Ten on Tuesday

1.  We attended Family Fun Night at Summit Speech School on Friday.  To say I love that place in an understatement. ( I am writing a post just about the evening)

2.  Yesterday was my first official day of work in over 6 years.  It was fun and I enjoyed it.

3.  WE GOT APPROVED FOR NEPTUNES!!! (Way more to blog about later)

4.  March Madness begins this weekend. And I don't mean basketball... I mean the start of the St Patrick's Day parades and celebrations! 

5.  Saturday at the Nutley Parade will be the 15 year anniversary of when I met Frank for the first time. 

6.  WE GOT APPROVED FOR NEPTUNES!!!

7.  Calleigh is a chatterbox lately and her speech is coming along.

8.  WE GOT APPROVED FOR NEPTUNES!!!

9.  I hurt my ankle last week after my beach run and couln't run for a week.  Not so good since I am supposed to be training for my first 1/2 marathon.  I ran yesterday for the first time and it was OK.

10.  Oh, did I mention WE GOT APPROVED FOR NEPTUNES!!

Just in case you cant tell I am pretty excited. 

I have so much to blog about on a few topics and just not much time.  I will work on them tonight (hopefully)

Lent

The season on Lent is here and began on Ash Wednesday.  I have been thinking of things to "give up" for forty days and really couldn't think of anything. (Well, I guess, Facebook! ) On Tuesday I went to a meeting at the boys' school about staying connected with your children in an overly connected world.  The woman speaking talked about some great points.  She also suggested instead of giving something up to add something to your day.  I think this will be a concept the kids can better understand.  Since they really have no concept of how long 40 days is it would be difficult for them to give something up.

Here is what we I have decided.

  We will start saying Grace before all our dinners.  Not just our holiday dinners but our nightly dinners.  We did this for the first time last night.  The boys all know their prayers so it was nice. I also think it sort of calmed everyone down a little before dinner.

We normally read every day.  But we are going to add another 20 minutes a day to reading together.  I went to the library today and got some new books to start.

We are going to spend one day a week "unconnected" as a family.  There will be no TV in the evening.  There will be no phone calls for me or Frank.  No computer for me while the kids are awake.  We will spend our time playing games or reading or talking with no distractions.  Most night we don't have the TV on until the very end of the day but I am guilty of being on the computer or phone.  This is more of a change for me and Frank than for the kids. 

So, that is our plan and we are sticking to it! 

Wordless Wednesday

Amazing and Miraculous!

I have been thinking about this the last few days and I am hoping everyone can chime in with their experiences or opinions.

This summer Cormac will be implanted 5 years.  I cannot believe it has been 5 years.  In those past five years a day has not gone by when I haven't had a moment when I think to myself "Wow" or "I can't believe he heard/said that".  I say all the time it is truly a miracle my son can hear and speak.  How thankful we are for living in a time when cochlear implants were able to change our lives.  Each day I am STILL amazed at what he has accomplished.

At what point do you think children realize what a miracle their cochlear implants are?  Do you think as they get older they will fully understand?  I know many adults who lost their hearing as adults and they know how it gave them their life back.  Cormac doesn't remember NOT hearing.  He doesn't remember the surgery.    He is only 5 and can't possibly comprehend how different his life could have been.  He knows he is deaf and hears because of his implants.  But to him, he is just Cormac.

What do you all think?  Those of you with older kids do they "get it"?  Or is it just their life and it's "no big deal"? 

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4GLTE smartphone

Counting....

Counting the days until this is our daily routine again....It will be here before you know it!

100th Day Of Kindergarten

This morning was the boys 100th day of Kindergarten celebration. They each did a project and had to go in front of the class to tell about it

 Cormac did "Hello" in 100 languages. He wrote all the words on the poster board. He also said "Hello" in five languages in front of the class. 


also s                           

Ciaran made snowflakes out of 100 lolliops in groups of 10.

