Thursday, June 29, 2006

The Beach

Well we have gone to the beach the past 3 days and it has been absolutely wonderful! The kids love it. It is funny Dylan does not seem to care that the water is only 58 degrees, he wants in! Alex's physical therapist suggested he walk on the beach to improve his balance and coordination, and he is doing a great job. he wants in the water too! Mackenzie is afraid of the sand crabs, but loves the beach as well. It is so great to watch the kids in the Ocean. It is very nostalgic for us. Before kids... John and I spent every nice day over the summer at the Avon beach, we have not stepped foot in that sand for 2 years, but we are back. Spending time at the beach is something that will bring out the inner child in anyone!

Monday, June 26, 2006

Intuition has no place.... or does it?

Intuition has no place in psychology. yes this is what i tell my students the first week of school. I tell them that in order for psychology to be considered a science one must throw intuition out the window. I start my post this way because I truly believe that because of my interest in neuroscience, I was able to help my son. Sometimes I find it very difficult to leave my children each day during the school year, but, ironically my youngest son is reaping numerous benefits because of my job. My job forces me to stay current with the new ideas and trends in psychology, and yes the study of neuroscoence is fascinating. Years ago one believed all mental and physical problems were a result of ones upbringing or prenatal environment. Yet the 1990's proved otherwise, brain chemistry is where it is at and researchers are right. So when Alex was diagnosed with hypotonia I knew there was a problem in the brain. So I refused to wait 6 months to see the neurologist and booked one that was farther away but had an earlier appointment. Intuition told me not to wait.. and the recent Zimbardo video about the plasticty of the brain in early childhood development! So I went and was told the PT is working so keep it up. At Alex's 12 month visit I told the doctor how he does not eat. My doctor, whom I love and think is great in MOST cases! told me to take the bottle away and he will eat. For the first time in my career as a parent( yes it ia a career, one that you don't get paid for yet work your entire life at). I chose to defy his order. Something told me that Alex wanted to eat, but just could not. So I kept him on the bottle and formula all of this time. I know formula is pricey but I want him to get his nutrients! So fast forward to the neurology appointment today. The Neurologist told me that it was a good thing that I kept giving him the bottle, because his hypotonia affects his facial muscles as well. He is not eating because he can;t figure out how to coordinate his mouth movements due to his low tone! He has his feeding assessment in a couple weeks and hopefully the specialists can help us out here. I am sure they can. Let me tell you this, I would bet on Alex any day of the week. He has been progressing at an amazing speed. He has a will that you just can;t teach. It is funny, I thought that about him all along. He is the type of kid that looks at limits and thinks that is where the starting point is. I can see it in his eye. Intuition may have no place in the science books but it has every place in the parenting books. Moms and dads, go with your first instinct, it is usually the right one!

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Cars!

For the first time as a mom, I accompanied my children to the movies( Minus Alex). We went to see the movie Cars. It was a great movie. They both loved it, but I have to critique the length, a 2 hour movie is very long for young children. Mackenzie would have loved the movie to be about 1 hour shorter, but she is only 3. Dylan, on the other hand, would have preferred a 90 minute movie. I see why I have waited so long. If one of them has to go to the bathroom, everyone has to get up. I had to constantly remind them to not kick their feet at the seat in front of them. I also had to tell Mackenzie that she could not dance in the aisle. The movie was great though, but attending one with a 3 and 5 year old is no small feat! Dylan is obsessed with Cars though. He has a Cars bathing suit, PJ's, undies, and all sorts of toys!! It is cute to watch your children pick out the bad guys, and laugh outloud while watching the movie. I am glad I got to experience it with them. I will be ready for another movie next year!!

Friday, June 23, 2006

Dylan and Kenzie graduate from Cyberventures




Yes, I sign my children up for every type of class there is. So when I inquired about cyberventures a few months ago, Miss Samantha told me that they could do a trial class. After one class, they informed me that they loved it. So I was then told that it would be 225 for Dylan and 200 for mackenzie. So I plunked down 425.00 for 8 weeks. Keep in mind they only go one time per week for an hour. They did love Cyberventures but 425.00 later and they are still not computer wizzes, but they have this lovely certificate.

