Christmas

Wow, that went by so quickly.  What a wonderful holiday.  We spent Christmas Eve going to Mass, and then came home and Marc's Dad, brother, and my Mom joined us for dinner.  I set the oven to go on while we were at church to warm up a ham. Well it wasn't successful and we came home to a cold oven.  So we enjoyed some appetizers and had dinner a bit later.  The kids loved playing with Marc's half brother who is 16.  As they were leaving Sara was very upset she said we needed to sing "O' Christmas Tree", she then wanted us to join hands and circle around the tree as we swayed and sang the song.  I think she saw this on Charlie Brown but it was very sweet and a wonderful way to end the night.  She may have started a new tradition. 

 

    Christmas morning, Marc and I woke up at 5am.  I turned the Christmas tree lights on and we waited... until 6:50 when Evan awoke and I told him to wake up Sara.  The kids were ecstatic to see the tree.  Evan kept searching for the Lego Marvel game he wanted, he was funny he searched his stocking and presents looking for the game.  He was getting very nervous that it didn't arrive.  Luckily it did (I had to make a last minute trip to Best Buy since this became the number one item on Friday and I hadn't bought it).  I did order one online and it still hasn't arrived from WBshop.com.  Sara loved her Sophia desk and her doll bunk beds.  We relaxed at home until around 1 and then headed to my Mom's.  The kids exchanged gifts with their cousins and Grandma gave out gifts.  Sara received a American Girl (Target version) and instantly fell in love with it.  She is very impressed with her American Doll and has dressed and redressed her all day long.  She asked if we could go to the American Doll Store and leave Evan at Grandmas today.  Since the closest store is 6 hours away this isn't happening anytime soon!
     We went to lunch today with the retired teachers aide I used to work with.  She was my savior last spring when our babysitter quit unexpectedly and over the summer during the wake and funeral.  The kids chose Applebees and we ran into the babysitter who quit on me last year.  We had a lazy day at school exploring the new toys, games, and remote control cars.  I bought Sara a very basic one and Evan a more advanced one.  The basic toddler one is the winner.  I think I ordered it over the summer from Amazon for under $10. 
    Tomorrow we head to the dentist for the kids check up.  Evans lower teeth are getting  pretty loose.  I don't think we will make it to his birthday in February without loosing his tooth.  Sara has asked to go to Viddlers an old fashioned 5 and 10 store.  We may stop at my Aunts to see her Christmas tree too.  Saturday Marc is working all day, his company was bought out and they have a mandatory meeting.  I may call Evans best friend for a play date.  He has a younger sister that is 3 and the four of them have a blast together. 

Christmas is coming

The excitement is building at our house. Each morning we have bounced out of bed asking to open advent calendars.  Evan has a Lego City one and Sara has a playmobile princess one.  There have been no complaints about getting up for school each day.  I told my mom we need these year round.  We have also done Elf on a Shelf.  Although the kids love it, I find it stressful!  Some days they are very excited about "Gordon" the elf's activities.  Some favorites have been a naughty and nice list on the bathroom mirror, toilet papering the bathroom, a spoon under the pillow (hoping for a snow day) and mustaches and funny faces drawn on their pictures.  We have also done PNP.com and had video messages from Santa.  The advent season and the coming of Jesus has been a daily conversation at our home. 



