. So who knows?

Once he was done - he was fine. He ate a huge dinner - meatloaf, ketchup, mac n cheese, and applesauce. And took some motrin. He's fine today.

Definitely has the makings of migraines though - I'll run it by the Dr if it happens again, poor guy.

Two Wolves

Mon, 17 Oct 2005 12:40:55 -0500

Stolen from Mel's 'broadcast' on MySpace... simple, and powerful...
(if I can give someone credit for this, I gladly will, but my quick google search found it re-posted a lot, all with no author...)

One evening an old Cherokee Indian told his grandson about a debate that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.�

�One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.�

�The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.�

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

ack!! I'm blind! I'm blind!!!! wait...

Sun, 16 Oct 2005 09:29:24 -0500

What is that big shiny yellow thing up in the sky? Could that possibly be the sun? After 8 days of rain, I HOPE so!

So yesterday, I painted my toe nails... sat around and tried to keep the boys occupied. Chased them out to play in the puddles too! Til they got cold, then they came in for warm tubbies and hot chocolate :o)

Some wine, some webcam fun with Steve and Uncle Paul LOL - chat is so much more fun when you can see each other ;o)

So some pics...

My newly painted toes - I never noticed how bendy my big toes were before... LOL

The boys in the puddles :o)

And the boys on Picture Day last week... Once we get the Pro Pics back, I'll post them too :o)

Sogginess

Fri, 14 Oct 2005 08:17:44 -0500

It's still raining.

Folks in NH are flooded out. Roads are a mess, towns are cut off from each other. And this is nearby. Wow. There are people missing, and a few deaths. Not Katrina material, certainly. But still bad.

Here - it's just soggy. I actually like rain. When there are periods of sun included :o) A week and more of rain just gives folks the blues. And the kids in Kyle's class are climbing the walls ;o) They NEED to go outside. To bad they have 'policies' - a little rain wouldn't hurt them :o) Not like we're having thunderstorms... just wet wet wet. And it would do them all some good to go out and jump in the puddles. But I don't run the school... and I'm sure there's at least one parent that might have an issue with that... So maybe they can do it when we come home tonight instead..

We take off their shoes and socks and they get to jump in the puddles in the driveway. Clothes are easy to clean - sneakers not so much.

We're off to the dentist shortly. Kyle's semi-annual visit. Ryan's VERY FIRST visit :o) He gets to watch big brother, then he'll sit in the chair. She'll count his teeth, polish them if he lets her. Shoud be uneventful. Next time they'll do more, maybe flouride. I love our dentist. She's not just gentle with the kids but us too! Even with the adults she uses pediatric needles for novacaine (which isn't really novacaine anymore... but we'll probably always call it that right?). You hardly feel anything. Now if she could just keep me from hearing the drill -- we'd be all set!

And it's Friday! Steve is off to play games with Paul tomorrow.. So it's me and the boys. We're hopefully, going to get pumpkins tomorrow. I've invited another family to go along with us. Then bring them back here for carving! A good way to spend the day. I figure even if it's still raining, we can just not 'pick our own' and just grab a few of the preselected from somewhere.

And maybe we'll dry out enough that I can put the boys patio furniture away, and bring in my cushions!!! Little things. Oh and I have to empty the sandbox - it's a waterbox at the moment. The dogs like it though - a REALLY big waterbowl ;o)

Happy Friday!

Blah

Mon, 10 Oct 2005 11:29:30 -0500

It's a rainy Monday. After a rainy Saturday and Sunday. And the kids are home for Columbus Day to boot. So I'm WAH - working at home - today. Steve should be back early afternoon to be 'it'.

I didn't get to the lab for my bloodwork yet. I woke up with nasty cramps on Saturday and really NEEDED coffee!!! So I figured I'd try Sunday - and I forgot :o) Didn't get there today because of the weird schedule. Plan is to try to get there tomorrow. I started the diuretic. OK he mentioned that I'd be peeing more, and my thought was 'why not? I already run every hour... what's a little more often.' and I think it's showing a difference. It's almost like I just go, sit down again and start typing, when I have to go again!!! Or it could just be that I'm home and drinking more of what I shouldn't be drinking... mostly soda.

We ventured out to Target yesterday and the boys both got new sneaks. Kyle's were pretty beaten up. There won't be too many pairs of shoes being passed to Ryan from the latest group. Kyle's actually wearing them out now. Ryan had been wearing two pairs of hand me downs from Kyle, but has outgrown them. And I figured he deserved new ones too for a change. So they enjoyed that. And we had an early dinner at the snack shop there.

Ryan did awesome over the weekend with the potty. And is doing great today. He's declaring when he has to go and is holding it when we aren't quite there yet. Of course he's 3, so 'holding it' is taken quite literally. We walked across the Target parking lot with one hand clutching himself so that nothing would come out ahead of plan :o)

Kyle had a great two days too. He had a wonderful time at his friend's birthday party and displayed 5 star behaviour too. We're hoping this trend continues through the week, but with lots more rain in the immediate forecast, we're not sure what will happen to the kids.

Ethan's Kickin' Cancer on the Common

Mon, 10 Oct 2005 06:53:24 -0500

October 22, W. Boylston, MA -
A Family fun day to benefit Andrew's Helpful Hands - the organization that has helped the Rossidudes while Ethan went through bone marrow transplant.

Visit www.rossidudes.com for more info.

More Friday update

Fri, 7 Oct 2005 15:48:44 -0500

I didn't mention that I had a Dr appointment today too... More on this PCO. Deal was after last visit, that I lose some weight and try Provera for a few months to see if we can 'jump start' things. Well - no. It didn't work. So I went back today for further discussion. I got a nice pat on the back for the 16 lb drop - he was very impressed. And acknowledged, that for some women, weight is the key. For others it's not. Apparently, I'm in that latter group. It was something I needed to do anyway, so it didn't hurt to try... And I'm loving all the bennies that come with it!

I asked about Metformin - and he wrote an rx for that -but first he wants me to come in for a fasting Glucose test and an insulin check. Mostly, just to see where those are. He also wrote an rx for a diuretic to see if it might help out with the new facial hair I'm acquiring... one of the lovely symptoms of PCO. It may or may not help, but it WILL shed some of 'the water weight we all carry around this time of year' :o)

He warned me that Metformin doesn't work for everyone - and I know. But it's worth a try. And if that doesn't work, we'll probably move back to birth control to regulate horemones again, I'd just really rather not do that if we don't have to. I was not happy on them, but he mentioned some that we haven't tried yet. And I did acknowledge that even the different forms we had tried were all back to back. Now we've had a year off everything completely, so something new would have a fair shot. I'm open. He made sure to repeat 'as long as you are OK with a pregnancy occuring' - which we are. We know the risks ;o) We have two of them!!!

So that's my medical update. Off to enjoy the weekend now - and probably try to get over to have my bloodwork tomorrow morning too.

Friday happy dance :o)

Fri, 7 Oct 2005 06:37:13 -0500

It's Friday! Friday's are close to my favorite day of the week. Saturday still beats it out, but only because I can sleep in. (With small children that translates to sleeping until 7 instead of 5! but it's something). On Friday I know that I don't have to get up early tomorrow. I can tolerate more at work because I won't have to tolerate it tomorrow ;-) And the weekend is there on the horizon, encouraging me to finish up whatever I need to do today so that I can go home and relax for the next two days.

OK forget the relax part. It's Fall. We have things to do! We recently purhcased a Pellet Stove for the playroom. A little history - - We bought the house in May 2004 - the basement (split entry house - sometimes called a raised ranch, but it really isn't) - is finished, mostly, and they chose to cheap out on the heat. The Playroom, Office, and bathroom all have electric registers. We knew after the electric bills last winter were higher than when we had 5 air conditioners running, that it wasn't the option for us. We were planning to run regular hot-water baseboard, just hadn't gotten to it yet. Then we started hearing the rumours of the gas prices jumping this season. So we thought some more. Friends of ours are replacing a stove they have with coal (didn't know you did that anymore!!) and adding a 2nd, pellet stove to the main living level. That triggered the idea and I started looking around.

We're putting a nice-sized stove in the playroom with the hopes that it's enough to aid with the 2nd floor too. It's supposed to handle around 2200 square feet and we're around 2000 give or take (and that probably includes the garage...)... so with a little luck and management we might work out OK. In the meantime, we have nice, normal, non-electric heat upstairs so we won't die if it doesn't heat upstairs. If it doesn't work, we add an insert to our fireplace upstairs next year, but for now we're trying just the one.

How did I get to this tangent? Oh yeah. The weekend!!! So last weekend we spent cleaning out the garage - the downside to a pellet stove is that you need pellets :o) So we needed a place to store them and the garage is it! They are being delivered tomorrow. I dropped the permit application off this week so we should be ready to go when we get the call that the stove is in! Oh yeah - we also still have our funky 'configure-gate' out in the shed since we are gate-free here. Before we moved we referred to our house as 'Gate-Hell' - but Ry's old enough now that we don't need them. So we'll gate off the stove to prevent burns on children and dogs. The cats are going to have to figure it out - but the top of the stove isn't supposed to be hot since it's the hopper. We'll see :o)

Besides the delivery, Kyle has a birthday party to go to - another Gym type party - those are the best!!! And that might be it! Steve has to take out the other two air conditioners (he did 3 last weekend), and we have some yardwork waiting for us... hopefully we'll fit in some relaxing somewhere in there.

Happy Fall and Happy Friday!!!

Wow - down 16!

Wed, 5 Oct 2005 07:16:12 -0500

I've lost 16 lbs now... at the nice average of 1 - 2 lbs per week. Just like WW wants me to. So I figured it was time for an updated pic:

and then just to do the before/after side by side thing:

I'm darned proud of myself too! :o) And on top of looking much better, I'm feeling much better. The excercise is doing phenomenal stuff for me. I can now pick up Kyle and actually rough house with him again. It's nice to not hear 'Mommy can't pick me up because her back hurts...'

I have a Dr appointment on Friday - we'll be discussing my body's imbalances :o) Now that I've lost a decent chunk of weight, I had thought things would get going again and they haven't... so we'll see what he recommends at this point. I want to see how he feels about Metformin too - I know it's used for treatment of insulin resistance in women with PCO... but while he mentioned both insulin resistance and PCO last time, he didn't mention treatment. Just that those combined with the extra weight was a good formula for Diabetes.

In child related news.... Kyle's been having an increasingly difficult time at school. I'm exploring other options for him, but have put him back in gymnastics. His first class was last night and he had a blast. Oh and he was EXHAUSTED last night too!

On the board in his class was the results of the kid-provided responses to a discussion of parents held on Monday... Kyle said something along the lines of "some parents live far away in California. Some live in houses.... And some live in Heaven." I got very teary at that one. His teacher said it was spoken very softly and she was actually listening to another child at that point and almost missed it.

OK that's it for now... Happy Wednesday!

Comments Back!

Sat, 24 Sep 2005 08:53:26 -0500

Since Captcha wasn't working, I've removed it for now - instead, all comments will need to be approved - by me - the Queen of All You See Here (official title) prior to them appearing. No worries - I generally don't care if someone wants to verbally abuse me - but spam will be denied... blatant misuse of my blog will be denied... that's about it. :o)

Happy posting!
(oh and happy Saturday too!)

Can you have it both ways??

Tue, 20 Sep 2005 08:58:36 -0500

OK - so I'm reading my news on Comcast... and there's an article about NOLA repopulation being suspended because of the possibility of this new storm hitting them.. And I get to this quote:

On Tuesday, Nagin had harsh words for the federal government's top official in the city, Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad Allen, who he said "stepped outside his lane by talking directly to the citizens of New Orleans."

I'm sorry - but wasn't everyone just up in arms about Bush NOT overstepping his lane? Regardless of where I stand on this matter- I just want to point out that no matter what people do here, people are going to blame Bush. They want to be angry at someone, and he's easiest. But to complain that he didn't react fast enough... and then to talk out of the other side of there mouths and say that now he's out of place? I'm just too confused...

Sorry that you still can't comment :o) If anyone knows what's wrong shoot me an email.

CAPTCHA

Sat, 17 Sep 2005 10:43:30 -0500

OK apparently no one can add comments - the captcha image isn't working. I'm on it - I think it has to do with the way files are setup on our host...

:-)

Feel free to visit www.familyfrisch.com and sign the guestbook though.

Potty's, tantrums, skinniness

Thu, 15 Sep 2005 16:37:45 -0500

Happy Thursday! Man I could use a hot tub and a good massage... where's my Massage Therapist when I need him??? Oh if only. I vaguely remember when Paul was in school and needed folks to practice on - now that was the life...

At any rate - Ryan's zipping along with potty training. OK maybe not zipping. But progress is being made - at a pace maybe a touch faster than the storm Ophelia that's moving on NC. He's staying dry for days at a time - but still doesn't go on his own to the potty. We have to direct him at regular intervals. He has progressed to not liking being wet or dirty. The bow legged wet walk is something to behold. Of course then he takes off the offending garment and tries to hand it to me - blechk. We've instituted a potty chart for him - he gets 1 sticker for each dry School day (weekends don't count) and progresses toward earning new trains for his Thomas collection. Yesterday he got his Express Coaches and is just thrilled to pieces. Next will be a Dragon car - and then Emily the engine. He's very excited.

Kyle is doing fine - he only wore the brace for a little more than a day (2 nights) and hasn't asked for it since. He had a horrible day at school on Tuesday - prompting them to call me to come get him. But then yesterday he had a wonderful day. We're going to put up a chart for him too - he'll get a sticker for each 'wonderful' day he acheives.. prizes to be determined. I'll sit down with him over the next few nights to decide what he thinks are good choices.

I'm down 12.5 lbs now and feeling good. Have made it to the gym each day this week, walking and weights on Mon/Wed/Fri and just walking/running on Tue/Thu. Hoping to get some activity in over the weekend too - we'll see how that goes.

I do have to give the dr a call back though - now that I'm not taking the Provera everything has come to a grinding halt again. First I have to remember to actually stop to pick up a pregnancy test - not that I think I am.. pretty sure I'm not actually - but it's the first thing they'll ask, so better to be prepared. My ultimate goal is to see if they'll try Metformin/glucophage for insulin resistance related to PCO - but I'm not sure if he'll jump to that yet. We'll see what he has to say. And my hands are still bothering me - it varies in pain level - today my fingers have been achy all day - and it's yucky, rainy, and humid out. Don't know what causes that yet - just that the arthritis test came back negative.