Alexander's hospital pictures look at his IV



this is when Alex was told that he could go home. The poor thing had to spend 36 long hours in the hospital!

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

The not so lazy days of summer

Well this week marked the official beginning of summer. My schedule has not lightened up one bit, it just changed. For example... I was out the door today with all 3 kids at 7am. We went to Perkins for breakfast. Yes I brought all 3 to Perkins by myself. I let my husband sleep because he was up later last night. after Perkins I arrived at the gym at 8am. I stayed until 9am and then went home. Once home, Alex took a quick nap and John and Kenzie went to the gym. I left my house at noon, dropped Mackenzie off at gymnastics and picked up Hunter, to take him and Dylan to Kindercraze at Dorbrook Park. I dropped them off at 1pm. After that I went to Marshalls to by the kids summer sandals, and attempted to go bathing suit shopping at California sunshine. I passed on the hundred dollar bathing suit in favor of at 24.99 polo suit at Marshalls, a much better bargain. Since I forgot to eat lunch, I was getting a little hungry, so I stopped at Panera to get some onion soup. I ate the soup then got Mackenzie. She and I then went to Target. then to Dorbrook so she could play at the park before we picked up Dylan and Hunter. So at 4pm, I loaded up the car and took Hunter home. Once at Hunters house the kids started playing in their big backyard. I let them play until 430 and then took them home. By the time I got home, they had to eat. I fed and then bathed the three of them( John is doing all of the laundry as we speak) and now it is 640 and I have a few seconds of down time. So it is still crazy but just a different type of crazy. I would not trade it for anything! Happy Summer

Sunday, June 18, 2006

World's Greatest Dad

The kids had to get John a shirt that said that for father's day. John actually humored Dylan and wore it to the track with his dad and brothers. It was a boys day at the track. Since it is fathers day, it gives me a chance to reflect on the ways my husband has grown since becoming a dad. John always tells me that the births of his children were the most special days of his life, the wedding day was good as were the 3 Stanley cups by the Devils, and the Red Sox comeback of 2004. John has taught the kids many things, I will attempt to list as many of them that I can think of here. Dylan and mackenzie really do believe that all fathers do the laundry. They know it is daddy's job and mom never touches it. They know which teams to root for in all professional sports. Dylan knows more about the various professional teams than I do. They know that daddy does not like peanut butter, he is allergic to it, but they can like it if they want. mackenzie likes peanuts, Dylan does not( the verdict is still out on Alex). All's the kids have to do is ask daddy to play catch and he is outside in a heartbeat. They think that daddy's do the dishes after dinner and always put them to bed at night with mom. There are so many things that they are learning because of him. Since we have a very egalitarian household, they have learned that yes boys like blue and girls pink. Barbies are for girls and trucks are for boys, but they really believe that everyone cooks, cleans, and takes care of babies. This is nice. John has helped out Dylan and Alexander's future wives! Overall John is a great daddy and the kids are lucky to have him. Perhaps the greatest part is that John also has the entire summer off to play with his family!!

