Almost there!

GRRR!!! So I had this whole post typed out last night when blogger decided to stop working! Did it save ANY of it? Of course not! The one time I didn't copy before submitting and this is what happens!

So here it goes again-

Cohen is so close to walking he can taste it! He has been walking with assistance for a few months but had this complex about letting go. He would freestand for a while but as soon as he realized it or wanted to go somewhere, he would slowly lower himself to the ground. He loved to push things around and would move chairs all day long. At any given time, our barstools and dining chairs were virtually all over the kitchen and dining room. The 2 things that prevented them from being everywhere else is the baby gate and the carpet in the living room.

All of that changed literally 2 days ago. First he figured out how to stand from the seated position without help from anyone or anything. Then he laughed that he had done it and started taking steps. He was laughing so hard he fell down...but right back up he went. Every time he does it, he is giggling. It is so cute! Last night at Braedon' soccer practice, he went crazy! He took about 10 steps before he fell and kept getting up again. I was surprised at how long it took him to resort to crawling. He is seriously FAST when he crawls which is why it is taken him so long to try to walk. I have no doubt in my mind that by next weeks practice, he will be running all over the field!

This is an exciting milestone but at the same time, I know what having a walker is like and I have not been looking forward to it. Walking brings a whole new aspect to things. I am just thankful he wasn't an early walker like Braedon who walked at 7 months...no joke!

Where oh where have I been?

Life has a way of getting the best of you. I haven't blogged in a month! :O It has been crazy busy around here and there were so many times that I said "Oh man this needs to go in my blog" then the event came and went.

I am back in school now and 2 weeks away from finishing my second class. I am proud to say that I finished my first class with a 99.3% and I am on my way to a very similar grade in my current class though it is so much harder. Who knew a healthcare ethics class would be so challenging? It is really making me think about my own ethics and how I would handle situations if/when I become a nurse.

Chris is doing great at work and is getting a 20% raise! He has been approached a few times about stepping into a management role and we have discussed what is best for our family. It is a step in the right direction but management doesn't get overtime which is our bread and butter at the moment. I would love for him to not have to work overtime but on the flip side, it is what allows me to stay home with the boys.

Braedon has been doing much better with the herbs he's on and the new diet. However, the last week has been rough. He is falling into old habits and of course, now we know it isn't anything other than him chosing to not make "smart choices" (per the school's wording). I am starting to wonder if he is challenging us in a way to see how far it will go. He has been grounded since last Tuesday and continues to challenge us. We also have a parent-teacher conference tonight.

Cohen is continuing to thrive and learn so much. No, he isn't "walking" yet though he could. He just won't let go and is afraid of falling. He also knows he is much faster when he crawls. He has also turned into quite the dare devil. He knows how to climb on the couch and likes to "throw" himself into the pillows after Braedon has stacked them up. We line the floor of the couch with additional pillows to help with the falls but now he intentionally falls off and laughs when he hits the floor. He is quite the little boy!

Since the boys' birthdays are 5 days apart, we had 1 big party for them a couple weeks ago at the park down the street. We reserved a ramada near the playground and BBQ. We also rented a bounce house which was a major hit with the kids and had a pinata. We were lucky that it wasn't triple digits like the weekend before and that it didn't rain as anticipated. It was very very windy so most of the decorations didn't last and we didn't even bother with the balloons. The general concensus was at least the sun wasn't beating down! The boys were spoiled as anticipated and we still have to go through the play room to make room for the new stuff.

They both had their check ups as well. Braedon came in at 47" and 52# up 6" and 10# from last year! Cohen came in at 31" and 21#. They are both healthy growing boys!

First soccer game pictures

Cohen stopping for some breakfast:

His turn to be goalie-don't think he'll volunteer again-it was boring he said:

He certainly can kick though:

Can't see him but look at that sky!

The ball is under the goalie's food-he kicked that and *almost* got a goal!

High fives at the end:

And I posted new pics of the boys on the sidebar. These were the good one's from their birthday party invite :-)

Braedon gets suspended,then gets on green & Cohen walks!

On Wednesday, the school had a "bring your grandparents to lunch" day in honor of grandparents day so Namma, Mom and I went up there. Braedon had had a rough morning and was in OCR which normally would've meant he would be walked to the cafeteria to get his lunch and then back to OCR to eat it but they made an exception since he pulled his act together in OCR and because we were there. I headed up a little early to talk to him about what he had been doing and then we went over and had lunch. While we were eating, Mr. George (OCR teacher) came in to get lunch with the other boys that were in there and Braedon's face just lit up. He had told us that he liked OCR but based on the reason's he gave, I figured it was because it was quiet in there and hew as getting over stimulated. Come to find out, he really likes Mr. George. Bells and whistles and red flags went off in my head-He likes Mr. George which is why he likes OCR which is why he keeps getting sent there. He knows if he acts up, he will be sent there. I don't know why I didn't put 2 and 2 together before that. We also discussed the possibility of him being bored in class because he is definitely smart for his age but more importantly, he absorbs everything very quickly and has an impecable memory. You don't have to tell him how to do something more than a couple times and he has it. After lunch, I met up with Ms. Jelleson (Asst. Principal) to discuss the my observances.

We set up the meeting on Thursday morning before school started so Miss Fredrickson could be there. We all discussed the *problem* with Mr. George. Come to find out, Mr. George is an ex Juvenile detention officer...whoa! So he talks to them about their decisions, making the right decisions and what is going to happen if they continue to make the wrong decisions. GREAT! But not great since Braedon likes him. Miss Fredrickson brought in his DIBELS test results for me to see and he is right where he needs to be...not below, not above. However, as I looked over some of his work, he missed things that I know he can do. Miss Fredrickson said that he continues to say he's tired and doesn't know how to do something that he can do. Between the 3 of us, we think he is getting overwhelmed. Instead of looking at things one at a time, he looks at the big picture. We worked out a plan that we were hoping was going to work. Rather than using OCR as a punishment, we flipped it to be more of a positive. If he was being good but needed a quiet moment/cool off moment, he could go see Mr. George. I didn't want him to lose that connection especially if Mr. George is talking to him about his actions and what that could mean in the future. Miss Fredrickson was also going to work on "chunking" him work. Instead of telling him to do the whole worksheet, she will cover up half of it and say "Ok Braedon, you are just going to do these ones then come see me". This way he gets immediate gradification and the praise/attention he so desperately seeks then he works on the second portion. After we had that established, Ms. Jelleson piped in and talked to him about his behavior and referrals (basically write ups when it gets bad enough-3 referrals=suspension and he already had 2). She told him that he needed to work on calming down and asking to go see Mr. George if he needed help. She then proceeded to tell him that if he got another referral, he would be sent home.....BIG MISTAKE! I cringed when she said it and it took her a minute to realize what she had just done. I immediately piped in and told him that he would NOT have fun at home if he got sent home-there would be no toys, TV, games, nothing and he would be sitting at his table all day writing letters and doing homework. He agreed but I knew better.

Not 30 minutes later I got a call that he scratched on kid and kicked another. He then refused to walk out of the room to cool off and talk to Ms Jelleson and she had to carry him down the hall to her office. He officially got his 3rd referral for hurting 2 other kids and I had to go pick him up. I was beyond upset-my kindergartner was suspended. By the time I got there, I could tell he was truly upset for what he had done and was crying. Ms. Jelleson said she had never seen him so upset so I think something set him off and he lost control. It took him a minute to remember/realize what he had done and he was truly sad over it. There is definitely something going on there but I couldn't let that interfere with what had happened and the punishment. I had warned him and I had to follow through. We talked with the school counselor and I filled out a sort of permission slip so she could talk to him a couple times a week about his feelings and how to express them. She'll also work on relaxation and calming down exercises.

