Be the Good

I have had the most stressful Mommy week of my Mommy life.

Tuesday, Delaney had a doctor's appointment (6 month check up, everything is good.) On the way home, Children's Hospital called and moved up Parker's dental work. to Wednesday. (Yes, less than 24 hours from then.) Ok, no problem, less time to stress and worry. And, I felt like it would be ok because it was 12-12-12, I have a numbers thing, it will be fine.

6 AM, we get up, get everyone going, drop Jackson and Delaney at my parents' house and head downtown. we got there and everything was going well, then the dentist says "30% of the time, this cocktail doesn't work and we have to go a different route." WHAT? I'm giving my kid all these drugs that may not even work? Great...

As Parker's conscious sedation medicine was working, he was so, so funny - he is going to be a blast in college I'm sure. As he was drifting off, they told Ben to go out "to the bathroom". Then me. As I started to leave, Parker fully woke up and said, "No, I'm going. I'm going too!"

So, we get him calmed back down and I go out. About 45 minutes later, the dentist comes out and gets us, they're done. She tells us it got a little complicated, Parker woke up in the end and they had to hold him down to finish. He ended up with 2 baby root canals because he's so small they can't pull the teeth. They had to hold him down... he was covered in sweat and still, 5 days later, has petichiea on his face from them holding so tightly.

When we got home, Parker and I laid down to rest and the school called. I missed the call, but it was the counselor, Jackson was in the office crying. Rewind to Monday - Jackson had a sub. She didn't follow the procedure and give him a warning for talking, she just put him on yellow. He hasn't been on yellow since Kindergarten, so he was in hysterics. (He is such a people pleaser, he doesn't deal well with being "bad.") Well, Mrs. m fell and broke her wrist on Wednesday at school and had to leave, they sub they got... Monday Meanie. Yep.

When he saw her, he just lost it. Crying and crying. The counselor let him call me to calm him down and I missed the call. I called her back and got her voice mail. Left a message and she called him back. He just said "Hi, Mom *sob*" I calmed him down and asked what was wrong. "I just miss you!" I told him I'd be home with him that night and I loved him and he was fine.

Thursday, sad again. He was just so upset. He's never actually crying about school - he loves school and his friends and his teacher. So, I dropped him off and he was still sad, I told him I'd come for lunch so he had something to look forward to.

Parker usually gets out of school at 11:15, Jackson's lunch is at 11:45. I was going to get Parker, take him home to Ben, go back for lunch. Well, at 11, the phone rang. The school. This time it's Parker. "Hi, Mrs. Anderson. Can you please come get Parker? He just threw up." When I got there, I decided to just get them both.

Friday morning, Jackson had an appointment with an orthopaedist at Children's for his hip. We were in the waiting room and he was talking to his uncle, Hunter (Uncle Awesome). I was looking through my phone and saw a post asking where another friend's son went to school. I though, hmm, how random. I had no idea what was going on.

We go in for the appointment, spend about 45 minutes talking to this specialist to learn Jackson is very active. He doesn't have a majillion illness that could cause hip pain, not dysplasia, not arthritis, not anything of significance.  Basically, he is so active he has injured himself. The cure? Stop. Rest. (Uh, ok, did you SEE my son bouncing all over the room while we talked? This is going to be a long recovery.) The plan is to rest and come back in 4 months. He's allowed to still live his life and can start spring soccer, but he is supposed to take it easy. Don't bounce and flip and fall from the car, just get down and walk calmly. This is super hard for Jackson to understand, he's very busy, he is in a constant state of motion.

As we are waiting for lunch, I found out what happened in Connecticut.20 innocent children, born in 2005 and 2006, and 6 teachers and educators murdered in the second worst school shooting in America's history. Jackson was born in 2005. I literally cannot imagine the sadness.

What I thought was the most stressful Mommy week ever just changed entirely. I will take the stress I thought I had over the grief and tragedy the Newtown community is suffering. My condolences go out to them.

I haven't really ever been THIS bothered by anything in my parental life. I'm not sure if it's because I have had such a personally challenging and stressful week and this is just a reminder to be grateful. Last night, President Obama preempted the football game with a press conference to offer his support to the families and community. I was at work so we had the game on with the sound.  He read each victims name. I tried so hard to fight it back but I couldn't it's really hard to pour beers and smile when you're hearing all these names and just thinking about the what ifs.

