A crazy day...

The littles all woke up full of energy, yelling, screaming, badgering one another, not playing nicely, tempers a going, and into everything. I put Baby T to bed 15 minutes after she woke up this morning because she couldn't stop crying and screaming. After she calmed down, she did a lot better. Josiah wouldn't stop whining and running all over the house and he wouldn't leave Little E alone. Little E wouldn't stop hitting and trying to take toys from the other kids and it was all just constant. Little E finally settled down once I gave her her ADHD meds this afternooon, Josiah got put to bed because he wouldn't stop whining and he fell asleep in his bed. Baby T didn't want to take a nap in her room, she wanted to lay on the couch. I told her I'd let her lay on the couch, but the minute she got down, she was going to go in her room. She laid there for a few minutes, the phone rang and I was talking to a friend for about 20 minutes. I heard something sound like somebody poured water onto the floor and went around the kitchen wall to find that Baby T was in the little bathroom playing in the sink. Water and toilet paper were in the sink, toilet paper clogged the drain, so water was pouring over the sides of the sink and onto the floor. She was all wet and there was standing water on the floor. Thankfully, it wasn't too bad of a mess and I was able to get it all sopped up with most of my towels that I had just washed that I had downstairs. I got her out of her wet clothes and put her to bed. She wasn't too happy about it, but oh well. She was sound asleep a couple minutes later though and I went to work on cleaning up the mess that she made. I'm just glad that it wasn't as bad as the last over-flowing bathroom incident that we had almost 2 years ago that Josiah and Baby D made. UGH

Thanksgiving...

Thanksgiving was very nice. Started the day off with a bad run-in with the top of the pumpkin lid when I was trying to open it and thought I was going to need stitches. That got Andy out of bed quickly at 5 am. lol. It was a bad cut and I can't do much or it starts bleeding again, but thankfully it wasn't bad enough to require stitches. Never had stitches and didn't want to start now. After baking some bread and some pies, I went to mass and it was beautiful. I love our new priest so much. He does such beautiful homilies and such nice blessings. Came home and got the littles dressed for the day and Andy and I planned out what time we were going to start everything. Mom and Jimmie came over around 1. Mom brought mac and cheese and we made turkey, cranberry apple sausage stuffing (first time I made homemade stuffing and Andy said it needs to be a new tradition, he enjoyed it that much), mashed potatoes and gravy, pumpkin bread, and green bean casserole and corn. Dessert was fudge pie, pumpkin cheesecake, and tropical cake. So yummy! My brother, Zach, even showed up for dinner, but he didn't stay long. This was the first family function that he's been at in quite a few years though, so it's a start. Andy started not feeling well after dinner, so he took a nap and Mom and I watched UP with the kids and she played baby dolls with them. After everyone got up, we did a small bible study with Mom, Deidra and I. We just went over Psalm 27:1-5 and we kept talking about what certain things meant to us and how we could relate in our lives so we didn't get super far, but it was beneficial to all of us anyway. Mom took Deidra home with her to spend the night since she was off today and Andy and I really enjoyed one another's company yesterday. It was a really nice day!

We talked a little bit about what we were all thankful for in the morning...

Josiah is thankful for family.
Little E is thankful for our dog.
Deidra is thankful for her PS2.
Baby T is thankful for Mommy and Daddy.
I am thankful for my family, my husband, my children, this baby on the way, my parents, my brothers.
Andy told me yesterday that he was very thankful that I was his wife. Awww!

The ways children embarrass us...

I took the kids up to the gymnastics center for open gym today since where we were originally going to go today shut down (boo hoo!). One of the employees comes out with Josiah to tell me that some lady informed him that Josiah went into the ladies bathroom, crawled under the stall (that the lady was in no less), and wound up in the stall with her. I put him in time out for awhile and sat there looking around wondering which woman he did that too and what that woman must think of me. I was horribly embarrassed. Granted, he is only 3, but I wish he would start getting some of the stuff that I am trying to teach him. Anyway, that's my funny story/embarrassing story of the day.

A bonfire...

