The first day of school part 2

All my fears and worries were for nothing, Harry went off with his preschool teacher just fine and there were no tears shed. I do think that my prep work (taking him to see his class every day after dropping Evan off) really helped him get to know his teachers so he would feel more comfortable with them.

Evan seems to be doing fairly well at school. He likes to go to the bathroom when bored, so I have given his teacher permission to make him wait. I was a bit worried that it could be a UTI but when he went all weekend with his normal pattern I knew he was testing his limits with the teacher.

I am celebrating my brief freedom by eating some gummy worms and not sharing. Daniel is taking his morning nap and I have some lofty plans to do nothing all morning, just because I can.

They get to take a stuffed animal to school for the first three days, it helps comfort the kids and tehy will have a special picnic with the toys on Friday.

My big boys!

First day of School

I know there are excited grandparents so I am rushing to put the pictures of Evan's first day of school up.

We got to meet his teacher last night when they had us drop off school supplies. She was not one of the ones that had attended Evan's IEP meeting, so I had not met her before. She seems really nice and has been teaching for 25 years, so I think she should be able to handle Evan. Harry was rather envious that Evan was going to school and he was not (the pre school starts next week). We made a visit to Harry's class room and met his teacher after getting Evan settled. Harry can have issues with me leaving him places (sobbing, clinging, ect) so I am trying to get him familiar with the new setting and new people. We will visit every day after dropping Evan off in his class room and hopefully that will help.

Evan rocking his cool Thomas the Train backpack.

Evan after finding his name tag. The picture is a bit blurry, it is hard to take pictures when you are also holding a baby.

Look! baby pictures!

I have been all wrapped up in back to school planning. Mentally I have had to prepare myself for sending my babies off to school. I have also had a number of appointments to go to and paperwork to fill out and supplies to buy. Evan starts on the 12th and Harry starts on the 19th and then it will be sweet freedom (or as close as I can get with three kids). I can't help but be anxious about Evan in particular. I want him to have a good time in school and I want him to have the tools to learn the things he needs to. Hopefully his IEP will be followed and I will not have to get squeaky.

Daniel is now three months old. He is such a cutie and is a rather patient baby for the most part. I still have to hold him a lot but he will also, on occasion, accept the swing as an alternative to mommy's arms. Sleeping through the night is happening more often than not, but he will now flip over in his sleep which will cause him to cry and wake me up. He is giggling and laughing a bit and is trying really hard to grasp toys that I hold out for him to look at.

Evan has also been making some strides developmentally. For the longset time Evan has just been scribbling when he "draws". When he was evaluated for school they thought it was related to his stroke and the new pathways he had to form to process the visual information. Lately he has actually started to draw recognizable pictures, they are of cars of course. I am quite excited about this and hope that it will translate to him writing.

This is Evan's picture of a tow truck carrying a car. I tried to get a picture of him next to it, but Harry went and erased it before I could.

Aww, how cute!

It just makes my heart melt.

Dome shot

This entertains him for five seconds and then he has to be out and on my lap.

A change of topic: Chicken Pot Pie Soup

I was looking for a use for leftover cooked chicken and wanted a comforting soup when I found this recipe. After making it I realized that the base made a great starting point for any creamy soup. I have adapted it into a potato corn soup and my husband thinks it would make a great clam chowder too (now all he has to do is get me to want to make it, clams make me want to gag). When I make the chicken version I always add lots of extra veggies to it.

Drama or not

You know you are the parent of a kid with medical issues when you freak out about your child loosing a tooth rather than being excited.

Saturday morning my husband woke me up to look at Evan's mouth which was missing a tooth. My mind immediately jumped to the worst possibility, that Evan had been goofing off and had somehow knocked his tooth out. I was already mentally planning a trip to the dentist and all the hassle that would be involved with getting him a spacer and so on. Luckily I had enough sense to call my mom and see how old I was when I lost my first tooth before I called a dentist. The lack of blood and mouth trauma also helped calm me down.

A change of topic: Why-I-Joined-Zaar Carrot Cake

I was looking for a carrot cake recipe for my husband's birthday and stumbled upon this one. It is amazingly moist and delicious! I made it exactly as written and it was a hit with my husband and kids. If you are having a hankering for a different kind of cake then give this one a try.

