MR. Independent, Blue and Gold, Labs, Broken, Donuts

The other day I had to make a stop at Sam's Club.  After I had paid for my stuff Noah and I started to head for the exit when he came unglued.  He started getting really upset at me because I wasn't stopping to get him a hot dog.  I finally realized that I won't have too many more days to enjoy lunch with my home buddy so I caved.  Both of us enjoyed our hot dog lunch.  Noah is spoiled, but that's what's supposed to happen with the youngest, right?! 

Speaking of eating holy cow I think Josh is going through a growth spurt!  The other morning I came out of my bedroom to see Josh have a whole loaf of bread sliced up and toasted.  He was currently working on buttering each piece.  I started to say how nice it was for Josh to make toast for everyone.  He just looked at me and said they were all for him.  Huh, well allrighty then.  Seeing all that bread I didn't think he would eat all of it, but he did.  He followed it up with a huge bowl of cereal and ate all of that, too.   Wow he's only 11.  I think I may have to get a job to keep my teenage boys in food!!

Speaking of Josh we are finally hearing back from the applied technology department for Davis School District.  Last year when Josh graduated from Speech Therapy they switched his IEP (individualized education plan) to a 504 (special accommodation) plan.  However, the person that implemented his 504 plan didn't do it correctly so there was no record of it whatsoever.  I was talking to his teacher about it on Tuesday when I was volunteering a few weeks ago and she started looking into it.  Well long story short and after a bazillion emails and phone calls from his teacher to the 504 plan person and the applied technology people we have finally set up a meeting.  We will be meeting with everyone to get Josh the help he needs before he starts Jr. High.  They are talking about getting him set up with a laptop for school he can type all his assignments on so the teachers can read them.  They are also going to be setting up Josh's 504 plan correctly so everyone knows what services Josh should be receiving from the school.  I am so glad for his teacher because she has been the one to push everyone and get everything settled and put together.  I really wanted all of this to be settled before he starts Jr. High which isn't too far away which is crazy.  I am looking forward to our meeting next week.

Noah hasn't taken an afternoon nap for years now so the other day when he said he was tired I didn't believe him.  Sometimes he will say that and then have me tuck him in bed only to come back out of his room after 5 minutes saying he's done being tired.  I just figured he would only be in his room for about 5 minutes, but when it got to 15 minutes and he still wasn't out of his room I went and checked on him to see that he was in fact tired and fast asleep.  He slept for two and a half hours!  It was weird to have a really quiet house for about 20 minutes until kids started coming home from school.

Last week for movie night Aaron wanted to watch the movie Jaws with Daniel and Josh.  We put the other three kids to bed and started the movie.  Well Daniel got about 30 minutes into the movie and was too scared to watch any more of it.  I wasn't to keen on watching the movie with him because Daniel is a tender heart and I was right.  Aaron and Josh finished the movie while Daniel worked on something else.  Now I am worried that if and when we ever visit the ocean Daniel will be too scared to go swimming.  Oh well time will tell I guess.

When we last saw the psychiatrist for Matthew she increased his medications which meant Matthew needed to get his blood drawn a week later to make sure the higher dose wasn't damaging his liver.  Matthew is getting a lot better about getting his blood drawn.  Aaron took him and said he didn't even flinch this time when they stuck him with the needle.  Awesome job, Matthew!  To reward his bravery Aaron took him for some ice cream which Matthew loved.  You really can't tell from his shirt and hat that he likes Union Pacific can you--haha!

 I am glad to say that with the combination of the higher medication dosage and some new strategies we are implementing Matthew's behavior has greatly improved.  He has been a lot better behaved the last few weeks which has been a blessing.  He still has his times, but things have improved quite a bit.  Hopefully things will stay smooth and happy.  We did meet again with the behavior therapist from his after school program.  She did teach Aaron and I some holds for Matthew which will help us restrain him safely for the times when he gets so upset he can't control himself.  We haven't had to use them yet, and hopefully we won't anytime soon, but it is a good thing to know.  Parenting a special needs child is not for the feint of heart that's for sure!!

