this post and experiment needs to be revisited. by both of us.
Now see that's more like it
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
moving?
I want to move. BADLY
I found three great places at great prices.
IF you know me, you know why I'd hesitate. I've placed calls and emails....hopefully somethign will come through!
maybe even a full-time spot at the bank.
I found three great places at great prices.
IF you know me, you know why I'd hesitate. I've placed calls and emails....hopefully somethign will come through!
maybe even a full-time spot at the bank.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Henry is a busy body
As in his body is always busy!!! He's so curious about everything. He acts like each morning he wakes up, it's all new again. Forget the fact that we've been living with my parents for nearly two years now. the only thing he is sure about is there are ice cream sandwiches in the freezer. (btw, if you have little ones.....a bottom freezer might not work out so well if you don't have latches. he's in the freezer 6-7 times a day until he gets ice cream. can't tell you how many times we've actually caught him trying to unwrap one!)
Sam is consipiring with his BFF at school for a playdate, already has his teachers convinced that I've scheduled it today. And it doesn't matter which "today" it is, it's always TODAY. So I finally wrote a note last night to the mom to ask for a time to get together.
Sam is consipiring with his BFF at school for a playdate, already has his teachers convinced that I've scheduled it today. And it doesn't matter which "today" it is, it's always TODAY. So I finally wrote a note last night to the mom to ask for a time to get together.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Patience and return calls pay off!
So, last summer I took Sam to see Alvin & the Chimpmunks or maybe it was Shrek 4. Doesn't matter. I was paying for our tix and the kid asked "anything else I can help with?"
I jokingly replied, "yeah, if you know anyone who does day care in Mason, I'm all ears."
To which he said, "my mom does it!"
So I took his number and forgot for a couple of weeks. I finally called her, but unfortunately at the time, Henry was still an "infant" and she didn't have room.
Well, last night I called her again. when I told her my name, she asked if I was the one that talked to her son at the theater. When I said I was, she said, "I'm so glad you called, I've had an opening but couldn't find your number!"
She knew Henry was turning 2 after the first of the year and he'd fit into her designation then.
So, YAY!!!!! We can do full or part-time, and fi she has space I might be able to do Sam too this summer. Her husband is a teacher for the district and helps then.
I'm so very excited, she's just blocks from us!
I jokingly replied, "yeah, if you know anyone who does day care in Mason, I'm all ears."
To which he said, "my mom does it!"
So I took his number and forgot for a couple of weeks. I finally called her, but unfortunately at the time, Henry was still an "infant" and she didn't have room.
Well, last night I called her again. when I told her my name, she asked if I was the one that talked to her son at the theater. When I said I was, she said, "I'm so glad you called, I've had an opening but couldn't find your number!"
She knew Henry was turning 2 after the first of the year and he'd fit into her designation then.
So, YAY!!!!! We can do full or part-time, and fi she has space I might be able to do Sam too this summer. Her husband is a teacher for the district and helps then.
I'm so very excited, she's just blocks from us!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Sam's health
After a particularly volatile sickness event back in December, I told the pediatrician here that I had had enough. I couldn't continue to change sheets three times in a month, even if it was 3-5 weeks apart now. (fabulous considering how many times I had to do it in a single week when he was a baby)
Well, we finally had the appointment iwth the pediatric GI this past week. We did a full medical review starting with his failure to gain appropriately, all the formulas we tried, the barium swallow at 8 months, everything. We talked about whether Sam had headaches, the timing of the vomiting (almost always after he'd been in bed for a while), the foods Sam would actually eat, and even what might stress Sammy out. (um.....how about reading the last paragraph of the previous blog entry)
Anyway, he ordered a full blood draw to include food allergies, thyroid, celiac and some other things.
He also has scheduled a full endoscopy inthe OR. This is because it's safer in the OR for a child of his age and with his delays. After the scope is done, they will insert a tube in Sam's nose that will go down the back of his throat and esophagus all the way to the little opening. It's a 24-hour probe that will track how many times, if any, that Sam refluxes. Sometimes, they don't do it at all even though there's other signs (hence the reasoning for doing it at the same time as the endo). Other times, kids will have repeated refluxes. Anthing over 50 is considered "failing".
The dr's best explanation for Sam is either night reflux or allergy-related reflux. Between the blood draw and the two tests scheduled for April 27, we should find out which it is, or possibly something entirely different.
