Hooray for Brian!

We had a small victory yesterday...actually I should say we had an enormous victory. I was so proud of Brian and felt one step closer to him being pull-up free!!! In the mornings, I have been working with Brian to get him to go potty. He's been very stubborn and now that he is 5, I really need for him to be potty trained. He's been doing well with going pee in the mornings and after school. Sometimes it's a struggle to get him in the bathroom but usually when I mention that he can't talk to Santa until he does, he's right in there. Well yesterday morning it was business as usual. He woke up, he went and was dry then until he came home from school. He went after school and I decided to just leave his pull up off. I took him about an hour later and nothing. Well, then I was in the dining room at my sewing machine and Brian came up to me and said, "pee goes in the potty?" and I responded with "yes Brian, pee goes in the potty" not thinking he was actually going to go. He then said okay and left. About 10 seconds later I hear him pee'ing in the potty!!! I was so excited because he did this all on his own without me telling him to go. He actually felt the need to go to the bathroom. We ofcourse did the pee pee happy dance and I could tell Brian was proud. He then tried an hour later and got frustrated when the pee didn't come out. Then to my amazement, again, he came to me and told me "pee goes in the potty" and sure enough, he went again. I am so proud of him.

Nursemaid's Elbow

Ahhh, what would my day be like without an adventurous Ethan? I wonder? lol. Yesterday morning, Brian's school went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch and because Brian goes in the afternoons, I had to take him in at 8am. That's pretty early for him since he enjoys sleeping in. As soon as he heard me say pumpkin patch though, he was up and ready to go. Ethan ofcourse is always up early. I think the latest he has ever slept in is 7am. I toasted them some waffles and got them dressed. In the process of pulling Ethan's arm through his jacket sleeve, I heard a light pop sound. I figured it was just his bone cracking like our knees sometimes do as we walk up the stairs. We dropped Brian off at school and then went grocery shopping. I have changed Brian's diet to a gluten free casein free diet to try to help with his autism. There is so much to know. These new products we are buying are very mind boggling at the moment. Who knew there are so many types of flours you need just to make chocolate chip cookies. Even the chocolate chips have to be gfcf. This is by no means an inexpensive diet either especially when he will not eat meat or veggies. Hopefully though with time this will change. Anyways, Ethan and I continued on shopping and when I went to put him in his car seat, he winced in pain. I asked him if he had an owie and he said yes but didn't tell me where. I thought maybe I caught him in the buckle of the seat or something. So we drove on and we stopped at a sewing/fabric store. I needed a new power cord for my sewing machine since somehow it has disappeared between N.C. and here. We got home and I went to take Ethan jacket off and he was very protective of his left arm. Then I noticed he wasn't using it at all and did everything with his right. Time was ticking and I needed to get Brian from school. So as we were in the car line waiting for Brian, I turned and asked Ethan if he was owie. He said yes and I asked him to show me and in his little voice he says, "right here mommy, right here" as he touches his left hand. On the way home, we stopped to pick up some pumpkins and again, Ethan only picked the little pumpkins up with his right hand. We got home and I called the doctor's office. Thankfully they had two available appts that day. 1:20 and 3:10. It was now 12:30 and I decided to go to the 3:10 because I had to make sure I was here when Katheryn came home from school. We got to the dr's office and I think my children raised the volume to max in there. Brian and Ethan were screaming at each other while I was trying to fill out the new patient paperwork and Katheryn was screaming at them trying to do her best to help me with them. I know when Ethan's name was called, everyone in the waiting room was relieved. Well, the doctor comes in, plays around with Ethan a little bit and at the same time pops his radius back into the socket. It turns out when I was pulling his arm through the jacket, the head of his radius popped out of the socket. Great! I felt like a horrible mommy until the doctor told me he had done the same thing to his daughter and hers lasted for 24 hours because he couldn't get it back in and they ended up in the ER. So knowing that I am not the only one to do this made me feel a little better. I just feel that Ethan is so fragile now. I need to give him more calcium I guess. The appointment was at 3:10 and we were in the car driving home by 3:25. I really like the office there. We then went to dance class for Brian and for Katheryn and once home, we waited for Matt so that we could decorate pumpkins. Brian really wanted to decorate them and would not do anything until they were decorated. He was very excited to see daddy walk through the door at 8pm. Yes, I said 8pm. That is when Matt makes it home some nights...okay, most nights. lol. Anyways, that was our adventure yesterday. Later this morning Brian has an appt. and hopefully we can get him in to some speech and OT as well as a possible DAN! doctor. (Defeat Autism Now!) There is one in Frederick so hopefully the waiting list is short.

