Happy Birthday Speedy

I can't believe that I forgot to blog about this. We must not leave this out. What would poor Speedy think. A few weeks back we ( the whole family) were invited to Speedy's 3rd Birthday party. The kiddos were presented with invites that had dog bone shapes glitterized ( is that a word? if not it sounds cool) on them. Being the good sports that we are we decided to "humor" Sarah and join in on the fun. Hey, it was a party. Any excuse is a good one isn't it? Well, I think I would draw the line at a party for my pet hermit crab. We all know that Speedy is Joey and Sarah's kid. When we got there we were greeted by Mr. Speedy, His Mom and Pops and his Uncle Steven and friends that came all the way from Ohioooo for the even ( not really but it sounded good) We then proceeded to get into costume. If Speedy can have cute ears, well so can we. What fine ears they were too. The kids played pin the tail on Speedy. Thankfully it was just a picture of him otherwise people would be calling the animal abuse hot line. We had a dog gone good time singing " Who let the Dogs out?", How much is that "Doggie in the Window?" and many other fine Canine tunes. Sarah made a scrumptious bone shaped cake and speedy got special homemade doggie treats. He was in doggie heaven. He loved opening his presents and was very social. People even got to have photo opportunities with him. Happy Third Birthday Speedy.

Prayers For the Chapmans

I am so sad today. I don't know if you have heard but Christian Singer Steven Curtis Chapman's Daughter was killed yesterday tragically in an accident in their driveway. I can't even begin to imagine what this family is feeling. Especially the son who was behind the wheel. It was clearly an an accident. Please keep this family in your prayers.

Art Academy Show

I am looking forward to a nice quiet weekend after the Crazy non stop one of last week. Our church has an Art Academy that offers classes to the community on Saturdays from Sept to May. Last Saturday was the year end show and all three of my children were involved. It required a full week of extra practices and dress rehearsal. My kids were exhausted to say the least. This is the time when an early bedtime is not good. Thank goodness it is only for a week. My kids do not cope well when they are out of their routine and when they stay up late. Saturday they performed two shows back to back and did a marvelous Job. Kiarrah did a ballet number to Radetsky's March. She then did a tap dance number to "He's got the Whole World in His Hands." Reynaldo did hip hop to " I am not forgotten" by Israel. They both did an amazingly good time and they really enjoyed themselves. Dominic had an art project on display. I can't wait to share a picture of it. It is amazing. I want to frame it and put it in my living room.

Our Saturdays are now free again until the Fall from classes. Rey is already saying that he would like to take Tap next year along with the Hip Hop. We would like to get Kiarrah into voice lessons. Dominic loves his art but would also like to take piano.

I am so happy that we are able to be a part of this awesome program and the kids are exposed to the arts.

Question of the Week

Ok, Miss Gracie is now almost 10 months and this poor child still hates taking her bath. She screams like a cat in heat. I have tried every way possible for her to enjoy it and no such luck. Any ideas?

The Charmer

I don't know if I mentioned lately what a "ladies little man" my younger son is. Whenever I take him to school he is always yelling hi to the little girls we pass along our walk and then when we get to the court yard they are always chasing him. When I picked him up yesterday his teacher informed me that he was caught passing notes to a little girl their that I know for a fact he likes. My God, this child is in 1st grade. It is cute but boy am I in for it as he gets older. Wait until the girls start trying to call this little charmer at our house. Forget about locking my girls in their room until they are 30, he is gonna need to be.

National Foster Care Month

May is National Foster Care Month.
Kari is starting a list of ideas on how you can Thank a Foster Parent. We all should do our part to help out. My husband and I were foster parents for many years and know first hand how you sometimes feel all alone and unappreciated. There are so many children out there that need forever families. Maybe that isn't for you but I am sure there are other things that can be done to help these families that are on the front line.

