Bowling!

Clark has come a long way with bowling! We no longer need the headphones. He no longer melts down near 6th frame. Now Clark just has a few problems getting started.  Last "season" we had bowling on Saturday mornings. First thing in the morning is always a good time for us. 

Yes, they participate in bumper bowling. Over the last 2 "seasons" they have improved. The bumpers are not always in use.

Snack while bowling seems to be key at keeping the minions in one place. 

This winter their league went to 5 week long sessions instead of 10-11 week sessions. There is no longer a Saturday league. Our only option this winter is 4:30 on Tuesdays. Tuesdays will now become Crock Pot Tuesdays!

My 3 bowling Minions...

:-) Like the shirts? I actually have one for all 5 minions. The Colonel will be joining the boys this winter. She is still under the age, but since The Elder bowls on Sundays there and the boys make up their own team, they agreed to let Colonel Sanders join early, after all, she is there anyway and it will help keep her amused.

A very late update

We added a new member to our household earlier this month.  This is Glow Stick. She was born weighing 8lbs 12oz and is a very awake baby. Due to jaundice, she had to remain in the hospital for 5 days. The minions came up to visit us daily. Due to the government shutdown, The Elder was not able to take his time off. Glow Stick was born in the morning and The Elder was back to work by noon.

Clark and Tyke reading with Grandma in the hospital.

We were one of the lucky families and we had money in the bank. So we were fine even though The Elder was not paid for several weeks. Once the government was "running" again, The Elder took his two weeks off. This is the last week he is off. I have to admit it is almost like having a 6th child.

Colonel Sanders loves her sister.

 In the mean time, Clark has been having a bit of a rough time at school. More meltdowns, he has turned into a runner, and he had to be taken out of the lunch room. The noises and other kids are just to much for him in the gym. So he eats with his teacher or another adult every day. The Elder has stopped in to have lunch with the boys several times while he has been off. Clark loved it and his teacher reported that the rest of that day and the one after the lunch time visit went smoother than normal

This is why she is called Glow Stick. She came home on a bili blanket and was on it for a week at home.

 Tyke also enjoyed the lunch time visits. He is doing well in his class. He keeps an eye on his older brother at school. Pork did not make it into preschool. We work on things at home though. Colonel Sanders is such a big girl. She likes to sit on the potty and help feed her sister when we bottle feed.

Our family

First day of school

Here they are! Clark and Tyke on their first day of Kindergarten! Pork is still fighting potty training, so he did not make it into preschool. The boys got ready and ate breakfast with no issues. We were actually early!

After we dropped Clark and Tyke off, the remaining 2 minions and I decided to go out on a date. The minions had first breakfast at 7am. Pork wanted to be like mama (who was having decaf coffee). So we put OJ in his mug.

Colonel Sanders was a little to excited!



This is what is left after 2nd breakfast. By the time food came up, it was 9am. Pork and The Colonel both had a very large Mickey Mouse pancake. Pork at that, some of my omelet, and the toast you see there. This is after eating 3 pieces of french toast, milk, and fruit just 2 hours prior.

Outside of smearing her face with chocolate, Colonel Sanders was not to interested in her breakfast. I did not expect her to be.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing, playing and I had a Dr. appt to take off a bump (nothing interesting, no worries!).

Pork was VERY happy to see Tyke at the end of the school day!

Yes, that is a parked car behind The Colonel. That is the pick up line. I was standing and watching her carefully. There was not to much sidewalk to play on. Colonel Sanders was a little to happy to run around the bench. I know she does not look amused here, she has sun in her eyes.

Poor Clark. He was the last class out and you could tell he was over stimulated. I called his teacher later and she told me that he had a wonderful day and no sensory items were needed to help him cope with all that was going on. I feel a little silly rushing back to the school after drop off (before 2nd breakfast now). We provide the items he needs for sensory. So I have several sensory brushes, clay (a tiny piece helps him focus), chew tops for his pencils, and wet wipes. The list changes depending on what he is doing. Right now he is not wanting a weighted pad or vest. He does well with a bean bag for his hands, but it was decided we would wait to see if he would be ok without it.

As far as lunch, Tyke ate all but his carrots. Clark did not eat well at all. He ate just the 5-6 grape halves and the fruit strips. I think he was distracted over the noise in the lunch room as well as the other kids.

Our first trial for the year

The plan was, put minions in the tub, set out their clothes, make breakfast, get minions out of the tub, dress minions, feed breakfast and while they eat breakfast I would make lunches. Any other time this may have worked. Today there was nothing but fighting. Then my Angry Birds cutters went MIA. I was not a pleased mama.

I just received my FunBites cutters in the mail and wanted to give them a try. I thought they would work perfect for an Angry Birds lunch! I even had some Angry Birds cutters that I had purchased for Tyke's birthday.

 To bad things did not go my way. Next time I need to gather all cutters before I start lunch. I had the FunBites, but the Angry Birds were no where to be found. *sighs* I know the minions have been fascinated with them. To bad they chose to play with them. The baby has drained most creativity from my brain (5 more week till baby is born!). I had no clue what to do. So I decided to just go with what I had, not worry about it and make lunch.

