Monday, November 10, 2008
Okay. It's not ACTUALLY a puppy. Daniel loves puppies, and calls all animals puppies at the moment.
It's cold and flu season. We've had a sick kid about every day since Caleb's birth (the morning Caleb was born Jacob was up sick). Gotta love it.
Caleb is still fussy, but is also giving out more smiles and conversation now. I would post pics of him smiling, but I'm having problems posting pics today. No matter how I resize the pic, all you can see are his nostrils - hmph!
..and I still can fit into my maternity clothes (as opposed to my before-maternity clothes) - hmph!
Caleb is a total lap baby. He's passed out on my back at the moment. The first time Deren saw me swing Caleb onto my back to wrap him he started screeching "traumatic brain injury, traumatic brain injury!" Well I was walking with Daniel and Abby, while pushing the "back up" (aka, in case of tantrum) stroller, and nursing Caleb all at the same time. Thought I was THE THING... until I looked up and Daniel was off in the middle of the street. It's amazing how quick a good mommy moment can morph into a bad mommy moment. Keeps ya humble, I guess.
It's cold and flu season. We've had a sick kid about every day since Caleb's birth (the morning Caleb was born Jacob was up sick). Gotta love it.
Caleb is still fussy, but is also giving out more smiles and conversation now. I would post pics of him smiling, but I'm having problems posting pics today. No matter how I resize the pic, all you can see are his nostrils - hmph!
..and I still can fit into my maternity clothes (as opposed to my before-maternity clothes) - hmph!
Caleb is a total lap baby. He's passed out on my back at the moment. The first time Deren saw me swing Caleb onto my back to wrap him he started screeching "traumatic brain injury, traumatic brain injury!" Well I was walking with Daniel and Abby, while pushing the "back up" (aka, in case of tantrum) stroller, and nursing Caleb all at the same time. Thought I was THE THING... until I looked up and Daniel was off in the middle of the street. It's amazing how quick a good mommy moment can morph into a bad mommy moment. Keeps ya humble, I guess.
Monday, November 03, 2008
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Baby Caleb. So what's he like? He's a cross between how Jacob and Joshua as they were as new babies. Jacob had all these gut issues - from the top down - reflux, colitis, and he was colicky. Joshua also had reflux, but not colitis. And one of my main memories (I've blocked most of that time out!) of Joshua as a new baby was that his face would be beet red and he would scream bloody murder, ESPECIALLY during car rides. He hated his carseat, and hated car rides. He would scream bloody murder until he vomited all over himself and his carseat. It was so very much fun going places (sarcasm inserted). Well Mr. Caleb, aka, Joshie Jr, aka Howler Monkey, is following in big brother's footsteps (and forgive me, Caleb, if you go on to read this one day. Let's just say your momma hopes you go on to father a baby just like you). I love my little man dearly, but it's been a wee bit on the stressful side. When little Caleb winds up we all cower!
On the bright side of things, he can be a huge flirty bird, and again, like his brother Joshua was as a baby, when he's in full flirt mode, he likes to stick his tongue out at you. He smiles, he chatters. When he's in flirt mode we all eat him up, especially his big sisters.
Caleb was born on the last day of summer, so we figure he will be a fall baby on some years. And we've decided to have 2 sets of birthdays each year: springtime (Rachael, Abigail & Jacob) and falltime (Caleb, Joshua, and Daniel). For our fall birthdays we really went all out. A lady from church had brought us dinner, and was nice enough to include cupcakes for the kids. I looked around the table, saw all the kids with a cupcake, and thought "THIS is an opportunity!" I started singing "Happy Birthday" to Caleb, Joshua & Daniel, and called it good. If that wasn't enough, the kids went to 2 (free) Halloween parties.. There ya go!! A redneck birthday party!
