Spring!!?!

We have been enjoying the pleasant weather we have had recently, the only bad thing is, Grace and Katie have a cough, and Helen has a cold. The problem with weather like this is, one day it's very warm and the next it's cold and rainy. Helen is more susceptible to upper respiratory ailments than the other kids, so when she gets a cold it usually turns into a sinus infection. This one is wicked, I have been giving her an antihistamine to help dry her up a bit, it has definitely helped. She is very irritable because she is so uncomfortable with her nose, she keeps pointing to it and making her complaining noise. I don't know if your kids make that noise, but it drives me crazy. I am always telling her to use her words and that just makes her even more irritated, which makes her even louder with her noise. When she's not sick she usually gives in and uses words, but when she's not feeling well, it turns into a guessing game for me. This time around she has let me clean her nose out, and put lotion on it and her cheek. Her cheek gets so red and irritated from her wiping her nose onto it instead of using a tissue. I used to do the exact same thing when I was young, I have a picture to prove it.

I have scheduled every one's back to school check ups, it's a good feeling knowing we are good to go with medical and dental appointments. It's hard to believe it is even time for that, the kid's doctor books up so quickly I have to make the appointments now in order to have some choice as to when we go. I have been working with Noah and the potty, hoping he will be ready for school in September. With the way things are going, we may be cutting it close! I must admit, I am not giving it the time I did with the others. I get so tired of arguing with him to take time out from playing to try and go on the potty. Last night before he went in the bathtub he told me he had to go potty. He took off his pull-up, got on the toilet, and went pee-pee all by himself. He was so proud, I made a huge deal of it, you would have thought he hung the moon! I sang him my song I made up just for this occasion, he sang along. I'm hoping with more successes like this one he will be ready for big boy underwear sooner than I think.

Religion class is almost over for Helen, she only has one more class. Her teacher told me last night she has definitely seen Helen mature a little this year. That was good to hear, I think she has too. I thought she might be able to make her first communion with Robbie, but I think it will be with Katie. Robbie will be making his next year, Katie will be the following year. I think the extra year will help her better understand what it's all about.

Katie is doing awesome at school, she is talking to all of her friends, out loud!!! Not only that, but she is also raising her hand to answer questions, and reading in front of the class. She has come a long way, I just hope she keeps it up. I am going to sign them up for Bible camp again this year, and also have play dates, hopefully that will help. Her teacher took her on a shopping spree to get Barbie's and ice cream. She made a deal with Katie at the beginning of the year, if she talked to her in class she would take her. Given her fantastic progress, they went on Monday after school. She came home with Barbie the baby doctor, a mom barbie and a dad barbie (that's how Katie refers to them), and a barbie coloring book. Holy Cow! Katie was still smiling when she feel asleep that night, what a wonderful teacher she has.

No Greek school for the next two weeks because it is Holy Week this week and Bright Week next week. Sunday is Orthodox Easter, so to all of you Greek Orthodox celebrating, I say to you...
Christos Anesti!!!

Until next time-
Take Care,
Sue





Free Counter

Uneasy Feelings

Have you ever had a bad feeling in your stomach like something bad was going to happen? I get them every now and then, it's such an uneasy feeling. I remember one time it was one heck of an uneasy feeling that I asked, no pleaded, with Peter to stay home from work. I bugged him so much about it, he finally gave in. He stayed and worked from home that day, even though he got teased from his co-workers. Well, believe it or not, that day there was a very bad car accident that happened at the same exit he would have taken to get to work. Would he have been involved if I had not begged him to stay, we will never know. I do know that the accident happened around the same time he would have been going into work. Ever since that day I have trusted this feeling I get. I bet you're wondering if I had it when Peter was diagnosed with his brain tumor...I did, and it stayed with me until the very end. I've had a pit in my stomach since last week and now I know why. I have been getting estimates for a new roof, they are double what I had expected. The woman who owned this house before me was good at taking care of it, I could tell she had put a lot of money into maintaining it. I never expected the roof to need new wood in places, I just thought it needed new shingles. Ugh...the headaches of being a homeowner! I am just sick to my stomach at the thought of all that money, my nest egg, my comfort. What can you do? It needs to be taken care of before the roof starts to leak and I have damage on the inside. The lowest estimate so far is from a guy who went into business with his buddy. His 20 yr. old daughter was born with water on her brain, and because of that he gives discounts to households with disabilities. I still can't figure out how he knew I had a special needs child, he said I told him but I know I didn't. I think he just assumed because when I was setting up the appointment he wanted to come during a time that Katie had a doctors appointment at Children's Hospital. Before anyone writes me a comment on this I want to make it clear that I have never, nor ever will, use Helen as a way to get sympathy, discounts, or booted to the front of the line at an amusement park. I only mention the last part because we live close to Six Flags Great America, and someone once told me if we ever went we could go through the exit and ride right away because we had a special needs child. I look at Helen the same way I look at all of my kids, she gets treated the same as the rest, they are all special to me.