Colin assembled two 50 piece lego cars..

I couldn't be prouder of the three of them if I tried.  I know I say it all the time but I still get overcome with emotion when I see the three of them together in school just doing their things.  Oh, and there is also that little thing that the one talking in FIVE languages is my deaf son.  Yep, my deaf son talking in front of his entire Kindergarten class!!!!

Here is what the projects looked like up close

House of Horrors

Last night we went to bed thinking everything was normal.  Just another Friday night.  Well, were we WRONG!  The stomach flu has hit this house HARD.  Calleigh was sick on Thursday and was vomiting but she wasn't to bad.  She seemed to be fine yesterday.

My night went something like this:

11:30 pm Ciaran runs downs stairs yelling Colin is throwing up in his bed.  Run upstairs get him to the bathroom too late.  Strip his bed and make it again in clean sheets.  Colin says he wants to lay with us.  OK. Give him bucket and he tries to sleep.  He eventually says he wants to go in his own bed.

12:30am We hear someone running from their room.  Cormac pukes in the hallway.  Get him cleaned up and he wants to sleep with us.  He did fall asleep but went on to puke 8 more times.

2:00am In between Colin and Cormac alternating puking Ciaran wakes up and it is now his turn.  The really strange thing?? None of the were ever up at the same time.  It was like as soon as I got one settled back down a different got sick again.  It was a losing battle.

So between 11:30pm and 5am I think it was 23 incidents of puking...yes you read that correctly.  23...

Oh, and then just when it couldn't get any worse....Frank starting throwing up this morning.

I don't believe there is enough Lysol on the planet at this point.  I have washed EVERYTHING from their room.  Not just the sheets and pillow cases but the special blankets and cuddly friends they sleep with.  I have sanitized every door knob and light switch and handle at least 50 times today.  I have practically given myself a Purell bath.  I have a terrible head cold for two days now and I really really can't get the stomach flu.  I sort of feel like it's inevitable but I girl can hope, right??? But you all know when I will get it, don't you?  It will be on Monday when Frank is back to work and I am left by myself and will have no choice but to do what I do everyday and not be able to be sick.  That is just how it goes.

I think this explains why Cormac passed out on the car ride home from the city yesterday.  He usually doesn't get so tired from a mapping.  I know lots of people who do get very tired after a map so I thought maybe but I now know he was getting sick.

We were supposed to go to a dinner at the school tonight.  That is not happening.  We also have our 100 day celebration projects to make and we have to get our Valentine's signed.  It's not looking good since the boys don't want to leave the couch!  Cormac did some of his project when he had a burst of energy.  Ciaran do a lot of his too.  Colin is putting 100 legos together so his is easy at least.

Did I mention now they all have fevers???  When I tell you we are never sick.  Last winter they were never sick.  This year we are getting slammed.  It hate when they are sick.  They hate being sick.  Right about now they are on Scooby Doo overload...

Here is the face of sickness...
Cormac sleeping with his Ipod.  Not even Angry Birds could keep him awake.

Colin said he felt better and had a drink...it was back in the toilet in under 5 minutes.

Ciaran trying to smile. 

Thank you

I just wanted to say Thank you to all of you who responded to my last post.  Your support, commiseration, understanding, compliments are so greatly appreciated.  We all have our days when somethings just don't seem fair but I know I am very blessed with my children.  Many families have it way harder than our family. 

I am friends with many of you on Facebook so I apologize for the duplicate in this post but I have a new favorite I had to write down.

Here is the conversation I overheard two days ago:

Cormac to Frank " Dad, I have decided me and Colin are optimists and you and Ciaran are pessimists. " Franks says "really, why?" Cormac replies "me and Colin see the good in everything and you and Ciaran focus on the bad..."

Frank thought I told him to say this to him.  I explained Cormac came up with it all on his own. 

