Being QUIET in the library.....

Today I took the three older kids to the library. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Each of them could pick out some books for the week- this way any time one of them tells me how bored they are, I can tell them to go read a book, since they have new ones to choose from. I forgot about the quiet factor, and the fact that it is impossible for Jake to be quiet. He was good for the first few minutes- the novelty of whispering must have been appealing to him. But, by the time we were standing in line to check out our books, he was singing (LOUDLY) "Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me", followed by a rousing rendition of " Baa Baa Black Sheep". Wonderful. I'm sure the whole library enjoyed the floor show.

On a sidenote- I need a new book to read, and just kind of randomly grabbed one at the library. If any of you have a suggestion for a must-read book, I'd love to hear it. I seem to keep choosing books that are really hard to plow through, and at the end of the day, I need a very readable book- that takes my mind off young children singing "Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me".

How Trey and I Spent His Last Day of Spring Break

Yes, I am that bored (and lack any ability to write something more compelling at the moment). Bored is probably the wrong word choice, because I have plenty I *could* be doing. So, just to finish off Trey's week with a bang, we had a full morning of FUN. First we went to Trader Joes (grocery store, for those not lucky enough to have this little gem), and bought stuff for dinner tonight, and some beverages (because you can't beat Trader Joe's for great, well actually just cheap, wine.) We also bought enough apples to make at least four apple pies- not sure why, but if the boys want apples, they get apples. And lots of yogurt- Trey's choice.

We then made our way to Hollywood Video where we rented some movies. We gave up renting movies awhile ago, because we always forgot to turn them back in, and with the late fees we decided we are probably better off just buying movies. But, as this is the year of frugality, we are back to renting them. The boys picked out "Bee Movie", which somehow we missed in the theater. We also replenished our supply of popcorn- what's a movie night without popcorn- splurging a bit and buying the Bucket O' Butter (or something like that).

We fed Jake, and sent him off to school, and then Trey and I went downstairs for an hour or so of Wii Dance Revolution. You aren't living until you've played this game with a 3 year old. He has no clue what he is doing, but seems to have a great time doing it. We also watched the psycho bird for awhile (because again, to an almost 4 year old this is really entertaining). He's going to be sad to go back to school and miss all this excitement.

Let's Revisit Easter, Shall We?

It took me way too long to get the pictures from my camera to the computer, but here is Easter, Part 1.

Spring Break: Jealous?

Bring on the sun.....Please. (In case you can't tell, this is our slope, covered with hail, which later turned to a solid hill of white). Unfortunately, it is not even fun snow- just a wet, slushy, mess. I hope we get some better weather for Spring Break Part 2.

The House Is Too Quiet

Did I actually say that out loud??? The no phone thing is starting to get to me....not that I'm usually swamped with phone calls all day, but you never know who might need to get ahold of me. I keep hearing phantom phones ringing (or could it the real phone from its hiding place?)

Crazy Bird Attack

Forgot one item. We obviously have a crazy bird living near by our house. I was downstairs with the boys and kept hearing a thudding noise (and some frantic scratching). Seconds later, I looked up and saw a bird flying straight towards our huge window, and hitting it, only to swoop down and come at it from a different angle. This went on for about 15 minutes. Finally, it stopped, but my curiosity about the crazy bird was piqued. I just wanted to rule out some new breed of crazy killer birds inhabiting our neighborhood. After a little research I read that this is common behavior for MALE birds, who have an excess of testosterone.....figures -LOL.

Spring Break- Is It Over Yet?

Thanks for the 20th Reunion replies. I knew some of you had to be 88'ers (or close to it....at this point in my life a few years up and a few years down, especially down ;) I consider 'my age'). I'm still undecided, mainly because my daughter only has two soccer tournaments this summer, and I'd hate to miss one of them. I guess I'll just wait to see who all is going.