We had our van in the shop this week, something wasn't right when we got it back and I went and took it back in. That day, I was very crabby and when I walked in Mom's dealership one of the service techs immediately copped an attitude with me that nearly brought me to tears. I managed to hold it together, bit my tongue, he finally agreed to go test drive it, and I went and found my Mom. Told her what happened and she sat and talked with me a bit. The tech came back to find me and said he found the problem and he fixed it. Mom said with the way that he came walking back there, I must have given him a certain look as that wasn't really like him. I told her that I was just tired of everything coming out of my mouth being met with a battle. She told me I was being tested. She said that she knew it had to be hormones because she rarely has seen me like that (the way I was that day). The kids were all acting up and I was trying my best to deal with everything. She complimented me later that day and thought I handled everything very well considering the way that I was feeling. Anyway, she wants me to talk to the doctor about how tired I've been and the way that the nausea has been. I told her that I doubt they're going to be able to do anything, it's just pregnancy. Hopefully, I should start feeling better soon. Anyway, I asked her for her ghoulash recipe as I've really been wanting that lately. She wound up inviting us over after church on Sunday and she had made me a huge pot of ghoulash, chicken nuggets, and some garlic bread. It was so good! We stayed and the kids played with some stuff she had gotten for them and I think they are getting a bit more used to being at Grandma's as they weren't SO into everything like they were before. We built a bonfire in the back to get rid of Mom's woodpile and Andy and I burned the past 7 years of receipts. What memories we found! We wound up roasting hot dogs and making smores. Around 7, the nausea hit me, but I still had a really good time. It was nice to spend that time with Mom and her and Andy even watched the kids for about an hour so I could take a nap. That was nice! Got to spend some time with my brother, Jimmie, so that was nice too. I think we're going to go to the movies together while he's on break one night after Andy gets home. My Mom wants to go see the Christmas Carol too. Guess we'll see what this week brings. There's some things that I really would like to do if I'm feeling ok.

Turkey day plans...

After last years fiasco, I was unsure of what to do for Thanksgiving this year. However, I felt God telling me to reach out and not be afraid. So, I invited Mom and the boys over to our house this year. She accepted and is going to bring some macaroni and cheese over. I felt my apprehension go and I really think that this Thanksgiving is going to be a good one. We have so much to be thankful for this year.

So thankful...

I am so thankful for God, my faith, my parents, my family, my friends, God has really brought some amazing people into my life. I am going to start spending a lot more time with them. I decided that I get too busy tending to things around here, that I don't spend enough time with the people that God brings to me and want to be a part of our life. I am so thankful for my children. They all bless me in different ways and I am constantly learning from them. I am so thankful for their unconditional love that they give and for their loving little hearts. I am so grateful for this baby that I have growing inside of me. I am SO thankful that yesterday marked the first day of my 2nd trimester. I am thankful that God has really been leading me lately and that I am letting Him guide me. I am thankful for my husband and how great he's been with my pregnancy as I know that I can be quite moody sometimes with how sick and tired I've been at times. The nausea has been the worst over these past couple of weeks and it seems to set in around 4-6 pm. He's eaten my slop that I've cooked because I couldn't manage much more. He's helped take care of the kids and he takes them out on the weekends for Daddy/children time so that I can get some quiet time to rest or do whatever I want. I am thankful that the girls' adoption is finally starting to get rolling as well. I really want them to be adopted by the time this baby is born. I am thankful for my beautiful house and for all the blessings that God has given to us in Texas with Andy's job and that his company is so great to work for and that they always seem to be understanding of him. I am thankful for friends old and new. I am thankful for a lot of things and I could continue to go on and on. I am also thankful that my parents are able to be friends. I still continue to pray that they'll be able to get back together, but God's hands are in that and He knows what is best. Abba, thanks so much for blessing me and my family. Thank you for all that you do for us! I ask for your blessings over all my family and friends during this Thanksgiving season and always.

Just an update on how things are going...