     The lists for Santa continue to grow by the day.  This week our number one item by Evan changed dramatically.  I ordered on online but am afraid it won't arrive in time, so Sara and I headed to the busy big mall at 8:30 this morning.  We were fortunate and didn't wait in line. 
     Sara has been busy playing with her dolls the past few months, our doll is named baby, and goes everywhere with us.  She has been referring to her as my daughter the past few weeks.  Evan is often the dad and when they argue she is in tears because he won't be the dad anymore. 
     I am determined to find some new foods for Evan this week, and am very frustrated by his limited diet.  He does eat good foods out of each food group but they are repetitive.  Tonight we had roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, and broccoli.  It sounds great right but ... we have this at least once a week.  It is the one meal he will ask for seconds with.  Other than beef, he eats pizza minus the cheese, chicken noodle soup, chicken fingers, turkey (real turkey not lunchmeat), chicken (grilled or rotisserie ), and bacon.  He will eat corn, peas, and broccoli, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, grapes and sometimes oranges.  His diet also includes noodles with butter and rice.  He eats cookies, crackers, chips, and some chocolate.  We gave up on apples after he had the stomach flu in the fall.  He won't eat eggs, cheese, or anything he deems as sticky or messy.  He won't even eat a fruit snack or gummy since it might be sticky.   He still insists on having a wet washcloth close by to wipe his fingers.  His lunch at school is even worse, raspberries or blackberries with a small amount of sugar to dip them in (they are often sour this time of year, and expensive), Italian bread from Tops (without anything on it), and some chips/Doritos.  I know its terrible but he refuses everything else and will go hungry.  Last year he would do a half of fluff and peanut butter or a smore made with fluff and nutella on a graham cracker.  The pickiness is not improving.   Bribes, threats, holding food back does not work, he just refuses and becomes miserable from not eating.  So we continue to eat our limited diet.  At times I think its OCD but he will get his hands dirty outside or painting at school.  He just likes to be neat and tidy all the time. 
    He is not neat and tidy with his toys.  We can find legos in every room of our home.  Sara is not so fussy.  Lately she has refused all cooked vegetables.  She will eat tons of raw vegetables so I am not going to battle her at this time.  She will taste anything Marc eats.  She eats shrimp, crab, chili, any fruit even pomegranates.  Sara will drink milk, have milk in her cereal, but has not been eating cheeses like she did as a toddler.  Hopefully we can make some small progress over the next few weeks. 
    Evan is reading everything these days.  He is constantly trying to sound out words and spell them.  It is so fun to see how quickly they do this.  He won the coloring contest in Kindergarten for his Thanksgiving book. 

    We have had observations days at dance and you can see Sara with her best friend from prek Abby.  Also a video of some ballet.

Almost 40...written a few weeks ago..

Tomorrow is the big day, well really I am hoping its unnoticed. As I was reminiscing on my 30's, it really was a busy decade.  I found a job in my home district, my commute is 3 miles to work.  we bought a lot and built our long term home, in the same neighborhood as my parents.  We love our neighbors, location, and house.  We dislike the rise in school taxes, our taxes have risen a $1,000 since 2008 and our approaching $5,000. Yikes and that is only our school tax, county taxes arrive in January.
      This decade gave us 4 pregnancies, 3 angels, and our beautiful kids.   We found a few incredible doctors in Syracuse, Buffalo, and New Jersey.  Unfortunately we came into contact with more poorly trained doctors than good ones.  We found the same to be true while my Dad was sick.  I made many friends through my losses.  after losing Rachel my obgyn had a patient that lost a daughter a year earlier call me.  I then went to one support group meeting and ended up with more friends.  two years ago my ob called and asked me to call Katie and another new friend.  I also made a group of 5 friends through our attempts to adopt. My adoption star friends all successfully adopted and we meet a few times a year to catch up our kids are All around the same age.  I guess life does put certain people in your path and I am glad they have remained.  If I had went to school with these women I probably wouldn't have made friends but I am glad we have crossed paths.
    During the last ten years my Grandma had a major stroke and spent 5 years in a nursing home before peacefully passing on.  Marc's Uncle Gary passed away after emphysema and dementia.  My old neighbor lost her battle with breast cancer at the age of 49.  Lastly my dad, I never would of imagined ten years ago he would be gone this soon.  A funny thing keeps happening, my dad used to get giant bags of nickels from the bank.  He would unroll each roll looking for certain nickels of value.  It used to drive mymom and I crazy.  Well at school I am in charge of the bookstore and sophomore class and while depositing money the first nickel I picked up out of each box was a valuable nickel.  I feel like he is laughing as I find these. As much as I hated the nickels he spent time going through I love finding them appear.
     We are all surviving school.  Evan loves his teacher and the challenging kids Are no longer in his class.  Sara is missing mom and crying most days.  I think the class size is overwhelming and noisy.  We had our first play date yesterday with two wonderful families.  Evans friend Brady gas a sister that is 2. Sara's friend abbey who also went to preschool with her and is in her dance has 3 older siblings

Happy Birthday Sara

It amazes me with each birthday how fast the time passes.  As we were trying to conceive and adopt the weeks dragged on.  I put off vacations, parties, and life hoping that pregnancy or adoption would occur.  Luckily that saved a ton of money, but we also missed out on traveling alone.  We would do a yearly vacation but could have done much more.

