A picture extravaganza. Featuring Abby sitting on sissy's potty, painting outside with brother Joshua; Our budding socialite, Daniel; Miss Rachael before church a couple weeks ago

It's been pretty hectic this week, so I'll catch everyone up on our Christmas. We had a pretty low -keyed holiday. We didn't have any family come, so it was all quiet with just us (and if you believe the 'quiet' part, I've got a bridge to sell you!). I guess I'll back up to the week before Christmas, when the kids were out of school and Deren was at work. We had a traffic jam of boxes in our front hallway, so I started opening (doing away with Rachael & Abby's playground in the process!). Rachael just loved the dress-up clothes she got from Grandma and Grandpa. Her favorite is a purple princess dress and matching hat. Jacob and Abby joined in on the fun. Jacob picked out a pair of heels that he is quite partial to. I'll say "Get your shoes so you can go outside, Jacob," and he'll come running with his pink & purple heels in hand! And for the record, I think it's really cute! If he was 20 yrs old and still partial to heels, I would be worried. But he's my big cutie for now.

We also finished putting together our "geo-dome" for the kids in the backyard, with Deren doing most the work. Jacob really enjoys climbing, so he likes it. The girls are still a bit little for it, but with daddy's boosting hand they are right there with big brother.

So on Christmas day we still had 2 boxes full of wrapped presents from Grandma and Grandpa, as well boxes from Mamaw and Papaw. Rachael got some more horses - about 15 in all. And, of course, she horded them all in a corner, and snarled at Abby every time she got in the vicinity. Deren & I got some neat electronic presents from his parents. I got a digital photo frame, which in theory is really nifty. But, so far Mr. Jacob refuses to let it cycle through the pictures and keeps turning it off. Deren got an ipod and a play station portable, so he's good to watch movies anytime anywhere. Just yesterday Jacob figured out that the small little ipod can play movies. Needless to say, it's currently hidden in my underwear drawer! That child would take it out for sure.

Soooooo, after all the unwrapping, Jacob figured out he didn't have any dvd's under the tree, and he started bawling and throwing fits. A pretty typical Christmas, all-in-all, wouldn't you say? With the kids tearing through their gifts and then crying because they didn't have more?! At least that's what I did when I was younger, and it's apparently coming back to haunt me!

Mr. Daniel update. Our little/big man turned 2 mos old 2 days ago!! Time sure is flying. He is turning into such a little cutie pie socialite. He smiles and cues quite a bit now. His other love (besides nursing) is his baby swing. The swing we have swings side to side or back and forth. He likes going side to side, with the music on and the mobile going - he's an all out kind of guy. The more noise the better, in fact. The other kids will be making such a ruckus, and Daniel will be asleep - happy as a clam. When the noise is gone and the swing stops, he is not happy. Speaking of which, the girls are down for a nap right now, and the boys are off watching movies, so it's quiet and Mr. Daniel is fussing at me, so that's all for now!

Presents?! Who wants presents?! The boxes will do!

I haven't been able to post pics in the past couple days. Maybe after Christmas.

We went to Christmas Eve services at the church this morning at 9:45. I had assumed that the nurseries would be closed, so we kept the girls with us. They had volunteers to watch the boys at the service, so they were fine. Can't say we got much out of the service. Abby was a wild woman. She wanted to run up and down the aisles. Deren finally took her out of the sanctuary, leaving me with Daniel and Rachael. Rachael collected all the pencils from the pew. I spent the rest of the services quieting Daniel and praying that Rachael wouldn't stab one of us with a sharp pencil. I nursed Daniel, and have a cover-up for when I'm in public. He's already getting fed up with it (no pun intended!). He will fling it off, or wiggle out of it. In another month or two I'm going to have to come up with another plan. Maybe he'll be the first to take a bottle, who knows.

I ran into a friend after the service. She was saying that her 4 yr old was acting up, so they left her in the nursery this a.m. What?? You mean the nursery was open? Whoops! Deren wasn't so thrilled with me. He was looking like he was going to pop and vessel trying to rein in Abby earlier. Again - "whoops!" Maybe next Christmas we'll get to pay attention - a lofty goal for parents with multiple toddlers, don't you think?

I'm supposed to be cooking dinner now, so I'll post more later. I'm roasting a chicken in the oven. Deren's mother taught me how to when she was here 2 mos ago. I was going to crock-pot it, but I forgot 3 mornings in a row! I have no attention span as of late. I put a bottle of ketchup in the cabinet with the dinner plates a couple days ago, and about lost my mind trying to find it. A bottle of ketchup is not something you can leave out and about with Abby and Joshua on the prowl!

The boys and Rachael are officially on Christmas break, until Jan 4th, so let the games begin. Deren called today about 3:30 to see how I was doing. He usually avoids calling me when the kids are all off school. He'll call and say "How's it going?" Response, "HOW DO YOU THINK IT'S GOING?!" So far today, though, I haven't hidden in the closet with some oreos yet (partly because we don't have any oreos in the house!). Besides, aren't they made with trans fats?? ..gotta go.. Little man is sooo intolerant of my computer time!

..just popping in to add a picture. Daniel is now 6 wks old. He has been colicky at night, so my computer time is limited. Well, come to think of it, he gets fussy whenever I'm on the computer. I think he and daddy got together and made a deal.. fuss whenever mommy tries to shop online.. Deren is quite pleased! I'm so in shock that Christmas is less than 2 wks away. I think I'm going to use the 'have a newborn' excuse, because I don't have anything done!

If you look close enough, Daniel has a little sleep grin on his face - precious boy!

We are passing around our next round of colds. We've had someone sick with a cold since mid October! ugh!

I'm trying to take off those pregnancy pounds. It looks like I have exercise buddies. The girls liked doing push ups, jumping jacks, and (pretend) jumping rope with me. Now if they could just swear off potato chips with me!

I'll end my Friday ramblings with a "Kids say the funniest things" segment, featuring Rachael Mae.

(yelling at the top of her lungs from her room) "MOMMY, I HAVE A POOPY. A STINKY, MOMMMY! GROSS! CHANGE MY POOPY DIAPER, MOMMY!"

(after putting up the Christmas tree) "Look Daniel, it's Christmas!"

(Wednesday and Thursday morning) "No school today, Mommy. Bus go to bed. Rachael stay home and watch movies!"

