Spring break adventures and Hoppy Easter

Spring break usually means just hanging around the house for us. We try to go to the park and keep the kids busy but it is usually not too exciting. This year it was a little different. We had a car we all fit in to go adventuring in. We went to the Children's museum in Seminole, the OKC Zoo, and Bricktown. Everyone had lots of fun. Here are the week's pictures. Sorry, there are a lot.

Cam plays moon sand in his new hat.

Cam craft time.

Cam and Kay playing with flash cards.

Kay plays the super baby game.

Fly Kay Fly!

Looks like fun.

Kay's new hat.

Kay and her spinning pom-pon.

Kay shares her oatmeal with her duck friends.

Just stick your head in the bowl.

Children's Museum trip.

Kay amazed by the bubble wall.

Watching the bubble wall.

Dad and Cam inside the bubble.

Dad and Kay inside the bubble.

Taylor and Maddison inside the bubble.

Maddison craft time.

Cam craft time.

Look at this giant doll house.

On top of the fire truck.

Driving the fire truck.

Off to shop.

Kay helps out in the building zone.

Taylor gets in trouble with the "Teacher".

Cam teaches a class.

Kay examines some teeth.

Dad performs some dental work on Taylor.

Lunch time.

The girls eating lunch.

Cam and Taylor in the big toy.

Kay making new friends.

Kay sharing a book.

The gang. Notice Kay is screaming. I can never get a good group shot.

Another attempt. Kay is screaming again.

Maddison, Cam and Taylor. Kay ran away.

Taylor and Cam with their new friend. He's a bit skinny but he sure can ride.

Cam and Kay dig for dinosaur bones.

Cam the paleontologist.

Co-pilot Cam.

Cam in the pilot seat.

Kay helps out.

Silly Cam.

Cam enjoying the children's museum.

Cousin Maddison enjoying the children's museum.

Kay enjoying the children's museum.

Dad tickling Taylor at the children's museum.

Watching the puppet show.

Performing in the puppet show.

Cam rides the airplane.

The gang in a old jalopy.

Bricktown was fun. We took the boat tour.

Gargoyle and the Sooner Ferry boat from the bridge.


Our tour guide/ boat driver.

Close up Cam on the boat.

Taylor on the boat.

Upside down Kay on the boat.

Kay close up.

Stumpy's. Sonic world headquarters.

Kay liked the boat.

The land run statues.

This is fun.

Kay liked the butterflies in the mosaic.

Jackson company and Hooters building.

That's right I took the family to Hooter's for dinner. It is actually a family resturant. They even have kid's menus and crayons. We weren't even the only family in there. The little kids got balloons and Taylor just enjoyed the atmosphere.

The girls were very nice. We met Carrie, Elechia and Amber. The watress for our table was, well, her name tag said S.H.I.T. but her real name was Andrea. So if you are ever in the Bricktown area just stop on into the OKC Hooter's and tell them Hi.

Outside Hooters

Outside Hooters.

Checking out the menu at Hooters.

Cam loves Hooters.

Kay dipping her fries into her ketchup picture. Andrea drew a smiley face with the ketchup and Kay thought it was fun.

Andrea, Kay, Taylor, Cam. The food was yummy.

Zoo, Zoo, at the Zoo!

Watching the ducks and two fisted snacking.

Maddison and Danielle getting ready to start our adventure at the zoo.

Kay and Jackson playing peek-a-boo at the zoo.

Kay tick ticking (tickling) Jackson at the zoo.

Kay and Jackson go for a ride at the zoo.

Kay and Cam and a butterfly.

Cam and a hippo.

Cam and a turtle.

Cam, Tabitha, Jackson, Kay and a gorilla.

Kay shades.

Kay shades.

Look what the Easter beagle, er bunny left for us.

That's a big duck.

The gang decorating eggs.

Cam decorating eggs.

Look at all the eggs we decorated.

Hunting eggs in the flowers.


Hey, I found one.

While Cam is smiling for the camera he won't notice me borrowing one of his eggs right?

It's blue!

Kay's not sure she likes the taste of Easter eggs.

