20 Things You Should Know About G&L

1. They both have what is considered to be severe Autism
2. They both have completely different forms of Autism
3. Yes, they are twins.
4.  No, they are not identical (yes I'm sure)
5. Yes, we can tell them apart
6. L is a hoarder.
7. G is a minimalist
8. L is a smuggler
9. G will only snuggle if he's tired and it's on his own terms
10. They both are obsessed with water.
11.  G has Hyperlexia and has started to read
12. L is obsessed with letters and numbers
13. L's favorite activity is jumping
14. G's favorite activity is reading books and pushing L.
15. They may have Autism and SPD but they are amazing.
16. L will beat you with a magnadoodle if you don't write numbers and letter on it over and over for him.
17. G will make you clap anytime he can get hold of your hands.
18. They both like to scare their momma by jumping off the couch.
19. They can't talk yet, but are super smart
20.  They are adorable and all ours!

What a long week it's been!

It's been such a long week already and it's only Wednesday. The past few days have been like a whirlwind.  Monday was running from one therapy to the next with a cold mixed in.  Tuesday turned out to be a very long day, which really shouldn't have.  L had school in the morning while G and I ran some errands and then ran to PT, then back to pick up L from school.  The hubs was going to leave work early to help me out with a Dr. appointment, but he couldn't end up leaving.  OK, no biggie, I've done these things on my own more times then I can count.  We were about 45 minutes into our hour long drive when we stopped at a traffic light. Apparently the person behind me didn't think it was a good idea to stop so, she rear ended us.  Thankfully the boys were OK, as well as her children.  I'm pretty sure I need a new bumper and I just ordered new car seats.  Of course it was an accident but with all of our Dr appointments, therapy appointments and all the driving we have to do, it's a HUGE inconvenience.  Like I said though, I'm extremely thankful no one was injured.  Cars can be fixed or replaced but our children can not.  The nice officer ripped part of my bumper off since it was on my tire.  I was NOT missing our appointment!  We got there, late, waited for a while and then she was able to see us.  By the time the boys and I got home, we were beyond exhausted!  Today is PAJAMA DAY!!!

Once we finally make it to our appointment we got the final diagnosis that L has "Classic Autism" and is on the severe end.  We also thought he was mild to moderate.  She thinks he may also have ADHD but doesn't want to diagnose him with that this young.  I'm fine with that.  So now we have two boys with "severe Autism," and two very tired parents!  No we have to figure out how we're going to pay for two kids to be in ABA therapy!!!  I can hear our bank account crying!  They should have ABA grants for families with Autism.  Oh hey I know...how about all insurance companies should have to pay for ABA therapy!  Something that can help so many is way out of reach for a lot of families.  It's pretty sad.

On another note, I have to say how proud I was of the boys when were stuck on the side of the road for over an hour.  They cried at the initial impact, heck I cried, accidents are scary, but they they just hung out while I did silly dances on the side of the highway to keep them laughing.  It could have been a total disaster since they had no naps, and who the heck wants to be stuck on the side of the road for over an hour! I think they handled it better then I did!  Their new car seats should be here tomorrow, the van will hopefully be fixed soon and as for me, I'm counting down til nap time so I can get a nap too!  This momma is beyond exhausted!!  Being an adult sucks!

The Silence of Speech Therapy.

Yesterday the boys met with one of their ST's, Miss M.  I'm pretty sure you could here crickets in the room.  The boys did not say a peep.  I"m pretty sure someone must have stolen their vocal cords but made sure to return them right before we got home.  I'm always told, "Just wait til they start talking, you'll be begging them to be quiet." I'm sure for parents of kids with talkers that is true, but I have to say, I would give my right arm (I'm a righty ;)) to hear my kids talk or even just respond with a simple yes or no or heck, to even acknowledge our us when we try to talk to them..  The truth is, we don't know if they'll ever talk in full sentences.  It's one of those things that's always taken for granted. It makes me wonder what my life would be like if I didn't have the ability to talk (I'm sure my husband would say peaceful.). My biggest dream right now is that one day I will beg them to be quiet.  Not from screeching and yelling, but from talking my ear off.  I would love to say, "G&L Please stop talking for 5 minutes so mommy can think!!!"  It might happen one day, it might not.  Autism is funny that way.  A lot of people talk about how their kids were completely typical developing and then they woke up one morning and they could no longer speak, that something had just changed.  For us, it was never like that.  They were always developmentally behind, and just haven't caught up.  We were always told while in the NICU that they will catch up by the time they turned two.  Two came, and soon they will be three.  G is at the level of a 12-15 month old and L is at about 18 months.