Feeling the stresses

I have been pretty behind on posting lately and before it builds up and I start forgetting things I thought I would play catch up. So much has been going on and I guess I have just been sticking with the safe comfy subjects and not getting into the meat of the matter. I guess when I do I start to feel weak or something. I am really struggling with myself as a parent. I realize my children have disabilities but whenever something happens I tend to take it to heart and feel that it reflects on me as a parent. Right away I wonder what I am doing wrong. I find myself becoming extremely anxiety ridden and wanting to close myself up in my bubble. It's hard because their disabilities are not visible physically. If an outsider were to look in I am sure they would feel that I had unruly children that are out of control. Out of control at times? Yes. Today I was reading Claudia's Blog and she had a post about Controlling only what you can control. This really struck home with me. I tend to be a control freak and freak out when things are out of control. I can't focus or function. I need to realize that I just can't control everything. I can model the behavior I expect for the kids but I don't control their actions or words. I can teach them what I expect of the them and raise them to be Godly fearing children but they have their own free will. If they choose to be disrespectful and disobedient that is there choice. It is them our job as parents to give them consequences for those choices. When they behave like this I need to stop blaming myself. I am doing the best that I can. I am not just dealing with one child with issues, I have three of them that do. It just seems like it is everything at once. I have one child who thinks he knows it all and is always quick to tell his father and I that we are stupid and he hates us and he wishes we weren't his parents. This is normal behavior I am sure but it just seems more intense then what I have seen. He is usually set off by being asked to do something such as clean his room ( which he refuses to do) or he is told no. We have taken away privileges and he just doesn't seem to care anymore. He is just downright rude.
My other child has taken to stealing and lying. He has taken candy from the corner store and other stores and has taken stuff from friends. At first he says they gave it to him. I always make him return things to the store and apologize but it is like he just doesn't get that it is wrong. No remorse. No impulse control. He flat out lies about it. No one is going to trust him and I tried to explain to him that people will always think it is him when something goes missing because he is giving himself a bad name. He is very angry. Especially at my husband. I have my guesses to what this is about but don't know how to fix it. We need some prayer over that.
To top all this off I have another child who is majorly lying and destroying property. She has taken her pencil and carved into my kitchen table and chairs, she has written on all my walls and she gets into everything and then lies. Yes I know to keep writing items away but it is hard to do in my house. I really try but the other kids use them and we have adults in and out of the house for different things and she will just sneak and find them. She also got into nail polish that was way out of her reach and eye shot and she painted on my couch pillow at 5 am. I woke up to the smell. She gets up at an awful hour every morning even if I put her to bed late. She is like clock work. She sneaks into food too. I feed this child. I have no clue why she is doing this. She has done this even as a small child. I had to get rid of her play refrigerator because she would sneak food and put it in there and I wouldn't know. I would open it and find bananas and yogurt and applesauce. When you ask her why she has done it she looks at you blank and says, I don't know! I didn't want to! I am trying so hard to have patience with her but we always will start out good and then she will continually do the same things over and over again even when she is told not to. No remorse and no emotion. She will only show emotion to manipulate to try and get something. Like she is sorry when she wants to do something. She has destroyed some property at school to and to be honest with you, She doesn't have friends. No one can stand her for long. It makes me so sad because she is such a sweetie but she is so controlling. I have tried to talk with her and work with her and role play but she doesn't get it. She doesn't seem to even notice when people are bad. I guess she senses something but doesn't read it right. For example we were at a practice for our year end show. She was trying to talk to one of the other little girls and was giving her a compliment. The little girl HEARD HER but didn't acknowledge her. I was so upset for her. I didn't say anything to her and she later told me she was upset and she said so and so doesn't want to be my friend. To be honest with you I understand why the child ignored her. It doesn't make it right. I just wish people would understand her and I wish she would understand how she pushes people away. It is such a touchy thing. I can only see it getting worse as she gets older. FASD Sucks!
With all this going on, I feel like I am drowning. I want to be the best parent possible but need help and just don't know where to get it. A lot of people just don't understand or even know how to help. Heck, I don't even know what to do sometimes.

Happy Mother's Day for Real?

How was every one's Mother's Day? Mine was low key. I did manage to sleep in until 9 am on Sunday and so I went to the second church service which is not my norm. I usually prefer the first service because it is not as crowded and it seems to have a more personal feel to it. This week it was not crowded because more people went to the first so they could get to dear old moms sooner. We went to our favorite diner for lunch and had to get back so my husband could sing in the 3 rd service.
My husband did surprise me on Saturday with a really pretty shirt he had picked out and the kids brought me flowers from school and homemade cards.
I did have one idiotic damper to my day. I had a woman come up to me and Wish me Happy Mother's Day FOR REAL. She said I am not officially a mother. Hold up sweetheart. I was a mother the moment I held my eldest in my arms. She had no tack and left me staring after her in disgust. I know I know, great Christian attitude but when I told her I was a mom when I got my first son, her reply was Well know you know what it really means to be a Mother. Believe me, it upset me but I took it as a grain of salt and concerned the source.

