Speckles

My son is completely speckled from head to foot. He ran a low fever Friday and Saturday accompanied by cold symptoms. There was no fever come Sunday but a slight rash had taken its place. He had shots on the 15th so he was in the right timing for a rash from the MMR shot (i think that's one). A rash from this vaccine is very short lived, it comes on and is gone all within 24 hours. I was hoping that this was all that was going on but no such luck. When Levi woke up this morning his rash was worse than last night so I knew we were going to the doctor. I bundled him up and took him with me to drop the girls off at school and then to the doctor. He fell asleep in the van and slept the entire way. When we finally arrive at the doctor's office (approximately 1 hour later) I gasped as I opened the van door and saw his little smiling face looking like a can of red paint exploded in it! No kidding or exaggerating here. It looked like a can of red paint just blew up right in his face. The rash had DEFINITELY gotten worse, to say the least, just in that hour. Plus, he had a little scab on his face where he scratched himself and he had scratched off the scab and it was bleeding. Great. My son's face is more red than white and he's got a big blob of blood right between his eyes. **I'd like to thank everyone in advance for my Mother of the Year Award. Thank You.** Needless to say I couldn't get Levi into the office fast enough. I've never had so many office employees come to greet me before. I think word spread fast that there was a kid who just came through the back entrance looking like a speckled dinosaur egg. The doctor was very pleased with Levi's symptoms and rash. I mean this guy was gushing over the rash! He had a student doctor with him so, apparently, he was talking from a teaching perspective. In short, the diagnosis was roseola. No strep throat, no antibiotic~ just a viral infection that should clear up on it's own in about 5 days. The only piece of medical advice I got for treating this explosive rash was to keep Levi 'cool'. Heat will intensify the rash. After we got home and he napped the major redness went away. He is still speckled but the coloring isn't fire engine red anymore. Click on the picture in this post to see a bigger version and you will be able to see a few of his spots. The picture really doesn't give you a good view of the speckles though. And sorry about the cookie in his mouth. I'm not a big fan of posting pictures of my kids with food in their mouths but it was either this picture with food or one with half of my face appearing to have a double chin. I went with the food ~ you know you would have too. :)

Happy Thanksgiving

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. What a nice day but sooo exhausting. Our Thanksgivings always start with the parades. I remember watching them as a kid and being so mesmerized by the huge balloons and now as an adult, I'm still mesmerized by the balloons! :) My family eats ALOT on Thanksgiving~ we had 3 dinners to attend. We start off our day of many meals at my sister's house. Shell always makes an awesome dinner that includes a turkey with a name. This year's turkey was named Shelia. I think this is actually the first year that Shell gave the turkey a female name. We were running a little late for dinner after a few mishaps but we finally arrived and I was STARVING! Things weren't quite ready and instead of jumping in to help I found my way to the table where a huge bowl of dinner biscuits was calling my name. I quickly grabbed one and tore in half for Sienna who was just as hungry as I was and we found a nice cozy spot under the table to hide and enjoy our stolen biscuit. But Mother found us and ran us off from under the table. I felt like I was 5 yrs old all over again! Dinner was wonderful and I stuffed myself until I couldn't move. It was a nice relaxed meal and I throughly enjoyed it.

Our next stop was Dave's mom's house. Again I found myself staring down a huge spread of food that I couldn't wait to devour. When we get together with Dave's family there's lots of kids to play together, 8 in total with ages ranging from 1 yr. to 14 yrs. They always have so much fun when they all get together. This year is quite a surprise to see all the doggies that got to come to Thanksgiving, 4 in total. Chris, Dave's brother, came in early and helped Sue, Dave's mom, cook dinner and the two of them really out did themselves. Everything, including the company, was excellent.

We stopped by Dave's dad's house on the way home. This time I was just not able to eat again sadly. I was sooo full still from Sue's I just couldn't imagine putting one more piece of food in my mouth. Everything smelled really good though and the company was still just splendid. Overall it was a wonderful day that has me already looking forward to next year.