Summer fun

Last Wednesday Evan and Daniel had check ups with the family practice doctor. Evan was thrilled to have a "poitment" to go to until, in the midst of it, he found out he would be getting leg pokes aka immunizations. He is doing well on the weight and growth charts and now has all the immunizations he needs for kindergarten.

Daniel shocked me by weighing in at 11 pounds 10 ounces. Harry kind of plateaued weight wise after birth and I was expecting that same pattern from Daniel. No wonder my back has been killing me lately. He is developing well and has already flipped over from tummy to back several times. It is funny when he does it because he starts crying and has such a shocked look on his face.

The weather has been rather mild (for Kansas) of late so we have been enjoying a lot of outdoor time.

A change of topic: Scalloped Potatoes

These potatoes are heavenly. They are a lot of work but it is so very worth it, especially when you want to wow people. For this recipe I like using Yukon Gold potatoes, they have a nice buttery taste to them that works perfectly with the recipe. I can also leave the skins on the potato and the texture of the dish is not tampered with.

Woo!

Not only is Evan going to be going to school this fall but Harry is as well. I had been planning on sending him to a preschool run by the parks and recreation department twice a week in the fall. Evan and Harry are so close in age that I knew Evan going off to school would make Harry very envious, plus I could use the break and go shopping for groceries with just one kid. Then when I was talking with the woman who is working on finalizing Evan's IEP she asked if I wanted Harry to be a peer model at the special education preschool at Evan's elementary school. Naturally I jumped at the chance. It was free and I would be able to drop them both off at the same time in the morning saving me extra trips. Plus Harry would be going in the morning where at the other preschool he would be going in the afternoon which is not his best time. Harry still needs a nap now and then or it is meltdown city.

I am getting more and more excited for fall to come. I am going to have 4 mornings a week with just the baby! Through my husband's work I can get a free gym membership and I plan on using some of those mornings to work out. I have been rather lazy for the last year or so when it comes to exercising so I am excited to get back in the groove.

Baby pics to apease the grandparents

A change of topic: Blue Ribbon Stuffed Mushrooms

These mushrooms make an amazing appetizer or finger food for a party. I made them for my knitting group's Christmas party and they flew off the plate. The few I had left over after the party were amazing as leftovers, so if you are making these I highly recommend hiding a few in your fridge for later. I added a bit of onion powder and also followed the recommendation of some of the reviewers to cut back a bit on the sausage.

Kid Pictures and Knitting content

Smiling baby! He has been smiling for about a week or so but I could never get a picture in time before now.

A silly little boy that saw me taking pictures of the baby smiling and wanted me to take a picture of him sleeping. Yeah he is sleeping all right lol

Another silly little boy that saw me taking pictures of his "sleeping" older brother and wanted me to take a picture of him sleeping.

Two silly little boys in bed. We used to have the bunk beds bunked but unbunked them due to Harry's daredevil antics. He loved jumping on his high bed. He would also lean over to look out the window making me very worried that he would fall.

Mittens! This is my first pair of mittens. I started them awhile back and only now took pictures of them. I gave them to my mom since I owed her a pair of socks and knit one but forgot to take notes (since I was not using a pattern) and then forgot the tweaks I did, like how many stitches I cast on in the first place. So I bought her off with these so I don't have to try and go back and figure out what I did on the sock. Anyone know a one legged person with a size nine shoe that wants a hand knit sock?

A close up. They are a nice thick wool so they should be cozy in the winter.

A change of topic: The Best Blueberry muffins

I have been meaning to share some of my favorite recipes in a more organized fashion for some time but the baby stuff had kind of taken over my brain and my blogging. Please forgive any errors as I am typing this with a grumbly baby in my arms.

Recipezarr has become my cookbook and while every recipe that I try there is not always a winner I have found a lot of winners. First up is The Best Blueberry Muffins. I made them for my ward's Easter brunch and they were a hit. I keep frozen blueberries on hand for use in oatmeal so when I made the muffins I used frozen and just baked them for the longer time.

Who needs sleep?

Life has been busy. It really is amazing how much time I spend feeding Daniel. You forget how frequently infants eat until you have one again. Some days it feels like all I do is feed him.

My parents are in town for a visit (another reason for lack of blogging) and because of that we had Daniel's blessing (kind of like a christening in that he wears white but otherwise nothing like a christening) in an almost hap hazard manner. About a week before they came I realized that we should probably let the Bishop know that we would be having the blessing that Sunday and only a day before that I realized that maybe we should have him blessed in the first place. I guess it really is true that the third kid gets the short end of the stick a lot more often than the previous kids. At least he got a blessing outfit of his very own. My mom bought one for him since the one we used for Evan and Harry was too big.

