Today has honestly really been great.
With the exception of me being a zombie for a little while after I woke up, and feeling like I couldn't get my butt up and moving, anyway.
I should start by re-iterating to those that don't know, that we live with my parents. This was a mutually beneficial decision that came about after my emergency C-section in 2009. I had to be out of work and on strict limitations for at least 6 weeks, and my husband couldn't take much time off work. My dad also has a back injury and some other health problems. So I helped out my mom with cooking, cleaning, etc. My husband helps out around the house, with yardwork, etc, things that are painful or difficult for my dad to do.
All in all it's worked out really well. Especially when my mom watched Logan for me when I went back to work, and had to leave for work at 5:30am! No waking kids up and dragging them to a babysitter :-)
Anyway, my mom left today, she's taking care of a relative for 2 weeks. And is it weird if I say I was nervous? Don't get me wrong-they are MY kids, and I primarily take care of them. I'm not some young teen mom leaving her kids with her parents all the time going out and partying. We live in the same household, but that's all. Of course they change a diaper now and then, or make them lunch, the occasional bath. And they babysit sometimes too of course. But it's not like they are my kids caregivers.
But, nevertheless, I've been nervous. Its us 4, my mom, dad, and my 2 brothers currently living here.
I pretty much do all the cooking, dishes, vacuuming. My mom primarily does the laundry though. She does everyone's together, we don't separate or everyone do their own. It'd waste too much water. So I'm stuck with all 7 of us's laundry for 2 weeks. And I don't fold. Not the specific, particular way my mom does. So I'm not even going to bother. Anything I fold that's left when she gets back would drive her OCD self nuts anyway, and she'd re-fold it I'm sure.
Anywayyyyyyyyyyyyy, today was good.
I got 2 loads of regular laundry done, and 3 loads that containing Matt and I's bedding (2 comforters, fitted and top sheet, 2 pillow cases). I have a few dishes left to wash, but kept up pretty good all day (our dishwasher is currently broken). Took BOTH kids with me to run some errands, dropping off bills and running into Kohl's to use my Kohl's cash and find a present for a birthday party we are invited to this Sunday. Then Logan was asking for chicken nuggets from Burger King (yes, I let myself and my kids eat fast food sometimes- I don't need a lecture, but thank you for your concern). So we grabbed lunch, then he wanted me to go get "mommy juice," so I treated myself to a mocha frappuccino. We came home, pottied/diaper changed, and I let the kids play a little while. Then I put Logan up for a nap, with minimal fighting, which is saying a lot lately. He hasn't been into wanting to take a nap without a real fight recently. I came down from putting him for his nap, and closed the drapes, turned off the lights, and put Meredith in the pack n play with the tv on very quietly. She laid down, so I did too! We both took a really nice nap!! It was wonderful. I woke up, Logan was up shortly after, I got dinner started : http://www.ourtableforseven.com/2012/08/baked-pierogi-casserole.html
Both kids ate pretty decent AND with really minimal mess!! It was a breath of fresh air!! Logan was fully using utensils by the time he was a year old. I don't know what happened, but now at 3 years old, it's hit or miss, and I swear he is messier now than he ever was as an infant!! Meredith is a different story all together. She is a messy eater and gets a little sassy attitude. She will purposely throw food on the floor when she doesn't want. Not dropping it, not tossing it, but with attitude-THROW it.
But tonight was good! Got both kids all washed up, pottied and diaper changes again, and I told Logan we could have a snack and watch a movie if he was good. So he wanted to watch Cars (a nice break from watching Robots every day the last like 3 weeks!), and I made him some popcorn. The kids played and watched the movie for a while until it was pajama time, at which time Logan informed me he wanted to have a "dance party." He asked to have one a few times this week. It's so cute.
I kind of started up this dance party thing a while ago, where we watch the music videos we have On Demand on our cable, and be silly before bed. So we got all ready for bed and had a short dance party.
Then when I was putting him to bed, and holding him for a bit in the glider, I said something about what a great day we had. And he starts listing everything we did today!! It was so cute. He starts saying something like:
"i pay games", "go shopping", "get Boo Kig", "mommy juice-a", "do puzzle", "have dance pawty"
(I play games, go shopping, get Burger King, get mommy juice (starbucks), did puzzles, and have dance party.
It was adorable. I wish I could've recorded it.
