My life as a Mommy of two!!

A forum...for us...maybe?

2009-06-19T00:47:00.003-04:00

OK...so I miss PT...but I have no pets. I just miss the random chatting with you girls that isnt blogging. I like blogging...but miss my chats! :) Anyhow, I made a little forum...if you guys wanna give it a try, that would be awesome! Its just a little free forum, but I figure its something that we can get back to...unless Im the only one missing PT. LOL! :) (Who knows, maybe I am!!) Anyhow, like I said, its just a little dorky one, and I dont really know how to run it yet, but its just somewhere to go. There are so many mom forums out there, but I just dont feel like I know anyone like I do you girls. So...anyhow...thats it. :) Here is the link. If you are all missing the old PT days like I am, come join!

http://mommys-timeout.forumotion.com/index.htm

5 days in...26 stickers later

2009-06-02T15:29:00.002-04:00

So we are definitely doing great with the potty training. I actually cant believe that this is even happening. I didnt think he was going to do so well, and I thought it would just be another failed attempt. :)

Its day 5 since Taysen's very first pee in the potty...and he already has 26 stickers on his pee pee chart! :) 24 of them are for peeing, and last night he took his very first poop on the potty, so he got 2 stickers for that one. (And a new race car. :D ) I always ask him if he has to go potty, and he always says no...when he has to go, if he has undies on he tells us to take them off (for pee so far) and if we have taken his undies off (like if it seems like its been a while since he peed last) he just goes to the potty all by hisself and when he is done he runs to us and says "See! I pee!!" He is so proud of hisself. Its really cool.

Technically I helped him with his first poop, because I noticed him hiding behind the chair, and I asked him if he had to poop, and he said "GO WAY MOM!" Which translates out to "Im trying as we speak." LOL...so I took his undies off and sat him on the toilet, and he did get a little poop out into his potty. He wasnt happy that I helped him, but once he saw it in the potty and it was all done he was so proud of hisself. He hasnt tried to poop again since, but Im hoping that it will go as easy peasy as the pee has gone.

The peeing is seriously in the bag. This morning he came up to Josh and told him to take his diaper off because he had to pee. (He had just gotten out of bed like 30 minutes before and he hadnt gotten changed yet...) So if he really wanted to he could have just peed in the diaper since it was already on...but he is really doing good. :)

He has had 2 accidents since starting this all...one the very first day, and one on sunday when he was playing outside, Im guessing he didnt want to go inside to pee. But really, for 5 days, only 2 accidents is great I think! :)

We even took him to our meeting on Sunday in his underwear. (Its 2 hours long.) I brought an extra pair of pants and undies just incase he peed/pooped through...but he did great. I brought him back to the bathroom a couple of times and he did pee 1/2 way through the meeting in his potty. (I just brought the bowl part with us and held it for him) He didnt even have any accidents in the car ride to and from. I just cant believe it.

The funniest thing ever is that this kid only stands to pee. It is so funny. I thought he would eventually get lazy and stop standing...but he literally stands in front of the potty and puts his hands on the wall and leans over it...it cracks me up and me and Josh think it looks like he is going to get a body check in prison or something...it is hilarious to see...but hey whatever helps him aim right? LOL!

Anyhow...I just thought you guys would like an update on the little man's potty training! Lets just hope the pooping comes soon!

I think we are finally on our way!!!!!!

2009-05-29T11:03:00.002-04:00

To potty training!! :D :D :D

Two days ago, Taysen peed in the potty for the very first time ever!! :) It was right after his bath time and he peed on some fruitloops...he thought it was hilarious! :) We rewarded him with a trip to Sunoco to get some M&M's. :) (He loved that part.)

Then yesterday he had a field trip for his last day of school at the zoo, so there wasnt many opportunities to even ask him...plus it was pouring down rain so it wasnt so much fun...haha. Anyhow at nightI asked him if he wanted to try, and he did, but it only lasted about 10 minutes and he was done and didnt feel like trying anymore. So we stopped and just put back on his diaper and forgot about it for the evening.

Then this morning after his breakfast I asked him if he wanted to pee again...he said he didnt want any M's. (He just calls them M's...haha) Anyhow, so ok fine, I sort of thought Id just drop the issue and do whatever. Well then I thought maybe it would be in my interest to tempt him. LOL...so I put a nice full cup of M's on the sink in front of his potty...so they could remind him of what he gets if he goes. And he played around in the bathroom for about 30 minutes and finally he stops, runs back to the potty, waddles over top of it (lol I swear I thought little boys sat...but he insists on standing!) LOL!! and he pees right into the potty!! I didnt even have to ask him or remind him, and as soon as the stream of urine stopped, he said "I want M's mom!" haha...he is adorable! :D So FINALLY...I think we might actually be on our way to potty training!! YAY!

A home we can call our own

2009-05-04T20:06:00.000-04:00

So we got the call about an hour ago that our townhouse is ready! We are going at about 4pm tomorrow to start moving in and unpacking. I am so happy that we will have a place again. We haven't had any problems where we have been staying, but its just nice to have your own place. (I'm sure Mike and Robin are feeling the same. Haha.) Anyhow we should be started tomorrow and hopefully be totally in by the weekend. I am so happy to not have to share a room with my kids anymore. Lol! When I lay them down for a nap and hop in bed myself to get a snooze too, they think its the biggest joke ever. Lol. I can't wait to have my computer space back too. I'm just so excited. :) I want to get back into my gym routine...I've totally fallen off the wagon and I don't think I've been to the gym in a month and a half. Summer is almost here, I need to kick myself in the butt and get going again. Anyhow, that's it for now...just thought I'd share my excitement. :)

In between moves...

2009-04-24T09:52:00.004-04:00

So we are in between moves...things couldn't possibly go smoothly for one minute in our lives.

Josh talked to our landlord the day after we found out when our townhouse would be available so we could let him know when we would be moving out...(I think Josh talked to him on April 12th or something really close to that...) Anyhow, the person living at the townhouse now bought a new house, gets possession on May 1st...so you know it will only take a couple days for them to move out...then it will take a couple days for our new landlord to clean carpets/paint. Anyhow, we were just going to go from the house we were renting to our townhouse, like any normal move. But when we let our landlord know when we were moving, he basically said, sorry, you have to be out by the 1st of May. Nice, huh? So for 10-15 days we were going to have to store our entire house full of furniture and possessions and live with someone else until our townhouse is ready. Talk about inconvenient. So we were pretty pissed off that they couldnt hold on 10 more days...like it was the end of the world...so we packed up our stuff and left on the 15th of April. Why the heck pay a full month of rent to someone who cant even have the decency to wait 10 more days for our new place to be ready. Ya know? Our new landlord is really nice, Josh used to work for him when he worked in construction years ago. So he knows us, knows we are good people. He offered us a big enclosed trailer to put all of our things in so we didnt have to pay for storage, and even nicer, he is storing the whole trailer on his property in a barn. Thank goodness there are some decent people left on this earth. Ever since we left our old place, we have had NOTHING BUT PROBLEMS. We never had a SINGLE problem with our old landlords until we told them we couldnt stay there anymore because of Josh's job situation...then things got ugly. Dont you love compassionate people? Ugh...

We are staying with very close friends of ours, Robin & Mike. I grew up with their children, but ended up being closest with Robin and her daughter Tarah. They have 3 adult kids (including Tarah) only one living at home, so there is decent room for us. Its different than living on our own, but it has been going really nice. They have made us feel at home. No one has an attitude...sort of the opposite of what you would get if you stay with a parent. Haha...if we chose a parent, the other set would be jealous that you didnt pick them. So this way both sets of our parents are mad at us, but at least they arent going to hate eachother more. Right? Anyhow...things have been going nice. We have a big room that we are sharing with the kiddos. We sort of thought that the kids wouldnt do so well but they have adjusted like this is how its always been. Thats one thing about my kids that I love...they are so adaptable even though they have pretty tight schedules. We didnt bring Rowans crib, she has been sleeping in her pack and play. We brought Taysen's toddler bed tho. We put Rowan to bed at 8p, Taysen to bed at 9p, and we go to bed whenever. Its working out nice. I am so ready to be "home" though...

I want to get on with our lives. I hate where we have been lately in our lives, I dont think we have ever been this down, and honestly if I could just pick up and leave Ohio and never turn back, I would. (Who knows, maybe it will become an option.) Josh is supposed to return to work on Monday...the rumors are flying though that as soon as they get there they are going to be directed toward a list of who is being kept and who is being permanently let go. Well see.

So enough of that...a little funny story...the other day, Taysen was playing with his race cars...and he brings me a little fuzzy...he does this often, he isnt fond of little clumps of fuzz. LOL...well I open my hand like I always do, and he puts it in my hand...BUT ITS NOT A PIECE OF FUZZ! ITS A SPIDER! AN ALIVE SPIDER!!! Ahhhhhhh! I got up so quick and I was screaming and jumping because I hate spiders...they give me the heebie jeebies! Taysen was cracking up at the show I was putting on! But really I was so terrified that my armpits starting sweating! LOL...luckily Josh found it and put it outside. I think I almost had a heart attack. But its a funny story. (Now that its over...haha!)

Well...I guess thats it for now! Here's to hoping that the next few weeks go by quickly and seamlessly! (HA! Who am I kidding? Maybe quickly...but Im guessing NO to seamlessly...)

Sooo....

2009-04-09T09:48:00.002-04:00

Lately life has really sucked for us. We are getting by, but not easily...ya know? Anyhow, Josh was laid off 3 weeks last month, worked 2, and now is laid off until May 1st. It sucks. We officially have to move. We are moving into a townhouse that is supposed to be ready sometime in the beginning of May. Anyhow, its sad that I am somewhat looking forward to it because I am so sick of being stressed out about money. Our bills should decrease by at least 400-500 dollars per month, so it should really help out. Things will still be tight, but definitely not into the red each month as they are now. So now its just a waiting game until its ready. The only downfall is that the kids will have to share a room, but they are young and don't know any better yet. I say we have a couple years before they start hating us for making them share a room. Hopefully things will be better by that time! I still feel like Josh may or may not eventually lose his job, because if they are this slow are they really going to ever pick up?? But oh well, we can live off of unemployment at the townhouse where here we cannot. I love living here, having so much space, and the land that we have here, but oh well...you can only live in what you can pay for right? At least the townhouse is still in Taysen's school district so he wont have to change schools or transition anymore than he already has to. The nice thing is that Josh and I lived in these townhouses after we got married. We lived there for 2 years and they are in a nice quiet neighborhood thats still out in the country...so well take what we can get. :) I am planning on really trying to do something neutral in the kids room because I really want to decorate it! I thought about doing black/white/red...there are some duvet covers at Ikea that are pretty cool looking...and a wall decal place that has some cool stuff to spiff it up since we cant paint. (Ya know...all white walls. LOL! UGH!!) Anyhow, I have plans on spiffing stuff up thats for sure. LOL! I sold our sectional on Craigslist finally the other day and we are setting some of the money aside for the townhouse. I have Josh's big screen TV listed, but so far no one wants it! LOL!! Oh well...well sell it eventually. Ive been selling everything that I know we dont need or dont use or wont have room for...so hopefully everything will pan out. Im sure it will...it always does, it just sucks in the meantime.

On other odd news, Ive been having this weird headache thing going on....first I see flashes in the corner of my left eye...it almost looks like a white ceiling fan is on in the room, but when I look over, its just in my eye...no fan. (Obviously I know where the fans are in our house...lol.) It goes on for about 30 minutes or so...the other day it happened to the point that I could barely read the computer screen...it was weird...then after the flashing goes away I get a really bad headache that lasts about an hour. Its really weird and annoying...so I made an appt with the doctor to see if its something I need to get checked out. Last thing I need is a brain tumor or something...half joking here...but my luck lately does tend to run south! Anyways, my appointment is next week on Tuesday afternoon. Im guessing it will just be talking and then maybe setting up something with a neurologist? Who knows...well see I guess...

Sooo thats it for us right now...I hope all of your lives are not quite as hectic as mine!!

Just not fair...

2009-03-30T09:56:00.001-04:00

I hate how life is so unfair. It sucks. There is absolutely nothing I can do about it. It doesn't matter how hard we try to be good people and do things right, we always end up in the mud at the end. I'm over it.

Finally starting to feel better! :)

2009-03-03T09:40:00.003-05:00

Yay! So my cold/flu/whatever the monster virus was, is finally going away! I still havent gotten my voice completely back, but who cares! Im feeling better!

Yesterday I went back to the gym, after 2 weeks of not going! I thought it would be horrible, but it was ok. Im glad...:) Im just happy to be able to get back into the swing of things, finally!

The kids are doing pretty good...didnt get whatever I had, thank goodness! Taysen had a scratchy voice on Sunday, but seems fine since. Rowan has some boogies, but thats about it. Someone must've heard my prayers on that one! That would have totally sucked to have them as sick as I was! No one else got the flu...I was sure I must be pregnant, even had some other symptoms...haha. That was not the case. Haha...total weirdness that they didnt get it, but great!

Anyhow, I am so ready for warm weather. I really want to get out of this house and do some outdoorsy things! Winter has officially overstayed its welcome in my book.

Rowan is FINALLY walking! She still prefers to crawl because she goes lightning speed, but at least she gets up and walks throughout the day...eventually she will figure out running is faster than crawling. ;)

Well, I guess thats it for now...:D

Super Bitch

2009-02-27T07:30:00.002-05:00

First, I am STILL sick! Can you believe that crap! I am getting better, but a week and a half later, I still only have half a voice. Crazy! At least I have a voice finally tho, the kids were NOT taking me seriously when I yell and all that came out was a squeaky whisper. LOL! Its officially been 11 days since I have been to the gym, Im feeling pretty low about that, I was doing SO good!! I am going back Monday, whether I have a voice or not. Its been decided! ;)

OK...on to my entry. Super Bitch...that explains my sister in law. The other day, they called, wanted to come over and hang out. Sure, sounds good, Ive been soooo bored being cooped up in the house for so long and NO ONE ELSE GOT THE SICKIES!!! (can you believe that crap!!! I AM THRILLED!!) so I must not be contagious, so sure, head on over!!! Then they get here, we order take out because Im not cooking last minute for everyone. As the guys (Josh and his bro) go pick up the food, I call Josh and ask him to pick up some McD cheeseburgers for Tate and Rowan (an McD cheeseburger is the ONLY meat Taysen will eat...and every single person in our family knows that, and knows why...including her) and after I get off the phone, her son starts acting whiney and wants to eat...I ask her "You want me to call Josh and have him pick him up a cheeseburger too?" and she says "No, he would never eat that, we dont eat that kind of food..." and she said it in her normal "rich bitch I am better than the world" voice. Ugh I wanted to punch her in the face. She acts like they eat all organic and she is an earth mama or something. My white BUM!!! And the kicker...while this conversation was going on, she is feeding her 10 month old a hot dog and mac and cheese. AND we ordered fried chicken and wedge fries! ARE YA KIDDING ME, cause that is any better than McDonald's!!! I wish I could kick her TOTALLY AVERAGE ass all the way to timbucktoo! I hate to break it to ya dear, but you are not as special as you think you are!

