They're here!!!

PICTURES, PICTURES, PICTURES!!!

Sending our thanks to Sabrina Short of Sweet Sassafras!
Sorry, family, no printing these.  Just let us know which copies you want
and we can arrange ordering them!

Considering how hectic everything was and that I botched everyone who had hair long enough to botch and that I didn't hire a friend to come help juggle kids and fix hair between shots (my ideal because I'm so photo obsessed), they came out pretty cute.  This is a whole slew of our favorites--some are super cute and great quality shots, some are just fun, and some are poses that I liked for future reference.

These next few were taken right near the end.

Happy 10 Years this May, My Love!!!

                       

 

Aww. . .

CUTE!!!

My Little Man!!!

So grown up!

Not the best framing, but what's a photo shoot with a little girl without a couple flower poses?

:)

We were really trying to warm him up!

  

And I knew eventually this would do the trick!

Yay!!!

Hard to choose a favorite with these next ones.

He, he, he!  Buddies!

I wish I'd been holding his hands with my index fingers for this one.
I was probably in the middle of trying to switch when she took the shot, although I think I'd tried to tickle him to get a smile at some point too.  He was missing his nap AND stranger shy, so he was not so thrilled about this whole thing.

Squished Lil'S!

We really tried to get all three kids together, and I wish we'd tried more poses and thought to take H's glasses off to avoid the glare.  It's tough to keep a two-year-old interested and a tired baby content, though, so that didn't really happen, sad to say.

Cute, but they really need Daddy in there someplace too.  

(I've seen too many single mom and kids pictures!)

These just make me laugh.

N wasn't so sure about this either.

Shy N!

Yay for smiles!

HA-hahaha!

So sweet!  Lil'S totally adores his baby brother.  

Someday I hope the same thing will exist in the reverse!

My silly crew!

Another Family Photoshoot Pict

I didn't notice this picture S took because I only saw what he'd posted to Facebook, not all of the pictures he'd taken.  He did a nice job framing it.  This is the kids at the duck pond of the Sarah Duke Gardens.

Coming Soon!

Family Pictures!

We just had them today.  I'm not making any promises, but still I'm excited and hopeful because it's the first time we've actually sought out someone else to take a nice group shot for us.  However, I was so overanxious about them that we ended up with two botched haircuts, everyone wearing blue shirts but Daddy*, and only a 40 min. session instead of an hour long one.  But, hey, it'll be us, and hopefully everyone will be smiling!  Okay, except maybe N.  Baby's are given that excuse.  

Overall, though, we really had a great time during it--so much so that I think we just might do it again sometime. . . . in another five or so years, that is.  (Sooner would be great, but we'll just have to see how life goes, eh?)

Here's a shot S got of Lil'S and H looking at some ducks after we were done.

*We originally planend on the girls in brown sweaters (with baby blue accents) and the boys in baby blue but Daddy didn't have a brown shirt to match Lil'S and N, except Lil'S's blue shirt is too bright, but we can't put him in brown because then he'd be the odd-man out, so boys in ? and oh look daddy's blue shirt is too bright so what should he wear?  Oh, his green eyes look great in that green shirt.  Daddy in green!  So, should we put H in yellow because she look so much better in yellow than blue?  Then boys in green and girls in whatever, which for H was a new blue dress she'd just been given, yet the Mom ran out of time to put sew new buttons on her brown sweater and pulled on her teal blue fitted top she's been eyeing.  Then the two boys then ended up wearing different shades of blue as Dad followed Mom's scatter-brained, directive shouts as she dressed in the bedroom.  That's how Daddy ended up being the odd ball out.  But, hey, we grabbed a brown shirt for N on the way out the door, so maybe in at least one shot Daddy won't stand out too badly.  :)  How's that for stream of conscience?

School Portrait

Here's my cutie!

The company the school used this year allows for a free low-res picture you can print (small!) and use online.  You can also buy the rights for a higher-res photo, but you have to pay like $30 or something for it.  We figured we'd save the money and use it toward family pictures--which I did find a photographer for, thanks to Living Social!!!*  I do wish they'd fixed her collar and centered her a tad more, but they did get a great smile from her.  Check out those missing teeth!  We keep laughing that she should be a vampire for Halloween!  We were also able to chose the background.  I liked doing that because with her coloring, you really have to be careful to chose colors that work for her.  S recommended the grey, and I was a bit hesitant, but I now think he chose the best one.  It allows her coloring to be the focal point of the photograph, rather than letting it get lost behind a bright background.