Colin has also revealed that "Reese is in love with me and he is sure she wants to marry him"

We have a big week coming up.  We are celebrating the 100th day of Kindergarten on Monday.  We have yet to start our projects and are open to ANY ideas. So, please, leave a comment if you have an idea.  Keep in mind, I need three...  We will be having a Valentine's celebration at school on Tuesday.  I love being able to go to all their events. I am so grateful to be able to be home and participate so much at their school.

We just signed the boys up for T-ball for the first time.  In our old town they couldn't play until they were in Kindergarten.  In our new town the kids start at four years old.  The group is 4-6 year olds.  So, it will be our first time playing but they will be the older kids in the group. We will see how it goes.  I am hoping we can keep a batting helmet on Cormac without knocking off his implants.  He wears a bicycle helmet with no problem so I don't anticipate any issues.

Yesterday, we had a very small dusting of snow.  The first snow of the season and it's mid February!  The boys noticed it and were looking out the window.  I caught this shot of them.  By the way, Cormac is actually the tallest...not sure why he looks the shortest.  Maybe Ciaran and Colin were on their tippy toes.

Discouraged, pissed and I don't know what else...

I had my first meeting with our school district to start transitioning Calleigh from Early Intervention to Preschool.  Yep, PRESCHOOL??  This time is going way too fast.  Currently, Calleigh receives Physical Therapy once a week, Developmental Intervention once a week and Speech Therapy once a week.  She gets an hour per week of each therapy.    She will qualify for district preschool because she is still testing 40% delayed in Gross Motor skills and over 30% in Speech.

The next step is to see what our district has to offer for Calleigh.  It is such a different experience from when Cormac aged out of Early Intervention.  I NEVER wanted him in a district preschool.  He was doing so well and was above his age level in speech.  I thought it was a waste for him to receive PT, OT and things he didnt.  He NEEDED to be around positive speech models in a mainstream school setting.  Plus our old district didn't have an integrated program.  They only had a self contained program.

Our new district offers a self contained class and an integrated class.  The self contpained class also mixes with the integrated class daily.  She would have access to one on one Physical Therapy and also one on on Speech Therapy. 

I absolutely HATE the idea of her starting school at three years old 5 days a week for 5 hours a day. (This is the program) I feel like a total failure as a parent.  I feel I should have been able to do something to catch her up.  I am not one for a pity party but today really just did me in.  Today I wish I wouldn't have three children with IEP's in school.  Today I wish Calleigh would be attending a typical preschool PK3 program for two days a week for a few hours.  I feel she is being robbed of such a special time in her life.  She is just at the age where we are starting storytime at the library, enrolling in gymboree classes, going to morning play group.  But what does Calleigh have to look forward to ?  Nothing.  Her Mom dropping he off at school for 5 hours when we could be doing things together.  It's seems unfair and today, just for today, I am going to let myself be really pissed off about it.

My Heart

My heart SWELLS with pride when I listen to Cormac read...

My heart SKIPS a beat when I see Calleigh run across the room...

My heart nearly BURSTS when I see how much my kids love each other....

My heart feels like it's BREAKING if any of my kids are in pain....

My heart BEATS a little faster when Ciaran tells me he just wants to cuddle with his Mommy.

My heart gets ALL A FLUTTER when Colin tells me how beautiful I am...even if it's 30 times a day.

My heart still gets CAUGHT in my throat when I think about how blessed I am to  have been chosen to be the Mom to these four amazing children.

But most of all because of them....

My heart if FILLED with LOVE every day. 

Ten on Tuesday

1.  It is Catholic Schools Week at school.  Lots of fun things to enjoy.  Tomorrow is red, white and denim day.  The kids don't have to wear their uniforms.  The boys will be wearing some red and white Valentine outfits.  It's also a half day!  I love half days.

2.  Tomorrow is also the Neptune seminar in NYC!  I am looking forward to seeing some familiar faces I love and meeting some new people.  It's a huge turnout from what I hear...80 people!!  Cormac is going along with me.  He is very excited and I know will be a great help to me with me duties.