Once we got home, he got what he was promised. I moved his table to the base of the stairs on the other side of the baby gate where I could still see him but he couldn't see anything that was going on in the living room. I made him sit there while I calmed down and figured out what I was going to do. He complained he was tired and hungry but just because we were at home, I couldn't let him take a nap or eat prior to lunch "time" so I made him keep his head off the table and he wasn't allowed to eat lunch until 11. I found a website that has grade appropriate worksheets and printed off countless worksheets. In the meantime, I wrote out letters of appology to the 2 kids he hurt, Miss Fredrickson and Ms. Jelleson. I made him tell me what he wanted to say and then he had to write them out. It was the first time he had to write sentences so it took several times before he had a copy that was somewhat legible but it was a learning experience for him in 2 ways-1: writing sentences and seeing how letters are combined to make words, spaces between words and how words make sentences-2; writing appology letters for his actions. He got 2 acceptable letters written before lunch so I let him stop and eat but then it was back to writing the 2 others. After he finished those, I made him start working on the stack of worksheets I had printed off. I talked to him about what he had done and why he was sent home. I also made sure he realized that school was the better option. I took it as a learning experience because he kept telling us he just wanted to be at home not realizing that being at home wouldn't be like it was before he started school. I still praised him on the worksheets and gave him the gratification he needed to continue but every time he got up from his chair, I made him sit back down. I also made it a point to not talk to him and kept Cohen away from the baby gate. If he had to go to the bathroom, he told me before he got up and if he had a question about the worksheet I answered but nothing beyond that. Once school would've gotten out, I made him a snack and then made him go back to work. He was then able to stop for dinner and then back to work until bedtime. I debated on letting him stop when school was over but I felt I had to go to the extreme to make sure he remembers how much being sent home sucked. Once Chris got home, he said "I just want to go to school, I don't want to do all this" so I knew I had made the right impression. When we tucked him in he said he doesn't ever want to be sent home again and he would be good on Friday. Good :-)

Friday morning, I decided we would spend more time at home and get there right when school started rather than going early for breakfast he can't eat anyway. I had been making his breakfast and letting him eat with the other kids but most days he looked sad and I think it is because he can't have what they are having. So he ate breakfast at home and we had about 20 extra minutes together. When we got to school, I gave him the letters he had wrote so he could hand them out. First up was Ms. Jelleson-she bent down and read what it said, gave him a hug and said Thank you. She also put it up on her bulletin board that has things other kids have given her. I could see how excited he was and proud. Next up was Miss Fredrickson who also said Thank you then the 2 kids in his class. Abby is who he kicked and when he gave it to her, she said Thanks but they are all learning how to read so I had him tell her what it said. I got a glipse of him giving the other one to Ryan which is who he scratched and I could see Braedon telling Ryan what it said (they were across the room) and then I heard Ryan say "Aww how sweet Thank you!" Followed by a hug! I about lost it. I had been so worried that he didn't have any friends because of how he had been acting but kids are very forgiving-come to find out he even has 2, yes 2, girlfriends! I mean, he is quite the little handsome boy but still..lay off girls LOL!

I left the school with high hopes but didn't want to be disappointed so I settled on yellow being a good day-Yellow is better than orange, red and suspension. I got a call at about 10 from the school but I was taking Cohen upstairs for nap. My gut told me it was the school and I got sick to my stomach. When I got back downstairs, I hated to look but knew I had to-it was in fact, the school. I didn't wait for the message and called right back. Relief-it was the attendance-apparently he had been marked absent since we didn't get there for breakfast. Whew! They patched me back to his class so Miss Fredrickson would confirm he was there and not missing. She told me his morning was going great! He had one episode but was able to pull it together quickly! I was so excited but still anticipated a rougher afternoon. I found myself watching the clock, keeping tabs on what he should be doing and waiting for the phone to ring...it didn't. My heart was racing and I was anxious as I drove to the school to pick him up. Once they opened the gate, I saw that Miss Fredrickson was holding on to him and I just sank. That only happens when she needs to talk to me about his day which means it was a bad day. All of a sudden, I saw them both start smiling and she took his hand and ran with him up to me holding out his calendar (where the color is marked) and I saw a big GREEN smiley face! Oh I lost it and started tearing up. She said it was a great day-he had a couple melt downs and a couple episodes of not listening but all in all he did great! I was so relieved and happy and he was excited about it as well!

In other Braedon news, he started soccer last week and had his first game Saturday morning. He did really well and I know he wants to try football but I think soccer is going to be his niche. It is active enough to keep him running and interested and he has always done really well with kicking. They don't keep official score but his team won 2-1 :-) After his game, we went to the party supply store and got everything for his birthday party then headed over to Toys R Us so he could show us what he wants. It was definitely a long day but we had fun. We are finally starting to see glimpses of "the old Braedon" that we love. Taking out all these problems, freakouts and melt downs, he is the sweetest, most loving, cuddly, smart, quick witted, funny kid you will ever meet. We are finally starting to enjoy him again and I couldn't be happier. I am calling his ped on Monday to get him in for another behavior consult now that we can get a teacher evaluation. We will see the doctor we had seen in the past that was completely supportive of our decision not to medicate him rather find other options that work. I am also going to have them test him for diabetes, thyroid issues and refer us to an allergist to have a full allergy test run. I want to know if he is allergic to dairy or just "sensitive".

Now onto Cohen news! He had taken steps on his own a few weeks ago but he had a complex about letting go. He will walk where ever as long as he is pushing something-his walker, a chair, anything. Well, this weekend, I was in the bathroom (TMI sorry LOL) and he came crawling in looking for me. He stood up using the door frame and I said "look at you big boy". He started to laugh, then took a step, got his balance, laughed again, took another step, got his balance, laughed and took another one! He knew what he was doing and thought it was funny! He did it again when Chris got home to show daddy too. He has only made it up to 4 steps but it is progress since it is 4 steps that he realizes he is taking and not just on accident. He is walking from chair to chair, couch to ottoman, etc. He is still faster at crawling and if he wants to get somewhere, he gets down and crawls but he loves to stand!

I can't wait until his birthday! Both of theirs actually but while at Toys R Us, we got to look at toys for Cohen and things he would enjoy. I am excited about some of the toys and such we found and I know he will love getting new toys. He has quite a bit but hasn't gotten new ones in a while and he is starting to outgrow some of them.

I will try to post a "picture" post tomorrow of our recent trip to the zoo, the soccer game and pictures we took yesterday for their invitations :-)

Beyond

This post has been sitting in my "edit" for a week now. I appologize for the lack of updates but we have been trying to deal with everything. On top of that, I am back in school.

I have been dreading writing this post...putting it off as long as possible. I am still trying to come to terms with what is going on and I am beyond. Beyond tired, confused, angry, hurt, and overwhelmed.

As you have read over the last few weeks, Braedon has been having some trouble with the adjustment to school. Trouble has become an understatement around here when it comes to this topic. Things went from bad to worse. It was come to be expected that I would be getting a phone call by lunch time regarding his behaviors which were progressively getting more violent and out of control. He was/is at the point of deliberately defying what he is asked to do, wailing on the ground kicking and screaming, literally and refusing to walk when being taken into the OCR room which has become a common word in our house. I'm not quite sure what it stands for but it is the room students have to go into when they get on red-when nothing else has worked in the classroom. It is a room that they are alone in with a moderator. He even took it another step further when he was acting up in OCR and was then sent to in-school suspension. Yes, a kindergartner can act up enough to receive ISS. I was sent a lovely pink slip home that has been placed in his file and that was after many conversations with his teacher, vice principal and principal. We have all been trying to collaborate to figure out what to do.

Chris and I dug into research to figure out why he was acting out so horribly and why it seemed to be getting worse by the hour. The simple task of not listening was turning into violent outbursts. We found a few theories online, most leading to food allergies. We had already heard and were attempting to eliminate food dyes, particularly red, yellow and blue. They are virtually in EVERYTHING! Check your labels and I am sure you'll be surprised as well. The additives found in our every day food have been known to enhance behaviors found in children with ADHD and ODD and it is recommended to stay away from these. We started buckling down on foods that he was eating-sugar additives, dyes, processed foods, etc. but were unsuccessful and his behavior continued to worsen.

I was at a complete loss, I was aggravated, devasted, confused, exhausted. We didn't know where else to turn so I called a distant cousin (Debbie) of my Grandpa who is an iridologist. Basically, the eyes are a road map of your body and she can "read" your eyes and that will tell her if something is going on with different organs in your body. I know it sounds crazy and I was a skeptic for a long time but let me tell you why I am not anymore:

2 years ago, my Grandma (who is VERY healthy and active) all of a sudden got REALLY REALLY sick. None of her doctors could figure out what was wrong with her. She got way worse very fast. Within a matter of weeks, she couldn't move, she looked horrible and we all knew but wouldn't admit that we were about to lose her. She had tests among tests run-every test you could possibly imagine-and everything said she was fine. They were mystified. In a last ditch effort, my Grandpa took her up to see Debbie in hopes that she could find something, anything that would help her before she died. After literally 2 minutes of "reading" her eyes Debbie told my Grandma that she had a very serious case aspertame poisoning! She literally was days away from her death bed. She gave her some herbs and told her to eliminate all sugar-substitutes and regular-and put her on a detox diet for two weeks. Within a week, she could walk again and within a month, she was 98% back to normal. She can no longer eat sugar subs of any kind and has to be careful of her sugar intake to make sure she doesn't get back there. The doctors were absolutely amazed!

