Hannah: I have a problem...
Me: Yeah, what's that?
Hannah: I have poops
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Monday, November 30, 2009
The Lists
Last night I was going over with the kids "The Lists". You know, the naughty and nice lists. I asked the kids if they thought they would be on the naughty list or the nice list. Zach responded "The Happy List!". Love that kid!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
As heard....
Today we took Hannah to the ER. (not the point of the blog, but I will explain). She has had croup this week. It seemed to clear up as she slept great last night and sounded great this morning. I had to go back to work and Chris was working a half day so we took her to daycare in the morning. Cindy called around 1:30 saying she woke up screaming from nap and was short of breath. I called her pediatrician and they closed early today because of the holiday. One of the parents whose child also goes to daycare with the kids is a nurse so she came by and listened to Hannah's chest and said it sounded crackly and if it were her, she would take her kid in. So our only choice was the ER. Her lungs were clear and she did have a slight fever. They gave her a shot of steroids and sent us on our way.
Anyway, not the point of the blog. The point was, Hannah said something that cracked me up. Just a little history, before our Disneyland trip this year (yes I know, I haven't blogged about that yet... soon... promise) Hannah would ask about all her favorite characters and ask if they lived at Disneyland. She would ask about Dora and if she would see Dora at Disneyland....
So at the ER, she came back to the reception area after they checked her weight and the lady at the desk asked Hannah "who is that on your shirt?" and Hannah says "Dora. She doesn't live at Disneyland. She lives in Mexico."
Anyway, not the point of the blog. The point was, Hannah said something that cracked me up. Just a little history, before our Disneyland trip this year (yes I know, I haven't blogged about that yet... soon... promise) Hannah would ask about all her favorite characters and ask if they lived at Disneyland. She would ask about Dora and if she would see Dora at Disneyland....
So at the ER, she came back to the reception area after they checked her weight and the lady at the desk asked Hannah "who is that on your shirt?" and Hannah says "Dora. She doesn't live at Disneyland. She lives in Mexico."
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Halloween!!
The kids had a blast dressing up this year. Max and Molly's grandmother offered to make their costumes and they came out better than I ever could have imagined. Hannah wanted to be Tinkerbell and Zachary was Woody from Toy Story. Zach already had the hat and holster, but other than that, everything was hand made. They were beautiful.
Hannah and Molly
Zach and Max - They don't get to see eachother everyday anymore, so I think they miss eachother
Hannah and Molly
Zach and Max - They don't get to see eachother everyday anymore, so I think they miss eachother
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Hannah's hospital stay
Last Thursday night I was changing Hannah before bed and her... girl parts... seemed swollen, red, and hard on one side and she was very uncomfortable when I wiped her. Having seen way too many staph infections with Zach, I of course instantly panicked. Although I couldn't see any starting point, a pimple or scratch, I had her take a soak in a hot bath so I could try to drain it. I was unable to get anything to drain. She goes to bed.
The next morning it was about the same. I called the pediatricians office as soon as they opened and got their earliest appointment. Which was in the afternoon. So she hangs out with me at home for the day. She took a short nap and when she got up she was very clingy and just laid on me for awhile. She felt very warm so I gave her some ibuprofen. Before it had a chance to work I took her temp so I had an idea of where she was without meds. Her temp was 102. We went to the doctor. Her normal pediatrician was on vacation but we saw an equally as wonderful doctor. He took one look at it and said "This is more than I can do here. You need to take her to the ER so they can lance it, drain it, and pack it." We have been through that process with Zach and it is not pleasant and the healing process is just as bad. Because of our insurance, we normally go to a certain ER in town. The one that doesn't have a childrens unit. He told me "Go to Sierra Vista, just in case she has to be admitted." He must have seen the panic all over my face because he then says "There is about a 1 in 200 chance she will need to be admitted."
I called Chris when I left there and he came home from work to drive us over the hill. I went and picked up Zach from daycare knowing that we would be there later than daycare is open. We got to the ER and waited for a bit. Still thinking it would be a quick procedure and we would be on our way home, I was frustrated with the wait time. We never had to wait at the other ER. I went and asked them for our paperwork so that we could leave and go to the other ER but they said we needed to talk to a nurse before we could leave. The nurse came out and he was very friendly, they said that there had been a car accident and that all involved were leaving so it freed up several beds, and we were taken right back. Chris and Zach had left and taken a walk to the park. After telling the story to nurses and the doctor, the doctor comes back and says that because her fever had spiked so high, and her young age, they were admitting her for IV antibiotics and observation. I called Chris and told him to go home but before he left, to bring me the DVD player from the van. Him and Zach come back and stay in the room with us for awhile.