My pregnancy is going well. I was 12 weeks on Sunday and it felt good to get to that mark. I can't believe that I'm already showing. (see picture). Still feeling very tired. I was really nauseated all week long. This was by far the worst week of nausea thus far. I had a few close calls of thinking I was going to barf while I was in the store or driving down the road. Thankfully, I was able to breathe threw them without any embarrassing incidents. Baby is doing well though. I've felt very faint flutters that I have been wondering if it's the baby, but I think it's still too early to feel movement and so I've been chalking it up to being gas. I am beyond excited about this baby and cannot wait for our big ultrasound to find out what we're having. I'm thinking about finding a place that does 3D ultrasounds too as I really think those are so neat. Deidra wants to go with me to see the baby. She's already informed me that she wants the baby to sleep in her room. I told her we'd just have to wait and see. She's been asking me little questions about the baby...how it eats and so forth. I'm hoping she doesn't eventually wonder how the baby got in there, but I guess the s-e-x question has to come sooner or later. She is 9 after all.

Speaking of being 9, my baby girl, Miss Deidra, turned 9 on Nov. 11. We took her out to Applebee's for dinner on her birthday and she opened her presents from us. We got her the movie UP and the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid. That's the only book series that I've seen her interested in and I really want to encourage her in her reading. Then, on Saturday we had a birthday party for her at the bowling alley, complete with a birthday cake that was done up shaped like a bowling ball. It was very cute! She had a few people from her class show up along with 2 of the neighbor girls. Grandma came too. It was fun! I really cannot believe that she is already 9. My how time flies! They grow much too fast!

Josiah is doing pretty well. I noticed that he is getting much better at transitioning from one thing that he likes to do to having to do something he'd rather not be doing. He is not throwing as big of a fit about it as he used to. He still is struggling with listening and following directions but the bribing of the gummy bears for completing tasks without incident is helping. I think mornings are the worst. That first hour until his meds kick in is hard. He's loud, cannot follow directions, he's running all over, I'm constantly having to remind him of what he's supposed to be doing and to stay out of the kitchen. I always have to tell myself that it will get better after the hour. That helps me to stay sane. :-) He is getting SO big. He is wearing big boy underwear as of last weekend. He still has a couple of accidents during the day, but for the most part he is doing great with using the potty. I am so proud of him!

Little E still struggles with listening and following directions and she still needs constant redirection as well. Her hands are always into something. But, again, the gummy bear rewards are helping her to somewhat stay on task depending on her moods. I'll take it. Things are getting a little better around here. I have to tell them somedays "Mommy, has to use the bathroom or make a phone call if you stay out of stuff and are quiet while I do this, I'll give you gummy bears when I'm done." And most of the time they are successful. They do not like missing out on their gummy bears. She is struggling in school with learning her letters and phonics. I told the teacher she can't very well be expected to learn her phonics when she doesn't know her letters. This is something we've been working on for a long time. Learning for her takes a LOT of repetition and she still seems to learn very slowly. OT has been working on it with her as well. She's only got about 3 letters down and even still she doesn't know them every time she's asked. I'm trying to do something with her daily that is alphabet/phonic related, but her attention span is SO short as well, that it's hard for her to grasp what you're trying to teach her. Yet, we plug on and I know she will get it sooner or later.

Baby T was doing better with all of her whining, but she seems to have had a relapse. My OT got on her yesterday about it and she looked at me and told me that she doesn't know how I've been coping with all of her whining as it gets to her when she's only here for a couple of hours and all she does is cry and whine over every little thing. I told her that some days are better than others. She told me just to keep staying consistent and when she does that and the warning doesn't get her to stop, to keep putting her upstairs in her room. I asked her if she thought it was just her age, or the fact that she is still struggling with speech. She told me that with the way she can turn it onn and off that she thinks it's behavioral. I was just curious as to what she thought. She can be so sweet and affectionate, I wish she would let this whining go. She is such a good girl for the most part.

I've been working on our adoption paperwork too and hope to send it in this afternoon. Hopefully then, we can get their adoption rolling. I really want them to be adopted before this baby is born.

I have my quarterly monitoring tomorrow morning, so I'm just trying to do some cleaning and get my house decluttered as there is too much paper clutter around here right now that is driving me nuts. Then, I just need to do the girls' clothing inventory and a fire drill and then we're good for this month.