If I am on the ball I may post pictures of the gardening that I intend to do tomorrow. Don't hold your breath though.

The boys and grandma

I wanna hold Baby Daniel

Evan and Harry are always asking to hold the baby and occasionally I let them, watching them like a hawk the whole time. Poor Baby Daniel will have to put up with it until he gets too big for them to hold or at the very least active enough to squirm out of their grasp.

All mah boyz (messy faces and everything)

Evan is obviously the better holder of the two.

I promise Daniel is not crying, he is rather concerned though.

"Halp!"

A "the baby won't go to sleep" post

I had about five hours of sleep last night and it is not looking good for tonight. I am not sure why Daniel is being such a stinker about staying asleep (this kid has some sort of radar that tells him when I am ready to lay down and sleep because that is when he gets grumbly and fussy. He sleeps great when I am not trying to sleep), but it sure is brutal having to take care of my every day normal stuff while fighting the desire to curl up on my bed and zonk out.

To amuse you while I try and get the baby sleeping deeply enough that he might consider staying asleep when I put him in his bed I will share some pictures of the boys. Friday was our ward camp out which was not much of a camp out for us since we did not actually camp out. It was close enough that we could go for the dinner and evening but not have to stay for the night. The pictures are all of Evan and Harry because Daniel was busy being held by various ward members that wanted a baby fix with out actually having to give birth.

The boys thought it was fun to eat dinner on the ground. They asked for the lasagna even though they both hate it and did not even eat a bite of it. They did gobble down the macaroni and cheese that i brought for the potluck.

Throwing rocks in the lake was a blast.

I love Harry's laugh, it is very infectious.

The highlight of the evening was the campfire. They were fascinated by the whole process.

Summer!

Today marks the unofficial start of summer. We have a quiet day planned but did splurge on some steaks that we will grill on the good old charcoal grill. It is a bittersweet day for me since it is the last day of my husband's leave, tomorrow he is back to work, leaving me all alone with three kids.

Luckily we have a nice quiet week ahead of us. It is the first time in months that we don't have any doctor's appointments planned. I am almost giddy with excitement! It is nice that we are finally getting a chance to have a break and even possibly plan some stuff with friends (what most stay at home mothers do when faced with a day alone with three kids). I have almost forgotten what it is like to have a play date to look forward to. It will be nice to not be so wrapped up in just keeping my head above water and maybe get a chance to enjoy the swim.

Here is a gratuitous baby picture for the grandparents who think I don't post enough pictures. I love the twisted positions that babies can sleep in with out doing things like throwing out backs and the like which would happen to us older and more decrepit people. The poor little guy has a bit of a cold thanks to his generous brothers. I tried to keep them from sharing their germs, but that was impossible with such smitten older brothers.

It's IEP time

Disclaimer: if this is a confusing post it is because I had very little sleep last night and I have a baby that is finally sleeping in my in my arms.

We had Evan's first IEP meeting in preparation for Kindergarten on Wednesday. It was a very interesting process to get to the meeting and the meeting it's self was also rather eye opening. The preschool folks that did the evaluations were amazing. I think they did a great job with the IEP and if it is followed Evan should have a great school year.

Sometimes I wish that I could go back in time to the first time I was chatted with the neurologist about the effects of Evan's stroke. I would dope slap that man on the back of his head for telling me that Evan would show no signs of the stroke after a year. Maybe physically it could have been possible with a more mild stroke but Evan's stroke was not a tiny minor stroke. It took out a full third of his right hemisphere and that part of the brain controls more than just muscles.

This was really driven home when I was listening to everyone talk at the IEP meeting. The stroke affects how he sees things. He has trouble seeing things that come at him from the left. It has also hindered his ability to draw and write. Evan will not draw anything beyond lines and wonky circles when his peers are able to do a lot more. Evan writing his name is problematical for the same reason as the drawing.

Evan's language comprehension skills have also been hindered by his stroke. In novel situations where he is easily distracted he is less likely to be able to use different language skills that his peers can. He can do better when he is at home and in familiar surroundings but he would be lost in school if there were not going to be accommodations for him.

