Catching up

Ok, so its time to update my blog with... some actual updates. So from oldest to youngest:

Ashley is doing great. 

She's loving school (despite the occasional girl friends drama) and getting really good grades. She's not really doing any extra activities (sports, music, etc.) at the moment. Except she did go to one "Pony Days" and loved it.



This last weekend she and Emily were flowergirls. The wedding was on a farm and had an opportunity to ride a horse together after it was over. They looked absolutely adorable up on that horse. As hard as she tried, Emily could not stop smiling. I definitely see some more horseback riding in our future.

Oh and right now Ashley's also planning to be in the school talent show, singing a song she wrote while Emily dances. :)

Emily is doing great too. Really embracing neighborhood life, she begs me daily to play outside with the neighbors. And playing outside means more time on her bike. And now- she's riding a two wheeler! No more training wheels for Em!! I'm so proud of her.

She's not doing any extra stuff either, aside from some after school tutoring with her teacher a couple of times a week to help her catch up with some phonics stuff. I can't believe she's going to be in 2nd grade next year, she's such a little peanut. We took her to the eye doctor because she didn't do too well on the eye screening at school. But he said she looked great and didn't need glasses! I was so happy but I think she was slightly disappointed. So we're gonna go pick out some cool sunglasses to make up for it. ;)

Both Ashley and Emily are really becoming helpful around the house. They are regularly in charge of their own room, the bonus room, putting away their own laundry and sometimes their siblings', and each of them cleans one of the other little girl rooms. Occasionally they help with the little kids' playroom. Daily they each sweep the whole downstairs (one after school and the other after dinner) and unload the dishwasher together. And of course they set and clear the dinner table. Their weekly chores (or bi-weekly if we are busy) include vacuuming the stairs, scrubbing their shower (now that I use a homemade cleaner), wiping down their sink, and washing windows. One of them usually gives Kate her afternoon bottle, and Ashley is becoming a resident sippy-cup filler.

Micah. Oh Micah. I still need to contact that Speech, Language and Learning Center here in town. Meanwhile we're using some different cups and I think that's helping with the gurgly thing. We use one of sippy cups that my friends and I call "the starbucks ones". Where the lid is sort of round like a travel coffee cup. This keeps him from chugging the drink so quickly. Watching Micah drink a cup of water is like watching a guy at a bar who's being cheered on by friends, "Chug! Chug! Chug!" He'll drink the entire cup without stopping once. So this helps with that. :) But it has no stopper in it because they said anything with suction like that wasn't good  because he was aspirating on it more. I forgot why. :P

He's also doing great at school! Sight reading with the best of 'em. ;) We so proud of our little man.



Abby's good. I just had her IEP meeting to discuss Kindergarten! Could it be? Is my Abby really big enough for Kindergarten?! Whew.

(I'm not sure why my voice sounds so deep in this one. Surely I don't always sound like this?!)

We were having some issues getting her on the bus. Not because she doesn't like school, she asks to go. But I think the big bus is just really overwhelming for her. But that is totally fixed now that I put her on the bus with a small piece of candy to eat on the way. ;) She used to throw her body down, limp in the driveway, doing what I can only describe as "that Abby noise" (somewhere between a grunt and a scream). Now, I hand her a piece of candy as we walk out the front door, she holds it, and walks happily... laughing even... to the bus and when I try to help her on, she smiles and says happily, "No Mommy! Abby do it!" :) Its amazing how a piece of candy can change things! Honestly, I think it just gets her mind off of that big, intimidating bus, and onto a little something to enjoy during the ride.

Aaaand there's Mabry Ruth.

She's the princess and she knows it, always batting those big blue eyes to get her way. She's talking so big now. She's definitely passed Abby up in her vocabulary, which is a little strange for me. Sometimes she can even interpret what Abby's trying to say. We held off the potty training til summer. But as soon as summer break hits, I really want to potty train her and Abby together. We'll see how that goes.

She's so cute and squishy. Between her and Kate, I'm squeezin and squishin and kissin those little rolls as much as I can. Hear me when I say: I'm completely content that we are not having any more babies. But you better bet I'm savoring every single last second of baby world.

