Rainy Day

Today has been a day of rumbley thunder and the steady plunk and thunk of rain on the roof.  We have watched some Duck Dynasty and a few cartoons.  We have had a popcorn picnic in the living room.  We have had some cuddles.

We have played tickle the baby and make her giggle.

We've played Stare At Mom.




There have been Superheros....


...and crafts.






I think we might need a nap ;-)

We had a good appointment

Iz's heart is sounding good--no murmurs or odd sounds.  Her blood pressure was excellent, best I've ever seen it--I think I may have slightly confused the nurse, though :p  They typically start taking blood pressures at three years old but I asked her to take Iz's bp as well and she froze for a moment LOL  I reminded her that Iz is a heart baby and blood pressure is important for her.  She thought Iz would scream and cry but nope, she's an expert at this stuff and held quite still and got her numbers on the first try.  She has also gained a bit more weight and is in at 26 pounds now and a little over 33 inches tall.

We do have a referral to go see orthopedics next month--I brought up my concerns about Iz's toe-walking and was told that it can be quite normal and they don't start worrying unless the problem persists after age three.  But the attending physician came to take a look at her and noticed she limps very slightly when she walks so he wants orthopedics to rule out a problem with ligaments or leg lengths.  So off we go next month (first available appointment) to have her checked out, just to be sure.

My busy little B is almost 34 and a half pounds and forty inches tall :)  He was very cooperative getting his weight and height and blood pressure and doing his vision screening.  He kept charming the nurses ;-)  They were very thorough going over our concerns and the concerns of his preschool teacher.  He is being referred to the Autism Center for an evaluation.  The social worker is tracking down which center is closest that takes our insurance so I should be hearing back from her in the next few days so I can set up the appointment.

A case of nerves

B and Iz finally have new patient appointments at the new pediatrician--in nine hours.  I should be asleep.  I have to get up in seven hours and get them ready to go and fed.  Leave the house in eight hours.  Arrive at the office in nine hours.  Fill out paperwork.  Talk.  No big deal, right?  Not much different from what you do at every other doctor's appointment.  And, yet, I am nervous.  Once upon a time, the old pediatrician was fairly thorough with Iz but one of the big reasons we are changing is the fact that after she recovered from her surgery, appointments were rushed affairs and I would be told she was fine and then we would end up spending the next week in the hospital.  The two appointments S has had with the new practice have been very very thorough, which is WONDERFUL, but at the same time, it makes me nervous.  I can't help but be anxious that they will find something with Iz, that our year of peace between cardio visits will come to a crashing halt a few months early, that they will hear a murmur or she will be tachychardic again or something.  Its crazy--I have no reason to suspect anything more than a perfectly ordinary visit for her.  Perhaps it is the fact that we will be back on the Children's Hospital Campus?  *sigh*  This may be a "play Candy Crush until you can't help but fall asleep" night :-/

How much do you want to bet that Iz's portion of the appointment will be perfectly ordinary and short and the majority of the appointment will be spent talking about my busy little B and his quirks?

Frohg! Frohg!

Houdini continues his disappearing reappearing act--when he can't be found, it doesn't even phase the kids :p  S tells me Houdini will come back when he gets hungry or needs to come up for air :p

The best part of Houdini's disappearing act, though, is Izzy's reaction when she can see him moving about in the tank.  Yesterday, she comes into the living room and sees him swimming across the tank and she screeches "FROHG!!!!!!  FROHG!!!!!" and runs over to the tank.  She then dances around and jumps up and down and is just so over-the-top-excited it is hysterical and oh-so-cute.  If he hadn't already been dubbed Houdini, I think he would be named Frohg (pronounced with the OH sound instead of the AH sound of regular frog).  It is pretty funny to see B try to correct Izzy's pronunciation :p  He knows frohg is wrong but he can't quite say it, either--his version is frot.  LOL  He'll get better at that g sound eventually :p

Houdini Update

He was swimming around in the tank this morning. Where the heck is this frog hiding out?