One of the biggest things that could hinder him is his easily distractible nature (another stroke issue). It can be hard for Evan to concentrate on what he is doing with out someone to help redirect him. We are hoping that we can easily get him a helper to sit with him in the classroom and keep him on task as well as helping him with physical tasks he needs assistance with. The budget crunch being what it is we may get some resistance with it but I am going to fight for that should they try and refuse. It would also help ease the pressure on the Kindergarten teacher who will also have other kids to deal with in the class.

I think the best part about the meeting was having my feelings confirmed about Evan's potential. He has the ability to be a smart kid that can catch up with his peers and learn to adapt to his brain injuries, we just have to get him the support he needs so that he is not forgotten and frustrated. It also confirmed my decision to send him to public schools. The services he will be getting are much more than I could even attempt at home and the specialists are much more trained to deal with them than I am.

R.I.P. Sparky

Once upon a time there was a happy squirrel named Sparky. He loved to run along power lines to reach distant trees. Once day he decided to try a new way down to the ground. Sadly for Sparky that new way down happened to complete the circuit. With a bang Sparky found himself in Squirrel Heaven.

We lost power for a few hours and now have a dead squirrel in our back yard thanks to Sparky's antics. For some reason my husband was not going for the possibility that we could turn Sparky into dinner (after all he was precooked right?). I would post pictures but I am not sure that you all really would like seeing the dead Sparky.

Two weeks

It is hard to believe that Daniel is already two weeks old. He had a great check up, he is already back up and a little over his birth weight. When the doctor listened to his heart he did not hear the murmur, so it is very likely that when he has his follow up echo in a few weeks that nothing at all will show up and that the hole that is present in fetal circulation is closed even if it was a bit slow to do so. Daniel also passed his follow up hearing test, so he officially hears even though we already knew that.

It has been an interesting adjustment having a "little" baby for the first time. We had to actually go out and buy some newborn sized diapers. The sized one diapers were too big to fit him properly with out covering his umbilical stump. He is also drowning a bit in his 0-3 month clothing.

Evan is cracking me up when it comes to "his" Baby Daniel. When he saw the umbilical stump he thought that it was Daniel's manly bits. I had to explain to him what it was and he actually seemed to get the concept. Later on when we were taking the baby to the hospital for the follow up hearing test Evan thought that we were exchanging "old" Daniel for a new Daniel. After all we were taking him to the place he had come from. It took us awhile to convince him that the Daniel we brought home was the same one we had always had. Evan is also obsessed with holding his brother, which he can actually do with a bit of help from me and the couch.

I finally got around to giving him an actual bath for the first time. Like a good mom I took blackmail pictures and am sharing the cuteness.

Aww look at that very sad face.

Someone is not very happy about having his bath.

Overdue update

I have been rather wrapped up in baby stuff which is normal at this stage. Here is a bit of a run down on the stuff that has been going on:

• Daniel decided that he would give nursing a shot, but only for one day. He latched on beautifully and nursed proving to me that he could do it. But in the middle of the night changed his mind and wanted to have a bottle. Once that decision was made there was no convincing him otherwise. Things are a lot nicer now that we are not battling wills at feeding time even though I would much prefer him to nurse. I do feel good about the effort I made to nurse him. The hospital had amazing lactation support and I feel like this time around I did everything I could and that there was nothing more I could have done.
  
• Good news: My c-section pain was very quick to leave. I only had to use two of the nice happy pills that my OB prescribed. Bad news: over the weekend I developed a pinched nerve in my neck which had transformed into the worst headaches of my life. The happy pills have been rather helpful for this when used with heat therapy. I am hoping that soon I will be able to actually function with out drugs in my system. I am so glad that this is happening when I have a lot of people around to help out, because otherwise it would be very hard for me to deal.
• Evan has a blister on his left foot due to his foot brace not being properly put on. I feel bad that I was not able to prevent this, but it was also not really in my control. He will be wearing sandals until it heals, so it is a good thing that the weather is getting very nice.
• Projects are being done at a fast pace. My husband and his father have been keeping busy doing things like building a compost bin, moving our shed so that it does not flood when it rains too much and finishing the bookcase that we moved with us in pieces. I am thrilled about the bookcase because that means I will finally (after almost a year!!!!!!) get to unpack my books and not have a pile of boxes sitting in my living room for guests to look at.
• I am starting to get a touch of cabin fever and wanting to get out more. If my headaches behave and leave like I want them to I may actually get to go out on a date with my husband so that we can see the new Star Trek movie which I am rather excited to see.