Ok so that's why. When I talked to her, she said she is pretty sure she knew what was wrong but needed to see him to be sure. So, we made the 4 hour drive up to see her and let her do her work.

What she saw:

He was showing a ton of signs of serious stress-way more than a child his age should have, low oxygen on/in his brain, pancreas problems suggesting diabetes (she isn't a doctor so she can't "diagnose"), kidney malfunctions/beginning signs of failure, liver problems, an enlarged heart, heart palpatations and murmur, an over-active thyroid, and intestinal problems-his body is too acidic which is causing organs to start breaking down. Oh and an allergy to dairy (which explains the behavior getting worse because he had way more milk at school than he ever did at home-everywhere you turn they are offering milk)

HE ISN'T EVEN 6! And none of the doctors caught any of this! So..we eliminated all dairy, he is on some herb supplements to help with the stress, kidney, liver and heart problems. I can't find the paper right now but I think one of the herbs also helps the thyroid problem but we are going to take him in and insist on additional testing since thyroid problems are hard to diagnose since he can be functioning correctly when the test is run and go out of wack within minutes. To help with the *almost* diabetes, we've been on a no sugar diet-only natural sugar found in fruit. We were advised to start eating as naturally and raw as possible-not cooking veggies, eating everything in it's most natural state-limiting/eliminating red meat which we don't really eat a lot of anyway, no white flour, no starches..among other things but you get the idea.

I have been doing a lot of research and I am having a hard time not beating myself up. I am responsible for this. I am the one that was giving him foods his body couldn't handle. I am also having a hard time with the fact that he was fully vaccinated on the peds schedule and he is having all these problems. Here I have Cohen who isn't vaccinated and hasn't been sick but the one bout of Roseola! Braedon was ALWAYS sick-starting with ear infections early on and constant "colds"-and I can't help but think that the vaccines may be the culprit. I have found so much more stuff about vaccines than I had when I was looking for that info about how cancer was virtually non-existent before vaccines started being developed and how doctors had never seen a case of cancer in an unvaccinated person. I am not saying this to upset any moms that vaccinate..I am simply stating what I have found and what I am feeling.

On top of that research, I looked more into the diet Debbie suggested. She said something about the Ph balance and getting his/our body to an alkaline state. I have heard this before but dind't pay much attention to it. The first time was when Braedon was a baby-I was waiting tables and a customer came in with a group of people. He was very specific as to what he wanted and how he wanted it cooked. I also noticed a whole schlew (sp? even a word? LOL) of pills he was taking so I commented. He said that his body was at an alkaline state and basically, it was impossible for him to get sick since bad bacteria can't grow in the alkalinity (including cancer). The second time was when I was pregnant with Cohen. A co-worker mentioned it after I made a comment about her only eating raw veggies and nuts-no meat and very little fruit. Plus she had some crazy supplements and stuff she added to her water. She talked about the whole Ph thing as well but again, I just shrugged it off....Well, God must have been telling me something and hinting at me that I needed to listen...and I didn't...so now I have to.

Update 9-9-09: So, we have been on this diet-not completely but have made major changes-for a week. Herbs take 3-4 weeks to take full effect but we are using liquid herbs so they absorb faster and were told we should notice a difference in a matter of days to 1 week with full effect in a few weeks. He has gotten *better* but is still having major problems. Before we went and saw Debbie, he had been on Orange for 1 week and then 3 days of Red. This last week, he has been on yellow. Improvement-yes Where he needs to be-NO. Just today, he took his shoes off and threw them at one of his classmates-not just tossed, THREW-he was running wild, poking kids, getting in their faces, ripping things off the wall, and coloring on all the tables. They took him out of the classroom and let him calm down but he had to stay in the OCR room until lunch then he had a great afternoon.

We are also now exploring the option of chiropractic care. Since ADHA is a neurological disorder (he hasn't been "officially" diagnosed since we would refuse medication anyway), studies have shown chiropractic care can be beneficial. In lamens terms and from what I understand of the information I have read, the inbalance of the spine can cause the nerves to go haywire which causes the "hyperactivity" in kids along with the impulses and outbursts.

Braedon's bug bite

On Sunday I noticed Braedon's right hand was pretty swollen and there was a bump on the top that looked like a pimple then what appeared to be a scratch of some kind. He didn't remember being bit and we couldn't figure out where he could have since we hadn't been anywhere that day. So we tried not to worry about it and went swimming. When he went to bed, it still looked about the same but the swelling was getting harder. I checked on him at midnight-no change-but when he got up for school yesterday, his whole hand was puffy all the way down to his fingers and it was red around the swelling. Braedon said he felt fine and it didn't hurt so we went to school. I asked his teacher to keep an eye on it for me and to call if it got worse but that I would be callling the doctor to get him in. I had to get him out of school about 20 min early and when we got to the ped, he was running a low grade fever (99.3). The doctor looked at his hand and noticed it was warm but didn't seem to concerned since Braedon wasn't in obvious pain-though he has a very high threshold for pain. He said it hurt a little but that was after she had been pushing on it for a few minutes. Anyway long story short, they prescribed him with an antibiotic just in case for the fever and told me to give him Benadryl to help with the swelling. If it gets worse or doesn't get better by tomorrow, then I need to call. This morning it looked way better though. The redness was virtually gone but the swelling was still there.

After the fiasco at the peds, I talked to my mother in law and she reminded me that Braedon had rolled around in the grass on Saturday night and may have been bit by an ant. I guess it is safe to assume he is allergic to ants since he was bitten a couple months ago on his foot by an ant and had the same swelling reaction.

He took 2 steps!

Yep! Cohen took 2 steps! He has become braver and braver the last few days and is no longer scared to stand alone..in fact, he thinks it's funny when he lets go. Saturday night, we were having dinner for Chris' birthday and Cohen was standing on the booth when he took 2 steps towards Chris! He hasn't done it since but he is standing for longer an longer so it won't be long now. He is still trying to reach for something to grab onto before he moves his feet. I'll keep you updated :-)

An update on Braedon: He is doing much better with the new sticker reward system had 2 out of 3 days on green and one yellow. We talked to him about this week and told him we would like to see him on green everyday this week. He agreed but then said he wanted on purple! I think this may have something to do with Megan (his "girlfriend). She is a few months older than Braedon so she was able to start K last year and has been in 1st grade for a couple weeks longer. At dinner on Saturday, we started talking about school. In K, her school used a number system 1-4 with 4 being an excellent day; in 1st grade, they are using a color system and she told Braedon that she is always on purple and asked what color he is on. When he told her "sometimes yellow and orange", she asked him why he isn't good in school, etc. Maybe she will have an influence on him that no one else seems to have had yet. I let his teacher know that his goal is purple this week and she was really excited. Only time will tell!

Being a SAHM (stay at home mom)

I decided to write this post after an experience I had yesterday when I was at lunch with one of our play groups.

We went to chick-fil-a after story time. Now mind you, there was 15 moms, easy..plus the kiddo's. So we pushed a few tables together and had lunch. We were talking and laughing about mom stuff-funny things our kids said or did, things we did, etc when this old man comes up to us-he had to be 75-80-and says:

"So this is what you housewives do all day while the husband is out working"

So, me being sarcastic and all said "Pretty much"

Then a few other Mom's chimed in with

"and eat bon-bons all day"
"while sitting on the couch watching TV"
"and taking naps"
"and watching soap operas"

Then an uproar of laughter at the table.

This got me thinking about the common misconception of "housewives" and "stay at home mom's"..believe me, I used to have the same misconception when I was a working mom.

I thought being a SAHM would mean sleeping in, taking naps, watching my soap opera, lounging around, having a perfectly clean house everyday, dinner on the table when hubby gets home, being the soccer mom, or the mom all your friends had-the one that took you to school; picked you up; always had snacks for practice...you know, the ideal image of a Mom that doesn't have to work.

Man was I wrong! Having done both, I LOVE being able to stay home with my boys. I HATED dropping Braedon off at daycare knowing someone else was having fun with him all day and teaching him new things. That being said, being a working mom was easier in the means of effort. There was an escape from the crying and whining and diapers and cleaning and chasing. I had adult interaction and my days weren't filled with conversations with a child-while those conversations can be very interesting to say the least. I got up, got ready for work, got Braedon ready for daycare, ate breakfast, dropped him off at daycare, went to work. Then I picked him up from daycare, we played, I made dinner, then bath and bed.

