Tyler progressing to Speech Therapy

Tyler was seen by Early Intervention in December and deemed to qualify for assistance with Play and Speech therapy.  He has achieved the first goal- attending to parents while playing in order to see how sounds are made (watching our mouths) and mimicking those actions and sounds.  Now we're moving on to actual speech therapy to get more clarity out of his words/sentences.  Tyler can make lots of environmental sounds (animal noises, vehicle sounds, etc) and has about 45 words, but even after getting tubes in his ears and making some progress since then, we're getting a lot of garbled would-be sentences and sounds.  The new goal is to get him to have 100 clear words in the next six months.  You can do it, Tyler!  Keep up the great work!

Mother's Day

Saturday, the Moms in my family went to tea.  The Boss brought champagne and chocolates for everyone!  It was so nice to just sit around and chat about stuff that didn't always include the kids or work.  Life...  Can we have a regular meeting like this, Mamas?  It was so relaxing, and fun to hear each other's stories.  Thanks!
We went to Mad Mex for dinner and it was so good!  I tried their version of a Pina Colada (tequila instead of rum) and it was amazing! And my Pico Burrito was the best I've had there.  Now if only the kids would stop shouting, and fussing over their food...  Kohls was a complete disaster which we didn't put up with for long... we left.

Sunday, Ken made breakfast (with only a little help) and it was fantastic!  Food is extra yummy when you didn't make it, isn't it?  Hung out with the Browns and Candys (do you pluralize a name the same way you do the word candies?) for a bit.  Tyler loved his new Krispy Kreme hat- wore it for at least two days every chance he got. Spent the afternoon outside digging for dinosaur bones and mulching flower beds.  Dinner was leftovers and chill.  Then we had to put together Andrew's Star of the Week poster.  That seemed to go well, and was actually a little fun for a rush job.  Can't believe we got the kids to bed at 9 on a school night, but they seemed fine.

Did a bit of reminiscing, too, about two Mother's Days ago... Amber vomiting at Ruby Tuesdays, which led to Andrew and Ken getting sick, then Mom, then me and Dad getting sick right after Tyler was born.  Good times. So glad we didn't give it to anyone else.


All in all a Happy Mother's Day.  The Woodchuck and Mascato always help me keep the rosy glow ;-)

A Photo book of Tyler's first year

A Year of Tyler Photo Book

I made Tyler's first year photo book! Let me know if you have trouble seeing it.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly allows you to customize your photo book just the way you want.

Some folks don't get to see updates posted on Facebook.  I don't air the dirty laundry (often) on FB, but I like to post photos now and again.  Maybe I'll find out how to link Blogger and FB like you can do with Twitter and Instagram.  I sound like I know what I'm talking about... wishful thinking on my part.
So, on to the update.
Andrew is in the middle of first grade and doing super!  He has an awesome teacher, Mr. Latini, whom the HSA ladies all swooned over when we told them our teacher assignment.  I know why now!  I can't believe how quickly Andrew picked up reading and how many things he can figure out how to say (when he finally stops saying he doesn't want to).  Also great at math and likes solving problems.  This Christmas he got lots of new games, and he and Amber keep themselves busy playing (and arguing about) all of them.  They especially like a good card game!
Amber is into Disney, princesses, and putting on shows.  She has two imaginary friends (phonetically zoozy and pie) that make appearances in her performances and other parts of her day.  She is very imaginative and dramatic, and very good at absorbing (song lyrics, math stuff Andrew learns, mothering Tyler).  Looking forward to getting her into dance or gymnastics or clown school....
Tyler.  At 15 months he had no words and the doctor suggested we think about Early Intervention if he still had none by 18 months.  We had our assessment December 4th and he qualified for agency help (speech therapy and an evaluation with a physical therapist).  We also took him for a hearing screening, which showed poor performance by both ear drums and a definite issue with his hearing.  We are (re) scheduled for the ENT on Feb 6 and are hoping that the worst case scenario is a need for tubes.  I feel like I'm missing a part of his personality not being able to talk to him.  He has come a long way with attempting words and sounds, and he uses several basic signs (which he was really stubborn about when he was little).  Once he starts hearing better, everyone is confident that the speech will quickly follow.  He has recently started enjoying books with us, too.  I think he's dragging this "baby" thing out for me because he knows he's the last baby. He a cuddly, happy, busy boy who gets into everything.  Love him!
So, with any luck I will post again about the ENT visit.  I will make an attempt at pictures, soon, too.
xo

Welcome Tyler and Starting School!