On a more fun and exciting  note, the great and amazing Cara Lynn (no that's not me) took pictures of the boys last week.  She has such patience for our monkeys.  She's a momma of 4, so she definitely needs some patience.  Anyway, she sent me a sneak peak photo of G yesterday.  My heart melted.  He's such a beautiful little boy.  We're still waiting on L's sneak peak Miss CARA!!! ;)

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

When I started this blog, my friend Sabrina told me I need to talk about the good, the bad and the ugly.  Lord knows there's a lot of all three.  So, I"m taking Sabrina's advice.  So here it go...

The Good:  My kids are ROCKSTARS!  I'm mean like total complete ROCKSTARS!!! They are fighters, they have spunk, they love there momma, they have overcome so many obstacles.  They inspire me to do better, to be a better person, to be a better mother and have made me realize what my purpose in life is.  I remember back in my early 20's when I swore I never wanted to get married, let alone have children.  My how things change. Now I'm happily married with gorgeous, smart, and loving twinadoes!  I'm a lucky girl!

The Bad:  We have some very bad days.  Sometimes I feel like the bad days can out weigh the good day.  When I'm having those days, I just take a look back at how far we've come.  From having little preemies fighting for their life in the NICU to our now strong, handsome 2.5 year olds. What makes the bad? Bad sensory days, days where Autism and all their other medical problems seem all consuming, multiple Dr. appointments and therapy appointments all in one day. Vomiting because of smells or tasting a new food, screeching that can break the sound barrier, not hearing any of your little loves say "momma" or "dadda," hearing rude comments from strangers and even sometimes family members, hearing the words, "Well, Jenny McCarthy cured her son." There's also my favorite from a stranger when we were in the post office while G was in his walker, "You must be a bad Christian for GOD to give you a damaged child." No Lady, YOU are the bad Christian for passing judgement on an innocent child, aren't we all GOD's children?...oh and guess what, I'm JEWISH!!!" She had quite the look of shock on her face.  Just a little side story, when H and I moved to our very southern rural town I went to CVS and asked if they had Chanukah cards.  The sales person said, "What's that?" Our little town has come a long way.  They now carry two Chanukah cards at our local CVS!

The Ugly:  When my child wakes up from his nap covered in poop (such as today) and we have less then 10  minutes to get out the door to make it to an appointment in time that's an hour away.  Did I mention the poop was in his nails, on his face, his paci, the walls, his clothes, the carpet?  EVERYWHERE!!!! The other one often wakes up screaming his head off throwing himself everywhere and throwing everything around him.  The medical bills that keep piling up.  Sure, we have insurance but it doesn't cover everything.  Between doctors, therapists, medical equipment, duct tape to keep diapers on, etc, we are up to our eyeballs in bills.  If the hubs were to ever lose his job, we'd have to move back to NJ and live with my parents.  That would be one crowded little house!  At least we would have built in babysitters.

So, there you have it.  The good, the bad and the ugly.  Of course it changes daily.  I'm not one to have a big whining fest, but this is just a glimpse of our lives.  Even with the ugly, we still are very blessed to have what we do have.  Like I said earlier, my children are ROCKSTARS!  G is 2.5 and can read words and L can count to a gazillion and sing the alphabet. He even wakes up in the middle of the night sometimes and yells out the entire alphabet and goes back to sleep. I"m pretty sure these boys of mine have a million things going on in their minds and the hubs and I need to help them get it out.  We laugh, we cry, we make fun of ourselves, and from time to time our kids (not in a mean way, of course).  As I once said in another post, our family can best be described as beautiful chaos.  I'm sure there are many others going through what we go through, and a lot more, just remember it's all for a reason, it's for those beautiful little babies (yes, even when they're 50 they will still be my babies).  We our their voice.

Halloween must have come early!