My new born is not so newly born anymore! I'm in shock that Daniel is already 1 month old! We're slowly easing into our routine - well, as much of a routine as you can have with a 1 month old calling the shots. He walks in the steps of his siblings, so to speak, in that he can HOWL when he is upset - none of that wimpering - it's for wimps! When little man cries we all have our tails between our legs, and wimper some ourselves (just call me wimpy!). So the new ruler of the house has been established.

For the most part, the rest of us are adjusting to our new roles. Rachael babies the baby. Abby was being a bit rough with Daniel earlier today, and Rachael punched her. She's being a little zealous protecting Daniel, I think. Abby takes advantage of the times when I nurse Daniel, and runs around the house like a maniac, getting into as much stuff as she can. Joshua still ignores Daniel. Hey, can't expect too much, he still ignores Abby. Jacob, well, Jacob is Jacob. He has taken mental notes on the new situation, and knows that when mommy is nursing or trying to pacify fussy Daniel, it's prime time for acting up. So we are seeing a lot of aggression, tantrums, etc. He is making his point: "Get me what I want right now, or you'll regret it!" So it's not been the picture of peace and calm, to say the least.

Over the weekend we banned Jacob from movies because he was acting out so bad. He proceeded to pee in his pants every 15 or so minutes. He would look at me or Deren, scream, then pee (repeat process for the next 6-8 hrs). ((sigh))

Well, the girls are waking up from their nap, and the boys will be home from school soon, so let the games begin!

Just popping in to post some pics (below). I had a greasy hamburger for lunch, and a brownie for dessert after dinner, so I've been pacing around the house with poor little Daniel and his upset tummy - BAD MOMMY!

My mother is still here. We're passing around bugs. Jacob, Deren, Joshua, Abby, and my mom are all sick with a cold. Rachael had the croup last week. I hope she doesn't get the new bug on top of that. It all makes sense, though.. after all, next week is a holiday, and the kids are off school until the following week. And you know how we spend our holidays around here!

Indian Princess, our little Pixie, and waking up with a streeeeeeeeetch..

I had a baby BOY! His name is Daniel Grant. He was born at 4:53 a.m. on Saturday October 28^th. He weighed 10 lbs, 9 oz and was 21 ¼” long.
My official due date was October 26^th. I had an OB appt that day. It was the same story – hardly dilated and a little effaced. We talked about inducing on the 31^st, because Deren was starting his new job the next day. Dr. Bass hooked me up to the monitor for 30 mins. The baby was fine, and Deren pointed out that I was having contractions. By the time my appt was over and I registered at the hospital, I had to race home to take my 5 yr old to have a MRI. I was having contractions all the way home to pick him up, but they stopped after we arrived at the imaging place. Traditionally, my contractions have come to a screeching halt when I’m stressed out. And my 5 yr old was manic and hard to control before the procedure, and beside himself when he woke up 2 hrs later. I don’t know how I let my husband talk me into taking my son for a MRI on my due date! Anyway, that was the end of my contractions.

The next day, Friday, I did not have any contractions during the day, and planned to run errands the following day. About 1:00 a.m. Saturday morning my 3 yr old daughter called for me to come lay down with her in her room. I settled down on the couch in her room, hoping to go back to sleep. But I noticed I was having contractions again. I laid there for awhile, trying not to get too excited, because I figured the contractions would stop again. After about ½ hour of pretty regular, but not painful, contractions, I woke Deren up – I thought I should wait and let him sleep, but I was too excited after all! I went and laid down in our bedroom, and Deren started timing the contractions. They wore about 4 mins apart, and picking up in intensity. I called my doula, Sherry. I decided to stay in bed while Deren got ready and packed the car, which I figured would take about an hour – Deren has one speed. He brushed his teeth, he coordinated his belt and shoes, he styled his hair. At the end of the hour I told him he had minutes to go before I started throwing things at him! I had called Dr. Bass. She said to come to the hospital.

We got to the hospital around 3 a.m. I was 5-6 cm dilated and 100% effaced. Dr. Bass and my doula got there about the same time – shortly before 4 a.m. Dr. Bass stayed in the room the whole time - she had went downstairs to eat lunch at the last birth and I had the baby before she could get back to the 2nd floor! She had the nurse bring in the delivery table/equipment soon after I arrived. Meanwhile, the longest contraction I was having was about 45 sec (Sherry was timing it. She kept saying they weren't long enough. I was about ready to get nasty because they were hurting so much - 45 secs or not!). I told Dr. Bass I was started to feel pressure (like needing to go to the bathroom). She checked me. I was 9 cm, and my bag of water was still intact. Another couple contractions and I was fully dilated. Dr. Bass broke my water and I started to push. I figured I was really tired at that point, because I've never had such a hard time pushing. I didn't push long - about 10 mins. But it HURT, and everyone was telling me to push harder (I thought I was pushing plenty hard). I was totally shocked when they weighed him and he was 10 lbs, 9 oz. Even the dr had thought maybe 9 lbs, and my husband and I were thinking smaller, based on my prior babies.

In closing, he looks like such a BOY! I had become used to petite girl babies. This little guy looks like he needs a pair of overalls and a new name of Bubba!

Well, I'm 3 days away from my due date and I'm thinking this is really not the week to have a baby! Deren has a nasty cold, and 2 of the kids have a stomach bug. Seeing our propensity to pass around germs (Yes, I've use bleach; Yes, I've used clorox wipes; Yes, I've used rubbing alcohol; Yes, I've used peroxide; YES, I've done everything short of torching the house to the ground.) So I'm really questioning whether I want to bring a baby home into this germ cesspool right now.

The problem is.. 1) Deren starts his new job next week 2) We won't have insurance to cover the birth next week 3) my blood pressure is going up and down. ..don't know why for the last one. We're getting an average 2-3 hours sleep/night. I got to sleep after 4am last night. Rachael absolutely refuses to throw up in a bucket, and decided anything is preferable to that (e.g., couch, blanket, pillows, herself, daddy.. the list goes on, and it's all in the laundry right now - except for Deren, that is.

My dr's appt was last Thursday. As mentioned above, the b.p. is bouncing back and forth (from high to normal). Other than that nothing is happening. Right now, I don't know whether to be relieved by this or not!

Here is a picture of Abby with her favorite toy - toilet wipes! She's set up office in our bathroom. If you can't find her, that's a good first place to look.

