My Girl!

Ah, this is so fun. I've waited my whole life for this. I finally have a running buddy right here in my own house!

Brian has been running for a couple months, actually, but we don't run together, because one of us always has to be home with the offspring.

As you know from my earlier post, Ana and Ben are signed up to do a 1k run in April. She has been hard at work training, but I haven't coached her yet. Mostly she and Ben just run up and down the driveway :) So today I decided it was time to try running again myself (haven't since the injury). I am moving gingerly still, and running was very slow and cautious. HOWEVER....it was the first time I've run with Ana and honest to Pete I am VERY impressed! I did NOT expect to be! She has a very smooth, natural gait and a comfortable pace. I kept telling her how impressed I am and how proud I am and she would just grin and keep on running. Her hair flows behind her and she runs very light. I thought she would be a heavy runner (those of you who are runners will know what I mean, there is a difference and it's not about weight). She does take frequent walking breaks which is normal for a kid (I mean, hey, she's EIGHT) but we easily covered a mile. For me that's pathetic, for her it's fantastic. Again, I am thoroughly impressed and really proud of her.

The kids made cards for their cousin Doug a few nights ago and Ben wrote "Doug how are you doing". He continues to blow me away with his smarts. Smart, smart, little Boodie. He also made some special mail for grandma.

You are probably wondering why Doug got cards. 4 years ago when Doug was 28 he had 2 heart attacks (on Easter!). This year, same time of year, 4 years later, he had 2 more. Doug is only 32 and has a very sick heart. He is a big guy, 6' 7", so there is a lot of work for a very damaged heart to do. His mom tells me he is home now and doing pretty well but the next 30 to 60 days are critical. His doctors told him he needs to go on lifelong disability now. His mom's side of the family has a strong history of very early death from cardiovascular accidents caused by a genetic clotting disorder so this has been very frightening for them.

We had Zac's well child check yesterday. Wil and I brought him. Wil was being a pill (Wil the pill) and I told the pediatrician he has been difficult (he meowed when I said that) and she said she sees a lot of that at age 3. I asked her what I can do about it and she said the only cure is 4. haha :)

So anyway, about Zac. He is very, very, tiny. He fell off the growth charts, poor guy. He only weighs 17 pounds, and most of that is probably hair! However, his doc isn't concerned. His brothers were petite (although he is the smallest) and they are shooting up like crabgrass in August (and I'm getting damn tired of fertilizing them every 15 minutes). His development is otherwise on track (he has all the little fine motor things down,and although he isn't walking, he is cruising, and that's considered right on track).

Trudy, are you trying to email me?

ONE!

Sorry it's been so long. It's been a very busy few days and I've been burned out from finishing clinicals and all that. I was also pretty darn sore right up until today. Now I should have a lot more time to write again. I still have class Mondays and Tuesdays and other assorted things that I need to do yet but otherwise I am definately in the home stretch for finishing nursing school (the LPN part). Yay!

The big news: Zacariah Jack is 1 today! You wouldn't guess it to look at him; he is tiny and not going to walk any time soon (why should he?). He does have some words, my favorite of which is "yaya" (Lijah). We had a very small party with just us and Joanie (Lynn stopped by just now with a gift). Joanie gave him one of those toys that you push on the top of it and things spin inside, and a shape sorter box. He was sooooo cute actually doing those things. We all clapped and cheered. I have lots of good pics that I will upload and send with a fair amount of time (note I did not say "in 5 minutes" or even "tomorrow"...I'll get to them when I get to them, and it might be tomorrow).

We had a nice Easter. We went absolutely nowhere, much like we do for Thanksgiving. If we were closer to my parents geographically, we'd be there in a heartbeat, but holidays are always Brian's busiest time and consequently our travel time is limited and 6 hours in one day is not realistic with 5 children.

Today at school I got an email from Brian saying "Guess what, your pants fit me!" I turned to my friend and said "What that necessary?". The good news is they were my fat pants and don't fit anymore anyway. When I got home he said "wow you tall, legs same mine". I told him that actually his legs are short, which they are. He thinks they are long but they're not, his body is; my legs are longish. So there.