On May 15th we welcomed Tyler William to our family!  He arrived quickly and with little incident (other than we almost didn't make it to the hospital in time and he was born on a gurney instead of a labor bed).  The best part of the experience (tongue in cheek) was sharing the stomach bug my family got over Mother's day weekend.  Amber (Sunday- Mother's day), then Andrew and Ken (Monday), Mom M (Tuesday, Tyler's b'day), and Dad M and I (Wednesday).  Thankfully no one else that I know of got it and we were around both families that weekend.
And here we are, still in our W.G. house.  We took the house off the market a month after Tyler was born because it was just going to be too much hassle keeping the place up to snuff with Andrew out of school and an infant to take care of.  We are in the process of deciding which children will share a room and what furniture to get Amber for her big-girl bed.
Amber is in the process of trying to potty train herself.  Ask me about that some other time... lol
Tyler, thankfully, started sleeping through the night at about 8 weeks so when I went back to work I was refreshed.  That didn't last long as we are very busy at the hospital and I am often there late, then up with the kids no later than 7.  He's a good baby though, and he goes with the flow.
Andrew start Kindergarten in THREE DAYS!!  Crazy to think that I'll have Amber (and Tyler) all day with no Andrew to help/fight with/play with.  Should be interesting.
Amber will be going to a 2 year old tot program twice a week where Andrew went to preschool.  I think she'll really like the independence of not having me around, and like Andrew, she'll have other people to play with (read boss around).
Good luck to both of them (and their teachers)!

 

 

 

Christmas 2011

Wow, a whole year!  I've come back a couple of times to post, but usually have writers block, not enough time, or whatever I wanted to include (a video usually) won't upload and I say bag it.
Plain old post tonight!
Less than two weeks until Christmas and we're just about finished shopping.  A few things need to be delivered and one picked up.  Wrapping, and oh yeah, cards!  Ken doesn't want to do picture cards this year and I don't particularly want to get Santa pictures taken.  How bah-humbug are we?!  We're really not.  We have everything decorated, the tree is wonderful, and the lights outside are so pretty.  We're more excited about the kids presents than our own :)  Well, Ken is getting a Wii, so maybe we're a little excited about that... ;)  Can't wait to play Mario Cart with Andrew!
We're definitely getting excited about the new baby.  I just started feeling him or her today!  I'm pretty sure we're not going to find out again with this one, but it's a tough decision.  Part of me wants to know and most of me loves being surprised when they finally arrive.
Lots of birthdays to celebrate after Christmas and then we'll be trying to sell our house (with our recently water-proofed basement!).  Lots to do then, so I'm trying to stay focused on Christmas...
Is it here yet?!!!

Christmas!

We had such a wonderful, busy day!  So much to write about but it's time for me to go to  bed (work in the morning).  I just wanted to take a minute to post how thankful I am for our families and how blessed we are.  Happy Birthday, Jesus!  Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Santa's Elf

Christmas cards finally picked up today, and only spent about 2 hours at our house before being cheerily stuffed and merrily mailed!  Andrew helped, too!  Very happy to have that part done since we're getting really close to Christmas.  You don't want people thinking you forgot!

Santa's Elf came tonight and wrapped all of the kids' presents.  Now I just have to find our wrapping paper and finish everyone else's.  I've been so excited about Christmas this year! 