Well we have been celebrating this Birthday for almost a week.  I was very brave and decided to host a princess party at our home.  I hired two of my incredible juniors to be princesses.  They were just as excited as the little girls.  We asked them each to wear a princess dress and come for 1 1/2 hours.  The girls made crowns, magic wands, necklaces, we painted nails and put lip gloss on, had dancing games, ate pizza and cupcakes and opened gifts.  It was a complete success.  I looked at the pictures and there are complete smiles the entire time.  I thought the moms would stay since the girls are only 4.  Only 1 mom stayed for the party.  I know if it was reversed Sara would never let me leave.  The girls told there moms to go back home when they arrived for pick up. 

The girls believed that the big princesses were real, many times I heard, Cinderella could you help me.  Snow white, I watch you on TV.  It was a crazy party but a so magical.  Evan and Dad left so we wouldn't be terrorized ( I imagined the Batman costume would appear).

Sara had the cafeteria sing to her on Monday, while my mom and I did lunch duty.  Tuesday she brought a treat to school and received a red ribbon and a crown.  She even wore her crown to church!  This morning we awoke to balloons in her room (I bought a helium tank that fills $50 balloons for $20 and can use it for both kids birthdays).  We opened presents and today we are going to see Frozen. We saw Frozen is was over 2hours long but adorable! My mom laughs and said she never gave me birthdays like this.  Well, all the more reason to make them special! 

Yesterday I had parent teacher conferences with both teachers.  Evan had nothing but a glowing report.  Of the tests they do on kindergartner's, sounds, letters, numbers, writing, identification.  Evan was one of four students to get 100%.  The teacher told me he is a perfectionist.  No surprise there, I think he is destined to be an engineer.  His fine motor skills have always been amazing.

Sara also had a positive report.  The teacher told me Sara is the youngest pre-k student she has ever had.  She said Sara hold her own very well and is very self confident.  No surprise there.  She is on track with writing, numbers, letters, etc.  I do have a meeting with the school district this week for speech for Sara and I am hoping she qualifies.  If she is approved by the committee and the school board (the district I work for) then they will send a speech therapist to school.  She has a vast vocabulary but blending sounds are very tough.  Yesterday she asked for a quarter and I had no idea what she wanted, she told me it was a circle and bigger than a penny.  She has no problem expressing when we can't understand but it happens to often. 

Untitled..

I started this post early in the summer and never finished it....
Its been an emotional summer.  My Dad was admitted to Roswell Park Cancer Institute for the first two weekends in May, the third weekend he attended my nephews first communion, and the following week was admitted again.  He was diagnosed with Colitis and then became Septic.  He slowly improved but his bone marrow refused to kick in.  After 4-5 transfusions a week and shots to help produce blood cells, the Doctors met with us.  They told us there wasn't any more they could do.  My Dad hasn't been eating normally since he had the stem cell transplant.  The Doctors said sometimes when the chemo kills all of the bad cells/bacteria it also destroys the good cells/bacteria. 


Yesterday my Dad was transferred to Hospice.  He is sleeping 99% of the time.  Yesterday he groaned and nodded his head when I spoke to him.  I have been going almost every day to visit.  The hospital is about 30 minutes away and Hospice will be about 20.  The kids have been great.  Evan knows Grandpa won't survive but it hasn't completely hit him yet.  My Dad had promised Evan this huge Lego and wanted to give it to him.  So Saturday we had Grandpa give it to him and it brought him such joy to see Evan dance around with excitement.  Evan was so sweet he told me I really want the Arkham Assylum Lego but I want Grandpa to come home more.  My Dad is afraid the kids won't remember him.  I hope they always do.  I was trying to remember my first experience with death.  I think I was around 4 when my Great Grandma passed away.  I can remember going to her apartment and having fig newton cookies, I remember what her bathroom looks like but not what she looked like other than from one or two pictures. 

