This is getting to be exhausting!

Whew. Tuesdays really wipe me out. It's Tae Kwan Do day. Fortunately, Sam's guitar teacher called this morning to cancel today's lesson, so I didn't have to race from school to TKD. The boys (mine plus one) got to play outside for a few minutes in semi-warmish weather. But following Sofia around TKD for 2 hours is really difficult. For a while, I had a 4 year old watching her (hey, J did a better job than when I had 6 year old G watch her and Sofia ended up toilet-surfing!). Then Micah came out of class early with a belly ache. Oy.

But we made it home, and my mother's helper was here to take part in dinner and bedtime craziness. She's terrific. I'm going to have her stay home with Sofia on Tuesday afternoons from now on.

This morning, Sofia and I went to the mall for OT and a little shopping. Then we came home and hung out a bit.

Yesterday, we met up with a little friend at the supermarket, and Sofia and S walked around the store holding hands. It was SO cute!


After shopping, we went home to meet K for Speech Therapy, and at noon we went back to the EI center for our Down Syndrome "Meet & Greet". We've had something like 7 new babies with DS since September!

The Meet & Greet was terrific. two families with twins (in each set, one twin has DS), two other infants (including my friend N's daughter), a little guy about a year old, two pre-toddlers (K is 20 months, S is about 2 years), and Miss Big Girl Sofia, who played and played and pretty much ignored me entirely.

K had also invited the two current "First Call" people from the area, moms of girls who are now about 11 years old each. I've met both of them, and I'd spoken with one way back when I got my amnio results. They both gave a nice presentation about what is available in our community, who to contact for what, etc. Then I took over, welcoming people, talking about "Gifts" (which Mass DS Congress now hands out to new parents!), and talking about how we new families have to build upon what the previous families have already done.

So after I spoke, the two First call ladies pulled me aside and warned me that they've been waiting for me! Apparently, at least in Metrowest, Down Syndrome really does come in waves, and Sofia is at the leading edge of a new wave. The Metrowest group has been fairly cohesive in that 10-12 year old range, but they don't have much for our cohort. So now I've got another hat to wear - I'll be the new family group coordinator...

It was so nice to see all the new babies and meet the families. A really nice group!

Sofia fell asleep in the car before pick-up, and I nearly fell asleep on the way home, so I let the boys watch TV while I napped - and Sofia stayed asleep nearly 3 hours! David went out with the guys for dinner, so I was a bit relaxed about bed-time. I let the kids dance:

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Don't know where Micah gets it! Notice Sofia trying to do a head-spin...

Sofia and I watched the 2nd CD of Anne of Green Gables. She fell asleep a little after 9pm.

"Do you even know your own strength?"

Micah asked this last night at dinner. Besides being very cute, I thought it was quite profound. Do any of us know our own strength, before we need it?

I forgot to mention that when I picked up the boys on Thursday from school, I briefly spoke with the Curriculum Consultant. She and Sam's reading teacher had given him and evaluation, and apparently the reading teach was crying, because they were SO PROUD of how well he's doing! That was a terrific birthday present for me, on top of watching Sofia's eval go so well.

Oh, one more thing that happened on Friday: at pickup I was talking to another mom, and found out that her kid had hives for several weeks, too! It really IS a virus!!!

How to condense one month into 5 days

Whew! What a whirlwind it's been!

Wednesday:
- drop boys at school
- take Sofia to EI early, play until time for playgroup
- go to pediatrician's office ot see what to do about Micah.
- call allergist, find out they can take us (otherwise pediatrician would have seen us)
- call David - can he pick up Sofia?
- drop Sofia's carseat at EI
- pick up Micah
- zoom to Newton-Welleseley to see Dr. Anne. Come up with lengthy list of things to check.
- 2 blood draws!
- pick out toy from gift shop
- zoom to Ashland
- pick up Sofia and her carseat about 2 minutes before David's meeting starts
- run home, get money for me and for Micah from his bank
- take kids to lunch
- take kids to GameSpot
- help Micah pick out a game - he paid half - the the Nintendo DS
- pick up Sam
- wait around while Sam plays with his friend on the playground
- drive home - finally look at calendar, realize I've missed my own doctor appointment!
- call doc, reschedule
- also realize that 2 medical students from Operation Housecall are coming at 6pm!
- get home, frantically clean house
- feed kids early
- students arrive promptly at 6pm = talk to them while trying to make the kids seem both interesting (Micah was glued ot the Nintendo) and semi-sane (not possible).
- try to get kids to bath and bed while also talking to med students. David arrived 7:15, to find Sofia stark naked at the top of the stairs, banging on the bathroom door because Sam was in the bathtub and she wasn't.
- students left 9pm. Fall asleep.