Anyone need a SIL?? Cause Im SO willing to trade. :P

It's been a sucky week for me!

2009-02-21T08:28:00.000-05:00

This week has literally been H-E double hockeysticks for me! On Monday night the back of my throat started hurting a little, but nothing I was too worried about. Then Tuesday morning I had the weirdest case of the runs! I went like 10 times in 2 hours! Then I was fine other than a little queasy feeling...but by 3pm that day I was passed out on the couch under two comforters because I was FREEZING yet I had a 103 fever. I took some medicine and felt great by 7pm and then I was starving! Josh got me Sonic and I wasn't even halfway through my chicken sandwich when I knew eating had not been a good idea at all. I got the queasy feeling back and by 10p I was in bed under my covers with the fever again. I woke up at 3am Wednesday morning puking my guts out and then fell asleep on the cold bathroom floor until Josh woke me up when our alarms went off. Suprisingly I felt better and I was so glad to have gotten it all out of my system, minus the stiff neck probably from all the exertion while yakking. I felt ok pretty much all of Wednesday but I took Tylenol every couple of hours for my neck. Thursday I felt ok too, enough that I was back to eating and even contemplating the gym! I was so glad to be getting over this...then at about 9 or 10pm Thursday night I started with an endless headache, my throat started hurting again, and my voice started getting scratchy. Yesterday I woke up pretty much the same just worse. My throat was so raw from coughing and wheezing that I really sounded like a dude. Last night at about 10pm I found an old, but not expired bottle of antibiotics that was filled twice by accident, and at that time I figured I might as well save it since sometime in the next year I'll get sick again...and I'm glad I did!! I started them lastnight. This morning I woke up with no voice at all...please tell me there is an upside to this monster virus/infection that I have!!!

AND on the smilier side of my life, I got a new Blackberry! I loved my old one, but this one is cooler! I am proud to say I just did this whole post from my phone while I laid in bed...I haven't even been up to pee yet. LOL!

Not Me Monday! (This will be fun!! Try it!)

2009-02-16T13:53:00.005-05:00

ON A HAPPIER NOTE:

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I have been reading them forever, but never done one of my own, until now! :D

This past week, I did not go to the gym late one evening and work up a good sweat, tan, and then come home feeling exhausted and too lazy to shower...then go to bed because I was going to work out again first thing in the morning anyways...I'd just shower after that workout!! Of course I would never do that, not me!!

This weekend, I didn't run from the island, leaving my daughter on the counter top, to stop my son from wiping a booger on the wall, especially since she fell off that same counter top at 10 months old and broke her leg doing it, no way NOT ME!!

I am not finally ordering pictures of my kids that were taken in September...of course not, I would never procrastinate that much!

I don't want to go out to eat at a nice restaurant tonight, despite all the bills and brokeness we are going through...I am definitely way more mature than that.

I did not got a Sonic Blast last night on the way home from the grocery store, because I am on a diet!! And I did not eat McDonald's for dinner right before that!! Absolutely no way!!

And lastly, when someone stopped over to visit this weekend unannounced, I did not kick a Cheeze-It underneath the couch so she wouldn't see that we had a cracker just randomly laying on the floor...of course I wouldn't do that, that's just unsanitary! And I did not JUST remember now to go get it out from under there!!! I have way better housekeeping skills than that for sure! :D

Well that's it for now! Until next Monday, because that was SOOO FUN!! :D I hope you guys do one too! And that's the truth! :D

Sooo...

2009-02-16T13:31:00.002-05:00

So I have been going to the gym pretty much every day...skipping a day here and there. I didnt go at all this past weekend...oh well. Anyhow, I joined a biggest loser thing that starts today and goes for 8 weeks. :) Well see how that goes!

So I'm so depressed today...We got our return...I paid all of our bills, so we are caught up. We got back $4000. We have 400 left. I hate my life today! I hope that when Josh gets back to work, that they don't do another layoff...because if they do, were totally screwed. *cries* At least before I did the checkbook and paid bills I went to the mall (saturday) and spent about $130.00...not much, but it was nice to get out and pretend we weren't in a hole.

Anyways...so not much of a happy blog...but at least its an update. Now Im officially going to go take a nap. :/

A big girl and my son is growing up! A picture post.

2009-02-02T19:26:00.006-05:00

So my kids are growing up! I knew this before today...but just a few pictures to prove it.

Taysen is just transforming into a little man...he doesnt look like a baby anymore, that for sure. Though his preschool teacher told me today that all of the kids love him and rub his head...he is the smallest in his class, so they all treat him like their little baby. Haha...I bet he loves it!! Oh and I gave him a haircut on Sunday. Cute huh? :)

We found a train table on Craigslist a couple of weeks ago for 40 bucks! We jumped on it, and he loves it! :)

This was on Friday...the kids kept sitting in these little totes and I was pushing them around on the floor like they were in race cars. They loved it! Even though in this picture they look like I forced them to get in to take mugshots or something!! (Before his haircut obviously...haha)

Also, since Saturday Rowan has been feeding herself with a spoon/fork. Its awesome. Its also a little sad since her brother wont do it (except for cereal, sometimes a bite of yogurt) its bittersweet seeing her pass him up, but its great for her. Im so happy that my times of feeding two children while I try to eat at mealtime are almost over. Yay! Here are some adorable pics of her doing it this evening with an applesauce cup.

A cute little smile between bites. :)

This might be quicker...lol!

I thought it was adorable. :)

Anyhow, on a better note, we are getting 4000.00 back on our taxes. That should catch us up for now and keep us going while he is laid off. As long as he doesnt get laid off again, we should be alright. Im hoping he doesnt have any more lay offs this year after this one...but I know thats probably not going to go my way. Oh well..its life and we will figure it out. Oh and I did work out today...just 30 minutes cardio and nothing else. I brought Rowan since she was feeling a little better, well she cried the entire 30 minutes, so I didnt want to put her through any more agony. Tomorrow I will just wait until Josh gets home to go...its easier that way!

Some more days...

2009-01-31T15:09:00.002-05:00

I havent really been keeping track of my food...as in writing it down or anything the past couple of days. I have still been keeping it in check though. I weighed myself this morning before the gym and the scale said 140. Im happy. I wish it was about 5 lbs lower than that figuring how I have been kicking my booty at the gym...but I know doing it the right way takes more time than starving myself. :) Anyhow, Im still down a little weight and I can see changes in my body and with my clothes, and thats all I need to keep going. :) I have worked out the past 3 days even though I keep forgetting to get on here and write it down. I am doing at least 40 minutes of cardio and some weights here and there when I feel like it. Yesterday my mom joined the gym too, so now I have 2 friends, Mal, and my mom for workout buddies. Even if no one else goes tho, Im still keeping the gym in my daily schedule. I have worked out every single day since I joined, and I know I can keep it going, especially with Josh being so supportive and watching the kids every day when he gets home from work (since I cant take them since they have been sick...) and on weekends too. Two days ago, I did an ab machine for the first time since I started going back, and my abs are still killing me. The kicker-I only did 15 reps on the machine one time. LOL!!! I swear those muscles are starting back up from scratch. I really only plan on doing the ab machine like once or twice a week until I get where I want to weight wise, because I really think that at this point cardio is more worth my time to get rid of the chub on top of my abs. Haha...anyways...so the working out is going good. Im gonna keep it that way. I am really feeling like I can look better than I had planned by May as long as I keep this outlook.

On to other things. My children are both doing so much better. They both still have the nagging cough but they both are doing good. Rowan is like 99% better. If she didnt have the cough I would say she was better. But I guess it might hang around for a couple weeks. I swear the antibiotics help viruses even tho docs swear they dont. LOL...

And also...Josh is getting laid off again. I really am starting to get worried. At this point, I am seriously starting to think we might lose a vehicle. I hate saying that out loud...Im not one to talk about our money problems because we always get through it, and it never seems like there isnt a light at the end of the tunnel, but its bad. I am doing my taxes tonight because we need the money to stay afloat. This week, we should be paying our house (850), both cars (505), electric (we owe 500 on it! its about to get shut off...last month we paid just what we had to pay to keep it on, and this month we have to pay at least 214 to keep it on, we have never gotten anything shut off before, but its just feeling impossible right now!), tv (100), and cable (50). And those are JUST the bills that are behind, not even whats due right now. It sucks. I am really hoping that our return is seriously wicked so that we can pay what we are already owe on everything, and keep us up to date while Josh is laid off again. Its supposed to only be a few weeks, which isnt too bad, but he was just laid off already for almost 5 weeks that we are trying to recover from. Its killing us. Our house is definitely going to be late. Again. :( I hate it! Pray that our return is a decent chunk please!! (I know it makes absolutely no difference if you guys pray...LOL!!) Anyhow...so all that money crap sucks a bunch! BUT we really do always pull through...it is just hard to see at the moment...Im sure once he is back to work, it will all start feeling better again. So I cant wait until March!!!

Day 9 (for yesterday)

2009-01-28T11:57:00.002-05:00

Workout-
30 minutes cardio
20 minutes weights

Food-
Breakfast-just snacked really...a handful of cereal here, a couple cheese its there...not good, but true. lol...
Lunch-a turkey and cheddar lunchable
Dinner-lasagna and a piece of garlic toast
Dessert-shared a vanilla pudding with Taysen
Water-60 oz.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ON TO other things...lol...in the past couple of days, I have really noticed Taysen's language has really been going up. He still doesnt talk perfectly, but I notice him trying to say things right before just giving up like usual. And I notice him copying me more. Like yesterday, I put him down for his nap, and said "stay in bed!" because the kid just gets right back up to play...lol. And he goes "stay a bat!" it was so cute and the look on his face like he was scolding me was hilarious. Anyhow, I have noticed just in the past day or two that he is saying whole sentences and I am understanding them! Josh and me looked at eachother last night when he said "I wa mutch ka chow on da tee cee" and we were both like OH MY GOD I KNOW WHAT HE SAID FOR EVERY WORD OF THAT! It was cool. OH and that would translate out to be "I want watch kachow on the tv" LOL...kachow is Lightning McQueen from Cars...he says"Ca chow!" all the time...and pretty much all of his cousins call it that, and it just stuck...anyhow, we have noticed that we are being able to pick up a lot of what he is saying. Its great!

Also, little Rowan is sicker than a dog. Taysen is sick too...but nothing like Rowan. I took her to the Ped. on Friday because she was just crying with every cough and I was worried. Anyhow, she had a bad cold and a double ear infection they said to bring her back in 2 weeks to check her hears. Well on monday she wasnt really sounding much better. Yesterday I was done waiting around and took her back to the doctors. They said she most likely has RSV. They didnt bother testing for it because it didnt matter anyways figuring its still just a virus, and she isnt a newborn so its not "life threatening" at this point. (I was doing some research online about it last night, and I guess a lot of doctors dont actually do the test for it?? just go by symptoms? Anyhow...thats what I read..) Anyways, so we gotta put her mattress up to help her breathe better at night...steam treatments...things like that. They even gave her a cough medicine and said just to use before bed and if she is feeling especially miserable. Then they checked her ears and her ear infection hasnt even diminished at all in the past 4 days on antibiotics, so they gave her Augmentin this time. I am supposed to bring her back in a week to check her lungs and ears or sooner if I feel she isnt getting any better at all still. BUT I do have to say, today she is acting better! She still has a horrible "Ive been smoking for 50 years" like cough...but at least it sounds like its breaking up a little bit. She was really weird cuddly this morning, Rowan NEVER cuddles longer than 2 milliseconds, and she held on for like 2 hours. I was seriously worried!! LOL! But after that, she started playing and has been doing so much better today!! Im guessing that these antibiotics are working better and at least helping her ears to feel better. Anyhow, they said the cough could stick around for a while, maybe weeks...but that she shouldnt need the hospital unless she develops pnemonia, which going by todays mood, Im guessing we are finally seeing an up side here! But dont you worry, if this kid even acts a tad sicker, I will be taking her back to the docs...Anyhow, thats that...Thanks to my older sister for not being able to keep her sick kid AT HOME where he belongs!

La de da...I guess thats out. LOL.

Days 7 and 8

2009-01-26T19:07:00.002-05:00

Day 7 (sunday)
Workout-
45 minutes cardio

Food-
I honestly cannot remember what I ate yesterday. I know I drank 60 oz of water. LOL...

Day 8 (today/monday)
Workout-
40 minutes cardio

Food-
breakfast-granola bar
lunch-ham and cheese sandwich
dinner-taco salad
water-so far Ive drank like 50 ounces...got half a bottle left to go to be done for today...Its only 7, im sure I can finish it before bed....

So Ive been feeling really great. During my workouts I want to die...I HATE working out, but after I feel so good...plus the tanning is helping so much with my mood. I HATE winter as much as I hate working out. LOL. I seriously havent lost any more weight, but I can fit a pair of jeans better than I couldnt fit as good 2 weeks ago. They were tighter than crap 2 weeks ago, now they are still tight, but not so tight that I wont wear them. I cant wait until they fit perfectly. Anyhow I worked out early today, so I am exhausted. I cant wait for bedtime. LOL.

Day 5 & 6

2009-01-24T18:39:00.003-05:00

Ok so I didnt get a chance to get on here last night.

So for friday-
Workout-
45 minutes cardio
10 minutes weights

Food-
Breakfast- granola bar
Lunch-Raisin bran LOL i like it!
Dinner-chef salad
Water-50 oz

Did pretty good. :)

For today (saturday)
Workout-
30 minutes cardio (didnt do anything else but elliptical...)

Food-
Breakfast-granola bar
Lunch-turkey sandwich w/cheese & carrot sticks w/ ranch
Dinner-Frosted mini wheats cereal w/milk
Dessert-technically it wasnt dessert, went to a baby shower this afternoon...lol anyhow, a piece of cake.
Water-only 40 ounces today so far, but its only 7pm so I might get a little more down. :)

Anyhow, I decided that if I work out on the weekends its just gonna be cardio...weights can be a during the week thing. LOL. :)

Anyhow this weekend has gone well...so far at least. Im pretty pissed off at my older sister for bringing her sick kid around everyone elses not sick kids. Delta and Elliott got sick first, and Taysen and Rowan both started getting it on thursday. I took Rowan to the doctor yesterday morning because she was just so unhappy when she woke up. Anyhow, ends up she has a double ear infection on top of the respitory infection from Hayden. Go figure. She is on antibiotics and they prescribed her a decongestant but I didnt fill it because she had an adverse reaction to it last year when she got really sick. (Different doctor prescribed it, which is why it was prescribed again...lol. Anyhow I remembered the name so I just left it unfilled and got her a homeopathic decongestant from Hylands.) Anyhow, she is doing a little better today. Taysen has the bad cough but isnt as pathetic as she is. Haha...Im hoping in a few days its all gone! Well...thats it for today! :D Hope youre all doing well!! OH DENA-my bra size is technically a 34DD but I refuse to wear a DD...lol so I stuff them into a 34D. Thats why I was saying I couldnt wait to fit into a 34C. Hahaha!!!