Birthdays

Well, I know it's been forever since I've been on here. I definately need to put pics up for the kid's bdays. October is nearly over and it seems like last week when Brian turned 5. On his bday, nana and pop-pop came to visit. There was so much going on that day with the kids that we ordered dinner in...Chinese. Afterwards, we had some cake and ice cream with nana and pop pop G as well as with mommy mom and pop pop J.

Happy Birthday Brian!

Brian and Nana

Make a wish!

On Saturday both Katheryn and Brian celebrated their bday's at a local go-kart/game center. Brian's friend Ethan came and Katheryn's friends Megan and Crissy came. The cake was a combo Hello Kitty/Army theme. Really cute! The kids had a blast racing in the junior go-karts and the bumper boats. They really enjoyed the water wars where they launched water balloons at each other. Brian had fun racing with pop pop G on the big go-karts....you can hardly see his head over the steering wheel.

Hello Kitty and Army Birthday cake

Brian, Ethan, Katheryn and Crissy

Pop-pop G and Brian on the go-kart 8 track

Also while Matt's parents were here, we finally finished our patio!!! yay! Matt, his dad and I worked on the patio in-between going to the bday party and Chuck-E-Cheese. Now that the weather has turned cold though, we've only been able to enjoy it for a day. Spring is just around the corner though...lol.

Matt's dad placing the last paver in

We just celebrated Katheryn's 9th bday this past Saturday. It was a very cold and ugly day and we didn't do too much. We decorated the house porch with spider webs, spiders and ghosts with Brian directing us as to how to decorate. We weren't allowed to stop until he said we were finished. Mind you, it was windy, cold and raining. Brian went to a bday party at Chuck-E-Cheese for his friend Ethan with daddy and Katheryn and I went to the mall. Her bday money was burning a hole in her pocket. She ended up spending it at Limited Too. She loves that store. I just hope that one day she will gain some money sense and learn to shop for bargains. Why pay full price when it'll be on sale later. I should have taken a pic of her in her outfit that she bought...it was hillarious. Well, it's time to take Brian to dance class...yes, Brian LOVES to dance. The dance studio Katheryn attends offers free dance classes for children with special needs. He is one of the more advanced and I was going to just enroll him in a normal class but he really likes going so I guess he'll stay in this class. Maybe next year we'll get him into a sport. Anyways, I better get going. I will add pics as soon as I can.

Happy Birthday!

October seems to be flying by fairly quickly and with that said, I didn't realize how soon Brian's birthday was approaching. I had a week. I scheduled a birthday party for him at a local go-kart place and decided to go ahead and make it a double party with Katheryn's b-day just around the corner. Plus, we really don't know many people here in our new area just yet. Nana and Pop-pop flew in Thursday evening...on Brian's birthday. It was a busy day for all of us. Katheryn finished up with dance at 7pm and Matt got to the house with his parents around 7pm. My parents then joined us for some Chinese and birthday cake. yum. Saturday was the party. It was money well spent. Katheryn had two friends and one of Brian's friends came. They played games in a mini arcade and then had pizza, cake and ice-cream. Afterwards, we all went outside and the kids drove go-karts, bumper boats and bounced in the air filled bouncer. They also played water wars where they launched water balloons at each other. Katheryn had a blast. Brian was able to drive a go-kart for the first time and really had fun. Good thing he can't get his liscense until he's 16!! He then rode a few laps in the double go-kart with pop-pop.