Wednesday I had a young womens activity and Daniel had a basketball game at the same time.  Aaron took Daniel and Noah to the basketball game and Grandma T met them there to watch.  Noah was so excited to see Grandma T there.  He grabbed her hand and put it around his waist to make sure she wasn't going to leave.  Daniel had a really good game, too.  I am sad I missed it.  Noah was glad though because that meant grandma T would be there.  Grandpa T had to do some home teaching so he couldn't come.  Good thing Daniel has more basketball games that I will be able to see later.  During the game Noah kept talking Grandma's ear off.  Who knew a 4 year old had so much to say?!

 To keep in the spirit of warm fuzzy jars I had to make one for Sarah.  Because Sarah has bladder reflux into her kidney she is at a higher risk of getting kidney infections.  That means it is really important for her to regularly use the bathroom throughout the day to prevent bladder/kidney infections.  To encourage her to use the bathroom at every single recess she gets a voiding jar.  For every day she uses the bathroom at all three recesses she gets a warm fuzzy.  Once her jar gets full she will get a prize.  I may need to bump down the jar size because she has only earned one warm fuzzy this whole week--sigh....Kids can be frustrating at times!!

For piano Josh and Matthew have a practice log they have to fill in according to the number of days they practice the piano each week.  Well Josh lost his so he made his own form for me to sign.  It says, "The handsome, smart, talented, cool Josh practiced 5 days this week.  By Rebecca Mancil" and then had me sign it.  That kid cracks me up sometimes with some of the crazy things he comes up with.

 Sarah has a sparkly silver sequined dress.  She was wearing it and stepped  in the sunshine coming through the windows and the whole kitchen lit up with sparkles.  She thought that was pretty neat.  The picture doesn't even do it justice because the sequins were throwing light flashes everywhere around the kitchen:

This past week we had our first meeting for Girl's Camp and Personal Progress so I could get my supplies and any ideas for my first activity I am in charge of at the end of the month.  I am a bit overwhelmed because the Personal Progress program has changed so much from when I got mine a long time ago.  Luckily the leaders before me have organized an awesome box of all the requirements and possible activities that can go along with them.  Good thing I still have a month to figure things out.  It is a fun change to be in young women.  Also good thing we have 4-5 months before girl's camp, too :).

This past week is was our ward's Blue and Gold Banquet for the Cub Scouts.  Our whole family went and it was pretty fun.  They started off by doing awards and then the cheesy cheers that go along with them.  Here's Daniel, Aaron and Josh doing the cheers:

 Here's Sarah, Matthew, Daniel and Aaron doing some more cheers:

 Then it was time for dinner.  Noah is getting to be quite independent and doesn't like us to help him.  It is kind of hard to let him do his own thing because I can see how it is going to end up spilling or making a mess, but he won't let me help him.  Oh well, we didn't have any big mishaps by Mr. Independent which was good.

 Throughout the whole thing Matthew was a bit agitated.  He was having a hard time listening and by the end of dinner it had gotten a bit out of control.  It finally got  to the point that he needed to go home, but he didn't want to go.  It was a bit embarrassing because he started to have a melt down/tantrum on the way out to the car.  It was just like a three year old tantrum only Matthew is 13.  It was embarrassing, but what can you do?  He continued to tantrum the whole way home and then for another 30 minutes at home.  Sigh.....again parenting a special need kid is not easy.  Other than that it was a fun night.  They had a table where you could make super hero masks:

 They had a super hero ball game Josh got to play:

 As you can tell the theme was super heroes and here's Daniel's picture he got to bring home:

 Our kitchen faucet broke two days ago and it is not fun.  The handle of the faucet broke off so we are left with just the hose when you turn on the water.