Day 4

2009-01-23T08:12:00.002-05:00

Yesterday went well. :)

Worked out, even though it was a late one because we got really lazy today. :)

Cardio-45 minutes

Food-
Breakfast-Raisin bran
Lunch-MORE raisin bran
Dinner-Chicken and cheese quesadilla
Water-40 ounces

Thats all for now. Rowan is really sick...not gonna bother typing with one hand. LOL!

Day 3

2009-01-21T22:21:00.004-05:00

Did good today. :)

Worked out this morning. First thing. It was great getting it out of the way early.

Cardio-30 mins on elliptical then 15 walking on treadmill-felt great after!!
Weights-10 mins

I tanned again, and Im officially burnt as a lobster. I should have probably skipped today and done it tomorrow. Looks like Im SO not tanning tomorrow...haha. I am going to cancel my friday appointment and possibly tan on saturday morning if my skin isnt hurting. LOL...the sad thing is Im only tanning 10 mins...that shouldnt be burning me...that is how drastically white and pasty I am right now. Haha...

Food-
Breakfast-with the rush of the morning getting Tate to school, I had 3 ricecakes...it counts as food...but totally like 12 calories...oh well...
Lunch-PF Changs...it was delicious. I got Honey Chicken, which was so good...it was breaded, so not good for you at all, but I didnt get an appetizer, which I always do, AND I got brown rice instead of white. :D At least I chose a healthy option. OH and I got a water too. :D
Dinner-I ate my PF Changs leftovers from lunch. IT WAS THAT GOOD!! :D
Dessert-I ate 1/2 of Rowans Fruit Crisp bar...so that was 50 calories...but yummy calories. And an orange.
Water-82 oz

I did get a cappucino today when I got gas...bad item...empty calories. Oh well...it happens.

So I ate OK...minus the breaded chicken and the cappucino. Everything else was decent. I could have asked for grilled chicken, but I didnt want to. LOL.

I weighed myself on the Wii Fit tonight...probably dumb since I drank SO much water today, and it was a night weigh...normally I do morning weighs before I eat and after I pee...but Josh was doing it so I did it anyways. It said I was up 0.2lbs...I can handle less than a pound...plus since Ive been working out all week, my body is probably gaining a little muscle. PLUS all the water/food...I am gonna weigh again on saturday morning. Im not too worried about the small gain...you always gain a couple before you lose, right? Thats my motto. Haha...Anyhow, as much as I would LOVE for it all to just melt off in a week, its not going to happen that way, it didnt the first time I got fit, and its not going to this time, especially after 2 children and being pretty lazy for the past 3 years. I havent worked out in 22 months...that alone is enough for me to be happy that Im getting back on the wagon. Im doing great! I know Im going to stick with this! :D I cant wait to do my measurements on March 1st. I was going to do Feb. 1st, but Im really guessing not much will have changed by then, so I know Ill at least see a change by March 1st. So thats my next measure date...weighs will be weekly. I just cant wait to go buy some new jeans, in like a 10 instead of a 12 or higher. I cant wait to get back into a 34c bra...but im not getting my hopes up, I just CANT wait for smaller ta ta's!

Day 2

2009-01-20T19:28:00.002-05:00

So today went good...a few blips along the way, but I still did good. :)

Mal didnt go, Delta got sick...so there went my workout partner...lol. Oh well, I told myself Im going anyways. Then Josh calls me to say that he has to work over...man! I was irritated, bummed and just plain mad. Now I cant go because we had a majorly booked day with appointments and therapies. We were gone from 7:30 am until 2:30pm...so once I laid the kids down for their already late naps, I knew I wouldnt get to go. My tanning appt was for 3:30 so I called and cancelled. Then I got more irritated...as soon as the neighbor girl got home from school, I texted her to see if she would come sit at the house for an hour or so so I could go to the gym...plus she wouldnt have to deal with the kids unless they woke up, which was unlikely (not that she minded, but still...) anyhow it worked out great, she got here at 3. I left at 3:20, worked out and tanned! :) I did 3 miles today! I felt so good. I mean I felt like I was gonna pass out right when I was done, but I was booking it through my run. I was proud of myself for going even though my whole system was ruined today. LOL...Anyhow, my log for the day...

Cardio-35 minutes
Weights-10 minutes

Food-
Breakfast-sadly there was none today, it was a hectic morning for real!!!
Lunch-Creamy chicken soup and a salad
Dinner-1 slice pineapple thin crust pizza
water-60 oz

Anyhow...Im happy at me. :D

Day 1-Yay! :D

2009-01-19T20:44:00.002-05:00

Ok so I did join the gym today. Well re-joined. I realized that it has actually been 22 months since I have been to the gym. Man...thats almost 2 years!!!!! Anyhow, I ended up getting a great deal, better than I planned. I get the gym membership, tanning, and kids club for 23 bucks a month! :D Its 44 for all of that regularly, but since we (Mal and I) were members before they gave us the good deal. I was SO glad! Technically they didnt have to give me the deal since it has been so long since my contract ended...22 months ago!! Man...anyways, Im SO happy!

So today I ate pretty good, calorie wise, I did great. Ive drank over 60 oz of water today, and I worked out! Yay! I did 30 minutes on the elliptical and did some weight machines. I tanned too. I am so happy about the tanning again. I used to love how I looked before when I was thinner and tan. I just know that Im going to do good this time around too because I just feel so motivated. I am SO ready to like myself again...:) Anyhow, so now Im going to try to use my blog like I used my OD a long long time ago...:) I will be putting my food, water, and workouts on here everyday to keep me going.

for today-
breakfast-rice krispies w/ milk
lunch-mcd's cheeseburger (yeah I know, BAD choice for first day of working out...LOL BUT I only got the cheeseburger, not a whole meal...)
dinner-chicken stir fry & a 1/2 cup of la choy crisp noodles
dessert-Fig Newton fruit crisp (These things are awesome! Ok well they at least were for me...its only 100 calories for a package of them, its like 2 thin bars in a package. Satisfied my "sweets" craving after dinner.)

workout-
30 minutes cardio
10 minutes weights

OK...sorry if this all gets boring to you guys...I just really need to keep with it to stay motivated.

OK Im posting my measurements too...for the beginning, I think I will do weigh ins every week, and measurements once a month.

So todays weight and measurements- (I did these measurements like 4 days ago...so probably still right around where I am at since I havent lost anything in the past couple days.)

Weight-143
Hips- 40 inches
Stomach-38 inches
Waist-30.5 inches
Thigh-24 inches
Arm-11.5 inches

OK...so those are my measurements. NOT pretty, but oh well, hopefully its temporary!
(AND sorry to bore all that dont really give a crap about this stuff...haha! I promise I wont be mad at anyone for not posting comments about my diet entries...they are really just for my own little motivation...)

Taysen started preschool...mommy started a diet!

2009-01-18T16:05:00.002-05:00

So...Tate started preschool on monday (the 12th). I was a wreck! He cried and just gave me that look like "please mom dont leave me here, why are you doing this!?!" as I walked out the door. I felt horrible. All over again, I hated everything that was happening and I just wanted him to not have to go through this. He is just a baby! Anyhow, so I had a horrible day, visions of him crying and being scared and lonely danced through my head the entire day. He goes from 9am to 3pm on mondays and wednesdays. I had a horrible day. I pretty much counted the minutes until I could pick him up. I was there early and waited by the door, I couldnt wait to get him! Finally, when the door opened, Taysen came running to me and showed me a sticker he got with a huge smile on his face, he says " isa mat mat" lol...that would translate out to be "its a ribbit ribbit" LOL...he cant say ribbit...so mat takes its place. He was happy as a clam, wasnt crying, and wasnt in any distress at all. Come to find out, he only cried for a few minutes, did great throughout the day, ate and took a nap with the class with no problem, and even painted!! Taysen has some huge problems with wet/sticky things because of his sensory issues, and they said he didnt even put up a fight!! He had paint everywhere (I was wondering, have you ever heard of a smock!!) anyhow, it was even on his face! But he had fun, so I was really happy. Then on wednesday he went again...I was prepared this time for a little crying, but nope! He sat down at the table and ate his breakfast. I walked out the door and he says "Bye Mom!" :) I was so much happier on wednesday. I still couldnt wait to pick him up, but I didnt have a horrible day. :) Tomorrow is Martin Luther King day so he doesnt have school. But wednesday he goes back. It makes me happy that he is having fun.

Next! I started a diet on the 7th. I am really sick of being bigger. Im by no means "fat
, but to me, I am. Anyhow, my Wii Fit says Im overweight. Haha...which I am. I really havent gotten anywhere since I had Rowan on getting back to my prepregnancy body. Its sad that she is 16 months old and I still weigh about the same as I did the day after I had her. Its sad! Anyhow, I weighed like 155 after I had her. (That was like 2 days after I had her, so still some baby junk left in there that came off...) Anyhow I have weighed around 148 since. So I didnt even lose 10lbs. LOL...ok so it isnt funny. So anyways, I weighed 148 on the 7th...I weigh 143 now, so I have lost 5 lbs in 2 weeks. I wish it would all just come off in one day but obviously that isnt going to happen. Anyhow, Im hoping that by May Im down to 120-125. That is my goal. I havent had a gym membership in a year, so I am going to go renew it tomorrow, or tuesday if its closed tomorrow. I know I can work out at the gym at least 2 days a week when Taysen goes to school. Possibly a saturday and sunday too. Im going to make it a goal to work out at the gym at least 3 days a week, and I have an elliptical and the Wii Fit at home that I can use at least twice a week. So I can at least get in 5 work outs a week...Well my goal is at least the 3 days a week at the gym, the stuff at home isnt as important as the gym, because it just works better at the gym. Haha...anyways. I guess thats it for now...just wanted to put it in writing! :D OH and Im eating better too...trying to cut out the bad fats and sugar. Working on it...

So no dots yet! And a tater update.

2009-01-08T16:09:00.002-05:00

Ok well so far we still have no chicken pox here, so Im thinking we may have gotten lucky! :) Personally, I dont really care if the kids get them, its better to get them as a kid than as an adult anyways, well easier I guess...but right now is just horrible timing!! And Jodi...yeah it doesnt really make any sense why they even vaccinate against it if its not going to work! I guess if they do get them after they have been vaccinated, they should only get a light case of them...so who knows!
And Dena, you said that they didnt do your kids CP and MMR until 2? For some reason the Ped's here are doing those both at the 1 yr appointment. When we went in for Rowans 1 yr appt, after we switched to a Ped that gave a crap, he said she was behind on like 6 shots...so we just have been doing like 2 at a time to catch up. She just went two weeks ago and is now all the way updated except for the MMR shot, which I told him I would do once she starts school. But Im holding off for now. I wish I could have done that with Taysen, who knows, maybe it would have changed his life...but I didnt really know anything about that then!

Anywho...on to Tater...he had his IEP meeting at his preschool yesterday. It went really well. He met his teacher and he likes her, he was mad at us when we left because he wanted to stay. LOL. Anyhow, he starts preschool monday! I was a tiny bit disappointed because his Early Intervention class was cancelled yesterday morning because of weather, so he didnt even get to say goodbye! Im going to stop there on the 20th after his dentist appointment so he can say bye to them and get the last art projects he did. I was sort of hoping that they would let him go to EI this coming week, and then start him on the 19th since his class was cancelled. Oh well. LOL. One minute Im complaining about the drive to EI and now Im complaining that he didnt get to say goodbye. Im a complainer I guess. Haha...

Anyhow, I guess thats it for now. Im sure I will be keeping you all busy with updates as soon as he starts. Im going to have all monday and wednesday to blog! Haha...no im kidding. Im sure I will find some fun stuff to do with just me and Rowan to give her some more mommy time since Taters schedule gets quite hectic...but I will definitely have more time to blog. Its kind of sad!! I dont know what Im going to do without him all day twice a week!! It seems so long! But he loves his therapies and EI, so Im sure he will love this just as well. :)

Ok Im shutting up now! :D

Oh crap...

2009-01-05T22:59:00.002-05:00

So I have been known to LOVE polka dots. I just love them...pink and brown together is one of my favorites...for obvious reasons, I did Rowan's bedroom in those colors...I love bright colors and polka dots. THAT BEING SAID....I do NOT like polka dots when it comes to my childrens skin. *cries*

I got a phone call from a very close friend tonight that her daughter has the chicken pox. It has only been 5 days since we got together with her last. So Im guessing that in a few short days, my children will be spotted. :( That is probably going to mess up my whole month! My kids both got the chicken pox vaccine...BUT so did my friends daughter. SOOO like I said...OH CRAP!

So its monthly now?

2009-01-04T17:49:00.003-05:00

I guess I just suck at posting!! Anyhow, my monthly update! LOL!!

So December kind of sucked for us...well the end of November and most of December. Josh was laid off since Thanksgiving week, but worked one week in between. So pretty much the whole month of December he was off. Money is sucking pretty bad right now figuring I make total crap since I only work part time. Oh well, we will catch up once we get our tax return...it just really stinks because that isnt what we wanted to blow all of our return on...yay...not! Oh well, at least we wont lose a car right? He starts back to work tomorrow, and we still havent seen a single unemployment check...go figure right? Anyhow, we have been in deep crap before and we always find a way to pull ourselves out of it. Whats one more time, right???

