Ten on Tuesday

1. The boys go to Kindergarten Orientation on Thursday. I will be with them. I am terribly upset. Their first official day is Tuesday.

2. Since we are moving I won't know any of the other parents. At their old school I knew most of the moms of the soon to be Kindergarteners. I think that will make it a little harder.


3. I can't believe we are actually moving. I am sad we are moving. I will miss a lot about where we live now. Mostly my Mom who will be an hour away.


4. Calleigh's only mode of transportation now is WALKING. Yes, she looks like I did back in the day after a drink too many, but she gets better every day.


5. I have to transfer her services to another county which will hopefully go smoothly.


6. We survived Hurricane Irene unscathed. We were prepared for the worst and our area got lucky. Two towns away the entire town is evacuated and there is devastation everywhere. It seems you either got off easy or you were devestated. No inbetween.


7. Frank is back at work but working on their old contract. He did not agree with this but it is what it is.....my feeling is they will go out again when the 30 days is up.


8. Preparing for two IEP's in a new district sucks. (Well, sucks worse than your average IEP prep)


9. The boys started their first soccer in our new location. They loved it. I thought it was cute and hysterical. What's not so funny is they play their games at 8am on Saturday mornings....


10. Oh, yeah, I still have to pack my entire house. Haven't even started.....

A whole new journey for our family....

The Lawrence Family is making a move....we will be relocating to the beach. It is all happening very fast and was all last minute but things seem to be falling into place. We are sad to leave but happy to see what is ahead of us. We have to leave St Catherine's which is difficult but the boys are enrolled in St Rose. St. Rose is an amazing school. The Principal was very helpful and understanding. Of course, we have to get two IEP's written in the next few weeks which will prove to be a challenge.

It will mean a new Teacher of the Deaf for Cormac and he loves his current teacher. He hasn't seen her all summer so I think it will be easier. Ciaran will have his first IEP ever. I am not really sure what services he should receive. I do know I will only let Summit Speech School provide any of the services. I want consistency and I know they go to Monmouth County.

The boys will start school after Labor Day at St Rose. I can't believe I will have three Kindergarteners. I can't believe I have to pack up my entire house in the next few weeks. We sure have a lot of stuff. It's time to purge ourselves of EVERYTHING we don't need or use. I am going back to simplicity :)

I am thankful for my blog and facebook to be able to keep in touch with so many people! But it's only an hour away!

Perception

I had someone tell me the other day my kids were lucky to have me because not everyone could handle children with needs. (It was a total compliment and I was not upset) But you know what?? I was taken aback. I don't think of myself as a parent of a child with special needs. Don't get me wrong, I realize Cormac is deaf and wears implants. I am perfectly aware Ciaran has hearing loss. I am more than understand Calleigh is delayed in her gross motor skills. I realize I have two children with IEP's starting Kindergarten . I have had Early Intervention in my life for 5 years now. To me they are just my kids. I guess it's all about perception. My children just think of themselves like any other kid in the world. I think of them as just your typical kids.

So, now I have been thinking. Is that how people perceive me? Are people looking at me all day with pity because they see I have one kid with Cochlear Implants and another with hearing aids? I hope not. I honestly don't get that feeling from people. Sure, lots of people have it easier but lots of people have a much harder life.

My question to you is do you think your perception of yourself is different than how other perceive you?

What a day....

My day started by getting all the kids up, fed, dressed and to my Mom's house by 9am so I could get into NYC with Cormac for his mapping. (Remember two weeks ago he wouldn't get a map?) I made it to the city at exactly 10:30am for his appointment. He was a rock star and did awesome. He happily went along with his mapping even with a different audiologist and assistant. He was totally cute too.

I leave the city and head back to pick up the kids at my Mom's house. I scheduled an appointment for Calleigh at the pediatrician. Tuesday night she had a slight fever (not even 100). She didn't have any other symptoms. Wednesday she was very cranky most of the day and continued with a low fever. Wednesday evening her fever was a little higher. The highest was 101 but with tylenol it went down. I decided she needed to see the pediatrian and make sure she didn't have something else going on.

