How could I forget about the blog??

I know, I'm a really horrible blogger. I should have done better about keeping things updated. I'll try not to suck less in the future :)

Huge Updates:

James: still at the job and working his tail off. He is pretty happy there and it is still supporting us.

Me: I'll start nursing school on August 25! I'm really happy and excited about this new chapter, though I'll miss staying at home with the boys. It will be an interesting transition with all of the work that comes with nursing school plus all of the responsibilities that come with being a mom of 3. Luckily, I think we've found a new childcare provider that will mesh well with our family which is such an important support system to have. The kids will be sad to not be back with their beloved Ms. Rachel.

Finn: will be starting to receive Early Intervention due to a speech delay. He doesn't really have any words and at 19 1/2 months (I know!!!!!) he should have quite a few. He is definitely smart as a whip though and he is so hilarious. He taught himself how to go down the stairs by sliding down on his belly. It is now a past time enjoyed by all the little boys. His brothers boss him around all the time and he's fairly tolerant of that most of the time.

Gavin: is almost 3 and so so smart. He's also still shy around new people and can be really grumpy when he wants to be. He and Sean are very best friends and they prefer to sleep on the bottom bunk of their bunkbed together. You can tell he feels much better about everything when Sean is around. I'm so thankful that they have such a great relationship.

Sean: has had an intense few months. He started school and went to an AWESOME Shelby County School with a wonderful Pre-K program. He seemed to blossom in that program and will be continuing it at a different school in August. He's not quite ready for Kindergarten developmentally. He was also diagnosed with Occipital Lobe Epilepsy, which mostly affects his face and eyes, though he has started to have some episodes that have involved his whole body. He is on Depakote Sprinkles (125 mg 5x a day) and it seems to be helping some. We have failed Trileptal (made his seizures much, much worse) and Keppra (OMG- Keppra rage!!!). We were switched to Depakote in mid-May when he had to be put inpatient at Le Bonheur for 3 days due to a cluster of seizures that lasted between 6-7 minutes. He had an EEG (normal abnormalities- HA! How is that for a contradiction?) and an MRI (normal). We had a follow up appointment last week and we upped the dose due to some spells that have been happening in his sleep and we follow up on July 8, where we will decide if we need to pursue an extended stay in the EMU (epilepsy monitoring unit), where he would be hooked to a 24 hours a day EEG for 3-7 days to see if we can't catch the seizures going on. The bad part about Sean's epilepsy is that a lot of really benign things could be a seizure for him. We are dealing with a lot of unknown at this point. Adding to the unknown is a referral to Genetics (appointment is June 21). He has so many things going on PLUS my issues when pregnant PLUS something called dysmorphic facial features with his wide bridge of his nose and downslanting eyes- it could be months or years before we get a potential answer with that.

I've spent a lot of time talking about Sean, but his multitude of issues and doctors appointments have kinda taken over my life. On top of this, we have moved! Into a house! With a yard!!!!!! We went from about 900 sq. ft condo to a 2000 sq. ft house with a yard where the boys can run (and James can mow :)). It has been a huge blessing for our family because we were way too cramped in that house. Now, I even have an office for all of my study time with nursing school. Now, we're broker than broke, but I don't care at this point. I'm just so glad that we are out of that condo with the mold and lack of storage. We also got a dog! She is a really sweet black Australian Shepherd mix that we rescued from the Bartlett Animal Shelter when they were preparing to flood in early May. Jewel is such a good dog who has meshed well with our family and the boys have really loved having her around (and she loves to cuddle with her Mommy :)). That's most of my update- we're just going to enjoy our summer before it gets crazy in the fall and we're also anxiously awaiting the birth of our best friend's baby girl, Stella, in August and our newest niece/nephew in January which will be James' brother, John's first child. I really will try to do better- I have a lot to say and I'm sure people get sick of hearing me talk. Holla!

Sean

This is Sean.


Sean is our first-born Son.


Sean loves trains.


Sean is a wonderful big brother.



Sean is special, you see. No, not just because he's mine :) Sean has Autism. But that is just one small thing about Sean- I will not let it define him. He is no different to me than he was yesterday before I heard the words: "Mrs. H, your son has Autism". I still love him more than words.

Sean's EEG and other stuff...