Here's a picture of some of my latest knitting projects - 1 pair of wool longies, 1 pair of shorts, a wool soaker, and a pumpkin hat for baby pumpkin.

Conversation today.. "Rachael, are you wet?" "NO, not wet." (if you look closely you'll see that Miss Rachael was not exactly being truthful). The potty training misery continues..

Got a call from the school nurse today. Jacob lost his two front teeth at school today. Apparently everyone made a big deal of it, because he got off the bus just smiling away! My baby is growing up!

Bath picture of Abby, Joshua on his 5th birthday, and me 38 wks pregnant

..can't get the photos blogged right now. Hopefully tomorrow.

Goodness - it's time for another "Week in Review" post. Good news - no more meetings with the school district. Bad news - there's apparently another boy in Joshua's class who has singled out Joshua for attacks. Joshua came home 2 days in a row with bad scratches on his face. The first day we were thinking "Okay. Things happen." Now we're thinking "it's time to take this little menace out." I have little doubt that Deren will be at the school if Joshua comes home injured again.

I'm already having homework battles with Rachael - at the tender age of 3. They incorporate new skills into music a lot in her classroom. For example, she has songs about yellow, red, orange, green, and number 1-3. So, the basic idea is that I'm supposed to be singing these songs with her at home so she's learning these new concepts. I start singing a song to her and she flips. She yells "No song!" and will start singing her own song at the top of her lungs. So here I am sining "R-E-D I can spell Red" and Rachael's belting out "Frosty the snowman, la la la la la.." (she doesn't know the rest of the words). Her teacher has asked me twice already if I received the list of songs. At this point should I make her sing her songs each day? Do I sit her down at the table and say, "no playing outside, no horse movie.. until you sing your songs." Is this what it's come to?

It's now 11 days until my due date. And NO, Rachael is still not potty trained. So it will be 3 in diapers. Although we are getting hopeful about Abby. Yesterday she wanted to pull her pants down and sit on the potty. She was pretty proud of herself. Unfortunately, Rachael is not one to succomb to peer/sibling pressure. The boys have been potty trained for what, 2 years now? And Rachael could care less.

Maybe one of the Grandma's will want to take her on at their next visit. Deren's parents are planning to come on the 27th to help. We'll see if the baby is here then. I was originally thinking I would be early. But I think that ARD meeting set me back. I've actually read that if your jaw and neck muscles are tensed your body will resist labor. So I'm thinking a Thanksgiving baby at this point?!

Jacob has become our resident George of the Jungle. He has taken to climbing the tree out back. No sense of danger there. He will try to climb up a branch that's about 6 inches in diameter.

Joshua is still not sleeping. He has an appt with our autism doc this Thursday. I'm hoping Deren can take him so I don't have to go with all the kids. That trip would push my due date to around Christmas!

Joshua is 5 YEARS OLD!! His birthday was on Tuesday. He played with waterpaints, had some sprite, went a little bit psychotic after all the sprite.. I'm excited about the present we ordered for him with his birthday money. There is a lady in a nearby town that makes weighted blankets. She's going to make Joshua a blanket, a bit smaller than twin-sized, with Thomas the train print on one side and a soft chenile on the other. Joshua loves to burrow and the feeling of weight over his body. He tries to climb in between the mattresses on the beds here. He's tried out the blankets in the occupational therapy sessions he used to have, and always enjoyed them. It should be done in a week.

Deren has been doing a lot of walking around the neighborhood with Joshua in the wee hours of the morning. I'm afraid he's getting as cranky as his pregnant wife is. I know the conversation is going downhill when we start comparing and competing about who got more sleep, and therefore who should get up and feed the kids breakfast. A couple times we've sent the boys to school with their breakfast in their bag.

Well it's past seven now, and I've been dreaming of bedtime since 5, so I'm signing off. Rachael has a field trip to a local pumpkin farm scheduled for Wednesday. I am hoping to meet her there. Who knows, maybe I can try out a couple school songs with her while we're there so her teacher can see that I'm not fibbing about her homework!

Week in Review: The Good, Bad & the Ugly

The Good. Deren has the new job. It promises some challenging work, and I'm praying it will be a good fit for him

The Good & the Bad. Rachael's notes home from school. You know to brace yourself when the teacher's notes start off saying "We've never seen this kind of behavior from Rachael before.." Apparently, Miss Rachael was starting to crack keeping up her role as leading lady in "The Many Faces of Eve", and her home/school personalities integrated a bit more. I responded to her teacher (who is terrific, by the way) that we see Rachael throw things A LOT at home (that's what she was doing at school that day). The next day there was a long note in Rachael's folder again. I thought "oh, boy.." Turns out, Rachael has a boy with cerebral palsy in her class. He was playing in the kitchen area, and Rachael made it a point to be his helper - she would bring him plates, utensils, cups, fake food.. The note said she was a really sweet friend that day.

I was thinking about this afterwards. I was so darn proud of that note. Having kids w/special needs forces you to tone down a lot. Especially with autism, you know play-groups, soccer, cub-scouts, Sunday school.. well let's face it, a trip to the grocery store without 3 days of prep are all out of the picture. Rachael did better than most of us this past week. She may not have a good concept of loving God with all her heart, mind and soul, but she sure nailed down loving her neighbor (Well, at least at school that day. By the time evening came she was throwing punches at home. Miss Eve still has some integrating to do!)

On Thursday Jaccob's in-home trainer jokingly told me that he is developing a reputation as a clepto. Everyday before coming home he grabs things from the classroom and sticks them in his backpack. They have to do a shake-down each afternoon to make sure he hasn't succeeded. Deren hadn't heard the story yet, and was frustrated that Jacob was attacking all the backpacks this morning. I told Deren to let Jacob search through the backpacks until he's convinced that no loot made it home.