Tonight Lij and I had a pack meeting for Cub Scouts and I always love that. He is such a sweet boy and has no embarrassment at all about being a mommy's boy--yet. He insists on sitting right on my lap the whole time. While sitting on my lap he is raising his hand to be called on and all that (I'm not kidding!). Tonight there was a magician/entertainer and I learned something interesting about Lij. Well, we know he is a detail guy and likes to figure out how things work. Anyway the magician started out with this trick where he would spin a plate on a stick (have you seen that one?). Lij turned to me and said "I know how he does that" (I'm thinking...yeah, right) and then he said "I wooked, see, there is a wittle hole in the plate". I looked, and sure enough, there was a tiny dent in the middle of the plate that kept the stick in there just so. He had theories and ideas about most of the tricks and I think he was probably right! My favorite though was when the guy did some wierd thing with a long rope and 4 volunteers. Lij turned to me and said "I don't fink I get that one".

Then on the way home he said he was really hungry and asked "Can we stop somewhere and get something to eat?" I looked over at him in the passenger seat and he was sitting in his usual position with his legs crossed at the knee like an old lady, bouncing his toe, and he added "But for a small price."

Big sister is sitting next to me pouting because her baby is one. They seem to get there faster every time. Ana's first year took about 10 years of my life; Zac's felt like 10 weeks.

I can't think of anything new about Ben and Wil. Oh, except Ben made made Zac a paper airplane for his birthday (Lij made him a really cool book). Ben is training for a 1k run in St. Cloud Earth Day weekend. He wanted to sign up, so I signed him up! When he says he wants to practice running I send him outside and give him drills. I can't wait :) :) :) Ana is doing the run too and I'm hopeful regular running will help her to grow a bit leaner as she grows taller (and THAT is happening fast). We have to manage her asthma for this but I have asthma (much more problematic than hers, actually) and running is very doable with the right preparation. I haven't run since I fell and I can feel my legs are soft. Yuck. I don't think there's been a 10 day stretch in my entire life that I haven't exercised.

By the way, I've been getting emails from cousins and etc. who heard the gossip from Luck. What the hell is up with those big mouths over there? Mom insists it's Dad and I believe her because he is the original Billy Bigmouth. I want to know what is so newsworthy about me having an incident in my garage.

This morning I saw something that made me laugh. Nobody I've told so far gets it, but hey, maybe you had to be there. The parking lot at SCTC was really slippery and from a distance I saw this girl get out of her car. It was obvious to even the casual observer that she considers herself pretty hot. You know, that look? So anyway...then I got to see her slip and fall in a sort of gliding (not high impact) way to end up laying flat on her back. Her feet went up in the air and kicked a bit. Then she was up in a flash and looking around to see if anybody saw her (she didnt see me) before she flounced off to school with an "I meant to do that" attitude. Haaaaaaaaaaaaa! So anybody can fall, I guess!

Wil is Wil. Right now that means three and a half, which historically is a difficult time. I'm getting close to sending him for the Wisconsin cure. The problem with that is he is so cute and funny he gets WORSE there. The meowing is still going on, popping up when a little respect is called for. He continues to blow me away with his vocabulary and language use. He is easily a close second to Ana in that respect. His older brothers were both still grunting quite a bit at his age. Interesting because there seems to be a connection between early fine motor skills and early language development. He and Ana both were interested in tiny things when they were very young, and liked to hold pens and pencils and do tiny things with their tiny hands.

The other day when it was snowing I came home in the dark after work (midnight at the VA) and there was a road construction crew in my driveway--all Tonka. It was so cute. He just loves to be outside with his trucks. He is going to love the sandbox so much this summer. He puts his coat and hat and "glubs" and boots on and tells me "I'm going outside, I'll be back in a little bit" (signing "outside" and "little bit").

I'm dying for a little couch-and-pug time so will sign off for now and plan to get the pictures uploaded tomorrow morning if I can. The little boys have missed me and we need some serious couch time too and that has to come first.

this is really sad

the day after i fell i had brian take a picture of my side with the big bruise. when i looked at it i thought, "wow, I look so skinny! my tummy is so FLAT!". I spent about a day being very pleased with myself before I took another look and found out that wasn't my tummy, it was my ass. The cute round butt on the other side was actually my gut.

ouch

Sorry for being MIA. The end of last week was busy and then I fell off what I'm referring to as a ladder (for the sake of simplicity--it's too hard to explain)....will get to that in a minute.

