Christmas Day

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and/or Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

Christmas Eve

Today was a great day!  I really mean it too, because I almost never say that.  I was up for a couple hours with Amanda last night, so Charlie let me sleep in.  I went to yoga to reclaim my peace, ran a few errands and then came home to hang out with Charlie and the kids.

We made some cookie dough to make cookies for Santa, nothing like waiting until the last minute, but I didn't realize that it had to chill for three hours.  So while we waited I played a game of Hello Kitty Yahtzee with Sarah, and then the whole family played (minus Amanda who was taking a nap).  It was a lot of fun, even though Charlie won (but he always wins at Yahtzee).

After Yahtzee we went to have dinner at a Chinese buffet with some friends (Melanie, we really missed you!).  Luckily they had pizza on the buffet (weird, but in this case good) and lots of desserts so the kids were happy.  When we got home from dinner we made our cookies and the kids had a blast frosting them.  I don't think Charlie enjoyed it too much, but he was a great sport.

We put the kids to bed and then I went to a Christmas Eve service with a friend.  I don't know what it is, but when we are here for Christmas I like to go to church on Christmas Eve.  I think it reminds me of home.  The strange part is, if I was home I wouldn't necessarily go to church on Christmas Eve, but I guess because that isn't an option I like to.  Anyway, the service was really nice and the service and church were a lot like my parent's church so it was exactly what I needed.

Charlie and I took care of a few last presents when I got home and now are getting ready for bed.  I couldn't have asked for a better day.  Hope tomorrow goes just as well!

Last Hurrah

We just got back from three days and four nights in Puerto Rico.  Charlie really wanted to go on one last trip in 2011 as a family, so I told him if we could use points and have minimal spending and he planned the trip I would go.  Really, how do you say no to that?  All I had to do was pack and show up.

From the very beginning he wanted to go somewhere warm with a beach.  We used to go on trips like this about twice a year when Andy was little, even when Sarah was little, but we realized this week that we haven't done one since Amanda was born.  How pathetic our travel adventures have become, not adventures at all.

Charlie looked into destinations all over the Caribbean, until we hit a snafu.  Sarah's passport expired in August and it takes 4-6 weeks to get a new passport.  Being that she is only five years old she isn't a big threat to national security and isn't high on the watch list, but we still didn't know how long it would take to get her a new passport.  I took her information in the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and then we waited.  Charlie kept doing hotel research and narrowed down our choices to places that worked if her passport came and others that we would also be willing to go to if her passport did not arrive on time.  In the end, her passport did come before we left, it only took about two weeks (but I doubt it would be that fast for an adult), but he chose Puerto Rico nonetheless.

All we wanted was three days of sun.  Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate.  It wasn't cold, but it was overcast for most of the first and third days, and the second day it rained.  A lot.  On top of that, the water in the pool was cold.  We spent a lot of time in the hot tub, which was the temperature the pool should have been.

Despite all that, we still had a good time.  Not a great time, but a good time.  The kids were forced to spend some time together and even enjoyed a little of it, and we got to try some of the local fare.  The kids got to swim, which they love, and Charlie got to play some catch with Andy, which he loves (I was referring to Charlie loving it, but Andy does too).  I got to forget about wrapping presents, which are waiting for me upstairs as I write, and cleaning the house, which we are all going to work on tomorrow together.  We just got to enjoy hanging out as a family.  A little quality time for everyone.  What more could a mom ask for?

Kid Quote of the Day

Me:  Amanda, for your nap do you want to wear underwear or a diaper?

Amanda:  Diaper.

Me:  A diaper, why?

Amanda:  I love diapers.

Holiday Frenzy

I know I've been kind of quiet lately, but that's because I'm frantically working behind the scenes to pull off a fantastic holiday once again this year.  The holiday cards are printed and screaming at me from the desk to be stuffed in envelopes.  Thankfully after I complained on Facebook today that I hate trying to print address labels, which I do with my entire body and soul, Charlie took pity on me and found some time to do it at work.  I wrote our annual letter that goes with the cards already, just waiting for Charlie to make 150 (yes, we send about 150 holiday cards) copies so they can be folded and added to the picture cards.  So, hopefully by the end of the weekend they will all be stuffed and in the mail.  I have considered on many occasions just sending the cards without the letters, but there are too many people that say "Oh, I just love your Christmas letter" and would be very angry with us if it didn't get included.  Of course if those people just read my blog they wouldn't need the letter, hmm.

We delivered almost all of the kids' teacher gifts already, just a few last ones to do tomorrow.  I hate waiting until the end of the week to give them, in case the kids or the teacher or the teacher's kid gets sick and then you have to wait until after the break to do it.  I made bread this year, and we would get really fat eating it all before the break is over and then would have to make even more, no way.  36 mini loaves was enough thank you!

The presents are another story.  I'm done shopping, you don't have to worry about that.  Except for my brother, David's kids (uh-hmm, because I haven't been told what they want), I finished the last couple stocking stuffers last night.  I start buying things for the kids in August.  Just little things, but I know if I see something and say that I'm going to get it later, I never find it.  So my gift closet starts out kind of empty and then as the months go buy it gets fuller and fuller. No, my problem isn't buying, it's wrapping.  I can guarantee that I will spend several nights next week wrapping presents because there's just no other time to do it.  The paper will still have my breath on it when they open their gifts.

The extra challenge that our family has is that we celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas.  It's not a challenge for the kids, they love all the presents.  It's a challenge for us because a) we have to come up with enough gifts and then b) they have way too much junk lying around the house.  Charlie has told me that Hanukkah presents can't be over $5 each, but the only think you can buy for under $5 is junk, so I try to keep it to $10-$15, which can still be challenging.  The last two years Andy has gotten a lot of books for Hanukkah, but he is okay with that.  They are usually ones he wants anyway.  The girls get art supplies, books, and little toys like My Little Ponies and Littlest Pet Shop.  Amanda is having a very Elmo Christmas and Hanukkah, which means most of her gifts for both holidays will have something to do with Sesame Street and Elmo, but she'll be all over it.

The struggle we have with Hanukkah and Christmas is that they are usually pretty close together.  I love it when Hanukkah is the first week of December.  Then there is no overlap.  But this year it starts around December 19.  That means Christmas Day is one of the days of Hanukkah.  Plus, we will be out of town for a couple of the days.  So, in our flexible, happy go lucky way (ha ha), we tend to move Hanukkah to when it fits us.  You can't really move Christmas because every knows it's December 25, but not many people know when Hanukkah officially starts each year, and surely the people that do are not our kids.  They are just happy to have it whenever we do it.

In past years we've had such a hard time fitting it in that we will do a couple of days, take a few off, do a few more, whatever works.  We always get in all eight, and we always say the prayers and light the candles. Charlie makes sure the kids know the story of Hanukkah and why we have it (I'm pretty sure they know the story of Hanukkah better than the story of Christmas, which means I need to work a little harder) and they know they are to respect the time while we are lighting the candles and remain quiet.  If they always behaved as well as they did during the short time that we light the candles my life would be so easy.

Overall we make it work, it's just hectic.  So maybe this year I have wrapped the Hanukkah presents five minutes before giving them to the kids each night, but at least they are wrapped and I actually have all the gifts.  The kids are happy and that's all that really matters.

Picture of the Day

Did you know that today is the first day of Hanukkah?  That's because it isn't.  Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.  I'll explain in my next post.

Kid Quote of the Day

Back story:  We were watching a video in the car where it explains about silent "e"s and how they change a word.  The example they were using was changing "dim" into "dime".

Sarah:  Is DIM actually a word?

Me:  Yes

Sarah:  DIM IT!

No, not exactly, but that it what it sounds like when I'm angry and saying it really fast!

Family Gingerbread Man Project

Andy's teacher enjoyed the family turkey project around Thanksgiving so much, and she claims the kids did too, that she sent home a family gingerbread man project.  Same basic concept, the family works together to decorate a paper gingerbread man.  I had high hopes for this project, seeing that we had so much fun doing the turkey one, but have now come to the realization that we only have one family project in us.