Kay sleeping after the egg hunt.

It was a busy week but so much fun. I think the kids will remember this for a long time.

Musical cars has come to an end and I have such a cool job. Ain't life grand!

All washed up and ready to go home with us.

Cam and Kay are so excited about their new "super car".

Look how pretty.

First I would like to say that as much as I have enjoyed playing musical cars with all of my family members I am quite happy to see it end. We have all been trading cars and borrowing from each other when ever a random vehicle would break down. Our cars seem to break down a lot. I guess we are just unlucky that way. I won't go into all the details (I don't think I can even keep up with the chain of events). I will just say that the latest car we have been using (once belonging to my sister Sarah) had the engine burn up after the oil change place messed up the filter. They owned up to the mistake and paid to have a new engine put in. The place that put in the new engine messed it up and that engine burned up as well. So on Saturday we lost the car again so that they could put in yet another new engine they are shipping in from Texas.

In the meantime we have been struggling with getting everyone where they need to be. So today I wanted to go look at cars. I had done my research online and decided on a Kia Rhondo. It liked the red one with grey interior and I didn't care much about the options as long as it had the 3rd row seat and air conditioning. It is like a minivan, station wagon, SUV all rolled into one. You get the space to seat 7 like an SUV but much better gas mileage and easier to park. Even though it resembles a van it has regular doors not the sliding ones. It is lower to the ground like a station wagon but much cooler looking. The best part is it got great ratings on ease of use for families, it is very safe with a 5 star crash test rating, and it is cheap. It is the lowest priced 7 seater in the country. It also has the great 10 year 100,000 mile warranty. Wow, I sound like a commercial.

So I went to look with no intention of buying today. I wanted a used one because I think it is silly to purchase a car new. As soon as you drive it off the lot it depreciates so much it just doesn't seem worth it. As soon as we (Mom came along) pulled up the sales people were everywhere. I told them the make and model I wanted and they took me right to some used ones but they didn't have the 3rd row seat. They said they had some of the new ones with the extra seat. Yeah, but I am too cheap to buy a new car.

I decided to humor them and take a look. I test drove a brand new silver with grey interior that had 10 miles on it. Well, it was awesome, just what I wanted but the price tag said 20,000. Not what I wanted. I had hoped to get something closer to the 10,000 dollar range - a tough trick I know. We just can't afford the payments on a 20,000 car. I was ready to walk but they really wanted to sell a car. So they offered me 2,500 in rebates applied to the cost. Getting closer. Then they took off another 1,000 for customer loyalty (we purchased our dead Kia Sephia from them about 6 years ago). Then they gave us 1,000 for trading in the dead Kia.

I said that I really thought I would like a red one better. They ran off to look for one and happily came back with the news. Red with tan interior. They were able to get the cost and payments down even more. I was starting to get excited and nervous too. I might actually walk out of there with a car. They really were trying to work with me. Apparently car sales have been a little slow. So they did the credit checks and said they could make it work. The payments were 30.00 more a month than we wanted but we didn't have to put any money down. Done deal.

I called Jeff and Taylor and surprisingly they both said they liked the silver color better. The silver seemed to hide dirt better too and we all know our cars get very dirty inside and out. So in the middle of the paperwork we decided to go with the silver instead. It was the first one I looked at so I guess it was just meant to be. We got lots of extra options added in and we got the car for less than many used ones. Final price tag 15,339.50. I sure have come a long way from my first car. A green and white 1969 VW Bus I got for 500 bucks. My magic bus was fun but it never really ran much.

VW Bus. What a hippie.

I have never in my life owned a new car. It is so pretty and smells yummy. I am sure it will start to get dirty real quick but I don't care. It is perfect and it is mine. No more musical cars and wondering how to get to work. No more trying to squeeze 3 kids and 2 car seats into a tiny little car intended for no more than 2 in the back seat. No more going to the store and forgetting which car you are driving today when you come out.

Look Ma we all fit!

Ready to go on an adventure all together.

