Play-Doh, Park and Messing with Rylee!

One great thing about birthdays is that you get stuff that your mom would never buy for you! Marian got a lovely play-doh ice cream shop toy for her birthday. I finally said yes, she could open it and play with it. She was marvelous about sharing it with her overeager siblings.

Delaney is showing off her ice cream.

Marian enjoyed creating fun cones.

Callie did this when I called her name.

Then she did this.

Today we went to the park. We went to a new park and the kids enjoyed it. I let Joshua bring a friend, and they disappeared together into the fields and tennis courts, which was good, because the park was geared towards smaller children.

Rylee's first time in a swing! You can see that she loved it.

Callie's pose of choice.

We retired to sit on our picnic blanket, which is a shower curtain (easy to clean!) and Rylee enjoyed the sunshine. Then she tried to crawl away and eat dirt.

Ah yes, to find Marian, one must merely look for the tallest point in the park!

This was how Delaney wanted a picture taken. I have such funny children!

And now, on to harassing the baby! She is so doggone cute and no matter how many pictures I take, they never quite show the true adorability that is Rylee! Yet, I am still compelled to try.

Hello, cutie! Can you show me your teeth?!

No, don't cover them! I want to see the teeth!

This is what I want to see!

And Yes! We have full smile with teeth!

Dragon Cake and Funny Kids

Marian wanted a Dragon cake for her birthday. I love Family Fun magazine and their website has great cake ideas. This was what she got:

I thought it came out very well and Marian was thrilled with it.

Joshua got the camera and I discovered his self-portrait on it later! Silly boy!

Marian had a little birthday party which I thought went very well. It was nice and low-key. And the cake was cute and delicious!

Did I mention that it was delicious?!

Marian wanted to do an Easter Egg Hunt, so we did that for her Party. Delaney was not officially invited, but she got to participate anyway.

There was sidewalk chalk too. Take note that Marian is wearing socks and her pink sandals. Hee hee hee!

***

And on a totally different subject...... Delaney had a meltdown over wanting me to put on her diaper (while I was nursing Rylee, so there was a reason I could not jump at her imperial request), and when I finally tracked her down, she had fallen asleep on the living room floor, stark naked. So yes, I took her picture and then put on a diaper for her. (Sorry, Dan wasn't happy about a nudy photo of her, so I took it out.)

My kids make me laugh

Somebody turned 6 months this week! Rylee had her 6 month check up on Friday and she was proclaimed healthy and well. She weighs 16 lbs 11 oz and was 25 1/2 inches long. Her ear infections are gone and she looked good.

Here's the chubby-wubby as we awaited the doctor.

This is how her big sister passed the time.

That night I made Marian's cake for her birthday party. I will have to post pictures of that as well. It was very cute. I had lots of helpers to lick the pan when I was done.

This is how Delaney looked after helping me!

I love how serious she is as she wipes.

She is convinced she got it all and refuses to believe she needs to wipe any more.

Callie is just a ray of sunshine when she is happy!

And these 3 were being so silly. Rylee didn't know what all the fuss was about. I am just happy when they get along and are not fighting.

Now they are trying to be funny. They crack me up!

And she was a happy kiddo too. such a great smile, and her laugh is fabulous!

Did I mention that she is crawling?! She is! She heard me upstairs and crawled to see me. This was as far as she got, but someday soon, she'll be able to chase me down no matter where I am!

Why is it so complicated?!

3 years ago, I had enough people telling me my daughter was a little off, so I put in a referral through her doctor at Cherry Point. Within a few weeks I had gone in and spent an hour (sans kids) with a kiddie shrink, and Marian had spent over an hour being tested by him. I had a third appointment where the guy explained his findings and said he tentatively diagnosed her with Asperger's Syndrome.

Fast forward to 5 months ago. Marian was starting to have issues with school and I thought perhaps I should have her reevaluated. I took her to see the pediatrician, who said she needed to see a shrink. Since that's how it went last time, I said okay. When I made the appointment, I was told that they could not give a diagnosis, but that it was essentially a hoop I needed to jump through to get what I did need. That was annoying. I also had to find babysitting for the other children so I could take her, which is a pain all by itself, but we went.