I can honestly say, I am more tired at the end of the day being a SAHM than I was being a working Mom. Now, I get up, get ready for the day-if I want a shower, I have to get up before my kids or wait until naptime, get the boys up and ready, drop Braedon off at school, come home, feed Cohen, play, er, chase Cohen-make sure he doesn't get into anything, pick up after him, etc. Then he goes down for a nap at which time, if I didn't get a shower in the morning, now's the time if I'm going to get one then I have to pick up the house-it's amazing what a 10 month old can destroy-clean up our breakfast dishes, figure out what's for dinner and take out what needs to thaw, do whatever household chores are on the list for that day-clean bathrooms, pick up bedrooms, vacuum, sweep/mom, laundry-never ending with 2 kids, dusting, giving the dogs a bath depending on what mess they've gotten themselves into outside...then hopefully I can get that done before Cohen wakes up from his nap (which doesn't happen then I'm a day behind and it snowballs). Once he's up from his nap, it's time for lunch. I can then hope he will entertain himself without getting into too much trouble so I can clean up our lunch mess. From there, more chasing and playing...then it's afternoon nap time so I can finish cleaning up the lunch mess if I didn't get it done earlier, try to finish household chores or take 10 minutes for myself before he wakes up again. Then he's up and it's off to pick up Braedon from school. We come home, go over his day and any homework he has, then relief for me-Braedon plays/chases Cohen while I attempt to make dinner before the meltdowns start. HA-good luck with that! After dinner, I get the boys cleaned up while Chris cleans up dinner then it's play time with Daddy while Mommy puts her feet up :-) Then bath and bed...and Mommy collapses, er, gets on the computer LOL!

Being a SAHM also means making things work on one income and making sacrifices to do so. We haven't had cable in over a year, I haven't had my hair cut since I stopped working, I have had 1 pedicure since Cohen was born, we live paycheck to paycheck, we buy things that are on sale/clearance, we plan activites that are free-like story time at the library-or CHEAP-like kids eat free at Chick-fil-a on Mondays, Mcdonald's playplace with a $3 kidsmeal, we make dinner at home, we stress over how the bills will get paid, our credit is shot, Chris works 14 hours of OT every week just to make ends meet...but I wouldn't have it any other way.

I am willing to make sacrifices to be home with my kids. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of days that I think of the luxuries we could have if I was working. We've made it work on half the income we had and we thought we were broke when I was working as well! The problem is, aside from the crap economy, we have 2 kids. That would mean 2 kids in daycare-1 fulltime infant and 1 before/after school care. In order for me to go back to work and still bring home enough money to make it worth it after paying a daycare bill, I'd have to make at least $35k. I was making $42k but those paying jobs are harder to come by when you have ex-corporate america with Masters/Doctoral degrees competing for those jobs as well. Though, we have considered me getting a waitressing job at nights to bring in some income without having to pay for daycare. It's cash on hand and as long as the restaurant is busy, you can make what you need to make by picking up extra tables or working an extra hour or so.

So to all you working mom's out there-Props to you! I know how hard it is to leave your kids in someone else's hands...the trust it takes, the strength that it takes to leave a crying child or tell your child they have to go because you have to go to work, the courage it takes to know you are doing the right thing for your family, and the comittment it takes to balance work and personal along with making the most of the time you have with your kids.

And to all you fellow stay at home moms out there-Props to you as well! Especially those that have done it for years and years. It is exhausting and hard to not have the adult interaction, talking to your kids all day.

Meeting with the teacher

Thanks for the reminder Amy :-) The meeting was supposed to be with Braedon's teacher and vice principal however, the vice principal was called into another conference-I was lead to believe it was with a child with more issues than the "minor" ones we are dealing with.

So we bribed, er, were nice parents and brought Miss Fredrickson a Boba which we found out during meet the teacher night (when Chris and I walked in with one and she said "Oh my goodness where can you buy Boba around here? To which we turned and looked with absolute astonishment that she knew what Boba was) is one of her all time favorite drinks.

What is Boba you may ask? You can find that information right here.

So, now you know-you learned something new today didn't you? It's always good to learn new things.

Ahem, back to the meeting. So we brought her one-yeah maybe in hopes of her taking it easy on us-and after watching her grin like a kid in a candy store showing off her Boba to the entire staff, we went into the classroom. She showed us a chart she had created. In the left column, she had a box for the opposite of everything Braedon does to get in trouble-not sitting on his bum during carpet time, not sitting in his chair for table time, getting out of line, speaking out of turn, etc (there were 12 but I can't remember them all)-and the top row was Mon-Fri. So the plan is for everyday that he does each of these things (or the opposite really), he will get a sticker. I hope that makes sense LOL! So he will get a sticker for sitting on his bum, staying in line, yada yada. The ulitimate goal, obviously, is to have a sticker for every one, every day but the first goal was 8. Braedon decided he could do 9. If he gets his stickers for the day, he is on green or purple depending on how well he does but if he gets less, then he will be on yellow, orange, red accordingly. The chart will be at his table as a reminder and it will be sent home every Friday so we can see where he earned his stickers.

Miss Fredrickson was confident that this will work and will help him get back on track. I hope so!

Last week was rough

So my last post about school and Braedon was after his first day. You see, Braedon is a *spirited* child. He is very intense, emotional, energetic, and strong willed...not like his mom at all, ahem.

Moving on.

He can be hard to deal with and has a hard time listening and obeying authority. The school uses a color system to let us parents know how our dear children were at school. His calendar is colored everyday and we have to sign it.

Purple: exceptional day
Green: good day
Yellow: warning
Orange: time out/lose some recess
Red: time out in buddy room (principals office) and note/call home

So, Braedon's first day of school-Green
Tuesday: Orange
Wednesday: Green, then yellow-would've been Orange but school was over
Thursday: Orange
Friday: Thank goodness-Green
Monday (week 2): Yellow-still struggling with listening

He was throwing fits at school, laying on the floor and refusing to get up, pushing, hitting, pinching, cutting in line, refusing to listen to anything the teacher asked him to do, not doing his work and wandering the classroom and hall.

So, yeah, it was a rough week. I had to buckle down at home and become Nazi Mom-which I HATE! He tests his boundaries and constantly pushes his limits. I told him there would be no more warnings-there used to be one warning and that was it but for whatever reason, it got to the point where he was getting several warnings before punishment and he knew just how far he could push. Even after several warnings, I would give him "to the count of 3" to which he would wait until I said "3" then do whatever he was supposed to do. So, no more warnings, no more counting. I say do it, and you do it or there will be consequences. It was very hard for me to stick to my guns and he spent the majority of last week in his room. He was able to come down for dinner and then back up he went until it was time for a shower and bed. It was so hard to listen to him cry and just want to come out and talk-he's a social butterfly-but I knew the punishment had to be severe enough for him to know I mean business. I have taken away toys, TV, video games..you name it, he's lost it. But he doesn't seem to care. The only thing that seems to be working is solitude...which was proven when he got a big green smiley face on Friday.

Braedon is definitely a follower and if he sees another student being bad, then he thinks it's ok to be bad as well. I love his teacher-we almost seem to understand each other. She isn't married and has no children but it's as if we would/could be friends. The unfortunate thing is, while she's been a K teacher for 5 years, she just doesn't seem to have the forcefulness that some kids need. I may be completely off base here since I haven't seen her in "action" but she admitted that she has a brood of "rough boys" this year...which is not good for Braedon, you know, since he's a follower.

Today, Chris and I are meeting with his teacher and vice principal to work out a plan of attack, er, for success :-)

In other news-Cohen is so funny when it comes to standing without holding on. He has the balance to do so and does so very well, when he doesn't realize it LOL! If he is holding onto us and we make him let go, he holds his hands out in front of him and slowly lowers himself to a sitting/crawling position. If he's holding onto a peice of furniture, he gets distracted and grabs a toy with one hand, then wants to play with it in both hands. He will stand there for 5 min playing with the toy but the second it registered in his brain that he isn't holding something, he drops what he was playing with and grabs on! It's pretty funny to watch LOL!

Not Me!

Late Monday but still Monday all the same :-)



Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

So, where on earth do I start?

I absolutely did not find it funny when our dogs attacked the high chair once Cohen was out of it to get the food that didn't make it in his mouth. Not me! Our dogs are very obedient and would never do such a thing...and I am always on top of cleaning the messes my children make.



I absolutely did not take a picture of said event that did not happen, laughing hysterically at the fact that I did not think of this earlier..I mean, if it had happened...which it didn't.