One little girl in particular had her birthday last week, December 11. I wonder if she had her party yet? Did she get to take treats to school for her birthday? I bet her party would have been Saturday. I bet all these parents have already bought gifts for their kids. I bet they're under their trees and how do you handle that? How do you clean out their room or empty their desk or locker? How do you tell their siblings?

the story of Victoria, the teacher who said her class was in gym but really they were stashed in cabinets? She's the epitome of a hero. She died but her students lived. The custodian who ran through the halls warning of the danger? I don't know his or her name, but I guarantee they saved lots of lives. Little Jessica? She died covering her brother, but he lived.

My friend Erin posted on her facebook that her good friend had a baby over the weekend and his dad posted his picture and said, "8 pounds of hope for the future." and he's right.

My family has been doing Random Acts of Christmas Kindness, and we're going to keep it up all though the year - maybe not a thing a day, but we're doing it. I will have to come up with a cute acronym but I've decided we're living by the "be the change you want to see in the world" mantra and we will just have to keep plugging away everyday - eventually the good will outweigh the bad. Or at least I will naively believe that to keep myself sane.

We cannot live in a bubble, we cannot live in fear. We need to keep going with our lives and remember those that died. And those that risked their lives to save others. We need to Be the Good. (Maybe that's my new saying. If this is your picture, let me know, I'll give you credit. But I'm stealing it. I'm making shirts. I'm living by this saying. Be the good. There is good in the world. We are good.)






I have so much more to say, but I have to run, I have to run car pool now and maintain my composure. 

RACK has begun!

Merry Christmas!

The boys' school is collecting items for victims of Hurricane Sandy. This was a perfect opportunity to help the boys get into the RACK mindset - anything they say or do at school is, of course, accepted and followed without question.  They say donate things to hurricane relief, they do it.

One of the things on the "requested" list was gently used jammies and blankets, neither of which we are in short supply of in this house!  The other day, I went to school with a literal garbage bag full of warm, cozy pajamas and blankets for kids in need.

The boys are eager to see what we will do next. On tap so far, we have donate books to the local summer library, adopt a family who need some specific items for their holiday list (thanks for the hook up, Ashley!), cookies for the firefighters, cards for the elderly, quarters on the bouncy ball machines, a care package for a soldier (thanks Marissa for that hook up). We will donate clothes and toys, coats for kids, headbands to Children's cancer patients... I have so many ideas but with my life being hectic enough, sometimes I bite off more than I can chew. This Random Acts of Christmas Kindness is something I REALLY want to do, so hopefully I can get it done.

I guess I should back up and save the new readers some effort. RACK stands for Random Acts of Christmas Kindness. I did not think of the acronym myself, I saw it on Pintrest and borrowed it. (Most of my awesome ideas come from Pintrest, then I add my flair.)

This has been a roller coaster year for our family - we added a new baby, which is wonderful, but also an added expense, of course. I didn't get paid for my maternity leave, so we are still catching up on bills from that. Normally, I shop all year long so I can have a Christmas tree overflowing with gifts, but, the lack of income for part of the year put a damper on that. I know my kids will be happy with whatever is under the tree on Christmas morning, and I also know we are blessed with the family and friends we have, who would never, ever let our kids go without.

I have made the conscious decision to drastically reduce our carnival Christmas. There will be plenty for everyone, but in relation to what they're used to, it may seem small. I want my kids to grow up knowing Christmas is about family and friends and love and helping others. I do not want them growing up to be entitled brats. We live in a mixed socio-economic area - some kids at their school live in $4 million homes, and some live in a trailer or the local motel.

I really want our family to be reminded that sometimes it is far better to give than to receive. I found a lot of quotes that seemed fitting so I want to post them here in case I need a reference for next year, or in case you need ideas for your own RACK.

The degree of loving is measured by the degree of giving -Edwin Louis Cole

When you learn, teach.When you get, give.-Maya Angelou

 

We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give. -Winston Churchill

 

It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.” ― Mother Theresa

 

If you have any ideas for RACK, please comment them here. Or, if you have received one of our RACKs, please leave a comment! We hope it brightened your day.

 

We are Thankful!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Seriously, one of the best, least stressful holidays I can remember. We got up and got ready, went to Granny and Papa's (my parents) house. We hung out with them and ate Thanksgiving lunch around 11:30. We left there and headed to a picture perfect photo session with my good friend (and also our photographer) Jen. I cannot wait to get those pictures!

