Thursday, December 10, 2009

We will call this post, all over the board..





I haven't blogged in so long....sorry friends.

Lots of things to chat about. We did all the Brain shunt things and JD is not in need of a shunt, so to speak, right now. Both Doctors agree that his head is big and that they don't understand why he is not having symptoms, but they also agree that putting a shunt in today could open another whole can of worms. We will go back in 6 months to review everything unless he is having symptoms.

I talked to his Neurosurgeon the other day in a pretty lengthy conversation about what we have to look for, do, etc. Oh, and while I had him on the phone I discussed the "enormous egg" on his right temple. JD fell, tripped, on the way into school, the first trip he has had to the nurse's office. It was truly the largest egg I have ever see on a child. ick. He was fine, and once he got home it was like he never even got hurt.

A couple of new things, you might have saw on Facebook, Anne joined Daisy Girl Scouts and of course, I am the leader!

JD joined Karate, Tae Kwon Do, and he now loves it. The first class was a little rough and it has been hard finding someone to tailor his pants...no go yet. Now, JD loves it and his friend Charlie joined so it is great to see him Karate chop!!!

So, we have been well and keeping really busy. I hope I can get back to posting more...Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Ugh, did I mention that I don't like Hospitals...

First of all, let me say, my little man is doing well. Not the best experience we have had with anethesia...but I can tell you all later what I mean.

JD had an MRI supposed to last 40-60 minutes and it lasted about 3 hours....I will explain later.

All in all, he is fine was doing fine, but I will let you know a little secret, even though you call ahead, meet with doctors, anethesiologists, prep them, talk to them in their cars, on their cell phones, they DON'T do what they say they will do! ugh!

Maybe I will go to Medical school of some sort..........maybe just maybe.

JD is resting on the couch with a yucky tummy as he tells me, you know he isn't feeling well, he won't even eat an M&M!!!

More later, and Happy Halloween!!!!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

MRI and doctors appointments

Ugh, some of you know already but we are taking JD to have a MRI this week. I hate doing all the anethesia stuff..etc....but somehow we do it and it gets done.

Our neurosurgeon has informed us that JD head is getting too big ...over the 2nd standard deviation for kids with achon. Ironically, his only sympton is a big head...no tingling, numbness, headaches, lathargic...NOTHING. So, he wants to put in a shunt. ugh ugh. His reasoning, if JD's head gets too big too fast, he can have some serious problems down the road (maybe not tomorrow but maybe 5 years or 10 years away...no one can know for sure) such as memory loss, cognitive issues, plus a big head with a little body, he might fall alot or children will be even meaner than the usual kids.

So, we are getting the MRI to see what is really going on inside and then we are taking him for a 2nd opinion to another great Hospital in Boston, on our Neuro's advice.

I was not taking this well when we heard the news...but it has been 3 weeks of thinking about it and well, we have to go and do what is right for Jonathan. We haven't screwed up yet, so I anticipate we will make the right decision for him with our very trusting doctor. (our DR has chatted with people in DE and we feel confident he has good info for us) I research everything, sometimes too much to make myself feel like I could intern in the neuro floor at one of the hospitals. Thank you all for your kind words that I have received as we go through this process. Having the MRI on Wednesday seems like such a piece of cake (his 3rd one) compared to a shunt...funny how things get into perspective.

In other plans, JD and Anne are dressing as Bumblebee the Transformer and Hannah Montana for Halloween which is my most favorite holiday, and doesn't look like it is either of my kids. No one wanted to wear their costume for a party we went to today. Oh well, I can hope they will still go trick or treating with me.

Happy Halloween everyone!!!!!

Friday, September 25, 2009

3 posts in one day????

We are babysitting a bunny for a neighbor which led us into the purchase of our own new Bunny, BUDDY. Here is a picture of Anne holding Vegas the bunny and "cool Cat" from her class. Each child gets to take a turn taking Cool Cat home for a night and writing in a book to tell the class what it did at your house. Can I tell you that Anne was soooo soo excited to have this stuffed animal at our house? If I only had a video camera of her face when I went to the bus stop to get her and saw the blue bag...Oh mY! She was so happy!!!