Farewell Summer

     Once again summer has come to a close.  It has been a very difficult summer.  My Dad went in to the hospital with an infection in May.  He was diagnosed with Sepsis and Colitis.  After recovering from that his immune system was very compromised.  His body stopped producing bone marrow.  For weeks we had daily transfusion and shots to regenerate blood cell growth.  In mid July my Dad was sent to hospice and he lost his battle on July 27th.

 
     I am tearing up a month later as I briefly relive it for our blog.  As I have seen my friends loose parents to heart attacks, suicide, and breast cancer.  I never anticipated losing my Dad at 72.  He battled non Hodgkin's lymphoma for 4 years before undergoing a stem cell transplant last September.  He was in remission from the cancer but lost his battle after all. 
     My parents live in the same neighborhood as us, so I feel the loss each day.  Sara has adjusted and Evan has had a tougher time with it.  In July my Dad made me purchase the one Lego Evan has been dreaming of.  He gave it to him at the hospital and 4 days later Evan completed it, on his own.  We were able to share the joy of Evan and Grandpa during those last few days.  I hope Evan always remembers how special he was to my Dad and his special gift from Grandpa. 

     August flew by as we attempted to catch up and enjoy summer.  The weather didn't always cooperate.  Sara did learn to swim underwater and has no fear jumping in the pool.  Evan overcame his fear of the pool and finally jumped off the side alone at the end of the summer.  We practiced riding bikes.  Sara is much more athletic and daring than Evan.  She can ride like a pro with training wheels.  Evan wasn't interested in peddling until half the summer went by.  Sara swings by herself, and will do the monkey bars and turn around and come back on her own.  Today my mom said she spent the afternoon attempting to climb up the slide and wouldn't leave until she mastered it.

     School has begun.  Evan had his first half day of Kindergarten and the remainder of the week will be full days.  Sara goes for a full day on Friday.  Lunch making and packing backpacks has begun!  Evan wore his uniform for the first time today and was very proud to be in it.  He came home and told me he didn't like Kindergarten but he didn't cry. Last year we had lots of crying. 
     I have the least amount of preps ever.  I have 2 keyboarding classes and 3 accounting classes.  I am anxiously awaiting the ipads we received from a Discover Card grant to be delivered.  We have a class set of 30.  I borrowed one over the summer and the kids and I have had fun learning and playing.  Its amazing how quickly they become pros.  The also argue over the Kindle Fire and the ipad.  But they saved us each time we spent hours at the hospital or Hospice.  The kids sat quietly and played and we were able to show my Dad pictures and videos. 

3.5 Years old and 3.5 months since my last post.

 

Yikes... its been way to long since I posted.  My little baby is 3.5 years old today.  She is growing up so fast

• We moved Sara to her big girl bed and it is big, I didn't realize how thick the mattress and box spring were until Marc assembled her new bed.  It is the tallest bed in our house!
• Her sleep has improved and most nights she stays in bed, but will often call out in her sleep for Mom.  I am a super light sleeper and end up getting up at least once a night, usually to put blankets back on the kids. 
• Sara has completed preschool and will head to full day pre-k next year.  Although she seems so young.  She is so ready for this.  She wants to do everything Evan does.
• Since January she has learned all of her letters and has taught herself to write most of them.
 