We kind of put ourselves in a bad situation.  When the assignment came home over a week ago, I told Charlie that he could do it this time, since he missed out on the turkey.  I never made it a priority, and neither did he.  Fast forward to last night around 6 p.m.  Charlie was conveniently out on a "work" event at the Cowboys game, so it was up to the kids and me to make the gingerbread man.  Luckily the girls and I had gone out on Saturday to get supplies or it would have gotten really ugly.

The problem was, it was around dinner time, the kids were tired, and all three of them were uber cranky for various reasons.  So, Andy didn't really want the girls to help, which goes against the whole "family" part of the assignment, and the girls were whining because they did want to help.  In the end Andy basically told me where to put the glue (the positive part of the whole thing was I got to use my fun, fun, fun glue gun again!) while the girls watched.  Oh, and threw all the extra art supplies on the floor.  Because really, what's an art project without me having to clean up everything from everywhere.  End rant.

Andy wanted the gingerbread man to be able to stand up by himself, which we sort of accomplished.  He's kind of bent over, so he must be a very old and crotchety gingerbread man, but he does have a smile on his face.  I'm sure he was just happy to get out of the house away from all the yelling and fighting.  I wish I could go hang on the wall at the elementary school for a couple of weeks.

Anyway, I'm just really hoping we don't have to do a Family Leprechaun Project for St. Patrick's Day.  That would probably be enough to send me over the edge and denounce my 1/4 Irish bloodline.

Sisterly Love

Today when I went to pick up the girls from school, Sarah's English teacher (she has English on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Spanish on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) leans over to me and says, "Did you know...". Of course I never know what anybody is going to say when they start out that way, and generally when it involves my kids I don't want to know.  "Did you know", she said, "that everyday Amanda comes into our class to see Sarah?"  No, no I didn't.

Apparently Amanda's teacher walks her down to Sarah's classroom to get a hug from Sarah.  Sarah walks over, gives her a hug, and then Amanda leaves.  No big deal, just a little reassurance that Sarah is still there and is looking out for her.  I asked if they did this everyday.  The English teacher said it happened everyday that she was there.  I asked the Spanish teacher the same question.  She said it never happens on the days she is teaching.  However, Amanda doesn't go to school the days that she teaches.  So I guess it is everyday as far as Amanda is concerned, because it is every day that she is at school.

Up until today nobody told me this.  Not Sarah, not Amanda's teachers, not Amanda.  Although I probably wouldn't understand if Amanda was trying to tell me anyway.  They just do it as if it's part of the planned school day.  How sweet that Sarah isn't upset or embarrassed and is willing to console her little sister, and even more sweet that Amanda needs that reassurance not from a teacher or mom, but from her big sister.

They truly are the best of friends.  I hope it continues forever and ever.

Picture of the Day

Sarah in her new Snoopy shirt we got the Saturday after thanksgiving during all the sales.  The hat came with it.

The Gingerbread House Project

When I was a kid, we didn't make gingerbread houses.  Okay, that's not exactly true.  We didn't make them as a big family project.  We would occasionally make them at school or at Girl Scouts or something like that, but it wasn't a family tradition.  Plus, we didn't even use gingerbread.  We would cut up a cardboard milk container to use as the base and then glue graham crackers to it with frosting (or possibly just glue) and go from there.

Somewhere along the way after Andy was born I bought a gingerbread house.  He was probably two or three years old.  Back then I liked doing fun, creative things with my kid because there was just one of him, we didn't have a lot of other things going on, and I got to decide how messy the project got.  So different from life today.

Over the last several years, we've continued to buy them and now the holiday season is somehow not complete without a gingerbread house.  The problem is, Charlie and I hate making them.  We either break the roof, or the wall, or the frosting is too thick or it won't stick together.  There is always some drama with the house.  It's rare that we get through a year of making one without something going wrong.

One year we found one that comes with a plastic base that the pieces just fit into.  That way if your frosting glue doesn't work well it still stays together, except for the roof sliding off.  We were so happy that year.  Rediculously happy, really, for two highly educated people, but when you have a gingerbread house deficiency you need the plastic base.  We may have found that same house one other year, but I didn't find it this year.

The funny thing is that when I buy them I don't always scrutinize them carefully enough.  Sometimes the boxes are very deceptive and look like there is a base or that it will be easy, but then you open it up and it's just wrong.  Yesterday when we opened the box and there was no base Charlie decided he was going to go out and buy a new one.  That's how bad it is.  We aren't even willing to try to make it without the base.  He was gone quite awhile, however, and when he came back he had a new house but it didn't have a base either.  Ugh, now we have to do two!

The kids did the one I bought last night.  I sort of followed the directions, which I don't think we've even done.  I glued the walls together first and we let them sit for about 30 minutes.  Then I glued on the roof and we let that sit for another 30 minutes.  We've never made it that way before.  Usually we put it together and instantly start decorating.  That may be why it falls apart so often.

Regardless of what a pain in the ass it really is, the reason we keep doing it is because the kids love it.  Last night while all three of them were working on the house by themselves, Charlie and I both kept our distance, there was no fighting whatsoever.  They got along great and were so happy with their house.  That is what the holiday and the tradition are all about.  Of course it wasn't a spectacular looking gingerbread house when they were done, but in their eyes it was beautiful.

Plus, next weekend we are going to do the one Charlie bought so that was just the practice house.  Good thing, because look what happened after the kids went to bed.

Kid Quote of the Day

Sarah:  How come everybody just left me in there?

Me:  You went in the game room to watch tv and you shut the door.  Plus, we've been a little focused on Andy who isn't feeling well today.

Sarah:  How come it's never about me?

Compromise (or Lack Thereof)

When Charlie and I were trying to decide whether or not to have another baby (okay, really I was just trying to convince him), my brother tried to tell us that three wasn't the best idea.  Of course he loves all three of his kids, but the story he would always tell was this:  you can always get one all fired up about where you are going or what you are going to do, you can usually convince a second one to go along with the plan, but that third one will always put up a fight and won't want anything to do with it.  Lately, that's the story of my life.

I have to admit the older two are pretty good when it comes to compromise.  Yes, Andy will always grumble and Sarah will always whine (if she didn't I would seriously think something was wrong in the world), but they are old enough to understand and will stick with the plan.  It's Amanda who wants nothing to do with it and does not like to take turns making decisions.

I stopped letting the kids watch DVDs in the car for a long time because it became such an issue every time we would go anywhere.  Andy would get to pick but would get out of the car (for school or an activity or whatever) and then Sarah, who didn't want to watch what Andy picked, would ask if I would change said DVD.  Of course I would because why would I make her watch something she didn't want to watch, but then Andy at some point would get back in the car and realize his DVD had been removed.  There was constant yelling and fighting and whining and crying about what we watched that we just stopped completely.

I'm not sure when, but we started watching again.  I think Charlie was the one who started it, putting in a DVD that Amanda would like.  Of course it was something Sesame Street.  At first the older kids were just so excited to have TV in the car again that they didn't say anything.  They happily watched Sesame Street or Blue's Clues or whatever was on.  That was until we watched it 500 times.  You think I'm joking, I'm not.

After an amazingly long time they finally started asking if we could watch something else.  Something they actually wanted to watch.  I agreed and we decided we would take turns picking what was on next.  You see where this is going, right?  The big kids are pretty good about taking turns, but Amanda is not.  Plus, Amanda is with me ALL THE TIME, and when she isn't with me the other kids aren't with me either.  So, on many occasions I will remove their movies to put hers back in, and then history repeats itself.

Every time we tell Amanda it is someone else's turn to pick a DVD, she goes crazy.  Then, for the first 30 or so minutes of the movie she says, "Mommy, I want to watch Elmo," over and over and over again.  It's kind of pointless to be watching something else because she's talking over it and you can't hear it anyway.

I'm very close to ending this experiment and going back to silence.  I'm pretty sure I will not have a DVD player in my next car.  Some days I truly see the value in having an only child.