One of those moments I hope to remember forever.
Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kids. Show all posts
Friday, August 24, 2012
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Logan and preschool
So this whole preschool business with Logan has been BEYOND stressful.
It's hard enough on me that's it's my first baby going to school. And hard enough on both of us that he's never attended any preschools or daycares before.
Well they screwed up right from the get-go with apparently someone misplacing his paperwork or something. He was referred for an IEP, and once they receive their materials, they are mandated by the state to have the IEP done BY his 3rd birthday (July 11th). Well we were into the first week of July, when I spoke to his Help Me Grow coordinator and told her no one had called me. She said how bad that was, because the state would get in a LOT of trouble not having it done.
So that got done in a huge rush, just a few days before his birthday. They did his language/speech evaluation, and then I had to go back for a second meeting where they reviewed it and let me know he qualified. Well the woman doing it looked young, and she seemed VERY inexperienced to put it nicely. She was only mildly professional, and didn't seem to know much of anything she was speaking about. Even the HMG coordinator said the meeting was extraordinarily short. And she gave me next to no information. She led me to believe I'd be receiving more information in the mail.
Well as of last week I was wondering what the heck was going on, I hadn't heard anything from the school at all. Our coordinator called to check up on things (even though she is no longer working with Logan, they only go up until age 3), and was able to at least verify that he IS indeed enrolled. That was at least a relief to hear. Well I got an e-mail from someone at the school, very nonchalant, saying she heard I had some questions, and told me school started the 27th, and I'd be getting a letter from his teacher if I hadn't already, and let her know if I had any other questions.
Well, I wrote her back Friday, and again this Wednesday. I've received no response.
I finally got this letter from the teacher this past Thursday, containing MINIMAL information. It informs me he is in AM session (BUT NO TIME GIVEN!!), and when meet the teacher night is, and pre-school only orientation is. There was also a list of "supplies" which seem to be quite the joke, as it is mostly paper plates, cups, forks and batteries :-/
I called the school upon receiving this letter, and told them I felt I was missing quite a bit of information. The lady had a very clipped, rude tone with me, and basically told me that I would need to attend those parent nights and get my information there. When I questioned about the transportation I was told he would be receiving, she was snotty and then told me I needed to call the transportation department, that they don't have any information on that.
My mom later called back the school and at least got someone to tell her what time the AM session is (8:55-11:20). I called the transportation department, who told me I would be getting a call from the bus driver about pickup times and whatnot.
Now I was NEVER even told what days he goes!! They have a handbook on their website dated 2009/2010 school year, and then it says in one area on the site that preschool is Tuesday-Friday. Well, both his teacher and the bus driver said the first day is the 27th! Which is a Monday! I found out finally from another parent, that she was told preschool goes from Monday-Thursday.
There is still a ton of questions I have, and my stress keeps mounting every day.
As for trans. I have no idea if it's an actual yellow school bus, a van, or what it is. I would like to know about restraints? He is technically by law still supposed to be in a 5 point harness car seat. How do they handle that?
And his IEP is for expressive language delay. I feel nervous and like I should be speaking one on one with the teacher to tell her what certain things mean! What is Logan is trying to say he's thirsty, or has to pee, or doesn't feel good and she can't understand him? He has certain words that are VERY hard for someone who doesn't know him to understand. This really worries me.
I am REALLY hoping I can get a lot of things cleared up for me on Monday at the whole school orientation. If I have to wait until Thursday at the preschool only orientation it is going to have me stressed out all week.
I am sending my child somewhere he's never been, with people he's never met. And he has a hard time communicating.
This. Freaks. Me. Out.
I hope this teacher is nice, and understanding, and will help settle me a bit, because if the poor kid wasn't so excited about going to school, I'd probably be thinking about pulling him out of it, and just doing private speech therapy.
OH! Not to mention, we got the luck of the draw to have this AM session. And he has to get on the bus at 8:15!! On the bus for 40 minutes!!
I don't get much sleep as it is. But Logan will usually at least sleep until 8:30 am.
Now, in order to make the bus/school, I will be having to WAKE him up at at least 7:30am :-(
That really sucks.
I know I'm a whiner, but it does. It sucks.
PM session would've worked so much better with his/my/Meredith's schedule.
It's hard enough on me that's it's my first baby going to school. And hard enough on both of us that he's never attended any preschools or daycares before.