Then, off to Nana's (Ben's mom's) house for dinner there. Everyone was well behaved and ate a ton of food. We left there and I came home to change clothes. Then, it was off to Black Friday shopping with Mimi (Ben's step mom, Misty) - we got some of the most awesome deals and had the most fun I can remember on Black Friday!

I am so thankful for well-behaved, healthy, happy kids, a wonderful family, and the greatest life I could have imagined.

Rebuilding Lives

Baby girl awoke earlier than usual this morning. But really, it was no biggie, I was up already - Parker likes to sneak into my bed in the middle of the night to cuddle, which I love, but he forgot to stop at the potty on the way, so I awoke to wet sheets.

I was a little irritated, he's almost 4, Jackson was never this hard to potty train and he HAS special needs so I'm not sure why our "normal" son is having problems, but whatever. I try to be understanding and accepting. Each kid is different, each kid has their own time table...

Anyway, Parker was awake, Delaney was awake. I was awake. But it wasn't even 6 AM and I don't even think the chickens were awake yet! (The sun certainly was not. Our rule is no kids out of bed before the sun.)

I was nursing Delaney and perusing my Facebook on my phone when I saw pictures from my friend Meg. Her house caught fire last night, they lost everything. When she heard the smoke detector, she at first thought it was her alarm clock, but realized it wasn't. She grabbed her three year old, Memphis, her purse and a blanket and ran out the door. They literally have only the clothes on their backs.

I sent her a text to let her know I was here and that's when it started. My other friend, Steph and I started getting things together. Steph called her church and they're accepting donations there, we set up some fundraising at work, started getting things in place. I'm trying to help as much as I can because I just cannot fathom...

Meg awoke to literally run for her life, stopping to only grab the absolute most important thing in the world to her.  I awoke with the most important things surrounding me and was frustrated and annoyed. I am disappointed with myself for being like that this morning. I'm going to try to make it a point to be more thankful. (I already really try. I know everyday is a blessing.)  But, you know what? Tonight Meg will go to sleep, cuddled up to the most important thing in her life and know, for certain, how loved she is. There was a huge outpouring of love and support.

People always talk about the bad things, people being jerks, crime, etc. I want to tell you about all the good things I saw today.

Steph and I were standing at the bar, talking about how we could help Megan. A guest was there eating his lunch, minding his business. He didn't say anything to us, paid his bill and left. About an hour later, he returned and handed Steph bags and bags of new clothes for Memphis, towels, pillows... He went to Target and bought these things. He also went to Home Depot where they donated gift cards. Kindness from strangers.

I work in a restaurant, so it's not like many of us are swimming in cash. But every single employee today asked me how they could help. One of the guys who also lived in the house but wasn't there and didn't lose anything except his XBox still can't get in to get his things out. I asked what he needed (toothbrush? deoderant? anything?) He said, "Don't worry about me. Help me take care of Meg and Mems." What an awesome guy!

The point here is be thankful for today, say what is in your heart. And when you see those "What would you grab in a fire" posts on Facebook, think about it. I have 2 evacuation plans from our house, I know exactly what I would grab if I could. The boys know how to get out and where to meet. We are prepared. Hopefully we never need to test that theory.

One last thing - check your smoke detector - it literally saved their lives. They lived in a rental house and did not even check the functionality when they moved it. (I mean, really, does anyone? Besides me, I mean!)

If you're eating out this Friday (Nov 16)- Please come to Buffalo Wild Wings in mason. We are donating 10% of all food sold to the people who lost everything last night. You gotta' eat, may as well help someone in the process, right??

Happy Halloween!!

I love Halloween. It's almost my favorite holiday (right after Christmas.) I mean, let's be honest - who doesn't like free candy??

Well, this year, it was 75* the week prior to Halloween and 34* on October 31, oh, and don't forget the rain. We decided it would be best to have a Halloween party instead of traditional trick or treat and invite our closest friends, then the kids could trick or treat indoors. Best of all? I didn't have to traipse around in the cold and rain and we still got tons of candy!!

The week before Halloween we went to trunk or treat at my cousin Amanda's church. Luckily we did because the kids felt like they had a real trick or treat then. Jackson was an army guy, Parker was the Incredible Hulk and Delaney was a ladybug. Two of three children wore the same costume for the duration of the Halloween festivities but in normal Parker fashion, he wore a different costume for every event. (We have a dress up box, they were all in there, so no biggie.) For the school's fall family fun night, Parker was Ben (the Thing) from Fantastic Four. And, on actual Halloween night, Parker was Stitch (from Lilo and Stitch.)

