What are We Thinking?

Sometimes, well often times, I wonder what goes through my kids' minds and I am sure people wonder what goes through my mind. Here are some examples: Thursday morning Josh woke up early of course, but good thing for him he obeys and stays in his room until it is time for breakfast. I was up pretty early because I can't sleep so I was listening to them play. I heard Josh cough a few times, but didn't worry about it. When it reached the right time for breakfast Josh came upstairs and said, "Mom, I just ate a button." I guess that is what caused the coughing I had heard earlier. Now this stands to reason--why did you eat a button. I asked him, but he just looked at me blankly and didn't have any reason. Wonder what it tasted like, but not enough to try one myself. I do feed my kids honest!! I don't know why he felt the need to eat a button. I have heard of pica, but what nutrient could possibly be missing from his diet to drive him to eat plastic buttons?

Another example happened just this morning. Josh and Daniel took a shower and while in the shower they stopped up the tub to get a few inches in the bottom of the tub to play with. Usually this isn't too much of a problem because they keep the shower curtain closed which contains most of the water. After their shower Daniel came downstairs saying Josh was washing his clothes. Fearing the worst and needing more details Aaron called Josh downstairs to see what was going on. I guess Josh felt the need to "wash" the towel in the nasty post shower water in the stopped up tub to get it "clean". He then shoved the newly "cleaned" towel in the dirty clothes hamper while being sopping wet. Awesome! I guess we will be doing a load of laundry today, Sunday, of all days. We are trying not to let Josh see us laugh, but we can't help, but wonder: Honestly, what was he thinking?

Another example happened yesterday. Josh and Daniel had a shower in the morning and my kids are not picky about what they wear. Aaron or I usually just pick something out and put it in the hallway for them to get dressed in when they finish their shower. Josh and Daniel got out and dressed. It wasn't until the afternoon that Aaron went upstairs and found some underwear laying in the hallway that suspiciously looked like the pair he had given Daniel to put on that morning. He asked Daniel if he was wearing underwear and Daniel swore he was wearing underwear so we believed him and went about our business wondering where the suspicious pair of underwear came from. It wasn't until Daniel decided to go potty later in the afternoon--the kind where you sit down--when he yelled, "Dad, I don't have any underwear on." I would think that would be uncomfortable while wearing jeans, but I guess it wasn't that bad for Daniel at least because he went for most of the day like that.

People are going to be wondering what I was thinking when they drive past our house. We decided to put up our Christmas decorations yesterday. I know it's before Thanksgiving, but Christmas takes so much work to set up I want to get my maximum amount of enjoyment from it. That way by the time New Years comes I am more than ready to get everything back to normal. Here's a picture of part of the living room. Last night we all went to a rodeo. We won some tickets from a radio station and decided to go because, hey, it was free. We had a few strikes against us, though. One strike was it started after my kids' bedtime. On the drive to the rodeo all the kids, except Matthew, fell asleep in the car and some of them are not fun to wake up--the biggest offender would be Daniel. He takes after Aaron in that department. We stayed as long as the kids were good and left when we couldn't stand to hear the whininess anymore. It was a fun thing to do and I think the kids liked it, but they would have had more fun if they weren't asked to stay up so late--9:30pm. That's when you know you have little kids vs. big kids because my kids still like to go to bed early unlike the tweens/teenagers that can stay up all hours of the night. I like this age, though despite the late night whininess.

Good Things Come In Threes?

