Not Lost!

I know, I know. It has been a long time. I have every intention of one day catching the blog up. I want to do that not for me but for the kids. Anywho... I wanted to do a quick blog on our weekend before I forgot everything.
Thursday morning Bailey went to the feeding clinic. This would be the clinic that everyone asks if we are seeing when I mention Bailey doesn't eat and the lack of help we have received. The clinic that sees Bailey every 6 months. Yeah right! They can really help us when we only see them 2x a year. Last time they recommended we feed her oatmeal and transition her to a "sippy" type cup. Well it didn't take but a few days and I knew the oatmeal was a no go. In order to drink out of a cup you have to have the strength and the desire to do this. They knew I was frustrated from the last visit so this time they listened to what we needed. I didn't need false hope and bull crap. I haven't met one person that knows what to really do for Bailey. She doesn't understand how to chew and swallow, and I believe she is not cognitively at the level where you can teach her. I wanted them to give me ideas on something different to feed her. She also hasn't gained any weight. I lay that one at their feet. They are the ones that said to stop adding duocal to her food and milk. Now they want her to gain weight. Sigh....
So after discussing our options we will start blending table food. This will help with calories also. Currently she only gets about 850-900 calories a day. They want her to get 1300. You probably wonder why we didn't do this before. Well, we did try a few things before (spinach, sweet potato, and chicken), and she hated it. Now I haven't done it because.... well frankly it makes me feel like we are giving up on her....  giving up on her ever eating solid food. I really don't know why I feel like this. I am trying to get over this feeling. Baby food isn't enough calories so we must go to the next step. So Bailey has had a weekend packed full of firsts. She has been a real trooper. She is hesitant with new things, but she hasn't totally refused  anything. Here is a list of things she ate this weekend:
Friday: shrimp al a creme from the Cajun restaurant
Saturday: pancakes with syrup, brownie bites, and macaroni and cheese with chicken fingers
Sunday: glazed donut, bean chowder, and beef stew with potatoes and carrots

I pray that one day this will all just feel like a horrible dream. I pray she will learn to eat and that we are making the right choices.

Mother's Day Weekend

Mother's Day weekend started off with a little cleaning. I had an epiphany that weekend. I decided that I needed help around the house, and I would start bribing paying the big kids for doing extra chores around the house. I am only going to pay them if they do what I ask without having an attitude and they can't make the "I don't want to do that" face. I don't like that face. Wyatt and Bailey like to help "dust" with Brianne. Excuse our white t shirts. They are in their sick attire. We have learned that all illnesses end in vomit with them. 

Wyatt helping cook. He is responsible for taking out all the ingredients from the refrigerator.

Sunday afternoon Lee and Brianne cooked breakfast for dinner as my Mother's Day meal. Brianne invited Wyatt and Bailey to help her.

They were very serious "stirring" cooks. Poor Tyler had a bunch of homework so we were busy at the table doing it.

Sometimes you just have to dress up as a princess on Mother's Day. She is my sweet, sweet angel.

Biting Update

Did I mention the biting is going much better? They rarely bite each other or the big kids. Now where do you think the bite mark in this picture came from? Wyatt bit himself. Why would he do this? Craziness!! He has not done it again.

Last Soccer Game, May 7

Brianne had her last soccer game. I am very surprised how smoothly it all went for us. She didn't miss one game! I did have to get Mr. Mary to help a few afternoons with the babies. I was very doubtful that we would manage to pull it off.

Prayer before the game
I am so very thankful we can take our children to a Christian school. I pray that Bailey will catch up so she can go also.  

She received her metal. She was so proud of it. How many athletes do you know that could pull off the "bow look" on the field?

I swear I am gonna put a book on her head to slow down how tall she is getting. Look at her height compared to the others!!

April's End

Wyatt likes to "read" Tyler's book. He has his own, but he thinks he is as big as Tyler. Bailey loves to tear out all the pages for us.

Tyler's end of the year music program was April 13. I stayed at home with the twins so I don't have any videos. Lee took the pictures.

Oh the days of Bob the Builder!! I remember my little Tyler and his love of Bob the Builder. What a sweet age. Little man needs a new pair of these glasses. It is suppose to be held on with elastic but I had to tie it in the back. Poor fellow has a hard time keeping them on.

April 15
Why is our room the magnet for the kids? I move their toys out, and I look around and they are back.

I had to match Brianne's shirt to her bow. Whoever heard of picking out your clothes based on the bow you want to wear that day? Ask Brianne because she can tell you how this works. I think she has been in bow withdrawals. She lost all her bows, and I waited a LONG time to replace them.

K5 Open House

Brianne's class had an open house on April 10. She is typical Brianne on the stage. Bored and antsy....

Just a small part of the program. I am not good at taking videos. They are always shaky and blurry.

 

Easter Morning, 2012

On Easter morning the kids and I tried very hard to be very quiet because Lee had been at work late the night before. We finally gave up the fight and looked to see if the Easter bunny came. You can imagine that with 4 excited kids Lee got very little sleep after they saw the baskets.

Brianne was so excited about her straws! Who would have thought?! They all got new toothbrushes and toothpaste.

