Things that make you go Hmmmm

So I called up the kids pediatrician today, the one we are leaving to find out about getting their records. One of the nurses answered the phone. I knew exactly who it was since we've been there so many times for weight checks. I didn't give my name or anything or the kids names just told them what I wanted and she told me how to go about getting it. I told her I'd be there this afternoon. Before I hung up with her though she asked me why we were leaving. I told her I just wasn't happy with how the doctor has been handling my son's case and wanted to get another opinion about it. So she goes, "Oh good as long as it's not the staff here." Huh, that's a strange response. Wouldn't you want the doctor you are working for to be doing a good job? I mean sure the office staff is important in the whole experience too and I must say I never once had a problem with any of the nurses there or receptionists. They were all very nice.

Oh well though, whatever. So this afternoon I go to drop off the form they needed to transfer the records. I picked the right day or week anyways to do this I think. The doctor is on yet another vacation (I think this is the 5th one he's been on since CJ was born). I didn't have to deal with him though. The nurse who answered the phone was there and the Physician's Assistant was there. They had no patients at all. CJ was seen by the Physician's Assistant once while the doctor was away. She wasn't all that helpful in listening to my concerns either though. And after the conversation I had with her today that makes me scratch my head even more. They were both very nice though. It's going to take a little more than a week for the records to get to the new doctor, but the PA had the nurse print out CJ's weight checks, immunization records, and the head ultrasound results that he had done a month and a half ago. She said the new doctor is probably going to really want that stuff. So I thought that was great. While the nurse was getting all of that stuff I was chatting with the PA who told me she thought I was a saint and very patient. She said that if it were her who was going through what I went through as a parent that she would have been screaming at the doctor. They all seemed very unsure of why the doctor wasn't doing more for CJ. And yet they are all still working there. If they disagree with the care that he is giving then why are they still there? They asked me if I can to let them know how CJ is doing under the new doctor's care though. Boy do I wish one of them had spoken up sooner about their opinion of this whole thing. Apparently I was the talk of the office and my patience.

Seeing all of CJ's percentile's in print together now really has me wondering why in the world the doctor is okay with how he's doing even now. It wasn't long ago that he had gotten above the 3rd percentile and then dropped down below it again and the doctor said nothing about that. I am even more anxious now with all of this information in tow to meet this new doctor and hopefully get a plan of action in place. Only two more days until we get to meet her. I can't wait.

Fishing Derby

I thought yesterday I was going to be sharing a whole bunch of pictures of the girls catching fish at a local kids Fishing Derby, but they didn't have much luck yesterday. I only got pictures of them casting the first time and they didn't catch a single thing. So instead I will just share some pictures I have. First the ones of them from yesterday.

Natalie casting her line
Kaitlyn a little too chipper at 7 in the morning

Next I have more birthday pictures of Natalie. We didn't actually do her cake on her birthday. Because we were fishing all day on her birthday we ended up going out for dinner and the cake I had made for her had to sit and wait. So this was her blowing out the candles on her 9th Birthday cake. Gosh, I still can't believe she is 9.






So that's my mini picture update. It's been a very nice vacation week this week for the girls. We couldn't have asked for better weather all week long. It is back to school for them tomorrow and back to my daily grind as well. I've got a busy week coming up. But what else is new.

A New Doctor

The kids are switching doctors. I spoke to a person from Birth to Three about some of our issues with CJ and she recommended a doctor. I gave her a call. Her office staff was very polite. The woman I spoke to took all of my concerns down and told me she'd talk to the doctor and call me back. Well, the doctor actually called back. She told me to push our doctor for a referral to GI because it sounds like CJ is aspirating on the formula which is causing all of his congestion and coughing. Huh, I never thought of that one. Well, I explained to this doctor that I have been pushing the doctor and I don't think he wants to share us with anyone else. She told me she would take all three kids and that's what she would do for CJ.

So I called back the next day and set up appointments for all three kids. CJ is being seen by the doctor on Thursday the 1st and hopefully we'll get that referral to GI. Then he'll have his 6 month check up two weeks later. The girls are due for a physical at the end of the month, but they are pretty booked for the next two months. We were lucky to get CJ in for his physical at all. It's not as important that the girls get their physicals right on time. Neither one of them need shots right now anyways. So as long as it's done before school starts in the fall we're fine. So I have Kaitlyn's physical on July 2nd and then Natalie's is a week later.

