Merry Christmas!

I just had to pop on here today to wish all of my family, friends, and blog buddies a very Merry Christmas!!!



blinnkie from:

Make your own snowflake

I have had so much fun doing this. Jacob even made a couple today and did a great job. :)

http://www.popularfront.com/snowdays/

I warn you though...it is addicting!

Well, progress has definitely been made

Joshua was officially released from OT yesterday, though I am a bit confused as to why. We weren't there for two weeks, and then Mindy cancelled last week due to being ill. So, three weeks of being out of therapy - you can imagine the shock I was in when she told me she was going to release him because he is so much better than he was when he started.

I'm not real sure what to do now. I personally am not convinced that he is ready to be out of OT. He still has a ton to work on. Mindy assured me I have been doing a great job and that he has come a long way. I have a good grasp on the sensory diet, the need for a schedule, and am homeschooling him. She said also that the things she would be working on are all things that I am working on at home during school, so there is no point in coming in. Can you sense the dazed and confused look I must have had on my face the entire time?

Next was speech and it went pretty well. The schedule is helping Josh a lot. He is much more focussed, though he does have a moment or two each week that he seems to go off task. We are currently working on directional words - he is having a little trouble still with over, between, through and behind. I think if we continue working on it as much as we have, he will get it in the next week. He's a smart kid.

In the afternoon we went to socialization class. The other little boy, L, was out for a family emergency, so it was just Josh and Ms. G. They played a board game, and a few other things, had snack, and then she came out to get me so she could go over the session and how Josh did. He did well. The match between kids wasn't as good of one as in the past in terms of verbal exchange because L isn't as verbal as Josh is these days. However, they both have strong areas of interest that the other does not share. Josh's being cars and L's being puzzles. This forced both of them to do an activity someone else enjoyed and pay attention when it was the other person's turn.

Our next step is for Josh to work on continuing a conversation. He has gotten very good at going up to strangers and saying "Hi. What's your name?" He's so stinking cute that he always gets an answer from adults and children. Most of the time now, he will tell them his name as well, either by answering them when they ask or by simply offering the name. The problem is that this is where it usually ends. He either gets really goofy or he walks off. So, now he needs to realize that there is an exchange that needs to happen after this.

She asked if I had any questions or concerns about anything, so I took the opportunity to let he know about the morning's events. She was as shocked as I am that Josh was released from OT already. She tols me that Josh has made tons of improvements socially, but he still has a lot of work to do. She wanted to know if there was any sort of evaluation or if we got any sort of results given to us saying he is at such and such level. When I told her that Mindy simply went into her office to check something and then came back and again said she thought he could be released, she was again surprised. I should have been given something, but then again, I was never given a copy of our goals in the first place. Anyway, Ms. G agrees with me completely that Josh needs more OT. She said his muscle tone is still weak and that is some of what the OT is supposed to work on, so she doesn't understand it any better than I do. There is more than sensory issues at stake here, and that is what confuses me the most. She said she would go ahead and take this time as a break and then call them up to tell them I want him back in. I don't know what I will do. I think I will give it a couple of months, see where Josh is myself, and then re-evaluate the situation. The new insurance we will have starting in January will actually give us 40 total speech and OT visits, so it is a matter of weighing out what we can afford against what he needs.

Ms. G. asked me at the end if I am still going to continue homeschooling him. She said that if I had any doubts at all about whether or not I am doing right, she totally feels I am giving him more this way than any school in the area could offer. I told her I always question and have doubts, but I am very glad that she said it. It is so nice to have her support in this decision as well as someone to go to if I ever have any concerns about Joshua's care and our plan of action with him.

3 Things...

I was tagged by Sarah at The Sellers Homeschool Blog. This should be fun!

3 names you answer to:

1. Melissa
2. Mooooommmmmmmyyyyyyyyyy
3. MaMa

3 parts of your heritage:
1. Italian
2. Cajun
3. German - a little bit!

3 things that scare me:
1. Anything bad happening to my family, especially my children
2. Spiders
3. Dentists

3 of your everyday essentials:
1. Diet Cherry Coke
2. Hug from the kids
3. Music

3 things you are wearing right now:
1. green T-shirt
2. black pants
3. white socks

3 of your favorite songs:
1. In My Daughter's Eyes - Martina McBride
2. Breathe - Faith Hill
3. Held - Natalie Grant

3 things you want in a relationship (other than real love):
1. Understanding
2. Honesty
3. Patience

2 truths and 1 lie (in any order):
1. Have a bachelor's degree in Music Education
2. Have played handbells in Disney World
3. I love doing the dishes

3 things about the opposite sex that appeal to you:
1. Eyes
2. Smile
3. Confidence

3 of your favorite hobbies:
1. Scrapbooking
2. Sewing
3. Soapmaking

3 places you want to go:
1. DisneyWorld (been many times, but I LOVE that place!)
2. Disneyland in CA (sense a theme?)
3. New York (to see a Broadway show!)

3 things you want to do before you die:
1. See a real Broadway play
2. Live life to the fullest
3. Muster up the courage to get myself onto a plane. (And maybe even fly somewhere!)