Next! On to the Tater monster. He has just been amazing us lately. We got him this Leapfrog toy that sticks to your fridge, it has the letters of the alphabet. Basically you pick a letter, stick it on the toy and it says what the letter is and what sound the letter makes. Well, Taysen had it for 2 days, yes TWO days...and he figured out all but 6 of the letters and sounds they make! It took us totally by surprise. One day, he looks at the time out chair (which says TIME OUT right on it...) and says "Mom, issa T, ta!" Im like "Yes youre right!!!" Standing there in shock. LOL...then later that day, Josh is watching some sporting event, and on the screen there was a K in something that was on, and Tate says "Dada issa K, ka!" LOL! It is so cute. He tells us every letter he knows when he sees one. Or if something has words on it, like a shirt or a box, he says "Mom, AB's" Its so cute. We ended up taking an ABC wooden puzzle he has and doing every letter, and he knew all but 8...now he knows all but 5 or 6. Its hard to tell with a couple of them, because he just cant pronounce it right...but I think he gets the idea. :) One funny thing is M's are m's, but so are n's they are "omma M's" and if a Z is sideways, its another M...lol. For some of the letters, he cant say what it is like the W, but he says the noise it makes right...so we count it. :) Anyhow its adorable and I couldnt believe he picked that up so quickly, especially since we werent trying to teach it to him yet. Also, he is starting to figure out his colors. As of right now, he has Blue, Orange, Yellow, Black, Red, Purple, Pink and White down...at least so far, when you ask him, he almost always get those ones right. His favorite color is yellow for sure. He loves his yellow shirts and always wants to wear them, and he lately points out every yellow car he can find. The "ye-ow" one...:) Anyhow, the other day, on Craigslist, there was a train table for sale. Its a 260.00 train table, and it was only 40 bucks! So of course, as broke as we are, dropped everything and went and got it. LOL...I figured we would never get that lucky again. The last time I saw a train table on Craigslist, it was 100.00 just for the table, and 50 for the stuff that goes on it! So it was a steal! :) There is a little crayon on some of the tracks, but oh well, Taysen didnt even notice. :)

On to Rowan...her pooping problem has become the norm. She hasnt had any more non peeing episodes tho. She is on a baby type of Miralax. Im not really a huge fan of it tho, I dont think it works all that great. Basically, it keeps her pooping, but its still just as hard and sometimes she even bleeds a little when she goes, so I want something that actually softens the stool. Anyhow, the doc upped her dose and said to try that for a couple weeks, and if it didnt work we would go from there. So who knows, well see, but I still think it sucks. And also, in Dec. Rowan had her last leg appointment. She is all cleared and they said her leg healed so well that you cant even see where the break was on the newest x rays. So thats good. They said since she was young that it healed great. And not a week later, Rowan falls down the stairs. Luckily, she didnt break anything. She has never shown an interest in the stairs ever...we never even thought to put a gate up. Anyhow, one day Im sitting at the computer, Josh is in the kitchen doing dishes, and we hear this thump thump thump...I get all irritated thinking Taysen is throwing books down the stairs, which he does sometimes. LOL...then I hear a blood curdling scream, and a few more thumps, Josh and I both run to the steps freaking out, she cries for a few minutes while we check her out, and then she stops and is fine, thank goodness!!! Anyhow, I put her back down, and of course, the little girl with a death wish crawls right back to the stairs and heads back up, this time Im right behind her incase she falls...she was booking it up those steps!! I took her back down let her go up again, timing her this time. LOL...it took her 12 whole seconds to get from bottom to top!! She wanted to play with Tate I guess!! We have since installed a babygate at the steps! Also, there is one on Taysens door so she cant fall down. We have a daredevil on our hands. Thats for sure! Anyhow...she had a couple shots this month too...we put off the MMR though...at least for now, not sure really what we are going to do yet. I just still dont know what to do about the shots. Its like I dont want to do them, because Im just scared its what caused Tate's problems, but I dont want them to catch sicknesses either...I have no idea...scares the crap out of me. Anyhow, so we are waiting on that one for a while, maybe forever...not sure yet. Taysen hasnt had any shots since we found out about all of his problems. I dont think he will ever get another one.

Anyhow, also this month, Taysen had his evaluation for preschool. That was the 12th. He qualified! :) Im glad he qualified, because I know its good for him, I know he will need it to help him get ready for school. Anyhow, we have a meeting this week on wednesday to find out when he starts. Im thinking its next week. Anyhow, he qualified for preschool, plus speech, occupational, and sensory therapy. I will still be taking him to his private speech and occupational therapy too, just because, why not right? Its only gonna help him. On that front, sensory wise, he is still doing pretty horrible food wise, we just cant get anything new into him. Its just crackers, cereal, yogurt and cheeseburgers basically. :( Hopefully he gets better at that once preschool starts!! Im really hoping at least. Anyhow, sensory seeking wise, he has almost completely stopped spinning things. He still has the fan obsession, but we have gotten all the house fans off except for his bedroom...which heck, if he wants to freeze just to see a fan go around, then whatever, its his room. And pacing, he does that a lot, we have to try to distract him sometimes because he just gets carried away. But so far, things are going ok and he isnt doing as many weird things.

Oh back to Rowie...she is saying a few words here and there. :) Been kinda nice not having to worry as much. :) She says Dada, baba, Tay, and Kitty (but pronounces it KeyKey) Its cute. :) Taysen wasnt saying words clearly until after his 2nd birthday...and even a couple months after that...so its nice that she is just 15 months and starting to spit a couple out already. :) She still isnt walking, but she is walking along furniture now, plus the docs said to give her the 2 months longer than typical development...so Im hoping she is walking by 17 or 18 months. PLEASE WALK!! LOL...I suggested physical therapy at her last leg appointment, and they said she didnt need it...so well see what happens!

Ok well I guess I have bored you guys enough...I will try to get some pics in the next couple of days too! :)

Rowan update...finally pee and poop! :D

2008-11-29T17:54:00.002-05:00

Ok so I do have an update. She finally pooped after 2 baby suppositories on thursday...can you believe that crap!! Yes and a lot of it!! That kid was stuffed to the brim with crap. Anyhow, we talked to the Ped. the whole way through it all, he suggested one more suppository before we took her to the ER...and finally she pooped...and once she pooped, she finally began to pee normal again. Weird huh! Anyhow, so things are well, and today is the only day so far since that she hasnt pooped a big one...Im guessing that since the night isnt over, its coming soon. LOL! :D Well, anyhow, so thats it for now. :D

Rowie Bowie...

2008-11-25T23:25:00.002-05:00

So for the past 2 weeks Rowan has been a pill...whether it was her cold, or teething...she has just been unhappy. Well her cold is gone, her teeth still arent through, but oh well...Sunday night, I noticed that she was extra whiney...for no apparent reason (well at that time...) until later on in the evening when I was changing her diaper...she smelled like she pooped, but no poop...so just farty...then I thought to myself, maybe she is constipated...I felt around her stomach and it was rock hard, and you could feel the poop in her stomach, all around. I felt so bad for her. Anyhow, I gave her one of those baby laxative dissolvable strips, gave her a bottle, and put her to bed. Then comes Monday...just a little poop in her diaper...not much, just a few rabbit turd type balls. Anyhow, I called the doctor, and they put her on a baby version of Miralax, because she has had constipation issues before a few times...so I go pick it up about 2 hours later. She got her first dose monday afternoon. Then before she went to bed, I gave her her 2nd dose. I figured an awesome poop would be all over by morning. Well this morning rolls around (Its Tuesday about 11:30pm right now) and just a couple little rabbit turds again. I figure it has to be coming soon. She eats breakfast and lunch really well, which for a couple days she hasnt been eating much at all. I cant get her to drink any juice or water, but she has 3 5oz bottles throughout the day. I noticed when it was time to put her down for her nap, her diaper wasnt wet...odd but nothing that I really worried about too much...well when she woke up, she had a couple little hard turds again, but nothing to be excited about. Not too wet, but maybe a pee in it. Anyhow, then I gave the kids their baths and changed dipes again around 6pm. At 9pm when I was putting the kids to bed, Rowan still hasnt peed. I am a little worried, but she did eat dinner and hasnt been acting too whiney today compared to the past couple days. She wouldnt drink her bottle before bed though. Anyhow, I am calling the doctor tomorrow morning if she hasnt pooped yet, and definitely calling if she hasnt peed still. I dont want to take her to the ER just yet (unless she wakes up and things have changed attitude wise), because she is acting ok and doesnt seem dehydrated, still has tears when she cries...and her disposition is ok. But first thing in the morning is the docs...and from there maybe he will have us take her to the ER for an IV since I cant get her to drink any liquids. Anyhow...I guess thats it for now...a weird not pooping not peeing update on Rowan. Cross your fingers that she wets at least a little through the night!! I'll update you guys on anything that happens.

For Nicole. :)

2008-11-19T11:56:00.002-05:00

I forgot to post about Rowan's leg! Sorry!!! Anyhow, it was my fault, I had her in our Bumbo seat on the counter, and she rolled out of it! Right off of the island onto our tile floor. That day sucked!! We got rid of the Bumbo the same day. ;) Anyhow, here is the journal entry about it. :) Anyhow, its all healed up and fine now, she has one more appointment in December to check the growth, but they dont think there are any problems. :)

http://taterandrowansmommy.blogspot.com/2008/07/really-bad-day.html

Its getting cold. :(

2008-11-17T19:03:00.002-05:00

I know, I live in Ohio...I should just get used to it. But I HATE the cold. I hate winter. Everything about it...the slush, the slippery roads, how it kills all the flowers. :( I love Summer, Spring and Fall are ok. :) It snowed on Saturday, not enough to stick, but enough to make me want to throw up. :P

Anyhow, so things are going good. Really good. On Wednesday after Taysen's Early Intervention, his speech therapist there took me aside and said that she did some basic evaluation with him that day, and that he may not qualify for Help Me Grow preschool!!! Yay!!! Im happy! Why, you ask?? The reason is because he passed the evaluation with flying colors and he may not even be considered "delayed" anymore! :D :D :D Now, it makes me very happy that he might not qualify. BUT I really really really want him to go to preschool because it is really helping him, and she agreed too, she said that they might let him in anyhow since he meets the deadline so close. Or something like that...lol. Anyhow, I hope they let him slide through!! I really want him to go to preschool. I mean, he will go either way, I would just prefer I dont have to pay for it if I dont have to! LOL! Help Me Grow is a free program for delayed/handicapped children. I dont think SID really counts, especially since SID kids can grow out of it. Which Im really hoping he does. But anyhow...so thats the good news. :)

On to other things...Rowie is pulling herself up to her feet now. Like on low toys and the time out bench...LOL..she is a shortie. :D Anyhow, she is still really wobbly and almost always falls over after a few seconds, but YAY ROWAN!! I am really hoping she is walking or close to it by her next leg appointment which is Dec. 18th or close to it, so that she doesnt have to go to physical therapy or anything like that. Anyhow...so she is doing good. :) Im proud of my little cupcake!

So if you want to see something cute and amusing...ok maybe only to a mother...last night Taysen, Rowan and mommy were watching Alvin and the Chipmunks...and at the end when the credits came on, the kids started dancing like crazy fools! It wasnt even asked of them, they just started moving to the beat, it was so funny I had to get out my camera...of course by that time the moment was over, so I rewinded the TV so they could hear the song again, and again they started shaking their booties...not as crazily as before, but at least it was something...lol. Anyhow it was cute...thought Id share...dont mind the mother in the background saying "Rowan, DANCE!!" lol...she was over it by the time I came around with the camera. LOL. :) Ok...here is the links :D There are 2 videos...both short. :) (The quality isnt the greatest, I should have turned the light up...sorry!!)

http://www.dropshots.com/taysenandrowansmommy#date/2008-11-16/19:43:21

http://www.dropshots.com/taysenandrowansmommy#date/2008-11-16/19:43:26

Anyhow..it was so cute...I hope you enjoy it!! :D

OH and Carmen, SID (Sensory Integration Disorder or Dysfunction) is a neurological disorder that causes problems with processing information from our 5 senses. Basically, kids that have this have their 5 senses, they just process it abnormally...some examples 1-an itchy tag can feel like a knife cutting into their skin...2-different textures in their mouths may totally gross them out and make them not able to stand the feeling in their mouth...3-their sense of smell may be so strong that the smell of normal foods may make them nauseated and want to throw up 4-someone hugging them gently can make them feel like they cant breathe because they are being squeezed to death....5-lights may seem super bright to them, daylight might hurt their eyes...6-normal day to day noises might sounds extremely loud to them, like the humming of a fridge may be so loud to them that they cant focus on anything when they can hear it...so I guess add a few of those things together and you have a kid with some serious problems. Another example...lets say a little boy goes out to dinner with his family, the restaurant is packed, and everyone is talking in normal voices, but to him all he can hear is the people all over talking and its really loud and he cant concentrate, the lights are so bright he is getting a headache, and the smells of other peoples food is making him sick to his stomach. He isnt going to last long before he is totally overwhelmed and just breaks down. Now Taysen, he has major texture issues, whether they are in his mouth, or even just on his hands or body. If he gets a speck of food on him, he is freaking out wanting it wiped off. There have been times that I have had to pull over on the expressway because he had to have cereal dust wiped off of his hands. Most kids would just wipe it on their pants, or not even give a crap about it in the first place. Like the other day, his occupational therapist was coloring with him with markers, he got some on his hand, he brought me his hand I would bet a good 30 times in that morning after his therapy for me to wipe it off...I wiped it, but it just was stained on his skin for a little bit...its gone by now thank god, but man it ruined his day that day!! Another thing, Taysen seeks movement and sound...he does it in spinning things, having the fans on, tv on, pacing...he just does these things a lot through out the day, especially having fans on...his therapist said that it may either be the little bit of wind that is in the room that he is seeking, or it may make a bit of a buzzing sound when the fan is on...we dont really know, because he cant tell us yet what is so great about them...lol. But its an obsession for him. All house fans are turned on the second he wakes up...And during the night, he has his ceiling fan on and a heater too now, because the fan makes it cold!! If I turn off that fan, it would be a nightmare...his EI teacher said to just turn it off and make him deal with it, to learn that I make the rules...but honestly, it isnt hurting anything to have his fan on, its his room...LOL. Plus it saves me the fight. I am soooo picking my battles with this kid. I might just be too easy on him, but ya know what, he is going to have a bit of a rougher childhood than a normally developing kid, so if the ceiling fan being on is gonna make his day, its fine by me. And also, he does have some small social problems, but they arent too bad, they are way better than they used to be.. He gets anxious when there are a lot of people around him, like when he is in EI, and the kids are all doing an activity together, Taysen will sometimes just stand there anxious and sometimes flaps his arms, when the kids back off a little, he does fine and does the activity, he just needs his space. But he is doing really well on the social part. He used to be the kid that if someone even looked at him, he was literally screaming and running in the other direction or crying, and now, he is the kid at the grocery store that says "HI!!" to every single person we pass. In that aspect, he is a totally different kid. If someone told me 6 months ago that he would be saying Hi to random people, It probably would have just made me upset because I didnt think that he would ever be friendly to people he didnt know. SOOOO anyhow, lol...I guess Ill just shut it about it all now, because I think you get the drift. LOL. Anyhow, all kids with Autism have SID, so thats why it was hard to see a difference before. But now that he has come so far, I do really feel like the doctors are right. :)

I cant believe its been a month!

2008-11-04T15:03:00.003-05:00

Okay, so its November...I didn't post once in October!! That is bad!!

Sooo...news news! Taysen is not autistic. :) He has been diagnosed with Sensory Integration Dysfunction/Disorder. It was a couple weeks ago that we found out, but its just been busy! Also, Taysen started Occupational therapy in October. He goes twice a week. He has a busy little schedule now!