They needed to get blood from Hannah to run labs/cultures so they were going to do it at the same time they started the IV. The nurse and the phlebotomist came back to get it going. The nurse tried, couldn't find a vein. The phlebotomist tried, couldn't find a vein. And they don't just try, they put the needle in her arm, and then go fishing for a vein. Each of them did that for about 10 minutes. All the while Hannah is screaming and fighting and we are trying to hold her still. Zach sat off to the side of the room saying really sweet words to his sister. "I know baby". "It's ok baby". He is so good to his sister. So they let Hannah rest for awhile and then tell us that they are getting another nurse who used to work at a Childrens hospital. He came in and tried twice and could not get it going either. They decided to let her rest and try again when they got her in her room. A little while later they came in with an ultrasound machine and did an ultrasound on the area to check if there was any kind of lump inside or some sort of puss pocket. They didn't see anything, only fluid, causing the swelling. Chris and Zach leave for the night. After probably 2 hours, right after Hannah falls asleep on my lap in the ER room, they finally take us upstairs to our room. I have learned that whenever shift change is for a hospital, that is when our family needs to be admitted or have something done because we always run into shift change. Always.
We get upstairs at about 8pm. Get all checked in and learn the rules of the ward. Hannah is still sleeping a bit. My mom came up at shortly after and brought me some dinner since I hadn't eaten anything since about 7am.
The plan is to have her on IV antibiotics all night and then they would try and drain the infection the next day. The nurse in the peds unit gets all set up to attempt to put in the IV. She explained that they would try once and if she was unsuccessful she would stop and get a NICU nurse, that they didn't want to torture her if at all possible. Hannah had woken up, but was exhausted. The nurse tries with no luck. She brings in the NICU nurse who starts looking over all the obvious places for veins. Then she starts looking at her head and I said "why are you looking there?" and she said "well, sometimes that is the best place for it." I panicked. I could not bear to see them shave my baby's head and put an IV in it. I was hoping and praying they would find another spot for it. Since they could not locate their papoose, they got a blanket and swaddled her. My mom and I tried to comfort her and keep the top half of her body still while they poked around in her feet for a vein. After about 4 tries, they got one! That was the last attempt before they were going for the head. I was so relieved, yet so worried she would move around and end up blowing it so I was watching her very close to make sure she didn't move too much.
At that point they started the antibiotics and Hannah was able to go to sleep. My mom left around 10:30 or so and I pulled out the roll away cot. Hannah rolled over in her sleep and I jumped up to untangle her IV tubes and I figured I would be better off sleeping in her bed with her. Needless to say I didn't sleep too much, but I was right next to her if she needed anything, which was all that mattered. The next morning when she woke up and saw me next to her she was so happy. She squealed "Mama" and put her arms around my neck. That was great. Then she dozed off for another hour and woke up very unhappy. I think she realized we were still there. She slapped her bed a couple times. She does this sometimes when she is angry.
The next day (Saturday) they applied warm compresses to the infection several times to try and bring it to head. It never looked like it was something they could drain, they felt it was a deeper infection, not something on the surface like the kids had in the past. And hers had spread a bit. The swollen area didn't, but the red surface area had grown quite a bit by that time. They continued with the IV antibiotics and Motrin every 6 hours. Hannah spent the day playing with toys and watching DVDs. Nana took Zach for the day and for a sleepover so that Chris was able to come spend the day at the hospital with us. With H1N1 so bad right now, they don't even allow siblings to come visit. We took Hannah for a walk in a wagon, she enjoyed being out of her room. She loved drinking chocolate milk. It is not something she ever gets, so she liked that. They told us in the early afternoon to expect to be there one more night since the infection wasn't improving. The pediatrician that saw her on Friday came by to check on a patient of his and was surprised to see us there. He came in and checked on her and looked at the infection. He told the nurse to make a note for the doctor treating her that "it does not just look worse... it looks significantly worse". That wasn't pleasant to hear. He told them he wanted another ultrasound done to see if they could see puss. The rest of the day was about the same. Hannah was such a trooper. She did a lot of coloring, playing with a doll house that they had there, and watching movies.