The kids decided they liked the Halloween party and want to do it again next year!!

Craft Fairs

Even before I was a girl Mom, I made hairbows and tutus. But now that Delaney is here, I have even more of an excuse!! If you're not busy on November 17, stop by the shopping plaza at Landen Kroger and check them out. If you have something in mind, let me know, I can make it!!

RACK

RACK, or Random Acts of Christmas Kindness, is a new tradition we will begin this year. We are trying to raise our children not to be entitled brats. We want them to know the holidays are about spending time together with friends and family and that it is always better to give than to receive.

By now, most people know about Pintrest. I spend way to many hours on their pinning things I may  not ever make or do. This idea, though, is something we have discussed doing but didn't really have a well thought out plan. I saw this idea (and the acronym) on Pintrest, so I can't fully take credit for thinking of this.

Basically, we will countdown the 25 days til Christmas by doing one nice thing in our community every day. We aren't sure which activity we will do or in what order, but something will be done together every day. Here's a list of ideas we are tossing around. We plan to have a family meeting and vote on which ones will work best for us:

Donate books (probably to Shriner's Burn Institute.)
Donate old toys
Donate new toys / adopt a family / Toys for Tots
Project Linus
Adopt a troop / platoon
Cookies for neighbors
Cookies for firemen
Cards for nursing home
Quarters on bouncy balls
Candy canes on ATMs
Operation Christmas Child
Donate food to pantry
Donate personal care items to women's shelter

I'm running low here and need 25!! Share your thoughts and I will be sure I take pictures and post about things we do!  Stay tuned.

Jackson's Parent Teacher Conferences

As expected, Jackson is very well behaved in class. Also as expected, he was described as "shy." Upon speaking to Mrs. M a little more in depth, we discovered a better word choice may be unintrusive. He doesn't want to interrupt or draw attention to himself. He's the opposite of an attention hog.

This is something we have been struggling with for years and while no one ever believes us, this really is a huge improvement over years past. He will share in class, he raises his hand to participate, he answers his teachers questions with more than one word replies. This IS an improvement.

We discussed his reading and math skills (both above grade level) and how he really loves school. He is such a people pleaser. The most impactful part of the conference involved me crying (yes, in front of the teacher. I know, totally embarrassing.) when Mrs. M told me she knew I was a good mom. That is all I want to be. We expected his life to present some challenges and there have been some, but it's far fewer than we pictured and he excels at so many things. It is truly amazing to see him fitting right in and the other kids not even knowing he's a little different.

Now I'm the Mom of a Preschooler too!

Parker has been wanting to go to school for literally years. The deal was, though, that he had to use the potty all the time first.  Sometimes he would, sometimes he wouldn't. (That stubborn streak is showing.)

Finally he put his little mind to it and decided to use the potty all the time so we signed him up for preschool. The coolest thing is his preschool is in the same building as Jackson's elementary school, so Parker thinks he's big stuff now, since he goes to school where the big kids do.

Like his big brother, Parker just wanted new shoes and a back pack to start the year off right. He chose a Thomas back pack and some Kobe Nike's.

His teachers, Mrs. F and Mrs. S, have been amazing so far. Parker loves going to school and the teachers report he is perfectly behaved and doing well. (I've always said I'd prefer my kids to be angels at school or with other people and act up with me if they must do it.)

Parker waited patiently until school started. He sat in this chair and just looked SO big!

 is class lined up to go in and not a single one of these little guys cried. I'm fairly certain, though, that had one started, they all would have!

 This was the craft they made after reading The Kissing Hand, which is an awesome book about a baby raccoon that goes to school and is sad to leave his mom. She kisses his hand and tells him she will always be with him, just touch that kiss and she will be there.

Are you ready for some football?

Well, we aren't really sure if we're ready, but we're doing it!  Jackson wanted to play football last year, but with our hectic lives, we told him he could only play one sport at a time and he had to choose football or soccer. Since he already knew soccer and knew he was great at it, he decided to keep going. Four months after the sign up deadline, he asked to play football. Uh, no, sorry kiddo.  So, I promised him if he wanted to play the next year, he could.