I'm very anxious to find out what's been going on with CJ. This doctor isn't all that close by, but she sounds wonderful. I wish I had heard about her sooner. Perhaps I could still be breastfeeding my little boy.

They've gone too far

My dad has been calling a lot. He called 6 times yesterday. Each message has gotten progressively worse. He's calling to wish Natalie a happy birthday trying to give her a little happiness (because you know apparently I don't make her happy). Eventually it got to I was being selfish and immature by not answering the phone. Okay, how do I answer a phone when I'm not home? And why would I want to when he acts like that anyways? And even more why would I want to when they send birthday cards with little notes inside bashing me?

Yes, yesterday we got two cards in the mail for the girls birthdays. They were opened by Joe before giving them to the girls. Inside Natalie's card and just Natalie's card was a note. This is what it said.

"Dear Natalie,
I'm sorry that we didn't have your birthday party. It was all planned and set to go. Your mom got mad at us and would not come over to our house. Grandma and Grandpa are both heart broken that we didn't see you for your birthday.

Love,
Grandma and Grandpa"

I swear I am not making this stuff up. This is exactly what it said. Now lets just for a second go back to the phone calls. There were no phone calls on or around Kaitlyn's birthday wishing her a happy birthday. Now onto the note. Since when was this party just for Natalie? I thought they were celebrating both of the girls. So why wasn't this note addressed to Kaitlyn too? Not that either of them will ever see this note. Now if everything were all planned and set to go then why in the world did they flip out about me not calling them to tell them exactly what time I would be there until the day of? They had it all planned out already apparently. How am I to blame? How are they not at all to blame for this? It's just your mom got mad we did nothing wrong we are perfect and are not making things more difficult than they need to be so be mad at your mom and not us. What are they doing? How can they actually think I'll allow the girls to spend time with them when they are writing notes like this? How about when they are leaving messages on my answering machine saying I'm being selfish and irresponsible?

They have just taken this way too far. Joe is pretty ticked off about all of this. All he keeps seeing is that they like Natalie more. You know I bet if Kaitlyn's birthday wasn't so close to Natalie's birthday they probably wouldn't even bother having a party for her too. They would just throw it for Natalie. So the gifts and stuff for Kaitlyn are more for show for me I think. What is wrong with them? How do I get it through their heads that if they want to have a relationship with us then this garbage with them needs to stop? Ugh, let me tell you it took a lot to not let this stuff ruin Natalie's day.

Happy 9th Birthday Natalie!

Natalie's 9! I let her stay up late tonight. 9 years ago today she was born at 11:17 p.m. and she really wanted to stay up to see when she actually turned 9. Good thing they have April vacation this week. So five minutes before 11:17 she says to me 5 more minutes of being 8. She's too smart for her own good.

I can't believe that she is already 9. It all happens so quickly. She's so grown up. She has her ears pierced now. She even got to take her earrings out today and put new ones in. Good thing she got plenty of them for her birthday.

A couple pairs from Kaitlyn!
Hello Kitty earrings from Mom and Dad!

Much to my surprise she chose to wear a pair of earrings from Kaitlyn and not her Hello Kitty earrings. Although, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised they were purple earrings.


We went out fishing all day long. Things started out a little slow for her, but before she knew it she was catching all sorts of fish. Check out a few of her catches.


So that's my now 9 year old. She says it feels different being 9. I don't know though I still think of her as my little baby Natalie. She was such a sweet little baby. She is growing into a loving young lady though. She was playing tag with her sister today and Kaitlyn fell down and got hurt and Natalie thought it was all her fault. So both of them are out there sobbing over a little scraped knee and elbow. We assured Natalie that she was not to blame though. And aside from that little moment I think we all had a very nice day celebrating Natalie being nine!

Happy Earth Day Birthday Natalie!

Weight Check

CJ had yet another weight check today. We've been doing lots better. For a while there we were going once a week even twice a week. Now it's been 3 weeks since our last weight check. Last time CJ was weighed he was 13 pounds 5 ounces and today he is 14 pounds 11 ounces. So a 1 pounds 6 ounce gain in 3 weeks. I wasn't too optimistic about that though. The boy is on 24 calorie formula he should be gaining tons of weight one would think. He is up on the growth chart though. He went from the 7th percentile 3 weeks ago to the 11th percentile today. So the doctor seems pleased.