At the same time, we have also cut out nightshades from Sam's diet. He no longer eats potatoes, tomatoes, or other foods from that family. We did this to see if it would have an impact on his eczema and after a very scary incident that I personally believe tied back to a fresh, raw tomato. His legs are smoother and the eczema patches are relatively gone. I haven't been great about reading labels, but just the elimation of fries, spaghetti sauce and pizza sauce have made a huge difference.
Well, we finally had the appointment iwth the pediatric GI this past week. We did a full medical review starting with his failure to gain appropriately, all the formulas we tried, the barium swallow at 8 months, everything. We talked about whether Sam had headaches, the timing of the vomiting (almost always after he'd been in bed for a while), the foods Sam would actually eat, and even what might stress Sammy out. (um.....how about reading the last paragraph of the previous blog entry)
Anyway, he ordered a full blood draw to include food allergies, thyroid, celiac and some other things.
He also has scheduled a full endoscopy inthe OR. This is because it's safer in the OR for a child of his age and with his delays. After the scope is done, they will insert a tube in Sam's nose that will go down the back of his throat and esophagus all the way to the little opening. It's a 24-hour probe that will track how many times, if any, that Sam refluxes. Sometimes, they don't do it at all even though there's other signs (hence the reasoning for doing it at the same time as the endo). Other times, kids will have repeated refluxes. Anthing over 50 is considered "failing".
The dr's best explanation for Sam is either night reflux or allergy-related reflux. Between the blood draw and the two tests scheduled for April 27, we should find out which it is, or possibly something entirely different.
At the same time, we have also cut out nightshades from Sam's diet. He no longer eats potatoes, tomatoes, or other foods from that family. We did this to see if it would have an impact on his eczema and after a very scary incident that I personally believe tied back to a fresh, raw tomato. His legs are smoother and the eczema patches are relatively gone. I haven't been great about reading labels, but just the elimation of fries, spaghetti sauce and pizza sauce have made a huge difference.
update on the boys
Okay, so it's been a while. Sorry.....life's gotten a bit busy. Here's a 6-month update......
Sam (aka Duck)
Sam is loving kindergarten this year. His teacher is incredible and we are just so lucky to have had her this year. He loves to tell stories, asks what letters different words start with, and has progressed from squiggles for his name to clearly writing each letter. (the "S" is backward most of the tiem, but it's still a distinct letter) Tonight he sat trying to read Dinosaurs Love Underpants to me. We read it probably 3-4 nights a week and he has the gist of it down fairly well.
We get a new book from school each week that is supposed to be easy enough for him to learn and that's going well. We're workign on the difference between letters and words. Of course "I" and "a" are a bit troublesome, but he's learning that if it's more than one letter, it must be a word. Sight words are coming along. Need to work on that a bit more.
Sam can count to 20 fairly well, though 14-16 trips him up.
Due to his delays and low muscle tone, Sam struggles with his pencil grip. This makes writing a challenge sometimes. His teacher has goen so far as to write the words for him in highlighter so he can trace them. It's a bit easier to see than dotted lines, but at the same time, he has to pay attention to what he's doing because she does use yellow, not blue or green.
Sam will do a "bonus" year of kindergarten next fall. We're all good with that decision and I'm hoping that we'll get him into a program this summer that will help retain the skills he learned, so he can at least not start completely over.
Henry (aka biscuit or biscuit butt)
I don't know how my dad came up with either of those names, I call Henry "turkey" because he's my little butterball. At 9.5 pounds, I think he weighed more than any turkey I cooked during our 5 years in Florida.
Henry is receiving speech therapy services through EI. While not anywhere near the same level of delay that Sam has/had, Henry is behind his age peers. He turned two last month and wow, I guess I'd have to sit down and think about what words he actually has. I mean, it's quite a few. He does a lot of mimicking, which is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO nice to see/hear.
He does, however, have one hell of a mean streak and temper. I think once we get him back in day care, we'll see that improve because he won't be bored. With Sam gone all day at school, it leaves Henry with the run of hte house, which is good that he doesn't have anyone to compete with for Nana's attention, but it's bad because he doesn't have a pint-sized playmate either.
(should have seen them tonight.....they were playing ring around the rosie in the kitchen tonight and aside from Sam going a little fast, they were doing it really well and without fighting.)
Where I think we did a better job as parents was getting Henry tubes much earlier than Sam had them. Sam's were put in July 09 just before his 4th birthday. Henry got them in June 10 at 16 months of age.