Friday, June 16, 2006

A night to myself... well sort of

John had to go to his graduation work party tonight and Dylan and Mackenzie are sleeping at my mothers, so that leaves me and Alex... home- alone. Well to be honest, I am bored. I already finished eating dinner, I finished the cookies and cream ice cream in the freezer( sorry dylan and kenz!) and basically have nothing to do. It is 7pm and Alex has been asleep for the past 1/2 hour, so it is all me! I realized that although this is my first full day off, that I miss being busy. I am so used to running around like a mad woman after 3 kids and teaching young adults, that I do not know what to do with myself when I am alone. Trust me.. I could clean the house, or wrap the fathers day gifts but I am not doing that tonight. I will wrap the gifts tomorrow and the cleaning part, well if you know me... you know that is not going to happen. I would rather work an extra few hours to pay someone to clean my house, well I already do that and she was here today so the house still looks decent. Trust me by Monday it will be a complete mess, and then I will have to wait another 10 days for a decent looking house again. Thank God for cleaning ladies. So it will just be John, Alex, and I for the next 18 hours or so. I am already thinking about how easy the moring will be. There will not be any fighting, just me and my little guy. We will go to the gym at 8am, stay till 9. he will take a nap, then we will hit gymboree and then back to my mothers, back to reality. Having just one child is wasted on the new parent. Kind of like youth is wasted on the young! Because I can still remember when it was only Dylan, and I remember how the days seemed incredibly more hectic, more demanding than anything I have ever experienced before. I can remember looking at moms of more than 1 thinking. How do they possibly do it? Do they have a secret nany hidden somewhere? I do not understand. When mom's of one ask me if three is hard... I tell them, the first is always the hardest, it just is. On a night like tonight with my one sleeping baby in tow, I think... this is nice, peace and quiet. I can do anything I want with him, I just tote him along with me. Then I think back to March of 2001- Novemeber 2002. I remember that everything seemed so difficult, and the thought of Mackenzie coming frightened me. I never thought that I could handle more than one. Now I think the Peace and quiet frightens me, because I do not know what to do with myself. So it is back to the freezer, I think there is more ice cream in there somewhere!! I will do a couple extra miles tomorrow. I will have the time!

Thursday, June 15, 2006

So Summer is officially here

Summer has started for me today. The kids graduated yesterday, and the usual suspects went out for drinks at a co-workers house. it is amazing the difference between those with young children and those with no and or grown children. For starters I was the only one there with a child under 10. The non-parents can drink... Let me tell you. I could not believe how much booze was consumed by a bunch of teachers, it was amazing. Now I was part of this group about 6 years ago, which coincides with the time I got pregnant with my first. I remember how much fun it was to go out and do whatever and have no worries. What is difficult to understand however is how come, even when a babysitter is ready and we do not have kids for the night, that we still cant go crazy.; I guess it is the thought of them that stops us at the second and definately by the third drink. yes.. the thought of them, waking up at 5am and needing constant attention! Well even with three children in tow, the lazy days of summer are officially here. Tomorrow, I plan on waking up, going to the gym and then taking the kids to the park. Alex has therapy at 1130 so it wont be a long day at the park, but it will be nice. I am taking my sister home tonight, she has spent the last 2 nights with us and has really helped out with the kids. Parents that decide to get pregnant again after they have a 12 year old girl are onto something. They get to share the work! They have a built in babysitter. I am lucky to have her, she is great with the kids. Well off I go back to my moms, so the kids can go swimming. Hello summer, here I come!

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

A horrible weekend

Well the weekend started with so much promise. After our exams on Friday, a bunch of us went out drinking after work and had quite a good time. My husband called me at 315 and said that he would take care of picking the kids up so I could hang out with my friends! It was such a nice gesture on his behalf. Well reality hit when I got home. Alex had a stomach virus. He was up all night on friday. We had to change him and the sheets every couple hours, but he seemed to be doing better on Saturday, Saturday night was when it went downhill. He started vomiting and could not keep anything down. By early Sunday morning he was listless, so I put a call into the doctor and went to the ER. They admitted him and gave him an IV drip. We were in the hospital from Sunday morning at 730 until Monday at 430pm. It was a very long weekend. I am back to work today. My mother came up big time and took Dylan and Mackenzie over night on Sunday and took a half day off today to take care of Alex! I told her I would bring her lunch! Well thats it, hopefully my next blog will be more of a happy one!!

Horrible weekend

Well the weekend started with so much promise. After our exams on Friday, a bunch of us went out drinking after work and had quite a good time. My husband called me at 315 and said that he would take care of picking the kids up so I could hang out with my friends! It was such a nice gesture on his behalf. Well reality hit when I got home. Alex had a stomach virus. He was up all night on friday. We had to change him and the sheets every couple hours, but he seemed to be doing better on Saturday, Saturday night was when it went downhill. He started vomiting and could not keep anything down. By early Sunday morning he was listless, so I put a call into the doctor and went to the ER. They admitted him and gave him an IV drip. We were in the hospital from Sunday morning at 730 until Monday at 430pm. It was a very long weekend. I am back to work today. My mother came up big time and took Dylan and Mackenzie over night on Sunday and took a half day off today to take care of Alex! I told her I would bring her lunch! Well thats it, hopefully my next blog will be more of a happy one!!