Mon- Early Intervention 9-11a
Tues-OT 8-9a and Speech 9:30-10:30a
Wed-Early Intention 9-11a and OT 4-5p

Thursday and Friday he doesnt have any set appointments or therapies (unless they are just normal once in a while checkups) so those are just our lazy days where we sit around watching Noggin all day because we are exhausted. Haha.

Rowan has finally started the normal crawling...and it only took her about a week to fly through the house on her knees. Her little knees are so dried out they are like white callouses! Ill be glad when she can use her feet! She is starting to babble a lot, her only word right now is Uh Oh...haha. She makes lots of sounds though.

Taysen has come really far in the last month. He is talking so much that we are really starting to understand a lot of what he is saying. For example two mornings ago, he was sitting at the table eating a bowl of cereal (BY HIMSELF WITH HIS OWN SPOON!!!!YAY!!!THAT WAS JUST TACKLED THIS PAST WEEK!!! GO TAYSEN!) and he starts singing this song...at first, Im just thinking he is goofing around, until I really pay attention, listening and watching. He says "Cap Cap Cap" (while clapping his hands) Then he says "Wol Wol Wol" (then rolls his hands) then "Pat Pat Pat" (as he pats his thighs) yells "Stom Stom Stom!" (while he stomps his feet) then says "AND STOP!" (and puts his hands on the top of his head...) Then he reaches his hands up says something and I almost fell over because I could understand what he was saying "weech up high to da sty!" (Reach up high to the sky) And to top it off he says "Awight!!" while he waves his hands up in the air! It was so stinking cute! I wish I had a video camera for that moment. Then on Sunday he had an open house at his school and I asked his teacher and therapists about the song, asking if they sing something like that...and they both get all giddy and say "Taysen's singing our song!!" and then Heidi, his speech therapist says "He has never ever sang that in class with us, he just stares at us like we are crazy!" So Im sure that made her day...haha. Made mine too. :) So at least we know he is paying attention! Haha. And also, he has learned how to count to three. :) He sometimes says "toot" for two...lol. He knows a couple shapes now, heart, start, square, circle, and triangle. Im so proud of him!

Ok well I guess that is it for now...I cant really think of anything else right at the moment. But I promise I wont wait another month to post again!

(OH and last, that little button I added on the side, MckMiracle, is a blog that I have been reading for about a month now. I first found it and thought her kids were adorable, so read a little, then read about her pregnancy and how her baby boy had a heart problem that was figured out at her 20 week appt and they told her basically her baby would die. Anyhow, I kept reading hoping that her little man would come out ok at least long enough to get surgery to help him, and what do you know, she had her little boy, and he is fine and never even needed surgery or anything at all!! So I just thought I would add it on here, its a nice little blog with some adorable kids on it!! )

Hope you are all doing well!! :)

No more Ici!!

2008-09-30T14:49:00.002-04:00

That would translate out to be Binky. :)

So I am so sick of hearing the phrase from my son "Iwan Ici!" Or just "ici" in a small quiet voice because he knows it isnt bedtime or naptime...that I finally decided Binky's life needed to come to an end. LOL...Our dear binky's life was finally complete on saturday morning. Well...he had little bit of a drawn out death, but he is finally dead. LOL. Ok...so saturday morning, after Taysen requested his binky one too many times by only 10 o'clock in the morning, no where near naptime, I went in the other room when he wasnt looking and cut off the tip to his beloved bink. :O At first I was a little nervous, scared, then a little mad at myself because I knew I wasnt ready for this struggle. Well...I set it on the floor when Taysen wasnt looking so he could find it for hisself. I didnt want him knowing I killed it! Haha...anyhow, he finds it in record time, and brings it to me all sad..."Ici ouchie" and "Ici bote" (broke) lol...it was so adorable and cruel at the same time. I felt so bad for the kid, but he has to drop the binky sometime this lifetime! So anyways, for the next couple of hours he reminded me endlessly that his binky had an ouchie and that it was broken, over and over and over again. Saturday afternoon after his nap and while he wasnt watching I trimmed the tip, because he still wanted to keep it his mouth, just not sucking it, but holding it in with his teeth. He still took it to bed, but couldnt barely keep it in his mouth because the nub was so short. Finally sunday morning when he woke up, I scooped up the bink and put it in my pocket...then into a drawer in my room for him to see when he is 30 and I am telling him this story. LOL. He has sucsessfully gone two full days and two full sleeps without his binky! He asked for it last night when he went to bed, but I reminded him that it was broken, and he dropped the issue. :) He has been so great, no tantrums, no whining, nothing. Its like he never had it. So the long love of Binky is finally over!!! :) (And yes, we have been limiting Rowan to hers, just because we dont want it around to tempt Taysen in any way! Haha...she is strictly only allowed her binky at nap and bedtime now. And with Rowan, she seriously could care less, she screams whether or not its plugging her mouth. LOL...and really, it may make it easier to get rid of when she is a little older too. I've actually been thinking about getting rid of hers now too totally, but not sure if thats right or wrong...like for sleeping...does she still need that sucking? I dont want to be mean, she is just a baby still...well somewhat. Haha...any insight girls??)

Anyhow so I guess thats it for now...no other big news. :) Hope youre all doing well! :D

The pics. :)

2008-09-21T22:25:00.005-04:00

Ok these are just the proofs. :) They havent been edited yet...(Josh's foot will be cut out of the one of the kids together...Tate's dark one will be lightened. Stuff like that...:) ) Pics didnt go so well this time around. LOL...Taysen wanted nothing to do with getting them done! Wednesday Kris (my close friend and photographer) came over to our house and got some shots of the kids...Tate wasnt happy...(see pic of kids together. LOL...he would NOT smile for me...but thats the best we could get, and its ok with me...haha) Anyhow then thursday night I cut his hair. Then Kris called me and sent me a couple proofs of the good ones, but there was nothing of Tate alone that was great, so we met again on Saturday morning at a park....hence his different hair style. LOL! Anyhow, he was the same and didnt want to do anything but pace around. Soooo finally about 2 minutes before we gave up, Kris started chasing him and playing tag and then he started smiling and running away and to her...so his shots are all of him being goofy with her...and they turned out the best!! :) Anyhow...the pic of the two kids on the bench is hilarious...Taysen wanted nothing to do with a together shot, and he was screaming and mad, then when I saw these pics, it totally cracked me up and Im ordering it! They look like they are both thinking "Dont touch me! What are you looking at!!" Haha...sibling rivalry at such an early age! LOL! :) Ok...well thats it for now! I hope you like them...remember tho, they aren't edited! :)

Its been a while.

2008-09-17T20:44:00.002-04:00

So I know its been a while since I have posted. :) Sorry!

Updates Updates! :)

Taysen is doing extremely well since he got his tubes put in! He is starting to really put together some sentences and we are starting to actually understand what he is saying. :) He says "I want" like twenty million times a day now. Whether its "Iwan juuuiceeyyyy" or "Iwan Ici!" (Ici is what he calls his Binky...we can even get him to say "Buh" and "Keys" but then when you say "Say BINKY" he still says with all his might "IICCCIII" LOL...anyhow, he is wanting things all day long. :) He is starting to learn his colors, we just started really working on them tonite with flashcards, and he will match toy fruits and veggies with the color on the card. Like grapes on purple and a tomato on red...we thought he was doing really great for the first night we really tried at least! :) Anyhow...he now will tell us when he poops. :) Yay...isnt that sweet. :) He comes up to me and says "MomMom I poots" LOL...yes he calls me MomMom...its so cute! Unless he is yelling at me...which is often. Then Im just MOM! Haha...anyhow I love that he is starting to talk so much, and even though I know his problems are far from over and probably will never be totally over, but at least this is a start. He makes me so proud when he walks out of speech therapy and you can hear him coming down the hall back into the waiting room talking about me...and then when he walks in he says "HI Mom!" And all the old people in the waiting room waiting for their turn for physical therapy are Awwing him and Im all...yep thats my boy! :) Its so stinkin' adorable I could cry everytime. :) I just dont know what I would do without that kid...he is my heart thats for sure. :)

On to Rowie...:) Now that her cast is off, I had been freaking out about her because she is now officially a year old and she wasn't even showing an interest in crawling/getting around. Granted she had a cast on for a good 7-8 weeks but I still freak out about everything especially since if you have one kid with Autistic tendencies, you have like a 10-15% chance of your other children having it also. Anyhow, like 2 days later Rowan finally started crawling!!! Thank God! Its the army crawl, but at least its something!!! But Rowan is always doing a hand thing, opening and closing her hands, mostly in excitement, her hands and feet are always going. Her hands just open and close constantly, she doesnt do it on purpose, she just does it. But like I said, her feet go at the same time, just moving to the same beat of her hands...so I freak out a little. I just wish she would stop it. I know I am just a paranoid mommy because of our situation, but if she would stop that one thing I would be happy! She is babbling like crazy, so I dont think she will be speech delayed like Taysen is. She doesnt really do any other weird things other than the hand/feet thing, so Im not too worried. Last week on thursday Taysen's caseworker for Help Me Grow was here for a meeting about him, and she watched her a little and she said its nothing to be worried about yet, and that we should give her a little time on the crawling/walking since she did break her leg. Anyhow, she said that if there is anything at all going on with Rowan, it will be caught early and we will get her into any and all the therapies she will need if she needs them. It just sucks to even have to worry...but it just comes with the territory when you already have one child with problems.

I ordered the book The Elephant in the Playroom tonite, I am looking forward to getting it. I have been having a rough time lately when it comes to my kids and thinking about everything and worrying and it just gets overwhelming sometimes. I just dont understand why my child has to have something wrong with him. Its not fair, ya know? Why? We arent bad people. We did everything that you are supposed to do when you get pregnant and have your child. We do everything that we can to do right by our children and its just not fair...ya know? I just dont get it sometimes and I take it personal. Its hard not to, right? I know I could have it worse, but its hard to look at it that way when you are toting your kid to appointments almost every day of the week most weeks. Its just exhuasting and makes you want to just shut the world out and keep inside so we dont have to deal with it and see all the normal kids who are progressing oh so perfectly...It just sucks...oh well...enough whining I guess. Sorry Im a buzz kill sometimes guys!!

Anyhow...Taysen has a meeting to get transitioned out of Early Intervention and into our local Preschool. Thats exciting. Im happy for him but a little scared of how he is going to take the change. Preschool is 2 full days here. Right now, he does EI for 2 hours twice a week.

Today we got new professional pics of the kids. My adorable son wouldnt cooperate for crap. He just wanted to pace up and down the garden and trees and wouldnt sit down next to his sister for anything. I finally called my friend who lives down the street and asked her if I could use her yard (she has a nice pond with a dock) so that we could get some pics of Taysen throwing rocks into the water, because thats better than pics of him pacing. Hopefully we got a couple decent shots. I wont know for a day or two. Rowan did great smiling wise, but she kept putting everything in her mouth...sand, rocks, sticks, grass...even a piece of bird poop!! I was so disgusted! I prayed and prayed for a child who would eat anything and I sure got one. *barfs*

Oh and Rowan is ONE today!! :) Isnt that crazy!! I hope some of the pics turn out nice. I cant wait to post them. I cant wait to see them first though!!! LOL! OK I guess thats it for now...Im sorry if I whined through 90% of this!!

Nothing new...but some pics. :)

2008-08-20T20:16:00.006-04:00

So nothing really new...

Taysen is acting great...hasnt really had too much of a problem with his tubes. He doesnt like the drops I have to put in his ears, but the Dr. said he wouldnt. Anyhow, Im not really even giving him any tylenol/ibuprofen just because he isnt acting like he needs it.

Rowan...really crabby this evening...after the kids bath, I was getting her dried off...I put on her diaper and then wiped her head down with the towel to dry her hair, well she got ticked off about it...oh well...I put on her lotion...she was still mad...but not crying to any alarming extent. Well then I was rubbing her lotion into her arms, and she starting crying to the point where she is holding her breath...I didnt think anything of it, she does this sometimes when she isnt getting her way...well then I hold her up and say "Rowan!" because she was still holding her breath! She finally gasped and sobbed for like a half of a second and then was really quiet and looked like she was sleeping! I screamed at her and shook her (not like shaking baby syndrome shaking, but enough to try to get her attention...) and she snapped out of it...then she started screaming like crazy. I have no idea what the heck she was doing! I have heard of kids getting so pissed they scream themselves unconsious...but it was just freaky! I was worried I was going to have to take her to the ER she was freaking me out so bad. But after she finally stopped crying, she started acting normal, so who the heck knows what she was doing. It scared me though!!! If she does that again, Im so spanking her!! (Just kidding...lol) Anyhow, she isnt sick or anything like that...she was totally just not getting her way...but it was so weird. She better never do that again or I will be afraid to make her mad!

Ok...anyhow...I guess thats it. I thought Id add a few pics too. (Now that I finally figured that out. Haha)

My Tater Monster

And my little Princess :)

Rowan's cast off/Taysen's tubes in

2008-08-18T22:10:00.004-04:00

The past week has been pretty busy. Catching up on work from being on vacation. Rowan got her cast off on Thursday morning. The X-rays show her bone is healed perfectly...they want to check it in 3 months to make sure its growing correctly, but after that X-ray, as long as everything looks good still, she will be all done with the leg drama. :) Yay!

Then Thursday night we went to the fair in Pemberville, the little town Josh's parents live in. Taysen's grandparents (Joshs parents) bought tickets for him to ride rides. He rode the carousel 5 or 6 times! He loved it. All of the other rides just looked too big for him. He wasn't sure about the carousel the first few seconds of his first ride...but after that he loved it, and every time it stopped he freaked out wanting back on. Man that was a long nite! LOL! Luckily his grandparents are saps for the kids and kept buying tickets until mommy couldnt stand going around in circles anymore. I seriously had a pounding headache! Anyhow...it was fun and a new thing to do with the kiddos. Yes even Rowan rode and loved it too. :)

Saturday we went back out to Pemberville for the Parade (for the fair week.) Taysen loved it and collected a bunch of candy in a cool little Cars bag that I picked up for him. It was hilarious because he tried to walk away with a few of the marching bands. LOL! He was so cute running out to pick up the candy that was thrown from the floats. :) Then we went back up to the fair, my parents and Hayden went this time and lucky for Josh and me, they are saps for the kids too and bought a bunch of tickets for the rides. (Those silly rides cost like 3 bucks per kid to ride!! Totally crazy for a two minute ride for a toddler!) Anyhow, with Hayden there, I felt that Taysen might ride some of the bigger rides since he sort of looks up to Hayden. :) (Its quite adorable actually...Hayden pets Taysens head, and Taysen just lets him do whatever...its so funny...) Anyhow there was this Firetruck ride that Hayden wanted to do, and Taysen kept screaming "racecar" in his Tater language. So he wanted to do it too. I was totally terrified, because you know how fair rides can be sort of unsafe! Well I put Taysen in the inside of the car because that door didnt open, so he wouldnt be able to get out. Hayden sat on the side with the door. It started up with a jerk, but Taysen and Hayden both loved it! It was so cute! Taysen would scream "Woah!" and "Wheeee" as the trucks went around the track! I was so proud of him because he, at least to me, was being so brave! I thought it was going fast for a kid his size! Anyhow, he ended up riding that 3 more times throughout the evening, and the guy at the ride gave the boys a free ride because Taysen was screaming so much after it ended. Haha...even strangers give in to my childs shreiks! But it was really nice of him to do that. :) Anyhow, Taysen also rode the super slide with Josh and he did the fair version of the Ocean Motion...(like the big boat that swings forward and backward. He loved that too! It was enough that I got a tickle in my stomach when we would rise and fall, and when we did, Taysen would shake his hands and scream because he was so happy! He is going to be a roller coaster lover after all! It was a really great evening.

