We have a hamster MIA

The hamster is missing in action, has been for a couple of days. I have looked everywhere...........not a trace. I am starting to think he made it outside. The first day I saw some poopies, but after that................nothing.

And believe me we have moved everything, couches, furniture, etc

The result is that a whole lot of places that do not get cleaned on a regular basis are spic and span now. When I moved the couches in the family room, holy cow.............popcorn, chips, hairclippies, pieces of toys, hotwheels and dust/doghair, GROSS. Had to clean that before putting the couches back.Not just vacuum, but mop as well, I am getting anal like my mom, that is scary !!!!

LOL, no offense mom !

and sleeping again...............

It's a good thing Max is home this week, he sleeps a LOT. He went with us to the bus stop, came back to the house and went to take Gracie for a walk. We were barely out of the subdivision when he wanted to go back, his feet were dragging. So we turned around and the moment we came home he layed down on the couch.
I went to the restroom and he immediately followed me ( yes, he still does that and the dog does too !) Anyway, when I came out, he was sound asleep on the floor in front of the bathroom door, thankfully our bathroom has carpet LOL

He woke up a while later, asked for Pediasure (his favorite thing in the whole world) and is now laying on the couch. I have to go to Sam's Club, so we'll see if he feels up to that in a little while.......................

Schoolwork

So, Max is home for the rest of the week. His check up on Monday went well, but he has to go see a neurologist since he's still not steady on his feet 100% of the time.

He is still sleeping more than normal and LOVES being at home with mommy !! We're in trouble, he's already said he does not want to go back to school ! Oh boy !!

Right now he is doing some "homework" I bought some Kindergarten workbooks, with workpages and we're working on writing letters. He still has a hard time with a "tripod" pencil grasp, wants to hold it in his fist, fine motor skills !!

This morning we are going to my weigh-in and after we are going to the mall. I have 3 pairs of "Cars" croqs, that have been recalled. I was at the mall with the girls a couple of weeks ago and saw in the shoe store that these shoes have been recalled.............

What ?......................you mean my kids have been wearing these the whole summer nw you are going to give me my money back ???? RIGHT ON !!!!!!!!!!!

So, that's our plan for this morning. Yesterday was very productive, the boys closet is emptied out and last night I tackled my side of the headboard, it has a pretty big storage and my side was full of JUNK (kind of the catch all)

Aren't you proud of me, mama !!!! Goed he !!!

Diet update

So in all the stress of the past days, I have not updated about the whole diet. It is HARD not to turn to food when stress hits !!! But then when I stick to it, it makes me feel a 100 times better !! Last weigh in on Wednesday I had lost another 5 lbs and that was being super bloated from having my period..................

TMI, I know, I know, sorry....................................

Anyway, I am curious to see the next weigh-in, I have not given in to cravings, I just did not drink as much while in the hospital with Max, making up for that today.

I am wearing shorts size 16 today, I decided to try and see if I could pull them up all the way, never even thought I could close them. They pulled up real easy and closed just as easy. ( not the suck in your breath, close it and look like a muffin top with rolls and rolls spilling over)

Wahooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo !!

Max is laying next to me, he's crashing again, but fighting not to sleep for a little bit, so time for me to rub his back and play with his hair, it never fails !

We're home

Max is out of the hospital, still has the flu, but was well enough to be discharged. He stopped vomiting, so he didn't need IV fluids anymore. The weakness in his legs and inconsistency of reflexes is something we need to monitor closely. Tomorrow morning we have to go for a check up.

Right now the kids are watching a movie about Joseph, instead of Sunday school that they are missing today. Father Jim just called to check on Max, he also called yesterday, it is so nice to know that people are thinking of him and our family, thanks everyone that has kept Max in their prayers and good thoughts !!!

quick update

Max is in the hospital. about 45 min after his first dose of Tamiflu
he looked to be completely drunk, couldn't walk without falling down. Called the pediatrician, who told me to got to the ER stat.

Left in the car, about 2 miles down the street, Doc called back to check, by now max was hardly responding, so I pulled over in a Shell station and called 911.

DX right now is extreme neurological reaction to the Tamiflu. he is on IV fluids, he has been throwing up and having diarrea. He is able to stand up and walk a couple of steps, but very weak.

Dr's are a bit concerned about his reflexes, they are not there/not consistent in his legs, Guillam Barret (spelling?) was mentioned.

Let's hope and pray he will perk up even more today.Papa is with him right now, we traded off. If he stops throwing up, we might be able to go home tonight, we have to keep a close eye on the weakness in his legs.............

Still sleeping a lot, but no more fever.

Okay, it has sunk in.....................

Had a long talk with the respiratory therapist.......Max has to move and sleep elevated. This flu is a monster once it gets to the lungs.......................now I am getting nervous..............
All my kids, especially the boys have a long history of astma and pneumonia's...................

He just walked around a little ( kind of wobbly) when the kids came home from school, now he just fell asleep again, right next to me on the couch, poor baby, when he's awake he is just so miserable...
It's not like he coughs all the time, or has a massive sore throat, he's just hurting all over.