And I don't want to end without mentioning Jacob's first Special Olympics bowling tournment. It was last Wednesday (the 29th). Me and my sidekick, Caleb, went to cheer on Jacob. It was great. The crowd cheered everytime one of the kids made a strike. Everyone danced to the music playing. The volunteers were so nice and enthusiastic. I started crying at one point - I'm just so proud of my (big) baby boy, and all he's accomplished, what with all he's been dealt with in life. It makes my heart happy during moments like that. Anyway, Jacob looked over, saw me crying, then burst into tears himself! Poor guy! Here are some pictures of the tourney.
On the bright side of things, he can be a huge flirty bird, and again, like his brother Joshua was as a baby, when he's in full flirt mode, he likes to stick his tongue out at you. He smiles, he chatters. When he's in flirt mode we all eat him up, especially his big sisters.
Caleb was born on the last day of summer, so we figure he will be a fall baby on some years. And we've decided to have 2 sets of birthdays each year: springtime (Rachael, Abigail & Jacob) and falltime (Caleb, Joshua, and Daniel). For our fall birthdays we really went all out. A lady from church had brought us dinner, and was nice enough to include cupcakes for the kids. I looked around the table, saw all the kids with a cupcake, and thought "THIS is an opportunity!" I started singing "Happy Birthday" to Caleb, Joshua & Daniel, and called it good. If that wasn't enough, the kids went to 2 (free) Halloween parties.. There ya go!! A redneck birthday party!
And I don't want to end without mentioning Jacob's first Special Olympics bowling tournment. It was last Wednesday (the 29th). Me and my sidekick, Caleb, went to cheer on Jacob. It was great. The crowd cheered everytime one of the kids made a strike. Everyone danced to the music playing. The volunteers were so nice and enthusiastic. I started crying at one point - I'm just so proud of my (big) baby boy, and all he's accomplished, what with all he's been dealt with in life. It makes my heart happy during moments like that. Anyway, Jacob looked over, saw me crying, then burst into tears himself! Poor guy! Here are some pictures of the tourney.
I was just reading my new niece's blog - she was born last Tuesday, and already has several blog posts dedicated to her. And here my new little man, Caleb, has squat posted about him (bag over head).
So here is my VERY belated announcement:
Caleb Joseph was born 8 days after his due date, on September 21st, 2008, at 3:51 a.m.
He was born at home - Hooray! Had a successful homebirth. I was 8-9 cm dialated by the time the midwife arrived. He was born about an hour later. My bag of waters hadn't broke, and we were waiting for it to do so. Finally I was like "get me in the water (bathtub) or break my my waters - I've had enough!" The midwife broke my waters, and a couple pushes (hard, painful pushes - he was a big boy!) he was boy. And YES - he's a BOY. I was so convinced I was having a girl - a petite girl, at that. Could I have been more wrong?! Instead, I had a boy, weighing 9 lbs 8 oz. He was petite compared to his brother Daniel, who was 10 lbs 9 oz, but the pushing stage brought back some painful memories - ouch! I remember with Joshua, Rachael, and Abby that pushing was easy, compared to hours of contractions. The past 2 labors have been short and the contractions not too bad, but pushing those big boys out... not easy.
So here is my VERY belated announcement:
Caleb Joseph was born 8 days after his due date, on September 21st, 2008, at 3:51 a.m.
He was born at home - Hooray! Had a successful homebirth. I was 8-9 cm dialated by the time the midwife arrived. He was born about an hour later. My bag of waters hadn't broke, and we were waiting for it to do so. Finally I was like "get me in the water (bathtub) or break my my waters - I've had enough!" The midwife broke my waters, and a couple pushes (hard, painful pushes - he was a big boy!) he was boy. And YES - he's a BOY. I was so convinced I was having a girl - a petite girl, at that. Could I have been more wrong?! Instead, I had a boy, weighing 9 lbs 8 oz. He was petite compared to his brother Daniel, who was 10 lbs 9 oz, but the pushing stage brought back some painful memories - ouch! I remember with Joshua, Rachael, and Abby that pushing was easy, compared to hours of contractions. The past 2 labors have been short and the contractions not too bad, but pushing those big boys out... not easy.