Pictures

Gracie Update

The little sweet potato is now 9 1/2 months old. Where has the time gone? She went to the Dr. last week for her check up. I am happy to report that she is right on track with her milestones. She might be a little peanut but she is caught up to where she should be for a 9 month old. She is now sitting up, rolling over, getting into a sitting position from both her tummy and her back. She also likes to stand and hold on to the furniture. She can't pull herself up yet but that will be happening before we know it. I lowered her bed down today because she likes to sit up in there. She weighed in at 15.6 pounds and was 26 3/4 inches long. She is in the 5 percentile for weight still and in the 25% for height. The Dr. was not too concerned because she is staying steady in the 5 % curve.
She loves to eat and is quick to take whatever is in any one's hand. A little girl was eating something in church behind her and as soon as she heard the crumple of a wrapper her head jerks around to see what she is missing out on. We are introducing more textures and foods. She will now eat peas but still refuses fresh green beans. She will eat the baby food ones but not the other. I have to bury it in a serious amount of carrots for her to eat it. It is so fun watching her eat. She is very passionate about her food.
She is also starting to really play with her toys. A friend gave us an exersaucer and she adores it. It has a lot to do on it. She also loves her shape sorter. She loves to bang the shapes together and of course everything goes into the mouth.
She is starting to go to bed alittle earlier and she loves to sleep. She doesn't get up through the night and wakes up about 7 am. Sometimes later if the kiddos are quiet.
I love this stage.

Another FFF

Ok who said we could only do one. I love this picture of the butterfly when she was about 9 months.

FFF

This picture was taken about 3 years ago when we had our kiddos dedicated.

Happy Anniversary

Honey I just wanted to tell the world how much I love you and I am so blessed to have you as my husband. These past 14 years have brought us closer and closer and I have gotten to know you so much which I didn't think there was more to learn. You are such a wonderful husband to me and father to our 4 children. Can't wait to see what the future years bring.

I miss you and can't wait until you get back from Boston.

This is crazy

I am so disgusted by a
this. What is the world coming to? This child is in second grade. I would love to hear your opinions and find out what you would do if this happened to your child. This zero tolerance crap is unbelievable. The kids that are innocent get treated like this and the ones that are really doing something wrong slide right by.

Mild Mannered Monday

Today has been a yucky rainy cold day. Hubby left for Boston today for a business conference. He will be gone until Friday. I already miss him. I will admit though that I was looking forward to spreading out and hogging the whole bed but my little stinker of a son has already snuck in and is fast asleep. I just don't have the energy to carry him back to his bed. It would be useless anyway because he will just come back again in the middle of the night.

We had a busy Friday and Saturday. Friday we went down to South Jersey to my inlaws house. We had a nice visit. It had been 4 1/2 months since we have seen them which is ridiculous. The kids enjoyed themselves and we went for a super long walk because it was such a gorgeous day. Saturday I went to a bridal shower and then picked up Dominic from a sleepover at his Auntie Frans. She is moving in two weeks. He is still so sad about it. I hope she keeps in touch.

Here are some recent pictures.

More Pics

Spring Break vs Spring Cleaning

Today is the beginning of Spring Break for the kiddos. It looks yucky out and cold after a beautiful high 70's weekend. Today we are going to tackle laundry and cleaning bedrooms. Think the boys are going to be happy? We do have a lot of fun stuff planned out for the week though so we might as well get this out of the way. Here are some pictures from this past weekend.

Downcast Oh My SOul

What a week thus far. I was struck down with the dreaded Strep Throat for a few days and the house went into shambles. Mommies just can't afford to get sick. If that wasn't enough to make me cry my husband got stuck at work ate two nights and the kids were less than respectful in their behavior. Might as well kick me when I am down. YES this is a whiny post and yes I am seeking attention. I wish my mom was here. There is something about moms making everything ok. I just need a hug.
I have a lot to do and hopefully hubby can help me to get the house back together and get the kids back in their place. I hate spring. It wrecks havoc on their moods and behavior. I want to get everything down so we can actually enjoy some outdoors time this weekend. We went to the park last weekend and they had a blast. We need to get their new bikes out and let them skin those knees already.

Rey Rey

Reynaldo loves Music. Jim gave him his old Rio to use and we have some good music on there for him. I think it has really helped him lately just coping with life and his moods. I just had to share this cute picture of him. He is taking a hip hop dance class and I can't wait to see the show. He will not show me any of the moves yet.

