First Day of School

Today is the first day of school for all the children.  Alex was up bright and early as his bus comes right before 7 a.m.  This is great for him as he loves waking up early.  Because he's in Special Ed, the bus comes right to our house.  It's so great.  After getting him off on the bus all the other children are waking up and getting ready for school.  Kate, who is in 6th grade, will be home schooled this year.  She was up bright and early with everyone ready to start school.  Kate starts her home school routine right after breakfast.  She does somethings on her own, but by the time the other children are out the door, mom comes to help with Math and whatever subject we are learning about that day.  I drove Emily, Dane, and Karsten to school for their first day.  Emily and Dane were ready to leave me the moment I parked the car and wondered why I wanted a picture of them.  Really, mom, it's just school!  Not like we haven't been here before!  So I let Emily and Dane go on ahead and head to the gym to meet up with their teachers while I took Karsten to his class.  The teachers were having the Kindergarten students line up in the hall until the bell rang.  Karsten is about the fourth student in his class to arrive, so he lines up behind three other girls and just stands there waiting.  As I stood there watching the other children come in with their parents, it was interesting to see the different ways the children were handling this first day of school.  There were the children who were anxious to get going and happy to be there.  I would include Karsten in this group.  He's wanted to go to Kindergarten for like a year now!  Then there were the "not too sure I want to be here" type.  There were also some who had come by bus or had no parent standing with them, so I put them into the "I can't cry, I'm stuck here and I guess I'll be ok" group.  The final group would be the "what's the big deal, I do this everyday" type, the ones who probably were in preschool and starting Kindergarten isn't such a big deal for them type.  I just wanted to hug them all and tell them they were all going to be great!  But, this is a public school, and I'm a stranger, so that would be really weird.  I'm sure they would have called the police on me and instead of teaching Kate, I'd be sitting in jail.  That would make a very interesting first day of school.

So after waiting for about 10 minutes, I decided I could leave Karsten, as they would be entering their classroom soon.  I asked him if he wanted to give me a hug, he said no.  So I hugged him anyway.  I'm way excited to hear about how his first day went.  By the way, it's full day Kindergarten.  Crazy.  But, he hasn't napped since he was like 3 years old, so I know he'll do fine.

I came home and Kate had finished all her morning assignments.  We moved on to Math and US History.  Kate finished everything up by noon.  Now she's got the afternoon free.

The house is quiet.  I miss the kids.  I'll see them in three hours.

Blast from the Past

Watch out people!  I am going through all my pictures and scanning them into the computer.  It has been really fun looking at old pictures.  Some are embarrassing, some are funny.  I may post a few here and there on my blog, so be warned, you could be up here next!  Alright, no more pictures of Hailee streaking.  Wait, that was on the family blog, so no one really saw it, Hailee! :)


So here are a couple I wanted to post.

Alex's blessing day in Mescalero.  Kate told me that Sarah looks the same and was easy to tell who she was!

(half cut off is Matthew Naiche, Carolyn holding Alex, Angela, Kathy, Sarah, me, and Rhonda)

Oh, and one more thing (mainly for me for journaling purposes), the outfit that Alex is wearing was given to me by Sister Mertz, it was a preemie outfit.  That's when it was hard to come by a preemie outfit.  Seth wore this same outfit when he was blessed!  None of the other boys could wear it because of their large statures when they were born.

Ok, so the reason I posted this picture was mainly for those who remember how we fed Alex.  It was so tough.  We would tape the feeding tube to anything nearby (in this case the kitchen chair!).  Oh, and Sarah, sorry I keep calling you out, but remember living with us when we lived in this house?  I think that's you, Tonnia, sitting in the chair?  I'm not sure.  

Fun in New York

Here's a few shots of the children while we were at Lake Seneca on our trip to New York.

Ok, this is a picture of Alex, but not at Seneca Lake.  This was at Decker Park years ago, I think in 2000.  Anyways, the reason I post it is because of the following picture.  Alex and Seth are wearing the same hat doing the same thing in the water!  Can't keep them out!

Yes, Dane is carrying a dead fish.  The kids thought it was so cool.  Wonder why the lake has dead fish?  

Kate in the kayak.

Alex in the paddle boat with his Uncle Warren and cousin Nathan.

Dane going out!

Todd and Karsten in a row boat.

Alex trying out the kayak; he eventually capsizes.  

Hey, that green goop is the best!

Dane out on the lake.

Some Plans

Alright, here's the plan:  we have two weeks to see if Seth picks up any new words or anything close to a new word.  If not, we will make an appointment with the Cochlear Implant specialist at Bethesda to start the process of qualifying Seth for a Cochlear Implant.

Developmental Pediatrics

I took Seth to see the Developmental Pediatrician today.  I love what he told me:  Seth is not developmentally delayed, he just has a communication disorder!  He told me never to refer to Seth as being developmentally delayed because he is smart.  He is right on target physically and cognitively for a 25 month old.  So this means no delays.  However, his speech is way behind, obvious, but the doctor told me this has nothing to do with his cognitive skills, just an obvious side effect of being partially deaf.  We are leaning more toward a Cochlear Implant.  We haven't made a final decision.  Surgery and therapy doesn't scare me.  Just waiting on the opinion of our auditory verbal therapist, Pratibha.  She is awesome.  We are so blessed to have her working with Seth.

Earthquake!

I was awoken this morning by an earthquake!  I've never felt an earthquake before!  I remember waking to feel the house vibrating, but since I was just asleep I wasn't sure what was going on.  So I got up to go to the bathroom and that's when Todd asked me if I felt the house shaking.  Then a few minutes later Kate comes in to our room and asks if we just felt the house shaking.  So we got on the internet, and sure enough!  Our first earthquake.  It's a little unnerving to think how quickly and out of the blue that it happend!

Sorry

I've got lots to blog about, but no time.  We got back from New York Wednesday night and leave for Utah next Tuesday morning.  I've got a million things to do before then, so if I have a minute, I might post a few pics of our New York trip.  If not, sorry, it won't be until August.  But let me say this:  there's nothing more important than family.  We had a good time in New York and it was lots of fun visiting with all who could make it.  We got to see cousins we have never seen before!  The next time we all meet up will be in two years and this one will be in New Mexico.  So, plan accordingly.   More to come!