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!!