Finally, we're all doing better- no more meds

We are finally antibiotic free at our home!!! The runny noses and coughing are subsiding more and more each day, and we are all sleeping better- thank God. It will take Paul and I awhile to catch up on sleep if there is such a thing. We can hope right?

George is definitely feeling better; it is wonderful to see the sparkle back in his eyes. He is everywhere and into everything. What a great little personality he has. His new thing is to climb up into the youth chair and show off. He has also learned that if he pushes it then he can reach the high stuff. Last night he took a tumble, and it is now in storage for awhile.

Pauly acquired a huge collection of Legos from one of Paul's employees. He has taken over the pool table as his Lego Land, but who can argue with a face like that.

Here's a little update on Pauly. At this time, we have decided against seeking a medical diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (more specifically- Aspergers) but we are seeking an educational diagnosis, so that he can hopefully get services through the school district. We are learning a lot.

After a very thorough vision exam, it was determined that Pauly has some issues with his eyes, not prescription problems but with the muscles and the functioning of his eyes. Vision difficulties are very common for kids with Sensory Processing Dysfunction. The reason I ever had his eyes checked to begin with was because of his extreme resistance and difficulty with reading. Now we know why. His eye muscles are very weak and do not work as a team therefor he has trouble tracking and they are easily strained with tasks where he needs to focus. It also affects retention of what he sees which is another reason why reading is so frustrating to him. He began vision therapy last week. They will work on developing the part of his brain that controls eye function, and they will work on strengthening them and getting them to work as a team. We do daily exercises in addition to his weekly sessions.

Pauly also began speech therapy a couple weeks ago. The goal there is to improve his relational and communication skills. During his last session, his therapists goal was to intentionally frustrate him in order to teach him how to appropriately handle his frustration. A biggy around here; I'll let you use your imagination. He is already communicating better, and we are seeing progress.

He continues to go to occupational therapy where he is working on strengthening his large and small muscles, his motor planning, and maturing his nervous system. Basically, he is learning a whole lot about the hows and whys of what makes him tick, and teaching him safe and socially acceptable ways to go about meeting his need for physical input. His therapist has been an absolute answer to my prayers. She not only completely understands Pauly, but she is so patient with all my concerns and takes the time to teach me so that I can be better mom to him. He loves going, and he is really making huge strides; we are looking forward to the results from his reevaluation to see just how much he has improved.


Elizabeth and Olivia are both in piano this year. They love it, and by love it I mean they can hardly pass by the piano without stopping to play a song. Don't get me wrong, I love the music, but sometimes there's work to be done.

Gabriella and George are little buddies; can you tell?

Why pick one when you can have two?

I took both Pauly and Gabriella to the doctor this evening and left with prescriptions for both. Even the doctor expressed some light hearted concern at how I would be able to keep 4 antibiotic regimes strait, so back to the pharmacy I went. I'm trying to stay calm and patient, but I am on sound overload with all the coughing and bickering from these crabby kiddies. I know it could be worse, but I'm ready for health.

A new day, another trip to the doctor, and another prescription

Today it was Elizabeth's turn to go to the doctor. I was already leaning toward taking her, but who can refuse when a child asks? She is the one with the seal bark which she's had since she was a baby but the intensity varies, but the last few days have been different- more intense- and this morning she just looked awful. After looking, listening, and several xrays of her chest and sinuses, the doctor says its walking pneumonia. At one point during the doctor's questions, she asks Elizabeth if her teacher is complaining about the coughing being bothersome. Elizabeth unsure of how to respond just looks at me, and I say I am the teacher and yes it's bothersome not only during school hours but sleep hours as well. Here's hoping her cough will start to settle and she will start to feel better. I'm wondering who it will be tomorrow, Pauly or Gabriella.

SNOW- YUCK

Sometimes don't you wish you were a kid again? Snow is just not exciting to me. They are running from window to window to examine "all" the snow. Yesterday, they were just giddy as fools when it really started to come down. Pauly begged to go outside, but I said no until it got a little warmer out. When a little latter came, all I heard was crying from him and by crying I mean intense wailing because the snow was gone; it melted of course and now I was the big meanie. It's one of those moments for a mother when you shake your head at the heavens and ask if it would be too much to cut you some slack. I give him a little lesson on how it really is still fall, and this is just the tease so to speak. He settles a little until we are getting ready for bed and Olivia exclaims "oh my gosh the yard is covered in snow" which of course in Pauly's mind means that tomorrow he will be able to get the gear on and play outside. Again with the disappointment and a little crying when he goes to the window to see Olivia's over exagerated description of a snow covered yard, and again with me trying to rationalize with him about what she really meant. This is just one snip pit of my day yesterday. What will today's snow dusting bring me?