I most certainly did not drink the last cup of milk-made into chocolate milk YUM!-leaving no milk for breakfast the next morning. Not me! I always leave the last of everything for my dear children.

I did not let Braedon go to bed in the clothes he was wearing that day. Nope! My kids always go to bed in there pajama's!

I also did not let him wear said clothes the next day as well while having a conversation in my head about it being one less set of clothes I would have to wash later. Not me! My kids are always clean, wearing clean clothes, and I love doing laundry!

I did not leave the baby gate open while I was chasing Braedon up the stairs because he was talking back to me which then left the staircase available for a 10mo old climber by the name of Cohen..who proceeded to take advantage of the opportunity. Once I realized this, I did not come running down the stairs to see that he had already made it up 4 stairs and was laughing...which then led me to run even faster down the stairs before he lost his balance and fell backward...I mean, if that did happen...which it didn't.

And lastly...I did not forget that Braedon gets out of school an hour early on Mondays and would not have been an hour late picking him up if his teacher hadn't reminded another parent about this..I mean, since I'm on top of my kids and a very involved parent, she just assumed I knew this and didn't feel the need to remind me of this....

So...what have you not done this week??

Braedon's first day! and funny story at the end :-)

So in all fairness I wrote this yesterday and didn't post it and I'm too tired to upload pictures..I'll just leave you with this-today was a rough day for Braedon and I am at my wits end. For now, enjoy his first day story and I'll upload the first day of school pics tomorrow...and maybe tell you what happened today-when I'm up for it.

Yep..first official day of school and man there were a TON of kids there! I mean, I knew it was a K-8 school, but I guess I didn't expect that many.

So we get to the school and see everyone migrating over to the courtyard where we were previously told to drop them off but since it was the first day..

Anyway-we flagged down someone -still don't know who she was but she worked there, our best guess is Vice Principal- to find out about paying for his lunch and were directed to the Cafeteria. Lunch paid for-check

Then we waited LOL! The school is on a grant of some sort so all the kids get breakfast for free-cool deal! There was a whole line of parents that hadn't registered their kids yet-CRAZY! Let's register our kids for school on the first day...sounds like a good idea to me! Breakfast was supposed to start at 7:55 but of course, they were behind schedule because of all the new registers.

Once we got in the classroom, he hung up his backback and sat down for breakfast. I got him all squared away and I just didn't want to leave. There were a few other parents that I could tell were feeling the same way as I was. Eventually, the parents started filing out of the classroom so Chris and I followed and off we went. Chris started laughing at me (gently) because I started tearing up. "But he didn't say anything this time to make you cry"..."No, but it's official now..He's growing up".




Ok Now the funny story.

A little background first though-Chris' friend Lupe has been staying with us Mon-Fri since he lives in another city but works out near us. Lupe drives a Scion like this:


We were walking passed the pick up turn around and there was an H2 parked there, like this:


Then our conversation went like this:

B: Look Mommy! It's like Lupe's!
Me: Yeah kinda
B: When we get home, I'm gunna tell Lupe we saw a car like his..but it was bigger so it wasn't like his...but it was like his...and it was black. I'm gunna tell him K mommy?
Me: *silently laughing* Ok bud.

Yesterday..

I absolutely had to post these pictures...they'll definitely make it into the "show the prom date" pics :-)

Braedon decided to be funny and put on Daddy's clothes:


Then he wanted to be Mommy-except I wear clothes:


And this is Cohen after lunch-Chef Boyardee:


We had to just put him in the sink because the rest of him looked about the same as his face!

Not Me!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

So here goes my first Not Me! Monday post about all the things I did NOT do this week :-)

I most certainly did not let Braedon go swimming in his bathing suit that had been sitting outside for a week, nor did I let this go as his shower for the night. I am always about my children being clean and taking showers/baths every night..nope, not me!

I also did not join Braedon for a movie upstairs so I could nurse Cohen in bed and take a nap...nope, not me! I am always awake and attentive to my children!

I did not have to wash the same load of laundry 3 times because I did not forget to switch them to the dryer before they started to smell funny. I am way more on top of my chores than that!

I also did not stop at McDonald's on the way home from Braedon's first day of Kindergarten to get Cohen pancakes for breakfast because we are out of yogurt and I didn't want to make oatmeal for him. My kids always eat very nutritious meals and I love cooking for them every day!

And lastly, I did not take the long way through the neighborhood when I noticed a jerk following me too closely just to irritate him. I am way more mature than that! HA!

Want to play along? Go ahead..what have you NOT done this week??

Is it Sunday already??

Where did this week go? Where did the weekend go?? Is it just me or did it fly by fast?

So, let's play catch up..this could get to be long!

Wednesday: This Wednesday was Kids Club at the mall and they had a special going back to school edition for all the youngsters starting school Monday. We haven't been in a few months because Cohen is a bit on the young side and Braedon is a bit on the old side..but, Braedon wanted to go one last time before school started. Since it was a back to school edition, it was geared towards the older kiddos of the group and Braedon seemed to have a good time. After that, we went to lunch and then headed to the indoor play center.

Wednesday night was meet the teacher night at school. We have already met his teacher a few times because of the jump start program he did a couple weeks back but we were able to talk to her one on one and see around the school a bit. We also found out what the bus schedule would be if he ever needed to take the bus to or from school.

Thursday: I set up an account on Meetup.com to find some play groups for Cohen since Braedon is going back to school. I found 3 groups in the area with several members and seem to have younger kids so on Thursday, one of the groups was having lunch at McDonald's. There were several older kids that hadn't started school yet so Braedon had someone to play with and Cohen did as well. He couldn't go into the slide area but they had some stationary bug toy things that he was able to play on. This was a great group of ladies and I'm looking forward to spending more time with them. I am hoping between the three groups, I will be able to take Cohen out 2-3 times per week for a couple hours.

Friday: Yay-relaxation...or whatever relaxation you can get with 2 kids. We didn't have anything planned and Braedon was in the mood to watch movies and lay low all day...so I let him :-) I even got to watch a mommy movie while Cohen was napping and Braedon was upstairs watching a movie/sleeping in my room.

Saturday: We were helping my mom move..bleh. At least the weather was kind and it was only about 105*. Last week it was way too hot reaching 122 according to my car thermometer. My mom found a great apartment and I'm hoping she will stay there for a while. They have community activities like breakfast every Saturday, movies at the pool, wine and cheese party, etc. It should be good for her and I'm hoping she'll be happy there. She's a little farther away from us than she was but not much.

That brings us to today that started off with me getting to sleep in! YAY! I had also asked Chris last night if I could go get a massage today. My dad got me a gift certificate for Mother's Day and I hadn't used it yet so after moving yesterday, I thought it would be nice. I opted for the 90 min hot stone massage which was more than the gift certificate I had but I also had a Visa giftcard from my birthday that made up the difference and I just needed a tip. It was so wonderful! A whole 90 min of quiet and relaxation. I didn't want it to be over but all good things come to an end, right?

Now I am off to get the boys ready for bed and make sure everything is set for Braedon's big day at school...his first official day. I hope I can keep it together!

Twin fun!

We headed over to Amy's house today to help with her beautiful twins. Addison has been doing great with sleeping at night. Riley, however, not so much. I volunteered to come over and help out to see if I could help get Riley's scheduled flip by keeping her awake. Sara is exhausted as well because of Riley's schedule-one twin sleeping while one is awake. I also remember those first few months after having Cohen. I just wished someone would offer to come over for a couple hours so I could have a nap.

I tried to stay out of Sara's way and was just there to offer help if she wanted or needed it. I don't know if she appreciated my help or not..I may have just been a hindrance but we had fun anyway :-) Braedon went to spend the day with Uncle Colby in hopes that he will listen to his much idolized uncle about being nice at school and making lots of friends. Cohen hasn't been around the girls since he figured out this whole crawling thing so it was 50/50 if he would be more interested in scoping out this "new" environment or if he would be jealous like last time and go crazy with wanting attention. I'm happy to say he was more about playing-with the girls! He was loving on them, playing with their feet and hands and "patting" their head. It was so cute to watch. At one point, one of them was on their play mat and he wanted to stand up to reach the toys that hung down. So he was holding onto the little bars that go across and when he realized they moved, he was trying to use the baby to help prop him up. He was pushing on her leg trying to get that extra bump....needless to say, she didn't like it much LOL!

All in all, I'd say it was a good day. Sara got a slight nap-she played on the computer during the girls' naps and decided she should catch some zzzzz's about 20 min before they woke up. I did what I could before waking her up but Riley woke first so I fed her then half way through that Addison started stirring and 5 min after that, Cohen woke up from his nap. I only have 2 arms and 3 babies...I was completely outnumbered LOL!