We'll see. Otherwise I'm feeling pretty darned good. :-)

Kyle's stiff neck

Wed, 7 Sep 2005 15:00:54 -0500

Kyle did something to his neck yesterday. After 2 hours of crying, I called the Dr and they send me to the ER. He's OK - just muscular something... xrays are all OK. So they gave him a soft-collar... Talk about a sympathy-grabber:

Fri, 2 Sep 2005 09:31:42 -0500

It's Friday again. We're leaving tonight to head down to visit family and friends in NY/NJ.. weeee... I love paying $50 to fill my tank... OK maybe not so much. But in the grand scheme of things it's really not that bad considering the horrible state of things in Louisianna...

Steve rearended a Mom from the daycare center... *sigh* he's being really hard on himself about it.

I'm down 10 pounds now! Yay!

Still going... it's slow going and some weeks I sneak back up a little, but overall I feel better. I've felt pretty crummy the last few days.. started with a migraine, then all the lovely extras that come along with them. Mostly the extras are still hanging out without the migraine.. weird. But it's kept me from the gym so that's not good. I'll walk today, and hopefully get some excercise in while I'm at my Mom's...

Ryan is finishing his 3rd week in Undies... no accidents on Wednesday at school!!!! This was a big acheivement - followed up by only a minor accident yesterday - he just started to go, but finished on the toilet. Yay for Ry! And just think of the $$ we've saved over the last three weeks! :o)

That's it for now - Happy Friday!

TGIF!

Fri, 26 Aug 2005 11:18:04 -0500

It's Friday!!! As much as I love what I'm doing - I love not having to do it even more :o)
Kyle and I will be going to Kanobie Lake tomorrow with a friend to her company outing. She has a little boy Kyle's age - so it will be fun. I'll take pics I promise.

Hopefully next week is a little more relaxed - this week I had a Pampered Chef meeting Tuesday night, Weight Training Wed, Stamping Thursday, HOME tonight Yay!, the outing tomorrow, and another Pampered Chef Thing on Sunday. Kyle told me last night "you ALWAYS have meetings Mommy!" ... Next week brings a walking field trip with Kyle's class to McDonald's... :o) and then we're going down to NY/NJ for Labor Day weekend Friday night. So hopefully, a quieter week all the way around.

In work related news.. We shipped last week!!!

That's it from FamilyFrisch for now - Have a great Weekend!!!

Better imaging

Tue, 23 Aug 2005 12:07:55 -0500

Every time I look at the picture I posted of me next to Lynne I cringe... So I figured I'd take a moment to say that I really do Like Me! :o)

I also have pics from the same trip that aren't nearly as bad - so I can console myself with an 'it's not as bad as that' attitude - but at the same time I'm taking steps to fix it.

A better shot of all of us - but again, I'm stuck between the 2 skinniest?? how does this happen?

And me at Doris Christopher's Desk. Go me! LOL

On a related note - I'm still down 8 - I took a side trip to gain a pound back, then lost it again this week. And I've upped the workouts - I hit the gym yesterday on my own, will see Armand tomorrow, and plan on hitting the gym on Friday again. With just treadmill walking tueday and thursday. I'm feeling a ton better, and my clothes are loosening up again. I don't feel nearly as fat as I did a month ago!

Changes...

Sat, 13 Aug 2005 12:34:05 -0500

Well I'm down 8 lbs now and doing well at the strength-training bit. I'm feeling all around better - but have a ways to go yet..

I decided I couldn't stand the old, nasty stools anymore:

So I took off the tops and covered them with fabric and put them back on:

Misc stuff and update type things

Thu, 4 Aug 2005 10:01:48 -0500

Where to start.. I bought new sneaks and my feet are bothering me less. I've also started soaking them in the shower (plugging the drain while I shower so my feet soak in the water) and stretching them before I get up in the morning. My hands are still bothering me some, but maybe not as much.

I've lost 4 lbs! :o) Should be more this week too. This is goodness. I'm wearing pants today that didn't fit two weeks ago. So I'm excited.

Kyle had an issue yesteray with teasing another girl at school. Her dad was there for lunch and Kyle was teasing that he had seen her undies (she had a dress on). He said this repeatedly, and it was bothering Dad. Then Kyle tried to lift her dress - teacher removed him to another activity. Then there was a repeat performance when Dad wanted to read a story to all the kids... and Kyle was rude to Dad on top of it, then threw a fit and lots of yelling at nap time. The basic undies curiousity thing - very normal for the age. The lack of respect and outright rudeness to dad - not to mention the continual teasing once Kyle saw the reaction it got - that I have an issue with.

The teacher is talking to the class about respecting privacy, and why we wear clothes. Kyle's point of view was interesting at home - but she didn't have pants on Mommy. Hmmm so he doesn't get the whole dress thing. But we talked about privacy, and maybe it's something we need to work on more at home.

Hmmm - I've actually got some tomatos growing outside :o) Ryan will be happy. Maybe that's it for now.

Kyle turns 5!

Mon, 25 Jul 2005 12:19:41 -0500

Kyles party was Saturday. Fun was had by all...

And my cake came out kinda cute :)
Thanks to everyone who came - and for the great gifts!

Thu, 14 Jul 2005 10:56:53 -0500

So I'm back from Pampered Chef National Conference. I am so totally pumped up it's unbelievable! I really needed this - my motivation wasn't there.

And then I looked through the pictures. Of me next to skinny Lynne. Eewwwww! (me, not Lynne). And then I joined Weight Watchers. Doing great so far - but of course it's been 4 days. We'll see...

Since I've been doing the Personal Trainer thing - wait. No I am NOT *doing* the Personal Trainer. ;o) I'm going to a PT and working out once a week. Trying to fit in some workouts at home or at work on my own. Definite benies to having a fitness room at work. But I've been finding all kinds of ailments since I'm now using things I've never used before - or in ways I've never used them. So I brought my list of ailments to my Dr yesterday...

1st - he agrees with my GYN about the PCO - use the Provera for 3 months (1 mo left) and work on reducing my weight in the meantime and see where we are at then. In the meantime, he's running a cholesterol check anyway which happens to be a full workup and includes glucose. So I'll have that one covered.

My feet - I've been having a hard time with sore feet. Really bad first thing in the morning. Sore after resting for any length of time... this is Plantar Fasciitis. Umm sore feet :o) basically, I should get some good 'house shoes' - sneakers for the house. And wear good shoes all the time. No sandals. No bare feet.

My knee - it's been 'clicking' on doing anything like the lifty thing you do with weights and your legs? Sounds awful and doesn't feel great either. He had a good medical term for this too - but I didn't write it down... basically it sounds like a loose knee cap. He can send me for physical therapy or I can work the upper leg muscles and see if I can strengthen them that way... I'll probably go for both there.

My hands... my hands have been bad lately too. I kinda chalked it up to the weight gain - but it gets pretty bad some days to where I have trouble with fine-motor skills. buttons - getting the boys dressed - bothers me when driving too. I can steer OK but it feels like I don't have control. Reduced feeling maybe? Hard to explain. At any rate - he's running a test for arthritis too. We'll see what comes out of it.

Otherwise I'm back at work. Still enjoying it too :o) this is good. The boys did well while I was gone - yay. Steve kept them fed and clothed - they all survived without me. Now I can look forward to 'Leadership Conference' in January :o)

Color me Green

Sun, 19 Jun 2005 19:22:58 -0500

We had a nice time at a birthday party yesterday for a little friend of the boys'. Everything was going great until I went to change Ryan. And noticed this green thing stuck in his nose. Ummm that's not the right green for things being in noses... Turns out it was a crayon. I tried to get it out, but only succeeded in pushing it further in. Off to the ER - Ryan's first visit. We figure he felt left out since Kyle's been there twice :) While we wait we ask Ryan why he felt he should put a crayon in his nose...
Ryan: I put the crayon in my nose because... I put the crayon in my nose because... I put the crayon in my nose beeecaaauuuse... it was little and it fit.
Hey - reason enough for a 3 year old right?
So Dr comes in and looks (oh hey - they rolled in a video cart - we watched 1/2 of the Lion King II - good stuff!) - says yup there's a crayon there. Before admitting us to ER the lady on duty had me take him in a small room, hold his empty nostril and blow in his mouth to try to dislodge the offending coloring instrument - it failed to do the trick though. Dr goes out and comes back with a handful of tools... tries a tiny, skinny, long tool with three of us holding Ryan still and Ryan screaming... (crayon didn't bother him mind you - just us messing with it). Then used a suction thing to pull the chunk a little closer... then the skinny thing again and pop! out comes the 1/4" inch green crayon. Yay!

Hopefully, this was traumatic enough that there won't be a repeat performance....

Home again, home again

Fri, 10 Jun 2005 09:29:03 -0500

Yay we're home! The boys survived another 5+ hour flight :o) They did awesome the whole week - and we ran them ragged too! Kyle even slept until 9am today- of course he's still on PST so it's only 6am but whatever - Ry was up at 7. Hope he takes a nap!

so we immediately put the air conditioners in today. OK OK - STEVE put most of the air conditioners in. I worked really hard and created a window thing to replace the one we lost for our 'portable' air conditioner for the living room. Foam is a beautiful thing ;O) But it's much better in here now! I can just hear the electric bill jumping up and up though!

And the cats and the dogs survived without us - The dogs even got baths while we were away..... :o) weee!
Off to harrass the kids into lunch now....

CA almost done now...

Wed, 8 Jun 2005 11:02:23 -0500

Today is our last official day in CA - we fly out tomorrow to head for home. Then we have a long weekend to vacation from our vacation!

The boys had a great time at Legoland! It was definitely their highpoint of the week. They enjoyed California Adventure too - Disney's 2nd Theme Park here in CA. At CA Adventure we got to see Playhouse Disney Live!, the Muppets 3D Vission, and ride lots of bug rides. We also got to meet Princess Atta (A Bug's Life). I hear that Ryan visited with Kenai and Koda from Brother Bear too - I missed that one and Kyle was scared :)

Our 2nd day over in the park also included a romp back to Critter Country in Disneyland to visit with Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger. Here Kyle gave hugs to Pooh and Eeyore - a nice thing to see!

So we leave tomorrow - saying goodbye to Grandpa Hap and Grammy Carol today. We won't be seeing them again for some time - it's hard to have a whole country between you. But it will be nice to be home again too.

California...

Sat, 4 Jun 2005 19:45:52 -0500

We're here in California. Man I thought MA traffic was bad! Don't these people have offices to go to!!!! Geez. So we've been to the LA Zoo and to Disneyland. We bought 2 day Hopper passes - we originally thought we'd skip California Adventure, but it actually looks more interesting than I thought at first, so we'll probably hit that first on Monday when we go back. Neither of the boys wanted to get close to the characters. Or more like - both of the boys were terrified by the characters :o) we're hoping they'll be a little more adventurous Monday. We saw Mickey, waved at Minnie, saw Donald, Goofy, Pluto, Buzz Lightyear, Alice, The Mad Hatter, Cinderella, some random other princess, and the queen from Snow White. Then we spent some time in the pool at the hotel. I've decided Ryan is a fish. He loves the water!!!

Pics off of home page... www.familyfrisch.com Will post more as I collect them :)

Big Cheese

Tue, 31 May 2005 06:06:21 -0500

We went to Steve's sister's wedding on Saturday - very nice. I must say she is marrying into a VERY talented family. Eric - her new hubby - seranaded her with his violin... now don't picture some squeaky rendition of anything here - this was an incredible display of talent. I almost cried.

Then his brother Mark got up with his violin and was joined with piano and Cello and true mastery of the instrument was displayed. The passion displayed by Mark in his music was incredibly moving. Then - there was a violin quartet with the cello - again - incredibly display of musical talent. A friend of Jen and Eric's also sang for us - also very talented. I was overwhelmed and shamed by my lack of skill.... I'll just crawl back here to MA and create my little things here... :o)

About midway through the reception Jen went out and changed from her 'Western' white dress, into a Traditional Korean Wedding Dress (Eric is Korean) - and wow. The detail on this dress was just stunning! Watch for her in some edition of Modern Bride... apparently someone saw some photos that were done up for her engagement and they were requesting permission to use them in an upcoming article on ethnic wedding traditions.

The boys stayed with my Mom overnight and didn't kill anyone. My mother is still speaking to me, so they must have been on fairly good behaviour. Then Michelle picked them up in the AM and they went 'fishing' in the stream at the local park. Both boys slipped in... well - good thing I bring extra shoes! We also visited with Deanna and Mark and their family. It's hard to be so far away from everyone - it means each visit home is filled to the brim with visiting others. Me and the boys popped in to say Happy Birthday to my friend Cathy too - and Goodbye. She leaves July 1st for a 2 year deployment of her hubby to England.

So we came back yesterday - dumped the laundry in the machine and started backing for the next trip. We leave Thursday morning for CA!!! We'll of course visit the Big Cheese - the Mouse himself! But we're mostly going to visit with Steve's Father and Step-Mom. This will be their first visit with the boys... so it's long overdue. How come CA has to be so far from New England ? :o) I'm nervous about the flying. I never used to be... and I know that it's partly because we'll be on the non-stop Boston to LA flight... at least it's not the 8am flight. Logically, I realise it's highly unlikely that anything will happen... but there are so many things that *can* happen. So I just beat it all down with a stick, and assume that I'll be able to beat down the worst of it at takeoff so the boys don't pick up on it. Maybe some vodka will help ;o) I'll be fine - once we're in the air. Hopefully, there won't be turbulence... I've gotten more jumpy about all kinds of things lately - so I just chalk it up as age. Blech.

And last night I pulled up our itinerary to work out the whens and wheres of parking - and I noticed that I managed to book the flight for the wrong day. Argh! Stupid stupid stupid... so I had to plunk down a chunk of change to change it to the right day. So much for all the careful planning and plotting to get a good fare! I've told Steve that his new job is to now double check EVERYTHING I do. Oh you got gas in the car? Better go check just to be sure ;o) I don't know where my brain is.