The next morning the doctor came in and said she would be going home that day. I asked about the ultrasound and he didn't seem like he wanted to have it done and I said her pediatrician wanted it, so he went ahead and ordered it. The results were the same, just fluid. About 1 or so my brother showed up to visit. We started chatting with him and packing our stuff up. I asked the doctor what to do if it looks like it comes to a head. Do I drain it? He said that would not happen, there was no puss in there, but no, not to drain it. She would be on an oral antibiotic and to follow up with her pediatrician in 2 days. We finally got out of there around 2pm. We were so happy to get home. Hannah was tired, so we lounged around the house and took a little nap. Nana brought Zach home. That night I gave Hannah a bath and the thing looked like it needed to drain, it had a white head to it (so much for no puss). I didn't touch it though. The next morning I stayed home from work and I called the peds office when they opened and talked to the doctor who had been seeing her. I explained what was going on and asked if they wanted to see her. They said no, just take her to the ER. She would need to be sedated and have it cut open, drained and packed. We start getting ready to head to the hospital and Hannah said she needed to go potty. There was some drainage in her diaper and as she is going potty, it literally starts dripping into the toilet (having dealt with this before, I know that if it is draining, it doesn't need to be cut open and drained). I laid her down and just kept wiping the puss away as it came, I didn't force anything. I would guess probably 3 tablespoons came out of that poor baby girl. I called the ped back and explained again. Telling them that I really thought maybe they could look at her before I put her through the ordeal of the ER. They agreed and we went in. They cultured it and it did end up being MRSA . They had me just continue with hot baths a couple times a day and to keep draining it. There wasn't much left at that point and it healed really quickly. She is still pretty traumatized and when she needs to be changed she says "No touch my owie", but she is healed.
The next morning it was about the same. I called the pediatricians office as soon as they opened and got their earliest appointment. Which was in the afternoon. So she hangs out with me at home for the day. She took a short nap and when she got up she was very clingy and just laid on me for awhile. She felt very warm so I gave her some ibuprofen. Before it had a chance to work I took her temp so I had an idea of where she was without meds. Her temp was 102. We went to the doctor. Her normal pediatrician was on vacation but we saw an equally as wonderful doctor. He took one look at it and said "This is more than I can do here. You need to take her to the ER so they can lance it, drain it, and pack it." We have been through that process with Zach and it is not pleasant and the healing process is just as bad. Because of our insurance, we normally go to a certain ER in town. The one that doesn't have a childrens unit. He told me "Go to Sierra Vista, just in case she has to be admitted." He must have seen the panic all over my face because he then says "There is about a 1 in 200 chance she will need to be admitted."
I called Chris when I left there and he came home from work to drive us over the hill. I went and picked up Zach from daycare knowing that we would be there later than daycare is open. We got to the ER and waited for a bit. Still thinking it would be a quick procedure and we would be on our way home, I was frustrated with the wait time. We never had to wait at the other ER. I went and asked them for our paperwork so that we could leave and go to the other ER but they said we needed to talk to a nurse before we could leave. The nurse came out and he was very friendly, they said that there had been a car accident and that all involved were leaving so it freed up several beds, and we were taken right back. Chris and Zach had left and taken a walk to the park. After telling the story to nurses and the doctor, the doctor comes back and says that because her fever had spiked so high, and her young age, they were admitting her for IV antibiotics and observation. I called Chris and told him to go home but before he left, to bring me the DVD player from the van. Him and Zach come back and stay in the room with us for awhile.
They needed to get blood from Hannah to run labs/cultures so they were going to do it at the same time they started the IV. The nurse and the phlebotomist came back to get it going. The nurse tried, couldn't find a vein. The phlebotomist tried, couldn't find a vein. And they don't just try, they put the needle in her arm, and then go fishing for a vein. Each of them did that for about 10 minutes. All the while Hannah is screaming and fighting and we are trying to hold her still. Zach sat off to the side of the room saying really sweet words to his sister. "I know baby". "It's ok baby". He is so good to his sister. So they let Hannah rest for awhile and then tell us that they are getting another nurse who used to work at a Childrens hospital. He came in and tried twice and could not get it going either. They decided to let her rest and try again when they got her in her room. A little while later they came in with an ultrasound machine and did an ultrasound on the area to check if there was any kind of lump inside or some sort of puss pocket. They didn't see anything, only fluid, causing the swelling. Chris and Zach leave for the night. After probably 2 hours, right after Hannah falls asleep on my lap in the ER room, they finally take us upstairs to our room. I have learned that whenever shift change is for a hospital, that is when our family needs to be admitted or have something done because we always run into shift change. Always.