Now for the Bad and the Ugly (the really ugly). Had Joshua's annual ARD meeting yesterday. The story has been the same - Joshua has been in the school district 2 yrs now, and has almost mastered one sign (movie), which he uses for everything. He'll be standing over a cup of juice and signing movie. I called his new teacher a couple weeks ago, and told her I was going into this meeting pretty upset with his lack of progress, that I wanted all the data and notes she had on Joshua so I could decipher if any progress had been made since 2004, and I wanted his 1 on 1 time increased and his 1 hr nap/watch a movie time eliminated. Dr. Bourland, a BCBA (board certified behavior analyst), attended the meeting with me. He's worked at the home with Joshua off and on since 2003. Anyway, get to the meeting and the teacher, the speech therapist, are saying "He's such a happy boy. He's doing wonderful! We're thrilled with his progress." Uhhh... what progress? I ask for data - ANY data - supporting their claim. The school principal starts griping at me at this point, saying I shouldn't have sprung the data question for the first time at the meeting. I look the teacher in the eye, then respond that I notified her a couple weeks ago about wanting data. "Oh" Whenever Dr. Bourland or I tried to get the teacher to clarify something, she took on the role of bumbling fool. Afterwards, Dr. B said he had never seen a teacher walk into an ARD meeting so unprepared. And in a school district that has (in the past, that is now apparent) prided itself on using ABA and collecting data.. things aren't looking good for Mr. Joshua. Dr. B and I agreed that it seems they are trying to move over to a TEACH style of classroom. For those not familiar w/TEACH, it's a classroom style, developed at the Univ of NC, that proposes an "eclectic" approach, and since it's so eclectic, you really can't pin down a particular methodology, or heaven forbid, try to evaluate the shifting methodologies. So a teacher using TEACH will look you right in the eye, tell you your child's doing great working 4-piece puzzles and vedging in front of a video all day, then say they can't collect data because their methods may shift the next day, depending on Joshua's needs (and I'm not making up this scenario - this is a good part of Joshua's day). I will refrain from typing profanities at this point.

Well, one thing I was able to pin the teacher down on was the Autism Supplement, a state-wide document that is 'supposed' to be followed by school districts. One big part of the supplement states that there should be no more than 15 mins of unstructured time/day. At this point in ARD meetings, teachers are supposed to submit their classroom schedules to prove this. Of course, that would have required some type of organization on her part, so once again, she sat there with a blank look on her face. I asked the diagnostician to clarify if it was 15 mins/day, and she affirmed. Then I looked at the teacher and said "how about that nap/video hour?" So thanks to mean old Mrs. Ebdon the nap/video fest may need to shortended. Let's face it, though, at this point I'm thinking she may type up a new schedule and continue as it's been.

In finishing, the district's autism consultant is supposed to be in town Nov 8th. I've requested written summaries of the classroom environment and of Joshua's progress from him, and requested a meeting with him (this last may/not be honored). The teacher is supposed to supply all data within 8 wks (instead of 4 because I don't want to be at an ARD meeting with a 1 week old baby). And I have until then to find myself someone who has experience with court mediation, 'cause it's looking like we may be headed that way.

On a funny note, at the end of the meeting the minutes were read. I'll get a paper copy next week. It was good reading. Apparently Miss Rachael (aka many faces of Eve girl) is a chip off the unstable mother block. The minutes start off reading "Joshua has been doing very well at school.. He's a happy boy".. yada yada yada. Then, the tone turns black.. "But Mother (that's how it refers to me) doesn't believe this, and is demanding that the teacher go out of her way to submit data.." yada yada yada. At the time, I wanted to pounce over and strangle the recorder. But after having a (half) night's sleep I'm finding it pretty darn funny. Dr. B said that there was no way I was going to get away in a favorable light. All my requests were in the minutes - that's what I cared about.

So if you could please pray for our plight with Joshua, I would appreciate it. I was so depressed, so discouraged last night. But I have our God with me, and he knows my troubles.

Oh, and one final baby/family note. Deren was summoned for Jury Duty 3 days after my due date! Deren called and rescheduled for next week. I had to cancel my OB appt on Monday. The kids are off school Mon & Tues, and there's NO WAY I'm taking all them. Sometimes I get out of there in an hour, sometimes, with the wait, it's a couple hours - forget it. The OB already cancelled my appt for this past week because she wanted to take a vacation. They called and rescheduled me yet a 2nd time for later in the morning on the 9th. Then I called yesterday and said I can't make that time b/c of Deren's jury duty. The nurse, in a snit, told me I won't be seen next week because they are too busy to fit me in. Sooo... I guess we'll see if I have another dr's appt before the birth, seeing as how my next appt is at 39 weeks, and my last one was at 36 weeks. Beyond praying about it, I don't think I'm going to bother with anything else. So please pray that the baby is okay until my delivery!

If I hear the phrase "unseasonably warm weather" too much more in the next couple weeks I'm going to have a tantrum that will impress the kiddos. I went for a walk with Abby at 9am today - it was too hot. I'm going to have to return to getting out before sun-up or bust. The kids want to be outside. We had some beautiful days in September, and that is still fresh in their minds. But we're outside for a couple minutes now, and all our cheeks are flushed, I'm a cranky mess, and so on. So it's back to being couped up again, and we're all showing the strain. Everyone is high-maintenance and irritable. The boys have reverted to some of the old behaviors. Jacob is having potty accidents daily. Joshua decided sleeping is no longer necessary. He was up from 3-5:30 this morning. I really need to put the autism doc on my to-do list. He needs to be on some kind of drug - at this point Deren and I aren't really concerned with what - just make the child sleep!

That's all my whining for the evening. I'd better get a couple hours of sleep before Joshua starts squealing again. Good night.

Kids say/do the cutest things:

Quote from Rachael yesterday (looking at a mole on my arm): "Mommy, you have an owie. Poor baby Mommy."

Jacob, after coming home from school yesterday. I was putting up their backpacks and emptying their lunchbags. Jacob had heard Abby awake in her crib. He grabbed some leftover dry cereal from Joshua's lunchbag, went to Abby's bedroom, and was feeding her cereal between the slats of her crib. I put her in the highchair and gave her more of the cereal. She threw it over the side. Nothing tastes better than cereal from my brother Jacob!

Baby countdown: 23 more days!

34 week picture and big girl Abby

Background for quote of the day: About a month or so ago there was a gecko on the ceiling in Rachael's room (we have a lot of geckos around here. Rachael agrees with me - they're quite disgusting). Deren was settling Rachael into bed. She kept fretting and pointing to the ceiling. Deren finally looked up - about the time it fell to the floor. It scurried away, and Rachael fretted for days about a lizard in her room. The morning after the incident, Rachael started fussing when she saw the exposed speaker wires on the ceiling in the living room. She kept saying, "Look, lizard!" I kept telling her they were wires, not lizards. She has a hard time pronouncing "w", so she would say, "Look, there's a fire on the ceiling!" Needless to say, she surprised Deren when he came home that day and she told him we had a fire on the ceiling.