So out we go on Thursday. We're planning on using the Logan Express... it's the same cost as the cheapy airport parking and we don't have to deal with the Boston traffic... works for me.

Dr. Update and other stuff

Sun, 22 May 2005 08:58:30 -0500

Well, I'm on Provera to get things going again. All of my bloodwork was normal. He didn't run Glucose which I thought he did, but he said we'd see if losing weight and the Provera will get things going again first. If not, we do the fasting glucose thing. Oh, how I love the taste of Glucola - OK not. Having had two kids I've done this twice now to screen for gestational diabetes. I have not done the 3 hour deal though - and I'm sure that's what he'd do.

In the meantime he said 'We're going to lose the weight' - that the extra weight is the biggest factor, and puts me at higher risk for Diabetes.

I met a very nice man on Friday at a vender show thing ( I had my Pampered Chef table all set like the good doobie I am ) - and he is a personal trainer - he owns a center about midway between home and work. Since the total distance between home and work is roughly 12 miles - it makes it a good location. I'm heading there Wednesday night to talk to him and a dieticien to see if we can work off this extra food - and maybe I can curb some of my sugar addition :) I have an open mind - I was honest and told him I'm looking for something that works (lots of things work for lots of people) but it needs to be something I will CONTINUE - so that means I have to like it and want to do it. We'll see how that goes.

My annual gyn visit is tomorrow - that's always fun.

And in very happy news - our friends Kate and Eric had a baby boy on Friday! Yay! Congrats guys!

Ryan is still trying to 'get dees balls out me' :) and Kyle is quick to point out that those particular balls do not come out ;)
We went to the Bronx Zoo last weekend and met (well through glass) a very large, very happy Gorilla :) he meandered down to the window and posed for everyone. Right in front of Kyle too - talk about a thrill. If there was no glass we could have touched him. OK, touching a gorilla is not necessarily something I'd recommend - but we were that close.

Next weekend Steve's sister is getting married. That puts us in a hotel without children for a night :) weeee! I think it's been two years since we've been away without them. And on the 2nd we fly out to CA to visit Grammpa Hap and Grammy Carol. We'll be visiting DisneyLand, LegoLand, the LA Zoo, and possibly Seaworld as well. But that's an awful lot for two little guys in one week. We came across some new luggage in Kohl's yesterday - and I finally found shoes for Jen's wedding too. I picked up a new pair of jeans too - hopefully they won't fit very long.... it's the biggest non-maternity size I've ever owned. :( But I didn't gain the weight overnite, it's not going to come off that way either. And I need to be dressed when I leave the house. Trust me Karl - I need to be dressed when I leave the house ;)

Hmmmm what else - oh Kyle is insisting that we're having a baby ;) his pre-K teacher is preggers and I'm sure that's where it's coming from. He announced to friends last week that we're having a baby girl. And yesterday he told me I feel like I have a baby in my belly. Ha!

I guess that's it for now.

baby talk

Thu, 5 May 2005 07:49:13 -0500

Ryan tinkled and pooped on the potty today. In one sitting! Yay!
He was very proud of himself. Another small step in the Potty Training world.

Kyle requested a baby this morning. Pretty funny.
Mommy, can we have a baby?
(I was in the shower, so Steve fielded it)
Steve: why do you want a baby
K: well, I have a baby brother *points at Ryan* and I don't have a baby sister yet
Steve: (laughs)

So I talked to him -
Me: where would the baby sleep?
K: we can build a bed for her
Me: but where would we put it
K: here (motions with arm around the living room)
Me: umm, a baby can't sleep in the living room
K: oh. how about my room then?
Me: we can't fit another bed in your room
K: we can buy a little crib *indicates with hands about 3" wide*
Me: *chuckle* babies are bigger than that
K: how big are babies
Me: *indicate approximate baby size*
K: so we buy a crib that's this size *puts hands where mine are for size*

Me: Kyle, Mommy doesn't have a baby in my belly
Kyle: why not?
Me: I just don't - we may have another baby some day, but not right now.
Kyle: oh.

And so starts my morning. Weeee.

Who's normal?

Wed, 4 May 2005 14:48:34 -0500

So no call from the Dr yet on bloodwork so I call them.
me: "Hi - I had bloodwork done on Friday and haven't gotten a call yet"
nurse: we don't call if it's normal (what if you're not looking for normal?)
so she looks it up.
pg test, negative,
all other levels 'normal'.

me: ok. so what does he want to do next?
(obviously she felt this answered whatever I was looking for...)
nurse: he'll be in on friday and can review it then.

So I'm still in limbo and on day 65. nice.

Doctors.... hey! where'd my dot go?

Fri, 29 Apr 2005 12:29:13 -0500

I've had some cyclical problems recently. Historically, I have never been the most regular person. In fact 'regular' doesn't even come into the picture. After an ectopic pregnancy and having my right fallopian tube removed in March of 1996, we experienced an intense struggle to have a baby. 4 years, several surgeries, lots of drugs and needles, and two attempts at In Vitro Fertilization (1 failed, 1 success!), Kyle was born! Yay! After Kyle, things settled into a fairly normal pattern for me. Unheard of! But it was actually easy to conceive Ryan when we decided to do it. After Ryan, I was on various forms of birth control until last October when I stopped using the NuvaRing (very cool by the way). But I found that I was eating everything - by everything I mean if it sat still for a few minutes I would EAT IT!!! LOL... Constantly. I would eat a huge bunch of grapes, and a banana, then 10 minutes later be up and looking for something else. I was ravenous! And as a result I put on 10 - 15 lbs in about 2 months. I also had absolutely no labido. Poor Steven. So we talked and I stopped using it. The decision on a 3rd baby is still up in the air, but we talked about other options - mostly seeing how my cycles turn out and keeping an eye on where things are.

So until February things worked quite nicely. 30 - 33 day cycles, with a nicely defined ovulation. Perfect - it was just what we needed in order to avoid any surprizes. But February 28th is Day 1 of the cycle I'm in right now. Yep - I'm on Day 61. Ouch. So three home pregnancy tests and a blood test (all negative) later, it found me in the Dr's office today to chat about my missing period. The Dr was great - it's hard to be going in with a problem when I've never seen the Dr before. I was in the middle of transferring over to someone more local than the Doc that delivered Kyle and Ryan. So he comes in, he's smiley and not bad looking (always a plus) and cracking jokes. He said he undstands that I'm looking for my period and I say yep - have you seen it? We laugh. Good. Humour is always good. So we chat - no exam today. But we talked about history. So today was bloodwork - he's testing glucose, prolactin, testosterone, thyroid, and a pregnancy test for good measure. And as a bonus,they'll do all this from just one little vial of blood. Sweet!

He says it could be thyroid or over production of prolactin, but he doesn't think so - it's most likely PCOS - Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome - meaning, my eggs start to mature, but they don't get enough of the right horemones to actually release one. We'll wait for the lab work and chat again next week.

In the meantime I went out to read. I remember some of it from when we were dealing with infertility before - but I was never given a real diagnosis before. I think I did read PCOS in my file at some point, but it wasn't something that was said out loud to me. At any rate, PCOS seems to go hand in hand with extra weight, and insulin resistence. Because of the Insulin resistance, Dr's are finding that women do well with Metformin. And hey - Metformin seems to be pretty cheap - it will run me around $3.50 per 90 day shipment mail order. I can deal with that route. As a bonus, it seems to curb sugar cravings - which is my biggest eating challenge :o) We can hope. They also talk about diet and excercise - so I'll try to ramp that up too. So early next week I'll hopefully have a better idea of what my crazy body is doing now :o)

Dante... with some Ethan and a little God-talk

Tue, 26 Apr 2005 14:19:18 -0500

I woke up today to Pearl Jam's "Last Kiss" on the radio. Hmmmmm - does this mean it will be a sad day? It kind of fits right in with my weird funk lately. I've had loss on the mind lately and I'm not entirely sure why. Part of it probably definitely has to do with Ethan's struggle and my fear for him. And I have Dante on my mind a lot. Dante is an infant member of our previous church that we lost to SIDS 2 years ago on Easter. I have never cried as hard as I did for the days just before and after his funeral. I can't believe how that little baby touched me. I am always touched deeply by children and feel real fear, pain, sadness, for those that are hurt, suffering, or die even if I have never met them. Part of it is my inate 'sapiness' - I cry over everything - but part of it is that they are children. They are the innocents and precious and without them life will not go on. It is our jobs as Parents, Teachers, Doctors, Nurses, Aunts, Uncles, Friends, to help them grow and keep them safe.

So I'm going to talk a little about Dante. Dante and his family joined our church in our old town just after he was born. He was the 5th child in the family and adored by all. His parents and sisters and brothers were all good people. Their boys were slightly on the crazy side and my Kyle fit right in with them. Dante's Mom was not quite my friend yet - but we were working on it. And then their lives were shattered. Dante had stopped breathing and was rushed to the hospital. He did not make it and passed away in the wee hours of Easter Sunday. The death was declared SIDS which gave his Mom no comfort. She wanted answers and I couldn't blame her. I went with another friend to the viewing. Somehow I made it up to that very small casket. And there I said a small prayer, that I could somehow make a difference for them. That my small efforts, the hugs, the dinner I brought them - that somehow I managed to help a little. It was all too easy to imagine it being my child laying there so peacefully.

I took a 1/2 day the day of the funeral and attended the Church service, though I did not continue on to the cemetery. Somehow I thought that seeing the coffin again -but closed this time - would be easier on me. But the words, the grief, the music, tore at me. I choked back tears and sobs that wanted to come out. If it was that bad for me, I can't imagine what Dante's Mom and Dad and family were feeling. Yes, I know this is all about me, and must seem very self-centered. But I can't say that I understand what they were feeling. But I know that I felt beaten by the end of the service. I let it all out on the drive into work and thought that I had finished. Then a friend saw me and asked what was wrong - and I started all over again. Two years ago this was - and still it brings tears to my eyes. I can still hear the music, and when I close my eyes I can see him laying there. You could almost think he was just sleeping.

My faith has grown some lately. With watching Ethan fighting Leukemia and his going home yesterday after his bone marrow transplant, how can I not feel something? Yes, the Doctors were there, and medical technology has come so far since we lost Christine, but I can't deny the feeling that this was something big. Ethan's family is very strong in their faith. And I admire that. I'm not there. I don't know if I will be, but it is stronger today then yesterday. I'm finding my way to what I believe - because it's not clear cut. I know that I have strong feelings lately - feeling that there is something that I'm supposed to be doing... but it's just beyond what I can see. I feel strongly that I'm missing something. So I try to keep an open mind and hope that when I come across it, I'm not looking the other way at some shiney thing.

Spring Time

Mon, 18 Apr 2005 09:27:14 -0500

Yesterday was so nice out. And today. And tomorrow's supposed to be nice too... weee!
Me and the boys took a walk yesterday - Kyle riding his tricycle (he just won't give it up) and Ryan on his Push Rock N Roll thing, that I'm not pushing nearly as much as last year. He's excited that he can peddle a little now. Someone had a nice, wooden rocking horse with 'free' on it, so I grabbed it. Ryan loves it. Yes, it's really for toddlers, but he's the right size and will love it. It's mane is just all whacked out - like the nylon was washed and then dried into a melted frizzy mess... but he doesn't care.

I took some pics of the boys on the swings and in the tub.. you can check out a pic (yes ONE) and an animated set (totally awful animation - but fun) of Ry on the swings by clicking HOME on the left (or just clicking here in this sentence!). I threw a video up there of the boys in the tub too. Enjoy :o)

Random Ramblings...

Sun, 17 Apr 2005 12:18:52 -0500

Not much going on lately. Today is a super nice day outside, but the men of the house are all napping. I went out and filled all the little seed starters I could find and stuck the seeds in them that I've been holding onto. I don't know if they'll germinate or not, but it's worth a shot. I'll keep them in the garage for the next few weeks. I can actually position them so they get some sun when they need it too. I spent some time wandering around the yard trying to think what I want to do for flowers out there. Nothing's jumping out at me yet.

I started the stamping of my vines on the kitchen soffits. There's mistakes, but nothing awful. I'm thinking I may try to get a few small, square frames and see if I can find and/or create some pictures to hang up there too. There's a tiny border of the bottom of the soffit that extends past the crown molding - I may try to find some edging to put over that. If I could work it into some sort of shelving that would be nice too.

We went out to dinner with some local friends last night - that was long overdue. It really is nice to have a babysitter available next door. And she's only 13, so she won't be taking off any time soon.

We booked our flight/hotel/car for our Trip to CA in June. It's exciting to be getting out there and the boys will enjoy meeting their Grandpa Hap as well. Kyle is very excited. Ryan - well, he's Ryan :o) . I have a trip coming up in July - I'm attending National Conference for The Pampered Chef this year. I'm pretty excited about that too. And then I've been invited to go with a friend in September to see John Edward. She reports that it's very powerful to watch him. This will be one of his small 'Gallery like' settings. Should be interesting :o)

I'm still loving the new job - it was a much needed change and I still get to keep my hand in system's work since I'm maintaining servers for the team. We'll see how things go, but I'm very comfortable with my team and direct management. It's a big change for me to have so many levels of management sitting in the same building as me. I've supported VP's before, but I have never passed *MY* VP in the hall so regularly before :o)

Welcome to Nucleus CMS v3.2

Tue, 5 Apr 2005 13:57:17 -0500

This is the first post on your Nucleus CMS. Nucleus offers you the building blocks you need to create a web presence. Whether you want to create a personal blog, a family page, or an online business site, Nucleus CMS can help you achieve your goals.

We've loaded this first entry with links and information to get you started. Though you can delete this entry, it will eventually scroll off the main page as you add content to your site. Add your comments while you learn to work with Nucleus CMS, or bookmark this page so you can come back to it when you need to.

pics and movie

Tue, 29 Mar 2005 17:30:25 -0600

Soccer, Karate, Easter morning and train... all together

and the movie from first thing Easter Morning

Easter

Mon, 28 Mar 2005 07:42:45 -0600

Hope everyone had a nice Easter - and if you don't celebrate Easter... hope you had a nice, quiet Sunday :o)

The boys and I dyed eggs on Saturday. They even ate two each :o) - that's a first, usually they refuse eggs in almost all forms. Ryan likes the yolks, but eats most of the whites, Kyle just nibbles the whites. True to form as usual: Ryan interested in all things edible, Kyle being picky.