Last week I mentioned the boys were having the Rain Gutter Regatta at Cub Scouts, well, we didn't do so good! I didn't tape the sail to the mast so the boats kept bumping into the sides of the gutter. The boys were getting really frustrated when they raced against a boat that sailed in a straight line. Ted's boat turned the water green because he didn't paint his whole boat with acrylic paint like you're supposed to. The first coat is with water colors, and then you are supposed to do two coats of the acrylic. I thought he understood when I explained it to him, I wasn't sitting right next to him while he painted. I'm in the middle of potty training Noah, so I was in the bathroom with him. Like I told Ted and Robbie, you live and you learn, now we know for next year. It was all in fun anyway!

All the kids are doing good, they are looking forward to school letting out and summer starting. They have already informed me they want to go to Bible camp again this year. Last year they went to the Catholic and the Greek, it was a good experience for them. Helen will be going to summer school again, she really enjoys it. I'm looking forward to lazy days, no schedules! After about two weeks I bet I'll be ready for school to start!!:o)

Until next time-
Take Care,
Sue






Free Counter

Difficult Time

It feels so good to be back to my regular blogging routine! This past week-end the weather here was in the low 60's, I was able to get my front yard cleaned up. The last couple of days it has been quite windy, so I now have leaves back in my yard, isn't that how it always goes! The kids had a blast playing outside on the swing set. There are patches of mud in the backyard, and of course, Helen and Noah found them all! Thank goodness I was smart enough to have them wear their boots, although Helen felt it was summer, so she went barefoot. They had to change their clothes before church, and I had to wipe them off, Helen's feet were very dirty. The two of them didn't want to come in, I had to bribe them with a treat. During our movie night, Noah crawled up on the couch with me and fell asleep about 10 minutes into the movie. He usually doesn't fall asleep until half way through the first movie, it was all the fresh air, and stomping through the mud.

Ted has been having a tough time lately, he misses Peter terribly. Last night he was working on his homework, the other kids had gone to bed. I was helping Robbie get ready for bed when Ted came into my bedroom sobbing. I asked him what was wrong and he could barely get it out..."I miss Daddy, a lot." I think I have mentioned in other blogs that Peter would help Ted with his homework and also work with him in activity books, we called it Daddy School. I didn't know what to say, it was such a relief to finally see him actually cry about it, not just get teary-eyed. The last time I saw Ted sob over Peter was the night Sherry and Chris(my sister-in-law) brought them to the hospital so they could say good-bye. I have been worried, I know it's not good to keep all of that bottled up inside. I told him it was okay to miss him, and okay to cry about it. I told him I missed him too, and then I started to cry, I felt Ted had a breakthrough. He has had a hard time talking about Peter, going to the cemetery freaks him out, he says it's too weird. I just kept talking to him, I told him how Peter didn't want to leave us but it wasn't his choice to make. It stinks that he's gone, and it's not fair, he fought a brave battle and lost, all we can do now is remember him always. We will always have him in our hearts, a place where nobody can take it away from us. He loved us with all of his heart, and nothing meant more to him than his family, and I know he misses us too. I ended with telling him that I loved him very much and I wanted him to know that he could always come talk to me whenever he felt sad. I stressed the importance of communication, I hope I made him feel better. He went and finished what he could with his homework, I could tell he needed to unwind and go to bed so I didn't push it.

Katie had a friend over after school yesterday, it went very well. Her goal is talk to one friend at school, so the doctor thought having the friend come to our house would help. I was a bit nervous at first because Katie wouldn't talk to any of us. Her friend kept saying, "Talk to me Katie, just talk!" She sounded a bit frustrated. Katie came to me and said very quietly, "I'm trying very hard to talk to her, but I just can't!" I told her to do the best she could, and if that meant not talking, just nodding or shaking her head, that was okay. About 10 minutes later Katie came and told me that she had whispered in her friends ear, I was so happy for her. Then about 2 minutes later I heard a bunch of screaming and yelling, I went to check on them. It was Katie, her friend, Grace, Helen, and Noah, all in their bedroom dancing and singing to High School Musical. Katie had done it, she had talked to her friend, it was like they were celebrating! They had a good time, they were a bit loud, but they had fun. The big test was today at school, would Katie talk to her friend? I was told by Katie after school that, yes she did!!!! Hooray!!! What a huge step for Katie, I am so proud. I will get the full scoop in the morning when I talk to her teacher, I can't wait.

Tomorrow night is the rain gutter regatta with the cub scouts, the boys are looking forward to it. I hope their boats do well, I helped them this time around, it wasn't that difficult to do. We will find out tomorrow just how well I did. If Ted says he wants someone else to help him build it next year, I'll know I didn't do a good job! I will let you know next week how they did, keep your fingers crossed...

Until next time-
Take Care,
Sue





Free Counter