..fast forward to this morning.. She's been learning about firemen and firetrucks at school. She pointed to the wires, said "Look, there's a fire! Get the firetruck!"

Joshua update. Joshua was a happy man when school started back up Aug 14th. He has a lot of trouble dealing with unstructured/'down time.' I know, I know. Boredom is hard on all kids. But Joshua will either 1) get completely emotional for stretches of time, crying and carrying on and/or smacking himself and the walls; or 2) make up his own fun (e.g., crawling into toilets, flooding the bathroom, etc). He has clothes galore now, seeing as how Jacob is growing out of everything he has. It seems like in just the past week Jacob outgrew all his shorts. Come on, cold weather! Grandma Priscilla got Jacob some new pants for the winter, but the warm weather pickings are pretty scarce.

It rained most the day today. Joshua, a true lover of water, played outside in the rain and had a good old time. Rachael wanted to go outside, too. But when she stepped out in the rain she then ran back in the house, yelling "I'm sorry! Raindrops!"

Our annual ARD meeting with the school district for Joshua is on Oct 6th (you have an annual ARD around their birthday). Joshua's new teacher looks like she is about 18 yrs old. She seems nice enough, but Joshua is quite a challenge. He sincerely feels he does not need to use sign language when he can grab for what he wants without asking. Also, Joshua's new teacher instituted a daily nap/movie time from 2-3. I'm not too happy about this, and a couple other things. So, I will talk to her on the phone before the ARD meeting and tell her what my concerns are. NOT looking forward to all that.

Joshua's birthday is on the 10th. I have a gut feeling that the baby is not going to be a 42, 41, or 40 week baby like the last three. But I don't want them to share birthdays, either! The countdown is on, and the excitement is building! I can't wait to see if it's a boy or a girl. I'm still thinking boy..

School is out on the 9th and 10th, and Deren is hoping to take off the Tuesday the 10th for Joshua's birthday. Deren makes wonderful, wonderful gfcf cakes. I'm not allowed to bake - I have a really bad track record, especially with gfcf. I do the frostings - yum! Anyway, prayers for Joshua on his birthday would be appreciated!

Kids playing outside yesterday

Abby update. Abigail has been our little 'whirling dervish' - I think that's the term her Grandpa David uses. She's into/on top of everything. She can climb up on the kitchen table, on beds, with relative ease. She's seen her siblings use chairs as booster steps enough that she herself is a pro at it. If she wants cereal, she scoots up the step stool and gets a box from the counter. If she wants some of her siblings' juice, she climbs up on one of the chairs, gets on top of the table, and storms the contents on the table. It was comical watching her with Joshua last week. Mind you, he usually tries his hardest to ignore her very existence. He was sitting at the table, trying to eat his dinner, and Abby is right there on top his placemat, grabbing at his cup and his plate. He's trying his best to still ignore her, but how do you ignore someone who's sitting on your dinner plate?? I took pity on the poor boy and drug her off the table. Which brings me to the next observation about Abby. She, too, is honing her stubborness and her temper. After all, she has had very good role models in the tantrum department. Pound for pound, she can throw a fit that meets or exceeds the best of the them. She has learned from Jacob and Rachael to run and smack at you when she's really mad. You don't know whether to laugh or put her in time out in her crib!

She still idolizes Joshua, in terms of the mischief he gets into. The other night Joshua decided to go toilet diving again. He made one big mess, splashing toilet water across the bathroom, shredding toilet paper (now wet) in the midst of it. Rachael walked into the bathroom and said "Joshua made a BIG mess. Clean up, Joshua!" Then Abby walked in. Her eyes got big, she got a big grin on her face, and she was ready to dive in herself. She was furious when we drug her away (Are you catching another theme? She hates to be drug away from a good time!).

Abby's favorite song is "If you're happy and you know it", followed by "Twinkle Twinkle little star." She loves to run errands. I know this is a good thing. Instead of throwing fits, she's all giggles and smiles when I take her to the grocery store. But the thing is, I do not like to go to the grocery store! Every day she's standing by the door waiting to go on an errand. With the cooler weather, I've been taking her on stroller rides and walks around the block, but it doesn't even compare to a good 'ole car ride and grocery run.

We were at the pediatrician's office yesterday. She is 12 lbs, 13 oz with a diaper on. So she is still quite petite. But goodness, is she ever a bundle of life!

Rachael posing for Grandma Priscilla

Rachael update. Rachael has been using more and more language. She has also gained more and more stubborness and willfullness (are those the same things?). I was describing her to another mom today as God's little challenge for us. As I see it now, the biggest challenge for us as parents is to figure out how to get through to her. I've read part of 5 Love Languages, and Love and Logic. I ordered a new child discipline book yesterday. Just don't know how to get through to her. For example, she is way older than Joshua was when he potty trained, and he didn't have the slightest clue what we were doing to him at the time! One morning he's using is diapers, the next he's peeing all over himself and being marched back and forth to the bathroom. There were no "is he ready for potty training signs" you hear about - we just did it without his consent. Miss Rachael Mae, on the other hand, will tell you when she's wet. She'll walk up and ask you to change her poopy pants, but try to get her on the potty.. it's a battle.

She will pound on other kids (siblings or not) at will. She knows what time out is. She will tell you she would rather go to bed than do a time out. As I said above, she's a little challenge from God! My mom says I'm getting payback, but I have no memory of being like Rachael (and if you can detect lies through typed text you're probably on high alert now!). It seems like each new 'bad' behavior the kids pick up, Deren looks at me and says "I wonder where they got THAT from..?" hmmpfh!

Anyway, on to cute Rachael stuff. Grandma Priscilla ordered Rachael some very cute skorts (skirts with shorts underneath) from Lands End. Rachael had seen the skorts in the catalog. There was one with a horse, one with a cat, and one with a dog. We got the package in the mail today. Rachael got the horse and cat one. Our appreciative little miss immediately exclaimed "Where's the Dog??!!" It's been over a month since she's seen the catalog, but we're learning she has a very good memory.