They took it back and washed it inside and out and filled the tank with gas. It's almost worth buying a car for that. Gas is so expensive. It is cleaner than it will ever be again. I plan to take pictures tomorrow in the daylight. I can't believe we have a new car. The kids are so excited. We took everyone for a ride. When we pulled off the lot the car had 23 miles on it and most of that was me test driving it.
Look, 23 miles as we drive off the lot.

On another note I am loving my job. I get paid to ride around on golf carts and giant trike bikes with some really awesome kids. Yeah, I have to do some other stuff too and sometimes the other stuff is not so fun but it all works out. Oh the places we'll go. What adventure we'll have. Isn't life grand!

My 1st day of my 1st job. I was the birthday pary hostess at McDonalds. Oddly enough I noticed that the date is Feb. 5th 1989. 18 years later to the day I started working at my current job.

Party girl. Look how far we have come.

Then

Jen trike bike gang.

Now

Teacher Helps Babies Get Early Start With Language

Eyewitness News 5's Tyler Suiters talks with Rachel Coleman (co-creator of Signing Time) about teaching babies American Sign Language.

read more | digg story



Go here to see my February 8th blog and pictures from Rachel Coleman's visit to Oklahoma.


http://specialsigningkids.blogspot.com/2008/02/from-africa-to-oklahoma-rachel-colemans.html

Or you can scroll down on the right to the February 8th post.



You should also check out this funny Pepsi commercial that uses sign language.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffrq6cUoE5A

My thoughts on diagnosis, treatment, and specialists.

I think some people believe we should just listen to doctors. They know best right? Sometimes the most well intentioned doctor may be making a decision for you that they feel is right but they may not have all the needed information. You must ask questions and develop open communication with all the specialists you see.

Our doctors were hesitant to bring up the possibility of Cerbral Palsy for Kay. I am not scared of Cerbral Palsy. It doesn't change the way I feel about my child. It is simply something that I need to help her with and the sooner we get started the better. My family has been working with kids who have special needs for a long time. We understand what Cerbral Palsy is and know it is not the end of the world. Not all parents have experience with Cerbral Palsy so I can understand why doctors would wait to say those words. Some people might be terrified at the mention of the possibility.

The doctors didn't want to scare us. They had a real wait and see approach. We kept hearing "I am sure she will be fine. She just has some delays but she will probably grow out of it soon enough." That may be the right thing to say to some parents but not for us. I wanted to know what we were dealing with right away. I didn't want to wait and see. I pushed for her to see specialists.

The orthopedic specialist was the first to mention the words Cerbral Palsy. Wow, are you sure? Yeah, I was a little shocked because I hadn't recognised it on my own. Sure I felt sad because I didn't want my child to have to struggle. OK so what do we do. The pediatrician agreed and confirmed she had suspected it -- for how long I don't know. The doctors were trying to protect our feelings when we didn't need to be protected. We needed action.

We pushed for SMOs. If they can't hurt but may possibly help why not do it. Again the doctor was hesitant to bring it up. Let's wait and see what happens. I say just do it. Who cares if she has limited shoe choices as long as she can walk that much sooner. I would rather fix it now when she is little then wait until she is in school. Who cares how much it costs as long as we give her every opportunity. Who cares what other people think. If they point and stare and ask ignorant, insensitive questions it only reflects badly on them. I try not to trouble myself with what rude people think.

We just got the bill by the way. Total cost for SMOs and fittings 2,582. Thank goodness insurance covers it all but we would find a way even if we had no insurance.

On the other hand you don't always have to push for a diagnosis. With Kay it didn't matter whether she was diagnosed Developmental Delay or Cerbral Palsy, the treatment was the same - physical therapy. No need to rush to affix a label if she gains no benefit. Once she is a little older a diagnosis may help in her treatment but for now I say just let her be a kid. We will worry about an official diagnosis when she is ready to go to school or if it helps us with medical insurance red tape.

If I hadn't pushed the issue I may be wondering what I could have done differently. Would things be different had I started earlier. Instead I can feel secure in my decision to pursue help knowing that we did everything we could as quickly as we could and luckily it has worked well for Kay. Of course it is different for everyone. You just have to make the right decision for your family. Don't just assume that the doctors have all the answers because they don't know your family like you do.