 After we managed to wake up Lee we all got ready and went to see the Easter bunny at Bass Pro Shop. I told Wyatt it was a big ole stuffed animal. He bought it! He jumped right up beside it and started petting it on its arm. Bailey didn't buy it at all. She is also scared of dolls and stuffed animals so that may have also been the problem.

 
Later that afternoon the kids hunted eggs in the backyard.

It didn't take long before Bailey and Wyatt were done with the eggs. They much preferred the swing set.

I have never seen two kids fight over eggs like Brianne and Tyler did. After they were done fighting finding the eggs, I told them a story about the real meaning of Easter. By the time we were done it was getting dark, and the mosquitoes were horrible. We are in for one "buggy" summer.

P.S. Yes the Easter bunny comes to our house. If he doesn't come to your house I feel very sorry for you. Is there really anything wrong with allowing children to have an imagination?

Saturday's Easter Egg Hunt

Lee was on call at work all of Easter weekend. I made the unwise choice of taking the kids to Bass Pro Shop ALONE on Saturday. I won't make that mistake again.

Poor fellow fell out of the van the other night.

Bailey didn't want any of the offensive plastic eggs in her bag. Every time she got and egg she put it in someone's egg.

First Soccer Game, 4/3/12

Before Brianne's game the kids opened an early Easter present from Grandma and Mr. Steve.

Bailey thinks a present of tissue paper is just awesome.

What would an Easter present be without some peeps?

Wyatt is showing off his sick eyes. It was actually looking better here.

Brianne has never played soccer. They are only allowed to practice a maximum of 4 times. Yikes! That sure isn't enough time for them to understand what is going on. They still have a good time even if they tend to score points for the other team.

Blocking the other teams score

Brianne is always coming home from school saying she is going to have a sleep over with one of the girls in her class. It just happens to be the goalie in this picture. I am glad they ended up on the same team. I don't think she would have liked soccer as much without her friend.

I am just glad they didn't keep score.

Spring Break 2012

Do you know that it had been almost 2 years since we went to Gatlinburg?! We were definitely having withdrawals. After Bailey's helicopter ride to Children's last April we didn't risk being that far away from home.
We left home Sunday, March 25, around 3:30AM. We made very good time and only stopped 2 times. I am so glad we lucked out and got a 3 bedroom cabin for cheaper than the 2. Tyler was still unable to be around the babies so he and Brianne went downstairs and had that area all to themselves. It even had a pool table down there. Lee and Wyatt had the bedroom on the middle level, and Bailey and I took the top bedroom.
Bailey and Wyatt got right down to business tormenting me by going up and down the stairs.

We have WAY too many kids!!

Ahhhhhh thank goodness Tyler had been on the antibiotics long enough that he was able to upstairs.

There is nothing more peaceful than waking up in the mountains.

I bought W & B several musical toys at one of the local stores. The favorite was the harmonica. Yes I know I am crazy. I am always looking for something musical for them play. As I type this Wyatt is walking past me hitting a bucket with a wooden spoon- his version of homemade drums. I think music and stimulation has been key to Bailey's brain development and cognitive catchup.

Socks make the harmonica play better. Bet you didn't know that.

We went to Dollywood a couple of days.

Much to Wyatt and Brianne's dismay, this is the closest they got to riding a roller coaster. There was only one coaster that Brianne was tall enough to ride, and it was having problems so she didn't get to ride. I think one ride on a coaster, and she will stop begging. She rode a water ride with Lee where you go down a 60 ft drop. Lee said she hid her face and told him to let her know when it was over. I remember doing the same when I was little. Now Wyatt is a different story. He is a dare devil, and I think he will love it. He saw one ride swinging over our head, and he kept begging to ride it.

Tyler had to ride by himself on some of the rides. He loved it. He said he wanted to ride the roller coasters by himself. When did my baby get so big? (Wyatt was on the side lines during this ride begging to get in a car himself)

We can now say that Wyatt and Bailey's first amusement ride was the carousel. They liked it. I don't think daddy was going to let them ride anything. He sanitized the horse and he felt better about the situation. LOL We used a whole bottle of sanitizer at Dollywood. I am not exaggerating either.

They seemed to like the piggy ride. Brianne was "helping," but I think she is still young enough that this was fun for her also.

Bailey and the duckies were not friends. When she is upset she will say "Uh Oh" over and over. Poor Bailey kept saying this till they finally stopped the ride. She was crying by the time I got to her. I could hear people telling her that it was ok mommy is coming. This was her last ride.

Bailey sat out on this ride for...

very obvious reasons....

The mandatory "sign" picture
Brianne and Tyler were so excited to go to Gatlinburg. Tyler was so excited that he asked me if we were going to take a picture at the sign. I told him of course, and he yelled yay! I am sure this will not be his response in a couple of years. The big kids look stiff as a board. Don't worry they will get to try again in June.

It didn't take but a couple of minutes of looking over the ledge at the water for me to say "OK let's go." I could just see them tumbling down the side.

My handsome boy

Did I mention Brianne is still at it? Poor Bailey can only stand so much before she runs crying.

We had a great time!! This was our "try it out" trip to Gatlinburg. We will stay longer in June. Wyatt actually slept, which really surprised me. We had to take his nap nanny. Now repeat after me, "you must learn to pick you battles." The nap nanny isn't harming him.