*I'm (obviously) super picky about photography, being the photo-junkie that I am, and I've been searching for an opportunity to have a professional family photo shoot for a price that fit in our budget for a couple years now.  I found that Groupon and Living Social often have deals from photographers looking to market their skills, but until now I haven't been fully satisfied with the pricing, quality or style of the photographers.  I prefer a natural, photojournalistic approach, as that's my own style, but some photographers now are messing with the colors by over saturating them. I don't want my babies looking like they're wearing dark pink lipstick.  That's just not my thing.  It's a little tricky, though, to get good quality photographs of your own family without the right equipment.  I do have a great film camera, as well as a tripod, but I don't have a remote.  And even if I did have a remote, my kids aren't quite at an age where they'd consistently look at the camera and smile.  They need someone human to tease their grins out of them.  As we learned with N, though, all we have to do is say, "Boo!"

H AD/HD Cont.

From an email to a friend, who was surprised H would be considered hyperactive. . . .

I, too, am eager for that moment when we get to learn how everything really works!  Oh, wow, have I been waiting for that moment!!!  I'm so tired of trying to piece things together when I'm sure I'm missing pieces of the puzzle!

Well, here's the story:

I've been back and forth on the hyperactive part too.  She never stood out to me when she was younger as being overly active, but she's seemed much more active the past year or so since losing her sleep (full-day school), which really I view as a sleep issue.  She's wired-tired!  Her teacher reported she's had difficulties sitting still in class, is distracting other kids, and is usually running and skipping rather than walking.  She's also been bouncing off the walls at home in the afternoons/evenings.  She normally can't sit at the table for dinner; she's usually standing or leaning against me.  But, hmmm...leaning on me. Maybe because she's tired?  Yes!  

Through kindergarten, we ate early (4:45/5) and tried to be as consistent as possible with her bedtime (6, but 6:30 after N came) and brought her home once a week as needed so she'd get 3 naps a week.  She was still difficult to work with, but at least she was mildly functioning.  Homework got done, even if it took an hour and a half, and we were able to get her to bed on time.  However, she got off schedule the last few weeks of school when my parents visited, and we never got her back on schedule through the summer.  When school started, we tried and tried to return to the previous early schedule, but it just wasn't working.

Then, just shy of a week before her evaluation, we switched around her afternoon schedule so that she was eating dinner super early (4/4:15) and didn't ask her to do her homework until after dinner.  Suddenly she was cooperative!  Okay, more cooperative!  Homework has actually taken 30 minutes at times!  Wow!  Bedtime at 6/6:30 became an attainable goal again!  Within a week of this, she finally stopped waking every single night.  It's been four months since she only woke once a week!!  

She was still pretty hyper by the evaluation, though.  I think she's been much calmer through this second week or so, but she's still been inattentive and tantrumy.  However, she's also been off her maintenance asthma med the past week, and I've observed the past couple days that she's not breathing as well, so that may be why she's not as active, rather than the improved sleep.  We'll have to see over this next week how her activity level changes as she gets back on that med. 

I'd really gone back and forth on getting her evaluated, since I've felt like she'd be given the diagnosis whether or not it was really ADD or her sleep causing her behavior problems (difficulty transitioning and following instructions, not finishing things, super messy, daily tantrums).  And, I was going to cancel the evaluation if her teacher saw no problem, but she did.  However, I've realized since that having her evaluated has at least re-enforced for us that her behavior is not intentional.  She's not failing to follow through on requests because she's stubborn and disobedient; she's simplyforgetting because she's distracted--whether because of insufficient sleep or because of AD/HD.  Forgetfulness and defiance need to be handled quite differently!  A willing but forgetful child who is treated as a rebellious one quickly becomes defiant intentionally, and we've seen an awful lot of that.

So, the hope is that combining improved sleep and different parenting styles, we'll have our darling H 80% of the time, rather than 20% of the time.  She may still need to go on medication for AD/HD as well, but I'm fine with that if these other things don't help enough.  I know what it's like to have an AD/HD brain!  :)  

Lil'S Speech Update

Through the end of summer, Mr. S (the little one) really started cruising on his language development.  He went from saying two word sentences to four, and he started saying many new sounds, as well as a few different syllables paired together.  Additionally, the letters "N" and "M" showed up at the end of some of his words.  Here are some examples.