Zacariah has some big news. TEETH! They finally poked through and you can officially see them. He is monkeying around with his tongue trying to get used to them. It's pretty funny. He also has a new word: "Yaya". That's Lijah :) He is back to being his funny, silly, smiley, self, thank God.

Last week I had two days of clinicals at REM Fernwood, a group home. I really enjoyed it and will be back this coming week for 2 more days, which will be my final clinicals. I had a 63 year old patient with the mental age of a 2 year old--a very cute and funny two year old. He likes to look at trucks and pictures of horses.

There are lots more things I should be remembering but I can't because I'm high on vicodin. I'm enjoying it more than I should. It does also make me a little nauseated so I'm going to bed soon.

Anyway, what happened, in a nutshell, I was in the garage on friday and I needed something from a high shelf. I was stupidly holding the baby and I just climbed up a few "steps" of basically junk and it gave way somehow and I fell about 3 feet and slammed my flank into the lawn mower. First I must say baby is just fine, that was most important. But I was in the most excruciating pain I have ever been in in my life and that includes natural childbrith x 5. My first thought was my kidney--I thought I had seriously hurt it. I managed somehow to get in the house, and Thank God Joanie was visiting before flying down to Missouri for James' dad's funeral. I managed to give her the baby before I collapsed on the living room floor in agony. She got Brian up. I kept trying to get up but would black out. It was seriously awful. Long story short, ER visit, CT scan, it is mostly soft tissue injury but no laceration to the kidney which is very important. I had 3 shots of morphine there before the pain was managed. I mean, it was seriously nasty. Now I have vicodin and that manages it pretty well but makes me wierd. The pain is much better now than it was. I can't twist my trunk at all or sit up from a lying position but once I'm up I can walk fine. I have a very nasty black and blue mark that you can tell is just the surface of a very deep pond, and it is in the shape of the corner of the riding lawn mower. Oh, nasty. Tomorrow I need to go see my regular doc and we will talk about taking a closer look at my spine because I have had numbness and tingling in my left arm and pinkie.

Feel like I"m gonna barf, so I'll close for now. I'll be around!

teacher conferences #2 and #3

Just back from the last two conferences. They went very well. First was Elijah; last quarter he was supposedly struggling with reading (although, as I told the teacher several times, that was NOT what I saw at home). This quarter he is scoring 96% in his comprehension, and knows 100% of his "fry" words (I don't know why they are called "fry" words). As a matter of fact---it has become his best subject. Go figure. He is reading several 2nd grade level books. She said that he doesn't like to take the comprehension quizzes and that has slowed him down--but when he does finally feel confident enough to take them, he always gets 10/10. Today he finally felt up to taking a few--three to be exact--and he scored 10/10 on every one of them. This reminds me so much of Hans! He also is at above 90% in every other area (above 95% in most); they want to see them at least 70%.

He is doing great in everything, especially in behavior. I asked her if he is a good boy for her and she said "Oh, very much much so. I wish I had 13 of him. I wish we could clone him." She summed it up by saying he is all set for 2nd grade. So, Lij is doing awesome and I'm very proud of him, as always. I wish I could help him get over his performance anxiety and self perfectionism. Then again, I think my own life would have been easier if I'd had a little of that...

On to Ben. Mrs. Trimble is my pal, we always laugh and have a good time. She is very realistic and has a great sense of humor. She also has wild curly hair and is usually a mess; so, ya know, I just relate. I met one of her daughters once and she also has wild curly hair and is a mess, and she told me that she wants a kitty, and I told her that her mother most certainly should give her a kitty.

Anyway, I sat down and she said "Well, I don't know what to tell you other than he's doing awesome." I asked if he is about where he should be. Remember, we started him in Kindergarten at age 4--it was literally an agonizing decision that I lost sleep over--so, I'm always seeking reassurance it was the right thing to do, and to me the way to know it was is if he is at the same level as his peers. When she first started to answer I got a sinking feeling, because she shook her head and said "No,...." and then she goes "he's actually ahead. He's more than ready for first grade." She said he picks stuff up like "that" (snap fingers). He loves school and always eager to do things. He is very independent but a good listener. Math and reading are both a breeze for him. We know he loves art and gym and music because he comes home and talks about them. I asked about socialization, because that's always a concern when starting a kid in school early, and she said he's pals with the whole class, pretty much :) He had done a drawing of him and his friends and it was Ben, Henry, Maggie, and Emma. Henry got to be a different color, we werent sure why; probably because they are besties! She showed me on his drawings that he adds an unusual amount of detail for his age. That makes sense to me because Ariana and Elijah both always get Os in art; I'll take a pat on the back and say that keeping them supplied with all the craft things a kid could want, and giving them carte blanche, has really fueled their creativity.