I hope it's wonderful for Andrew and we do a good job keeping the magic in it as much as remembering Jesus.  I'm challenged by both.  Maybe I'll have it down by the end, but will I forget how by next year?  Always the challenge with annual celebrations; like how the timing goes for all of the sides baking on Thanksgiving ;)


FOUR MORE DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS!!!!

Sing along

So I forgot my camera for Andrew's preschool Christmas sing-a-long Thursday.  The saddest thing I could think of was Ken coming home from work and asking to see pictures/video of it, but Thursday nights we don't see each other between shifts, so I didn't have to tell him (or see his face) that I didn't have it.  He did look on the camera when he got home, so I had to confirm that there were in fact no pictures or videos....  Hopefully I can get copies from someone else in his class.  I feel like such a bad mom and wife for that one :(
The kids were adorable singing and doing little hand motions to a couple songs.  You could tell they practiced and were so excited to sing with us!  Amber cooed at her big brother and clapped and bopped to the songs- super cute, too!
Oh, and they both have a snotty cold now... hoping that's gone by Christmas and Ken and I (or anyone else) don't get it.
ONE WEEK TILL CHRISTMAS!!!!

Decorating the Tree

Ken and Andrew braved the chilly air last Sunday to pick out our Christmas tree!  It's a beautiful 8 ft Douglas Fir (thank you 9 ft ceilings) and it is about as wide as it is tall  haha!  Ken said it's equilateral; I said it's chubby :)  Whatever it is, it's lovely and we had fun decorating it that night.  We put the Christmas music station on the TV (stop and think that we used to put records and 8 tracks on when we were kids...), told Andrew a million times to stop getting the ornaments out that we weren't putting on/use a hook/put it on a strong branch not on the tip of branch, and the whole time Amber could have cared less.  I subjected the family to a little video-recording while the TV played the most obscure songs it could find.  After I turned off the video, decorating went a little better and so did the music.  I'm a ginx, at least with the camera.
So, here are some photos (and yes I set up the timer for some family shots :p I like everyone to be there).

Amber helped unload the bin (she's in the fill & dump stage hehe)



We need one up dair, Dad.

First Turkey Day

Thanksgiving this year was a lot of fun with 2 babies running around (well crawling, but fast crawling!) and the third one being extra cute and smiley!  Andrew was very cute, too, and so excited to have everyone over that he got crazy.  It could have been the brownies he heisted and ate under the table with Buttercup or it could have been the lack of a nap or it could have been that he's 3!  My mom got the babes "1st" bibs and we got pics of those in our traditional 3 moms with 3 babies group.  Rosemary's grandmother found some very cute bibs which she thought were 1st birthday bibs (a chuckle when she spelled the word on them that she wasn't familiar with to Rosie and it turned out it was Chanukah!).  Everyone's dishes were awesome and the babies tried some, too!  Really great time with all of my family-  I'm so thankful for them!



Did anyone else get snow?!



In his slippers catching snowflakes

Prepping the pie with help from my crew, and chatting with my mom

Sarah & Jack  Heather & Amber  Rosemary & Claire
My 1st Gobble bibs

pretty little cousins

    

Funny comment from Sarah...





Marathon day

Andrew and I had quite a day last Saturday...
We started out having breakfast with our house guests and seeing them off.  Then we made a last minute decision to get a haircut before our Romp n Roll class.  He was pretty agreeable so it worked out.  I had hoped we would have enough time to stop at home to bathe first, but we had to go right to Chef Rompy after the hair cut.  He made hummus and pita chips there for snack and then we had some PBnJ when he got home.  I gave him a quick bath to wash off the cut hair and peanut butter and then we were off to a 3rd birthday party in Cherry Hill, NJ.  My co-worker had her son's birthday party at the Garden State Discovery Museum and it was great!  Thanks for having us Theresa and Jared!

Andrew and his cupcake

Jared and his cupcake



the giant light brite board



Veterinary clinic- checking the kitty's ear

Gone Fishin'

the bubble table

mini hockey rink (got a cute video, too)

After the party we went straight to Gram and Grandpop's house, had Arby's for dinner and lots of play time with the wee ones!

