September 26th!

All my presents!

Cool!

But Mommy, I don't have the thing that uses these! Yes, she grabbed this out first but as you can see in the above picture, she has the "thing" that uses them. LOL

We hid all the gifts in this backpack so she had to open each compartment to find all her goodies. That was actually a better idea then wrapping them and she enjoyed it too!

Her birthday celebration actually started on Friday. We had been planning on Daddy taking the day off from work and taking her to Universal. She's been such a tremendous help with her smaller siblings and helping Logan on the bus. She deserved something fun just for her as she rarely gets one-on-one time with Mommy or Daddy.

On Wednesday, we received her interim report. Her test grades were awesome!! She is, at this point, carrying all A's and B's except for on her homework. Her homework grades for a few things were F's!!!!! So Mommy was a little evil. I made her do all the homework she missed even though she wouldn't get a grade for it. She did all her current work due on Thursday night and on Friday morning I told her she had to stay out of school to get the rest caught up. I told her she was having to go to work with Daddy and get it all caught up. Needless to say, she wasn't a happy camper at all. LOL

I'm still not sure how she didn't figure it out sooner since it's only about 30 minutes to his work and it's a good hour and 30 minutes to Universal. By the time they hit the parking lot, she'd figured it out. LOL They had a great time! She even rode on a couple of roller coasters! One he coaxed her on and the others she wanted to ride and not once but twice!! Wow! she sooooo doesn't take after me. LOL She didn't mind getting caught up on her homework on her actual birthday since she had so much fun with Daddy the day before.

July 16th!

Thank you Gramma Meralyn and Grandpa Clark for both my Rescue Heroes and my Tigger!

This is his favorite!

Katie and Ryan fight over this one; good thing Logan likes to share some of his toys!

Little Einstein's Rocket

His favorite loud toy! Takes this to bed with him. I have no idea how he gets it up the ladder to the top bunk and I'm quite sure I don't want to know. LOL

Cool! Another loud toy! Thank you Katie, Ree Ree and Ryan!!

Oops! It's been awhile!

Sorry for neglecting to update this blog. The summer is now over as the kids started school today. To say it was hectic would be putting it mildly! LOL The bus for Marie and Logan didn't show up. It was supposed to be here at 8:06 and by 8:25 I'm ready to pull my hair out. I loaded everything into the van including the two youngest kids at 7:55 and then grabbed the older two to stand to wait at 8:00. Hmmm, twenty five minutes later still no bus and Katie was late for Pre-K. She was NOT a happy camper!!! We decided that we couldn't wait for the bus and packed everyone in to head to school. Dropped Ms. Katie off by 8:35 and no, she didn't cry or even acknowledge that I was leaving. Her teacher had to tell her to say goodbye to me and she did it without even looking up at me! Here I was worried my little baby would be a handful at drop off time. Mommy would have cried if she had time to do so.

I couldn't drop Ryan off as it was too early, so run to the van and high tail it down the road to the other school so we could sit in the drop off line for ten minutes (which really pissed Logan off!). By the time we were able to pull up, the new principal is telling me no, don't park there go to the left. Sorry there fella but I have an autistic 7 year old in the beginnings of a full blown melt down. Go bug someone else ya' hear?!?! Grab him up (yes, kicking and screaming) just about throw him over my shoulders when he sees one of his favorite people, Ms. Maryann. He calmed right down and smiled at her like he was an angel. Into the class we go, with Marie in tow. Little did I know I had grabbed the wrong back pack. We get into his class room I tell his aide, just give him his brownie and he'll calm right down. I have to run the other one back to the other school. Did I mention I grabbed the wrong backpack?? Did I happen to catch that before we left the school and got stuck in traffic??? NOOOOO! Thankfully, Ms. Nickie was more on the ball than I was and called me before I got five minutes away and back to the school we went.