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Suprising last day

Well yesterday was the last full day of school for me. The last time, that I will see many of the seniors that I had in class this year. I, just like every other teacher on the planet looks forward to the last day of school. It is the beginning of summer, the beginning of freedom, the sun, the water, lazy days and nights( I still plan on going to the gym twice a day though!). I was actually quite sad at the end of the day. This was the first year of teaching my new subject. So each class ended with hugs and thank you's. Period 2 especially suprised me. Some of the kids in the class that are not very vocal normally, made my day. These girls were so complementary, and they have know idea of how much it meant to me. You see, normally a teacher can tell which kids love the class, hate it etc. I thought these kids thought the class was okay, but nothing great. The kids in my school are very critical of their teachers as well. They( especially the AP and honors kids) complain if a class is too easy or to hard, if the teacher is not doing a good job etc. These kids are our best critics. And for them to complement me and my teaching style, meant so much. This continued throughout the day, and I left school feeling happy, but sad. We ended the year with either a breakfast or a pizza party, and I will miss all of the students greatly. I want to thank all of my students( I know they will probably never read this) for making my life as a full time working mother of three, easy. One may think... How could it possibly easy? It seemed easy because it was fun! Yes, my job, the one I get paid for, is a lot of fun. Then again I find a grueling workout to be fun, and juggling all of my responsibilites fun. So on the last day of school, I realized that if you go through life with a smile on your face then, you will probably have fun. I guess this is like the James Lange Theory, we smile so we feel happy! So start smiling everyone!

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

You're Beautiful!

My daughter Mackenzie will tell me out of nowhere a minimum of 5 times a day that I am beautiful. She will say "Mommy you're beautiful" I will then say, Mackenzie.."You are beautiful too."These exchanges are so nice, and makes me realize how sweet little three year old girls are. I am painfully aware that these years are going to fly bye, and soon Mackenzie will rely on me less and less, and then one day she may not tell me every little thing, and she will grow up, but I will always have in my memories the days where I am the center of her universe and she loves her mom more than anything. Mackenzie is a beautiful little girl inside and out with a heart of gold. I hope our relationship will always be this close and as she grows she will continue to say " Mommy you are beautiful, and I will respond with You're beautiful too!