I had an OB doctor's appointment this morning. This one we had been anticipating since our baby is far enough along in the pregnancy we should be able to tell what the sex of the baby is for sure. As the doctor was measuring the baby he saved the best for last--the gender. We were pretty sure it was a girl so we didn't expect anything else. BOY were we wrong!! It appears as if our little fetus girl has sprouted a third appendage between her legs and is really a BOY!!! I have keep telling myself good things come in threes as in three legs over and over again because I still don't believe it. We were so shocked. It was just two weeks ago the doctor told us he thought it was a girl. The doctor did ask us before he checked what we thought it was and we said a girl without a doubt. When he found the gender part he just sat there, "Hmmm"--I think he was trying not to laugh. I made him check again and then asked him how sure he was it was a boy. He just looked at me with a look like are you serious? and said, "Um, I think this is a sure thing." Here is the proof of that third appendage in between the legs in the second picture:

Now we are going have to try and figure out sleeping arrangements and a name for the new little boy since we had everything set up for a girl in our minds. This baby has been nothing short of surprises from the beginning! All I can say is poor Sarah--however, this will guarantee her to be majorly spoiled, but well protected with four boys looking out for her.

In other things Josh had red ribbon (aka drug prevention) week about a month ago at his school. For fun they had a drawing where everyone in the school got their name put in the bucket. The prize was 3 students got to eat lunch with the DARE officer at a local restaurant. They even got transported to the restaurant in the DARE patrol car to and from the restaurant. Josh happened to be one of the three lucky winners. However, when the day came for the lunch the school cancelled and rescheduled for later in the week. They then cancelled that and we never heard anything more about the lunch so I tried to help Josh forget about it since he was so disappointed. Well come to find out they rescheduled for yesterday and Josh was able to go. He thought it was great to ride in the DARE car with the police officer and the other two students to Sonic Drive-in. He enjoyed the whole thing and hasn't stopped talking about it since. I am glad it was a good experience and that he was finally able to go.

Orange and Sarah

Daniel had another belt test for karate last Thursday. He did well and moved on up from a yellow belt to an orange belt. He is pretty excited. He has been doing his karate moves all night after receiving his new belt at the belt ceremony today in karate. His Sensei said Daniel would be the first student possible to smile his opponent to death. He is a little bit of a ham, but I still love the little "Hi Mom!" waves throughout his karate class. The video is a small clip of the actual belt test. I am glad they make some allowances for the younger students since they don't have the greatest attention spans.Sarah had her 15 month check up today. She is doing great--she still isn't talking much, but at least she is using sign language to communicate her basic needs. Her stats are 21.6 pounds (25th percentile), length 31 inches (25th percentile), head circumference 45 cm (just under 50th percentile). She is growing, learning and is developing a sweet personality when she isn't showing her stubborn streak. She hates milk, but loves juice so I am trying to think of ways to incorporate the milk fat back into her diet since she refuses to drink it. Man, I wish I had that problem of needing more fat in my diet instead of the opposite!!

The Crystal Ball Says...Surgery

There will be surgery in Aaron's future as well as lack of dollar signs in both our futures. Such is life :). He went to the Orthopedist today and it looks like a right lateral meniscus tear in his knee--which of course, according to our luck, needs surgery to correct. He has an MRI on Thursday morning to make sure that's the proper diagnosis. From there it is a follow up appointment to discuss the MRI results and to plan the surgery. I am hoping to drag it out until our flex spending account starts up again in January, but we'll see how fast things get moving. The sad thing is he doesn't even have a good story like he did it skiing or something else--he did it while playing volleyball of all things and that's kind of funny to tease him about. Anyway, I would rather have him get the surgery sooner than later since the longer he waits the more pregnant I will be and we can't have both of us out of commission at the same time. It also isn't very fun chasing after kids while being hugely pregnant so I am hoping Aaron will be able to run after the kids before long. After the surgery there will be about a four month rehab--yup, I said a four month rehab--including physical therapy and crutches hopefully graduating into a huge brace sooner than later. What a way to kick off the New Year right?!?

Sarah is starting to turn into a girly girl and I LOVE IT!! She loves to dress herself even if she can only drape the clothes around her neck as in the video clip. She will pick up any piece of clothing and try to put it on anytime. She must be a fashion diva. She also loves putting her shoes on, and after a few minutes taking them off as well.