Baby Girl is now sitting up. She thinks she is such a big shot. I am under the weather today with a really bad sore throat and cough. It is off to the Dr. for me tomorrow.

Pics From Uncle Seth and Aunt Frans Visit

Dominic refused to be in the pictures!!! He took them moving very very hard!!!!!

Before the birds chirp

I have been up since 4 am. For some reason I couldn't sleep anymore. I prayed aimlessly for anything that came to my mind. God has woken me up before to pray and I usually will have a person laid on my heart but not today. Instead of going back to sleep I got up then and answered some emails and sorted laundry and cleaned up the house. Fran and Seth are stopping by this evening to see the kids before they move to the opposite coast. Dominic is really sad about it. He was ok until he heard how far they are going to live. We have been blessed with an Awesome Godmother for Dominic and Godfather for Kiarrah.Fran is Dominics Godmother and Seth is Kiarrahs Godfather. They love all of the kids immensely and have played such an active roll in there life. Most importantly I know that they are praying for the kids and model their lives to be a good influence on them.
I have a lot to do today so I am going to sign off for now.

Gracie in her own time

I am totally amazed at how much my baby girl is now doing. It is almost like it just happened over night or as soon as she turned 8 months. She starting rolling over on March 21st. I had not seen it so told my dad that he must be lying. She actually did it for Pop pop several times while we were in Indiana. I finally saw it on last Friday morning. She is actually doing really well on sitting up. She can balance herself for quite awhile. She is also managed to roll around on the floor trying to get to her goal. Usually it is a toy of her sisters or to newspapers. What is it about babies and paper? Her two bottom teeth are almost all the way in. We have had a cranky few days. She loves to eat and is finally putting on some weight. She loves to watch her brothers and sister. They can make her belly laugh by doing the simplest things. She is really enjoying her time with Sophia. They make eye contact more often and will smile at each other. I am especially amused when they roll into each other. They both have this look on their face like " Hey how did you get here". They are going to grow up to be the best of friends. I am going to ask her mommy if I can share a picture on here of the two of them. They are so cute together.
The boys are taking their Terra Nova testing this week. Dominic was very excited about it and Reynaldo flat out responded with " I hate test". Sorry little buddy but this has only just begun.
KiKi wishes that she could take tests. I am still praying about what to do with her for next school year. I want to do what is best for her. That reminds me that I need to contact the child study team and speak to them.
Jim and I went out last night for a rare date. We were only out for two hours but man did it feel like heaven. We went to Wallie World and gazed into each others eyes as we walked through the health and Beauty department. LOL It doesn't matter what we do, we always managed to have fun. He was in rare form with his Johnny Bravo impersonations. We went and grabbed a bite to eat afterwards.
I must get back to work and get some things accomplished. Just thought I would throw an update out there for those of you sharing in my life, spying on my life and just plain living vicariously through me. Speaking of spying on me I am quite curious to why some of you wont just come out and say hi. I do not bite and would love to know who is reading my blog. I do know who some of you are thanks to site meter. I know that Elizabeth is checking it out and then I have some peeps from high school who are logging on. Just drop me a line. Lets catch up

Nurturing

I read this post today by Kari that is called Don't water the weeds. Boy did I need to read this. As a mommy to a child with FASD I sure can fall into the category of wasting water on the weeds. It is so easy to do that. My goal this week is to really concentrate on Nurturing my children and using this approach.

Pictures from Easter

Auntie Jaimeers and KiKi
Gracie

Jake

If you get a chance could you please go to this site and encourage this family. I used to nanny for the family that are good friends with Jake. I can't even begin to imagine how this family feels.