Henry's favorite words are cookie, more, milk, and tick-tock (for all faced clocks).
and us.......
Our seventh anniversary is coming up next month. SEVEN YEARS!
There's so much I could write here, but every time I try, I either say too much, say something stupid or I start crying. So, I will tell you this: IT SUCKS living apart. It sucks that we felt we had to make the decisions that were made, regardless of what they were. It also sucks because we are really trying to make a plan to be back under one roof and the finances just never seem to work out right.
Sam (aka Duck)
Sam is loving kindergarten this year. His teacher is incredible and we are just so lucky to have had her this year. He loves to tell stories, asks what letters different words start with, and has progressed from squiggles for his name to clearly writing each letter. (the "S" is backward most of the tiem, but it's still a distinct letter) Tonight he sat trying to read Dinosaurs Love Underpants to me. We read it probably 3-4 nights a week and he has the gist of it down fairly well.
We get a new book from school each week that is supposed to be easy enough for him to learn and that's going well. We're workign on the difference between letters and words. Of course "I" and "a" are a bit troublesome, but he's learning that if it's more than one letter, it must be a word. Sight words are coming along. Need to work on that a bit more.
Sam can count to 20 fairly well, though 14-16 trips him up.
Due to his delays and low muscle tone, Sam struggles with his pencil grip. This makes writing a challenge sometimes. His teacher has goen so far as to write the words for him in highlighter so he can trace them. It's a bit easier to see than dotted lines, but at the same time, he has to pay attention to what he's doing because she does use yellow, not blue or green.
Sam will do a "bonus" year of kindergarten next fall. We're all good with that decision and I'm hoping that we'll get him into a program this summer that will help retain the skills he learned, so he can at least not start completely over.
Henry (aka biscuit or biscuit butt)
I don't know how my dad came up with either of those names, I call Henry "turkey" because he's my little butterball. At 9.5 pounds, I think he weighed more than any turkey I cooked during our 5 years in Florida.
Henry is receiving speech therapy services through EI. While not anywhere near the same level of delay that Sam has/had, Henry is behind his age peers. He turned two last month and wow, I guess I'd have to sit down and think about what words he actually has. I mean, it's quite a few. He does a lot of mimicking, which is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO nice to see/hear.
He does, however, have one hell of a mean streak and temper. I think once we get him back in day care, we'll see that improve because he won't be bored. With Sam gone all day at school, it leaves Henry with the run of hte house, which is good that he doesn't have anyone to compete with for Nana's attention, but it's bad because he doesn't have a pint-sized playmate either.
(should have seen them tonight.....they were playing ring around the rosie in the kitchen tonight and aside from Sam going a little fast, they were doing it really well and without fighting.)
Where I think we did a better job as parents was getting Henry tubes much earlier than Sam had them. Sam's were put in July 09 just before his 4th birthday. Henry got them in June 10 at 16 months of age.
Henry's favorite words are cookie, more, milk, and tick-tock (for all faced clocks).
and us.......
Our seventh anniversary is coming up next month. SEVEN YEARS!
There's so much I could write here, but every time I try, I either say too much, say something stupid or I start crying. So, I will tell you this: IT SUCKS living apart. It sucks that we felt we had to make the decisions that were made, regardless of what they were. It also sucks because we are really trying to make a plan to be back under one roof and the finances just never seem to work out right.
on sweet potatoes......
First, to the mommy that commented back in January I apologize for not getting back here sooner about Duck's sweet potato allergy. The first time he had sweet potatoes, Sam had a single streak across his face. A few days later we tried them again and he was head to toe with hives, his face swollen. It was the only new food he'd had all week and the only other foods he was eating were Nutramigen (hypoallergenic formula) and rice cereal.
Three years ago, we were in a buffet-style restaurant and picked up what had been labeled "pumpkin pie" for Sam and it turned out to be sweet potato pie. Thankfully we were around the corner from our apartment because by the time we'd gotten home, he had small hives on his stomach.
Sweet potatoes are not a common allergy, but it does exist.
Three years ago, we were in a buffet-style restaurant and picked up what had been labeled "pumpkin pie" for Sam and it turned out to be sweet potato pie. Thankfully we were around the corner from our apartment because by the time we'd gotten home, he had small hives on his stomach.
Sweet potatoes are not a common allergy, but it does exist.
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