I think Halloween has decided to arrive early this year.  That's the only reason I can come up with as to why my children are acting possessed today.  Of course L was a prefect angel at school today.  Before and after he was a holy terror!  I'm pretty sure a demon has taken over his body.  On a normal day he gives us a run for our money, but today seems to be particularly worse.  Hopefully after his nap, he'll be back to himself.  G is also acting off today.  I think he's super tired.  We went for a long walk while L was in school today and then he played on the playground for a little bit and then had PT.  PT always wears him out.  All I know is, I hope they both feel refreshed after their nap, or this momma may get some more grey hairs this afternoon.  What happened to my sweet little newborns?!?!  Oh, yeah.  They became toddlers!

L has his Dr. to check on his Masto tomorrow.  I think they're going to do some allergy tests to see if he's improved with anything.  I sure hope so! G will have to come along for the ride and neither of them will be happy about it!  Hopefully it'll be quick and we won't have to wait to long.  G's new braces just came in!  They're downgrading him to the SMO's to see how he does with them.  They go right above his ankles.  Previously he had the AFO's that go up to right below the knee.  They think the AFO's were giving him too much support, so we'll see if the SMO's give him too little.  It's so hard to find a happy medium.

After searching for a babysitter for weeks, we finally found one!  The hubs and I will get to go out!  We're going to a Halloween party!  We haven't been able to attend one since the boys were born, and we LOVE Halloween!  We're going at the Bobbits!  You know, Lorraina Bobbit and her ex husband?  It's far off from our Flintones costume from years past. It'll be fun!  I still have to buy everything to make our costumes.  I should probably do that soon!

I'm a little worried about how the boys will handle Halloween and people walking around in costumes.  I think we might take them to a few neighbors houses and then take them back home. They get scared easily and don't understand that it's just people dressed up. 

Aaaaaaaand.....just because I'm reminiscing about their sweet newborn stage and before Autism became such a huge part of our lives.....here are my sweet babies <3

Doctors and Pumpkins Oh My!

What a crazy few days it's been!  We are all exhausted!  Friday we had our appointment with the geneticist.  We waited 2.5 hours to see the Dr!!!  Insane!  Every time we go to see her, it's such a long wait.  It's not easy with two toddlers!  The good news, they ruled out a lot of bad things and G doesn't have any genes for cancer, heart decease  etc.  The bad news, we still don't know much.  He came back with two other chromosome mutations, but they don't know much about the other deletions so it doesn't do us any good.  They also found some chromosome mutations in L so they want to follow him too.  They also entered us in a clinical trial.  This way, as they learn more about genetics, they might find out if the mutations mean anything as far as their diagnosis.  After we left the geneticist we stopped to get G's new ride!  His wheel chair stroller is finally in! It looks super comfy and seems to like it. 

Yesterday we went to the pumpkin patch with my MoM (Mom of Multiples group). G&L were pretty overwhelmed, but overall I think they did pretty well.  Towards the end they were exhausted and ready to get out of there.  I'm not sure who was more tired though, them or us. It was pretty exciting since this was the first year that G was actually able to walk in the patch.  They were both having fun exploring the pumpkins.  The uneven ground made it a little hard for G to walk but he just kept picking himself pack up again.  L who is normally a runner, stayed right by our side.  I think he was in sensory overload so he wanted to stay near us, as he kept wanting to be held. Here's G&L wandering around the pumpkins patch.

I think today we're going to be kind of low key after such a busy weekend.  We're meeting up with the lovely C later to take some pictures at the park.  I'm hoping the boys will be in a good mood for her!  Normally she has to run after them like the paparazzi.

The hug of all hugs!

There I was, dropping L off at preschool.  I went to give him his usual hug and kiss, and he actually hugged me back.  It wasn't a holding on for dear life you better not leave me hear type hug. It was more of a "here's a hug momma, I'm going to school now."  It was pretty freaking awesome! The teacher said he did really well today and didn't have any meltdowns.  I love when I get those reports! He's come such a long way since the first day of school.  He's still not participating in everything but we got over a huge hurdle, him being there for more then 45 minutes. Ah, sweet progress!

While L was at school, G and I stopped at the grocery store.  For the first time ever he walked form the car up to the store!  He did it without falling, throwing himself on the ground to lay on his back or just sitting in the middle of the parking lot. He had a smile from ear to ear just looking around. I had to keep getting his attention back because he kept trying to go in the wrong direction, but he did it!  If it wouldn't have looked so strange I wouldn have done some cartwheels and thrown pink glitter everywhere to celebrate. Once we got in the store, he sat in the buggy while screaming out the numbers of all the isles.  I have some pretty cool kids!  An older woman came up to him to say hi and he started screeching and flapping.  The woman got excited saying, "Wow! He really likes me!" Um, that's it lady...that or your in his comfort zone.