We get upstairs at about 8pm. Get all checked in and learn the rules of the ward. Hannah is still sleeping a bit. My mom came up at shortly after and brought me some dinner since I hadn't eaten anything since about 7am.
The plan is to have her on IV antibiotics all night and then they would try and drain the infection the next day. The nurse in the peds unit gets all set up to attempt to put in the IV. She explained that they would try once and if she was unsuccessful she would stop and get a NICU nurse, that they didn't want to torture her if at all possible. Hannah had woken up, but was exhausted. The nurse tries with no luck. She brings in the NICU nurse who starts looking over all the obvious places for veins. Then she starts looking at her head and I said "why are you looking there?" and she said "well, sometimes that is the best place for it." I panicked. I could not bear to see them shave my baby's head and put an IV in it. I was hoping and praying they would find another spot for it. Since they could not locate their papoose, they got a blanket and swaddled her. My mom and I tried to comfort her and keep the top half of her body still while they poked around in her feet for a vein. After about 4 tries, they got one! That was the last attempt before they were going for the head. I was so relieved, yet so worried she would move around and end up blowing it so I was watching her very close to make sure she didn't move too much.
At that point they started the antibiotics and Hannah was able to go to sleep. My mom left around 10:30 or so and I pulled out the roll away cot. Hannah rolled over in her sleep and I jumped up to untangle her IV tubes and I figured I would be better off sleeping in her bed with her. Needless to say I didn't sleep too much, but I was right next to her if she needed anything, which was all that mattered. The next morning when she woke up and saw me next to her she was so happy. She squealed "Mama" and put her arms around my neck. That was great. Then she dozed off for another hour and woke up very unhappy. I think she realized we were still there. She slapped her bed a couple times. She does this sometimes when she is angry.
The next day (Saturday) they applied warm compresses to the infection several times to try and bring it to head. It never looked like it was something they could drain, they felt it was a deeper infection, not something on the surface like the kids had in the past. And hers had spread a bit. The swollen area didn't, but the red surface area had grown quite a bit by that time. They continued with the IV antibiotics and Motrin every 6 hours. Hannah spent the day playing with toys and watching DVDs. Nana took Zach for the day and for a sleepover so that Chris was able to come spend the day at the hospital with us. With H1N1 so bad right now, they don't even allow siblings to come visit. We took Hannah for a walk in a wagon, she enjoyed being out of her room. She loved drinking chocolate milk. It is not something she ever gets, so she liked that. They told us in the early afternoon to expect to be there one more night since the infection wasn't improving. The pediatrician that saw her on Friday came by to check on a patient of his and was surprised to see us there. He came in and checked on her and looked at the infection. He told the nurse to make a note for the doctor treating her that "it does not just look worse... it looks significantly worse". That wasn't pleasant to hear. He told them he wanted another ultrasound done to see if they could see puss. The rest of the day was about the same. Hannah was such a trooper. She did a lot of coloring, playing with a doll house that they had there, and watching movies.
The next morning the doctor came in and said she would be going home that day. I asked about the ultrasound and he didn't seem like he wanted to have it done and I said her pediatrician wanted it, so he went ahead and ordered it. The results were the same, just fluid. About 1 or so my brother showed up to visit. We started chatting with him and packing our stuff up. I asked the doctor what to do if it looks like it comes to a head. Do I drain it? He said that would not happen, there was no puss in there, but no, not to drain it. She would be on an oral antibiotic and to follow up with her pediatrician in 2 days. We finally got out of there around 2pm. We were so happy to get home. Hannah was tired, so we lounged around the house and took a little nap. Nana brought Zach home. That night I gave Hannah a bath and the thing looked like it needed to drain, it had a white head to it (so much for no puss). I didn't touch it though. The next morning I stayed home from work and I called the peds office when they opened and talked to the doctor who had been seeing her. I explained what was going on and asked if they wanted to see her. They said no, just take her to the ER. She would need to be sedated and have it cut open, drained and packed. We start getting ready to head to the hospital and Hannah said she needed to go potty. There was some drainage in her diaper and as she is going potty, it literally starts dripping into the toilet (having dealt with this before, I know that if it is draining, it doesn't need to be cut open and drained). I laid her down and just kept wiping the puss away as it came, I didn't force anything. I would guess probably 3 tablespoons came out of that poor baby girl. I called the ped back and explained again. Telling them that I really thought maybe they could look at her before I put her through the ordeal of the ER. They agreed and we went in. They cultured it and it did end up being MRSA . They had me just continue with hot baths a couple times a day and to keep draining it. There wasn't much left at that point and it healed really quickly. She is still pretty traumatized and when she needs to be changed she says "No touch my owie", but she is healed.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
Soccer - Season 2
Soccer season is upon us again. This year we decided to go a different route. We thought Zach would do better with peers his own age, rather than a big group of kids all the way up to their late teens. We got him all signed up earlier in the summer. We asked the league if they would let him play in the U5 league. He was only about a month too old but they refused. They said he could only play in U6. No biggie. We went ahead with it. Zach was very excited to start playing again.