My first issue with the lady was that she sat there and asked me about Marian right in front of her. Marian is not stupid. She can hear just fine. So as the woman was asking questions about her behavior, Marian's behavior was getting worse. Duh. I could see Marian getting more and more uptight as we talked about her. The woman (based on how Marian was acting in her office in that 40 minutes) said she'd be happy to see Marian weekly, but that she could not give a diagnosis. I don't think Marian needs to see a shrink. Certainly not one who was bad enough to make my child uncomfortable by talking about her in front of her and then judging her on that behavior. I evidently didn't even need to take her there in the first place, although she did say that what I really needed to do was to take her to Bethesda for a Developmental Pediatric Evaluation. Ug.

I was going to have to find babysitting for 3 children while I spent a hour each way traveling, and then another 2 hours with a doctor this time. I was not thrilled. I made the appointment though and Dan said he could take the morning off and take Marian. Yay! then we had the blizzard that shut down everything, so there was no appointment. Dan suggested I reschedule for the time when I was out of town and he would take her, since he'd be off work. So we did that.

Unfortunately, there were issues and they were very late to the appointment. I had not been asked to provide any information and I had not been given any information other than the building and floor numbers where it was to take place. I had assumed they would just do testing and not need much info. Dan called me as I was getting dropped off at the airport to say that the guy was asking lots of questions and he didn't know the answers. I did not have time to talk to him, but the 5 minutes I was on the phone were frustrating. I guess he was cross that Dan (through no fault of his own!) was late. He asked what I wanted out of this, and I said I wanted for my daughter to be successful in life and I wanted to know how to best help her with that. He told me I needed to take her to the child psychologist to do that. I was not happy. We had been there already and the woman had been no help at all.

He spent 30 minutes with her and did only part of his evaluation. Dan brought back a lovely report that the man had typed. I am very impressed (NOT!) that he could diagnose her with ADHD and OCD in that whole 30 minutes. Are you kidding me?! She's ADHD?! And OCD?! He came up with OCD because she rolls her pants up every morning. She does that because she hates long pants and I make her wear them to school. She only started rolling them recently. And I think the ADHD came from her difficulty in staying on task to do her homework.

I am just so disgusted by all of this. We do have another appointment with this guy next month so he can get all his testing stuff done, so I'm hoping he will do a better job with more information. He thinks the school needs to do psych testing or something, so I need to get that started with the school. I'm not sure where that will lead, but hopefully it will tell me if she has a learning disability that is preventing her from learning to read (as opposed to sheer stubbornness, which I suspect). He had also suggested she get her hearing and vision tested, and he said she had an "irregularly irregular" heartbeat, and wanted an EKG strip or some such thing. I am good with that. I called last week and said I needed referrals for those things. They told me that Marian would need to see her PCM to get referrals. I said fine, make me an appointment with her PCM.

Yesterday we went in for that appointment. Thankfully (for me, not for Dan!) Dan was sick yesterday and was home so I did not have to drag 5 children to this appointment. The doctor walked in and I told her what I needed. She said "I'm not her PCM." What?! Okay, I maybe should know who her PCM is, but I do not. I assumed they made the appointment with her PCM since they told me that was who she needed to see. I was also kind of relieved, because I really don't like that particular doctor. When she asks me 3 times if Marian has ever had her eyesight checked and 3 times I say "Yes, when she was about 2." I kind of lose confidence.

On the plus side, I did get what I needed. Marian has a referral to Audiology, she doesn't need one for the optometrist, and the doc was able to get us in for a heart monitoring thing. Marian was really good about getting hooked up to electrodes and she liked watching her heartbeat. No one said nothin' about any irregularity though, so I wonder about that. However, if I want to know after the Developmental Pediatric guy sees her, then I'll make an appointment with the doctor that I do like and trust.

So, I am annoyed that this is all such a production. I am really annoyed that there is such a lack communication and sharing of information. It is really frustrating to not be able to get done what I want. I just want my sweet girl to be successful in her life and to reach her full potential. I want to know if she is capable of doing the things I expect of her, or if she has a brain glitch that is going to require us to change how we deal with her. I'd like to be able to find that out in less than 5 months an in less than 5 appointments, but it looks like there are still more hoops to jump through. And hey, this is all government run health care, so I'm going to have to get use to it because it is not going to get any better.