L's speech therapist is trying a new approach with him.  We aren't getting very far with his speech. His obsession for letters is holding him back from trying to say words.  Hopefully it works!  G is still scream "HEP HEP (help, help)!!" for everything.  L stole his goldfish during snack time and I hear a cute little voice scream, "HEP HEP!!"  Momma to the rescue.  The goldfish thief was less then amused that I took the goldfish back. I think L was a hoarder in another life.

We got a call today that G's wheelchair stroller is finally in!  I'm so excited!  Now he can be comfy and we can have piece of mind that he isn't going to throw himself overboard. We have a busy day tomorrow!  We get the results back from the geneticist and then on he way home we get to pick up G's stroller!  

Fighting Toddlers....Not for the faint of heart.

Attention G&L, the couches are not for jumping on, throwing yourselves off of,  rolling off of or pushing each other into them.  They are to sit on, nicely ;)  I'm pretty sure no toddler has ever agreed with that!  The only thing that really scares us about it is that they have no sense of space or their surroundings.  There has been a lot of couch accidents as of late.  I've even pondered just getting rid of all the furniture! 

It's been a slow day here except for some PT.  L's school had a field trip today but I kept him home.  I feel bad keeping him home but I know it would have been one trigger after another for him.  It also would have been hard for me since I would have to bring G with me and running after both of them solo in a pumpkin patch is not my idea of fun.  We're taking the boys this weekend so they won't be missing out on it.  I"m really excited that this year G can walk and can actually enjoy it more then just sitting in his stroller.  The years before he had a walker.  Though still unsteady he's walking with out an aid so he can roam the pumpkin patch!  I'll have my camera ready!

G did really well in PT today!  SO proud of him!  They're working on stairs which is not easy for him.  He has weakness on one side making it hard to lift his leg all the way up to climb stairs.  He's rocking it though!  Six months ago we had blood tests taken by our geneticist to do a Whole Genome Sequencing and Mitochondrial testing.  Right now we deal with microdeltion 15q11.2.  The geneticist is thinking there is also something else, hence the extensive tests.  Well, we finally get the results back this Friday! It's kind of scary because it might tell us things about any of us that we might not want to know. This test is controversial because some Dr's feel, how much is too much knowledge.  While I kind of agree with that, if we can find something out that might help the boys, I'm all for it!

The boys have been fighting ALL DAY! Toddlers are no joke!  G&L both have very strong personalities.  G is much more laid back but has definitely started standing his ground.  L isn't too happy about this!  Through all of their chaos today, I managed to get my work out in before night time!  Not to bad!

Walk/Run for Autism

Yesterday was the Walk/Run for Autism!  Things went off without a hitch.  Although it was very early, we dragged the boys out of bed (of course it was the one day they slept late, today they were up at 4:30am), got them ready and headed out the door to meet up with the rest of our team.  There was an amazing turn out of over 3500 people and over a quarter million dollars was raised for the North Carolina Autism Society.  As soon as you walked on the scene you could feel a scene of community.  All of these people were there for one thing, to support people with Autism.  Everyone had smiles and were cheering for one another as they crossed the finish line.  We met some wonderful families there.  One thing I do have to say is, next year we need to step up our games on our shirts!  We had shirts made, but some people has really awesome team shirts!  I'm already planning!

In other news, it's only 8:15 am and the boys have been up for three hours and are driving this momma insane!  The hubs is sleeping and I'm insanely jealous!

Ode to the Ugly Cry

What a day, what a day!  The boys were in rare form today.  By 7:30am I was ready to put up my flag and scream, "I surrender!"  I may or may not have done the ugly cry on our drive to speech therapy.  I was SO tired this morning, the boys were grouchy and I had enough! Luckily by the time we got to ST I pulled myself together and put on my smile. It was just a rough, rough day.  Luckily I got an hour to myself this afternoon.  The hubs was home, and I just needed a break.  That one hour did a world of good.