I cannot believe that we're already getting ready for Thanksgiving. These past couple of months have flown by. Wow!

My pregnancy ticker...

Make a pregnancy ticker

How to teach children self-soothing techniques?

I really need some help in this area, I may need to ask the behavioral therapist counselors this, but if anyone has any ideas it would be helpful. When Josiah doesn't get his way or what he wants right when he wants it, he starts a temper tantrum. He's the type of child where he doesn't stop, there's no tears, but he's gotta scream and act like he's crying and he carries on and on. Something so trivial will turn into a 45 minute screaming fit and we have to constantly put him in his room to calm down and tell him when he can calm down he can come out. Very rarely will he calm immediatley, most of the time he's just in there making all the noise that he can and it'll carry on for awhile. The OT has been giving him massages and squeezes to calm him and he's learned that when he needs this he will come ask me to rub or squeeze him. I'm glad that he's noticing that he needs this, but at the same time I think he needs to learn to calm himself down as well. I'm trying to offer him more choices so that we don't get in some battles and I'm trying to see what triggers him, but seriously some of the stuff he gets upset over is so trivial that I wouldn't expect a temper tantrum over it, so some stuff does surprise me. The OT suggested getting him a weighted blanket so that he can go in his room and get that and get the pressure that he's needing from something other than a person or to get him a mini-trampoline for his room. The trampoline just seems like it would be a reward for bad behavior, but I am going to look into the weighted blankets. But, I really need to learn how to teach him to self-soothe because obviously if he goes somewhere he needs to know how to calm himself down in public situations where he's not going to have access to a weighted blanket and that stuff too. The new children's psychiatrist did put him on a very low dose of a mood stabilizer and that did help immensely, but I still notice that he does not know how to calm himself down when he does get upset.

Baby T got a haircut!

Yup, Little E was pretending to do her hair and I thought she just had the brush in her hand. I was trying to get the kids ready for the day on Thursday morning and turned around just in time to see her with Deidra's school scissors trying to cut Baby T's little ponytail right off (I had the sides of her hair pulled up into a little ponytail). I yelled out and she stopped in her tracks, but she did manage to cut a teensy bit of hair before I caught her. Thankfully, it's not really noticable. My goodness, she is sneaky and fast with things she's not supposed to have!

Guess I'm not doing as well as I thought...

