**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

Pictures of pool party (with pj's on), Appalachian baby, and Guess who the girls are smiling at? Their daddy!

As I type, I am watching Abby climb up the brick step at the base of the fireplace, then use the step as a booster to climb into the chair next to the tv. She's also walking more around the house. You can pretty much tell when she's walking, even if she's not in your line of vision, because she starts squealing. She's quite proud of herself. We are supposed to have a cool front tomorrow - rain/storms and high of 88. The paper today said that so far we are having the warmest temps in the past century, and summer starts Wednesday!

Saw the baby yesterday on the sonogram. I don't have any good pics to share because it was moving around like crazy. Deren can already feel it kick when he touches my stomach. It's fun to have an active baby. All it usually takes is a popsicle and it's doing sommersaults. I told Dr. Bass that Deren would kill me if I found out the sex of the baby, so she's not to tell me anything. She gave me a funny look and said "Is Deren okay?" I laughed and told her that Deren just loves surprises, and especially with this being our tie-breaker baby, it will be a neat surprise. Everything looks good with the baby - it's measuring on target.

With the warmer weather Joshua and Jacob have been loving popsicles. Joshua opens the fridge an average of every 5-10 mins to beg for a popsicle. Won't sign for it, of course, just tries to grab and run. We're teaching both boys the sign for popsicle, but Joshua's motto has always been 'why should I sign when I can take!'

Rachael has a new word in her vocabulary - library. Abby likes the library, too. She'll go to the door to the garage and pat on it because she wants to get in the car to go to the library. It's so cute to see them enjoy it so much.

I told Deren I've had my last grocery shopping trip with Rachael. I am not a fan of grocery shopping, and what should have been a 1/2 hour trip today extended 1 1/2 hours. It was misery. Every 2 ft "mommy, another grape" or a full-scale attack on the cookie/juice/cereal aisle. She wasn't horrible or anything, I just wanted out of that store! We got home minutes before the boys' bus arrived. By the time I finished with lunch, grocery, and dishwasher unloading it was close to 3pm. I sat on the couch to be woken up a couple minutes later by Abby's cackling - she was sitting on the chair by the fireplace by herself and as proud of herself as can be. Oh, she is Joshua's little sissy, alright!

I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. For the meatballs I chopped up green bell pepper, onions, and garlic. I put 2 roma tomatoes in the food processor. I added 2 tsp of parmesan cheese, 1/2 tsp of salt and black pepper, and my ground beef. They were pretty good. Hopefully no heartburn tonight (crossing fingers).

I know most people do a daily blog, but let's face it - I'm tired! (insert whiny voice) . Typing, and thinking about something to type, requires too much energy on most days. I've been getting up before 6 each morning to take a walk before the sun comes up - it is really hot - in the mid to upper 90's most days lately. And the boys' bus arrives at 7:20, so I need to be back in time to help Deren get the boys out the door.

Rachael is adjusting to not being in school. I've been taking her & Abby to story time at the library twice a week, and she enjoys it. She also likes to pick out books. I'm pretty impressed with her. I can look at rows of books and not see anything particularly interesting. Rachael can look at the same rows and pick out some great books. I keep Abby in the stroller, because otherwise wild child will try to pull everything she can off the shelves.

Speaking of wild child.. some of her latest accomplishments include: climbing up the slide and going back down on her own, figuring out the buttons on the dishwasher and the answering machine. She is quite a handful. Whenever she's outside she makes a bee line for the dirt and any standing water. Sort of/kind of/exactly like her big brother Joshua. And she can create trouble like you wouldn't believe! We're thinking she may be even more of a challenge than Joshua! Needless to say, she is getting quite tired of hearing the word "no!" throughout the day.

Rachael Mae is still bossing and ordering everyone around.

The boys get home from school after 12. Then they each work with an ABA therapists for 1 1/2 Mon-Thurs. Both are doing well, and both are testing the limits with the therapist. Maria & I are taking Jacob on weekly field trips. He came so close to getting a dvd at Target yesterday, then through a tantrum at the cash register. So no movie - poor Jacob.

