Way Back When-esday: March 2008

I'm joining in with http://twinfatuation.blogspot.com for Way Back When-esday.  This week is Michael's second week of pre-school.  This is Michael 3 years ago:

Michael just about 2 weeks old

Amy

Makes My Monday: New Haircut for Mom

Since my mom got diagnosed with cancer and I found out she may have to have chemotherapy, I started thinking about cutting my hair.  I had been growing my hair out for about a year and a half and it went from being pixie short at my wedding, which it had been that way for years to growing it out to my shoulders.  I started thinking that I could cut my hair short in support of my mom, who will most likely be losing her hair from the chemo that she starts this week.  I made the decision to go short and got my haircut Saturday.  I had some concerns about wether or not I really wanted to continue growing my hair or if I wanted to cut it.  I had asked people on facebook, I asked my husband, and most importantly I did some soul searching about what I wanted (wow the soul searching sounds so crazy, but after putting the time into growing my hair, I didn't want to do something that I would regret), I decided that I really want to cut my hair.  I made an appointment and brought a picture of how I wanted my hair.  The funny part is that I brought a picture of what my hair looked like prior to growing my hair out and when I showed the picture to the hairdresser, she asked if I had ever had my hair that short before.  My hair is now as short as it was 1 1/2 years ago and I am so happy that I did it.  My husband who played Switzerland when I asked his opinion on cutting my hair, finally admitted that he likes my hair short.  Now, I just need to make time to maintain my haircut.

Length of my hair prior to cutting it

My new haircut!

Cutting my hair to how I want to wear it and in support of my mom, makes my Monday.  Check out http://twinfatuation.blogspot.com to see what makes others Mondays.

Amy

Ideas To Do With Kids

I am terrible at coming up with creative things to do with the kids.  They don't really like to sit still for long, so reading a book, doing a craft, anything that requires sitting for a period of time is tough.  I am looking forward to the warmer weather so that we can go to the park and they can get some of their energy out and maybe then we can do some sitting activities.  One of my friends over at http://thedoublescoop.com/ has some really great creative ideas that I really need to try out.  I am hoping that she will share some of her sources for these creative ideas.  One of my goals is to spark my kids creative imagination and help to maintain it.  I also want to provide educational things for them and make it a fun way to learn.  I'm still getting used to Michael's new schedule with pre-school , but I think that once i get used to his schedule, I will be making  up a schedule for us so that we can have fun, do some educational things, and get these kids to do more than jus trun amd jump and climb and move.  Maybe while Michael is at pre-school I can go to the book store with just the twins, though I have to say I took just the twins grocery shopping today and it wasn't that much easier.  I am going to pick up the book "Rainbow Fish" and attempt to do an activity from http://thedoublescoop.com/.

Any suggestion for fun things to do with active toddlers/preschoolers are more than welcome.  Any ideas on how to get them to sit and listen to a story are very much needed!

Amy

Just Some New Pictures!

Co-Sleeping

Choo-choo wagon going to the park

Our first hike

On the log during our hike

At the Park

He loves his hats

My little girl

Taking a break at the playground after our hike

Amy

Way Back When-esday: Haircut

I'm joining in with http://twinfatuation.blogspot.com for way back When-esday.  This time I am going to post pictures off myself, which I hate doing, but I am thinking that after a year and a half of growing out my hair, I am really considering cutting it off.  For years I had a short pixie cut, then I decided to grow it long because that is what I always do.  One of the newest reasons for wanting to cut my hair again is my mom's cancer diagnosis.  When I found out she was going to have chemo or at least the potential of it, I thought about cutting my hair short in support of her potential for losing her hair.  I know that this is not a lot, but I thought that it could be a way to support her since losing her hair was one of her concerns.  Now, I have been thinking more about cutting my hair, I want to do it because I really liked my hair short.  So here I am going from this:

I'm the one blowing out the candle

To this:

October 2008 The first haircut after I decided to grow it long

It had been this short:

December 2008 1 month before I gave birth to the twins!

What do you think, should I cut it?  My plan is to cut it like the middle picture.  I felt like Audrey Hepburn, not that I looked like her, but I felt like her, classy and beautiful!

