Sep. 24, 2008 - Emily's writings

She wrote another beautiful piece today.  She is doing one a month. I will share it again:

           "A Twist"

AS we get older we really start to learn everything has a twist.

If we don't study for a test, we most likely will fail.

If we sneak into something and don't confess, the outcome will always be worse.

If we make a new friend, we may lose an old one.

Just when we think we've found a friend who keeps promises they may break them behind your back

Some people we think are really nice people may do bad things when we are not with them

Not all things have twists, but lots of things do.

AS we get older we just realize it more.

God wants us to live the life he has in store for us.

Along that path, there will be people and things that will make us upset

We have to forgive and forget them and move farther down the path!

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Sep. 24, 2008 - Lauren Maryssa 's birthday

I can still remember like it was yesterday Lauren's birth.  She was born at 11:24 am and weighed 9lb6oz. I can remember Jim 's expression in the delivery room when they weighed her. She was about 10 days early. 

HAPPY 12TH BIRTHDAY, LAUREN !! 

Your compassion, patience and the drama filled personality God has given you will always be special to me....We Love you very much!

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Sep. 19, 2008 - Cruising right through September

September brings the end to the lazy hazy long days of summer. Fall is upon us.  This is one of my favorite times of year. We have begun to get into our routine of school with Co-op starting Sept 8. The beginning of September started off with a 1 week long hospitilization of my dear grandmother.  She got food poisoning from visiting a friend in a nursing home.  She had 1/2 of a chicken salad sandwich in their cafe. She was so very sick for days and days.  She is just now getting back on her feet.

We remembered 9/11 this month.  I can still recall this day; It was my first year homeschooling.  I remember getting a call from my sister Dana to turn on the TV to see the twin towers in New York. I was working on Canada geography with Emily.

Lauren asked me if she could watch the World Trade Center DVD, I let her.  She asked a lot of questions following it, but I'm glad I did let her view it.

Michelle has started her new routine.  She is going to Primrose preschool twice a week.,  She goes to CHASE co-op on MOndays with us and on Wednesday goes to IU13 for speech therapy.  She is holding up well with all these changes. She is in need of a long nap each day. Therapy for speech is moving slow and is a lot of work for her.   45 min of "K" sounds is a lot for me to listen to so I can imagine how Michelle feels.

This week we did some extra work on Civics.  Here's a website some of you might enjoy.  There are quizzes for citizenship, government and american history.  The website is www.history.com  .  Both my older girls visited this site and enjoyed it..

Jim has been away for the last 2 week for his job, which leaves me to keep things going.

We tried a new recipe this past week for supper.  Tater tot casserole from the Kraft Food magazine, it came out good. Lauren made a cake for my grandmother's birthday which was 9/17.  She turned 83!

Not much else happening here, It will be October before we know it.

I have a breastfeeding conference to go to in Mid-October and in November we are planning a field trip to an aquarium with family and to visit PHiladelphia with the girls the following day.

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Aug. 24, 2008 - Beach Fun

We took one last trip to the beach this weekend.  I hate the end of summer because we have to wait a whole year to re-visit the beach. This time we took Daddy.  The girls had him [who hates anything to do w/ sand] on the beach with his jeans rolled up and bare feet at night along the water in Lewes, DE.  We stayed at the Beacon Motel, which was very nice.  I especially liked the pool while the rest of my family was showering after playing on the beach all afternoon.

We went w/ Jim's sisters' family so the girls had lots of cousins to play in the ocean with.  Some of her friends went as well.  Michelle had them "jumping" the waves for quite a while.

We stayed until Sunday so we could sleep late and then visit the water in Lewes by all the boats AND then shop at the Sea Shell Shop before heading for home. The girls and I love this and it is a bit of a tradition now! We visit here every time we go to the beach! I did find some very cool "ice pop" lights for the camper the next time we go.  It is packed w/ anything to do with the beach.  I also bought a pretty seashell /beach glass bracelet which was on sale.

Our first night on the boardwalk in Rehoboth Beach.

Lauren catching a good wave!

Filling up the bucket w/ lots and lots of sand.

Michelle-Ting after getting a bit of ocean water in her mouth....

My favorite picture~ Michelle and her best cousin, Avarie. I've already ordered it to be framed for my wall at home.

My girls checking out all the boats along the pier in Lewes, Delaware.