When Oscar came home from school, I picked up his RX and a case of Gatorade, he needs to drink as much as possible..........

Max has the swine flu

Took him to the doc this morning, they put him on Tamiflu and nebulizer treatments Q4 (every 4 hrs). He is sleeping a LOT ! Probably the best thing. His legs and back are hurting, headaches, fever (controlled with Motrin and Tylenol) croupy nasty cough.

Please keep him in your good thoughts and prayers !

torrential rain &open car windows make......

For a really, really wet and smelly car !!!!!!!!!!!! So after dropping off the kids, I went and shampoo'd the carpet and the seats and then vacuumed a lot of the dampness off. Now it's sitting in the driveway with the doors open. keeping an eagle eye out for more rain........................

Oops school called, max has a fever, have to go pick him up !

Picture day

Today is picture day in school, never used to be a problem..............other than chosing which ridiculously over priced package and background color.

This year however I have 2 girls that all of a sudden want to decide what they are going to wear and they really, really want the purple background.................

PURPLE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I do not think so !!!!!!!!!!! That was the first fight...................one gave in pretty easily and listened to reason (does purple go with the colors that mommy has in the house...mmmm.....that would be a no) the other one however.......(rolling my eyes here)

I had the clothes all figured out.............and only the top will show, so..............all white tops, my girls have beautiful brown skin, it will look awesome ! With their tops they would get to wear mommy's and Anneke's charm necklaces. Beautiful silver necklaces with charms, they used to be mine and my older sister's. She was sweet enough to pass hers on to my daughter (love you sis !) (mmmmmm, how come my younger sister never had one ?? I will have to find out....mom....Pien...
what happened there ?? Maybe money ran out after 2 daughters....poor
Pientje, I am going to get you a "bedel ketting" )

Anyhoo, Sofia and Liliana had very different ideas !! liliana wanted to wear this dress, it's pretty, but turqoise............not quite what mommy had planned, but with the white top i let her pick whatever she wanted to wear with it, she picked a pink skirt, socks with beads and her pink shoes. She's pretty easy to deal with (most of the time)

Sofia however, I swear the kid chooses to be difficult !! She was ok ish with the white top, for the bottoms, she picked a skirt with shorts underneath (bike shorts) and to complete the outfit..........her hightop sketchers (white, hot pink and turqoise) She kind of reminded me of a hispanic Madonna/Cindy Lauper

Then she insisted she wanted curls for the picture..........so out came the curling iron, what a pain !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This curl wasn't right, that hair is sticking out, my eyebrows are not right.................ARE YOU KIDDING ME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They're in school now, I took 'm all in the car, reminded them to smile pretty, no fake cheese smiles...................now we wait and see how the pics turn out.........................

rain, rain and more rain

We have had tons of rain for the past days, and in between it's super muggy, like a wet warm blanket that slaps your face when you step outside.............................ugh

So, the good thing about the diet, besides losing weight LOL, is that my energy level is way up !!

Yesterday I did 5 loads of laundry, cleaned out the laundry closet (ja, ja Oma, het ziet er weer netjes uit) Sunday the closet of the girls and their room, I ended up bringing 2 huge garbage bags of clothes to a friend. The girls have outgrown a lot of clothes ! Oh and I emptied the whole garage and got rid of a ton of stuff........

I made a run to Goodwill, before kids or husband came home.........shoot there were things that have not been used in years, how much stuff can you save for "just in case"

Guillermo had 2 pairs of skiboots, they're at least 15 years old, i don't even think they use that type of bindings anymore, and don't forget..........WE LIVE IN FLORIDA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SSSSSShhhhhhh, there's just one pair left, shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Tomorrow a neighbor is going to make me some shelves and a rack for the surfboards in the garage, trying to get some organization !

Sofia auditioned for the school choir and today we found out she is IN !!! We knew she could sing, but I didn't think she was going to be able to audition, she is super shy and won't sing in front of anybody, including us !! to hear her sing, I hide in the hallway and listen to her sing with her cd's..............She is going to be in the musical Annie..............so proud of her !!

About time

It's really about time I blogged again, we've had a busy week, a good week though !
Max had green every day last week, WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, go Max !!!

He was so proud of himself, as he should be ! We seem to have fallen into a nice rythm..........first thing in the morning, I wake him up, give meds with his Pediasure (which he loves!) he falls asleep again. I get the rest of the troops ready, get them installed with breakfast. Go back and wake up Max, get him dressed and ready. We walk Gracie, then we take Sofia to the bus stop (she considers herself too old and way too cool to be a car rider LOL)
When we come back, we get the backpacks and go to school. Last few days I have even dropped them off at car riders and that went well !!

In the afternoon, I park and wait for them in the parent garden, which is right across from their building. During the day, Max gets OT/PT and is taken out for remedial teaching (one on one) which is more for the one on one time that he needs.

So far so good !!

Last wednesday was my first weigh in and I had lost 9.2 lbs, YEAH !!! Going strong on the diet !

The girls are doing good in school, Sofia was put in an advanced reading class, she is definitely getting the reading bug (wonder who she's got that from LOL )

Liliana seems to be doing much better with the whole car rider thing as well, no more headaches ! She loves her teacher, who used to be Oscar's Kindergarten teacher.