Amy

First Day of Preschool

Yesterday was Michael's first day at preschool.  It started of fine, even though we needed to wake Michael up.  I feel like I have a teenager already and he is only 3.  He likes to stay up late and sleep late in the morning.  I guess payback really is a bitch (both me and my husband never liked to go to be or get up early. I still don't like to get up early).  We were able to get him up, fed, and dressed on time for the bus.  For the first day, we had to pack wipes, a couple of diapers (yes the school is letting us cloth diaper him), a wet bag for the diapers, an extra set of clothes, and his lunch bag.  By the time everything was packed, the backpack almost made him topple over.  The bus showed up, and as I walked him out, I started crying, the twins started crying (probably because I wouldn't let them come out of the house), and as Michael got on the bus he started crying.  I was prepared for this to happen, but it didn't make it any easier.  I got a call from the school nurse and talked to her about Michael's dairy issue and the fact that it was probably more of an intolerance than an actual allergy.  We talked about getting him allergy tested, but I have heard that there are lots of false positive/negatives at this age and we have seen so many changes after we stopped dairy, that I am just more inclined to eliminate dairy from his diet without getting confirmation from a test.  During this phone call she reported that Michael stopped crying soon after the bus pulled away from the house (he will still cry once in a while when I leave for work and he is home with his dad) and that he was outside playing with his classmates.

He was dropped of at the house around 11:00 and looked so happy.  I decided to take them out to lunch and called Nonna and Papa to come to lunch with us.  Unfortunately my mom was only off for the morning as she had her appointment to schedule her chemo and was going back to work, but my stepfather joined us.  I decided to trial pizza.  At first I was just going to give them macaroni, but figured I would see how they responded to cheese.  All three kids were so well behaved at Prince Pizza.  They ate a ton of food and sat in their seats even though they were not buckled in.  We then needed to drive around since the twins fell asleep and I didn't want to risk waking them.  When we got home I noticed that Michael was starting to have the raspy breathing again and at night Eva Rose was snoring more than usual.  I don't know if the cheese was the cause, but at least for Michael, I believe that the cheese was the cause of his breathing change.  I really want to watch what he eat since I think he has more of an intolerance to dairy than the other two.

Bedtime was the normal routine and all 3 kids pretty much went to bed the same way they always do.  Thomas and Eva Rose climbed into their beds and went right to sleep with no intervention.  Michael, on the other hand, decided to strip out of his pajamas and his diaper.  Tom went in and put his diaper back on.  We haven't always been putting his pajamas back on since we figured that maybe he was just warm.  At some point he took his diaper off again and at 12:30 I had to get up and change his bed since he wet the bed.  With new sheets and a new diaper, he went back to sleep fairly quickly.  This morning was pretty much the same routine.  Michael cried as he got on the bus and I got teary eyes.  The bus driver said that he will pretty much stop crying by the time they are at the end of our short street.  I'm sure that things will get easier as time goes on and I know that he will love it more and more!

Waiting for the bus

Amy

Pre-school

I got the call today to say that I could bring Michael in for his pre-school visit tomorrow and that he could start school on Monday.  I immediately called to see if I could find a babysitter.  Thankfully, my step-father is great and he said he would come by tomorrow and watch the twins so that my could do his intro day.  I can't believe that he is old enough for pre-school.  It doesn't feel like I've been a mom that long.  I am so excited for him to start school.  I think it is going to do him a world of good to be away from me for a couple of hours a day.  I think his social skills will improve as should his communication skills.  I am a little sad that he is growing up, what seems like, so fast., but I can't wait to watch him grow with all of thes egreat changes!  Now we need to go find him a back pack and a lunch box for school on Mondy!  Off to LL Bean this Saturday!

Amy

Way Back When-esday: RSV Twins

I'm joining along with Cheryl over at http://twinfatuation.blogspot.com for Way Back When-esday.

Just a little over 2 years ago my twins were discharged from the NICU at CHildren's Hospital Boston after their bout with RSV.  They both came home with me when I was discharged 5 days after their birth, but that didn't last long.  My son was admitted after being home for about 2 weeks and my daughter was admitted 1 week later.  My son was rushed from his 2 week doctor appointment when he declined to the point that the doctor called 911.  Luckily my older son who was drinking his formula from a glass bottle dropped it and it broke.  That delayed things to the point of my son declining at the doctors instead of in the car on the way to a local ER.  Thankfully he was only intubated for 24 hours, but was in the hospital for 3 weeks.  1 week later, we brought his sister to Children's ER and she was immediately brought back to a room from triage due to an episode of apnea while being triaged.  They tried to use a CPAP machine initially instead of intubating her, but it just wasn't giving her enough oxygen.  She was ultimately intubated and got an NG tube.  Unfortunately, unlike her brother she was intubated for 6 days until she decided she had had enough and pulled her tube out.  The next day she pulled her feeding tube out.  My son was supposed to be discharged on the next Friday, but he had a period of tachycardia the night before, so that delayed his discharge.  He ended up being discharged with his sister on Monday which pretty much ended up being their due date.  When I think back, I am almost sorry that they came home with me.  I sometimes wonder if they would have been better off staying in the hospital getting a little bigger and a littler stronger. Maybe then they wouldn't have gotten the RSV.  They say that sometimes kids who have RSV can end up with breathing problems later on.  So far, we have been really lucky and have only had 1 scare where we needed to bring my daughter to the ER for difficulty breathing.  Luckily, we were sent home with just an inhaler, which she really hasn't needed to use.  We have been extremely lucky with all 3 kids regarding illness.  Other then my daughter, we have only had to ring my older son to the ER 1 time just after the twins were born.  I am very thankful that my 3 children are healthy babies.  I hope they stay that way, though I still do get a little nervous when the twins get colds!