Because daily, baby Kate is growing!!



She's officially my chubbiest baby, coming in at the 76th percentile at her last checkup! And certainly has the most hair; I've already trimmed it twice! She's 10 months old now and it won't be long before she's walking. She's cruising pretty good around the couches. She's all done with baby food and totally on table food. She's got 8 teeth and a 9th on its way. She's waving bye-bye. She says "Mama", "Dada" (her favorite word), "Uh-oh", "all done" (and signs it when she says it), "Nigh-night", and lots of babble. She puts everything in her mouth. Of all my babies, she puts stuff in her mouth the most, hands down. If there is a tiny speck of a crumb on the floor, she'll find it and eat it. And with so many people in this house, our floors are constantly dirty. But it helps that Ashley and Emily do it in the afternoon and after dinner.

Kate is another good sleeper, taking two naps (the first 2 hours, the second 2-3 hours) and sleeps from 8 to 8. She loves going to bed at night. She snuggles with me for a minute while I sing to her but then reaches for her bed. Once I lay her down, she rubs her face in her blankets, sucks on 2 fingers (the same 2 that Emily did) and waves at me like "you can leave now.". :) She's SO cute. My heart could just explode with love for that baby!!!

*sigh*

That's the latest with the Spencer half-dozen!

I think I'm going to.

*Warning, random post ahead*

I've been thinking. (Dangerous, I know.) And I really want to...

~Look into that tracking device for Micah.

~Cover one of the playroom walls entirely with scripture. The wall opposite the mural. I think...

~Replace my dustpan with the end of a snow shovel. It would be so much more practical. How have I not thought of this sooner?

~(Brace yourself) Switch laundry day to Monday.

~Rearrange the furniture in the bonus room. Again.

~Buy an actual exercise video and exercise during nap time. Dancing along with the Wiggles, though great for cardio, and highly entertaining for the kids, is probably not recognized by the fitness community.

~Have Ashley help me cook more. She enjoys it and it would be so helpful.

Yep. I'm going to. I'm gonna do all of it.

Independence

On days when the weather will permit, my kids love to play outside as soon as they get home. The kids will ride bikes, play hide and seek, play mother-may-I and any other host of "active" activities that usually end with the requirement of bandaids. All while us moms yack it up because we haven't spoken to another grown up all day.

Well, several days ago, we were doing just this. But because I was busy chatting, I didn't realize that the garage door was still closed. And Micah wanted his bike.

So out of the corner of my eye, I see Micah open the back hatch of the suburban. You know those moments when you let your kids continue something because you're curious to see what they're doing... this was one of them. He had opened that door because its the only one he's strong enough to open himself. And he opened it so that he could then climb through the suburban, all the way to the front, so that he could push the button on the garage door opener, so that he could then turn around, climb back out, and get his bike out of the open garage. I kid you not.

A few days after that... we were once again outside after school and I was solving the problems of the world with neighbors.

I'm not sure if he was wanting something he knew I'd say no to, or if he was just trying to exhibit independence. But at some point, Micah came into the house and closed the door behind him. Went into the kitchen and dragged a bar stool back to the front door. Climbed up, locked the door, locked the dead bolt AND locked the child lock. Then he dragged the bar stool all the way back to the kitchen, to eliminate any evidence. I only know this because once I realized we were locked out (which was only a FEW minutes, mind you) and started banging on the door to get his attention, he came to the door, gave me a "oh you want to come in?" look, and then did this whole process again to unlock everything and let us in.

When Micah see's a problem or wants something done, he does it himself. He don't need no help from an adult!

Tell me that's not a smart kid. While on one hand I really need to teach Micah not to lock me out of the house, on the other hand, I'm really proud of his problem solving skills. And I know he's so proud of his independence. :)

Mabry potty training

This is from several weeks ago, but I found it on my phone and had to share.

It isn't so much about potty training to me, as it is about the sheer adorableness of Mabry Ruth. With those big blue eyes, curly hair and little voice, she's got me wrapped around her little finger. When she tilts her head and asks if she can wash her hands, is she not the cutest kid ever?!

