Life is an endless Developmental process. We all have unique Abilities and Disabilities. The Day we choose Awareness instead of ignorance, is the DAY we start to see everyone as equal. Gary Spears, DSP



Monday, September 28, 2009

Dedication

We all know that as parents we would do anything to help our kids. We hate to see them struggling. We also know that there are some parents out there that just "have kids". Thankfully I've never REALLY come across too many of these in my path. Don't get me wrong, I do know a few people that yes, they have kids, however are they actually the ones raising them? Not likely. It bothers me. Well - my whole reason for this post is because of Caden. As I said before Caden has been going through a sort of regression. I am not sure what did or didn't start it or what sets it off. He is beginning to talk a TON more, which is SO amazing to hear, however with every great accomplishment and progress, comes regression in other areas. It's just how disabilities work. Take the good with the bad, accept the one step forward and two back. Well being as hands on with Caden as I can possibly be, I continuously keep the lines of communication open at school. I wrote a letter to school last week stating my concerns and issues that I felt needed to be addressed. I also wanted everyone in caden's team to know we were going on vacation, so he would have their reassurance while Mike & I were out of town as well. I was SHOCKED when I opened his notebook on Friday evening and saw what had been written back to me on his daily report. His TA (assistant) wrote
"Thank you for your note and letting us know or your concerns. Thank you SO much for your dedication to your son!!"
What totally threw me, was the dedication to my son. Why would I NOT be dedicated to him and do whatever I could possible do to help him?? It's not that I am not dedicated to him, obviously I am, I just couldn't believe they thought it was that big of a deal. It really made me feel as if I've done well for him. Are there THAT many parents out there who aren't dedicated to their children, special needs or not? It is beyond me how you can be a parent and not give your children your undivided attention, love, care, knowledge and want the best for them always??!! I wonder how many children are out there struggling with possibly the same disabilities as Caden, yet will never get any diagnosis or therapy because the parents don't care enough to bring it to someones attention. Those poor children might fall through every crack, until someday, during elementary or even possibly middle school, one teacher will care enough to take that child and give them the direction that very much needed during those important early intervention 0-3 years.

I just had to share this because it was bothering me. I guess that is why we do believe that god doesn't give us any more then we can handle. I know we question this ALL the time, but it's times like this that you know you've done right but it.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

It's Girl Scout Cookie Time !!!


Yep, It's that time again ~ The beginning of fall is COOKIE TIME! Courtney is once again selling girl scout cookies, the sale runs from now until October 22nd. The cookies come in at the end of November and the money will be due at that time (at delivery).Available Cookies are as follows:

*Lemon Chalet Cremes - (lemon sandwich cookie)
*Trefoils - (shortbread)
*Do-Si-Dos - (peanut butter sandwich)
*Samoas - (coconut)
*Dulce De Leche - (Latin inspired caramel)
*Thank U Berry Munch **NEW** - (dried cranberries in this one, not sure what else)
*Tagalongs - (Peanut butter patties, covered in chocolate)
*Thin Mints - (the favorite!!)

Each box is $3.50 ~ If your interested, you can email us, call us, text us, or leave us a comment here. We can ship them after they come in, or deliver them also... So let us know!

Thank U Berry Munch Cookie


Dulce De Leche Cookie

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Sleep is so overrated anyway

I swear I feel like we have 2 newborns in the house. I am SO exhausted. Sometimes I sit here and wonder what i did to these kids that they Misbehave so badly and NEVER sleep? I wonder what I could have done differently during my pregnancy to make them more average? And what is it about my parenting skills that I messed up SO badly on?? I like to think I did OK with Courtney, and back then it really was just her and I for the most part, until Mike came along just before her 3rd birthday - so what in the WORLD did I do so wrong with the boys??

***SIGH***
Seriously though - I wish I could find a way to make sleep happen in my house after 4am. Currently it just is NOT there. Caden began to finally sleep in his own bed a couple months ago, and had began sleeping through the night months before that with his weighted blanket and wrap. Since he's been back to school though, we gone through a rough patch and have seen a bit of regression in his daily behavior, as well as potty and sleep patterns too. So we are back to waking up multiple times during the night, having to be either touched, re-covered and just an "are you OK baby"? The best part is since Mike doesn't leave for work at 2am anymore, I can *sometimes* (I stress that since he sleeps like a log) get him to go and do the dirty work. For the past week however, we haven't been able to easily get him back to sleep. He has actually taken to coming into bed with us. Before he would only come after Mike left, now it's the 3 of us alot of the time. AND he needs his hand to be held. I love my children, and would do anything for them. But I also need sleep and making sure that I am holding his hand for 3 hours is not as easy as it may seem. As soon as I slip off to sleep and my hand unlatches his, he is up patting for me yet again. My saving grace is that at least he is old enough to just "lay" in bed, awake or not and not need me to "get" up with him. He might be in bed with me, but at least I am horizontal and not parallel! :-)
Moving onto Colin ~ Who is actually SO MUCH WORSE THEN CADEN!! What the heck??? Unlike Caden, he doesn't stay in Bed. He gets out and doesn't get back in. So what time has Colin been up this week?? Well last Saturday was 6:30am, Sunday was 5:45am, Monday 4:45am, Tuesday was ~ are you ready?~ 4:15AM!!!! ARGH! Today was... 5:00am. By those times, Caden is already in bed with me, so once Colin gets up, all 3 of us are up. I just can't figure out what to do get him to sleep, or at least go back to bed. We've put him back and closed his door, gave him juice, a couple times even cereal (yes, were bad, sit in bed and eat so we can sleep!) It lasts all of.... 5 minutes! We've put him/them to bed later, put them to bed earlier. Tried a shorter nap/longer nap, no nap! It doesn't work.
So what is the BEST part of us going on vacation with out kids???
I WILL sleep past 6:30am, even if I have to miss something exciting, I am SO looking forward to sleeping and not being woke up to someone under 4 feet tall!!
As a side note, we are open to ANY and ALL suggestions to get these little boys of ours to sleep until at least 7:00am. Courtney By the way ~ Sleeps like a rock! :-)