Well they screwed up right from the get-go with apparently someone misplacing his paperwork or something. He was referred for an IEP, and once they receive their materials, they are mandated by the state to have the IEP done BY his 3rd birthday (July 11th). Well we were into the first week of July, when I spoke to his Help Me Grow coordinator and told her no one had called me. She said how bad that was, because the state would get in a LOT of trouble not having it done.
So that got done in a huge rush, just a few days before his birthday. They did his language/speech evaluation, and then I had to go back for a second meeting where they reviewed it and let me know he qualified. Well the woman doing it looked young, and she seemed VERY inexperienced to put it nicely. She was only mildly professional, and didn't seem to know much of anything she was speaking about. Even the HMG coordinator said the meeting was extraordinarily short. And she gave me next to no information. She led me to believe I'd be receiving more information in the mail.
Well as of last week I was wondering what the heck was going on, I hadn't heard anything from the school at all. Our coordinator called to check up on things (even though she is no longer working with Logan, they only go up until age 3), and was able to at least verify that he IS indeed enrolled. That was at least a relief to hear. Well I got an e-mail from someone at the school, very nonchalant, saying she heard I had some questions, and told me school started the 27th, and I'd be getting a letter from his teacher if I hadn't already, and let her know if I had any other questions.
Well, I wrote her back Friday, and again this Wednesday. I've received no response.
I finally got this letter from the teacher this past Thursday, containing MINIMAL information. It informs me he is in AM session (BUT NO TIME GIVEN!!), and when meet the teacher night is, and pre-school only orientation is. There was also a list of "supplies" which seem to be quite the joke, as it is mostly paper plates, cups, forks and batteries :-/
I called the school upon receiving this letter, and told them I felt I was missing quite a bit of information. The lady had a very clipped, rude tone with me, and basically told me that I would need to attend those parent nights and get my information there. When I questioned about the transportation I was told he would be receiving, she was snotty and then told me I needed to call the transportation department, that they don't have any information on that.
My mom later called back the school and at least got someone to tell her what time the AM session is (8:55-11:20). I called the transportation department, who told me I would be getting a call from the bus driver about pickup times and whatnot.
Now I was NEVER even told what days he goes!! They have a handbook on their website dated 2009/2010 school year, and then it says in one area on the site that preschool is Tuesday-Friday. Well, both his teacher and the bus driver said the first day is the 27th! Which is a Monday! I found out finally from another parent, that she was told preschool goes from Monday-Thursday.
There is still a ton of questions I have, and my stress keeps mounting every day.
As for trans. I have no idea if it's an actual yellow school bus, a van, or what it is. I would like to know about restraints? He is technically by law still supposed to be in a 5 point harness car seat. How do they handle that?
And his IEP is for expressive language delay. I feel nervous and like I should be speaking one on one with the teacher to tell her what certain things mean! What is Logan is trying to say he's thirsty, or has to pee, or doesn't feel good and she can't understand him? He has certain words that are VERY hard for someone who doesn't know him to understand. This really worries me.
I am REALLY hoping I can get a lot of things cleared up for me on Monday at the whole school orientation. If I have to wait until Thursday at the preschool only orientation it is going to have me stressed out all week.
I am sending my child somewhere he's never been, with people he's never met. And he has a hard time communicating.
This. Freaks. Me. Out.
I hope this teacher is nice, and understanding, and will help settle me a bit, because if the poor kid wasn't so excited about going to school, I'd probably be thinking about pulling him out of it, and just doing private speech therapy.
OH! Not to mention, we got the luck of the draw to have this AM session. And he has to get on the bus at 8:15!! On the bus for 40 minutes!!
I don't get much sleep as it is. But Logan will usually at least sleep until 8:30 am.
Now, in order to make the bus/school, I will be having to WAKE him up at at least 7:30am :-(
That really sucks.
I know I'm a whiner, but it does. It sucks.
PM session would've worked so much better with his/my/Meredith's schedule.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
"Chorpocks" for dinner!!!
Logan has been ridiculously cute today.
When we were getting ready to go in the car for a car ride, he ran into the dining room, where he's got a little treat box from his birthday party filled with some rando stuff. And in there he was 2 "credit cards" we jokingly call them. They are 2 old starbucks giftcards with no money on them. And he grabbed one and insisted on bringing it with us in the car.