Sunday they got up and Kyle came out declaring 'Oh No. The bunny was here already". I got video - I'll be sure to post a link when I get it up there. Ryan had fun and was actually interested in looking for eggs this year.

So we had breakfast, and allowed them each a couple (and I literally mean 2 LOL) jelly beans with breakfast, and then off to Newport for what is hopefully turning into an Easter tradition - the Easter Dinner Train with Grammy and Mr. Dean. The boys did GREAT! They even ate a reasonable amount - which isn't always the case when we're dealing with large exciting objects, like trains. The lunch was delicious and then we spent some time at Grammy's house and walked for a bit on the Cliff Walk. A very nice day all around.

my very active 4 year old

Fri, 18 Mar 2005 14:11:40 -0600

It's been mentioned again.

When Kyle was 3 we had him evaluated through Early Intervention in our previous town. It was at the recommendation of his preschool teacher since they were having so much trouble with him. Everyone agreed, he was very bright, and needed more attention then most, but did not have any problems that would benefit from their services.

Since then we've moved, and through a series of changes in school, have realised that with good routine and a good fit with his teacher, Kyle does very well. Provided nothing changes. This was our reasoning in not registering him for public school for kindergarten. He'll stay in the private daycare/school for kindergarten. Since we'd have to pay for either the fullday session for public school or additional pre/after care too it wasn't that much more expensive and it means a longer period of time for us to help him with that transition.

He's been the only boy in a 9 student class for a few months now and was doing pretty well. This week a new boy moved up from preschool to the pre-k class. Kyle's been more hands on, not listening, his usual MO when things change. Is it because it's a change? Because he's not the only boy now? because he has to compete?

At any rate - the Director of the school mentioned to Steve yesterday that they have some folks from EI that come in periodically, and would we be OK with having him evaluated by one of them...

My opinion on this is generally the same... it's free... it doesn't hurt... it's actually usually kinda fun for Kyle... and if there were something that we needed to know, it's better to find out early on... why not? We'll discuss details sometime next week, but in the meantime I'm going to try to find the report we received last time. I'm sure that will be helpful. It would at least give a control point to see where he's made progress... or something.

Soccer!!!

Sun, 13 Mar 2005 18:41:42 -0600

Kyle started Soccer on Saturday. They spent about 45 minutes doing 'excercises' - a lot of running ... weeee! burn off some energy... and then learning how to keep the ball between your feet but close and slow. That's a hard one. Kyle would start off slow.. tap. tap. tap. then you could see his mind melt, and whack! RUNNNN!!!!! WHEEEEEE! LOL . Too funny. He told his coach (Skip - maybe Irish? got a good accent, just can't place it yet) that he was there to play Basketball :o)

And I'm a very bad geek/mom - I remembered the battery for my camera, but when I went to take the pics it complained "no cf card'... jeez - have to get them next week I guess.

Prayers, Thoughts, Good Vibes for Ethan

Thu, 10 Mar 2005 07:47:07 -0600

Ethan will be admitted at Dana Farber in Boston tomorrow for his journey toward recovery.

There aren't words to convey what I want to say to Brian and Carolyn as their baby will undergo this trial. I have faith that the Doctors will be sure and steady and confident and that Ethan's Donor is the right donor and that all will go well. I pray that any side effects, or risks that Ethan endurs in the upcoming weeks are minor and that he breezes through these without trouble. I can't imagine the fear and stress that this family is going through. All that I can do is try to imagine how I would feel if it were my baby - I've already personalized it, I fear for Ethan as it is, but to be in their shoes right now - I just can't fathom it.

I am thankful that Ethan was born at a time when having ALL does not immediately translate to a death sentence anymore. We now have technology and experience (OK, not me personally in that We, that would be We as a collective human race) - to fight this nasty thing.

Stay strong Little Ethan. May this last hurdle, truly be your last. I look forward to the stories of your first steps, your first movie, all of your firsts :o).

more Ryan sickie

Wed, 9 Mar 2005 14:38:24 -0600

Poor guy. This morning he puked all over the couch. The only good part was that all he had in him was apple juice. He went 3 more rounds then apparently got whatever it was out. He had one nasty diaper first thing too. So the couch, the floor, 3 blankets, 2 changes of clothes for him and for me - all before 8am. Seems like magically, all was good around 8.

9:30 I gave him a tiny bit of warm milk and after 15 minutes, a little bit more. Waited a full hour on that one, then allowed him some cereal.

For lunch he wanted cereal - I was OK with that. He took a nice 2 hour nap - and is back to my RyGuy now :o) We're currently enjoying an afternoon snack of ice cream and bananas. Yeah - he's back to normal thankfully.

This is the excitement we get here. Isn't it grand?

bad winter for sick

Tue, 8 Mar 2005 08:28:28 -0600

Man. We can't catch a break this winter with colds. I've been stuffed up and just feeling pretty lousy since Saturday - Sunday was the worst of it fatigue and achiness-wise... but last night I ended up awake from 12am to 3am.. then Ryan woke me up at 5am. Having had a not great night the night before I'm not to thrilled with this lack of sleep. Add in the inability to breath through my nose and the general soupy feeling in my head.. well - it's a good thing there's Sudafed. I think it's this nasal spray thing that kept me up - I have a hard time with decongestents - I end up wired in the middle of the night. I've found Sudafed Non-Drying formula does not keep me up! Yay! But it wasn't working on the nose thing either, so I used this stuff called 4-way. Cleared the nose right up, but I think it was the culprit!

Ryan's home sick today.. Steve's with him for the AM and we'll swap at lunchtime. Slight fever and nasty diaper - though not quite diarhea.. Steve reports that Ry is currently curled on the couch with a blanket watching Maisy murmuring 'I collld I cooold'. Poor Bubba.

In Binky news - we had night1 where he cried on and off for about 30 minutes, then slept through the night. Night2 he only cried for 10 minutes then slept through the night, but found a stowed binky somewhere in his bed in the morning. And last night, Night3, no tears at all - just a little whimpering... "I not a big boy, I little. I not growing, I little". He's adamant about this - and hard on me - I want him to stay little too! :o) But we're settling for a Big, Little Boy and trying to convince him that Big, Little Boys don't need Binkies and Use the potty not diapers.. we'll see.

Binky Free is the Way to Be!

Sun, 6 Mar 2005 05:36:53 -0600

Ryan made it all night without a peep. :o)

YAY!!! (that's after the initial breakdown of course)

Parties, movies, binkies, bears and bunnies

Sat, 5 Mar 2005 17:52:35 -0600

Today we had a birthday party for Kyle's friend Anna at 'the mall'. The invite was for them to meet at the movie theater and see Pooh's Heffalump Movie, then head to food court for cake and ice cream. We tagged along for the movie. Big thank you's to Anna's Mom and Dad - they not only paid for Kyle (kind of anticipated that) but for us grown ups too! At $7 for a matinee adult ticket, that wasn't a cheap party.

We had planned to go to 'build a bear' after the party - but low and behold there isn't one at that mall! Since there was major build up for this trip - we're working on a plan to de-binkify the RyGuy - we trekked up to NH and the mall there.

Ryan made a very cute bear, popped his binky inside and named him Binky Bear. Kyle made a white bunny named Hops and also popped a binky inside. Ryan was fine with this - Kyle got sad. Kyle is just way to sensitive for his own good. At any rate we've talked to Ryan about not having a binky for his mouth anymore, but that he now has Binky Bear that he can hug and hold any time he chooses. Bed time is fast approaching. I'll update after ;o) or maybe tomorrow... at somepoint any way.

Wish us luck :o)

--
editing to clarify - Kyle does not use a binky - he just wanted to do what Ryan was doing, because it was special. I still don't know why he was sad to give it up in the bunny....
--
Post bed-time edit:
Well - about 30 minutes of crying off and on. As soon as it was bedtime he asked for 'binky' and we reiterated that he put it in the Binky Bear. "can we get it out" no. ...bawling here... I carry him to bed and lay down and snuggle. some sobbing, calms down. Talks a little... 'this a cup and is for drinking' (sippy cup of water) ' binky bear is for holding' ... some other rambling. more crying... calms down, drifts off, moves and wakes himself up - looks for binky which wasn't there, starts over again, but is shorter ... a few more rounds. About 30 minutes total. Certainly not as bad as it could have been. Now we'll see how he does overnight...

Let the Potty-ing commence!

Thu, 3 Mar 2005 10:06:47 -0600

So I popped Ryan into a pair of Bob The Builder undies the other night - he only lasted 10 minutes :o) .... BUT... 1 - he let me put them on and didn't cry - 2 - he was EXCITED to be wearing them! This was a milestone, however small LOL. So this morning I asked if he liked wearing the undies... 'yes'. Or rather.. 'yep!' And does he like them more than wearing a diaper 'yep!' and would he like to wear undies all the time instead of diapers 'yep'.

This is good. A definite step forward. So I relay this to his teacher who shares this story from yesterday...

When they change him they offer the potty.
Teacher - to a Ryan with diaper off: Ryan, would you like to use the Potty?
Ryan: Nope
T: but why not?
Ryan: because my tinkle won't come out. it's stuck in there (points to the male anatomy)
T: (turns away from laughing)

:o) Yep - that's my Ry.

Party!

Sun, 27 Feb 2005 06:10:24 -0600

4 - four year olds
8 - 3 year olds
1 - toddler
1 - baby
various moms and a few collected extra adults. A 3 year old's birthday party. We whacked the pinata... when that didn't work, we pulled the ribbons - which didn't work either, so we tore it open and poured the goods over their heads.

I'm very proud of my cake - I like to make their cakes.. it's fun and a creative outlet for me:

It's the best one I've made - even Kyle decided he wanted a duck cake for his birthday in July (he's been declaring Hulk since his last party which was spiderman).

We're tired today, but everyone had fun yesterday :)

---
To make a duck cake:
make two 9" round cakes
make sure that when you take the first one out of the pan it doesn't release all the way and you end up with two pieces - about 3/4 of a circle and 1/4 piece. Place the larger of the two on a large plate and position with the round part down - this is the body of the duck. Cut the top so that it looks the way you'd like.

Now take a small bowl and use it to cut a smaller circle from the 2nd cake. I position it so that it was at the edge of the cake to allow me more room for other pieces - like the bill and tail. This smaller circle is the head. Place against the body where the head should go.

Cut a triangular piece from the big piece of the 2nd piece and fit against the head for the beak, and similar for the tail. Cut the pieces so that they are the shape you'd like. Use the left over 1/4 piece from the 1st cake for the wing - just place it on top of the body - I used some icing for 'glue' just to keep it in place.

Left over cake? Make water! Just cut and place - doesn't matter howthe cake really looks - you'll cover it with icing.... Now ice the cake and off you go! :o)

--

Answering the questions I got yesterday:
No, I didn't follow a pattern, I 'created' a rough drawing friday while waiting for a server to do some task.
I made lemon cake - I figured a yellow iced cake should be lemon :) I added a box of lemon instant pudding to a box of white cake. The frosting is cream cheese, white chocolate pudding mix, cool whip, lemon juice and some sugar. With appropriate food color added.

Tough Guy goes to the Dr.

Fri, 25 Feb 2005 14:03:23 -0600

Ryan is my tough guy. He's the kid that cut his toe on some mysterious object and bled all over the play room, including my new couch, without ever making a peep. It wasn't gobs of blood, but spots creating a tell-tale trail of what he had done in the room. Still couldn't trace back to the mysterious object.

Me: Ry - you're bleeding
Ry: yah
Me: come on let's clean it up
Ry: OK

:o)

So he had his 3-year check up today... no shots, but it included bloodwork for lead and anemia... he sat on my lap, happy as can be... the tech was great - he got ready and then points across the room "hey look at those butterflies over there" the other tech and I catch on quick and echo the statement to get Ry to look across the room and he sticks him. Ry's head immediately flies back to focus on the needle "ow! ow! ow! ooow! ow!" in his soft whiney, 'that's not feeling great but I'm not sure about it' - voice. That's it. No tears. A promise of a nice star bandaid and he's back to smiles. He handled it better than a lot of adults :o) The folks outside asked if we did anything, because they didn't hear any crying. Yep - he's my tough guy. Problem is you never know when he's hurt!

Windows! and not the MicroSoft variety ;o)

Fri, 25 Feb 2005 06:48:48 -0600

We got our new windows Wed and yesterday. Wed they did the 14 'little' windows. Yesterday they did our big picture window. We knew we wanted to replace them - the old ones were the original windows... none of the opened right... the guest room wouldn't STAY open argh! And they all leaked cold air something awful. On cold days you couldn't even stand at the front big window (a bow window). So we took the plunge and replaced all of them except for the back slider to the deck.

I expected to like the 'newness' of the them, but I expected to pretty much have what we had before. The bow window we replaced with a bay window - mostly because I wanted to have double-hung windows on the sides. but WOW!!! When I came home last night I couldn't believe the difference. I'm still in awe at how much I LOVE this new window. WOW WOW WOW! I think it's a combination of the new window itself and the new window seat and molding... the old wood was very marked up and needed refinishing so it took away alot - plus it was dark. The new windows are vinyl so we'll probably paint all the molding now - they all need work (may just end up replacing it all... depends on how much I can find a miter saw for). The dark stained molding does not look nice with the white windows. The new untouched molding with the front one looks nice... might decide to just seal it and stain with something very light.

The biggest part of the whole thing.... I can stand at the front window now. I actually feel the heat from the register that's there now and can sit in the window comfortably! Hopefully this will translate to a lower electric bill next month for the playroom and office downstairs (both electric heat - the upstairs is gas).

It's nice to be so satisfied with something!

Happy Birthday RyGuy!

Thu, 24 Feb 2005 11:35:12 -0600

My little guy is 3 today. Weeee!