We go to the doctor at 2pm. They took us in and the doctor had finished her exam. No ear infection, rapid strep was negative. She had a bit of a red throat so I was to continue tylenol if she had a fever and keep an eye on her. Bring her back if anything changed or the fever continued. The doctor left the room. Calleigh was in my arms. I was waiting for him to come back to give me a script (for a cream for diaper rash). She looked like she wanted to go to sleep. Her head was resting in the crook of my arm. All of a sudden I just knew something was wrong. She went limp, her eyes rolled in her head and she was blue/gray. I yelled for the doctor who came running in.

They brought in the Oxygen but it wasn't needed. ( I thought maybe he should have given it to me at that point). He was listening to her heart and lungs and he said she was OK and would come around. I thought at this point she was literally dying. She looked that bad. I am NOT an alarmist. I have SEEN and lived through lots with my kids already. I have SEEN Calleigh not breathing at 8 weeks old and given her rescue breaths. I have seen her stop breathing in the hospital after her colostomy surgery and watched them bring her back. I was pretty sure this was the same thing.

It took her a long time to come around. It was a slow process. She was in a deep sleep for a while. She was very groggy. My pediatrican wanted us to go to the hospital to get bloodwork and cultures. With her medical history he doesn't ever like to take any chances.

He called Frank and asked him to come meet us at the office. (Frank is on strike so he was home which worked out. About the only good thing about the strike) Luckily, my Mom was around and she came up to stay with the boys. We headed to the ER and got there around 3. The ER was ridiculous. It was so busy. It was 5:30 before they even took the blood and urine samples. (Horrible experience. The poor girl has not veins) We stumped the entire staff with her medical history because no one knew what Duane Syndrome was and we had to tell them. (It wasn't critical to her care so I wasn't upset).

After many hours the results were in and they couldn't find anything. All tests came back negative. They are assuming it was a Febrile seizure. She really never had a high fever but it went from 99 to 102 in a very short amount of time. She never actually seized. She just went limp so it seems weird.

We finally got home about 8:45pm. (yep, I was out of the house for 12 hours and never had food or a drink!) Calleigh is sleeping in her crib. I am afraid to leave her alone. The doctors assured my they are harmless. My doctor told me three times. If it happens again she will come out of it. He kept reminding me he did NOTHING and she was ok. That is easier said than done. And I am not a doctor. He also said if I was scared to always call 911 and have them come. We follow up with him tomorrow morning.

My heart breaks for Calleigh. She just cant seem to catch a break. She is the sweetest girl ever. Why does she have to go through so much? She just started walking this week. She looks like a drunken sailor but she is walking. She worked so hard and now this?

They really get it..

Spending the summer on the beach means extra time for Cormac without his implants. He doesn't really mind being without them when it involves water. I let him where them when he is just playing in the sand away from the breaking waves. What I have witnessed is such a wonderful sight to see. Ciaran and Colin have become his "ears". I have overheard Colin telling a friend they met "we are triplets. His name is Cormac and he is deaf but has cochlear implants. Make sure he is looking at you when you talk to him so he can read your lips and then he will just answer you." So cute to hear them explain it to other children.

Today while they were in the water I had to keep getting them to move back over in front of me since they kept drifting. I must have kept saying "Ciaran, Colin come back over here." A lady sitting next to us says "What is the thirds one's name? I only hear you calling two" I never even realized I didn't call him. His brothers automatically tap him in the shoulder and tell him. I don't even have to ask them. I explained to the lady he was deaf in the water without his implants.

It's never great when you child cannot hear when it involves a large body of water but we really seem to have a nice rhythm. I am so blessed Ciaran and Colin are just such awesome, caring and loving brothers. When they find something on the beach they never leave him out if he is missed something. They run over to him and get his attention and show him what they found. If a plane or helicopter flies over they always point it out to him so he can see it.

To say I am proud of them does not do it justice. Time and again I realize his brothers are his greatest teachers, his best friends and such amazing little people.