House Guests

I finally got to meet Amber's birthday twin, David!  David Michael Schlesser decided he was ready 6 weeks early and on the same day Amber decided to join us :)  I checked my cell for messages a little while after giving birth and found a message from Kristen's mom... after I had a little mental/emotional freak out I called back and got Kristen on the phone.  "Hey Heather, what are you up to?"  "Well, I just had my baby."  "Wow, I just had my baby, too."  WHAT?!?!?!   So, my friend brought her hubby and little man up to PA for a visit and spent the night last Friday.  We all enjoyed some cheesesteaks for dinner and playing with the kids.  Good times; it was hard to say goodnight, but we're all happily sleep deprived so it had to happen (10:30ish I think it was).  Up the next morning at 6:30 had breakfast together and then a whirl-wind of a day... next post :)  Please meet David!


Aside from their eye shape, couldn't they be siblings? :)





reading Brown Bear Brown Bear









Amber stands alone

Cousin Jack came over the first weekend of November and showed Amber how to stand without holding on to anything ;-)  She duplicated it about a week later :)

Look, Aunt Heather, no hands!

I hear he's walking now!  I don't know that Amber has that much interest in it, but it probably won't be too far off. <3

With a little help

Took us a few tries to get this one with three squirmy little ones but it's GREAT!

Did I tell you?

... Amber understands when I say, "give me a kiss" - she leans in, with her mouth open of course, and she giggles.
She likes to push various mobile items around that support her as she walks (the walker, the step stool, a box) but she won't use the walker toy invented for that ;)  I will post a cute video of her at our friend Kierney's house using a doll stroller- very cute!.
Andrew has been a little crazy again lately and I feel like I've been yelling at him a lot.  We just keep apologizing to each other (him for being naughty/not listening; me for yelling) and we keep trying to do better.  It's true that you just keep getting tested over and over again when you pray for patience...  He's going to win....
He made the cutest "piece of pie" at school on Tuesday.  They painted a "wedge" of a traditional fluted paper plate orange and stuck a big cotton ball in the middle.  Adorable!
Wait till you see his school picture.   I got to sneak a peek on their website and he is absolutely precious!  Great job Buddy!

Cute video!

This is too cute not to share.  I was trying to get Amber doing this funny slide-crawl, then Andrew goes by in the background ON A LEG!!

Chilly Halloween

We had lots of fun with family on Halloween :)  Grandparents and some siblings joined us for getting on costumes and the Grandads handed out candy for us while the rest of us went trick-or-treating.  It was chilly, but Andrew had a great time.  We hit about 5 blocks this year before he had enough.   Our nephew, Jackson was an adorable little lion.  He was done after 3 blocks :)My mom took Amber home after 2 because she was getting sleepy and fussy.  Too bad we didn't meet up with our neighbor Grace- she was dressed up as Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and would have had a cute picture with Mom dressed as Maleficent.  And we usually see Lucy at our house before we head out, but since we went out early this year we caught up with her on our way home (she was Cinderella!).  Love seeing the kids all dressed up!

Trick or Treat!

None Such & Pumpkin Carving

We made our annual trip to None Such Farms, Amber's first, for pumpkins, treats, and the newly desired hay ride.  Andrew went on a hayride at his preschool farm trip and is now nuts about them.  We got cute pictures, had a nice tour of the farm and loved the pumpkin patch (especially the squishy mooshed ones)!

PLEASE, USE THE SPOON, NOT YOUR HAND (Andrew didn't want anyone to get slimy from cleaning out the pumpkin, and got upset when Ken put his hand in the pumpkin to get out seeds and guts)

Ok, I'll try it.  Oooo, Slimy, Gicky

Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the finished pumpkins cuz they didn't all get finished and mine has already been attacked (Andrew took out an eye). We'll see if we get some with Halloween pics tomorrow.