Happy To You!

For the last week or so, Amanda has been singing "Happy to you", kind of like she's singing Happy Birthday except she's leaving out an important word, birthday.  Every time she did it I would sing the first line of Happy Birthday, trying to teach her to get it right.  Then I stopped.  Isn't it better to say "Happy to you" rather than "Happy Birthday to you"?  You only have a birthday once a year, and like the Mad Hatter says, you have so many more un-birthdays than birthdays anyway.

"Happy to you" fits in so many more situations than "Happy Birthday to you" does.  For example, on Thursday when she said it, she could have been saying "Happy Thanksgiving".  The "to you" part just means she saying it to you and nobody else.

Who cares if she doesn't sing it right, her way is more of a half-full kind of way anyway.

Kid Quote of the Day

Andy:  What are they doing over there?

Sarah:  They're going to paint it black and then put fur on the bottom.

Andy:  How do you know?

Sarah:  Well, I'm just assuming it will look like the other one.

Me:  Fur?

Andy:  Carpet.

Kid Quote of the Day

Me:  What's your name?

Amanda:  A me da.

Close, very close.

Picture of the Day

Every once in a while they actually place nicely together.

Surprise Art

Sometimes we all get a little wrapped up in what we are doing.  That's a nice way of saying we're not always paying attention to Amanda.  Most of the time she stays busy with Sarah or in the play room with her toys.  However, there are other times when her siblings leave things out that she is really too young to be playing with and we're all too busy to notice that she is getting into them.

Today is a perfect example.  Look at her feet.  How is it possible for a two-yr-old, a smart two-yr-old but still, to make perfect circles on her feet?

Does it make a little more sense now?

I didn't even realize she had colored on her feet.  There was marker on her shoe and I took it off to clean it and only then realized that she had colored through the holes onto her feet.

This is why we have very few markers in our house that are not washable, and those that we do have are kept high in a cabinet and have not ever been taken out of their package.  On the positive side she didn't color on the wall or the floor or the table cloth.

At least it will come off her feet.  Assuming, of course, that we actually give her a bath.  Baby steps.

Kid Quote of the Day

Back story, we've been watching Blues Clues in the van for the last two weeks and Andy, understandably, is getting tired of it.

Andy:  Can we go back to the way we used to do things, where we take turns picking what we watch?  Can I pick next?

Me:  What are you going to pick?

Andy:  Something with action and adventure and possibly a little romance.

Baby Doll

This is Amanda's doll, accurately but unoriginally named "Baby Doll".  Baby Doll never wears clothes, and when in the house is usually found lying on the kitchen floor in some unbelievable uncomfortable position.  However, when Baby Doll has the opportunity to come out of the house and ride with us in the car, she rides in style.  She never rides in Amanda's lap, but instead gets strapped into one of the older kids' booster seats.  On this particular day it was Sarah's, but Amanda usually favors Andy's.  Imagine Andy's surprise and horror to find a naked doll sitting in his seat when we go to pick him up from school.  He is not amused.

Kid Quote of the Day

Sarah:  Amanda, what color paper do you want?

Amanda:  Elmo.

Sarah:  We don't have anymore of that color.

Me:  What color does she think Elmo is?  Red?

Sarah:  Purple.

Picture of the Day

Sarah and Amanda got out their capes and light sabers this afternoon.

Picture of the Day

I cannot believe I forgot to upload this picture.  I take pictures all the time that never make it to the site, but this one I definitely meant to put up.  This was taken on Halloween.  It was Sarah's first day back to school after her surgery so she only went in for a half day.  Amanda and I picked her up, we went to lunch and then went to get both girls long overdue haircuts.  When she was done cutting it the stylist asked Sarah if she wanted it curly or straight.  Of course Sarah chose straight.  The stylist blew it dry and then flat ironed it.  It must have taken her at least 30 minutes.  Cute, but nothing I will ever have the time or patience to do.  Of course Sarah loved it, so who knows what this means in the years to come.

Taylor Swift

I'm not sure if I've ever told you about the love/hate relationship I have with Sarah's hair.  I love it, because it is absolutely gorgeous and exactly what I wanted growing up but didn't have, but I hate taking care of it.  Yes, at her age, I take care of it.  We fight constantly about washing it and brushing it and how she's going to wear it, and I've threatened so many times to cut it off that she has to know I'm not serious because I do it every time I get exasperated with it which is daily.  At some point along the way I started comparing her hair to Taylor Swift's and told her stories about how Taylor has always had it long and left it curly and never used a hair dryer and lets it air dry.

I mostly tell her this because she really likes Taylor Swift and I want her to see that curly hair can be beautiful, and I don't know a lot of other people with curly hair, but it's also because I think Taylor is an amazing role model for girls of any age.  I like her music, and I like that my kids can listen to her music without me having to mute any of it.

So, when Taylor started her Speak Now tour I decided I was going to take Sarah.  I know she's a little young for a concert, but I thought this would be the perfect first one.  Unfortunately, the weekend that the tour was coming to Dallas was the weekend that Charlie and I were going to San Diego for the Celebrity Golf event.  I wanted to take her to the concert, but not enough to miss Celebrity Golf.  Luckily, I have a friend who reminded me of the benefits of flight privileges, we could go to any city on the tour.

I checked the rest of the tour dates and found that she would be in Miami on November 13.  Perfect.  Charlie's mom lives in Miami so we wouldn't have to pay for a hotel, and the flights were taken care of.  We flew in on Saturday evening, hung out with Grandma Sunday during the day, and then Charlie and I and the two older kids went to the concert last night.  Andy was a little embarrassed to be going at first, until he told his flag football team he was going and one of the boys told him Taylor Swift was hot.  Then his whole mentality changed.

You can totally understand why Taylor Swift just won Entertainer of the Year.  Her concert was amazing and was quite a production.  In some ways I am so glad that it was Sarah's first concert, but in others I think it may leave his disappointed by concerts in the future.  Taylor is a fabulous performer, puts on a great show, and is so nice and thankful to her fans.  As I said before, a wonderful role model for girls of all ages.  I was concerned that because it was so late Sarah would fall asleep at the concert, but she stuck it out to the end, dancing and singing whether she knew the words or not.

All in all a great evening.

Kid Quote of the Day

"No Amanda!  You're job is to be cute.  That's all you have to do."

-Andy, after Amanda was trying to get into his stuff.

Third Grade Boys

Last night Andy asked me if I could come to school and have lunch with him today.  He doesn't ask me to do this very often, so I try to comply when he asks.  Unfortunately, I couldn't go because I had plans, so I told him we'd have to do it another day.  When my plans got cancelled this morning, I decided I would go and surprise him.

Amanda and I stopped by Chick-fil-A before we went.  That's really the main reason kids like their parents to come for lunch, they bring fast food with them.  We got there a little early because I didn't want Andy to buy lunch before we got there, so I picked some seats at the end of the table and got out all the food.

When the class arrived in the lunchroom (aka cafetorium - that's a cafeteria and auditorium combined into one room) several of the boys b-lined it to where Amanda and I were sitting.  Andy seemed to be the only one who didn't see us.  So, I sent his best buddy, Mark, to get him and let him know we were at the table.  He was so excited to see us, which always makes me smile.  

One boy came up to me and told me Andy's food was in his spot.  He sits there everyday.  Um, okay, sorry, so I pushed Andy's food to the other side of the table.  As soon as everyone got settled, they all started talking to me at once.  Five 8-9 year old boys talking about Angry Birds and Transformers and whatever else.

In the short 30 minutes I ate with them, they informed me that Megan Fox was the "hottest" woman on the planet (they might be right) and that an Angry Birds movie was coming out (not so sure about that one).  Towards the end of the meal Andy told me that he normally sits at the other end of the table.  Apparently I inadvertently messed us the seating arrangements of the entire class.  I just assumed they sat anywhere, but I guess they have their normal spots, give or take a few seats, and since we sat in a different place the kids that normally sat there had to find a different place and so on.  Except, of course, the kid who made me move Andy's food so he could have his seat.  He wasn't going to sit by and quietly watch someone sit in his seat.

