Friday, October 22, 2010

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Rescued

I couldn't stop watching the rescue of the Chilean miners. It's been riveting.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

I Don't Want to Talk About It

I'm struggling.

I've been struggling for a while truth be told. Some of it has been the stress of Big Daddy's stroke, some of it is the fact we have a non verbal 2.5 year old who is a very typical terrible two (new nickname Destructo), work, M not liking summer camp, Big Daddy's heart surgery, and E's transition planning for preschool in January. Then, just for fun, be on a birth control pill that, while preventing pregnancy and the monthly blood bath, seems to exacerbate and extend every crazy PMS symptom. It's possible that I spent the month of September not talking to anyone because all I could think in my head was for people to shut up (actually, much more offensive than that). My brain decided that everyone was my enemy and I was hating most people.

Luckily, it finally dawned on me that The Pill was the only thing messing with me chemically and when I stopped it last weekend, whew! It would seem that I do like my husband and children.

But it sucks, this struggling. I don't like feeling that I should be doing better or have it all in control. I hate not being the example I want to be for the girls. I hate, mostly, that I've isolated myself (in defense, I knew if I started down the crazy road, it wouldn't stop).

I've decided, however, that I'm going to keep posting for 31 for 21 even though I'm behind. I'm going to be okay with not getting 31 posts in this month. I going to be okay with making progress towards being the mom I want to be, the wife I want to be, and the person I want to be.

I do have lots to say about Down Syndrome and I really like reading other parents' 31 for 21 posts. Some of them are hard and some of them really make me think. I have a lot to say about the transition crap (like a social worker who schedules testing without consulting us, then having a bit of a snit when I told her no; or when they scheduled it for 2 weeks before Christmas break) which makes me really aggravated. As Cate says about her daughter, "She's a person not a project." That's a whole other rant post for another night. In the meanwhile, enjoy our family picture from Disney.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Monday, October 4, 2010

Summer Pictures

I love these pictures of E, taken in early July.































Saturday, October 2, 2010

Happiest Place on Earth (if you're 7)

We went to Disney World last weekend for a much deserved break. We all had a good time, especially M whose interest in Princesses has been slightly revived. It could have been something in the air, though, that exacerbated the natural acquisition skills of a seven year-old when confronted with sparkly items. M desperately wanted high heel shoes and the first purchase she made was of Cinderella's glass slippers, which were worn everywhere we'd let her (mainly our hotel room).

We stayed at the Bay Lake Tower at the Contemporary which is part of Disney's "innovative vacation ownership, blah, blah, timeshare, blah, blah." It was nice, especially since we had a kitchenette with microwave, toaster, & refrigerator. We had groceries delivered (awesome!) and it worked out nicely. I was really glad we stayed on-site because the sheer logistics of transporting us back and forth, the stamina needed (from all of us), and the sweltering humidity would have crushed my spirit by day 2. As it was, we enjoyed returning to the hotel and swimming every day. We made it to Downtown Disney and the Lego Store (fabulous!) and saw most of the Magic Kingdom.

More photos to come (when the ridiculously expensive Disney photos get here).

31 for 21, Year 2

Yep. Already behind the posting schedule for this year's 31 for 21. I really enjoyed doing it last year and will give it my best again this year.

Some update about Miss E:
  • We're working through her transition stuff for preschool beginning in January. I have to say, it's been a bit of a pain. The Education Services Center social worker that is arranging all the meetings and evaluation only works part time. So I received a call from our EI specialist who said, oh the at-home is XXX day/time and the multifactor eval is XX day/time. Without even consulting whether it was actually convenient. I questioned having an eval, which forms the basis for E's IEP meeting, on the 2nd of December with the IEP meeting to be a couple weeks later (you know during the last week before the holidays or over the holidays) because I don't think it's going to be enough time, nor am I going to give up our break time to schedule meetings that they could adjust. It's not the school district, so I'm not concerned if I'm 'THAT' parent. And even if I become THAT parent, so be it.
  • E had all her testing from her therapists. For OT, she even moved from the 2nd percentile up to the 5th in skills! Her OT said that it was unusual for kids to move up, but we'll take it. OT is E's strongest skill and even though she's delayed, she's always had good fine motor skills. In PT, we're working on jumping, kicking, stepping over stuff (E doesn't always navigate over obstacles) and riding a bike! In speech, she still has no words, but 50+ signs (Thanks to Signing Time). I swear she adds 2 - 3 signs a week. It's hard to keep up.
  • E has become a real stink bug. To my recollection, she's a total 2 year old, defiant, stubborn, selective hearing, etc. She won't eat certain foods she loved, signs for ice cream all the time, will turn into a noodle if you pick her up to remove her from a situation. Some days it's funny, but others it's incredibly exasperating. She's also vocalizing her demands (no words, just grunts and squawks) so that's fun (**rolls eyes**)
  • She's eating with a spoon and doing a pretty good job most of the time. Yesterday, though, she did spill yogurt all down her, but I think it was her way of not having to eat it because her throat is still a little sore.
  • She has a sore throat because she had her adenoids out, turbinates shrunk, and a tube put in her right ear (because the weenie who did them in December didn't get it seated and, needless to say, we no longer see him for that and other issues). Hopefully, this will help her with the constant fluid in her hear which causes mild hearing loss. While she was under, they also did a BAER test, which came back perfect (e.g., no neurological hearing loss).
More about Down Syndrome (October is DS awareness month and the motivator behind 31 for 21), E, M, Big Daddy and life as we go along.