 The water comes out really fast, too.  I have had to clean up the kitchen after all the kids or even Aaron have forgotten it's broken and turned on the faucet full blast to have it spray everywhere.  We need to replace it soon so I know what the first thing on my Honey Do list is this weekend...DOH!!

IT was the week for things to break because our washer died, too.  Luckily we were able to catch the tail end of the President's Day sales and got a pretty good deal on a washing machine.  Wow, things have been coming at us hard and fast this year.  Hopefully the rest of the year will go smoothly!!

I had my dentist appointment yesterday.  I brought Noah along with me since he is my home buddy.  To keep him occupied I let him play with my phone.  Little did I know he was taking pictures of everything with it. 

 He even took a few selfies, too.

What a funny kid!

 

Since Noah is my home buddy he likes to play with me all day. He loves singing and he is so cute when he sings.  One of his favorite songs is 5 Little Speckled Frogs--only he sings it as 5 Little Specky Frogs.  Here's a little snippet of him singing: 

 Things haven't been smooth sailing for Daniel lately.  The last month he keeps breaking out with hives all over.  We have checked and rechecked everything he has eaten and there is nothing in it that should be causing it.  He came home from scouts with hives and scared his leaders because of it.  He had to come home from a friends house because of getting hives, too.  Finally we texted his allergist and his allergist wanted to see him in the clinic.  Unfortunately, the appointment happened to fall right during class picture time at the school so Daniel missed out on being in the class picture.  I feel really bad about that.  Anyway, the doctor thinks as long as his asthma is under control that it might be a low vitamin D level.  During the visit they talked about needing to get labs done and everything.  So when Daniel got home I asked him when he wanted to get his blood drawn, figuring he already heard the doctor say that's what he needed to do, he came unglued.  He didn't realize that he would have to get his blood drawn.  Whoops!  He HATES needles.  It was only after promising him ice cream that he agreed to even go, but he cried through the whole thing.  Poor kid.  We won't know the results for about a week, so hopefully we can get rid of all the hive break outs!

 I love random moments like this:

 Noah loves to help with some things and sweeping is one of them.  Aaron started sweeping up after dinner and Noah ran over to help hold the dust pan.  Again he is Mr. Independent and insisted on lifting up the dustpan and dumping it in the garbage all by himself.  It added more work for Aaron since in lifting the full dustpan up to the garbage he spilled half of the stuff back down on to the floor again.  As frustrating as it can be Aaron was a pretty good sport about it, though.  How can you be mad at such a cute boy just wanting to help?!

This morning was Dads and Donuts at the elementary school.  Aaron was excited to go with Josh, Daniel and Sarah.  Daniel was super excited to eat the donuts they had.

 Sarah read her book while everyone ate.

 Josh got to school in enough time to grab a donut and head to orchestra, but he was with everyone for 30 seconds at least.

Aaron and I will sometimes watch the cooking channel.  One of Aaron's favorite shows is Diners, Drive Inns and Dives.  The other day we watched an episode that showed a diner making an ultimate hamburger with macaroni and cheese on top.  Ever since then Aaron has been begging me to make it.  I finally caved last night.  Aaron took care of making and cooking the hamburger patties while I made the mac and cheese, grilled the onions and cut up the toppings.  Aaron was so proud of his ultimate burger last night:

Matthew LOVED the mac and cheese burger, but everyone else just had a normal burger without the mac and cheese.  To me that just looks like a heart attack on a plate, but Aaron and Matthew thoroughly enjoyed theirs so that's all that matters, right?!

 

Is it just me or every week around Family Home Evening everyone seems to get grouchy.  This week is was Sarah's turn to be grumpy.  She didn't get to pick the opening song and came unglued.  I was secretly recording her tantrum when she saw me and got even more upset.  Let me just say she was more than ready to go to bed that night.  Why is it when you are so tired everything becomes such a big deal?!

