Chandler's 2nd day of school

Chandler had a better day at school today. He woke up feeling good and excited to go to school. We didn't have any after school incidents and everything went perfectly. One really cute thing I have to share..... When we came home we were talking about his day. The first thing he said was, "We didn't learn anything about Jesus..." It was a precious moment and I was able to share with him about telling his classmates about Jesus.

Hangin' out at home

Here are some random pictures of the kids.

I had to get a picture of this "do"! She went to lay down for nap time with a pony tail. She pulled it out, then sweat and this is what happened!
All the kids like to wear this toboggan for some reason. It's too small for all of them! In fact, Chandler likes to wear it to bed... Anyway, Heath had it on tonight before dinner so we had to snap this picture.

Picking up Chandler from his 1st day

Ok, so when I posted that blog for "Chandler's first day of kindergarten", he was still in school. I didn't know all of this was about to happen.........

Heath, Hanna and Dylan were taking a nap so Matt stayed home with them and I walked up to get Chandler from school. I saw a couple of other moms there outside waiting for their "walkers". Chandler is a "walker" because he walks or rides his bike to school. The bell rang and the walkers starting coming out. I looked and looked for him but didn't see him. As the last of the kids walked out, I went up to the teacher that was holding the door and said, "My child did not come out with the walkers." Another mother said the same thing. She told us to go into the office and they would page the kid and teacher and they'd be right up. The other mother's child and Chandler were both paged. Her child come to the office within 1-2 minutes but Chandler never came. I asked her to page again as I was getting nervous. She paged again and still nothing. I began to freak out a little. I had been standing around waiting for about 10 minutes at this point. Another teacher came up and could see the desperation on my face and asked if she could help me. I told her what was going on and she said, "Come follow me back to the Kindergarten hall, I'm sure he's probably back there with his teacher crying because he can't find you." So, off down the hall we went. We rounded the corner and saw that his classroom was dark. No one was there. She said, "Well, let's go look in the "car rider" line." So we rounded another corner and at this point I could hear them over the bull horn saying, "Chandler Bell. Chandler Bell. Chandler Bell." As I walked up, all the teachers were shaking their heads NO, saying he wasn't around them. At this point I began to cry hysterically. I got my cell phone and called Matt and asked if Chandler had showed up at home, thinking maybe he'd walked home alone. Matt's said, "NO... Why? What's going on?" I said, "We can't find Chandler." He said, "WHAT?? I'm coming up there!" I said, "No......." And he hung up the phone. As I was REALLY freaking out now, I starting scanning the kids sitting in the hallway and I just happened to see a little blonde head that I knew was the back of Chandler's head. I pointed and said, "There he is!!!" And went running over to him! I was in a panic!!!!! The teacher with the bull horn was standing RIGHT OVER HIM! She asked him why he didn't say something when they were yelling his name and he said, "I was, you just couldn't hear me." I didn't care at that point, I was just SO relieved to find him!!! So, we went to the front of the school and practiced where he will go from now on and where I will be standing waiting for him.

Chandler's 1st Day of KINDERGARTEN

Today was Chandler's first day of Kindergarten. He was very excited and nervous too. In fact, he threw up this morning before school. Matt and I debated on whether he should go at all but finally decided that maybe it was just nerves. He wanted very bad to go to school! Here are a few pictures from his big day!

Chandler and Mommy walking to school
Chandler and Daddy
Chandler and Mommy
Matt and Chandler walking to his class

Putting his backpack in his locker
Kicking his backpack into his locker
Big boy!
Checkin' out his classmates

Matt praying with Chandler
Mommy kissing Chandler goodbye... he may never do this at school again! :)
Chan's table
We snuck back by his class after all the parents had left to check on him He saw us and flashed a big smile!!

Ok, so I did ok. Matt was the one that teared up a little! His eyes were a little red as we left! I was sick at my stomach worried about him. I wasn't too sad to leave him because I know how much he's going to love school! I was just very concerned about his health, having a good, fun first day and not feeling bad. He made it all day without getting sick again so that's good. I'm very proud of him and not too upset (yet)... give me a week or so! :)

Prayer Walk

Our church had a prayer walk this morning. It was focused on all of the Little Elm ISD schools. Since Chan starts at Lakeview Elementary on Monday, we went to that school to pray. We prayed for the students, administration, teachers and most of all, our wonderful student. Here are some pictures of us walking up to the school.

Matt pulling the "little kids" in the wagon
Matt, Heath, Hanna and Dylan
Chandler rode his bike
Chandler wearing his CrossRidge Church shirt

I'm a Menace

The kids love to get books from the library.  One of them from last week is called, "I'm still here in the bathtub" by Alan Katz.  It's a book with new lyrics to songs we all know.  It's really cute.  

We found a song/poem that needs to be Heath's theme song!!!!!  Here it is:

I'm a Menace

(to the tune of "Frere Jacques") (or "Where is pointer/tall man/pinky song")

I'm a menace

I played tennis

In my house

In my room

Didn't know the racket

Could hit a lamp and crack it

I smell doom

In my room!

Life is rocky

I played hockey

Against Clyde

While inside

Scored - broke a window

Now I feel the wind blow

While inside

Gotta hide!

I was naughty

Did Karate

I showed Ben

In the den

Thanks to all my chopping

We're VCR-shopping

For the den

Once again.

I'm athletic

It's pathetic

Mom gets sore

More and more

Though it's aggravating

Let's both go ice-skating

Kitchen floor

Fun galore!

Are we on the mend????