Lazy Day Blog

It has been a lazy week for me, partly because its been a recuperating-from-traveling week, and partly because I was a little sick for 2 days. Add to that Rylee's ear infection, and I have been highly unmotivated for much. So, I give you......

Pictures.

Rylee started eating crackers this week! She LOVES it.

Callie has had a hard time getting back into a routine. She's been extra grumpy and needy. It is so sad, but she is so doggone cute!

Delaney has also been having a lot more meltdowns. She also has seemed a lot more grown up to me. She isn't a baby anymore! She's a little girl... and a cute one at that!

This is still my goof-ball who refuses to let me take a decent picture.

Here is his best attempt at a nice picture. Its not bad, but he is cuter than this shows.

Callie really enjoyed the beautiful weather we have been having. She likes to play outside and she loves to have picnics in the tree fort.

Marian had a birthday. She is a hoot! This was her face as she opened presents today.

This was Rylee's face after I let her sample ice cream. (Hey, she was looking at my spoon with longing in her eyes. You'd have done it too!)

One of my favorite things about our trip to Utah is that Callie and Delaney came back as best friends. They have always gotten along well, but now they are really good friends. It melts my heart and makes me so happy!

Here are my favorite kids!

My Hero!

I'm not sure if I mentioned that Rylee has an ear infection and is miserable at night. Just recently, she has been miserable in the day as well, but that's not so bad. Night is bad. Something about the sun being down makes everything a thousand times worse. Since Rylee has been so fussy and cranky and cannot be put down without crying and crying, I did take her back to the doctor on Tuesday and they confirmed that yes, she did indeed still have an ear infection. At that point, I did fill and dose out antibiotics to her. It has not seemed to make a difference thus far. My secret fear is that the ear infection will clear up and she will still cry all night long.

What this means is that I have swapped beds with Delaney. She sleeps on my floor (unless she crawls into the bed when I'm not looking) and I sleep in Delaney's bed with Rylee. I may get an hour or 2 in my own bed (and not necessarily consecutive hours), just so I don't forget how it feels, but mostly, its me and Rylee in Delaney's bed. Neither of us seem to be sleeping well.

Last night I was in Delaney's bed with Rylee snuggled in my arms, when I was awakened by the patter of feet and then the sound of running water. I thought, "That's a bad sound. That sound means someone is getting a bath." I'm pretty sure you can think of very few reasons that someone needs a bath at 2:30 in the morning. I thought about getting up and decided not to. I went back to sleep.

What happened?

Delaney puked all over herself and the blankets she was sleeping on by our bed. Dan, my hero, got her stripped, bathed, and washed clean of vomit. He took the sheets down to the washer and kept Delaney calm and happy while he did all this. He did it without waking me up or hollering for help. He got her into clean jammies and back into bed and she went right to sleep. Yes, Dan is my hero. He is a Super-Hero!

Jiggity-Jig

Home again, home again, jiggity-jig! That's how I feel right now. I think it may be an entire week since I last posted. It has certainly been a busy week! As you recall, Deborah had her baby on Tuesday and I was there to help out.

This is my sweet niece and her new baby sister. Deborah has great kids and they were very good for me. I was informed that I did not know how to properly make Cream of Wheat, but aside from that, it was surprisingly fun to be with them.

Aargh. This is totally out of order, but I can't move it, so here it is. This is Callie, being my big helper. She loves to hold her sister!

This is how you bathe a baby when you only have a shower stall! Rylee wasn't sure at first, but then decided she liked it and had a good time splashing away.

Last night I met up with my in-laws to retrieve Callie and Delaney. It sounded like they all had fun and the girls loved having sole attention. Grandma enjoyed spending time with Rylee as well. You can see that Rylee was enthralled. I have fabulous in-laws. They are so good, they emailed me pictures of the girls having fun, so I would not worry! I was going to post those pictures, but I forgot to download them, so you'll have to live without them.

Today I flew home with my 3 little girls. This is where the previous picture of Callie belongs. The 2 littlest ones took lovely naps, which was very nice. The flight (4 1/2 hours!) went very well, especially since Rylee had one ear with fluid in it, and one infected! (I had taken her to the doctor in UT and that's what was making her cranky at night.)