 

• She can write Mom, Dad, Evan, and Sara.  She loves to write and I am spelling constantly for her.
• She can say the entire alphabet and count to 13.
• Sara is still a fantastic eater, just not at meal time! 
• Breakfast is one of the following: a pineapple or strawberry Greek yogurt, bacon and toast, fried or scrambled eggs, cereal with milk, fruit, or sometimes she asks for vegetables and dip!
• Lunch is pizzas on triscuits (she loves to help make these), soup, vegetables with dip, fruit, crackers and cheese, bread with jelly, spagettios.
• Dinner is easy she will typically eat whatever we do if she doesn't eat she will at least sit with us.  I don't make a big deal because she eats so many fruits and vegetables throughout the day.  She loves turkey, roast beef, and chicken.  Her favorite is gravy!
• Sara loves Popsicles and freeze pops.
• We struggle with the Gr sound grandma is yamma, and the the l sound, like, is yike.  Although she struggles her comprehension and vocabulary are extensive.
•  Lately we play lots of doggy, and baby.  Sara loves to pretend she is a dog, and likes to be fed treats, be petted, and lick my hands (yuck!!)
• She plays with her dolls and loves to dress them take them for stroller rides and play mommy.
• Sara is very adventurous and is learning to ride a two wheeler and a scooter.  She will probably master this before Evan. 
• Daddy is Sara's favorite, and she has him wrapped around her fingers.
• We love to have our nails and toes painted.
• Her clothing of choice is dresses and she wants to wear them no matter what the weather is. 
• She also loves to match head to toe in the same color.  She often dresses herself with great pride and is hurt when we laugh at the combinations.  A few weeks ago it was 70+ out and Sara was wearing a red cardigan with crystal buttons, with red fleece pants, and a red Christmas headband in her hair.  I didn't fight it but after a few comments from neighbors she was willing to change.  She also wants to wear head to toe orange!
• Sara is a good helper and will help me clean up and dust. 
• We have a bit of a temper at times.  She will stomp away and hide for a few minutes and then come and tell us she is sorry. 

My Dad is back in Roswell with colitis and sepsis.  I told Evan and Sara that Grandpa was so sick that they wouldn't even let him have a drink or an ice chip for 2 days.  Evan was so upset by this that he whispered to Sara.  I asked what he was planning.  He told me in a whisper Batman voice that him and Sara were going to break Grandpa out.  I asked how they were going to bring him home?  He told me they would get him and help Grandpa walk.  I said Grandpa is too sick to walk.  Evan told me they would steal a wheelchair.  I asked if you were going to use the bat plane?  He said they would use my car.  I asked who would drive, he said that I could drive them there.  Grandpa could sit next to me on the way home.  This story completely made my Dad's day and hopefully week.  Today they transferred him from ICU to IMC, hopefully he'll continue to improve quickly. 
     So on top of my Dad being in the hospital and trying to visit, we have been juggling babysitters daily.  My sitter quit unexpectedly in April and my mom was going to watch Sara for the remainder of the year.  Well my Dad has spent 3 of the last 4 weekends at Roswell.  We have a retired teachers aide who watches Sara and is wonderful and a friends daughter is done with college and fortunately has watched Sara each time I have needed her to.  4 more weeks of school to go, Evan has 2 1/2 weeks to go, I'm ready for summer!

5 Years OLD!!

Wow, each year when the kids birthdays pass, I am amazed that I'm a Mom, and that the years are flying by.  Luckily Evan is still Mommy's boy.  I dread the age that this ends. I brought him lunch at school, a happy meal that he shared with his best friend.  We had a family party on Saturday.  On Sunday Evan was invited to a bowling party for a classmate.  Wow, 21 kids, plus some friends and everyone brings a gift.  This kid had more than we had in our house at Christmas.  I am hoping these are not the norm in the future. Although the students in the current kindergarten class at Evan's school each have a birthday party and invite the entire class.  Yikes pricey and crazy!
     Evan had a great  birthday and was so grateful.  He thanked me over and over again for his gifts, his cake, his balloons.  His favorite cousin wasn't able to make the party and I thought he would be disappointed but he handled it well. 
    Tomorrow I am volunteering at Evan's Valentine party.  Can't wait to see how adorable the kids are. 
    We had Evan's 5 year Dr appt.  He is 35 lbs, clothed and in the 11% for weight.  He is 41.5 inches and in the 24% for height.  The Dr asked him to write his name, and he asked her in big letters or little letters.  He drew a stick person for her and then continued to draw a house, sun, and tree.  She told me he is completely ready for Kindergarten, no surprise there.  He received 3 shots, and did pretty well after crying for a minute.  He still says his arm is sore, I'm assuming from the DTAP. 