By this time, Ryan had been in the van for almost two hours and he wasn't a happy little guy. Another meltdown but at least, it was a different kid. Mommy's everlasting supply of lolli's came to the rescue and said meltdown stopped as soon as the red lolli hit his tongue. Whew! Back on the road again after exchanging the backpacks, back to being stuck in traffic and heading back to the first school we went to that morning. We got him to school about 30 minutes late and that was with having to go to the school's other main office to sign him in which is up the block and around the corner. Yeah, they realllllly need to work on their sign in/out procedures but I was just happy to have everyone safely in school. LOL

No time to go to a nice sit down breakfast like we planned as we have to get Ms. Katie picked back up by 11:30. Said breakfast will happen around lunchtime and with an addition. I don't think Katie will mind going to breakfast with Mommy and Daddy, do you?!?! LOL

A stormy day outside but inside......

Is it just me or....

does everyone have children that are attached at the hip with them? I can't go to the bathroom without a little rugrat following right behind me. If I get the bedroom door closed quick enough I can make a run for it but then I have to listen to the screaming and pounding on the door. Really, please someone tell me that I'm not alone on this one or I'll go stark raving mad!!

I can't eat dinner when it's hot because the same rugrat wants to be in my arms and snuggling with all my attention focused on him. Most nights I just eat a lukewarm or cold dinner or if I get really lucky he'll be still sleeping on one of his marathon three hour naps. That just causes trouble later in the evening or early in the morning when he's still up and wants me to be up and talking coherently with him. LOL

I can get a nap in if I'm holding said rugrat and he happens to fall asleep with me. I was lucky enough to enjoy such a nap yesterday and I think it was a good hour or more before I became uncomfortable enough to wake up and lay him down. DH said neither rugrat nor me were snoring so that was a plus for him. LOL (no noise and one less cranky child)

Actually, I wouldn't trade any of my children for a millon dollars or more. I do love them and enjoy spending all my time with them (well, most of the time I do LOL) Yesterday we had a nice relaxing day. We hung out inside until around 2:30 when we went out to play in the kiddie pools for an hour. Even Logan joined us a couple of times. He'd come over and stick his feet in to get cooled down or even better; he'd stick his head down and get the front of his hair wet. He'd stand there letting the water run down his nose onto his belly and just grin. Mommy's little goofball!

Marie's tires on her bike are all filled up and ready for her to show us her stuff. Of course, since DH isn't home today, the little ones will be playing out back in the water while she rides in front of the house where I can keep an eye on her. Gee, I wonder if she'll really want to ride her bike while the others are playing in the water??? Logan will probably spend most of the time on the swing with occasional trips to dip his head. Ryan and Katie will take turns running between the two pools and getting lost of grass and mud in both. Lots of fun! I can't seem to get pictures because I have to sit in there with them and don't want to get the camera wet. I don't bring it outside with us because "we" have a tendency to splash just about everything within reach including the towels. Can you say lots of summer fun?!?!

Ryan

He was more interested in sliding down the slide then finding the easter eggs! But, then again, so was Logan! If you look closely, you can see Logan's feet and butt where he's swinging on the swing!

Mommy's little giraffe with ladybug boots! This is how he stayed somewhat dry last week.

Exhausted boy! He kept insisting he wasn't tired but when he snuggled in my arms he fell fast asleep within minutes. Poor little tired boy!

I will try to get some more recent pics of Marie, Logan and Katie and post them on here soon. This is the last full week of school (Friday and next Monday are half days) before school lets out for summer. I've got lots planned for my little rugrats and I'm looking forward to having a month of sleeping in (Yeah right! LOL) and not getting up before 7:00 to get them all ready for school. July will be summer school for Logan so I'll be getting up with him as he catches the bus around 8:00 or so and will be back home by 2:20 or shortly thereafter. The rest of us will take the time to work at home with Ryan's therapy (Me and him only) and playing school so that Ms. Katie is ready to start Pre-K in August. She's so excited about going to school next year and being at the same school as Ryan. I wish they all four could be at the same school but at least they are paired up.

It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is.....