Oscar is keeping busy, much more studying going on so far...........I guess he's finally hit the point where he actually has to study........
He passed his first All State exam for choir/rhapsody, 2 more to go. He is very serious about wanting to minor in music, as far as major................he still doesn't know, right now it's international business.

He wants to take piano lessons, so I have to look into that. I guess it skipped a generation LOL

I have about 5 loads of laundry to do, it rained pretty much the whole weekend. Took the kids to Ice age dinosaurs this weekend. They all behaved very, very well !
Afterwards we couldn't go home without stopping by Animal Crackers (next door) the pet store with a gazillion animals they can hold and pet....................

No we did not leave with another pet........(whew) I think fish, 2 parakeets, a hamster and a dog is enough, wouldn't you agree ?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Got a cal from placement, but turned it down. I probably would have said yes, but papa was more like "hell no" Which he was probably right about, too many things going on right now, kids are settling into new school year, etc...................

It remains a hot topic..................enough said...................

all about the diet

With all the stuff going on this week, I have not posted about the new diet I started this past Monday. Starting a diet is never easy and especially with me being a stress eater, the beginning of the week was hard !!

But I stuck with it, so to treat myself for that, this morning I went for a pedicure and a fill.

I will be going every week for a weigh-in and vitamin B-12 injections, so I will keep everyone posted on the progress......

Should I tell y'all the number of the first weigh-in ?................................................................................................................................................................










For the sake of honesty.....................2..............................................................................3....................................................7....................................................................

Whew.........day by day

Yesterday was a sucky day, I talked to a good friend....and cried.............I talked to my mom............and cried........................got it out of my system and picked myself up.

Max is going to be back on the ESE bus, the regular bus is over stimulating him. In the morning however, I will take him to school.

When the kids come in, they sit in the hallway, until it's time to go into their class. Let me tell you people, when you walk through that door, it's sensory overload for ME, let alone for Max, so I take him to school and he gets to school right on time.
Added bonus.........he gets to dally around in the am, take his meds, drink his milk, doze off a little while longer. We take Sofia to the bus stop and the kids race eachother while we are waiting for the bus (burn off some energy)

He currently is getting Ot and PT and he is taken for individual teaching 4 times a week. I have to say, his teacher is on the ball !

This afternoon we are having our powwow with Dr H, I am taking Alex (trusted neighbor, same age as Oscar) with me, so he can keep an eye on Max, while I talk in peace with the doc.

I have also filed an online intent to apply for the McKay scholarship, this is for FL kids who have an IEP (individual education plan) this scholarship can be used if you want to put your child in a private school. There are some schools i am looking at, as a backup. All these things take time, to be approved, etc.
I would be happy to keep him at his current school IF they can provide all the support he needs.

Tonight is our monthly foster/adoptive association meeting, with a guest speaker to talk about..........attachment disorders....YES

Papa is coming with us, awesome, he has been fully plugged in and a wonderful support lately (this has not always been the case)

God is good !

Why.....................

Why is it that when it comes to Max, I get so emotional..................I took him to school today and popped in his classroom to talk to his teacher for a bit. Thank God we have known eachother for years.....................I started crying about 1 minute into the conversation...............................I feel like I failed him when he was send home as baby and I am failing him now, that's what I feel like.....................and now I am crying again....................

So much to blog about

so little time........................plus the computer is super slow, and my laptop has been MIA (in Oscar's room.........)

Yesterday was a bad day, it started off well, but I received a call from Max' teacher that he had a terrible day, very defiant, aggressive, etc. At our appointment with his doc last week we spoke about a medicated patch, which he can wear while in school and then we take it off when he comes home, Right now we have tried a lot of other meds and none are a right fit. Problem is that this is one of the meds that needs to be requested from Medicaid with all documentation that we have tried all other more traditional meds. These things take forever................

She brought up Kindergarten VE....................had me in tears (after the call though, thank God)

I DO NOT want him in a Kindergarten VE....................it's not about "the label" People who know me, know that I could care less about that, as long as my kiddo's get the services that they need. The problem I have with this class, is that it's a mixed class, K/1st/2nd/3rd grade. I know he will get worse, feeding off the bigger kids.

To top it off, I have heard of 2 professionals, that the teacher for this class is not that great.............I had a long talk with Sebastian's VE teacher, who has taught Max for 2 years, she said she didn't think Max and this teacher would be a good fit..................................................

so now what do I do............................I feel like I am failing him.........................he has such potential.........

To have your child come home sobbing....................saying over and over " I had a really bad day, and I was trying so hard, I was trying so hard............."

HE BREAKS MY HEART !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have a meeting with dr Hubbard this Thursday, he will be back on the ESE bus (special ed) The busdriver had to pull over today, because Max was running from one seat to the other.............................out of control...............

Tomorrow is a half day, and Thursday I will pull him out early. I am going to take someone with me, so they can watch Max and leave, while I speak to the dr.
which is usually impossible, with Max constantly interrupting, running around, having to be redirected every 2 secs.

Hopefully we can pow wow...................