My Hero

I do have a Thanksgiving post coming, I promise, but first I must deal with what is on my mind. I went shopping at 3:00 this morning for those fabulous after Thanksgiving Day sales, better known as Black Friday. I have never done this before as I am a night person, not a morning person. But I always felt like I was missing out on something by not going. Well, now I know what I was missing out on - PURE INSANITY! It was completely insane! It was virtually impossible to shop because the lines were so long for the check outs. You couldn't even see or get to the products on the shelf. Our first stop was Kohl's at 4am. The line for check out was completely insane and I just couldn't see myself waiting in line. My sister finally said for me to give her my stuff and for Maddie and I to go ahead and go to Toys R Us. Let me say that Maddie and I did Toys R Us and Best Buy while Shell was still standing in line at Kohl's. Shell waited in line for over 2 hours just for the check out at Kohl's! That doesn't include shopping time, just check out time. Can you believe that?! Shell kept a great attitude through it all and even seemed to enjoy herself. There was alot to be learned from Shell today, however it was all lost on me!! Shell was my hero this morning and I'm still amazed by her patience this morning! However, not to speak for Maddie, but I will probably never do Black Friday again!

The Thanksgiving Feast

Today was the Thanksgiving Feast at Sienna's preschool so I volunteered to go in and help. These kids are just so cute. This is really a great age. They're so full of innocence and wonder, too bad all that changes in a couple of years. This is a picture of Sienna's entire class enjoying their feast. Sienna is on the right side of the picture, 5th one up from the bottom but she moved back right before I took the picture and you can't see her in it. :(

Usually at these types of things, the parent helpers will get everything ready while the children are occupied. Then the children come in and sit down in front of full plates ready to go. Things were a little different today. First the teachers split the kids up into 3 different groups and each group made one item for the feast. Sienna's group made the corn, another group made the stuffing and the last group made the mashed potatoes. They were so excited to help and actually make the items themselves. I thought that was a really nice idea. Once the children were seated at the table then the teachers and parent helpers went around with several bowls of all the feast items and asked each child if they wanted some of that item. It was a really nice meal. The kids really enjoyed themselves and so did I.

Not to toot my horn or anything, but I was a big hit with the little girls today. I walked up to the mashed potato group to ask the teacher if it would be okay to take some pictures but before I could ask her 2 girls turned around and each grabbed one of my hands. They wouldn't turn loose of me and they were both talking at sonic speed at the same time, all the while they were supposed to be helping with the potatoes. I was thinking to myself how cute these girls were and how great I am that these two girls just fell in love with me from one glance. I'll just go ahead and say it~ I was feeling pretty special. And then, it all became so clear as I heard that sweet little 3 yr old angelic voice say, "Me like your nails. They're purple." Now first let me say that these little girls have a GREAT eye for a good nail polish. As I realized that these girls weren't loving me and that they were simply fascinated by my nails I quickly asked my question and scooted off to the kitchen area as to stop being such a distraction. So, I was feeling a little bummed about not being this instantaneous invoker of love that I thought I was but I was still impressed with their good eye for a good polish. But then things got a little scary. I don't know if all the girls in Sienna's class have this fabulous eye for good polish or if the original two just had to share their great find with all the other girls but something was going on. All of the children are gathered on the carpet while the parent helpers were cleaning up. I came around the corner to watch and enjoy their song to discover that all the girls were sitting together (slightly unusual) and then they all started pointing at me. I realized that they were all trying to get a good look at my nails and that, once again, I was being a terrible distraction. So I ducked down behind the dress up station and creeped around the corner out of sight. So, my lesson to be learned from today: Definitely volunteer but do NOT wear purple nail polish (no matter how fabulous the shade).

Levi is such a busy boy!

