Back to School

We are into week 3 of school for Dylan but only on day 6. The first two weeks they only had school 2 days because they started before labor day and due to the Jewish holiday. He tells me that he really enjoys school and likes his teacher. We were able to meet with his teacher a few days before school started so that she would know who Dylan was (because of his needs in the classroom because of his diabetes). I got a good impression from her and think it will be a good year. I was happy to find out Dylan got her as a teacher because she had a student 3 years ago who also happens to have diabetes so I am comforted that she knows the signs of highs and lows and understands his needs.
It didn't take long for our first low at school; day 5 (yesterday) I got a call from the nurse around 10:00 and she told me that Dylan felt low and he tested at 46. She treated him with 4 glucose tabs and then he had his snack. I then thought for sure he would be high at lunch, but he was 191; not too bad considering. Today there were no lows and hopefully there won't be one tomorrow.

Aidan will have his first day of school tomorrow all on his own. Yesterday was the "first" day but it was more an orientation for the kids and parents. He is really looking forward to going and being there without mommy. Of course it may be a little upsetting for me; and probably Keira. Yesterday when Dave and I went with Aidan to orientation Grandma babysat Keira and my mom said she cried for about a 1/2 hour while we were gone. I am sure she will be bit perplexed as to the fact that Aidan will be at school all morning, but we have plans to go shopping :)

It has taken me until know (and not sure I am completely there yet) to accept the fact that my first born is in 1st grade and gone from me all day. Up until today I was always walking him up to the door of the school and today I suggested we just try me driving up and dropping him off and he said "Okay". But I thought for sure that once we got to the school he would change his mind, but he didn't and kissed us good-bye and then hopped out of the car and went to wait with the other kids until the buzzer rang for the beginning of school.

My kids are just growing up WAY TOO FAST!!!!

Really, already?

Came home from the store today to hear a message on the machine from the school nurse asking if I would like to set up a meeting before school starts to go over Dylan's diabetes needs. It isn't even the end of July, do I really need to start having anxiety about school already??? Don't think so and don't want to.

Summer is here

Just a quick update about the birthday party I last posted about: Keira did get a goody bag, so nothing had to be said.

We have already had 2 weeks of summer and before I know it September will be here and the summer will have flown past me so quickly. The first "official" day of summer (the day after Dylan's last day of school) started off rough with all 3 of them fighting, whining, or screaming. But luckily, for both them and me, things have gotten a bit better. We have been running errands, a weekly trip to the library, and a visit down to Aunt Jaime's because it has been WAY TOO HOT to do anything outdoors this past week. The other day on the way home from Aunt Jaime's the temp reading on my car was 108!! Next week it is supposed to be in the 90s again, UGH!

Wednesday was Aidan's 4th birthday. Wow, is all I can say that he is already 4. I am really excited for him to start preschool in September as I think both he and I need it. He is not a very good listener when I talk to him and I am hoping that he does better with that at school and it comes home with him. Today we are off to his 4 year well visit and hope he does well with the shots he has to get.

While we are at the doctor's I am going to have the doctor look at Keira because she has had a rash on her back and in the crook of her arms and legs that was really bad back at the beginning of June and has gotten better but hasn't gone away completely. I think it might just be heat rash but would like to have the doctor look at it for reassurance. It doesn't really bother her but I do notice in the morning when I get her dressed that she must scratch at it during the night because there are scabs on her upper back. I have been using Aveeno lotion on it and that seems to help.

Yesterday my mom and I went for a massage (it was my Mother's Day gift---quite a nice one) and it was so relaxing. But later in the day I was a bit sore in my shoulder area and sides. Not sure if it was just from the massage or from the combination of having the massage yesterday morning after I had done some new Yoga moves the day before. But all in all it was a nice hour relaxing and being massaged.

Let's see what happens

Well the kids and I are off to a birthday party tomorrow and it is for the sister of the boy whose party we went to last that didn't give Keira a goody bag. I have been contemplating bringing Keira because of the party time. It starts at 12:00 and Keira is usually in for a nap around 12:45 so this will definitely mess with her nap. But her name was on the invitation so I do want her to go, even if it is just to see if she gets a goody bag this time :)

Should I be offended?

In the past two weeks all 3 kids have been invited to 2 birthday parties. The first one we couldn't go to because of a family get together but we still dropped off a gift. When we dropped off the gift the boys were both given goody bags, but Keira was not. And then today they were all at a party and once again the boys were handed goody bags on the way out and nothing was given to Keira.
Now I know the stuff in the goody bags was not age appropriate for Keira but couldn't something small have been given to her? I also know that she probably doesn't know any different being only 19 months old, but her brothers see that she doesn't get anything and I wonder what they think.

Should I be offended?

April Update

Since it has been awhile since I last posted I will just use this as a quick update on how we are all doing.

Currently Aidan is sick with strep throat. He came down with a fever on Wednesday and when it was still 102 yesterday without any other symptoms I called the doctor and he went in and the doctor did a culture and found out he had strep. Even though he has no sore throat or any pain he still has it. The doctor said it is not uncommon for that to be the case these days and that the strain has changed over time. Usually if a child has a fever with no other symptoms it means strep. So he is on amoxcil and the doc said he should be okay later today. I am hoping so because we have a bbq to go to tomorrow and a birthday party on Sunday. And I am praying that neither Keira nor Dylan get it. I am trying to keep them away from him to the best of my ability.

I had a parent/teacher conference with Dylan's teacher the other day and walked away a super proud mom. The teacher had nothing but good things to say about him. Told me that he has really come out of his shell and is a lot more outgoing than he was at the beginning of the year. And that he is pretty much reading at a 2nd grade level. He is also very good in math. He just needs to work on his writing but she said he is write at the level he should be with that for his age.
He recently started baseball and likes it. He does need a lot of practice and gets upset when he doesn't hit the ball but Dave is working with him. It's fun to watch him and the other kids at this age especially when they are out in the field for awhile and you start to see kids playing with things on the ground--yes Dylan is one of those kids.