He had cake saturday at his GodMommy's house.
He'll have cake tonight and presents from Mommy and Daddy cuz it's his birthday.
He's having poundcake, strawberries, and cool whip at school for his birthday.
He'll have a ducky cake on Saturday at his 'kid party'
and something that isn't cake but still has candles for the 'for the adults party' after the kid party.

Yikes. He's going to be pretty sweet :o)

Cost of drugs

Thu, 24 Feb 2005 08:37:54 -0600

Wow. A friend posted yesterday on his blog and included a snapshot of the estimated cost of his new psoriasis meds... my first thought was that it blew away the cost of the drugs we used during our IVF (In Vitro) attempts. For those that don't know about us, we had a lot of trouble conceiving and went through quite a bit to get Kyle. Including surgery, some in-office non-surgical procedures, and lots of drugs. The drugs were VERY costly, but at the time were lower than the meds Karl posted.

Then I remembered that it was about 5 years ago. Curious, I ran a price check through our online provider and sure enough - a 2 week supply of the stuff would run over $9,000 - that's just one of the drugs too. And only 14 days worth (a 1 month supply since it's only 2 weeks I'd take it). There was also progesterone, and HcG that were involved, but not nearly as costly.

So now I wonder... are the drugs really that intense and costly to make? Or do the drug manufacturers charge these outrageous prices because most people have insurance that will cover it? And I say most - while Karl probably wouldn't have trouble getting meds for his problems, anything related to infertility is questioned and generally requires some sort of validation from your Dr. We're lucky enough to have moved to MA where infertility coverage by insurance companies is mandatory. NY doesn't have this.

family weekend

Tue, 22 Feb 2005 08:03:36 -0600

We spent the weekend at my Mom's - Steve had a 'lan party' to attend. It actually sounded like fun, but I wasn't invited :( I wouldn't have gone anyway - 8 guys in one house? Too much testosterone for me!

So me and the boys went to visit Ryan's GodMommy and family - it had been too long, so the boys got some good play time in with their 3 and I got some good gossip time with their Mom. She had a cake for Ryan since she won't be able to make his party this weekend. He loved the cake. But he's still not interested in opening presents. The presents themselves - absolutely, just not the act of opening. We visited with my long time friend, practically sister - who we hadn't seen in a while either. She's Kyle's GodMommy and I am her daughter's GodMommy - though my GodDaughter will be 16 in April!!! Wow. They grow up too fast. At any rate - She had stock piled gifts from Christmas and Kyle's birthday, and had one for RyGuy's bday too - Ryan didn't want to open them- he'd hand then to me 'open please?'. Yep - his party should be fun. I should have added that all gifts should be in bags! LOL

We went for ice cream - when we got to the house to pick them up Kyle hid behind me and said he was shy. When she declared 'I have presents', he popped out and said 'presents make me not shy anymore'. Kids. Ice cream was yummy. Since I don't get out for it nearly as often, we really enjoy it now.

The boys did great on the 4.5 hour drive down and the 5+ hour home. We made a longer stop for lunch on the way home, and hit some traffic for rubberneckers (termed 'curiosity delays' up here in New England) for what looked like THREE tractor trailers all bashed in and several cars on the other side - they had been moved to the inner shoulder. I imagine it was a total mess when it happened.

We missed the worst of the snowstorm up here, but it was still snowing when we got home. About 5" I think we got here.

potterpotterpotterpotter

Fri, 18 Feb 2005 11:15:46 -0600

too funny

I found this via Gordon's blog...

3 year old picture fun

Wed, 16 Feb 2005 14:42:53 -0600

Just for fun...

Ryan's picture from a week ago or so:

And Kyle from the same age:

Spoiled

Wed, 16 Feb 2005 14:27:03 -0600

Yes, that sums up my children. But what fun is making money if I can't spend it on fun things for my kids?

Traditionally, Ryan gets the short end of the stick on gift receiving. The big gifts are gotten by Kyle and shared. Swingset, bunkbeds, motorized jeep thing... Ryan gets stuffed animals. Now, he gets to play with all Kyle's 'goods' too - so he's not deprived, we've just never focused on gifts for him. In fact last year for his birthday I requested books or games and no toys :o) I'm such an evil mother.

So yesterday Steve sends me an ebay link for a train set... the boys have been collecting Thomas (by Brio) trains and accessories for a few years now and Ryan is obsessed with them. This set that Steve points out is big... it has a shipyard, a crane, some trains, a bridge and elevated track, a playmat... lots of stuff for around $90. I say, hold off, let me run out at lunch to the Teaching Toys store here in Westford and see what they have. I plunk down a fair amount of green for a cool 'waterfall' tunnel, some 'bumpy' track, a new engine 'Peter Sam' and Harold the helocopter.

Steve's response? 'Cool. But can we get him the big set too?' LOL... Steve likes them as much as the boys do. So it will be a Thomas birthday - I believe Nanna and Poppy are going the Thomas route for a gift as well. We'll have to set up some collossal track and take some pics... this will be quite the track when we are done :o)

BTW - Ryan will be 3 on the 24th... Happy Birthday Bubba!

CandyLand

Sun, 13 Feb 2005 14:59:25 -0600

Yesterday we decided to go see a movie. Since the only one playing that was a reasonable expectation for the kids was Candyland, it wasn't a tough choice.

Steve fell asleep.

It was a cute movie - it kept the attention of both the 3 and 4 year old. But no one's going to be writing anything special about it, and it won't win any awards...

We attempted to go to Olive Garden after walking around the mall for an hour. But it was packed. People were parking across the street. And at 3pm? I couldn't figure that one out. So we went to AppleBee's. Ryan had 'binkie-meltdown' on the way there and was bawling when we walked in. For those that don't have a pacifier attached child - 'binkie-meldown' occurs when you don't bring one with you and the child decides 'I tired - I want binkie' and you respond with 'I don't have one'. So, in sympathy to the folks that actually like to eat without a screaming child in their presence, I attempted to sooth him. We found balloons and they were magical. The nice waitress got him one and we were all set. He even ate most of his fries. Kyle devoured more than 1/2 of the dinosaur sized grilled cheese and we all shared a chocolate wonder warm cake thing with chocolate ooze and vanilla ice cream. Yum!

I've still got this chesty cough thing going on. I'll probably call the Dr tomorrow and see if they'd like to listen to it. Overall, nothing special going on this week. Next week we head down to NY for the weekend.

Yep - that's my boring life :o)

meaningless rambles

Mon, 7 Feb 2005 07:54:24 -0600

So the Pats have acheived their 3 Championship in 4 years. Go Pats! :o)

It was pretty neat to see former presidents Bush and Clinton come onto the field side by side -sharing some comments no one else could hear - but acting like real people with common interests. And the singing of the Star Spangled Banner by the various Military Academies/Schools was very moving. They had a nice tribute to Ray Charles as well.

Of course right around 4:00 I started getting chills. At 5:30 I snuggled in with the boys to watch some DisneyChannel before we took over the TV and I just couldn't get warm. It progressed fast, and I ended up with two blankets and cranking the heat in the room - cooking Steve :o) - so me and Ryan are home today. Both have normal temps today, but we were both over 102 last night. He's fine today - normal, happy, singy, bouncy, RyGuy. I'm slowly coming around. I'd really like to nap for an hour or so, but he's just not there yet. I keep hoping. Mostly I'm just run down today. I'm not normally sick so often, I'm thinking maybe because it's our first winter in Maynard - with a whole new set of germs... The last time I had a rough winter was Kyle's first winter, and I had chalked it up to having a baby in daycare for the first time, but maybe it's a combination of the two.. who knows.

Some big sporting event or something.... ?

Sun, 6 Feb 2005 10:00:50 -0600

OK today is SuperBowl Sunday. We'll be good New Englanders and watch most of the game. Our favorite part? The ads :)
For those over 21 - checkout the ads section of www.budwieser.com - there's one called 'wardrobe malfunction' :O)

Of course this is only 1 of the 2 events we manage to watch - and the only one I watch all the way through - the World Series runs too far after my bedtime... but Steve watches.

So I'm going to the grocery store to get some munchies for us - just family today, no party...

pictures

Wed, 2 Feb 2005 09:42:25 -0600

We went out to have the RyGuy's birthday pictures taken. I didn't have any of just me with him, or just Steve with Ry, so we focused on that. I'll probably do the same with Kyle's in July. But since Kyle is first born we at least have pics with Mom only and Dad only from his babyhood... somewhere :)

They were wound up and full of energy. The folks were running behind - again! But my high-energy but happy children were a break for the photographer - she had just had two very unhappy infants :o)

Overall they came out nice.

We stopped in the Lego store - We LOVE the lego store :o) and we stopped for lunch. BK for Steve and the boys, Arby's for me. They mostly behaved too :o). Steve picked up two cheap used games from EB's for the boys - 1.99 and 2.99 - can't beat that. And he picked up the Matrix for PC too...

On the way out, I let Kyle pick out a new scarf - he's been upset that Ryan has one and he doesn't. That was our very uneventful trip to the mall :o)

... more snow ...

Sun, 23 Jan 2005 06:18:55 -0600

It's still snowing - estimates are 5 - 10 " MORE of the white stuff.
I think we have enough.

For a point of reference, Journey stands between 12 - 13" at the shoulder.

a few more inches.. a few more pictures. Last check on the deck measured 22+ inches (we did have an inch or so on the ground already though... )

Here's Ryan's favorite part about snow...

Here's Kyle checking for mail...

And me shoveling... Steve took 8 - yes EIGHT - pictures of me shoveling. 1/2 were of my backside... such a man!

Blizzard Warning

Sat, 22 Jan 2005 12:30:38 -0600

Taken directly from weather.com :)

... BLIZZARD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 5 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 6 PM EST SUNDAY...

SNOW WILL BEGIN ACROSS WESTERN RHODE ISLAND AND SOUTHERN WORCESTER COUNTY BETWEEN 2 AND 4 PM THIS AFTERNOON... AND WILL QUICKLY OVERSPREAD THE REMAINDER OF RHODE ISLAND AND EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS BY NIGHTFALL.

THE HEIGHT OF THE STORM WILL OCCUR TONIGHT AND MUCH OF SUNDAY MORNING. SNOW WILL LIKELY FALL AT THE RATE OF 3 INCHES PER HOUR FOR SEVERAL HOURS OVERNIGHT. STRONG NORTHEAST WINDS WILL INCREASE TO OVER 35 MPH FOR A TIME TONIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING. ALONG THE COAST... WIND GUSTS BETWEEN 60 AND 70 MPH ARE EXPECTED LATE TONIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING. EVEN HURRICANE FORCE GUSTS TO 75 MPH ARE POSSIBLE ALONG THE OUTER CAPE AND NANTUCKET COAST DURING SUNDAY MORNING. GUSTS CLOSE TO 50 MPH ARE LIKELY OVER EXPOSED INTERIOR TERRAIN.

THE STRONG WINDS WILL CAUSE SEVERE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW WITH WHITEOUT CONDITIONS AT TIMES. THE WINDS LIKELY WILL ALSO TRIGGER SCATTERED POWER OUTAGES NEAR THE COAST... AND TO A LESSER EXTENT INLAND. OVER CAPE COD... NANTUCKET AND MARTHAS VINEYARD... THE SNOW WILL LIKELY BE OF A SOMEWHAT WETTER CONSISTENCY... AND THUS CREATE THE RISK FOR EVEN MORE WIDESPREAD POWER OUTAGES.

IN ADDITION... THE COLD TEMPERATURES AND STRONG WINDS WILL CAUSE WIND CHILLS BETWEEN 10 AND 20 BELOW LATE TONIGHT. THIS WILL ADD TO THE DANGER FOR ANY ONE WHO VENTURES OUTDOORS TONIGHT.

THE SNOW WILL TAPER OFF TO SNOW SHOWERS BY LATE SUNDAY AFTERNOON OR EVENING. CONSIDERABLE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW WILL PERSIST INTO SUNDAY EVENING ACROSS EXPOSED AREAS.

TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE ON THE ORDER OF 20 TO 30 INCHES... WITH AMOUNTS AS HIGH AS 3 FEET POSSIBLE. ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATING SNOWFALL MAY CONTINUE ON THE CAPE AND ISLANDS INTO SUNDAY NIGHT.

Kitchen thoughts...

Fri, 21 Jan 2005 12:34:15 -0600

So when we moved in, we yanked out the old kitchen...

Now I'm trying to decide how to finish things off. I painted the walls a nice, soft yellow, but the soffit fronts still need something:

Besides the soffits I have this weird thing, created by not lining up the refridgerator return with the over fridge cabinet. Not awful, but odd... The RIGHT thing to do would be to take down the cab, cut the soffit more, rebuild the wall again and line the cabinet up right... but that's hard. It doesn't bother me THAT much :o)

Finally, I have this blank wall that needs something....

Suggestions anyone?

...stuff...

Thu, 20 Jan 2005 07:53:09 -0600

Not much going on. We're hunkering down for this snow storm that's coming across from the west. Mr. Weatherman said this morning, it could go South and stay south, then we'll get 2 - 6" - OR, it could go south, then swing up the coast to become a Nor-Easter... then we get dumped on - about a foot. This is Saturday.

We were supposed to travel to NY this weekend, but have cancelled the trip. Traveling in a storm isn't any fun, and the two families we were primarily focused on are either sick, or just not around. So rather than travel just to travel, we're going to see if we can go find some ice skates for the boys :O) Now THAT should be fun!

In good news: Ethan is home again. Still on that very long road - but he's a role model for all of us.

And Kyle's GodFather's Stepbrother is home and doing well. When I last checked, his girlfriend was still in the hospital. These were the folks that were run down by a hit n run a week or so ago in NJ. Glad they're doing OK.

Stay warm everyone :o)

thoughts for Ethan

Tue, 18 Jan 2005 07:50:34 -0600

Ethan is due for surgery again today. Such a lot for such a little guy to go through.

All good thoughts and prayers are appreciated.

Additional thoughts for his Mommy, Carolyn - she has MS and could use some extra strength right now. This family has shown such strength and faith together as a family.

Hugs and love go out from FamilyFrisch to the Rossidudes. Most especially today.

Hey! It's Unka Duggie!

Mon, 17 Jan 2005 13:33:49 -0600

Weeeee!!!!!