Speaking of Sarah she is a funny girl.  Lately she has really been into getting herself ready for school before everyone even wakes up.  There has been a few nights where she has gotten herself dressed in her school clothes after we have already gotten her in her pajamas and tucked in bed.  She would sneak out and take off her pajamas and put her school clothes on and climb back into bed to sleep.  I was wondering why her clothes were so wrinkled the next morning until she told me why.  What a funny girl.

Charts, Urology Visit, Valentine's Day, Volcanoes, Field Trips, Awesome Shirts, Etc.

The last almost two weeks have been really crazy and quite exhausting, but pretty active.  It started out about two weeks ago after seeing the psychiatrist for Matthew.  He has been having increased aggression towards Aaron and me.  He has always had aggression toward us, but as he gets bigger it is becoming a bigger problem.  We talked to the psychiatrist about it and she was starting to get worried.  She increased his medication, but told us we needed to seek some help from a behaviorist or an Occupational Therapist to learn how to stop these increasingly aggressive behaviors before one of us gets really hurt.  That is when we called all the resources we could think of and have been visited by many people in the last week to try and get some help.  We met with the behaviorist from Matthew's after school program and she gave us a few ideas to try out.  She is also seeing if we can attend a restraint class to learn how to safely restrain a person if they get out of control.  We also met with some representatives from the state to see what they could offer.  We found that there are many choices to make.  We also had Matthew go and talk to the police officer that lives next door to us so he can hear the possible future consequences of his actions.  We also chatted with Matthew's Learning Center teacher at school.  After meeting and talking with many people we have decided to try a few new things out.  I am happy to say so far things have been going a lot smoother lately and we are so grateful.   There is a lot more we need to look into, but things are going a lot better than they were.  I do know we are in for a wild ride in the next while since he is starting into puberty--oh my.  I just hope that the things we are implementing now will help him be more in control of his emotions.  Raising a child with special needs is not for the feint of heart that's for sure!

 

The other kids have sensed how stressed Aaron and I are and they have really stepped up to help us out in any way they can.  They are so sweet.  Josh and Daniel have been getting up extra early to clean out the dishwasher and to pack school lunches without being asked.  They love to surprise me about it, too.  When I come out to start packing lunches they look at me and ask, "Whatchya doing mom?"  They then tell me to put all the lunch stuff away because they already took care of it.  Oh there have been a few mornings just hearing that makes me tear up.  I love my sweet kids.  Sarah and Noah have been cleaning their rooms to try and help, too.  Things have been pretty stressful the last little while.  Hopefully the new changes we've made and the therapies we have been checking out will help us keep things calm for a long time.  Sigh.....

 

Because the kids have been so helpful and so sweet the last little while we decided to take them out for some ice cream just to try and say thanks.  Matthew was in his after school program so it was just the other four kids, Aaron and me.  Everyone always loves ice cream.

 To try and keep things on a positive note we have started the warm fuzzy jar up again.  Matthew has his own warm fuzzy jar.  For every activity of daily living he does (brushing teeth, getting dressed, finding his own clothes, practicing the piano, homework, etc.) without a tantrum he gets a warm fuzzy (cotton ball).  He has decided his ultimate goal for when the jar is full he can get to ride Frontrunner.  That is the best incentive for him!  He is excited to get all the warm fuzzies he can.  The other jar is for all the other kids.  When they do a chore without being asked, help a sibling out without being asked, or just do something really nice they get a warm fuzzy.  When their jar gets full they all get to go out for ice cream.  So far things are going pretty well.  Here's our warm fuzzy jars:

The nice thing about using cotton balls is they are squishable--haha.  If they are filling up the jars too fast we can always smoosh them down a bit because we would go broke if we took them out for ice cream every time their jar got all the way to the top :).

Daniel has been reading with Noah while I read with Sarah for her homework.  What a sweet brother.

I got a new calling in the church this week.  I am the Personal Progress Leader and Assistant Girl's Camp Director.  Wow this will be interesting.  The Personal Progress program has changed so much since I did it when I, myself, was in young women a lot of years ago.  Hopefully I can get things going and get to know the girls.  It will definitely be a big change from primary, that's for sure!! 