Now onto the other issue I've been having. I believe CJ has allergies. I brought this up to the doctor. He doesn't think it's food related though (although it did start becoming a problem when he was put on the formula) he thinks it's environmental. And he's too young for antihistamines. So he has to suffer. He won't test him because he says he's too young and his allergies aren't severe enough. Apparently not being able to breathe is okay. If he had asthma or diarrhea or hives then he'd have him tested. Ugh, what is with all this wait and see stuff? The poor kid wakes up in the morning with his eyes all gunky and crusted shut. He no longer sleeps through the night like he was doing when he was 2 months old. He wakes up with coughing fits. Nope, doctor just wants me to run a vaporizer or humidifier, but clean it out every day so it doesn't get moldy.

We go back in a month for his 6 month check up. I have contacted Birth to Three about some developmental things with CJ. I'm hoping they'll be able to perhaps point me in the direction of a more pro active doctor. I'd rather try to find out now what he's allergic to rather than have it get to the point of say asthma or something for him. I still believe his weight gain is rather slow. Especially in comparison to how both of his sisters grew on regular calorie formula. I'm very afraid of taking him off this high calorie stuff and having to go through all of this garbage with him again.

Am I Crazy?

I think I must be. For some reason I agreed to allow Natalie (9 TOMORROW) to have a sleepover tonight. The kids are on April vacation this week. Natalie wanted her friend to sleep over. It's been 2 years exactly since I've allowed her to have a sleep over. The last one was awful. Then again this one is going to be totally different. First of all 2 years ago she was just 7 and in the 1st grade and second of all she had 2 friends sleep over last time who were just 6, but also in the 1st grade. They were twins and one stayed the whole night the other went home. I got zero sleep that night. I do remember saying never again too. But here I am allowing it again. And with a baby in the house to boot who used to sleep through the night, but lately has been waking up at oh about 3 in the morning. I was trying to figure out when would be the best time this week to allow this sleep over. I didn't want to do it when Joe had to be up at 4 a.m. for work the next day which for the most part only leaves the weekend, but Friday night he's working late and the weekend was pretty much out. However, I knew he was taking tomorrow off from work from both jobs to spend with Natalie. So after discussing it with Joe he said that Monday into Tuesday would be best and Natalie liked the idea of having her friend here for her birthday. So now I have a crazy day. I have to take CJ to the doctor in the morning for a weight check which I'm hoping goes well. I know he's put on weight, but is it enough? Will the doctor listen to me about my concerns that CJ has allergies? Who knows. Then it will be to the grocery store to get some much needed food in the house as well as sleep over supplies. Possibly rent a movie too. Then home to start baking Natalie's cake for tomorrow, clean the house, finish up my laundry, and set up the air mattress all before 3:30 when I will have an extra girl in the house screaming and giggling. Luckily it seems to be a nice day outside so out they will probably go to play. Oh this will be fun. Perhaps I'll get a chance to update later on my insanity. Or the rest of the week I will spend catching up on some zzzzzz's. Guess we'll see.

When Jealousy Rears its Ugly Head

Here it is 1:00 on Sunday afternoon. I'm supposed to be down at my parents house celebrating my two girls birthdays. Natalie turns 9 this Tuesday and Kaitlyn turned 6 a week ago this past Friday. So this was the only weekend in the month of April that my parents were available to celebrate with us. We stopped doing family parties a few years ago and since then my parents have picked a weekend where we just do one party at their house for the girls so my parents can celebrate with us. It all seemed to work out nicely until last year.

I thought last year was just the whole mom and dad are mad that Monica is pregnant again thing. So we had gotten into a huge fight at about that time. There were a few failed attempts throughout my pregnancy to repair things until CJ was born. Even after CJ was born there was still lots of tension and anger there on my parents part, although they say I'm the angry one.

So this morning I called up my parents to tell them just what time I'd be coming over today. It's hard for me to get down there with the baby because it's an hour drive and I don't like telling them I'll be down there one time and then have that be the time that CJ needs to eat.