He already started calling starbucks/coffee "mommy juice" and will sometimes insist we go get mommy juice after we are done shopping or running errands. Well today he told me to go, and thenas I was paying with my gold card (you can transfer any/all gift card balances to this card, and it has certain perks. So I transferred the balance on the gift card my sister got me to my gold card, and in turn gave Logan the 'empty' card to play with.) Well he's babbling something from the backseat, and lo and behold, I turn around and he's holding out "his" card. He was being so cute, and I asked "Oh, are you paying for my mommy juice?" He said yes, and insisted on "paying." I just pretended to give the cashier his card, and then thanked Logan a bunch of times. It really was the sweetest thing ever.
Then when we got home, I told him to tel grandma what we had run in front of the car on the way home. (A deer ran across the street in front of us.) And he told her a zebra, lol.
Then for dinner we had porkchops, which by the end of dinner he was calling "Chorpocks" or something that sounded like pork chops all scrambled up, haha.
When we were getting ready to go in the car for a car ride, he ran into the dining room, where he's got a little treat box from his birthday party filled with some rando stuff. And in there he was 2 "credit cards" we jokingly call them. They are 2 old starbucks giftcards with no money on them. And he grabbed one and insisted on bringing it with us in the car.
He already started calling starbucks/coffee "mommy juice" and will sometimes insist we go get mommy juice after we are done shopping or running errands. Well today he told me to go, and thenas I was paying with my gold card (you can transfer any/all gift card balances to this card, and it has certain perks. So I transferred the balance on the gift card my sister got me to my gold card, and in turn gave Logan the 'empty' card to play with.) Well he's babbling something from the backseat, and lo and behold, I turn around and he's holding out "his" card. He was being so cute, and I asked "Oh, are you paying for my mommy juice?" He said yes, and insisted on "paying." I just pretended to give the cashier his card, and then thanked Logan a bunch of times. It really was the sweetest thing ever.
Then when we got home, I told him to tel grandma what we had run in front of the car on the way home. (A deer ran across the street in front of us.) And he told her a zebra, lol.
Then for dinner we had porkchops, which by the end of dinner he was calling "Chorpocks" or something that sounded like pork chops all scrambled up, haha.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Since I'm so behind...
Since I've been so behind, I figured I should catch up with a little bit of the things I missed blogging about.
This will probably be all over the place, and I may have already talked about some of this stuff.
Meredith had been doing physical therapy since about February, I'm sure I mentioned that months ago.
Well, on Monday June 4th she took her first real steps all alone. A little over a week later we were at therapy, on Thursday, June 14th and she was being so difficult. Completely uncooperative. Didn't want to do anything.
Well, don't you know that later that afternoon at home the little stinker started walking. Like for real, took off across the room walking. We were ecstatic to tell Sarah, the physical therapist on Monday, and then our last scheduled appointment was that Thursday and was our last appointment.
:-)
So that was one more hurdle down for us!!!
Between that and the eye surgery being done it was quite a weight lifted off me.
She is also really starting to talk a lot more now. I guess she's technically a little behind, as Logan was, but she is suddenly trying a lot harder to talk and coming up with more words.
As of right now she says (not perfectly):
mama
dada
papa
no & nono
ya & yaya
byebye
nightnight
up
hi
hello
gabba (as in yo gabba gabba)
I'm sure there might be a couple more, but I'm drawing a blank at the moment.
As far as Logan's speech goes, we actually got him evaluated for an IEP through the school and he will be attending preschool (for free! yay!), in 2 weeks!! He is actually really, really excited. He went to the actual school once, when he got his speech evaluation done. (Today when we were driving by it, he was pointing and yelling "my school!" Which was very cute. I'm shocked he remembered since he only was at it once!) They told me his receptive language is amazing, but it's his expressive language that is lacking.Definite problems pronouncing some letters, and he has a tendency to drop off the ends of words sometimes. So I'm still awaiting all the formal information as far as days, times, etc are concerned, but we are both thrilled he's going. He put on his backpack yesterday and looked up at me with those big, blue eyes and completely seriously says "I cool mommy?" Which was him asking "Do i look cool mommy?" with his backpack on. And he was begging to go to school. He was driving me nuts again today asking. It's really cute.