We went out to the first practice last week. Zach was excited and ran up to the group of kids. He turned and said "Hi, I Zach!". No one responded. I think they were all concentrating, but still. Zach did well for about 10 minutes, then lost interest. He participated somewhat for the practice but not too much. He didn't quite get the drills they were doing. The majority of the kids on the team played last year so they all kind of knew the ropes, so to speak. After practice there was a kick off party for the season where we picked up jerseys. We pulled the coach aside and told him that we didn't think it was a good fit and maybe Zach wasn't ready. He encouraged us to stick with it and that Zach not listening and his minimum participation didn't bother him. That made me happy. We got his jersey. That weekend was the first game. He did great the first quarter. Just kind of chased the group. I felt really good about it and thought maybe he would fit in. He would be happy just chasing everyone around. He sat out the 2nd (there was a sub). He loved snack time. The 2nd half he wanted nothing to with it anymore. He refused to participate and kept taking off. Chris and I left very frustrated. Not because he didn't play, but because he was so defiant when we tried to encourage him. After thinking about it a lot that day and shedding a few tears, I was convinced that he should finish the season and lots of kids act that way in that age group. I did not want to be a quitter and be the parent of the "special" kid that pulled him out as soon as it didn't work. Zach said he did not want to play soccer anymore.
Practice this week was good for about 10 minutes. He followed the drills well. Then he just refused to do anything again and kept taking off running so one of the coaches was constantly chasing him. It was really frustrating and embarrassing. No other child was doing this and I felt very judged by the other parents. I am sure it was all in my head, but it just didn't feel right. I felt like we were forcing Zach into something he didn't want. The experience wasn't positive and just had me and Chris in a funk the whole evening. I think it also hurt me to hear one of the kids asking their parents "why does that kid keep doing that?". I decided that this is not a good fit. This is not how it should be. It should not be forced. It should not be something that causes us to be frustrated and short tempered for the rest of the evening. I emailed his coach from last season and asked if she would have us back. We got a very excited email back saying to please come back. They have gotten more young kids this year and they are able to split them up into a younger group and older group.
Today we went to practice. It was so refreshing. One of the new players was a boy from Zach's preschool class that Zach just adores. Zach did so much better. And when he didn't want to participate, it was ok. The other kids didn't care. The parents didn't care. Zach got hugs from other players. Several hugs. He never got so much as a "Hi" from a player on the other team. It just felt right. I still feel slightly... guilty is not the right word... but in the back of my mind I feel like we bailed when it didn't go right. But it just didn't seem worth the frustration we were feeling every time we dealt with it. The first game with his old team is tomorrow. I will be sure to update and post pictures.
We went out to the first practice last week. Zach was excited and ran up to the group of kids. He turned and said "Hi, I Zach!". No one responded. I think they were all concentrating, but still. Zach did well for about 10 minutes, then lost interest. He participated somewhat for the practice but not too much. He didn't quite get the drills they were doing. The majority of the kids on the team played last year so they all kind of knew the ropes, so to speak. After practice there was a kick off party for the season where we picked up jerseys. We pulled the coach aside and told him that we didn't think it was a good fit and maybe Zach wasn't ready. He encouraged us to stick with it and that Zach not listening and his minimum participation didn't bother him. That made me happy. We got his jersey. That weekend was the first game. He did great the first quarter. Just kind of chased the group. I felt really good about it and thought maybe he would fit in. He would be happy just chasing everyone around. He sat out the 2nd (there was a sub). He loved snack time. The 2nd half he wanted nothing to with it anymore. He refused to participate and kept taking off. Chris and I left very frustrated. Not because he didn't play, but because he was so defiant when we tried to encourage him. After thinking about it a lot that day and shedding a few tears, I was convinced that he should finish the season and lots of kids act that way in that age group. I did not want to be a quitter and be the parent of the "special" kid that pulled him out as soon as it didn't work. Zach said he did not want to play soccer anymore.