Belmar's Treasure Trail leads to different side of the Jersey Shore

Belmar's Treasure Trail leads to different side of the Jersey Shore NJ.com: ", the Belmar Treasure Trail, a nature walk located across from 1st Avenue next to the Belmar Fishing Club, offers visitors a nice change of scenery, without leaving the beach.
Essentially, the Treasure Trail presents a peek at what the Jersey Shore looked like before it was overrun by bulldozers, boardwalks. Though short, the trail includes sweeping dunes covered with native vegetation. You might also catch a glimpse of some of the animals that live on the shore, like seashore grasshoppers, common terns, and white-footed mice.The Treasure Trail is great for kids as well. There are educational signs posted throughout the trail, teaching children and adults alike about the importance of dunes and how they provide homes to the various plants and wildlife. Kids can also go online and answer questions about the Treasure Trail to win some 'treasure' of their own"

Me and Grandma packed up the boys and cousin Corinne while Aunt Juanita watched Gavin and Calleigh. My boys have been asking to go here since Memorial Day Weekend. Anything involving a "treasure hunt" peaks their interest. We followed the trail and read the signs of what to look for along the walk. The kids were thrilled to find almost all of the "treasures" we were searching for along with some extras. We found an entire flock of the special bird we were looking for (white bellied something or other), lots of flowers on the list, grasshoppers. I was very happy we didn't find the giant eared mice but the kids nearly lost their minds when Ciaran found the cottontail rabbit! Ciaran said he just knew he could find one in this "special bush". And he was right! We saw it two more times.

We brought home a collection of shells, rocks, driftwood and the "best" ever we found the skeleton of a bat or some other small animal and we rought it home.

It was such a wonderful way to spend some time. We watched some boats in the inlet go under the draw bridge. The kids were thrilled we got to see the bridge go up. We waved to some boats goinng out of the inlet. Lots of talking and vocabulary. Lots of fun.

We are having a great summe so far.....

Ten on Tuesday

Ten Things I hope to teach my children: (in no particular order of importance)



1. Love


2. Compassion


3. Understanding


4. Acceptance


5. Independence


6. Hard Work Pays Off


7. To Embrace differences


8. Empathy


9. Value of friendship


10. Family is forever

All about Ciaran!

Ciaran lost his FIRST TOOTH today! He is the first of the boys to lose a tooth. It was very wiggly all weekend. Today we went to the beach and he came out of the water and started talking. All of a sudden Colin says "Ciaran, what the heck happened to your tooth?" (I know not the best of things to say) Ciaran had no clue it had come out in the ocean. So, our first tooth is lost at sea. He said he would write her a note but I took a hint from a blogger friend and we sent the Tooth Fairy a text telling her he lost his tooth!

He asked for Hot Tamales and a dollar. Frank just ran out to get him the candy.

Here is a classic Ciaran story from the weekend. Sunday we were up at the beach. Frank had built some structure with them involving a tunnel and a bridge. Nothing fancy but pretty cool. There were two boys sitting near us. They started playing around and one of them purposely destroyed their structure. My kids didn't really get upset. They said it wasn't nice he did it but I said "no big deal. We can rebuild". These boys were about 7 I would say. Well, one of the boys had built an "arena". Ciaran knew it was his. Ciaran NEVER said a word. Ciaran was nice as pie when we rebuilt the ruined structure. Ciaran acted like it was no big deal. Fast forward about an hour. I am watching Ciaran. He is walking ever so slowly along the beach (I WISH I had it on video!) and he casually gets closer to this kids "arena". Without missing a beat and almost stealth like his little foot knocked down the "arena" in one quick stomp of the foot. If you know Ciaran this is Classic Ciaran. No one gets over on him. Ever. The big kid through himself on the ground and started screaming crying like he was a two year old. The father says to him "well, really, what did you expect? You knocked theirs down." I told Ciaran it was not nice to do it but man was I so secretly proud of him! I always say Ciaran is the kid you do not want to mess with. He thinks and plots his plan of action. I love that little toothless boy!