Summer Reading

One of the (many) things I love about S's school is their summer reading program.  The kids are asked to pick out several books that interest them--the teachers make sure the books are at the appropriate reading levels, usually a few books that are "easy" for the kids to read, a few that are the next level up, and usually at least one "challenging" book.  Because the kids chose them, they are usually invested in reading them.  Each kid is giving a nice little bag to carry their books in and after each one is read several times, you fill out a postcard to send to the school about the book.

S's last day of school was Friday and he has already read one of the books to me a couple times and filled out his postcard and mailed it off.  The summer is getting off to a quick start ;)  We pick a new book out today and will get to work on the next postcard :)

Another bonus to the school's program is that it also counts toward his page/book count for the library's summer program.  We need to head into our local branch this week and get him signed up.  In previous years he hasn't really participated but his reading has improved and he has actually started enjoying reading.  He still prefers to be read to because he likes the books and stories above his reading level more but he is more willing to read the simpler books for practice than he was even just a few months ago.  I think it has become habit now because has had to read every night for school. 

Where did he go?

And Houdini is nowhere to be found again. The only thing I can think of is he must be burying himself in the rocks and hiding. The rock layer is pretty shallow because there is an under gravel filter in there but I suppose he could be somewhere along the edges.  I need to go to Petsmart for cat food so maybe I'll get a bushy plant he could hide in instead of disappearing :p

Meet Houdini

A little over a week ago, the kids picked out a frog for our aquarium. It was very serious business and there was much debate on who should be our new pet. They finally decided on a pink fellow and we brought him home.  They loved watching him and found it especially exciting when he swam around.
And then he disappeared. We had only had him a few days but when we got up and the kids ran to the tank to check on him, he was no where to be found. We figured he was hiding. Hours passed and still no sign of him.  I broke out the net and lifted up all the decorations and caves but, nope, no frog.  Checked to see if he got in the filter. Nope. Checked to see if he climbed out and was on the table. Nope. Floor? Nope. Under the sofa? Nope
After several days, we figured he must have climbed out and the cat ate him because we saw no sign of him.  He's a water frog, not meant to be out for long.  We didn't have any hope of him being alive. The kids were very sad :(
This morning, we flip on the light to feed the fish and guess who we find swimming about?  Our AWOL frog.  Houdini seems like a good name for our little escape artist ;-)

Solo Sleeping....sort of

After her open heart surgery and subsequent hospital stay, it took many many months before Iz would sleep alone.  Nighttime and naps, she had to be as close to me as possible.  Eventually, she would nap alone but the dark of night was a no go for her.  But as her nightmares became more and more rare, she began to sleep on her own for at least a few hours at night.

And then came her hospitalization for rotavirus.  We backslid an entire year and were back to the high anxiety and panic attacks and needing me right there to sleep.  Fortunately, her emotional and mental recovery is going much quicker this time.  She still has her panicky moments and there is still too much crying when I need to do things like use the bathroom and clean on my timetable instead of hers but she will go hang out with people besides me for short periods and will sometimes play happily while I am on the other side of the baby gate.

Sleeping, however, seemed like it would take another year to get better.  Some nights it wasn't even enough to be snuggled up against me, she had to lay on top of me.  Not good at all for the back :p  But the alternative was nightmares and gut wrenching screaming and end-of-the-world-type crying.  Some back pain and not enough sleep was preferable to seeing her in such distress.

Her crib has not been used in several months so we changed it to toddler bed mode.  In this case, just one side comes off so its like a toddler daybed.  Our bed is rather low to the ground so I put her bed up against the bed.  Her bed is slightly lower than mine and it makes a rather cozy little space for her but she can easily get in or out on her own by climbing onto my bed.  Honestly, I viewed it as a sort of bed rail.  She could sleep next to me and I wouldn't have to worry about her rolling off the bed because the slight drop into her bed isn't even enough to wake her if she rolls over into it.  I did not expect her to sleep in her bed.  I expected her to continue trying to become one with me by getting as close as humanly possible.

It has been about a week since I put her bed against mine.  She has slept in her bed every night.  I don't know what it is but she is happy and sleeping fairly well and I'll take it!

