Friday, January 28, 2011

and more bubbles.......

Bubbles

Here is a link to a video I took of Emma. Sorry it's sideways.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Update on Macie's therapy and evaluation

First I have to say that I should have acted on this sooner, and shame on me for not doing it sooner. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.
Are you anxious now that I said all that?
I technically "fired" Macie's speech therapist today. There were several reasons for this. First one is: for a few weeks now when she leaves our house I always say to myself "what exactly did she accomplish today?". She has done the same thing every single time she is here. Macie has been in therapy for almost 10 months now. Speech is the only one that she has twice a week, all the others are once a week. I see progress with Macie as far as talking, and receptive language, but I feel she is getting that all from the other therapists. I just figured she does the same thing every time in order to have a routine, consistency, etc. She also seems to be cutting her sessions shorter every time and claiming that Macie is "done" after 40 minutes, and she "doesn't want to push her". Macie is a kid that needs to be pushed, and the person doing the pushing has to be a little aggressive and persistent. Two of Macie's other therapists have made several (at least 3 each) phone calls to her to kind of "get on the same page" with Macie's therapy. They want to find out how she is doing, what works and doesn't work, etc. She WILL NOT return their phone calls. With all those factors together I decided to go with someone else. I need someone who is not so mild mannered, shy, busy, etc. I started thinking to myself, "this is my baby, and her development, her future, and if she can't even call someone back to discuss Macie's development then she's not 'invested' in Macie." I see the passion the other three therapists have for their work, and the children they work with. They ask questions about Macie, they call to see how she's doing if we had to miss a session. When they are here, they are here 100% for Macie. I never got that warm, fuzzy feeling from the speech therapist. Otis apparently did. Remember my story about him humping her? Maybe that was a sign???? Sorry, got off track there.
So.....away she goes. We will be getting another speech therapist soon since there isn't a waiting list at the moment.
I also spoke to the Coordinator for Macie's program, and she has sent the medical diagnosis referral over to Children's Memorial Hospital. They have a great team there, and after doing much research I feel that is the best place to take Macie for her evaluation. This should happen in the next few weeks. Please send us some strength in the meantime. Thank you.
Here is a link to the Dr. that will head her evaluation. Everyone I have spoken to has said wonderful things about her, and she is very respected.

Emma's baby

Auntie Kim gave Macie and Emma the most adorable, hand-made baby dolls for Christmas. They are quite detailed (dimples, etc.) and have a "binky", diapers, and blankies. They are so cute that I don't just put them out for the girls to play with all the time. I want them to stay nice, and I am afraid Macie will eat hers, and Emma will drool all over hers. I brought Emma's out today since she has been playing with Macie's other baby doll a lot lately.
When I got it out and gave it to her- she lit up! First she took off her bonnet, tried to take off her shirt, and then she discovered the baby's binky. We have mostly gotten Emma down to using a binky just for naps, and nighttime. I think when she saw this baby with a binky she was a little pissed. She took it away from the baby (it's magnetic so there is no nipple on it) and tried to put it in her mouth. Big shocker for her. She took it away from her mouth, looked at it to try and figure out what was wrong with it then tried again. When she figured out she wasn't getting anywhere with it she gave it back to the baby that had no idea she has a faulty binky. Emma looked at her like "ha ha, jokes on you kid".
Here are a few pics of Emma meeting her baby for the first time. Love at first sight! Thanks Auntie Kim!!!

This kid can really throw down some pasta

and I swear she uses utensils just fine, but sometimes they just don't do the job fast enough.

Emma's first shiner

Ain't it perty???





Wednesday, January 26, 2011

A nervous breakdown over invitations.....