Thursday
- drive boys to school, fighting with Micah
- coffee with the girls (it was my birthday!) until Sofia put on her coat and said "Bye" and walked to the door.
- home on the computer while Sofia watched Signing Times. Work on prep for Friday Night Dinner.
- glance at the calendar again and realize the 11:30 appointment is really at 10:30!
- yank a new diaper on Sofia and race to Ashland Public School for PT Eval. Sofia was tired and crabby, so she kept fighting with the woman, but she did a lot more than the woman expected. "I've never seen such a strong child!"
- load Sofia in car and drive for 30 minutes until she's asleep
- find a Subway sandwich shop where I can pull up right in front and leave my sleeping child in the car while I get us food. Holliston.
- Back to Ashland, waiting for the next eval.
- Wake up Sofia for the eval, which was supposed to last 1 hour.
- 100 minutes later, finally leave. Those ladies (Inclusion Specialist, OT, and preschool teacher) were having SO much fun with her! They were very impressed.
- race to pick up the boys, also pick up some stuff for the Dinner.
- whew, a few hours at home, boys on computer and nintentdo, Sofia watching movie, I work on the computer prepping for dinner
- E arrives, and eventually David gets home
- dinner at Legal Seafood for my birthday. Drink too much wine.
- get home, fall asleep.

Friday
- Micah in INSANE mood. Return of the Demon Child From Hell! At 7:45, when I usually leave, he was still in pajamas!
- finally get out of the house, but Micah refuses to buckle in. "Micah, if I have to come back there and buckle you, you will be very unhappy!" "I'm ALREADY VERY UNHAPPY!"
- Call school to warn them about Micah
- drop boys at school.
- Gotta get gas! Still no breakfast.
- race to shul to set up for the dinner. Tables not up yet, find custodian, set up.
- Can't leave in time to go back to school for 9:30 meeting with new on-call nurse, so have a quick phone conference with her instead. Continue setting up.
- Whew, setup complete. Go to breakfast.
- Off to my 11:30 doctor's appointment. 3 phone calls between parking lot andentering building!
- Drop off Sofia at the babysitting, which closes at noon.
- Try to check in, find out they wrote down my appointment for 11, not 11:30!
- Eventually get them to take me.
- Have a small but annoyingly painful procedure (ok, replace IUD with different kind).
- pick up Sofia at 12:01
- She falls asleep rather quickly; sit in front of the boys' school until 2pm
- Get boys
- Race to Target, get air matress for my parents to sleep on
- Race home so Sam can get tutored by E, and we can all change for dinner
- Back to Shul for dinner.
- Dinner was really fun, but service was more than an hour, so kids were a little bouncy, but well-behaved. Micah stole the show by being hysterical during L'Cha Dodi
- Home by 9:20, bathe the kids, settle my parents down
- passout

Saturday
- Micah awake befoe 7, which means so am I.
- breakfast, showers, dress for shul
- Sam and his classmates read Torah beautifully, and I managed to do a good job on the Haftorah.
- Nice lunch.
- load extra stuff to go back to school into my car.
- Leave shul 1:30, back home with my parents, and my friend S and her son
- hang out at home. Sharon and I go through the large box of clothing my mom brought up in December - we both got a good haul!
- Parents leave 5pm. Order pizza
- Havdalah, then David gets pizza.
- after friends leave, baths and bed.
- pass out while putting Micah to bed. Pass out quickly upon moving to my own bed.