Here are some pics..enjoy :-)

Riley-sleepy eyes


Riley-stay awake baby girl


Wide awake Addison




Cohen having fun playing


Amy and Cohen


Colby and the twins-he thought I was trying to intice him into making me an aunt sooner :-)

Kreativ Blogger Award

Thank you to Amy for giving me this award :-) I am supposed to list 7 things I am thankful for and then 7 blogs I want to pass this on to. I'm new to blogging so I only have 4 followers and 1 of them gave this to me LOL!

First things first-7 things I'm thankful for:

1 & 2: My boys-Braedon & Cohen I never knew how much love my heart could hold until I had children. Braedon is the son I never knew I always wanted. I was headed down a dark path when God gave him to me. HE knew it was time for me to settle down and I needed to get off the path I was headed. At the time, I didn't know what I was going to do but Braedon changed my life. He is my son through and through and he was always meant to be mine even if it wasn't the ideal situation at the time. And my baby boy, Cohen. I always knew I wanted more than 1 child and the prospect of another child was not in my cards for a long time. It was by sheer miracle that he was conceived. We were TTC but I was sure we had missed the window the month he was conceived. At my 20 week scan when we were finding out the gender, we found out there was a problem with his umbilical cord-he only had 2 arteries instead of the normal 3. After days of agonizing over the possibilities and problems this "could" cause, we had an in-depth scan to find out that he was perfect! There wouldn't be any underlying affects from the cord.

3: My husband, Chris. The love of my life. He came back into my life for good when Braedon was just 2 years old. It takes a special man to be a Daddy to child that isn't his. He knew we were a package deal and he never looked back. He took Braedon in as his own and promised to love me/us forever. He works hard everyday, including overtime, so I can stay home and raise our boys.

4: My family, They have always been there for me and they stepped up when I was a single mom trying to get by. They continue to be there for me to this day. My mom and I have certainly had our differences along with ups and downs but things are on the up. I have also been blessed with the best grandparents ever-Namma and Pappa. They made it a point to be a part of my life. They came down on the weekends, took us out during spring break, were there for every birthday, Christmas, holiday. My dad and step-mom have stood by me as well. Again, ups and downs with them but we are definitely back on track. Of couse, there is my brother as well. He made it home safe from Iraq and Africa, and where ever else he was and whatever else he did that he can't tell us. Lastly, my sister. As we have grown up, we've gotten closer and I hope that our relationship continues to grow.

5: My extended family-Chris' family took Braedon in as their own without looking back just as Chris did. I quite possibly have the best MIL a girl could ask for. She's always been there when we needed her, she takes Braedon on overnight trips whenever she can (and will take Cohen as soon as he's done nursing LOL!)and she is always buying the boys things-spoiling them rotten :-)

6: My friends, real life and online: I have a great group of friends that have always been a support system. I have this wonderful online group of friends that I met when I was pregnant with Cohen. It is amazing to have other mom's that are going through the same things. They are there to laugh with, cry with, pull your hair out with and bounce ideas off of when you are at your wits end.

7: Coffee, Cheerios, video games, Tylenol, Orajel, baby gates and anything else that keeps Cohen and Braedon entertained and happy :-)

And now I pass this award onto:

http://andbabymakesfour-makm.blogspot.com/

http://a-little-bit-of-us.blogspot.com/

http://serendipitymom.blogspot.com/


Alright ladies, what are YOU thankful for??

Cohen continues to thrive :-)

In all the hub-bub of Braedon going to school, Cohen continues to do new things! He is learning to climb-first with the steps in the pool and then he climbed up 4 stairs with Chris behind him and me in front of him encouraging him to do it. I'm ok with a few steps and letting him when he's supervised so it takes the curiosity out of it. He doesn't have access to the stairs during the day anyway with the way the baby gates are set up for this specific reason. He is also starting to let go when standing more and more. We were over at Namma's yesterday for her birthday party. She has a drawer full of of spoons and cups that she had made for Braedon. He reached in standing up and grabbed 2 spoons which required both hands. He realized he wasn't holding on, looked up and my mom and laughed! Lastly, he has started this growling thing. He's been making the sound for a while but on Friday, he discovered he has control over it and does it all day. He pulled up to hold onto the couch, looked up and me and "growled". It was too cute! He also likes sooting chairs around all over the kitchen. He prefers the barstools since they don't have wheels. Our dining room chairs do and they roll when he's trying to stand up on them. Until a few days ago, he didn't have the coordination to stand up while they were rolling but he is getting a lot better. At any given time, I have chairs and barstools all over the kitchen and dining area but if I try to put them back, he glares at me and continues to move them again. It's a never ending process LOL! I took a video of him after he had scooted the barstool around the kitchen island and then pushed it up to the fridge and couldn't figure out how to get it moving again so he just stood there and "jumped" with it.



Oh and today, Cohen said "Daddy"!! Chris was so excited. Of course, I didn't hear it at first but he just kept saying daddy, daddy, daddy! Chris has been waiting for that for a long time and I'm glad he finally said it..and kept saying it. It was almost as if he was making sure we both heard it and we knew what he was saying :-) Smart boy!

Last 2 days of jumpstart

We've been pretty busy and I fell behind on the blog front LOL!

Braedon's last 2 days of jumpstart went fairly well. He was able to stay on green most of the day. He had a couple mishaps that put him on yellow but with the "threat" of red hanging over him, he shaped up to get back on green. I was very happy with how this week went and am hoping the jumpstart program got all the wiggles out and we won't have any problems when the school year starts. On Thursday, when I was dropping Braedon off, a little boy-I say little because he was much smaller than Braedon-came up to me and said "your son 'bees' mean to me". It kind of took me by surprise but I turned to Braedon and he admitted it so I took it as an opportunity for a life lesson on being nice. It turns out, Braedon seems to be the bully. If someone has something he wants, he takes it away without asking and if they don't give it to him, he hits them. This little boy was beyond his years and kept telling Braedon that he needs to be nice to everyone and not take things away, to share, and to not hit. I talked to Braedon about being nice and making friends with everyone. It's better to have lots of friends than to be the kid that is mean. He said he wanted to be this kids friend so I told him he needed to appologize and ask if they can be friends. I couldn't have seen what was coming next. Braedon went over and asked him if they can be friends and he said "NO"..oh my-so much for a life lesson right? Good thing I'm quick on my feet because Braedon just looked at me like what now? I told him that he doesn't want to be his friend because he was mean to him and he needed to make an effort to show him he would be nice. Meanwhile, this kid kept saying "you need to be nice to EVERYONE, not just me". Hmmm..pretty smart this little kid is. I asked Braedon to work on being nice to everyone and have a good day. He was anxious to get to play and run before school started. This kid wasn't in his class so I don't know what happened or if he will be in his class for the year. I guess we'll have to see. Braedon also showed what a big boy he could be and rode the bus home the last 2 days. I was nervous about it but I figured it would be good for him to get the experience and this way if I ever needed him to take the bus home for anything, he already knows how to do it. Since it was just kinder during the jumpstart, there was only 1 bus and his stop is the first one. I talked to Ms. Jimenez about how it works to help me feel more at ease about the situation. If I had my way, I would've drove up to the school and followed the bus until he was dropped off. Anyway, the bus drivers have a list of the kiddo's and their addresses so they know where they should be dropped off at. They also won't let them off the bus unless there is an adult (that they know) at the bus stop. If there isn't, they will make them stay on the bus and take them back to the school after everyone else is dropped off. To top it off, the kindergartners have bright orange bracelets that get put on and the first graders have bright green ones so the bus drivers know they are little one's-not that it wouldn't be obvious by their size LOL! Oh and the teachers walk all the kids out to the bus and make sure they get on the right bus. That made me feel a lot better about the situation so I sucked it up and let him take the bus the last 2 days. He did great and LOVED it. According to Chris it was because he felt "liberated". He went somewhere without Mommy or Daddy and did it all on his own.

Now for pictures :-)

Wednesday-waiting for the bus:


Here it comes:


Such a big boy!