I've seen a question asked on message boards about Autism and other disabilities that always has me thinking.  If you could make your child a typical child, would you change who they are?"  A lot of parents answer, "No."  The thinking is that this is how GOD made their child, and they wouldn't change them for the world.  I have to be honest, I love my children with all of my heart and would die for them, BUT if I could take away their Autism and other disabilities that they have, would I? YES! My children are amazing, wonderful and beautiful and I would not trade them in for anything but if I could take away all of their issues so they would never have to suffer, of course I would!  What parent doesn't dream of their child becoming a doctor, lawyer, teacher, fireman, etc.  Sure, it's possible some with Autism achieve that goal. but for others it's not reality.  Dealing with severe Autism makes you worry about their future.  Although in the moment we try to make it day to day, it's hard not to think about what happens 30-40 years from now. What happens when the hubs and I are no longer here?  Who will be here to help our babies and guide them?  Will they be able to function and be independent one day? Will they have to live in a group home?  Will they live with my niece and nephew (please S&A!!)?I wish we had a crystal ball and could see into the future.

I'm always told by friends that I handle everything with such grace and determination. I'm often asked how we're always smiling and laughing when we have so much going on in our lives. Of course there are times when I do the ugly cry, want to lay in bed all day, put up my flag to surrender and sometimes wonder why I didn't start getting gray hair until after we had the boys, but our attitude towards everything is a choice. I've learned it's OK to have bad day, it's OK to need to do the ugly cry from time to time, heck, it's even OK to have to down a bottle of wine now. When it comes down to it,  at the end of the day we need to  pick our selves up, put on a smile and enjoy life and our amazing boys.  After all, we need them just as much as they need us.

I'm way to young to be this damn old!

It's been a busy couple of days!  Yesterday the boys were a mess for some reason.  G face dived off the cough.  He has quite the swollen nose and a bit of a bruise.  Of course he didn't learn his lesson and dove off the couch again a few hours later. I think he was trying out for a new Olympic sport.  L also fell off the couch.  He cried for a few minutes and was fine.  What the heck boys?!?!?  Couch diving is NOT a sport, I repeat, it is not a sport!  I"m pretty sure they never got the memo. 

Yesterday we had the fire pit going with our good friends A&M.  They're here visiting from Germany.  I can not be any happier that they are here.  They used to live 5 minuets away and A and I would spend just about every day together with all of our kids.  It was always so nice to have some one so close by.  We're very different but very alike at the same time.  She's a very non judgey mom.  Our parenting style is completely different, but theirs no judging like there often is with all these mommy wars going on.  We're all just doing what we need to do to survive.  So, back to the fire pit.  I'm not a smoker but I feel like I smoked 10 packs of cigarettes last night from all the smoke form the fire pit.  I don't know how smikers do it.  My lungs and throat hurt! I washed my hair and I still smell like smoke.  I'm so not a wilderness girl!

On another note, I've gotten way to old to stay up late and wake up early!  How can I be this old?  Aren't I still in my 20's?  Oh wait, that ship sailed a while ago! Gone are the days of staying up til 4am and waking up at 6am to go to work and be fully functioning.  How did I ever do that?  Now I have two little boys to wrangle, so this momma needs her sleep!

I have to drop L off at school soon.  Here's hoping to a good day at school!  We're trying to decide if we should pull him out when he turns three and go into the same program G will start.  I see pro's and con's for him.  He's much higher functioning then G, but I'm really not sure if he can sit still in a traditional prek.  Although he tolerates the school he's in now, he's not really getting the benefits of being in school.  I know, I know, he's only 2.5!

In other news, G now says hep (help)! any time he needs anything!  It's pretty awesome! Some days I feel like all this therapy and hard work we do with the boys makes no difference, then a see a tiny bit of improvement or they catch onto something that we've been working on for months, and it all seems worth it.  I'm often told the boys are lucky to have me, I feel it's the opposite, I'm lucky to have them.

Bebe Rain and Snuggling Firemen!

"Bebe Rain!" screamed G at his PT as she was making him work really hard.  We figured out he was saying, "Bye Bye Rain(her name is Loraine)!"  We figured out what he really meant when he kept dragging her to the door and saying, "Bebe Rain!"  We were so excited!  He's never really talked let alone put two words together!  It was pretty awesome!  Now, if we can only get him to say momma!  G worked really hard in PT today!  Goodbye AFO's (the braces that go up to his knees) and hello SMO's (braces that go just past his ankles)!!!  Although the PT thinks he may need his AFO's back one day, they're supporting him too much right now and isn't allowing him to try to strengthen on his own.  He's developed this weird hunched over stance (kind of like an ogre?) and we're hoping by shortening his braces he'll have to rely on himself more. It's worth a shot!  The new braces should be here in a week or two. 