Sean had his EEG today to monitor for seizures that can mimic the signs of autism. I've now been making myself insane googling what normal and abnormal results look like. It started out kind of rough because he was having a meltdown about having to lay down and get the little things put on. And he's really, really strong, so I was having a super difficult time holding him and keeping him calm. I thought we may end up having to take him to Le Bonheur to get the test done so that they could papoose him, but I ended up having to bribe him with gummy sharks. It worked though and they got a good reading, which we will find out the results next week. His CT scan is scheduled for Friday, which he will have to be consciously sedated for...not sure how my boss is going to feel about my having to take off again- at least I'm down to a little over 2 weeks away from being done with work :) I'm so very excited...even though today is just a taste of what I'll be doing and as I look around my living room, it is totally and utterly destroyed...as is my bedroom, where the big boys were playing this morning- I don't really care because I'll be with my boys!

In other boys' news- Gavin had his 2 year well-baby visit last Friday and he is wonderful. He weighed in at 30lbs 12 oz (85th percentile) and 36 inches tall (90th percentile). She also pronounced him as perfectly advanced since he talks in full sentences and you can understand most of what comes out of his mouth. He's so incredibly smart- it really does blow my mind. Finn is also doing well...my milk supply is trying to drop, which is breaking my heart. I'm just hoping I can hold out for 2 more weeks at work and I should be able to get it pulled back up at home full-time...at least I'm hopeful for that since I've worked so hard to breastfeed him, I would hate to have to quit now. James and I are both good...just making things work with finishing all of the preps for staying home...it's pretty much been consuming our thoughts.

Happy Birthday Gavin!!

Today is my sweet Gavin's 2nd birthday, and even though I've been home sleeping off a ferocious summer cold all day, I wanted to write and remember the day that my amazingly smart and gorgeous 2nd child entered our lives.

Here's his birth story:
7/7/08
12:51 p.m.
6lbs 15 oz, 20.5 inches long

I had a scheduled induction at 5:30 a.m. on July 7 because of my on-going blood pressure issues.

The nurses got me hooked up to the monitors and much to my surprise, I was having contractions. They were about 10 minutes apart, so I told them I wanted a low dose of Pitocin to see how things would progress. Our nurse, Stephanie, checked me before she started the pit and I was at a "stretchy 3"- when I'd been at 1.5 the Wednesday before. She started my pit at 6:30, after finally getting my IV in (it took 3 tries!). I was mildly uncomfortable and even though watching my DH sleeping blissfully away was making me want to kick him in the nads, I thought I was handling it well. I knew the doctor would be in to break my water early and I remembered the pain that came with the contractions after my water broke last time, so I went ahead and ordered my epidural as soon as my fluids were done. At 8, they finally got the epidural in right *note- no more student nurse anesthecists* and I tried to relax. Dr. Hamby came in at 8:30 and broke my water and put in my internal monitors- he also stretched me to 4.5, which I was glad I didn't feel LOL. I was thrilled since I knew once I got to a 6, things would probably go pretty quickly like it did with Sean.

For the next couple of hours, things were quiet- I was checked again at 10 and was at 5. My contractions were coming every 3 minutes and I could feel the tightness, but luckily still no pain. At 11, three nurses came running in there and started messing with my internal monitors because Gavin's heartrate was sort of sporadic. They also turned off my pit because my contractions were starting to come right on top of each other and they wanted to see if I could maintain the contractions on my own. They also told me I had progressed to an 7.5 Woohoo!!! They finally got Gavin's heartrate ok- the monitor had just gotten a little loose. I started feeling nauseous and getting really really crabby- I knew it was almost time.

At 12, I was checked and was almost complete with a tiny lip. I started freaking out at this point because "OMG! I'm having a baby!". I was still at a 0 station, so I told the nurse I didn't want to wear myself out pushing when he was still high- I wanted to contractions to push him down. She started prepping everything and called Dr. Hamby to tell him it was almost time. While she was out of the room, I had to push *rightthisverysecond* and I made James stick his head in the hallway (we were right across from the nurses' station) and grab Stephanie. This was at 12:20 and we started practice pushing, so I was ready to go when Dr. Hamby walked in. It took about 25 minutes for Dr. Hamby to arrive and by that point, the nurse was having me pant through my contractions because I was ready to deliver. Hamby walked in and after a lovely episiotomy and 2 pushes, he placed Gavin on my chest and let James cut the cord.

It was an amazing, easy birth and I seriously could not have asked for things to have been any better. I was able to feel him being born, but no pain and I got my wish to be able to hold him on my chest as soon as he was born. After getting my stitches and everyone leaving us alone, I was able to breastfeed him in the delivery room and just enjoy my time with Gavin and James.






Happy Birthday, Monster! Love your Mommy and Daddy

It's been awhile...

I can't believe my last post was in February! So much has happened for our family since then.

Sean turned 4 on June 8th and is completely pee trained- still working on the poop issues. We are working on getting an Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis for him, which we've been concerned about for a while. He is getting speech services and recently had an occupational therapy assessment done where he scored in the 15 month range for fine motor skills, so we're hoping that will qualify him for services and possibly pre-K in the school system.