She also uses her good memory to hold grudges. When Grandma and Grandpa were here over the Labor Day weekend they took Jacob to see the movie Cars. Each and every day, at some point, she comes to me and says "Jacob stay home. Rachael go and watch Cars movie and eat popcorn." Hopefully Grandma and Grandpa will be up for another trip to the movies when they come next. Otherwise, Rachael will never forgive us all!

As for her speech, it has been so neat to hear her use more word combinations. Last spring it was rare for her to say more than one word at a time. Now she's holding conversations, making up her own songs. We still see a delay compared to other kids her age, but we're tickled with all her progress. She loves to watch her "horsie movie." And when the horse jemps into the river, she says tells us how the horsie is in the water with the dolphins and the sea turtles!

All and all, I guess she is a lot like me. When she's in the mood for it, she's a complete hoot - she's affectionate, she's funny, she's cuddly. When she's NOT in the mood - stand back!!

Goodness, it's been awhile. I got to the point where I started procrastinating, because to catch up I'm going to have to write out a mini-novel. So I'll start with babysteps and do a short posting. The kids are passing around a stomach bug. Sound familiar? Joshua over the weekend, then Abby, now Jacob. Rachael is the the last one standing. I've emailed her teacher to give her a heads up - looking on the bright side, I am! That reminds me, I need to make sure the washer is empty, the clorox wipes, trash bags, barf bucket, and disposable gloves are laid out before going to bed tonight. I have a load of wash going now - that's just asking for it - having the washing machine tied up and all.

We're getting off and on breaks from the heat. It rained all day on Labor Day, and was cooler last week. Granted, "cooler" in Texas this time of year is in the upper 80's, but it's a good 20 degrees cooler than what we were having. The kids have been going outside in the evening and having a blast. And Rachael has been showing everyone her bug bites. She really likes to talk about her 'owies'. Throughout the day I find myself telling her "I'm so sorry about your owie," "Poor baby", etc. It goes on and on - but on the other hand, it is cute to be having the conversation with her. For instance, Joshua has been having some major mood swings. One minute he's cackling like a maniac, the next he's bawling away. His teacher sent a note home about it today. And since the little guy doesn't say a word, I have no clue. So here I am responding to his teacher, saying that I haven't the slightest idea what's going on. Makes me feel pretty useless..

So.. what with the lack of sleep (the halmark of this particular bug is an onset of symptoms around 3 a.m.), and being hormonal and moody, I've been feeling pretty up and down myself this week. ..think I'll go join Joshua, who's pounding on the wall in his room and screaming (ugh!).

**Important**
The US House of Representatives will soon vote on the the Combat Autism Act (S.843 for Senators) or HR.2421 for Representatives). It is vital that this act pass for our kiddos and adults affected with autism. Please go to the website www.combatautism.org and click on the "TAKE ACTION" button at the top left corner of the homepage. You can find a list of your senators and representatives, as well as instructions on what to ask when you talk to them. If your senator or respresentative is already a co-sponsor of the bill, thank them for their support! If not, please, please take the time to enlist their support.

(I would appreciate you passing this along to family & friends!)

Jacob's surgery update. Jacob had eye surgery on both eyes this morning around 9 am. We weren't sure if he would be healthy for the surgery. Joshua and Rachael are sick with pretty bad colds right now. Abby has had a runny nose and gut "issues" since the weekend, but we're thinking she doesn't have the cold, either, because Joshua and Rachael are up coughing at night, and Abby has been sleeping. Deren took Jacob to the surgery center at 7:30am. I stayed home with the others. I didn't want to hand Rachael and Joshua over to the babysitter until I saw how they were doing once they woke up. They both woke up in a fairly good mood, and both ate breakfast, so Mallory arrived at 9 am to take over.

When I arrived, Jacob was still in surgery. Deren brought a dvd player for Jacob to watch during the pre-op time. They gave Jacob versed, and Deren said he was pretty mellow and happy to be watching his movie. The dr commented on how great Jacob had done, and how she couldn't tell he had autism. I told her "wait until he wakes up." We saw Jacob just as he was waking up. He was screaming and trying to claw his eyes. I told the nurse to ask the anesthesiologist for some meds to calm him down. They gave him a shot of phenergran to make him sleepy. The anesthesiologist (and I'm getting tired of spelling out that word) said he will be sleepy the whole ride home - WRONG! When we put Jacob in the wheelchair to go to the car Jacob popped right awake and went ballistic. It took Deren and 4+ nurses to subdue him. Dr. Wang, the surgeon, was walking down the hall just then. She wasn't saying "he doesn't seem autistic" at that point. Instead of sleeping the way home, Jacob screamed at the top of his lungs the whole way. Thank goodness the drive was only about 10 mins. Then he tackled me to the floor as I was trying to get him in bed. Deren and I sat in our bed with him and gave him a popsicle to eat. We cut his nails then. At the surgery center when he was clawing at his eyes we noticed his nails were very long - yikes, I meant to cut them yesterday and forgot. As soon as Jacob was still for a couple mins he tired out and went back to sleep.

Jacob woke up a couple hours later, and has been cranky, but seems to be doing better and better as the day progresses. Rachael was the same way after her surgery. Too bad we won't be getting sleep tonight, with the resident sickies. I just hope Jacob has a least a couple days until he catches the cold, too (and wouldn't it be a blessing if he didn't get it at all!). We're to give him eye drops 4x/day for the next week. He's just loving that (sarcasm inserted).

..so I just got off the phone with poison control. FYI - the ingredients in flushable toilet wipes are non-toxic. Abby has developed an obsession with them. She dove into them again this morning, and was cruising around the house with a wipe stuffed in her mouth - sucking away. Ewwwww......!

tiaras and daredevils

It's a lot of the same old/same old around here. It's almost August in Texas, so it feels like you're in a hot hair dryer whenever you step outside. The boys are off school for 2 weeks until they start up on the 14th. Rachael starts the following week. I think she will be sooo excited to ride the bus & and see her teacher and her classmates again. I bought school supplies for the kids on Saturday. I think the boys' classes have a theme going - 10 boxes of kleenex, purell, 200 paper plates, baby wipes (are you starting to get it?). It's germ warfare!