I need to warn you, apple rabbits do NOT turn out to well when you are out of practice and are using a steak knife. Yeah, don't ask. It was a steak knife or a very large knife. I decided keeping my fingers would be best and went with the steak knife.

Things still turned out. Clark and Tyke informed me that they loved their World of Goo lunch... Ok then. I will guess that is a game their father put on the Nabi Jr. Glad they liked it. I also discovered that with no morning snack (they have one at home but not at school, so we had no snack this morning) they need more food than normal. Tomorrow I will do better!

There is a little concern over Tyke not eating as many small meals though. We put in a morning snack because it is better for him... So we shall see....

Odd rash on The Colonel

Crazy times over Memorial Day weekend.  Friday morning Colonel Sanders had a red line near the top of her diaper. I assumed it was from how she was laying in bed with her blanket bunched up or something. We had our bath for the day and life went on.



After the Dr. office closed, this is what greeted me. The red near her diaper did not go below her diaper. I was stumped. I have never seen anything like this. We had not been outside in 2 days due to rain. No new foods. No new soaps (I have allergies to soaps). You would think with 3 boys I would have already seen it all. Especially with a child like Tyke. I had no clue. It did not itch and there was no pain when I touched it. No fever. The house has AC so it was not heat related. So I went to some fellow moms an asked them.

There were many ideas and many things that it looked somewhat like. It ranged from fifths disease to ringworm. I knew it was not ring worm, but I can understand from the pictures. So I called the on call Dr. and she told me that she was not to concerned for The Colonel, but she wanted her to go in anyway just in case it was something that could problems with my pregnancy. This made me feel a little odd.

Anyone who knows me is aware that I do not like going to the ER. If it will not kill you over night, then why not wait till morning to see the Dr? I am more cautious with the kids than I am myself, still, had this been on a Thursday, we would have just waited till the next morning to see the Dr.

The intake nurse was a little puzzled since the red marks were flat. A 2nd nurse came in, looked at it from a distance (she was pregnant) and left telling me that I would have another nurse. That made me worry a bit, but well, too late, if it was bad I was already infected.

The Dr. came in, was a little puzzled that it did not itch, it did not hurt, and it was flush with the skin. He left and so we waited. After an hour he came back and told me that The Colonel had him stumped for a little bit.  They decided that what she had was hives caused by an allergic reaction. To what? no one had a clue.

So we went home and went to bed. Saturday morning there was nothing on The Colonel. By afternoon it had come back half as bad, but by Sunday morning there was nothing again.

We still have no clue what caused them.

The update I have been promising........

If you have ever lived with a roommate, you know it isn't easy. Everyone does things differently and what is expected in one family is totally different in another. How/what things are said (sarcasm) also varies in different family groups. So tone of voice has to be watched. Things can get stressful pretty fast. Especially when you add in 4 children and one is autistic and another one has to have a monitored diet due to acid reflux. We cut out a lot of boxed items and convenience foods. It all ends up being a learning curve for both parties involved. Along the way there is bound to be some hurt feelings and misunderstandings.

The most important thing to do is always keep open lines of communication and for both parties to talk things out. This is especially true when one (or both) parties suffer from depression and or anxiety. If you let things build up, it will only make things 10 times worse. When one or both parties fail to do this... well it makes a stressful household and ends in disaster.

That is all that will be said about that.

Going back in time a bit, January 28th I found out I was pregnant with minion #5. By early February I had the worst morning sickness ever. If I sat still I was fine. The instant I got up to do anything, I was heaving. Even on Zofran. It was so bad that the kids missed school several times. We relied heavily on Julie for a bit to keep the house going as normal as possible. Aunt Agnes was picking up the kids from school.

Things slowly got to a manageable level by mid April. In early May I started to have some constant heart palpation and a heavy chest. I also had some blackouts. One lasted a little over an hour. My OB sent me to the ER several times and I was also put on a heart monitor for 24 hours. The monitor showed the palpations but it did not show anything wrong. All blood tests came back normal. They did an ultrasound at one point (we did not get to see the baby, but it gave me an official due date) and the baby was fine. They finally decided it could all be stress related.

Julie is no longer living with us. Sadly it was rather abrupt and it took Clark a week to come to terms with it. Near the end there was 2 days of him being on a constant hair trigger and many meltdowns. I had to send myself into time outs several times. I am happy to say that everyone is doing well now. The blackouts and heart palpation have gone away.

On Monday The Elder and I had an ultrasound and were able to see the baby for the first time. I am now 20 1/2 weeks along. I still have nausea on and off and still need to take Zofran to keep it in check.

Bowling

The Elder and Clark

We missed the cut off for spring Tball. So we signed the boys up for bowling. In the past they have enjoyed it. The good part is, all 3 boys can participate. With Tball, only Clark and Tyke can. We did consider soccer, but the field they use in this area is just to noisy. There is to much noise for Clark. It's sad because he really likes it. We may do it this fall though.

The Elder and Clark watching the ball.

Tyke getting his ball.

Pa and The Colonel

We have bowled 4 times so far. Tyke seems to do the best. All these pictures are from a previous week. Clark now needs to wear headphones to bowl. The noises in the bowling alley are to much for him once they  have the teens bowling too. That is ok though.

Oh Pork Chop... He and Pa are lining up the ball and he just tossed it.

Go! Go!