My father answered the phone with a huge attitude right from the beginning. I knew things weren't going to go well for me today. I remained calm and politely told him that we could come down for 1 if that was okay. I got a well whatever works for you Monica we're all here waiting on you sarcastic tone. Ugh, so I said well if this doesn't work for you then we can just do it another time. So thus began the problem. My dad starts bringing up all sorts of stuff and how they asked us 6 weeks ago if they could take Natalie Friday night and then we'd all come down on Saturday to celebrate their birthday. I explained to him that I had mentioned when he brought up this plan 6 weeks ago that there was a good chance that wouldn't be able to happen that way because I thought there was going to be a Fishing Derby on Saturday. Now fast forward to two weeks ago when I tell them again that we can't do it exactly that way, but Sunday was fine. Now the Fishing Derby isn't until next Saturday, but Joe wanted to take the girls fishing yesterday and well he is their dad and does work most weekends when they are home from school so of course he's going to get to spend time with them. And it's not like I wasn't allowing them a chance at all to spend time celebrating the girl's birthdays.

So now I'm beginning to get snide remarks about Joe spending time with the girls and how he sees them everyday and they don't and all of this stuff. What? Are you kidding me? They are actually jealous of the relationship that the girls have with their father! I'm sure they don't see it that way. They groan every time I tell them that Joe had plans with them or we were doing something as a family. So because of their jealousy our plans for today have changed. We sadly are not going over my parents house today to celebrate the girls birthdays and I have no idea when we will. This is all such a shame too because the girls were really looking forward to seeing them. Knowing my parents though they won't be able to let any of this go and they'll continue to make comments in front of the girls trying to turn them against us. This has been what they've been doing for the past year and the exact reason that our time together has been greatly limited. That's the last thing I need is to have the girls completely turned against me by my own parents.

"Is your room clean?"

Mommy, can I go out and play? Is your room clean? It's the age old conversation between child and parent. I had it with my own a few times or more in my childhood I'm sure. It's a never ending battle getting them to pick up their toys.

I'm sure all you mom's out there can feel my pain. Or at least I hope you can. I am getting so frustrated with my girls ideas of cleaning their room. It's a struggle every day. They complain that it's never good enough for me. That's not true. It's always the same areas with them. Natalie's desk if never clean and Kaitlyn's drawers are never closed and under her bed is never clean. They are not home right now. They went fishing with daddy. Before they left I told them I wanted their rooms clean and their laundry sorted because while they are out having fun I sit and do laundry.

So this is how it went today.

Me: "Get your rooms clean and laundry sorted before you go fishing"
Girls: "Groan whine, but but but..."
Me: "No buts just get it done and you can go fishing"
Girls: Stomp Stomp Stomp out of the room

I go about feeding the baby and I hear this:
Natalie: "Well fine I'll wear pants then!"
Kaitlyn: sobbing
Me: "What's going on now?"
Natalie: "Kaitlyn wanted to wear shorts and I told her she couldn't."
Me: "You're not her mother. Kaitlyn wear pants!"
Kaitlyn: "Okay mommy!"
Me: "Are your rooms clean?"
Natalie: "Mine is."
Me: "What's Kaitlyn doing?"
Natalie: "Putting her pants away that she pulled out looking for shorts."
Me: rolling my eyes picturing how those pants are getting put back in the drawer.

Then Kaitlyn comes out to help sort the laundry.

Me: "Make sure those rooms are clean."
Girls: "Groan whine whine whine"
Me: "Okay, you don't have to go fishing then."
Natalie: "You never think our rooms are clean."
Me: Ignoring that comment.

Now daddy is growing impatient. Girls have finished sorting laundry, but are not dressed.

Daddy: "Go get dressed!"
Girls run into their rooms to get dressed. Next thing I hear out of there:

Natalie: yelling "Kaitlyn find your shoe!"
Me: "Now what's the problem?"
Natalie: "Kaitlyn's taking her time finding her shoe."
Me: "Are YOU ready?"
Natalie: "Almost."
Me: "Well then never mind what your sisters doing you get yourself ready."
Natalie: "But I want to go fishing."
Me: "Well, if you're ready you'll get to go, but if Kaitlyn isn't she can stay home."
Kaitlyn: "Nooooooo!"
Me: "Hurry up and get dressed!"
Daddy: "You've got 5 minutes!"
Me: "Don't forget a hat!"
Kaitlyn: "Natalie can you get my hat?"