Well on to this morning. We woke up really early because today was Taysen's ear tube surgery. I was excited because I have been wanting the kid to get tubes for the longest time, just didnt switch peds fast enough! LOL! I was pretty nervous though...just because no matter how small the surgery may be, its still your kid going under! Anyhow, we get there, they weigh him and do all that stuff. Put him in a room and turn on cartoons for him, and lucky for him The Wonder Pets were even on! He loves that show. Then we changed him and a few minutes later they went over the anesthesia paperwork with us. A few minutes after that they came and got him to give him the anesthesia. He didnt even have to have an IV. :) That was the best part...no pokes! A nurse came and got him, he cried when they took him away, but not as bad as I thought it would be. Josh, Me, Rowan, my mom, and Joshs mom all sat watching tv and chatting for I'd say a short 20 minutes at the most, and here comes the Tater...all done! He cried a little bit when he first came back, but that was to be expected. When we got in the van, we started up the Wonder Pets on the DVD player and he went ballistic. We couldnt figure out which episode he wanted...he kept saying "the Roo's" (kangaroos) but even when we would put it on he just screamed like we were idiots because that wasnt the one he wanted...it was like that the whole way home. Im sure he was just anxious and his ears probably hurt. Anyhow, once we got home I forced some Ibuprofen. After a bowl of cereal and about 20 minutes passing, he was as good as new. :) It seemed like he got frustrated easily today, but nothing too out of the norm. He took a nap around noon...slept until 4:00pm. After he woke up, you wouldnt have even known he had anything done today! He didnt really want to eat much after he woke up, but oh well. Thats nothing out of the ordinary. He took a bath, I read some books, and now he is sleeping. :) I think he did great! :) Now, hopefully in a few short weeks, maybe we will notice a change in his speech. We will find out. If not, at least we know that we shouldnt have too many ear infections to deal with anymore, if any at all! That is one great thing! Im soo happy for that...an ear infection every month or two gets old. Well...cross your fingers for the speech aspect of it all!

Well I guess thats it for now...I better get to bed...he has speech therapy in the morning and its getting late! :) I hope youre all doing well! :D

A couple pics of baby Elliott from Mal!

2008-08-16T00:05:00.005-04:00

Ok here he is! The chunkerbutt!

One with him and Delta...so cute!

One with Mal.

One more with Delta...:)

(Yep I finally figured out Photobucket. I think at least!)

Ok there they are. There wasnt a whole lot more...if Cindy puts more on her dropshots, Ill copy the good ones. :) Just thought Id show you girls because I dont know when Mal's gonna be able to get back online. Didnt want to torture ya!

Finally!

2008-08-15T10:08:00.003-04:00

Elliott is here! :) Mal was in labor for 16hrs. She had him this morning at 8:15am (or something close to that...not totally sure on the exact time.) Anyhow, he was 9lbs 4oz! 21 inches long. :) A big boy!! Anyhow, I dont have any pictures yet...but she said he looks just like Delta did. (OH she did get to have him vaginally. :) ) Ok I guess thats it! :) Im sure she will give you a full blown update soon. :)

Back from vacation...and some updates.

2008-08-10T15:43:00.002-04:00

And by the way...A pic of Rowan w/her cast is up now...I just took off her old pic and put up this one. I put a new picture of Taysen too...he doesnt look the happiest, but its still cute. LOL...he wouldnt smile for me. Haha!

Anyways...we were on vacation all last week. Hence the not updating. :)

OK...so before vacation Taysen had his ears tested. His hearing came out to be normal to near normal. I dont think he could hear the quietest tones during the test, because he was just looking at all of the cars in each corner of the booth thing waiting for one of them to light up. (During the test, there would be a tone, from either the left, middle, or right of the room...each location had a toy car that would flash a few seconds after the tone was played.) Anyhow, he loved it and was kicking and screaming in joy everytime a car lit up. Anyhow...when the quiet tones went, he was just looking from side to side waiting for a car to light up. When they were louder, he would look right to the car that had the tone before it would light up. Anyhow, his hearing still turned out normal to near normal...but the ENT still suggests tubes because there is a lot of fluid behind his ears and he thinks it will help Taysen at least with his ear infections. So we are doing it! Which I wanted to do from about the time he was 15 months old! But the old Ped. said it was too dangerous. I even mentioned that to the ENT and he said "Well it might be dangerous if he was to do it since he isnt an ENT." LOL...I laughed. And told him I didnt like the old Ped. opinions on much anyways. Anyhow his surgery is scheduled for 8/18! Yay! I cant wait.

For Rowie..she gets her cast off on the 14th of this month. Well she gets it off, then goes for an x-ray, then as long as it looks good, she will get to keep it off. :) Im sorta guessing everything will be ok because the kid picks up her whole cast leg and slams it on to the floor over and over again...almost like she is trying to break out of the thing. LOL. One plus though, at least I think so, is that she seems to have gained pretty good back strength from the weight of it, because before she got her cast she was just sitting up and always fell over, but since she got it its almost like it gives her a little pull back so she doesnt fall. Haha...and now she is even trying to crawl! Yay! Im happy. Im guessing once she gets it off, she is going to be all over the place. :) Fine with me!

Ok so anyhow vacation went pretty good. We were there with Josh's whole family. It was actually a lot of fun and we didnt have as many flying attitudes like we have had in past years. We did have ONE major problem though. The only bad thing is it seemed like we were the only ones that noticed it! Blake, one of Rowan and Taysen's cousins is a total terror. He is Josh's brothers son. He just turned 2 a couple weeks ago. Anyhow, this kid is the meanest little kid I have ever met! Its horrible! And his parents dont do crap when he is bad! For instance...on wednesday night we were sitting outside on the deck while the kids played on a little step2 slide. (Just Taysen and Blake were playing.) Anyhow, they were taking turns going down. Anyhow, Blake must have gotten impatient and pushed Taysen right off the side of it when he got to the top! Taysen was crying and scared, but didnt get hurt. Anyhow...of course, he didnt get yelled at. Then not even 10 minutes later, they are both up on the deck with us parents. The kids were just playing with some little toys. Anyhow, Taysen was standing at the top of the steps of the deck like maybe he wanted to go back down....he might have just been looking at the lake..who knows, anyhow he was just standing there, being quiet and staring. Anyhow, Blake is on the other side of the deck and runs at Taysen and shoves him right down the steps! He shoved him so hard that he flew right over every step and landed on the cement below! Josh and me both jumped up and grabbed Taysen, we thought for sure we were going to be taking him to the hospital for something whether it was a broken bone or stitches!! Taysen was screaming so much his face was turning blue, Josh yelled at his brother "What the F**K is wrong with your kid!" And what do you know, Blake got a time out. Wow...a whole 2 minute time out. Can you believe that crap. He needed a freaking beating! (Luckily, somehow all Taysen got was a huge scratch on the back of his arm and a little one on his leg...nothing serious at all...that was total luck Im telling you!) Anyhow, the same night he pushed Ellie (one of Joshs sisters 1 yr old twins) off of the couch! The next day when me and Andrea (Joshs sister) were cooking in the kitchen...Ellie was in there with us. Blake comes running through the kitchen and screams "MOVE!" and pushes Ellie into the cabinet! Andrea was pissed and grabbed Blake and screamed "Quit being so mean!" He is a total terror. He has these toy golf clubs and he goes around swinging them at people! Its freaking ridiculous! I dont know what I would do if that was my kid. And I dont know why in hell they think that its ok for their kid to do things like that. He even says "move" to adults when they are in the way! God he is such a brat. And they want to have 4 kid!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE GOD NO! Josh and his brother didnt talk for 2 days after the steps incident...because we literally had had it from Blake after that point. Its one thing to be a toddler and not share and occasionally hit...but for all of the other kids to be flinching and putting their arms above their faces as sheilds when he walks by, shouldnt that be signaling to his parents that there is a real problem here? I dont know what they are thinking...but they are going to regret it when he is kicked out of kindergarten for being such a mean bratty kid. Uh...just the thought of him makes me want to go buy a whipping belt! The sad thing is, his father (Joshs brother...) doesnt respect anyone...and he is teaching his son that he doesnt have to respect anyone either. Its just wrong! Ok...vent over.

Anyhow...so I guess thats it for now. I cant really think of anything else...plus Rowan woke up and is crying so I better go get her. :) OH WAIT...Rowan got her two bottom teeth this past week! :D Took long enough! Haha!

I hope youre all doing well! :D

Tate-speech therapy...Rowan-new cast

2008-07-15T14:51:00.003-04:00

So Taysen started Private speech therapy today. :) He hated it at first. Well let me re-word that...He did ok while we walked to the therapy room...then I left, thats when the screaming started. LOL...I figured that would happen though. So me and Rowan sat in the waiting room and waited because his appointment was only 30 minutes long. Not really funny, but occasionally I would just sit there and laugh under my breath because people kept making comments that the therapists must be torturing that little kid thats screaming...haha...yes you could hear his shrill screechy scream all the way out in the waiting room. He screamed for the first 15 minutes...then he finally quieted down and you could just hear a scream once in a while. Haha. Now, yes, I did feel bad for him for being upset...but at the same time, Tate is a screamer...so its not like I dont hear it every single day. But according to his therapist, he did quite well during the end of the class and warmed up pretty good. He even got a sticker for his shirt...he really liked that part. He was so happy about that part that when he got back out to the waiting room he ran up to Rowan to show her his sticker. :) Anyhow, I called this afternoon and asked if we could move his appointments to an hour instead of a half hour since we only get 20 visits per year...so I want to get the most out of this torture as we can. They were ok with that too. :) Im pretty happy...I figure if he screams for 15 minutes every appointment, he will have 45 minutes of productive therapy...instead of 15. So things are good on that front. :)

Next...update on Rowie. I took her to the Orthopaedic Doc yesterday to check over her cast. Instead they put us in the casting room to get a new cast. At the hospital they had just did a splint type cast, the bottom was really hard but the rest of it was just wrapped in the ace bandage type things. So she has a real cast now, and its hot pink. At least she gets to look cool. :) I wanted purple for her, but they only had pink, lime green, blue, or black...pink was the most fitting for her. I would have liked lime green too, but she doesnt really have much that would go with that. Haha...its her new accessory...it might as well match. She has to wear it until the middle or end of August. So looks like she wont be swimming when we go on vacation this year! (The 1st week of Aug...) Oh well, not like she really gets as much out of swimming as she will next year.

And Dena, when you were saying how we should be happy it wasnt her head...believe me, I was saying the same thing the whole time. I am very very thankful that her head was ok. She has a little bruise above her left eyebrow, but I think when she rolled out of the Bumbo, that her head hit the counter. At least that wasnt as far of a fall as the one to the floor!

At the Orth Docs office, the assistant who put us in the casting room said that she has 6 grandkids who all use a Bumbo...and she said when she saw the report, that she was wondering how the heck a baby got out of that. She said that either it must have been a really fat baby or else a really skinny baby...haha. But Rowan isnt either really....maybe a little skinnier than most kids her size, but she must just be a quick baby.

Anyhow...I guess thats it for now. I will try to get some pics up here sometime of both of them. I wish I knew how to post a video...because I have the cutest video of Taysen singing. :)

A really bad day!

2008-07-10T19:40:00.003-04:00

Ok so today sucked...and really really bad!

This morning started like every morning, the kids are both making little noises so I go take a shower while they wake up. I get dressed, make Taysen's breakfast and set it in the living room, make Rowan's bottle and set it on the couch. I go upstairs and get the kids Taysen in one arm, Rowan in the other. I set them both up on the island like I do every morning. Taysen sits playing with a toy while I change Rowan and get her dressed for the day. I put her in the Bumbo seat right next to us. Then I change Taysen and get him dressed. I go to set Taysen on the floor and halfway down I see Rowan roll right out of her Bumbo seat and off of the counter, and she lands on the tile floor. It happened so quickly I didnt even have time to react other than to scream. Immediately she starts screaming at the top of her lungs, which is totally a normal reaction to what just happened. I scoop her up and try to console her. Nothing is really working, she is flailing her arms and legs and practically purple from screaming so much. I take her into the sunporch to give her her bottle because if she ever bumps her head or gets scared, a bottle always makes it better. She stops crying right when the bottle goes in her mouth, so in my head I was thinking "Phew!' But she didnt even get two ounces down before she started screaming again. I called my friend Meredith that lives down the street to come watch Taysen, and I called my friend Robin to meet me at the ER so I didnt have to be there alone with Rowan. I hated the thought of even calling Josh because I just broke our child! But we both always put her in the Bumbo every day, and never once has she ever rolled out of it...never once has Taysen ever rolled out of it or even Hayden for that matter! Ive used it with all three of them. I never imagined that would happen to me. Anyhow, I called Josh and of course he wasnt mad, but wanted me to leave now. I told him to stay at work just incase she is just still shocked. I would call him as soon as I figured anything out. Anyhow, we get to the ER and I go straight up to the desk, they took us straight back. It seemed like we waited forever (maybe 5 or 6 minutes in reality...) until the doctor came in. They checked her out, and of course she is screaming the whole time. I notice that she screams the loudest when I switch her from one arm to the other, so they ordered a cat scan for her head and an Xray for her pelvis. The only bruise she had on her was on her elbow and she was moving both arms so we knew it wasnt an arm. Anyhow her cat scan came back normal and so did her pelvis. The doctor checks over her body again and she is still screaming. They just want us to wait for a little for her to calm down. So I laid down on the bed with her on my chest and she fell asleep. We were in there about 20 minutes or so and they came in and said that she is probably really sore from the fall and probably still really shook up. So even though in my head I really feel like they are wrong and something is not right because of how she was screaming, I go with the flow and sign the discharge papers. They told us to take our time getting her dressed so she isnt upset from us waking her up. So I laid her on her back on the bed, we talk to her for a few minutes while she gets out of the grogginess and play with her with her bear...she is laughing and giggling and being happy. She is moving her arms around playing and rolling a little to the side to see Robin, and stretches out her right leg. She is happy as a clam. Then I go to put her clothes back on and when I moved her left leg she starts screaming in pain. Robin and me both say that we are not leaving. I go get the nurse and I said something still isnt right. So the doctor comes back in, she is happy again since we arent moving her leg, so I move her leg for him so he can see how she is reacting. Finally someone is listening and he orders Xrays for her leg. She gets her Xray and I feel so bad because they are moving her leg all over to get the pictures. Not even 2 minutes after we got back in the room he comes in and tells me I was right. She broke her leg. Her left thigh bone (femur). Luckily, its right above her growth plate right above her knee and not on the growth plate itself, so she didnt need surgery and they think it should heal pretty quickly. She has a cast and looks so pathetic. Luckily her little attitude is pretty happy unless you are moving her, she is still pretty sore I imagine. Anyhow, I feel like a horrible mother. But at the same time, I never thought that would happen to me. And whats worse is its not like I set her on the counter and left the room, she was right in front of me, but it just happened to fast to even grab her. Anyhow, hopefully 2-6 weeks and she can get her cast off. It was a clean break so they dont think that it will take long for it to heal. Cross your fingers it doesnt. Now the kids never going to crawl since I broke her!Oh and one last thing, I threw away the Bumbo seat.