She also loves to pose for the camera. In this picture she was crying right before I brought out the camera and once she saw it she immediately stopped crying and started posing and smiling. What a ham! She even has started letting me do her hair for longer periods of time and it's fun. I love having a girl and hopefully by the end of the week I can definitely say I will be having two girls!!! YAY!

Volleyball a Contact Sport?

Aaron's work allows them to have exercise time. That means they get to work out for 3 hours a week during work hours. Aaron works with a bunch of guys and they usually like to play basketball, racquetball or volleyball together. This last Thursday they went and played volleyball and I didn't think that could get too dangerous--well I was wrong. Aaron was at the front of the net with his leg sticking out when another guy went to jump to spike the ball. On the way down from the other guy's jump he landed right on Aaron's knee forcing it to bend backwards pretty far. Ever since then Aaron has been hobbling around not being able to put much weight on it. We have nicknamed him Gimp. Walking has gotten a little easier over the weekend, but he still has a hard time. He went and saw an Instacare physician Thursday night, but that was not very effective since the doctor was an idiot just told him, "Yep it's swollen." All I could think was I just paid $35 for that great piece of advice and knowledge. No offense to all those super smart doctors in our families because they aren't idiots like that! Anyway, after wasting our time there Thursday night, he has an appointment with an orthopedist on Monday. In the meantime he can't straighten out his leg because it will bend backwards, it is still hugely swollen, it will occasionally it lock up where he can't bend it, and when he can move it, it clicks all the time. I am hoping it will just heal on its own, but I am fearing this might need a surgery to fix it. I guess we will find out tomorrow--send healing vibes our way please because I don't want to have him go through surgery!!

In other happenings Josh lost a tooth and took a page out of Matthew's book. He lost the tooth and then he actually misplaced it. He had to write the Tooth Fairy a letter to let her know what had happened. The sign says, "I lost a tooth by Josh" with a nice picture of a tooth drawn below. Josh set out two papers with the same message out to make sure it wouldn't be missed. He was also hoping to double dip, but we told him that wouldn't work that the Tooth Fairy was smarter than that--at least I hope so. Anyway, I thought Josh would be excited the next morning to see some money. He instead came upstairs and said, "All I got was a freakin' dollar." I told him with an attitude like that he won't have to worry about any more freakin' dollars maybe next time it I will tell the Tooth Fairy to bring just be a freakin' penny for his tooth! Geez, what a kid!

Matthew earned his Bobcat in scouts and received the award at Pack Meeting last Tuesday. I for some reason didn't take any pictures, but he is pretty proud. I got to paint some stuff on his face and he got to paint some stuff on my face--I will admit I was a little worried about that one, but it turned out ok. Now I have to figure out how to sew the award on his shirt without sewing his pocket closed. Any advice would be appreciated!!

Parent Teachers and Disabilities

This week has been early out for Josh and Matthew to accommodate parent teacher conferences. They have been a little restless, but only two more days plus the weekend and things will be back to normal. We got to meet with Josh's teachers Tuesday afternoon. I didn't ask anyone to watch the kids because I thought Aaron and I could handle it. I was a little on the WRONG side with that assumption. I ended up meeting with the teachers while Aaron chased Sarah all around. He got to listen to bits and pieces of the conversations, but Sarah was not very cooperative. It sounds like Josh had a hard time adjusting to all day school in the beginning of the year, but now he is doing great. He is very attentive and a "very smart boy" to quote his teachers. I am one proud Momma! As we were walking out to the car, we noticed Sarah was tightly holding in her hand a handful of tokens and had some decorations she ripped off the wall. She is a pretty headstrong little girl that refused to be held or put in the stroller! At least she was able to keep herself entertained I guess. Maybe next time I will see about getting someone to watch them instead.