3 days before Thomas was admitted with RSV

At home the day after discharge in their preemie outfits that were still too big

The twins 3/9/2009

Thanks for looking at my way back when pictures!

Amy

Way Back When-esday: 3 years ago

Three years ago yesterday, I gave birth to my oldest son, Michael.  His birth didn't go according to plan and I was a little out of it after he was born, but it was one of the happiest days of my life.  Fast forward 3 years and he is now starting pre-school in the next couple of weeks.  He is starting to attempt to talk more and more.  He has such great gross and fine motor skills and absolutely love to run and climb and sing and dance.  He is starting to do more pretend play.  Michael is starting to play more with his brother and sister who are just 10 1/2 months younger than him.  It amazed me to watch him with them sometimes.  I am so happy that they are so close in age.  It's been a tough couple of years, with 3 kids so close in age, but I am now really starting to see the benefit of having them so close in age!

Michael just 2 days old

1st Birthday

2nd birthday

Just a couple of weeks ago

Happy Birthday my big boy!

Amy

Makes My Monday:IEP and Preschool

Michael turns 3 tomorrow.  I can't believe I have a 3 year old and he will be starting school soon.  Michael has a fairly significant speech delay and has been in EI for 6 months until he aged out at 3.  EI made a referral to the public school system given his speech delay and him being somewhat behind in his social skills.  We went for his initial IEP meeting and I really felt like those that observed him, got a really good picture of who he is.  They talked a lot about his strengths and how those strengths would be really beneficial in helping him with the areas that he needs to work on.  I got to see his classroom and I found out that he is going to need a back pack and a lunch box.  I am considering making him a lunch bag instead of buying one.  It's something simple that I can do and it will be nice for him to have something that I made for him.  For now he will be attending the 1/2 day pre-school program and will even be getting services through the summer.  This plan is in place for the next year.  I guess then we will have another IEP meeting.  I am so happy that he got into the pre-school program.  I really think it is going top be good for him to be in school and away from me for a short time.  I'm sure that it is going to be an adjustment for all of us, but I am so excited and can't wait to see him bloom into who he is.

Having my oldest start pre-school and hopefully getting better with his communication skills and social skills totally makes my Monday!

Amy

Overcoming My Insecurities

Ok, so  I've written a couple of poor me posts about my insecurities about meeting new people and making new friends.  Yes, I still have them, but I am finally recognizing that I am having way too high of expectations.  I keep thinking about my sister in law and her best friend.  When I was in undergraduate school, I had to do a paper on how friendships change over the developmental stages.  I remember hearing the story of how my sister in law became friends with her now best friend, only what I usually remember is that they became friends because they had kids who were all around the same ages.  What I forget is that the best friend piece didn't happen overnight.  I forget that this was a friendship that went through different stages and then ultimately they became best friends.  I think I am in limbo right now with having a best friend.  I guess on some level I miss having that person, that girlfriend who you share everything with.  I have friends, but since I am the only one of my friends with little kids, having that commonality of marriage, and kids, and a a house, and a job just isn't there.  The only firends that I have who have children who are the same ages as mine are from my twins group.  Like others have commented, having little ones makes finding new firends and maintaining old friendships difficult, never mind trying to find a best friend.  I know that as the kids get older and the chaos of life changes, I will have more of a chance of making new friendships and maybe even finding a new best friend.  The funny thing is I still have friends from high school, I jsut don't feel like the relationships are the same as they were back then nor should they be.  I just need to keep putting myself out there, meeting new people, and someday it will click.  I will have that "best friend" again.  Hopefully, when the weather gets warmer and we can get outside and go to the park things will get better.  I can have people over to my house and enjoy our backyard with others.  I am getting out to more playdates. 