I can only hope he loves it as much once he starts going!! I'm a little nervous. He's never been to any sort of preschool or daycare or anything, so the thought of him being somewhere, and me not being there or knowing what he's doing all day is a little nerve-wracking for me!! I'm sure he will do great though. I'm glad he seems excited to go. At least I shouldn't have to worry about any crying or anxiety over going.
This will probably be all over the place, and I may have already talked about some of this stuff.
Meredith had been doing physical therapy since about February, I'm sure I mentioned that months ago.
Well, on Monday June 4th she took her first real steps all alone. A little over a week later we were at therapy, on Thursday, June 14th and she was being so difficult. Completely uncooperative. Didn't want to do anything.
Well, don't you know that later that afternoon at home the little stinker started walking. Like for real, took off across the room walking. We were ecstatic to tell Sarah, the physical therapist on Monday, and then our last scheduled appointment was that Thursday and was our last appointment.
:-)
So that was one more hurdle down for us!!!
Between that and the eye surgery being done it was quite a weight lifted off me.
She is also really starting to talk a lot more now. I guess she's technically a little behind, as Logan was, but she is suddenly trying a lot harder to talk and coming up with more words.
As of right now she says (not perfectly):
mama
dada
papa
no & nono
ya & yaya
byebye
nightnight
up
hi
hello
gabba (as in yo gabba gabba)
I'm sure there might be a couple more, but I'm drawing a blank at the moment.
As far as Logan's speech goes, we actually got him evaluated for an IEP through the school and he will be attending preschool (for free! yay!), in 2 weeks!! He is actually really, really excited. He went to the actual school once, when he got his speech evaluation done. (Today when we were driving by it, he was pointing and yelling "my school!" Which was very cute. I'm shocked he remembered since he only was at it once!) They told me his receptive language is amazing, but it's his expressive language that is lacking.Definite problems pronouncing some letters, and he has a tendency to drop off the ends of words sometimes. So I'm still awaiting all the formal information as far as days, times, etc are concerned, but we are both thrilled he's going. He put on his backpack yesterday and looked up at me with those big, blue eyes and completely seriously says "I cool mommy?" Which was him asking "Do i look cool mommy?" with his backpack on. And he was begging to go to school. He was driving me nuts again today asking. It's really cute.
I can only hope he loves it as much once he starts going!! I'm a little nervous. He's never been to any sort of preschool or daycare or anything, so the thought of him being somewhere, and me not being there or knowing what he's doing all day is a little nerve-wracking for me!! I'm sure he will do great though. I'm glad he seems excited to go. At least I shouldn't have to worry about any crying or anxiety over going.
Monday, August 13, 2012
Scrapbooking
So I got into scrapbooking after Logan was born. I was originally going to just do an actual scrapbook for his first year, then photo albums and whatnot after that. But somehow, somewhere along the lines I decided to continue with the scrapbooks. I just recently got semi-caught up on his AND Meredith's. I'm PRETTY MUCH done up to about April of this year. Haha, yeah, I know, a few months behind already. But I usually only print/order my photos online when they are running really good deals.
Anyway, I found a system I sort of liked using for my pages of alternating between a solid color page, and a patterned page. The solid pages leave lots of room and space for stickers and words if you want, and the patterned pages are really cute and I love them.
Well, I started running out of patterned pages around here! I go to Hobby Lobby often, and have been to Archiver's, Michael's, JoAnn's.....well I pretty much have every patterned paper of all those stores that I like and can pertain to the kiddos!! So I started searching online. I got some papers online last year, and they worked out great. However, I looked at those same sites again at the beginning of this year and couldn't find much new/different/ones I didn't have already!
I was delighted when I went online a few weeks ago and found that www.scrapyourtrip.com has added a lot of really great papers that I love, and also www.scrapbook.com had a ton of papers that were new to me also!
So I was pretty excited, and I already had an account with SYT.com, and I went and created one on scrapbook.com, and I went through PAGES and PAGES of items and added them all to my cart. I knew I wouldn't have the money to order everything I wanted right now, but I figured I'd get things all set up in my cart so when I was ready I couldn't just hop on over and order them.
Wellllllllllllllllll........... that was a few weeks ago. And I go online last night to both websites and much to my dismay.....neither of them are the type of website where you can keep items in your cart!!! I've used websites all the time where as long as you had an account, you could put things in your "cart" and they would just stay there until you deleted them, or ordered. Well ALL my stuff on both sites was gone. I could've cried.