You get the picture right??? WOW! We've received over six inches of rain in the past 24 hours and it's not exptected to stop before Wednesday night. The good thing is all this rain might, just might, get our rain index where it needs to be. We've been in drought conditions here in central Florida for quite a while now. The threat of wildfires has been way WAY up there. In fact, yesterday there were at least six different fires that we knew of in the state. I don't think there are any new ones now. (Yeah, don't know how they could possibly start, let alone catch on with the deluge we're experiencing)

It's been fun getting the kids to the bus and school each day. I was able to get Logan to put on his rain coat but forget the hood. Marie refused the coat but put on the boots. (No boots for Logan) and used a teeny tiny umbrella that didn't protect her very much. I had a huge umbrella and was fighting the wind and Logan to try to keep us dry. Not much was dry on me by the time the bus came and we were only out there for five minutes!

I came in, changed clothes and prepared to get the little ones ready. Ryan with his little ladybug boots and his giraffe rain coat was just too adorable! Of course, the boots were a cast off of Katie's and were a little big so when I tried to pick him up to carry to the van they fell off. Back to the porch we went, put them back on and he was walking to the van. I no sooner pick him up and put him in the van then both those little buggers fell off. At least they were in the van and dry for that moment. He's in his seat but not buckled in and I run back for Katie. Now, she's a hodgepodge of clothes. She has her green St. Patrick's Day stretch pants, pink boots and Logan's old red raincoat on. What a colorful combo she was though! Too cute! I grabbed her, my purse, lock the door and off we go again. Did I mention that the umbrella is trying to make me fly like Mary Poppins the whole time?!?!?!

Katie is in the car and strapped in when I run around to get Ryan's boots on and strap him in his seat. I got the one boot on but the umbrella is about to take flight so I gave up on the other and strapping him in and just run for my seat. Whew! I'm almost soaked at that point but not too too bad. I strap the boy in, put his other boot on because if I don't the screaming won't stop until we get to school. I get my glasses on, at least with those I had some (very little, but hey it's better than NOTHING) common sense. I put the case in my purse so they were good and dry. Get the car on and running the heat because, hey, it's mid May in Florida and the temp is ONLY 70 degrees!!!!!! In my 25 plus years in this state it's never EVER hit that temp in May.

The drive is almost uneventful except for the moron talking on his cell phone who almost sideswipes us merging onto the road. Traffic is slow and bunched up because, GASP, the construction workers ARE ACTUALLY WORKING ON THE ROADWAYS!!! Yeah, I can't believe it either. They never work when it's sunny. You see five guys standing around talking about work but you never actually SEE them working.

We get to school and I swear to you the wind picked up just as I shut the van off. I grab the umbrella and fight to get it open. Katie is out and we're running for the overhang. She is behaving for the moment so I fight the umbrella and the Mary Poppins flight to get to Ryan. Now, at that point my brain FINALLY kicks into high gear. I pull the useless P.O.S. umbrella back down and throw it in the van. I'm able to get Ryan out of the van with his backpack and his blanket shoved into the front of my shirt to keep it dry. (Yeah, I look 9 months pregnant but who cares, the blanket is dry!) I have enough sense left to hold his boots as I gently set him down in the lake, I mean puddle next to the van. We walk quickly to get Katie and head into his class. Half way there we meet them heading to the cafeteria for breakfast. Well, at least it's a lot less walking to do right?!?! He's settled with the class and Katie and I head back out into the hurricane, I mean spring showers and head home. Katie is giggling and dry while I'm grumbling and shivering because I'm drenched and freezing.

The moral to this story is that a grown women of 40 years of age should have sense and wear a rain coat and just drink a ton of coffee before going out into such weather!!! I'm enjoying my coffee as I snuggle in a nice big blanket and listen to the downpour continue. I'm looking forward to the trip back to school to pick Ryan up. No, really, I am and did I mention that today is speech therapy for Logan??????? I'm not even going to think about it right now. Coffee, COFFEE give me MORE COFFEE!!!!!!!!!!!

A giggle or two....

Last night while making dinner, Katie asked me "Momma, can you give me something to tie me up until dinner?"

"DAADDDDYYY, go get the bungy cords out of the garage for me PLEASE!"