The return to the Sickies

Greetings from Chilly New Joisey. I didn't want to lift my sleepy head from my pillow today. I have just been so tired lately. Yesterday was a busy day. Tuesday the girls and I fly home without a glitch but were exhausted from the whole day of travel. There is just something about flying that makes me tired. We had an awesome trip but more about that later. When I got home Reynaldo was still not feeling good. Dominic woke up Wednesday with a really sore throat again. I ended up taking the two boys to the Dr and took Gracie so that they could weight her and check her ears. She was extremely uncomfortable on the flight home and I was really worried about her ears due to all of the congestion she has been having. Come to find out that all throats are still infected. We are starting a new round of antiboitics. This will be Reys first round. Hopefully we can get rid of it this time. Gracie doesn't seem sick at all.
These kids have missed so much school this year. and to think that the germies have not been as bad as they have in the past. Kiarrah thank God is healthy and happy and back at school. She sure missed everyone. Well almost everyone. She was sure to tell me who she didn't miss from school. We had to have a talk about not telling that person that she didnt miss her. She is always so blunt. I have explained to her that you don't have to like everyone but you need to be nice and not hurt feelings. When she doesn't liked someone she is very passionate about it.
We had a wonderful trip to Indiana. It was a very low key long weekend and the kids has a good time. KiKi spent some good quality time with PopPop and MeMa. She went to see Horton Hears a WHo with PopPop. My dad actually liked the movie too and knew the whole story line. Mema colored eggs with Ki and they made fruit salad together. Ki also spent time with Aunt Mindi coloring and Auntie Jaimeers. She went to visit a friend with her and then we went out to lunch one day together. Whenever I get home I love to go to a great resturant called Hacienda.
Easter Sunday we had the family over for a yummy dinner of Ham and Polish Sausage that Grandpa makes, fruit salad, sweet potato casserole, California Vegetable Bake and bread. Everything was so delicous. Later in the evening we had sandwiches and potato salad and a relish tray. Jaimee made her banana pie and mom made a lemon meringue. Hey do any of you bakers out there know how to make that pie so that the crust isnt so moist?
We also played cards. I think that is a total Midwest thing. We played Euchre and played a few games of Bunko with Kiarrah. She really enjoyed that.
Our flight out was quite the nightmare. New York had major winds. We ended up sitting on the tarmack for 2 hours before we took off because they were only using one runway. Kiarrah talked the ear off the lady who sat next to us. Thank goodness we won't see her again. At first it was cute but I could tell after awhile that she was getting annoyed. I was sure to thank her for being so patient with my daughter. When we got to Detriot we missed our connecting flight and then they were not going to be able to get us to Indiana until Friay evening because everything was booked. Instead they could get me to Chicago so we did that and My father drove the three hours to get us. We hit a lot of traffic and didn't get to their house until almost 8 pm. It was a very very long day. My dad was so tired after driging there and back.
The boys enjoyed their time with daddy although Reynaldo was misreable without me. He is just so attached to me and hard for him to be away from me. It didnt help matters that he wasn't feeling good. He made it clear that I can't leave him again.
Anyway I am back to the daily grind. I will try to post some pictures later. I need to unpack and get my house back to order. Three boys alone in the house are slobs for sure.

I've Been Tagged

Caroline has tagged me. I actually love these things. Here are the rules
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
I have done this before but I will try to think of things I haven't done before.

1) I love eggplant! Especially cooked with feta cheese in pasta sauce. Yummy.
2) I wanted to be a writer when I was in highschool. I used to write for the school paper and also made it twice on the next generation page in the Tribune.
3) Not so shocking, I love to take pictures. Especially candid shots. I have boxes and boxes of pictures to scrapbook.
4) I used to be in Choir in High School and can sing pretty ok as a second Alto. I used to love to sing Karen Carpenter songs especially. You will usually catch me singing a long with the radio.
5) I am a major worrier. I hate that about myself and I am trying to work on it with God's help
6) Scalloped potatoes make me puke. I am not sure what it is about them but UGH!!!!! Funny thing is that everyone else I know loves them
7) I was a professional nanny for almost 15 years. That is how I ended up in New Jersey after high school. I planned on coming out here for a year as a nanny and then would go to school and ended up staying out here, fell in love with my husband and the rest is history.
I am going to tag
Shannon
Desiree
and
Jaye

Boys Rule?

Strep has hit the little peanut. She is so miserable. I feel so bad for her. Daddy took her to the Dr. yesterday and she is now on antibiotics. We are leaving for Indiana on Thursday. Hopefully she will be feeling better and the plane ride will be ok for her. I will admit I am a little nervous to be going with both girls even though I know we will be fine. I am almost packed. Just need to get the stuff in bags. I have the stuff already pulled out and in piles.
The boys are actually excited that the "girls" will be gone and they are gonna do boy things cause you know Girls drool and boys rule according to them.
Not much else going on here.