On a totally unrelated note- we managed to lose Trey's cochlear implant twice yesterday. I seriously thought I was going to lose it. The first time, we managed to dig it out of it's hiding spot (under our giant bean bag), after about an hour or so. The second time I gave up looking after an hour. I was freaking out, and then, here comes Trey wandering by with the darn thing stuck on his head. I asked him repeatedly "Where did you find your implant?", and all he would do is point to his ear and smile. "Come on mom- it's right here on my head"......He obviously remembered where he had stashed it. I just wish he'd share, so next time we're hunting for it, we'll know another secret hiding spot. I'm tired- Spring Break is wearing me out, and I only have one on break this week. The other three are home *next* week.

On top of the missing implant (and Jake's missing hearing aids on Tuesday, which I think I decided to spare you all on- yes, we found them, behind the toilet....don't ask), my oldest daughter has discovered the joy of talking with her friends on the phone, and somehow managed to lose our only remaining handset. We now are phoneless. So, family- don't bother calling us for the time being. We can't answer. I guess I should go do some phone shopping now. Bye!

Yes- I Will Date Myself Here

My husband Rob and I have our 20th high school reunions this year. Really, it's *been* 20 years???? How? It seems it was not that long ago we met at UCSB. Of course, the four kids remind me daily of the fact that time has gone by. The big question is: To go or not to go? Rob has expressed very little interest in any of his reunions, but I kind of think it might be fun- maybe? The bad news is, mine is on a weekend my daughter has a soccer tournament in Seattle. So, it's not looking like I will get to go. And, his is on a school weekend in the Fall. Not overly helpful in planning a road trip.

So, for all of you old geezers out there (oh come on....you know who you are). Did you go, and was it worth it?

Easter Recap: Just Say NO To Jelly Beans

Pictures to follow :)

I hope you all had a great weekend, and if you celebrate Easter, hopefully it was a good one. We had a rainy cold Easter, but managed to have fun with the kids at my sister and BILs house. Lots of eggs to hide (and find), great food, great company, and the joy of watching my 21 month old neice enjoy her first sugar high. Yes, I swear the child looked drunk- too many jelly beans are NOT a good thing, my friends. I will say, it's hard to resist the little twinkle she gets in her eye when she needs a jelly bean fix. Good thing Easter only comes once a year.

First Day of School With Implant Only

Delaney survived the weekend using only her cochlear implant, and did fairly well. We had a few moments of pout, but all in all she did great. We did let her put her hearing aid on to make a phone call on Sunday (she claims not to be able to hear well on the phone with her CI, but I don't think her Auria has a telecoil built in....I need to check on that). However, she willingly gave back her hearing aid, and said that actually she hears better with her implant than her aid (yay!). So- hopefully her first day at school, sans hearing aid went well. Update to come later!

Happy Day Before Easter

I Hate To Even Post This-

but I might as well vent with all of you. Delaney (my oldest child, who should be the more responsible) lost her cochlear implant yesterday. This will make the third time she has lost it. The first time, she was at a friends house and I picked her up. When we got home I asked her where her implant was, and she said- I don't know. I was getting ready to hop back into the car to see if it been left at her friends house when I noticed the magnet from the headpiece STUCK TO THE HOOD OF MY CAR. No implant, no battery, just the headpiece. We slowly retraced our path, and found the implant in the middle of the road, intact. She was soooo lucky.

Then a couple of months later, she lost it on the playground at school (third grade). She looked for it everywhere. I went to school and looked. She swore, at the time, that it was in her classroom somewhere. They eventually found it, out on the playground but it had been run over by the wall ball cart. It was not working :( We had to use our one-time loss/damage waiver, and got a new one.

You'd think she would have learned. But sadly, no. Last night when I asked her to plug in her battery, she noticed that it was not in her backpack (problem one: Why is it not on her head, and stowed away in her backpack????). She thought it might have fallen out on the bus. O.K. So we get up early, and go to the bus stop, and search the bus. Not there. I retrace her path down the hill several times. On the fourth pass I spot it, lying in the road. It had been in the street all night long, in the rain. Her FM system had been run over, it's now in four pieces. Fortunately her CI is working, as well as the battery. How? I have no idea. I'm not sure what the school is going to want us to do about the FM system.