 Last week Sarah had a Urology follow up visit.  That meant the weekend before we had to do a bowel clean out.  Boy that was not fun.  Sarah couldn't be too far away from a toilet if you know what I mean--poor girl.  When it was time for the appointment they told me to make sure she came with a full bladder for the abdominal X-ray and for the abdominal ultrasound.  I had Sarah drink a punch drink on the way down to Primary Children's Hospital and by the time we got there, her bladder was FULL!!  They checked us in and sent us to the waiting room.  I had to talk to someone and tell them I don't know how much longer she could hold it.  After hearing that they got us right back to start the tests--thank goodness.  I was getting tired from watching Sarah do the potty dance.  Here's the X-ray:

 The renal/bladder/abdominal ultrasound:

 After initially scanning her they let her use the bathroom.  When she was done they scanned her again.  After the testing was done we had over an hour to kill until the actual appointment with the urologist.  We decided to get some lunch in the cafeteria.  It was more of a brunch because it was still a bit early for lunch.  Sarah got a breakfast burrito and loved it.

 We then headed to the appointment.  We found out there have been some small changes to her left kidney which wasn't the best news.  However, everything else looked ok.  We get to continue with the low dose daily antibiotic for the next while.  We get to follow up again in 6 months.  Sarah was just happy because she got to get some prizes--a sucker, sticker and a ball.

 The next day Noah went to preschool and learned about volcanoes.  He came home with some homework that he insisted we had to do as soon as he walked in the door.  I really love his preschool.  Anyway, his teacher sent him home with a 'volcano' that we had to set off with some baking soda, food coloring, soap, and vinegar.  Here's the pre eruption volcano:

 Here's the eruption that Noah that was pretty awesome:

 When all the kids come home from school at the same time things can get pretty crazy especially on Mondays.  Mondays is when all the kids get their weekly homework packet they have to get done.  Thankfully, Aaron usually gets home in time to help.  While I was helping Daniel with his packet Aaron was reading with Sarah--or so I thought until he texted me this picture--haha:

 Wednesday was a busy day.  Matthew had a field trip to Get Air trampoline park in Layton.  He had a lot of fun and had great behavior that day because he got so much energy out at the trampoline park.   I was able to go on a field trip with Josh's class and the rest of the 6th grade to the Ballet down at Capitol Theater in Salt Lake.  After that hour long bus ride I have a new found respect for bus drivers--Wow that bus was LOUD!!  I had fun going with Josh.  I am glad he hasn't reached the point of being embarrassed by his parents, yet.  Here we are on the bus:

 Here we are at the theater getting ready to see Swan Lake.

 We had awesome seats!  We ended up on the very front row.  Here's how close we were:

 It was awesome and I was glad I was able to go with Josh.

Thursday Noah had his preschool Valentine's party.  Here's he is with his monster Valentine holder we made:

 As soon as he got home he tore into his candy and his first choice was the Fundip candy.  I HATE that stuff.  It is so messy and stains everything as you can see by his blue teeth, lips, hands and shirt.  As long as he liked it I guess that's all that matters, right?!

 Friday Josh had his Valentine's Dance.  He has been looking forward to this dance for a long time.  Every Friday throughout the year the whole 6th grade has been learning different dances.  They learned the dance Thriller, the Cupid Shuffle, the Waltz, etc.  They got to perform them all on Friday.  Josh got up extra early and borrowed Matthew's suit coat so he could look extra nice.  He even put on some cologne and had me comb his hair.  What a handsome lady killer!