A Little of This and That

Can someone spell busy? Life has been crazy busy here but I seem to thrive in a chaotic lifestyle. Maybe that is why my sister thinks I can manage 4 children like it is the norm. This week I have been filling in as a nanny for a friend whose nanny is sick. I am taking care of a 6 month old and a 7 month old. I love every minute of it and which it could be more of a permanent Part time situation. The girls really enjoy each others company and I actually have time to get little things done. The two of them are so adorable when they lay under the activity gym and stare at each other and then try to grab each other's hands. Their interaction is so sweet. We make quite the scene when I take the kids to school. I carry Gracie in her sling and push Sophia in her stroller. I wish we had a double stroller.
The girls and I are getting ready for our mini trip next week to Indiana. I need to start packing and prepping. I do not want to leave it to last minute like usual. Kiarrah is very excited. I am just trying to figure out the best way to travel with two car seats. I pray that we have a good flight with good weather and no delays. I need to make sure that I prep good carry on bags for a situation like that.
Dominic just got over strep. I hope it's over in the house. I am so sick of all of the illnesses. I think it is due to the fact that we have had such a mild winter.
We had the boys IEP's at school and I am pretty pleased with them. We are going to be getting the services that we need. Jim went with me to the one for Rey and after a little friction we were able to express our concerns and let them know what we expected. Now to figure out what to do with Kiarrah for this Fall. We had planned to have her home schooled by a friend but after speaking to the Neurologist I am just not sure if that is the best thing. Any advice. She is extremely bright and high functioning just has a major lack in impulse control and hyperactivity. She is extremely bossy also. I could really use some input on this. Kindergarten registration is in May so I have until then to make up my mind. I need to sit down and figure out the pros and cons and also find out what the home school rights are in New Jersey.
Not much else going on here. A lot of our friends are going through struggles and that has all been so heavy on my heart. I want to help and reach out. My time is limited but I am making it a priority to do what I can.
On another note I have applied for college. I am anxious but scared to get my butt back in there. I keep playing with a major but in all honesty I have realized that I keep trying to run from what I know I am supposed to do. I want the easy way out. I know that is not what I am to do though. I would really like to pursue the nursing and work in the child psychiatric department. I know I have a long hard road a head of me but I am not going to listen to people tell me that I can't do it. I have a passion there. I am just going to start out school part time and go from there. Heck it is never to late to start. I am not going to waste this life.

Little Miss Peanut

My Handsome Fellows

KiKi is Back

My KiKi girl is finally feeling better. I took this picture of her when she was really down and out with Strep this past week. Where did her infectious smile go? Doesn't she look pathetic. I will try and get a smiley picture of her tomorrow.

Prejudice in 2nd grade?

I am so livid right now and need some advice on how to handle this. My son came home from school today because some little girl in his class told him that she was going to be mean to him because he was black!!
How would you handle this???????????

My FFF for this Week

I love this picture of Jim. I can't beleive that we are going to be married for 14 years next month. Isn't he a hottie?? Gotta love those eyes.

Friday Rundown

I have been out of touch in the blog world. Can't wait to catch up with everyone. Not much going on in the homefront. The sick germs have invaded our home and I am doing everything I can to evict them. Miss Butterfly has Strep right now. SHe has been so mellow and sick. I have enjoyed the mellow part immensely but not the sickies. Finally today her fever is down.
Been a busy week prepping for IEP meetings with the school. Reys is on monday and I am already tense about it. Jim is going to go with me for support. I want so much more for this child and all they care about is the fact that he is passing. I have been working with him on a daily bases and that is the only reason he is reading. He is a yr behind. It ticks me off that I have to fight so much for him to get him what he needs. This no child left behind crap is exactly that.. crap, Whoever came up with it must not have special needs children. Ok off my box.
Dominic still loves to read. He is enjoying the Captain Underpants books. I would love some recommendations for books for him. He is 8 and into chapter books. I just bought him 2 biographies for black history month that he is ready to read.
Gracie is being cute as ever. She has been spending a lot of time on her belly and is trying so hard to rool over and get on her knees. She sees the other kids running around and she wants to be moving with them. She gets so excited when they are around but she also loves her QUIET( yes that does happen for a few hours a day) time cuddling with mommy. She managed to bring her toes up to her mouth today by pulling on her footie jammies.
I sent in my admission papers for School next fall and did the financial aid. I am excited about that. Not much more except I have been working on my Ebay store to try and supplement our income. Check it out if you get a chance.Kiarrah's Closet