These are the people I missed the most while I was away! I was glad to be home with my family. they are so fantastic. And did I tell you that the house was clean when I got home! It was wonderful to come home to that!

I keep wondering what I was suppose to learn from this trip. I mean, who in their right mind flies across the country with 3 little girls to help out her sister, who lives in a 2 bedroom apartment with her own family of 4? As I said, that part was fine. Rylee, however, was not. She was cheerful all day long, and then cried all night long. She ended up sleeping with me most nights since she woke up crying about every hour, and I'm pretty sure Deborah was getting more sleep at night then I was. I was concerned that I would be more hassle than help, so it was a relief to see that I could be useful despite having Rylee with me. I was able to make dinner for Deborah and I put meals in her freezer for after I was gone. And I was able to make sure she could nap during the day when she needed to (and sue needed to!). It made me feel better to feel useful, and I know Deborah needed me and that that was where I needed to be. I know this, because the Tender Mercies of the Lord were poured out on me. Despite a terrible lack of sleep, I was able to function very well during the day, without feeling exhausted. It was amazing. Deborah's children were amazing. They were really a joy to look after and I would totally babysit them any time. I really enjoyed them a lot. And that's not what I expected to be able to say before I got there! I know we were blessed with the flights as well. We were able to get non-stop flights both ways, for the cheapest fare. Plus, the flights were fabulously well, there were lots of nice people offering help, and the girls were so good. The timing of Deborah's birth was also a true Tender Mercy. It happened at just the right time to allow me to get the girls off to my in-laws, and then to spend the maximum time helping her. There were just so many little things that were tiny miracles. It was a long week, a tough week, but a great week. I am really glad I was able to go be with my sister. Did I mention that I love my sister? I do. She is pretty great, and I'm s glad I could be there for her when she needed me.

Fun in Utah

Many of you may know already that I flew out to Utah to spend a week with my sister Deborah, who was due to have baby #3. Dan thought I ought to take Callie and Delaney with me so that they could then be passed along to my in-laws. And so, on Saturday afternoon, I got on a plane with 3 little girls and spent the next 4 1/2 hours there!

The girls were astonishingly good. There were the usual issues, but it went much better than I ever expected. It was also randomly fun that my friend Patrea happened to be on my flight. You may not think it that random, but Patrea lives in Africa!

Delaney did very well. She didn't have to pee 4 times like her big sister, but she did need to get a stinky diaper changed. Thank goodness for Patrea! I just handed Rylee off to her on my way to the tiny bathroom and was able to change Delaney without too much trouble. I mean, without too much trouble, considering the size of an airplane bathroom with no changing table!

This picture should have been first. oops. This kid had a marvelous time in the airport. There was much running and giggling and fun. And then at the end of the flight there was the crying and unhappiness as the extreme tiredness set in.

This was Rylee's first plane ride. She is 5 and a half months old and she did great. She thought it was a lot of fun and bounced and smiled and made lots of friends. It was just those last 15 minutes, as the plane was descending that she had trouble with her ears and cried.

This is Callie and Delaney with their cousins, Sarah and Steven (Deborah's children). Deborah picked us up at the airport and we crashed at her house.

Monday evening, we drove south a few hours and met Dan's parents and handed off the girls to them (Just MY girls!). Callie has been waiting for this for weeks. She was so excited to get to spend a week with Grandma and Grandpa! I'm not sure how Delaney felt, but they both loved filling their suitcases up. This is us, heading out on our road trip!

It was so much more relaxing to have 2 less kids around! It worked out perfectly, too. As soon as we got home last night, Deborah said, "I think I may be in labor." She was. She left for the hospital an hour or so later.

This is the beautiful result! Samantha Kelly, an 8 pound, 20 inch gorgeous bundle of joy was born at 12:36 this morning! I got to go and see her at a more reasonable hour this morning and Steven and Sarah were delighted to see their mom and new sister.

I was jealous that MY baby girls never got a bow in the hospital, so the nurse brought me one for Rylee! So cute!

And that's what I am doing this week! I'm substitute mom and having a good time hanging out with my niece and nephew.