So, here is a picture of Cool Cat and Vegas the temporary bunny at our house

JD's first day of PreK





JD started school this month too! He loves it....though he "can't" remember anyone's name and everyone is "the guy that wore the cool transformer shirt"....ha ha. He seems to be doing well there, no complaints. At first, he told me that the kids are laughing at him alot, well come to find out, he is being silly and they are laughing with him not at him...geez, he had me all upset for nothing!!!!!

The picture of all the girls and JD is the bus stop at my house...those girls go to Kindergarten with Anne and are in my daycare...so they all get to go to school together. JD is the proud boy with all the ladies!!!

We carpool with the little girl next door, so that is great for building confidence in JD, he isn't always with Mom..(which I kind of enjoy the break!!)

I had to attach a picture of his Halloween costume, of course, it is a transformer, who else but Bumblebee?

Anne's First Day of Kindergarten

We have had quite a month....Anne started Kindergarten, JD started Public Preschool (the classroom right next to his big sister) and we celebrated Anne's 6th birthday, and we got a new addition to our family. Who you ask? Buddy the Bunny...he is a 9 week old Dutch bunny that Super Cool Auntie Debi bought for Anne's birthday. He is adorable and very friendly.

Here are some pictures of Anne on her first day. She was so excited!! I almost missed her getting on the bus she was so quick, luckily she paused for a kodak moment.

We went to her Open House last night and she was so cute introducing us to all her teachers, MR. G, Mrs. G and the art and gym teachers. She was so excited. She loves it there and the school is just great.



JD did not like all the attention going to his big sister, can you tell?

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Orientation Day!!!






What a great day we had today!!! JD and Anne had orientations at Kindergarten and PreK!!!! (same public school, two classrooms away from each other!)

Anne has Mr. G and JD has Mrs. E .....Anne was all dressed in her skort and JD is a new cool football shirt....they did great. Anne got to see some friends from PreK and JD met some new ones in his class.

Check out the picture of the structure that they built in the bathroom for JD in his classroom, the janitor did such a great job!!! Go Mr. C....and he changed the faucets in the classroom because the faucet is on the side of the sink so the "hot" is closest to the kids, so he changed them so Cold is now on the closest side!!!! JD is able to do everything!!! I love it....not to mention it made me a little teary eyed..but luckily I know the teachers already (anne had them) and they said on his first day next Wednesday, they will give me a tissue!!!

So, I took the tradtional picture in front of the school...just like my parents did when I went to the same school. The kids had so fun...and I can't believe that I have a PreK kid and a Kindergarten kid!!!

Good luck Anne and JD....show the teachers how smart you are!!!

Monday, July 13, 2009

Ahoy matey...JD is 4!













Well, folks JD is 4!!! I can't believe it. We had an awesome time at a pirate ship down in Plymouth Mass. The kids were so excited!!!! We had 10 of JD's best buddies and family members help us on the mission to find the treasure, out in the ocean!!!!

When we arrived each kid got a face painting or a tattoo and a hat! Then we boarded the ship. Captain Paul explained our mission, with a map and all. We headed out into the harbor and looked for a pirate ship....once we found this icky looking man, we were able to shoot him with water cannons!! Hello, give 10 kids water cannons to shoot...are you kidding me? This was great. Then we had to rescue the treasure chest he was holding ransom...we almost had to sacrifice Charlie's 12 year old sister, Maddy, but we were lucky, he surrended!! Full of booty...each kid got a bag of booty to take home.

Then we pulled up a lobster trap filled with spider crabs that we had a race to see who won! number 3 was a clear winner! JD got to band the lobsters claws!!! Then we had some cake and did the limbo and the hokey pokey!!! JD got to drive the boat too. He was a great listener and got a certificate for being such a good boat driver...(Daddy must have taught him well on our boat.)


Phew, what a fun packed 1 1/2 hours that trip was!!!!

JD had a blast and we did too! Fun stuff being a 4 year old. Happy Birthday little man, we love you!!! Don't forget you said now that you are 4 you will eat vegetables all the time..... :)

Monday, June 15, 2009

3 posts in one day....what is going on? lol

Believe it or not, the sun did come out on Saturday this past weekend. I made a mad dash for the beach. We live 3/10 of a mile from the beach and never go. This year I made a decision to go anytime there is sun. The kids loved every minute. JD is finally walking barefoot in the sand. Anne won't/can't/shouldn't get out of the water, she gets all sandy, wet and gooey and loves every minute of it!!!