We had the girl's little brother here for the last week. He came on Halloween night and he went home Friday afternoon. Josiah and Little E had been sick with really runny noses, low grade fevers, and bad coughs. The robitussin that I had been giving Little E just wasn't touching her cough. She was coughing every few seconds. I called on Thursday to see about getting her into the doctor and they told me they couldn't see her until MOnday afternoon at 4:30. My agency told me to go ahead and take her into the ER to get something for her cough. UGH. So, we headed off to the ER to find out that it was hayfever/viral stuff. Thursday night, I started coming down with it and Deidra came home from school sick with it as well. Friday, I gave all the kids allergy meds and sent them to school. I just needed some time to rest. I spent the day trying to finish up monthly paperwork and playing with the girl's little brother. The last couple of nights I've been lucky if I've gotten 6 hours of sleep combined. I am just dripping snot, coughing, and I cannot breathe. I fall asleep in bed, wake up and can't fall back asleep, have to keep getting up to blow my nose, come downstairs to sit in the recliner and go back and forth between the couch and the recliner. I thought I was dealing with things ok until all the temper tantrums started among everyone today and Andy was sitting at his computer doing budget stuff and I started yelling at the kids. I sent Deidra to her room to go put her clothes away and she just copped an attitude with me. I was trying to talk to Andy about something and he didn't answer. I guess he didn't realize that I was talking to him. I went and printed out the chore charts for the kids that we are starting today and read them off their chores, more attitude from Deidra, and Andy defended her somewhat and then yelled at me saying that they've all been distant because my patience is short and I've been moody. When I got up from the table with tears in my eyes to go upstairs, he said "exactly, that's what I'm talking about." I went upstairs and cried in my bed and listened to Josiah yelling at his door that somebody needed to get him out of his room and that he didn't want to take a nap. Finally, I got up and let him downstairs and decided to come down so I could get my work done that I needed to do and then Andy was asking Josiah if I had given him permission to come downstairs. I told him that I obviously had let him out. Andy started telling me that he was taking Deidra to go run some errands and I just kept saying "ok." Then, he got mad at me because I wasn't talking to him. I told him "well, if you're saying I'm moody and that my patience is short, I guess it's just better to say nothing at all." I thought I was doing ok with everything given how I've been feeling. I really could use some extra cuddles and whatnot right now, but I guess that's asking too much. Yes, I know my patience is short and I'm really trying to work on that. I'm exhausted, I'm constipated, I have constant gas pains, I'm sick with this allergy stuff, I'm trying to deal the best with everything that I can. Deidra's had an attitude about now wanting to pick up her room or having to help around the house, if it's not fun and games, she doesn't want to do it. Josiah's meds have helped his constant meltdowns but he really needs something to help his ADHD symptoms as he has a constant motor mouth and he's loud and rambunctious on top of it and I literally am running around after him all day to keep him from making messes and getting into eveyrthing he knows that he's not supposed to. Little E is into everything as well and her hands have to constantly be into everything. I can't put her in time out without her even picking at the cupboards, the floor, and the wall. And Baby T is still whining over every cotton picking thing. I told Andy that I'm trying to handle everything the best that I can and I'm trying to be understanding of their behaviors and I know that some progress is being made, but there gets to be a part of the night where I am just on sensory overload from listening to the constant talking, constant meltdowns, and running around keeping them out of stuff, and cleaning up messes. I told him that's where I need him to come in and help me out. He really hurt my feelings with what he said to me today though. Granted, I really did think I was doing ok all things considering, but I guess I need to work on it even more. He was doing so well yesterday too...he gave me a few hours to myself while he took all 4 kids out to run errands with him. And then today, he says that to me.

And on top of all this, I'm trying to potty train Josiah and Baby T this weekend. Josiah has the concept down, he has finally started to poop in the potty as of a month or so ago, but he doesn't always tell us when he has to go. He's gone all weekend long without having an accident. Baby T doesn't get the concept at all, even though her teacher tells me that she's been doing it at school and even telling her when she has to go. My OT thinks she's becoming manipulative because she won't do it for me here at home. I leave her sitting on the potty until she can go pee pee, I praise her and give her a treat and a star for her chart. She gets up and not even 5 minutes in her cotton training pants and she's had an accident. If I sit her back on the potty chair she'll tell me repeatedly that she's gone, yet I stand her up and nothing. I just don't know that she gets it. I told Andy that I was done trying to train her this month. I'll try again in another few weeks. Yet, she'll scream and tell me to change her when she poops her pants. I mean, she has a huge fit over it until I change her. I don't know, maybe I should keep trying for another few days before I give up for this month.

Quirks and Behaviors

Andy and I had a big talk last night about the kids and their behaviors. Little E and Josiah have been major handfulls and into everything. I love them both to death, but I need to find some way of disciplining them that gets through to them that they can't do certain things. It's getting to a point where I cannot even leave them out of sight for a couple of minutes or they're running to get into everything that they're not supposed to. These are my 2 with ADHD and ODD. I watched a Super Nanny episode a week or two ago where SN was telling the parents that they were expecting too much out of their son who had ADHD and when he acted up, they just needed to give him a hug and talk to him about what he did wrong. He wasn't meaning to act up and he just couldn't focus on what he needed to be doing. She did an experiment with Mom where she wanted her to read a book, listen to music, she had all the kids come in and do various things to her at the same time, and then she asked Mom to tell her what she had read. I understand that these kids have problems in that dept and I am sympathetic to that. But, I think they need to have consequences just like any other kid does. I think they need to learn that they still have expectations in life, rather than just learn that because they have ADHD that they have an excuse not to do those things.