Colds and Coughs

It's just the beginning of the cough and cold season, and I'm already sick of it! We've got the dry barky coughs, we've got the wet choke until you puke coughs, we've got goopy runny noses; so who wants to come over? Our medicine cabinet and counter are once again cluttered with different choices and we've got the humidifier on constantly; we're desperate parents trying to find the right concoction that will not only make them feel better but help them sleep. This could be a long winter.

George and I just returned from the pharmacy where we picked up his first antibiotic for a sinus infection. On top of teething, the poor little guy has been sick for the past 3 weeks. I took him in a week and a half ago, but we got the "ears looks good, lungs sound good" and "wait it out." Today the dr said the same thing minus the wait it out and replaced it with a "let's get this little guy feeling better." The same thing happened with Olivia a couple weeks ago. She didn't get better either and was finally treated for a sinus infection as well. Hopefully the poor little guy will start to feel better soon.

If you could spare a prayer for health for all of us and perserverance and maybe sleep for us parents, we would greatly appreciate it.

Ladie's Night

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera to document the event, but I got out with the ladies last night and actually didn't return home until almost 1 a.m. I'm shocked that a bunch of us sleep deprived mothers were able to stay awake that long let alone out on the town.

First Kristina and I met up for some browsing at Target. The browsing of course turned into some unauthorized spending on my part, and I had so much fun helping Kristina spend her money. She's having some remodeling done around the house so it's time to accessorize- words to my ears. After about 2 hours of wondering Target we headed to Apple bee's where I surprised her with a small gathering of ladies from our mom's group to celebrate her birthday. She was so surprised. It was wonderful to see her face when one of our friends walks in the door with a gift bag, and Kristina say "looks like you're here for a celebration." Our friend didn't really know how to respond, so I said "yes, a celebration for you." She was first confused and then excited. I've missed that sparkle in her eye. The conversation was all over the board. One minute we're talking about how to keep your milk supply up when you're nursing, and then next minute we're talking blown fuzes and car batteries. We are women hear us roar. Of course our dismay over the election results came up, but I shushed them and insisted on light and upbeat talk; it was a celebration after all. We got a few glances from the teens that were there; I guess the mommys were too rowdy. Little do they know how cool we really are!

A great night; we all needed it. Please join me in continuing to pray for Kristina and her kids as the holidays approach. Paul and Kristina had a life full of traditions; they made the most of their faith and their time together, and it will be very difficult to celebrate without him. Lord God, I know that you will give Kristina all the grace and courage she needs to make the best of this holiday season for her and the kids. Please bless them with peace and joy that only You can bring. Blessed Mother pray for her.

Vote Life!!!

Please join me if voting for life today. So much of the issues we face in this country could be avoided if we regain a culture of life instead of a culture of death. If we don't respect, value and stand up for life what else matters? We fight to get our troops home but continue to wage war against the most innocent and helpless here in our own nation. We worry about how much money we pay in taxes and for gas, but turn the other way and convince ourselves that we cannot make "that" choice for others. I can only imagine how much the Lord's heart aches to see how we treat our freedom of choice.

Heavenly Father have mercy on us. Blessed Mother pray for us; pray that we would have the courage and wisdom to vote wisely.

We carved and then we caved

Paul brought home some pumpkins for us to carve last night. Pauly had a lot of fun arranging them for his rescue heroes. Pauly built quite a display. Paul was a proud produce daddy. Those pumpkins were given a run for their money.

We typically don't celebrate Halloween with a lot of hoop la. I'm just not into all the gore and scary stuff, so we usually have a fun family night of carving pumpkins, eating junk food, and games. Paul is usually the designated carver; he is getting pretty good at it. The kids all drew practice pictures of what they might want on their pumpkins, and then they drew on the pumpkins for Paul to carve. I have to say, they did a great job this year. There were lots of giggles and disgust at the goo, but they did it.

The kids have not gone out trick or treating in years. We had everything planned for our typical night of pizza and candy, and then they pulled out all the stops asking if they could go out to just few houses. They were so excited, so we told them that if they could get costumes together we would take them to a couple of the neighbors. They all went to the basement and in about 5 minutes up came two saints, a bear and a mouse. Who could resist? Elizabeth walks out the door exclaiming "I've been waiting my whole life for this." We took them around to a few of the neighbors and just had a blast. Gabriella was the cutest thing. She tried so hard to keep up with the others; her little legs were really going. Every time someone would put candy in her bag she would say "thank you" in her cute little voice. Pauly was very protective of her while we were out. We had a great time.