There is way more drama in the words to the title of this post than in real life......sorta.
It took me FOR-EVER to find a cute invitation for Emma's 1st Birthday. When I finally found it, designed it, and got ready to purchase it the stupid website was malfunctioning. Tried for two days to order it with no luck. I moved on and decided to go with another website. I didn't like these invitations nearly as much as the others, but I had to do something. I am running out of time here.
So I get them ordered, and have Phil pick them up. When he got home I looked at them and was really happy with how they turned out. I put one up on the fridge and told Phil to look at it. I said to him "I put 12:00 on there for the time, but didn't put an end time, hope that's ok." Long pause from Phil......and I say "what? Is that not ok?". I look at the invite and there is no freaking time on it. I immediately go into defensive mode, "I put the time on there. I checked it three times before I sent it. Why would the time not be on there? I am going to call and scream at them." Blah blah blah. After I settled down I checked my order and sure enough.......no time on it! Crap!
I don't have time to order more so now I am coming up with a way to indicate the time on it.
So frustrating!!!!! Shouldn't they train the people who print them to proofread them and look for things like that? Yeah.....probably not. Just trying to place blame on someone other than myself.
So for anyone who reads this blog- Emma's party starts at NOON, and I am sorry that the invites look like total crap!!!!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

A whole lot of randomness



Where to start?
As you know, Macie peed on the potty the other day. On Sunday before she got in the tub I decided to put her on the potty. She got up from the potty and looked in there, and there was a turd. I was just as surprised as she was!!! Then what does she do? She reaches for it.....NOOOOOOOO, don't touch your poop!! We did the happy Poo Poo dance, and then we flushed it and waved bye bye to it. I can't be pegged as the Poo Paparazzi because I didn't want to ruin the process by going to grab the camera. I did of course have to call Phil upstairs to witness Macie's first poo poo on the potty. It was a happy moment! I'm very certain that the poo poo's and the pee pee's on the potty this past week were a fluke. She doesn't know how to tell us when she has to go, and she doesn't know how to get herself undressed to do the deed. She also has peed on the floor twice when I was attempting to get her to go on the potty again. I do think it's a step in the right direction, and hopefully being potty trained by the time she's 15. I know it's going to be a long process. I am told that "sensory kids" are very difficult to potty train. Irregardless, we are very proud of the Face!
Emma took her first solo steps on Sunday also. She was standing next to the couch, and she just let go and took three steps towards me. She's taken a step here and there since, but she prefers to either crawl or surf the furniture. She also now says "bu bu" for bubbles. She has stopped saying "Mama". I am "Dada" now. I tell her "say Mama", she grins at me and says "Dada". Little stinker! Guess I just have to complain about it, and type it since she just said "Mama mama mama". She's not feeling well right now so I think she's pleading with me to help her feel better.
I guess our schedule wasn't quite full enough with all Macie's therapies, appointments, work, etc. we now are adding a Pediatric Nutritionist to the mix. She came over last night and did an evaluation on Macie, and "qualified" Macie for services. I have been doing a food journal for Macie for a while. I was doing it to try and figure out if there were certain things that upset her tummy, or made her act differently, etc. The nutritionist was thrilled that I did it. Based on what I told her, and the food/mood journal, she has asked that we cut out dairy all together. We have to make a trip to the Vitamin Shoppe to get some supplements for her so that she gets enough calcium. She was thrilled with everything that Macie eats. She said she really eats very healthy for a 2 year old, and she eats very balanced meals. I have to admit, I was a bit surprised. I pictured her coming into our house and grabbing a huge garbage bag and throwing everything out. So we are adding another "stranger" in Macie's life. She was finally getting used to all the other therapists, and now we have to start from scratch with this new one! It's all for her benefit, I just have to remind myself of that once in a while.
I also have begun the process of getting Macie a medical diagnosis. It's emotionally exhausting to make the decision to do this, but I feel that it's time. She is still making great progress, but there are still some concerns. A diagnosis doesn't change her therapy in any way. It will help us a great deal I think. It will help when she gets ready to go to school, and will get whatever help she needs in the classroom.
Macie has added some words to her vocabulary:
Graham cracker (that's a tough one)
yogurt
carrots
all done
down
She still doesn't use sentences, but at least we are having an easier time understanding her wants and needs. She cries less now that she is able to voice some wants and needs. Her receptive language is amazing. She follows directions, and listens to most of what we say to her. In so many ways she seems like a "typical" 2 year old.....just a very quiet one (at least as far as talking goes). It seems the most difficult issue with her now is climbing. She has to be moving and climbing all the time. It soothes her I guess, but I am a nervous wreck all the time. She climbs on anything and everything. She will pull toys out of her toy box and use them as a step ladder to climb higher. She NEVER stops moving. We need to look into gymnastics for her, but I am not sure where we would fit that in. It's very frustrating that we are basically home ridden all the time. Her therapies force us to be home most of the time. It's hard to "socialize" her when you can't leave the house!!!!
I think that is all the updates I have for now. I have to go feed Chatty Cathy her lunch.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Never in a million years........