'act your age'

Mon, 17 Jan 2005 12:04:50 -0600

You Are 23 Years Old

23

Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe.

13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world.

20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences.

30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more!

40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

Yay Steve's Home!!!

Mon, 17 Jan 2005 07:48:19 -0600

We went down to pick up Steve at TF Green late Saturday. His flight was due at 9:40 - and me being perpetually early, pulled into hourly parking at 9pm sharp. Kyle requested a stroller 'I might be tired Mommy', so he sat in the stroller. Ryan really wanted a stroller too (the double stroller is frozen in the back shed right now), so I carried him. Halfway to the hangar I hoisted him up on my shoulders so that I could stand up a little more without listing to one side.

Too bad noone had a camera ;o)

We took the elevator up to the 2nd floor and waited in the seats. There were pre-recorded announcements periodically one of which stated:
"Due to the high number of people traveling today, meeters and greeters are to wait for their passengers on the lower level in the baggage area."

At this, I make a show of looking around... there were 3 other people waiting in the seats and just a few roaming around. I looked at a guy sitting down from us and said "High numbers? Where?" - he gave me a chuckle. I'm such a horrible roll model for my kids not talking to strangers... I swear I was shy and withdrawn in High School - honest!

Ryan started greeting the folks coming off the escalator in front of us with 'nananana booo booo'... and waving...

Then I saw Steve - 20 minutes early Yay!!! I pointed him out to Kyle and he was greeted with a chorus of DADDY!!!! and we got a round of chuckles from the other waiters.

Sunday we ventured out eventually to Target - Kyle wanted 'buzz lightyear' sneakers, and since he only has one pair that fit, I figured it was a good plan... he later decided he didn't want any, so we came home with lots of things, but not sneakers. He can be so 4! LOL So we got wipes and diapers, ink for my printer, random toys from Clearance (love 50% off!), a handy 'Barbara-K' tool box for me - so I stop stealing Steve's tools, some 'skin crack' cream for my feet, toddler tooth paste, and a few random other things... I love target - it's all in one place. We looked at a few air purifiers... I'd really like to try one out to see if it helps with my allergies at all... but we weren't sure what to go with - they range from $30 - $200 for single room purifiers. If anyone has experience with any, I'd love your opinions.

Day 6 - hey where's day 5?

Fri, 14 Jan 2005 12:13:33 -0600

Yeah, I was pretty tired last night. :o)

Mom and Dad left this morning, so one more night on my own. I promised Kyle we could all sleep in the big bed tonight if he wants to.

Overall not a bad week. Having Mom and Dad around helped more than it seemed. Just having someone to destress with is nice.

Steve comes home tomorrow night. The house is not only still standing, but reasonably clean too :o) Now THAT's an acheivement LOL

Steve's LV trip continues... day 4

Wed, 12 Jan 2005 12:06:55 -0600

Having Mom and Dad (aka Nanna and Poppy) sure is nice. The company was nice, but having the extra man power around is nice too. Dad helped me get the trash and recycling out today AND he shoveled the walk and around my car - (another inch of that white stuff last night). Mom helped get the kids dressed and she's making dinner tonight. Meatloaf. Yummm! :)

Kyle greated Nanna with "Nanna! Are you still sad that Fritzie is dead?" Thankfully, I had warned her, so she was mostly prepared. They were both very riled up last night at bed time. Probably because of the arrival of my parents. But once asleep they did OK. I woke up once to Ryan crying - I just pulled the blanket back up and rubbed his back and he was fine again.

We're halfway there now :o)

Day 3

Tue, 11 Jan 2005 14:24:08 -0600

Got the kids up and out - a little slower today, but still managed to get a jump on the day. Got a couple pics of the boys and a clip of RyGuy singing for Daddy to view if he can get the evil ethernet to work at the hotel LOL. Dropped off two very cheerful boys at school and got quite a bit done at work. Mom and Dad have arrived safely at the house. And we're almost halfway there!

Kyle did tell me today that he wants Fritzie to be alive again. I acknowledged this and told him about the kitty we had that we lost when Kyle was a baby. That we buried him in the backyard of our old house. He responded with 'I miss Shadow too. I wish Shadow were alive again.'. He's not overly sad, just stating what he wants. He did say that he wants to go to Nanna's house and take a picture of Fritzie - dead. I can only guess that he wants some sort of closure. Just telling him that he's gone and he'll never see him again is too open ended for him - hmmm kinda like his parents ?

Day 2

Mon, 10 Jan 2005 18:56:15 -0600

Weee... Managed to get a nice night's sleep, get the kids up, dressed and out to school. Worked a little from home, then into the office. Picked the kids up on time :o) and didn't yell at them too much when we got home.

Steve called and talked to Ryan... Kyle was acting 4 and said "hidaddyiloveyoubye!". We had some 'crazy/silly' ness at bedtime, but the went right down after I closed the door.

Nice and quiet now.

My Mom and Dad come up tomorrow. Mostly for adult interaction... I'm hoping for real dinners ;o)

kids and loss

Mon, 10 Jan 2005 08:44:44 -0600

All kids will handle loss differently, and little guys tend to have a great resiliency. My mother lost he 'soul-dog' last week. Fritz was 13 and being treated with chemo for lymphoma. He was in remission, but not handling the chemo well. Yesterday, Kyle mentioned that Nanna was coming this week with 'her two puppies'. Yeah - I thought I'd at least warn him.. or he'd immediately notice that there was only one, and pelt my Mom with questions. She's already sad.

I started with simple and let him decide how much he wanted to know.
Kyle I'm sorry, but Fritzie is gone
K - gone where?
Well, he was sick, remember? And now he's gone.
K - but where did he go. (I know I know, but I had to try that route first).
Oh sweetie, I'm sorry but Fritzie was very sick, and he died.
Kyle has total meltdown here. Crying, saying 'but I loved him', and just crying out for 'Fritzie! Fritzie!' - basically how we all feel when we lose something we love. I held him, and rocked him, and got in some words.. then...
K - where did he die?
In Nanna's house
K - but WHERE in Nanna's house
In his bed (again, didn't want to just offer that up - don't want him afraid of sleeping)
K - Oh.

There was more - a lot of responding to his half comprehension. I know he knows what dead is - he plays with his toys and has them be 'dead' all the time. He's just never lost something he loves before. Though he once told me his Big Blue Dinosaur friend was dead (this is Kyle's long time imaginary friend)... I explained that imaginary friends (fondly called Maginaries by Kyle) cannot die, because they are pretend and live in our imaginations... got through that one.. but that's a total tangent.

At any rate... when he started to calm down he asked me for a picture - of Fritzie, dead. And another of Nanna, sad. So that he can show his friends. We settled on a photo of Kyle, with then-Baby Ryan, Nanna, Poppy and Fritz. I warned his teachers, I don't know what I'm setting them up for. But they understand. He's OK this morning, and I reminded him of the picture. I think he'll probably be sad again, when it's reinforced by Nanna getting here with only one dog, but at least the surprise factor is gone now.

I may have been able to handle that one better, but I'm not so sure. He settles for nothing less than specifics... and I'd rather not lie to him if I don't have to.

Steve's Las Vegas trip - day 1

Sun, 9 Jan 2005 11:16:49 -0600

This is when I feel the pain. Steve is a GREAT father. He's also a great husband. He cleans the kitchen, does the dishes, feeds the dogs, takes out the trash, and harrasses the boys with me :o) He's gone until Saturday. Man the house is going to be lucky to still be standing...

Kyle only had a short meltdown when we said goodbye at the airport - (4am is NOT an acceptable wake up time on a Sunday!) Bribery with McDonald's didn't work, but when he remembered that we had to go down the escalator to get home, he was happy again. So now Steve knows where he fits into Kyle's scale - above McDonald's, but below riding the escalator :o) - (Ryan's reaction was normal Ryan... an exubberant 'Bye Daddy!' with a flappy bye bye wave :o) )

We stopped briefly at Home Depot on the way home. Both Kyle and I had to use the potty (Ryan didn't want to go in... *sigh* too early), and then I checked out the shelving isle for some things I'm thinking of doing downstairs.

We stopped once we got back to Maynard in McDonald's. They don't change to lunch until 11 and it was only 10:30, happily, the boys were happy with pancakes - as long as they got their Dave the Barbarian toys :o)

We're home now. I've got laundry going and Ryan's napping. Almost normal life :o)

Kyle's not showing any more signs of fever today - he's had a fever for the last 3... and I have just an uncomfortable level of sore throat left. At least we don't have THAT to deal with while Steve is gone.

My Mom is coming up on Tuesday - mostly for adult company LOL. Every time I start worrying about handling the week alone, I immediatly feel guilty too. I have a good friend who lost her husband almost two years ago now in a car accident. She does this every day and can't talk to him on the phone. I can handle a week.

In other news, Turi - Kyle's GodFather's StepBrother, is doing well. He's talking to people and seems to be handling it OK. His Girlfriend is more banged up, and going to take a while to fully recover.

----

Day 1 is done. Kids are in bed. Ryan was asleep before Steve even called to say goodnight. Kyle talked to him. When Steve asked Kyle if he was taking good care of Mommy, Kyle asked me: "Mommy, what do you want to eat?". There's my little man... feed me and the world is a happy place.

Overall, not bad. I'm worn out, but that may have to do with the 4am start of the day. The tough part was the post-5pm crazies that they get. Oh, and bed time. Kyle wanted to be silly, which makes Ryan silly, making Kyle giggle, making Ryan giggle, making Kyle... well.. you see. Kyle is now in the guest room. He knows the consequences of not letting his brother go to sleep. It means he sleeps alone - something he doesn't like.

Hit and Run

Sat, 8 Jan 2005 10:11:30 -0600

Kyle's GodFather's stepbrother was hit last night in a hit and run. He was crossing the street with his girlfriend. He's in critical condition with head injuries- she's stable. Good thoughts, prayers are appreciated.

Sick

Thu, 6 Jan 2005 08:47:35 -0600

I've had a sore throat since Tuesday evening... yesterday (Wed) I developed a nice fever with chills and all over body aches. Weee what fun. I came home at noon and slept until Steve and the Kids came home. Wait, that's not entirely true... I passed into what was more like a fever induced coma, only coming out of it when Journey barked at me because she couldn't get up on the bed, or when Sasquatch decided I needed a good face scrubbing with his cat tongue.

Today I'm home again, fever and chills are gone, but I've added headache and the nasty taste I get when I have strep. Just back from the Dr, who doesn't seem to think it is strep, but cultured anyway. I almost hope it is, at least antibiotics will kick it. Virus I have to wait out. Bleh.

More pink...

Tue, 4 Jan 2005 04:57:39 -0600

We ventured up to NH on Sunday to visit the Pheasant Lane mall. While there I remembered to look for something pink for Kyle. Of course there was nothing in the boys section. I did find a bin of girls sleepers. But they weren't all frilly. There was a set that was white with teddy bears all over it with some pink specks and pink trim. Kyle liked it. I asked if he wanted them and he said yes. They came with a 2nd pair which is solid pink with a single bear on the chest :o)

At home he tried on the pink pair - immediately turned to when I asked if he liked it and asked "am I beautiful".... OK sometimes I'm slow to pick up on things... Kyle is the only boy in his class... I KNOW that the teachers all exclaim how beautiful the girls are when they come in in their frilly outfits... having now made a connection, I mentioned it to a teacher yesterday, and requested that occassionally someone make a big deal over Kyle and how handsome he is. He wants to be like everyone else(and oh yeah, he still really likes pink - so the two feed each other)...

While inSears I also checked out the girls turtlenecks. My hope was for something neutral with pink stripes... I could put a vest or a sweater over it to even out the pink... they had two in the patterns I was thinking of - with sparkly glitter all over them. Ugh. Kyle said "I don't like sparklies - they make me sneeze'... good enough for me :o) we passed.

techie competition

Fri, 31 Dec 2004 07:12:05 -0600

It's always nice when I can feel that I do something better than Steve.

Technically speaking, he wins hands down. He manages to keep up with what's new, what will work with what, what's coming out, what the games will need (this is the driving factor methinks) and where things are going. He can solder components back onto a board if he feels like it, and if he feels like it can crimp his own wires (I could probably do that one, if I'd bother to pay attention.. but why when there's Radio Shack?).

BUT ... he has limits I've found. My strong areas are code. Not necessarily writing it, though I have found lately that is kind of fun (shhhh - yes I'm a big geek). So we have this group of folks that we game with in a clan - The Generals. Fun group of folks focused on friendship and having fun. Competition is nice too, but secondary. And we host (well pay for doteasy to host) the website which we're in the process of restructuring as a Nuke site...

So we've just changed our game focus - we were created around Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force, but are now moving to Tribes, and some Half Life 2... America's Army (it's free) and keeping our hands in EF too. So Steve hunted up some good pics and was putting them on the front page and didn't like how it looked. He was using Netscape Composer... probably because that's what he had available at the time... I pushed him out of the way, went to source, grabbed the lines of code for the table he wanted and cut it - pasted them where they should go, went back to 'normal' and said 'is that what you wanted?'....

I look at code long enough and it just makes sense. Now I'm not into functions or javascript yet, though I'm starting to understand some of them... keep in mind my major was CIS not CS... lots more business than coding there. But I have the brain for it and it's kinda fun. Maybe I'll get more into it - we'll see. For now I'm happy that I'm better at something than dear Steven :)

Ha.

...2005 here we come...

Fri, 31 Dec 2004 06:17:18 -0600

Well, 2004.... We lost my Uncle Mel to diabetes related problems. Our friends Rossidudes celebrated a new baby, then started a long journey when he was diagnosed with Leukemia. We moved to a new house in a new town and moved the boys to a new daycare center (fondly referred to as School). I started a new job, going back FT and I am loving it. Another friend of ours had a baby girl, and we learned of 4 (yes it's 4 now) families that are expecting new little ones in '05. Oh, and there were those big sports things too - A superbowl AND a world series!!! Go New England! (that's probably the most you'll hear me say on that - not a big sports fan). Then of course we end the year with the still rising numbers of dead from the Tsunami in Asia. Again my heart goes out to them.

It's been a big year hasn't it.