Monday, June 05, 2006

A diploma and cast removal-- what a day

Well today my oldest graduated from pre-school. The ceremony was very nice and my son looked very handsome . I must say as I saw him walk down the isle, my eyes filled with tears. I saw my baby officially become a school aged child. This is a big jump. It makes me reflect on the past 5 years. These past five years have brought me more happiness than I have ever imagined possible. I love my children more than anything in this world, and I think the sun rises and sets on them. As they presented a slide show of the children. It had a picture of each child and what they wanted to be when they grew up. Well most of the boys wanted to be police officers or firefighters, not mine. Dylan wants to be a teacher, He informed me that he wanted to teach big kids like mommy and daddy. Although my husband made the joke by saying, you wont make any money... haha. I said to him that we should be flattered that our child thinks that highly of us. He agreed, here I am thinking that I can't compete with a race car driver or ESPN, and he wants to be like me! I am so proud of him, words can't express how I am feeling at this moment. I decided to reminicise a little about my oldest, the one who made me the mom I am. March 21, 2001 at 3:41pm Dylan entered the world. The devils won that day as well so overall it was a great day. We had a little difficulty getting the feeding thing established, well actually I did, you see Dylan wanted to eat every 90 minutes around the clock for his first 5 months! He was not using me as a pacifier either, he weighed 21lbs at 5months! not bad considering he began at 7lbs. To all you mothers out there... yes I worried deep inside that maybe obesity would be in his future but at 5 years old he is 42lbs and is right at the 50% mark, so there is nothing to worry about. Dylan was the happiest little baby. He smiled all of the time. He began walking at about 12 1/2 months and has been running ever since. He went on a cruise at 14 months, and had surgery at 15months. He gained a little sister at 19 months, and a little brother when he was just 4 years old. Dylan has been a terrific big brother. Around 2-4 years old DYlan was obsessed with Thomas the train. I must have 5000 dollars worth of trains and track. Hopefully Alex will become obsessed too, this way I won't have to buy too much more. Yes I know they have new ones each year, but only about 5 or so, so that wont be too bad. He went to pre school at 3 and has loved every minute of it. He really loves school. Dylan is smart as a whip! I am not just saying that as his mother, he is brilliant.( I know every other mother out there is saying the same about their child!, and you know what... to all of us mommies, our kid is the most brilliant and the best, we are not objective at all). So which brings me to today... Diploma day. I can see why parents get so worked up for graduation day at HS. Even though their child walks across that stage for a period of 10 seconds at most. They are making that leap in life. As they walk across the stage they are changing right in front of their parents eyes. In HS they are officially entering adulthood, in my case, he is entering "real" school. He is growing up, and this fact brings tears to my eyes. Happy tears because he is happy, but sad because as he continues to grow, I can't protect him as much. I can't shelter him from all of the hurt in grammar school. It is bound to happen at some point and he has to learn how to deal himself. Right now I am the center of his universe, I must admit that I like it this way, but know soon it will come to an end. He told me today that I will always be his best girlfriend, and I said DYlan one day when you get big like daddy, you will find another person that you will love more than mommy. He then said to me... No mommy, I will always love you bestest! And I said that I will always love you, your brother and sister more than anything else ever too!( In my case this is the truth, in his who knows!) Dylan taught me how to be a good mommy and taught me how to love unconditionally. I can still remember looking into his big brown eyes when he was about 8 weeks old and becoming overwhelmed with feelings for him, and realizing that the greatest love one can have is for their child. So as I reflect on the days events, I think about that walk across the stage. One brief moment in time... that I will remember forever, then I imagine my other two children completing that same walk, but somehow things will be easier for them because Dylan led the way!

Sunday, June 04, 2006

lessons learned from the reunion

So the reunion was great. I learned alot last night because of it. Some of things that I learned from the evening included... How to drink a few drinks without going over board. I had 3 absolute and clubs and it was the perfect amount. Thirty something adults can be a lot of fun to be around. Everyone seems to remember HS fondly, and has funny stories to tell. My husband can drink a lot of beer, and handle it quite well. My mother realized that watching 5 of her grandchildren at once was not as much fun as she thought it would be, and that the day after a big party is such a let down. I think perhaps one of the greatest lessons learned is that although everyone seemed to be pretty happy with their current lives, it was a wonderful opportunity to go back in time and we all have an inner 18 year old just waiting for the perfect opportubity to come back out!

John's 20th High school reunion


Well we went to John's 20th reunion and had a blast! It was so much fun. The turnout was incredible, and all of the people were very friendly. I will write more later.

Friday, June 02, 2006

Why is everything planned on the same day?

It seems that I can go through an etire year with very little planned events, then boom I get invited to 3 things on the same day. I hate this. On Saturday a bunch of players that were on the soccer team at Rutgers are going to Christa's house in Denville, my best friend in the world invited me to hang out at her house the celebrate her birthday, and it is my husband's 20th HS reunion. I am excited about going to his reunion, since we went to the same school and we know a bunch of people that are going and the date has been planned for quite some time, but I wish I could go to the other events too. Why do they all have to take place on the same date? It is extremely frustrating. So after school today, I am going to the gym and then getting a tan at one of those spray on places! I can't wait to see how it looks. After that I plan on picking up a soup and salad at Panera for dinner, since my husband wont be home. The French Onion soup there and bistro sald is awesome! An added bonus .... My mother is keeping the kids over night! So I can sleep past 6am... YAY!! I will probably still pick them up early by any normal persons standards, but it will be so nice to sleep in a bed with my husband without any other little feet present!! I am looking forward to tomorrow's night out, and I will report back on Sunday