By the end of the meal I was totally overwhelmed and overstimulated.  Too many kids talking to me at the same time in a very noisy, crowded cafetorium.  However, I really need to do it more.  It gives me a chance to meet some of the kids that Andy talks about and be with them at a time when they actually feel comfortable talking to me.  Plus, Andy really loves to have me there and he isn't going to feel that way forever.

Kid Quote of the Day

Amanda and Sarah were watching a Blue's Clues DVD in the car today.  It was "Get to Know Joe" from when Joe first joined the show.

Kids on DVD:  Hi Joe!

Joe:  You know my name!  What's your name?

Sarah:  Sarah

Amanda:  Me

She still can't say her name, but it isn't stopping her.

Picture of the Day

Today while we were at Hobby Lobby Andy asked if he could get this mailbox.  With his own money.  I asked him why he needed it and he said so Charlie and I could send him letters.  I promised him there would be no letters from us, but he could not be deterred and said we could put his mail in it.  You know, since he gets so much.  He was only going to put his name on it, but I told him that a mailbox always has the name of both occupants in the room.  I didn't think he was really listening to me, because he was adamant that it was just for him, but after he set it out next to his door I noticed that he did indeed add Sarah's name.

I wonder if he's going to make her pay for half?

Family Turkey Project

On Monday Andy brought home an assignment for the entire family.  It was called the Family Turkey Project.  It was a white, photocopied turkey that he had to be cut out and decorate for school.  With the entire family.  Ugh.  I don't mean to be nasty, but I don't really want to do homework with my kids.  I'll sit with them while they do their own homework, but I don't want to do their homework.  I did homework for years.  Now it's their turn.  However, since he's only in third grade, the teacher thought it would be a fun, no stress project for the kids to do with their families.  His teacher doesn't know our family very well.

The kids were supposed to color the turkey and then decorate it with whatever they wanted.  Feathers, pom poms, cereal, pasta, whatever.  I didn't think it would be an issue, we have tons of crafting items in our cabinets.  Or so I thought.  It turns out we have several different kinds of crafting sticks, bags and bags of foamy sticky letters and about 4,000 crayons and markers.  Not a lot of embellishments.

So, I packed up the kids and took them to Hobby Lobby to get some supplies for our turkey.  Yay.  Andy wanted the turkey to have a worm in it's mouth, so we had to get some Model Magic.  If you've never used it before, it's awesome.  It's like Play-Doh and clay, but it's super soft and light and fluffy and doesn't break off into tiny pieces like Play-Doh and isn't all greasy like clay.  Plus it still dries out if you don't cover it.  We also picked up feathers, glittery pom poms, glittery pipe cleaners and little jingle bells.

I was a little wary before we started the project, but then the kids really got into it and so did I.  I was mostly excited because I got to use my glue gun for the first time.  That is a whole lot of fun.  We used everything we bought and even some of the craft sticks we already had.  The kids say he is more of a Christmas Turkey and just wants to skip over Thanksgiving.  I think they are forgetting that we eat turkey for Christmas too.

Overall, I give the project two thumbs up.  I also was able to prove my theory that if you have super low expectations for something it will probably turn out okay.

Unexpected Visit

On Friday we flew to Denver to visit our friends, Jeff and Molly.  We haven't seen them in a long time so it was fun to catch up and see their son, Gabe, who is only a few months younger than Amanda.  It was also fun to expose the kids to their Jack Russell Terrier, that Amanda sort of warmed up to about 15 minutes before we were supposed to leave.

The part that was not fun?  Visiting the Emergency Room on Friday night.  Let me back up.  The flight to Denver went pretty well, quick and not to painful.  We got our bags and got onto the rental car bus and that's when I noticed something.  Sarah was sitting across from me on the bus.  I happened to look at her feet and see that her ankle bones, not her entire foot or ankle, were swollen.  Really swollen.  They looked like she had super balls on the sides of her feet.

This was not right.  My feet have swollen on fights before, but nothing like this.  Immediately I thought of Deep Vein Thrombosis.  I told Charlie we had to go to the Emergency Room, it could not wait until morning.  We called the on-call neurologist, which her surgeon told us to call if anything weird happened, and he said it had nothing to do with her surgery, but it would be a good idea for someone to look at it.  Wanting a second opinion, we also called the off hours pediatrician line and talked to a nurse practitioner.  Did I mention it was about 11 p.m. in Denver so midnight in Dallas?

The end result was, she needed to get checked out sooner than later.  So, Charlie dropped Sarah and me off at the closest children's hospital, which thankfully turned out to be fabulous, and then dropped Andy and Amanda off at Jeff and Molly's before returning to get us.  I talked to the doctor, told her Sarah's medical history, and she looked her over.  No infection, no fever, no idea whatsoever.  Not her fault and not for trying, it was just bizarre.  The weird part was that it was symmetrical, both ankles.

They sent her off to have sonograms on her legs to look for blood clots and found nothing.  In the end, we left the hospital with no idea what was wrong with her, but knew that it wasn't anything life threatening.  We did leave with a cute little stuffed bear, that they gave her when they brought her back to her exam room.  I think it's name is officially Cubby, but I like to call it the $300 bear.  I don't know exactly how much that trip to the ER is going to cost us because we didn't have to pay a dime at the time, but we'll see how close I am.

I'm so glad that Sarah is okay and I truly don't care how much it cost to make sure that was the case, but I do feel so bad for her.  At one point she asked, "Why do things always happen to me?" and I didn't have an answer.  Lately it seems like that truly is the case.  Everything happens to her.  Luckily our experience was painless and positive or she would still be talking about how wronged she was.  The rest of the weekend went on without incident and she acted perfectly fine, except for a lack of sleep.

Next week is her follow up with her neurosurgeon.  Four weeks since her surgery.  Hopefully the swelling will be completely gone by then, but if not it would be nice if he could give us some answers.  All I want is for my little girl to be happy, is that too much to ask?

Picture of the Day

April from New Jersey and I are having an unspoken competition (okay, maybe it's just a personal competition in my head) as to who's two-yr-old has more Elmo stuff.  I'm pretty sure in the clothing department we are winning.  I found these socks in the $1 spot at Target.  I bought four pairs in her current size and three pairs in the next size, thinking it would save me a lot of arguments and wash to have multiples.  In the end, even four pairs were not enough.  She asks to wear them everyday, and watch out when all four pairs are dirty.

Kid Quote of the Day

Andy:  Wow, look at all those crows.

Me:  Mmm hmm.

Andy:  Is it telephone pole season yet?

Me:  Telephone pole season?!?

Andy:  Migration season. [When there is an excess of birds in the area and they sit in mass quantities on the telephone wires].

Quite Contrary

The other day Amanda's buddy, Max, came over to play.  His mom needed to work and didn't have anybody to watch him and I was more than happy to have him keep Amanda company.  Amanda and Max LOVE each other.  If you can have a BFF at the age of two, then this is it.  Any time they are near our house Max asks his mom if they can go to "Manda's house" and he gets so excited to see her when we pick the kids up from school.  Amanda is just as excited to see Max and give him big hugs.

They have never had an issue playing with each other, so I assumed the couple of hours he was going to be at our house would be a breeze.  Boy, was I wrong.  I think they were both a little off, or just both feeling especially two, because they fought the entire time.

At points it was almost comical.  It was MINE this and MINE that, coming from both of them.  At one point they were rolling on the floor hitting each other fighting over a Little People train.  It was unbelievable.  I finally put on Sesame Street, thinking they would both just veg in front of the tv and calm down.  Wrong again.

When Elmo came on the screen Amanda said, "My Elmo."  Not to be outdone Max retorted with, "No, my Elmo."  It went back and forth.  I told them that he was both of theirs, that Elmo was for everyone, but they didn't really care what I had to say.