Wednesday we got to meet with Matthew's teacher. Now I was dreading this meeting for a few reasons. One is Matthew on a good day has at least 1 hour of homework a day, but on most days it ends up turning into about 90 minutes to two hours. Now this wouldn't be that bad if he could do it without someone sitting right next to him helping him almost the whole time, but that doesn't happen. After one particularly difficult day of homework where it took us two hours to complete just one assignment (I don't believe in doing the child's work for them) and he still had two more to do that we didn't get to, I finally emailed the teacher and said I couldn't do this much homework a night anymore. Between different kids' interruptions, trying to clean up the house, trying to help Josh with his homework, and trying to fix dinner it was getting to be too much. She emailed me back the next day and basically told me her and Matthew were able to complete all of his homework in class in about 30 minutes. WHAT?!? I was wondering if we were talking about the same child. Well since I didn't get much support from the teacher and the homework just kept coming, I tried to help Matthew complete as much as he could and the rest just didn't get finished. After a few days of this the teacher sent me a nasty note saying that ALL his homework needs to be done EVERY night. I have to say I am really not a slacker Mom and I think homework is important, but when it comes to the point that it sucks up all of Matthew's time where he does not even get a chance to do anything fun because there is no free time I do have a problem with that. That is a little background of why I was dreading this parent teacher meeting. I did make Aaron come with me because I had him help Matthew with his homework a few times and he absolutely agreed with me. One of my friends offered to watch Josh and Daniel for me (thanks April) which helped a ton so we only had to take Matthew and Sarah. We sat down and talked with his teacher and finally came to the agreement that if Matthew didn't finish his all his homework in 30-45 minutes every night he would have to stay in for morning recess to finish the rest at school the next day. I am hoping this will give Matthew the incentive to stay on task and complete his homework at home. I am keeping my fingers crossed. If this works I don't know what I will do with all my free time :). The rest of his parent teacher conference was discussing Matthew's progress. Matthew has done really well up until the end of last year when he started falling behind his grade level. We knew this is something that would very likely happen, but it is still hard to hear. The differences with Matthew and his peers in social skills and integrating with people is widening as well and it becomes very apparent at any social gathering like church, scouts, school, family gatherings, etc. However, there is nothing we can do about it--it's all part of his "disability" as the teacher calls it. Matthew has been diagnosed with autism for 6 years now, but to hear it referred to as a disability is still really hard for me to hear. I don't think of him as disabled, but from a school standpoint that's what they consider autism. I just consider him as a quirky and smart 8 year old little boy that just needs a little extra help. Anyway, he is still doing great on what he is doing for now, but time will tell what will happen in the future. As for now I am trying to concentrate on the positives and help where I can (except for two hours of homework a night!!). We do try our best, but time will tell with Matthew. The future is so uncertain for Matthew and us--we don't know how much help he'll need as an adult or if he will be able to ever be independent of us. These are some pretty weighty matters we always have in the back of our minds. Aaron has to keep reminding me to live in the present and not worry about the future since I can't do anything about it now. I am trying to take this advice to heart...trying, anyway, since I have cried off and on for about two days about it now. Daniel keeps asking me, "Why do you look like that Mom?" since my face turns red and splotchy when I cry. There's nothing that a good cry can't solve, right?!?

Nightgowns and Calculators

Last night Sarah wore a nightgown for the second time. I guess the boys didn't notice it the first time because they were asking all kinds of questions this morning about it. Matthew first asked me if it was a swimming suit then Josh asked if it was a dress. I don't think they quite understand the concept of nightgowns since all I wear to bed is scrubs or pajama pants and a T-shirt. Sarah does not enjoy them too much because she ends up tripping over the bottom of the nightgown which slows her down from going to where she needs to go. She can get pretty frustrated as you can see in the pictures of her trying to walk and falling.

We had an old calculator just laying around when Josh found it the other day. He picked it up and started playing with it. He then came over to me excited and wide eyed and said, "Mom, this can do math!!!" He kept asking me math problems and then checking my answer against the calculator--talk about pressure. Good thing they were simple ones I can still do in my head without writing things down. Speaking of the calculator, I haven't seen it around for a few days. I hope Josh hasn't taken it to school to "help" him with his math. I will have to ask him about it later.