Today at Preschool the local firemen came to talk to all the classes.  They didn't get to go on the trucks since it's so wet out today.  The fireman who was talking to L's class put all his gear on so the kids would know not to be scared.  L wasn't scared, he decided to snuggle the fireman!  Maybe he thought it was his Uncle who is a fireman? He'll snuggle just about anyone who crosses path.  A far cry from the boy who used to be terrified of strangers.  He also got his first accident report sent home.  He was hugging one of his girlfriends and they both fell over.  He smacked his ear on the corner of a wood chair.  I think he'll get to keep his ear, no amputation needed.  Just TLC.

Today has been a high stimming day in G&L's world!  Lots of spinning, flapping, screeching, finger crossing and bouncing....just a few more hours til bed time!

Beautiful Chaos

Four appointments and one to go!  This momma is T-I-R-E-D!  I"m pretty sure if there was a sea of coffee you would find me swimming in it was a HUGE straw coming out of my mouth and the coffee sea would quickly disappear.   The hubs stayed home today to help me wrangle the Twinadoes for appointments.  Thank goodness he was there to help.  It was also a monsoon here this morning so, of course I made him drive. I was hoping if I closed my eyes tight enough I could pretend then rain was really a waterfall and I was on some exotic island.  No such luck. It's hard to imagine being on an island when you hear Elmo blasting in the background.

I've sat down to write this few times but every time I do, the toddler version of the WWE ensues.  What does any good mom do when that happens?  Turn on Sesame St.  Hey, did I  mention I'm tired today?  While I was waiting with L to see his Behavioral Psychologist, I met a nice woman who also has twins on the spectrum.  I've met people with twins who have one on the spectrum, but never both.  It was nice to talk to someone who's been there done that. I should have gotten her name.  We go back to the Behavioral Psychologist  at the end of the month so she can give us some more recommendations for L.  His issues are a bit different then G's so they will need different types of strategies.

Someone asked me the other day what it's like to have Twinadoes with Autism.  I wasn't really sure how to answer but to tell them it's beautiful chaos, which is how I like to describe it.  Beautiful, because my children are beautiful and chaos because well, they are toddlers and they both have special needs. 

Here are the top ten things that would describe our house on any given day:
10) A HOT MESS
9) Lots of shrieking
8) Lots of snuggles
7) Chaos, chaos, chaos
6)Laundry everywhere
5) Therapists in and out of the house
4) Lots of spinning and head banging
5) Lots of giggles and laughter
4) Lots of fighting between Twinadoes
3) Lots of dog hair  (Don't wear black at our house!)
2)Did I mention Chaos?
1) LOVE, lots and lots of  LOVE!

A house full of sickies...

I'm pretty sure this dang cold has hit me the hardest.  The boys seem to have recouped except for a little cough and the hubs only had it for a day or two.  I on the other hand feel like I've been hit my a truck going full speed.  Just think, it was only last week I thought I was in an Aerosmith video driving down the back country roads to the land of the free...the shopping outlets!

The poop bandit struck again yesterday. This time as I was making G&L lunch.  A flying ball of poop was launched at me.  For a second I thought I was at a monkey exhibit at the zoo.  Nope, just my house.I guess G is destined to wear the outfit of shame while we're in the house and we'll have to get him dressed every time we have to go somewhere.  Ah, the joys of parenthood. 

I got to sleep in late today!  Instead of sleeping I caught up on TV shows and painted my nails. Now that it's the middle of the afternoon, I'm thinking that was a bad idea and perhaps I should have actually slept.  Yaaaaaaawn!  Hello dear friend, coffee!

The boys rocked therapy yesterday!  L said his first sentence!!!  "Ooooooh, It's dark!"  While playing with the lights.  I'm still waiting to hear momma!  I think he's holding out on me!  G now ooooo's for mooooo and has tried his hand at meow and "I" for "hi!".  I'm so proud of them!  It's the little things in life.  Who knew that one day I would be so excited to hear someone moo at me!  In the past I may have turned around and slapped a mooooing passer byer, but now, moooo away dear child, moooo away.