Then Max came over to sit next to me on the couch and Amanda said, "My Mommy."  Of course Max responded with, "No, my Mommy."  At that point, I gave up.  I decided to leave the room and let them figure it out.  I couldn't stand it anymore.

I know all two-year-olds go through this and it doesn't really bug me, it was just kind of crazy.  I was really surprised to see them behave this way since they are around each other all the time and have never had an issue.  I will say when Max's mom, Larisa, came to pick him up for some reason it got a little better.  It might have been because she told him if he didn't behave she was going to take him home.  Maybe she just has a calming presence.

Whatever the reason, I'm just glad it ended on a happy note.  Since their brothers are best friends and their sisters are best friends, they are going to be around each other for many years to come.

Picture of the Day

She's just so stinkin' cute!

Oh, How Times Change

I was reading April from New Jersey's post about her un-Halloween, and it reminded me of when Andy was Amanda and Riza's age.  When he was two, we didn't take him trick-or-treating.  We took him to Charlie's office for their Halloween festivities (a couple of departments have amazing decorations and every year it is so fun to see what they have come up with), more to show him off to Charlie's co-workers than to let him get candy.  The candy he did get we didn't let him eat, we ate it ourselves or Charlie just took it back to work.  We never would have let him eat that junk, haha.

Six years later we do things a little differently.  I use candy as a daily bribe to get Amanda to do the things I want.  She, in return, willingly offers to do things to get candy.  Just the other day she said (well, in her own way that only Sarah and I can really understand), "Mommy, I want to go pee-pee for a piece of candy."  Smart kid.  Did I give her a piece of candy for going to the bathroom even though it wasn't even 8:00 a.m.?  You bet I did!

So last night all the kids went out to trick-or-treat.  Amanda picked it up very quickly and loved all of it.  For the first year we even stopped along the way for a candy break.  We usually make then wait until they get home and then let them have maybe one piece, but this year all the rules flew out the window.  I'm sure she's still a little confused about what happened, but she's going with the flow.

One thing I did stick with is our rule about how much candy the kids are allowed to keep.  We let them each pick out 20 pieces and they have to give the rest to us.  In return I give them each a small present.  Andy is starting to rebuff the idea, but his other option is the give us his candy and not get a present.  He's a smart boy, I'm sure you know which choice he made.  The problem is, Charlie and I (more likely just I) end up eating the candy they had to turn in.  Not so good.  Luckily this year Andy's school is collecting left over candy to send to a local charity, so I'll probably send it there and save my waistline.

Do I wish my youngest daughter wasn't such a candy monger?  Of course I do.  But wouldn't I change anything about last night, ever.  I can deal with her eating a little bit of candy to remember that happy little smile as she joined the big kids in their quest for the sweet stuff.

Picture of the Day

The kids and their pumpkins on Saturday evening.

Sleeping Arrangements

As of tomorrow it will be two weeks since Charlie and I have slept in the same bed.  In fact, except for one night, it will be two weeks that we haven't even slept in the same room.  Don't worry, this wasn't by design, there's nothing wrong with our marriage.  There's just something wrong with our children.  Or the power we give our children.

Sarah's surgery was two weeks ago on Tuesday.  Man how time flies.  While she was in the hospital I was there with her.  I never left.  When she got back, we were a little worried about having her sleep in her own bed in case something went wrong in the middle of the night.  We were going to let her sleep on the futon in our room (I think I've mentioned before that our room is enormous, so it's no big deal to fit a futon in there.  The room takes up all the space over the garage, so basically our master bedroom is the size of a two-car garage.  It's cool and ridiculous all at the same time.), but the futon is hard and we were worried about her back.  So we decided for a couple of days she should sleep in our bed.  She's still there.

Even better, when Amanda found out Sarah was sleeping in our room, which is hard to cover up when all the kids go to bed at the same time and Sarah almost always gets into bed before Amanda, she decided she didn't want to sleep in her bed either.  So guess who is sleeping on the futon (or buuutaaan as she calls it)?  You guessed it, Amanda.

There was one night where both my mom and Charlie's mom were here, so we let Charlie's mom have the big kids' room and I slept on the futon with Amanda and Andy slept on our floor.  Ugh.  That thing is not comfortable.  Other than that for the first couple of days Charlie slept in the bed with Sarah, but he got sick and didn't want to give it to her so now he's been sleeping in her bed and I've been sleeping with her in our bed.

We informed the kids today that tonight would be the last night they get to sleep in our room.  Sarah was cool with it but Amanda was not excited.  We are planning on moving Andy into Amanda's room and Amanda in with Sarah in the summer and thought about moving it up, but the logistics are a nightmare.  So instead the next few days are going to be a beating.  All that extra sleep I got sleeping in because we didn't have to be anywhere will be wiped out with crying and trips in the middle of the night to calm the girls.

On the bright side, I get to cuddle once again with my hubby.  That's definitely worth it.

Picture of the Day

The kids at the Corn Maze pumpkin patch a couple of weeks ago.

Picture of the Day

My mom bought this doll for Amanda this week.  It's a mini Cabbage Patch Kid dressed up in a monkey costume.  The hood pulls off but the rest of it is sewn on, so that's one less naked doll we have lying around the kitchen floor.  Amanda still calls all animals, except dogs, by the sound that they make, so she calls this Baby Ahh Ahh (because monkeys say Ooh Ooh Ahh Ahh).  Every time she says it I have to laugh.

Spoiled

The hospital where Sarah had her surgery was amazing.  Really, the only complaint we really had was that her room wasn't ready when she woke up in recovery, but that was very minor and the only thing we could come up with if you made me tell you something that was wrong.  Otherwise, the facility ran very smoothly.

While she in her MRI and then surgery, they called us every hour to give us an update on how she was doing.  They had a "parents are part of the solution" philosophy, so would actually ask us if we thought she needed pain medicine or to give input on her care.  It was a little weird, because I'm not a doctor or a nurse and I would think that they know better, but they know that I know my child better than they do so my input counts.

They were constantly checking on us to see if we needed anything and they have so many activities for the kids it's unbelievable.  Sarah didn't get to do much because she couldn't leave her bed, but one day someone came in to play music with the kids and afterwards came to her room to see if she wanted to play instruments too.  The Child Life specialists came in several times to chat and give her art projects and things to keep her busy.  On the last day she spent two hours in the play room with the resident artist painting pictures, making bracelets and playing with clay.  Their resident artist wasn't any flunky off the streets either, she has a PhD in art education.

She was such a trooper through the entire visit, she even liked using a bed pan.  She thought it was very cool that she got to pee lying down in the bed.  When else would she be allowed to do that?  Of course I didn't like the bed pan as much, but it wasn't too bad.

She also received so many gifts.  By the time we left the hospital she had a teddy bear from the chaplain, a stuffed frog from one of Andy's teachers, gift baskets from a classmate and her school, a stuffed tiger and a book from one of my friends and she even scored a Halloween pillow on the way out the door.

There was even more at home.  Are projects galore from her aunts and uncles and neighbors and friends.  Nail polish and balloons and candy.  Everyone has been so generous, it's been better than her birthday. 

Her therapist warned me that the biggest problem we would have after the surgery was that Sarah would be spoiled.  She was right, but the rest of us have been as well.  I've been spoiled to have my mom and now my mother-in-law here to help cook and do dishes and wash our clothes while I hang out with Sarah.  Amanda has been spoiled to have Sarah home everyday to play with.  Andy has gotten a little more attention out of this as well, but probably the least of everyone.  Even my mom has been spoiled a little in that she gets to hang out here with us with no responsibilities other than helping us - except I think she's probably ready to get back to her normal life.

Next week Sarah will go back to school and we will, mostly, go back to our normal schedule.  One more way I've been spoiled it that a lot of our after school activities have been put on hold for the next couple of weeks until Sarah gets the okay to continue more physical activity.  So, other than Andy's football season, which is almost over, we don't have gymnastics or yoga or therapy to get to and we can slow down and relax.

So far that may be the biggest positive so far.