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Okay, so it's been a couple (or more) months. I'm 35 - almost 36 wks along in my pregnancy now. I'm on permanent energy drain, or so it seems. But after 5 kiddos I'm at least pragmatic enough to know that the REAL energy drain will come after baby arrives - staying up with the little one all night, then doing the 'day shift' with the other 5. So I'm trying to enjoy the remaining weeks of being pregnant. Granted, the hotter-than-hades weather here has made the 'enjoyment' part a bit difficult, but I will discuss that more in a minute.
So I'm on a couple message/chat boards with follow moms. On one board yesterday, the "September '08 due date board", other expectant moms (with at least 1 other little one at home) were taking a poll of how many had their hospital bags packed, and other ready-for-baby-stuff completed. Now many of these moms are due after me. And I'm thinking, "Hmmm.. maybe I should start doing something. I kinda feel like a loser." So to bolster my ego, and defend my procrastinating, I came up with this current list, a Week (so far) in Review at our house. Here it goes:
Week in Highlights (so far) for August 4th, 2008:
Story 1:
Pass the Thorazine, Please
There seems to be a trend with the last 4 pregnancies - toward the end, when I should be thinking of things like packing hospital bags, getting car seats and babyclothing and linens washed, I/we find myself occupied with, well, other kids. This time around it's Joshua who has been occupying much of my attention (and energy) this summer. I knew it didn't bode well when day one of summer (ie, first day after school ended) he had some pretty good meltdowns. Well, the summer has progressed, and so have his meltdowns. He is no longer content to cry and scream at the top of his lungs. He's added violence to the mix. Joshua has always been the the least aggressive of our 2 boys w/autism. But Mr. Jacob (and let me just say that he has been no angel, either) comes out looking like Ghandi in comparison, as of late. On Monday, Joshua took picture frames from the wall and smashed them into in the floor over and over. There was glass everywhere. We had him go into the backyard to calm down while Deren swept up the glass. Joshua then started ramming 2 (full) propane tanks into the cement patio outside the kitchen. Let me just say this - when that adrenaline gets pumping, they are Strong. We then made him come back inside and he ran from me to Deren, smacking and punching us both. He especially goes after me and Deren, but if his siblings get in his way during a meltdown, they're going to get it too. They don't understand what's going on - they've never been the object of his aggression. They're used to getting right in his face/space and not being scared. So I've had to start telling them over and over to stay away from Joshua right now because he may hurt them. Same with baby (Daniel). He's used to crawling right up to Joshua, but I can't let him do that anymore. Other casualities include 2 broken chairs, a shredded mattress pad, shredded/gutted pillows, and, of course, our sanity. If this was just happening once or twice a week it would be one thing, but it happens up to several times a day now.
Story #2
Daddy. We need a new Car.
While the boys were in summer school yesterday morning, I loaded up Rachael, Abigail, and Daniel to go to WalMart. We had been to a neighbor's pool the day before, and the girls were envious of her hippopotamus floatie, and wanted to go to WalMart to get one for themselves. Also, Rachael wants a Hannah Montanna shirt from WalMart. "Momma, let's go to WalMart to get Rachael a Hannah Montanna shirt" - I hear often. Then she breaks out in her own rendition of "Best of both Worlds." So I figured 'what the hey - let's go to WalMart.' The girls (and Daniel - he usually loves car rides) were excited, that is, until I started the car and saw a warning light on the dashboard. Got out the manual - the tire pressure was low. So I told the girls "Sorry. We can't go to WalMart. The car is broken. Daddy needs to come home tonight and fix the tires." Well by the time Deren got home I had completely forgotten about the car and all. The girls hadn't. As soon as they saw him it was "Daddy! The car is broken! You have to fix it!" And Rachael told Deren, "Daddy! The tires are broken. You need to go buy a new car!" Deren laughed hysterically at that part.
Story #3
Keep the change. I INSIST.