3.  Yesterday, Ciaran and Cormac's teacher of the deaf took Colin with them for a little while.  To say he was excited in an understatement.  He thought it was so "cool".  She doesn't pull them out of class often but he always wants to go with them.  She called me after school to tell me she could not be more impressed with the three of them.  She said they are all very advanced for their age and are sweet loving boys....love.

4.  Today was GORGEOUS.  Over 60 degrees and sunny.  We hightailed it home from school to make sure we could spend optimal time at the beach playground.  The boys rode their skateboards or scooters.  We buildt some sand castles.  We made a few new friends.  A great, great afternoon.

5.  Calleigh is being evaluated for her transition out of early intervention.  When they met her in September when we moved she was at about 11 months across the board and her actual age was was close to 26 months.  In 5 short months I am thrilled to say she has made HUGE advances.  While she is still delayed in her gross motor skills she is now at about 18-24 months. She had just barely started walking when they met her and now she is running! Cognitively she is AHEAD of her actual age.  WOO HOO!  She is still speech delayed but I have not gotten the official report. 

6.  I am in a little denial my babies are approaching SIX years old in April.  I love the little people they are but am sad they are not the babies they were.  Each day I am amazed at how quickly they have grown.

7.  Fun.  I have been really trying to focus on having the most fun I can have with the kids.  The days fly by and I really want my boys to grow up with the memory of time we spent together as a family.  I have always told them "Family First".  They truly live this motto and it warms my heart.

8.  I know I have sung their praises before but I have to say not a day goes by I am not forever grateful for Summit Speech School.  They have changed our lives forever in ways I cannot even put into words.  One thing for parents is to find a great support system and Summit has been in integral part of our support.  Our new teacher of the deaf continues with this amazingness.

9.  Many things have fascinated me watching the boys and Calleigh grow up but watching Cormac fully reading just blows me away.  He can just read anything now.  I can honestly cry just listening to him.  I was told learning to read can be very difficult for deaf/hard of hearing children.  I am happy he does not struggle with his reading.  It has posed some problems...Frank and I can't spell in front of him any longer because he know what we are spelling!  And I have lots of activity books and I like to use them as a listening activity.  Color the biggest flower yellow, cirlce the smallest square...you get the idea.  Well, now that he can read the instructions it is no longer a listening activity!

10.  My reservations are made for the AG Bell Conference in Arizona in June!!!!  I am beyond excited.  Frank and I will be attending together.  We have not been away together I think since our honeymoon without any kids!!  We have our babysitting in place and are set to go and meet some people who I feel like I have known forever but will be meeting in person for the first time!!!  LOVE LOVE LOVE

You are who you are

I have talked to many parents about hearing loss and cochlear implants since we began our journey. I have talked to lots of people since Ciaran got his hearing aids. As a parent we only want what is best for our children. What we want most is for our children to just be children. To listen. To speak. To not be different from other kids. To fit in. One of the first concerns parents talk to me about is about how other people will treat their child. Will they be teased? Made fun of? Left out? I know I had ALL of these thoughts about Cormac's future. Would someone want to be his girlfriend? In the grand scheme of things and focusing on teaching our children to listen and speak these little questions are always in the back of my head.

 Kids can be mean. Kids can tease. Kids can say hurtful things when they don't even mean to and they also say them intentionally. As I parent I am trying to teach my children to be understanding of others differences. Not everyone is the same. It's what make us unique. Some people need glasses to see some need crutches to walk others need cochlear implants or hearing aids. I want my kids to be OK with who they are just like Frank and I are proud of the little people they are and the bigger people they are becoming. We think they are perfect just the way they are. Our hope is other parents are also teaching their children to embrace their differences. To think about how they would feel if they were the child who was different.

