This week sort of went by in a blur. Not necessarily any busier than any other week, but between busy-ness, an upcoming wedding, Spring headaches, and emotional stress thinking about my girls, time was filled every moment of the day. Here is a small recap of the week (the little I remember)...
TUESDAY:
It feels like Spring! It is wonderful! We are outside today without jackets, it is near 50 degrees, the sun is shining! I took Michael and Jonny (and all the rest of them along for the ride) to get their hair trimmed in town....we've got to at least look presentable for Grandma's wedding on Saturday! It was so lovely outside, that we decided to walk across downtown, and made a stop in our favorite ice cream shop. All the kids sat around this tiny little table, eating their ice cream, with smiles and laughter and EVERYONE WAS GETTING ALONG SPLENDIDLY. It was a scene that I never want to forget(but I probably will since I did not have my camera!). When we got back home, they all spent another 2 hours playing outside in the cul-de-sac, riding bikes, playing with dolls and strollers, Webkinz, and a full-fledged street hockey game. A picturesque, happy-filled evening.....but again, no pictures taken (what is the matter with me??).
WEDNESDAY:
I hate Spring.....to clarify, I hate the headaches that I get in the Spring. They are so awful. Enough to make me want to move somewhere else. No kidding. Other people complain of their arthritis flaring up...I must have the same thing going on in my brain.
Mary and her kids came out for a much appreciated visit. All the kids played so well, as always. It is so much fun to see them all just playing and smiling continuously. You would think that it would be chaos with 8 little people ages 6 and under, but everyone is so well behaved and good! It is just such a joy to get the kids together and participate in their happiness. I really need to take some pictures sometime of all the kids together...some video would be good, too. All of our kids adore each other. Not to mention it is great to socialize with Mary face to face, too!
Another highlight of the day (besides treating myself to a haircut this afternoon), was making cinnamon rolls that tasted EXACTLY like Cinnabons! In fact, since I used great tasting Penzy's Ceylon Cinnamon (thanks Lisa, for introducing me), the kids thought that mine were even BETTER than Cinnabon's! I will try to post the link here...it is from Allrecipes.com, titled Clone of a Cinnabon....rated over 2100 times 5 out of 5 stars. And it was EASY and not as high in fat as other recipes for cinnamon rolls I have seen. We will never buy another Cinnabon again!
THURSDAY:
Emotionally draining day. Had I thought about this a little more in advance, I would not have scheduled a visit to the Developmental Pediatrician for Laura on the same day as heavy intensive school conferences for Melissa. The visit was meant to be one final exit visit to ensure that we were not missing something with Laura. After 2 hours of assessment, Laura now will be visiting the Neurologist, have a Physical Therapy eval, an Occupational Therapy eval, a revisit to the geneticist, and find some endocrinology answers. Ugh....this was so unexpected. I really had thought she was doing well enough that this would be it. But her physical development is still very immature(by at least a year), her reflexes were hyperactive with some clonus, paired with her usual low tone was there now some stiffness in her legs?, and gee, who knows what to make of the stinky, separating pee.
In general, conferences went well, but there is always the obviousness of the difficulties that Melissa has to face everyday. Yes, she is smart, yes, kids like her, and yes, she loves school and is doing well. But telling me she just has "adventures on the playground with her make-believe friends" in lieu of interactions with real-life kids....it breaks my heart into a million tiny little sad pieces. She is 2 years behind in social and physical skills, and it basically just stinks. She will be placed in a friendship counselling group to help improve her skills, and hopefully someone will start paying attention to her fine motor needs. Who wants these kind of troubles for their kids? Life is tough enough as it is, and being a girl seems to be even tougher. So many expectations that normal girls can't even achieve...it is a tough world. Why does it have to be hard for my girls? How do I help them effectively? I wish so much that there existed an easy and sure-fire fix for both of them.
The VERY COOL highlight of today (besides raving reviews of Jonny and Crispy from their teachers) was being privy to see Melissa's new skill....riding a bike with no training wheels! She rode it around and around the cafeteria for more than ten minutes, never once losing balance, and always being able to restart after stopping. It was incredible, and something I had not expected to see this soon. I was so proud of her, and she was obviously proud too. Her DAPE teacher will be working on riding outside on pavement next so that she will be street ready by late Spring. Another moment I wish to remember forever, but will have to hope it remains etched in my brain, as my camera was not with me.
FRIDAY:
School is out for my elementary kids today, while Alex had to still attend, and Michael had band. The neighbor girl spent the day with us as both of her brothers had school, and her mom, who is a speech therapist (she is Melissa's) in the school district, still had to work today. The kids indulged in Webkinz and the new SuperMario Smash Bros Melee for Wii, while I ran my older kids around this morning. Alex had his first eye doctor appointment(I thought that all of the kids were off today when I scheduled the appointment). His vision is only slightly skewed in one eye, but Alex felt the difference was enough that he really wants to try glasses. So $400 later, we have a cool pair expecting to arrive for him next week.
After lunch, I had promised the kids a trip into town to search out new Webkinz pets and ice cream. We did not find a good selection of pets, so we drove 30 minutes to the closest mall (do I spoil my kids, or what?). Lucky us, Jonny found the penguin he had been hoping for, and the rest of them got bonus pets as we found a 2 for 1 sale at LimitedToo. Talk about some very excited kids! They couldn't wait to get back home to enter their new codes online. We were only 4 blocks away from home when the neighbor girl informed me that she puked. Sure enough, she was covered in fresh puke in the backseat of my truck. Yuck. Puke and horrible headaches (which I had again today) are not a good combination. Thankfully, my Shaklee products did a stellar job cleaning up the mess, and the germicide got the smell out, as well as the bugs. After cleaning the truck, I proceeded to spray down every other inch she may have come into contact with in our house today. I realize that it is probably too late, and that if she is truly sick, we had already been irreversibly exposed, but it mentally helped us all feel a bit better. I (we all) dread puking illnesses more than anything. 45 minutes later, the girl knocked on our door, asking for Melissa to play. Was it bad of me to tell her Melissa was unable to play anymore today because she 'needed to rest'????
Now it is late, and I still need to finish washing clothes for tomorrow's celebration. With any luck, we will all keep our dinners down overnight.
Oh...and at least I alraedy put the camera in the diaper bag.
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