I had started to give them little tasks and if they could complete those without incident I was rewarding them with 2 gummi bears. It was working for the most part. Then, we went to a training and one of the caseworkers mentioned that he didn't think that was a good idea as it was setting the kids up to expect something each time they did anything. I quit doing it and the kids went back to being major handfuls. Into everything, running wild everywhere, refusing to listen, being defiant, making big old messes, being agressive with one another at times, and after Andy and I's talk last night, I decided that I'm going back to what was working. Once I get their behaviors under control for awhile, I'll start cutting back on the gummi bears, but for right now them earning gummi's, tv time, and extra perks seems to be working and I'd rather give them something extra for now if it will reap the rewards of good behavior. I need to be able to go sign forms for the therapist without them making a beeline for the refrigerator, pantry, or DVD player to make a mess and wreck things. I need to get a handle on this now, so that when the baby comes and I need to sit and feed the baby, that I don't have to stop every 2 seconds and go get them out of the bathroom, out of the pantry, or out of Deidra's homework.

And before anyone says this is normal kid behavior, if it just happened here and there throughout the day, I would understand, but this is constant over and over and over and it doesn't matter how many times they lose a privilege or wind up in time out, it doesn't change the behavior. I think when we go to behavioral therapy tonight, I'm going to see about adding Josiah to the behavioral class rather than just go to skill building so we can get some ideas on how to handle some more of his refusing to listen and the 45 minute screaming fits (no tears, just screaming) that come with him not getting his way. He has no self-calming techniques either and I just talked to the occupational therapist about how I understood the massages and squeezes she does in therapy to help calm him, but I need ideas on how to teach him to self-soothe as otherwise he just screams and screams. She told me to keep removing him and putting him in his room so he learns he's not going to get negative attention either. I told her that I do go put him in his room, but he destroys his room during his screaming fits. She told me to put a mini-trampoline in his room so he can get some sensory input from that, but that seems more like a reward to me. I think I'm going to bring this up at behavioral therapy when we are in our parenting class and see what they think. But, I do think he needs to join the behavioral class so we can see the progress that he makes in learning those skills and be able to see how the counselors deal with some of his quirks.

They are making some progress with social skills. All my littles have a really hard time with boundaries and what is appropriate with strangers and others personal and private spaces. I found a social skills for early learners book in a teaching story that I picked up and we have been learning one social skill each week and I give them little reward strips each time I see them do the appropriate social skill that we have learned already. They are slowly improving and I am SO proud of them!

Had my first OB appt...

I had my first OB appt yesterday. I was SO nervous. I told the nurse that I wouldn't be surprised if my blood pressure was up as I had myself so nervous worrying if baby was ok. She said it was a little high when she took it, but that she understood. She just joked around with me and made me laugh. I really liked her. She talked about my concerns that I didn't know how far along I was with me. Doctor came in and congratulated me and we talked for a few minutes. He said that he'd do an ultrasound to determine how far along I was. By my lmp, I should have been 14 weeks, but I told him I couldn't seem to grasp my mind around that and really didn't think I was quite that far along. I waited and waited for an ultrasound room to open and my doctor finally came and got me after several updates (he didn't want me to think he had forgotten me) and took me back for my ultrasound. He found baby and I was able to hear the heartbeat. What a glorious sound! He measured baby and determined that (as of yesterday) I was 10 weeks and 1 day pregnant. He gave me a due date of May 30, 2010. I am SO thrilled to know that baby is well. He gave me orders to quit stressing and worrying and start enjoying this pregnancy. So, that's what I'm doing. I got some blood work done and gave a urine sample and he gave me some various prenatal vitamins to try to see which one I liked best. I told him I had been on Wal-marts prenatals, but he wanted me on the perscriptions more to make sure that me and baby were getting all the nutrients we needed. I was surprised to find that the perscriptions all had DHA tablets with them. That's new since I had prenatals with Deidra. I understand it though. I have my first ultrasound pics hanging on the fridge. I asked for pics and Dr. says "they're not the best and baby just looks like a blob, but if you want some, I'll gladly give you some." Yup, I want pics of my baby...blob or not. :-) I have some with Deidra that were earlier than this and all you can see is the sac... I'm really glad that I have the doctor that I do. I really like him.