Ethan enjoying the games

Katheryn playing with Megan

Brian (blue)driving passing Katheryn (red)

Brian, Katheryn and Ethan waiting for their water balloons

Megan, Crissy and Matt ready to launch a balloon

Once we got back home, Matt, his dad and I got to work on the patio. It was a lot of work but we finally have it completed...well, 98% that is. We have about 7 pavers yet to cut to shape but other than that, it looks pretty good. I'm just thankful that we were able to get it finished before the weather turned really cold here. On Sunday, nana and pop-pop thought they would be adventurous. They braved all three kids at Chuck-E-Cheese. While they were playing games, Matt and I went to Pier 1 and then to Borders so I could get a book..."Mother Warriors" by Jenny McCarthy. We drove back to Chuck-E-Cheese and then headed to The Olive Garden for dinner. This morning, Matt's parents had to say goodbye to catch their flight home. Katheryn woke up not feeling so well and convinced us she would be better off at home in bed for the day rather than going to school. After some tears, I caved in and said okay. About an hour later, Brian came downstairs to let me know that Katheryn needed a cough drop. I gave him a cough drop and he happily went on his way, back upstairs to Katheryn. About 5 minutes later, I hear the pitter patter of Ethan's feet and he climbs up onto the counter to grab two apples from the fruit basket. He is immediately followed by Brian who tells me that Katheryn wants an apple. I thought something funny was going on so I went upstairs to check on her. When I opened her door, I saw a pile of books, atleast 20, piled at the end of her bed. I saw paper on the floor with pencils and some toys. I asked her what was going on and she told me that the boys did it because earlier I had told her if she was staying home, she would be in bed. So, she was in bed but found a way to get her brothers to get things for her. So I told her to get dressed and I took her to school. I also finished the book this morning which gave me some energy to find alternative ways to healing Brian's autism. I am thankful that I sought this book out. I now have more information to help me help Brian. Ofcourse with reading this new information, it will bring on much more research and reading but hopefully I am on the right path. My journey now begins with trying a gluten free and casein free diet for Brian. It will be a challenge since it is a challenge for me now to find foods that he likes aside from pizza and peanut butter and jelly. I will be trying new ways to prepare the foods that we do eat and hopefully Brian will be able to benefit from that. It doesn't hurt to try.

Our home and other odds and ends

Finally, a few pics of our house and a picture of a cloud that we saw transform within minutes right before our eyes. First is was a foot, then a shoe and then...well, we were laughing so hard that Katheryn took a picture of the cloud in it's final stage. You figure out what it is. LOL!

Our home

View from our front porch

View from right side of front porch

View from front porch

Front living room

Front living room

Dining room

Dining room

Our stray cat that we have named Smokey. She follows Katheryn to school and home. She's a really sweet cat that has several names in our neighborhood. Sissy and mittens are names we know of.

And, last but not least, the mystery cloud. You decide! LOL!

