My blog has moved

I am so excited to report that my friend Jody from Blended helped me change my blog so I could stay signed in to my e-mail and my blog at the same time!! Yeah!! The URL has changed to kristenmommydays.blogspot.com. The dash is the only thing changed. Hopefully this will make it a lot easier to blog now. Follow the new address and find out about our trip to the Grand Canyon we took last week…

The Munchkins Amazing Progress

We recently had an MRI for the Munchkin because his eye doctor was noticing some vertical drifting of his eyes. The doctor has always noticed that he had the horizontal drifting but the presence of vertical drifting at this age was alarming. There were two possibilities of what it could be. One is that it was always there and they just never noticed it because he would never cooperate for his appointments. He would scream and wiggle and they would be forced to do their testing quickly to get it over with. The other possibility is that some thing is attacking the 4th nerve in the brain causing this. I was told that whatever is attacking it would most likely be benign. Not exactly what a mother wants to hear about her child.

We went for the MRI in Loma Linda. He had to be sedated for it. After it was over we went over to recovery. It was a long day! We left our house at 7:45 and didn’t return until 4:00. His doctor called me the next day with the good news. “There is no new damage and no changes. The only damage is what he has had since birth from being premature.” This is what we were praying for that the problem or 4th nerve palsy was always there. However, I was reminded of what a precious miracle this child is. The damage that has been there since birth is that when he had a stroke in the womb, 60% of his right parietal lobe didn’t form. There is fluid in it’s place. There was a time when we didn’t think he would or they (his twin) would even make it out of my body alive. Then when they came out and spent 75 days and 105 days in the NICU, they struggled daily to survive. Then as the Munchkin got older and we got the diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy and they told us “He might be able to walk one day”. We have been to more therapy appointments than I wish to count but he is doing amazing!

Two years ago the Munchkin fell from his booster chair at the table and had to have a CT scan. The doctor was surprised to find what we already knew was going on in his brain. And was excited to inform us that his left brain was enlarged because it was compensating for what was missing. The doctor said “If he continues at this pace, in 15 years you won’t even be able to tell he ever had anything wrong with him.” This child is a miracle!

He used to have to use a gait trainer to help him learn to walk. He hated it! When he got his new hinged AFO’s (leg braces) he started walking. That was October of 2009- he was 3 years-old. A couple weeks ago he has begun actually pedaling his bike. He never could before because he couldn’t get his left foot to cooperate. He can also ride his sister’s scooter!

On Monday we are going to Loma Linda so the Munchkin can have a Botox injection in his left leg. The muscles are so tight and it hurts him so badly when we stretch him. The Botox will relax the muscle so we will be able to stretch him and he can put the left foot flat on the ground. Yeah! Having the injection will ward off having to have surgery until he is older. If he doesn’t have the injections or surgery, the muscle is so tight that his leg can’t grow properly. I am excited for his leg to relax!

Updates on the Twins

I realize it has been a very long time since I have updated everyone on the status of my twins. They just turned 4 in September which is incredibly unbelievable! The munchkin stopped drinking his super high calorie formula from a bottle in July and his growth has been amazing. He had been throwing up a lot because the formula would fill his tummy too much. Then he wouldn’t eat real food. The GI doctor is the one who wanted him on it for so long but I am glad we finally stopped giving it to him. He now weighs 22 pounds! he has gained 2 pounds since stopping the formula. It is so very exciting to see him sitting at the table devouring a grilled cheese sandwich. Some days he is our best eater!

The bulldozer has some news of his own. We have been really noticing since about a year ago that he has some serious behavior issues that he wasn’t growing out of like we had hoped. He would almost go in waves behaviorally. He will be great, kind and helpful and then for the next week terrible spurts of screaming and being unable to make his bed or put on his clothes. I am sad to say that for a while we would get angry with him. Thinking he was just being stubborn or lazy, after all he could do these things yesterday. We took him to Mental Health Services and after much evaluation they diagnosed him with PDD-NOS which is on the autism spectrum. We don’t know a whole lot right now but we are learning. Especially we are learning to approach him differently. He has some fears and terrible nail biting to where he hardly has any fingernails at all. I called Loma Linda University today to see if we can get an appointment with them.

