Easier??

At a recent outing, I overheard someone talking about her recent strawberry picking with her friends. She gushed on and on how easy it was to go out with her children now that they were older and made a comment about how she was "glad that baby phase is over." The funny thing is the first thing that struck me about this woman's statement was the fact that she went strawberry picking. Hmmmm... strawberry picking. That is one adventure we have yet to do. I have never been strawberry picking in my life. Then the rest of her statement struck me, and my mind briefly flashed back to my blueberry picking fiasco of last summer (with a two-month old and non-mobile two-year old). And I realized how easy fruit-picking will be this year. Clare can run around with Jamie now, Simon loves to be out and about, and I don't care how dirty he gets scooting around on the ground. Strawberry picking is definitely in our horizon!

This woman is entitled to her opinion, but I felt pity for her. Pity that the sweet, and oh-so-short, phase of life termed the "baby phase," was something she was glad to be rid of. Am I glad Jamie is now a energetic boy of five who just finished his first season of t-ball and swims like a fish? Of course I am, but that does not mean I am glad to see his baby phase, toddler phase, preschooler phase be things of the past. In fact, it is always bittersweet to me to see my children growing up. Now that Simon is almost 14 months old and Clare is walking (and starting to climb - oh no!), our summer this year will definitely be easier logistically than our summer last year, but that does not translate into better. Just different. Different planning, different excursions, different headaches. (Because, trust me, NO outing is a breeze!) Strawberry picking? Bring it on - little kids and all!

Teary-Eyed

Simon, that is. He has suffered from clogged tear ducts since birth (in fact, all of my children have had these). But while Jamie's and Clare's cleared up by nine months, and Simon's left eye cleared up, his right eye is still clogged. At his one-year check-up, the pediatrician referred us to the pediatric opthamologist. Now, at almost 14 months old, Simon's eye still is gunky every day. He has battled numerous eye infections, which has led to skin infections under his eye. Simon had his appointment with the eye doctor this week, and we are now scheduled for eye surgery next month. It is a quick procedure to probe and open the tear duct, but my baby still has to go under general anesthesia for it. And, even though we have been there, done that for more serious reasons, it still is not easy to think that your child is having surgery for any reason. But if this does the trick, then Simon's eyes will be beautiful and junk-free once and for all!

End of the Year

This is Clare's last week of preschool. Today was her End of the Year Celebration (and the great mommy forgot to bring the camera!). We were in charge of bringing cupcakes in, so when I dropped Clare off this morning, we had our bag of carefully-selected store-bought mini cupcakes with us. (When Clare's teacher asked me to bring in cupcakes, I usually take pride in baking myself, but the thought of making four dozen mini cupcakes was just too much right now.) Clare saw her teacher and started dancing and singing, "cake cake cake!" She was very excited about having a party at school. Mid-morning, I headed back over to the school with Jamie and Simon and met Shawn there for the party.

Clare was sitting on the rug with the rest of her class when we walked into her classroom. She immediately exclaimed, "Daddy!" and stood up to come over to us. Her teacher reminded her to sit back down, and I was proud to see that Clare followed her directions. We watched Clare sing two silly songs with her class (complete with hand motions - oh, I cannot believe I forgot the camera!), then they neatly filed over to the snack table and chose their snacks from the array of goodies (after all that fuss over cupcakes, Clare took a cookie and cheese and crackers). After they were settled on a different rug, we watched a slideshow of the class over the past year. All the children were excited to see themselves on the television screen, including Clare. ("That's me! That's me!") I had to bite down hard to keep myself from bawling. Just seeing Clare be a part of her class, follow directions, and gaining so much joy out of being in school was overwhelming. I think back at how petrified we were as Clare's third birthday and the start of preschool loomed closer and closer. Now all those fears have melted away, and I can see Clare is thriving in school.

Clare will only have two full weeks off school before her summer session starts in July. We are going to take advantage of those weeks by sleeping in (at least, that's my hope - at the very least, not be rushing out of the house every morning!), planning lots of activities, and hosting our first Williams syndrome barbecue.

Fun in the Sun, Part 2

Disclaimer: My slide show is cut off on the one side for some reason, and I have tried numerous times to fix it. I admit defeat! So just enjoy it as you can!