After another night of vomiting (from Heath) and waking up to another one vomiting (Dylan), I decided it was time to call their doctor. Today is officially 2 weeks from our first vomit and it has continued and continued and continued some more!!! Anyway, I called and talked with the nurse. I knew I didn't want to just make an appointment because I would take them all in, pay a co-pay for each and have her say, "It's a virus. It's going around. Plenty of fluids and rest....." I already knew all of that, I just wanted to call and see if she had ANY suggestions on how to get over this virus!!!!! She said that this virus is VERY widespread in the area. Most kids are sick off and on for around 10 (even though ours is the longest she'd heard). She said it is mostly vomit a couple of times - check (usually in the middle of the night - check), then you feel yucky for a day or two - check, you get to feeling better so you start eating more - check, your tummy feels better but your gut is still sick so it rejects the food and you start the process over - CHECK! We've done ALL of the above several times over!!!!! One kinda good thing, she said that most kids are getting a very mild upper respiratory virus at the end of the intestinal virus. Causing a dry cough and maybe a clear running nose. Heath, Hanna and Dylan (who've gotten it the worst of us all) have had a few coughs today... does that mean this is almost over?!?! I PRAY!!! I also asked if we could just be giving to each other over and over again. She said she really didn't think so because, thankfully, once you get this virus, you should have an immunity against it for as little as 2 weeks or up to 2 months. Her only suggestion was to keep them on a more bland diet and hope the intestinal part clears up. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE pray that we are on our way OUT FROM UNDER this virus. I am so tired of vomit, diarrhea, changing beds several times per night/day, giving numerous baths in one day, laundry, laundry and more laundry, and most of all, tired of having my babies so sick!!! Thank you, thank you for any prayers! We greatly appreciate them.

What a blessing!?!?!

When Dylan was first assessed for ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) his therapists told me about a program called "Respite Care". I'd heard of it before but didn't know a whole lot about it. Respite Care is short term care that helps a family take a break from the daily routines and stresses of taking care of a disabled child. (Yes, Dylan is classified as disabled even though it's not bad). Anyway, long story short, it's a state funded program (tax payer $s) that provides family with funds to pay childcare. It can be used for professional childcare (Daycare, Preschool, etc) or it can be used for in home childcare (babysitting).
About 2-3 weeks ago I decided to apply for the Respite Care program. One of Dylan's therapists called today and said we are approved!!! For August, we are approved for 20 hours at a rate of $7.00 per hour. How it works is, they send me a voucher. Each time someone babysits for us or we place Dylan in a place where we would have to pay, I fill out the voucher, have the childcare provider sign it and I send it in at the end of the month. Then, they send me a check for the number of hours x $7/hour. Since ECI's fiscal year starts over Sept 1st, I'm not sure exactly how many hours I will have for Sept. but I will know soon. Dylan's therapist said it's usually between 15-20 hours per month, depending on how many applicants they have. But, now that we are approved, we are guaranteed some hours every month.
This is such a HUGE blessing for us! As most of you know, our nanny, Joy doesn't work for us on a permanent basis anymore so I've been with the kids ALOT lately! Finances have been tight so I couldn't justify paying a babysitter. NOW I CAN!!!!! I'm really excited to be able to get some "Mommy Time Out" time again! This truly is a blessing from God!

Bedtime Snack - Cookies & Milk

Tonight the kids had a snack of Iced Oatmeal Cookies and Milk. Chandler does not like any cookie except sugar so he didn't participate. Heath had already had his shower so he's already in his PJs.

When I say, "Say Cheese!" Dylan just says, "AHHH"
Hanna
Heath showing his cookie
Dylan saying, "AHH" for "CHEESE"

Finally... Discipline for Dylan

As some of you know, we've been trying to find a way to discipline Dylan without making it way worse than it was to start with. I mean, since Dylan has little to no calming skills, if he is spanked, he will continue to be upset for 30-45 minutes! And I don't just mean normal upset after a spank - I mean, screaming at the top of his lungs like you'd just chopped his leg off! Anyway, that is one thing that I've talked with his therapist about is "We have to discipline him for throwing fits, etc but we cannot treat him like our other children... What do we do?"

Well, we finally found something that works VERY well with Dylan! We've only been doing it for 2 days but he responds very well! If he throws a fit or screams about something that shouldn't be screaming about, we tell him to "Go stand in the corner" and he walks right to the corner and stays there until he is finished crying. I've actually noticed a huge difference! Normally, when you take something away from him that he is not supposed to have but WANTS to have, he screams bloody murder. But several times today, he's started to scream and I can see it "click" in his head to stop! It's awesome!

Here are a couple of pictures I took today of him in the corner. I know it's a discipline time but it's just too cute to see his little self standing there.

"Can I come out yet?" DeeDee says. Mommy replies, "Not until you stop crying." And it works...

We're still alive... barely!

I haven't posted anything lately because we have been sick, sick, sick and more sick with some kind of stomach virus! It's the weirdest thing... ALL of us have gotten it (besides Matt). I only lasts for a few hours - vomit & diarrhea for 3-4 hours then just feel yucky for the rest of the day. Then a few days later, someone else comes down with it. Then a few more days and someone else comes down with it too. I'm really beginning to wonder if we are just giving it back and forth to each other. Chandler's had it once, Heath's had it 2-3 times, Hanna's had it 2-3 times, Dylan's had it once and I've had it once. It's been going on for about 10-12 days now! It's driving me crazy!

Anyway, here are some pics of Hanna while she's been sick...

She just wants to lay around and do nothing.

Today, all she's wanted to do is sit in a lap and read books. So, we've read about 20 books to her today. And of course, the boys are enjoying the reading time too!
Poor little sweet Hanna
Please pray that this ends soon. I'm going to call the doctor in a few days if things do not stop. We cannot just keep passing this around! I know it's just a virus but maybe she has some suggestions!