Picture of the Day

I found this hat at Walmart today.  I didn't go looking for it, I was just kind of wandering through the store, as I often do when I'm at Walmart, and ran across it.  It's a little large on her, it was in the big kid's section, but she doesn't care.  I just hope she doesn't fry in it waiting for winter to come.

Stickers

Amanda LOVES stickers.  She puts them all over her body and they are everywhere in the house.  Today I even found one on the toilet paper holder in my bathroom.  It's almost like her tape obsession, only worse.

The problem is, since Sarah's surgery a lot of people have given her stickers as something to do while she is on bed rest, so we have an overabundance of them right now.  Which means Amanda is in little sticker hog heaven, and I am picking them off everything.

The funny part is that Andy hates stickers almost as much as Amanda loves them.  He has never liked them.  When he was little I had to teach him to say "no thank you" when someone offered him a sticker instead of screaming in horror.  You would not believe how many people at stores and other random places just put stickers on your kids without asking.  You don't even think about it until you have a kid that freaks out whenever someone comes near him with one.  He's pretty much the same way with tattoos, face paint, and stamps. 

So, it's been kind of interesting to see him react to stickers all over the house.  Overall he's been good, because I don't hear him yell too much at the girls about them.  However, I know deep down it's driving him nuts to even be in the same room with the rampant use and waste of stickers.

It's a good thing Amanda doesn't know how to put on tattoos, or he would go over the edge.

Picture of the Day

Amanda and her best buddy, Max, hanging out at Andy's football game.  It was about 80 degrees and she refused to take off that crazy rain jacket.

Corn Maze Part Deux

Last Sunday we took the kids to the Corn Maze.  We'd been putting it off and I knew if we didn't do it before Sarah's surgery we wouldn't make it at all.  Charlie didn't see what the big deal was to miss it this year, but he doesn't talk about it with Sarah on a daily basis.  There was no way I was missing that Corn Maze.

It was way better than I expected.  I thought it would take them a couple of minutes, but would be very simple.  It really wasn't.  No, we didn't get stuck and have to call 911, but it was still a little bit of a challenge.  It was especially a challenge for me because Amanda was scared of the corn and refused to walk so I had to carry her 30-pound self through the entire thing (except the short time at the beginning when Charlie carried her).  Corn is not scary, so I don't know what her problem was.

There were dead ends and multiple paths to try and the kids really had a great time.  I was so happy that it didn't suck that I enjoyed it too.  The word is still out on Charlie, but secretly I think he liked it as well.  Afterwards the kids stayed and played on some tires and hay and the slide and then we bought some miniature pumpkins that we put by the front door.

The only bad thing about the whole trip was the weather.  Looks gorgeous in the photo, doesn't it?  Yes, it was, too gorgeous.  It was 85 degrees.  Now I know my friends up north would probably love to hang out at the pumpkin patch on a sunny day in 85 degree weather, but it's not as fun as it looks.  I'd like it to be fall, just a little, and feel the brisk air as we're walking through the Corn Maze.  I don't want to be sweating, or in shorts, I want to wear jeans and a sweatshirt and drink some hot cider.  Oh well, the price you pay so you don't have to shovel snow.

As for the Corn Maze, we'll be back next year.

Sarah's Surgery

Sarah had her surgery on Tuesday.  She had a full MRI first, to make sure there were no other issues with her spine, and then they did the procedure to fix the tethered cord.  Everything went really well and the doctor was pleased.  She had some nausea due to the anesthesia when she woke up, but slept most of it off and didn't get sick the rest of the day.  She did really well the last two days following the doctor's orders to stay flat and today she got to come home.  Looking good so far.

In general, all is well.  She's having a few issues with sharing me and the other two are craving some time with Mommy since I've been gone the last two days.  Amanda wants to play with Sarah but doesn't understand that she has to be gentle, and Sarah isn't feeling so bad that she doesn't want to play as well.  The next couple of days Sarah will comply with the rules of taking it easy but next week is going to be hard.  I'm pretty sure I'll be ready for her to go back to school when the time comes.

As for her physical condition, only time will tell.  She can't do anything active for at least a month, which will be kind of nice because our schedule won't be quite as hectic going to all her activities.  Plus, I don't have to feel bad that she's not doing anything, because she's not supposed to be doing anything.  Whether or not the surgery is a success and will have an impact on her constipation and/or legs is yet to be seen.  We are trying not to get to optimistic about the latter and hoping at a minimum we get the former.  If not, we will continue on as we always do.

I'm just glad she's safe and sound and happy and at home.  Right now that's all I can ask for.

Carpooling Makes You Fat

I have two days a week where I am in the car for a couple of hours in the afternoon.  It's not so bad for me, but I do feel bad for Amanda.  It's a long time for a two-yr-old to sit.  Unless, of course, Elmo is playing on the DVD player, then she could sit there all day.

Today I had to drop Andy at gymnastics and then take Sarah to art class.  Her art class starts at the exact time that gymnastics ends so I have a little bit of time before we need to get to art class and then Andy has to wait for a few minutes after he's done.  It's not ideal, but everyone is fine with it.

After we dropped Andy off I drove across the street to Sonic to get some iced tea.  I was so good for the longest time about no caffeine and now I drink way too much.  But we had some time and it was happy hour, which means all the drinks were half price.  The problem is you can't go to Sonic without getting something for everybody else, so I got a drink for me and fried mozzarella sticks for the girls.  Except there are five, and how do you split five equally between the two of them?  You give one to mom, that's how.

After I dropped Sarah off and came back to get Andy, he asked if we could go get a treat.  Specifically he wanted a chocolate dipped cone from McDonald's.  I was about to say no, but then felt bad because I had already gotten something for the girls.  Kids talk, and he would have found out.  Plus I had a ginormous Sonic cup in my cup holder.  Dead giveaway.  When we got to McDonald's I got Andy his cone and Amanda asked for cookies.  I was going to tell her no because she already had the cheese sticks, but it wouldn't be fair that he was eating an ice cream cone in front of her.  McDonald's cookies come in sets of three.  I gave one to Amanda, saved one for Sarah and ate the other.

This was not a normal day.  I don't always make those stops and the kids don't eat treats that often.  But they do almost always bring snacks in the car, much to my chagrin, and a lot of time time I will bring one too.  Not because I'm hungry, but just because.

So how do mom's get so fat?  Eating off their kids' plates and eating as many snacks as they do.  The kids are running it off at the activities, I'm just sitting on my butt driving the van.

Elmo Raincoat

It rained today, which is a pretty big deal because this is only the second time it's rained in like 70+ days.  Needless to say it's been a very dry summer.  It wasn't just raining a little bit when we left the house, it was pouring.  So much so that I actually got out coats for the kids, which I hardly ever do.  It's just easier not to, and when it's only misting or drizzling, the coats just get wet and then bring the wet into the car and their car seats and make everything a mess.

I found this rain coat for Amanda.  I bought it for my niece, Megan, when she was about Amanda's age.  She is a senior in high school now.  After Megan and her siblings used it and Andy was going through his "I love nothing more than Elmo" phase, my sister-in-law sent it to us.  He used it and loved it, Sarah wore it a couple of times, and now it belongs to Amanda.  Let's just say she did not want to take this off today.

If you look closely at the picture you can see two other things.  First, the Elmo t-shirt showing under the coat, because there is never a day that she does not have an Elmo t-shirt on, even though she only has three.  Second, her shoes are on the wrong feet.  She put them on herself, so I can't complain, but really why do kids always do that?

In true old style rain coat fashion, when she finally did take it off she was all hot and sweaty.  That thing does not breathe at all.  Luckily, she didn't care one bit.  I have a feeling we're going to get a lot of use out of this coat.

Kid Quote of the Day

"I'm skinny for free and I have curly hair for free.  Aren't I lucky?"

-Sarah

Picture of the Day

After school, uniform shirt off, fairy wings on.  Ever the girly girl!

Picking Your Battles

I was going to title this post "Compromise", but then I realized there is very little compromising going on.  With this third child I have thrown so many rules out the window.