Thursday

We are enjoying life here. Things just never seem to slow down. I guess that is life with 4 kids. My sister claims I have a gift of going on in life like having four kids is normal. LOL Isn't it? I guess for some people it isn't. And to think I would love another one.
Gracie is gaining weight. She is now 13.7 pounds and 25 inches long. She is now in the 5 percentile. YEA!!! She loves to eat and how dare you eat anything in front of her with out giving her some. She will start hollering at you and start smacking her lips. She has quite the personality and sure makes all of us laugh. Her brothers and sister adore her. Kiarrah is doing better with her but I still have to closely monitor her with her because she gets rough or get a sudden jolt of energy and doesn't stop to think that she could hurt Gracie. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is some nasty stuff. I wish I could get into her mind and truely understand what she is feeling. Everything is so off all the time. It is like two minds are trying to run one body.
The boys are doing ok. Reynaldo has been having issues with cycling. Spring is upon us and his Bipolar seems to get so out of wack this time of year. I am trying so hard to learn when he is at the breaking point so that he can be redirected but I am not always so lucky. Please keep us in prayers because this gets so difficult at times. Dominic is doing great. Just sassy and fresh like most 8 year olds.

Guess Who is 7 Months

Update on Life

Life has been a little on the busy side lately. Haven't had much time to blog. Things are good. Just s short little summary for you.
Dom and Rey both did really good on their report cards this quarter and made Effort Roll. I was so proud of them. They are both enjoying their classes at the Arts Academy. Dominic loves to paint but is struggling with having to do still life stuff. He much prefers being free and using his imagination. He does need to learn these concepts though. Rey loves his hip hop class. I have yet to see any of his moves. The teacher has informed me that he does dance. I need to just spy on him on of these days. Just don't want to get caught and have him not want to participate.
Kiarrah is in ballet tap. It is a great way for her to get her energy out. Especially with the tap dancing.
Gracie is growing. We got back to the Dr. on thursday for her to get weighed. I got her a highchair and she thinks that she is big stuff sitting in it. She is such a messy eater too.
Not much else to get into right now.

Someone get the Lysol

I want to scream!!! Cover your ears!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH. We just got all the sickie germs out of the house and alas they are back. I got a call from the boys school today. Reynaldo was throwing up. Not again. This is one major disadvantage to having 4 kids. Now I am on a mission to keep them away from each other so they don't share. Yes dear children I like when you share but not this time.
I did something exciting. I bought plane tickets to go back to my parents next month. I am taking the butterfly and sweet potato. Daddy is gonna keep the boys. We will all head out there this summer for a week or two. The price of tickets was amazing. The whole thing was my DH's idea. It will give Ki and me a chance to maybe work on our relationship.

I've Been Tagged

I have been tagged by my wonderful buddy Sarah who is new to the blogging world. She has amazed me with her new found abilities to link and use the word meme. I have been blogging for a year and never new what that term meant nor did I master linking. This is the very reason that it has taken me so long to respond to this tagging. I needed time to look up how to link to Blogs so this is my first attempt.
Here are the rules to the Meme.
1) Link to the person who tagged you. 2) Post the rules on your blog. 3) Share 6 non-important things ,habits, quirks about yourself. 4) Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blog. 5) Let the random people know that they have been tagged by leaving comments on their blogs.
Ok Now for the List of Quirky Things about me. Are you sure that you are ready for this??

1) I can pick up quarters with my toes. I am ashamed to admit that this talent was discovered during my Wild Drinking Days. After a quarter bouncing, shotglass filling and then slamming down of alcohol night I discovered this easy feat with my feet. Who would have know I could have such a talent with my pretty pedicured toes. Oh to have those youthfull pretty tootsies again. Honey if you are reading this I am in need of a day of pampering. This wonderful talent did come in handy when I was very pregnant and couldn't bend over to pick things up.

2) I have a love for Fresh 350 or higher threadcount sheets. There is nothing finer and more soothing then sleeping into bed with these luxurious sheets. I can't stand cheap sheets. Call me a sheet snob if you must. I have acquired this from my mother dearest. I especially love when you go to a nice hotel and they have the whole upscale bedline. You want to leave there and purchase the whole $2000.00 dollar line.

3) I am petrified of mice. I have nightmares about them either. Have since I was little. It can even be a fake one and I will be lifting my feet and screaming my head off. When I was younger I had gone out to the garage to get the bag of grass seed for my dad and one of those evil critters jumped out of the bag and ran over my hand and landed on my barefoot. I screamed.