We are now taking away her hearing aid, and asking her to try to wear her implant only for awhile. I think this will force her to embrace her implant finally. She hears great with it, she just doesn't *like* it. She could lose her residual hearing in her other ear at any point in time. She really needs to become a better implant wearer. I think now is the time. We have really avoided this (and I think that was a mistake from the word go), but I just don't see another option at the moment. If it just didn't work for her, that would be one thing. But it does. Sigh.........

I'll keep you posted. Oh, and if you don't mind- keep your fingers crossed that there was insurance on the FM system. Bigger sigh......

Behavioral Evaluation= Paranoid Mom

As we're going through the process of Trey's IEP, we are having to do some basic evaluations for our school district. One such evaluation was a parent 'take-home' eval on behavior. I had to laugh. So many of the questions were basic, but then they'd throw a curveball at you. And, maybe it's because I was a psychology major, or maybe it is human nature, but I found myself asking "Why are they asking this particular question.....do they think my son has ADHD?" or "Is this to root out Autism?". Thankfully Trey is pretty cut and dry. If he struggles in a given area, it is usually directly linked to speech and hearing. I also am now worried that I made him sound too fantastic, you know? (Well, of course he IS that fantastic :) On some of the behavioral measures, I was still scoring him in the 5-8 year range (this particular test has you stop any given section after answering 3 "0's" (which means he does not do any of those actions). Is my son a prodigy, or do they just age the test for the lowest common denominator. I hate when my brain starts over-analyzing everything :) In any case- I finished both tests, and I can safely say I answered honestly.....and just in case I'm guilty of a bit of Mom Bias, his teachers fill out the same tests-LOL.

My Son- the (disgusting) Superhero

Jake came into the bedroom (where I was *still* folding laundry) to inform me that he discovered his superpowers. " Oh really? Tell me about what you can do", I naively said. He came in to demonstrate his 'power' (read ahead at your own risk), yelling I'm 'SuperSneeze', and blew his nose- NO TISSUE IN SIGHT. What is that about???? Gross (I love girls, I love girls, I love girls.....)

We came to an agreement that he could only use his special power when a bad guy was around. He certainly made me run away (and get a tissue).

I've Been Slacking-

I have no idea what has kept me so busy (laundry), but it seems I just have no spare time to pop onto the computer (laundry). It also dawned on me Monday morning that I have done no preparation for Easter this year. No eggs, no basket 'stuff', no menu for Easter dinner. It's just too early this year. So, I've been running around trying to play catch up this week, as well as trying to catch up on the laundry that is threatening to take over the house.

I met with the team from our local school district to start Trey's paperwork. Nothing new and exciting to report but at least the ball is now rolling. In which direction I can't tell :)

Well- my dryer is calling me. More later.

Tryouts are over, and one daughter made a team, and the other daughter did not-

But, Emily (the daughter who did not) is really two years too young for any of the U11 soccer teams. We just sent her for fun. And, I think she had fun....it was really, really rainy yesterday, and cold (43 degrees). Delaney made her team from last year, which is exactly what she wanted, so all in all, tryouts went as planned. I saw lots of really happy faces, and some that looked a bit stressed. Although to be honest, most of the stress was on the faces of the parents. Lots of really pensive parents, hoping their children wouldn't be disappointed. Hoping their children would make the best team. Hoping their child would make *any* team. I am just glad tryouts are over!! All of the pre-tryout gossip gets tiring. And yes, this is YOUTH soccer. I'm sure other sports are equally as bad, but I only have been witness to the craziness that is youth soccer.

Now that I have a t-ball child as well, I'll keep you posted :)

Soccer Tryouts are Today.....

I'm going in a few minutes to watch the action firsthand :)

I've never witnessed it, since I'm usually home with the boys, so I'll give you a good update on all the crazy parents later!