This morning Sarah got herself dressed, which up until a couple of weeks ago was a  miracle, and when she picked out her navy tutu Amanda instantly decided that she was going to wear her tutu as well.  The navy tutu is our way of pushing the uniform envelope at the girls' school.  They are required to wear navy or khaki bottoms at school.  Of course they would rather wear something more girly, like tutus.  When I found navy tutus last year I bought a couple different sizes because I knew they would be a hit.  I wasn't wrong.

If you look closely, she has another shirt under her uniform shirt.  You guessed it, an Elmo shirt.  That is the only way I can get her dressed for school without her crying.  Put an Elmo shirt on first.  She doesn't really care that she has two shirts on and as long as the uniform shirt is on top neither does the school.  I never allowed the other two to do something like this.  On school days they wore their uniform, end of story.  However, I don't have time to fight with her about her clothes and get the other two ready and to school on time, so this is one fight I'm not going to fight.  It doesn't hurt anybody and as long as she is happy with twice as much clothes on, so be it.

Same goes for the shoes.  It has been a long-standing rule at our household that you do not wear Crocs to school.  This is because when the kids go out on the playground they get wood chips or rocks in their shoes and it's a pain for the teachers to get them out.  Ever the rule followers, we want the teachers to like us and therefore don't want to annoy them with constantly having to remove things from our childrens' shoes.  Therefore, no Crocs at school.  Again, if she wants to get crap in her shoes, so be it.  She also won't wear socks and has big blister marks on her heels because of it, but if she doesn't care I guess I shouldn't.

Someone on Facebook recently asked how you know you're done having kids.  No question, I'm done!

Miss Me?

I just got back last night from a four day "vacation" in San Diego.  It wasn't actually a vacation, but it seemed like one.  Better than one, because we left the kids at home with my parents.  Charlie was invited to the American Airlines Celebrity Golf and Tennis charity event to raise money for the Susan G. Komen foundation.  It is an absolutely amazing event.  He was invited by one of his partners at work, so technically we were there for a work function, but there was very little work to be done.

I love this even for many reasons.  First off, they raise a ton of money for the foundation.  The silent auction on the last night alone raised almost $900,000.  Awesome.  On a personal level, I enjoy it because some of my friends from American are there (as well as new friends that I met through this event and only see when we come), who I don't get to see nearly enough, I get some time to myself, and Charlie and I get some quality time together.  Nobody eats my food, wipes their dirty hands on me, asks me to do anything for them (on the contrary everything is done for me), and the word "Mommy" is not uttered for four days.  I get to regroup, play some golf, and hang out with adults that talk about adult things.

At the same time, the kids get to spend some quality time with their grandparents, which means they get a little spoiled, and they learn that it is okay for mom and dad to go away for a couple of days.  They will survive.  There was a lot of moaning and groaning the first couple of days, but by the end they were doing pretty well.

I would love to share some pictures with you, but unfortunately I came home while Charlie and the camera stayed in California for a couple more days.  When he gets home I will post a few, especially the one of us with Magic Johnson.  How cool is that?

Picture of the Day

I took Sarah to Fort Worth today for a follow up appointment on her knee braces.  The Orthetist used a little moleskin and a few other tricks and they don't bother her at all anymore, yay!  She still doesn't like them that much, but at least they don't hurt her.

On the way to the specialist building we passed this restaurant.  Paco & John Mexican Diner.  Oh how I want to eat there.  You know that some of the best restaurants in this area are hole in the wall mexican joints that you wouldn't think twice about if you passed them on the street.

I guess that's a positive side to the surgery.  I have to eat, maybe one day I can sneak out and get some Paco & John.  Then if it is horrible, at least I'll already be at the hospital.

Knee Braces

As if it weren't bad enough that she has to have surgery in a couple of weeks, Sarah also got a pair of knee braces last week to go with her ankle braces.  While we were visiting the Neurosurgeon last month he pulled in a Neurologist (yes, apparently there is a difference and the former does not liked to be called the latter) who said that she hyper extends her legs so badly and often that if she didn't get something for her knees she would need a knee replacement at 30.

So, we picked these babies up on Wednesday.  She is smiling for the camera, because she will always smile for the camera, but she was not happy about it.  She did like that she got to pick the color, but now I'm wondering if hot pink was the best choice.  They sure do stand out.

She was pretty bummed about them for the first couple of days, had a few pity parties and whined a lot, which was pretty hard to listen to.  It's bad enough that you have to do this to your child, but then to listen to them complain about it is torture.  It makes you feel like a horrible parent, even though you know you are doing what is best for them.

So, after a couple of days, I told her I was so, so, sorry, I wished she didn't have to wear them, I hate that it was the decision that we had to make, but sometimes Mommy and Daddy have to make decisions for kids that aren't the best thing because that is what is best for the kid.  I think it finally sunk in, plus she realized no matter how much she complained I wasn't going to give in and not make her wear them, and the last few days she's been really good about the whole thing.  It helps that her friends and the kids at school don't give her a hard time about them.  In fact I'm not positive that some of them don't even realize that she has them on.  Thank God for kind, accepting Kindergarten minds.

I have no idea how long she'll have to wear them or if they will do the trick, we'll just have to wait and see.  It would be awesome if six months down the line after her surgery they decide she doesn't need them anymore, but I'm not banking on it.  One day at a time.

Next Steps

I've spend the last thirty minutes or so going through all my posts, major blast from the past, looking for a post that told you about Sarah's medical history.  I've touched on it briefly before, but I guess I've never really told the whole story.  Most of the people that read my blog know most of it, but not everyone.  I can't give you the entire story, because it's too long and too detailed and too emotional to tell it the right way.  But here is the basic rundown.

Sarah was born with a coarctation of the aorta.  That means that in one spot her aorta was like a pinched hose or an hour glass.  The blood was pumping but it couldn't get through.  Usually this is found on an ultrasound and is fixed within days of the baby being born.  They just go it, cut out the pinched piece, and then sew the two pieces of aorta back together.  End of story, long happy normal life.  Unfortunately for Sarah her coaractation wasn't discovered until she was 10 days old.  That is a long time for blood to not be pumping to all the parts of the body.

When they determined the problem she was rushed into emergency surgery.  Suffice it to say if we hadn't taken her to the emergency room that day she would have died very soon after.  Many things fell into place the day of her surgery and for that we are eternally grateful.  Her surgeon and cardiologist are amazing as well as the teams of doctors and nurses that worked on her.  Because babies are incredibly resilient she was able to come home with us after only a week in the hospital and she had a fabulous recovery.

Except for her legs.  Fortunately, the coaraction was low enough that that was no permanent damage to her brain or upper body.  The lower half was not quite as lucky.  Apparently, and nobody really knows this for sure, the lack of blood to the bottom half of her body caused damage to her spinal cord.  We don't know exactly what happened, because it is a 1 in 20,000,000 kind of thing and really has no name associated to it, but there was damage to the nerves and muscles in her legs from the waist down.

We saw a neurologist who didn't really know what the problem was but told us she would never walk again.  He recommended we get her into physical therapy as soon as possible.  That is when we met Kelley, Sarah's wonderful therapist who has done amazing things with her, such as teach her to walk.  She is not the same as other five-year-olds when it comes to gross motor skills, but she does pretty well and continues to do better and better.

About a year ago, at the beginning of school, she started having a lot of bathroom accidents.  We didn't know where this was coming from or why she was having them.  Was it because she was four and they do that, or was it some medical problem that we weren't thinking of?  After a month or two we went to an urologist.  He gave us a few things to try but ultimately sent us to a neurologist (our old one had discharged us when Sarah started walking and was also no longer practicing so we didn't currently have a neurologist).   Suffice it to say I hated him.  Neurologists are famous for having horrible bedside manners and this guy was no exception.