I got Kay's PT report from Lucy. It says: Using the Battelle Developmental Inventory at 24 months she had a gross motor age equivalent of 28 months. Kaylynne is walking and running independently and with good control and coordination. She climbs and jumps getting both feet off the floor. She can kick a ball, throw a ball overhand, push a small trike with her feet and walk backwards.

Kaylynne is low tone but her overall strength has improved significantly since her last evaluation. Kaylynne has made so many gross motor gains since her last evaluation. She has good control and coordination and did not trip or fall during the entire evaluation. Outpatient PT is no longer needed at the center. She should continue to be monitored by early intervention PT.

The other day I was thinking about a conversation I had with my friend John when we were in High School. I was probably 15 or 16 and I was spending a lot of time babysitting my favorite little 5 year old buddy who happened to be autistic. John asked me what I would do if someday I had a child of my own who had problems. Without hesitation I said "I would just love them, I would love having a special child". Easy enough to say but know I know without a doubt it is absolutely true. How could you not love them?

Me and Grey my first special kid.

Excellent example of Signing Time success on Today show

Check out this amazing video.



http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23557147#23557147

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23557146#23557146


Here is the article as well.
Baby’s got book!
Tot shocks parents by reading
An amazing 17-month-old girl rekindles the nature-versus-nurture debate

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/23556514


http://www.wrcbtv.com/videowindow.cfm?sid=3072

http://www.wrcbtv.com/news/index.cfm?sid=3072

Yet another example of how sign language can help children show the potential they are born with. Children are such amazingly wonderful little beings. We can learn so much by just "listening" to them. By listening I mean pay attention. Look at them. Encourage them. Be there for them. Love them and give them your time and affection.

When this little girl read the word on the cereal box her Mom was listening. She heard her say the word, saw her sign the word, and knew she just read the word because she was observing her child. She could have been in a hurry, rushing around the store and tuning her little girl out so that she could finish her shopping faster. Think of what would have been missed. She may not have noticed her daughters talents. Her daughter, feeling discouraged that her Mom hadn't understood, may have moved on to other things.

I am thinking back to those first signed gestures from my kids. How easy it would have been to miss them. If I hadn't been paying attention and seen that little flutter of the hand. If I hadn't recognised it for what it was and encouraged them they may have given up their attempts. Children need encouragement and need to feel understood to help them grow to their full potential.

The world would be a little better place if we could all take a moment to connect with those around us and really listen to them.

Pink penicillin puke

This may be what Taylor looked like after his run in with Cam.

That last sick story reminded me of another sick story.

The doctors say that medical allergies do not run in families but I don’t believe them. I am allergic to penicillin, my Dad almost died from a penicillin reaction, my Grandmother is allergic to penicillin. Do you see a pattern here? With all three kids the doctor said they probably wouldn’t be allergic so let’s just try to give them penicillin and see what happens.

Taylor had a bad reaction on his first dose and started to swell up and had hives all over. OK so maybe he is allergic. When Cam got sick for the first time we gave the doctor all of this information and told her we were concerned. She said he probably won’t be allergic lets just give it a try and see what happens.

So we had baby Cam lying in our bed and Taylor was lying next to him. Neither one had been feeling well. We gave Cam his dose of penicillin and he promptly projectile vomited it all over Taylor. It was quite impressive. Taylor had a coating of pink goo from head to toe.

Taylor jumps out of bed and looks disgusted. Jeff says he is allergic we have to get that off of him. They went off to scrub Taylor in the tub. I tried to comfort baby Cam and get him cleaned up. He ended up swelling and breaking out in hives. Great, another allergic baby. Taylor ended up being OK.

When Kaylynne got sick for the first time and we went through the whole medical history again and the doctor said again she probably won’t be allergic lets just try it and see what happens we said DON’T THINK SO.

Taylor still remembers Cam puking all over him. It’s one of those things you have to laugh about – later.

Green Eggs and Ham -- I feel sick, sick, sick.