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Aug. 21, 2008 - Just dressin' up pretty.

Michelle's grandmother bought her this outfit. She loves getting all pretty in it and waltzing around.  Today she had Lauren, who loves to snooping in ANY kind of make up, apply some to her face.  The picture is what they came up with.

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Aug. 20, 2008 - Running a half mile

So we are just waiting for our co-op to begin.  After some issues for basketball, it looks like the girls will get a chance to learn the game and play for a team.  They also are playing for a homeschool team for soccer once a week. Emily will be playing her normal travel team.  So practices will be starting for all very soon.

Due to this, we decided to begin some running for endurance. Over the summer, both my girls have been quite Un active except for Swimming and walking here and there.  Much to my surprise we went to the HS track and Emily ran 1/2 mile without any trouble at all.  Lauren started out ok, but will need some practice to learn to pace herself.  Lauren is my "always moving" child, so I thought she'd nail it, but tonight we'll go again and see how she does....

Even MIchelle ran the last 1/4 mile [of course she mostly walked it!!]. Zoey, the pekingnese pet dog we have,  and I watched from the bleacher area....

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Aug. 15, 2008 - Michelle's new nap place

Today Michelle and her sisters were a bit sluggish.  We were at HersheyPark yesterday until late in the evening.

Today she made herself a bed with the sofa pillows behind the recliner in our sunroom while I worked with Lauren on English.  She slept here for about 1 and 1/2 hours....

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Aug. 13, 2008 - Hershey, PA

This week we visited Hershey Park.  It is close to us and we hadn't been in years.  It was Michelle's first visit ever. The weather was nice, hardly any humidity. We went to the Boardwalk area, which I wouldn't suggest mid day as we waited to get in the pool area for about 25 min.  It was mobbed w/ people.  My older girls went on all the roller coasters with cousins and Aunt's and Uncles.  The final ride I rode was the Tilt a Whirl w/ Michelle, Avarie and Gabbie, I had to wait to get my vision back before getting off of it. WOW! Some pictures of our day are below:

The Little Lady Bug Ride:

Cousins Avarie, Jessie, Michelle and cousin Gabbie.

The Granny Bugs with Avarie.

The horse carriage ride, Avarie and Michelle.

The whip, Cousin Brianna and Lauren is on the right,.

Cousin Megan and Emily is on the right on the Whip!

 Leaving the park, Mr. Peanut Butter Cup posed for me.

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Aug. 7, 2008 - Emily's poem

Today I was thrilled to check Emily's literature assignment when I came home from work.

Part of today's assignment was to write a poem about her Mom using rhyming couplets.  I loved her work so much I decided to post it on my blog.  She is a wonderful writer and is thinking about  pursuing this after graduation.

My Mom taught me how to get along.

She taught me how to be strong.

She said if I go first every time, it isn't fair.

She told me if I have something, I need to share.

When I was scared she'd let me sleep in her bed.

She tells me she has eyes in the back of her head.

She taught me how to write and read.

She knows exactly what I do and don't need.

My Mom taught me lots of things.

And everyday in my life, Joy is what she brings!

Nicely Done, Emily!!

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Aug. 5, 2008 - Night Swimming

When JIm is away on business one of the things my girls love to do is go "night swimming" They love the pool when I turn the light on, it illuminates the pool.  Under the sky of stars, and moon it is so neat.

Michelle has a new buddy to swim with. 

I will hate when it is time to close the pool.... 

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Aug. 1, 2008 - Happy Anniversary to Me

Jim out did himself! The eve of our anniversary he arranged for a getaway trip overnight.  Covered the babysitting, our prior committments of that night and took me to the Inn and Spa In Lancaster Co.  It was right across from Kitchen Kettle Village, a place where I love to shop.  They have a Jelly and Relish store and many quaint shops that sell windchimes and things native to Lancaster County. The walkways are cobble stoned.  He had fresh cut flowers in our room and set up a 5 course breakfast in our room the following morning. It was awesome.  I was so surprised.  Thank you JIm for such a great 21st anniversary. 