My experience so far has been nothing but positive. We have yet to experience any teasing. We get lots of questions and my kids are not afraid to answer any question about their hearing devices. Cormac has been explaining his implants for years at this point. He says it very matter of fact "I am deaf. When the magnets are on I can hear and when they are off I can't hear." Plain and simple and easy for people big and little to understand. I realize my kids are only five. It could get worse as they get older. My hope is they continue to be the awesome kids they already are and people will realize their hearing loss in no way defines who they are as a person. It will always be a part of who they are but not what they are.

All that said, yesterday we went to pick up Ciaran's new ear molds. He picked BRIGHT green and BRIGHT blue swirls. He LOVES them. Cormac got so excited while we were there he got himself measured for a set of ear molds. He picked blue and red. (He didn't want Colin to feel left out. Ciaran's favorite color is green, Cormac blue and Colin red. Cormac thought Colin needed to be represented in the mold colors) While we were there with the unbelievably AWESOME audiologist Colin told her he wanted "fake" hearing aids because he thought they were so cool. (See, it's all in perspective...it's all how they see themselves.) Well, Colin left the office wearing giraffe print dummy hearing aids with his own set of huggies to hold them on! Obviously, he can't have molds since he has no hearing issues.

Today, they were so excited to go to school. Ciaran had his hood up so he could "surprise" his friends. I walked them to the school line today because I figure I had to explain Colin's new hearing aids to the teacher. (she thought it was adorable and got a chuckle out of it). Ciaran walked up to his best friend, Ryan, and showed him the molds. Ryan's response "whoa, dude, those are TOTALLY cool". Colin was a little shy but couldn't wait for his friends to notice his hearing aids. Little Gabby was behind him in line and she said "Colin, are those FOR REAL?? Colin said " no, they are fake but I love them." She says "I like them too". Cormac was going on and on about how he ordered red and blue molds. It all seemed so....NORMAL.

A perfect afternoon

Last week, before the stomach bug wreaked havoc on the house, I had a wonderful afternoon. The boys got home from school, I put Calleigh in for her nap and I turned my attention to the boys. We were playing some games and doing some cuddling when Ciaran says" Mom, I think you look a little tired and you should go lay down in your bed" I am suspicious at this time and give him a questioning look. He then whispers something to his brothers and the other two get all excited and start telling me to go lay down. I figure, how bad could it be?? What could they be up to? Should I pry more into their little plot or should I just go with it? I decided I would just go with it. I go into my room and lie down. A few minutes later the three amigos come into my room carrying a Tupperware full of my favorite cereal and some diet coke (my all time favorite). It was so sweet and thoughtful. They said they just wanted to me to relax and have a nice snack. Then they told me they just wanted to cuddle for a while....I obliged for a while and eventually we all drifted off to sleep for a nap. We woke up when Frank got home from work and found us all snoozing in bed together.

I couldn't think of a more perfect afternoon (unless Calleigh was snuggled in the bed too!)

Nice to hear

I had to stop at school today even though they were all home sick to pick up Cormac's FM system. He is going to try and use it at basketball to see if it helps. The acoustics in the gymnasium are terrible. The coach said he would wear the FM if it would help. I'll let you know how it goes.

When I dropped into the classroom none of the kids were there because they were in art class. His teacher says to me " I have to tell you Mrs. Checkit (their new TOD) pulled me aside to say she is so impressed with Cormac. He is doing amazing and she is so happy to be working with both kids. She said she can't believe how ahead of the game his is! SHe is just getting to know Cormac and I am glad he is feeling comfortable around her.

Their classroom teacher commented on how his reading has taken off like crazy. She also said Ciaran is trying so hard. She can tell he does NOT like to get things wrong so he gets frustrated if he can't read a word but he trying super hard. I have noticed in the last week it seems to be clicking for him and he doing way better with his sight words.