Don't worry, this is a G-rated video. I kept the camera waist up. :)



(Potty training wasn't very successful so I opted to retry over summer break.)

Micah's Swallow Study

Today (per the paramedic visit a couple weeks ago) Micah had a swallow study at Vanderbilt. Because of his traumatic hospital/doctor experiences in the past, Micah wasn't, how shall I say.... cooperative. It wasn't terrible by any means. But the thing is, Micah likes to exercise his willpower in anyway he can. And today he tried to let me know how distraught we has to be there by rejecting food, which is sort of the most important part of the study.

But after many dramatic tears, thrashing, yelling "no," clinging to me and not letting go...  I had to switch from the loving "Micah, buddy, its okay, mommy's here. I'm not leaving. They're not going to hurt you. We're just gonna eat. Take a bite Buddy," to a deep, stern, "Micah. That's enough. You eat this right now and then we're going home." Which actually had a better effect.

So once they got the pictures they needed, the long and short of it is exactly what I expected: Micah doesn't chew is food. And he's aspirating on water when he drinks it from his sippy cup. So we are going to check out the speech and language learning center here in town. And we're gonna ditch the sippy's.

We've known since Micah came home that he doesn't really chew. But its understandable considering he never had solid food until he was four. Once he did try solids, he couldn't use his teeth to chew because his molars were all rotted down the nerve. But once we got caps on all of them (and had extensive nerve treatment), he'd already learned that chewing is painful and to avoid it if at all possible. And got quite good at eating without chewing.

He also learned from that lovely eastern European orphanage how to eat his food as quickly as possible so it wasn't taken away by peers or by the big Russian women in white coats. SOOO Micah inhales his food.

Lastly, they asked me again if he has some sort of respiratory infection. Just like everyone who's ever heard Micah breathe at any point in the last 2 1/2 years. To which I gave the answer that I could recite in my sleep. "Micah has sounded like that since we got him but the doctors say he's not sick. He's just really gurgly and its worse after he eats or drinks." Is he aspirating? I don't know. Does he have pneumonia? Don't think so but it does sound like it after he eats. Are they ever going to get to the bottom of that? Hopefully today is a step in that direction.

So.

I'm glad we did the study.

I love Vandy Childrens.

I really loved the speech pathologist.

But I'm tired now and its taking everything in me to write this post. And I won't have time to write this later today because I procrastinated on making two little Native American costumes for "Colonial Day" at Ashley and Emily's school tomorrow. So now I'm gonna put my littles down for a nap and hopefully take one myself. Consider yourself updated. ;)

I'm ready

Every year since my kids started school, my brain falls into this disillusionment in the weeks leading up to spring break. I look forward to it thinking I'll rest, hang with the kids, enjoy the break in packing lunches and washing uniforms, and even get some spring cleaning done. The kids can add some books to their reading logs, we'll do some craft projects, go to the library, the park, the zoo, the moon... you get the point. High expectations.

And every year, after a full week with all of my *ahem* blessed children... the kids have accomplished nothing, I have accomplished nothing, if anyone has bathed all week- it sure wasn't me, the house is usually about 72.6% dirtier then when spring break started, my hair is about 45.2% thinner and I've lost about 5-10 pounds (its amazing the calories you burn chasing children). We run around like crazy doing... a whole lot of nothing. I look back that next Monday morning wondering where in the world the week went and how I'm going to tunnel out of the rubble.

(Not to mention, it feels like we add another child almost yearly, compounding the chaos.)

So this year I'm going in with a mission. Not too rigid (fun, games, and outdoor times are scheduled in daily) but not too relaxed (pretty much every hour is accounted for). This doesn't include all of Kate's bottle feedings, but it's more posted for the kids than for me. Also, I'm still planning to get up before they do and have my usual coffee and quiet time. And during their nap/movie/reading time (depends on the age) I'm going to get my own chores done: laundry, dishes, bills, etc.

A schedule. A plan. I'm ready.

Let the games begin.