Keira is now 18 months old, yes 18 months old. I cannot believe it. And she is definitely a determined little girl like her older brother, Aidan. I just hope she doesn't turn out to be as stubborn as he is right now. She is such a little mimic too and I am thinking the fact that she is home all the time with Aidan may not be the best thing, LOL. She's also really good at making a mess; she loves to just pull things off of shelves or out of the toy bins and just leave them laying on the floor. So much fun for me to clean up. Some days (or maybe 2 or 3 in a row) I just let them mess be.

In one week Dave and I will be celebrating our 10 year anniversary. On our honeymoon we said that for our 10 year anniversary we would go back to we went then, but that isn't happening. We actually don't have plans to go anywhere next weekend but hope to go somewhere this summer.

Is spring finally here?

Hard to believe that I have been excited for the 50 degree weather we have been having. When the sun is out it is actually quite nice to get outside and do something rather than be stuck in the house again.
The boys are loving the ability to ride their bikes again. This season we will be working on Dylan getting rid of the training wheels on his bike. The last time he was out on it he wanted them off right then but Dave and I weren't ready for it. Luckily the new helmet we bought him came with wrist and knee pads :)
Aidan is liking the fact that he can once again use chalk and draw on the driveway. I just wish the chalk wasn't so darn messy on his clothes.
Keira is quite funny outside because she doesn't like to walk on the grass because it is uneven. The other day when we were out front she refused to walk off of the driveway because the sidewalk was a bit bumpy and god forbid she walk on the lawn (if that is what you want to call it right now). We decided to look for acorns on the lawn and so I picked her up and brought her on the lawn and she just stood in that one spot the whole time the boys and were walking around looking for acorns. Unfortunately we only found 2 in the flower bed but we did find a ton of holes from where the squirrel(s) had dug some up.
Just looking forward to more warm days to get outside.

Future artist?

So, it is clearly evident that Aidan is a different creature at this age than Dylan was when it comes to crafts, coloring, and drawing. Dylan never had any interest in coloring, while Aidan can sit and color and draw for an hour or so. He is big into drawing portraits of people. The other day, and not sure where he got the idea he decided to draw/color a helicopter, what do you think?

sleeping issues

So, lately Aidan has been giving us problems with sleeping whether it be at night or for naps. He hasn't really slept at nap time for about two weeks now, but right around when that started he started waking up frequently during the night calling for Dave. Sometimes he wanted to go to the bathroom and other times he wanted Dave to sleep with him (which Dave would only do for 30 seconds). After a few nights of us telling him that if he didn't get up during the night he could have money for his bank he stopped getting up. But then he started getting out of his room frequently during nap time. As most of you know I still put the boys in their rooms for quiet time at nap time and Dylan has always been good and stays in his room until I get or him (or if he feels low). Aidan on the other hand started off with only getting up/out if he called for me, but now has taken it upon himself to just get up on his own, usually it is to go to the bathroom, but a couple of times he just wanted to get up. Which of course leads to arguing/fighting between the two of us. Eventually I won out and he stayed in his room--of course I threatened to put a gate up in his doorway.

Don't let me forget about the issues I am having with Keira. Last week I though for sure she was ready to give up her morning nap because if she did sleep it was only for about 20-30 minutes. So on Saturday when Dylan had basketball she skipped the nap and by 10:30/11:00 she was miserable and overtired. So I decided to have her take a morning nap on Sunday and she took a good one as well as a good afternoon one; the same on Monday. But then yesterday and today her afternoon nap has been horrible, today she didn't even take an afternoon nap after sleeping for 30 minutes this morning. So tomorrow I will try to eliminate the morning nap and try to put her in earlier for her afternoon one and see how she does. Doing this will open up my mornings to running errands while Dylan is in school, but will also allow 2 children to run around the house when I try to get chores done in the morning. I guess you take the bad with the good.

Bathroom cleaning

So for the past few months I have been using Method brand cleaning supplies to clean the bathrooms. However,I didn't find that they were cleaning effectively; mainly the sink and tub. I use baking soda in the toilet and thought about using just that and water to clean the tub and sink but didn't think it would remove all the hardwater stains and soap scum. So, in one of my trips to Target I decided to try and find an environmentally friendly product that would clean well. I decided to try the Clorox Greenworks product. Well I have only used it twice so far and boy does it smell. Today when I was using it, even with the fan on, I couldn't stop from coughing because the smell was so potent and powerful. I am thinking that maybe I will do some research on the internet and ask others for advice for a powerful, quick and easy, effective bathroom cleaner that doesn't smell so bad---if there is such a thing out there.

Funniest face

Lately Keira has been making the funniest/cutest face and she was doing it yesterday when Baxter was barking. Just wanted to share

Video of Keira walking

Finally was able to get some video of her walking

Sort of bittersweet

Okay, so last night I was thinking about how great it is that Keira is starting to really walk, but then I also thought about how sad it is. My baby is really growing up. Since she is my last I am really not in a rush for her to grow up. With her still crawling it is almost like she is still my little baby. But once she is up and always on two feet those "baby" moments will be gone. It is a bittersweet moment for this mommy.

Was wondering when it would finally happen

Well she has been taking a few steps here and there this past week and just about 1/2 hour ago I stood her up and she took at least a dozen steps. WOOHOO!!! Now we just have to go and get her her first pair of shoes this weekend. Dave did call it and said she would be walking by the end of the week. I am so proud of her, even though it took until she was 14 months old :)
Yay for Keira!! As soon as I get some video clip of it I will post it.