Finally I think we're getting somewhere. They all get out of the house. But why didn't I check their rooms? I should have because I went in there to bring them their comforters for their beds from the dryer and what do I find? Well, we'll start with Kaitlyn's room.

Clothes all over the floor. Are they clean are they dirty? Drawers open with pants hanging out of the drawers. Wait, what's this? These are dirty pants in the drawer with clean clothes. Socks under the bed. No wait, there's papers and toys under there too! This is just Kaitlyn's room. Now steam is surely coming out of my head. What do I do now? I know I want to completely clean out the room of EVERYTHING! Okay, I can't do that. Where would I put it all? All right, so mattress and box spring off bed so Kaitlyn can see the huge mess under there. Okay, off they go and into Natalie's room I go. Ugh, she's got clothes on her unmade bed. Oh no and toys on the floor. And her desk, well that put me over the top. So now I'm pulling all of the stuff off of her desk and onto the floor that is either not where it's supposed to be or not neat. Boy are these girls going to be surprised when they come home. I haven't even looked under Natalie's bed or in their closets to see what's in there. I think this is enough for me for now. They can make sure those are clean when they get home and pick up their huge mess.

Why do they take so much effort to stuff things in places trying to make the room appear clean, but not actually put the stuff away? Heck, today they didn't even do that. They just completely ignored my instructions to get their rooms clean. I guess I should be happy that they sorted their laundry. Although, half of it was still sitting on the floor in Kaitlyn's room.

Time and time again I have told them if they just put away what they were playing with when they were done playing with it then their rooms wouldn't be so hard to clean. Time and time again they have promised me that they are going to keep it all picked up and neat when I get to my whits end with them and their rooms, but they still don't do it.

Does anyone want two huge toy boxes full of toys and then some? Seriously, I think it's time to clean it all out of here and then maybe just maybe they'll see that I mean business!

Natalie and Kaitlyn's Birthday Party

Natalie and Kaitlyn tend to share their birthday party every year. Since their birthdays are only 11 days apart sometimes it's just easier. Since they both wanted a bowling party this year we just did them together on Saturday. So here is Natalie's 9th Birthday Party and Kaitlyn's 6th Birthday Party.

Here are pictures of all of them bowling:

And here are pictures of them opening gifts and the cake:

Be sure to check down a couple of posts. I have posted a video of the birthday girls and their friends doing the Cha-Cha Slide at their party.

Roll Over Roll Over

CJ finally did it! He's 5 1/2 months old and tonight he rolled over front to back. He's not one who likes to be on his stomach so it hasn't been such a surprise that he hasn't done it yet. However, while on his back lately he manages to get himself halfway over so we put him on his stomach and he rolled himself back over to his back. It was just once though. Every other time we tried to get him to do it he got mad. We will definitely have to be more careful about where we put him now though that's for sure. Yay CJ though for rolling over.

Cha-Cha Slide

Saturday the girls had their birthday party at the bowling alley. When the Cha-Cha Slide came on they all stopped bowling to dance. Here's a little video of them dancing. The little boy towards the end there who's following Natalie's every move is a close friend of the family. He was too cute trying to do everything Natalie did.

Happy 6th Birthday Kaitlyn!

Knock Knock

"What", I grumble this morning at 7 a.m. from lack of
sleep due to going to bed late and CJ waking up at 5.

"I'm six today!" says Kaitlyn with shear excitement.

"Happy Birthday!" I say to her.

"Thanks" as she runs off skipping.

Yes my baby girl is 6 today. It's so hard to believe.
She has been so excited for today.

So at 2:10 this morning Kaitlyn turned 6. So it's
official we have a 6 year old in the house.

I think her day has been a good one. She opened some presents first thing in the morning. She called the first box before she even opened it, Tinker Bell PJ's.




Of course what kind of Tinker Bell fan would she be without oh her 9th and 10th Tinker Bell t-shirts?





She of course had to wear one of her new shirts today. She looks so pretty!




She had to wear her Tinker Bell crown today. What a beautiful Fairy Princess she makes.



What kind of birthday would this be without a present from big sis? Boy was she excited that her big sister got her something.



What a pretty Tinker Bell necklace from Natalie.




After school she got even more presents. Her very own Tinker Bell alarm clock and two Fairies; Fawn and Rosetta.






What would a birthday be without singing Happy Birthday, blowing out candles, and eating a cupcake?