Practice this week was good for about 10 minutes. He followed the drills well. Then he just refused to do anything again and kept taking off running so one of the coaches was constantly chasing him. It was really frustrating and embarrassing. No other child was doing this and I felt very judged by the other parents. I am sure it was all in my head, but it just didn't feel right. I felt like we were forcing Zach into something he didn't want. The experience wasn't positive and just had me and Chris in a funk the whole evening. I think it also hurt me to hear one of the kids asking their parents "why does that kid keep doing that?". I decided that this is not a good fit. This is not how it should be. It should not be forced. It should not be something that causes us to be frustrated and short tempered for the rest of the evening. I emailed his coach from last season and asked if she would have us back. We got a very excited email back saying to please come back. They have gotten more young kids this year and they are able to split them up into a younger group and older group.
Today we went to practice. It was so refreshing. One of the new players was a boy from Zach's preschool class that Zach just adores. Zach did so much better. And when he didn't want to participate, it was ok. The other kids didn't care. The parents didn't care. Zach got hugs from other players. Several hugs. He never got so much as a "Hi" from a player on the other team. It just felt right. I still feel slightly... guilty is not the right word... but in the back of my mind I feel like we bailed when it didn't go right. But it just didn't seem worth the frustration we were feeling every time we dealt with it. The first game with his old team is tomorrow. I will be sure to update and post pictures.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
As heard...
The other night Hannah was taking a shower with me. I called Chris to come in so I could tell him to close our bedroom window. I didn't want to walk in our room, in a towel, and frighten the neighbors. A few moments later Hannah starts calling...
H: "Chris, Chris"
Me: He is your daddy, you don't call him Chris, you call him Daddy
H: "Daddy! Daddy!"
....A few minutes later....
H: "Zach! Zach! No... Big Brother! Big Brother!"
I thought it was brilliant that she put together that I had told her to call her daddy not by his name, but by relation and she did the same with Zach.
H: "Chris, Chris"
Me: He is your daddy, you don't call him Chris, you call him Daddy
H: "Daddy! Daddy!"
....A few minutes later....
H: "Zach! Zach! No... Big Brother! Big Brother!"
I thought it was brilliant that she put together that I had told her to call her daddy not by his name, but by relation and she did the same with Zach.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Happy 2nd Birthday Hannah !!
Hannah Rose,
I can't believe 2 years has gone by since you came into my world. It seems like just yesterday, although I can't remember what life was like without you. You have such a wild spirit and loving soul. You are so much fun and I love the bond we share.
Happy Birthday my sweet girl. I love you so much!
I can't believe 2 years has gone by since you came into my world. It seems like just yesterday, although I can't remember what life was like without you. You have such a wild spirit and loving soul. You are so much fun and I love the bond we share.
Happy Birthday my sweet girl. I love you so much!
Monday, August 24, 2009
Kindergarten!!!
Today was the first day of kindergarten for Zachary. He did wonderful. His teacher emailed me and told me that he did really well. Here are some pictures from the big day...
He made this hat at school, it says "I was a star on my first day of kindergarten"
He made this hat at school, it says "I was a star on my first day of kindergarten"
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Like father like son....
Zach got a really cool big boy skateboard for his birthday. He bugs us constantly to ride it. He doesn't quite have the stability to do much on it but it doesn't stop him from trying and giving me a heart attack. Doesn't he look so grown up?!? He had fun trying and did best when he sat on his bottom and rolled around on it.
Ta Da!
Ta Da!
Monday, August 17, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
A few pictures from our weekend....
Zach got his backpack and wagon packed up, his shoes and hat on, and was ready to go. I can't remember where he said he was going, but apparently you don't need pants there!
Hannah layed her babies down for a nap, covered them with a blankie, and read them a book.
Hannah got a tea party set for her birthday last year and we finally pulled it out for them to play with. She is so into pretending lately I knew they would have a blast with it. They spent SO much time playing with it.
Hannah layed her babies down for a nap, covered them with a blankie, and read them a book.
Hannah got a tea party set for her birthday last year and we finally pulled it out for them to play with. She is so into pretending lately I knew they would have a blast with it. They spent SO much time playing with it.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
4th of July!!
We had a nice low key 4th of July this year. We went and spent some time playing at the beach. Watched some of the fireworks til the kids got too tired. And overall had a fun day with beautiful weather. The last couple years we were pretty fogged in, so it was a nice change.
Here are some pics of the kids. Hope you all had a great 4th!!