I didn't take a pic before school so here is after:


Thursday-waiting for the bus:


The bus driver saw me trying to take a pic Wed so he posed for me :-)


And again-after school-can't remember why he took his shoes off:


On Wednesday night, there was a "make and take" night at Braedon's school. We didn't have a lot of information going into it but we were told that we would be making things that would help the kiddo's practice what they learn at school, at home. Does that make sense? Ok so we went up there and the kinder teachers had typed out everyone's name in dot letters on laminated paper so he could practice writing his name. He's known how to do that for quite some time but now he needs to practice writing smaller. We also got a sheet with the letters of the alphabet along with their "characters" like W is worm-can't remember his name and Z is zebra-again, can't remember the name along with magnetic letters and activities we can do with the letters to help him learn to spell words, recognize letters, etc. We also made flashcards with numbers 0-20 for number recognition and for counting purposes. He can count to 100 so we are going to make more flashcards counting higher. He gets a little confused on number recognition when it comes to double digits. It is "1 and a 0" rather than "10" but when counting outloud, he does fine.

Pics from that night:

Cohen gets his own post :-)

Ok so I tried posting this last night but the video wouldn't upload. I figured I would wait until today but I'm still having problems uploading the video so I went through youtube.

Cohen has been getting used to Braedon being school just as much as I have. He must have been thinking that Braedon was getting too much attention on Mommy's blog so he had to show off :-) Let me first say that this age is so fun! He loves to play with everything and most of the time, he plays with things that aren't toys. He loves metal spoons-if there is one around, he'll find it LOL! He likes to help me with dishes and by that I mean crawl up onto the door and find all the spoons in the silverware holder. Sometimes he gets a fork and I have to take it away but he will go to town on the spoons...banging them everywhere and chewing on them. When he plays, you can just see the wheels turning in his head and I LOVE it! He has been pulling up onto anything for a while and cruising around but he is getting this whole walking thing figured out. He will scoot the bar stools all over the kitchen and just laugh. I posted yesterday that he discovered his push walked is more than just toys to play with. Of course I got it on video tonight after dinner and he just wanted to keep going. It won't be long now until he is full on running around the house. He loves that he can get around and I know he's just dying to be able to chase after Braedon.

Notice his little "jig" while walking? It is the cutest thing and he does it all the time! He will also do it "on command" when you say "wanna jumpa jumpa?" That was Chris' doing when he was in his jumper and now he does it anytime you say that.

Oh and he got yet another tooth today! That makes 6: 4 on top, 2 on bottom. That pesky tooth took it's sweet time getting here. It's been swollen for weeks and bothering him so finally it cut..thank goodness! Onto the sleep front. I would've sworn when he was born that he was just never going to sleep. I was really lucky with Braedon-he slept 7 hours the first night home from the hospital and that only got longer as he got older plus 1 nice long nap during the day. He would get up at 6:30, nap from 11-3, sometimes with a little cat nap around 5ish and in bed by 8. Cohen was not so good -but-he has gotten it figured out and I am so happy! He goes to bed between 7-7:30, wakes to nurse around 5-6 and then up for the day around 8 but with Braedon going to school, this has been altered and we are still trying to get used to it LOL! He usually takes a 1-2 hour nap about 10:30 but I started bumping that up since Braedon gets out at 11:30 and then another 1-2 hour nap around 3. I kept saying it would be great-especially once Braedon is in all day school-if he would take 1 long nap-say 4 hours-so I could get housework done. With 2 short naps, the nap is over before it starts. Well, ask and you shall receive-I really hope it wasn't a fluke. This morning, after dropping Braedon off, I dropped Chris off at home so he could go to work and I had a couple errands to run. I needed to go to the post office to drop a few things off and then to the grocery store for stuff for Braedon's lunches. We didn't get home until close to 10 and he was perfectly content playing so I let him-go figure LOL! He started getting cranky around 11 and I knew he wanted a nap but I didn't want to have to wake him up in 20 min like I did yesterday so I just played with him and tried to keep him happy. Well, once Braedon was home, it was play time and then he wanted lunch. At about 1:30 he was definitely cranky and rubbing his eyes so I nursed him and took him upstairs for a nap. I figured it would be longer since he had missed his "morning" nap. He slept and slept and slept! I had to wake him up at 5:30! I am not fond of waking a sleeping baby but it was getting too close to his normal bedtime and I just had this image of him waking up at 2am ready to play. He looked at me funny when I woke him up but he was more than happy to play and EAT once I brought him downstairs-have I mentioned this boy can EAT! Since Chris went to work late, he had to work late but I'm happy to say, my fear did NOT come true. Come 7:30 (ok so a little later than normal), he was cranky and ready for bath and bed.

Week 2 Day 2

I think we may be onto something here! Another good day at school today :-) We even had a somewhat good morning. Chris hurt his back this weekend and couldn't get out of bed this morning so he ended up going with me to drop Braedon off this morning. It was nice to have an extra set of hands this morning while trying to get us all ready. It was more like a half a set since his back is really bothering him. He was able to entertain Cohen while I helped Braedon brush his teeth and do his hair. He also helped make sure we had everything before we left-backpack, lunchbox and water bottle.

He was being a little goofy this morning as you will see in the pictures I took this morning. Ms. Jimenez said he did good for the most part. He had a couple situations that he started acting up and was placed on yellow momentarily but as soon as she asked if he wanted green or red, he shaped up. We have 2 more days of jumpstart then he will have a week off before starting "officially". I'm a little nervous about the week off. I will make sure I don't pick my battles that week so he doesn't fall back into the behavior issues. I am happy to say that he has been slightly better at home. We had a rough night last night but tonight was much better.

Blood work results, Week 2 Day 1 and Cohen walks-sorta

First of all, we got Braedon's blood work back and all is NORMAL! Not even anemic :-) It's definitely good news but it doesn't explain the symptoms. The pediatrician thinks the headaches are definitely allergy related, can't really explain him cold and I suppose he just bruises easily. His pediatrician wants me to watch for nose bleeds and bleeding gums because she will want to run more tests if this starts. Not sure what those will be but we can cross that bridge if we get there.

Now onto our day-Braedon's second week of jumpstart.

We had a rough night last night-Braedon didn't want to get in the shower then once he was in the shower, he didn't want to get washed. He likes to play so I let him for about 5 min or so and then gave him a 5 min warning to get washed. Then I went back in there to give him a 2 min warning and told him that in 2 min, I was turning the water off whether he was washed or not. Gave him a 1 min warning-which I really gave him another 2-3min and he still hadn't even attempted to start washing so off the water went and another fit started. I had to drag him out of the shower then, of course, he refused to put his jammies on. Meanwhile, Chris was bathing Cohen and getting him ready for bed. I finally carried Braedon to his room, naked. Not an easy task when he's pushing 55lbs. He was still refusing to get his jammies on so I put him in bed, gave him a hug and kiss and said goodnight. He screamed and threw a fit so Chris had to take over so I could get Cohen in bed. Braedon finally got his jammies on and went to bed at 8:30-1.5 hours passed his bedtime.

Since he was late to bed, he was tired this morning making it for a rough morning as well. He wanted to take his time eating breakfast, didn't want to get dressed, didn't want to brush his teeth or do his hair. I was at my wits end but pushed through the morning sure he would continue at school and we would have to deal with it later. I dropped him off at school and told him to have a good day and to have fun-hoping he would.

HE DID! I didn't get to the school as early as I usually do because Cohen was napping and didn't want to get up-plus, I had to get him dressed again because he had messed up his outfit already and was just sleeping in his diaper. I am usually waiting for Braedon to get out but today he was already waiting. As soon as he saw me, he came running up to me with a HUGE smile on his face-a VERY good sign. He ran up to me saying that he was on green all day and he was the leader! Ms. Jimenez looked at me and said he was really good all day and he was the leader in the lines whenever they went anywhere! YAY!! I was over the moon happy that he was good. I knew he could do it, he just wasn't. We also met his teacher that he will have all year. For whatever reason, she didn't do the jumpstart but will be in the classroom this week to get to know her students better. She knew he had problems last week but did really good today. Braedon sais he likes her and we had talked to her and K roundup when we registered him...I definitely remember liking her so I'm sure it will be a good year.

This weekend, Chris and I talked to Braedon about some of the things he was doing. We also decided to monitor more closely what he watches and plays. He is obviously having a hard time distinguishing real from fake. He understands why we took things away and we will be paying closer attention to everything. We thought he understood the difference which is the ONLY reason we were letting him play video games..even at that, they weren't any that you wouldn't think would be ok-they are certainly marketed to kids-Bolt, Monsters vs. Aliens, Batman and Indiana Jones. He has games like Boom Blox and Mario Kart that he will be able to play when he gets them back.

Ok so now for this mornings pictures LOL! I won't take them everyday but since I was onto something, I figured I wouldn't stop now.





No you are not dreaming-my car IS IN THE GARAGE!!!

Chillin' telling Daddy how good he was at school!