Last March, when the paper came home, he begged me to fill it out right that second and send it in. Well, football is a little more expensive than soccer, so we had to wait a few days, but he was so happy when he knew I sent it. And, the day we tried on the jersey for the fitting? I've never seen him happier!

So, here we are.  I was a little nervous (ok, fine, a lot nervous.) at first. Jackson is 50 pounds on a good day. The weight limit for second grade is 95 pounds. So a kid literally twice his size can tackle him and I'm supposed to be ok with that? I spend years teaching him not to hit and push and fight and then tell him it's ok in football? I'm supposed to... yes, I am.

It's a lot of work on both ends - his and ours. There are two practices and at least one game every week. It has cost over $200 so far in gear and fees. (I know there are some that are far more, I'm not complaining.) It's hot as Hades in the beginning and cold as ice by the end of the season. But, the night before his first game, he said, "Mom, thank you so much for signing me up for football. I love it and I love you!" Worth it all.

So far, we are three games in and are still undefeated. Loveland was 27-7. Indian Hill was 20-0. Mason was 18-6. The Indian Hill and Mason games were played back to back, not even a 5 minute break in between in 95* blistering sun.


I can proudly say I'm a football mom, #72 is mine!

 Playing with his friend before practice started. (They wear helmets in the actual practice.)

We have a Second grader

Wow... I remember when I saw the two lines on the test telling me we were having a baby, now he's a second grader.  Second grade is a year of big adjustment and there is a lot of responsibility placed on the kids - it's less of Mom and Dad reminding them to do the homework and more of them remembering to do it on their own.

Again, we hit the jackpot with the teacher. Mrs. M... she is AMAZING! We had parent orientation the other night and heard the rules and regulations and she just talked about developing awesome little people - she is right in line with my mindset on education - that we are partners and it's not just her teaching him, it's everyone.

He has a new friend, a little boy that's on his football team. Oh, yeah, he's playing football now! Back to the story, though, more about football later. His new friend, A, is such a cutie. On the first day of school, the plan was to drop Jackson off and he goes in on his own (which, seriously, who thinks of this crap? In Kindergarten and First grade, they went to their classroom for the screening/assessment tests, so at least they had seen it before. In second and beyond, nope, nada.) They encourage parents not to come in, again, it's about building responsibility.

We pull up to go around the carpool lane, in line with all the other families and I look in my rear view mirror and just see a sad little guy, trying not to let me see his tears. I pulled into a parking space and asked what was wrong. He said, "Mom, I'm just nervous. I don't know where I'm going. I tried to be brave, but I can't." Ben and I told him to calm down, I would go with him.

While we waited outside the school, the little boy, A, recognized Jackson from football and Jackson made the first move. He said, "Hey, A." They started talking and A said he didn't know where he was going either, so Jackson invited him to walk in with us and the rest is history. They are inseparable. In second grade, the teacher allowed them to choose their desk neighbor and their own locker buddy. They chose each other.

We have noticed that Parker talks non-stop since Jackson is gone all day. We didn't really notice just how much they played together I guess. But, next Tuesday, Parker becomes a preschooler.

And for now, the pictures will have to be sideways. Blogger isn't reading them right and won't let me flip them. (In that top one, Parker chose that and told me he was allowed to wear that to school.)

Summer is Almost Over

In true D fashion, I have been slacking. Seriously though, did you expect anything less? I have been busy living life, enjoying every moment I have with these babies because time flies when you're having fun and in this family time is zooming past.

I was off most of the summer for maternity leave so I had tons of time to spend with the kids. But, I was on unpaid leave, so we had to get crafty. Lots of walks, trips to the park, picnics, the zoo, library, etc. It really was a great time and as summer draws to a close, I will remember it as one of the best of my life. Well, so far.

Here are some pictures from our summer...

Reds Game (This was 4 days before Laney was born. It was a kick off to summer thing thru the school, we had a ton of fun and will definitely do it again.)  

Darby, Dianna, and Parker

 BFFs love cotton candy

 Parker calls Aunt Dianna his Other Mommy

 Mama, Ben, and Parker

 Who loves ya, baby?!

 No clue why he's wearing pants on his head, but it's Parker so that's pretty typical

 At my old theatre for a free summer community thing for Brave - they had face painting, kids archery lessons, real archery lessons, horseback rides... it was awesome!

At the zoo with our family and Unc, Kyree, and Konlee

 This is my everything, right here.

 Brack, Kyree, and Konlee

 Silly boys

 My guys relaxing at Nana's

 Swimming!!