Chris was making the kids laugh so I could get them smiling and I just love the excitement all over this one
Hannah's not too big on the ocean these days, but she loves getting sandy
Zach on the other hand LOVES the ocean
Waiting for fireworks to start
Here are some pics of the kids. Hope you all had a great 4th!!
Chris was making the kids laugh so I could get them smiling and I just love the excitement all over this one
Hannah's not too big on the ocean these days, but she loves getting sandy
Zach on the other hand LOVES the ocean
Waiting for fireworks to start
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Party Time!
We celebrated Zach's birthday with a party at the local park with friends and family. The kids had fun playing, eating cake, and being together.
Zach arriving at his party
Posing with his skateboarder cake that he picked out
Loving the attention while everyone sings to him
Cake aftermath (I don't know who handed out the cake, but somehow both my kids ended up with pieces with the black frosting!!!)
Getting ready to open presents
Bowing as he was saying "Thank you" to his guests
Zach arriving at his party
Posing with his skateboarder cake that he picked out
Loving the attention while everyone sings to him
Cake aftermath (I don't know who handed out the cake, but somehow both my kids ended up with pieces with the black frosting!!!)
Getting ready to open presents
Bowing as he was saying "Thank you" to his guests
Monday, June 22, 2009
As heard....
Driving home from Target yesterday
Chris: Thanks for being such a good boy at the store Zach
Zach: My pleasure Dad
Chris: Thanks for being such a good boy at the store Zach
Zach: My pleasure Dad
Monday, June 15, 2009
Happy 5th Birthday Zachary!!!!!!!!!!
Zach,
5 years ago you made me a mom. Little did I know how much my life would change by your presence. You have taught me to look at life different. To look at people different. To accept differences. To love completely. Everyday you amaze me with your determination and your whole hearted love. I admire the pure joy that takes over your whole body and the sparkle in your eye when you get excited about something. You have been the most influential person on my life and I love you more than words can describe.
Per your request, tonight we will be dining on hot dogs, french fries and beans.
I love you buddy. Keep reaching for the sky!
5 years ago you made me a mom. Little did I know how much my life would change by your presence. You have taught me to look at life different. To look at people different. To accept differences. To love completely. Everyday you amaze me with your determination and your whole hearted love. I admire the pure joy that takes over your whole body and the sparkle in your eye when you get excited about something. You have been the most influential person on my life and I love you more than words can describe.
Per your request, tonight we will be dining on hot dogs, french fries and beans.
I love you buddy. Keep reaching for the sky!
Friday, June 12, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Friday, May 8, 2009
Trying to get it back...
... my blogging mojo that is. As I am sure you have all noticed (all 2 or 3 people that actually read this), I haven't been blogging much. Partially because I haven't wanted to, partially because we haven't had a lot going on. But I feel the need for a post... so here goes...
Zach is going to be 5 soon. FIVE! How did that happen? He will be starting kindergarten this fall. After months of deliberation, we have made our choice on his placement for his entry to elementary school. It was a hard decision. Here's why. Part of me wanted to push for regular, fully integrated kindergarten. I feel like he would adapt well to his "typically developing" peers and he would learn well from them. And I feel like as his mother, and his advocate, I had to push for that right? We went and toured the special ed class in our district (I don't think they call it special ed anymore, I am sure it has a much more PC name). We weren't overly impressed with it. It was kind of tucked in the back of the school. Kind of the way we remember the special ed classes when we were in school, which was... oh I don't know... a couple decades ago. It was a neat class. The teacher and aides seemed awesome. We left there more confused. With his pre-school class (which is also the special ed class of the district), we walked in and fell in love. We knew he would thrive there and knew that was it. No questions asked. We didn't get that feeling from this class. After talking through different options with his teachers, and amongst ourselves, we decided on the special ed class for next year. One of our biggest reasons is that with budget cuts, the K classes are likely to have 30 kids per class. That is a lot for any teacher to deal with. In the special ed program, they aren't taking any budget hits, and he will get much more one on one time which I think will greatly benefit Zach. We had his IEP today and there are many of his goals that deal with integration. So he will do some classes (art, music, etc) in the regular kindergarten class. Our hope is that next year, maybe he will be ready to transition into a regular ed class. Maybe repeat kindergarten in the regular class. That remains to be seen. For now, it is nice that the decision is made.
We also signed Zach up for soccer again. This year we opted out of the special needs league. While it is a great team, we thought he would do better with kids his own size and age. Playing next to teenagers that were 4 times his size just wasn't a great fit. So, he is all signed up to play in the Under 6 team and games will start this fall.