Are they Twinadoe's or Wild Bulls?

I would just like to say, that getting blood taken from a toddler is like trying to hold down a wild bull.  For a kid that's "low tone," he is sure as strong as a wild bull!  I took G to the pedi today to have him checked out.  Someone suggested that the poop snacking might be from low iron.  They did a finger prick, and surprise.  It's low. Off to the hospital for more blood work. The pedi wants a full panel done to see if there are any other problems causing it.  I'm hoping and praying it just from his poor diet.  I can't imagine crackers, cream cheese, soy nut butter and grapes contain too much iron.  He won't drink pediasure or take vitamins so fingers crossed, that's the problem and we can work on fixing it.  This kid has been through so much already!  If only he would eat ice cream I would take him out for a treat.  The pedi office has a new Dr. who we saw today.  I was pretty excited when she actually knew about his G's chromosome deletion.  Normally I have to school the new Dr.'s on it. 

L did awesome at school today!  He was even able to do the art project today!  I was so happy to open up his folder and see an art project!  Normally he freaks out when they try to get him to do it, but I guess today he was on board!  My favorite part is when I go to pick him up and he comes running at me with a huge smile. He's a ham!!!    It's much better then the crying we had the first month. L's new favorite pass time is standing in front of the Goose (one of our dogs, her real name is Lucy, but we call her Goose), with his mouth wide open and letting her lick the inside of his mouth.  Extremely gross and cute all at once. Aren't most toddlers?

All four of us are sick.  It all started with L. Ah, the joys of preschool.

Our Autism walk is in a little over a week!  I'm overly excited for it.  I didn't raise as much money as I would like but there is still some time left.  We did have cute shirts made! 

Early morning life lesson.

I just learned a very important lesson.  While making a protien shake, make sure the lid is on tight or it will go flying all over the kitchen.  WHOOPS!  They boys thought it was hysterical.  Me, not so much.  Good thing I just did laundry so I have another shirt to change into! I started a new health kick.  I used to be in pretty decent shape and jogged about 5 miles a day.  Then I got married, then I did fertility treatments, and then I had twins which put me on months of bed rest and in and out of the hospital. Now here I am today and I need to get healthy for myself, and for my boys.  If I'm not here for a really long time to take care of them, who will?

Yesterday G got reevaluated for his PT.  They do a reevaluation every 6 months or so.  I was told he went from very poor to poor.  It kind of made me giggle.  It's not funny that he's only had a slight improvement, but very poor to poor? I think it should be worded differently or put on a number scale.  I guess he went from all 0's to a few 1's on the Peabody test. I'll take any progress but they should change what it's called!  The Peabody tests is used to show development so I feel like when the words very poor are used it makes parents feel kind of hopeless.  Maybe they should do it by colors? Hot Pink could be Excellent and Brown could be very poor? Just a thought. I need to write to these Peabody people and suggest my new color code! ;)

L did pretty well at Preschool yesterday.  It kind of makes me sad that he rarely comes home with art projects. He has a really hard time with getting his hands dirty and really has no interest in group activities.  It makes me sad for selfish reasons.  What momma doesn't want to hang up their kids art work?  I've been working on coloring with them at home.  L loves it, G hates it.  He doesn't even want to hold the marker.  We can't use crayons because G likes to snack on them.  I'm sure the occasional bit of a crayon won't kill him, but I'm pretty sure if I turned my head for a second he would eat an entire box of crayons...and love every second of it.  The hubs had to patch up a spot of drywall over the weekend that G has been snacking on.  He also tries to pick little pieces of wood out of screw holes and eat that too.  Give the kid a piece of cheese and he'll act like you're trying to kill him, give him some drywall and he's as happy as can be. L is getting a bit better with food and is more willing to try new things.  I sometimes wonder if food therapy is worth it, or if it will just take time and maturity?  Who knows?  I sure don't!  For now we'll stick with it and hope for some progress.

The boys had a cold earlier in the week and now the hubs and I were lucky enough to have them share it with it.  How come when kids get a cold, they act like nothing is wrong, but we get a cold and we feel like death has come over us?  Ah the joys of getting old.  We have nothing huge planned for today.  I'm sure we'll go play in the backyard at some point and maybe go for a walk.  Today is therapy free Wednesday! WHOOT WHOOT!