Taylor has been sick for going on two weeks now. He is not getting any better. He had been to the Dr. two times already and they said it was a viral respiratory infection. Nothing to do, antibiotics won't help because it's viral. Just have to wait it out.

At one point when his fever was up near 103 and he started hallucinating. He came in our room in the middle of the night and told us the things in his room came alive and were attacking him.

He said he was inside the candy land game and one side of his mattress was the bad candy like black liquorish that no one wants to eat but you had to eat a ton of it so you would get sicker. He got up and vomited at that point.

The other side of the mattress was good candy that made you feel better. So he started sleeping facing the good candy side of the mattress and stopped vomiting but still felt sick with the headache and sore throat, runny nose stuff. Great, he has cooked his brain with fever. So we decided we would take him back to the doctor on Friday.

About 4 AM Friday morning Cam came in crying and said he had a headache and his nose and mouth hurt. His temp was 102. Jeff got them both in to the doctor at 2:40 in the afternoon.

I had to go in to work because, while we thought we would have extra people this week, we are in fact short staffed again. They gave Jessica away to another house that is short staffed and Heather did not return on Wednesday like we thought.

So Jeff braved the doctor’s office with 3 kids in tow all by his lonesome. Kaylynne should be sick again any time now because they had to wait in the sick waiting area and were exposed to who knows what. The doctor says it's strep. So they both started antibiotics. I went ahead and got tested at work and it was negative. But so were the tests on the boys so we will see.

Cameron was really mad at me for keeping him home from school. I told him I can not send you to school with 102 temp it's against the law. I know it's not really but it should be. If more people kept their kids home when they are sick then maybe we wouldn't all be sick all the time.

They have been talking about Dr. Seuss this week and the plan for Friday was to make green eggs and ham. Cam was really excited about it. I told him Grandma would find out how it went at school and we would make our own at home.

So last night when I got home from work Cam was still up because he took a big nap during the day. He was ready to make green eggs and ham. Well why not? If you are gonna make green eggs and ham you might as well do it at 11:30 PM. So we stayed up and made green eggs and ham and read Dr. Seuss books. It was fun and Cam felt much better. He probably felt a lot better that he didn’t have to eat the green eggs and ham.

Very green eggs and ham. I sent the liquid food coloring to school for them to use so all I had was the gel food coloring. It was a little strong so everything is very dark green almost black.
Will you eat them at the table? Eat them eat them if you're able. They look like something from the bottom of a stable. Food? I wouldn't give it that label. I don't think I like this fable. I would rather go and watch cable with my friend Maybel.
Eat them eat them here they are. Eat them and I'll buy you a car.

Even with that offer no one would touch them. Cam said Taylor wanted to eat them. When he refused they decided they should save them for sister. We didn't make anyone eat them. That would just be mean.

My week in pictures a very random jumble of thoughts

I just uploaded pictures to the computer. So here is a very random jumble of thoughts about the week.

This is a little game called "What's in sister's purse?" Today it was 7 frogs and a game timer. Yesterday it was an apple slice and half of a peeled banana. Ya just never know what you may find. That's why it's such an exciting game.

She shoots, she scores!! And the crowd goes wild!

She loves basketball.
Easter hat and purse.
Silly face sharing a banana.

Cam made a TV head hat out of a box.

Cam painted TV head box.

No need to take it off to drink

First Spring flowers bloming in our backyard. This is very exciting to me because this will be our first Spring in our new house and the lady who used to live here was a member of the Norman garden club. She has tons of stuff planted. Every day we go out to see what new plants are popping up.

Cam and Kay playing together.

This is yet another attempt to catch a picture of Kay. I wanted a picture of her in her cute Snoopy outfit. I had to wait for her to come around the corner and take it quick before she could run away. Here is Kay hiding in the kitchen cabinet.

I made birthday cupcakes for my friend Tabitha at work. They look a little weird but they were tasty. She wanted chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. I added chocolate sprinkles to make them a little bit pretty.

One of my accomplishments at work this week: Putting up the signing time ASL ABCs with Kayla's help. She has to help because she is the tall one. If Jessica had been there she would have to help too. I am glad we have 2 tall people at work because I am short.