In '05 Ryan will turn 3 and Kyle will turn 5 and start Kindergarten in the fall. Ryan is starting out the year by moving to the official preschool room, and seriously starting potty training :o) When he resisted sitting on the potty, he was told 'but you're in the big boy room and all the other boys sit on the potty' and he immediatly sat - for about 30 seconds... but it's a start.. better than his 'NO WAY!' we usually get.

What will 2005 bring for you?

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!
- The Frischknecht Family -

Graphic video in the Media

Tue, 28 Dec 2004 11:08:35 -0600

OK. I am completely at a loss for words to describe how my heart goes out to all those affected by the Tsunami over the weekend. The loss and devastation is beyond comprehension.

While waiting for my takeout at a local restaurant for lunch I was watching network news. They were about to show video of the devastation and he prefaced it very briefly with a grim this video may be disturbing to some... disturbing? They panned across what looked like a warehouse filled with dead bodies in various states of dress - I didn't see any nude bodies, but that isn't the point. This video immediately made me think of the post-911 media response. How many times were we expected to see those planes crash into the towers and the bodies falling from the windows? When news crews put things like this on the news, it just makes me cringe. I'm not saying don't cover it - but be slightly more selective in what you're showing folks. You were painting quite the graphic picture with just your words.

Snow update...

Mon, 27 Dec 2004 04:23:49 -0600

WEeeee... has to be at least 8 inches out there.. still falling. In Boston it's falling at 2"/hour. Not sure about here, maybe not that fast, but still pretty good pace.

Wow.

Today's Three-som

Sun, 26 Dec 2004 18:19:50 -0600

Snow storms silly. What did you *think* I meant ? ;o)

There's a storm coming in from East hitting the coast, there's a storm coming from the West...
And there's a storm forming off the Midlantic states that will move north to give the other two some extra moisture - we'll get the fringes of that one... wow. They say 'blizzard like conditions' and that if it were going to last longer than they expect it would be a nasty, nasty storm. But since it's only expected to be 12 hours or so, it's really just an average New England storm.

So we bundled up and went out to do the MOSTEST favoritist thing for the boys in the snow.

Go on the swings....

Yep... that's what they like to do in the snow. Ryan did a very nice triple back flip off it too - very hard to hold on with mittens. He cried. But not because he was hurt 'I want back wing!' he says. He's just mad that he's not on the swing anymore :o) That's my boy!

So it's stormy out, and cozy in... I'm planning on working from home tomorrow anyway, but we'll need to get the boys over to daycare. We'll see what the morning brings :o)

Merry Christmas!

Sat, 25 Dec 2004 16:13:02 -0600

For those that celebrate it - hope yours was very merry ;)
For those that don't - I hope you at least had a nice day off ;)

I didn't sleep well, because Kyle is 4 and I spent the night listening intently to every bump and snore. If he were to wander out to the tree there would be no holding him back - though I may not be giving him enough credit there... there's a *chance* he would have come to get us first.... but who knows?

So at 5am the boys were fighting in bed - they slept together so that Unka Duggie could have RyGuy's bed. Steve popped into the top bunk with them and kept them quiet a bit longer. Around 5:30 I moved my post to the couch. They were up at 6am. Only slightly earlier than normal.

Ryan exclaimed 'peasants!'

Kyle asked 'is my jet here?'

We held them off for 6 or 7 minutes while Nanna, Poppy and Unka Duggie woke up. Kyle found his jet and was almost content with that :o) It's HUGE!!! And he's very happy.

They are spoiled rotten of couse... you can see some here.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend. Grammie and Dean are coming tomorrow :o) then back to work for Monday.
Cheers!

Pink

Wed, 22 Dec 2004 09:30:54 -0600

So I have a little boy whose favorite color is Pink. And I mean ALL THINGS pink. Of course in our society, most things pink are also girlie. Pink is not in itself a 'Girl's color' in my opinion, but when was the last time you saw a little boy in a pink sweatshirt? Or pink pajamas. Things that are pink are made for girls. Like Pullups - pink is girls, blue is boys. In a normal every day world, this is OK. In our house? It causes strange things to happen.

So Ryan ran out of diapers in school yesterday (see where this is going yet?) and came home in a pink Princess pullup. Very cute, I had a good laugh, and took it off to send him to the potty to get ready for bed. After getting his jammies on, I head back to the bathroom to retrieve the pullup where it had been graciously kicked off and onto the floor. But no pullup. Hmm... Now Journey, our schipperke, has a serious sick craving for diapers/pullups... but she was outside. Kyle? Where are you Kyle? Hmmm. I find him hidden behind my bedroom door with the pullup on over his pants.

"I just wanted to try it on" he says. How did I handle it? Hopefully, well, but we're never sure. I explained that if he wants to try on pink things he doesn't need to hide. Liking pink is not a problem and definitely not something he needs to hide. BUT trying on his brothers wet pullup isn't healthy and he can't do that. I have a stack of CLEAN blue pullups in the bedroom if he'd like to try on one of them, but I don't happen to have any pink. He seems OK with this - looks interested in the blue pullup, but it obviously doesn't call to his inner Pinkness ;o) He did ask if I might buy some pink ones at the store though. I think I'm going to conveniently forget that request ;o)

He's 4. I don't want to lay down boundaries because of a color. And dressup is a part of exploration of the young. I used to dress my brother in my grandmother's dresses and call him the Butterscotch Lady (yellow dress.... it made sense at the time) and he's *mostly* normal. The problem is that I know Kyle is already feeling pressure from other kids about his pink preferences. First, is that he's hiding... second is that he won't bring things that are pink to school. I know kids can be cruel - but well, I guess I don't know where I'm going with this after all

...tick....tick....tick....

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 07:03:24 -0600

yeah, um.... that's my clock. The biological variety. It's been getting louder and louder lately. Yesterday we got a SLEW of Christmas cards and there were 'expectant baby' announcements in two of them. The clock just got louder.

Now I am thrilled for these two families. The first is a family who I can't WAIT to watch go through child rearing. They have great views on life in general, and while a baby will bring about a change for them, I think they'll do fine. I just want to watch :o) The other family has 2 girls now. The older just turned 4. While I am just DYING to have a 3rd, I can't imagine having 3 under 5. Or 3 at home for that matter :o) The older won't be in kindergarten until the following year, and Mom stays home. It's going to be a busy house there... But, it's all worth it in the end. Either way, I get lots of babies to wave under Steve's nose.

To make it even worse, yesterday (yes, the very day I got these two announcements) Ryan came home with his announcement that he's officially transitioning to the preschool2 room. This is official preschool, not the transitional room he's been in for the last few months.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

My babies aren't babies any more.

In theory I have lots of time. AND I was told that I shouldn't have odd numbers of children (taking that one with a grain of salt, but I have heard it from multiple sources now... tick... tick...

I had another mini panic/anxiety attack the other night about getting old and decrepit... dying too, but mostly getting old and decripit... I call these 'attacks' because that's what they feel like, my brain goes spinning and spinning and I feel the adrenaline run through my body and I just feel like curling up in a ball until it goes away. I haven't talked to anyone about them really, because 1 - I can beat them down and make them go away, and 2 - they are infrequent. Usually once or twice a year, if that. I've had 2 in the last few months, so I know something's on my mind, and I think it's that damned clock! :o)

*sigh* we'll see what I can talk him into in the spring :o)

more snow :o)

Mon, 20 Dec 2004 13:17:44 -0600

Yay. Maybe 3 or 4 inches this time :o) The boys will be very happy. Ryan will want to build a snowman - he's been asking since the last day we had flurries...

I wonder if Charlie go any?

Star Wars gone too far?

Mon, 20 Dec 2004 13:16:15 -0600

http://www.i-mockery.com/shorts/starwars-xmas/

you judge.

siiing, sing a song....

Fri, 17 Dec 2004 19:21:23 -0600

So the door bell rings... well, actually there was a buzz, then a faint ring. - time for a new door bell apparently. Anyway, I hear this 'crowd' outside. I open the door and hear my neighbor "Jen! We're hear to sing to you!"

About 10 - 12 girls - in the 13 year old bracket sang Frosty the Snowman to me and Kyle (Ryan was busy with his first eggnog of the season and couldn't be moved...). Carolers! Wow. Haven't had caroler since I left my parents' house :O) Now THIS is nice.

a blot? what, like an ink blot?

Tue, 14 Dec 2004 07:54:50 -0600

Hey why have an ordinary blog when you can have a 'blot'. weeeee - it's jen's handy place for meaningless ramblings...

Jen's Blot!

Hmmmm. But it doesn't make me sing like 'blog' does....

-oops-

Tue, 14 Dec 2004 07:52:07 -0600

*sigh*

So our www.genclan.com site was hacked - well the forums anyway... and in my security fear I went crazy deleting some files... and I messed up my blog. Shame on me. Since I hadn't done much here yet, I hadn't bothered with a backup (bad techie!).

So here we are from the beginning again!!!

All 2 of you that read, are terribly upset I'm sure :O)

random stuff

Sun, 12 Dec 2004 09:51:29 -0600

I'm working today - ok it's from home, but I still have to be online and available. There's some specific things I need to do, and then I'm just here waiting to see if any of our servers crash. Hopefully, noticing before any of the 'big' guys do :o) So I'm stuck here.

While I'm waiting I'm getting a few more Christmas cards made... I made them with stuff from Stampin Up :o) My newest craft-addiction. They came out cute - and I managed to keep to my usual 'have to have a picture in it' layout. But I'm a few short, so I'm making a few more.

We're waiting for delivery of a couple of dressers too - Steve's Mom doesn't need them in her new place and is sending them up our way. Nice - we like free :o) THANK YOU TERRYMOM!!!

Right now Steve is upstairs with the boys - and the boys are making a huge rukous!!! :o) but they are having fun at least.

Mom Update #2

Thu, 9 Dec 2004 16:56:29 -0600

Mom's cardiologist doesn't feel she needs the angiogram... ...yet.
At least she doesn't have to worry about fitting it in before Christmas - less stress.
She did have some rx changes though.

She had a hernia operation about 3 weeks ago - I'm just wondering if this is some sort of reaction to that - like stress-induced or something.... who knows. I certainly am NOT a Dr. ;o)

cute kid things

Thu, 9 Dec 2004 11:24:30 -0600

The other day I posted about the song Kyle's been singing "Jekyle Hyde" from Arthur. Since both Kyle and Ryan go to the same daycare center, it made since that Ryan would know it too (this is where Kyle's been hearing it). So I sang to Ryan this morning "Jekyll Jekyll Hyde... Jekyll Hyde Hyde Jekyll" - he said 'no, Mommy. *KYLE* sings the jekka hiide hiide song." I can't get away with anything in this house. Sheesh.

Mom's update (my Mom not me)

Wed, 8 Dec 2004 08:13:44 -0600

So as I said briefly, my Mom was admitted to the hospital on Friday. Initially, to the ICU for overnight observation. She was there through Monday. Apparently, the Dr (not her usual Dr) wanted her to stay for a stress test. (her other Dr had indicated she could do this as an outpatient). After the stress test New Dr felt that it would be a good idea for her to have another angiogram with possibly and angioplaste depending what they find. Mom's not keen on this and has an appointment with her regular Dr either tomorrow or Friday. She's hoping to have the films from her stress test when she goes - she wants his opinion and is hoping he'll compare them to the results to the one she had in January when she was pronounced 'fine' (and here I suspect there is a whole rhealm of 'fine' - it could mean 'clear - it could mean 'no worse than last time' ... who knows? I suggested she ask very specific questions. But she's an RN - she knows this. :o) So we all hang out and wait and hope that Mom doesn't really need this procedure right now.

In the meantime, whenever I start feeling overwhelmed by life - I pop over to www.rossidudes.com to remind myself that we need to count our blessings. My children are healthy and happy. I hope that if our family were faced with the challenges of Brian, Carolyn and Ethan that we'd come out as strong and united as they are. But who really knows. I admire their strength and pray for them constantly. Yep - you heard me - I pray. :o)

Misc.

Tue, 7 Dec 2004 08:56:55 -0600

The headache has finally departed... wahoo! Nice to not feel so drugged. I think this may even be a new record for me... 6 days is a loooong time. Thankfully, it doesn't happen often. Even when I do get them, they are usually gone in a day or so. Steve thinks its unconscious holiday stress... who knows?

My Mom spent a few days in the hospital for chest pain, but is home now. Yay. She was very bored.

I spent 20 minutes looking for a song Kyle's been singing "chicka chicka High! Chicka High! High! Chicka!" when we picked him up yesterday we could just barely hear it playing - yes, it's from Arthur the teacher said. Now remember - we couldn't actually HEAR the words... so I can find the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom of course, but no song... at least not what I'm looking for. So I start looking at the song lists for Arthur CDs - hey... here's a Jekyll Hyde song... *kinda* sounds like chicka high right? Yep - download quick sample (LOVE the internet, yes sir!) and sure enough, what he's listening to is Jekyll Jekyll Hyde! Jekyll Hyde! Hyde! Jekyll! LOL. who knew? Of course if we had asked more questions yesterday, we might have known - but hind site is always 20/20 and all that.

The boys helped Daddy shovel the driveway - and Kyle wandered down the sidwalk to help Mr. Gately next door too. I told him to come back - they have their own (bigger) kids to do that for them LOL. We all had a nice bright and early morning chuckle at least.

And we got our outside lights up on Sunday. So now I am all lit up just like the rest of the neighborhood. Kyle was very happy to see this.

Still have to find something for my Brother for Christmas, but other wise am done. We might pick up little things here and there if we find them - but there's nothing else we 'have' to get.

headaches...

Sun, 5 Dec 2004 10:22:35 -0600

I have one. A big one. Since Wednesday. Weee.
I hate migraines. I've taking excedrin since Wednesday night - the pain recedes slowly, I'm painfree for about an hour, then it starts sneaking back in until I'm watching the clock and trying to guess how soon I can really take more.

I once had a prescription for imitrix to try - but it was expensive and I never got it filled. So must be time to talk to the Dr. again. 4 days is too long. I've had them this long before, it's just been a very long time.

Ugh. And the boys just don't get it either... poor guys.

Poop . . .

Fri, 3 Dec 2004 16:11:25 -0600

Ryan had a comment on his school daily sheet today:
'P.O.P' - Pooped on Potty!

