First Haircut for Shannon

Before


During. Shanno's take on the experience was "I watch Einsteins on a pony"


I didn't really get an after but her hair is much shorter with a lot of the toddler "fluff" taking out.

Things I am thankful for

1. My husband, Bob
2. My first born Lauren
3. My second born Ellie
4. My 3rd born Shannon
5. The unknown baby in my belly
6. That I have a job that pays decently well
7. The willingness of my husband to take a job that most people feel is demeaning
8. For Lauren's neurologist
9. For Lauren's special ed teacher. Her willingness to find new and creative ways to teacher Lauren never cease to amaze me.
10. For Lauren's 1st grade teacher. It's nice to have her treated as one of the kids in the classes instead of that kid with Autism
11. For everyone in Lauren's school who has taken the time to realize that while Lauren has Autism, she is not Autistic.
12. For amazon.com. You have made Christmas shopping so much easier this year.
13. For the genetic testing that gave us the answers that we were so desperately looking for but didn't know we wanted

Sigh.............!

Don't tell a pregnant woman how she's become giantic in the last week. No good can come of that!

30 Weeks Yesterday

I am 30 weeks pregnant as of yesterday. It means several things to me such as I only have 10 more weeks of being pregnant. I am always pregnant until the end (or the bitter end as I often refer to it as.

However, more importantly I feel more relaxed as of 30 weeks. The cusp of viability has been pushed to almost 23 weeks. I've reviewed many claims of 23 week micropreemies. I always stand in amazement at the fragility and preserverence of life.

But I don't want to have a micropreemie. I am thankful for every day that I am pregnant because it is one more day for those organs and lungs to develop. At 30 weeks, I feel confident that I would eventually bring home a baby even with a NICU stay.

I'm still shocked that I'm having another baby in a mere 10 weeks. Maybe I should consider buying somthing. It might make it real.

Things I've learned doing disability claims.

1. Don't smoke!

2. Don't do drugs

3. Don't do crack when your pregnant (ok it could be a subsection of #2 but I felt it needed it's own number)

4. Wear your helmet!

5. Your health is ultimately your responsibility.

6. Somtimes people get a raw deal in life. You still have to make good choices with what you have.

7. No matter how bad or good your childhood was, it is now over.

A house of her own

I'm constantly telling Ellie to stop jumping on my couch, stop climbing on my chairs and so on and so forth.

Today she said "I'm tired everything being your stuff mommy. I want my own stuff" I told her that when she had her own house she could have whatever stuff she wanted.

She then said "Then I'm going to have my own house and no one will be able to come over to it"

Sadly, that's how I feel some days too.

Interview with Dad

1. What is something dad always says to you?
L- go to the potty
E-Stop it!

2. What makes dad happy?
L- when he puts me on the bus
E-When I tell him I love him

3. What makes dad sad?
L- I don't listen
E- When I do things that are wrong

4. How does your dad make you laugh?
L-say funny jokes
E-doing funny things

5. What was your dad like as a child?
L-he was a baby
E-this little (meaning short)

6. How old is your dad?
L-I don't kn ow
E-I can't know

7. How tall is your dad?
L-I don't know
E-this tall (hand over head)

8. What is his favorite thing to do?
L- watch football with me
E- watch football game

9. What does your dad do when you're not around?
L- sleep with Shannon
E- watch football game

10. If your dad becomes famous, what will it be for?
L-
E- being fancy and a star. He likes to sing

11. What is your dad really good at?
L-getting good tips at his work
E-helping me ride my bike

12. What is your dad not very good at?
L-ballet
E-playing with toys

13. What does your dad do for his job?
L-he serves
E-he srves food

14. What's your dad's favorite food?
L-macaroni
E-peanut butter jelly sandwich

15. What makes you proud of your dad?
L-he wins at video games
E-he say nice things

16. If your dad were a cartoon character, who would he be?
L-on Suite Life
E-Max Ruby

17. What do you and your dad do together?
L-sleep together
E-watch TV together

18. How are you and your dad the same?
L-have freckles
E-have the same hair

19. Htow are you and your dad different?
L-he's big
E- he's really tall but I'm tall too

20. How do you know your dad loves you?
L-because he loves me
E-he gives me kisses and hug

21. Where is your dad's favorite place to go?
L-Bob Evans cause it's like his name
E-to McDonald's

22. Why does daddy love you?
L- because I love him
E- cause he give me a hug and a kiss

A realization

I love to read blogs. It's my hobby or past time.

I specifically love to read blogs about kids and happy normal boring families.

I also like to read blogs about kids with medical or developmental issues. I'm drawn to them and can blog hop to find them. I like reading about different treatments and different therapies and how people change and grow in spite of life altering news.

In reading these blogs, I've realized that there are families and moms that are totally at ease of who their child is and what their child's abilities are. Sadly and honestly, I'm not just one of them. I also don't know when or actually if I ever will be.

It is a constant and daily struggle for me and little things can set of my tears of sadness. Ellie was recently invited to a birthday party. She was so excited and I was so sad. Lauren's never been invited to a birthday party or even over to play. I'm not sure if she ever will be.

I love taking my girly girls to ballet. They've talked about ballet for so long and we've been unable to let them go until now. With my recent raise and the plethora of overtime now offered to me, it is now within our grasp to given them this. They love it. I love watching them get dressed and love hearing them ask "is today ballet?". However, my heart breaks a little everytime I see Lauren in the class. Lauren towers over everyone as she should. It is afterall, a class for 3-4 year olds. Lauren is 6 and this is the best fit for her.

Everytime I go to an appointment, my heart carries a secret wish. See, I don't want any therapy to make her better, I want it to make her normal, just like everyone. I know that despite everything we do, Lauren is never going to be like everyone else. Things are never going to be easy for her.

At the end of the day, it's my issue. It's not Lauren's issue and that's a good thing. Lauren is happy and thriving. She loves her sisters and she loves us. She loves school and could go everyday. She comes home with great stories about what happened at school. She fights with her sisters just like any other 6 year old.

I work very hard to find peace and acceptance and I hope I will.

A request from Shannon

Bob and I were sitting on the couch and Shannon came up and looked at me and said "Mommy, you pick my nose please?"

Um, sadly no.

It's a baby! In a belly!

Shannon has a baby in her belly. It can be a boy baby, a girl baby, a Barbie, and a titty-tat.

Lauren had a baby in her belly when I was pregnant with Shannon and she was four. I asked her if she had a baby in her belly now. She looked at me like that was the most ridiculous question she had ever heard. I guess the answer is no.

No visitors

Omega will not be having any visitors at the hospital. A new policy was announced recently at our hopsital stating no visitors under age 16 due to H1N1. I'm thinking that it will not be lifted by the end of January.

The good thing is that Lauren doesn't do well with hospitals and she flipped out when she came to visit Shannon. I know don't have to worry about that and wonder if I should just not have Lauren visit. Descision made for me.

Since the kids can't visit, I'm out of there at 24 hours. And since the kids can't come visit then no one else is coming either except Bob of course.