"Mom!" or most often, "Mom-mom!"  (He would call Daddy "Da-da", naturally, but one day Daddy started calling him "S-S", and it's spread to me as well. :) )
"Run!"
"Rain"
"chee" new this past week!  (or at least it's kind of a "ch"...this is for cheese. This kid LOVES cheese of all kinds.  He could eat it all day if I'd let him.)
"doh" door

Okay, where's that list I finally typed up for his preschool and primary teachers last week?  (I ended up joining a mommy preschool coop!  Keeps us busy!)

brrrm - car
tuh - truck (fairly new, often still says brrm)
oo-oo - train (can also say toot-toot, please encourage him to say it instead)
heh - help (may also pat his chest)
nah - thank you (may tap his chin)
sorry - he'll go to the person and gently stroke them once; he'll have this super cute, penitent expression on his face :)
pay - play
eee! - eat
m-m-m - milk (may open and close his fist)
wa-wa - water
more - more
ruh, run - run
ray - rain
ouu - shoe(s)
boo! - something has been found!
boo - boots
buh - book
boh - boat
payn - plane
funny b sound, moving his tongue from one side of his mouth to the other - bubbles, berries, balloons
one
two
dee - three
or - four
ive - five
A
B
ee - C
D
E
O
U...others too, this is supposedly the quick list. ;)

If you ask him to, he can say . . .
I - I
pee - please (new this week, more likely he'll rub his chest)
me! - Me!
bay-bay - baby

This past week's sounds he paired together successfully during therapy:  "Bay-bee!"  "Mom-mee!"  "Pu-pee!" and......hmmm....what was the last?  He refuses to perform "Da-dee" for his therapist, which makes us laugh.  He'll say it at home when he's mad or excited.  The first time he said it, which was likely four or so weeks ago, was after Daddy tucked him into to bed and left the room.  I soon heard this, "DAA-DEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!"  Wahoo!!

Sentences most often heard around the house:
very firmly "No, Ha!  Meh B-b-b-b!"  (No, H!  That's my car!)  Always makes me smile. :)  It may not stay that way for long, but oh, how glad I am to hear him say it now!  ;)
super soft, cute voice: "Heh me, Mom-mom!"  (Help me, Mom!)

Golden sentences:
"Me . . . oh . . . doh . . . Mi-mi!" (I opened the door for Mitzie!)  He is not a door opening child, so he was so super proud of himself!  Gratefully, as we live in a cul-de-sac off of a country highway, after he learned to open doors he quickly moved on to learning other skills and failed to apply his skill in a way that would put his life on the line.  Oh, how grateful I am!!!!

Said in super sweet voice after I help him with something, "Mom heh me!"  (Oh, my mommy loves me so much that she just helped me ___!)

super sad voice:  "Nee A-A....nee A-A...."  (Need Miss A....)  He said this after Tuesday's therapy session as he wept by the door.  He was in tears for quite a while after she left, so Wednesday we had him walk her to her car in hopes that would result in a happier goodbye.  Success!  I was grateful.  We'd tried it before with mixed results.

If it's time to go somewhere:
"oouu!" (shoes)
"haa!" (this red, white, and blue knit hat H was given years ago by our neighbor who died of cervical cancer)  An older gentlemen commented last week that he needed a baseball hat.  ;)  I had been ignoring those scalloped edges in hopes that no one else noticed either.  Foolish thought, I guess.....
"in brrrrm!"  New this past week or so!  (Let's go, Mom!  Let's get in the car!  Come on!  What's the hold-up?!?)

It's also super fun now to hear him actually talk for his cars and trucks during play.  Of course there's lots of "B-b-b-b-b-b!", but hearing him say, "heh me!" (help me!) or "uh!" (up) as he plays puts a smile on my face.  He gets all this "help me" stuff from a couple truck books he has, where one truck helps another.  Oh, and from therapy!  Miss A has a car puzzle that he puts together and then a tow truck piece that has a magnet hanging on it so that he can pick up the magnetized car pieces and put them away.

What I was too busy to post in Sept!

Rolling was a pretty efficient way to get around, much as we all love his scooting now, but he must've scooted backward accidentally to get in this position.  I must say, though, that once after a diaper change, he did a backward somersault over his shoulder and ended up lying perpendicular to how he had been, with his head in the same place.  Nice abs, eh?