did I imagine I would be so extremely giddy over pee pee in a potty!!!!!Nor did I ever think I would document it with a picture, and a post for everyone to see!
Yes it's true! Macie went pee pee in the potty for the first time today!
It's quite a funny story (at least from my perspective). Macie got up from her nap today, and immediately went over to her Little People house. There is a little "potty" in there that makes a flushing noise. She was obsessively flushing the toilet. I had the monitor on, and could hear it. I immediately thought "hmmmm, maybe she's trying to tell me something.". I ran upstairs, grabbed her potty, and brought it in to her room. We've been trying to get her to use it in the bathroom, but with no success. She's peed on top of it twice while brushing her teeth, and one of those times was last night. I stripped her down, sat her on the potty, and handed her a book for distraction. She got up right away so I put her on it again and started giving her a pep talk. I may have been bribing her with "Gabba Gabba", "cookies", "crackers"...... She was reading her book, and I may or may not have blown on her lady parts in a desperate attempt to bring some awareness to what she should be doing, and where it should be coming out. As soon as I did that, she farted. I got all excited thinking she was gonna poo, but out came the pee!!!! I immediately did a little potty dance, a lot of very obnoxious praising, some high fives, some hugs, and kisses. She was so proud of herself. She got a huge smile on her face like DJ Lance Rock just walked in the room and congratulated her! When she got off the potty I said "look what you did Macie, look at your pee pee....I am so proud of you!". She looked into the potty, ran around her room clapping, and then came over and shut the lid on the potty.
Whether it was just a fluke, or maybe a start to some diaper less days.....I don't care. I am one proud Mommy!!!!
Yay Face!!!!
Wanted to add that we have been talking to her about using the potty, sitting her on it once in a while, showing her the potty in the Little People house. When she gets mad during a diaper change I explain to her that if she would just use the "big girl potty", she wouldn't have to endure the ever so awful diaper changes!!!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

What does the other girl look like?


SHE looks very cute, and innocent!
Yep.....my sweet, energetic little Macie "fractured" my nose. I always wanted something "done" with my nose, but this wasn't the route I was thinking.
Phil was upstairs running a bath for the girls when it happened. I put Macie on my lap facing out to take her socks and pants off. She was completely happy, not upset, not thrashing....NO WARNING signs. She just decided in a split second that she wanted off my lap. She threw her head back, and WHAM! She hit my nose with her head. I heard a loud CRACK, and everything went fuzzy. I saw stars, then my eyes started watering. I couldn't yell, couldn't cry. I was in so much pain, and I was completely stunned. I immediately went to the freezer and grabbed a bag of peas. The only concern Macie had was- why on earth was I putting HER peas on my nose!!! She kept poking at the bag, and when I couldn't take it anymore I went upstairs and bawled my eyes out to Phil.
Macie doesn't quite understand how others feel, but Phil had a "talk" with her while she was in the tub about how she "accidentally hurt Mommy, and she should give me a kiss". When she was done with her bath Phil brought her over to me and said "see Mommy hurts, give her a kiss". She gave me three kisses!!! Kisses are hard to come by with Macie. She doesn't really ever give them. She will offer you her cheek when you ask for one. I think she is starting to understand feelings a bit better, and I certainly felt better after her kisses.
After a few days of agony I went to the Dr. There is a hairline fracture, and my septum has a slight deviation. There's not really much they can do unless I have issues down the road with breathing, etc.
Rhinoplasty from Dr. Macie!!!!
I took pictures of the deviation, but I'll spare you the shot up my nose!!!