Cleaning, organizing and re-arranging the toy area with Tabitha. Doesn't it look nice.

Taylor has been sick again with the upper respiratory infection. It is really holding on and making him miserable. He has been really sick for over a week now. I have been sick again too but not as bad. I just have a sore throat and the sneezes. We can't seem to get everyone well all at the same time. We just keep passing this gunk around to each other.

I had some cooking success this week. Last week I tried to make chicken and dumplings. I have been making that recipe since I was a teen. I haven't had much time to cook real food lately. We mostly make sandwiches or soup or heat up chicken nuggets or mac and cheese. The kids are quite happy with quick food. We keep fresh veggies and fruit around too.

I decided I was going to cook a real meal but nothing went right. The dumplings turned to mush, everything was bland, and then the stove top caught on fire - twice. Everything ended up tasting burnt and I had to throw it all out. Oh no, I have forgotten how to cook.

So this week I decided to jump right back in and try again. I fixed the stove and made a huge batch of chicken and dumplings. Enough to send some to Jeff's Mom's and my Mom's and still have a big pot here. Everything went well and it was really yummy. Perfect for when you are sick and not feeling like eating much. I also made beignets for dessert.

I had an extra day off work this week because our patient load has gone down. I used my extra time to bake with Cam. We made cookies and banana bread.

We finished several little projects around the house this week. A couple were absolute necessities. Taylor's light fixture in his room quit working so Jeff removed it and put in a new one. Now Taylor can see again. I put new pans under the burners on the stove top after the cooking disaster of last week. I really didn't want to start anymore fires.

We also re-arranged the furniture in Taylor's room, re-painted and hung up the coat rack, repaired my old cedar chest by replacing the hinges, fixing the upholstery and adding safety brackets so the lid won't slam on anyone’s fingers, and replacing the batteries in and adding more smoke detectors.

Our to do list is quite overwhelming but if we just focus on a few things at a time we should catch up eventually. Right?

Here are a few older pictures I happened across:

Cam terrific kid award.

Cam candy moustache. Napping on Maw Maw. Kay calls Grandma Maw Maw now. She just started this and we are thrilled with her name for Grandma. It is funny because that was our name for Grandma when we were kids back in Louisiana. We didn't teach her the name she just came up with it in her own. I guess it was meant to be.

Another thing Kay learned this week: How to tickle. She can't say tickle though so she tackles her brothers and gets them while yelling "TICK, TICK, TICK!"

Faster than a speeding chicken. Run, run, run, before Mom gets a picture.

Ahh, caught in my pretty purple butterfly dress.

Hat.
Cam sleeping in his skates and helmet.

This is how we know Kay is ready for bed. She gathers up her blanket and brings it to us.

Hairy Taylor.

Here are some funny pizza pictures:

Taylor's pizza heart

Pizza box technology.

More pizza box technology.

Was our pizza delevery person abducted by aliens?

Recycling and smart packaging

Our town started curbside recycling this week. I am very happy that this is finally happening. I am all about recycling but tend to let stuff pile up. I don't have a truck so when I do actually bring it in it can be messy and time consuming. How simple and easy it is to just toss it in the container and put it on the curb with the trash. I am sure a lot more people will start recycling now. I hope so anyways.

I thought it was a bit ironic that during this same week that my town finally embraced easy recycling I received a very non-environmentally friendly package.

This was delivered by the U.S. postal service and was too large to fit in my mail slot. We got two of them at my address and I am sure millions of others went out across the country.


Here is the package. Here are the contents.
Here is the single coupon that was sent wrapped in a complex tri fold bit of glossy cardboard encompassing a fake cigarette box and all stuffed inside another box.

They could have sent this tiny little coupon on a postcard and saved a ton of postage, trees and postal worker's backs.

The really funny thing is no one in my house smokes so this truely is a huge waste of time, money and resources. Just think if they would use all these resources for good instead of evil. They could maybe help fund research to cure cancer.

You would think Camel cigarettes would at least try to have a positive image. I guess any press is good press though. You know what must be a really hard job? Working PR for a tobacco company.