Makes My Monday: Play Date and Kids Crafting

Today we met with some friends for a play date and the kids did a St Patrick's Day craft.  The kids had fun and the moms got to talk.  Play dates and crafting certainly make my Monday!

Eva Rose was the only one who stayed at the table while I got my camera, along with our friends

All the shamrocks we made

Update on my mom:  She goes tomorrow for her lymph node biopsy.  One we have the results from that she can then make a decision regarding treatment.  She will either get to choose between chemo and radiation or just radiation if lymph nodes are not involved, and if they are then she will have chemo and radiation for sure.  What we do know is that it was a small but invasive tumor that is semi aggressive.  We can certainly use any all all prayers!

Amy

Public Preschool Eval

Michael turns 3 in about 3 weeks.  This means he'll age out of early intervention.He still has a pretty huge speech delay so we are having him evaluated through the public school system.  I know that he'll qualify for speech therapy, but I am also hoping along with speech, he'll get to go to the public preschool.  I think that he'll benefit from the preschool program for his socialization skills.  He is just starting to parallel play with others.  He is just starting to be social rather than always being on the outskirts of things.  I know that this is most likely just him being more introverted and shy, but I think that he needs to work on this skill and I think our EI group has really helped him with this.  I also think that this will help his speech instead of just having speech therapy a couple of times a week.  In 2 weeks, the school psychologist is coming out to our EI group to evaluate him.  The next Monday, the day before he turns 3 we have his IEP meeting where we will discuss what the public school's assessment is and what the plan is.  Thankfully our EI worker is going to the meeting with me.  My step father is watching the other 2 so I can go to the meeting and hear what they have to say.

I really can't believe that Michael is going to be 3.  It feel like just yesterday I found out I was pregnant with him.  I was just looking at the picture on the top of this blog, for Halloween 2010, and from that short time, it looks as if he has become such a big boy.  I can't believe how much he has changed.  He has done so well in EI, but he really still needs loads of speech therapy.  I really hope that the school feels the same way and he gets to go to preschool with in a week or so after he turns 3.

I am so looking forward to tomorrow, but I am actually a little nervous too.  Any words of advice from others who have been there?

Amy

Makes My Monday: Fine Motor Skills

The other day I went to AC Moore and got a few things for the kids to sort.  I decided to take them out and let them play with the colored wooden beads and string them on some pipe cleaners.  They had fun and I was amazed at their ability to put the beads on the pipe cleaners.  These kids are definitely delayed in the speech area, but their fine and gross motor skills are so where they should be if not a little ahead.  I am so happy when I see them complete these tasks!

Stringing beads

Stringing beads and making Valentine's Day cards

Stringing beads and making Valentine's Day cards

Practicing fine motor skills totally makes my Monday!

Amy

The Big C Word

I found out today that my mom has been diagnosed with breast cancer.  Luckily, at least so far, it is the early stages and hopefully she can be treated and not have any negative effects from it long term.  The scarey thing about this diagnosis is that my grandmother died from breast cancer almost 5 years ago.  She under went 2 mastectomies a few years apart, and unfortunately teh cancer just spread through out her body.  The last couple of weeks of her life were extremely rough for her.  She was so sick and initially they didn't know what was wrong until they did surgery and found that the cancer was all in her abdomen causing all of the problems that she had been suffereing with for months (as far as I know, it could have been longer).  Not only do my mother and my grandmotehr carry the diagnosis, but my grandmother's twin sister as well as their mother (my great grandmother).  We still have to wait for some more results and then my mother is having a meeting with an oncology team.  At that point, I think we will know how significant the level is and what mode of treatment she is going to decide on.  She will also be having the gene test to see if it is the hereditary form of breast cancer.  I am hoping that since it seems like it is the early stages, the prognosis is good.  I am hoping that the prognosis is good, because obviously I want her around for a long time.  I want her to see my kids grow.  I want her to be a major part of their lives.  I am hoping that thing go well and we get good news.  At this point, it doesn't matter if she carries the gene or not.  I am going to be changing my lifestyle to do what ever I can to prevent this from happening to me.  The one positive, if there is ever a positive in breast cancer, is that everyone in my family (on my mother's side) with breast cancer got diagnosed post menopause.  That seems to have a better prognosis, so I am hoping that that remains the case.

Amy

Routines

We had one child before we had the twins and we were so not routine oriented people when it came to our son.  He had a routine at daycare, but when the weekends came, we just went with the flow.  Then, ten and a half months later all of a sudden we had three kids under one, two of whom were not even on the full term baby growth scale (yes they were five weeks early and yes they were pretty good sizes at four and a half pounds each, but they were little and early and they needed to fatten up) .  Then they got sick, my son at two and a half weeks and my daughter at three and a half  weeks and were both in the NICU for a total of  three (my son) and two weeks (my daughter).  Between being sick, being little, being early, and having three kids under one, we decided that we needed a routine to help us get through every day life.  Routines helped me ensure that everyone was being fed and changed on time, and that the littel ones were getting enough sleep, since everyone said that is where they get the energy to grow.  As they got older and stronger, we kind of slacked on the routines, but still had them.  Unfortunately, we didn't relly have a routine with my older son still.  My twins have been great sleepers, so maybe having the routine was a really good idea.  Maybe we should have been a little more routine oriented with my older son and he would have been a better sleeper.  Looking back tough, his first couple of years of life were probably pretty tough on him.  I was on bed rest from the time he was almost eight months old til the twins were born three months later.  Then I was in the hospital for five days, then the twins were in the hospital, all before he turned one.  Now at almost 3 we have a little routine for him, that is special just for him.  He now goes to bed so much better.  He sleeps so much better.  'm not sure I could have done the CIO when he was much younger, but maybe if I had had a routine in place like the twins did, he would have been a better sleeper all around.  Hind sight is definitely 20/20 and life was really crazy that first year, and still is, but I definitely now see teh benefit to having a decent routine in place yet being flexible enough that you don't frive yourself crazy.  Would I recommend a new mother to have a routine?  The answer is a definite yes.  Would I tell her it was ok to break the routine once in awhile, yes.  Is being a parent always a learning experience?  Definitely!  Routines work and now I need to have more routines in place for other areas in our lives than just bedtime.