Finally, the Ped. I wish we had for the past 2 1/2 years!

2008-07-01T22:49:00.002-04:00

So today was the consultation with Taysen's new Pediatrician. (Rowans too, but today was just about Taysen.) His new Ped is Dr. Gladieux. His consult went very very well today, it was literally like a breath of fresh air. We (Josh and I both, and I think even Taysen) really really liked him a lot. Dr. Gladieux immediately noticed some of the things that Tate does, mostly because he did a lot of pacing in his office...and spinning his toy phone...plus I had brought my handy dandy notebook that has all my info in it, with my list of all of the things that Taysen does on a regular basis, quirks wise...haha, but he also noticed right away that he does have great qualities too like the eye contact with us (and he also looked at Dr. Gladieux and was giving him high 5's by the end of the visit...:) ) and the affection that he has towards us. He of course said he couldnt diagnose anything, but that he could tell by just being with him that he wasnt a classic autistic. He may be on the spectrum, but on the mild side. He mentioned Sensory Intergration Disorder (which Heidi, Taysens speech therapist at EI, talked to me about also...I am meeting with Heidi-speech therapist, Holly-occupational therapist, and Rhoda-his EI teacher tomorrow to talk with them.) Also, he mentioned that Aspergers is a possibility. I told him that Heidi-speech therapist- thinks I should hold off on taking him to a developmental pediatrician so that we can try a few other things first...and he said "I already like her!" Because I guess he was just going to say the same thing right before I blurted that out. Anyhow, I asked him, "well what about the language delay? Most kids with Aspergers dont have language delays"...and he said "With as many ear infections that he has had, he probably cant hear enough to have developed his language correctly." With Taysens track record on ear infections, he said that Taysen should have had tubes put in his ears a long time ago. (I so agree, and we asked his old ped. about it and he said it was too dangerous to do!! To which Dr. Gladieux said was bull****!) So we scheduled a hearing test (in the booth) for July 24th at 3:30pm and then at 4pm we meet with Dr. Merrill, and ENT specialist. So things are moving along! He did say that he agreed with me, that did feel like Taysen would be diagnosed with something eventually especially because he has a nice compilation of quirks and odd behaviors, but that we should give him a chance to talk before we worry about a diagnosis. BUT one thing he did say, was that the things that Taysen was doing (like lining up all of his books in his bedroom into pathways that he was walking on) was a "brilliant" thing for a 2 year old to be doing. We said, "We'll take brilliant!" He said that Taysen was doing some very smart things that most 2 year olds dont normally do, and that just made us happy. At least on the positive side-if he has to have something wrong with him, he gets to be brilliant. He used the word "brilliant" a few times when he was talking about Taysen. It was nice to hear. Anyhow, we also did get the prescription for private speech therapy too and gave me a few names of therapists who deal specifically with autistic kids, so he thinks that they would be able to really help him. At least that is who he recommended. So I am going to call them tomorrow to see if they take our insurance. I guess he (Dr Gladieux) is personal friends with those two therapists, so Im sure that he would know if they were good or not.

Anyhow, Dr. Gladieux seems like a great doctor who really has Taysens best intrests at heart, just as much as we do. We both felt so refreshed after seeing him. I think the consult lasted like an hour and a half! We werent rushed at all and he is just the type of doctor that we have been wanting for so long, one that is involved, and wants to be! He said that he wanted us to call him with updates on how things are going, and how his appointments with the ENT doc (tubes in ears) and how the speech therapy are going. That just made us feel so good that he wanted updates. He made a follow up appointment for September 3rd to see him again, to see what progress he has after the tubes are put in his ears. So now its just waiting a couple weeks for the hearing appointments. We are so anxious (in a good way) to get it all going!! :)

And girls, thanks so much for all the support. Its great to be able to get this all out, and just talk about it in general. The first few weeks that it really hit us (and after the denial finally left us) that we have a child that has something wrong with him, was very difficult and full of tears. But I think we have really come far already with dealing with it all and getting past that stage. Especially after today's appointment. It really felt like a good step forward. And I love that the doctor thinks that the things that Taysen is doing are "brilliant" and not just weird. (I really think brilliant is my favorite word right now. Seriously. :) ) We have a special little guy because someone must have known that we could handle it.

OH and Carmen...we have already started introducing Taysen to a gluten free/casein free diet. We just started about 2 weeks ago, and are gradually replacing things that he eats with GF/CF versions. Thanks for the link to that book though, because it really is proving difficult to find things that are both gf/cf and taste good! Ill give anything a try! :) Oh and Dena, Dr. Gladieux also explained to me that the vaccines no longer contain thimerisol. Which does make me feel a lot better. So I dont think that we are going to stop all shots. We are going to skip out on the unneeded ones, like the flu shot...just because its just an extra shot that the kids dont really need...but the other vaccinations I think we are going to keep on. At least thats what we are thinking for now. And Jodi, if I could hug ya back I would. :) Thanks for your comment, what I know for sure is that I am thankful that Taysen's problems are going to be manageable, and he will very most likely be able to grow up and live his life like any normal person, and that is what every parent wants. So we are thankful that its not any worse than it is. :) OH and guess what I found out today...Bill Gates has Aspergers. Isnt that dandy? :D Maybe Taysen will be the next computer genius!

The Tater Monster

2008-06-30T18:00:00.003-04:00

Ok so here is the update that I promised. (and you dont have to read all of this...some of it, is just for my own record...)

Tate. My little man.

Ok...so EI is going well. Taysen is fitting right in. We had a few problems when he first started in March...a lot of crying. He hated it and didnt want to leave me. But...about a month later and a few support sessions for me, he actually started to do ok! Yes, its sad, I needed support sessions because his crying was just too hard for me to watch. Isnt that just so sad...the poor mother...but the child who cries the whole entire class doesnt get a support session...haha. Luckily he finally grew out of that, because I seriously almost took him out. Anyhow...he likes EI now and when I ask him if he wants to go he gets a big grin on his face. :) Its so much better than crying! Well, he has been in EI for 4 months now. He is progressing, just not as much as I had planned. I figured he would be talking like a whiz now, and that we wouldnt even still be taking him by now. BUT thats not the case. Taysen has really started babbling a lot now...before he was babbling...just not as much, and it was always "a ba...a ba" a lot of "a ba" goin' on here for the longest time. Everything was a "ba" and it was really difficult to tell one thing from another. Haha...he now has all kinds of sounds...he will talk to you for an hour, different sounds, different tones, gestures...anything you can think of, but you cant understand a whole lot. Haha...but hey, its progress! Also, he is now saying words. Really, the words have been really shining through in the past 3 weeks or so Id say...maybe even less than three! He has been trying so hard these past couple weeks. It makes me so happy. :)

Ok so the bad news is that we are pretty sure that Taysens problems are more than just talking late. We have just been watching him closely and just adding things together...and we are pretty sure he is on the autism spectrum. I dont think that its a worst case at all. Even a few weeks ago, when I was really diving into all of the research, I was so sad, it was just a horrible thing to even contemplate. I couldnt get off of the internet...I would do research for hours on end. Just to end up bawling my eyes out because I didnt want this to be happening to us, and especially not to him. I have literally done so much research now though, that Im not as worried. Im not as worried about him growing up and being normal. Taysen will grow up and be normal. I know that because 1-he doesnt have the worst symptoms....and 2-because we are going to do everything in our power to help him with whatever he needs now. I have met with his Help me Grow caseworker, and we are going to pretty much line up everything that we need to to get stuff done. We are meeting with a new pediatrician tomorrow...mainly because the pediatrician we have now doesnt even see a problem at all, not even that Taysen cant talk yet. (Seriously...) and then on wednesday we are meeting with his speech therapist from EI, his occupational therapist from EI, and his teacher from EI. So we are getting things going at least. Anyhow I did talk with his speech therapist from EI a lot last week. Mainly just pulled her aside to ask if she did private therapy because I thought that would be awesome for Taysen since he already knows her and is comfortable with her. Well of course she doesnt, darn...but we got to talking and the teachers had all talked about our concerns and they dont us to label him already. So thats the main reason we are meeting with the teachers/therapists from EI. Heidi (his speech therapist from EI) said that she honestly doesnt even see him on the spectrum...but I dont want to get my hopes up right yet. Mainly because they arent with him every day and dont see all the things he does. But like I said, he doesnt have the worse off symptoms (like mainly the worst social problems.) He just does all these quirky things that are just odd in general. The only social problem that he has is that he is really shy and if someone enters his personal space before he is ready for them...its just screaming and tantrums. Which its really hard to discipline him for that because he just isnt ready for people to be right up there and talking to him. And sometimes the first things people do to a cute kid (and he is so cute!!!) is to get right up in their faces and say "Whats YOUR name little boy!?!" "How old are Youuuuuuuuuu???" and man thats just too much for him. Anyhow...like I said, the symptoms are just the quirky ones. (Heidi his speech therapist, said that he may have Sensory Intergration Disorder...so we are going to try a few more things like private therapy before we have him labeled as autistic for the rest of his life....)

OK here are the quirky things and problems that we have noticed:
-repetitive behaviors, like lining up cars, books, toys...just things he does all the time, all day long if you let him...
-of course, his language delay
-he self-tims a lot...he does it when he is excited or happy about things, he will tense up his whole body in joy...he does this a lot...like if you turn on the ceiling fan, or he spins something and it makes him happy, or if he just lined up his cars and he is so proud of hisself...
-obsessed with spinning things-ceiling fans, propellars...has to have ceiling fans on in the house or its totally panic attack time...
-obsessed with making things spin-for an example, he will take a matchbox car, flip it upside down, and spin it on the floor...over and over and over again.
-he likes to look at things out of the corners of his eyes while he walks. he will do this over and over again, pacing back and forth like under the table...its almost like he thinks the legs of the table are moving, but its actually him.
-he has an extremely long attention span for these things (lining up cars, spinning things, pacing...he will do it for an hour or two if you let him...)
-he is extremely sensitive...like you can crush his mood with just the wrong tone of voice....
-he has very frequent temper tantrums...not that most 2 year olds dont though...this one may just be a terrible two trait. ;)
-when he is upset, he will smash his head on the floor...mostly I think he does this just to get a reaction...the caseworker told us to completely ignore him when he does this, and lately he hasnt done it too much since we have been ignoring him.
-fascination w/trains
-cannot stand hands being dirty or sticky...if he falls down on the ground, he will freak out that the dirt is on him...or like if a hair gets on him (this could be part of a sensory problem...)
-plays with his fingers a lot...likes to watch them move
-very loud and shrill (but adorable...could be problems with his hearing...possibly fluid in his ears...gonna get that checked out too...)
-extremely horrible diet. he will only eat: cereal (dry or w/milk) yogurt, oatmeal, crackers, cookies, applesauce (occasionally) , doritos (occasionally), and a plain Mcd cheeseburger/plain McGriddle (he would eat these for every meal if we would let him...its the only food he wont turn down. (most likely sensory issues...at least thats what his speech therapist thinks...)
-chronic constipation...at least once every few weeks we have to give the poor kid either a suppository or an enema...(we just had to give him one on friday...on saturday I went to the holistic doc that I went to for my stomach problems a few years ago...she gave me a probiotic to mix in with his juice...and so far he doesnt notice it! :) hopefully it works!)
-chronic ear infections/butt rashes (going to ask the new ped. about it all tomorrow...)

Ok a couple good things...1-we can get his attention when he does these odd things, like the pacing...he isnt so zoned out that he is deaf to us, so thats a good sign. 2-he doesnt self-stim when he is uncomfortable with his environment, he only does it when he is excited and happy...I guess they are good signs.

Anyhow...we just dont want to just wait it out and hope everything turns out ok...because thats the worst thing that we could do to him, especially if he does need a lot more extra help. So we are just going to try every route we can to get him to progress as much as possible. We really think that once he can talk, that things may just start falling into place and he might start to drop some of his quirky behaviors...but its all a matter of time and seeing how long its going to take him to talk. We are going to get a prescription for a private speech therapist tomorrow at the consultation with the new ped. We are hoping to start him with the private therapy next week. He will still be going to EI also...they might add a few more hours or classes to his schedule depending on what we find out in the next couple of weeks. Now in a perfect world he would just be a quirky kid that needs tubes in his ears and some extra speech therapy. That is what I would so love to hear that new ped. say. I know its a long shot...but its really what I would love to hear. I know its going to take tests and stuff like that to get it all figured out...but oh well, we will get there eventually.

Ok also I made a list for the new pediatrician of all the words Taysen knows...even if he doesnt say them exactly how they sound. For some in parentheses is how he pronounces it. Some are animal sounds, but Ill take every word I can get!!
1-baby
2-feet (beet)
3-uh-oh
4-no
5-ball (baa)
6-eyes
7-bee
8-cow (ow)
9-doggy (goggy)
10-truck (kut)
11-choo choo (sometimes says ya ya-pure laziness i think!)
12-outside (ow-eyesh)
13-wow
14-Mmm (like yummy...haha)
15-ow
16-binky (icky)
17-cup (cu)
18-jump (da!)
19-boo (as in peek a boo...)
20-mom or mama
21-teeth (tee)
22-please (pees) AND signs it! so cute!!! he just learned this last week and says it all the time!
23-car (caa)
24-up (ubee)
25-down (daa)
26-bite (bie)
27-bath (ba)
28-Oswald (yes, as in the show...he says Owow)
29-moo (as in what a cow says...haha)
30-meow (maow)
31-dada
32-bus
33-airplane (aipee)
34-spoon (poo)

Ok I think thats all of them for now. So he is progressing...not all of his words are real clear, but that could be his hearing...hopefully its his hearing. I know its wishful thinking, but that would be such a better diagnosis than the other...With a lot of words, he says the beginning and not the end...will talk to the doc about that too.