I spent a significant amount of time finding all the types of papers and whatnot I wanted and now my precious time was wasted. Sigh.
So I gave myself a minute to be angry, then got over it and started again! This time just adding everything to a "Wishlist" on both sites. It's a little more time consuming, but at least this way I have everything marked and know what I wanted to buy.
I must say, however, I must've spent a LOT longer on Scrapbook.com than I did the first time, or they added even more new inventory.....because I want to say I have like 300 things in my wishlist!! And some of them I want 2 of!! (one for each kid). Soooo....this will definitely be pretty costly when I finally go to order. But honestly, with the exception of maybe a random thing here or there, I should be set on patterned papers for the kids for the next couple of YEARS. I've got general ones, St. Patricks, Christmas, All sorts of red/white/blue ones good for 4th of July and Labor Day and Memorial Day, sports papers, Fall, Halloween...just all sorts of really great stuff.
I figured if I see them and I like them, I might as well buy them as soon as I have the extra money because they may discontinue them or whatnot if I went to order a certain Christmas paper next winter or something.
I'm not sure though! With the amount of great stuff I found I might need to wait until March when we get our tax return!! Haha!
Anyway, I found a system I sort of liked using for my pages of alternating between a solid color page, and a patterned page. The solid pages leave lots of room and space for stickers and words if you want, and the patterned pages are really cute and I love them.
Well, I started running out of patterned pages around here! I go to Hobby Lobby often, and have been to Archiver's, Michael's, JoAnn's.....well I pretty much have every patterned paper of all those stores that I like and can pertain to the kiddos!! So I started searching online. I got some papers online last year, and they worked out great. However, I looked at those same sites again at the beginning of this year and couldn't find much new/different/ones I didn't have already!
I was delighted when I went online a few weeks ago and found that www.scrapyourtrip.com has added a lot of really great papers that I love, and also www.scrapbook.com had a ton of papers that were new to me also!
So I was pretty excited, and I already had an account with SYT.com, and I went and created one on scrapbook.com, and I went through PAGES and PAGES of items and added them all to my cart. I knew I wouldn't have the money to order everything I wanted right now, but I figured I'd get things all set up in my cart so when I was ready I couldn't just hop on over and order them.
Wellllllllllllllllll........... that was a few weeks ago. And I go online last night to both websites and much to my dismay.....neither of them are the type of website where you can keep items in your cart!!! I've used websites all the time where as long as you had an account, you could put things in your "cart" and they would just stay there until you deleted them, or ordered. Well ALL my stuff on both sites was gone. I could've cried.
I spent a significant amount of time finding all the types of papers and whatnot I wanted and now my precious time was wasted. Sigh.
So I gave myself a minute to be angry, then got over it and started again! This time just adding everything to a "Wishlist" on both sites. It's a little more time consuming, but at least this way I have everything marked and know what I wanted to buy.
I must say, however, I must've spent a LOT longer on Scrapbook.com than I did the first time, or they added even more new inventory.....because I want to say I have like 300 things in my wishlist!! And some of them I want 2 of!! (one for each kid). Soooo....this will definitely be pretty costly when I finally go to order. But honestly, with the exception of maybe a random thing here or there, I should be set on patterned papers for the kids for the next couple of YEARS. I've got general ones, St. Patricks, Christmas, All sorts of red/white/blue ones good for 4th of July and Labor Day and Memorial Day, sports papers, Fall, Halloween...just all sorts of really great stuff.
I figured if I see them and I like them, I might as well buy them as soon as I have the extra money because they may discontinue them or whatnot if I went to order a certain Christmas paper next winter or something.
I'm not sure though! With the amount of great stuff I found I might need to wait until March when we get our tax return!! Haha!
Saturday, August 11, 2012
The Zoo!!
So we were finally able to take Meredith on her first trip to the zoo (and only Logan's second time), on Sunday, July 29th. It was myself, Matt, both kids and my mom. We actually had purchased a zoo membership earlier in the year, so it didn't cost us anything to go. You pay a flat fee for your membership and then nothing at the gates. It seemed to be the most economical way for us to do it with the number of people we have. I'm also very excited to be able to go again whenever we want this fall as well :-)
It was a little hot out, and we definitely got there a lot later than we originally had hoped to, but I think everyone had a good time. We grabbed some lunch in the car on the way there, and headed to the Cleveland Zoo. We just brought a small cooler to put in the stroller with drinks and a few snacks.