And I have THIS to look forward to tomorrow-LOL

"A reminder for 'neighborhood school' families that there will not be class
tomorrow, Friday, March 14, 2008 for students. It is an in-service
day for teachers who will be learning how to improve K-5 math
instruction. Have a relaxing weekend and we will see all the kids
back on Monday! "

I like how they throw in the phrase "relaxing weekend".......we haven't had one of those since our first year of being married, and we definitely were too young to appreciate it.

Cloning device needed

Thursdays are quickly becoming the craziest day of the week around here. Somehow we need to get three children to three different activities at 5:00 pm. I had it all worked out on Monday that, Rob would drop Delaney off at basketball at 5:00 pm, I'd take Emily to her soccer game (5:10 pm start time), I'd stay for Emily's game and then book it over to basketball to pick up Delaney, and then he'd take Jake to t-ball practice from 6-7:00. Well, then t-ball decided that it was too cold the other night, so they would move up the start time to 5:00 (which I have to kind of agree with, but it does mess up my master plan). So now we're left w/ a dilemma. The only solution I can think of is cloning- or carpooling, which might be simpler in the long-run.

Anyway- before I forget- Happy Birthday Dad! I left him a voicemail, but he was in flight, returning home from a vacation w/ my mom. I'll let this suffice as my birthday wish, since in typical fashion I forgot to send a card :( Isn't this better than a card Dad???

Spring is in the air- and so are PROJECTS

Gotta love school projects. It seems they are in abundance this time of year. I consider them parental torture....Yes, they are projects for our children. But, let's be honest. They quite often require adult assistance, and if you do not help out, your child's project looks a bit pathetic when compared to the others. So, tonight I am helping to construct a leprechaun (sp) trap, continuing to pour acid rain on a cucumber plant, and building a small revolutionary war village (I think- Delaney was still making her mind up about what project *she* wanted to tackle).

I'll let you know if our trap catches any leprechauns on Monday (yes, I changed this- for whatever reason I was thinking St. Patty's Day was Friday- good thing I didn't send Trey to school in green :)

"You gotta fight, For your right, To paaaar-ty"

O.K., not to "party" in this case, more like to get the appropriate services/school environment for your child (but it just didn't sound as good w/ the original lyrics). I'm back on my song as title kick. Trey has been going to a wonderful private school that was created to teach deaf/HOH children to be verbal. It is one of several of its kind across the United States, and we are fortunate to live about 20-25 minutes away. Emily was able to attend this school as well when we moved here, but we paid for her to attend. It was well-worth it but also somewhat costly. The school district refused to even consider helping us, as they felt that they had a comprable alternative.

Since then we have moved to a different school district that does not have a deaf/HOH program. All they can offer Trey is placement in their early intervention preschool (which is where Jake currently goes). It has been a good choice for Jake, since he only has a mild-moderate loss. In fact, he is thriving there. Trey is in a much different place than Jake. Trey is still barely putting together 2 - 3 words at a time. That said, he has made huge strides, but I think those huge strides are largely due to the intervention he is getting in the school environment (as well as at home). In fact, the director of the school pulled me to the side yesterday to ask if I would help start a conversation with our district, and mentioned that Trey is the only of the four deaf children who gets pulled out daily for speech, *daily*. He would not get this in the public school- especially not pull out to work with a speech therapist trained in the AVT method. So- for the first time, we are going to have to fight for the district to provide the proper placement for one of our kids. I was trained as a parent advocate back in Utah, but really never had to utilize any of the training. We've been very fortunate with what our school districts have provided, and I'm hopeful that our district now will come through. But just in case, I'd love to hear how any of you dealt with this issue. And, wish us luck!

What we're doing tonight....

Jake has his very first T-ball practice. He has been waiting for this moment all his life (or so he tells us). The only bad part will be breaking Trey's heart by telling him he has to wait a year.

Rock Climbing Party Pix

Well- there's one more picture from Emily's party. I'm having a really tough time getting any pictures up today (server error?), so I'll try again tomorrow. The best picture that I got was one of Emily climbing the wall blindfolded. She was so darn fast, even without any 'eyes'.

