Okay, so I know it has been over a YEAR since I have posted anything new on this blog. I have not been totally under a rock though. For the past year I was running my other blog where I was providing lots of product reviews and giveaways. It was loads of fun, but then reality set in and I realized I was spending WAY too much time on the internet. So I decided for the sake of my family (and my eyes) to back off.
So why then am I back on the computer, blogging again just somewhere else? Well, I will tell you this...do not expect to see daily or even weekly updates on what's going on in our home. I will definitely not be posting very often - just trying to be real here.
I just wanted to let everyone know that we are doing well and I do hope to get on here occasionally to update you on what we are doing.
So for a very quick, quick update here are just some of the things we have done over the past year:
We finally found, and bought, a new home. this house is literally double the square footage of our last home with two more bedrooms and one more bathroom than what we had. We also now have a pool and tons more storage space.
We are now in our second official year of homeschooling and I LOVE it!
Gigi is currently doing a basic Girl Scout mini camp over the Summer and we are hoping to get her into a troop in the Fall. She has had another birthday and is now six years old. Her last party was a mermaid/luau theme.
Gigi is scheduled to start Karate lessons (we are finally ready to give this a second chance) in August.
I am attempting to teach her some basics on the piano this year and she is still deciding if she wants to play soccer or t-ball this year for her outdoor sport.
She has finally learned to sleep all through the night in her own bed - seriously just about a month ago! So, as a reward we got her a "big girl" bed - a twin size!
behavior issues still arise on a daily basis, but we are much better at handling them now and can usually squash an outburst before it turns into a full on meltdown. She is still not medicated at all for her ADHD.
Gigi continues to need glasses and we are still patching her lazy eye. Her vision has greatly improved but we are still patching just to make sure she does not slip backward.
Little man celebrated his second birthday (an Elmo theme) last October. He has had a couple more seizures since I last wrote, but the neurologist says it is something he will eventually grow out of.
He continues to have some speech delays, but is getting better everyday. The comprehension is definitely there, so it is strictly an articulation delay. We have had his hearing tested extensively and the results were always great.
This year he will be participating more actively in our homeschool lessons where he will begin to learn his numbers, letters, shapes and colors.
He is very much a boy in many ways - loves to climb on everything, is quite rambunctious, and loves cars and trucks.
However he is also in touch with feminine side thanks to big sis. He has his own little boy baby doll that he cares for and he loves all the Disney Princesses.
Hubby and I are doing great. We are continually discovering ways to sneak in "grown-up time" and enjoy each others company. We are both happy that in our new home we each have our very own space separate from everything else in the house where we can pursue our own hobbies.
Hubby likes to paint and listen to his music in his man room as well as play with his various instruments. I have my own space in the guest room where I can sew, scrapbook and walk on my treadmill.
Well, that's a quick review of some of the important things going on.
As I said earlier, I will not be posting anything on a regular, scheduled basis, but I will be updating at least once a month.
I'm looking forward to sharing our homemade happenings with you again soon!
Showing posts with label M.I.A.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label M.I.A.. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Sunday, April 11, 2010
She's Alive!!
WOW!! It has been an unbelievably LONG time since I last posted..wow.. but I am still alive!! I don't even know where to begin...I guess I should start where I left off..
First of all though let me just say that I do not have access to all my pictures right now. I am working solely off the laptop and all of my pics are saved on my desktop and to disks..which are in storage (more on that later), so I will not be able to post pice of everything I would like, but you'll get the ideas :)
August was the start of Preschool for Gigi. Sending her to preschool was an internal struggle for me. First off, it's not mandatory or even necessary. Anyhow, in the end we signed her up and off she went.
She is attending a Montessori school, which was the compromise. If she was going to school it was going to be a child led school that allowed her to choose her activities. She only goes from 9am to 12pm Monday through Friday.
Here she is on her very first day:
She seems to like, but honestly she is not learning much academically. Socially on the other hand, we have had issues since the start. She can not sit still during circle time and often is removed and either placed into time out or made to sit by the teacher. She has been sent to time out numerous times for kicking, pinching and pushing other kids. She rushes through her worksheets and therefore makes careless mistakes. Her handwriting is very sloppy only because she rushes. Although she does all the activities correctly, she rushes from one thing to the next.
These are all classic signs of ADHD, but again her pediatrician does not want to officially diagnose her yet. We are waiting to see if some things are just due to immaturity. On that note, we have also been seeing a behavior therapist to try and combat some of the issues we have been having.