Deren took Jacob and Rachael to the local movie/grill to see Cars last Saturday. He said both the kids were so enthralled with the movie that he fed them bite by bite like babies because they wouldn't take their attention away from the movie. McDonald's has Cars' toys in the Happy Meals, so we will be visiting the golden arches quite a bit over the next couple weeks.

I have a doctor's appt tomorrow morning. I'll be 21 wks, and expect to have a sono, but will not find out boy/girl! Dr. Bass let it 'slip' last time, and I'm going to beg her to not this time around - we both are looking forward to our surprise baby in October!

Wow! Just saw it's been awhile since I've posted. May was a bit hectic. Well, all months are kinda hectic here. I guess with me feeling lazy was added to the picture the posts just didn't happen.

Abby went to the doctor of her 1 yr check-up on May 10th. The doctor was pleased with the gains in her weight (18 lbs 7 oz), height (30") and strength. We went to the lab for her re-tests afterwards. The following Monday we got the results - Abby's alkaline phosphatase levels were completely normal. They are now attributing all the abnormal levels from Feb to the rotavirus she had - nasty bug (grumble grumble).

The boys & Rachael finished school last week. They are all a bit confused. Rachael keeps asking for her backpack and the bus. Joshua, at first blush, is enjoying sleeping in. But he is later completely out of sorts from the lack of routine and boredom. Jacob is in tantrum heaven. He asks for a movie, then it's not the right one, then it's not on the right tv, then it's not on the right player on the tv, then he changes his mind and wants another movie, then I say "Forget it," and walk away (process repeats approx every 1/2 - 1 hr during the day).

The boys did break up the monotony by breaking out with head to toe rashes. Turns out they have Fifth disease. I had to go to the OB and get my blood drawn to test for antibodies, since Fifth disease can be dangerous to fetuses. No worry there.. (sarcasm inserted). I heard back from the doctor 4 long days later - I have antibodies, so the baby should be protected. The great (once again, sarcasm inserted) thing about Fifth disease is most people don't know they have the virus until they break out with the rash, which usually starts on the cheeks. And by then they are no longer contagious - they've already unknowingly spread their 'love.' So we're still watching and waiting with the girls. The rash appears about 2 wks after they've contracted the virus, so it will be about mid-June before we know.

Other than that, we're passing around much-more-mundane bugs this week, a cold and a mild stomach bug. Deren and I are starting to wonder if we'll again see the day when all of us are healthy at the same time.

My mom called the Thursday before Memorial Day and said she needed to hug some babies, and wanted to come visit. So Mamaw and Papaw joined us for the holiday weekend. They didn't balk at the rashes (and man, did the boys look bad!). They chased, tickled, hugged, and (even better, in the boys' minds) filled the inflatable pool up with water each day. Rachael has become our in-house princess. She likes to go outside and supervise her subjects "No splash, Jacob, No splash, Josh!" And woe to the subject who errantly splashes the princess! Abby, on the other hand, competes with Joshua for Pigpen status. They both love the water and the mud. We had a really nice visit. Hopefully my parents would agree, although between babysitting and yardwork they worked like dogs.

And FINALLY, I wanted give everyone an up-to-the-minute update on Abby. She started taking some steps (on her own, sans push-toys) TODAY! Of course, she does everything in front of daddy first. She just loves her daddy! Every morning it's, "bye bye dadda!" She really lives up to her namesake, 'father's joy.' Last week she had another weight check. She's now 19 lbs. Another pound or two and she'll be in forward-facing seat! Which is good, because she's getting pretty cramped in her rear-facing seat. Both the OT and nutritionist from ECI have been thrilled with her progress. It's been such a blessing to watch her!

Oh, and one more exciting event today! Mr. Jacob started jumping with both feet in the air while watching a Little Einstein video. He's been trying to jump for years now, so it's really an exciting accomplishment. He seems to be really proud of himself. And Abby started saying "want Rocket" for the Little Einstein videos, today, too. My cute babes!

Oh - and I finished my first knitting project!! No - we aren't going to find out girl or boy, so my next project is a variegated/gender neutral hat, then a pink one.