Waiting for Alice in Chains

Alice in Chains tickets are here!

Mama and the kids

Easter Bunny Love

Easter 2010 was a success! Well, as long as we're measuring success by how sunny the day was. (finally) How trampled my backyard was by little feet looking for eggs, and how much trash was strewed around my house. It didn't matter how many times I bent over to pick up the pieces of wrappers and discarded candy, in a few minutes it was back on the floor again. Candy in different colored boxes to designate which child it belonged to. When you have more than a few children it becomes a necessary part of life, this naming and color coding. And every year there is more candy than we need. I'm not sure how or why I tend to over purchase the candy, perhaps because its the basis of Easter and there isn't much else to get. One toy each child, that added up to over thirty dollars. Piper got Littlest Pet Shops, Ivy got a Wizards of Waverly Place wand (the one we wanted to buy her for Halloween but they were completely sold out.) and Odin got this really cool car from the movie Cars. You shake it back and forth and then set it down and it goes! Granted it doesn't go very far because he only shakes it a second or two, but he loves it! Though Mama and Daddy are about ready to take out the batteries! (its loud)

Sierra was with us this year. Usually she ends up with her ex grandmother because they have a big easter egg hunt with the town and the police department. This year I said no when they asked me. I wanted her here with her family. So she ran around helping her sisters and brother find the eggs in the backyard. She smiled. She had a good time. And seeing her participate in family stuff with a smile on her face made me really glad I had her stay here.

Today is Ivy's last appointment with the Neuropsychologist. Her evaluations for an autism spectrum disorder is almost complete. It took us years to get to this point. Years. Just this appointment alone took a year to get. But her behavior at school is starting to get worse. They have a behavior notebook for her now and her day is broken into small chunks of time to try to earn at least 15 stars a day. I think it might help her. But will they try to take her off her IEP next week? I don't know. But I do know that she needs a diagnosis so that I can fight for her better. We've been fighting since she was two years old, and we'll keep fighting.

My girls (and niece)

Sierra is a dork

Just me

PJ is 154 days old!

Avis has gone to be with her father

This is so sudden that I don't even know how to say it except to say it. Last night I got a phone call from Avis's phone, and it was her brother calling to let me know that Avis was in the hospital. She went in because she was still feeling sick from her UTI and found her in full kidney and liver failure. They gave her a day or two to live...
They asked me to contact anyone that was her friend and let them know. I posted on facebook and let Shannon know as well.
Tonya and I went to SMMC after the kids went to bed and Shannon was on her way out. Avis was sleeping the entire time. There was nothing they could do for her except keep her comfortable. We talked to her for awhile and her family even left the room so we could have some time in private. Persephone was straining and giggling. She really wanted me to put her down in Avis's bed. I held her over her and she laughed so much and so hard. We rubbed her hair and I kissed her head.... and we said our goodbyes.

Avis passed away this morning around 3am. Her service will be April 1st. I know I'm not the only one secretly waiting for her to pop up and yell April Fools.. This was just so unexpected.

I will miss her a lot. :( We were planning to do lunch this week.  .....

Its Mr Man!

PJ in the walker

PJ in the highchair

Sarah and PJ with glasses (turn your head lol)

Spring is almost here

We've set our clocks ahead now, and I've found that the kids adjust much easier in the springtime than they do when we roll the clocks back in the fall. They're still waking up at 6 AM but at least they're still falling asleep at 7 PM. We've been going outside the past few days. Temperature wise its been above average this year. It hit 69 the other day! In March! In Maine! I'm hoping that the rest of the season is the same.

Early Intervention was supposed to come to start the evaluation process with Odin the other day. His speech was the major concern, but even some days I'm not sure I'm concerned about it anymore. I go back and forth. I think that he's a bit behind but probably not enough to qualify for services.  The house is clean and we waited for the person to come. Chris was planning on taking the other kids out for awhile to make it easier, even though is leg hurts a lot these days. (and thats another blog post) The person from EI forgot about us, so we ended up doing it over the phone. I wish he would have given me that option to begin with!

So tonight I'm sitting here at 11:30 and dreading going upstairs. I'm tired, but I'm so anxious about tomorrow that I want to keep my mind off things. And by keeping my mind off things what I really mean is, google everything I possibly can about speech and language disorders, in particular Childhood Apraxia of Speech. I'm nervous that EI is going to be in my home. Not just one person, but a few different people. :( Ugh. Chris is going to take Piper and Persephone upstairs while they're here, and hopefully they'll be gone before Ivy is home from school.

If something is going on with Odins speech, I hope that EI really catches onto it and does something. After Ivy, I feel like they've failed us.

Smile and say cheese kids

Skelly clippie

PJ's funny face