Sunday
- drive to another friend's house, with Sofia and Sam.
- hand Sam off to his friend's dad
- go to a Craft party with Sofia - have a blast!
- meet David at Fresh City for lunch; he already dropped Micah at the first of 2 birthday parties
- get a newspaper, find houses to look at
- go to an Open House in Sudbury
- help some kids get their car out of a snowbank
- see some other Open Houses, but don't go into anything else.
- Bookstore, bathroom and train table
- Go pick up the boys at Plaster Fun Time (site of 2nd birthday party).
- End up taking home Micah and J, while J's dad takes Sam and S swimming.
- we're home now waiting to exchange boys...

I'M TIRED!!!!!!

Never a dull moment!

So, today was a plunge right back into reality. The boys are a bit wild in the morning. Micah climbed into my bed at about 5:45, and was really just bouncing off the walls. I could really see the effect of too much antihistamine.

I finally got them to school. Since our regular coffee date had to cancel on us, Sofia and I ended up just goig directly over to EI and hanging out in the playrooms until her class started. She was very funny - she grabbed a baby doll from one classroom, and then took it to the bathroom, pulled over a ladder, and climbed up onto the diaper table with the doll so she could "change" the diaper!

Eventually I could leave, and I went directly over to the pediatrician's office to talk abotu Micah. They suggested seeing if I could get right into the allergist's office, so I called and I could.

But the allergist is at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, which is about 30 minutes away. So I had to make sure David could pick up Sofia, then I had to bring her carseat back over to EI. Then a quick stop for coffee and a book. Picked up Micah, had a chat with the staff about this weekend's Shabbaton.

Drove Micah to Newton. I love his allergist and her nurse. They are both very sensitive to Micah's style, and both noted immediately how he was bouncing off the walls.

We decided to do a full blood-work panel, and Dr. Anne and I poured over a list of things to screen for. Then I had to take Micah down to the lab for the blood-draw. Oy. He got nervous, but I managed to keep him busy giggling so he didn't get too upset. He was not too thrilled, but we managed to do the draw, and then they wrapped him up...and THEN they spotted the other half of the list! Ooops. They'd pulled 5 vials; they needed 4 more. I grabbed him from behind and said "Do it now!".

He was good. We promised him treats, they gave him a gift certificate for the giftshop and the coffee shop (and me for parking!). So we made it out, and then had to race back to Ashland to pick up Sofia, because David had a meeting at 1:30 (we got there at about 1:20!).

Stopped home for a moment, then I took them both for lunch. Then I'd promised Micah a treat, so we went to GameSpot and he paid half and I paid half for a Pokemon game for the Nintendo. He was so happy!

We picked Sam up, stayed to play a bit, and on the way home I realized 1) I'd missed my OBGYN appointment, and 2) we had 2 medical students scheduled to visit at 6pm for Operation Housecall (where they send the students to homes where at least one kid has "Special Needs", to see what real life is like). So I cleaned up the house, fed the kids, and the students arrived.

They stayed 3 hours (planned on 2, but we got to talking!). David didn't come home until 7:15, so the first half was me talking and the kids showing off. Eventually I sent the boys up for baths, and Sofia took off all her clothing and demanded a bath too. When David got home, she was butt naked at the top of the stairs...

Got the kids to sleep, finished talking to the students, and now we're both working on the computers and watching the PBS special about Jews in America.

Tomorrow is my BIRTHDAY!!!!! Planned: drop off the boys, go to coffee with Sofia and my friends, then take Sofia to two different evaluations at the public school. And out to dinner with David!

Back from Florida

Well, I'm home. My luggage is not - apparently the bags never make the connection from West Palm to Boston at the layover at JFK. They should show up tonight.

David is still on his way home with the kids, but I've already picked up the sushi, so dinner is ready!

I had a great time this weekend. Yes, we all woke up early every morning. Whenever I called home in the morning, David would tell me to sleep! But sine I usually wake early, I couldn't stay asleep (I could nap easily, though!).

We had flown Thursday, so we stayed with my grandma in WPB. Took her out to dinner, and we all just collapsed into pajamas after dinner and went to sleep early.