Look at that face!! How cute is he?! It's hard to believe that that little angelic face could be a pure trouble maker. Really look at the picture. You can see that he is putting his Pop Tart in Lola's bed. In about 2 seconds Lola is going to get scolded for trying to snag that Pop Tart for herself. I've tried to explain to Levi that Lola is a dog and she will take food, especially if she thinks it's being offered to her. But he just doesn't seem to care. However, he will holler like a banshee when Lola takes his food.

This is the most awesome rocking chair ever made. Shell and I sat in this chair when we were little and all of our children have also used this chair. I'm fearful that Levi might be to much for the chair though. He loves this chair and just won't stay out of it. However, her rarely sits in it the proper way. I think he views chairs as something else to stand in. He feels the same way about the cart at Wal-Mart. And I'm positive that he knows that he is not allowed to stand in the chair. He always looks right at us when he does this with this little smirk on his face. He's mischievous.

So Levi had a check up this week. I really don't like taking Levi to the doctor. He just doesn't enjoy it very much. He doesn't like the nurse or doctor to touch him in any way. He doesn't want them to look at his ears or his eyes. He doesn't want them to listen to his heart. He just doesn't want to bothered by them. He will tolerate the scale because he tries to pull the nob pieces off. You know, the top of the scale where the nurse does her thing, yeah, he tries to get that off. Who really knows if we're getting an accurate weight. The nurse actually asked me this time if 'that sounded right'. I said sure. How do I actually know? But Levi does not enjoy being measured. He will scream and kick the entire time. Why? I have no idea. Considering that our first three minutes through the door had played out exactly as I feared I was feeling pretty anxious about the rest of the visit still to come. However, once I took his clothes off we were good to go. I left his socks and shoes on him because I knew he wanted to walk around. He checked out every piece of that office, touching everything. Then he noticed a nice little cozy spot under the counter. He was just the right height for it and he hung out under that thing for quite a while just giggling the whole time. By the time the dr was ready to check him out he had made his way to standing on a step stool right next to me. This worked out perfectly. He stood there for the entire exam and never yelled once. He let Dr. Wendy do everything that she needed to do. I was sooo impressed by him! His health is doing really well right now. His weight is doing much better at 24 pounds bringing up to the 43 percentile for his weight. The height, we're still struggling with that at 29.5 inches and a mere 6 percentile for his height. I'm just happy that he is healthy. The heart murmur appears to be gone. Yeah! Overall, he is doing so good. Now, if we could just stop him from being so mischievous!

The First Born

Shell and I are always noticing similarities between our children that correspond to their order of birth. Nothing really too major, just a few little things. So, last night we were at Mom's celebrating her birthday. I noticed a new similarity that reaches beyond just our children.

First, though, I must give you a little back story. As Shell and I were growing up I asked Mom once why she would ask me to do more things than Shell. Things like ~ get me a pop, take the dog out, get me the phone~ little things like that. Mom's response was that I would just get up and do it without all the complaining that Shell would do.

So, last night as I was preparing the children's plates I asked Shell to grab Levi's cup and bib from his bag. However, it was Sienna that brought me Levi's cup. Shell actually asked her where the bib was at and sent her back for it. As I was getting onto Shell about making that poor baby girl do what I asked her to do, it hit me like a slap in the face. I remembered asking Mom that as a child and instantly realized that my girls are exactly like that. Sierra will complain and wine the whole way to the fridge and back but not Sienna. She sings the whole way there and back. As I'm saying this Shell says that Maddie is the same way and then I noticed~ all 3 first borns (Shell, Maddie, Sierra) were sitting at the table doing nothing (except talking and enjoying each other's company) while all the rest of us were busy. I was dealing with the food, Sienna was running Shell's errands for me, Brandon was playing with Levi, and Grami was getting something ready for Sienna. So, amongst all the activity there sat Shell, Sierra, & Madeline with nothing to do. This realization and what ensued from it was quite comical.