So, other than the fact the kids are puking...a great way to start the weekend. LOL

Explosion

Calleigh has had a language explosion in the last week. I mean she just says everything all of a sudden. It's amazing to hear and makes me so happy. She used to never repeat words when you said them and now suddenly she repeats EVERYTHING. I am so thrilled I cannot tell you. In some weird way I am just as excited or more excited than I was when Cormac started talking. In my heart way down deep I knew Cormac was going to be fine. I knew he would talk. I knew from his first reaction to his implants it would take lots of hard work but he would succeed.

With Calleigh things have been so unpredictable. It seems every time we took a step forward we took two steps back. We never knew what to expect. We still do not know what to expect. A link was never established between the many health concerns she was born with. (Click on the link to Calleigh's story above) No syndrome could be found which is great but also because we don't know the cause you can't predict the future. The not knowing has been a struggle for me. I would much prefer to know what the problem is and come up with a solution.

Cognitively it has always been apparent she understands everything. She has never seemed any different in her comprehension than anyone her age. That said, she was so delayed in meeting her big milestones. (sitting, crawling, walking, running, talking). We waited for 18 months before she could crawl. It took until 26 months for her to walk. Now, I can officially say she is running. She might look like she had a few too many cocktails now and then but she is running.

Her personality might be the cutest I have ever witnessed. She is funny. She is silly. She gets mad quickly. She laughs from way down deep. She kisses me at least 500 times a day. I am NOT exaggerating. She walks up and kisses my legs, arms, hands..whatever..with a big kiss noise. She is loving. She has temper tantrums.. She loves to color. I cannot even say she loves music because it is more than that. Her reaction to music is too cute for words. She dances all day long. Her dimples are humongous. Just like Colin when she smiles her whole face changes. They both have something about them when they smile. I swear their eyes twinkle. There is no way on earth you could ever stay upset with her once she smiles.

She cannot say her own name without it being followed by a squeal of delight. I hope she always loves her name the way she loves it now. She loves her brothers but gets aggravated with Ciaran when he won't leave her alone. She bops him on the head when she has had enough. Yes, I know she shouldn't hit him but when she does it I crack up because I would bop him on the head if he was in y face as much as he is in her face.

While I can't predict the future I am feeling pretty confident Calleigh's future is going to be typical of other kids her age. We still have the heart issue lingering in the future but we will cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, I am going to rejoice in all the accomplishments she has made and continue to challenge her to keep moving forward.

Wordless Wednesday

Funny Boy

You see my smiling sweetheart? In this picture he was messing around saying to his brothers "I am not listening to you." Notice the fingers in his ears??? Well, I say, "hey, little dude, you can TOTALLY still hear them since you don't even hear out of your ears" To which he starts cracking up and says, "I know, I am messing with them" and he proceeds to pull his magnets off his head still cracking up.

A typical Mom

The last two weeks have been so different for me. Calleigh was on a break for two weeks from services. The boys were back in school. For the first time ever and I mean ever in 5 1/2 years I felt like just every other Mom. I was able to take Calleigh to Storytime at the library. We went to a play group. We did our shopping and we played and played and played. All of that without having to worry about a therapy schedule. Most of her therapies are scheduled in the mornings so it doesn't allow us the opportunity to do those things. In the afternoon she naps. It might have been one of the most relaxing weeks of my life.

Keep in mind, Cormac had therapy from birth and it continues BUT it is now done at school. Ciaran gets the same but his is done at school too. For some reason it just hit me this week. After the craziness of the holidays to have two weeks off of NOTHING. No commitments. Except to get the kids to school. Well, it was just plain wonderful.

I know we are back to the grind next week. I am not saying I mind and I know it's necessary. Calleigh also seems much happier the past two weeks. She is doing GREAT. SHe seems more and more like your typical 2 year old (except she is miniature). LOL SHe knows knows lots of letters and numbers. She know some of her colors. She is starting to talk more and more. She is a little chatterbox.

Who knows? Maybe she needed the break too!