Amy

Insecurities

I have never been the most confident person, but since having kids and trying to make new friend, my self-confidence has really taken a dive. I'm not even sure I want to write about this here, but I'm not sure anyone reads my blog often enough to make a difference, which may be a good thing.  I can write a little about how I am feeling and get it out without worrying that anyone is judging.

I have done a couple of play dates, but they never seem to last more than one time.  I am hoping that I am not doing anything to offend people.  For the life of me, I can't figure out why I can't seem to maintain friendships with other people who have kids.  I know that it is difficult, but it really makes me wonder if there is anything that I need to either change about me or my kids or maybe how I react to my kids.  The thing that kills me is when things like yesterday happen.  I had a friend  from high school over and we were talking about friendships and how much more difficult it is once you have kids.  This friend, who I had kind of lost touch with over the years, was very complimentary about my friendship with her.  So does that mean it's not me, it's just that I don't have things in common with the people I have met so far?  Am I not friendly enough?  Maybe it will happen just later, not right now.  But I have to say, my self confidence has totally taken a dive and the insecurities that I thought I had moved beyond are starting to surface and really make me question myself!

Oh well!  I guess I just have to continue to try to be friendly and hope that I can meet people that want to be friends with me and my kids.  Maybe I just need to find people I have more in common with!

Amy

Makes My Monday: Sharing

Having 3 kids within 10 1/2 months has it's trials and tribulations, one of the worst being sharing.  All 3 hate to share, but my daughter is the worst.  I made cupcakes last week and like all kids, they love to eat the leftovers.  Who would have thought that they would share the leftover batter so well?!

Sharing cupcake batter makes my Monday!

Amy

Dairy Allergy

So it has been about 3 weeks that we have been dairy free with the kids and we have totally noticed a huge difference.  For the longest time, I felt like I was always wiping their runny noses and just chalked it up to the season and them being kids.  Michael's breathing was really loud even in the daytime (I didn't realize how many people noticed it).  Michael had horrible snoring.  All 3 kids (but Michael and Eva Rose were the worst) had horrible diaper rashes off and on.

Now that milk is no longer in their diet (though I'm sure that there are times were we have inadvertently given them some sort of milk product since it seems like it's in everything), we have begun to see so many changes for the positive.  I haven't had to wipe runny, drippy noses.  Michael's breathing has improved, to the point that people have commented that they no longer can hear him breathing.  Michael's snoring is much better, and he seems to do more breathing out of his nose vs his mouth.  Michael has really come out of his shell and others are noticing it!  There really hasn't been any diaper rash issues (granted the detergent change seems to have been a major help too) and their poop, yes their poop, seems more normal.  Tom and I were recently just really sick with either a major cold or the flu and the kids didn't get even a sniffle.  The other unexpected benefit is that their meal intake and snack intake and even water intake seems so much more improved.  Granted we have made some major changes to how we react to Michael's sleep issues, but his sleeping is much improved and it didn't take any where near as long as Ithought it would for the sleeep to improve nor was it as horrific as I had expected that it would be!

I am in the process of making an allergy appointment for the 3 kids and we may look at other things in their diet as potential allergens, especially given my allergy blood test for which I have made enough diet changes but that is for another post.  We need to take Eva Rose back to evaluate  the fluid in her ears.  I'm not sure if we need a follow up for the tonsils, but we will be seeing the PCP in a couple of weeks and I'm sure she can see how they look.  I think either way, taking milk out of their diet seems to have helped.  Now I just need to get myself to make the same changes in my diet because I know that I'll feel better too!

Amy

Sleep Update

A couple of posts ago, I wrote about the horrible sleep issues we were having in our house. As usual, I posted a quick note to my twins group and got some support that I so desperately needed. It's been maybe a week, and sleep is so much better. It has gone way better than I expected. The first few nights were tough, but not that I expected it to be any different. Hubby and and I shave not shared the bed with any kids since I wrote my last sleep post. We have had to get up and put Michael back to bed, and sometimes he has spent the night sleeping on the floor as that is where he fell asleep. We even went through all this sleep training while one or both of us were sick, which is really impressive for me since I am the one that gave into Michael sleeping in our bed. The best news is that Michael didn't wake up once last night, or at least he didn't need our redirection. Today the goodnight light that I ordered came in. It will be interesting to see how it works, to see if it makes a difference. The only problem is I'm not sure how to plug the monitor in safely. Maybe wee don't really need it anymore. I'm sure I'll popst more on how it goes with the goodnight light.

Let's hope that the good sleeping continues. I know that I will be maintaining the same routine that we have in place since it seems to be working!

Amy