JD took a little snooze at the beach, he went right under Miss Laurie's umbrella and went to sleep. Nice!!!!

I don't dare go into the ocean EVER....even in 90 degree weather, it is still ice cold here in Mass. Oh well, sitting on the beach, reading a book, kids having a blast...what is better?




504 and JD's new school






These pictures are some of the accomodations that the other elementary school in our town has made for another little person in our town!! She is in the 5th grade and we are very friendly with her parents. They were so nice to share stories, pictures, etc with me. I was able to have Maddy "walk" me around to show me everything in her school for her...it truly was eye opening and very reassuring for me. I learned that other than a few simple hygiene accomodations, there wasn't much that needs to be changed. I am glad to have the oppurtunity to have gone there and talk to so many wonderful teachers, and administrators. (plus many of JD's teachers, I had when I was little, so that was fun seeing them again...lol)

We have finally got our written 504 plan for JD. We have met with the school he is attending in the fall (the same school he will go K-5) and they have been nothing but great. We have a relationship with his teacher already as she is Annie's teacher currently. They are buying a new water table, adjusting the faucet so he can reach, making a platform for hand washing, platform for the toilet, etc. They have been great and we are quite pleased with our outcome!!!

Now, are they ready for JD???? LOL Ready or not,, here he comes!!!!

Camping for Memorial Day Wknd





We rented a pop up trailer for Memorial Day weekend and took the kids camping in Brewster (Cape Cod). My kids love to camp...right after my own heart!!! I love hanging by the fire, exploring the area we are camping at...eating off the fire pit...etc.

We tried to go "fishing" ... but the weather here in New England, Specifically the south shore of Massachusetts has been HORRIBLE...seriously we went from spring to fall..60s with no sight of the sun. The kids didn't mind the sprinkles of rain we got while camping, they only lasted minutes...

All in all, we had a great time. We are looking to get bikes for everyone so we can have another thing to do while we are camping, there were so many bike trails at this state park, it would have been great to have a bike!!!! Next time!!!

Friday, May 29, 2009

Long Lost blogger.....








Not sure what we have been doing, but I haven't been blogging...so here is a recap real quick....

We met with the Camenga Family at the New England Aquarium, geez, what a month ago??? We had a blast...It was nice to meet our first blogging family. We hope to have them back for a boat ride and a cookout!!!!

We went to LPA regional...Anne started Tball...JD graduated from his gymnastics class...(not happily at the ceremony) and we went camping and we have been faithful fire pit users in our backyard...thanks new england for the ick weather my kids were wearing winter hats roasting marshmallows.....I guess we have been busy!!!!!

We had a great 504 meeting with the elementary school about JD entering this fall into the PreK program, the custodian is building platforms and changing door handles and buying stools, etc. What a great meeting and JD goes next week (hopefully) with Anne to walk around the school (he is going to the same teacher Annie has now) and he will actually share a bathroom with his big kindergarten sister!!! So fun....

So I will attach some random pics of our recent events!!!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Just to catch up!






Kind of a scrambled post!!!!! We went to the Boston CHildren's musuem one really, really wet Friday night...why I am not sure? Gluten for punishment, maybe? The kids had a blast, how could you not at a place made for just kids???? On Friday nights, it is only $1 for admission, how can you beat that? As opposed to spending $45 for a family of 4 to enter the building. JD liked the water table room, the golf ball room and the construction room, (big front loaders, bob cats, etc to climb on!!! a little boy's dream). Anne liked the shopping room (that's my girl) and the rock climbing wall.

The other pictures of Easter are from my grandfather's annual Easter Egg hunt which is also in Boston. Actually this year was held on Boston College's campus for 300 kids! I should mention that my Grandfather passed away almost 27 years ago...and his tradition of doing things for the kids of Boston still holds strong!!! They put 16,000 eggs out and everyone runs wild...well except for JD, he is NOT fond of the Easter Bunny, the thought of the Easter Bunny, the looks of the EB, etc. He went for a short walk with Daddy to check out the fire trucks. That was more up his alley!!!

So, jumbled post but still fun. The picture of the kids with socks on their hands is a puppet show where they made the sock puppets. JD was a snake, and Anne was a beautiful princess....

Hope everyone has a great week....Go Bruins, Red Sox and Celtics!!!! Yeah Boston.