So, to summarize the boys; Elijah is right on track, and as their areas of study broaden, so will he (they don't do much science yet, and that kid is ready to teach it). He worked super hard to figure out reading, and now he is acing it. And best of all, his teacher wants to clone him :)

Ben continues to be our unusual boy and I suspect that won't change. I remember looking into his eyes when he was a newborn (PRETERM, AT THAT!) and just knowing he was extremely intelligent (remember that, people??). I've been thinking lately about what the future might bring for Ben, and I'm prepared to find creative educational solutions for him, if there is a need. Can't waste a mind like that, you know. Really, if public school isn't working for any one of them, I'm not leaving them there; but with Ben, I think we have something unusual to work with, and will be a little more aware of the need to challenge.

Wils went to Charlottes to today and had a good time ( and so did she). He had spongebob crabby pants with him. Baby crabbypants is actually not quite so grumpy today. The teeth aren't quite throught but they are very clearly coming. They look like potatoes stuck in the dirt, you know that look? OH, and he has a new word. I've been suspecting it for awhile and today it was confirmed by someone who can actually hear. He said DADA long ago (humph!) and says MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA when he wants to complain. He also gets pretty close to "doggie" (kind of a gutteral "dada") And now he says "Rah" :) That's Ariana, for anyone who doesn't know. William started that and now I guess it's going to be her name.

Wils is doing great, he had a great weekend with gramma here. They are tight, you know. He can't wait til he can go to her house and stay for awhile.

Ana is doing great too. Right now she is working with William on his colors because he has his preschool screening coming up and I thought i would see what happens if you actually prepare them :) She is wearing a vest that was in a basket of clothes from gramma, so she looks like a 55 year old teacher.

I am barely surviving daylight savings time. I hate it...passionately. See, it doesn't take much to screw me up! I also worked til midnight last night, which doesn't help. OH, and the psych ward this weekend.....we had a bunch of guys up there who were geriatric and not only were they chronically mentally ill, they had dementia! They wouldn't normally be on our unit but each case was a short term fix because their behaviors had suddenly decompensated to a point where their families/caregivers couldn't cope/keep them safe and there were no long term care options yet available. So anyway it was truly a nuthouse. One guy had a colostomy and we were warned to watch out, because if he gets pissed he throws his bag. Nice. He didn't, but he was gross.

My "little" pals and I are working on our pinning ceremony for graduation. I have no interest in going to commencement (i've had enough of those) but nursing grads have the option of a separate little ceremony with just us and our instructors and families, and we decided to do that. So we are planning it right now. It'll be May 15th in the evening. I'm really going to miss a lot of these girls.

Krabby Patty

Assuming y'all are spongebob fans, I guess! In this case Krabby Patty refers to my baby who has been complaining about everything from his oatmeal to the way I'm carrying him. The only time today he didn't complain was when his precious daddy had him. I think he needs to be a stay at home mother until this one is in kindergarten. Before you suggest he might be getting teeth, let me tell you, I've been watching closely and am none to optimistic. Nary a cloud in sight.



Everyone else is fine. The big kids had the day off from school, which was nice because I worked last night and didn't get home til midnight-thirty. Actually they got me up pretty early anyway! Usually i get to sleep a bit when Brian gets home but there were issues that prevented this from happening. Needless to say I'm tired and looking forward to my bed. Krabby Patty is finally back in his. That's one thing I'll say for that guy, he goes to bed well. All the boys have since infancy because I finally figured out that you just have to put them there and let them do the rest of the work. We didn't do that with Ana, and if she didn't weigh 90 pounds I'd still be rocking her. As it is, I spend a goodly amount of time chasing her back in there.



Linda--which day this month is Minnie's birthday? My calendar says the 7th, Ana insists its the 23rd. I'm thinking I'm right, for once, about the date, because we brought her home in time for Ariana's 4th birthday and she stayed with you for quite awhile because she was so tootin' tiny.



Brian was in Avon today and he came home in wonder that Leo made it all that way and came home safe and sound. Still blows my mind too.