     It was Sara's turn to bring juice to school this week.  I put the bottle in her , backpack, figuring my mom would carry it in to school.  My mom told Evan it was to heavy for her to carry.  She looked at my mom in shock and said Grandma (usually its Yamma) I have big muscles.  She then insisted on carrying it all the way to school.  Today was her valentine party and I called my Mom this afternoon to see how it went.  My mom said Sara didn't bring anything home and was crying that she didn't get any of the M&M's we made for school.  I felt terrible, she was so excited in the morning.  Of course I told her she would get lots of valentines and a few treats.  Well after having my study hall students make a few valentines for her, I decided to stop at the church that she has preschool at.  The kind secretary felt my pain and took me to the room.  Sara's lonely bag was in the coat room.  She was ecstatic to have it and to open and taste test most of her treats.  She loved the star burst!

We have good intentions...

To update the blog, but have been lazy.  Where has the time gone.  Marc's mom came to visit for 10 days in December and then the holidays seemed to arrive so quickly.
     Evan had  his first choral concert at school.  The concert was amazing.  We have a very large parish and the concert was held in the church.  Evan was front and center in his pre-K class.  He was smiling and having a great time singing.  He said Mom I was nervous but I told myself "you can do this Evan, you an do this!". 





     The holidays were fantastic, we were home for 12 days.  Most days the kids refused to leave the house.  The played so well together and Christmas morning was so joyful.  We spent the week creating Evan's new Lego sets.  We finally had one that was a bit to advanced. 

     Sara is all about princesses and loves to dress up.  We bought her a bike with training wheels and she immediately took off around the house on it.  She  begged to take it outside.  We had a few 60 degree days and she was able to ride a bit outside.  She is a very proud little girl. 
     We finally bought a new car, a Honda accord.  I debated the minivan but couldn't bring myself to get it, maybe next time. 
     January has brought out the stomach flu, colds, and fevers.  I feel like I have been sick for most of the month.  Today I was so desperate that I went and stocked up on some vitamins today.  I haven't taken any since I was pregnant.  Since I'm approaching 40, and not getting much natural vitamin D, thought it was time for a multivitamin and some Calcium and Magnesium.  I notice I am exhausted before I get my period each month, so hopefully the calcium and mag will alleviate this.
     Today was Sara's preschool conference.  Last year I was upset that Evan didn't have perfect scores, he sometimes ran in class, and could not do a somersault.  Well Sara had a great review although she didn't recognize the R in her name, or her shapes.  The teacher told me how Sara follows all the rules, procedures, and always participates.  She comes in with a smile each day.  Sara truly loves school.  Sometimes I am hesitant to send her early, she will always be the youngest in her class.  NYS has a 12/1 cutoff and Sara's birthday is 11/27.  I do feel she is ready and Sara can hold her own and wants to learn.  Her behavior in school is exceptional.  I volunteered twice in the past month and she is so well behaved.  I am lucky to have such great kids!  Evan should receive his report card this week.  I am curious to see the results.
     Evans teacher institutes  a red, yellow, green dinosaur.  Evan has been green all year.  Once the kids hit yellow or red they have to draw  the color in their notebook and the teacher sends a note home.  We went to a parents event on Saturday night and all the parents were talking Dinosaurs.  I wanted to brag that he has always been green, but bit my tongue! 
     Yesterday I gave the kids a bath and turned Sara's mermaid upside down to dry and she walked into the bathroom and saw it and said "What the heck is going on here?"  where do they get this stuff?  Evan told me last night that the Superhero's that have tight underwear can't fly! 
    As I am attempting to blog, because Sara fell asleep at 5:30, and will probably have me up all night.  Evan made me a garden out of Lego's because I didn't get a lot for my birthday (that was in October).  Having an evening with one child is way to easy!!