Chicken Noodle Soup

How appropriate this title is, I thought. It's only been a week or so since my last post and so much has happened already so I'm going to throw it all in to this post...hence, Chicken Noodle Soup. We'll start with Matt's birthday. His birthday, technically belonging to his older sister Susan first, is Sept. 30th. About a month before, I checked all around trying to find just the right gift for him since we didn't get to celebrate his birthday with him last year b/c of him being deployed. After searching many sites, I finally decided to get seats to a pro hockey game. I've watched him play hockey on many occasions but thought it would be nice if we could watch a game together and just maybe I would understand what the heck those blue lines are in the ice or what a hat trick was. Unfortunately, there weren't any games on his bday so I had to go with the Thursday before his bday...which he was supposed to have taken leave that week. Well, with anything in the Army, I should have known...plans ALWAYS change. So, I couldn't keep it a suprise from him, I had to tell him. The night of the hockey game, I took the kids to my parents and I drove to the metro station and met Matt there. We then rode the metro to the Verizon Center together. I got a great laugh when we were riding there when I happened to look at Matt's leg. He was wearing the jeans I had gotten him for his bday but left the sticker strip with the size on his leg. LOL! We got a good laugh. Matt was so excited with the seats I had gotten. We were about 4 or 5 rows behind the players bench...center ice! Awesome! The Washington Capitals vs The Carolina Hurricanes! How appropriate since we just left NC. The game was great. Although it was a preseason game, we had a ton of fun. The Washington Capitals ofcourse won and we saw many many hockey fights! I think I was more interested in the fights than the actual game. I still don't know what the blue lines represent or what a hat trick is BUT to my delight, I was able to catch a t-shirt that was thrown out to the crowd! Whoo-hoo! My only complaint about the entire game is that I could smell the players sweat as they skated back to their benches. Yuck! Matt thought that was great! So, because he got a hockey game for his bday gift, Matt thought his bday would be business as usual. It was until he got a call from the staff duty desk asking him to leave the baby shower the company was hosting to sign for a package. Well, the package was from the kids wishing him a happy birthday by means of a big balloon bouquet. I heard it was a great hit at the office. Matt was apparently showered with off tune ballads of the Happy Birthday song all day long. When he arrived home, he had dinner waiting as well as a homemade carrot cake and presents from the kids. It was really a lot of fun to celebrate his birthday with him this year. We really missed it last year.

Looks like he's praying but he's actually making a wish! lol.

Blowing out the MANY candles

Ethan trying to help blow out the candles

Ta-dah!

Sorry, I know, it's a long post. Moving on, the patio has gotten another step closer to being completed. After receiving a few estimates with having it graded professionally, we decided to go ahead and have it graded. The kids loved wathing the digger/scraper..whatever it is. They were fascinated...so much that Katheryn grabbed the camera and took these shots. The driver let the kids hop in it while it was running. Katheryn loved it! But the patio area is atleast graded and we had a delivery truck come and dump some sand this past Friday. The kids like playing in the mountain of sand. I've had many sand piles in the house from them taking off their shoes. Hopefully this weekend though we'll have it leveled and pavers started. I can't wait till it's finished.

Katheryn has found her calling

Friday was a great treat for Katheryn and I. Our friends came up from NC to visit us. Katheryn was so excited to have her friend with her. On Saturday we went to the National Zoo in D.C. and spent most of our time at the Panda exhibit. Brian also braved the elephant house this time and we watched an elephant get his foot/toes cleaned. We had planned on touring the sites in D.C. but we were sooo tired from the zoo and all the walking we decided to save that for another trip. Matt was working that day but joined us later at the house. Then on Sunday we had a lot of fun going to the outlets. There were so many sales. I spent about $100 in The Children's Place and I got the kids sooo many winter shirts/sweaters. The pants weren't on sale so they have to do without those for a while. LOL. After the outlets, Matt called to let us know he was on his way home from work. He met us at Panera Bread, yum, for lunch and after that, we went to a corn maze. I had never been to one. Crazy since I grew up here. The maze was in the shape of an eagle and the corn was about 7 or 8 feet high. They had stations set up with tickets and if the kids collected all 5 tickets, they could get a prize. We made it through the maze collecting all 5 tickets. It was a lot of fun. I wish I had gotten a picture of it. I may find one online and link it here.

Katheryn in tears from Alanna's suprise visit

On the metro

At the z00

No room inside for these creatures

Showing off their new sweaters

After the corn maze, we went to the go-kart tracks. We raced and I have not been beaten yet!!! It was Brian's first time on the go-karts with Matt and he had a blast. We went ahead and reserved the kids' bday party for there for both Katheryn and Brian. I know I have written a lot and there was much to read. Although not quite as entertaining as the last few posts but I hope you enjoyed it still. On one final note, while shopping today, I found the perfect shirt for Ethan. It said, "Master of Disaster" "watch out" "here I come". It was just perfect. I didn't buy it, it looked cheap but I loved the saying. I could totally picture it on him. Well, until next time....I'm signing off.