4) I love kid movies. Shhhh don't let this get out and please don't tell my kids. Mary Poppins, Summer Magic, High School Musical, even Teenage Mutant Turtles. Coawabunga Dude. Of course I make the kids think I don't like what they are watching but secretly I am "helping" them decide on a movie based on what I want to see. I even enjoy Gracie's Baby Einstein movies. We just borrowed a great movie from my neighbor called The Praise Baby Collection. It is so soothing.

5) I hate socks and shoes. I love to have naked tootsies. I would run around barefoot all the time if I could. I especially hate wearing socks to bed and kick them off immediately if I wear them to bed. I do love shoes and pretty socks but naked feet is my first choice. I have been wearing shoes and socks lately though because it has been so cold and could it have anything to do with the fact that I need a pedicure? See number 1

6) I am a horrible front seat passenger driver. I am surprised I haven't put a hole in the floor board where my imaginery brake pedal is. I know that I drive my DH crazy but....... Hey, he scares me sometime.

So there you have it. The real Jenn..... Can't wait to read yours. I tag

Lori
Desiree
Julie

Gracie Smiles

Well actually, She has before but I haven't been able to capture it on camera because I usually need the flash and it makes her close her eyes. Her eyes actually twinkle when she smiles.

Thrilling Thursday

Let's start off the post with a sweet picture I took the other day.

Aren't they cuties? Today is filled with cleaning the house, listing on ebay and paying bills. FUn FUn FUn.

Kiarrah is doing a little better with Gracie. We have been working on that relationship and my relationship with Kiarrah. It was headed down the toliet but we are trying. She is one of the most stuborrn children I have ever met and I have met my match so to speak. My DH feels we are a lot alike. I just don't see it. I have been trying to spend some one on one time with her and we went and ran errands on Saturday. Just her and I. She bought Gracie a cute little pink elephant for her collection. It is for Valentine's Day so Shhhhh don't tell Gracie.

I finally found some products that work in KiKi's hair. The first one I found works great but is too expensive but we are having really good luck with Infusium 23. She had taken scissors to her hair twice now and I finally have it looking good. I can get a wide tooth comb throough it with ease. Hopefully it will keep it hydrated.

Look at me

Gracie girl thinks she is big stuff when she is propped up to sit. Well, she had her Dr.'s appointment and weighed 12 lbs 4 oz. She is just gonna be a tiny little thing. She is a little behind on some things but she was also 5 weeks early. She got three of her shots and ran a low grade fever. Yesterday and today she is fighting a bug. I have it too but not full force yet. You know when you hurt so much even your hairs on your head hurt? That is what I am starting to feel like. Jim was an angel today and helped me so much this morning. I am so incredibly blessed to have him.
The other three are good. Kiarrah has been up to her usual antics. She managed to get her hands on some scissors again and cut her hair. It is such a mess. We had a babysitter Saturday night so that we could go to a dinner for married couples at our Pastor's house. She was great with the kids and did Kiarrahs hair into a beautiful little style that will work until her hair grows in some more.
We are trying to figure out what to do with her next school year. We have a close friend that has offered to homeschool her with her child. She is a wonderful woman of God and has the patience on a Saint. She also truly "gets" Kiarrah. Not many people do but Kiarrah listens to her also. We are going to do some research on it and check on books and such. She wants to use the Abeka program with her. Any of you have experience with it?
What is really nice about this option is that they can work at their own pace and advance if need be. Please keep this in prayer along with us. I just feel if I send Ki to the public school it is going to be hell. She will eat them alive and become the class bully/trouble maker. The FASD has affected her so much and I am seeing it more and more.

6 Months old Already???

My baby girl is 6 months old today. Where has the time gone? I have been trying to cherish every moment but it still is flying by. We are going to the Dr. today for her check up and shots. I hate the shots part. She actually does pretty well with them. She is loving eathing solids. She has now had applesauce, pears, peaches, green beans, peas and sweet potatoes. She has also had squash but it caused her to break out on her face so we need to wait on that and try again later. Last week when she went to the Dr. she weighed 12 pounds so hopefully she gained alittle more. She is staying steady at the 3 precentile.

On another note, the butterfly had the 24 hour bug yesterday. Nothing knocks her down though. She is fine today thank goodness.

Pruning

Did you ever notice that it hurts when God Prunes us? This has been on my mind a lot this morning. Gracie got the dreaded stomach bug. Started throwing up last night a little after ten. I feel so bad for her. We are taking it easy today and she is sleeping. Just trying to keep the other little monsters quiet so she can sleep.