Google Reader

What is everyone replacing Google Reader with?  July is coming up fast and I still haven't found something to replace it with other than the front page of my blogger and that doesn't have the lovely features I use with my Google Reader.  Ideas?

Moving forward

I am really liking the new pediatric practice :)  They listen to us, they take our concerns seriously, there is no telling us to just wait it out and see if it is outgrown.  I am hoping this level of concern is also there for Iz and B when they go in for their appointments later this month!

The very best thing?  Now that S has had his first meeting with the psychologist, WE HAVE REFERRALS!!!!!!!!  WOO-HOOOOO!  Who knew you could get so excited about medical referrals?  It was such a fight to get nowhere with the old pediatrician and here, they suggested referrals to do right now and another I asked for and they just handed it over :p  Well, they agreed with me that it would be helpful so they didn't just hand it over--it was justified ;-)  And they are doing all the legwork for insurance to figure out how to minimize our out-of-pocket expense (fingers crossed they get it to zero because I may have to stop eating just to pay for all this stuff........kidding kidding.....).

This post is all a jumble, isn't it?  Maybe I should stop writing and go dance with Iz or something :D

Shark!

One of B's birthday presents was a hooded beach towel with a pirate theme to use for his swim lessons--it is great for little ones!  The hood helps him keep it on while we are going from pool to shower and he loves pretending he is a pirate :)

We decided to get one for Iz as well and when we got there, I showed her the different towels.  Out of a monkey, pirates, and brightly colored flowers, she chose the monkey.  She hugged it and petted it and was so happy about her monkey towel.  And then I spotted one more design.  I thought about not showing it to her since she was so attached to her monkey towel but then I decided to give her a chance to look at it.  I held out a shark towel and the instant she spotted it, she tossed that monkey in the back of the cart, reached out and screeched "SHAR!!!!!!"  It was love at first sight and I am pretty sure she never thought about that monkey again :p

Sharkie:  pet, towel, friend.

Better Late Than Never......

Last month, our busy little B had a birthday!  Four years old :)  His celebration started the night before because he wanted to take a special treat to school to celebrate with his friends.  It took a while to decide what to bring and in the end we made Juice Box Monsters (rawr!).  We used his favorite juice boxes for the body, mini raisin box feet, a sucker head with a smilie face sticker, and pipe cleaner arms holding a treat bag with stickers and a pencil and an eraser.  He had a great time making them!

After school and work, the family gathered to open presents and eat cake :)  B's current obsession is fire engines so we did a fire engine cake and he LOVED it.  He insisted that his piece of cake had to be part of the truck.

I'm not sure who is more excited-B or S!

After cake and presents, we went to do something B has been talking about for months--Chuck E Cheese!  We played many many games but there were two things in particular B really loved and did over and over again.  First was this roller coaster ride--you sit and the seat moves and shakes while you watch a video.  His favorite video is of a squirrel (I think it was a squirrel anyway) wearing a jet pack and zooming around the city.  This boy will sit in that thing and "ride" for hours :p  Iz had to get in on the action, too, and B was a very good big brother and made sure she wore her seat belt :D

His second favorite was one of the cars.  He liked to hang out with the driver and chat ;)

I have lived here more years than I have not.  It is a small place and after so many years, it feels as though I know every nook and cranny.  There are no surprises and in many ways it feels as though time sort of stood still.  The changes are small and subtle for the most part and yet, every so often, you look up and are surprised.  This barn looks as though it has been here, tucked away in the trees, since before I was born but it surprised me.  I never noticed it before.

Spring is finally here

The warm days are outnumbering thr chilly ones, children spend hours playing outside, iced tea has that "sun" flavor from sitting out on the deck, the garden is slowly growing bigger, and the grass needs to be cut.  Spring got a slow start this year but it finally feels like it and we are quickly sliding into summer!

My hair!

The other day Iz and I were in the store and we walked past a display of little girl hair accessories.  She screeched at me to stop, grabbed a pack of bows to show me and then, patting her hair, tells me "ma hay ma hay."  She wanted the big flashy bows but her hair is still too thin and fine to hold them so we compromised and she chose a multipack of the little ones I was willing to get her ;-)