And not only is she 6, but she is now minus one more tooth. Her second tooth came out tonight. She was so brave and pulled it out all by herself. Didn't even need mommy's help this time. Must be because she's 6 now. So looks like she'll be getting a visit from the Tooth Fairy tonight.




She got her tooth all ready for the tooth fairy by putting it in the tooth holder.



What a 6th birthday it has been for her. Happy Birthday to my baby girl. I can't wait to celebrate many many more birthdays with you!

Grumbling Gryphons

Today the PTA at school hosted a performance by the Grumbling Gryphons for the children. It was called Ghost Net. The whole school got to be a part of the show. It was such a wonderful performance. The kids were all very excited about it and learned about pollution in the sea. Here are some pictures from the show.

I couldn't even imagine

I know there are children out there who have had little to nothing in their lives, but I always hate to hear such sad stories. Today Natalie went to a birthday party of a little boy in her class. He'll be 9 on Tuesday and in 9 years this was the first birthday party he's ever had. And it was a bowling party to boot. You see just five months ago this wonderful woman and her husband became foster parents to two little boys both the same ages as my girls. As a matter of fact they are all extremely close in age. Natalie's birthday is just 14 days after her friend's birthday and Kaitlyn's birthday is just 11 days before this boys little brother's 6th birthday. These boys have had such a rough life to start out with. Seeing my own two who are the same ages as these boys I just can't imagine how these parents could never have done anything like throwing a birthday party for their little boys. These boys have experienced nothing in their lives. Nothing good anyways. Thank God there are people in this world who truly care for children and can open their homes to them. This wonderful woman and her husband are trying to adopt these two boys. The stories that I've heard about these boys parents has me wondering how anyone could possibly ever think that these little boys would actually benefit from having any sort of relationship with their birth parents. Both parents are in jail and they actually have to bring the boys to jail to visit their parents. What a thing for a 9 and 6 year old to have to experience. I'm so glad that Natalie is sensitive and caring enough to reach out to this little boy and be his friend. She was the only one from her class to show up at his birthday party. She really likes this little boy and I really think it's wonderful that she can see that he's a good kid despite some of his behavior. He does have behavioral issues understandably. Natalie tries to help him to behave better though and I think she really looks out for him. So I'm proud of her for not caring what her friends might think about her being friends with him.

We stayed at the bowling alley to bowl ourselves during the party. During the middle of our second game they actually moved us to a lane closer to the party. We were able to see the little boy open the gift that Natalie got him (a remote control car) and the look on his face was so worth it. A remote control car made this little boys day. How awesome is that? I can't tell you how many children's birthday parties I have been to where the kids are just tearing through the presents and barely look at what they got. I must admit my own children are like that. Spoiled as they are. So it's rare to see this kind of reaction to a gift. I hope the rest of this little boys birthdays are as wonderful as this very first birthday celebration has been for him. Such a shame that it took this long to have this special feeling on his special day.

Ages and Stages Questionnaire 4 months

Last week I did an Ages and Stages Questionnaire for CJ to see how he's developing. I thought I would share the questionnaire here for anyone else with a 4 month old who might want to find out how her 4 month old is doing.

For all of the questions your answer should be either YES, SOMETIMES, or NOT YET.

COMMUNICATION Be sure to try each activity with your child.

1. Does your baby chuckle softly?
2. After you have been out of sight, does your baby stop crying when he sees you?
3. Does your baby stop crying when she hears a voice other than yours?
4. Does your baby make high pitched squeals?
5. Does your baby laugh?
6. Does your baby make sounds when looking at toys or people?
Communication Total

GROSS MOTOR Be sure to try each activity with your child.

1. While on his back, does your baby move his head from side to side?
2. After holding her head up while on her tummy, does your baby lay her head back down on the floor, rather than let it drop or fall forward?
3. When he is on his tummy, does your baby hold his head up so that his chin is about 3 inches from the floor for at least 15 seconds?
4. When she is on her tummy, does your baby hold her head straight up, looking around? (She can rest on her arms while doing this.)
5. When you hold him in a sitting position, does your baby hold his head steady?
6. While on her back, does your baby bring her hands together over her chest, touching her fingers?
Gross Motor Total

FINE MOTOR Be sure to try each activity with your child.