I'm sure part of what is setting Joshua over the edge is being at home with all the down time and being unable to go outside because of all the hot weahter. So you would think one solution would be to take all the kids to some indoor play places - like McDonald's or somewhere. WRONG. If Joshua goes anywhere where food is being cooked - forget it. Regular programming is thrown out the window, the Adventures of Barfboy takes center stage. That boy can make himself throw up on the spot - empty stomach or not - if he thinks that food is being cooked, and then jumps to the conclusion he may have to eat that food. Doesn't matter if you're yelling at the top of your lungs "JOSHUA, WE'RE JUST HERE TO PLAY. YOU DON'T HAVE TO EAT!" Barf boy takes over.
Now that that stage is set, here's Deren at home from work last night. He asked if it was a good time to take the car to the gas station to air up the tires. I told him as long as he takes Joshua with him (yesterday was a high meltdown ratio day). And Joshua is usually thrilled to be on car rides, so Deren loaded him up. But Deren forgot to get change before he left. So here Deren goes to the gas station around the corner. And who would've put the two and two together - that the gas station also serves pizza and fried chicken? Deren took Joshua inside with him to get some change at the register. The register had one of those automatic change dispensers - the kind where the change slides down into a small metal bowl. Joshua saw the food, then threw up in the change bowl. Deren said the attendant was like 'It's okay! Just take your change and leave!' Quite horrifying at the time, but Deren and I were in hysterics about it when he got home - quite a bit a hysterics this week.
Story #4
So Babysitters go for HOW MUCH these days?
Got a call from Denton County MHMR (Mental Health & Mental Retardation) Center this week. Congratulations! Jacob is eligible for respite services. Catch is: with all the dough we're rolling in, we would be expected to pay for part of the services that are required for the program, including a $200 deposit to enter the program, and $350 fee for an evaluation to make sure he is disabled and qualifies for the program (despite having a current evaluation on record with the school district), a $200 fee due every 3rd month to cover the cost of a case manager, and a monthly co-pay of $230 before the county would give reimburse us for any money we spent on childcare/respite services for Jacob. Now it's early in the morning and I'm not even going to try to do the math right now, but how much would that be for a couple hours of babysitting a week??? I told the lady on the phone, "No thanks, we can't afford that expensive of a babysitter."
And finally, Story #5
Fall is in the air
Yes, one could almost feel the hint of fall in the air with yesterday's cool front. Temperatures were in the mid-90's, a good 12 degrees cooler than that prior couple days. Could almost imagine the leaves turning, frost on the ground, trips to the park...
No wonder Joshua is acting out so much - his brain must be fried from the heat.
So I'm on a couple message/chat boards with follow moms. On one board yesterday, the "September '08 due date board", other expectant moms (with at least 1 other little one at home) were taking a poll of how many had their hospital bags packed, and other ready-for-baby-stuff completed. Now many of these moms are due after me. And I'm thinking, "Hmmm.. maybe I should start doing something. I kinda feel like a loser." So to bolster my ego, and defend my procrastinating, I came up with this current list, a Week (so far) in Review at our house. Here it goes:
Week in Highlights (so far) for August 4th, 2008:
Story 1:
Pass the Thorazine, Please
There seems to be a trend with the last 4 pregnancies - toward the end, when I should be thinking of things like packing hospital bags, getting car seats and babyclothing and linens washed, I/we find myself occupied with, well, other kids. This time around it's Joshua who has been occupying much of my attention (and energy) this summer. I knew it didn't bode well when day one of summer (ie, first day after school ended) he had some pretty good meltdowns. Well, the summer has progressed, and so have his meltdowns. He is no longer content to cry and scream at the top of his lungs. He's added violence to the mix. Joshua has always been the the least aggressive of our 2 boys w/autism. But Mr. Jacob (and let me just say that he has been no angel, either) comes out looking like Ghandi in comparison, as of late. On Monday, Joshua took picture frames from the wall and smashed them into in the floor over and over. There was glass everywhere. We had him go into the backyard to calm down while Deren swept up the glass. Joshua then started ramming 2 (full) propane tanks into the cement patio outside the kitchen. Let me just say this - when that adrenaline gets pumping, they are Strong. We then made him come back inside and he ran from me to Deren, smacking and punching us both. He especially goes after me and Deren, but if his siblings get in his way during a meltdown, they're going to get it too. They don't understand what's going on - they've never been the object of his aggression. They're used to getting right in his face/space and not being scared. So I've had to start telling them over and over to stay away from Joshua right now because he may hurt them. Same with baby (Daniel). He's used to crawling right up to Joshua, but I can't let him do that anymore. Other casualities include 2 broken chairs, a shredded mattress pad, shredded/gutted pillows, and, of course, our sanity. If this was just happening once or twice a week it would be one thing, but it happens up to several times a day now.