Happy Birthday Mom

Happy Birthday Mom! You truly mean the world to me, so much more than I will ever be able to express. I know that I don't tell you as often as I should how much I appreciate you. You're a remarkable woman and I am honored to say that you are my mother. I thank you for everything you have done for me my entire life. I know I wasn't the easiest child to raise, to say the least. But you never gave up on me and you were always there when I needed you. I thank you for being a part of my life and my children's lives. You are their special Grami and there is no one like you. I love you so very much! Happy Birthday!

Grade Cards, Round 1

Grade card time also means conference time. I love conference time, good or bad. This was actually my first 'normal' conference for Sierra. She's been on IEP since kdg. for her speech. She has now mastered her speech sounds but they can still work with her on other things. Since the paper work I normally get at her conferences came home the same day as the grade card I assumed I was getting a normal conference this time. I was really looking forward to this conference because I wasn't really feeling Sierra's teacher so I was looking forward to a little one on one time with her. I had my defenses up and I was ready for her. However, I fell in love with this woman. The third grade year is a very transitional year for the kids. They go from having their hand held through almost every thing they do to being expected to do almost everything independently. I think she is a great teacher for this. I saw some of my own attitude reflected in this woman, how could I not love that?! Sierra is doing very well in school. Her teacher says that she expects alot from Sierra because she knows that Sierra can deliver it. She does expect A's from Sierra and she is getting them. How could I not love that?

I also had a conference with Sienna's teachers as well. She is doing great in preschool. She is making lots of friends and following the school routines and rules with precision. She scored very high for what they expect from the three year olds. However, her speech is an area of concern. Sometimes she can be hard to understand (not so much for me, but for others). This was not a surprise nor a huge alarm. I think she'll adjust fine with school intervention but if not, I know some great therapists over at the hospital who are already familiar with us!


Levi doesn't get a grade card or conference yet but he did graduate from physical therapy last week!! Yeah Levi!! His physical therapist says that she does not see any development issues with Levi. She was pretty much setting new goals for him every week and within 2 weeks he would master those skills. So, he is done with physical therapy for now. They will re-evaluate him in 3 months and go from there. He is still doing the occupational therapy, though. However, I really like him doing the OT. It helps to stimulate his brain and how could I not love that?

Questionable Parenting

Sorry that's it been a while since I've blogged. Sometimes you just don't feel like blogging. I was even avoiding my emails. Maybe it wasn't that I didn't feel like blogging rather I just didn't feel like doing anything technical~ which is super odd for me since I love technology and usually can't get enough of it. But anyway, moving on.

I'm pretty sure that this is the one thing that everyone knows you do not do~ let a small child walk/run with a sucker in their mouth. In my defense, I was scared to death. I kept following him around trying to catch him even though he never needed to be caught. This was a Tootsie Pop from the Halloween stash. He enjoyed it sooo much! Look at his shirt~ it's wet from the neck to the tummy from enjoying his sucker so much (why use those things called bibs?). I finally had to take it away when the tootsie part started to show. He threw himself down on the floor and cried and cried. He was very upset with me. I tried to explain but he wasn't trying to hear it. My excuses were irrelevant.



This picture was just too cute not to post. I've mentioned before that Levi loves to get in Lola's bed. I'm still not sure why.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I love getting the kids all dressed up and taking them out and about. Seeing all the other kids dressed up. Don't forget the doggies too!! It's just alot of fun. But when you really stop and think about it, it's kind of strange. We spend a life time telling our children NOT to talk to strangers, NEVER take candy from strangers and if any stranger ever approaches you RUN THE OTHER WAY SCREAMING LIKE A BANSHEE!! However, on October 31 forget all that because we're getting dressed up and going out in search of strangers to give us candy! Don't run away and be sure to say thank you. It's actually kind of twisted, really. But hey, it's still a load of fun. We'll talk about therapy later.

Sierra was a pirate girl this year. She really liked her costume and so did I. It was twice as nice because Brandon ended up going as a pirate too (a boy one of course). Lola, also, was a pirate. I felt like I had a whole gang of pirates begging for candy!