Gavin is great! He still totally adores Sean and he tries to do everything Sean does. Sometimes the poor kid gets lost in the mix, so I try to always give him lots of extra cuddles and kisses- even if he doesn't like me nearly as much as he likes his daddy.

Finn is growing like a weed!! He's 8 months old and is still the smiliest, happiest little dude. He adores me and the feeling is more than mutual- except when he's not sleeping. Then I'm ready to hand him off to James so I can get some glorious sleep.

We also went on a little vacation to Gatlinburg and had so much fun with the boys! We had a great cabin with gorgeous views, we got to see one of our favorite people- Jeremy, and meet some new friends in Paul, Vivi and Lia! We also took the boys to a parrot rescue and to the best aquarium in the country. Besides that, we did a lot of relaxing and we really enjoyed it...even if I'm not planning on taking anymore 8 hour trips with three little kids again. LOL

The two biggest things that have happened the last 6 months involve James and my jobs :) James got a new job and is working for a different pest control company. He's making a little bit less money right now , but that should hopefully change in the not too distant future. It is enough though for me to be able to stay at home with our kids which is a huge WOOHOO!!!! I am enrolled part-time at the U of M to get my nursing pre-reqs out of the way to hopefully start nursing school in Fall 2011. I just have to work my tail off to get the grades I need. I have a test called the TEAS exam coming up on July 31 that I'm also preparing for that will determine my getting into nursing school or not. Things really are looking way up for us and it's easy to go to work everyday knowing that there is an end in sight. T-minus 5 weeks :)

Now, pictures:

Don't you just want to nom on those cheeks??

Finn showing his mama some love :)

Showing the parrots some love :)

My two big boys :)

Ice Ice Baby

We had a great big ice storm here in Memphis this past Friday/early Saturday. It was gorgeous and I should have taken more pics. It was too trecherous for the boys to really go out and play because the majority of what was on the ground was frozen solid. And Gavin freaked when he started to slip a little bit. We made a trip to my parents yesterday, which was a huge bust considering they were in Tunica for most of the afternoon. If my mom had told me that "we're going to grab some food" was code for going to gamble, we would have turned our happy asses around and headed home. On Friday, I was (obviously) supposed to work, but alas, I was one of the few cautious people who could have cared less it was the end of the quarter- I just didn't want to risk my (or my children's) life out on the roads right when it was getting bad. I've got no clue how to drive in snow or ice, but apparently I was supposed to get out there goshdarnit and try because God forbid the sales reps don't have someone to bitch to about missing sets or Fedex issues. The people who came in were given $250 as a bonus for working their entire shift and allowed the option of calling a cab or having a room available at the hotel next door. Unless they were going to pay for my entire family to stay, I don't think so. MAYBE if I didn't have a nurseling, but unfortunately, I can't be separated from him for a night just because of my stupid job. Seeing that, I don't know whether to be pissed off that they care more for the almighty dollar than they do the safety of their least appreciated employees, or touched that they offered a hotel room. This is the kinda shit that makes me hate working and wishing I was home with my boys.

On another note, at least being forced to stay home all weekend gave us a chance to work even more on Sean's potty training. He's doing so good and has started telling us that he needs to go pee and he even got out of the bathtub last night to go pee. I was so proud :) Hopefully we'll get the hang of everything really quickly and then can get to work on Big Gavin.

Have you ever had one of those days....

where you're so bitchy, you don't even want to be around you??

Yea. I'm there. I don't know what my deal is but everything is annoying me and I'm just ready to GO HOME. It feels like this week is dragging ass when in reality, it's not. It's just that I'm ready to get a paycheck and start feeling like our life isn't standing still and waiting on us to get paid- does that make sense? I've had a fairly busy day and some interesting convos with some of my sales reps. I must sound hot on the phone or something because I have a couple that seem to really like me- or they think I have some otherworldly influence on them getting their sets. LOL

I went to the gym and did 20 mins of cardio and 20 mins of upper body. I'm going to be pumped up soon...or maybe looking a little bit less like the bloated whale when I'm working out. I'll reward myself with new gym clothes when I lose a couple pounds since all I have are ratty clothes that are horribly unflattering.

I just wanted to blog because I'm going to start trying to do this almost every day- depending on work flow and stuff. I'm also going to try and be inspired by my blog (and BZ) friend, MissIndy, and start doing my own version of Project365 (or Project349 in my case) and Project 52 (Project50) and try to document our lives this year. Especially since my babies are getting so big, so fast :) off to work I go...