Emily is 8 (plus a few days)

Emily turned 8 this past week. (Pictures to come- Blogger will not add them at the moment). We finished BOTH her parties (thank goodness), and while she now can say she's officially 8, she told me the other day she still feels 'pretty much' 7. That's o.k. Em- I still feel 'pretty much' 28- LOL. Actually, if truth be told, I feel pretty much 75 this morning, but that's only due to my new bedmade, Trey, who makes me sleep in a very contorted position so as not to disturb him. Yes, that will be ending TONIGHT.

Emily is our child who may look like an angel on the outside (and always has), but she has a fiesty streak a mile long. She was born with huge round eyes that could make you melt, but they would also lull you into a false sense of complacency so that you wouldn't notice the mischief and mayhem she was planning. Emily was born petite- so much so, in fact, that we had to feed her extra food/Pediasure to help her meet her weight goals, but what she lacks in size, she makes up for in personality. She is impossible to ignore- trust me, I've tried on occasion.

When Em was little she had no fear- she still operates this way to an extent. She would climb anything 'climb-able', try to ride anything that looked 'ride-able', and would try anything with very little prompting. Plus, the strength of this child was, and still is, amazing. She will fight you tooth and nail if necessary when she feels strongly about something- luckily she saves this side of her for her mom and dad. I think it will serve her well later in life, as I know she will let no one push her around. In spite of this daring nature, she is also our homebody. Quite often she would rather stay home, and hang out with her family, than spend the night w/ friends, or have playdates. She likes them on occasion but she is also very fond of *home*. She also knows when she has had enough, and will take downtime when needed. We should all be so good at taking care of ourselves :)

Most of all, she is just Emily. Best friend, and most annoying little sister to Delaney; Watchful, loving and slightly bossy big sister, to Jake and Trey; and our pixie-like/impish youngest daughter, who we love very much. Happy 8th Birthday Em!

Found

We have found the missing hearing aids (and molds....separated of course). They had run away from Jake because he turns the tv and radio on TOO LOUD! Actually, he had taken them off yesterday morning, and stashed them under my pillow on my bed. Why???? No idea. But, I'm just glad they are found. My only wish is that I had found them prior to looking in my linen closet (the boys had been playing in there)- it necessitated a complete overhaul, which I guess was long overdue, but not on my list of things to get done immediately. And, rummaging through Jake's toy box (which, see note on linen closet).

Birthday recap coming- later today. Can't ignore Em turning 8.

Emily's birthday post will have to wait- Hearing aids MIA

I am so close to losing it right now. Jake had his hearing aids on yesterday, I couldn't find them last night when I tucked him in (he was already asleep), found one, no ear mold attached this morning wrapped up in the blanket, no second one, and both ear molds are gone. I give up..........

Except I can't at $2000 a piece :(

Went to the ENT today....

Jake's ears look great. But, if the negative ear pressure continues we need to put in new tubes. Got all the paperwork filled out, and on a whim decided to take him to our Audiologist to make sure the negative pressure is still there. It's not- of course. Perfect little mountains (on his tympanograms). And, she had time to put him in the soundbooth quickly, and he has regained most of his lost hearing (meaning, back to where we started w/ him). He is holding steady at moderate to moderate-severe loss bilaterally.

So, the ENT trip was not necessary, but I had to schedule it a while back, and if I didn't take him, he'd still have negative ear pressure (or at least that's how these things tend to go for me :) Now I need to figure our why our TV is still getting cranked up to it's highest volume level- habit???? That's one we'll be breaking!

The only thing we didn't do was turn his hearing aids back down (they were adjusted for the temporary hearing loss back in December). He hasn't really complained, but we probably need to adjust those puppies- He was down to 80/90 db at 250 (frequency). He's now back up to 60- that can't be comfortable, can it?