We got a new kitchen table!  Here's H with our old one, all taken apart and sitting in our family room.  She's showing off her missing teeth.  She's since lost her last very top front one, and when she smiles she looks like she has fangs.  Time to get a new picture, eh?  

I was also trying a photography technique I learned at Stake Women's Day.  Notice how there's no awful glare hiding her beautiful eyes?  The trick is to tilt the earpieces of your subjects glasses up slightly, so that the lenses are just slightly angled down.  Love it!  And it's so simple I'm embarrassed that I didn't think to have her do it sooner!

Mr. N now has six teeth and chows down on oat o's and our fingers and anything else I can find to feed him.  He just started letting me feed him--vs. him always doing it--from my finger about a week ago.  Prior to that, he'd dodge away and squinch his eyes closed and put his little fists up in front of his mouth like a boxer.  Hmm....might that be due to all that tylenol we've forced on him?  YES!  Not much trust here!  We probably have $60-80 of baby food passed on to us from some friends, and he won't hardly touch the stuff.  Okay, correction:  he won't hardly eat the stuff.  Smearing it around is kinda fun, but when you insist on feeding yourself at 6 and 7 months of age, your not going to get much baby mush in you.  On to real food!

H's gotta show off that missing tooth!

I am completely in love with Lil'S's "say cheese!" grin.  

He actually keeps his eyes open when he does it!

This boy LOVES cars, trains, and trucks.  

Are we surprised?  Really?

Me . . . forever!

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/add.png

Thanks, S, for sending this to me.  

I needed a smile this morning!

Hearing Loss & Pneumonia & ADHD, Oh My!

So, this month or so has been a busy one health-wise for Miss. H.  She developed some fairly significant (and gratefully temporary!) hearing loss.  Apparently there was fluid behind her eardrum, which appears to have been caused by allergies.  (How nice it felt to cancel that audiology appointment upon her being re-tested a few weeks later!)  She also had two episodes of breathing difficulties due to mild pneumonia--as in, blue lips, grunting instead of breathing, curled up into a ball.  Terrifying, but it's over now and we're moving on and I really don't want to know how she would react to a decent case of pneumonia.  And, this morning, she was just diagnosed with AD/HD.

Yes, things have been crazy around here, which is how they usually are to be completely honest, but I guess they have been more so than usual.  I think I'm starting to get used to it though, and I have a feeling that with three kids now, that's just what normal is going to be for the next 20 or so years of my life!  (Yes, we're not done having kids yet, so 18 years wouldn't be quite accurate. ;) )

Here's what I just wrote to a cousin about H's AD/HD evaluation:

Well, we just had [H] evaluated today at Duke's ADHD Clinic, and, yup, she "qualifies" as moderately AD/HD, with both inattentive and hyperactive.  The woman evaluating her said there've been some studies regarding sleep and ADHD, which I hadn't heard before when I've asked others, so I'm eager to learn what they are and what was learned from them.  We'll be starting "parent training" ;) hopefully sooner rather than later (she'll have her own behavioral therapy as she gets older), and as [H] s more on the moderate vs. mild side of the spectrum, we'll be doing some medication trials too, if [S] feels more comfortable about that idea after meeting with the clinic's psychiatrist.  I'm really hoping we are able to quickly find a medication/dosage that works well for her, although I know it can take some trial and error.  I know she's unhappy with the way things have been just as we have, and I look forward to her being able to have a little more control over her choices and reactions.  I also am really looking forward to [S] and I being on the same boat as to our expectations for her behavior and our reactions to it.  ;) 

Additionally, I'm very happy thus far with the people we've met with.  Their goal is to look at the whole range of a child's issues to be sure problems are handled properly, rather than just quickly slapping on a label, and they seem to be doing this well so far.  We'll see how "parent training" and the initial appointments for her med trials go!

P.S. We found the cause of Baby N's constant congestion and wheeziness: GERD.  I should have figured that one out!  He's been on meds for a week now, and his breathing is beautifully clear!  I'm so relieved to not have to put another child on steriods!!

Surprise!

I set N down and guess what he decided to do . . . 

SCOOT AWAY!!!

This these vids are the second moments of scooting for me to see, although I had wondered if he'd done it this morning after I found him in the middle of a preschool activity I'd left in the middle of the room.

Yes, this is a normal thing for most babies, 

but as my earlier babes didn't do it, 

it's super fun for me!

p.s. N loves stuffed animals.
However, he LOVES big stuffed animals.
Like, absolutely, completely, positively LOVES big stuffed animals.