 Ice Cream Party and Sleepover with Darby

Welcome Baby Delaney!

She is finally here!!  Delaney Brielle Anderson was born on Saturday, June 9 at 8:55 AM.  She weighed 7 pounds even and was 19.5 inches long.  Jackson was over the moon excited about her, Parker was a little unsure the first day and chose to check out the vending machines instead of the baby sister, but in the days since, he's come around and he loves her to pieces.

We decided to have one last family of 4 picture the night before she was born.  Looking at it now, as my good friend Sarah said, it looks like something is missing - Delaney completes us.  She was the perfect addition to our family.  See?

Lots of people say going from 1 to 2 kids is easy (I agree with that) but going from 2 to 3 was really hard (so far, not so much) and if you have 3, you should just go ahead and have 4 (not happening here!) I think this is the perfect family for us and we are all so, so happy!!

Ribbons, and Bows, and Pink - oh, my!

Shopping for baby girls is so much different than shopping for baby boys.  Both are awesome in their own way, and maybe it's because this is all new, but shopping for girl babies is somewhat overwhelming!  There is so much stuff...

I remember being pregnant with the boys and looking at the girl clothes in awe - little socks and bows and ruffley panties.  So cute!  Now that I get to shop for a baby girl, I have gone on two separate shopping trips fully intending to buy tons of pink stuff, only to come home with a few girl things and a ton of things for the boys - there is so much cuteness for girls, I cannot narrow it down!  (Don't get me wrong, she DOES have stuff, just not nearly as much as I imagined I'd have bought by now.)

And, the coolest part, she also has a nursery!  It is so so pretty!!!  Lime green walls and purple butterfly bedding.  It's beautiful and I will share pictures as soon as I make my mind up about what I want to put where. 

I forgot to post about this (I know, shocking)

We had our anatomy ultrasound a couple of weeks ago and Jackson was really worried about having to miss school to go.  He said, "Mom, you can't just miss school whenever you want."  i explained that I'm the mom, I can decide when he can miss school and this was important to me to do as a family, but we also learned about anatomy a little and did talk about some science and math elements while we were there.  His argument?  "Well, if I have to miss school, can we at least find out if it's a baby brother or a baby sister??"  So, I caved.  (Yeah, I'm a sucker.)

We left the hospital with one very excited boy and one very mad boy.  Jackson got the outcome he wanted but Parker did not.  he originally wanted it to be a puppy, but if it wasn't a puppy he would settle for a brother.  Low and behold, it is a GIRL!

We couldn't be happier!  Even Parker has came around now and he's excited to be getting a baby sister.

Sensory Processing Disorder - Our Story

Even before Jackson was born, he has had his own way of doing things.  I was determined to have my ideal birth, no drugs, no doctors all in my business.  Well, Jackson had other plans!  He was born by unplanned c-section, didn't breathe properly right away and had to go to the Special care Nursery for 4 hours.

After that, he just seemed different than most babies, but I was ok with that.  He hated the car, he hated the feeling of certain materials or toys.  As he got a little older, I knew in my heart that something was "off" with him, but everyone told me he was just quirky.  The little voice in my heart said it  was something more, but I silenced it for a little while longer.

When we went to a family reunion when he was one month old, he cried the whole time.  Relatives said, "He's hungry, feed him."  (Um, see that empty bottle?  I just fed him.)  "He must be wet then."  (Well, no, I just changed him.)  We finally left, he cried the whole hour car ride home and when we got home, I laid him in his crib so I could have a Mommy breakdown, and he was silent - he just wanted peace and calm and quiet. 

Every time (and I do mean every) we went anywhere, he cried the whole time we were in the car.   I usually had my hang contorted from the front seat to his car seat to try to comfort him because it broke my heart that he was so sad in the car.  We went to Florida on vacation when he was just over a year old and everyone said "Leave at night, he will sleep the whole way."  Yeah, no.  He fussed or cried over half the way and slept maybe two hours the whole 15 hour trip.  That was fun.  Grocery stores, playgrounds, sand... typical, normal stuff was enough to send him over the edge. I was beginning to think I was obviously just the worst mom on the planet.

Around 18 months old, I finally had enough and convinced everyone that I would feel better if I could have an evaluation.  If they were right and I was wrong, the evaluation would show that and I would never, ever mention it again.  I secretly knew in my heart that the answer would be he was not normal.