3 ways that you are sterotypically a male/female:
1. I love shopping
2. I do not like to have my hair short
3. Enjoy crafts

3 people you would like to take this survey:
1. Silas (Strawberry Skies)
2. Lyndsay (C'est La Vie)
3. David (GracieLand)

Doctors, Doctors, Doctors

A few of you knew I was going to be going to the ped today. Here's what happened...

Jacob- We went for him to have a growth check. I don't know if you remember my telling you way back in May, but the ped was having us supplement his diet with Carnation GoodStart Shakes in hopes that he would gain weight. He has been steadily dropping from the 90th% on the growth charts in both height and weight, to now being in the 25th% for weight and the 2-3% for height now. :( So we now are going to be having his thyroid tested, an x-ray to determine his bone age, and some other tests, including testing for Celiac Disease. I personally feel this may be what we are looking at, because he has a lot of symptoms. Time will tell. Regardless, he will be seeing an endocronologist. It could very well be thyroid given we have a strong family history of problems, including myself. She said she feels it is definitely something familial going on and that she may be jumping the gun a bit, but would rather catch it now than later.

Funny story about his check-up...Dr. V asked Jacob how school was going and if he liked it. He said yes. Then she asked if he likes his teacher and he said yes, so then she asked what her name is and he replied "Mommy". She forgot I homeschool, so she asked him again, thinking he misunderstood the question, and he told her again. So she rephrased the question. This time he said, "Her name is Melissa". LOL She looked at me a little strangely and I reminded her I homeschool him. She started laughing and said she finally understood why he was so confused about her questions. LOL

Joshua - He did so well! Not a single tear during the check-up, and the ped was excited to see how social he is now compared to how he was last year. I made a picture schedule so he would know exactly what to expect during the check-up. It could not have gone more perfectly! He had to get three shots - one in each leg and one in the arm. It was funny, because he thought they were tickling him when they were doing the ones in his leg, so he laughed the entire time - no tears at all! The one in the arm did hurt though (the MMR), so he did scream....plus he saw it coming. LOL He is having his thyroid tested as well, because he too has dropped a little more than 2 curves on the growth chart. Ugh. So, the children's clinic should set up a room with our name, seeing as we are there literally all day once a week for therapy and socialization classes...and now an endo. :P

Elena - She is now 27 pounds and leveling off in her growth. Thank goodness, because my back can't take much more. LOL We are going to be taking her to a dentist. She has two small spots on her two top front teeth, and the ped thinks there is either some damage to the enamel or the start of cavities. I have no idea what it is since we have never seen anything like it with the other kids.

So, apparently no break for me in the near future as far as appointments go. I am sooo tired! I have been thinking that my own thyroid is in need of being tested, so after our new insurance kicks in, I will likely be meeting my new primary physician (I actually know him personally already, just not as my doctor) and then get a referral to an endo myself. The fun never ends. :)

Update on all the happenings

Well, the website is as updated with pictures as I have time to do for now. Maybe during the kids' Christmas break we can add some more. :)

Silas' car - we finally heard from the insurance company today. Well, more like Silas finally managed to track someone down and find out what the estimates were. Supposedly the car was worth $3400, and though we don't know how much they estimated the damages to be, they said they exceeded that cost by a good bit, so they are going to total the thing. Scary to think Silas was going only 20MPH or so and it caused this much damage. Can you imagine what would have happened had Silas been going the speed limit of 40MPH on that road? He actually is saying that he doesn't think he will get another Saturn right now. I had one myself a few years back and I hate them, but that is a story for another day. ;) Once Silas uploads the pictures from his phone, I will post them so you can see just how bad his 20MPH hit was.

Silas' new job - he starts tomorrow. We knew he was going to have some training soon after starting. It was supposed to be a week long trip a few hours away, but it has now truned into a 2 week trip with Silas driving every day back and forth. Not a bad trip - an hour to an hour and a half one way, but still...that's a lot of driving. He'll be tired and we won't be doing much as far as finding a replacement car anytime soon!

Therapy - due to all of the craziness this week, my lack of a vehicle, and several other factors, we cancelled therapy and group socialization classes. We'll resume next week. I have to admit, I have kind of enjoyed the two week break. But it is time to get back into our routine.

School - We finished our thankful tree. I have pictures that I need to post. I enjoyed it and I think the kids did as well. :) I also decided to take part of our living room wall and turn it into a timeline. I have so much trouble with figuring out when things happened in relation to other things, so it will be a good visual for me if nothing else. I'll post pictures of it as well once I get the latest batch of photos uploaded. We also began our Christmas unit. We are studying "Christmas Around the World". Today we started our Christmas countdown (24 days 'til Christmas!) and we talked about the traditions in America. We talked about what we as a family do, why we celebrate Christmas, the reason we hang stockings, and then talked about Alaska and some of their traditions. Afterwards the kids made wreaths out of their handprints. Joshua and Cassidy had little patience for the activity, so we didn't get to make as many hands for theirs. All Josh wanted to do was fan everyone with them, and Cassie wanted to glue everything to her handprints. And then of course, Elena wanted to eat the glue. Never a dull moment!

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Photos:

Our Completed Thankful Tree:


Our Wall Timeline: (no events added to it yet!)


Our Christmas Countdown:


Oh, and I forgot to take pics of the hand wreaths. Need to do that later. :)