We didn't get to see everything we wanted, but that's okay.
At first Logan was a little whiney and apprehensive, but once he saw some of the animals I think he started to remember, and was getting really into it.
He loves monkeys also :-)
I actually ended up taking just Logan back about a week and a half later, to have just a him and mommy day and see some stuff we didn't get to see the first time.
From the mommy and Logan only zoo trip:
and, getting a little tired here:
It was a little hot out, and we definitely got there a lot later than we originally had hoped to, but I think everyone had a good time. We grabbed some lunch in the car on the way there, and headed to the Cleveland Zoo. We just brought a small cooler to put in the stroller with drinks and a few snacks.
We didn't get to see everything we wanted, but that's okay.
At first Logan was a little whiney and apprehensive, but once he saw some of the animals I think he started to remember, and was getting really into it.
He loves monkeys also :-)
I actually ended up taking just Logan back about a week and a half later, to have just a him and mommy day and see some stuff we didn't get to see the first time.
From the mommy and Logan only zoo trip:
and, getting a little tired here:
Soooo......
So it turns out I'm a terrible blogger.
Not exactly shocked.
I always swear I'll try harder, and I always have so much I want to talk/write about....
But then I'm tired, or lazy, or just forget....
Such is life I guess. I can't even remember when I last blogged to be honest.
I think in early May sometime? Maybe? I could just check, but again, to re-iterate....I'm lazy. Haha.
Let's see...
Meredith had her eye muscle surgery on May 21st. It was the worst, most heartwrenching thing I have ever had to endure in my life. They have 2 different PACU units after the surgery, and as we were walking back into the first to see her for the first time after she came out of anesthesia....we're walking through, and all these poor sad kids are everywhere, and I can hear this kid SCREAMING, and I'm thinking oh wow, I feel so bad for that poor child and his parents...and suddenly we get closed, and it's MY kid screaming like that!! Her cry was unrecognizable, even to me, her own mother. Heartbreaking. She was literally inconsolable. I'm panicking, upset, looking to Matt like he's got advice or some magic answer, but he himself will admittedly tell you he's not really a baby person....and he by far has a lot less experience than I do. Sitting with her, standing with her, rocking, trying a bottle, trying a pacifier, nothing is working. So then the nurses consult with an anesthesiologist and decide to give her another dose of pain medication. They said they don't normally give anything additional, the child is usually just fussy and has to re-adjust, but with a baby that small, they have no way to let you know if it's painful, so with the way she wouldn't stop crying they went ahead and administered more medication.
She finally settled down shortly after, then all this bells and alarms start going off behind us, and the boy in the next curtain has stopped breathing or something. People are running everywhere, rushing around, I'm sitting there still panicked, absolutely freaking out..... They finally close the curtain so no one can see in.
Then another alarm goes off, and a big digital board starts blinking "OR 2" or whatever number it was..... People start running back into the surgery rooms.
A volunteer leans over and whispers to another volunteer "well this isn't a very good way to start the day...."
Definitely did not set me at ease at all!!!
Luckily Meredith seemed to get a lot better fast and we were able to get out of there and into the PACU 2, which was far less stressful. It was still hard seeing her looking the way she did, and her crying, and everything. But she did well there, and all in all, we got released a lot sooner than I thought we would.
We had to return to the Ophthalmologist the very next day and he said things looked great.
We have our second follow up appointment in early/mid September.
Before surgery, snuggling with our sweet girl:
Afterward, in PACU 2:
And our poor, sweet, miserable girl at home afterward:
And I forget, but I think this is a day or two later:
She's doing wonderfully now, and for the most part if you didn't know about it, you would never know she had surgery!
June went by in a flash, and before I knew it, it was July and we were having Logan's 3rd birthday party. Yes 3rd. Don't get me started-I might cry!!! How it's possible that I have a 3 year old, I don't even know. This kid is something else. He is a challenging little smartbutt, but he is also the most amazing, sweetest little boy ever. Instead of just getting angry at him for something, we try to talk about our feelings and things, and I always let him know when I am getting angry about something, and explain things to him first. He says in the sweetest little voice, something like "I sowwy mommy, for makin you a more mad." You would die if you heard it. It's too much. I love him.