Story #2
Daddy. We need a new Car.
While the boys were in summer school yesterday morning, I loaded up Rachael, Abigail, and Daniel to go to WalMart. We had been to a neighbor's pool the day before, and the girls were envious of her hippopotamus floatie, and wanted to go to WalMart to get one for themselves. Also, Rachael wants a Hannah Montanna shirt from WalMart. "Momma, let's go to WalMart to get Rachael a Hannah Montanna shirt" - I hear often. Then she breaks out in her own rendition of "Best of both Worlds." So I figured 'what the hey - let's go to WalMart.' The girls (and Daniel - he usually loves car rides) were excited, that is, until I started the car and saw a warning light on the dashboard. Got out the manual - the tire pressure was low. So I told the girls "Sorry. We can't go to WalMart. The car is broken. Daddy needs to come home tonight and fix the tires." Well by the time Deren got home I had completely forgotten about the car and all. The girls hadn't. As soon as they saw him it was "Daddy! The car is broken! You have to fix it!" And Rachael told Deren, "Daddy! The tires are broken. You need to go buy a new car!" Deren laughed hysterically at that part.
Story #3
Keep the change. I INSIST.
I'm sure part of what is setting Joshua over the edge is being at home with all the down time and being unable to go outside because of all the hot weahter. So you would think one solution would be to take all the kids to some indoor play places - like McDonald's or somewhere. WRONG. If Joshua goes anywhere where food is being cooked - forget it. Regular programming is thrown out the window, the Adventures of Barfboy takes center stage. That boy can make himself throw up on the spot - empty stomach or not - if he thinks that food is being cooked, and then jumps to the conclusion he may have to eat that food. Doesn't matter if you're yelling at the top of your lungs "JOSHUA, WE'RE JUST HERE TO PLAY. YOU DON'T HAVE TO EAT!" Barf boy takes over.
Now that that stage is set, here's Deren at home from work last night. He asked if it was a good time to take the car to the gas station to air up the tires. I told him as long as he takes Joshua with him (yesterday was a high meltdown ratio day). And Joshua is usually thrilled to be on car rides, so Deren loaded him up. But Deren forgot to get change before he left. So here Deren goes to the gas station around the corner. And who would've put the two and two together - that the gas station also serves pizza and fried chicken? Deren took Joshua inside with him to get some change at the register. The register had one of those automatic change dispensers - the kind where the change slides down into a small metal bowl. Joshua saw the food, then threw up in the change bowl. Deren said the attendant was like 'It's okay! Just take your change and leave!' Quite horrifying at the time, but Deren and I were in hysterics about it when he got home - quite a bit a hysterics this week.
Story #4
So Babysitters go for HOW MUCH these days?
Got a call from Denton County MHMR (Mental Health & Mental Retardation) Center this week. Congratulations! Jacob is eligible for respite services. Catch is: with all the dough we're rolling in, we would be expected to pay for part of the services that are required for the program, including a $200 deposit to enter the program, and $350 fee for an evaluation to make sure he is disabled and qualifies for the program (despite having a current evaluation on record with the school district), a $200 fee due every 3rd month to cover the cost of a case manager, and a monthly co-pay of $230 before the county would give reimburse us for any money we spent on childcare/respite services for Jacob. Now it's early in the morning and I'm not even going to try to do the math right now, but how much would that be for a couple hours of babysitting a week??? I told the lady on the phone, "No thanks, we can't afford that expensive of a babysitter."