Anyhow, with all that said, Taysen is a very loving kid...especially to family. He loves us and cuddles with us and hugs and kisses us all the time. When he talks to us, he looks us right in the eyes, unless he is upset with you, but I think thats just a normal kid behavior. Other than his little quirky habits, he is a pretty normal kid...its just that he has so many quirky habits. If it was just one, it would be less worrisome...but there are too many to ignore. We never noticed the early signs like the pacing in the crib, but we also took Taysen out of his crib at like 22 months or something like that because we switched him a toddler bed. But even the other day I was in Rowans room putting away some clothes and tidying up, and Taysen was just pacing back and forth on the outside of her crib, literally for like 30 minutes. Everytime I said "Taysen, what are you doing?" he would look at me and giggle...but its just the point that he was doing it at all...ya know? You just want your kids to be perfect in every way...definitely not stuck with a neurological disorder. Anyhow, just keep your fingers crossed that we can help him overcome whatever problems that he has so that he can grow up just like any other kid. That is our hope for him. We have put him on a few supplements to try to help even out his body...1-a probiotic for his intestines...to try and help with his constipation 2-liquid chlorophyl-basically like the goodness of greens in a liquid that i can add to his juice, has nutrients in it 3-DHA-basically nasty fish oil to help his brain...its strawberry flavor, and he actually takes this by dropper with no fight, can you believe that? 4-glyconutrients-basically the 8 sugars that your body needs to work correctly (not refined sugars...natural sugars...some that your body is supposed to produce and some that you are supposed to get through your diet...if you do research on them, they are supposed to really help the cells in your body communicate with eachother and work correctly...) anyhow thats what he is on so far. Down the road, if he is diagnosed autistic, we will probably do some detoxifying of his system of heavy metals. (Its supposed to try to rid the body of the mercury that is exposed to these kids from the vaccinations they get...and also from environmental toxins) I just wish I would have done some of this research before I had my babies...and before I vaccinated them. I know for a fact that from what I have read, that these shots have too much crap in them that they outweigh the benefits. I actually read in the book from Dr. Ken Bock that in the first shot they get on their first day of life, it has 36 times the amount of mercury in it than an adult should take in! Thats just the first shot! Plus thats in a baby's body...not an adults...so it has to be so much more horrible for these little babies! Its not just the MMR shot...I know that neither of my kids will be getting any more shots. Its just not worth it to me. And also I learned that the NE part of the country has the highest numbers of Autism...they believe its because of the amount of plants around here...especially diesel plants. Whats really nice to know, at our first house, we lived right around the corner from a huge refinery. Nice...there is so much I wish I had known...but its not like I can change anything now...just have to go forward from here.

Anyhow...so I guess this is where we stand for now. It really sucks just waiting and waiting. I really feel like things are clicking in Taysen brain with talking...just because it seems like he is trying to say a lot more words in these past couple weeks. As long as he keeps moving forward and doesnt regress at all, then I know he will be ok. So guys, please keep him in your thoughts...he really needs some luck right now! And whoever made it to the end of this post is definitely a true friend...or really really bored! Either way, I love you for that!! :D

Guess I should update...its been forever.

2008-06-26T13:15:00.002-04:00

Ok so things have been kinda whirlwind lately. Taysen is getting so big...ok ok he is still like 24 lbs but he acts so big. Haha...Rowan is just about 15lbs and she is already 9 months old! She is finally sitting up, but still wont crawl. She still hates tummy time with a passion, but I really dont care, I gotta make her do it! Haha...she will appreciate it when she has enough muscle strength to crawl and walk. ;) I want to get some more pictures of them done soon...just since now she can sit pretty. :) We got her ears pierced when she was 5 months old...and they look so cute. I love little girls with pierced ears. Anyhow, she is a total drama queen and cries at the drop of a hat...but she is also is totally easy to get to smile and laugh. Its crazy she is gonna be a year in a few months! Personally I cant wait...haha. I cant wait until she is at Taysens age...thats going to be so much fun! I really enjoy the toddler age so much. :)

Ok on to Tater. Things have been up and down...he is such a great kid. He just has to look at me to make me laugh. He has such a funny personality. He is just such a goofball! The kid cracks me up. The other day we were swimming at Lindas and he sees a ladybug. I just watched him. He goes right up to it, picks it up, and shows me. I say how cool its a ladybug...then he squashes it. Poor ladybug didnt even know it was coming! I hope it had a will. Oh well ya never know what a kid will do right? So now I am freaking out that he is going to try to pick up a bee or a spider. Ew...that would be so nasty! Boys will be boys! Anyhow, he loves swimming so much. Linda and Bob (Joshs parents) have an inground pool...and the first time we swam in it this year, he was so unsure and was clinging to us...then we took him again a few days later and he couldnt be out for more than 2 minutes! He would want out (by the steps) and then he would run around to the side and jump in! He is so short he goes right under the water. Its sad the kid knows someone will catch him so he doesnt even care that he cant swim. Little booger. He jumped in the deep end one time and I freaked out. But he thought it was hilarious. Note to self...get a lifejacket for Taysen! Then last week we went to another friends house that has a pool...this one is above ground...so he decided as long as we set him on the side rail every once in a while so he can fall face first into the pool, he was happy. Haha...he is a fish. He was in the pool from 1-5 the other day...no breaks...just hanging around with us adults. Skipped his nap and everything. It was so cool. Rowan was in for 20 minutes before she needed a nap...and she slept the whole time. So at least I got a little sun on my shoulders too. Haha...:)

I am going to stop here for now, at least in this particular post. I will post again soon about Taysen's progress with EI...its going good...he likes class now, but we are pretty sure his problems are more than just a language delay. We are working on it at the moment...trying to get things figured out. I will update you later....just because it will be one long post...thats for sure. Hope you are all doing well. :)

Another update on Taysens speech therapy

2008-02-26T12:42:00.002-05:00

Ok another update. :) I got an email today that Taysen will be in an Early Intervention class...it will have 8-9 other little kids that have speech delays. His classes will be mondays and wednesdays from 9-11am. I hope that he has fun...Im sure the first couple will be stressful for him since he wont understand whats going on, but hopefully he will think they are fun and learn something too!! :) Im pretty sure he starts this coming monday. It may be the week after though. Either way, we have to make an appointment to meet the speech therapist and the occupational therapist that do the group class...then after that is when he starts. So really we are just waiting on the call to meet the "teachers" now. Im anxious in good ways and in bad ways about it all. Im anxious in a good way because I just want to get it all started and have him talk! In a bad way because Im just nervous for him that it will be overwhelming. I hope he does good though, because it will be good for him to be away from me a little bit. :)

Ok now Im gonna toy with this blog a little and try to get you all added to it!! :)

Copying from OD-Taysen update/speech therapy stuff

2008-02-26T12:20:00.000-05:00

A quick one while they are both asleep!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Ok so Taysen has had his evaluation and a bunch of other meetings with the Help Me Grow people. He does have a speech delay (since he isnt talking much at all...) so they suggest putting him in speech therapy twice a week, basically a little preschool class with other kids who arent talking yet. She said its a class of 8-9 kids. So its twice a week, 2 hours each. Thats not too bad and I bet he eventually has fun. :) I have worked it out with Linda to keep Rowan on the days he will have EI (Early Intervention...its what the classes for him are called.) so that I can go with him. I wont actually be in the room for the 2 hours, I will probably just run to the mall or stay in the parents room, but I just dont want him taking a bus, so I will be taking him. Haha...sticking him on a bus at 2 yrs old seems kind of cruel. At least to me...figuring how he cant talk, I think it would be like abandonment to shove him off on a bus having no clue where he is going. Haha...Anyhow..so everything is good with him, just not talking. :) We meet the therapists who lead the class next week, so then after we meet them and Taysen meets them, then the following week he will start the classes. :) Anyhow, just thought Id update. I gotta get going, Rowan will be up soon! :)

Copying from OD-Taysen's 2...talking issues

2008-02-26T12:19:00.001-05:00

I am so glad to hear that you guys are having issues with your kids and eating too!!! I thought I was the only one! Taysen hates most things...and goes in spurts of liking things. Once he liked macaroni and cheese...but it only lasted like 2 days...and now he wont even put it in his mouth. Really, the only things that he will eat no matter what is smoked sausage, bananas, and dry cereal. He wont touch an egg, no matter how you make it...he will eat PB&J occasionally...but it just depends on his mood. He doesnt like much sweets either. He likes mandarin oranges and applesauce. Its really just so hard. He used to be constantly constipated...until recently when he started liking juicy juice. :) Anyhow...meat wise, he will only eat smoked sausage...or chicken nuggets...which is just gross. LOL...I like smoked sausage, but not every night...ya know? So we make it for him like once a week. So he gets meat like once a week. Unless he gets chicken nuggets for lunch or dinner some nites. Anyhow it can be so frustrating. And Dena I saw Jessica Seinfelds book on Oprah and have been wanting to get it...just keep forgetting to order it! Im gonna try some things and I really hope it works out...even just a little would make me happy!
Next off...Taysen is 2 today. The words he uses daily are feet (he says beet), truck, and bite. He will say baby occasionally...and moo...like if you ask him "A cow goes...." and he says "boooo" meaning moo...Anyhow...I really have just been saying to myself...he will talk...eventually...he is just being stubborn. Well now that he is 2 and should be able to say 50-75 words...and two word phrases...and its plain out there that he is no where near that. All of his cousins are talking...and only two of his cousins are older than him. Anyhow...he knows things...he isnt "slow"...I dont know how else to put it other than that...but really...he is a really smart kid. He knows a lot of things...he just cant say it in a word...he knows his body parts, he knows animals, he knows characters...you can pretty much ask him anything and he will point to it. You can tell him to do something and he knows exactly what you are telling him...(he isnt going to listen to every direction...he is a 2 year old...haha) anyhow like the other day...he is coming down the stairs...and I tell him "Taysen, turn around and come down backwards...then you wont fall." And he turns around and comes down backwards. He knows what I am saying. Soooo anyhow, since we have that down...lol. (I just dont want you to all think he is this dumb kid that just sits here and stares...ya know??) So anyhow, I called a couple of speech therapists...and one directed me to Help Me Grow...its a program within each County...in Ohio at least. Maybe nationwide, I have no idea. Anyhow, I called and explained how Taysen is...and the woman says, "I bet he is a very frustrated child." And I know she knows how I feel. He is always so upset because he tries telling us what he wants and we just dont know what he is saying...he will talk to you until he is blue in the face, its just in his language that we have no idea what he is saying. Well she asks me pretty basic questions about him just to get an idea of things...she says it sounds like he has an expressive problem...well we know that. Haha...anyhow so she says she will put in a few emails and that within a week we should have a call for an appointment to be made. Well what do you know, the very next day we get a call and his appointment is next week on thursday. They come to the house and play games with him and do little exercises with him to evaluate him. Pretty much since he isnt talking, he will be qualified. Im pretty sure after that then a speech therapist comes to the house once a week for a session with him. Anyhow we will find out for sure...but I think that there are even little classes I can take him to to help him more. Anyhow...I am really excited for this appointment. I cant wait to hear what she has to say. Even she said it doesnt sound like anything is really wrong with him, just that he needs a little boost to get going with his talking. So anyways, the appointment is thursday at 10am. I really cant wait. I just cant wait to find out what her ideas will be and what I should be doing to help him more. I seriously cannot wait for him to talk!!
Sooo...I bet none of you are having this problem! ;) I just sometimes think I must be a really bad mom that my kid isnt talking...like I dont talk to him enough for him to pick up language skills. Ya know?? Anyhow I just cant wait!
So anyways...I just thought Id share a few little things that he does say but in his language-
truck-cuck (his favorite thing!) he also says this when he sees a train...or hears a train or truck horn
up- he pronounces is ub-bee it almost sounds like is is saying uppy...
baby-beebee
down-daa
feet-beet
mom-he can say this...but only says it when we are watching 2 and a half men...and the song comes on "Man, man, man, man, manly man, man, man..." LOL! He just goes..."mom, mom, mom,,," Its really cute. :)
He will say BA!! and point to things for almost anything...like if he wants the ceiling fan on, or the light on...or to watch tv, or to get a snack. He says it for so many things.
Anyways...I guess thats enough to bore you guys tonite...LOL! Im sure I will update soon!

Now I have two!

2007-10-18T17:11:00.000-04:00

My name is Melissa. I am 24, I have been married for 6 years now, my husbands name is Josh...and I am now a mother of two. Josh and I got married in September of 2001. I had my son, Taysen, in January of 2006, he is pretty much the highlight of my life. Waking up and seeing him every morning and being with him every day basically makes every day worth it! So much so that when he was just about a year old, my husband and I decided to go for #2. We got pregnant a month later and we were both ecstatic. We hoped for a girl since we already have a boy...and we got lucky! We had our daughter a month ago now. We named her Rowan. She completes our family! She looks so much like her big brother that I couldnt belive it when I first saw her. Taysen is pretty great with her too, which we totally didnt think was going to happen. We thought for sure he would be pretty jealous, but he is the total opposite! He loves her so much and rubs her head and he always gives her kisses. Its so adorable! He isnt too sure about holding her on his lap (he is only 21 months old anyhow) but he did it for about two minutes today. He just looks at her and talks to her. Its just the cutest thing. :) Anyhow basically, life is pretty fast paced now. There is hardly time to for me to eat lunch, let alone take a shower most days!! I have to wait for Josh to get home most of the time to get anything important done. Going from one child to two is definitely a change for me. I knew it was going to be work, but I didnt realize how much work it was actually going to be. I am doing pretty good though, at least I think. Haha...getting the hang of things is coming slowly, but surely. With Taysen, it seemed we were in a routine so quickly...he was sleeping through the night in his own crib by 5 weeks old. Rowan is 4 weeks old now...maybe next week will be our lucky week? Haha...Im not holding my breath! I dont know why but its hard for me to move her to her bed. It was with Taysen too, but I dont remember it being so difficult...its just beed too long ago...ya know, things just get foggy. Well I will be glad once she is sleeping in her crib, and doing it all night long too! My body will be happy too...haha. I love being a mother, its something I would never trade for the world. It makes me very happy, even if sometimes I feel stressed.

Well anyhow, while trying to get in a decent schedule with my two children, I am also back on the wagon of trying to lose weight. I have 10 lbs to lose to be back to my prepregnancy weight with Rowan. I have 20 to lose to be back to my prepregnancy weight with Taysen. Im going for the 20!

I also work. I work from home, doing computer work for the company I worked for before I had my kids. I just work part time now, but hey, its work. It at least helps pay the bills. I couldnt see putting my kids in daycare if I had the opportunity to be home with them everyday.

Well I guess thats it for now. Thats pretty much the summary of my life and how it is up to now. :)