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Jul. 11, 2008 - Putting me to the test

This week I was tested and did a pretty good job.  I was very busy w/ lactation consults. The other consultant was on vacation. I had a relactation opportunity for a mother who was adopting a newborn.  This is my passion and I think the whole concept is very very interesting. I'm trying very hard to become proficient in many of things we "rarely" see. I am hopeful that by sometime in the late fall my clinical staff position will change over to more lactation hours avoiding working during the evenings.  Jim is away during the week, it is sometimes very difficult to find someone to stay w/ the girls while I work until midnight. I do want to keep my hands [and mind] skilled at the specialty nursing I work within therefore I will try and still work my w/e hours to maintain these. Looking to the future, my neck since my car accident will not hold up forever, consulting is a better choice where it is concerned. 

I posted a very good website, that I found lots of information to share.  Of course, the help of a good lactation consultant is key!  

    www.asklenore.com/breastfeeding/induced_lactation/biology.html

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Jul. 10, 2008 - Busy Week

This has been a busy week.  I finally got my battery for my camera and will post some pictures as I take new ones.

My Michelle is NOW SWIMMING.  Yesterday she jumped into the deep end [supervised of course by me] and swam underwater to the other side without her back pack float.  She has been trying to swim underwater with the back pack for a bit now and yesterday I let her come out of it to see how she'd do.We are so proud of her.  Yeah Michelle-Ting!!  Jim has been out of town much and will get to catch up on things over the w/e.  She can't wait to show Daddy!!

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Jul. 6, 2008 - Update on Michelle's speech/hearing

Michelle was seen by IU 13 and thankfully meets the criteria to receive extensive treatment.  Out of 70 words, she said 12 correctly.  Hence, quite a deficiency.  She will begin treatment by September and this will be weekly for 45 minutes per week for at least a year.  Additionally, she was seen by an ENT specialist for her hearing secondary to a failed hearing test of her left ear. During the visit , he used an instrument to get inside the back of her ear.  She had a lot of epithelial dead tissue in this ear.  Enough to cover a 4x4 gauze pad.  He "vacuumed this out" , as he told her.   We repeated the hearing test in his office and she passed it.  It may have impacted her speech a bit, but according to the speech therapist, she is behind in her lower jaw development/ motor skills in her mouth/tongue.  She has a few problems so that is why she will need the intense speech therapy.  This will continue as she enters kindergarten.  If I homeschool her, we will need to find a private therapist and am told that the state will NOT pay for her therapy any longer. Our insurance will need to pick up the tab. Thank you for all the emails/posts re Michelle, I've learned a lot about speech delays just from them alone!

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Jul. 4, 2008 - 4th of July

It s been a while since I blogged.  I was having some camera battery problems, these are underway to be being fixed. I will back post some pictures from June as soon as I can.

Happy 4th of July to all!!  4th of July is my favorite holiday.  It has always been since I was a child.  When I lived in NJ, my parents would host a huge picnic with lots of family and friends.  We would swim, have lots of yummy foods and play games together.  My grandparents would come and so would cousins that lived far away. At night I can remember we would sit on our back porch and wait for the town's carnival fireworks to start.  The "Grand Finale" was what we'd wait for.  My father would make my sisters and I the biggest ice cream cones [with at least 3-4 dips]  and we would eat these outside while we waited for the fireworks.  I still to this day enjoy picnics with lots of family and  friends...                                                                                        

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Jun. 4, 2008 - Just Crazy for My Daisies

Daisies are one of my favorite flowers.  What was so nice was that my oldest "Daisy"~ Emily cut them and gave them to me from a friends garden...Thank you Emily ! Aren't they beauties??                                   

My youngest "Daisy"~, Miss Michelle, hard at work watering our tomato plants.  She doesn't miss a day!

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Jun. 3, 2008 - Speech eval scheduled

Received a call this afternoon from I U 13,  Michelle has an appt on Thursday at 10 am for an evaluation.  I'm soooo very happy they were able to squeeze her in earlier than July for an evaluation.  I have to drive 45 min to get there, but that's ok...We'll take it...I hope to find out soon what Michelle's delay is so we can be on our way to therapy.

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Jun. 2, 2008 - June is Here...