We seem to be making some progress but there is till lots of work to be done. We have already been told that there will probably come a time when we will hit a brick wall simply because Gigi can not focus on us long enough to know what behavior is expected. She is getting better though..at least in public a little. :)
So with that being said we now face the question of kindergarten. Again, hubby and I cam to a compromise. I do not want my child spending the majority of her day sitting in time out away from her peers nor do I want my child labeled a problem child for disrupting the rest of the class etc. So, we have found a charter school really close by (Charter school is a school that is run like a private school - smaller classes, more one on one attention, they make their own curriculum etc - but it does not cost us anything.) We have applied for this particular school because they have a great way of including ADHD children into ALL daily activities (no time outs because they can't sit still in circle time etc) SO - if Gigi is accepted into this school (it's a random lottery drawing unfortunately ) then this is where she will be attending kindergarten. If she does not get in, then I will be homeschooling her for kindergarten. Now it's just a waiting game.
Gigi had another appointment with her eye doctor in January. Her vision is 20/20 with glasses. Her prescription has been changed to something weaker and she only has to patch once a week now. Yay!!
Hmmm..what else..she is starting to read, but will only do it when she is in the mood - SO her :) Though not always neat, she is writing and loves to write notes to everyone!
She is drawing beautifully!! I am really amazed sometimes at how well she draws. I will have to scan some of her stuff and upload it for you to see.
She is still taking gymnastics and although she is no natural at it, she really has fun so we will let her keep going.
When she is having a good day she can be such a sweet girl. I am sad to say that those days are outnumbered lately but they are still there. On the good days she is a great little helper to everyone, including her little bro. She will give lovey hugs and kisses. We are working on getting that precious girl back full time :)
J is now 17 months old!!! He is about 28 inches tall and almost 18 pounds. He has 6 teeth. And yes, he is still nursing and we have gone to all day cloth diapering using disposables only at night. he took his first steps on Christmas Eve and is now running everywhere. He is a great eater - eats everything in sight! He does not say very much. He can say Mama super clear. He calls hubby "baba". He JUST started (like last week) saying "nana" for banana. He says "u" for up. That's about it :) He does know some signs - he can sign "bath", "more" (acutally he uses the "again" sign), "cracker"and "drink". We actually recently had him evaluated by a child psychologist that specializes in child development. For speech he actually gave J credit for the signs he uses because it shows he wants to communicate, but even with that he is slightly below the minimum of what he should be doing for his age. the dr's recommendation was to wait until he is 20 months and bring him back for another evaluation to see if he has improved. I think I will get a second opinion - if he is going to need therapy I would rather do it sooner not later.
In January, J had a seizure. I swear it was the scariest day of my life. He and I went by ambulance to the hospital. They determined that it was a febrile seizure . HE had a temp of 100.2 when the emt's arrived. They did all kinds of tests, ct scans etc and this was the only explanation they could give. The downside of this is he is more likely than other children to have another seizure now. The plus side is usually kids who have a febrile seizure DON'T have another. Keeping my fingers crossed this doesn't ever happen again.
Other than that he is doing great. He may not speak, but he babbles plenty and always seems to get his point across. He gives the most squishy hugs and the sweetest kisses. He blows kisses too. Much to daddy's dismay he loves to wear his sister's shoes, boas, tiaras and purses.
Ha Ha!!
I post separately about J's first Birthday and what sewing I've been doing!
It's good to be back!
First of all though let me just say that I do not have access to all my pictures right now. I am working solely off the laptop and all of my pics are saved on my desktop and to disks..which are in storage (more on that later), so I will not be able to post pice of everything I would like, but you'll get the ideas :)
Updates on Gigi....
August was the start of Preschool for Gigi. Sending her to preschool was an internal struggle for me. First off, it's not mandatory or even necessary. Anyhow, in the end we signed her up and off she went.
She is attending a Montessori school, which was the compromise. If she was going to school it was going to be a child led school that allowed her to choose her activities. She only goes from 9am to 12pm Monday through Friday.
Here she is on her very first day:
These are all classic signs of ADHD, but again her pediatrician does not want to officially diagnose her yet. We are waiting to see if some things are just due to immaturity. On that note, we have also been seeing a behavior therapist to try and combat some of the issues we have been having.
We seem to be making some progress but there is till lots of work to be done. We have already been told that there will probably come a time when we will hit a brick wall simply because Gigi can not focus on us long enough to know what behavior is expected. She is getting better though..at least in public a little. :)
So with that being said we now face the question of kindergarten. Again, hubby and I cam to a compromise. I do not want my child spending the majority of her day sitting in time out away from her peers nor do I want my child labeled a problem child for disrupting the rest of the class etc. So, we have found a charter school really close by (Charter school is a school that is run like a private school - smaller classes, more one on one attention, they make their own curriculum etc - but it does not cost us anything.) We have applied for this particular school because they have a great way of including ADHD children into ALL daily activities (no time outs because they can't sit still in circle time etc) SO - if Gigi is accepted into this school (it's a random lottery drawing unfortunately ) then this is where she will be attending kindergarten. If she does not get in, then I will be homeschooling her for kindergarten. Now it's just a waiting game.