"What?! WHY?"

"Your daughter wants something to tie her up until dinner so I want to oblige her, duh!"

"Um, honey, I think she meant she's hungry and wants something to get her through until dinner."

"Really? Hmmm, well then, Katie what would you like to tie you up until dinner?"

"A lollipop please!" Yeah, okay, that happened and I won the lotto too. She's a charmer that one. This is the same child who when reminded that she must behave will say, "Mommy, I'm SMILING, that means I'm behave!" Yeah but just because you're smiling it doesn't mean you're behaving sweetheart.

Ryan's favorite response to being told No is "DON'T TELL ME NO!!!!!!!" He has also become Italian while we weren't looking. "Momma, maka da babba!" or "Momma, will you maka da babba?" Oh, and today we reached another milestone with school; he waved and said "bye bye Momma!" in other words; you've done your duty now get out of my class! Yeah, no more tears and clinging!

Logan is having a rough time right now at school. His teacher had to retire unexpectedly the other day due to health issues. She'd broke her foot a few weeks ago and had several subs in the class and finally just had to let go. He adores her and has a big time issue with change, as all autistic kids do so his behavior has been extreme this week. They finally have one person in the room who will be there until they find a permanent replacement or the end of the school year. He still has his regular aides so at least that won't change. Thankfully! Keep him in your thoughts and prayers that this new transition will be over soon.

Marie is wellllll, she's Marie. I love her to pieces but sometimes I have to remind myself how I was at her age. She came to me yesterday evening and reminded me that she had a project that was due that morning. Can Daddy get me a piece of posterboard? Thankfully, he was able to stop by Wal-mart and grab one for her but it made for a very late night. To top that off, we still had to get up an hour plus early this morning so she could finish it. We didn't get to work on her speech at all last night with the regular homework and the project so hopefully we can get back to that tonight. She has to prepare and do the speech in front of her class then the entire school next Tuesday. Well, that gives us the whole weekend to tweak it at least. Yes, she does get her procrastination from me but I don't remember (cough, choke) ever waiting until the night after a project was due to inform my parents I needed some supplies. AND I wasn't the kid who if the homework didn't fit in his back pocket it didn't get done either, so there. (tongue sticking out here folks!)

Just a little rant...

about doctors and nurses and their files. First, most of you know that Ryan has some feeding issues. Okay, major if you ask me but it could be so much worse. All the boy will eat are baby 2nd foods bananas with applesauce and baby cereal mixed with it. I can get him to eat the bananas alone but the applesauce is a hard thing to get ingested without the bananas. He has been licking the salt from chips, crackers and french fries but if he gets any particle of this in his mouth he gags until he vomits. This is the major reason he's in the school system's PreK ESE program. He finally had his occupational therapy evaluation on Monday and then the therapist came on Tuesday to start her sessions. This has to be the fastest I've ever seen them schedule either boy for therapy. Usually the eval is done and then a week or two go by before a session is scheduled. Obviously, she found major problems and had to get right to work.

The original doctor knows this and it SHOULD be in Ryan's file at their office here but I don't think anyone bothers to read this. Ryan has been in school for four weeks now and he loves it but he's having some trouble adjusting to the eating/drinking schedule. I think he's having so much fun that he doesn't want to stop to eat or drink. Oh, another part of his issue is that he refuses or can't drink out of anything but a bottle and will only drink his formula with a little bit of rice milk added to it. We talked to the doctor about this over a year ago and all decided that he needed to go to the infant formula so that he still gets all his vitamins and minerals. Thanks to his occupational therapist we were able to get him started on some rice milk which we add to the formula.

This last week and weekend he's not been eating or drinking like he should even at home. I knew something was wrong but couldn't figure out if he's not feeling well or just not in a growth spurt right now. As with all kids, when they are in the "growth spurt" they eat like little piggies non-stop. Same for Ryan so I usually don't worry about him. Monday, we finally figured it out. The poor little baby was constipated. I had a call into the nurse at his Pediatrician's office but in the meantime I figured out what the problem was and "helped" him with it. No more graphic details forthcoming but use your imagination.