The 6th grade teachers asked the parents to not attend since there wouldn't be enough room for everyone.  I was sad because I really wanted to see him dance.  He must have danced pretty hard because he came home looking like this:

 

He got an award for his Waltz dance which is pretty awesome.  He said it was pretty fun except his shoes are a size too small for his feet.  His feet were hurting by the end of the day as you can imagine.  I felt bad because he had been complaining of his shoes being too small for awhile, but I kept forgetting to get him new ones.  The kid grows so fast that he is the same size as Matthew so they can share shoes.  DOH!!  Friday afternoon I finally took him out to pick some new shoes up.  However, no sooner had we walked into the shoe store did I get a phone call.  It was a number I didn't recognize, but I picked it up.  It is a good thing I did because Daniel had gone over to a friend's house to play that wasn't in our neighborhood.  He had only been there about 30 minutes when he started having an allergic reaction to something and was covered in hives.  DOH!!  Thankfully Aaron was on his way home from work and was closer to that friend's house than I was so he stopped by to pick him up.  He quickly brought him home and medicated him up with allergy pills.  Josh and I quickly got him some new church shoes and came home to make sure Daniel was ok.  The allergy pills worked and he was fine in a few hours.  The friend's mom was scared and upset, but we told her this thing happens and not to worry about it.  What am I going to do with that Daniel kiddo?!  I am glad it wasn't a worse reaction than it was.  WE still don't know what he reacted to.  I have made him tell me everything he ate and nothing sounded suspicious.  Oh well, at least he's ok for now.

For Valentine's Day I did Sarah's hair in hearts.  It is supposed to be three twisted hearts down her head.  I could see it, but Daniel and Sarah couldn't.  Oh well at least I tried, right?!

 When the kids got home from their Valentine's parties from school we got a ton of those dang Fundips.  I really don't like those at all, however, the kids love them.  These are the ones from only Sarah and Josh's stash.  Daniel had even more in his envelope.

 I made a rule that if the kids wanted to eat them they had to eat them outside.  Sarah spent all Saturday morning outside on the porch yummying all her Fundips down.

Friday Sarah got to go to a princess birthday party for a friend.  She got to dress up in a princess dress for the party.  She was so excited.  She said it was lots of fun.

 

Saturday we had family day at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.  It was their Bald Eagle Day.  We went and learned about Bald Eagles and birds of prey.  The kids thought it was interesting.

 They a lookout corner with some binoculars to watch the birds with.  They only had two binoculars which caused some upset feelings because so and so wasn't sharing or so and so was taking too long, etc.  Just the usual sibling squabbles.  Luckily, it wasn't too busy so no one really cared too much. 

 It was very informative and was a fun day.

 Josh's wingspan almost matches the bald eagle.  He's getting so big.

 Sarah's wingspan is about the size of a Seagull.

The kids did their craft activities.

 Daniel's pulling a weird face, but they had fun.

 After the crafts we went on a nature walk.  We didn't see any Bald Eagles probably because the kids (who were not quiet) scared them all away.  Oh well it was fun.

 However, Sarah's balloon bird met an unfortunate weedy demise.  She got it caught on a spiky weed and it popped.  She was upset, but what can you do?!

 Later that afternoon I made some big heart cookies and let the kids decorate them for Valentine's Day.  Even Aaron wanted to decorate one.

The kids got to decorate their own Valentine holders for school. Here's Daniel's:

 Sarah's:

 Josh's:

 Valentine's Night Aaron and I went out on a date.  It was just for dinner, but it was nice to get away from things for an hour.

Aaron wasn't too happy when the server brought out his drink in a U of U cup with him wearing his BYU shirt and hat.  He teased her about it.

She redeemed herself with the next cup:

Aunt Jill made us all some awesome shirts.  I loved how they all turned out. 

Here's Matthew's shirt:

 Josh's:

 Sarah's (which says, "Do you want to build a snowman?"):

 Noah's:

 Mine that I love which says, "On a journey I never planned on But I sure love my tour guide.  I'm an autism mom.":

 I even got a hoodie that says, "I'm a nurse.  What's your super power?" which is fitting since I just renewed my license about two weeks ago:

Daniel's:

 Aaron's that I love, too, which says, "I'm the parent of an autistic child.  What's your super power?":

 

 Thanks Jill!  They all turned out great!!  I/we all love them!!