And finally, Story #5
Fall is in the air
Yes, one could almost feel the hint of fall in the air with yesterday's cool front. Temperatures were in the mid-90's, a good 12 degrees cooler than that prior couple days. Could almost imagine the leaves turning, frost on the ground, trips to the park...
No wonder Joshua is acting out so much - his brain must be fried from the heat.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
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Just a quick post after LONG hiatus. Sorry - it's been kinda crazy around here and I have as much energy these days as the energizer bunny on bargain basement batteries.
Well, I'm PREGNANT!! Baby #6 is due the the first part of Sept. Not too sure about the due dates. First I was measuring small, now I'm measuring big. I have a level II ultrasound scheduled for the 16th of April, so I'm going to go by those results and pick a due date.
Tell you what.. I haven't worried this much since I was pregnant with my first, Jacob. I spent all of February on strict bedrest. I was bleeding and the dr couldn't detect the cause. Good news is that the spotting and bleeding stopped almost to the day that my 2nd trimester started. The whole experience left me pretty rattled, though. So I'm praying for good results at the ultrasound in 2 weeks, especially given that I'm now among the "elderly", and the advanced age of 36.
So on one hand I'm thrilled to be up and able to leave the house. But on the other hand that means I have to take children with me when I leave the house. And given that the youngest, Abby & Daniel, have also been homebound with me, they act like devil children when we venture out these days. Take, for example, our 2+ hour excursion to Walmart this morning. So I'm looking at paper plates and see an egg flying past me in my peripheral vision. Young Daniel (now 17 mos) had grabbed a carton of eggs and was tossing them over the cart. An older couple watched the whole scene, including me screeching at Daniel, and just started laughing and telling Daniel how cute he was. My "cutie" then reached over and smacked me across the face. No more cute comments were forthcoming at that point. I'm standing there thinking "what on EARTH am I doing with 5 + children?! Raising the future generation of convicts?!"
By the time we reached the frozen food section Daniel had unpackaged the new underwear I picked up for Jacob and was dropping them one by one on the floor as if he were dropping rose petals on the ground at a wedding. Know anyone who's getting married soon??
Well, I'm PREGNANT!! Baby #6 is due the the first part of Sept. Not too sure about the due dates. First I was measuring small, now I'm measuring big. I have a level II ultrasound scheduled for the 16th of April, so I'm going to go by those results and pick a due date.
Tell you what.. I haven't worried this much since I was pregnant with my first, Jacob. I spent all of February on strict bedrest. I was bleeding and the dr couldn't detect the cause. Good news is that the spotting and bleeding stopped almost to the day that my 2nd trimester started. The whole experience left me pretty rattled, though. So I'm praying for good results at the ultrasound in 2 weeks, especially given that I'm now among the "elderly", and the advanced age of 36.
So on one hand I'm thrilled to be up and able to leave the house. But on the other hand that means I have to take children with me when I leave the house. And given that the youngest, Abby & Daniel, have also been homebound with me, they act like devil children when we venture out these days. Take, for example, our 2+ hour excursion to Walmart this morning. So I'm looking at paper plates and see an egg flying past me in my peripheral vision. Young Daniel (now 17 mos) had grabbed a carton of eggs and was tossing them over the cart. An older couple watched the whole scene, including me screeching at Daniel, and just started laughing and telling Daniel how cute he was. My "cutie" then reached over and smacked me across the face. No more cute comments were forthcoming at that point. I'm standing there thinking "what on EARTH am I doing with 5 + children?! Raising the future generation of convicts?!"
By the time we reached the frozen food section Daniel had unpackaged the new underwear I picked up for Jacob and was dropping them one by one on the floor as if he were dropping rose petals on the ground at a wedding. Know anyone who's getting married soon??
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