Now onto Cohen-he's getting to be such a big boy! He has a walker, you know, the one you sit in and can walk around in it. He never quite got the concept of it but he loved to be in it. He would push himself around backwards with both feet. Well, he has a different walker, the one you push and yesterday, he stood up with it and pushed/walked with it across the kitchen floor! He thought it was the funniest thing and was laughing! I wish I would've gotten it on video. I'll have to catch it tomorrow-hopefully :-) But for now-he was so tired today! He didn't want to take a nap at his normal time between 9-10am. He didn't go down for his nap until 11am which only gave him about a 20min nap...so he fell asleep in the car:

Doctors visit for both

Today was Cohen's rescheduled 9 month well baby check since he had Roseola for the last one. I was a little nervous about his weight check since he had lost weight from being sick. With the exception of his birth weight, he has been sitting at the bottom of the weight chart in the 10th percentile while everything else in the 75-90th percentile. Not to worry *yet* I was told because he had been consistently gaining slower and developmentally, he was right on target. However, they did NOT like the drop in weight but considered the illness and wanted to see him back in 2 weeks.

So, 2 weeks ago he weighed in at 17lbs 15oz and today, he was a whopping 19lbs 4oz!! This bumped him up to the 25th percentile! He has grown quite the appetite in the last week. Example: He slept through his normal "lunch" time yesterday and didn't act like he wanted to eat until around 3:45. I knew he needed to eat but hesitated because dinner was at 5 and I didn't want him to eat too early and be hungry later when it was bedtime. He ended up eating 1 slice of cheesy bread, an entire banana and a couple handfuls of Cheerios. No biggie-a little bigger than normal but still in what I would consider the normal range. So dinner was at 5 and he didn't really show any interest in eating as we were setting the table. He was happily playing with his toys. I decided to go ahead and put him in his high chair so we wouldn't have to keep watching him to make sure he didn't get into anything. He was content when I put him up there but then I started dishing out food to Braedon and myself and he was eyeballing the macaroni. He proceeded to "yell" at me when I didn't put any on his tray. I thought he couldn't possibly be hungry so I gave him a small spoonful figuring he would just play with it and maybe eat some of it. Boy was I wrong! By the time it was said and done, he had eaten half a peice of chicken, 2 spoonfuls of mac & cheese, and about a cup of broccoli...and he was still acting like he wanted to eat. His tummy was SO full so I cleaned him up and took him out of the chair and he was fine.

Ok so back to the visit :-) He is now 29" and his iron check came back normal. He is a very healthy boy who impressed the ped with his ability to cruise and stand alone. He also got 2 shots today. Normally he only gets 1 at a time but these were the 2nd and 3rd in the series with no previous reaction so we felt comfortable with 2. He did amazingly well and I'm glad we waited until he was older. The couple of shots he got when he was younger, it took me forever to calm him down. I had to nurse him before we could even leave and he wanted to nurse for 30min or longer. This time, he cried just until she was done and I was able to pick him up. Once I picked him up, he cuddle his head into the crook of my neck for, literally, a minute and then he perked up and was laughing at his brother! Once we got out and I went to put him in his carseat, he started to whine a little bit but Braedon is an awesome big brother and started entertaining him.

Now onto Braedon. There have been somethings going on with him that have had me concerned for a while but finally enough piled up that I decided I should have them checked out especially since we were making the trip for Cohen's check up anyway and once he starts school, it will be Saturday visits (nightmare) or missing school. He always seems to have bruises in misc places but we always just shrugged them off as being an almost 6 year old boy. However, these bruises seem to be getting worse and they are all sorts of sizes from the size of a pea to very large ones. Most of them he can't explain and we can't think of where he may have gotten them. Some of them appear in weird places that wouldn't be easy to get bruised like right below the elbow and it isn't just one. It's like a patch of them that don't make a pattern to match anything that we could think of to cause it. He has also been complaining of a headache-a lot. He will be playing and all of a sudden grab his head and make a sort of whincing pain. When I ask him what's wrong, he says his head hurts. It happens a lot after a fit but it happens beyond a comfort level when there hasn't been a blow up. The third thing-the final straw you could say-is that he's been complaining he's cold at an increasing rate. It is 100+ degrees-it's NOT cold. Our house will be 80 degrees and he's huddled under a blanket..not to the point of shivering but enough for a blanket. For a while I was joking around with him when he said he was cold until I started noticing that he was cold enough to want a blanket and to stay under the blanket for a length of time. There were times he asked if he could wear it at the dinner table. So it was time to have it checked out.

I was pretty sure they would do a finger poke because bruising and being cold are pretty common symptoms of Anemia. He was borderline Anemic as a baby so I watched his milk intake which reduces the bodies ability to absorb iron and increased his intake of iron rich foods. He's had iron checks in the past and they've all come back fine but he's prone. It doesn't necessarily explain the headaches but I had migraines at that age. So the nurse checked him out and told me she wanted to poke his finger which I had already talked to him about. She got the stuff out and he FREAKED! We tried to calm him down but it wasn't going to happen. She went out to get help and the ped came in saying she wanted to do a full blood panel anyway to rule out any possibilities so there was no point in unnecessary poking. She looked over his bruises noticing the different sizes and spots where they were, asked me a few questions about the other things going on and asked if there was any history of blood disorders or diseases in the immediate family. At that moment, I remembered that Braedon's "sperm donor" as we refer to him, had a brother that died of Leukemia. I told the ped this and she said not to worry-that was somewhat of a distant relationship but the bloodwork would show that *if* it was there. GREAT! Way to not make me worry right?

So we got the orders for the bloodwork and headed over to the lab. There were a couple people ahead of us but the wait wasn't too bad. I talked to Braedon about what was going to happen. When I was a kid, I hated being lied to *it's not going to hurt* or when I wasn't told and it was just sprung on me. I walked him through the steps of looking for the vein, a quick poke and then the blood filling the tubes and it would be over. He seemed ok with it but I should've known better. I was going through the steps in my head trying to figure out how we were going to hold him down since I had Cohen. Once we were called back into the room, he was doing good. He got up into the chair after she told him she just wanted to look. She tied the tourniquet and started looking. Thankfully, he does NOT have my veins and that beautiful vein just popped right up. She showed him and said "see right there, it will be quick and easy". She reached into her drawer to grab the needle and it was over. He started pulling the tourniquet off and I told him to leave it on but she said it was fine and took it off. No sooner did she have it off his arm did he slide out of the chair and ran to the door. Then he hid under the chair and wouldn't let go. I had to put Cohen down and she helped me with the chair while I pried his hands off. He went into an all out screaming fit, kicking and flailing about. I got up in the chair with him and was restaining him the best I could but it wasn't going to be enough to try to draw blood so the phlebotomist said she would go get help. I hesitated to let Braedon down because it was quite the ordeal to get him out from under the chair but Cohen was freaking out because he saw Braedon freaking out so I had to put Braedon down to comfort Cohen. Once the help came in, I put Cohen back down and he helped me grab Braedon. You never know how strong a child can be until you are trying to draw blood..man is he strong. The whole time we were waiting for help (about 5 min because he was drawing another patient) Braedon kept saying he wouldn't do it and I couldn't make him and he just wasn't going to do it. I tried to be reasonable with him but I told him it was something that just had to be done and it would be whether he decided to be a big boy about it or make it harder on us. Needless to say, once we had him restrained, he realized there wasn't anything he could do about it. I had his legs between mine, my arms around his chest holding the other arm while the helper held out the arm that was getting the draw. Once he couldn't move, he started screaming in the guys face-his only defense mechanism at this point. The guy was really good though and was calming him down more than I could. Once the needle was in, Braedon miraculously stopped crying and started calming down. His curiosity of seeing his blood drip-more like squirt-into the tube was better than crying I guess. They needed 1 large tube and 2 smaller tubes but as soon as she stuck the second one on, he said "ok take it out now" but waited until the 3rd one was done. In the meantime, he agreed it didn't hurt that bad and it wasn't hurting while the blood was coming out. He winced when she pulled the needle out but that was because she pushed down on it with the gauze as she pulled it out-I HATE when they do that..just let it bleed the 1 little drop that will come out before you can put the gauze on.

After that, he was fine and we called Daddy to tell him what a big boy he was getting his blood drawn-aside from the normal understandable freak out. I promised him ice cream when we were done but by that time it was lunch time so we picked up Chris and had a nice family lunch.

Apparently it was a tiring morning for both boys as they fell asleep shortly after dropping Chris off at work:



Oh and I stopped at DQ for his favorite-cherry dilly bar-even though he was asleep and he ate it when we got home :-)