Free MySpace slideshows, photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Fun in the Sun

I know, I know, WHERE HAVE THEY BEEN?

We just returned from a fantabulous two-week stay in Southwestern Florida. Oh, it was bliss. We had a condo in a gorgeous town, swam in the incredibly warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico (88 degrees! In the ocean! Coming from the chilly New England Atlantic Ocean, this astounded us every day), lounged in the pool, and explored the sights (like gators in the wild and a trip to Seaworld in Orlando). We even convinced Jamie to try alligator nuggets, and he preferred them over his chicken nuggets!

I have one more suitcase to unpack (it's slow going and we returned to 90+ degree weather in NH, so chores such as putting in the air conditioners have taken priority), and a zillion photos to download, so I promise to share more later!

Proud Preschool Grad

Jamie graduated from preschool yesterday. It is endearing how seriously he took it and how nervous he was! For the last week or so, there has been a lot of drama in our house revolving around graduation and the fact that preschool is over. Since this is Jamie's first year at school, I don't think he fully grasps the concept that he will return to the same school in the fall for kindergarten. All he can see is that he loves school and it is over.

The graduation consisted of a program of songs and a "bridging up" ceremony - the children crossed a bridge symbolizing their progression from preschool to kindergarten. The whole ceremony was very sweet. As I read the paper listing the names of the the Class of 2008, I couldn't keep the tears at bay. Crying over preschool! Oh well, that's the mushy mom I have become!

This is a video of some of the songs. The final song is the first song Jamie ever learned at preschool, so it was a great closer to a wonderful school year. We are so proud of you, Jamie! You have your first year of school under your belt and did fabulously (only 17+ more to go!). Your teachers gave us glowing reports of your performance - both academically and socially. They told us how you are everyone's friend and how all the children love to play with you. We look forward to seeing what kindergarten brings.

Hmmmm....

Whose shoes are those?

Baby Got Buzzed

(And also learned how to pull up today by using the open dishwasher.)

Meow

Rats... Foiled Again

I am not a stupid person. I learned how to read at the age of four. I was the valedictorian of my high school class. I graduated from college Summa Cum Laude and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. I have honed my razor sharp wits by running around after three small children (or maybe that has translated into Mommy Mush Brain). All I know is that I am completely stumped today. I have totally disappointed my five-year old son. For the life of me, I cannot figure out how to transform Optimus Prime back into a truck.

Super Mom ~ Happy Mother's Day

S~ So this is a one day late Mother's Day post, but I am hoping that late is better than not at all. So Teresa hates being called a Super Mom because she feels like it makes her have to be perfect, and let's face it, no one is perfect. But me, being a kid who loved comic books and super heroes, I never liked them because they were perfect. Without getting too close to the geek train, Superman turned into a wimp next to Kryptonite, the Hulk was an idiot, and Ironman has a bad ticker...far from perfect. But what made them Super was the fact that they sacrificed their lives for the sake of others. They overcame their weaknesses and persevered to do what is right. That is what makes my wife a Super Mom!

I am amazed on a daily business of what Teresa does, how she keeps everything together. She juggles so many schedules, between school, doctor's appointments, playdates, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. At the same time she will add swim classes for the kids and still find time to scrapbook and update the blog. The amount of work she does in one day is unbelievable. I look at her and I am awed by her strength to bring all this together. She has sacrificed so much for our kids and our home and that is what makes her a Super Mom! She has strength beyond Superman, brains beyond Hulk, and a heart that is big enough for a family of five.

I love my wife. I find her more beautiful each and every day, and I thank God for her and for all that she does for us. Teresa, thanks for everything you do. I know you don't think you are super, but to me and the kids, you are our hero! Happy Mother's Day (one day late!)

Juno

Shawn and I watched the movie Juno last night. What a great flick! I don't usually post movie reviews on my blog, but this was one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. Laugh out loud funny (and not in an Adam Sandler slapstick way), poignant scenes that brought tears to my eyes, and an incredible message. Without ruining the movie, Juno is about a high school student who gets pregnant. It is the story about her journey through this pregnancy - a journey she embarks on with her parents, best friend, the father of the baby, and the prospective adoptive parents. It might sound like a corny chick flick, but the dialogue is very witty and the actor who plays Juno herself is so cute and quirky - I just loved her!