Tuesday, January 11, 2011

A day with Macie

I guess I should preface this post with telling you that I love my kids more than anything in this entire world. There are no "easy" days with Macie lately, but I wouldn't change her for the world. I love her just the way she is, and that is why she is "The Face". What I would change is what she is going through. She has daily struggles with sensory issues, and communication. She gets frustrated very easily because she can not tell me what is bothering her, or what she needs. I wish I could change the fact that we do not get out of the house very often for many reasons (tons of therapy, and some situations are difficult for Macie and frankly I hate exposing her to ignorant people who can't take a minute to think that something might be wrong with her, and it's not that I am a non-caring, ignorant parent that can't control my children).
Sorry, I digress a bit.....
Every once in a while I feel the need to document a "rough" day with Macie. It's either to inform others of our daily struggles, or to document for her therapists some of the things they may not see all the time.
Yesterday was a particularly "eventful" day.
I pulled her off the edge of the back of the couch 16 times. While I was changing Emma's diaper, one of the times she lost her footing and tumbled to the ground and gave herself a rug burn/black eye. She cried for 2.2 seconds, and climbed right back up there.
She now moves her play kitchen and climbs over the gate to go upstairs and climb on my nightstand so she can jump on the bed. She did that 6 times yesterday.
We had 3 "standoffs" because she wanted to watch "Guba Guba" (Gabba Gabba), and I would not let her until she played for at least 1/2 hour....with toys!
I told her 22 times to stop rocking on the couch, and gave her options to have a foot rub, read a book, or bounce on the ball with me.
After lunch, it took 13 minutes of screaming until she finally signed "all done" and said "all done".
I got kicked in the gut and the girls 9 times while struggling with her to put some clothes on. She's in the "nakey is better" stage. She HATES getting dressed, but once the battle is over, she is fine.
I told her 5 times to be "gentle" with her sister while she bitch slapped her, and sent her binky flying across the room!
During one of the "standoffs" instead of trying to talk to her and reason with her, I decided to imitate her. I whined and cried like she was, she stopped and started laughing. I tried to explain to her that I can't understand her when she cries and she needs to stop and use her words. I'm fairly sure if she did use her words they would have been some colorful 4 letter ones!
So, that's a day with Macie. Somewhere in there I managed to shower, and change diapers, read to them, and run a mile in the living room trying to wear them out (er um.....I mean entertain them).
Some of the behaviors above are "Sensory seeking", and others are just plain behavioral. I'm in the process of trying to distinguish between the two, and it's not an easy task. You don't want to "punish" the sensory seeking behaviors since she can't help it- we need to redirect her, but you want to make sure you are punishing and redirecting the correct things. Make sense? Probably not, but I feel better "talking" about it!
Anyone up for babysitting? Don't all call at once.......

Monday, January 10, 2011

A shout out to Phil

I am WAY late on this post, but that seems to be the norm lately!!!!
Phil's 37th Birthday was on New Years Eve. With the craziness of the holidays, two kids.....sick kids, and just life in general I sometimes forget to tell Phil how wonderful he is. So, I am going to take this opportunity to wish him a happy belated Birthday. It's not that I didn't wish him well on his birthday, I just feel like his special day gets put aside by me due to the holidays. Bad excuse, I know.