When the nurse finally called me back two hours later, I let her know that I figured out the problem but wanted to know some options to keep this from happening again. I explained the school situation and the eating but I swear she was either not listening or didn't understand. (Either of these are quite scary in my book!) She suggested prune juice. Okay but he's not really into drinking anything so what are my options with that. Put it with other liquid, okay I can attempt that. Each time she suggested something new I had to tell her again about his limited diet. At one point, she got very irritated with the fact that he's still on formula and procedeed to explain to me how he should have been off that at one year old. No really?!?! What parent in their right mind would continue paying these disgusting prices for a can of formula if they didn't have to?!?!?! Do you know how much a can of this crap costs????? If you're lucky and can find it on sale you can pay $18.99 but if no sale then you pay ove $21.00 for 24 ounces. Come on lady, really, do you think with this being my fourth child that I'd be that friggin' dumb?!?!?!?!

I REALLY don't think it's that hard to actually pull the file and scan it before making that phone call or during the phone call even. I'm not asking you to read the stupid thing from cover to cover but somewhere on that actual FOLDER is the shortened version of the issues each child has if it's going to be an ongoing problem. Please, just take a minute or two to scan it so you can be informed before you make yourself look extremely stupid and before you really piss the parent off. Okay, I'm getting off my soapbox now. Thanks for letting me vent.

Been awhile....

Since I've updated the family blog. Sorry about that everyone! All is well here for the moment. LOL Ryan has settled into school with no problems. He was a little skittish about me leaving him but once Katie and I were gone he was fine. This is the fourth week for him and he's now walking to class rather than having me carry him.

Katie is doing much better with dropping him off too. Today she couldn't wait to get to the classroom and took off running. (she likes to play with the toys while I get Ryan settled) Only to promptly fall on her face in the grass, thankfully it wasn't the concrete. She jumped right up and said, "Come on Mommy, let's go!!" It wasn't until after we dropped Ryan off and got back in the van that she noticed she had grass stains on her knees. "Mommy, you need to wash my pants, I don't like them dirty!" Sorry kiddo, you are going to have to wear them all day. Just in case you do it again later LOL.

Marie is doing good in school again. I just hope she keeps it up so she can get back on the A/B honor roll again. So far this year she's missed it each marking period. I think she really wants to go on stage to get her certificate this time so hopefully she'll stay on track. She likes her new haircut just like mine. It's easier for her to deal with although she still refuses to brush it unless I remind her a couple of times. Today she claimed she did brush it; I had to tell her using her fingers as a brush didn't count. Gotta love her for that one! LOL

Logan is doing great as well. He loves school and riding the bus. His behavior is getting a little better at home and he doesn't act up in school unless there is something wrong. He lost another tooth last night so he's really got a nice gapped smile. Still trying to use every piece of furniture as a trampoline but maybe we can break that habit soon. I'm not holding my breath but I can dream can't I???? The couch went outside on the patio (on it's way to the trash tomorrow) last night and he actually spent the ENTIRE night in his "big boy bed". Now, if he can just continue to do that life will be great! I was all ready for an all nighter last night and went to bed with one ear on alert and one eye open. Slept pretty good considering I was ready to spring out of bed at any time. Keep it up Logan!! Great job mommy's big man!! Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Ryan!

The boys favorite show; Thomas the Train and no Ryan didn't eat one bite. He sure loved playing with the Thomas train though. LOL
Logan's favorite toy; yes it was a gift to Ryan but Logan swooped in to grab it and never let it go. Ryan didn't care as the dancing and singing was freaking him out a little bit.

His favorite toy of the day. Thomas the Train phone that sings and teaches numbers and other fun stuff. Another noisy toy to add to their collection. I think I'm going to stop buying batteries. LOL

Wow! He really looks like Marie in this picture. Too cute!

Cheese Daddy! I believe this was Katie's favorite. Ryan liked it but only when Katie started playing with it. Isn't that just typical?!?!