1. Does your baby hold his hands open or partly open (rather than in fists, as they were when he was a newborn)?
2. When you put a toy in her hand, does your baby wave it about, at least briefly?
3. Does your baby grab or scratch at his clothes?
4. When you put a toy in her hand, does your baby hold onto it for about 1 minute while looking at it, waving it about, or trying to chew it?
5. Does your baby grab or scratch his fingers on a surface in front of him, either while being held in a sitting position or when he is on his tummy?
6. When you hold her in a sitting position, does your baby reach for a toy on a table close by, even though her hand may not touch it?
FINE MOTOR TOTAL

PROBLEM SOLVING Be sure to try each activity with your child.

1. When you move a toy slowly from side to side in front of his face (about 10 inches away), does your baby follow the toy with his eyes, sometimes turning his head?
2. When you move a small toy up and down slowly in front of her face (about 10 inches away), does your baby follow the toy with her eyes?
3. When you hold him in a sitting position, does your baby look at a toy (about the size of a cup or rattle) that you place on the table or floor in front of him?
4. When you put a toy in her hand, does your baby look at it?
5. When you put a toy in his hand, does your baby put the toy in his mouth?
6. When you dangle a toy above her while she is lying on her back, does your baby wave her arms toward the toy?
PROBLEM SOLVING TOTAL

PERSONAL-SOCIAL Be sure to try each activity with your child.

1. Does your baby watch his hands?
2. When she has her hands together, does your baby play with her fingers?
3. When he sees the breast or bottle, does your baby know he is about to be fed?
4. Does your baby help hold the bottle with both hands at once, or when nursing, does she hold the breast with her free hand?
5. Before you smile or talk to him, does your baby smile when he sees you nearby?
6. When in front of a large mirror, does your baby smile or coo at herself?
PERSONAL-SOCIAL TOTAL

SCORING THE QUESTIONNAIRE

1. Be sure each item has been answered.
2. Score each item on the questionnaire by scoring the appropriate number next to each answer.
YES = 10 SOMETIMES = 5 NOT YET = 0
3. Add up the item scores for each area and record these totals.

If the child's total score is above:
33.3 for COMMUNICATION
40.1 for GROSS MOTOR
27.5 for FINE MOTOR
35.0 for PROBLEM SOLVING
33.0 for PERSONAL-SOCIAL
then your child appears to be doing well at this time. If the child falls below these numbers then you might want to seek professional help.

Here were CJ's scores:
COMMUNICATION: 60 (the highest score possible for my little chatter box)
GROSS MOTOR: 40 (just below the cut off so a possible cause for concern for us due mostly to his dislike of being on his tummy though most likely)
FINE MOTOR: 50
PROBLEM SOLVING: 55
PERSONAL-SOCIAL: 50

So CJ's results for the most part are way above any cause for concern. Not too bad for a baby who has been dealing with low weight issues and lots of cause for panic so far. I am contacting Birth to Three though for an evaluation with that Gross Motor area and to try to find a doctor who can give us a second opinion on his weight issues because I'm afraid my doctor isn't doing enough. He's only tested him for infections and parasites and Diabetes Insipidus and has done an ultra sound on his head. All of these tests have come back normal. I'm concerned about some congestion that he has had for a very long time and if he's digesting his food properly. And I can't get his doctor to do anymore tests on him. So fingers crossed that Birth to Three will help.

Summer School for Kindergarten?

Boy have times changed. Twenty plus years ago when I was in Kindergarten we were learning to write our name and use scissors. I remember clearly at the end of the year my teacher making me write all of my first name because I needed to know it to start 1st grade. I used to write M-O-N and then go up to the teacher to finish the I-C-A of my name. Didn't even learn to write my last name in Kindergarten. As far as I know my inability to write my first name though towards the end of Kindergarten was not going to cause me to have to go to summer school.