All in all both boys are doing well. We got new glasses for the munchkin and they are already scratched. If anyone knows us we always have trouble with glasses for that boy! I will have to drive out to riverside and order new lenses to fit his glasses. There is some news about our oldest the prince but I will update everyone on that in another post.  Thanks for joining me in my journey to being a better blogger!

Sick, Sick, Sick!

Someone has been sick in our house since November 29th. First the prince, on his birthday he had pneumonia. Then 2 weeks later the prince again and then me and now daddy. Daddy and I had Bronchitis which is so fun. Also there is some coughing going on with the smaller children but I am praying that I can boost up their immunity and they can fight it.

I feel like I don’t ever blog because there is too much to blog about so I don’t even try. My goal for 2011 is to fight the urge to feel overwhelmed by my life and by extension my blog and just choose something to blog about. I will try, cheer me on, pray for whatever you think will work. Actually don’t waste your prayers on that I am sure I will need prayer for something more serious later

Continued Vacation Pictures: Proving Ground And Lighthouse in Maryland

Sunday we went to church and then ventured over to the Proving ground where my aunt works. I had been there many years ago with my dad to look at all the tanks and wanted to take the Prince. It was fun but super hot so we didn’t last very long. Then we went over to the lighthouse in Havre De Grace. The last time Dad had taken me there it had a rickety, unattached dock that would move like crazy when the boats would go by. Apparently a hurricane, Katrina I think someone said, destroyed the dock. The lighthouse was awesome. The last time I went there I was unable to go inside and this time it was open! It was so hot that the kids were just whining and crying and melting. We also got to go inside the light keepers house. Concord Point Lighthouse is really pretty and it is the only lighthouse I have ever been inside. I love lighthouses!!!

Cooking Like Crazy!

To get ready for the school year with one child in fourth grade (public school) and three children homeschooling, one in kindergarten and two in preschool, I cooked like crazy. I wanted to have meals ready for convenience that were healthy. I followed recipes from Heavenly Homemakers because she grinds her own wheat like I do and her recipes are simple and cheap and nutritious. She follows the nourishing traditions style of cooking. The first thing I made was graham crackers. While they were in the oven I looked over at the bag of Sucanat (natural sugar) and realized I didn’t add any in, Oops! The kids still like them though, thank goodness. Next on the list Honey whole wheat bagels. I made a dozen to freeze for lunches or breakfast because it is the favorite food of the Prince. Next was Breakfast burritos for the freezer for a nutritious, quick breakfast. First though I had to make the whole wheat tortillas 24 to be exact. Then came the eggs and sausage and some cheese had to be grated. Then 20 burritos were assembled and frozen. Brad did the math and figured that the burritos cost about 45 cents each. Pretty good! I began soaking beans yesterday and will finish those today and also for today the granola just finished baking. The granola is very hearty and we can put it in milk like cereal, it is much cheaper and the kids love it!! I have been ignoring the laundry so that is also on today’s list. That is definitely the dreaded part of the day!

Memorial Service and The Old Mill

The Memorial service was beautiful. My sister and cousin played “Let it be” on the guitar, and a family friend sang. Aunt Kim did a reading and my youngest brother Alex did a reading. Then Brad did the eulogy and it was amazing. He portrayed dad so well and he brought up some things about dad that a lot of people did not know about him. Adrienne and I went up at the end to read some letters we found that Dad had written to her and the boys. They were so funny! After the church service we went to the grave site where the urn will be buried and did a small service there. Everyone went back to Grammy and Pop Pop’s for food. The kids were picking berries in the backyard. It was so fun!

After everyone left we went to the old mill that is in my grandparents little town. It was so beautiful! It was built in the late 1700’s. It was interesting for me and the kids to see a grain mill this size. The grain mill I have fits on my fridge and it was pretty impressive to walk inside and see the inner working of one. They still do grain grinding demonstrations however, we did not get to see one. Right behind the mill is the Susquehanna river. We stayed around there for a while before going back to Aunt Kim’s. It was a very nice and calm day despite the sadness we felt.