Luckily a friend of mine knew of a fabulous neurosurgeon (the polar opposite of the other one we saw) and we were able to see him.  He came to the conclusion that Sarah needs surgery.  He believes she has a tethered cord.  We are hoping after the surgery we will see some improvements but that remains to be seen.  Her surgery is on the 18th.  She will have two days of recovery in the hospital and then can't walk for a week after she comes home.  Keeping a five year old down for a week, that will be a challenge.  Luckily my parents are coming for part of it and Charlie's mom is coming for another part, so she will have lots of people to keep her occupied.  I have also bought a few new art projects to work on that will hopefully keep her busy.

Yes, I'm scared.  I'm not scared about the decision to have surgery, I fully believe that it's the right decision and I'm very comfortable with it, but any time your child goes into surgery there is a fear factor.  She's so little and delicate.  However, more than anything, I'm just glad we're moving forward.  Charlie and I have always thought surgery would be an option.  Not this particular surgery, but some kind of surgery that may be able to fix some of her issues and bring her closer to the abilities of her peers.  This surgery may do absolutely nothing for her, but it could also solve all the bathroom problems she's been having, make her legs stronger and fix issues we thought would never go away.

We aren't banking on anything.  We are trying not to get our hopes up.  But we are heading in the direction that we've been wanting to go for a long time.  No longer waiting to see when we are going to do something, but actually doing something.  Hopefully it will all go smoothly and we can continue on this path.

Octoberfest

October is my favorite month in Texas.  After months of ridiculously hot weather it starts to cool down and I even get to break out my jeans.  It's cool in the mornings, some days you can even wear a sweatshirt for an hour or two, but still gets warm by afternoon so it isn't a total weather shocker.  Jeans and a t-shirt for the entire month, ahhh.  The air starts to get crisp and the humidity fades away.  It starts to get darker earlier, but not too early, and it actually cools down at night when the sun goes down.  It's the one month of the year (okay, maybe April too) that remind me of home and gives me happy thoughts.

To celebrate the beginning of October this year, we took the kids to Octoberfest a few towns over.  It wasn't a huge celebration, but the perfect size for us.  The kids got to go in bounce houses, eat corn dogs, roasted corn and elephant ears, go on a ride and do a little craft.  I got to drink a beer while walking down the street, which is always fun, and enjoy the outside.  I've been holed up inside for the last 3-4 months, it was nice to go outside without melting for once.

The big hit was the yard sticks that a local Chevrolet dealer was giving out.  The kids all wanted one to use as a cane, a light saber, a sword, whatever.  I was cool with it because a) they were free, b) the kids were happy, and c) I got three yard sticks out of it.  We will never need to buy another one again.

What more could you ask for on a nice October afternoon?

Elmo Backpack

About a week ago Amanda found Andy's old Elmo backpack.  We got it for him when he was about her age and obsessed with Elmo, so he could bring a few of his own things with him when we went on trips.  Back then we went on a lot of trips, sigh.

It has a few small holes in it from being dragged on the floor, but otherwise it's in fantastic shape.  Since she has found it she barely takes it off.  She wears it in the car, even with things in it which looks very uncomfortable but she is willing to sacrifice comfort to keep it on, during meals, all day long.  She even takes it to bed with her, although I won't let her sleep in it.  The only place she is not allowed to take her backpack is school, because I don't want to cause any problems or fights.

I'm not sure how long this Elmo obsession is going to last, but it doesn't look like it's going to lose momentum any time soon.

Proud Mama

Usually I write about how much my kids drive me crazy, the strange things they do or say, how I muddle through my days.  C'mon, it's a lot more interesting than "my kids are the best and brightest kids on Earth".  Today, is an exception.  Today I am going to tell you about my brilliant son.  You heard me, keep reading, because you won't see a post like this too often.

My story begins at the beginning of last year, when Andy was entering the 2nd grade.  I went to Curriculum Night for the Gifted and Talented (G&T) teacher.  One of the things our district offers, which she briefly touched upon, is telescoping.  Telescoping is where they allow you to skip a grade, but only in one subject.  In this case, it's math.  Andy's a smart kid, and he's really good at math.  He understands it very quickly and you don't often have to explain a concept more than once.  After the meeting I asked the teacher a little more about it.  Basically you have to tell your teacher you are interested, and then they have to collect months worth of data on your child to see if they are even eligible.  It sounded like a ton of work so I just kind of let it drop.  I've told you before how lazy I am, right?

Fast forward about six months to Open House.  It just so happened that on the day of Open House the G&T parents group posted on Facebook something like, "Have you thought about telescoping for your child?  Ask your child's principal or teacher if they would be a good candidate."  If that had been posted any other day I would have completely blown it off and not thought about it again.  But since it was fresh in my mind, when I saw the principle in the hallway that night I asked her about it.  She didn't know if Andy was a viable candidate and told me to ask the G&T teacher.  Since we were on our way to her class I asked her next.  The first thing she said was, "Can he do fourth grade math?"  Charlie and I just looked at each other.  How were we supposed to know?  We didn't even know what 4th grade math entailed.  Again, it sounded like a lot of work.  So we dropped it.  A second time.

A week or two later a note came home in Andy's folder stating something like, "You have inquired about telescoping.  We are having a telescoping meeting at this day and time, will you be able to come?"  It was right after school and I didn't have anybody to leave the kids with.  We also had kind of given up on the idea of doing it.  So I checked no.  Not interested.  I sent it back and then discussed it with a friend.  We kind of agreed that maybe I should go to the meeting and find out more about it (she was intrigued as well) and she would watch my kids.  Bonus.  If anything I got an hour away from the kids by myself (you didn't think I would make it though this whole story without at least one shot at the kids, did you?).  Of course, I had already selected no on the form.  Oh well (so, so lazy).

A couple days later the Assistant Principal called.  She wanted to know if I had selected no on the form because we were no longer interested or because I couldn't go to the meeting.  That gave me the chance to tell her that I was interested and could now go to the meeting.  As it turned out, there were only six parents that showed up.  There are over 450 kids in Andy's school and only six were interested in this program.  Not that they really advertise it, I think there are lots of smart kids in Andy's grade that could do it, it's just not very well known.

They started going through a list of qualifications that the kids had to meet to even be eligible to take the telescoping test.  Meaning they weren't just going to let anybody take it.  Test scores, grades, classroom behavior, a little bit of everything.  As the G&T teacher went down the list, Andy met every single requirement.  Some of the kids were going to have to take extra tests just to see if they were eligible for testing, but for whatever reason Andy had already fulfilled taken them all.  Nothing was standing in his way.  The district was even willing to pay for the test to be administered, the only thing we had to do was give our permission for him to show up.  That completely met my requirement of me needing to do nothing but making sure he was there, and it was during the school day so how hard was that?

We studied a little bit to make sure he was familiar with third grade math concepts, and a few weeks before school ended he took the test.  We tried to explain the importance of making sure to use all the time and educated guessing if he wasn't sure of an answer, so I was a little nervous when he finished in about half the time given.  When I asked him why he didn't use all the time he said he had already gone over the entire test twice and it was almost time for recess.  Um, okay, I see where your priorities lie.  In order to pass and get accepted into the program he needed to get a 90% on the exam.  As it turned out he got a 74 out of 75.  He missed one.  We were unbelievably proud of him, but he was a little bit nervous.

Fast forward again to the beginning of the school year and his first day of math.  He loved it.  He loves his teacher, it's all good.  The only problem is that he's missed a few classes.  It's up to him to leave at math time and go to the fourth grade class, and sometimes, for various reasons, he doesn't make it.  The other day I was lecturing him about how he needs to leave whether his home room teacher tells him to go or not and that it is his responsibility to get to that class and how if he doesn't go he could miss something on a test that it only explained that one day, etc.  He just smiled at me and said, "I don't think that's going to be a problem."  Okay smart guy, why not?  Apparently his math teacher put him in a special group of five kids that's ahead of the rest of the class.  That's right, not only is he in an advanced class but he is one of the best kids in that class.  Now our pride is overflowing.

I don't know how much this love of math is going to last or if it's going to take him anywhere, but for right now I am so amazed at what he has done, how well he has adjusted, how much he hungers for more, that I could not be any prouder or happier for him.  How far my little man has come!