Yesterday we had parent/teacher conferences. Summer school was mentioned for Kaitlyn my Kindergartner. Not because she can't write her name because she can. She can write her first last and middle name even. But rather because she's not reading at grade level. She is trying so hard though. Her teacher says she's a pleasure to have in class and she's very enthusiastic about doing her work. I even spoke with her reading teacher who says she's the first one in there with books out and ready to learn. She has all the basics down of reading and she doesn't ask the teacher to tell her what a word is she tries to sound it out. So she's doing everything she's supposed to she's just teetering on that level of reading. And actually, if she were in Kindergarten last year she would be at grade level right now because they changed the reading levels. Summer school is not mandatory for Kindergarten so it's up to me if I put her in it or not. She'll be tested again in May to see if they are still thinking summer school for her though. She has made great improvements in everything throughout the year though and I think she's doing well. I'm kind of afraid that if she needs summer school she's going to hate it because she'll be missing out on the fun things we will be doing during that time while she's in summer school. I can't imagine having to send her to summer school at her age. Especially since she is working her hardest here and hasn't just been slacking off all year long.

Now Natalie on the other hand is excelling in all areas. She's above grade level in reading. An excellent writer and even poet apparently. The poetry talent I can tell you she did not get from her mother. Her math skills are great. She's getting her multiplication and division down.

Well, at least they are both hard workers. Even if this isn't coming as easily to Kaitlyn as it is to Natalie. We'll just have to work a little more with Kaitlyn. Strangely enough Kaitlyn is good at writing. So I think the reading should come. After all reading in writing are very closely linked.

5 Months of CJ

Today CJ is 5 months old! No April Fools joke here either. Hard to believe it I know, but the boy is 5 months. What a 5 months it has been with him. He melts my heart everyday with his gummy grins. Yesterday he had yet another weight check. He now weighs 13 pounds 5 ounces. He's back on the growth chart and actually up to the 7th percentile. So slowly but surely he's putting on the weight. With the way he eats you'd think he'd be much heavier than he is. He is still on 24 calorie formula. He also eats rice cereal and has so far tried apples and bananas. Both of which he seems to enjoy. He already blows bubbles and makes raspberries with his food. He's been a great addition to our family. The girls still love him. Natalie is constantly asking to hold him. Kaitlyn loves making faces at him to get him to smile and laugh. And it works too. She's such a character. Happy 5 month birthday CJ! We love you!

Men Truly are from Mars

I don't think I'll ever understand my husband. I love the man to pieces, but boy can he make me so mad. This week is conference week at school for the kids. So during every conference the PTA holds a book fair. Being the PTA president I need to be there. One of the officers needs to be there at all times. We've kind of split up the shifts. So today I was to be there from 9-1 while it was open and then I am going back at 6 tonight till 8. My treasurer will be there with me tonight.

My treasurer was the one who purchased ALL of the books for the book fair as we don't do Scholastic at our school due to the cost of the books. The students in our school just can't afford it so we try to have things less than $5 there so every child can get something. This isn't really a money maker for us. We'll be doing good if we break even.

So my treasurer was there at 7 this morning to set up and then my Vice President was there at 8 to help her and I got there at 9. My treasurer stayed for a little while, but she needed to get to work (she works in the school thankfully).

Last night I had asked my husband who works a morning job until 9 and then had to be in to his other job at 12 today if he could pick up the two little ones for me today so I didn't have to have them there with me the whole time. He got snippy with me about it and was asking why I have to be there the whole time and such. I explained everything to him, but he never said whether or not he was actually going to come get them. So this morning I called to find out if he would and he said he didn't want to do all the running around. So I told him to forget it I'll just take care of it because after all this is my life running here and there every single day. We argued, but he did say he'd come get them. That must have put him in a very foul mood though. He did come get them after his morning job and took them home and then brought Kaitlyn back for school at 11 and brought CJ to me at the book fair. He didn't bring the diaper bag though. He says to me I thought you had it. Uhhhh, why would I have it? I don't have the baby! So he gets all mad and storms off. When he finally comes back I asked him if he brought bottles for him. Thankfully he did, but he practically bit my head off telling me so. So now I'm in a foul mood thanks to him. Such a jerk he can be.

He's still asking me why can't my Vice President work. Doesn't matter that she's doing it all day Thursday and we're both going to be there for it tomorrow afternoon. Now mind you my husband is the one who pushed me into being the PTA president. He claims he didn't think it would be this much work. I did tell him though.

I will definitely be happy when this week is over though that's for sure. Tomorrow is going to be an even crazier day for me. We have playgroup in the morning until about 10:30 or so and then Kaitlyn has to be at school at 11 and I have to babysit at another school for an hour after that and then be back to the school for 1 to get the kids and work the book fair. Then I have conferences for the kids starting at 1:15. Crazy crazy day.