Our school evaluations are done, have been reviewed by our school district and we are officially on to summer time. This week I am looking forward to the pool, yeah!  The pool water is just about 80 degrees...The girls have been in all this past week....Jim flies out at 5 am Monday for 2 weeks to Florida for his job.  I will be with the girls all week until working the weekend. Today we spent the day outside, cleaned out the garage for our upcoming neighborhood garage sale, and I transplanted some flowers from my yard then we went to dinner later in the day. I found a nice outside clock which I will place by the pool.  This way I can see exactly how many more minutes I can stay in until I MUST get out to get ready for work so I am on time there....Trust me, I push it to the limit...I am hoping this week finds us an appointment for Michelle for her speech evaluation. It seems as though there is speech therapist shortages in our area.  So I am on 6 waiting lists.  I'm praying we can get her in soon. [as I know those of you I asked are also praying , & thank you...}  IU13 is an option for us if Michelle has at least a 25% delay.  She goes in for her appt w/ ENT specialist next week.  They will need to look inside the anatomy of her ear to see what is causing the hearing loss.  Hopefully they can find it and fix it through surgery or some other way.  This has been  on my mind lots lately.  I've been to my own MD twice in the past week for adjustments to my neck due to pain. Friday night I spent icing it all night and taking muscle relaxants. I know it is due to worrying about Michelle.

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Jun. 1, 2008 - Breastfeeding and smoking...

I recently finished up some work / research on a handout we are going to be using at the hospital I work at for our newly delivered moms and newborns.  It is about smoking and the fact that it is BETTER to smoke and breastfeed than to smoke and formula feed .Babies of smoking mothers need the extra help that breastmilk delivers and formula can't.  Read my work below on this subject.  It took me a while to do, but it is headed to the print shop at the hospital so we can distribute to our patients....                  

Should a mother who can’t stop smoking breastfeed ??

YES, YES, YES !!

It IS best if breastfeeding moms don’t smoke, BUT if a MOM can't stop or cut back on smoking, she should continue to breastfeed rather than switch to formula feeding. Mom’s milk is the best milk for babies!

WHY ??- Because Breastfeeding provides many immunities that help your baby fight illness and can even help minimize some of the effects of cigarette smoke on your baby.

How does smoking affect the mother?

• Smoking has been linked to lower milk production
• Smoking can interfere with milk let-down, this gives baby less milk.

How does smoking affect the baby?

Passive Smoking is the smoke the baby inhales just from being around a smoker.

• When babies breathe second hand smoke they have a higher incidence of pneumonia, asthma, ear infections, bronchitis, sinus infections, eye irritation, and croup. Children of smoking parents have two to three times more visits to the doctor, usually from respiratory infections or allergy-related illnesses.
• Colic occurs more often. Heavy smoking by breastfeeding moms occasionally causes symptoms in the breastfeeding baby such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and diarrhea.
• Babies of smoking parents have a seven times greater chance of death from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
• Children who are exposed to passive smoke have lower blood levels of HDL which is the good cholesterol that helps protect against coronary artery disease.
•  A recent study found that growing up in a home in which two parents smoked, doubles the child’s risk of lung cancer later in life could.
• One study showed that children of smoking mothers have a decrease in the production of a major protein in the brain that helps children with learning and memorizing.

Please don’t put any child in an environment where they are forced to breathe second hand smoke.

Here’s how you can lower the risk to your baby if you do smoke…

It is ideal to stop smoking if at all possible.

1.       Cut down on the number of cigarettes you smoke per day. The less you smoke the better. Smoking 20 cigarettes a day or more raises the risks.

2.       Don’t smoke immediately before or during breastfeeding.  It will limit let down of your milk.  This gives   baby less milk. 

3.       Smoke right after you nurse.  This will lower the amount of nicotine that will go into your breast milk the next time the baby nurses.

4.       Wait as long as you can after smoking before breastfeeding again.  It takes about 90 minutes for half of the nicotine to be cleared from your body.

5.       It has been found that your milk may taste like cigarettes for up to an hour after smoking.  So nurse first, and then smoke!

6.       Nicotine replacement products are better than smoking. You can talk with your caregiver about these. Don’t ever smoke while using these.  This is dangerous due to how high the level of nicotine could get for you and the baby.

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May. 27, 2008 - Pool Opens in our backyard

The girls get so excited for the first time they are finally able to jump in our pool.  This year today was the big day.  The water was 76 degrees.  They even talked Daddy into jumping in with them. We even had an evening thunderstorm tonight.  I am looking forward to relaxing in the water this summer.  No studying !!  Yeah. 

Lauren just jumps right on in....

Emily eases in slowly....

And Michelle remembered exactly how to do this swimming thing...

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