Monday, September 21, 2009

Updates Galore!

*Whew* It's been like forever since I've had the opportunity to sit down and get a new post up here! Where to start?? Last week my mom had shoulder surgery. She came out of the surgery well, and is recovering at Aunt Norma's house with Pepper. They are taking good care of her. turns out her shoulder was a pretty mess! Thankfully they didn't have to repair the rotate cuff though. She had a TON of arthritis in there, much much more then the doc had originally thought. They also had to cut her bicep tendon and remove multiple bone spurs as well. She is still in quite a bit of pain, and will be starting regular therapy this week. If this surgery doesn't give her the relief she needs, then they might be looking at a possible shoulder replacement in the future, but we'd all like to avoid that as much as possible!

Only my mom can dress up a sling this pretty right?? LOL - always Stylin'!

Next - moving on to Courtney ~ She has been keeping busy with the first couple weeks of 7th grade completed. She has her first 7th grade dance coming up shortly and has already attended her first Varsity Football game with friends as well! Lots of firsts this year I imagine, and it's only the 3rd full week of classes, boy are we in for a treats! During the week, outside of school, we have cheer leading for 2 hours 2 days per week and religion for 1.5 hours on Wednesdays, right now, we relish in the peace Mondays and Fridays bring to our home! Courtney is doing great with Cheer leading as well. She cheers for Lancaster JV Black, who mind you is still Undefeated! Wahoo!! Keep it up and she'll be cheering in the playoffs as well! At practice right now the girls are working super hard on competition pieces. As of right now her team will be competing in 4 local competitions, so they will be very busy the next few weeks, since the first one is Oct 18th! Keep up the good work Court!

Go Redskins
Doing the "hello" cheer at half time



Nice sticking out the tounge huh??



Next Up?? Caden! Caden is still working on trying to get on the schedule of being back in school, he's having a pretty hard time of it lately, and I have a call into his counselor to talk about this as well, however haven't received a call back from her yet. He also thinks that he shouldn't have to pee in the potty any longer and thinks it much better to either do it outside, on the carpet, or on the floor. Not fun! He also lost his last tooth from his mouth injury last fall. He had a VERY hard time understand this a was very upset for a while. Mike and I had to explain to him and show him where we too lost teeth... that made him feel a little better. I then explained to him that since his tooth is out, that they tooth fairy will come and leave him a present. When we asked him what he wanted - he said a riding lawn mower! We told him *sigh* that the tooth fairy was very very little and couldn't carry that. he said Ok, then a vacuum! LOL this kid is nuts! In the end he settled on a new choo choo, and the tooth fairy did indeed leave him a little wooden choo choo train!! The look on his face when he woke up the next morning was SO worth the heartache I felt the previous night when he was so upset!



Last weekend we spent the night in Olean, for little Molly Bea's christening! She is just SO beautiful. I am so happy for Mike & Kasey ~ If anyone deserves children it is them!
Isn't she SO adorable???

Mike and I are counting down the days until we leave for our vacation to the Bahamas and Orlando. 11 days today! We leave Next Saturday Oct 3rd and come home on the 9th. We have 2 extra days before and after the cruise part of the trip, so we are going to do a day at Sea World and then maybe hit downtown Disney after :-) I am SUPER excited and really looking forward to eating with out having to chase kids and cut food and leave because they are misbehaving. I will miss them though, don't get me wrong!

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Pictures Via Ms. Stacy!



Thank you Stacy for Sharing these with us!

Colin's Legs

We have been concerned about Colin's bow-leggedness and pigeon toed feet for quite along time, over a year actually. Thanks to my dad, we finally decided to get a second opinion, outside of the "it's developmental" part. So this past Tuesday we had an appt with an orthopedic specialist. Colin was... Colin, ripping blinds down, climbing like a monkey, that kid is just NUTS! So the verdict turns out to be this

- He has 2 things going on -
1- His Hip Bone is twisted
2- the bone from his knee to his ankle is twisted
- Both of these together, turn his feet in, one foot at 75%, the other at 60%, quite a bit for a little kid.