We tried to make brownies tonight but didn't have eggs; Ana suggested we use applesauce as we had heard once that it makes a decent substitute. So we did that and then we got to the part where it said we needed vanilla, which we didn't have either, and I have no idea what to use for a substitute, so we trash canned it and will try again tomorrow with better supplies. It was William's idea; I asked him what he wanted for supper and he said "I just want brownies". How could I resist that?



I asked Brian to bring some vanilla from the bakery tomorrow and he goes "What's that?"



Him and Zac both could take a little vacation.

leisure reading, leisure writing...

Just wanted to say to those who get impatient when I don't post for a few days: I'm thrilled you like reading my blog, but I don't want to post unless I have time to enjoy the writing process and make it a decent piece of work. So if there's nothing here, rest assured that I'm saving up til my muses awaken. (At present, they're in bed...3 of them reading under the covers)

I'm off from school this week and it's been soooooo nice. I do work a bit (and those late nights wipe me out for a couple days) but I've gotten lots of couch time with my little boys.

Zac is turning into quite the character. He has always had a huge, contagious smile. Now he has added a little nose wrinkle to it. The best part: he knows it's cute, and he flashes it to see our responses. You can't help but be happy looking at that little mug! He is still so very tiny. I dont think he'll be 20 pounds by his first birthday. All of my boys have been petite babies/toddlers, but he is the smallest by far. And the sister....well......has never been what you would call tiny. She was a big, hungry baby!

The kids are very excited because Gramma is coming this weekend. We haven't seen her in a long time because she works for an accountant and this is a busy time of year for them. She is taking a day off work AND skipping church to come. She might go to hell. Won't we have fun?

Wils scrubbed my (sidekick) cell phone with a toothbrush (a WET toothbrush) yesterday and it hasn't been the same since. It sort of limps along but it does odd stuff like flip through a bunch of emails at one time. I did thank him for the thought but I wish he would save the cleaning for...for....well, I wish he wouldn't clean at all right now, to be honest!

Boos big news this week is that Mrs Trimble rearranged her classroom and he has new table mates. Remember when life was so simple? I remember Mrs. Bergquist doing that kind of thing. It was huge. He also told me today that they had phy ed this morning and they "did bowling" and he "gotted one".

Wils had ECFE last night and we had a great time. He is so fun to hang out with. We go to the bakery afteward for a treat and he makes eyes at the ladies. They stand around in circles and giggle at him. I'm just beginning to imagine what this will be like in 15 years. Hopefully the females will be younger.....

Ana and Lij are just fine, nothing big to report; they are having good weeks, and tomorrow is the last day of their week as they are off on Friday. Ana has had so much homework, she started as soon as she got home today and still has to get up early to do more in the morning. I don't like that very much--homeschooling appeals to me, but not yet.

I guess that's enough for now, because I'm cold down here in the basement.

Ana's conference

Just back from Ariana's teacher conference. As usual, I couldn't be prouder of her. First and foremost I'm proud of her for just being a good student and one who works hard. Second, I'm proud of her for meeting her goal of raising her math grade from an S- to an S (math is hard for her and she works hard at it).



Third...now the really good stuff :) She has four O's, but Ms. Schmidt said she really earned five because the S+ in handwriting was because of a few times when she got lazy and sloppy--otherwise her skill is very good. Her Os are in social studies (she says it is sooooo easy), reading, spelling, and art. She got S+ in handwriting (again, Ms Schmidt said that was just a hair shy of an O and she considers it O level work) and music, and S in math and physical education. For the record, I always got S's in phy ed too! Seems funny now! I think all of our grades are similar, come to think of it, especially math. I was NOT good at math. It's ironic because I loved science and they are supposed to go hand in hand. I suffered through math in college for the sake of my science ;) She works much harder at math than I did and cares more about actually understanding it. I'm glad of all that.



The report cards say:

O means exceeds all expectations for grade level

S+ means exceeds some expectations for grade level

S means meet expectations for grade level



A few more quick tidbits. They want them to reach a goal of 15 books read for pleasure during the school year. Ana is at 35.......HAHAHA!



They want them to master 70% of their 1000 sight words. She has mastered 97%.



.....................

Brian is at the bakery with 3 little boys giving a cub scout den a tour. Next week he does the same for Elijah's Den. Elijah, Ben, and Wil all went with for this one. I talked them into going with him because I thought they should....I hope they behave!