Gigi had another appointment with her eye doctor in January. Her vision is 20/20 with glasses. Her prescription has been changed to something weaker and she only has to patch once a week now. Yay!!
Hmmm..what else..she is starting to read, but will only do it when she is in the mood - SO her :) Though not always neat, she is writing and loves to write notes to everyone!
She is drawing beautifully!! I am really amazed sometimes at how well she draws. I will have to scan some of her stuff and upload it for you to see.
She is still taking gymnastics and although she is no natural at it, she really has fun so we will let her keep going.
When she is having a good day she can be such a sweet girl. I am sad to say that those days are outnumbered lately but they are still there. On the good days she is a great little helper to everyone, including her little bro. She will give lovey hugs and kisses. We are working on getting that precious girl back full time :)
Ok...now J:
J is now 17 months old!!! He is about 28 inches tall and almost 18 pounds. He has 6 teeth. And yes, he is still nursing and we have gone to all day cloth diapering using disposables only at night. he took his first steps on Christmas Eve and is now running everywhere. He is a great eater - eats everything in sight! He does not say very much. He can say Mama super clear. He calls hubby "baba". He JUST started (like last week) saying "nana" for banana. He says "u" for up. That's about it :) He does know some signs - he can sign "bath", "more" (acutally he uses the "again" sign), "cracker"and "drink". We actually recently had him evaluated by a child psychologist that specializes in child development. For speech he actually gave J credit for the signs he uses because it shows he wants to communicate, but even with that he is slightly below the minimum of what he should be doing for his age. the dr's recommendation was to wait until he is 20 months and bring him back for another evaluation to see if he has improved. I think I will get a second opinion - if he is going to need therapy I would rather do it sooner not later.
In January, J had a seizure. I swear it was the scariest day of my life. He and I went by ambulance to the hospital. They determined that it was a febrile seizure . HE had a temp of 100.2 when the emt's arrived. They did all kinds of tests, ct scans etc and this was the only explanation they could give. The downside of this is he is more likely than other children to have another seizure now. The plus side is usually kids who have a febrile seizure DON'T have another. Keeping my fingers crossed this doesn't ever happen again.
Other than that he is doing great. He may not speak, but he babbles plenty and always seems to get his point across. He gives the most squishy hugs and the sweetest kisses. He blows kisses too. Much to daddy's dismay he loves to wear his sister's shoes, boas, tiaras and purses.
He is such a sweetie pie! Unfortunately he is very stuck on Mama!! He is back in our bed for half the night. He goes to sleep with no problems at 7:30 every night, but he is up screaming at about 10pm. I put him back down a couple times until I decide I need to go to sleep and then I give up and take him to bed with me - bad mama!! Oh well.
Updates on the whole family!
Ok...let's see..towards the end of the year we decided we needed to make some kind of move towards our goals for our family. We want to move out of state for quite a few reasons - the biggest reasons:
Well...that is the important stuff I guess.. I'll just overload you with some random pics of the months I was M.I.A. now!!
Just before Christmas..standing, but not taking steps yet :)
Our matching Converse :)
Just playing:
- We want a bigger house with more land
- We want to live somewhere that has actual seasons!
- We want to live somewhere that has a better school system
Well...that is the important stuff I guess.. I'll just overload you with some random pics of the months I was M.I.A. now!!
Just before Christmas..standing, but not taking steps yet :)
Gigi with Santa:
Our matching Converse :)
Waiting to see the Easter Bunny:
With the Easter Bunny:
With the Easter Bunny:
Ha Ha!!
I post separately about J's first Birthday and what sewing I've been doing!
It's good to be back!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Stay Tuned
For the past week we've had family visiting. So, our normal "routines" (I use that term very loosely) are kind of skewed at the moment - we're having too much fun to be blogging on the computer!
Our latest visitor is my brother B. I'm so excited he's here! Unfortunately he has to leave on Friday. I will try to get updated here over the weekend as I do have some fun things to share.
So stay tuned, your regularly scheduled programming will return soon!
Our latest visitor is my brother B. I'm so excited he's here! Unfortunately he has to leave on Friday. I will try to get updated here over the weekend as I do have some fun things to share.
So stay tuned, your regularly scheduled programming will return soon!
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