Another bit of the same old story. The church hosted an afternoon of childcare for children w/special needs & their siblings this past Saturday. Deren and I were looking forward to it for 2 months. Sure enough, the boys had a head-to-toe rash Saturday morning, and Abby woke up with another stomach bug (which she still has) that morning. Deren still wanted to take them.. so I had to be the 'bad guy' and say "no way!" So we both spent Saturday feeling sorry for ourselves and the sickies. And I ended up school supply shopping instead of spending the afternoon at the movies with my hubby. I did buy Rachael a princess barbie doll. Abby tore the head off of Rachael's lone barbie doll, and Rachael kept asking me & Deren to fix it. Rachael was happy to see the barbie w/a tiara, and it has a matching kid's tiara (see the pictures). Jacob ran around after everyone w/the tiara on Saturday, trying to put it on our heads. Abby, in particular, seems to think the look suits her daddy.

And speaking of Abby Kate, she's now conquered the coffee table and climbing over the back of the couch (better be someone there to catch her!). After lunch today she got sleepy, climbed up on the loveseat, and fell asleep (see picture). After her nap she attacked the trash can for chocolate cake crumbs leftover from her siblings. Then she raided the flushable wipe container in the kids' bathroom - she's developed a fixation on those for some reason..

So what's new? Let's see.. I'm tired, tired, tired. Wait a minute, that's the same as usual!

Abby has taken to climbing on the furniture - Ain't No Mountain High Enough..

The boys are finishing up there last week of summer school. They will be home 2 (long) weeks, then start school for the fall. The kids are still stir crazy. It's not quite as hot - temps are in the upper 90's w/heat indexes in the 100's, but it's better than last week. Joshua is going to be sooo happy in the fall w/cooler temps and the leaves falling on the ground. Matter of fact, I will be very happy, too!

I took Jacob and Rachael to see the movie Cars again on Saturday. Let's see.. Jacob peed in his pants from drinking too much sprite (my fault), Rachael stayed still about a total of 10 mins. After the wet pants and too many dashes by Rachael up and down the stairs we left early. From what I saw (most of it), it was a pretty good movie.

Abby threw up (again) Saturday night. I went to church on Sunday while Deren stayed with the kids.

My cousin Stephen passed away last Thursday night. I didn't make it to Illinois for the funeral. Deren couldn't get off work, and with Abby sick on Saturday it's a good thing I stayed home. Please keep his mother, Betty, and his children, Savannah, Dawson, and Sierra in your prayers.

We're still waiting for the money from Denton County for Jacob's therapy this summer. The funny thing is we have to pay the therapist regardless of whether we're getting the money or not. We can't just say "maybe the end of next month." grhhh...

I went to my dr's appt last Thursday. When Dr. Bass asked how I was doing I think I cried for about 5 mins. Between the sad news of my cousin and another family's 6 yo dying from brain cancer, the bureaucracy of the local county, and being trapped indoors I'm drained.

..anyway.. that's my whine for the day. There are so many things to be thankful for, but when stress comes my way ya know it's all about me!

One funny/not so funny thing from Sunday. Deren was watching the kids while I was knitting. He was getting pretty cranky. I asked him what the deal was. When he answered he sounded like me at the end of a weekday (only he'd been at it for 3 hrs). "All they do is make messes! I can't even take a minute to eat my lunch!" - uh huh, yeah, sounds familiar..

Rachael loving on Abby

I think the paper said it's the 8th day in a row with temps over 100. I feel so bad for the kids. It's too hot to be outside, and combined with the poor air quality in the metroplex, we're pretty much prisoners indoors. So I guess it should be of no surprise that the captives have been very restless. Last night when I got home from grocery shopping Joshua escaped out the garage door, and made a rush at our neighbor across the alley. She was watering her flowers with a nozzle hose. Joshua thought "water play!" He wanted so bad to play. Poor guy.

Abby has been tearing the place apart - figuratively and literally. She flooded both the bathrooms this a.m. She took some cups and quickly dumped as much water as she could onto the floor in their bathroom. Then she went to our bathroom with the garden tub. The faucet is on the outside of the tub, and it is loose, I guess, because it twists around. Miss Abby figured out that she can turn on the water, twist the faucet around, and proceed to flood our bathroom (much quicker than the manual dumping-of-water in the other bathroom). She was so pleased with her handywork. She splashed and squealed on the flooded tile. I was just thinking "Thank goodness your brother Joshua wasn't home to take notes!"

..and speaking of 'taking notes.' Abigail has apparently been taking detailed notes from her siblings on how to throw a tantrum. When she isn't getting her way, watch out! She throws whatever is in reach, then she collapses on the floor and screams like a banshee. You think she's just suffered a great injury from the volume, but no, in this house you have to stand out from the crowd.

So okay, the flooding happened before 10am today. She then took a nap, and woke up at 12, ready to take on the afternoon. She figured out that the kid-sized chairs in the house are convenient stepping stools to about everything else. She loves playing on the computer. So you will often find her in the computer chair pounding on the computer. Deren saw this for the 1st time this morning, and being as safety-minded as he is, he was very disturbed. Of course, he wasn't around this afternoon when Abby pulled the chairs up to the kid table in the boys bedroom, then proceeded to use the kid table as a stepping stone to each of the boys' beds. A can of sprite had been left behind on Joshua's headboard (a full can, mind you). She then dumped the sprite all over Joshua's comforter and sheets, got off the bed, and poured the remainding sprite down the hallway. Joshua, in the meantime, was diving hands-first into red jello. Needless to say, when Deren got home I wasn't feeding the kids dinner, like I'm usually doing. I was mopping floors.

The boys are back in school this week and the next. Then they're off 2 wks. School starts up on August 14th. Rachael starts the following week. As trying as the summer has been, I'm getting nervous about the boys both having new teachers. "change is good, change is good, change is good" - repeat a couple thousand times..

I have a dr's appt on Thursday. I get to drink the orange sugary drink and have my glucose levels tested. Most other ladies I've talked to said the drink is so sweet it makes them nauseous. I remember liking the taste of it, myself. Shows you what a sugar hound I am.

Please keep my cousin Stephen in your prayers. He is in the hospital, and is not expected to make it much longer. My family has been pretty devastated. Sorry. Can't think of more to say. My heart is so heavy for him and those he'll leave behind.

24 wks pregnant, ketchup boy, queen of the bathroom sink, king of the slide

July pics

July 4th has come and gone! Another month closer to the fall. I'm 24 1/2 wks along. My next OB appt is next week. The baby has been pretty active. So have the other kiddos. The boys are off summer school for another week, and they are bored, bored.