Sienna was a witch this year and Levi was a puppy. Sienna LOVED her costume. Levi, not so much. He REFUSED to wear his dog ears. He cried from the time I put him in his costume until the van pulled out the driveway. He acted traumatized!



We went trick or treating in Norwalk on Tuesday. I was the only grown up going but I felt confident because I had a plan. I told the children the plan and we executed the plan, perfectly. It was an awesome night! We all stayed together with ease. Sierra carried Levi's bucket for him since he was staying in the stroller. Brandon held Sienna's hand and kept a watchful eye on her all evening. No one got too excited or out of control. No one argued. Eventually Sierra got tired of carrying Levi's bucket and Sienna just tired. Brandon figured out that he was getting more candy by helping Sienna. Then he really turned on the charm at each house, being extra mindful of Sienna. It was quite cute. They all got TONS of candy. Way too much, honestly. Everyone loved Lola, of course. She got her picture taken several times by complete strangers. She even got to meet and sniff a few other dogs. No treats for Lola though. :( It was a really good time. I had a lot of fun with the kids.

Sierra had her Halloween party at school Wednesday afternoon. She wanted me to make dirt~n~worms for her school party. The girls love making this snack because it's such a big project and there is so much they get to help with. Sierra told me that she didn't want me coming to the school party this year. Well, she wanted me to come but not Sienna and Levi. I explained to her that we were a package deal so she went for 'no deal'. However, Wednesday morning she was hanging out the bathroom door soaking wet hollering for me. I thought something was wrong but no, she wanted to let me know that she had changed her mind and now wanted me (extras included) to come to the party. This made Sienna very happy because she LOVES going to Sierra's school parties. She even wore her costume this year. It was a lot of fun. They played a fun little game trying to wrap a classmate in toilet paper as a mummy. They got lots of cute little Halloween themed treats. Even our dirt~n~worms had a graveyard twist to it. (F.Y.I.~ ZooPals has a great new disposable cup with lid, 14 in the box for $2, not spill proof) It was a fun party and I'm so glad Sierra let us be a part of it with her!

Wednesday night we went trick or treating in Berlin Heights with Mom. Maddie got to with us this time, and Shell too. Maddie couldn't go Tuesday because she had basketball practice. Wednesday was alot of fun too but it wasn't as laid back as our Tuesday trip. There seemed to be so many more people in Berlin Heights than Norwalk. Way more 'big kids'. My theory is if you're big enough to go trick or treating on your own then you're too big to go. If you can't go with the family then don't go. I know that might seem harsh but let me explain. I wouldn't mind all the bigger kids if they would only be mindful of all the small children and families that go trick or treating. But they don't. They hang out in HUGE groups right on top of the sidewalks and try to act like they don't hear me hollering excuse me. They roll around in the grass acting all stupid. They come running up the sidewalks expecting everyone to move for them running into people. It really bothers me. Like I said, I don't care for them to trick or treat even though they were able to drive themselves there if they would just be mindful of the small children. Anyway, the kids got lots of candy, cider and a doughnut. Mom knew every single person we saw I think. Sienna got tired quick. She decided early on to get in the stroller. Maddie was a strong trooper carrying buckets for the little ones.

However, she scared the crap out of Levi. Once Shell put all that makeup on her face he was screaming. SCREAMING!! Any time he saw Maddie he would scream. We had to keep them strategically placed until it got dark. Now Shell, this girl kills me. I had to call her on the cell phone during trick or treating to ask where she was at and if she was joining us, with my son. She had the stroller with Levi in it and some how got separated from us while talking to an old friend. I wouldn't have given her such a hard time about it except that she had Levi. Still not a big deal except for the fact that the other kids had his bucket and was asking for a piece of candy for "my baby brother", however there was no baby brother anywhere in sight. Mom had to vouch for the kids a couple of times!! That's when I took the stroller away and gave Shell her timeout. I did eventually give her another a chance and she did very well with it. Overall, it was alot of fun, a nice couple of days.