As we drove to the beach today on our Mother's Day outing, Shawn and I were discussing the movie. He stated that he hoped if any of our children came home in a similar situation that we would react like the parents in the movie did (quite clearly disapproving of their daughter's actions while simultaneously supporting her - all portrayed in a very honest, human way - it was great, can I say that enough?). I told him truthfully that I think we would. I personally witnessed how such a situation could change a family when my sister became pregnant as a teenager. My parents were so incredible throughout it all. My sister gave her baby up for adoption. It was no walk in the park, but she weathered both the pregnancy and adoption process with such courage, fortitude, and dignity. I was in awe of her strength at 17 years old and continue to be in awe of her strength more than ten years later. My sister and my parents transformed a situation that certainly was not ideal into an amazing example of what being open to life is all about. This pregnancy did not ruin my sister's life - in many ways, I think it enhanced her life. And it definitely enhanced the lives of the adoptive family, receiving such an amazing gift from my sister - her own child. So Happy Mother's Day to you, too, my wonderful little sister!

Mama Ramblings

After a busy morning and early afternoon, it was one of those rare days when Simon and Clare napped at the same time (more often than not, Clare does not nap these days, but a morning at school then almost two hours with friends at the playground took care of that situation!). Jamie was having a bad allergy attack with swollen, red, and itchy eyes, so he was resting on the couch in the basement and watching a video. There was no one on the ground floor but me. Wow - what was I going to do with myself?? After taking one quick look at my spring cleaning list (the kind that includes vacuum the cobwebs from the corners of the ceiling and walls and reorganize the storage area), I saw that I was 85% done with my list. Without an ounce of guilt, I put the list aside, sat down in a chair, and started reading my book (if anyone is interested is "Mr. Darcy's Daughters" - a nice little book featuring the daughters of Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy from "Pride and Prejudice"). After a couple chapters, though, I put my book down and took Clare's first year scrapbook album off the shelf. It had be a long time since I had sat down with the book and really looked through it. I will pull it out for Clare sometimes, and we look at the pictures. This day, however, I read each and every page - every photo caption, every bit of journaling, and perused every picture.

It has been a while since all those emotions have come to the forefront. Weeks, maybe? I found myself tearing up as I looked back over her first year. As I read the pages documenting her four cardiac catheterizations and open heart surgery. It is still fresh in my mind how exhausting it was to be in the hospital when Clare was just in a couple weeks ago for dehydration. And I did not even stay the night with her, Shawn did. I can vaguely recall the emotions of Clare's most recent cath in September, but even that was already eight months ago. It struck me how much I now take our life for granted. Our current way of life. I had forgotten what it was like that first year. When Clare had five hospitalizations. When over the course of 11 months, we spent a total of 25 days in the hospital. Almost a whole month of Clare's first year was spent at Boston Children's Hospital. And the seemingly endless doctor's appointments. Compared to that year, our life now is a life of leisure.

When Clare went to the endocrinologist's last week, she had her thyroid levels tested (and a small victory where we are past the point where Clare needs her calcium tested anymore!). Instead of dragging the children over to our clinic to get the blood work (which I normally do), I opted to have it done at an outpatient clinic down the hall from where the endo's office is. Clare started crying the minute we walked in the room. The phlebotomist (who was extremely loud and slightly obnoxious) asked if Clare had ever been stuck before. Hmmmm... I toyed between making the sarcastic comment or the low-key comment. I settled on simply saying, "Yes, and she was just hospitalized last weekend and had a traumatic IV experience, so please use the other arm." I must say that despite the phlebotomist's grating personality, she was a master sticker and got that blood draw done in a flash. It's amazing when I think of my list of small things I am grateful for - a phlebotomist who can draw enough blood on one quick stick is definitely in my top five!

I enjoyed my trip down memory lane looking at Clare's baby book. But I am definitely glad those days are over. We still have our challenging "WS days" (as I call them) where I am once again overwhelmed by what Williams syndrome means in our life. But, as a whole, I am more in stride with everything now. I take it one day at a time!