Friday J made us join her for a walk around the complex, then we got up and out fairly early But we wasted a lot of time driving around (it was fun and interesting, but really the best swim day). By the time we got to the condo (in Jensen Beach on Hutchinson Island), the clouds had come in.

We checked in but could not get to the room for a few hours, so off we went to get our nails done and then grocery shop. We bought a bunch of healthy snacks, and plenty of wine.

Back at the condo, we ended up hanging out on the porch drinking 3 bottles! We also ate all the snacks that were supposed to last all weekend. We talked and laughed and talked and had so much fun. After several hours, we got hungry, so we stumbled across the street to the local restaurant. Good food (and more wine!). Then we came back, and rented "Meet the Fockers", which was surprisingly funny. We only made it through half the movie that night; finished the rest the next day.

(Oh, when we got back to the hotel, we met a dad with two little boys, one of whom has DS!)

Every day we woke up early, because that's what we are all used to. So I got to sit on the porch and watch sunrise over the ocean, which was gorgeous. Satursday morning, we sat on the beach for several hours, then in the afternoon we walked around a flee market. At night, we went to a restaurant down the street, and then sleep early (ok, maybe we're getting old!).

Sunday was cold and rainy and windy, so we went to a movie - 27 Dresses. Wow, James Marsden is GORGEOUS! I swear, I was drooling. Yum.

Then we drove up to Vero Beach Outlets and did some MAJOR shopping. I got a leather jacket for aout $30! Then dinner up there, and back to the condo. Another early night.

Monday, we had appointments for massages. It was a one-woman office, so we had to go one after the other. While one got a massage, the others walked around Old Town Stuart, which was cute.

Back to the condo, and I finally went into the hot tub for a little while. Then a quick shower, and we attended the Wine and Cheese party. That was more fun than we'd expected. We met some nice people, especially the "cruise director", a guy our age who I want to fix up with my friend S, and a Jewish lady from the Cape whose grandson goes to school in Framingham. We drank a lot again, so we walked back to the same restaurant across the street and had another yummy dinner.

Today we had to get up and get to the airport. Long day of flying, and our suitcases did not make the connection in New York, so I have to wait for them now...

Missed the kids and David, but boy, I wish Sofia would go to sleep!

greetings from Florida - no post!

hmm, trying to blog from my iPhone. Will this work?

Yeah, it worked! Well, I'm in West Palm Beach now, with my friends J & R, for Ladies Weekend. No kids!!!!! (and no husbands - they're with the kids)

Tomorrow we are off to the condo. Ahhhhhhhh.

Argh! Google Analytics driving me insane!

Ok, who is reading this blog?! From the map in Google analytics, I can see that I have readers all over the country and the world, but I can only figure out some of you!

Please, if you are a regular reader and have not left a message in a while, say "hi"!

I know, I know, it's 11:48 pm and I have not started packing yet. I've still got tomorrow, right?

Apple finally released the iPhone update that allows us to customize the Home screen. Yeah, no more Stock Quotes!

Miss Sofia had her PT consult this morning. The PT made her walk up and down the stairs (we were at the mall, for our regular OT appointment), and we all followed her around before the stores opened. He (the PT) said he can see that she's thrusting her left leg very hard, not walking smoothly with it, but that she is self-correcting very well. And the OT and I noticed that she wasn't swinging the leg nearly as much as last week.

So we think maybe it was a growth spurt that had her swinging out so far, in addition to the low tone weakness. He said her ankles are not too bad, a little bit of turn-out but not much, and recommended NOT getting boots. (So after the appointment, I took her to Stride Rite for some adorable sneakers!).

Sofia was full of opinions about the whole thing. She did not want to walk on the stairs, and certainly not down the center. Every step, she inched closer and closer to the side so she could hold the rail, because the PT would only let her hold one hand. She was very funny with him, alternately flirting and yelling.

After shopping, she got angry at me at one point, because I wanted her to go left and she wanted to go right. So she laid flat down on the floor. Didn't kick or scream, just hid her head. Then, suddenly, she stuck her hand up in the air and waved "bye" to me. So I said, "Oh, you want me to leave? Ok" and started walking away [not really, of course!]. The instant I walked away, she popped up and started walking where she had wanted to go!