I know that I don't always do a good job of telling Phil how amazing I think he is.
I am the luckiest woman in the world! Here are just some of the reasons I (we) am (are) lucky to have Phil:
He works his butt off so I can be home with the girls during the day, and only work two nights a week.
He lets me sleep in, and feeds the girls breakfast almost every morning.
He does laundry while I am at work
He gives the girls their baths, dinner, plays with them, and puts them to bed when I am working.
He goes along with whatever new "project" I want to do. Most recently we began repainting our house. He repainted the living room ceiling and walls while I entertained the girls.
He does the grocery shopping 99% of the time.....I hate it!!!
He knows when I have had a rough day, and knows when I just need a moment by myself to unwind.
He is the best husband and father EVER.

We love you so much Phil/Daddy!!!

Ugly red wall- so glad it's gone!!!! Below is the new paint.







Sunday, January 9, 2011

Emma- 11 Months

Little Ems-

Once again, the month got away from me and I am posting this late. You turned 11 months old yesterday! This last month was a very busy one for you for several reasons. You had your first Christmas, first New Year celebration, you are "talking" up a storm, trying to walk, and you got three new teeth! You also had your first two illnesses too.
Your first Christmas was so nice, and you were so spoiled with toys, and a whole new wardrobe! We started the celebration by stopping by to see your Great Grandma Rose. Everyone there just adored you and your sister in your matching outfits. After our visit we headed over to Uncle Tony and Aunt Karens house to celebrate Christmas Eve with the rest of the family. On Christmas Day we all went over to Grandma and Papa's house to open more presents, and have dinner.


On New Year's Eve (also Daddy's birthday) we went over to your Uncle Joe and Aunt Sam's house. You had your third round of Christmas there, and got to play with your cousins!

You are quite chatty lately too. Some things you have said are: Mama, Dada, dog, kitty kitty, ball. You know where Mommy's nose is, you HATE when I tell you "no"- the tears start rolling. You walk with the help of a push toy, but just not ready to walk on your own. You love exploring, and playing with your toys. You try so hard to play with your sister, but most of the time it ends up with both of you in tears. She'll come around someday....I hope!!!

The not so fun parts of this last month were your teeth, and being sick. You got your two top middle teeth and then added a third to the bottom. I think it was pretty uncomfortable for you, but you don't complain a whole lot. We had a horrible bout of the flu makes its way through our house. Macie got it first, then you. It was awful to see you two so sick, and I have NEVER seen a baby projectile as far and as much as you did. Your Daddy and I then got it, and we have no idea how you handled it as well as you did!!!
Then when we got you home New Years Day you felt really hot, but I thought it was from being in the car seat. I took your temp and it was 105!!!! Made me a little (okay....A LOT) nervous being so high. We called the Dr. and they just said to try and keep it down with tylenol and motrin, and to bring you to the ER if you got worse, or the fever went higher. The fever hung around for almost three days, but never got that high again. You were fine otherwise, a little stuffy but it didn't stop you from eating, playing, etc.So...it's been a whirlwind of a month for you (us). You are such a laid back baby. Nothing really seems to bother you except an empty tummy, or a wet diaper. Oh yeah, and me telling you "no". You love to snuggle when you are sleepy, and you are a great sleeper. You love books- especially Goodnight Moon and Old MacDonald. You adore your Daddy, and you are always looking for him and saying "Dada". I love when you are on the other side of the room, and I get down on the floor to play with you. You come flying over and climb up in my lap, and say "Mama, Mama".
I can't believe in less than a month you are going to be a year old. Seems impossible to me!
I love you sweet girl,

Mommy

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Randoms- NYE, January 2011

Macie and her cousin Joey hanging out on New Years Day
Emma trying to hang with the big kids
Macie taking a break from bouncing
Macie and her cousin Joey bouncing
Mommy and her girls
Emma with attitude in her new outfit

The girls playing in their tunnel. Well....Emma trying to play with her sister in the tunnel- there may or may not have been fists and feet flying when they were in there together.