Thursday, August 19, 2010

And then there were two...

Please stop. Look back. Notice my last posting. Tyler's last outing as a single child, and my last blog post in over a year...coincidence? Not even a little bit.

So who wants a quick catch up? Let's see...

Matthew Malachi Isaiah: Matty came home. We started Early Intervention immediately. At 3 months old he was at a newborn level in almost all evaluated areas. We worked our butts off...Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Neurology, Orthopedist, MRI's, hearing tests, feeding specialists, hypertonia. This year was straight out with specialist appointments, and doing PT with Matty, at times, 5X a day. As of 2 hours ago, Matty tested out of EI with average scores between 15 and 18 months old. He's almost 16 months. He was pronounced (through tears) by his therapist, to be a "Rock Star"...well...of course!

Matty is an amazing little boy. He's completely different than his brother. He's really funny, and very sweet. He's my little Stewie Griffin lately though! Mommy, Momma, Mama, Amy, Mom, MOM, MAMA, MOMMY!, AMY!, MOMMY!...he will NOT be denied. Typically once I answer him he will then smile and maybe point to a tomato and say, Yummy! (then move to the next tomato and do it all over again...we have a lot of tomato plants too!) He's a great eater, very laid back, gives lots of hugs and many, many kisses each day. He loves to swim and is fairly certain in his own little head that he knows how to do so...underwater. He spend as much time in the water as possible trying to prove he can (he can't)...He loves animals, bugs, airplanes, and motorcycles. He's a lot of fun, and a pretty typical 16 month old. He needs to do everything his big brother is doing, including climbing to the top of the couch. He is the most amazing mimic I've ever seen and he will certainly be the child that is in the back seat repeating the naughty words Daddy says while driving! We finalized Matty's adoption in July, just short of a year after he came home.

Tyler David: Tyler has, for the most part, really enjoyed being a big brother. We had some transitional time when Matty was first trying to get around where Ty really struggled with his brother being in his space. Matty had high muscle tone, so he was walking pretty well by 10 months old. Size-wise, Ty was still much bigger than Matty then and sometimes he would put Matty right over onto his head. Thankfully, we passed that stage and now Ty can see that Matty is fun to play with...although that does seem to still include putting Matty onto his head at times. In January 2010, Ty was almost 2, we had him evaluated for a speech delay, which we were pretty much expecting since some of his biological sibling had speech delays. He tested into Early Intervention with Speech, and some oral sensory challenges. I was totally floored when they mentioned Sensory stuff, especially oral. Perhaps the fact that he had been chewing his way out of his wood crib should have clued me in. Amazing how a parent can turn a blind eye to her child challenges and see only perfection :) Eight months into EI, Tyler's therapy now includes and OT, and MA Ed. (Masters in Education therapist) three times per week. He's making progress and learning new words at a surprising level. We've added behavioral challenges to his therapy plan. He is just a kid that will throw you for a loop at every turn. In Mom's eyes...he's still perfection.

We still have three dogs, although Dewey is currently at the vet. He was signed in for "Supportive Care"...that is actually what they wrote on his paperwork. I'd like that. I want to be signed in somewhere for a few days of "Supportive Care" ! He actually has pancreatitis, and after about 5 days of doing really well, he stopped eating again and was looking like death warmed over. Give we leave for vacation in a week, we thought we better send him away so he could make a full recovery. We were worried about him getting dehydrated too. I wish two things regarding my dogs. 1) That if they HAVE to get sick they could get sick for less than $1,000. That never seems to happen. 2) If they HAVE to get sick, could they at least get sick with something that we can get an answer on how it happened and how to prevent it? Okay...once when Dudley was sick we were finally able to pinpoint why (he had eaten both a Frisbee AND a rope toy) but typically it's a line like, "Well, we think it's this, and that could have been caused by this, this, thingabob, or stress..." Stress...they always throw that in there, and I'm convinced it's to make you feel bad...like you stressed out your pet, made them sick and now you're even a little upset that they are costing you thousands? Well you suck as a pet owner. I feel like telling the vet...they wouldn't feel stressed if they stopped eating the kids dirty diapers! Then I wouldn't have to scream at them! ... These dogs can't understand basic commands by boy are their brains smart enough to figure out how to open the trash can and get trash, the TIED bags in the recycling to get cans, or the pantry and a rubber maid to get to their food. Selective intelligence I think.

Let's see...the past year.

Well we had a little chicken episode. I guess it was more than an episode since it started back in March and is just now ending. It all started with me deciding I wanted to raise chickens for eggs. Great idea right? Except anyone that knows me, knows my intense level of ADD when I have a project. As soon as it's started, I am no longer interested and I start something else. Mike had a valid concern that he would soon have a back yard flock of chickens to care for, feed and collect eggs from each day. He wasn't interested in that. We compromised when I did some research and found out about Cornish Meat chickens. We would raise them a mere 8 weeks, pay someone to butcher them, then put them in the freezer. That way it was a finite commitment. So I ordered 25 little fluff balls from a hatchery and all was going well till I bought another 12 from the grain store. 25 + 12 +1 freebie "exotic" the hatchery sent = 38 chickens. 38 chickens who grow very fast, eat a LOT and poop to match their rate of intake. They didn't last in the house long. They soon moved to the garage, then out to the shed. But I loved it, and so did Ty. Ty LOVED his chickens...feeding them, tossing out corn...all that. So we raised them for 12 weeks, and then...we actually processed them ourselves. That part wasn't easy, but honestly, it wasn't hard either. I'll spare the details for this post though... Anyway, Mike agreed that I could raise layers, so we bought some at the grain store and we were loving it. To make a long (and emotional) story short, our neighbors reported us. Not the neighbors that live next door or even anywhere on our street kind of neighbors...all those people loved our chickens...the people that own (but do not live in) the duplex next door reported the chickens. They...suck. So the chickens have to go. I'll be working to change the chicken laws in Amesbury, but for right now, we had to say goodbye. Nothing like watching your 2.5 year old wave good bye and yell, "Bye bye shicen" while standing in the drive way as his chickens drive off to new homes. Heartbreaking I tell you.

Mike and I have been doing really well. Both of us are plugging along health wise, and Mike's recent testing on his heart function has been amazing. Mike has started riding his bike more, back and forth to work, and for longer rides on the weekends. This weekend he will do his first 1/2 Century (50 miles)...he is really enjoying it, and I even have a bike now too. Most weekends we'll put the kids in the trailer and ride to the farm to get our CSA share instead of driving. The kids like the ride, but hate their helmets with a passion.

I'm sure there are a million things I'm forgetting from the past year, but this is a long enough post for now I think...

As always, I'll try to be here more ;)

Amy

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