Zach's speech has been taking off lately. His pronunciation of words has been noticibly better in the last few weeks even. We are so proud of him and how hard he's worked, and for putting up with us not understanding him. Zach is such a smart kid that he has all these thoughts in his head he just can't always find the words to express his thoughts.
Hannah is almost 20 months old. She is a (as a friend recently called her) "little ball of fire". She talks like she is much older than she is. She speaks complete sentences and repeats everything you say. At her last doctor appointment (about a month ago) she was 30 lbs, 34 1/2 inches tall. She loves to color and draw, play in the dirt, and kick a soccer ball. She gets in trouble for picking the flowers in the yard at daycare and when asked about it she says "Pretty!" and tries to put them back on their stems.
Her and her brother are such a pair. They play wonderfully together and you can see their true love for eachother. If one isn't in sight, the other is asking for them.
Here are a few recent pictures:
This picture isn't spectacular of them, but I want to explain. It was like 100 degrees that day and they were hanging out watching a cartoon, Chris and I were doing something in the kitchen and I go to check on them and Zach is running his fingers through her hair and she was just loving it
I just love her eye lashes in this picture
Zach talking to a baby at a family function.......
...... right before pimpin his sister out to him (love the looks on her face)
We were out of town, and they were supposed to be sleeping, I went in the room and found this
Hugs (and actually if you look close, he is kissing the top of her head)
Zach is going to be 5 soon. FIVE! How did that happen? He will be starting kindergarten this fall. After months of deliberation, we have made our choice on his placement for his entry to elementary school. It was a hard decision. Here's why. Part of me wanted to push for regular, fully integrated kindergarten. I feel like he would adapt well to his "typically developing" peers and he would learn well from them. And I feel like as his mother, and his advocate, I had to push for that right? We went and toured the special ed class in our district (I don't think they call it special ed anymore, I am sure it has a much more PC name). We weren't overly impressed with it. It was kind of tucked in the back of the school. Kind of the way we remember the special ed classes when we were in school, which was... oh I don't know... a couple decades ago. It was a neat class. The teacher and aides seemed awesome. We left there more confused. With his pre-school class (which is also the special ed class of the district), we walked in and fell in love. We knew he would thrive there and knew that was it. No questions asked. We didn't get that feeling from this class. After talking through different options with his teachers, and amongst ourselves, we decided on the special ed class for next year. One of our biggest reasons is that with budget cuts, the K classes are likely to have 30 kids per class. That is a lot for any teacher to deal with. In the special ed program, they aren't taking any budget hits, and he will get much more one on one time which I think will greatly benefit Zach. We had his IEP today and there are many of his goals that deal with integration. So he will do some classes (art, music, etc) in the regular kindergarten class. Our hope is that next year, maybe he will be ready to transition into a regular ed class. Maybe repeat kindergarten in the regular class. That remains to be seen. For now, it is nice that the decision is made.
We also signed Zach up for soccer again. This year we opted out of the special needs league. While it is a great team, we thought he would do better with kids his own size and age. Playing next to teenagers that were 4 times his size just wasn't a great fit. So, he is all signed up to play in the Under 6 team and games will start this fall.
Zach's speech has been taking off lately. His pronunciation of words has been noticibly better in the last few weeks even. We are so proud of him and how hard he's worked, and for putting up with us not understanding him. Zach is such a smart kid that he has all these thoughts in his head he just can't always find the words to express his thoughts.
Hannah is almost 20 months old. She is a (as a friend recently called her) "little ball of fire". She talks like she is much older than she is. She speaks complete sentences and repeats everything you say. At her last doctor appointment (about a month ago) she was 30 lbs, 34 1/2 inches tall. She loves to color and draw, play in the dirt, and kick a soccer ball. She gets in trouble for picking the flowers in the yard at daycare and when asked about it she says "Pretty!" and tries to put them back on their stems.
Her and her brother are such a pair. They play wonderfully together and you can see their true love for eachother. If one isn't in sight, the other is asking for them.
Here are a few recent pictures:
This picture isn't spectacular of them, but I want to explain. It was like 100 degrees that day and they were hanging out watching a cartoon, Chris and I were doing something in the kitchen and I go to check on them and Zach is running his fingers through her hair and she was just loving it
I just love her eye lashes in this picture
Zach talking to a baby at a family function.......
...... right before pimpin his sister out to him (love the looks on her face)
We were out of town, and they were supposed to be sleeping, I went in the room and found this
Hugs (and actually if you look close, he is kissing the top of her head)
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