Yip Yip Hooray!

...misc...

Thu, 2 Dec 2004 10:27:28 -0600

Well, I've been pain free since Monday's dr. visit. Mostly - there was a very minor twinge once or twice yesterday but nothing today. Today is headache day. I woke up with it - and now it seems like it's one of 'those' - I was hoping the ibu would kick it. I'll wait a little longer, then throw the excedrin after it. These things really make me understand how someone could accidentally OD on something as minor as ibuprofen.

Sunday we bought our Christmas tree. I finally gave in and we went and picked out a nice 'faux' tree. Yes it is called 'faux' - NOT artificial. I get the biggest kick out of this. So since I was going for simple (and I warned Steven this would not be a $40 tree- if we do it this way, I have to be happy with it)... so about $180 plunked down on it -but it already has the lights on it :o) about 500 white lights with about 20 that flicker. It gives it a nice, glinty kind of feel - alot like twinkling stars.

So we put it up Sunday and played with the limbs until yesterday. I added the ornaments yesterday and am actually pretty satisfied. Now I just need the rest of my collection from the attic. The kids have already stolen my 3' santa. He's in their room!!! I caught them body slamming him and I told them they couldn't do that - but he could visit.

hmmmmm... what else. Well, I sent Ryan to wash his hands after breakfast this morning and he automatically got on the potty too :o) that's a small step in the right direction methinks. We've taken a much more subtle tact with Ryan than we tried with Kyle. Kyle just wasn't ready - when he finally WAS ready it was a piece of cake. From the day he told me 'Mommy, pullups hurt me' to the day he slept with undies on and stayed dry was under 2 weeks (don't let me kid you - there was 2 years of pushing and backing off in there before this... it was painful). So with Ryan we just started putting him on the potty periodically. Since he happens to be a nice, regular kind of guy - if you get my drift - more than 50% of the time he is successful. We cheer - he cheers - he calls Kyle to 'KY-ul! Come Look my poopie!' all very cute. Hopefully, he's trained sooner than Kyle. In the meantime the view we're taking is that each poop success is one less poopie diaper :o) We think that's a healthy outlook.

This morning looking at the tree Ryan suggested " mmm How bout Christmas! " way to cute these guys.

Not terribly focused on my Christmas plans yet. My parents are coming up, and I invited Steve's Mom and 'man-friend' (her term :o) ) up for *something*. We'll have to figure that all out since Steve's Mom is now going to have to work out something with Dean's family too this year. I understand juggling :o) so I'll be flexible - I offered Christmas Eve dinner, or brunch or lunch on Christmas ... so we'll get a good visit from the mostly local family at least. At some point we should really do something to get out to CA to see Steve's father and step-mom. It's just so daunting to think about not 2 but 4 round trip tickets... not to mention the thought of dragging the boys from plane to plane all day.... *shiver*

back pain

Wed, 1 Dec 2004 06:48:02 -0600

So I'd developed some pain on Sunday. Actually, Sunday it was more like bad PMS than anything else - but timed totally wrong. By lunch I was feeling fine. Monday I was fine all day, but once I got home from work my back started bothering me. Kind of achy, with some minor crampiness thrown in. More so on my left side. Kinda where my kidneys are. So I got dinner ready, hopped on my treadmill for 20 minutes and then ate with the family. By the time dinner was done I was VERY uncomfortable. Not enough to go to the hospital, but enough to leave Steve in charge, take some ibuprofen and chill in a hot-as-i-can-stand-it tub for a half hour with my new Stephen King book. By the time I got out I was OK - but still not quite normal.

My night was restless - my left side/back area still bothered me a little. Tuesday I decided at 10am that the pain was too similar to when I had gall stones and I needed to call the Dr. Of course by the time I got to my appointment the pain was gone :o) Dr had an xray and urinalysis - no red blood cells in my urine and we didn't see anything resembling stones on the xray - but he is leaning toward kidney stones. Maybe already passed and I'm done. I can only hope. After what my dad went through a few years ago I have no desire to experience it. Maybe the radiologist will see something the Dr didn't - who knows.

For now I'm OK, but have an rx for tylenol/codeine just in case. We'll see what happens I guess.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thu, 25 Nov 2004 04:57:10 -0600

After THE WORST DRIVE EVER!!! OK maybe not *ever* - we made it to my Mom's house (AKA Nanna and Poppy's house). The boys are plunked in front of Sesame St and have had an uneventful night. Kyle has been reunited with the most favoritest toy of all time. Uncle Dougies transformer. A small transformer that turns into a car. It's not Nanna and Poppy he asks about when we leave - it's this car :)

We're going out for dinner later.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

I'm thankful for my family and our general health. We are able to put food on the table, drive nice cars and wear clothes that fit. We live in a country where people can say out loud how much they don't like our president and that's not only OK but an important part of our country's foundation.

What are you thankful for?

MySpace

Thu, 25 Nov 2004 04:52:23 -0600

Well, I setup a MySpace page. Maybe we'll make some new friends.

**Disclaimer - I hold no responsibility for the language or attitudes of other people I may know. :o)

Moody Children

Tue, 23 Nov 2004 10:55:44 -0600

Where to start...

Last week, Kyle pushed a girl and she hit a badly placed door and needed stitches. So yesterday we met with the center Director to discuss Kyle in general, but focused on anger management. We've been working on Kyle's tendency to just react rather than thinking things through for a long time now - since he was 2 1/2. We've made huge progress, but still have a bit to go. Part of the problem is that he's too bright. He's starting to get Ryan to do things for him ('go hit that kid') rather then doing things himself too.

Not to be outdone- Saturday we went for our Christmas pictures at The Picture People. They were VERY backlogged as they had booked 3 rooms solid for the day, then had a malfunction in one of them. After over an hour's wait we get in and Ryan just has total meltdown. Nothing makes him happy.

Here's the best one of the day:

And here's a better shot of how he was really feeling...

So now I have to get them dressed up again - maybe by the fireplace this time...

I've been spending lots of time making my holiday cards this year... I just need a good pic to put in them!!!

Snow!

Sat, 13 Nov 2004 05:47:54 -0600

Yay for snow!

They promised us 4 - 6 " and I really expected it to peter out overnight. But we woke this morning to snow still falling. I think it's only just stopped - around the 5 or 6" mark too. The boys are THRILLED to say the least. Steve is happy that our driveway isn't nearly as long as the old house.

So 8am this morning we were outside in it :o) what can you do with a 4 year old right? And yes, I took pics. I'll put them here as soon as I resize some. We'll see if I got any good movie clips too.

Veteran's Day

Thu, 11 Nov 2004 04:35:50 -0600

A big, heartfelt Thank you to all Veterans and all those currently serving. You help to keep my boys safe - and for that I'm eternally grateful...

Time

Wed, 10 Nov 2004 07:03:25 -0600

Where does the time go? I find that I'm rembering a short story by Stephen King called 'My Little Pony' or maybe it's 'My Pretty Pony' - basically, a grandfather is explaining to his grandson how the perception of time changes. He likened it to getting out of school for summer - the weeks seem to stretch out ahead of you and you feel like you have all the time in the world, and then suddenly you find that time has passed and your first day of school is tomorrow...

I look at my 4 year old and can't believe this walking, talking, decision making, thinking human was my little newborn that I brought home just over 4 years ago. Looking at my not-quite-3 year old is even worse. He's suddenly decisive and speaking full sentences and asserting his opinion. How did he morph into this thing?

Even just looking short term - we moved in May - the very end of May... and now we're coming up on Thanksgiving... what??? I still have unpacking and painting and sorting and all kinds of things to do. I can't really have been here for 5 months already. And in that time we have moved into a new house, put the boys in new daycare, I've gone back to FullTime and I've started a new position in a new location (same company) - I've been here for 2 months already. Wow.

I don't feel old - this is Karl's fault - his post on age got me going... so I don't feel old - in my brain I'm still 20 :o) it's still just yesterday that I was in college, and only a month earlier that I was in high school, isn't it? Then something happens, like us interviewing prospective college hires and my brain melts... how can I be this old? And I'm not OLD exactly - just older than I think I am. Logic tells me at 32 I have a long span of time ahead of me - I can still do all kinds of things, including having more children if we decide to go that route..... but where did all those years go?

I lose track of time - I'm guilty of missing birthdays and anniversaries... not because I don't care, but because while I'm aware of the date in the emminent future - when the day is actually here, I'm lost and just don't know what day it is...

And then Pampered Chef does something awful like announce their January specials... what??? I'm supposed to be looking toward January? Oh - it's only 2 months away. What? Christmas is only just a month away? Sheesh.... I need more time!

Ethan

Sat, 6 Nov 2004 06:17:04 -0600

Today I am headed down to have my blood tested for a possible match as a bone marrow donor for Ethan. I will also have my name added to the international registry of bone marrow donors. If I'm not a match for him, maybe I can help someone else.

If you want info on becoming a donor, visit the Caitlin Raymond International Registry.

Seeing little Ethan's daily picture and the smile he gives to everyone inspires me to try to be a better person. I have huge admiration and respect for Brian and Carolyn and their faith and trust in God. They haven't just accepted that He will reach out and just heal Ethan - they are pursuing every medical avenue available to them, but they have faith that He will guide and help them. We are all thankful for the medical advances that have made treatment of this disease possible.

My religious beliefs are not as clear to me. Maybe it's my strong desire to take things apart, or a need to be in control, but I have trouble 'giving it up to God' so to speak. But that's a topic better discussed on another day. For now I hold Ethan in my heart and ask that whatever may be there, whether it's God, or some other emminent being, or just angels and spirits - please watch over this little guy and his family and help them overcome all the little hurdles and the bigger hurdles that create this road to recovery they are on.

Election Day

Tue, 2 Nov 2004 06:08:10 -0600

So it's election day. Everyone will stay up late so that they can watch and cheer or boo the elected President no matter who it is.

Me? I screwed up. When we moved in May we changed our licenses online and the Mass Registry (RMV here in MA, DMV in NY - why can't there be a standard LOL) very nicely allowed us to change our voter registration at the same time. Great! Done. Now we don't have to worry about it.

It occurred to me yesterday that I didn't know where to go to vote - so I called the town clerk, and figured I'd just have her verify that the registration change went through. No, you're not listed in Maynard. No you're listed as a resident of Douglas but not registered to vote. Nice. Thank you very much Registry.

We have issues with the registry to begin with, and yes, I should have checked loooong before this - but hey Steve didn't think of it either right? It was DONE! *sigh* so my vote won't count this year which is a bummer - but I'll be ready next go round. They could have notified me that it didn't happen.

BOO!

Mon, 1 Nov 2004 09:44:32 -0600

So Halloween :o)

This was our first Halloween in the new neighborhood. A very big change from living in the middle of the woods with only 2 neighbors. We went from having 0 (yes zero) trick or treaters the last few years, to over 100 this year.

My parents held down the fort while Steve and I took our superheros around the 'block'. I'm using 'block' extremely loosely. To walk around the circle, you hit about 60 houses total. So more of a loop than a block really.

The boys had a great time, and I had to empty their buckets into my pockets to lighten their load (which was passed on into our handing-out-candy-bowl shhh!)

There were several houses done up - but the best house was mostly simple in decorations. A nicely attired witch stood at the door to great and hand out the goodies while a pumpkin-headed 'dummy' sat in a chair and talked to you. Really talked. They obviously had someone hidden somewhere that could see you. 'oooooh scarey Spiderman. Stay away! Stay away!' - very nicely done.

We brought the wagon so we wouldn't have to carry the guys - so they rode in style. I must say, the older kids were all very well behaved. I didn't even see any toilet paper around this morning. A nice surprise.

Maybe the lingering skunk scent from our uninvited visitor a few nights ago had something to do with it :)

Phew! We'll see if this one lasts

Mon, 1 Nov 2004 08:46:43 -0600

OK - 4 different blog styles in a week. I wonder if that's a record?
At any rate, this is just plain vanilla nucleus. It seems straight forward and easy. So we'll see how it goes. For now it stays with the defaults - maybe this weekend I'll try to figure out how to make it more me-ish. :o)

Jen's Blot

On the verge of the first NY school year for the boys...

Argh. Tomorrow is Monday.

Groceries 7/11/10

Sears' Kidvantage Guarantee

July 5th 2010

Groceries 7/2/10

Bread, glorious, wonderful, bread!

Compare and Contrast

CVS today...

Holy Bat Batman!

The Vacation Account is open!

Royal Carribean and Dreamworks :)

Found Money?

My Shoprite matches 6/4/10

Comments...

Recent Savings 5/25/10

Explorer of the Sease, Bermuda and Bahamas 2010

I'm still here... promise!

Going Home

Saving

Swagbucks

a mishmash - but it's a post!

Christmas Eve, 2009

Off to Conference!

Sleepless

"No Diaper Mommy!"

5 Months!

Happy New Year!

Joy joy joy

A moment of down time

Monday Morning Meanderings

Holly's Vocabulary

Weekend festivals...

Jen ventures into murky water.... politics (bleh)

Slacker

*Wave* yeah, um, Hi!

Horsing around

Shoe Love

PayLess? Not so much...

Busy Busy

Awwww

The floor is in!

A birthday looms...

The Room

A day!

Success Sunday: Friends

Summer begins...

Go IBM!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Some new shoes

Happy Anniversary, Happy Birthday!

Walls!

Holly-isms

Where's Jen?

Happy Mothers' Day!

It all happens at once.

Wednesday Bermuda, Thursday at Sea, Friday disembarkation, Saturday Home!

No cruise update today...

Monday at Sea, Tuesday: Bermuda!

Fire!

Friday pre-work, Saturday at Nanna's, and Sunday at Sea!

home, home, home

A series of not necessarily related thoughts...

The Sound of Silence

Exploring language

On birthdays

18 days...

Success Sunday

He's come so far...

Wiggle It - Just a Little Bit

Success Sunday

Poly, Mono, Multi, Singly...

Catching up...

Dentist: 1 Fear: 0

I want my hour back!

Success Sunday - March 9, 2008

Increased Responsibility

Smelly Cat

Mishmash of note worthiness...

Wave yeah, um, Hi!