Happy Anniversary

Today is our 13th anniversary (plus the many dating years). I love you Rob and maybe I'll see you at some point this week-LOL. Just needed to commemorate the 'specialness' of the day :)

I am MEAN, MEAN, MEAN (according to Jake)

and I'm o.k. with that. Sometimes us mom types have to be mean, but there are days where I really just hate being the big bad mom. We're having one of those mornings. Maybe the ear popper can cure Jake's attitude as well- LOL. Today at the gym, when I asked how Jake was, I was told he taught some of the other boys (through the other kids copying him) a bad word- of course, I instantly start thinking oh no, was it this one, or that one, and was so relieved to find out it was the "J" word. Yes, he called someone a 'jerk'. Now, obviously, some people consider this a bad, bad word, and it certainly isn't one I want Jake calling people, but frankly it's one that is not on the REALLY REALLY bad list in our house. It's lumped in with 'stupid' and 'doodee pants' (don't ask), or 'diapee-head'. One that they get in trouble for, but not one that they get in TROUBLE for. So, I got mad at him, didn't get him a treat as we left the gym, and then had to listen to him sob the entire way home from the gym.

All those endorphins from the run- GONE. Oh well, such is the life of a mom (a mean, mean mom).

Jake is broken.....

Or at least he sounds like he is. He's been walking around for the last week making these throat-clearing sounds that drive me CRAZY! He has horrible allergies, and with the early Spring we're having they are back with a vengeance. He's supposed to be taking Claritin and Zyrtec daily (and he is, for the most part), and I think we're going to have to add back in his nasal spray. He goes to our fantastic ENT tomorrow to see how we can get rid of the negative ear pressure he has (and hopefully bring back some of his hearing). I really, really, do not want to do (not that *I'd* be doing them) another set of ear tubes, but if that's what it takes, then we'll have to do it. I know, they are not a big deal, but frankly at age 5 I thought we'd be done with them.

I did a little research online, and stumbled across a device called the Ear Popper (http://www.earpopper.com) that is supposed to resolve ear pressure issues (sounds right up our alley). I'd love to know if it actually works. It's not cheap, but on the other hand I guarantee the Ear Tube surgery will be more expensive. So- if any of you have heard of this little miracle device, please let me know. I am going to ask our ENT about it tomorrow, as well.

Here's a description for those who are interested (taken directly from the " Ear Popper's" website:

What is the EarPopper?

Everyone can relate to the discomfort of ear pressure. You might experience this while flying on an airplane or traveling on a fast moving elevator (especially when you have a cold or allergies). The pressure on the eardrums and the related discomfort can be unbearable. Not to mention the reduction in hearing from the pressure on the eardrums and the potential for more serious problems if the pressure isn’t relieved.

The EarPopper has been clinically proven to relieve negative ear pressure. Negative ear pressure can cause:

Pain
Hearing Loss
Fluid build-up behind the eardrum (Otitis media with effusion)
Earaches
Headaches
Dizziness
---------------------

Sounds great, doesn't it? Maybe sounds a little too great, but I figure it's at least worth asking about.

Just Another Manic Monday.....

It's so tempting to just steal song titles rather than come up with something exciting on my own. We had a very hectic (but fun) weekend, so today has just been a catch-up day. Although, now that I think of it, I really haven't caught up on anything. I *needed* to do about 6 loads of laundry, but I think I'm on load 1 still. I also *needed* to do some major house cleaning- nope- didn't happen. In fact- I'm not sure what I did all day. I did make it to the gym, and Trey and I finalized shopping for my niece's birthday, and got it all packed up and ready to ship. I also got most of Emily's stuff wrapped (not that I'm going to tell her that. She's already requesting to open a present early), and ordered her cake. I'm making the 'family' cake, but I bought one that will probably look better, and taste worse for the party.

I also made an acid solution for Delaney's science project (like the technical terminology? Impressive isn't it?). My acid solution is actually just lemon juice w/ a small amount of water. Now that we've grown the start of some impressive cucumber plants, we're going to destroy them with acid rain. Sounds like fun, huh....

Well, now I'm off to find some soccer shorts, get Emily started on homework, and make something (yet unknown) for dinner.