I think this winter has made it hard for me to feel positive about new friendships.  I forget that everyone's lives are busy, especially mine and I don't always maintain contact with people like I should.  I have had a couple of positive interactions this week that have me feeling much better about things in general.  Sometimes, I think my shyness really harms me.  The funny thing is I am so much less shy than I was when I was younger.  The difference is that when I was younger I didn't have a large circle of friends, I had one best friend and a few aquaintences.  I think that is the biggest issue.  I always had a best friend, but now I have a much larger circle/community of people in similar situations that I can get together with and share things.

I'm not sure if what i am writing is really saying how i am feeling, but I am definitely feeling more positve regarding meeting people and making friends.  I got a comment on my other blog regarding a totally different topic, and the commenter basically said go easy on yourself.  I tend to have pretty high expectations for myself and when they don't get met, I tend to feel pretty bad.  What I should do, is have lower expectations for myself, ones that can actually be met given that I have 3 little kids!

Thanks to everyone who has read these posts and especially to those who have commented.  I really appreciate your kind words and encouragement!

Amy

Meal Planning And An Organized Life

Some of my twin mom friends are really great at being organized, or at least they are better at being organized than I am.  It's probbaly always going to be a struggle for me and always going to be a work in progress, but I get motivated by these moms to keep working at it.

I am in the process of working on my menu for March.  I have never done even a weekly menu plan before, but am now truly motivated after spending the day with my mom after her lymph node biopsy only to come home and not have anything ready for dinner for me to take to work or for my family to have.  Thankfully my husband is able to cook a couple of hot dogs and broccoli for the kids.  If I had a meal plan in place, I could have been better prepared.  With my mom now mostly likely having chemo and radiation, I'm sure that we will be spending more time with her to help out since I am home during the day and everyone else works.  Since I go to work at night, it will be even more important for me to have a plan in place for meals.

Right now I am trying to get a bunch of recipes together to put on my monthly plan.  I plan to have breakfast lunch and dinner mapped out, but can be a lot more flexible with these meals.  I will have a few crockpot recipes as well as some easy/quick recipes that I can easily make before I leave for work, or that my husband can make after I leave.  After I get my meals planned, I will make a shopping list and make sure that I follow it and go shopping after I have satisfied my hunger.  This weekend, I went shopping just before supper, and what a mistake that was.  I bought a whole bunch of foods that I shouldn't be eating and now it will either go to waste or I will need to eat things that I don't want/need to eat.

I am hoping that I can plan meals that are healthy and that the kids will like.  After I get my meals organized, I am going to move on to more areas that I need to get organized, like cleaning the house, laundry, etc.  That way I won't feel like I am doing it all at once and I won't get so overwhelmed that I just put it off over and over and over.  Hopefully this will mean that I have more time to do fun things with the kids like salad spinner spin art, rubber stamping using the new stamps that I got for the bargin price of $.97  and $1.97, coloring, painting, and many other fun play things.

Amy

My Mom's Cancer Update

I found out on my twins 2nd birthday (January 23, 2011) that my mom's mammogram showed a lump in her left breast.  This is the same one that my grandmothers breast cancer started in.  She has since had a biopsy which revealed that the tumor was 0.9 cm (about 3/4 in) and they removed 3 inches of tissue.  The pathology report stated that she has stage 1 grade 2 breast cancer.  This means that the tumor was small but semi aggressive and definitely invasive.  This meant that they recommended and MRI to r/o any metastases as well as a lymph node biopsy.  She was unable to complete the MRI with out getting sick, so that is one test that they are unable to do for her.  Today was her lymph node biopsy.  I guess, yesterday they injected her with a dye that would tell the surgeon what nodes to remove if any.  My step-father said that the most the surgeon would take out would be 2 nodes, but they ended up only needing to take out 1 node.  I guess that is a good sign.  Now we just have to wait for this pathology report.  As for treatment options, it really depends on the lymph node biopsy.  If the biopsy comes back with cancer, then they are recommending 8 treatments of chemotherapy, then 5 days a week for 6 weeks of radiation.  If the biopsy comes back without cancer, then she can choose either 4 treatments of chemotherapy and then the same radiation treatment or she can choose just to have radiation.  At least one of my sisters and I are thinking that she should do the combo treatment and hopefully knock the cancer out of her system no matter what the results of the biopsy are.  We also think that she can do conventional treatment along with CAM therapies (complementary and alternative medicine). 

Because of this and the other cancers and heart disease in my family I am attempting to get a little healthier.  One day I will be able to say that I am eating the way I want to be eating and exercising like I should be!  The warm weather can't come fast enough.  Maybe this is the push I need to get rid of this baby weight (ok teh baby weight is gone,  this is jsut my fat)!

Amy