We celebrated the 4th in our usual way - with sick kids. Joshua came home from school with a rash on the 29th. Sure enough, it was the strep again. He got an antibiotic shot at the doctor and the rash was cleared the next day. By Monday Jacob had a head to toe rash. Deren stayed and worked from home on the 3rd so I could take him to the dr. The p.a. had no idea what it was. We're thinking his food allergies may be acting up. He's not running a fever, it's not turning into blisters or anything. Any ideas (ugh!). We're seeing the immunology doc this month, but it's not until the 27th. I need to call in and see if I can get him squeezed in I guess. My "to do" list for Monday is growing and growing. Early (and I mean 'early' as in 1:30) Friday morning Abby started throwing up. She took out everything in her crib - the bumper pad, the crib skirt, the floor around it. It took a good 1 1/2 hours to clean that mess up. Deren worked from home again to help with Abby and watch her & Joshua while I took the other two to the eye doctor.

Due to the holiday, boys being home, various body rashes and whatnot we didn't go to the library last week. Rachael asked *at least* a couple times a day to do to the library for stories and songs. My neighbor's 21 yr old daughter is helping with the kids 2x/week this summer. Mallory is going to watch the boys (she says she's up to it!) Tuesday morning while I take the girls to the library - rashes and stomach ailments permitting. Mallory has been doing a great job with the kids. And they've put her through the motions, let me tell you. She's been walloped by all of them and doesn't blink except to send them to time out.

And speaking of walloping.. Let me tell you about our Miss Mae at the eye doctor. I took Jacob and Rachael to the specialist on Friday. Jacob made quite a scene when it was time to leave the video playing in the waiting room for the exam room. Threw himself on the floor several times, screamed.. was better viewing than the video playing at the time. Rachael, however, apparently did not want to be outdone. She didn't want to sit in the exam chair. When I put her in it against her will she flew out of it, right at the nurse, walloping the unsuspecting lady. Then she ran away, throwing anything she could get her hands on. She was totally out of control, and the nurse was probably thinking 'I can't believe you're having another!' I put Rachael in a chair, took away the book she had, told her to be quiet every time she tried to chatter, and had her sit there until the doctor came. As soon as Dr. Wang came in the room Rachael yelled "I'm SO sorry! That little chickie has a temper to rival her momma and it's driving me crazy!! In the end, Rachael did just fine for the exam, and the dr is pleased with her eyes w/glasses. Jacob, however, is crossing more and more, and the dr wants to do surgery asap. It will be on both eyes, like Rachael. Ohhhhh, I'm not looking forward to it. There's basically no way to explain to him what's going to happen. He will wake up from surgery with both eyes bleeding and in pain. Rachael was completely hysterical when she woke up. Jacob has 20 lbs and a lot more disability than her, so it's pretty much going to be awful for the guy. My poor baby boy (yes, he's still my baby). Please pray for Jacob.

Abby is all over the place, and doing new things every day, it seems. She is signing more. She signs for "french fries" (blushing with embarrassment), "fruit" (that's better, isn't it?). She will put her clothes - well, anyone's clothes, in the hamper when you tell her. She is such a ray of sunshine - especially in the morning, when everyone else is kinda groggy. Her talking is coming along slowly, but she's doing things that we never even saw Rachael do - it's very exciting. We have a lot of bunnies in the neighborhood. Whenever she sees one she gets so excited. She'll wave and chatter and say "bye bye bubu" when she chases them away. Joshua could stomp on a bunny and still not notice it - he's very selective as to what/who he will pay attention to. He will maul adults who come to the house - he knows they're tall enough to turn on the movie player and get him popsicles. He rarely pays attention to Abby still. Although they did have a big bathtub party on Thursday. They both dove into mud in the backyard. I put the mudballs in the bath and the party was on. They flooded the bathroom a couple times over. Deren and I now joke that we produce kids with 1 of 2 personalities: 1) shy; on the uptight and easy-to-tantrum side; timid; very sweet when they want to be; cuddlers 2) not a shy, timid, or uptight bone in their body; big tantrums when they thwarted from whatever mischief is in the making; funny; light up the room (Note: both personality types are very lovable - esp to mommy and daddy, but each w/challenges). Is the new baby going to break the mold? We'll see..

"Firecracker" is definitely an appropriate description of our little Abigail as of late. She is toddling around a lot more these days. We don't see the 'Abby scoot' around the house as much - well, at least from Abby. Rachael has taken to the scoot, so we see it from her now (sigh). Abby has also figured out how to climb onto the stepstool in the bathroom so she can play with the water in the sink. She can push the button and open the dishwasher. I'll walk into the kitchen and see her playing with dirty silverware, just as casual as can be. And her assaults on the trash can continue. We call her our Dumpster Diva. Although this week she also figured out how to open the toilet lids with one hand, and throw things in the toilet with the other, so she now has a competing obsession. She is pretty smart and pretty strong-willed. If you ask her about going outside, she will walk to the door, and then come back and fuss at you if you do not proceed in a timely fashion.

Her male sibling counterpart, Joshua, has been busy as well this week. He's decided he likes the feel of dirt on mommy & daddy's sheets, so he goes outside, grabs handfuls of dirt, then runs into the house and dumps it all on our bed. Little pigpen then congratulates himself by rolling around in the dirt covered sheets. He has also developed a toilet obsession. He always want to play in the little pool or with the slip-in-slide in the backyard. And if you don't honor his requests for water play, he finds alternatives - one being the toilets. On Monday he also found a bowl of jello that had not set in the fridge, and decided to bathe in jello. He was streaked with red the rest of the day. He is also loving his popsicles, and opens the freezer constantly to make a grab. One day most of the items in the freezer had defrosted thanks to Joshua's continued assaults (sigh).

Jacob is just being Jacob. He'll be watching a good movie on tv, and will roar at all the other kids if they even think of coming into his vicinity. Then we turn the movie off, and he roars more. He's decided summer school is not for him - he'd rather be at home watching movies. But when he's not going to school he's bored, bored, bored. Kinda like all kids, I guess.

Rachael really enjoys picking out books at the library. She has one in her hands now. Lately, she will sit by me, touch my tummy, and say "mommy's baby."

..gotta go. Joshua is launching another full-scale assault on the fridge..

Lil' Firecracker, Ladybug girls, and Ham