This will go to school with him; it's full of fun stuff to color and paint. Yeah, it's going to school for sure. I'd rather he experiment with painting walls and desks there. LOL

Today was his 3rd birthday and his first day of school. He did great at school, whimpered once while we were trying to get out of the room. I did pretty good if I do say so myself; I waited for about an hour and a half before calling to check on him. He was fine, never shed one tear and was laughing up a storm in the background when I called. When it was time to pick him up, he walked out with such a jaunty little step that I was laughing (and yes I did shed a tear or two). He caught sight of me and yelled, "Mommy!" and ran right up and gave me the biggest hug. It just melted my hear right then and there. He had no nap and no bottle at all during the day but made up for the no bottles when he got home. He didn't nap once he got home and was out for the count around 9:15 which made for a nice restful night sleep for me. Way to go Ryan!!! Mommy loves you birthday boy!

Happy 4th Birthday Katie!

Her favorite shows on one cake. She loved the cars and liked the cake without the icing.

Ballerina outfit, bar and mat that came with it's own instructional DVD.

Kitchen stuff to play with now; it even makes noise too. Hmmmm not sure if that's a good thing or not. LOL

I think this was her favorite; her piano with microphone. They will fight over it I'm sure but as long as they have fun we can live with that.

Mommy's little princess a/k/a the birthday girl. The earrings came off as soon as the flash went on the camera. She's definetly my daughter LOL.

I can't believe my baby girl is four years old already. It seems like just yesterday when I was toting her to work with me. She was such a good quiet baby you didn't even know she was there. She's still a good girl and mommy's little angel. Happy birthday baby girl!

Update for the family

Okay, it took my Mom e-mailing me to remind me that I had started trying to change the background on my blog and got stopped in the middle of it. Oops! I had been trying to get a nice Valentine background but something in the code was not sitting well with blogger (go figure!) and then the kids got really crazy and that was the end of that. So today, I opened my e-mail to see a note from Mom and it took about 3/4 of my first cup of coffee to understand what she was trying to tell me. I've just spent about 30 minutes trying to just get back the old background and of course, that was a no go. I've settled for a generic blogger background just so I can bring everyone up-to-date with the happenings here.

So, without further ado here is what has been happening at our house for the past month. Let's see where to begin...... Well, DH is no longer working for the company he's worked with forever but he's still at the same resort. Another company bought out the managment company so now he's working for a nice big timeshare developer. Things are different but yet better so it wasn't a bad move (or at least we haven't seen anything that we can live with). Insurance is different which has caused me to start jumping through hoops to find out about therapy for both boys. Logan is covered for the moment but Ryan will be without as soon as he turns three which is less than three weeks away. I've had to get with the school board to see if he will fall into their PreK program that handles therapy during the school day. I've also had to contact the local CARD office to see about getting the Autism evaluation for him. I've got a ton of paperwork to fill out and still can't seem to find time without major distraction to do that. I'm hoping to do that today before it gets crazy.

Logan's disability is doing it's auditing this year so I'm having to find all DH paystubs for 2008. It's amazing how easily they get lost. I've got five more to find but I'm hoping they'll take what I have and wait for his old company to get me copies of the rest. If finding a night time job and being able to keep it weren't totally impossible it would be more beneficial for me to do so but not anytime soon. The boys are still having issues sleeping through the night and I can't ask DH to wake up with them four times a night and get up refreshed in the morning and head out to work. Maybe some day....

Logan had a meltdown on Tuesday and was inconsolable so he had to come home from school and ended up staying home the next day as we didn't know what was wrong. Turns out the poor little guy had another loose tooth and it was really bothering him. It came out last night but before I could nab it he'd swallowed it. I'm told this is more the norm with autistic kids but still it freaked me out a little. DH laughed and said just check his diaper tomorrow and you'll get it back. Yeah, okay, I'll be sure to dig right into that mess and save it for the tooth fairy dear. Ewwww! Marie wants to write a letter to the tooth fairy and explain the situation which really got me laughing. I can't wait to see that!