Apparently this ALL stems from my pregnancy believe it or not! The way he was sitting in the womb, was apparently Indian Style, or cross legged, and this caused this problem, his bones to twist. SO, what can we do to fix it? NOTHING!

I am told that in about 6-7 years as he grows taller, this bones will untwist and begin to straighten on their own. He will always have a percentage of his feet being turned in, but his legs, should barley be noticeable by the time he is 8 -10 years old. IF NOT - then we go back, and at that point, they would talk about being able to fix it, which would entail breaking his legs, so they heal "normally". Um... I don't think so, unless it was causing him pain or problems.
They did say however that he feet being turned in will help him to run faster?! Interesting hug??

Courtney's First Day of 7th Grade!

I have to start this post by saying that I can't believe I have a child old enough to be in 7th grade already!I realize that I am not "old" Nor I a feel "old" However having a child in 7th grade really makes me FEEL OLD! *Sigh* Before I know it she'll be in high school, then college, driving, moving, married.... ok I gotta stop now. She did have a good first day and made a new friend too, who just moved to our district, so that is great for her!



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Colin's Turn to Help Mommy!!

Since Mike worked SUPER late tonight, Courtney had religion and Caden feel asleep (and stayed asleep!)at 5:45, I enlisted the help of Colin to make some Homemade Amish bread! Yummy! We make this every 10 days and it's so so yummy! Colin really enjoyed himself - some moments were better then other, for mommy anyway! Like when he decided to throw the phone in the batter? Yea, that was not one of the better times..... It's baking now though, smells SO good and I can't wait to eat some!

Licking the Mixer
Silly Smirk
Yea - this is the phone, even after I've gotten some off already!
Dumping the eggs!
Mix It COLIN!
Dump the flour (part white, part wheat)
He say's "it Nummy Mom"

Monday, September 7, 2009

Darien Lake

We have had QUITE the busy little holiday weekend over here. With Courtney's game on Saturday, then right to Olean, yesterday we went to Darien Lake with Stacy, Dave and the rest of the family. As well as Stacy's neighbor Katie (who actually works at Darien lake too!) We had a great time, and never even left the part until 10pm! The boys did really well, I was way impressed. We only had minor melt downs, but that is too be expected during any long day when a nap isn't really involved. The best part is all of the kids get along so great. We had 6 kids with us, ranging from age 2 to 12! Courtney is 12, David 8, Kayla 5, Christopher 4, Caden 4 and Colin 2 - Whew! Only some minor mishaps, that we won't really touch on, but over all, I think everyone had a really great time. After we left the part, Courtney spent the night at Stacy's house, Mike and I let the kids sleep and took a quick break in the hot tub with Stacy and Dave, we didn't end up getting home in the end until around 12:30am. Today is kind of a bum around day, catching up on left behind laundry and such. We had a great time though and I am so glad Stacy and Dave invited us to go spend the day with them!


Mommy and Caden waiting for a ride
Most of the Klee's on the monster trucks!

Again - Stacy and Christopher in in the Front, Dave and Kayla in the back, I am sure David was in one with Courtney somewhere......
Kayla on the swings!
the boys on the swings - I was SO proud of how well they did on the rides
In the front Car is Caden & Christopher, the Stacy and Colin
Stacy and Colin
LOL - This craked me up! I was just WAITING for Mike to sit back a little bit more and see that car swing all the way around in a circle. He was up there with Col and Caden

The Beyer/Klee's had the WHOLE submarine to themselves. I am pretty sure Dave was in the Front wtih Christoper, Courtney was next with Kayla, Then David and in the Back was Mike with Caden and Colin.
Colin & daddy
I took this picture to prove to Stacy that Dave really did take care of the kids while she went to the cars to grab everyones sweatshirts! :-) See Stacy???!!
Waiting for the Go Karts - Kym, Stacy, Dave, Mike and Katie
Bummed Colin that he couldn't ride the go karts- waiting patiently with Courtney
The bike on the right can be purchased for only $150,000!
Courtney & David on the Motor Coaster

Stacy & Christoper

Daddy and the boys on the merry go round, mommy sits out on that one, too much spinning way to fast!

Olean - Happy 90th Birthday Aunt Bert!

This past Saturday after Courtney's football game we took a drive to Olean to Surprise Aunt Bert with a Cake. I think the bigger surprise was all the people who came to celebrate with her! Aunt Sandy flew in From Myrtle Beach, SC - Chris, Scott & family drove in from Rochester, We drove in from Buffalo, Aunt Carol, Uncle Mike, Mikey, Kasey and Molly all joined us as well! She was quite surprised. It was nice to see the parts of the fam that was usually only communicate with via the computer. Next weekend we go back again for Little Molly's baptism. Busy Weekends ahead!

Caden & his pringles :-)
Daddy and Caden riding GG's Tractor
Uncle Mike hanging out on the porch
All the gifts & pretty flowers
GG
Aunt Sandy, Aunt Bert, Chris & Justin

Colin playing Shy

Baby Molly - she is So adorable!
Courtney Loving Molly

Love Molly's face in this shot! :-)
"When a loved one becomes a memory ~ That memory becomes a treasure"