I called around and just randomly selected an occupational therapy clinic and they got us in fairly quickly.  We were there for less than five minutes when the evaluator (Ms. Leigh) said, "I'm going to keep going so we have a starting point, but I can already tell you right now, your son has Sensory Processing Disorder."  The tears just fell down my face.  I knew this would be the diagnosis but it was easier to pretend it wasn't real before I heard the words.  I still don't know why I was sad, I knew that was the answer, I went there seeking answers.  I think ultimately, hearing your child isn't "perfect" is saddening.

We started Occupational Therapy with Ms. Leigh the next week and for the first few visits it was literally an hour of pure torture for me, her, and Jackson.  He hated it - he would throw things, cry, scream, kick... it was so hard.  As time went on, though, I started to see improvements in him.  After working with the therapist, I began to learn the whys of everything and it made so much sense. 

The car was stressful because the sound of the tires mixed with seeing the stuff move by quickly - it was too much to handle.  The grocery store was a nightmare because he can literally hear the buzzing from the flourescent lights, mixed with the different smells and all the people and other sounds... The playground was so bad because he didn't know how everything worked - he had to have it all mapped out before he would attempt it so he knew what to expect. 

Sometimes, it would seem like Jackson was being a brat or needed disciplined, when really he could not help it.  It was a fine line as parents for us to decide when it was a behavior he could control and when he had no control over it.  For example, he would crash into other kids because it felt so good to him - it was an extreme sensory input but that was the only way he got information to his brain.  So many things were eased just by telling him what to expect.  He had a routine, but knew it could change.  Knowing what's next was huge for him.

In OT, we worked on coping mechanisms - jumping on a trampoline, swinging on a swing, spinning in circles - all of those things helped to regulate his brain.  He really can spin for hours and never get dizzy - it's kind of weird and cool to see.  He liked to be "squished" with pillows - he lays down and I put a pillow on his legs and lightly press.  Wall pushes - like a push up, but against the wall.  Some everyday things such as moon sand, Play Doh, dry beans, shaving cream - it is all used in OT for sensory regulation.

The therapist was amazed that we had even recognized something was amiss so early - she said most kids don't get diagnosed until they start school and are acting out or not able to function in a classroom setting.  I thought she was crazy - how could I NOT notice?!  It made me feel good at that point in my journey tat I actually wasn't the sucky mom I felt like sometimes.  (Well, I still struggle with that sometimes.  I do lose my temper, I do yell a little more than I wish I did, I'm a work in progress too.)

We had HUGE battles with food but that will have to be a post for another day.  Someone I know is struggling with her son, so I wanted to write this out so she could read Jackson's story and see how far he has come and know that even if there's a challenge, her baby will be ok, too.

March for Babies!!

Yep, it's that time again friends.  The March of Dimes March for Babies is fast approaching, it's April 29.  This year, we are trying to raise $200 to help fund research to prevent premature birth.  I have been blessed with two healthy children, and will be carrying the third when we do this 6 mile walk.

If you'd like to donate, click the link below.  If you'd like to join us, please let me know - it's always more fun to walk with friends.  (But, be prepared, it will be a slow paced walk, I'll be 8 months pregnant!)  There are games, food, activities for kids afterwards.  It really is fun!

Merry Christmas!

In our family, pretty much from October til the end of the year is very busy.  Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, parties, school break... We really like to do as much festive holiday fun as we can and this year was really great for it - not too cold.

We went to the Festival of Lights at the Zoo (and, a side note, the zoo membership is the best thing we buy ourselves each year.  As a family, we use that probably more than anything else.)  We also did Breakfast with Santa, which is a yearly tradition now and almost caused a catastrophe because Jackson forgot to turn in the RSVP thing at school... but it worked out in the end!  We went to Sharon Woods Holiday in Lights... so many fun things.  (Next winter, I want to take the boys to Fountain Square.  I chose not to this year because pregnant Mommas should not ice skate!  I wonder if we will be able to convince Granny to babysit the new baby while we have big kid time??)

We made gingerbread houses (which was not my idea of fun, and it also was not my idea and also was not fun for me!)  The boys had a blast though and that's what really matters.

   



On the Christmas lists this year, from Jackson, a remote control helicopter, an Ultimate FX Lightsaber, legos... you know, the usual.  On Parker's list?  A big brown bear, more hot wheels and an up and down thing.  And, yes, we're the best parents ever because we got all of it!!