First Grade!!!

It's finally here, and H's oh, so happy!

There she goes!

Everyone but sleeping Baby N was there to see her off. 

Apparently our train-and truck-obsessed little boy liked getting to see the school bus.  (Turn your volume all the way up if you can't hear him. ;) )

She's home!

Just a clip of the 5min. vid I took after she got home.  I started recording a bit late, so as clarification, I had asked her how her first day was and when it starts, I'm repeating back to her what she said for the sake of the viewers.

I'm so excited for her to be back in school, but I'm also very concerned about her being back in school.  Like last year, sleep is still an issue.  How much can she handle with the amount of sleep she IS able to get?  She's been waking nightly--which she only does when sleep deprived--since the last few weeks of school, and she's rarely gone without doing so the whole summer long.  It's hard to tell from the movie, but immediately after getting off the bus, she was fighting off tears.  She still spoke positively about her day, which is a good sign, and I was definitely doing my best to just show excitement for her first day, as worried as I was.  However, after we went inside and she got settled (which took forever for shoes, lunch bag, school folder, backpack, etc, so I got a bit frustrated and lost my temper a bit with us taking so long, which probably didn't help the following), she told me she had a headache.  She's never had a headache before.  I got her some Tylenol while she lied down for a bit.  Not a good way to start to the new year--my part or hers.  Gratefully, the past couple afternoons have been better, although not without their moments of fatigue and moments of wired-tiredness.

Hopefully the benefits of attending school will outweigh these challenges!!!

Many Ways to Use a T-shirt

Apologies in advance for no pictures!  I'm in a hurry so that I actually get something done tonight!

In scanning class descriptions for my church's Women's Day, I came across a class teaching how to make cute fabric bags from old t-shirts.  The idea intrigued me as I've been wondering about the end-life of old, stained t-shirts and the waste that likely results.  (And then I came across the book mentioned in my previous post, very cool.)  So, I did a little online searching and found ideas that *shock!* even I can do at home!

This first is the one I would do if I could sew--even for five minutes. ;)
http://vermillionrules.blogspot.com/2010/01/t-shirt-ruffle-scarf-tutorial.html
http://www.kevinandamanda.com/whatsnew/crafts-projects/make-this-quick-n-easy-ringlet-t-shirt-scarf.html
Wahoo!  Gifts for family and teachers!!!  And a fun project for Hannah to learn braiding through!
http://thisolddress.blogspot.com/2009/07/diy-recycled-t-shirt-braided-scarf.html
This is how I'm going to make myself a little bag to hold my cell phone in, rather than buy a phone holster. The loops can slide onto a belt when I dress in the morning, although I'm brainstorming ways to just attach it to a belt loop (such as making it with only one loop, but I'm worried about the opening being too big.)  Can I do it with a sock, or would it just unravel?  Do I even have an old sock that wouldn't make it end up looking like I've got a sock hanging off my belt loops?
http://www.skiptomylou.org/2012/06/07/recycled-t-shirt-summer-bags-craft-camp/

Overdressed

http://catalog.co.orange.nc.us/POLARIS/search/title.aspx?pos=1

Wahoo!  I've been wondering about all this!!!

This is for you, Grandpa!

These pjs were passed down from a friend.  They make me smile. 

:)

All Three Munchkins!

I finally have a picture of all three munchkins SMILING!!!  

Not the greatest of shots, sadly true, but I love it because they're my kids and they are SMILING!

Did I mention they were SMILING?

All of them?

In the same shot?

REALLY!!!!

(Okay, I'll stop now....)

It all started when Lil'S, who usually throws a fit the moment the camera shows up because he wants to play with it, decided that he was actually going to copy his sister by posing with baby brother. 

I quickly called sister over to join in the fray, hoping against hopes that it just might work this time.

Try #1....nope....

Try #2--SCORE!!!

I've messed with it all sorts of ways to try to improve it, but I don't know that this is really better either.  I really need to cut out the background for starters and then play with their images.

And that one moment disintegrated--but I got the shot!!!

huh, what?

I think the baby's attention span was better than his siblings'.

Always happy to smile for the camera.

See?

No, really, she is almost ALWAYS happy to smile at the camera.

Love it when Lil'S plays with N.  He brought over some blocks to show N how he can stack them.

Oh, what love!

Hey, wait!  Where'd everybody go!?