Prayer Before Meals

Jamie loves to say the prayer before we eat dinner. He composes an original prayer every night for us, and they are usually along the same lines with slight variations ("thank you for a wonderful day, thank you for our delicious food, etc."). They are always sweet, earnest, and from the heart - as befits a 5-year old boy. Tonight's prayer, though, was the winner of all prayers:

Dear God,
Bless all of my shark friends especially the ones who have the diarrheas. Bless all the good guys and make the bad guys lose their powers.
Amen.

Gotta Love Cake

Simon is by far our best eater yet. Almost anything and everything. And the quantity! Oh my! So when it came to his first birthday cupcake, he dove right in. Literally face first. We have video of Simon face-planted onto his cupcake, and you can hear him making slurping noises as he sucked on the cupcake. It's actually kind of gross! If only we all tackled life as enthusiastically as this baby boy of mine!

Pinch Me

Someone please wake me from this nightmare. Either the USB port on our hard drive or my actual USB cable for my iPod is faulty. Whichever it is it means that I cannot sync my iPod with my iTunes right now. Which means that for the last five weeks I have been stuck listening to the Elmo Dance Party mix over and over and over and over and over and over and over...

All I have to say is Macarena and Cotton Eyed Joe...

First Birthday Baby

Where has the year gone? I cannot believe that my baby is already one year old. In the blink of an eye...

* We went from calling you Mr. Serious to calling you Mr. Smiley.
* Your hair changed from jet black to a light reddish-blondish-brown.
* Your soft coos transformed into wild shrieks and big belly laughs.
* We went from snuggling our peaceful bundle of a newborn to trying to hold down a giggling, squirmy boy during diaper changes.
* You grew a whole year older.

Happy 1st Birthday, Simon! You fill our lives with much love and laughter. We cannot imagine our world without you. Your first year of life has truly been a joy. In many ways, you brought our family back to normal. We love you, sweet baby birthday boy!

Routine

We're back in our routine again. It's so sweet! Everyone is finally fully recovered from that stomach virus. It took Clare a couple days to get her energy level back, but the overnight hospital stay was what did the trick of setting her on the right road.

Last week was Clare's spring break from school, so come this Monday morning, she was a little hesitant about going. I am sure there were multiple factors involved - just having been so sick and in the hospital (not a pleasant experience for Clare at all), not having school for a week, and her regular teacher was not outside to walk her in, but one of the aides. Clare was very reluctant to leave me, but I just bit my lip, kissed her good-bye, and walked off. I hate the walking off part. I feel as if I am abandoning her sometimes, especially when she is not enthusiastic about going in the school. Once I was farther away from Clare, I turned around and watched her walk in with Miss Karin. She had a good, if tiring day, and slept most of the afternoon!

Tuesday was more of the same. Jamie is on school break this week (one of the downfalls of having the kids in school in two different towns - different vacation weeks!), so we had a full car for pick-up and drop-off. Clare was more eager to go to school, and after dropping her off, the boys and I spent the morning at Barnes & Noble, one of our favorite activities. Our local B&N has a train table, a great children's section, and a Starbucks. Favorites all around! However, during the morning, I received the dreaded phone call from the school. I always have my cell phone turned on whenever Clare is in school (and I am not one of those "addicted-to-my-phone" people), but I honestly did not expect a call. Clare fell and hit her lip on a cabinet. She was bleeding, but the teacher said she was with the school nurse and diligently keeping an ice pack on her split lip. When I picked her up from school, she showed me her "boo boo" lip and seemed okay about the whole thing. Her teacher informed me that Clare was the most accident-prone child she has ever had! Great! (Of the three and a half weeks Clare has been in school, I know of two times she has fallen and cut her lip - who knows how many times she has actually fallen with no blood!) I told her it was probably due to the fact that Clare was low tone with loose joints, has trouble centering herself and regaining her balance, and has trouble visually scanning her environment while walking. Add that she is on aspirin and bleeds easily, it's a wonder Clare does not fall and injure herself more!

Today is Clare's day off from school, so we had finally had a nice lazy morning with nowhere to go! We attempted the playground, but our beautiful spring weather turned into a chilly and windy 40-degree day, so both Clare and Simon hated that idea. (I had to drag Jamie off the playground after 40 minutes - we were freezing!) Then the afternoon was spent at the endocrinologist's office and having blood work done (and we saw Laura and Michaela there - they are both such brave ladies!). Not my number one choice for an afternoon activity, but there is something comforting about being back in our routine, doctor's appointments and all!