Sometimes when we are out shopping and running errands, he will also insist I go get "mommy juice." Which apparently means coffee/starbucks! Where he got that name for it, I have no clue. But it is BEYOND adorable. So funny.
So back to the party, we did it backyard BBQ style, and it was Super Why themed (PBS show), he picked it out.
Cute little popcorn favors:
Adorable scratch-off "lottery" tickets:
The cake!!
His happy birthday banner:
The unveiling and eating of the cake!
Pinata:
Birthday presents:
party snacks:
It turned out to be a great party and we were lucky to dodge the rain! We are SO thankful to all our family and friends who were able to make it out to our special event. It means the world to us, and Logan truly is so thankful and happy for each and every gift! Yes, clothes included!! He's such a silly, happy guy.
Not exactly shocked.
I always swear I'll try harder, and I always have so much I want to talk/write about....
But then I'm tired, or lazy, or just forget....
Such is life I guess. I can't even remember when I last blogged to be honest.
I think in early May sometime? Maybe? I could just check, but again, to re-iterate....I'm lazy. Haha.
Let's see...
Meredith had her eye muscle surgery on May 21st. It was the worst, most heartwrenching thing I have ever had to endure in my life. They have 2 different PACU units after the surgery, and as we were walking back into the first to see her for the first time after she came out of anesthesia....we're walking through, and all these poor sad kids are everywhere, and I can hear this kid SCREAMING, and I'm thinking oh wow, I feel so bad for that poor child and his parents...and suddenly we get closed, and it's MY kid screaming like that!! Her cry was unrecognizable, even to me, her own mother. Heartbreaking. She was literally inconsolable. I'm panicking, upset, looking to Matt like he's got advice or some magic answer, but he himself will admittedly tell you he's not really a baby person....and he by far has a lot less experience than I do. Sitting with her, standing with her, rocking, trying a bottle, trying a pacifier, nothing is working. So then the nurses consult with an anesthesiologist and decide to give her another dose of pain medication. They said they don't normally give anything additional, the child is usually just fussy and has to re-adjust, but with a baby that small, they have no way to let you know if it's painful, so with the way she wouldn't stop crying they went ahead and administered more medication.
She finally settled down shortly after, then all this bells and alarms start going off behind us, and the boy in the next curtain has stopped breathing or something. People are running everywhere, rushing around, I'm sitting there still panicked, absolutely freaking out..... They finally close the curtain so no one can see in.
Then another alarm goes off, and a big digital board starts blinking "OR 2" or whatever number it was..... People start running back into the surgery rooms.
A volunteer leans over and whispers to another volunteer "well this isn't a very good way to start the day...."
Definitely did not set me at ease at all!!!
Luckily Meredith seemed to get a lot better fast and we were able to get out of there and into the PACU 2, which was far less stressful. It was still hard seeing her looking the way she did, and her crying, and everything. But she did well there, and all in all, we got released a lot sooner than I thought we would.
We had to return to the Ophthalmologist the very next day and he said things looked great.
We have our second follow up appointment in early/mid September.
And our poor, sweet, miserable girl at home afterward:
And I forget, but I think this is a day or two later:
June went by in a flash, and before I knew it, it was July and we were having Logan's 3rd birthday party. Yes 3rd. Don't get me started-I might cry!!! How it's possible that I have a 3 year old, I don't even know. This kid is something else. He is a challenging little smartbutt, but he is also the most amazing, sweetest little boy ever. Instead of just getting angry at him for something, we try to talk about our feelings and things, and I always let him know when I am getting angry about something, and explain things to him first. He says in the sweetest little voice, something like "I sowwy mommy, for makin you a more mad." You would die if you heard it. It's too much. I love him.
Sometimes when we are out shopping and running errands, he will also insist I go get "mommy juice." Which apparently means coffee/starbucks! Where he got that name for it, I have no clue. But it is BEYOND adorable. So funny.
So back to the party, we did it backyard BBQ style, and it was Super Why themed (PBS show), he picked it out.
Cute little popcorn favors:
Adorable scratch-off "lottery" tickets:
The cake!!
His happy birthday banner:
The unveiling and eating of the cake!
Pinata:
Birthday presents:
party snacks:
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