Batter Up!

S~ So as Teresa mentioned in an earlier post, we have officially entered the organized sports stage of life and, with that, I have officially become a "coach." Which I kind of chuckle at considering that, those of you who know me, I'm not what you would call a sports guy. Anyway, today was opening day for our Little League group, and it was a ton of fun. I am really enjoying this because it is something that Jamie and I can do together. I had no idea what opening day was going to be like except that we were going to be playing our first game and that we had to be there by 8 am. After a long restless night at the hospital (see previous post), the early morning was going to be the toughest part.

We got there with a large Dunkin Donuts Toasted Almond Coffee in hand and immediately handed out the jerseys and hats. Once everyone was ready, we were brought to one of the bigger fields to line up. They were going to have us all run out team by team. Jamie thought this was pretty cool, especially because we were the first team to go out (although he was a little disappointed because he thought we were going to be playing on the local pro-minor league baseball field). All the teams ran out onto the field according to age of the players, so the major league players were last. As these 12- and 13-years olds were coming out, I could hear Jamie and his teammates make comments like, "We have to play those kids??," "How come they are so much bigger than us??" One of the coaches was in the service so when he ran out in full fatigues, all Jamie said was, "Oh man, they have a soldier!" The other coach and I had to reassure the kids that we were not playing all the teams, just the t-ballers.

After the opening ceremony, it was Game Time! Jamie did great. What I noticed was his attention to the game. He was always in the ready position and focused on what was going on. Also, he was a social butterfly. At one point, he was covering second base, and, I tell you, that was the place to be! Every kid who was on second got an instant friend to talk to. It was like every kid was Jamie's best friend, and these were kids on the other team that Jamie never met before. He was also great with cheering on his own teammates. When we were up to bat, you could hear Jamie rooting everyone on until it was his turn. It was a really great day!

It Got Us Again

Those blasted wee little germies landed Clare in the hospital overnight last night. The boys started to recover from the virus and were up and about and eating and drinking again, but Clare just could not get over the hump. By yesterday morning, we could tell she was getting dehydrated fairly quickly, but resisted our efforts to take in fluids. After a visit with the pediatrician, it was decided that the best course was to admit her into the hospital overnight for fluids. As much as I hate doing this to Clare, we knew it was for the best. Dehydration is a slippery slope with Clare because of the condition of her blood vessels, and it was a slope she was rapidly sliding down.

Aaahhhh... the hospital. The nursing staff was awesome and made sure we were comfortable and left us fairly alone, but there is still the trauma of putting in the IV (probably our worst experience yet with this because from the moment I laid Clare down on the bed, she turned into a little wildcat - rearing off the bed, trying to bite me, screaming bloody murder) and the whole mind-numbing fatigue of being in the hospital. Last night, as we were shuffling kids around, arranging for my mom to come up in the morning to help out with Simon (since it was opening day of t-ball and Jamie and Shawn had to be at the field from 7:30-11:00am), and generally trying to make some sense out of the chaos, I kept wondering if we made the right decision. Maybe Clare would have been fine by that evening. Maybe after a good night's sleep, she would have perked up and drank something for us. Maybe, maybe, maybe. But then I keep reminding myself that dehydration is not something we want to fool around with. Chances are that Clare would have been absolutely fine. But who wants to take that chance?

So we endured our short trip to the hospital. Clare received fluids overnight, did get a good night's rest (I wish I could say the same for Shawn, who stayed overnight with her!), and woke up this morning feeling so much better. She asked to eat, ate more than she normally does in the morning, and we were able to be discharged by 10am. Her bicarb levels were still low and some of her other levels were high (meaning she was still not fully hydrated), but since Clare's temperament and energy level had done a 180 overnight, the doctor felt comfortable sending us home. In retrospect, I think we made the right decision despite the hassle and exhaustion. I feel that Clare was just at a point where she did not have the strength or energy to recover on her own from the virus. She needed a little extra help. Now we have our smiling little girl back (who is busy upstairs mock-battling with her older brother with the balloons he picked out for her).